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New York:

Last Wednesday (07/10/09), changes to New York?s notorious Rockefeller drug laws went into effect, allowing judges to shorten the prison terms of some non-violent offenders; particularly those incarcerated for non-violent crimes such as cannabis posession. This measure will further reduce New York?s prison population, which has already declined in the past 10 years from about 71,600 in 1999 under Mayor Rudy Giuliani to about 59,300 today – The state?s crime rate also dropped substantially during that time.
Nevertheless, the state has been slow to close prisons;  this is a multi-billion-dollar industry – opposition from the correction officers? union and politicians from the upstate areas where most of our correctional facilities are has been fierce.

Historically, hemp has proven to be a versatile and durable substance and therein lies the contradiction. For nearly a century now, Hemp has been overlooked and under-appreciated as a viable alternative to cotton, possibly as a result of its connotative association with marijuana. To clarify, hemp has no psychoactive properties.

United States Patent US6113940:
Cannabinoid patch and method for cannabis transdermal delivery.

We  found this patent application in the U.S for a cannabis patch similar to the nicotine patch which has been commercially available for years. Several companies (and even the U.S government – see our previous article “U.S Government Patents Cannabis“) have recently started to take notice of the medicinal properties of cannabis and have started a rush to patent any possible application of this wonderful natural herb. Part of this trend could be linked to the legalization movement which has successfully highlighted several medical advantages to cannabis over traditional pharmaceuticals, particularly the lack of significant negative side-effects when treating serious illness.

Here’s a little video I found which lists some of the U.K Politicians who’ve admitted to trying cannabis at one point in their life:

With this post we want to clarify some of the misconceptions that a lot of people seem to have on skunk.

Firstly, let us point out that Skunk is nothing more then a name for (mostly indica) potent weed. It is NOT some genetically engineered super dangerous new type of weed. (special announcement for the media; did you guys notice the word NOT? )

News has reached us that the world-renowned author, activist and marijuana anti-prohibitionist Jack Herer suffered a heart attack this weekend.  Emergency crews were called in as he collapsed in his chair after delivering a fiery speech at the Portland Hempstalk Event at Kelly Point Park. After spending a lengthy amount of time stabilizing Jack at the scene, he was transported to the Emanuel Trauma Center in Portland in critical condition with his son at his side. Soon after that, his family were told that he was the victim of a heart attack, a result of arterial blockage.

Just over a year ago we brought you a spectacular video of ENCOD?s Frederick Polak, trying in vain to get a very relevant question answered by UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa.

Here’s the follow-up;  Costa reportedly went to Amsterdam to see for himself, yet still manages to avoid the question and tell blatant lies: