Nothing epitomizes the hysteria and hypocrisy surrounding marijuana better than Actiq – a raspberry-flavored lollipop that contains 2 grams of sugar, a smidgen of citric acid, and enough fentanyl to kill a person or leave them with a lifelong addiction to opioids, which are currently racking up historic death tolls in the United States as well as Canada.

Actiq sounds like the kind of thing invented by deranged druggies. You know, the kind of twisted stoners who allegedly hand out marijuana-laced candy to kids on Halloween. But it’s actually an FDA-approved medicine that has been available to treat severe chronic pain for years. Meanwhile, medical marijuana can’t even get a hearing in Congress. And politicians frequently stoke unfounded fears about cannabis use (the old ‘gateway drug’ theory) as well as suspicion toward cannabis users.

Much like the World Series, warnings of cannabis edibles sneaking into hauls of Halloween candy have become an annual October tradition. Every year in legal states, parents are told to be wary of devious cannabis consumers handing out sweets laced with THC – even though no cases of tainted candy have been reported in Colorado or Oregon. And while an edible was found in a trick-or-treat bag in Illinois in 2016, those cases are rare. But that doesn’t stop reporters, police officers and concerned parents from stoking fears of cannabis-laced candy.

Those fears have since been weaponized in the anti-legalization movement. When Floridans got ready to vote on the (successful) ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana in 2016, opponents tried to sway them with hysterical claims that deranged potheads would hand out THC-infused candy to kids on Halloween. And even legalization supporters like former Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are wary of edibles because of the bad press they got when Colorado began selling them in 2014 (without

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A south suburban Calumet City man was charged Friday with carrying 41 bags of marijuana — totaling 31 grams — on a Metra train.

Darris L. Johnson, 45, faces a felony marijuana possession charge, according to Metra Police.

A conductor on Metra Electric train 754 noticed a strong smell of marijuana and told officers on the train, Metra said.

They searched the man in a coach car and found 41 small baggies, according to officials.

Johnson was taken to the Cook County Jail in Chicago, where he is next scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 16.

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Two teens who allegedly agreed to smoke marijuana Tuesday with a man they had just met that day on a Chicago Transit Authority train are now charged with robbing him at gunpoint in an Evanston alley, police said in a news release.

Police were called to the alley in the 900 block of Davis Street around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday where the 24-year-old Chicago man told police he had a short time before been on a northbound CTA Purple Line train and met and conversed with the two 17-year-old boys, according to the release.

The three of them allegedly agreed to get off the train in Evanston and smoke marijuana in the alley. But one of the teens – said to have been wearing a green hoodie – pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot the man, police said in the release issued Wednesday.

According to the release, the two boys stole $48.51, a Ventra public transportation payment card and a cell phone from the man – who has not been identified by name.

The boy wearing the green sweatshirt slapped the man in the face and also made him turn over a pack of cigarettes, the release states.

Evanston detectives who responded to the scene saw two teenagers in the 1600 block of Sherman Avenue who matched the description of the boys, police said in a release.

Then the man positively identified them, police said.

Police recovered the man’s stolen property and a BB gun from the juveniles, police said.

The boys – one of whom is from Evanston and the other from Chicago – were arrested and charged with aggravated robbery, according to the release.

They were taken to the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, police said.

Due to their age, the boys were not identified by

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Three men are facing charges after 24 pounds of marijuana were found in a missing California girl’s car during a traffic stop in northwest Indiana.

About 9:30 a.m. on June 26, a trooper pulled over a black Buick for a traffic violation on the Indiana Toll Road near the Portage plaza, according to Indiana State Police.

The trooper was suspicious because the driver was an underage girl with three men in the vehicle, police said. He investigated and learned she had left her home in Bakersfield, California, without her parents’ permission.

A K-9 officer responded to the scene and 24 pounds of marijuana were found in the car, police said.

The three men in the car—Bernard Adams, 25, of North Dakota; Danny Hill, 38, of California; and Michael Reyes, 33, of California—were charged with felony counts of dealing marijuana, police said.

They were taken to the Portage County Jail.

The girl was taken to a juvenile facility and arrangements were made to return her to her family.

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2017 AAEA Annual Meeting features new numbers on both consumption and production

Milwaukee, WI (PRWEB) July 19, 2017

The use of medical marijuana is now legal in 29 states and the District of Columbia.

Eight states have passed laws allowing for the legal use of marijuana recreationally. Michigan could become the ninth later this year, where the city of Detroit already allows the sale of marijuana in stores with proper licensing.

Marijuana is quickly becoming a legal multi-billion dollar industry in the United States, prompting new research into multiple aspects of the drug, including both use and production.

“This is obviously an ongoing controversy and there is widespread debate over the use medical marijuana when it comes to the spillover effects of a medical marijuana law adoption,” says Yajuan Li of Texas A&M University.

Li and Ben Schwab of Kansas State University will both present research on marijuana during the 2017 AAEA Annual Meeting in Chicago, July 30-August 1.

Li’s paper, “Investigating the Effects of the Medical Marijuana Law on High School Graduation,” looks specifically at the high school graduation rates at the state level from 1993 to 2014, and compares states with and without medical marijuana laws both pre-and-post adoption. The research has a very specific and pointed outcome.

“We wanted to show people in other states the particular impact as they debate whether to pass a medical marijuana law,” Li said. “This is something for our policy makers to think about.”

There are also various laws about growing cannabis, which has turned into a cash crops in states like California. Schwab looks at the results and impact of two decades of growth in his paper: “Green Acres? Cannabis Agriculture and Rural Land Values in Northern California.”

“New policy impacts the production of cannabis when it comes to land

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TRAVERSE CITY — A Kingsley-area resident contends officials are not doing their homework and continues a call for further study before any decisions are made regarding a proposed medical marijuana factory.

Jon Pack, a Mayfield Township resident, questioned whether village officials are doing their due diligence in reviewing plans and zoning to allow the proposed 100,000-square-foot TheraCann USA medical marijuana grow facility. Meanwhile, village President Rodney Bogart said officials are continuing their review.

“What concerns me is that I think these people are … they don’t even know where to begin to do the research,” Pack said. “There’s many more questions and I’m not sure that these folks know where to really ask or if their eyes are glazed by the dollar signs.”

Bogart, four village council members, additional village officials and Paradise Township Supervisor Rob Lajko flew to Chicago last week to tour a similar 80,000-square-foot production facility. The trip cost the village $3,500, a price tag approved by village council members at their meeting July 10, according to meeting minutes.

The trip answered a lot of questions concerning the noise, smell and security associated with such facilities. Bogart hopes officials will learn more about medical marijuana at a special meeting Tuesday where they will see a presentation from Robin Schneider, executive director for the National Patients Rights Association, a medical marijuana patient’s organization.

She helped write the Michigan Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act which will begin licensing and regulating medical marijuana growers in December, Bogart said. Schneider did not immediately return calls requesting comment.

Schneider’s discussion – in addition to a public comment period — is the only item on Tuesday’s agenda. Pack suggested inviting more officials in to talk about impacts of the marijuana business, including school officials, U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman and

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Senate Bill 1294 creates the Industrial Hemp Act, which would require licensing for “any person desiring to grow, process, cultivate, harvest, process, possess, sell, or purchase industrial hemp or industrial hemp related products must be licensed by the Department of Agriculture.”

A bill in the Illinois General Assembly would legalize the production and sale of hemp.

Senate Bill 1294 creates the Industrial Hemp Act, which would require licensing for any person desiring to grow, process, cultivate, harvest, process, possess, sell or purchase industrial hemp or industrial hemp related products must be licensed by the Department of Agriculture, according to the legislation’s synopsis. The bill would also legally distinguish industrial hemp from “noxious weed” and cannabis.

Hemp is a fiber derived from the cannabis plant but contains less than 1 percent THC, the chemical responsible for getting people “high.” Hemp has a wide variety of uses, most commonly for medicinal items when processed into CBD, but also for more standard products such as clothing and rope.

Because hemp is a cannabis-based product, its legality is confusing and sometimes inconsistent. Federal law prohibits the possession or consumption of cannabis-related products, which would include hemp. Despite this statute, 29 states permit medicinal marijuana and eight have legalized it for both recreational and medicinal production. Illinois has decriminalized recreational marijuana consumption and legalized medicinal usage.

The medicinal marijuana industry in Illinois favors SB 1294, as its legalization and regulation may require cannabis to undergo the same testing standards as medicinal marijuana.

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Published: Jul 18, 2017, 7:43 am • Updated: Jul 18, 2017, 10:58 am

By The Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A bill in the Illinois General Assembly that would allow hemp to be grown legally in the state could mark a major shift for medical marijuana growers if approved.

The pending legislation could help medical marijuana growers increase their relatively small pool of 25,000 certified users to the general public, Medical Cannabis Alliance of Illinois Chairman Ross Morreale told the Chicago Tribune.

Advocates of the bill said it could also address a lack of regulation of hemp by subjecting the cannabis plant to the same testing for potency and pesticides as medical marijuana in Illinois.

The bill’s opponents are generally those who also oppose medical marijuana.

Kevin Sabet, a former White House drug policy adviser, is president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which opposes marijuana legalization. He said hemp is a minor concern, but he opposes state programs to legalize it, if it’s just a “stalking horse” for marijuana.

In the two years since medical marijuana appeared in Illinois, the hemp industry has thrived.

With medical marijuana, growers and dispensaries are heavily regulated, patients require a doctor’s prescription and a background check, and only those with certain approved medical conditions are granted access. But adults can buy and sell hemp-based products that include e-cigarettes and massage oils used to soothe ailments such as insomnia and inflammation.

While hemp is similar to marijuana, manufacturers say it has little or no THC, the component that gets users “stoned.”

According to the Hemp Business Journal, revenue from products containing hemp increased 30 percent to $262 million nationwide in 2016. It projected that figure to increase to more than $1 billion by 2020.

Information from: Chicago Tribune

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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A bill in the Illinois General Assembly that would allow hemp to be grown legally in the state could mark a major shift for medical marijuana growers if approved.

The pending legislation could help medical marijuana growers increase their relatively small pool of 25,000 certified users to the general public, Medical Cannabis Alliance of Illinois Chairman Ross Morreale told the Chicago Tribune.

Advocates of the bill said it could also address a lack of regulation of hemp by subjecting the cannabis plant to the same testing for potency and pesticides as medical marijuana in Illinois.

The bill’s opponents are generally those who also oppose medical marijuana.

Kevin Sabet, a former White House drug policy adviser, is president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana which opposes marijuana legalization. He said hemp is a minor concern, but he opposes state programs to legalize it, if it’s just a “stalking horse” for marijuana.

In the two years since medical marijuana appeared in Illinois, the hemp industry has thrived.

With medical marijuana, growers and dispensaries are heavily regulated, patients require a doctor’s prescription and a background check, and only those with certain approved medical conditions are granted access. But adults can buy and sell hemp-based products that include e-cigarettes and massage oils used to soothe ailments such as insomnia and inflammation.

While hemp is similar to marijuana, manufacturers say it has little or no THC, the component that gets users “stoned.”

According to the Hemp Business Journal, revenue from products containing hemp increased 30 percent to $262 million nationwide in 2016. It projected that figure to increase to more than $1 billion by 2020.

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A small wave of panic set in the other day. I thought about going out and wandering around town for a while and then I decided not to. I just didn’t want to go out. Didn’t want to leave our house. I had nowhere special to be, and nothing special to do, but I was going to explore our new surroundings.

What prompted this sudden and unexpected behavior?

Since I stopped working full time, I developed a sort of a routine by not having a routine at all. I am usually free to come and go as I see fit and schedule my own day, doing my own “thing.”

This has been a year of pretty huge changes for both of us, but I think it’s affected me in ways I didn’t expect.

The Big Guy is still working. He still gets up at 5 a.m., does his pre-work routine, and puts in his usual 8-10 hours in his home office. We may have moved our space, but his routine is constant. In a way, I envy that. Routine can give one a sense of direction and purpose. It helps banish any thoughts of being irrelevant and not useful anymore. Now my lines have been blurred.

Our moving has changed everything. My routine changed yet again over the past month or so by starting to set up my art studio in our house. Another change, another disruption, and my path around the sun changes yet again. What if I were a planet? Well, that wouldn’t do. I’d cause havoc throughout the universe with all these changes.

So, what happens when your trajectory changes?

I do what I usually do, I took my problem to The Big Guy. My steady partner, my voice of reason, my rock.

Our conversation went something

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