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Cannabis News Roundup: 05.01.15

transmitdistort

Farm-to-table comes to cannabis… Synthetic pot sends users to hospital… Should women smoke more marijuana?  And more.

LEGALIZATION & LEGISLATION

Nevada officials see how Colorado does it // USAtoday.com    Banking, public safety, and protecting children are considered as California’s neighbor to the east ponders the possibility of recreational cannabis in the next election.

Vallejo votes to stop collecting dispensary taxes // TimesHeraldOnline.com  The idea is, in effect,  to restart the licensing process. Cannabis dispensary owners “express exasperation.”

Forty Acres dispensary is non-compliant once again // Berkeleyside.com  The Berkeley City Council forced Forty Acres to move earlier this year because it was a public nuisance. Now it’s in violation of zoning guidelines.

BUSINESS

Farm-to-table concept comes to cannabis culture //  EastBayExpress.com  “ ‘This is great, man’ says owner of HappyDay Farms. ‘It's like, normal, capable, thinking, conscious adults having a good time. I guarantee you there won't be any fights’.”  Welcome to a Swami Select Tasting Party.

Marijuana not as thirsty as first reported // SFWeekly.com   Estimates of water usage vary, but marijuana growers use far less than other California crops.

Seed-to-sale tracking coming to New Mexico // MJbizdaily.com   The same company that set up Washington State’s system will build this one.

HEALTH

K-2 formula change suspected for emergency room surge, deaths // NPR.org   The synthetic marijuana is “like a cocktail of an unknown potency,” says National Institutes for Drug Abuse researcher, “and consumers can't know what they're getting or how it will affect them.”

EVENT

California Citizen Lobby Day registration open now // SafeAccessNow.org  Two-day event takes place mid-June; participants can sign up now.

OPINION

Five points to consider when drafting California’s legalization// SFChronicle.com  Learn from those who have gone before, says Mason Tvert of the Marijuana Policy Project.

Orange County Register endorses SB 643 & AB 34// OCRegister.com “The will of the voters who passed Prop. 215 ought to finally produce a statewide regime to support medical marijuana.”

Ladies, put down that Cosmo and pick up a pipe // Alternet.org  “While women are clearly suffering with alcohol problems at an alarming rate, it seems strange that we’re not looking more closely at safer alternatives,” such as marijuana.

IN OTHER NEWS…

 “Weed the People” author at SF LitQuake

“It’s like learning how your body handles alcohol.”

That was the observation of Bruce Barcott, author of Weed the People, when the discussion at a LitQuake event this week turned to “edibles.”

Barcott, referring to stories about unintended over-consumption of “edibles” (products with marijuana in them), compared this issue to alcohol.

“Remember how you drank a lot when you turned 21, because now you could? But it wasn’t long before you got over that and your behavior changed.” He says marijuana legalization is like that, only a whole state is “of legal age” all at once. “The period of euphoria passes and it’s under control again,” like the majority of people who presently consume alcohol.

Barcott mentioned changes in state and local government, but it took a question from the audience for him to acknowledge that advances in legalization could be wiped out or cut back if a less friendly President is elected in 2016; possession of marijuana is still a felony.

No one peeking in the window of Viracocha on Valencia Street in San Francisco would have known the discussion inside concerned marijuana. The audience lacked any of the stereotypical appearances associated with it. This underscores Barcott’s observation that marijuana users are just becoming “part of the landscape.”

What about full legalization? Barcott says, “It’s time to change ‘Just say no’ to ‘Just not yet’.”

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[New content is posted on Friday.]

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