Corn and soybeans rank first and second as Michigan’s most valuable crops. Many are surprised to learn that cannabis, more commonly known as marijuana, is number three. Extrapolating from USDA and Drug Enforcement Administration data, the value of Michigan’s cannabis crop is estimated to be $325 million annually.1 Marijuana horticulture is big business in Michigan.
The [...]

State Senate Bill 618, introduced by Sen. Wayne Kuipers of Holland, to tighten regulations for the production and distribution of medical marijuana makes my head spin very high. This bill ascends into the clouds.
It would require, among other things, that doctors write prescriptions for medical marijuana and that the pharmacies dispense it. In fact, both [...]

Seattle City Attorney Peter Holmes
Seattle, WA — Seattle’s new city attorney is dismissing all marijuana-possession cases, starting with those that were already under way under the old city attorney.
City Attorney Pete Holmes, who beat incumbent Tom Carr in November, said he dismissed two marijuana-related cases in his first day on the job, and several others [...]

Michigan’s Senate Judiciary Committee to take testimony on bills impacting Michigan’s Medical Marihuana Act this Teusday in Lansing.
As you no doubt are aware, 63% of Michigan voters — and at least 50% of voters in every Michigan county — approved the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act (MMMA) in 2008. That kind of resounding support should send [...]

Entrepreneur John Lee thinks the pot business is ready for its own Amazon.com.
The numbers back him up. Marijuana is California’s biggest cash crop, generating sales estimated at $14 billion a year. Thanks to the state’s increasingly liberal medical marijuana laws, more of that money than ever before is being spent legally.
Which leaves sellers with new [...]

Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Wednesday, January 13, 2010

The 4-3 vote by the Assembly Public Safety Committee was the first in the nation by a legislative body supporting recreational use of the drug. But several of the lawmakers who voted for the plan said they did so only to extend debate.

“I do not support marijuana. [...]

By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI
Published: January 11, 2010
TRENTON — The New Jersey Legislature approved a measure on Monday that would make the state the 14th in the nation, but one of the few on the East Coast, to legalize the use of marijuana to help patients with chronic illnesses.

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Damon Winter/The New York Times
Michael [...]