(Toke of the Town) Researchers at the University of Jordan believe that used coffee grounds — typically containing about 10 percent oil — could be a source of biodiesel automobile fuel in the future. And more researchers, these at Warwick University in the U.K., believe hemp fiber could replace the carbon fiber in auto bodywork.
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Meanwhile, scientists — including the Warwick University team, headed by James Meredith — are looking for natural replacements for the carbon fibers currently used in autos, since they are so energy-intensive to make.
Earlier this year, Meredith’s team reported that hemp composite materials performed as well as expensive carbon fiber composites in impact tests.
Last week, one of California’s oldest and most respected medical marijuana dispensaries, Berkeley Patients Group, closed its doors. It shut down because its landlord, like dozens across the state, received a letter from United States Attorney Melinda Haag threatening to seize the property for renting to a medical marijuana dispensary located within 1,000 feet of a school. My three children attend elementary school and preschool in West Berkeley, just blocks from Berkeley Patients Group. The notion that the closure of Berkeley Patients Group is going to somehow serve to protect my children is patently absurd.
Berkeley Patients Group served thousands of medical marijuana patients in the Berkeley area for 12 years. It was an industry leader and a model of compassion and legal integrity. It was in strict compliance with state and local law, and has long worked with the City of Berkeley and the local community to provide a safe and responsible service to patients in need. As a small business, it employed 75 people and was one of the top sales tax generators in the city.
Ms. Haag has claimed that one of her concerns about dispensaries that are in close proximity to schools and parks and playgrounds is the possibility they could be the target of violence or armed robbery. Banks and pharmacies are also targets of armed robberies and there are a number of them located in West Berkeley. Like Berkeley Patients Group, they have security. There is no evidence to suggest, and I have never felt, that it is dangerous to send my children to a school that happened to be near a bank, or a pharmacy.Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tamar-todd/why-i-want-a-medical-marijuana-dispensary-near-school_b_1497917.html
(Denver Post) A bill making it easier to convict people of driving high on marijuana was among the more than two dozen bills sacrificed in the Colorado House Tuesday night during a gridlocked debate over civil unions.
Earlier in the day, the controversial bill surmounted its final legislative committee, when the state House Appropriations Committee approved it 9-4.
The proposal would have made it illegal to drive with more than a certain amount of THC — the psychoactive chemical in marijuana — in your system. The limit of 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood that the bill proposed would have been similar to the .08 blood-alcohol standard for drunk driving.
Wow. A bill proposed and passed by ignorant people who are intolerant of marijuana consumers was left to die because ignorant people who are intolerant of homosexuality had to kill a bill to recognize even a second-class marriage right for gay people.
One month ago I traveled to California for an event in San Francisco. The morning before the event, I awoke to the news that the DEA was raiding Blue Sky, a dispensary in Oakland. It was heartening to see an outpouring of support for medical marijuana patients, but the dispensary was closed down and medicine was seized. The next day I visited a dear friend who is suffering from late-stage cancer, who is too ill to medicate even with a vaporizer. Though in great pain, my friend did not want to use morphine and lose her ability to communicate with the friends and family whom she loves very much.
Thanks to California’s compassionate use law, I was quickly able to meet her caregiver at a dispensary in San Francisco, where he safely purchased cannabis edibles recommended by her doctor. Within an hour of taking a medical cannabis lozenge, my friend, who hadn’t eaten in three days, sat up and ate like a horse. This sight reminded me why we all fight so hard for safe access. What would I have done if this were my grandmother in Texas, which does not permit compassionate use? How could I have quickly found edibles if the DEA had closed every dispensary in the Bay Area?
DEA actions jeopardize health, but we can stop the raids
Read more:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steph-sherer/medical-marijuana-cannabis_b_1500994.html
One month ago I traveled to California for an event in San Francisco. The morning before the event, I awoke to the news that the DEA was raiding Blue Sky, a dispensary in Oakland. It was heartening to see an outpouring of support for medical marijuana patients, but the dispensary was closed down and medicine was seized. The next day I visited a dear friend who is suffering from late-stage cancer, who is too ill to medicate even with a vaporizer. Though in great pain, my friend did not want to use morphine and lose her ability to communicate with the friends and family whom she loves very much.
Thanks to California’s compassionate use law, I was quickly able to meet her caregiver at a dispensary in San Francisco, where he safely purchased cannabis edibles recommended by her doctor. Within an hour of taking a medical cannabis lozenge, my friend, who hadn’t eaten in three days, sat up and ate like a horse. This sight reminded me why we all fight so hard for safe access. What would I have done if this were my grandmother in Texas, which does not permit compassionate use? How could I have quickly found edibles if the DEA had closed every dispensary in the Bay Area?
DEA actions jeopardize health, but we can stop the raids
Read more:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steph-sherer/medical-marijuana-cannabis_b_1500994.html
