You Can Bet on It: Roadside Drug Testing is Coming to Michigan - by Tim Beck

   In what may be a historic first, two persons in San Diego, California were arrested for marijuana impairment by the California Highway Patrol. These were not normal arrests. The drivers were busted  after being drug tested by a device called the "Drager 5000."

       The Drager 5000 uses a swab sample of saliva. The sample is then placed in a chemical solution and the result comes back within eight minutes. The Drager can also detect the presence of heroin, cocaine, meth, benzodiazepines and prescription opiates. In the San Diego arrests, when the device detected the presence of marijuana, the persons in question were taken to the police station and a blood test was administered. In effect, the Drager worked exactly like a "preliminary breath test" (PBT) now used by cops all across the USA to detect alcohol intoxication. PBT results are not considered valid in and of themselves. However, if the PBT result is positive for intoxication the person is arrested and a blood test for alcohol is administered. A blood test is considered the final word, and is almost always accepted in a court of law as "accurate."

FIND YOUR WAY! It's Totally Worth It... - by Citizen Jay Daily

     So, you wanna quit your day job and move to a Cannabis-legal state and get a weed job, do ya?  Well in 2017, while that may be a whole lot easier than it was just a few years ago, it’s still not a sure thing.  Unquestionably, there are now twice, no three times as many Cannabis businesses in the United States as there were just a few years ago. The ArcView Group says that by 2019 all the state-legal Cannabis markets combined will be worth around $11 Billion annually.  Still, the market for jobs is as tight as can be.  The desire for those jobs is ever on the climb.  Luckily, Cannabis is a renewable resource.

Turning the Tide Against Big Pharma - by Rebecca Veenstra

     It’s getting to be farmer’s market season. There’s nothing I love more than strolling through the rows of produce taking in the colors and scents of all the beautiful fruits and vegetables. It always seems like there are so many different varieties and colors. Even the local grocery store always seems to have a huge selection of all kinds of fresh grown goodies to delight my eyes and appetite. Imagine my surprise when I learned recently that over 90% of the varieties of fruits and vegetables grown on the planet have been lost in the 20th century. The last study to count seed variety in the USA was done in 1983.

     Of the 544 cabbage varieties, all but 28 are extinct forever. 9 out of 158 different types of cauliflower are available to us. Of 288 types of beets humans used to have access to all but 17 have become permanently extinct. The same goes for onions, peppers, lettuces, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, melons, fruit trees… 94% of the varieties that used to exist are just plain gone forever. I can’t help but wonder how the heck does something so drastic happen without us realizing it?

An Interview with Steve Embree of Snap36 - by Peter Boehm

I recently sat down with Steve Embree, President of Snap36, to find out why the cannabis industry needs to bring its products to life with 360 photography.

What is 360 product photography?

Steve: 360 product photography is surprisingly simple. It’s just a bunch of photos of a product shot at different angles to create a sequence of pictures. The sequence of pictures is stitched together, like a flipbook, to give an interactive view around the product. When viewing a 360 photo online, consumers can use a mouse or finger to “spin” the product, rotate, and zoom on any angle to see specific details. This ability gives consumes complete control over how they visually engage with a product.

Plant-Based Healing for the Skin - by Peter Boehm

     It may come as a surprise, but cannabis-derived skin treatments applied directly to the skin can greatly improve skin health.

     HumanKind Skincare’s Founder, Jennifer Ford explains, “The skin is our largest organ. It’s our defense barrier from the external environment, protecting us from UV radiation, bacteria, pollution viruses, etc. Our skin is an external expression of our internal health and is a great barometer showing us things are affecting our health both internally and externally. For this alone, it’s important to keep skin healthy.”

GROW TIP: Growing Outdoors - by Ben Horner

     In Michigan, an outdoor grow is only legal if done in a specific manner.. Collectively, judges have defined “locked and enclosed facility” through a number of case opinions. Paraphrasing from disparate jurisdictions, the judges collectively require 6 planes (roof, 4 walls and floor). Must not be accessible to those without a key only if tools are required to enter (the enclosure must not be susceptible to spontaneous, casual break-in). It must not by itself be “bait”, making known that it is a grow.

Cannibals of Freedom - by Daniel L. Price, Esq.

SPRING CLEANING & REVENUE GENERATING


     Here we are, its June already and of course raining.  This means spring, which is the prelude into a nice warm summer.  This also means more people on the roads and on the Michigan waterways.  Unfortunately, this also means more police on the roads to write more tickets to generate more revenue for the State.  And to express an appropriate emotion in this regard, I’ll borrow a Norwegian phrase and say “Uff Da!”. 

     But there are some things you can do to help enjoy the summer without the hassles of getting burned by the revenue generators, or worse arrested for living your life the way you see fit by ingesting your meds.  First and foremost, when doing your spring cleaning, you should check that all of your vehicle’s lights are working properly.  Also, be sure to place that sticker on your license plate and keep your vehicle registration up to date.  Remember to use your turn signal when changing lanes, and turning corners. 

U.W.S. Holdings: Revolutionizing the Industry - by Joe Dauphinais

     We recently made a little trek to check out United We Stand Holdings, where we met Robb LaPeen. Robb is the founder of UWS, and a medical marijuana patient. I got a chance to sit down with Robb, and speak with him about how his company came to be.

     Robb started his journey with cannabis ten years ago, when he was diagnosed with a sickness called idiopathic thrombocytopenic platelet disease, which is a blood disease that severely impacted his immune system.

Free The Weed 74 - by John Sinclair

     Looking through some pages of the old Fifth Estate newspaper on-line the other day, I was reminded that the War on Drugs celebrated its 50th birthday on May 25. On that day in 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a treaty known as the Single Convention, ratified by the U.S. Senate with virtually no opposition during hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

     The Single Convention bound all signatory nations to prevent the legalization of recreational drugs, prominently including marijuana, and provided for extradition for crimes involving marijuana. The treaty was ratified by all nations except China, North Vietnam, East Germany, and North Korea, where they had their own bizarre and draconic concepts about what to do with marijuana smokers.

V.G.I.P. UPDATE - by Ben Horner

by Ben Horner

     Directly after the announcement was made by the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CRMLA), that the Board of Canvassers approved petition language for the new Michigan legalization petition, Governor Snyder announced appointments to the Michigan Medical Marihuana Board. Last year Snyder signed the Michigan Marihuana Facilities Act, allowing the state to work with local municipalities under new state regulations, to tax and regulate medical marijuana.

     Many MMJ Patients, Caregivers and small business owners are extremely concerned about some of the folks appointed to the board.  Recently retired MSP Sergeant Bailey has drawn the most criticism from medical marijuana advocates. St. Bailey was an outspoken opponent of dispensaries and was involved in many raids on medical marijuana facilities and caregiver homes over the last six years.

World News for June 2017 - by Rachel Bunting

Do You Smell That?
England: Nawdar Mahmoud was in the rear passenger seat when police pulled over the vehicle he was in and found 752 grams of marijuana next to his feet. When questioned about the ripped package in the back with him, Mahmoud told officers he had no idea the drugs were at his feet while in the vehicle. He claimed that he couldn’t smell the ‘overpowering stench’ of the cannabis due to a broken nose and never having smelled the plant before.

     However, prosecutors in the case say that Mahmoud, along with the vehicles driver Heersh Mohammed and second passenger Dana Rahim, were transporting the cannabis, and 27 grams of cocaine also found, into Devon to sell.

National News for June 2017

Changes in Washington’s Laws
Washington: Recreational marijuana in Washington was approved in 2012 and implemented in 2013. Recently Senate Bill 5131 made some changes to the voter approved law.  SB 5131 passed the Senate and House on April 20th.

     The original law, while allowing recreational marijuana, made sharing a personal stash illegal.  That has changed under the new regulations. Now adults 21 and older may deliver up to a half ounce of flower, eight ounces of infused solid edible, thirty-six ounces of infused liquid, OR three and a half grams of concentrates to another adult, so long as no money is exchanged and the product is kept in the original packaging.

     Another change affects the patient/producer relationship. Previously patients had to purchase seeds and clones from providers or collectives, but now patients may cut out the middle man and buy directly from the producer.

Michigan News for June 2017 - by Rachel Bunting

Marijuana Sentencing
Hemlock: George Clark, Timothy Northrup, and Brenda Northrup have been handed their sentences after being arrested for MMMA violations in 2015. Police flew a helicopter over a property in Ingersoll Township where they discovered a grow operation. They followed up at the home and were given permission to search the property. Once inside officers noted violations of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act and seized 47 marijuana plants, marijuana oils and butter, scales, firearms, and cash.

     Nearly two years after being arrested and having charges filed, Judge Michael Beale sentenced the defendants. Clark was charged with attempted delivery or manufacture of marijuana, as well as being a second offender, and sentenced to one day in jail with credit for time served, a small suspended fine, and eighteen months of probation. Timothy Northrup was charged with delivery or manufacture of a controlled substance and sentenced to five days in jail, credited one day for time served, $1,250 in fines, and one year of probation. Brenda was given a misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession and made to pay a fine of $1,250.