Pot industry ranks second in GDP contribution
A B.C. magazine now places the province’s marijuana industry in second place for its contribution to the B.C. gross domestic project.

BC Business magazine said recently that it now is in second place ahead of the forest sector and behind construction.

Forest Minister Rich Coleman reacted to the announcement by saying, “There’s nothing a ministry can do to change a marketplace.”

BC Business places the provincial marijuana industry at $7.5-billion with a labour force of over 250,000.

Eric Nash of Valley-based cannabis company, Island Harvest, reacted to the news by saying, “More than 156,000 people in British Columbia use marijuana for health purposes. Thousands of unemployed B.C. forest workers could become gainfully employed in the well-established cannabis industry.”

Island Harvest has been distributing and selling medical marijuana to customers for the past six years under federal licensing from Ottawa.

Wendy Little, his partner in Island Harvest, added, “Provincially licensed operations in B.C. have been supplying marijuana to thousands of people for over 10 years now. It’s time to integrate cannabis sensibly into our economy.”

Legally-licenced growers, Little and Nash have called upon the B.C. government to implement provincial policy and declare the cannabis production sector a renewable and sustainable health based industry to create employment and economic growth.

The economics of marijuana and hemp are likely to be the deciding factors in overturning adult marijuana prohibition in North America.  With farmers needing a cash crop, drivers needing biodiesel fuels, people needing affordable medicines, the world needing sustainable food and ecologically-friendly fiber crops, and governments straining to balance budgets, the prohibition of cannabis will soon become a money-losing proposition, even compared to the profits some industries make from prohibition.

Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2008-05-14

It’s Wednesday, May 14th and it’s 4:20 somewhere in the world. I’m your host, “Radical” Russ Belville.

Don’t forget to call your Congress and tell them to support HR5842 & HR5843 to end DEA raids in medical marijuana states and to legalize personal possession of marijuana. The number is 202-224-3121.

If you have a product that you would like to market to the cannabis community, you can advertise on the Daily Audio Stash. Your ad will be focused on exactly the customer base you’re seeking out; the thousands of responsible cannabis consumers who download and listen to this show. Our listeners are educated consumers who want to support the businesses that support the growing truth about cannabis, and we deliver the advertising freedom you won’t find on radio, TV, or print ads. To advertise on the Daily Audio Stash, send us an email at stash @ norml.org.

Wednesday is Cannabis Science day on the Stash, and coming up after the news, we’re joined as always by Dr. Mitch Earleywine from the State University of New York at Albany. Dr. Mitch is here to talk about the latest quack science report making the rounds courtesy of the Drug Czar – the idea that heavy marijuana use leads to teen depression.

Cannabis Karri brings us our musical break this hempday humpday with some Hawaiian hip-hop from a group called Amphibeus Tungs… voted by the staff of the Daily Audio Stash our favorite new band name. Their song is a relaxing beach number called “Smoke that Feelen” – ah, pakalolo and a white sand beach…

Then we’re speaking with Dr. Melanie Dreher, a researcher at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Dreher led one of the most definitive studies on the effects of cannabis smoking on pregnant women and their children. We’ll ask her about American courts in the news lately that have convicted new mothers of child abuse when their babies test positive for marijuana.

Don’t forget that it’s not too late to enter our latest “Pass the Stash” contest. You could win a free DVD from Suburban Noize Records’ rappers Kingspade. Stay tuned for details later in the podcast

Welcome to the show, load up your George W. Bong and sit back with your favorite strain… This is your NORML Daily Audio Stash.

Welcome to hump day/hemp day on your daily stash. Today we have the AMPHIBEUS TUNGS with their feel good track, “Smoke that Feelen”. Maybe it’s because the Amphibeus Tungs are from Hawaii, but this hip hop track is as relaxing as Indica on a white sand beach. Or maybe it’s because this group has two Jays (two Jays are always better than one!). Founded by Beau Sun, Quest Eons and Doc. Platypus and welcoming turntabalists Pazess One and Jai Freedom Lewis with DJ Jay Peace Pipe and One Chef Strum, these guys groove just as much as they rhyme. I love the vibe that the Tungs lay down on this track, it is the perfect song to groove us through the week. This is one you will want to add to your basement party mix tape! Mahalo and Aloha!

Amphibeus Tungs
“Smoke that Feelen” (mp3)
from “Subliminal Freedom Vol. 1″
(Subliminal Freedom Records)

More On This Album

Senator Barack Obama is campaigning here in my home state of Oregon. Our primary is May 20th and he is expected to win handily and capture the majority of the pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Our local weekly paper caught up with him to ask some “Oregon specific” questions, like timber, liquified natural gas plants, and, of course, medical marijuana:

Willamette Week | “Six Minutes With Barack” | May 14th, 2008 Would you stop the Drug Enforcement Administration’s raids on Oregon medical marijuana grows?

“I would because I think our federal agents have better things to do, like catching criminals and preventing terrorism. The way I want to approach the issue of medical marijuana is to base it on science. And if there is sound science that supports the use of medical marijuana and if it is controlled and prescribed in a way that other medicine is prescribed, then it’s something we should consider.”

Middle class relaxing with marijuana
A variety of middle-class people are making a conscious but careful choice to use marijuana to enhance their leisure activities, a University of Alberta study shows.

A qualitative study of 41 Canadians surveyed in 2005-06 by U of A researchers showed that there is no such thing as a ‘typical’ marijuana user, but that people of all ages are selectively lighting up the drug as a way to enhance activities ranging from watching television and playing sports to having sex, painting or writing.

The study was published recently in the journal Substance Use and Misuse.

The focus was on adult users who were employed, ranging in age from 21 to 61, including 25 men and 16 women from Alberta, Quebec, Ontario and Newfoundland whose use of the drug ranged from daily to once or twice a year. They were predominantly middle class and worked in the retail and service industries, in communications, as white-collar employees, or as health-care and social workers. As well, 68 per cent of the users held post-secondary degrees, while another 11 survey participants had earned their high school diplomas.

The study also found that the participants considered themselves responsible users of the drug, defined by moderate use in an appropriate social setting and not allowing it to cause harm to others.

The findings should open the way for further scientific exploration into widespread use of marijuana, and government policies should move towards decriminalization and eventual legalization of the drug, the study recommends.

The cannabis community is a minority group that spans all social, economic, religious, racial, and national boundaries.  There is no “typical” marijuana user any more than there is a “typical” oxygen breather.

Eyewitness News WPRI / FOX Providence - Providence, Rhode Island News, Weather, Traffic and Sports | Senate sends medical marijuana bill back to committee
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A bill expanding Rhode Island’s medical marijuana program hits a roadblock in the General Assembly.

The Senate voted 33-2 yesterday to send the proposal back to committee. The bill would allow up to three nonprofit stores in the state to sell marijuana to patients enrolled in Rhode Island’s medical marijuana program.

The state allows patients to possess marijuana for pain relief, but the drug is still illegal under federal law.

Senator Rhoda Perry, the bill’s sponsor, asked the Senate to halt the bill after it was amended to ban patients from smoking marijuana in motor vehicles or in front of other people.

Perry says the amendment insults chronically ill patients who use marijuana for pain relief.

Perhaps there is an argument to be made for preventing the use of medical marijuana in a motor vehicle.  NORML always cautions against smoking and driving, and even if the patient isn’t the person driving, I can see how it would be important from a law enforcement and public safety perspective to prevent any marijuana smoking in a car.

The offensive part is not being allowed to smoke “in front of other people”.  That’s far too broad a wording; here in Oregon, patients aren’t allowed to medicate “in public view”.  But “in front of other people” could be the patient’s own friends or family in their own private residence or a hospital or a hospice.  It is an insult, because it treats marijuana smoking as if it is a shameful act that must be hidden from other.  We don’t require people on Vicodin, Percocet, or OxyContin to swallow their pills without anyone present, why would we require the same of medical cannabis?