Free Republic

ST. PETERSBURG — The bishop was not amused. Not with the video of one of his priests — complete with clerical collar — advocating gratitude for marijuana. "Now, thanking God for weed might feel a little awkward at first," says the Rev. Chris Schuller — a former rector at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church in the Snell Isle neighborhood — in the short video that's punctuated with the reggae rhythms of Bob Marley. "Thanking God is going to feel so much better than throwing stones at people who are already stoned," he says. But Bishop Dabney Smith, head of the Episcopal...

For the first time, the General Social Survey -- a large, national survey conducted every two years and widely considered to represent the gold standard for public opinion research -- shows a majority of Americans favoring the legalization of marijuana. In interviews conducted between March and October of last year -- when the legal marijuana markets in Colorado and Washington were ramping up -- researchers asked 1,687 respondents the following question: "Do you think the use of marijuana should be made legal or not?" Fifty-two percent said pot should be legalized, 42 percent opposed it, and another 7 percent were...

The lawsuit brought against the state claims sheriffs are faced with a "crisis of conscience" A group of sheriffs will file a lawsuit Thursday against Colorado for its legal marijuana law. The lawsuit says legalizing pot on a state level while it’s still illegal on a federal one creates a “crisis of conscience,” USA Today reports. Colorado is “asking every peace officer to violate their oath,” Larimer County, Colo., Sheriff Justin Smith, the lead plaintiff in the suit, said. “What we’re being forced to do … makes me ineligible for office. Which constitution are we supposed to uphold?”

A South Florida man charged with growing marijuana he claims he needs for a medical condition was found not guilty Monday. Jesse Teplicki, 50, had been charged with manufacturing cannabis and was facing up to five years behind bars. "This case is about medical marijuana and for the hundreds of thousands of patients who can use this medicine as an alternative," Teplicki said. It took jurors just 30 minutes to return the verdict.

Utah is considering a bill that would allow patients with certain debilitating conditions to be treated with edible forms of marijuana. If the bill passes, the state's wildlife may "cultivate a taste" for the plant, lose their fear of humans, and basically be high all the time. That's according to testimony presented to a Utah Senate panel (time stamp 58:00) last week by an agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration. "I deal in facts. I deal in science," said special agent Matt Fairbanks, who's been working in the state for a decade. He is member of the "marijuana eradication" team...

On March 3, 1845 congress overrode a presidential veto for the first time. Congress reined in President John Tyler’s zealous use of the presidential veto. Congress is finally asserting itself over Obama but he says he will be too busy to be any part of it. I wonder how he will spend the day? Thoughts

A majority of young Republican voters support legalizing marijuana, even as older GOP members still believe it would be a danger to society, according to a new study. The Pew Research Center found in a recent study that nearly two-thirds of Republican millennials, 63 percent, believe pot should be legalized. Millennials include those born since 1981.

Everyone in Colorado may get a pot tax refund Thanks to Colorado's new pot tax and a quirky state law, residents may get a special one-time tax refund next year. The total could be about $59 million. That's how much the state expects to collect from taxes on the sale of recreational marijuana, which Colorado legalized last year. Some of that money was slated for schools, but it may go back into taxpayers' pockets instead. The reason for the refund: Colorado is expected to collect more in total tax revenue than it thought it would this year. That's not permitted...

Investors in small cannabis companies lost $23.3 billion in 2014 because shady stock promoters are capitalizing on the slow tide of legalization in the US by manipulating the penny stock market with “pump and dump” schemes. Penny stocks are stocks in small companies that trade for less than five dollars apiece. They’re quoted and traded on dealer networks like OTC Markets because they don’t meet the requirements to be traded on more formal exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange. They’re also extremely volatile. Shady stock promoters capitalize on this volatility by convincing others to buy stock in worthless companies...

The Justice Department's announcement in December that it would allow the nation's Indian tribes to legalize and regulate marijuana on their reservations brought notes of caution — if not silence or opposition — from many tribes. They were reluctant given the substance-abuse problems that already plague many reservations.

Art Class Allows You To Smoke Pot And Paint February 19, 2015 marijuana art class puff pass paint Students in this cannabis-friendly art class paint and smoke marijuana with their fellow artists.

A would-be Republican presidential nominee has changed his mind on marijuana. Sen. Ted Cruz said he supports Colorado’s state rights to keep marijuana legalized without federal interference during an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity at Thursday’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). “I actually think this is a great embodiment of what Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis called ‘the laboratories of democracy,’” Cruz said. “If the citizens of Colorado decide they want to go down that road, that’s their prerogative. I personally don’t agree with it, but that’s their right.” Cruz’s comments at CPAC bring him in line with...

Marijuana is much safer than alcohol or tobacco, according to a new study Marijuana is roughly 114 times less deadly than alcohol, according to recent findings published in the journal Scientific Reports. Of the seven drugs included in the study, alcohol was the deadliest at an individual level, followed by heroin, cocaine, tobacco, ecstasy, methamphetamines, and marijuana. Previous studies consistently ranked marijuana as the safest recreational drug, but it was not known that the discrepancy was this large. The researchers determined the mortality risk by comparing a lethal dose of each substance with the amount typically used. Not only was...

More than two years after Coloradans voted to allow recreational marijuana use, the state’s residents continue to stand firmly behind keeping the drug legal, a new poll found. The survey, commissioned by Quinnipiac University, found that 58 percent of Colorado voters support keeping pot legal, while only 38 percent are against it. The result featured significant gender and age disparities. Voters ages 18 to 34 favored it overwhelmingly, 82-16 percent, while 50 percent of those ages 55 and older were against it, with only 46 percent in support. Likewise, men supported the measure by a margin of 63-33, while women...

Two powerful House Republicans late Tuesday warned D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser not to move forward with legalizing marijuana in the nation’s capital and they warned of stiff federal retribution if the city’s chief executive did not yield. The letter came on the same day that Bowser declared that a voter-approved measure to legalize pot would become law in the city at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday and the letter set the stage for a dramatic final 24 hours before that deadline. “If you decide to move forward tomorrow with the legalization of marijuana in the District, you will be doing...

A law to legalize marijuana in the District will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, unless Congress steps in at the last minute. As a result, D.C. police officers will begin carrying business card-sized summaries of the new rules, which were publicly explained Tuesday and will be part of a public education campaign. The law -- which was approved by voters last fall -- will permit possession of small amounts of marijuana by those ages 21 or older, with consumption allowed only in private homes and space.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Smoking, growing and possessing marijuana becomes legal in America’s wildest state Tuesday, thanks to a voter initiative aimed at clearing away 40 years of conflicting laws and court rulings. Making Alaska the third state to legalize recreational marijuana was the goal of a coalition including libertarians, rugged individualists and small-government Republicans who prize the privacy rights enshrined in the state’s constitution....

Tomorrow, Feb. 24th, will mark a major step forward in the implementation of Alaska’s marijuana legalization law, as personal cultivation, possession, and consumption become legal. Last November, Alaskans voted 53-47% in favor of marijuana legalization, making it the first “red” state to pass such a law. “First Colorado and Washington, now Alaska and Oregon – and all with levels of support higher than the winning candidates for governor and U.S. Senate achieved in those states,” said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. “Legalizing marijuana just makes sense now to voters across the political spectrum and – as...

PENSACOLA — A small, Alabama-based Indian tribe that wants to expand its casinos into the Sunshine State might adopt a hardball negotiating stance: Let us offer gambling in a few Florida locations, or we could consider growing and selling marijuana on our property. The prospect of selling pot is just one "what if" scenario that tribal leaders say is possible. But what the Poarch Creek Band of Indians want now is for Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-controlled Legislature to take them seriously and approve a compact with the tribe that would allow a casino.

PENSACOLA — A small, Alabama-based Indian tribe that wants to expand its casinos into the Sunshine State might adopt a hardball negotiating stance: Let us offer gambling in a few Florida locations, or we could consider growing and selling marijuana on our property. The prospect of selling pot is just one "what if" scenario that tribal leaders say is possible. But what the Poarch Creek Band of Indians want now is for Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-controlled Legislature to take them seriously and approve a compact with the tribe that would allow a casino....