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For the International Church of Cannabis in Denver, there were three reasons to celebrate on Thursday. First, it was opening day. The church, a more than century-old building recently adorned with brightly colored paintings by the artists Kenny Scharf and Okuda San Miguel, welcomed the public early in the afternoon, at which time no cannabis consumption was allowed inside. “It seemed to be a nice steady flow of people,” said Lee Molloy, a founder of the church and a member, who estimated that a couple of hundred people had come by.

Today is April 20th 2017, its 4/20. As in 4:20. Weed, Cush, pot, Marijuana hemp, Canibis, whatever you want to call it. I didn't want to write an article today since I personally am against recreational marijuana usage though I believe it should be up to states on whether or not to allow it. Today I thought, why not talk about it since its now legal in most of New England? Soon to be legal everywhere in New England I am also certain... Three states have legalized marijuna for recreational useage: Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont. Well its not quite that...

This Thursday, April 20, marks the annual unofficial holiday celebrated around the world by marijuana users. And this year, "4/20" will be observed while America's burgeoning legal cannabis industry sits at a crossroads. Public opinion polls indicate that support for marijuana legalization is at an all-time high in the U.S., and November's election saw four new states vote to legalize recreational cannabis while another four states legalized medical pot. As a result, a majority of the U.S. population lives in a state with some access to legal marijuana. However, cannabis remains illegal on the federal level, and the new administration...

Activists behind some of the nation’s most attention-grabbing recent cannabis activism plan to give about a pound of marijuana – rolled into 1,227 joints – to congressional staff Thursday to urge reform on the annual 4/20 marijuana holiday. That is, if anyone shows up to get it near the corner of 1st Street NE and Constitution Avenue, a stone's throw from Senate office buildings and the Supreme Court. Organizers aren’t sure many congressional ID-holders will accept their two free joints between “high noon” and 6:20 p.m. – despite an effort to distribute fliers to every lawmaker’s Capitol Hill office and...

Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Sunday that marijuana is "not a factor" in the war on drugs and that solving the nation's drug problem does not involve "arresting a lot of users." Kelly, appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," was discussing his work to stop the flow of drugs into the United States from Central America and Mexico when host Chuck Todd asked whether legalizing marijuana would help or hurt his work. "Yeah, marijuana is not a factor in the drug war," Kelly responded, adding later: "It's three things. Methamphetamine. Almost all produced in Mexico. Heroin. Virtually...

Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, the two-time Libertarian Party presidential candidate, says he’s lost faith in the electoral process and vowed never to run again. He will now focus all his efforts on legalizing marijuana. Govs. Johnson and Weld became the first ticket of any party to feature two governors since the 1948 presidential election and ended up receiving nearly 4.5 million votes nationally, far more than his 2012 popular vote total. While still not a viable electoral force, the 2016 presidential election marked the Libertarian Party’s most successful presidential run to date and the most successful third-party candidacy...

UVALDE — Court records released Tuesday bolstered reports that Jack D. Young was texting before crashing his pickup into a small church bus March 29 on U.S. 83, killing 13 people, and also reveal that he had earlier consumed prescription pills and was in possession of marijuana. The northbound 2007 Dodge pickup driven by Young, 20, of Leakey, crossed the highway’s center line on a curve and hit the bus carrying 14 congregants of the First Baptist Church of New Braunfels home from a retreat. Only one bus passenger survived. A neighbor later reported that Young had driven that morning...

**SNIP** Growers often use empty containers like this to store toxic chemicals. In the previous year, every Gatorade bottle Gabriel and his team found at grow sites tested positive for carbofuran, a neurotoxic insecticide that is so nasty it has been banned in the U.S., Canada and the EU. Farmers in Kenya have used it to kill lions. Symptoms of exposure range from nausea and blurred vision to convulsions, spontaneous abortions, and death. “They just leave these sitting around,” Gabriel says as he carefully swabs the bottle.

An Iredell County (NC) mom and her boyfriend were arrested after her 14-year-old took marijuana candy to West Iredell Middle School and gave some to at least three other students, authorities said Monday. Samantha Braaksma, 36, and her boyfriend, Joshua White, 31, were charged and jailed after sheriff’s investigators went to their home in rural Stony Point on Thursday and found numerous bags of marijuana and marijuana candy in their bedroom and bathroom, Sheriff Darren Campbell said. The stash totaled 1.94 pounds. Samantha Braaksma Iredell County Sheriff’s Office Braaksma’s 16-year-old son, Ethan Aldridge, also was arrested after deputies found 14...

Canada's set to legalize marijuana nationwide on July 1, 2018 Marijuana will be legal for all Canadians over the age of 18 by July 1, 2018, CBC News reports, marking Canada's 151st birthday in style. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party will officially announce the plan on April 10. The legislation is expected to easily pass through Parliament, as it holds support from major political parties both to the right, and left of Trudeau's Liberals. As well, a majority of Canadians support legalizing marijuana, according to a recent poll from NRG Research Group. The plan follows the recommendations laid out...

The population of Denver has been steadily growing over the past few years, but not enough of its new inhabitants want to work in the restaurant industry. The reason? The higher-paying jobs are in weed, man. New eateries are popping up all over Denver to meet the increased demand of residents and tourists, but restaurant owners claim they’re having a hard time filling their kitchens with able-bodied workers, Bloomberg reports. “Our work force is being drained by the pot industry,” Denver restaurateur Bryan Dayton told the site. “Enter the weed business, which pays $22 an hour with full benefits,” added...

The poor pooch was captured leaning up against a door in the vets after allegedly ingesting cannabisA dog owner captured the moment her pet pooched got 'stoned' after apparently eating a joint while out on a walk. The poor pooch was barely unable to stand on all fours in the vet's waiting room after reportedly ingesting cannabis . In the clip, posted by the dog's owner Chloe O'Neill , from Glasgow, the canine leans his nose up against a door and appears to be completely unaware of his surroundings. At one point in the footage, the dog flinches at nothing...

ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA (CNN) - Inside a factory near this lakeside city, a man holding a blowtorch is putting the finishing touches on a plastic rain barrel that will soon make its way to a home and garden section somewhere in America. He is Talib Alzamel, a 45-year-old Syrian refugee who arrived here last summer with his wife and five children. He can't speak much English, but neither can most of the 40 refugees who work at Sterling Technologies, a plastic molding company based near the shores of Lake Erie. They earn $8-14 an hour. The refugees at Sterling come from...

Proponents and opponents of legalizing pot in Illinois are firing up their talking points after a proposal to legalize the sale of weed for recreational purposes sprouted up this week. Opponents of legalizing, regulating and taxing pot say they don’t care how much revenue it could generate for Illinois’ failed finances. Amendments to bills in the House and Senate this week would allow for the sale of recreational marijuana with a $50 tax per ounce. That would be on top of any sales tax. Supporters says it could generate hundreds of millions of dollars a year for the state. Democratic...

Illinois, one of the nation’s most populous states, could soon join the ranks of the limited few with recreational weed following the filing Wednesday of proposed pro-pot legislation in the state House and Senate. Democrats proposed identical bills in both chambers that would legalize the use, cultivation and distribution of marijuana and establish a framework for taxing and regulating the plant, potentially making the Land of Lincoln the next state to skirt the federal prohibition on pot. Senate Bill 316 and an amendment to House Bill 2353 would let adults 21 and over harvest weed and have up to 28...

Welfare reform has been a high priority for Republicans and conservatives for many years, and now that President Donald Trump is in the White House, the possibility of such reform is finally feasible. In what was quite possibly the opening salvo on welfare leeches, Trump was ready to sign a bill passed by Congress that would allow states to perform drug tests on those applying for unemployment benefits, WITI reported. Under President Barack Obama, states weren’t allowed to test applicants for drugs unless they were applying for a job that already had mandatory drug testing. However, there’s a new sheriff...

The vast majority of federal sentences for marijuana crimes went to Hispanics last year, according to new data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Hispanics were widely overrepresented with 77 percent of federal marijuana sentences, despite making up less than 20 percent of the U.S. population. Non-Hispanic whites were dramatically underrepresented, with 11.9 percent of pot sentences, and African-Americans were also underrepresented with 8.3 percent.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli government voted on Sunday in favor of decriminalizing recreational marijuana use, joining some U.S. states and European countries who have adopted a similar approach. "On the one hand we are opening ourselves up to the future. On the other hand, we understand the dangers and will try to balance the two," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet in broadcast remarks. According to the new policy, which must still be ratified by parliament, people caught smoking marijuana would be fined rather than arrested and prosecuted. Criminal procedures would be launched only against those caught repeatedly...

Israel’s Cabinet voted to decriminalize recreational use of marijuana. The cabinet voted on the policy at its regular meeting on Sunday. An inter-ministerial committee will now create legislation in order to implement the new policy, which still must be ratified by the Knesset. Thecommittee will present its recommendations to the government by May 7. The proposal was submitted by Minister for Public Security Gilad Erdan of the Likud Party and Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked of the Jewish Home Party. “The government’s approval is an important step on the way to implement the new policy, which will emphasize public information...

The significant 18.4 percent increase in intercepted marijuana packages comes after two years of declines that appeared to dash expectations of doom among pot legalization opponents. Non-marijuana drug mail, by contrast, increased 11.6 percent last year. The latest annual numbers come at a sensitive time for the cannabis industry. Federal law continues to ban almost all pot possession, and recent comments from White House spokesman Sean Spicer and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have aroused fear that the Trump administration may abandon the Obama-era approach of empowering states to pursue their own policies.