More people around the world are being arrested for cannabis every day. While places such as the United States, Canada, Uruguay, and others have legal access to marijuana there are still places where people are being arrested and serving considerable amounts of their life behind bars because of cannabis. Even in the United States of America where over half the country has legal access to medical marijuana individuals are still arrested on a daily basis for simple possession. Some people are arrested for growing these plants and end up serving lengthy sentences behind bars.
The United States is not the only place that feels the wrath of prohibition. A waiter from Poland was arrested for growing an estimated 120 marijuana plants using a sophisticated setup that would allow for multiple commercial grows. Police arrested 30-year-old Robert Knopek. He will be serving the next two-and-a-half years of his life behind bars for having a hundred and twelve female plants and 9 seedlings in his possession. The estimated street value of these plants was between £44,500 and £96,000.
Robert will now serve time in prison with a multitude of violent criminals. Until this arrest Robert had had no criminal background. He had never been in any kind of trouble but now he’ll face the next 30 months of his life in a prison cell all because he grew a harmless plant. Marijuana has 0 deaths link to it directly ever in recorded history and harms no one. In fact, it saves lives.
This arrest is just one of many that happen every day that result in someone’s life being ruined over a plant. It is the time that marijuana was decriminalized around the globe so that people have safe, legal access to a natural medication that they can grow in their own homes.
image credit: royalqueenseeds

4.3 million euros of cannabis was discovered inside of a container of frozen meat from France. Authorities uncovered an estimated 215 kilograms of cured ready to sale cannabis. There are many different ways that individuals will smuggle cannabis into countries. The best way to eliminate drug trafficking and smuggling of marijuana altogether is to legalize marijuana. There have been zero deaths ever recorded in history directly linked to marijuana. It is, in fact, a valuable medication for a multitude of conditions.
Currently, countries around the world are re-evaluating their marijuana laws realizing that the war on drugs or the attempted eradication of marijuana was a feeble mistake started by the United States federal government. Many of these countries are no longer supporting these lies as it makes them look extremely foolish. United States politicians do not care who suffers as long as they are making money. Other countries are starting to realize that marijuana prohibition was a campaign built on lies.
However, it makes me wonder how authorities put a price on cannabis like this. On average anyone buying marijuana in any kind of bulk rate can get a pound of top-quality cannabis for $2,200. This is actually a very high price if you are buying say 215 kilograms or 473 pounds of pot at one time. At $2,200 a pound, 215 kilograms of marijuana would only come up to 1.27 million euros, not 4 million euros like what was reported. Apparently, a pound of marijuana in France goes for $6,000 roughly according to reports issued by media outlets such as the Irish Times.
It is crazy the things that people do to smuggle cannabis into a country but this is nothing new. People have had to come up with some pretty crazy ways to conceal cannabis due to the draconian prohibition that has plagued many parts of the world for almost a century now.
Image Source: Revenue

In Wallasey, a small quiet town in a metropolitan Borough called Wirral, located along the northeastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula, a cannabis farm worth an estimated £1.6 million was discovered. This quaint town has an estimated population close to 60,000 people. While on routine monitoring of the community authorities uncovered what they call a substantial factory. A two-story flat was home to more than 400 growing cannabis plants.
In fact, officers were said to have recovered 415 plants at the Rake Lane property located in Wallasey. The sad side beyond the loss of medicine to the people is the misinformed authorities who continue to lead a failed War on Drugs started by the United States Federal Administration. You would think that in today’s world people would have the intelligence level to develop opinions of their own and that countries would not be willing to support campaigns based on lies. Chief Inspector Paul Sutcliffe made some valid points and some very misinformed ones as well. “Cannabis cultivation by criminal gangs can cause serious harm in our communities.” This is a statement that holds truth. Nobody wants gangs of any sort in their community.
With marijuana legalization in place in the state of Colorado, for example, violent crime has seen a significant reduction along with prescription drug abuse, teenage marijuana consumption, and fatal accidents. When you legalize cannabis it seems as if the criminal element once associated with it, is removed.
Now Chief Inspector Paul Sutcliffe made a good point there, but really showed a considerable amount of misinformation by saying “Our communities can help us stop these groups, who are only interested in making money, from turning houses and flats into potential deathtraps.”
Cannabis is in no way deadly. The only negative side to cannabis operations is when individuals do not properly set up the lighting system and monitoring equipment. In legal environments, cannabis operations are not only safe but they also help produce much-needed clean oxygen amongst other attributes. The marijuana plants seized from the Rake Lane location were being grown in a sea of green method. This method requires attention to detail and the setup was very professional not putting anyone in danger such as was stated the Chief Inspector. The investigation into this matter is ongoing and no arrests have been made at this time.
image credit: liverpoolecho.co.uk

Teen marijuana consumption is dropping dramatically in states that have legalized marijuana. Colorado is a shining star example when it comes to studying the effects of marijuana legalization on teenagers. As it has been so elegantly put, Colorado teenagers are stubbornly refusing to smoke more marijuana. It is as if they are protesting saying I don’t want anything to do with that stuff because all the old people are doing it.
States that have legalized marijuana are getting more than benefits and just tax dollars they are getting benefits of having happier, healthier, more productive citizens. Teenagers that used to run off to smoke a joint because it was cool are no longer doing this. Recreational cannabis consumption just must not seem as cool when it is understood by your elders and accepted as some might say. Those who live in Colorado, however, would say that it is because of education programs that are funded with cannabis tax dollar revenue.
Through the tax dollars that Colorado received from cannabis sales it does more than just fund schools with the necessary tools and equipment our children need in order to succeed in their education, they also have excellent early prevention and deterrent advertising. Basically, cannabis legalization is breaking the stereotypes across the board. Colorado is a go to state for statistics. Prescription drug overdoses are down, accident fatalities on the roads are down, teenage marijuana consumption is down, tax revenue for the state is at an all-time high, job growth is at an all-time high, and the list goes on.
One of the biggest questions that prohibitionists have against legalization is “what about the kids?” Well, the answer is clear. The kids are doing just fine, in fact they are doing even better because their schools are fully funded, they have options for scholarships, they are receiving accurate information pertaining to cannabis, and they are choosing not to utilize it as adolescents!
image credit: bigstockphoto.com

For many people, cannabis consumption is a very spiritual activity. In fact, cannabis has been part of religious festivities and practices for centuries. The First Cannabis Church of Logic and Reason in Michigan has announced that they will be holding their first-ever service this Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. The service will be held at 918 Southland Avenue in Lansing Michigan.
The inaugural service will be led by a 34-year-old ordained minister by the name of Jeremy Hall, who is also a registered medical marijuana patient in the state of Michigan. During the service constituents will pass around a roach collection jar for medical marijuana patients in need. There will also be a potluck picnic before the service. They have asked that anyone who is attending to please bring a dish, drink, or dessert whether it is medicated or not to pass around and share with others.
The inaugural service is expected to have a turnout of at least 40 individuals and will be held inside of the Lansing Herbal Farmers Market. The First Cannabis Church of Logic and Reason plans to hold weekly services at the same location for the foreseeable future. Jeremy Hall the ordained minister that will be leading the services stated that what he is hoping to accomplish in the long run is to “provide a place where people can be spiritual but can also feel safe to take any of their medication.’
Michigan voted in 2008 to allow for the use of medical marijuana for some illnesses. The city of Lansing has been selected for service due to lenient cannabis laws that allow for anyone over the age of 21 to consume and possess up to one ounce of cannabis on private property. Due to this fact, there should be no legal issues for anyone in attendance this Sunday or moving forward.
image credit: obnoxioustelevision.com

66 applications have been received by the Hawaii State Dept. of Health from applicants looking to acquire a Medical Marijuana Dispensary License. However, there are only eight licenses available. For applications to be reviewed by the Hawaii State Dept. of Health, those filing the applications were required to provide documentation that proves they are in complete compliance with all administrative and statutory requirements. This requirement applied to individual applicants as well as business entities applying for licenses. The 66 applications that were received have been reviewed, evaluated and scored by a 4-member selection panel according to a report released on Friday by the DOH.
Each applicant was scored based on 13 merit criteria. Each criterion could yield 40 points total, ten from each panel member. The maximum score that could be received was 520 points. Of the 66 applications scored, none of them received a perfect 520, and only one exceeded a score of 500 which was Maui Wellness Group, LLC, who scored a 510.  The eight Medical Marijuana Dispensary licenses have been awarded to the following 8 entities based on the reviews and scores provided by the selection panel members.

1. Aloha Green Holdings Inc.
2. Manoa Botanicals LLC
3. TCG Retro Market 1, LLC dba Cure Oahu
4. Hawaiian Ethos LLC
5. Lau Ola LLC
6. Maui Wellness Group, LLC
7. Pono Life Sciences Maui, LLC
8. Green Aloha, Ltd.

You can review a complete list of all entities that submitted an application and that were reviewed by the selection panel here.  The licensees have been working directly with the Hawaii Dept. of Health to ensure that they remain in compliance with all regulations and can open the doors to their dispensaries as soon as possible and begin to provide the much needed medicine to medical marijuana patients in the state.