The benefits of legalizing medical marijuana are many—but few would expect that reducing the probability of obesity would be one of them.

Researchers at San Diego State University and Cornell University found that states that legalize pot experience a "two percent to six percent decline in the probability of obesity." The counterintuitive study was recently published in the journal Health Economics.

Using renewable agricultural materials to make industrial products is not a new trend; in fact, Chemist Dr. William J. Hale coined the term "chemurgy" in 1934 to refer to this practice.Industrial hemp played a valuable role in the 20th century’s chemurgy movement, and today it has the opportunity to do so once again.

The Birth of the “Chemurgic” Movement

Revered as the father of chemurgy, George Washington Carver believed that every human need could be met by synthesizing materials from things that grow, and that hundreds of products like ink and fuel could be manufactured from everyday crops.

The distinction between illegal drugs and legal pursuits such as alcohol, gambling and cigarettes is irrational.

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How did we get into this bind about drugs?

Smoking cigarettes is enjoyed by a lot of people but it is very harmful to smokers and to others. We know we cannot eliminate smoking by making it a crime. So we reduce the harm by regulating sale and by other measures, such as public campaigns to persuade people to give up smoking, restrictions on advertising, treatment for addiction and so on.

Fed up of digging around for their plastic-wrapped drug of choice and rolling papers, two women designed odour-blocking bags and clutches with pockets for pipes and other paraphernalia

The idea came to the two friends because “we are fashionable women of means” who cared that all the stuff in their lives - the shoes, handbags, clothes, sunglasses - properly reflected who they are.

Their accessories spoke of their professional success and their grown-up sophistication. And it had become incredibly aggravating to have to pull out little plastic bags and dig around for a crumpled package of rolling paper every time they wanted to smoke a joint. There had to be a better way.

You probably don't need me to tell you that smoking anything while you're pregnant isn't recommended. Inhaling smoke into your lungs (whether that's cigarette smoke, marijuana smoke, or even bonfire smoke) is never going to be considered healthy. Period. Smoke caused from the combustion of marijuana is still filled with toxins and carcinogens — and inhaling toxins and carcinogens hurts your lungs and the fetus.

Chile and Uruguay have taken significant steps recently to advance their particular cannabis markets.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet signed a decree that licenses the sale of cannabis-derived medicines at pharmacies, and removes marijuana from the country’s list of hard drugs. The decree hasn’t been released formally, but the Associated Press acquired a copy Friday.

Still, the planting, selling and carrying marijuana without a specific medical sanction as part of Chile’s MMJ pilot program continues to be unlawful and carries prison terms of 5-10 years.

Consumers have a wide selection of hemp based food and cosmetics, but regulations and scientific information have not kept up.

Commercial hemp production was not allowed for many years because it was confused with other types of cannabis, and authorities did not want products with high levels of the intoxicant tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), said Daniel Kruse of Hemp International in Germany, which sells seeds, hulled nuts, oil, cosmetics and hemp garments.

Canada lifted its ban in 1998 with a set of regulations on allowable limits of THC. The European Union also allows hemp cultivation, but there are inconsistencies across the region when it comes to THC levels in food products.

As Washington on Sunday marks the third year of legal recreational marijuana, monthly sales have grown from about $3 million to more than $57 million in November.

Nov. 25 – the day before Thanksgiving – was a record day at the state’s 188 recreational pot stores.

That day, some $3.5 million worth of marijuana and marijuana-infused products were sold, according to the state Liquor and Cannabis Board, which tracks sales and tax collections. That’s almost $500,000 more than any previous day’s sales, and about $1 million higher than the daily sales average for the last three months.

Whether that means more people were relaxed for a holiday dinner with family or more out-of-state guests were testing out the novelty of buying legal marijuana isn’t clear.

One of these vape pens contains Blue Dream sativa cannabis oil, 91% THC, the other is Hindu Kush indica cannabis oil, 85% THC and the spare cartridge has the dregs of some New York City Diesel sativa, 85% THC.  You can’t tell which is which to look at them but each has a distinctive flavour and effect.  They’re not completely odour free but almost.

This is the future of cannabis as a consumer product.  It is cleaner, neater, handier, healthier and better for you than raw herbal cannabis. Most importantly, for medicinal applications, it homogenises all the compounds into an oil of consistent quality and content meaning that dosage and effect at last becomes predictable and reliable.

High CBD Oil For Medical Use

COLUMBIA — When Sheila Dundon began chemotherapy treatments to combat breast cancer in 2007, she experienced all the side effects she'd seen in patients as a registered nurse. She felt the shooting pains, the pale-in-the-face nausea, the unwillingness to get out of bed each morning.

One symptom she didn't expect was fuzzy-headedness, the sense that her brain was trapped in an egg beater. Her psychiatrist pointed out that all those anti-depressants she was taking might have led to a mental condition called serotonin syndrome.

Off the record, he told her that marijuana could help. Asked how she got it in a state where it’s still criminalized, Dundon called it a “gift from God.”