WASHINGTON –  A California lawmaker is pushing to get rid of the Drug Enforcement Administration's pot eradication program, arguing it's fiscally irresponsible to spend millions burning up marijuana plants at a time when several states are legalizing the drug. 

Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat, proposed an amendment to a fiscal 2016 spending bill that would cut the DEA's $18 million budget for the program in half. It would redirect $9 million to fund programs that help children who are victims of domestic and sexual abuse.

“Next year, I will bring another amendment to eliminate the program completely,” Lieu said in a written statement. 

HAYWARD, Calif. (KGO) --

Hayward police have discovered a massive 44,000 square foot marijuana factory. Authorities say the value of the 13,000 plants seized is around $15 million.
The electrical systems inside had been dangerously bypassed with many major illegal connections, powering an elaborate hydroponic watering system, lighting system and ventilation system.

Hayward police say the operation included a harvesting and packaging room, living quarters and a sophisticated surveillance system.

It is suspected the marijuana grow operated 24/7 and cost in excess of $100,000 to build, police say.

PBS NewsHour correspondent Spencer Michels inspects marijuana grower Casey O’Neill’s crop on a farm that uses rainwater. O’Neill is hoping pot will become legal and regulated in California.

Behind a gas station, just off the main highway that runs through Garberville, California, is a nursery that sells plants and seedlings. It’s called Wonderland, and by “plants and seedlings” it means cannabis. Its rooms and greenhouses are filled with a pungent array of marijuana plants that can be bought by people with a doctor-signed medical marijuana card. Then they can grow their own.

The openness of the business, in a state which has yet to legalize recreational marijuana, can be shocking to those used to the years of war against cannabis.

Support for the legalization of recreational marijuana use by adults has reached an all-time high in California, a state whose pot-friendly reputation precedes it but that has failed to get residents to approve full legalization in the past. A record 54 percent of potential California voters said they favored legalizing weed this year, a 3 percent increase in support from 2014, according to a June poll from the Public Policy Institute of California.

Understanding of neurological mechanisms opens door to new treatments

Irvine, Calif., June 9, 2015 — Brain inflammation caused by chronic nerve pain alters activity in regions that regulate mood and motivation, suggesting for the first time that a direct biophysical link exists between long-term pain and the depression, anxiety and substance abuse seen in more than half of these patients, UC Irvine and UCLA researchers report.

As more and more Americans consider the pros and cons of cannabis legalization, many points are worth repeating, and chief among them: cannabis actually decreases the risk of lung cancer.

It’s a counter-intuitive notion, since tobacco smoking causes cancer, marijuana smoking must as well. But as the LA Weekly highlights Monday, it’s just not true. Decades of pulmonary research is in: pot decreases the risk of lung cancer and does not cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

THERMAL Calif. June 9 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- New Global Energy Inc. (OTCBB: NGEY) announced today that it has signed an exclusive 20- year agreement with Alternate Health Group's CanaCard a regulatory and compliance software system that will enable all U.S. states with legal medical marijuana laws in place to utilize and monitor the physician prescribed protocol.

Dr. Donald Tashkin's studies "failed to find any positive association" between lung cancer and smoking weed

“You've got to hold it in your lungs longer, George.” A lot of people remember the famous comment by actor Peter Fonda in Easy Rider.

Thanks to the knowledge contained within the mind of Dr. Donald Tashkin, professor emeritus of medicine at UCLA, the statement makes more sense than ever. He has been studying weed and its effects on lungs for more than 30 years, and provided early evidence that average weed smoking does not cause lung cancer or impair lung function.

Although Tashkin does not condone taking a toke, his insightful research into the effects on the lungs of smoking of marijuana has been published in numerous publications.

California may have been the first state to legalize medical marijuana, but for twenty years efforts to regulate the industry have mostly gone up in smoke—until now.

Transparency is a prominent force in today’s food industry. While farmers markets are hardly new, the attachment to organic, locally grown products have surfaced in other industries throughout San Francisco and Oakland–namely marijuana. These pot-friendly cities have seen a rise in cannabis delivery systems and sampling parties. In late February Flow Kana, “the world’s first farm-to-table cannabis delivery platform,” launched in San Francisco, foreshadowing the next generation of a once taboo trade. By the end of June the company will also serve Oakland and Berkeley.