I hope everyone is doing well and fared alright during Hurricane Joaquin. The state has been working with our affected residents and farmers to offer assistance.

I know many of our hog farmers are experiencing freeboard issues with their lagoons due to the excessive rainfall. Right now, the Department of Environmental Quality has extended the application deadline for Bermuda Grass until the end of October and they are expected to come out with further information this week. Feel free to contact my office if you have any questions or need any assistance from state agencies while recovering from the storm.

Question of the Week

Alaska

Qualifying conditions to become a medical marijuana patient in Alaska include:

• Cancer
• Glaucoma
• HIV/AIDS
• Cachexia (wasting syndrome)
• Nausea
• Muscle spasms
• Multiple sclerosis
• Pain
• Seizures

For a complete list of qualifying conditions and guidelines, please refer to Alaska’s application for medical marijuana registry

Arizona

Qualifying conditions to become a medical marijuana patient in Arizona include:

Could it be possible that we have misinterpreted the health benefits of marijuana on diabetes risk?

A new study certainly intimates this, stating that it is quite possible those who use marijuana—even those who no longer use it—are at a higher risk for developing prediabetes.

According to Vanderbilt University assistant professor of medicine in the endocrinology department, Shichun Bao, MD, PhD, the study still needs more review but does provide, at least, a lot of caution.

CATAWBA COUNTY, N.C. --

Marijuana plants as large as "Christmas trees" have been seized from a North Carolina man's garden.

WGHP reported that Kelly Gene Hines, 53, of Hickory, faces various charges in connection to the incident including trafficking and manufacturing marijuana.

Officers reportedly found the plants after checking out a tip about another house in the area. Officials said more than 20 marijuana plants were found growing near the home, including one that weighed 23 pounds.

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — A North Carolina man faces drug charges after authorities found more than 950 marijuana plants in his home.

The News & Observer reported that Richard Dylan Perry, 35, of Chapel Hill, faces charges after Orange County deputies raided his home on Wednesday.

Inside, they found reportedly 956 marijuana plants in various stages of growth, along with equipment to plant, grow, cultivate, process, and package the marijuana.

The suspect lives at a Chapel Hill address in Chatham County, but also owns the property were the drugs were found, according to reports.

ORANGE BEACH, AL --

An Alabama man stumbled upon a 10-pound package of marijuana that washed up on the beach.

Multiple news outlets report that Ron Smith was taking a morning walk near the Cotton Bayou Beach access in Orange Beach on Tuesday when he noticed what he thought was a seat cushion floating in the water.

Upon closer inspection, he realized the package was actually a bag full of compressed marijuana.

Smith called police, who picked up the package. Authorities say the bag weighed 10 pounds and was worth about $8,000.

NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- Military veterans in North Carolina, especially around Fayetteville, a center of both active military personnel and vets, are now organizing to put marijuana legalization on the state's GOP platform.

When Madison McDaniel was 11, he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called adrenocortical carcinoma. Various surgeries cost him his left adrenal gland, left kidney, appendix and a piece of his diaphragm. He also endured eight months of chemotherapy.

The young Madison seemed to be recovering, and he went back to playing Little League baseball. But the cancer metastasized to his brain when he was 13. He received several different types of radiation and had three brain surgeries. Though the cancer was beaten, the brain tumors and treatment left McDaniel with numbness and weakness on the right side of his body — as though he had suffered a stroke — and he lost vision in the right halves of both eyes.

Hempearth is proud to be producing the world’s first hemp plane.

Ontario, Canada — Hempearth Group Ltd. (Hempearth) has a contract in place to build an aircraft made almost entirely out of hemp and aims to fly the hemp plane this Fall or next Spring from Kitty Hawk, N.C., site of the Wright Brothers’ historic take off. The hemp plane is a four-seater, two engine aircraft with a cruising speed a little over 210 miles per hour (340 kph), a wingspan of 36 feet (12 meters), that will be built from at least 75% hemp. And, the plan is for it to run completely on hemp biofuel. More information here: http://hempearth.net/the-hemp-plane