NEARLY a century after America fleetingly banned alcohol, Prohibition seems like a charming absurdity. The rise of moonshine and speakeasies before the Great Depression seems more like Hollywood than history. But Prohibition was no joke for the working classes, writes Lisa McGirr in “The War on Alcohol”, a focused and thought-provoking book.

When the 18th Amendment banning the sale of alcohol was passed in 1919, it was targeted at the saloons where men gathered after work for beer and conversation. “I believe that alcoholism threatens the destruction of the white race,” said Charles Eliot, the president of Harvard University. Such sentiments were common among the reformers.

Marijuana advocates hoping for a substantial shift in federal marijuana policy in the last year of the Obama administration are likely to be disappointed.

At a briefing Friday, White House press secretary John Earnest said any progress on marijuana reform would need to come through Congress. President Obama had signaled his position a day earlier at the House Democratic retreat in Baltimore, saying marijuana reform is not on his list of end-of-term priorities, according to Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.).

A bill that would legalize marijuana and allow for regulated marijuana commerce is advancing.  Senate Bill 137  passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 4-1 vote.

The bill allows for marijuana to be sold in stores, but bans home cultivation. Only licensed commercial grows in safe, secure locations will be allowed.

[image:1 align:left]The Judiciary Committee vote to advance the measure came a day after six state physicians' groups came out against the bill, citing what they called the ill effects of marijuana.

Let’s say you’ve just come up with that brilliant-but-practical cannabis idea that’s going to get you your share of the explosive new marijuana industry. Here’s the problem: perhaps you have insufficient business experience and you’re not exactly flush with cash.

As her lead in the polls continues to dwindle, Hillary Clinton is trying her best to appeal to young voters, who favor her main opponent, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Clinton goes to ridiculous lengths in her attempts to woo young people into supporting her campaign: she’s whipped and nae-naed on Ellen, dubbed herself Chillary Clinton, and even asked college students to describe how they felt about their student debt “in three emojis or less.”

Although it seems that she’ll do anything to get their votes, there’s one thing Hillary Clinton won’t do: champion the issues that young voters care about.

“I never lie to my son,” insists Diane Fornbacher. And for the long-time cannabis activist and mother living in the town of Collingswood, New Jersey, that means telling the truth about the world’s most versatile plant, to her children as well as the world.

Thus, Fornbacher’s son, now 10-years-old, saw everything.

“He sees that I have legal hemp products in my house,” says the devoted mother.

On Wednesday, it only took five minutes for the District of Columbia’s Judiciary Committee to be overpowered by the vote of the Chairman, Phil Mendelson (D), to move forward a bill to permanently ban the social use of cannabis in the District.

This means B21-0701, the “Marijuana Decriminalization Possession Clarification Amendment Act of 2016” will be scheduled for a second reading at another legislative meeting, as outlined in the legislation process on DCNA.org.

The D.C. Judiciary Committee voted to table the measure (3 – 2) but with the ‘yes’ vote from the Chairman of the Full Committee who was sitting in for Councilmember LaRuby May (D-Ward 8), the vote tipped in favor of passing the bill.

Leaders of a Native American church have sued the U.S. Postal Service in federal court after the government seized marijuana that church leaders say was intended for religious use by a member in Ohio.

Leaders of the Utah-based Oklehueha Native American Church said the federal government violated their right to religious freedom when authorities seized marijuana intended for use as part of "Native American spiritual healing practices" by a member who suffers from cancer.

Joy Graves leads a Cottage Grove branch of the church. Graves and James Mooney, the church's spiritual leader, are listed as plaintiffs in the suit, filed this month in U.S. District Court in Portland.

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — The Puyallup Tribe of Indians is opening a marijuana testing laboratory, marking their first foray into the Washington’s budding marijuana industry.

The News Tribune of Tacoma reports that Gov. Jay Inslee signed a compact this week to make the move official.

The lab will be housed in a Fife building that houses the tribe’s cancer-treatment center and will offer safety and potency tests to holders of state marijuana licenses.

They Puyallup Tribe is the third tribe in the state to take advantage of a 2014 U.S. Department of Justice policy calling for respecting tribal policies on marijuana and a 2015 state law outlining the compact process.