Senate Appropriations Committee Allows Marijuana Legalization to Move Forward in Nation's Capital

The top moving destination in 2014 was Oregon, which voted to legalize marijuana last November.

When choosing retirement locales, a few factors pop to mind: climate, amenities, proximity to grandchildren, access to quality healthcare.

Chris Cooper had something else to consider – marijuana laws.

The investment adviser from Toledo had long struggled with back pain due to a fractured vertebra and crushed disc from a fall. He hated powerful prescription drugs like Vicodin, but one thing did help ease the pain and spasms: marijuana.

The State Fair is a great American pastime, and what's more American than bragging about how dank your weed is?

The Washington D.C. State Fair, which describes itself as a "culinary, artistic and agricultural showcase of the District," will be holding a Best Bud competition this year, a grueling trial that will recognize the most impressive marijuana flower grown in D.C.

The man in the Mickey Mouse shirt was clinging to a light pole on H Street NE when police showed up, and then he dropped his pants. Another man near Eastern Market was laughing so hard that paramedics had trouble keeping him on a stretcher. A third, whom police found prancing through Capitol Hill, started kicking and screaming when eight police and fire officials tried to restrain him.

Paramedics rushed all three men to hospitals in separate incidents Thursday night, and all three said they had taken ­synthetic drugs — a set of substances so alarming to District authorities that Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier recently likened them to crack cocaine in their propensity to induce violence and death.

D.C. officials have ordered shut a Northeast convenience store they said was selling synthetic marijuana, marking the first time the city has used new authority to crack down on businesses found selling the drugs.

The Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs confirmed Thursday that Bladensburg Market Dollar Plus, located at 1109 Bladensburg Road, was ordered to cease all business operations for 96 hours beginning Monday afternoon.

Five lawmakers from three states lit up the U.S. Senate in Washington by introducing the first-ever marijuana banking bill.

The bipartisan bill would give state-compliant cannabis businesses access to the banking system by protecting financial institutions against prosecution or asset forfeiture for providing services to those businesses.

Oaksterdam University is not an accredited institution, but you might have been fooled if you went to the Capital Hilton here this past weekend.

More than 100 students took part in a 10-session seminar, part of the cannabis college’s focus on education in regions with recently loosened marijuana laws. During one session on Sunday, an instructor flipped through PowerPoint slides about cannabis-extraction methods and wove organic chemistry into one presentation. Meanwhile, attendees — clad in Oaksterdam sweatshirts, tie-dyed T-shirts advertising the marijuana newspaper High Times, and marijuana-leaf tie-clips — dutifully took notes.

On Sunday, Oaksterdam University held a cannabis seminar for those interested in the product.

WASHINGTON — There’s law, medicine and culinary arts being taught just blocks away from the White House.

But this isn’t your typical college seminar. It’s a crash course on all things cannabis.

The Sunday event, held at the Capital Hilton on 16th St. NW, was put on by Oaksterdam University, a Oakland, California-based school that claims to be the nation’s only recognized cannabis college.

A closed-door event celebrates local repeal of prohibition.

Jill Amen always wanted to be a barista, she told guests mingling over hor d'oeuvres in the backyard of a Northwest Washington home Thursday.

Her dream was coming true as investors, journalists and nonprofit leaders sipped coffee and tea she prepared to order.

The well-dressed attendees hardly touched cream-topped watermelon squares and decadent cupcakes under a white tent near Connecticut Avenue.

They were there for the drinks.

Wait an hour, everyone was told, before having a second.

Amen is the co-founder of House of Jane, which specializes in beverages infused with THC, the compound in marijuana that makes people high.