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For the Humboldt farmers, Sonoma County's subterranean tasting rooms and Tuscan affectations offered a glimpse into a rarefied realm of legal intoxicants.

The marijuana growers had driven south from redwood country to the oak and grass hills to take part in an event called “The Women of Wine & Cannabis,” a chance to visit boutique wineries and learn about appellations and branding in the $200-billion retail alcohol market.

Read More:http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-pot-distributors-10102020-snap-story.html

While many Colorado officials have come forward over the past few months to declare that legal weed is working better than they ever imagined, some prosecutors across the state believe the legal cannabis industry is responsible for the majority of the state’s murders.

In a recent interview with Fox 31 Denver, Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler said nearly two-thirds of the homicide cases he has overseen in recent years have had a blatant connection to marijuana. This uprising in murder, he said, could be traced back to a legion of small time dope dealers who are slinging the herb on the street with rabid enthusiasm because legal weed has made it easier for the black market to thrive.

Read More:http://www.hightimes.com/read/colorado-prosecutor-says-legal-marijuana-causes-majority-state%E2%80%99s-murders

A survey of more than 216,000 adolescents from all 50 states indicates the number of teens with marijuana-related problems is declining. Similarly, the rates of marijuana use by young people are falling despite the fact more U.S. states are legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana use and the number of adults using the drug has increased.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis examined data on drug use collected from young people, ages 12 to 17, over a 12-year span. They found that the number of adolescents who had problems related to marijuana — such as becoming dependent on the drug or having trouble in school and in relationships — declined by 24 percent from 2002 to 2013.

Over the same period, kids, when asked whether they had used pot in the previous 12 months, reported fewer instances of marijuana use in 2013 than their peers had reported in 2002. In all, the rate fell by 10 percent.

Those drops were accompanied by reductions in behavioral problems, including fighting, property crimes and selling drugs. The researchers found that the two trends are connected. As kids became less likely to engage in problem behaviors, they also became less likely to have problems with marijuana.

Read More:http://www.theweedblog.com/as-more-states-legalize-marijuana-adolescents-problems-with-cannabis-decline/

While it may sound a bit strange for the nation’s leading labor union to take a stand against any industry that promises to create thousands of new jobs and generate millions of dollars in new revenue, the California Teamsters recently said that the union does not support a ballot initiative aimed at legalizing recreational marijuana because it would cut its members out of the loop.

The Teamsters union, an organization looking out for the interests of truckers and warehouse workers, has donated a significant amount of money to an anti-drug campaign that is trying to prevent marijuana from being legalized in California this November. A recent report from the Intercept shows the Teamsters recently dropped $25,000 into a fund supporting the Coalition for Responsible Drug Policies—the same lobbying effort being financed by law enforcement and prison groups all across the state. 

Read More:http://www.hightimes.com/read/california-teamsters-oppose-marijuana-initiative

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Doctors for Cannabis Regulation, an organization led by some of the most prominent physicians in the country, has formally endorsed the effort to legalize and regulate marijuana for adult use in Rhode Island.

The addition of DFCR to the Regulate Rhode Island coalition comes at a pivotal time, just as state lawmakers are considering legislation to end marijuana prohibition.

Members of DFCR’s leadership team include former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders; integrative medicine pioneer Dr. Andrew Weil; Dr. H. Westley Clark, former director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment; Dr. Chris Beyrer, founder and director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health and Human Rights; Dr. Lester Grinspoon, Associate Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; Dr. David Lewis, Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Community Health at Brown University; Dr. Donald Abrams, chief of the Hematology-Oncology Division at San Francisco General Hospital; and Dr. David Nathan, a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Read More:http://www.theweedblog.com/prominent-physicians-organization-throws-support-behind-effort-to-end-marijuana-prohibition-in-rhode-island/

New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton was apparently absent the day his high school history teacher explained to the class how the days of alcohol prohibition influenced more than a decade of lawlessness throughout the Land of the Free.

During a recent appearance on AM 970’s “Cat’s Round Table,” Bratton told host John Catsimatidis that marijuana is the reason there has been a surge in violent crime across the five boroughs. “Here in New York,” Bratton explained, “most of the violence we see is involving marijuana, and I have to scratch my head as we are seeing many states wanting to legalize marijuana, and more liberalization of policies.” 

Read More:http://www.hightimes.com/read/nypd-police-chief-thinks-legal-pot-causes-violence