The Orange County Register, 29 Aug 2010 - ANAHEIM - They came to learn about marijuana laws, how to start a medical dispensary business, what they could do to change the stigma of the drug. Inside a cavernous hall at the Anaheim Convention Center, more than 1,000 people gathered Saturday for Orange County's first medical marijuana convention, an all-day event called the Know Your Rights Expo.

Washington Post, 28 Aug 2010 - The District is writing strict new rules to regulate its nascent medical marijuana industry, but some of the entrepreneurs best positioned to lead the way have blemished backgrounds - including drug convictions at odds with the city's vision. Among the District's 300 proposed rules is a requirement that operators would need to be "of good character": No felony convictions or misdemeanor drug convictions allowed.

Toronto Star, 27 Aug 2010 - Calgary company with help from local firms develops electric vehicle with body parts made from hemp Don't call it the cannabis car, but a Calgary transportation company and its partners including some Toronto firms have developed an electric vehicle with hemp body parts.

The Cortez Journal, 26 Aug 2010 - DENVER - Forget about yuppie coffee shops. Colorado's new growth industry is marijuana, with a workforce of at least 1,800 people. Hundreds of medical marijuana shops have opened their doors since 2009, yet it has been difficult to figure out how lucrative the business truly is.

East Bay Express, 25 Aug 2010 - Just who intends to puff, puff, pass on Proposition 19? Jennifer Soares came out of the closet on April 17, 2010, but not in a gay way. She's a drug lawyer against legalization. Sitting on a legal panel at the International Cannabis & Hemp Expo at the Cow Palace, Soares was asked by an audience member her thoughts about Proposition 19, the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, which will appear on the ballot November 2. With the pungent smell of pot wafting through the endless rows of booths advertising everything from hemp clothing to THC lollipops, Soares nervously spoke into the microphone.

The Cortez Journal, 24 Aug 2010 - After two tours in Iraq with the Army, a 30-year-old Montezuma County man has his own reasons for obtaining a medical marijuana card. As he attempts to re-acclimate to civilian life, he suffers pain in his foot, ears, and joints and collapsed discs in his back as well as post-traumatic stress disorder. He is officially classified as 140 percent disabled. "I used to be on 16 different medications from the VA (Veterans Affairs health care), and every one of them had bad side effects. Now I'm off all of them except sometimes I take a Valium," said the veteran.

Bellingham Herald, 23 Aug 2010 - TACOMA: Patient upset with police arrests, raids Cat Jeter wants Tacoma city officials to know how people living and working in the city feel about medical marijuana, but her message needs more than mere words.

Toronto Sun, 21 Aug 2010 - Behold the Church of the Gerbil, where the Ten Condiments command that you shall be fuzzy at all times and listen to "The Chipmunk Song" until the chinchillas come home. Call us sacrilegious, but we find it hard to take a "religion" seriously when it not only promotes the use and sale of pot and gives membership cards to dogs, but also claims The Church of the Gerbil as an affiliate.

Seattle Times, 20 Aug 2010 - Sensible Washington, the group that sponsored a marijuana-legalization bill that didn't make it on the ballot this election season, plans to launch its 2011 legalization campaign at Seattle Hempfest this weekend. Sensible Washington, the group that sponsored a marijuana-legalization bill that didn't make it to the ballot this election season, plans to launch its 2011 legalization campaign at Seattle Hempfest this weekend.

AlterNet, 19 Aug 2010 - I've Collected the Eight Craziest Claims About a Post-Legalization State of California Predicted by Opponents of Prop 19. As California gets set to vote on Prop 19 - an initiative to legalize marijuana statewide - some people's minds are being completely blown, man. But it's not the people smoking the stuff, it's the people trying to keep it banned.

Bozeman Daily Chronicle, 15 Aug 2010 - Caregiver Lenny Brown brought medical marijuana to show potential patients at the Bozeman Hempfest at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds Saturday, but he was asked to remove it from the premises. "I wouldn't have come here if I knew I couldn't display my medicine," Brown said. "All I heard was that they were going to shut us down - that we needed to put it away."

The Times-Herald, 15 Aug 2010 - The marijuana tug-of-war -- with supporters likely endorsing a hemp rope -- is gaining intensity as a state ballot measure to legalize the drug is less than 100 days away. Those with a lot of TLC for THC -- tetrahydrocannabinol, the main ingredient in weed -- hope a passing vote for Proposition 19 allows pot smokers 21 and older to come out of the living room and, at the same time, add a chunk of cash to the state treasury.

Saginaw News, 15 Aug 2010 - THOMAS TWP. -- On Friday, a neon-green sign that said "Tri-City Compassion Club, park here" in stenciled block letters was posted in front of the lot and Thomas Township home owned by John F. Roberts. Roberts, 49, whose home -- where he lives with his fiancee Stephanie Whisman, 38 -- was raided by DEA agents July 6, is the new location of the Tri-City Compassion Club.

Washington City Paper, 12 Aug 2010 - Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn Wants to Be D.C.'S First Legal Medical-Marijuana Dealer. But First He Has to Navigate City Regulators, Well-Financed Competitors, and Suspicious Neighbors. Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn spent 27 years teaching the Torah in shuls from central New Jersey to southern Australia. Lately, he's been talking a lot about a passage from Leviticus, the part about not standing idle while your neighbor bleeds.

San Jose Mercury News, 07 Aug 2010 - There was one thing you couldn't do at the HempCon Medical Marijuana Show in San Jose on Saturday: smoke marijuana. But you could step across the street away from the convention center's South Hall, nestle back in the shade and light up -- as dozens of devotees did.

Daily Reporter-Herald, 07 Aug 2010 - For years, Loveland resident Pat Dupree wanted to re-enter the business of selling products all made from hemp. In 1993, Dupree had opened a shop in Chapel Hill, N.C., that lasted only six months because he could not obtain any quality products, he said. Plus, he had a family to raise, he added.

Toronto Sun, 05 Aug 2010 - Hard To Have Faith In A 'church' That Promotes Sale And Use Of Pot Behold the Church of the Gerbil, where the Ten Condiments command that you shall be fuzzy at all times and listen to The Chipmunk Song until the chinchillas come home.

Toronto Sun, 04 Aug 2010 - Church Fights To Find God While Puffing Weed Canadians are as good at religious tolerance as they are at hockey, a lawyer for members of a branch of The Church of the Universe argued Tuesday. Lawyer Paul Lewin said based on that Canadian tolerance, if marijuana is religious to some - as he feels the defence has proven - Toronto's G-13 Mission of God should be shut out of Canada's marijuana laws.

Sudbury Star, 02 Aug 2010 - Greater Sudbury's first annual Cannabis Festival was not without its share of controversy. The city denied organizers a permit to use Memorial Park grounds. Organizers were also denied insurance from the city and several other insurance companies, said co-organizer Kayla Guse.

The News Tribune, 31 Jul 2010 - Justin Prince, owner of Tacoma?s first medical marijuana dispensary and a founder of Tacoma Hempfest, was released on bail Friday after pleading not guilty to charges of growing and selling marijuana. Justin Prince, owner of Tacoma?s first medical marijuana dispensary and a founder of Tacoma Hempfest, was released on bail Friday after pleading not guilty to charges of growing and selling marijuana.