In a big blow against Oregon cannabis businesses, Gresham-based MBank, one of the few banks openly doing business with the marijuana industry, announced that they will be closing all marijuana-related business accounts within the next few months. MBank made waves in Oregon and across the country when they announced that […]

(Photo credit: Jeff Mapes of The Oregonian) Progressive Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer has been a longtime marijuana law reformer, working to improve our laws since the early 1970s. It is no surprise when he speaks out on marijuana issues, even when he reaches across the political divide to recruit conservatives […]

Wichita sent shockwaves (I couldn’t resist, Go Shockers!) across Kansas, decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana on Tuesday. Despite threats from Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt who called the proposal unconstitutional and threatened to sue the city if the law passed.  In a conservative state like Kansas, change at the city level […]

Towards the end of the Le’Or Cannabis Seder for a New Drug Peace, Sunday night, I was asked by a fellow cannabis law reform advocate who I favored right now among presidential candidates. I thought about it for a bit, but when considering who seems to be currently in the […]

I attended my first Passover seder last night, a social justice seder organized by the Jewish drug reform organization, Le’Or, and I was both touched and inspired by the experience. Oh, and it was great fun as well. The readings and questions posed to us, took me back to why […]

“Adult use, adult use” chanted the crowd at the Oregon Medical Marijuana Business Conference, exhorted on by premier Oregon cannabis attorney Leland Berger.  He is referring to marijuana use in the four states and District of Colombia now (or soon) allowing adults to possess and use the newly legal cannabis, and […]

Newsmax.com, a conservative website seems to have adopted a libertarian stance in its cannabis coverage. Columnist Jason Gray lists off his list of the top 10 marijuana-law reform politicians. I’ll have to put together my own list at some point, but I have to take pride in the fact that […]

Yesterday’s meeting of the Oregon State Joint Legislative Committee on Measure 91 Implementation was set to gavel to a close when State Senator and Republican Minority Leader Ted Ferrioli blasted the Oregon Liquor Control Commission’s ability to handle the task of regulating recreational marijuana, explaining, “Notwithstanding the heroic efforts of […]

Determining which government agency should regulate marijuana is certainly an important choice for every state that legalizes cannabis. Colorado chose the state revenue department while Washington, Alaska and Oregon went with the respective states’ liquor control commissions. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) has undergone recent turmoil with the firing […]

UPDATE: MPP Communications Director Mason Tvert reached out to me to explain that “Unfortunately, Ms. Berman’s new committee grossly mischaracterized MPP’s positions. MPP has been unwavering in its support for an initiative that both includes a reasonable cap on retail licenses and allows adults to grow a limited amount of marijuana […]

Reconciling cannabis’ past, present and future in our culture and politics can be a tough job. As someone who has navigated through the perilous task of working to unite activists, patients, growers, processors, retailers, consultants, politicians and funders, I can certainly relate. There is the need to remember those that […]

The Oregon cannabis community converged upon the State Capitol Building to fight for patients’ access to medical marijuana Monday night as the Oregon Legislature held a public hearing on both House Bill 3400 and Senate Bill 936. While many headlines focus upon the plant limits being debated in Salem, patients […]

The firing of Oregon’s Marijuana Czar, Tom Burns, understandably rocked the Oregon cannabis community and everyone involved with developing prospective legislation and regulation that would implement marijuana legalization in the Beaver State. At first, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) was silent about why their Director of Marijuana Programs was […]

Can it possibly be that hemp agriculture presents a catastrophic threat to sinsemilla marijuana cultivation? Will the hemp field of dreams be a cannabis nightmare? The climate of southern Oregon is among the world’s best for cultivating cannabis. Local growers have been producing some of the world’s finest marijuana for […]

I got the chance to visit the Bushido Gardens, a Medical Marijuana grow somewhere in Oregon. I got a chance to talk to the grower about cannabis and growing techniques.   I also got to watch him roll a really nice joint. This is the first of what will be a […]