MARIJUANA POLITICS BROKE THE NEWS FIRST I have learned from an anonymous source with intimate details of the ouster of Tom Burns, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission’s Director of Marijuana Programs for the past three months, was partly due to an improper leak of a work-in-progress internal document that was […]

The “Green Rush” is booming.  As marijuana prohibition falls by the wayside, many “legitimate” entrepreneurs are looking to get into the cannabis industry. The funny thing is, most of them are white.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but let’s remember that 61 percent of the people in jail or […]

The small town of Talent, Oregon is blessed with two medical cannabis dispensaries, and a third will open soon. At the same time, neighboring Phoenix, Oregon has shuttered the doors of its single (thriving) dispensary and nearby Medford tries to discourage all things marijuana. The old saying is “all politics […]

To anyone paying attention, marijuana has gone mainstream in virtually all aspects of our culture: in opinion polls to the ballot box to our music to TV shows to the silver screen. Dr. Sanjay Gupta made national news with his “evolution” on cannabis, President Obama is forced to ask questions about […]

March Madness is here! Studies show it to be one of the least productive work months of the year. Rather than work, people are distracted by picking brackets, placing bets and, most importantly, watching basketball. This year, however, I find myself more interested in the on goings of cannabis, especially […]

So, you just hit a jay straight to the face. Now you need some sort of entertainment. Sure, you could play a video game or watch the same old boring things on TV. But why not try watching some shows made just for people that really, really like weed?  Please […]

Marijuana has played an important role in the last few general elections and 2016 is shaping up to be possibly the most important election yet for cannabis law reform. We already know that a Nevada legalization proposal will be on the ballot and there is a great likelihood that California, […]

Oregonians, two important bills before the House Judiciary Committee would greatly benefit those convicted of marijuana law offenses. Senate Bill 364 has already passed the Oregon Senate and is awaiting a hearing on the House side. The Oregon Legislature, in 2013, passed a measure that decreased marijuana penalties, effective on […]

New York City, the media capital of the world, is obviously one of the most influential cities in the world. New York State, in turn, is a very influential state and news out of the area resonate across the country, if not the globe. I remember when the New York […]

This Tuesday, I was honored to be selected as the pro-legalization side in the first-ever public debate on marijuana legalization at Texas Christian University.  Opposing me was Ben Cort, a board member of Project SAM, the nation’s anti-legalization lobby. At one point in the debate (and I’m paraphrasing, since I […]

Oregon, the third state to vote in favor of cannabis legalization, will actually be the fourth (fifth, if you add in Washington, D.C.) state to legalize marijuana on July 1st of this year. Cannabis commerce among adults over the age of 21 won’t be legal until 2016 (likely the latter […]

Let’s begin with some praise for President Obama.  While many on my side of the marijuana debate (including, at times, myself) have roundly criticized the previous leader of The Choom Gang for his failure to end the War on (Certain American Citizens Using Non-Pharmaceutical, Non-Alcoholic, Tobacco-Free) Drugs, I do have […]

The Oregon Medical Marijuana Business Conference (OMMBC) was by all accounts a great success, complete with news and notes about activism, culture and, of course, business. Typical of both the OMMBC and the International Cannabis Business Conference (ICBC), these conferences, lead by my friend and colleague Alex Rogers (longtime activist […]

Gary Johnson is a story that can only occur in America. Rising from basically a handyman business to a multi-million dollar construction company CEO would be enough for most people. Utilizing his personal story and political principles of personal freedom, self-reliance and limited government to successfully getting elected as governor […]

Day one of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Business Conference (OMMBC) has concluded, and the highlight for me was certainly Governor Gary Johnson. I got the chance to sit down with the former New Mexico Governor and chat for a bit. He seems to be an extremely genuine, down-to-earth fellow and […]