Jamaica wants to eliminate illicit cannabis growing by helping growers into the legal industry through its new Alternative Development Programme.

Jamaica’s Cannabis Licensing Authority has set up the new ‘Alternative Development Programme’, approved by the Cabinet of Jamaica.

The programme is a one-year pilot project geared towards transitioning current illicit cannabis farmers into the legal regulated cannabis industry.

It hopes to increase the legitimate earning potential of small, marginalised communities that have been disproportionately impacted by drug policy and regulation and that currently operate within the cannabis black market.

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Lawmakers in Colorado are considering a measure that, if passed, could have wide-reaching implications on a controversial issue: employees facing dismissal from their places of work due to off-duty cannabis use.

House Bill 20-1089 would ban an employer from terminating a worker “for the employee’s lawful off-duty activities that are lawful under state law.”

It would give Colorado employees protection from being fired for using cannabis -- a lawful activity in the Centennial State -- while away from work and during nonworking hours. Under the measure, any such dismissal would be considered a “discriminatory or unfair employment practice.”

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Bruce Kennedy ~ Leafly.com ~ 

In the bone-crunching, muscle-wrenching sport of football, staying on the field when injured is a challenging priority for NFL players.

And with another major U.S. sports league opening the door to allow players to use marijuana and associated compounds like CBD, a debate is heating up about the way football players manage pain.

Last month, Major League Baseball (MLB) removed natural cannabinoids such as THC, CBD and marijuana from its Drugs of Abuse list. 

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Amy Tennery ~ Reuters.com ~

Research suggests marijuana can help you fall asleep, but habitual use could lead to some problems.

Between 50 to 70 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep disorders or intermittent sleep issues, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

Around 30 to 40% of us will develop insomnia at some point in our lives as well.

Sleep problems don’t just impact work performance and stress management. Drowsy driving results in 1,500 deaths and 100,000 car crashes each year. 

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Medical cannabis products were exported from Israel for the first time this week, one year after the government approved overseas sales, Revadim-based BOL Pharma said on Tuesday.

BOL Pharma, a IMC-GMP-certified cultivator and supplier of medical cannabis, said it exported its first batch of medical cannabis to a customer in the United Kingdom.

The products are destined for centers that specialize in the treatment of children with epilepsy and autism.

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Eytan Halon ~ Jerusalem Post ~

The legalization of marijuana in many states is becoming an increasingly perplexing challenge for one key part of the travel industry: hotels.

They’re confronted with figuring out how to let guests partake in it on-property, training and drug testing employees, and dealing with confusing and ever-changing laws.

In short, hotels have much to figure out. “This is an emerging trend that’s not going away,” said Michael Blank, principal of Woodmont Lodging. “In many ways, it’s akin to the casinos when they were trying to make their push nationally.”

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Nancy Trejos ~ Skift.com ~

Hemp might prove more useful to bees than humans, and that’s saying a lot.

Researchers at Cornell University have discovered that the pollination powerhouses are attracted to hemp and the taller the plant, the bigger the party.

Cannabis and hemp are two forms of the same plant.

They may look alike, but their effects are quite different.

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A New Hampshire House committee approved a bill on Tuesday that would legalize marijuana for adult use in the state.

While the legislation doesn’t provide for retail sales, it would allow individuals 21 and older to possess and gift up to three-fourths an ounce of cannabis and grow up to six plants.

The model would be similar to neighboring Vermont’s non-commercial cannabis system. The Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee advanced the bill in a 13-7 vote.

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Kyle Jaeger ~ MarijuanaMoment.net ~ 

The emerging industry is borrowing from fashion’s marketing playbook to reach similar customers.

Fashion marketers, skilled at spinning the image of a brand that few truly need into something highly desirable, are being tapped to usher the emerging cannabis industry into the mainstream.

This potential bonanza is creating new jobs for some longtime fashion brand professionals.

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Christina Binkley ~ VogueBusiness.com ~

If cannabis is so much praised for its health benefits and makes everything better, does that mean working out high will help us grow bigger muscles and run faster? Or will it make us lose our focus and drop the weights, i.e., fall off the treadmill?

To see if using cannabis can really work out for you (pun intended), we’ll first take a look at what forms there are and how sportspeople and the common folk have been using it.

Next, we’ll inspect the benefits of working out like this, as well as all the possible risks involved.

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Bojana Petkovic ~ LoudCloudHealth.com ~ 

The decision to back away from pursuing criminal charges against people with small amounts of pot comes after state lawmakers legalized hemp last year in a way that threw marijuana prosecution into chaos.

The Austin City Council approved a resolution Thursday that will largely end arrests and fines for low-level marijuana possession.

This comes after Texas' legalization of hemp last June threw marijuana prosecution into chaos since the plants look and smell identical.

The resolution directs Austin police not to spend city resources on newly necessary lab tests to distinguish marijuana from now-legal hemp.

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As the Oklahoma medical marijuana industry enters its second full year since legalization, the numbers continue to surpass other states.

Now a new report shows nine Oklahoma cities are in the top 30 for most dispensaries per capita, however state officials say the number is beginning to contract.

“We talk about that a lot,” said Haley Todd, an employee at Straiin. A second location for the dispensary is opening next month, adding to the boom of more than 2,240 dispensaries across the state.

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Cassandra Sweetman ~ KFOR.com ~ 

With more and more states legalizing recreational and medical marijuana, what are the rules when it comes to taking a flight?

The first thing you need to know from the federal government is that traveling with marijuana interstate is illegal -- whether it's recreational or medical.

At Pittsburgh International Airport, Transportation Security Administration agents are screening for guns, explosives, knives and containers of liquids of more than a few ounces.

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Sheldon Ingram ~ WTAE.com ~ 

Pennsylvania doesn’t have enough marijuana to go around.

Product shortages have plagued medical marijuana dispensaries across the state for months. Dry leaf marijuana has been especially hard to come by.

“It’s so sad: I’ll put out two strains in the morning and by 12 o’clock or 1 p.m., they’re gone,” said Rocco Levine, director of operations for Solevo Wellness, which owns dispensaries in Squirrel Hill and Cranberry.

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Jacob Tierney ~ TribLive.com ~ 

Kansas native Larry Burgess has spent nearly three years living in Colorado. He doesn’t know where he’ll be spending the next three years—whether in his newly-adopted home state or on probation or in prison in Kansas.

Due to grand mal seizures, which cause him to black out and have violent muscular contractions, Burgess can’t drive and hasn’t been able to hold down a full-time job for over a decade.

He currently spends part of each day feeding the squirrels that gather for handouts in the backyard of his small but tidy Colorado Springs townhouse, while his wife works as a dental technician.

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Bruce Kennedy ~ Leafly.com ~ 

A new tool, developed by Texas A&M University scientists, could tell the difference between legal hemp and illegal marijuana in seconds.

“We developed this technology that allows for non-invasive, non-destructive -- and what’s very important for law enforcement officers -- on-site identification of cannabis,” said Dmitry Kurouski, assistant professor in the department of biochemistry and biophysics at Texas A&M University.

“It’s really simple,” said Lee Sanchez, the research assistant credited with developing this machine that’s about the size of a lunchbox. “You place [the sample] against the nose cone, turn on the laser, and it’ll give us a spectra.”

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Kathleen Witte ~ KBTX.com ~

With 11 states and the District of Columbia now legalizing recreational marijuana, and 33 states legalizing other forms, the slogan “this Bud’s for you” may take on a completely new meaning, as beer providers expand into the cannabis market.

The alcohol industry has seen sales dropping since 2006, as much as 15%, in states where cannabis has been legalized.

With the cannabis industry bringing in around $10 billion last year in revenue in the U.S. alone, it’s not surprising that alcohol companies are now looking at adult cannabis users as potential customers.

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Allison Hall ~ Spokesman.com ~ 

The cost of prescriptions, available to patients suffering from chronic pain, cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis, will be covered by the Sicilian regional government according to reports in Italian media.

Medical marijuana use has been legal across Italy since 2013, but patients usually need to pay.

You must have a doctor's prescription and obtain the drug from a licensed pharmacy, which has permission either to buy it from a tightly-controlled supply grown by the Italian army or import it from regulated growers outside Italy.

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TheLocal.It ~ 

Marijuana sales in Oregon along the Idaho state line are 420% the statewide average, according to a state report.

Idaho residents are purchasing recreational marijuana in Oregon because it is illegal in Idaho, the report released Friday by the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis said.

The report also showed stronger marijuana sales for Washington state along its border with Idaho in 2019 than along its borders with Oregon or Canada.

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Associated Press ~ 

"I really feel like humans in general are more connected to their creative side and more inclined to follow their artistic intuition when they've partaken of the green goddess."

Riding to dispensaries and cultivation tours on weed-friendly buses, learning how to cook edibles, and playing in dab-and-disc-golf tournaments have all been activities featured in our weekly Cannabis Calendar, but cannabis-friendly paint classes seem to have found the strongest footing since the state legalized the plant in 2012.

Just like a boozy painting session, instructors use cannabis to help lubricate their students' creativity, helping them find their inner Bob Ross by painting portraits, nature and plenty of happy trees.

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Thomas Mitchell ~ Westword.com ~