Becoming a medical marijuana caregiver is similar to starting any marijuana business. You will need customers (patients) and a product (medical marijuana). Finding and keeping both of these necessities requires time and/or money.

The State of Massachusetts requires all persons applying to be a medical marijuana caregivers to complete a criminal background check and submit all of the required paperwork. In order to begin cultivating medical marijuana, a caregiver must begin by having a qualifying patient designate them as their caregiver on the state application form.

Example of the costs:

Lawmakers in the Illinois State House appear to be supporting a Bill allowing people suffering from debilitating medical conditions to legally access medical marijuana.

Should the people of Illinois get their way, the House Health and Human Services Committee will launch a four year pilot program to allow people with cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, and HIV/AIDS to use medical marijuana when their doctors recommend it.

The pilot program would also serve as a model for the rest of the nation, opening up to 60 medical marijuana dispensaries and 22 cultivation centers for patients.

The evidence-based science proving medical marijuana is beneficial for a multitude of debilitating diseases, yet one cultivation center in Maine insists the application of toxic pesticides should be allowed.

Workers at the Wellness Connection dispensary in Thomaston reported the blatant violations to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services after management ignored several warnings. As a result of the Division of Licensing and Regulatory Services (DLRS) investigation, a plethora of other violations was discovered at the Wellness Connection’s cultivation center, along with 4 other dispensaries around the state.

House Bill 1101, which has already passed in the House has continued to move forward through Maryland’s Judicial Proceedings Committee into the second reading for the Senate. The plan is for HB 1101 to launch the Natalie M. LaPrade Medical Marijuana Commission to open a medical marijuana program for academic medical research centers.

This research-focused program would empower state-licensed medical marijuana patients to grow their own healing herbs. Ultimately the academic medical centers would regulate medical funding, treatment and dosage, while monitoring the medicinal benefits and clinical outcome data for at least one year.

Pork barrel politics have weakened the economic, moral and cultural backbone of this country, and it’s time we get back on the road to recovery. The term “pork barrel politics” refers to government spending meant to serve special interest supporters of a politician in return for their continued financial support. Typically, this involves funding for government programs whose economic benefits are concentrated in a particular area but whose costs are spread among all taxpayers.

The so-called War on Drugs was nothing but one of the history’s biggest pork barrel scams designed and propagated to suck the American taxpayer dry to the bone, while fattening the pockets of multi-national corporations. The truth is that prohibition only harms society. Mainstream media only talks about the cost of drugs to society, but you never hear about the social and economic costs of prohibition.

History has shown that prohibition only creates a black market of illegal sales that fuel violence and crime, while big government corruption escalates until the innocent suffer. The prohibition of medicinal herbs, like marijuana, has only built more for-profit-prisons and brought drug cartels across the US-Mexico border.

According to Washington state it has determined possession of marijuana is illegal, but according to the medical marijuana law, Chapter 69.51A, it provides some protection from arrest or other criminal sanctions for qualified people who comply. If you comply as a patient or caregiver you can possess a 60-day supply of medical marijuana. However, if you get busted by the FBI, DEA or other federal agent, you’re on your own.

The question is why Lamestream Media makes it look like the police are staging a sobriety test with skilled drivers, when in reality they are just documenting how the average volunteer given “free weed” drives on a closed course.

Clearly, this stunt is far from a scientific, peer-reviewed, double blind placebo test. Thurston County Sheriff’s Office provided a potent strain of medical marijuana called “Blueberry Train Wreck,” got a 27 year old girl totally stoned, along with other volunteers, and let them cruise around a closed driving course. Each “stonee” was accompanied by a Driving School instructor, ready to grab the wheel or slam the auxiliary baking system if necessary.

A recent Bluegrass Poll taken by The Courier-Journal revealed Kentuckians are wise to the economic, social and health benefits of legalizing medical marijuana and the hemp industry.

The University of Kentucky has been feeding livestock with high protein hemp seed, with amazing health benefits for decades now and they have no doubt of the direction they want to head. In fact Kentucky’s agricultural commissioner’s bill to regulate industrial hemp has already passed through the Senate and is scheduled for a hearing this week in a House Committee. The bottom line is Kentuckians want more jobs and they’re convinced industrial hemp will give their state a financial boon.

Medical marijuana is one the most amazing wonders of the modern and ancient worlds. If there’s such a thing as a medical panacea for disease, marijuana would be it. Not one death has ever been contributed to the consumption or inhalation of this herb. In the worst case scenario of an “overdose,” marijuana might cause you to take a relaxing nap.

According to a report by the Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, aspirin (acetaminophen), a synthetic form of White Willow Bark, is the leading cause for calls to poison control centers. Each year, aspirin overdoses account for more than 57,000 emergency room visits, 2,700 hospitalizations, and an estimated 500 deaths due to acute liver failure. Aspirin produces billions of dollars in annual sales. What’s worse is that “properly” prescribed and administered synthetic drugs kill more than 121,000 Americans annually. As well, there is an overwhelming carnage of readily available synthetic drugs that provide a “legal high” and are being sold over-the-counter in convenient stores and gas stations across the country.

Cannabis is the noblest plant on the planet for many reasons. No other plant has so many amazing qualities attributed to it and only a few come close. The cannabis plant, also known as medical marijuana is a food source that can be juiced, consumed raw or cooked in a variety of dishes, it can be used as medicine, fuel, and oil or even refined into paper, clothing or building materials, not to mention marijuana is a perfect rotation crop and a highly nutritious fodder for livestock.

The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report has documented references to marijuana in ancient Sanskrit and Hindi literature, including terms celebrating its spiritual and physically invigorating properties. Ancient references to marijuana include Indracana, “the food of Indra,” and Vijaya or “victory.” In fact the Sanskrit-English Dictionary has more than 40 words suggesting marijuana use. Even the medieval Muslim culture has called it the “shrub of understanding,” even today the Turkish language refers to it as esrar, synonymous with “secret” and “marijuana.”