Colorado's ski resorts and mountain towns are bracing for an influx of tourists seeking a now-legal Rocky Mountain high.
Last year, the state legalized the possession and use of small amounts of recreational marijuana, and on Jan. 1 special stores will be allowed to sell pot to anyone 21 and over. Voters had previously approved a medical marijuana system, but last fall's vote threw the doors wide open by requiring state officials to regulate pot like alcohol.

With several companies offering marijuana tours — sightseeing tours of the state's high country, with marijuana supplied — police and ski area operators worry that tourists who don't understand the rules will be sparking up on the slopes.
"We're delving into truly uncharted territory here," said Summit County Sheriff John Minor, whose jurisdiction covers the Arapahoe Basin, Keystone and Breckenridge ski areas. "We do have this misperception in Summit County where people have smoked in public, been charged, and were under the perception that it's a free-for-all."
Under the law, marijuana may be smoked by adults but only in private. But exactly what "private" means is still the subject of debate. Minor says a private vehicle on a public road, for example, is considered "in public."
Marijuana tour operator Timothy Vee of Colorado High Life Tours says to get around those rules, his drivers sometimes pull into a parking lot, allowing tour guests to partake of the pot he offers. Under current law, it's legal to give another adult marijuana as long as there's no direct payment for it. Vee and other operators charge people to rent the limo and driver and say the pot, snacks and soda are free.
For $1,200 a day, tourists can rent a chauffeured minibus from Vee to pick them up at their hotel and drive them to the slopes while they use marijuana during the ride. Vee said concerns about impaired skiers and riders are overblown. After all, he says, every ski area has a bar at the bottom of the slope. And for decades, skiers and snowboarders in Colorado have been ducking into the trees for a mid-run toke. Many ski areas are home to illicitly built "smoke shacks" tucked between the slopes, and locals often refer to gondola ski lifts as "ganja-las."
"What I'm getting are a lot of old stoners, and a lot of wealthy people who want to come do it safely with a concierge," Vee said. "Now the kids are gone, they're 60 years old and they want to get high."

Colorado Issues First Licenses for MJ Businesses

Colorado on Monday became the first U.S. state to issue special licenses for recreational marijuana businesses.
After weeks of scrutiny of applications, officials at the state's Marijuana Enforcement Division slipped 348 approved licenses into the mail and sent them out to hundreds of stores, products-makers and cultivation facilities. Those businesses could begin producing and selling marijuana to anyone over 21 on Jan. 1, assuming the businesses also have the approval of their local governments.

The number includes 136 marijuana shops, most of which are in Denver. But stores with approved state licenses also pop up in places from Telluride to Alma to Garden City.
Marijuana advocates hailed the finalized licenses as a watershed moment for Colorado's legalization of cannabis, which voters approved in November 2012.
"Colorado will be the first state to have a legal marijuana market for adults," said Mason Tvert, a Denver-based spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project and one of the leaders of Colorado's legalization push. "We expect it to set an example for other states."
Opponents of legalization, though, said the licenses are another step in what they fear is an increasingly disastrous pot policy.
"We're seeing ... a massive marijuana industry growing before our eyes," said Kevin Sabet, who is with a national anti-marijuana group called Project SAM. "I hope it's not going to be too late before we realize that the road we're on is going to produce a massive public health problem and public safety problem in Colorado."
State marijuana regulators have previously said they would make a decision on the hundreds of recreational cannabis business applications submitted in the month of October by the end of the year. And it appears they denied very few — if any — applications in doing so.

Washington D.C.'s Strict MMJ Law Keeps Demand Low

Washington, D.C. -- The tidy Takoma Wellness Center, one of the first medical marijuana dispensaries to open in the nation's capital, has a quaint reception area furnished with black leather chairs, plants and artwork. On the front desk are a pile of business cards and a sign-in sheet.
In the back, shelves are stocked with the latest marijuana accessories: pipes, cookbooks, even a machine that mixes the drug into butter or oil for cooking. All that's missing are more patients.

Since opening this summer, the three Washington, D.C.-based marijuana dispensaries have served a total of 111 patients in a district with about 600,000 residents. That's about 100 times fewer patients, on a per capita basis, than states such as California or Oregon, where the drug can also be legally used to alleviate illnesses.
Not surprisingly, all three of the dispensaries say they are losing money.
"I think there was a general expectation that the numbers would be higher," Jeffrey Kahn, owner of Takoma Wellness Center, said in an interview.
The low numbers reflect a medical marijuana program that is considered the most restrictive in the nation. Patients can get prescriptions only from doctors with whom they have had an ongoing relationship, and only if they suffer from one of four conditions: HIV/AIDS, glaucoma, cancer or severe muscle spasms, such as those caused by multiple sclerosis. Although just three dispensaries have opened, the law allows up to five.
To even visit one, patients must register with the health department, make an appointment and show a district-issued ID card before passing through security.
That's a stark contrast from California, where patient registration is voluntary, doctors use their own judgment to determine whether medical pot can relieve an ailment, and some dispensaries are located just steps from the beach or deliver to a patient's door. In other states, the list of qualifying conditions is longer. A law passed in Illinois this year included 30 ailments.
"They deliberately have the most buttoned-down laws in the country," said Mark Kleiman, a professor of public policy at UCLA. He said the district's strict rollout of medical marijuana reflected a desire by local officials "to keep the feds calm."
For more than a decade, D.C. officials struggled to make medical marijuana available to their residents. In 1998, 69% of district voters approved a medical marijuana initiative.
But such efforts were routinely overruled by conservative members of Congress, who wield unusual influence over the district's laws.
After the 1998 ballot measure, then-Rep. Bob Barr, a Republican from Georgia, amended the district's budget to keep money from being spent on the program, effectively blocking it.
But changing attitudes from Congress, as well as from the Justice Department, have opened the door for the district to quietly begin its medical marijuana program.
Even Barr, who left office in 2003, reversed his position after aligning with libertarians. His newfound opposition to government intrusion led him to lobby Congress in 2007 on behalf of the Marijuana Policy Project, a nonprofit advocacy group that supports legalization, to remove his own amendment. (He is now running for Congress again as a Republican in Georgia's 11th District.)
The Barr amendment was removed in 2009, and medical marijuana became legal in the district in 2010, drawing little notice from Congress.
By that time, medical cannabis was legal in 14 states. Even when Colorado and Washington state passed laws legalizing recreational marijuana use last year, Congress said "nothing. Not a whisper," said Kleiman, who advised Washington state officials on how to set up their legal marijuana program.
The Justice Department subsequently said it would not challenge the legalization programs as long as they were well-regulated.
That move paved the way for dispensaries in Washington, D.C., to operate with little fear of federal intervention. "We're part of a robust regulatory system that the Justice Department called for," said Takoma's Kahn.
Many patients and doctors praised the district's program, saying marijuana has been shown to relieve pain and improve appetites. Michelle Hill, a patient at another dispensary, Metropolitan Wellness Center, said the drug helped with the severe spasms she suffered because of a spinal cord ailment.
"When I smoked cannabis, I had none of those issues," she said at a D.C. Council hearing in October.
The district is looking into increasing availability by expanding the list of qualifying ailments.
"We'd love to be able to help those patients," Scott Morgan, a spokesman for the dispensary Capital City Care, said of allowing more ailments to be treated. "We're looking forward to that. We think that's going to be a big help to the program."
The changed landscape also has advocates confident that Congress will not object to a proposed local law that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of pot.
"Congress is unlikely to step in," said D.C. Councilmember Tommy Wells, who has proposed making possession of 1 ounce or less of pot a civil offense, subject to a fine that may be as low as $25. The measure, aimed at curbing a disproportionate number of arrests of African Americans for marijuana possession, has support from 10 of 13 council members, as well as Mayor Vincent Gray. Seventeen states have similar laws.
Councilmember Yvette Alexander opposes decriminalization, warning it could exacerbate the district's drug problem.
"I think it's going to encourage the drug market even more, if there's no fear of a crime or criminal record," she said.
But Wells predicted that it would be law by early next spring.
"I was excited about the response — or rather lack of response — by Congress," said Dan Riffle, lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project, adding that he had not heard opposition from any legislators about the decriminalization bill.
"Everyone gets the message that marijuana is going to be legal sooner rather than later."

Denver Launches MJ Website on Do's & Don'ts of Law

Denver -- Have questions about marijuana? The city of Denver is hoping to have that covered after it launched an informational website Dec. 9.
The site is simple in construction and serves to answer frequently asked questions such as "is it illegal to drive high?" and "is it illegal to consume marijuana in public?" The answer to both questions is yes, by the way.

The city's marketing office put the site together after embarking on the endeavor in late October.
"The goal was to provide clarity and I think the site does that," said Sarah Kurz, director of strategic marketing for Denver.

Kurz said her office met with several outside groups such as Denver Public Schools, Denver Health and AAA Colorado to determine what questions should be answered on the site. She said all the groups were insistent that the information needed to be out there as soon as possible.
View the site at: http://www.colorado.gov/marijuanainfodenver

Don't Rush Recreational Marijuana in California

California -- On New Year’s Day, Colorado becomes the first state to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana, and Washington will begin permitting pot shops a few months later.
It’s only a matter of time before California follows. There are four potential initiatives to legalize marijuana being considered for the November ballot, according to the Sacramento Bee. A recent Field Poll found 55% of California voters support legalization for the first time.

In reality, marijuana is already practically legal in the state. California’s medical marijuana law allows pretty much anyone to get a prescription for pot and fill it at a storefront dispensary. We just make people pretend they’re “patients” going to get their “medicine.”
But just because legalization in California is inevitable doesn’t mean we should hurry.
Look at the goofiness and confusion that continues to surround the medical marijuana industry in the state. Dispensaries are legal in some cities, not in others. Cities pass ordinances regulating pot shops, courts overturn the rules. Voters passed the California Compassionate Use Act of 1996 and the legislature authorized dispensaries in 2004, yet the regulatory environment is still hazy.
Legalization proponents should let California sit on the sidelines for another year or two, while the sales and recreational-use experiment plays out in Colorado and Washington. Postpone the ballot initiatives to 2016. California does not need to be a leader on legalized marijuana.

First State-Licensed Marijuana Retailers To Open

Colorado -- The world's first state-licensed marijuana retailers, catering to Colorado's newly legal recreational market for pot, are stocking their shelves ahead of a New Year's grand opening that supporters and detractors alike see as a turning point in America's drug culture.
Possession, cultivation and private personal consumption of marijuana by adults for the sake of just getting high has already been legal in Colorado for more than year under a state constitutional amendment approved by voters.

But starting January 1, cannabis will be legally sold and taxed at specially regulated retailers in a system modeled after a regime many states have in place for alcohol sales - but which exists for marijuana nowhere outside of Colorado.
For the novelty factor alone, operators of the first eight marijuana retailers slated to open on Wednesday morning in Denver and a handful of establishments in other locations are anticipating a surge in demand for store-bought weed.
"It will be like people waiting in line for tickets to a Pink Floyd concert," said Justin Jones, 39, owner of Dank Colorado in Denver who has run a medical marijuana shop for four years and now has a recreational pot license.
Jones said he is confident he has enough marijuana on hand for Day One but less sure of inventory levels needed after that.
About 90 percent of his merchandise is in smokable form, packaged in small child-proof containers. The rest is a mixture of cannabis-infused edibles, such as cookies, candy and carbonated drinks.
"People seem to prefer smoking," he said.
From Medical To Recreational
Washington state voters legalized recreational marijuana at the same time Colorado did, in November 2012, but it has yet to be made commercially available there.
Pot designated strictly for medical use has been sold for some time in storefront shops in several of the nearly 20 states, including Colorado and Washington, that have deemed marijuana legal for health purposes.
But Colorado is the first to open retail pot stores, and craft a regulatory framework to license, tax and enforce its use for recreation.
Outside of the United States, Uruguay's parliament recently cleared the way for state-sanctioned marijuana sales, but the South American nation is at least months away from having a system in place.
The Netherlands has long had an informal decriminalization policy, with Amsterdam coffee shops allowed to sell marijuana products to customers. But back-end distribution of the drug to those businesses remains illegal.
"It will actually be fully legal in Colorado, at least under state law, whereas in the Netherlands it's been tolerated, not actually legal," Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a pro-liberalization group, told reporters earlier this month.
"Colorado is essentially the first. It's really the first in which this is explicitly legal and where marijuana is being grown legally, sold wholesale legally, sold retail legally," Nadelmann said.
"This is groundbreaking," said Mike Elliot, spokesman for Colorado's Medical Marijuana Industry Group. "We are way ahead of Washington state, Amsterdam and Uruguay."
Critics of liberalized marijuana laws likewise view Colorado's new order as a landmark, albeit one they see in a more negative light.
Kevin Sabet, co-founder of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a leading anti-legalization group, said the movement toward ending pot prohibition is sending the wrong signal to the nation's youth.
Ending Prohibition
"There will still need to be a black market to serve people who are ineligible to buy on a legal market, especially kids," Sabet said. "It's almost the worst of both worlds."
Critics say the social harms of legalizing pot - from anticipated declines in economic productivity to a potential rise in traffic and workplace accidents - will outweigh any benefits.
Legalization backers point to tax revenues to be gained and argue that anti-marijuana enforcement has accomplished little but to penalize otherwise law-abiding citizens, especially minorities.
They also argue that legalization will free up strained law enforcement resources and strike a blow against drug cartels, much as repealing alcohol prohibition in the 1930s crushed bootlegging by organized crime.
But Sabet counters, "We are witnessing the birth of big marijuana," which he compared to the tobacco industry.
Under Colorado's law, however, state residents can only buy as much as an ounce of marijuana at a time, while individuals from out of state are limited to quarter-ounce purchases. State law also limits cultivation to six marijuana plants per person.
Those limits were not enough to deter a 30-year-old high school sports coach who is visiting Colorado from North Carolina but gave his name only as Matt.
"I don't really drink a whole lot, but I'd prefer to smoke a little bit and have a good time with the friends that I hang out with," he told Reuters on Friday. His New Year's plans include a "Cannabition" pot party in Denver.
Marijuana remains classified an illegal narcotic under U.S. law. But in a major policy shift in August, the Obama administration said it would give states leeway to experiment with pot legalization, and let Colorado and Washington carry out their new laws permitting recreational use.
The state has issued a total of 348 recreational pot licenses to businesses statewide, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue's Marijuana Enforcement Division.
Of those, 136 are for retail stores, 178 for cultivation operations, 31 for manufacturing of infused edibles and other sundries, and three are for testing facilities.
Last month, Colorado voters approved a combined 15 percent excise and 10 percent sales tax to be imposed on recreational pot sales, with the first $40 million raised to fund school construction projects.
The Colorado Legislative Council estimates the marijuana taxation scheme will generate $67 million annually in tax revenue to state coffers.
Only people over age 21 can buy recreational pot. Public use of marijuana remains illegal, as is driving while stoned. The state has set a blood-THC (the active ingredient in cannabis) limit of 5-nanogram-per-milliliter threshold for motorists.
Other states are taking a wait-and-see approach to the Colorado and Washington experiments before they take the leap toward legalization, said Rachel Gillette, head of Colorado's chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
"Colorado has found an exit strategy for the failed drug war and I hope other states will follow our lead," she said.

In California Mayor’s Rise Is a Sign of the Times

Sebastopol, Calif. -- When Robert Jacob ran for the City Council here last year, he had already made the list of “Forty Under 40 of 2012” in a local business magazine. So it was to be expected that his business gave him face recognition among voters on the campaign trail, many of whom greeted him by exclaiming, “You’re the pot guy!”

A founder of Sebastopol’s lone dispensary for medical marijuana, Peace in Medicine, and a strong advocate of its use, Mr. Jacob far outraised and outspent his rivals by running the most expensive campaign in Sebastopol’s history. He won and quickly became vice mayor but was not done.

This month, Mr. Jacob, 36, was chosen as mayor by the City Council — the first person from the medical marijuana industry to become mayor of an American city, according to cannabis advocates.
The selection spoke to the wider social acceptance of marijuana, medical or otherwise, in the United States, one year after Colorado and Washington voted to become the first two states to legalize its recreational use. That it happened in Sebastopol, a city in Sonoma County that retains its hippie past despite the gentrification in recent years that has made it known more for its pinot noir than its traditional Gravenstein apples, was hardly a surprise.
Mr. Jacob’s political ascendancy also points to the marijuana industry’s growing economic power, and it hints at what may lie ahead in Colorado and Washington. In its list of “Forty Under 40,” The North Bay Business Journal listed Mr. Jacob alongside people from the food, wine, tech, finance and other more conventional sectors. In Sebastopol, a city of 7,400 people an hour north of San Francisco, his medical marijuana dispensary was the 14th-biggest business in 2012, funneling $46,400 in taxes to the city.
Still, the federal government regards any use of marijuana as illegal. What is more, in the last couple of years, United States attorneys have shut down hundreds of dispensaries across California after sending warning letters to operators, landlords and local officials who passed or put into effect ordinances regulating medical marijuana businesses in their municipalities. In the letters, the prosecutors, working with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Internal Revenue Service, threatened the recipients with criminal charges and the seizure of assets.
So as both the mayor and a medical marijuana businessman, Mr. Jacob could be seen as a symbol of how federal laws lag behind the times, or he could become an inviting target.
While joking that talking about his dispensary’s position in relation to federal law “makes me sweat,” Mr. Jacob said he felt confident about its legal status. City officials said that no one associated with Mr. Jacob’s dispensary or in the city’s government had received a warning letter from the federal authorities.
“We don’t push the envelope,” Mr. Jacob said. “We really operate within a medicinal perspective, from our name to our advertising to the way we display our medicine to the way we treat each individual patient’s needs when they walk through the door. We’re an organization that respects the intent of cannabis as medicine.”
The dispensary, which opened in 2007, is in a nondescript gray, two-story building on one of the city’s main avenues. Nothing outside indicates the nature of its business. Inside, Peace in Medicine cultivates the atmosphere of a clinic or spa, with works from local artists on its walls, a world away from the clublike ambience and images of fast cars, Bob Marley and bikini-clad women found in many other dispensaries.
Lawrence McLaughlin, the city attorney and manager, said the thought that the mayor was engaged in an activity considered illegal under federal law was “not a worry at this point for me.” He added, “I can see the trend where things are going in the United States over all regardless of who’s in power in Washington, being that marijuana use is being legalized in more and more states.”
A resident of Sebastopol since 2004, Mr. Jacob is a relative newcomer. He grew up in Rodeo, in the East Bay, the son of immigrants, his father from Mexico and his mother from Iraq. He moved with his family to the Central Valley, but uncomfortable in the area’s conservative culture because he was gay, he said, at 15 he decamped to San Francisco, where he first lived in a homeless shelter for youths. In San Francisco, Mr. Jacob went to high school and also worked for several social services groups, helping victims of domestic violence and H.I.V.-positive youths.
After moving here, Mr. Jacob said he found many people “hiding in their homes and basement and cabins, cultivating cannabis,” which inspired him and a handful of other business partners to take their first anxious steps toward opening the dispensary.
“We went to a pay phone and I called the Police Department,” Mr. Jacob recalled. “I said: ‘Hi, I’m Robert. I am a medical marijuana patient, and I want to grow cannabis in Sebastopol. Can you tell me what the rules are?’ ”
A police officer explained California’s regulations to him. “Then we all got into the car and drove away from the pay phone as fast as possible,” he said. “We were afraid that they were going to come down and get us.”
The dispensary found a receptive community here. Sebastopol’s population has grown older and wealthier in recent decades, but its politics are rooted on the left.
Green Party candidates have made it to the City Council. In the past year, the Council has passed ordinances requiring solar power on new homes and commercial buildings, as well as restricting drive-through businesses and chain stores. Its divisions, said Sarah Glade Gurney, a council member and former mayor, are divisions inside the left.
“People like to argue with the Greens, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t green themselves,” she said.
As for Mr. Jacob, who was unanimously chosen by the Council to be mayor, he said that he wants to be known for more than being the first medical marijuana insider to become mayor of an American city.
Referring to his management experience overseeing 45 employees at Peace in Medicine, he said he would work toward uniting the City Council, which had been divided in recent years over development projects, including a CVS pharmacy. Having supported the new restrictions on businesses, he said that he wants to preserve Sebastopol’s small-town charm.
“There’s been a lot about me being the marijuana mayor,” Mr. Jacob told a gathering at a Christmas luncheon at the Fire Department.
“I’m doing everything I can in many ways to change that perspective. And if that means I’ve got to put on dress shoes that hurt my feet and a tie every day, and wear a nice suit and make sure it’s pressed and pay for a dry cleaner, I’m going to do that.”

A version of this article appears in print on December 26, 2013, on page A16 of the New York edition with the headline: In California, a Mayor’s Rise Is a Sign of the Times.

Colorado's Marijuana Sales To Start

Denver -- A gleaming white Apple store of weed is how Andy Williams sees his new Denver marijuana dispensary. Two floors of pot-growing rooms will have windows showing the shopping public how the mind-altering plant is grown. Shoppers will be able to peruse drying marijuana buds and see pot trimmers at work separating the valuable flowers from the less-prized stems and leaves.

“It’s going to be all white and beautiful,” the 45-year-old ex-industrial engineer explains, excitedly gesturing around what just a few weeks ago was an empty warehouse space that will eventually house 40,000 square feet of cannabis strains.

As Colorado prepares to be the first in the nation to allow recreational pot sales, opening Jan. 1, hopeful retailers like Williams are investing their fortunes into the legal recreational pot world — all for a chance to build even bigger ones in a fledgling industry that faces an uncertain future.
Officials in Colorado and Washington, the other state where recreational pot goes on sale in mid-2014, as well as activists, policymakers and governments from around the U.S. and across the world will not be the only ones watching the experiment unfold.
So too will the U.S. Department of Justice, which for now is not fighting to shut down the industries.
“We are building an impressive showcase for the world, to show them this is an industry,” Williams says, as the scent of marijuana competes with the smell of sawdust and wet paint in the cavernous store where he hopes to sell pot just like a bottle of wine.
Will it be a showcase for a safe, regulated pot industry that generates hundreds of millions of dollars each year and saves money on locking up drug criminals, or one that will prove, once and for all, that the federal government has been right to ban pot since 1937?
Cannabis was grown legally in the U.S. for centuries, even by George Washington. After Prohibition’s end in the 1930s, federal authorities turned their sights on pot. The 1936 propaganda film “Reefer Madness” warned the public about a plant capable of turning people into mindless criminals.
Over the years, pot activists and state governments managed to chip away at the ban, their first big victory coming in 1996 when California allowed medical marijuana. Today, 19 other states, including Colorado and Washington, and the District of Columbia have similar laws.
Those in the business were nervous, fearing that federal agents would raid their shops.
“It was scary,” recalls Williams, who along with his brother borrowed some $630,000 from parents and relatives to open Medicine Man in 2009. “I literally had dreams multiple times a week where I was in prison and couldn’t see my wife or my child. Lot of sleepless nights.”
That same year, the Justice Department told federal prosecutors they should not focus investigative resources on patients and caregivers complying with state medical marijuana laws — but the department reserved the right to step in if there was abuse.
In Colorado, the industry took off. Shops advertised on billboards and radio. Pot-growing warehouses along Interstate 70 in Denver grew so big that motorists started calling one stretch the “Green Zone” for its frequent skunky odor of pot.
The city at one point had more marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks coffee shops, with some neighborhoods crowded with dispensary sign-wavers and banners offering free joints for new customers. Local officials have since ratcheted back such in-your-face ads.
But the marijuana movement didn’t stop. Voters in Colorado and Washington approved recreational pot in 2012, sold in part on spending less to lock up drug criminals and the potential for new tax dollars to fund state programs.
The votes raised new questions about whether the federal government would sue to block laws flouting federal drug law. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper famously warned residents not to “break out the Cheetos or Goldfish too quickly,” and activists predicated a legal showdown.
That didn’t happen. In August, the DOJ said it wouldn’t sue so long as the states met an eight-point standard that includes keeping pot out of other states and away from children, criminal cartels and federal property.
Colorado law allows adults 21 and older to buy pot at state-sanctioned pot retail stores, and state regulations forbid businesses from advertising in places where children are likely see their pitches.
Only existing medical dispensaries were allowed to apply for licenses, an effort to prevent another proliferation of pot shops. Only a few dozen shops statewide are expected to be open for recreational sales on New Year’s Day.
Continue Reading
Legal pot’s potential has spawned businesses beyond retail shops. Marijuana-testing companies have popped up, checking regulated weed for potency and screening for harmful molds. Gardening courses charge hundreds to show people how to grow weed at home.
Tourism companies take curious tourists to glass-blowing shops where elaborate smoking pipes are made. One has clients willing to spend up to $10,000 for a week in a luxury ski resort and a private concierge to show them the state’s pot industry.
Dixie Elixirs & Edibles, maker of pot-infused foods and drinks, is making new labels for the recreational market and expanding production on everything from crispy rice treats to fruit lozenges.
“The genie is out of the bottle,” says company president Tripp Keber. “I think it’s going to be an exciting time over the next 24 to 48 months.”
It’s easy to see why the industry is attracting so many people. A Colorado State University study estimates the state will ring up $606 million in sales next year, and the market will grow from 105,000 medical pot users to 643,000 adult users overnight - and that’s not counting tourists.
Toni Fox, owner of 3D Cannabis Center in Denver, anticipates shoppers camping overnight to await her first-day 8 a.m. opening. She’s thinking of using airport-security-line-style ropes to corral shoppers, and suspects she’s going to run out of pot.
A longtime marijuana legalization advocate, she knows it’s a crucial moment for the movement.
“We have to show that this can work,” she says. “It has to.”
The challenges, activists and regulators say, are daunting in Colorado and Washington.
One of the biggest questions is whether they have built an industry that will not only draw in tens of millions of dollars in revenue but also make a significant dent in the illegal market. Another is whether the regulatory system is up to the task of controlling a drug that’s never been regulated.
There are public health and law enforcement concerns, including whether wide availability of a drug with a generations-old stigma of ruining lives will lead to more underage drug use, more cases of driving while high and more crime.
As state officials watch for signs of trouble, they will also have to make sure they don’t run afoul of the DOJ’s conditions.
To stop the drug from getting smuggled out of state, regulators in both states are using a radio-frequency surveillance system developed to track pot from the greenhouses to the stores and have set low purchasing limits for non-residents.
Officials concede that there’s little they can do to prevent marijuana from ending up in suitcases on the next flight out. The sheriff in the Colorado county where Aspen is located has suggested placing an “amnesty box” at the city’s small airport to encourage visitors to drop off their extra bud.
To prevent the criminal element from getting a foothold, regulators have enacted residency requirements for business owners, banned out-of-state investment and run background checks on every applicant for a license to sell or grow the plant.
Whether the systems are enough is anyone’s guess.
For now, all the focus is on 2014. This being Colorado, there will be more than a few joints lit up on New Year’s Eve. Pot fans plan to don 1920s-era attire for a “Prohibition Is Over!” party and take turns using concentrated pot inside the “dab bus.”
Williams says he’s done everything he can, including hiring seven additional staffers to handle customers. All he has to do is open the doors.
“Are we ready to go? Yes,” he says. “What’s going to happen? I don’t know.”

Athletes and Pot

Denver -- It was the morning of a 2010 playoff game, and one of the Nuggets had just smoked some nuggets. As the team practiced, the player was so high that Rex Chapman, a team executive at the time, had to pull him aside to get him to focus.
"Across all walks of life and in every profession, people smoke (marijuana). This is no secret, and pro sports are not exempt," said Chapman, who played 12 years in the NBA. "But employers deserve and pay for A-plus employees. There is a time and place for everything. As a member of a team, guys owe it to their teammates to put their best foot forward."

Marijuana use has long been a part of sports' subculture, especially and fittingly in a place nicknamed the Mile High City. It soon may become part of the mainstream. New laws taking effect Wednesday in Colorado allow the retail sale of recreational marijuana.
But as much as society often mirrors changes in sports culture, to most of the ruling bodies of sports, weed remains a four-letter word. Fiercely protective of their image, they don't want athletes openly smoking marijuana, regardless of what Colorado voters might say. There is evidence in recent surveys, however, that society's changing views toward marijuana, specifically widespread acceptance of the medicinal benefits in alleviating pain, are thawing previous hard-line stances.
Winter Olympic athletes, for example, are all but given a free pass for smoking marijuana while out of competition. And the World Anti-Doping Agency this past May increased the threshold for a positive marijuana test tenfold. The NHL, meanwhile, alone among the big four North American professional sports, does not include marijuana among its banned substances.
Nevertheless, advocates for the use of marijuana know they face an uphill challenge making cannabis legal for athletes.

Denver Police Won't Actively Seek Pot-Smokers

Denver -- Extra Denver police officers will be on hand to protect patrons of newly legalized recreational pot shops on Wednesday, but they won't be actively looking to arrest them if they light up in public."I am not going to have a team of officers specifically going out looking for people smoking marijuana," Police Chief Robert White said. "If we get complaints or run into it, we're certainly going to investigate it. We have to balance our resources as it relates to addressing these issues."

Here we go!!!!

“We have about five recreational orders to prepare right now, but each order is about 10 times the size of our typical medical marijuana orders,” said O’Rourke.
Love’s Oven is one of a handful of cannabis bakeries that got their recreational license Friday with retail pot business owners.
“We will be very busy,” said O’Rourke.
However, there are guidelines.
“All recreational products have to be 100 milligrams or less. As to medical marijuana, we sell 4,000 milligram cups of butter,” said O’Rourke.
O’Rourke says their ingredients also must be divided between recreational and medical.
Packaging will change too and be plain, simple, and not easy for kids to open.
The pastry chef, Hope, was busy on Saturday decorating tiny chocolate treats for recreational users.
“There are other items on our recreational menu that are not available for medical,” Hope said. “More things that are for the one time tries or first time users like caramel, and we also do funny things like misfortune cookies.”
O’Rourke feels fortunate to be part of something bigger than her baked goods.
“It is a part of history, and I’m sure other states will be following suit after awhile,” O’Rourke said, “This is the beginning of all of it.”
The owner of Love’s Oven said retail shops will be selling their baked goods for recreational use only to people who are 21 or older.

It has begun!

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2013/12/28/cannabis-bakery-preparing-for-legal-sale-of-recreational-pot/

Its legalized!

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/29/denver-issues-retail-licenses-for-recreational-pot-sales/

Seattle thrift store finds 2.5 pounds of marijuana in donation bin!

"SEATTLE -- Despite the recent legalization of recreational marijuana in Washington, Seattle police want to remind everyone that thrift stores can't resell donated bags of pot. 

The department released a lighthearted press release on Friday to remind the public of the rules after employees at a thrift store in North Seattle found a large bag of marijuana in the donation bin. 

In the release, police say "Donating to thrift shops is a terrific way to give a second life to your well-loved Velcro sneakers, keyboards or flannel zebra jammies," but they say tires, soiled mattresses, laptops and bags of weed are not welcome. 

A thrift store employee called police Thursday afternoon to say he found a garbage bag containing 2.5 pounds of pot in the store's donation bin. 

Police confiscated the marijuana and put it into evidence for destruction."

Image: http://www.komonews.com

This generous donation, likely worth around $10,000, was unfortunately taken by the police. Despite 
Washington state's recent legalization of marijuana, there are obviously jurisdiction and enforcement issues which have lead to this waste of a large donation which could have provided for many jobs for months.

Source: komonews.com
Read more at http://www.naturalcuresnotmedicine.com/2013/10/seattle-thrift-store-finds-25-pounds-of.html#vJUWvs51Gpl1Ezjl.99

MSG And Aspartame Are Not Good!

Excitotoxins, as they are appropriately named, are supposed to enhance flavor and excite your taste buds, but this “class” of chemicals overstimulate neuron receptors, which are what allow brain cells to communicate with each other.

by S. D. Wells

(NaturalNews) Excitotoxins, as they are appropriately named, are supposed to enhance flavor and excite your taste buds, but this “class” of chemicals overstimulateneuron receptors, which are what allow brain cells to communicate with each other. This causes a firing of impulses at such a rapid rate that they become completely exhausted, and several hours later, these depleted neurons die. This is true cell death, and the parts of the brain that are specifically targeted by excitotoxins are the hypothalamus and temporal lobes, which not only control behavior, emotions, and sleep cycles, but you guessed it, immunity. (http://experiencelife.com/article/excitotoxins/)

Aspartame and MSG stimulate the taste cells in the tongue, causing food flavor to be enhanced, especially in soups, snacks, sauces, gravies, low-fat processed foods, and now aspartame is found in 95 percent of breath mints and chewing gum, even when they’re not “sugar free.” If you regularly experience any or all of the following, it’s about time to question the amount of “excitotoxins” that are swimming through your heart and brain. Do you suffer from migraine headaches, inflammation, unwarranted weight gain, rashes and “crawling skin?” It may all be spurred by genetically modified flavor enhancers.

Let’s cover all of the bases. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) has at least 20 different names. There are many other products/additives that are simply “sisters” or “cousins” of MSG, but beware, because MSG is a macro-combination of these other “food” additives and chemically engineered flavor enhancers. Plus, the MSG “cousin” additives do not have to be labeled as MSG because they are not manufactured in tandem, so when enough of them add up in your daily intake, you may as well have eaten MSG on an empty stomach.
(http://www.truthinlabeling.org/Proof_BrainLesions_CNS.html)

How do you avoid MSG, aspartame and their criminal cousins?

Stop buying and stop consuming the following: Glutamic acid, glutamate, monopotassium glutamate, calcium glutamate, autolyzed yeast, calcium caseinate, gelatin, anything “hydrolyzed,” sodium caseinate, soy protein, soy protein concentrate, soy protein isolate, textured protein, whey protein, whey protein concentrate, whey protein isolate, yeast extract, yeast food, and yeast nutrient. (http://copingwithmsg.blogspot.com)

Warning: don’t be fooled by “Pro-MSG” websites that state MSG is an amino acid that the “body produces on its own,” because the MSG on store shelves is processed, GMO and comes from fermented sugar beets. That’s why Monsanto has a monopoly on sugar beets. Watch out for glutamic acid and its ions and salts called glutamates, which are compounds found in many fermented foods, including soy sauce, cheese and hydrolyzed protein.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutamic_acid_(flavor))

MSG is the leading cause of migraine headaches, which result from a blood vessel enlargement and the release of chemicals from nerve fibers that coil around these vessels. During the headache, an artery enlarges outside the skull, but just under the skin (the temple). This is when the warning signs that you’ve consumed MSG ring out, and many people experience flashes of light, blind spots, tingling in the arms and legs, nausea, vomiting, and increased sensitivity to light and sound. The pain becomes so excruciating, it’s almost unbearable. Some migraines are known to last for days. Could that be because the medicine you take contains more?
(http://www.naturalnews.com/029119_migraine_headaches_foods.html)

The “K” criminal “Acesulfame K” creates “significant doubt”

Chemical sweeteners should be entirely avoided by all human beings at all times and you have to know their “hiding places” in order to keep them out of your body. Acesulfame K is just a cousin of aspartame, so don’t be fooled by the label. Acesulfame Potassium (K) was approved for use by the FDA in July of 1988. It is a derivative of acetoacetic acid. Several animal studies/findings show the following: Acesulfame K stimulates insulin secretion in a dose dependent fashion thereby possibly aggravating reactive hypoglycemia (low blood sugar attacks). Acesulfame K produced lung tumors, breast tumors, and several forms of leukemia and chronic respiratory disease in rodent studies, even when less than maximum doses were given. Still, the FDA eliminated “significant doubt” about its safety and kept it on the shelves. (http://www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-sweeteners.html)

Hemp can help us change our world! It has over 50,000 uses.

Below is a music video on hemp titled “hemp can help save our world” by the luminaries. They represent what they call the “luminous movement”, a shift in human consciousness that we are experiencing right now. It’s a great little video and illustrates the multiple uses of hemp and the contributions it can make  to help us live in a more harmonious way with the planet.

We are all awakening to the inner experience, and understand that we are beautiful, luminous beings. Be a part of this conscious community gathering intended to inspire your heart with positive music, invigorate your soul, and activate ya bofty chakra! – Luminaries

Why is hemp illegal to grow? Because government laws often violate fundamental human rights. Hemp is restricted because it promotes freedom, abundance and healthy living. It is also a direct threat to many of the multi national corporations. Hemp has over 50,000 uses, it’s a natural gift from the Earth that was meant to be used by the human race, no suppressed and made illegal.

Hemp can change the way we build everything, have you ever heard about Hempcrete? If you haven’t you can read more about it here. It has multiple medicinal qualities, and can be used for food and medicine. Henry Ford’s first Model-T was built to run on hemp gasoline. The car itself was even constructed from hemp! You can read more about that here.

We've shared this multiple times here, but it's something the entire world should definitely see. Most of us are simply unaware.

North East of Hawaii, the ocean currents form a giant whirl pool of debris from around the Pacific, the scientific name is called the North Pacific Gyre. It’s one of the largest ecosystems on Earth, comprising of millions of square kilometres. Today it’s better known as “The Great Garbage Patch,” an area the size of Queensland, Australia where there is approximately one million tonnes of plastic spread  throughout the ocean. Drag a net in any area of this part of the ocean and you will pick up toxic, discarded plastic. Photographer Chris Jordan has documented this phenomenon.

I had been studying for quite a while the phenomenon called the Pacific garbage patch. I was looking for a way to visualize it, it was really surreal to land on Midway, seeing that my worst hopes of what I would find there are true. These are all albatross chicks, hatched out of their eggs and the very first meal they got was deadly to them. What happens is, when the eggs hatch one of the parents goes out and flies looking for food. They search over this vast area of the pacific and when they come back with is a belly full of toxic plastics, and they feed that to their babies. They die of starvation, malnutrition and chocking. Simply allow yourself to feel whatever it is you feel about this, without jumping to the way to solve it. Because I think we really need to feel these things, even if the feelings are uncomfortable, because those are the feelings that will turn into the fuel and drive passionate action – Chris Jordan

The desire to change these things will put the human race on a journey to do so, and we are in the midst of it.

Please Watch This Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1I7on22jA48
''This film should be seen by the entire world, please don't throw anything into the sea. Unbelievable, just look at the consequences''

The United States government is secretly moving forward with the Trans-Pacific Partnership despite the government shutdown...the largest trade agreement since the WTO, a corporate "Trojan horse."

The human race has been waking up to the fact that a great deal of secrecy exists within the government as well as many major multinational corporations. Another astonishing observation is that major events covered by the corporate media in depth seem to coincide with the creation of important bills, legislation and agreements without any attention brought to it by the corporate media. We saw this recently with the Boston Bombings, which coincided with the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), which coincided with the passing of the bill in the United States House of Representatives during the Boston Bombings ordeal. Fortunately, leaks from Edward Snowden amongst others have shed even more light on this topic for the human race to wake up to. Despite the United States government shutdown, Secretary of State John Kerry headed to Asia for secret talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership which continues to move forward, and may very well be complete by the end of 2013.

The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is the largest trade agreement since the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the United States has been engaged in discussion with eight Pacific nations to come to an agreement on the terms of the TPP. It is a free trade contract that would allow for a more open system of exchange between the United States and less developed nations, apparently, and it’s wrapped in secrecy since discussions began within the Bush administration in 2005.

Why is it wrapped in secrecy? Because it’s not really about trade. The agreement has 29 chapters, and only five of them have to do with trade. The other 24 chapters either put restrictions on domestic governments, limit food safety, environmental standards, financial regulation, energy, climate policy and more. It’s basically an agreement for establishing new and enhanced powers for the multinational corporations that seem to own all of the worlds resources. It will affect everything, and all industries we choose to allow to govern our planet and the way that we live.

A portion of the proposed partnership was leaked (1) and it already managed to cause quite a stir. Details about the negotiations have been so hidden from the public that some members of the US Congress have called on the President to come forward with new information. According to the leak, the Obama administration has been considering TPP provisions that would allow foreign corporations operating within the United States to appeal regulations on both the environment and banking that would be forced on American-owned businesses with no chance of reprieve. Again, it is a long agreement that touches on all industries, from health all the way to energy, food and finance.

This isn’t all, there is a great deal of concern with regards to internet freedom. This negotiation could create rules that give media companies new power over the internet. The TPP could make internet service providers act as a copyright cop, policing what information we share. Many have suggested that this is a fast track towards internet censorship. The fact that this agreement would tighten controls over the internet is no secret.

I basically wanted to point out that this has nothing to do with trade, it’s another example of a potential creation of global legislation that would only benefit the same corporations that desire to restrict our freedom, opposing global change.

Posted By Dissidentvoice:

So far, the TPP has been drafted with an unprecedented degree of secrecy. While information has been kept from the public, more than 600 corporate advisers have access to the treaty’s text – including companies such as Halliburton, Monsanto, Walmart, and Chevron. The Obama administration has kept the TPP classified, making it the first-ever classification of a trade agreement. In addition to denying public access to its text, the president has urged Congress to use Fast Track to pass the treaty. Fast Track would limit congressional consideration of the text to a quick up or down vote and give President Obama the power to sign and negotiate the treaty. This turns the Constitution on its head as the Commerce Clause authorizes Congress to “regulate commerce among nations,” and not the president.

Seven advocates dressed as workers attached four massive banners to the front and side of the US Trade Representative’s office. The banners read “Transparency: Release the Text,” “Democracy, not Corporatocracy,” “Corporate Coup against the People and Planet” and “Flush The TPP.org.”  Other activists at the front of the building held a large 15 foot tall sign that said: “Trading Away People’s Lives and the Planet’s Future.”  They were able to cover the building in banners and hold this non-permitted protest and negotiate doing so without anyone getting arrested; in fact, one activist who had been held in handcuffs was even released.

Margaret Flowers, MD, who dressed as a workman to attach a sign to the front of the US Trade Representative said that “the TPP will undermine health care systems, make pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices more expensive and therefore increase pain and suffering and even cost people their lives.” Flowers, an advocate for a national health care plan that treats health care as a human rather than a commodity, warned that “The TPP will undermine the excellent single payer health care systems in Japan, Australia and New Zealand and make it more difficult for the United States to put in place a single payer system — which is what most Americans and doctors want to see.”

The protesters join Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), Rep. Michelle Bachman (R-MN), Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC), and many others who are opposing Fast Track and calling for the text’s immediate release. Earlier this summer, Rep. Grayson stated that, “this, more than anything, shows the abuse of the classified information system,” calling the treaty an “assault on democratic government.” Sen. Warren noted in her letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, “if transparency would lead to widespread public opposition to a trade agreement then that trade agreement should not be the policy of the United States.”

Groups of Republicans and Democrats are beginning to speak out against Fast Track, the lack of transparency and the TPP.  Just as the war against Syria was stopped by a cross-partisan coalition, such a coalition can stop the TPP. Indeed, 14 trade agreements have not become law in the last ten years because of citizen opposition preventing countries from reaching agreement.

An agreement that will empower corporations to dominate every aspect of our lives — food, water, health care, wages, jobs, Internet and more — should be debated openly and transparently.  The United States is supposed to be a democracy; acting in secret to create the largest trade agreement in history makes a mockery of democracy. Minimizing the checks and balances between Congress and the President undermines the Constitution, and giving away U.S. sovereignty to transnational corporations is the opposite of a country of, by and for the people.

While the full content of the treaty remains unknown, public opposition to what little has been leaked is growing. We are confident the TPP can be stopped, if people know what is in the agreement. They are keeping this agreement secret because they know its contents would be quite unpopular. People remember the negative impact of NAFTA, the TPP is NAFTA on steroids and will do great damage to working people all over the world as well as to the environment.

A new report from the Center for Economic Policy and Research finds that the TPP will produce small economic growth of only 1/10th of 1 percent per year, but it will hurt working Americans, as 90 percent of workers will see their income reduced as a result of the TPP. Unions including the Communication Workers of America, AFL-CIO and Teamsters have raised serious concerns about the TPP’s impact on working families, and doctors have also highlighted consequences for access to health care and life-saving medicines.

Resistance is not limited to the U.S. alone. Other members of the treaty, including Japan and Malaysia, have seen significant public demonstrations in opposition to the agreement, while the lead negotiator from Chile, Rodrigo Contreras, resigned earlier this year citing concerns that the treaty would restrict Chile’s ability to shape public policies, control financial institutions and address issues of health, education and development.

One protester from FlushTheTPP.org, who locked himself to Margaret Flowers on top of the building’s scaffolding, has firsthand experience with how transnational corporations control and design free trade agreements like these. Steven Bray decided to quit his job after his former employer, Caterpillar, sent the entire company a link to an automated message in support of the U.S.-Colombian Free Trade Agreement. “When I learned how many of my coworkers responded without actually considering the text and its potential consequences, I couldn’t stand it. This made the voice of one CEO sound like the voice of 10,000.” The Colombia trade agreement has had a serious negative effect on farmers and workers in Colombia and has resulted in massive nationwide protests.

Protesters promised to escalate their tactics if President Obama continues to undermine the Constitution, transparency and democracy. On Tuesday, the protesters will crash a Fast Track train into Congress after driving it across the city from the US Chamber of Commerce at 11 AM.

Sources:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/protest-against-the-trans-pacific-partnership-tpp-secret-negotiations-behind-closed-doors/5352012

http://www.citizenstrade.org/ctc/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/tppinvestment.pdf

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/10/04/trans-pacific-partnership_n_4039357.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/opinion/obamas-covert-trade-deal.html?_r=0

http://rt.com/op-edge/trans-pacific-partnership-obama-704/

http://rt.com/usa/tpp-obama-corporations-trade-725/

- See more at: http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/10/08/trans-pacific-partnership-moves-forward-despite-government-shutdown/#sthash.C052f0BC.dpuf

The agriculture commissioner of Kentucky will be pitching hemp to auto manufactures! As we all know, Henry Ford made a care and fueled it entirely off of hemp.

Agriculture Commissioner James Comer will take his pitch for hemp to auto manufacturers on Thursday.

Comer will attend AutoConnect, an industry trade conference in Nashville sponsored by Frost Brown Todd. Executives from Toyota, Volkswagen, Nissan, Honda and others are expected to attend the event.

Comer hopes to meet with the executives to discuss using hemp, which he said has fibers that are "longer, stronger, lighter and greener" than other products currently used in the auto manufacturing process.

"It has been my goal to make the pitch for Kentucky-grown industrial hemp to automobile manufacturers," Comer said in a statement. "Now the opportunity is here and I believe this could be a win-win: a win for Kentucky farmers and a win for an industry working hard to find a more environmentally sound manufacturing process."

Some car makers in Europe use already hemp as a sustainable and biodegradable material in parts such as dashboards, soundproofing, and interior panels.

With federal restrictions eased on marijuana in some states, Comer said that Kentucky might plant hemp next year despite an advisory letter issued last month by Attorney General Jack Conway saying that farmers who do "will expose themselves to potential criminal liability and the possible seizure of property by federal or state law enforcement agencies."

Comer and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Bowling Green, have requested explicit direction from the Justice Department on whether the Drug Enforcement Administration will prosecute farmers for growing hemp, since the DEA is not going to pursue marijuana growers in states where it is legal and regulated.

Comer hopes that building a market for hemp will spur action to clarify the legal situation. Legislation passed earlier this year by the General Assembly lets the Kentucky Department of Agriculture set up a licensing structure for farmers to grow hemp and Comer's office is working on those regulations.

"We are not deterred by political shenanigans on this issue," Comer said Tuesday. "This opportunity is real, and we need jobs and rural economic development in Kentucky. We are not playing games."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/10/15/2877813/comer-to-pitch-hemp-to-auto-execs.html#storylink=cpy

Meditation Help Your Life In General! Give It A Try!

Meditation has the potential to transform the world. In 1978 what is known as the "Maharishi Effect" took a group of 7000 individuals over the course of 3 weeks and had them all meditating on thoughts of love and peace. They were able to radiate loving energy which reduced global crime rates, violence, and casualties during the times of their meditation by an average of 16%.

Suicide rates and automobile accidents also were reduced with all variables accounted for. In fact, there was a 72% reduction in terrorist during the times at which this group was meditation.

Almost 50 studies have been done further confirming the benefits of global meditation and it's direct impact on everything in the world, even so far as to have the results published in the Journal of Crime and Justice in 1981. We know meditation has endless health and psychological benefits, but it is now being explored by politics and sociology because of its undeniable energetic impact.

Everything is energy, including your thoughts. These thoughts have a radiant quality that ripple through the consciousness field and energetically effect all things around you. If you want to change the state of society, it starts right now by finding peace and love within yourself.

“I think the claim can be plausibly made that the potential impact of this research exceeds that of any other ongoing social or psychological research program. It has survived a broader array of statistical tests than most research in the field of conflict resolution. This work and the theory that informs it deserve the most serious consideration by academics and policy makers alike.” — David Edwards Ph.D., Professor of Government, University of Texas at Austin.

Any day now, Aspartame could be added to dairy products as a hidden additive, without a label!

The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) in partnership with the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) is currently requesting a modification of the standards for milk and other dairy products to allow the use of non-nutritive sweeteners from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), one of them being aspartame.  The petition states that milk flavored with non-nutritive sweetener promotes public health by offering children and adolescents a beverage they are more likely to consume than plain milk.  The petition is looking to amend the standard of identification for not only milk, but 18 other dairy products like sour cream, yogurt, sweetened condensed milk and more. Furthermore, the petition is pushing the FDA not to label the modifications made to the standards milk, arguing that milk flavored with non-nutritive sweetener/Aspartame should be labeled as milk without further claims so that consumers can more easily identify its overall nutritional value. Big food corporations and political amendments usually never have the general populations best interest at hand. Here is an excerpt from the petition to the FDA from the IDFA and NMPF. This is how they attempt to justify not labeling this soon to be new phenomenon.

IDFA and NMPF argue that nutrient content claims such as “reduced calorie” are not attractive to children, and maintain that consumers can more easily identify the overall nutritional value of milk products that are flavored with non-nutritive sweeteners if the labels do not include such claims. Further, the petitioners assert that consumers do not recognize milk — including flavored milk — as necessarily containing sugar. Accordingly, the petitioners state that milk flavored with non-nutritive sweeteners should be labeled as milk without further claims so that consumers can more easily identify its overall nutritional value. (1)(2)

I hope this petition doesn’t go through, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did. Petitions and bills like this one usually get passed through the act of lobbying, which is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies.  The FDA, IDFA and NMPF are all working together, although the IDFA and NMPF are petitioning the FDA, they are all on the same side. For example, lets look at Jay Rockefeller, who is a United States Senator and Chairman of Commerce, Science and Transportation, among many more(3). He is responsible for the regulation of consumer products and services, which also includes testing for toxic substances. It’s no surprise that the IDFA has a direct link to Jay Rockefeller, who supports the IDFA and has been advocating for them with his political power(4). The Rockefeller family played a large role in the creation of the FDA. After all, it all goes back to Codex Alimentarius, which stems from the United Nations, which stem from the Rockefeller Family, among others(5). Why would a Rockefeller sit in a prominent representational position for the International Dairy Foods Association, help the IDFA while the IDFA petitions to the FDA, it’s almost as if a Rockefeller is petitioning to a Rockefeller, of course it will go through, or will it?

Did you know that Aspartame has been proven to cause brain damage by leaving traces of Methanol in the blood? It makes you wonder why Aspartame has been approved as “safe” and is found in thousands of food products. Currently more than 90 countries have given the artificial sweetener the “OK” to be used in foods.

Given that Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sugar, manufacturers are able to produce their sweet foods and market them as “low calorie” so they can market and appeal to millions of people on “diets.” There is no doubt that the less sugar you have in your diet, the better, but replacing sugar with aspartame is not the solution; in fact this is likely to be even worse for your health.

A study recently published in December of 2012 links the consumption of Aspartame to increased risk of Lymphoma and Leukemia. Conducted by the Channing Division of Network Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health and more, the study was a follow up after a 22 year period of data collection that includes frequent dietary and health check ups of the study group. The combined results of this new study showed that just one 12-fl oz. can (355 ml) of diet soda daily leads to:

- 42 percent higher leukemia risk in men and women (pooled analysis)
- 102 percent higher multiple myeloma risk (in men only)
- 31 percent higher non-Hodgkin  lymphoma risk (in men only)

This is a powerful set of results as it leaves little to ponder about when it comes to the long time talked about risks of aspartame on our health. The results were based on multi-variable relative risk models, all in comparison to participants who drank no diet soda. It is important to note that it still remains unknown why only men drinking higher amounts of diet soda showed increased risk for multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but the continuation of this study may reveal these results later.

Thanks for reading, I hope this inspires you to notice what you are eating, question it and do your own research. Much Love.

 Sources:

(1) http://www.idfa.org/files/resources/milk_petition_031009_final.pdf

(2)http://www.idfa.org/news–views/headline-news/details/7991/

(3)http://www.rockefeller.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/committee-

assignments

(4)http://www.ezvote.org/page.asp?content=2013_14_open_seats&g=idfa&parent=BIPAC

http://www.uabmedicine.org/news/Food+%28sugar+substitutes%29

http://www.mpwhi.com/aspartame_methanol_and_public_health.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22385158

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16507461

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23097267

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17805418

http://www.activistpost.com/2013/02/aspartame-in-milk-without-label-big.html

http://www.prisonplanet.com/u-s-dairy-industry-petitions-fda-to-approve-aspartame-as-hidden-unlabeled-additive-in-milk-yogurt-eggnog-and-cream.html

- See more at: http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/02/27/aspartame-added-to-milk-dairy-hidden-additive/#sthash.MblWrI9r.dpuf