The LSU and Southern University Agricultural Centers have been granted first crack at being the sole growers and producers of medical marijuana in Louisiana.

Under a new law the Legislature approved earlier this year, the AgCenters were granted the first right of refusal to hold a state-sanctioned monopoly on production of legal medical marijuana. The monopoly would go by public bid to a single provider if the universities refuse.

EUGENE, Ore. – Many people from Eugene’s homeless community went to work as volunteers over the weekend at the 11th annual Emerald Valley Hemp Fest.

The volunteers helped run the festival and were given meals for their help.

Local activist groups put on the event to feature dozens of vendors from all over the West Coast.

Organizers said the goal was to educate people on the different uses of the product.

Since recreational pot was legal this year, they said they were worried about people smoking it at the festival. Smoking in public places is illegal.

One would think that with medical marijuana now legal in 23 states, the science to support its efficacy would be fairly definitive. Surprisingly, that's not the case.

People who lost their homes when a tornado roared through their central Illinois town last week received help from a new neighbor: the top executive of a medical marijuana-growing company.

Delavan Mayor Liz Skinner said Sunday that Revolution Enterprises CEO Tim McGraw is paying for hotel rooms for residents displaced by Thursday night's tornado.

More than 50 homes were damaged as the tornado, which reached wind speeds of 120 mph, tore a 1-mile path through the community of 1,700 residents. "Nine homes were declared uninhabitable," Skinner said.

MURFREESBORO – Farmers from across Tennessee gathered Friday afternoon in Murfreesboro to learn about the ins and outs of growing industrial hemp.

A capacity crowd squeezed into a conference room at the Embassy Suites to hear speakers discuss the budding industry.

One farmer, Christian Grantham of Woodbury, explained he became a licensed hemp farmer, so he can help future hemp farmers by experimenting with varieties and conditions.

“I’m here to learn what we can do legally and what we can produce,” Grantham said about growing about an acre of Canda hemp on his Cannon County farm.

Law-makers, health officials, growers and customers all want a safe supply of cannabis so product testing and quality assurance are of critical importance as state by state, the legal marijuana market expands. This translates to a major business opportunity for well-run, well-capitalized technically advanced laboratories according to Matt Karnes who studies the cannabis market for his company, GreenWave Advisors, LLC.

It’s not often that I support new legislation in Washington.

Truth is, I’d rather see less new legislation and more gutting of current legislation.

But that’s a philosophical issue that serves few purposes on these pages.

Instead, I want to tell you about a piece of legislation that was just introduced by a bipartisan group of senators. Because if this particular piece of legislation were to ultimately make it to Obama’s desk — and he signs it into law — we could see two wonderful things happen…

First, a huge score for liberty, and second, a huge opportunity to make a boatload of cash.

The Schedule 1 Blues

Using sunlight instead of electric lights could cut the price of pot in half.

It's scientifically proven that marijuana increases users' consumption of (or at least desire for) junk food.

On the supply side, pot cultivation also increases consumption—of electricity. Growing pot indoors requires power-sucking lights and climate-control systems. In Denver, almost half of the city's year-over-year increase in electricity use has come from its hundreds of new indoor pot farms.

Users expecting synthetic marijuana to give them a mellow buzz similar to the real thing can get a nasty surprise, as the two are very different. Chemicals added to synthetic drugs can make them dangerous and sometimes deadly, more similar to PCP.

Sources: Criminal Justice Coordinating Council; To the Maximus Foundation, D.C. Police,D.C. Fire and EMS Department, Office of National Drug Control Policy | Bonnie Berkowitz, Richard Johnson and Denise Lu/The Washington Post July 18 at 8:28 PM

Wendy Del Rosa, one of two warring siblings claiming to lead a tiny Indian band just south of the Oregon border, began urgently writing to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento in early May.

The Alturas Rancheria – totaling three members or nine, depending on which faction one believes – had not been content with the earnings from its humble wood-plank gambling house, the Desert Rose Casino. It had pursued various ill-fated ventures, including payday lending and manufacturing cigarettes.

Now, Del Rosa warned in a series of letters to authorities, the tribe was converting a cavernous, tented event center on the reservation into a huge facility for growing marijuana.