Former New Mexico governor and barely-blipping GOP presidential candidate Gary Johnson resurrected the specter of Newt Gingrich’s doobie-dabbling and pot policy on MSNBC this weekend (though Johnson overstated Newt’s nonsense a bit). Here’s Newt’s most recent position, as of 1996, when as Speaker of House he introduced H.R. 4170 (Drug Importer Death Penalty Act of 1996) to the House of Representatives, which sought to “provide a sentence of death for certain importations of significant quantities of controlled substances” including marijuana.

Just as US Attorney General Eric Holder announces that he will shortly “clarify Department policy” on marijuana dispensaries in states where laws allow them (Rhode Island in particular), United States Attorney Dwight Holton rounded up all but two of the District Attorneys in Oregon to sign a letter about the Feds’ zero tolerance policy.

Delaware Governor Jack Markell signed a law approving the use of medical marijuana. His signature makes Delaware the 16th state (plus Washington, DC) to approve the medical use of marijuana.

A new poll from Rasmussen finds the American people nearly evenly divided on whether or not to legalize and tax marijuana to help the government bring in new revenue.

Local organizers in Oregon have begun the push to gather the required 87,213 signatures to put the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2012 (OCTA 2012) on the ballot in 2012, now that the petition has been approved by the Secretary of State.

I suspect the medical marijuana industry, thanks to its fast growth, is approaching an important financial tipping point as it becomes legal in more states. At a certain size, it will have enough employees, related businesses who depend on it, and governments who rely on its tax revenue that it will become integral in the greater economic web.

The latest YouGov poll for The Economist has found a solid majority, 58 percent of Americans, agree that marijuana should be regulated and taxed just like like alcohol and tobacco. Almost as important, the poll found that only 23 percent disagreed with the idea of treating cannabis like alcohol.

Idaho is one of the most conservative states in the country–McCain carried it with over 61 percent of the vote in 2008–yet, even in this deep-red state, the people overwhelmingly support allowing individuals access to medical marijuana, according to a new poll.

The Congressional representative was targeted because she responded to a question from the shooter in a way he could not understand. “What is government if words have no meaning?” It is a difficult question. In the reality of the shooter the government, the frustration and anger and the Representative are conflated. To the rational mind the reality games, the internet, fascism and cannabis are incidental, not causative. But cannabis, particularly an Indica with high cannabidiol content, might be therapeutic. Using this unfortunate individual to support a particular political party or policy is irrational.

Mikal Jakubal’s One Good Year follows several people in Southern Humboldt County who work in the area’s biggest economy: Marijuana. Jakubal follows an entire grow cycle with “mom-and-pop” growers who are part of medical marijuana collectives, people who like the majority of residents in SoHum rely on pot as their main cash crop. Join us as we discuss this movie and the promise of One Good Year.