By the time Californians vote on Proposition 64 in November, millions of dollars will have been spent both by backers and opponents of legal recreational marijuana use in the state. By one count the war chests now total more than $10 million, and the money is heavily tilted toward legalization.

Supporters of Prop 64 have raised almost $9.3 million according to a report at LA Weekly while opponents have raised about $160,000. But those only include the groups that report contributions to the California Secretary of State. The LA Weekly noted:

But there’s a third horse in this race. The antipot group Smart Approaches to Marijuana says its political arm, SAM Action, has raised more than $2 million to fight legalization in California and elsewhere this election season.

Contributions to the main committee supporting legalization, “Yes on 64,” total at least $6.6 million to date, and many big donors have a dog in the fight. The Sacramento Bee reported that a company named Weedmaps that helps patients with legal dispensaries and doctors, has given $1 million to support the legalization effort. And that’s just a single example, the newspaper reports several others.

At stake is a recreational marijuana market that could reach $6.5 billion in annual sales by 2020 and raise $1 billion annually in state taxes. To paraphrase Mark Twain, whiskey’s for drinking, pot is for fighting over.

Marijuana Use Leads to Laziness, Study Suggests
The popular notion may hold true: marijuana can cause laziness. This is the conclusion of a new study by researchers from the University of British Columbia in Canada, who found the primary active compound in marijuana – tetrahydrocannabinol – made rats less willing to attempt a cognitively challenging task.

Lead study author Mason Silveira, of the Department of Psychology at Columbia, and colleagues report their findings in the Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States; a 2014 survey found more than 22 million Americans reported using the drug in the past month.

However, as of June 2016, 25 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use, and more states are expected to follow suit. This highlights the need to gain a better understanding of the risks and benefits marijuana use may pose.

Read more at Medical News Today.

More Growers Brings Surge in Weed Supplies, Plunge in Boulder County Pot Prices
The price of pot is going down, way down, as more people launch large-scale industrial grow operations to supply the state’s dispensaries and makers of weed-infused goodies.

The precipitous declines of the past several months are likely to continue, say experts, resulting in massive changes to the nascent industry as more operations rethink the structure of their businesses to take advantage of the cheap cannabis crop.

The cost for a pound of pot has been sliced nearly in half over the past several months, from $2,400 to $2,600 last October to $1,400 to $1,600 last month, according to data from California-based Tradiv, an online marijuana wholesaling marketplace and a 2015 graduate of local accelerator Canopy Boulder.

And while prices started 2016 around $2,100 on Denver-based competitor site Cannabase, they dipped to a low of $750 per pound in June before rebounding to a $1,400 monthly average.

Read more at Daily Camera.

How Long Does Marijuana Stay in Your Hair Follicles?
Marijuana stays in the hair follicles for longer than it does in any other part your system. Marijuana can remain in a regular user’s urine for up to 30 days. THC can remain in blood seven days after a heavy user’s last toke. As for saliva, you won’t turn up positive for pot unless you smoked within the last 24 hours.

THC seems to cling to hair follicles for the scariest amount of time. If tested you could come up positive for weed you smoked half a year ago. Fortunately, there are ways to alter that outcome.

Depending on the length of your hair follicles, employers can see whether you’ve used marijuana in the past week or even months. The longer your hair, the further back they can see.

Read more at Green Rush Daily.

Elizabeth Warren Says She’s “Open to the Possibility of Legalizing Marijuana” in Massachusetts
Senator Elizabeth Warren told reporters Thursday night she would be open to the possibility of legalizing marijuana in Massachusetts because there is no regulation of the “widely available” drug, according to a MassLive video.

“I would be open to it because I think that the problem we’ve got right now in Massachusetts is that we have decriminalized it, which makes marijuana available,” Warren said after an event at Roxbury Community College, “but there’s no regulation over it for safety.”

She added that this puts Massachusetts in a very difficult position, but it is possible to learn from the other states that have already legalized marijuana for recreational use: Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington.

The question of whether or not to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Massachusetts will be on the November 2016 ballot.

Read more at Boston.com.

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