Business owners are replacing idealists in the pot-legalization movement as the nascent marijuana industry creates a broad base of new donors, many of them entrepreneurs willing to spend to change drug policy.

Unlike in the past, these supporters are not limited to a few wealthy people seeking change for personal reasons. They constitute a bigger coalition of business interests. And their support provides a significant financial advantage for pro-legalization campaigns.

“It’s mainly a social-justice movement. But undoubtedly there are business interests at work, which is new in this movement,” said Kayvan Khalatbari, a one-time pot-shop owner and now head of a Denver marijuana consulting firm.

New data shows changes to Montana’s medical marijuana systhem left about 9,000 patients without providers.

The Montana Department of Public Health & Human Services recently released its September report on the marijuana registry.

It’s the first report after a new rule took effect August 31st, limiting each provider to serving just three patients.

The numbers show just 880 medical marijuana patients in the state were retained by their providers while te total number of patients has fallen to 12,730, making it the lowest in nearly a year. Some 55 providers stopped serving patients altogether.

Medical marijuana dispensaries across Montana have closed their doors as new restrictions took effect Wednesday that limit pot providers to three patients apiece, leaving thousands of pot users registered with the state without a legal way to buy the drug.

The restrictions begin after five years of unsuccessful court battles to overturn the 2011 state law that rolled back much of a voter-approved law that brought medical marijuana to Montana in 2004. It is one of the most significant rollbacks by the 25 states and Washington, D.C., that allow marijuana to be used for medical purposes.

There will be more than Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on the ballot this November, voters heading to the polls in nine states will also be deciding on Marijuana.

Collectively, these marijuana measures mean more voters will be weighing in on cannabis issues than any other year in American history.

Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn and his family opened Takoma Wellness Center, a medical marijuana dispensary in the District of Columbia three years ago.

Starting on August 31, everything changes for medical cannabis caregivers in Montana. A Helena, Montana judge recently rejected an advocacy group’s request to delay enforcement of restrictions on Montana’s medical cannabis industry. After August 31, medical cannabis providers will be barred from selling cannabis to more than three patients. The state Supreme Court earlier this year upheld that provision of a 2011 state law passed after the Montana Cannabis Industry Association sued to block it.

A Helena judge has rejected an advocacy group's request to delay enforcement of restrictions on Montana's medical marijuana industry.

District Judge James Reynolds on Wednesday denied the Montana Cannabis Industry Association's request to stay a state Supreme Court order implementing the restrictions on Aug. 31.

The group on its website urges medical marijuana supporters to now focus on passing a ballot initiative that would roll back the restrictions.

After Aug. 31, medical marijuana providers will be barred from selling the drug to more than three patients. The state Supreme Court earlier this year upheld that provision of a 2011 state law passed after the Montana Cannabis Industry Association sued to block it.

Sponsors of an anti-marijuana initiative that failed to qualify for November's ballot are claiming they submitted enough signatures to put the measure before the voters, but that thousands of names were lost or wrongly rejected by county officials.

The sponsors, a group called Safe Montana that is led by Billings car dealer Steve Zabawa, planned to present Secretary of State Linda McCulloch on Wednesday with a list of more than 3,500 voter signatures they say are valid, but were rejected by county officials across the state. The group separately filed a lawsuit asking a state judge to count those rejected signatures plus an additional 2,588 signatures they say Flathead County election officials lost.

Study from: 

Projectknow.com (http://www.projectknow.com/)

original study here :

http://www.projectknow.com/discover/high-school-drug-use/

American teenagers are more likely to smoke marijuana than binge drink, a new report reveals.

Meanwhile in Europe, marijuana consumption is minimal while drinking levels are far higher than in the United States.

The data, published in a recent report by addiction-awareness firm Project Know, will reignite the national debate on marijuana legalization as the election approaches.

With interest in topics like “marijuana” and “cannabis” hitting all-time high levels according to Google Trends, nine states in the U.S. will vote on marijuana measures in the world’s most important general election Nov. 8, according to the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center.

Voters in California, Florida, Nevada, Massachusetts, Maine, Arizona, and Arkansas will definitely be casting a ballot to affect cannabis policy in their state. Voters in Missouri, Montana, and North Dakota have submitted signatures to place marijuana proposals on the ballot, while Oklahoma has cleared to circulate a last-minute measure.

A measure that seeks to expand the availability of Montana medical marijuana has qualified for the November ballot.

The Secretary of State’s Office certified Wednesday that supporters of Initiative 182 had gathered 26,668 verified signatures.

I-182 seeks to reverse legislative and legal action that gutted a 2004 voter-approved law that legalized the substance.

If approved, the measure would lift a three-patient limit for caregivers that is scheduled to go into effect next month, establish licensing fees to pay for administering the program and include post-traumatic stress disorders among the conditions for which medicinal marijuana can be used.