This Week: How Erik Holder Defended the Medical Pot Crackdown; Activist Harvests Hemp in Cage in Front of White House; Cedars-Sinai Denies 2nd Medical Marijuana Patient Transplant; Tommy Chong Fighting Cancer; If You Think Marijuana Isn’t an Important Issue, You’re Dead Wrong; Top 3 Mexican Presidential Candidates Pledge Shift in Drug War;Rhode Island Decriminalizes Marijuana; Justice Department Targeting Landlords in Fighting Medical Marijuana;  Senator Moves to Legalize Hemp; Meghan McCain Lights Up in Favor of Marijuana; 4 Dispensaries Licensed in DC; San Bernardino County Sued Over Marijuana Laws; Weeds Begins Final Season

MEDICAL

Cedars-Sinai Denies 2nd Medical Marijuana Patient Transplant — Patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) recently discovered that a second patient at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has been denied a transplant in the past year because of their medical marijuana use.

Tommy Chong Fighting Cancer –  Tommy Chong is battling prostate cancer the best way he knows how: with hemp oil.  “Cannabis is a cure,” he told CNN in announcing his illness.  The veteran comic, 74, said he was diagnosed last month but first noticed symptoms during his 2003-04 incarceration in California for selling pot paraphernalia. He described the cancer as a slow stage 1.

HEMP

Activist Harvests Hemp in Cage in Front of White House — David Bronner, the CEO of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, began a demonstration Monday inside a large steel cage in front of the White House to protest federal policy that bans U.S. farmers from cultivating industrial hemp.

Senator Moves to Legalize Hemp — Newly proposed legislation would legalize the cultivation of cannabis, in the form of industrial hemp, at the federal level.

POLITICS/LEGAL

How Erik Holder Defended the Medical Pot Crackdown — Pot advocates called Holder out for being a liar when he said the Justice Department only busts people or organizations violating state laws.

Justice Department Targeting Landlords in Fighting Medical Marijuana — A civil statute designed primarily to seize the assets of drug trafficking organizations is now being wielded by federal prosecutors in California in an unconventional and little-noticed attack on medical-marijuana shops in the state. Prosecutors have brought more than a dozen lawsuits seeking the forfeiture of commercial properties that house marijuana shops. The actions pressure owners to either evict these controversial tenants or face costly legal battles or the loss of their buildings.

If You Think Marijuana Isn’t an Important Issue, You’re Dead Wrong — How the cannabis issue effects EVERYONE, regardless of whether or not they use marijuana.

Rhode Island Decriminalizes Marijuana – Governor Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island signed legislation this week that will reduce the penalty for possession of marijuana to a $150 civil fine for most offenses, making Rhode Island the 15th state to remove criminal penalties for small amounts of marijuana.

4 Dispensaries Licensed in DC — On Tuesday, the District of Columbia Department of Health announced the four prospective medical marijuana dispensary operators whose scores were high enough to be granted licenses from the city. Herbal Alternatives, Center City Care, Metropolitan Wellness Corporation, and Takoma Wellness Center — which will be owned and operated by a rabbi — will be the four entities licensed to dispense marijuana to qualifying patients later this year.

Meghan McCain Lights Up in Favor of Marijuana — Meghan McCain, Republican blogger and daughter of 2008 presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, advocates the legalization of marijuana in her new book, America, You Sexy Bitch: A Love Letter to Freedom, which she co-authored with Michael Ian Black, a Democratic comedian.

San Bernardino County Sued Over Marijuana Laws– A Riverside attorney plans to take a novel approach to overturn San Bernardino County’s medical-marijuana ordinance.  Letitia Pepper, attorney and director of Crusaders for Patients’ Rights, will argue the ban violates the California Environmental Quality Act, which more often is used to determine the environmental impact of a development.

INTERNATIONAL

Top 3 Mexican Presidential Candidates Pledge Shift in Drug War – The top three presidents candidates in Mexico have all promised a significant shift in their country’s drug war strategy, according to a front page story in Monday’s New York Times. The candidates are pledging to prioritize a reduction in prohibition-related violence, which has led to more than 50,000 deaths since President Calderon launched a war on the drug traffickers in 2006, over conventional measures such as arrests and seizures.

ENTERTAINMENT

Weeds Begins Final Season — Showtime’s envelope-pushing television series, Weeds, will come to an end after this season, the cable network announced.  The comedy series, covering the adventures of suburban-mom-turned-pot-dealer Nancy Botwin, will conclude after eight seasons.

Robin WIliams to Guest Star on Wilfred – Robin Williams will guest star on the series premiere of Wilfred, the hit FX Channel comedy featuring Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings) as Ryan, a suicidally depressed, introverted medical marijuana patient who sees his neighbor’s dog Wilfred as a pot-puffing man in a dog suit.

White House Softball Team Smoked by Pot Lobby’s Bats– Anyone notice a cloud hanging over the Mall last week? That might have been the White House softball team getting absolutely smoked by the team fielded by the marijuana lobby.  The One Hitters, the team of pro-pot activists, beat STOTUS (the Softball Team of the U.S.) 25-3.

See larger image America, You Sexy Bitch: A Love Letter to Freedom (Hardcover) By (author) Meghan McCain, Michael Ian Black List Price: $26.00 USD New From: $0.01 In Stock Used from: $0.01 In Stock Release date June 12, 2012.