SummitDaily.com | How about some good news today? This year, reports Time magazine, drug cartels in Mexico stand to lose $1.4 billion. Why? Because Colorado and Washington decriminalized recreational marijuana in November. American taxpayers have been financing a drug war with costs past comprehending, and without measurable gains. Now here come voters in two states who have hit organized crime where it really hurts.

Denver Post | Passage of Amendment 64 has given life to a group of zealous enthusiasts who can barely contain their passion for the leafy green substance. No, not pot. The fanatics get their kicks from buzz-free hemp. A genetic cousin to marijuana, hemp is a look-alike plant with one key difference. It contains almost no THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that makes users high.

Norml.org | Voters in Colorado and Washington on Election Day decided in favor of ballot measures that remove criminal and civil penalties for the adult possession of cannabis. The votes mark the first time ever that voters have decided at the ballot box to abolish cannabis prohibition. In Colorado, 55 percent of voters decided in favor of Amendment 64, which allows for the legal possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and/or the cultivation of up to six cannabis plants by those persons age 21 and over. Longer-term, the measure seeks to establish regulations governing the commercial production and distribution of marijuana by licensed retailers. Initial returns show the measure passing with 54 percent support.

Greenmedinfo.com | A remarkable study published in the journal Molecular Pharmacology in 2006, found that this long vilified plant contains a compound with not one, but two therapeutic properties ideal for addressing both the surface symptom (memory problems) and root cause (brain plaque) of Alzheimer's disease. This is an ironic finding, considering that the prevailing stereotype is that using marijuana "fries" the brain, leading to debilitating memory issues.

HuffingtonPost.com | A pair of scientists at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco has found that a compound derived from marijuana could stop metastasis in many kinds of aggressive cancer, potentially altering the fatality of the disease forever. "It took us about 20 years of research to figure this out, but we are very excited," said Pierre Desprez, one of the scientists behind the discovery, to The Huffington Post. "We want to get started with trials as soon as possible."

NaturalSociety | Government funded research halts the war on cannabis…for now. The war on drugs will continue to rage onward despite an overwhelming number of people voting for cannabis legalization, or for the drug to become decriminalized at the very least. The study in question is fully backed by the US government and published in The Open Neurology Journal, stating that the relief found within cannabis is sorely needed by any person in dire chronic pain, urging the government to issue clinical trials in order to subvert the DEA’s notion that cannabis is ineffective and useless medically.

NaturalNews.com | For many years, the demonizing claims being made against cannabis have been crumbling as research slowly dispels them. Fifty years ago people earnestly believed that the consumption of cannabis was directly linked to the development of an array of mental illnesses, and violent and hypersexual behavior.

Natural Society | Thanks to the available findings of a 2006 study showing that cannabis actually reduces the number of cancer cells, medical marijuana users can now feel even better about the widely abolished pain relief ingredient found in the plant. The relationship between marijuana and cancer has always been up for debate, but with the use of a specially crafted oil made from the buds of the Cannabis Sativa plant, scientists confirmed that the plant’s primary psychoactive chemical tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) destroys any and all malignant cancer cell growths in several patients.

RegulateMarijuana.org | The Colorado Democratic Party expressed its official support for the initiative to regulate marijuana like alcohol, Amendment 64, at its state convention and assembly in Pueblo on Saturday. It was adopted as a plank in the party's 2012 "essential platform" and reads:

NaturalNews.com | Cannabis is a plant with demonstrable antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, both aspects that point to its potential to be used as an anti-cancer drug. Cannabinoids have been used in tentative studies, demonstrating their ability to greatly reduce tumours, and cure cancer, in mice.

Lewrockwell.com | Forty years ago today, a Congressionally mandated commission on US drug policy did something extraordinary: they told the truth about marijuana. On March 22, 1972, the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse – chaired by former Pennsylvania Governor Raymond P. Shafer – recommended that Congress amend federal law so that the use and possession of cannabis would no longer be a criminal offense. State legislatures, the Commission added, should do likewise.

NaturalNews.com | At 16, Kristen Peskuski was suffering from joint inflammation and an array of autoimmune conditions which made her organs and other tissues swell, including interstitial cystitis and lupus. She was prescribed over 40 different anti-inflammatory, antibiotic and painkilling medications to combat the symptoms. Still struggling to bring the symptoms under control, Kristen developed steroid toxicity.

Youtube | A documentary film on the science behind Cannabis and why industry has fought for a century to keep it illegal.

NaturalSociety.com | Countless studies have highlighted the industrial and medicinal uses of marijuana (cannabis), yet the federal government claims that it has ‘no accepted medical use’ and continues to classify it in the same category as heroin, MDMA, and PCP. Despite the ruling, the medial marijuana market is priced at around $1.7-billion — that’s almost as much as the explosive Viagra market, coming in at around $1.9 billion.

Norml.org | Alcohol consumption causes far greater harms to the individual user and to society than does the use of cannabis, according to a new review published online in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, the journal of the British Association of Psychopharmacology. Investigators at the Imperial College of London assessed “the relative physical, psychological, and social harms of cannabis and alcohol.” Authors reported that cannabis inhalation, particularly long-term, contributes to some potential adverse health effects, including harms to the lungs, circulatory system, as well as the exacerbation of certain mental health risks. By contrast, authors described alcohol as “ a toxic substance” that is responsible for nearly five percent “of the total global disease burden.”