MPP’s Aaron Houston will be interviewed on CNN’s “The Situation Room” today regarding progress toward lifting the “Barr amendment,” which has blocked Washington D.C. from implementing its medical marijuana law passed by voters in 1998. The show airs at 6 p.m. Eastern time, 3 p.m. Pacific. Bear in mind that TV news schedules are always subject to last-minute change if there’s breaking news, but they are pre-taping the interview even as I post this.

Director of MPP-NV Dave Schwartz appears on NBC 3 KVBC Las Vegas to announce the beginning of the signature drive for an initiative to tax and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. This initiative would be on the ballot for Nevadans to approve in 2012. 12/09/2009

Marijuana Policy Project spokesman Mike Meno appears on NBC 4 to discuss the impending passage of a medical marijuana ordinance approved by voters in 1998. The law had been prevented from implementation by a funding ban that was recently removed from the Capitol's spending bill. 12/09/2009

Congress released the language of a long anticipated bill today that, among other things, will lift the ban on Washington, D.C.’s medical marijuana law. D.C. is now one big step closer to protecting patients from arrest and jail for using marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation. Ten years ago, D.C. residents overwhelmingly passed a medical marijuana ballot initiative, but the law’s implementation was blocked by Congress. The bill released today -- a large omnibus spending bill -- lifts the ban on…

One more country has decided to take a meaningful step toward ending marijuana prohibition. Starting next year, citizens of the Czech Republic will be able to grow up to five marijuana plants and possess “several marijuana cigarettes” for personal use, without fear of criminal prosecution. According to the Wall Street Journal: “The plant still remains illegal, however, though from the new year possession of five or less plants is merely a misdemeanor, and fines for possession will be on par with…

Not by any rational standard, but the folks who run the Iditarod, Alaska’s famous sled-dog race, seem to think so.  Yikes.

A report published yesterday in the online journal BMC Neurology says that marijuana might help multiple sclerosis patients find relief from the spasticity and muscle spasms caused by the debilitating autoimmune disease. “We found evidence that cannabis plant extracts may provide therapeutic benefit for MS spasticity symptoms,” said lead researcher Dr. Shaheen Lakhan, executive director of the Global Neuroscience Initiative Foundation. “The therapeutic potential of cannabinoids in MS appears to be…

President Obama is hosting a jobs forum at the White House today -- a gathering of business leaders and policy makers who will discuss the creation of new jobs in America. I wish I was there. If I was in that room, I would stand up, raise my hand, and suggest that we tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol or tobacco. Obama might laugh at me, like he did when we asked him this very question back in March. But I would say it again anyway, because it’s exactly what the president needs to hear. Here…

The Journal of Neuroscience just published a new study that is particularly interesting in light of recent reports that marijuana may effectively substitute for abuse of more dangerous drugs. In the new study, rats were taught to self-administer heroin and conditioned to associate that behavior with a light that flashed on above the lever that dispensed the heroin. At various stages in the procedure, some of the rats were treated with cannabidiol (CBD), a cannabinoid that doesn’t make you high, but…

This holiday season, Facebook users can help MPP and other groups earn money with just the click of a button. The Chase Community Giving Challenge allows users to help decide which organizations receive $5 million from Chase. The first round of voting ends Dec. 11, and the top 100 charities at that point will each receive $25,000. (Winners will be announced Dec. 15.) In January, another round of voting starts for one $1 million prize and five $100,000 prizes. Right now MPP has close to 1,000 votes,…