HARRISBURG — Three months after Pennsylvania legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes, Gov. Tom Wolf signed a law Wednesday allowing for greater cultivation of hemp, another cannabis plant.

Farmers will be able to cultivate hemp in connection with state and academic research program as a result. The state Agriculture Department will oversee these programs. The law brings Pennsylvania in line with a recent federal law that allows hemp pilot programs at universities involved with agricultural research.

Lawmakers gave final approval to the hemp bill earlier this month after lawmakers in both chambers pushed for its passage as a first step to reviving a hemp production in Pennsylvania.

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UPLAND >> Was Upland correct in deciding to delay a citizen-backed initiative until the general election because officials believed it was a tax?

Or should the city have held a special election right away to let the residents decide whether to overturn the city’s ban on medical marijuana dispensaries with a measure that also proposed a $75,000 fee per dispensary?

The legal battle between the city and a pro-marijuana group has now reached the California Supreme Court. The case has garnered the interest of local and national taxpayers associations, believing its conclusion could have far-reaching implications.

“I think it could be a landmark case,” said attorney Roger Jon Diamond, who represents the California Cannabis Coalition.

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PORTLAND, Ore. (CN) — Reports that a chemical insecticide was found in legal, organically grown marijuana in Oregon have led to a class action lawsuit — not against growers, but against the insecticide maker.

Guardian mite spray, advertised as an "all natural" product, contains ivermectin — a conventional pesticide in the avermectin family, Benjamin Efran claims in a July 14 lawsuit in Multnomah County Court.

He sued All In Enterprises, and its officers Michael Delamater, both of Illinois, and Thomas McCathron, of Michigan.

According to the lawsuit, the company listed the ingredients as "cinnamon oil, lemon grass oil, citric acid, yeast extract, sunflower lecithin, and water." Guardian was primarily used to kill mites.

But the Oregonian newspaper reported on Jan. 15 that "a chemist with OG Analytical discovered the presence of abamectin (a type of avermectin) in cannabis samples submitted by growers who claimed they used organic growing methods.

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The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry has joined forces with leaders from across the state to stop a group that is trying to get a recreational marijuana initiative on the ballot this fall.

In a complaint filed in the Superior Court of Arizona, the plaintiffs allege that the circulars used to convince Arizona voters to sign a petition to get the measure on the ballot were fraudulent and misleading. A preliminary hearing is expected tomorrow.

But J.P. Holyoak, chairman for the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, said his opponents are willing to do and say anything to maintain the failed policy of marijuana prohibition.

“This lawsuit is simply a desperate attempt to deprive Arizona voters of the right to vote on this ballot question,” Holyoak said.

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