Global Ganja Report

Tomas Young, a disabled Iraq war veteran in Kansas City, Mo., made fame last month when he announced his intention to end his own life in a scathing open letter to George Bush and Dick Cheney. In the letter, online at TruthDig, Young says he joined the army out of a sense of duty after 9-11—and felt betrayed by his deployment to Iraq:

Nearly 4,000 attended the 11th annual Cannabis Revival in Joplin, Mo., on Sept. 25. Among the speakers advocating for legalization of marijuana was former Republican New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson (1995-2002). Kelly Maddy, director of the Joplin chapter of the NORML and organizer of the Cannabis Revival, said the weekend event was held as a way to encourage public involvement in marijuana law reform. Johnson, who has toured the country speaking on the issue, says the drug should be regulated and taxed like alcohol. (AP, The Fuse, Joplin, Sept. 26)

California cannabis activist Ed Rosenthal has filed the first formal complaint in a notorious SWAT team raid of a home in Columbia, Mo., that has garnered more than a million hits on YouTube.

The Missouri state legislature passed a bill May 13 banning the popular incense known as K2, which is said to mimic the effects of cannabis. If Gov. Jay Nixon sign the bill, the incense will be illegal to smoke, buy or sell in the state. Kansas passed similar legislation in March. Small businesses selling the K2 oppose the measure. While a May 13 account in The State Column refers to K2 as "synthetic marijuana," the blog What Is K2 calls it an "herbal smoke blend."