President Obama angered many marijuana supporters when he laughed off questions about marijuana legalization in an online town hall saying “the answer is, no, I don’t think that is a good strategy — (laughter) — to grow our economy”. Many took Obama’s answer as a rude side step of an important issue, and are upset that while the President stated that he does not believe legalization is a good economic strategy, he ignored the fact that marijuana legalization is about more than tax revenue for the government.

Polling data shows that the support for marijuana legalization has increased since 1989, however there is no correlation between support of marijuana legalization to the status of the economy. So if generating billions of dollars for the government is not the only motivating factor in marijuana legalization, what else is causing this increase? (more…)

I like Twitter because it allows us to “follow” a large number of people who in some way contribute to the marijuana industry as well as participate in discussions around various related issues. Here are my recommendations for users to follow that represent 6 important groups that make up the core of the cannabis culture on Twitter. Be sure to check out everyone we follow and also please follow us at http://twitter.com/sparkreport. (more…)

A photo of Michael Phelps taking a bong hit has the media and internet in a frenzy over marijuana prohibition – at least marijuana prohibition pertaining to an Olympic hero. Those who support legalization say Phelps is an example that marijuana users make up a larger demographic than lazy couch potatoes. Those against legalization use Phelps as an example that marijuana is a growing problem that is now affecting our role models. Both sides of the argument are still missing an important part of the original story. Michael Phelps has a drinking problem. (more…)