If you've picked up a High Times magazine in the past 20 years, more likely than not, you've seen it advertised within those pages.

"The amazing Phototron ( http://www.phototron.com ), the growing system that will double the growth rate of any plant, double the number of budding sites and double the potency."

The all-inclusive turnkey product has proven its efficiency and mastery of the hydroponic indoor growing process. Over the years, their product line has expanded and been improved upon, their ads began showing up in Playboy, Forbes, Cosmopolitan, and even on the Martha Stewart Show. Now, thanks to President Obama's clarification of his stance on prosecuting marijuana users, Phototron stands poised to infiltrate their biggest market yet…the medical marijuana crowd.

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo seems to have jumped on the pro-marijuana bandwagon. Governor Cuomo has proposed decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Last year, the NYPD made more than 50,000 low-level inconsequential marijuana arrests. The New York Police Department, Mayor Bloomberg, and the city's top level prosecutors have endorsed the decriminalization proposal, hoping it will help cut down the number of New York City's arrests.

NATIONAL NEWS

Lawmakers in five states issue letter telling feds: hands off medical marijuana
On April 2, a bipartisan group of legislators from five medical marijuana states—California, Colorado, Maine, New Mexico, and Washington—issued an open letter to President Barack Obama opposing the federal crackdown and calling upon his administration to “respect our state laws.” The lawmakers underscored that such an aggressive policy “makes no sense” and is “not a good use of our resources,” recalling Obama’s original pledge to de-emphasize enforcement in states with medical marijuana laws.

Early in May, we reported that the Connecticut Senate passed the a medical marijuana bill through its halls. All it needed to officially become law was the Governor's signature. Today, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy signed House Bill 5389 / Public Act 12-55 into law, effectively joining 16 other states as well as our nation's capitol, Washington, D.C., in making medical marijuana legal. 

The qualifying conditions include cancer, glaucoma, AIDS/HIV, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal chord damage, spasticity, epilepsy, cachexia, wasting syndrome, Chrohn's disease, post traumatic stress disorder, as well as a few others. 

In a major victory for the medical marijuana movement, the California State Assembly approved Assembly Bill 2312, a bill introduced by Assembly member Tom Ammiano, and backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, late Thursday. AB 2312 creates a statewide board designed to regulate medical cannabis. 

Assembly member Tom Ammiano introduced the bill, which creates a 9 member board whose responsibilities would include developing, implementing, and enforcing uniform statewide regulations, similar to the system that is in place in Colorado.

Many states have proposed and support blanket legalization of marijuana, regulated and controlled like alcohol, but, perhaps surprisingly, California is not one of them. According to a new University of Southern California Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll that was released earlier today, the general population of California is not in support of legalizing recreational use of marijuana.

However, while only 46% of responders said they support legalizing marijuana for "general or recreational use by adults," an overwhelming 80% support doctor-recommended medicinal use of cannabis for severe illness and disability, showing California's strong stance and staunch moral and scientifically backed outlook that marijuana is medicine.