3 More States Legalize Recreational Use of Marijuana: How the Map Looks Now

 

Credit: Jan Havlicek/Shutterstock.com

Voters in California, Massachusetts and Nevada decided yesterday (Nov. 8) to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in their states.

These three states joined Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia, which had already legalized the drug for recreational use in previous votes.

In addition, four states voted yesterday to legalize using marijuana for medical reasons: Arkansas, Florida, Montana and North Dakota, Time magazine reported.

That means that medical marijuana is now legal in 28 states, and an additional 16 states have laws that allow for limited medical use of the drug, according to Time. In most cases, these limited-medical-use laws mean that only a specific type of cannabis extract can be used. This extract contains concentrated cannabidiol but is low in tetrahydrocannabinol(THC), the main psychoactive compound of marijuana, according to the marijuana advocacy organization National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. [Marijuana Legalization in the US (Map)]

In California, Massachusetts and Nevada, the new laws limit marijuana use and possession to adults ages 21 and up. Residents of those states will legally be allowed to grow up to six marijuana plants, although in Nevada, cultivation will be allowed only for people who live more than 25 miles from a retail marijuana store.

In California and Nevada, employers will have the right to enforce rules about how their employees use marijuana. In Massachusetts, the ballot measure states that employers will be permitted "to prohibit the consumption of marijuana by employees in the workplace."

Marijuana use in public places, however, is still illegal in all states that have legalized recreational marijuana use. 

A Gallup poll from October found that 60 percent of Americans now say marijuana should be legal

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HIV Test to Go: USB Tool Could Aid Developing Countries By Rachael Rettner, Senior Writer

A new technology that fits on a USB stick can be used to test for levels of HIV in people's blood.

Credit: Imperial College London/DNA Electronics

A new technology that fits on a USB stick can be used to test for levels of HIV in people's blood, which could aid in treatment of the disease in developing countries, according to a new study.

The device has a chip that uses just a drop of blood to detect HIV levels, the researchers said. It creates an electrical signal that is sent to a USB stick, which can then be read by a computer.

Testing for levels of HIV in the blood is important because it allows patients to see if their HIV medications are working properly. HIV treatments can lower levels of the virus in the blood to nearly zero, but if the virus develops resistance to the drugs, levels in the blood will rise.

Current tests for HIV levels can take at least three days and require blood to be sent to a laboratory, which can be very difficult in some parts of the world, the researchers in the new study said. But the new device is portable, and the test takes less than 30 minutes.

"Monitoring viral load is crucial to the success of HIV treatment," study co-author Dr. Graham Cooke, of the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London, said in a statement. "At the moment, testing often requires costly and complex equipment that can take a couple of days to produce a result. We have taken the job done by this equipment, which is the size of a large photocopier, and shrunk it down to a USB chip," Cooke said. [6 Superbugs to Watch Out For]

Testing for HIV levels is also a way for doctors to check if patients are taking their HIV medications. Stopping these medications contributes to the development of the virus's drug resistance, the researchers said.

To use the device, a drop of blood from a patient with HIV is placed on a spot on the chip. If HIV is present, it will trigger a change in acidity, and this change is transformed into an electrical signal that is sent to the USB stick, the researchers said.

In the study, the researchers tested about 990 blood samples, and the test was up to 95 percent accurate in detecting HIV levels. The average time for a result was about 20 minutes.

However, the device will need to be further developed before it can be used by doctors and their patients, the researchers said.

The device was developed in conjunction with the company DNA Electronics, which has patents on the technology. The study is published today (Nov. 10) in the journal Scientific Reports.

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Checkout The 8 Powerful Things Hillary Clinton Said After Losing Presidential Election To Trump (See Here)

Senator Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election to Donald Trump in the US election help on Tuesday, November 8.

In what has been described as an upset, Trump won the electoral vote to defeat Clinton even though she won the popular vote.

In a speech she gave on Wednesday, November 9, Clinton reacted to her loss and spoke to Americans on how she felt about her loss.

Below are eight powerful things she said after losing the election:

1. “I congratulated Trump and offered to work with him. I hope he will be a successful president for all Americans”

2. “I’m sorry we did not win this election for the values we shared and the vision we hope for our country”

3. “Being your candidate has been one of the greatest honour of my life. I know how disappointed you feel because I feel it too; this is painful and will be for a long time”

4. “Our nation is more deeply divided that we thought; we must accept this result and look to the future”

5. “Our responsibility as citizen is to keep doing our part to build a stronger America”

6. “I have spent my entire adult life fighting for what I believe in”

7. “Never stop believing that fighting for what is right is worth it”

8. “If we stand together and work together…..our best days are still ahead of us”

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See What Happened To A Student After Going Out To Party With Teacher (See Here)

A female student has met a bad fate after she unwittingly diverted from an errand to go to a party with a male teacher.

A secondary school student has died in Vuyiya village, Vihiga County in Kenya, after a night out partying with a teacher who is then said to have assaulted her sexually, The Kenyans reports.

The report reveals that the 16-year old had reportedly been sent home to collect Sh1,000 which she was given but on returning to school, she failed to submit the money and was sent away again. The incident happened in Kenya.

It was gathered that the little girl was sent on an errand but instead of going home, she diverted and visited a teacher identified as Silas Muhadia who she met on Facebook.

“After being sent home, she hitched a boda-boda ride to Kegoye Secondary School to see the teacher. It was the first time that the girl and Silas Muhadia were meeting,” the girl’s mother, Linet Keseri narrated.

When evening reached, the teacher is said to have taken the girl to a nightclub where he supposedly forced her to take alcohol having bought her civilian clothing to conceal her identity.

According to Ms Keseri, the student recalled that the teacher booked a lodging at Club Base in Majengo market where he demanded to “get value for his money”.

The teenager later escaped from the lodging and started walking amid darkness, but was reportedly abducted, drugged and later dumped at Nyamasaria in Kisumu.

According to the mother, after reporting her daughter’s disappearance, police launched a hunt for the student who was traced by DCI officers through her Facebook account which was active.

“They found her at Ukwala and she was taken to Vihiga police station where she recorded a statement. Police advised us to take her for a medical check-up before she could be interrogated further,” divulged the mother.

The student was taken back to school but fell ill a day later and was admitted at Mungoma hospital in Majengo on November 1.
Her situation worsened after she fell into a coma and unfortunately died barely a week afterwards.

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