Pennsylvania's Medical Marijuana Act: A Money-Maker With Health Benefits

Following the lead of twenty-three other states, Pennsylvania's Governor Tom Wolfe made history here on April 17 by signing The Medical Marijuana Act (SB3) into law. Two days later, he turned up in King of Prussia to tout the bi-partisan legislation before "jubilant" crowds, saying, "This is about helping peoples' lives, about helping people that are going to be better, faster. They're going to feel better and that is just such a rewarding thing."

And he could just be right, as our law covers such conditions as:

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  Crohn's Disease






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  Cancer






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  Epilepsy






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  Glaucoma






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  HIV






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  Multiple Sclerosis






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  Parkinson's Disease






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  Post-traumatic stress disorder

The law is set to go into effect next month, but it could take 18 to 24 months to establish all the regulations and get retailers up and running to sell us medical marijuana. The standards, though, are already set for tracking the plants, certifying physicians, and licensing growers, dispensaries, and physicians. Also decided: It will only be available in pill, oil, vapor, ointment, or liquid form. No smoking allowed, growing, either.

It's all been a long time coming...

Our Jamestown settlers actually brought marijuana to our shores way back in 1611 when they established the first permanent English settlement here. By the 1890's it was turning up in a variety of medications and was freely sold in pharmacies. Then in the 1920's, Mexican immigrants introduced us to its recreational use, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Fast forward to 2016, and:

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  Medical marijuana is legal in 24 states and D.C., with Pennsylvania the latest to sign on.






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  Legalization of medical marijuana is currently pending in Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, South Carolina, and Tennessee.






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  Marijuana is legal for adult and medical use in 4 states: Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska-and D.C., too, but accompanied there by strict restrictions.

Meanwhile, it's one helluva money-maker, so no wonder budget-strapped states can't seem to resist the lure. The numbers speak for themselves. Back in 2014, adult use amounted to $373.8 million; add in the total for medical marijuana sales and the figure comes in at a whopping $4.6 billion!

Plus, by 2020, it's projected that adult use sales will amount to $12.1 billion, while medical sales will top $10.7 billion, for a total of $22.8 billion. Talk about filling the coffers!

So now it's Pennsylvania's turn at the trough. Indeed, although our law is brand new, marijuana entrepreneurs are already lining up. Says Doug Porter of the Cannabis Career Institute, "This is a prime time to start a marijuana business." Indeed, folks in the know actually expect some 245,000 patients to sign on right away and sales to quickly top $100 million.

Adds Michael Bronstein, co-founder of the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp in Philadelphia: "Pennsylvania could be one of these robust states. There is a serious marketplace here."

The only bumps in the road noted so far:

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   Not enough prescribing docs, as they must first take an online certification course and then opt-in to the program.






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   Along with the ban on smoking and growing, flowers and edibles are not allowed.

In time, restrictions may very well ease, however. After all, just take a look at what's already happened in places like California. It all started there with legalizing the medicinal use of pot, and now celebrities are making names for themselves in the marijuana marketplace. For instance, while Snoop Dogg hawks his "DANK FROM THE DOGGFATHER HIMSELF," Melissa Etheridge is offering up marijuana-infused wine-a double whammy if ever there were one.

At the same time, Willie Nelson has partnered with private equity investors to market his "Willie's Reserve," and, not to be left out of the boom, either, Whoopi Goldberg and partner Maya Elisabeth now offer women a balm, a tincture, a sipping chocolate, and a bath salt. Really.

All in favor raise your hands and say "Aye."

One caveat, though: In 2014, the U.S. Addiction Rehab Industry brought in $35 billion a year with more than 14,000 centers nationwide treating some 2.5 million patients and counting...

Writing a Treatment - How to Write a Treatment For a Hollywood Screenplay

When you are preparing to write a screenplay or even preparing to do a major rewrite, it is very helpful to create a blueprint or treatment of what you are going to write prior to actually writing or rewriting it. This is what a treatment is used for. It will help you layout the direction of the entire screenplay and work out some of the kinks before jumping into the whole thing.

A treatment can be anywhere from 3 to 10 pages.

Think of it as being an in-depth synopsis of your story. As you can imagine, it is much easier to edit and make changes to a story that is under 10 pages than it is to make changes on a 100+ page script.

If you work out all the story issues, character arc, and theme aspects in the treatment, it will save you an awful amount of work when you write the screenplay itself.

A treatment for a screenplay is simply a narrative of all the major actions and characters from start to finish.

It has no dialogue whatever. (Okay, you can put one or two great lines of dialogue in if you must, but only to show the flavor of the character.) But do not spend much time on the dialogue in the treatment as you might end up throwing out any given scene before you finalize the treatment, and then you will have wasted time on the dialogue.

Your treatment should be compelling, just as the screenplay will be.

When you read it, you should connect with the story emotionally. If it does not affect you emotionally, then you should keep working on capturing the emotion in the treatment before you go on to writing the screenplay. If you can not capture it in the treatment, you definitely will not capture it in the screenplay itself, because it already shows that something is missing.

Once you have the whole story fleshed out with the plot, character arc, and theme all working together, and emotionally you are moved deeply when you read it, then you are ready to write your screenplay . The only caveat about that is that I recommend that you have a professional review the treatment before you go on and write it, simply because they may respond to it differently.

But for sure, you should work your story out in the treatment first. Oftentimes, when I critique a script and it needs a fair amount of work, I will recommend the writer go back to the treatment stage and rework it before rewriting the script itself. This has proven to be very beneficial.

The treatment is more of a mini-rendering of the story and must paint the mood of it.

If you liked the treatment to build a house, you could think of it as being like a full-color sketch of the interior of the house. It would be a sketch of the colors of the living room and the curtains, the couches and pillows. It would have all the mood that the final one would have, but it would never have been a sketch of it. You could also think of the treatment as a miniature or scale model of the screenplay.

As mentioned previously, a treatment can be 3-10 pages long. Single-spaced within the paragraphs with a double space between paragraphs. Use a 12-point font that is easy to read ( Arial, Courier, Times New Roman ).

Ten Things You Need to Consider About Garden Waste

A garden can be somewhere to relax in; to let the children play; to have parties and barbecues in the summer; to potter about it, and to just 'enjoy'. However, gardens never 'stand still' - especially in the growing season. Plants keep growing - or dying. Either way, they need to be cut back from time to time. Changes need to be made regularly if the garden is not to become overcrowded and a place to be dreaded rather than enjoyed.

When you want to get rid of the waste you're going to generate from your garden, you need to:

1. Consider the environment. Old fashioned bonfires help to pollute the environment, so getting rid of your garden waste that way is not a good idea - except, maybe, on 5 ^th November but that's a special case.


2. Separate the waste into 'green', garden and 'other' waste. 'Green waste' approximates to 'compostable' waste; garden waste includes tree trunks, roots and branches and 'other' waste means such things as old garden furniture, plant pots, bricks and plastic bags. If your waste is separated into these categories it's easier and quicker to be collected - and it promises to be cheaper to dispose of green waste than other forms of garden waste. In addition, reduce the waste's 'bulk' as much as possible because waste removal firms charge customers according to how much space the waste takes up in their vehicle. It'll also help the collectors if you can place the waste as close as possible to where it's going to be loaded onto the collectors' vehicle. That could save time and trouble - and, therefore, money.


3. Decide on the most environmentally friendly and cost-effective way to get rid of your waste. This could mean ...


4. Compost the waste in your own garden. You'll need a big garden and a sizable composting area - and you can not compost every bit of garden rubbish. For example, tree roots and branches do not compost unless you use special equipment to crush them to sawdust.


5. Use your 'green bin'. This works well for modest amounts of garden waste - but the bin is only emptied every fortnight. You might have more waste than your bin can cope with - and collection times may be inconvenient, depending on when the waste is generated.


6. Take the waste to your local refusal and recycling depot. This will involve 'bagging up' the waste and then transporting it - maybe via several trips - to the depot. This could be tiring and time consuming.


7. Get a 'Man and Van' to collect the waste. This can be convenient and reliably cheap - and it can save you a lot of time and trouble. But you must ...


8. Make sure the person collecting the waste is reputable - because you would not want that person to fly tip your waste. Moreover, if the rubbish can be traced back to you, you'll be liable to pay the penalty. Ask to see the person's public liability insurance certificate and Environment Agency license to carry waste. Ask for the person's waste carrier license number - and check it on the Environment Agency's website.


9. Hire a skip or a mini-skip. If you get a skip, order the largest skip you feel able to fill with waste - since larger skips cost less per cubic yard than smaller ones.


10. Make sure your property can cope with a skip safely and legally. You can get advice, guidance and practical help on skip hire, as well as a 'man and van' service, from Waste King on 0800 141 2778 and 01442 210034.

How to Stop and Start Over in Web Development

Just creating a website is not the point. You have to host the web site after the development and designing. Web hosting is the process of showcasing the websites on the internet. The server in the Internet has a unique 'Internet Protocol'. The space should be rented for each of these websites. It is done by setting space in the Internet.

The process includes scripts that allow interactive functions, forms, bulletin boards and guest books. In the case of professional purpose the web site hosting services that offer commercial packages that bundle business tools, like point of sales.

The expense varies from free to crores of rupees. It depends on the needs of the customer. The free hosting services are offered with limited services, supported by advertisements. Shared service signatures on sharing one's website in the same server by many other sites. These sites range from hundreds to thousands. The domains share a common pool such as RAM and CPU. Reseller web hosting allows the limits to become web hosts. Virtual Dedicated Server divides the resources of server into virtual servers. The resources can be contained in these virtual servers. Dedicated hosting server does not owe the server but the user get all control over her own Web server and gains full control over it.

Managed hosting service- in this user gets his / her own web server but does not have full control over it. Collocation web hosting service in this the hosting company produces physical space that the server takes up and takes care of the customer.

Web designing and web hosting can be assigned to different companies. The company provides space on a server they own, by providing internet connectivity, typically in a data center. The services is divided into web page and small scale file hosting in which the files can be uploaded via File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

Wii Media Downloads Review

Wii Media Downloads is an online downloads entertainment center that allows you to turn your WII into a home entertainment center. They cover a wide range of infotainment, including Movie, Music, TV Shows, Games, Software.

In order to take care of the interest of their customers, Wii Media Downloads provides a 24 hour Technical Support. There are not usually any issues, because one just needs to install a simple software. In the interest of the customer and peace of mind, they've included this.

There are no monthly or "Pay Per Download" fees. They provide you the tools for accessing the largest file networks on the planet and locate the files you want. In order to ensure value for their customers, new and updated search collections of games and movies, mp3 are added.

Whats important are the fast download speeds. Because some of the movie files can be quite huge, this is important. Note Wii Media Downloads does not actually host the files. Members have access to the necessary tools to search and download all kinds of files for your Wii or computer. Basically, you will be able to find whatever you need for your Wii or computer. This includes games, movies, software, wallpapers, and much more.

After you download a movie to your PC. You will be able to watch them there using a regular media player, or you will be able to record them using the necessary CD / DVD burning software. Although they do not include that software, they do include with the membership the movie to transfer software. This software will transfer any movie from your computer to your Wii device. Wii Media Downloads offer support around the clock 7 days a week. Inside their member's area, you can contact them anytime and submit your questions. You get clear concise answers back in a timely manner. Plus they offer a 56 day full money refund to protect new members interest.

At Home Money

We all want more at home money, meaning money you can make from home in your spare time. No matter how much a person might make, when it comes to income we want more! Why is this - because it is what we need to get our basic needs? If you do not have a means to earn it then you can not get more basic things, it's that simple.

And now in this reality we are facing in this world today we simply need more than one way to earn this money. Having a plan B these days is a must! Not just a passing thought as when times were better. Earning at home money is something that can be done in spare time. But also should be something you truly enjoy. So in order to have this you must consider certain things.

a. Provide a service in return for money working from your home.
b. Have a product to provide in return for money made from your home.

It must be understood that this will be your at home money making business, so you control the time spend making it work for you.

In the first instance persons must come to your home so you can provide the service they wish to receive, this can interfere with time spent with family, and you are not able to leakage other persons to help it grow. You only receive the at home money when you provide this service.

In the second instance you have a product that others want and need and will buy, you also will have the ability to leakage others to share this product and bring at home money by leveraging them sharing the product as well. And at the same time they are also introduced by you how to earn as well.

This will allow unlimited at home money earning potential and also free up even more time for you as time passes yet your at home money business continues to grow. This is the plan I recommend!

Now that you have this knowledge how will you use it?

So You're The New Project Manager

Having been a PM and progressing through the management chain, and now in a professional services career I've made numerous placements and hired many Project Managers, Program Managers, Directors and other "C" level processionals.

What follows is a brief personal overview of what a new manager needs the first day, the first week and the first month on a new assignment. And certainly this is not a handbook on Project Management101. It's not even close. It's some observations.

Initially some points:

- Determine project use
- Determine scope of the project and risk status
- Determine how project fits the company scope
- Establish base-point: Items completed and user sign-off
- Determination status of existing specifications: On target or not?
- Design in layers ..... Implement in layers

Another needed step is to review status reporting. Managers new on the job can easily give daily status. This assists involvement with the user community.

I am a believer each step depicted by a green arrow / yellow arrow / red arrow to show on-target / potential problem / major problems. The nice thing about arrows is the new manager can use up or down arrows to indicate progress, showing improvement or lack-of-improvement. Graphics are a requirement.

I also suggest spending hours and days with the user group. Find the real decision maker in the group and become good friends.

Enforce user sign-offs. Establish criteria for project scope and how to handle configurations to scope. Scope crawl is a slippery slope since since the new person running a project, you will get false direction. Be careful.

Turn to PMBOK. Get the PDU's necessary to complete your PMP. Not only is that a strong sell point for your credentials, PMBOK has industry wide approval on management of projects. Use SDLC, even if you have to search the term, but have a specific tool to run a project and follow it.

When building project timing, you best use a 2x factor to conduct User Testing. If you mess-up testing and produce a turkey, you're toast.

In 500 words or less, I tried to put together notes on Project Management. 1,000's of books / articles / etc have been written on the topic. If there is even a small gain of a small nugget of information, the article has been worth it.

Critical items:

- Determine project status
- Determine critical users
- Establish bench-marks
- Review completeeness of specifications
- Stick to an approved plan
- Post the plan in a room set aside for "project status." That way, everyone can see project status
- Know the user community
- Know your team
- Build enough time for user testing
- Implement in pieces and layers
- Keep effective and timely status to everyone
- Continually seek user approval
- Celebrate small victories with the team
- Utilize a "team effort" that leads to "team success"
- Never lose site of how this project affects the company

This scenario can be used for technology, finance, anything where a manager is brought into a project at a point where the project has been started and needs to be completed.

This again is a slippery slope to conduct business, but you better be ready.

For additional information and expansion of each or all of these points, please call (248) 630 - 5555 or visit www.careers-in-transition.com for further assistance.