Author: News Room

A leading marijuana policy think tank is urging lawmakers to take a thoughtful approach to federal legalization that accounts for the potential unintended consequences that freeing up interstate commerce could have on small cannabis businesses and social equity programs that have emerged in state markets. In a report released on Wednesday, the Parabola Center for Law and Policy said that an eventual end to federal cannabis prohibition is inevitable. The reform would better align state and federal policies, of course, but the group says it could also threaten to “disrupt and force the transformation of existing intrastate cannabis markets.” “How…

Activists in California say they’ll submit a proposed ballot measure this week that would legalize the use, production and eventual sales of most psychedelics, including DMT, ibogaine, LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, psilocyn and MDMA. It’s the third psychedelics-related initiative that organizers are trying to qualify for next year’s ballot after Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) vetoed a psychedelics legalization bill earlier this month. The proposal, called the Psychedelic Wellness and Healing Initiative of 2024, is relatively permissive: People would no longer face criminal penalties for the use or possession of psychedelics, and they would be able to grow psychedelic plants and fungi…

The campaign to legalize marijuana in Ohio released a new ad Wednesday, drawing attention to potential tax revenue lost by the state when residents travel to nearby states like Michigan to buy cannabis. The message comes just days after a new economic analysis found that the ballot initiative, Issue 2, would likely produce around $260 million in net benefits to the state on an annual basis. “Although there is a chance the costs outweigh the benefits,” Scioto Analysis said this week, “our simulation model suggests that in 90 percent of likely scenarios, recreational marijuana legalization will have a positive net…

*Includes spoilers. In the 1870s, the United States government forced a Native American tribe known as the Osage off their ancestral lands on the Great Plains to create space for white settlers. Relegated to a small, inarable reservation in northeast Oklahoma, the Osage – meaning “People of the Middle Waters” – would have followed their fellow tribes into poverty and destitution were it not for the fact that their new home, though lacking in crops and cattle, proved abundant in another, far more valuable resource: crude oil.  Leasing their land rights to prospectors at sky-rocketing rates, the Osage quickly became…

Gear up before you smoke up. Los Angeles and Pittsburgh-based Khalifa Kush, the cannabis and lifestyle brand we know and love, founded by the one and only Wiz Khalifa, announced a collaboration with Camp High, purveyors of locally made “small batch” clothing products. The cannabis and fashion brand with a smoky twist launched last Friday.  Wiz Khalifa started donning Camp High clothing during workouts in Los Angeles and during his near-constant global tours, explaining the connection with the brand to High Times when the brand collaboration dropped.  Cannabis and a healthy lifestyle go together like bread and butter: Last month,…

Do you feel that? The sun’s starting to set earlier, temperatures are dropping – fall’s in full swing, baby! It’s hoodie season, aka my favorite time of the year. Cuffing season, if you will. We’re a few days out from Halloween, which means next week there will be massive candy sales across the country – there’s not much not to love right now. Well, except for all the death and destruction happening across the world, but let’s try to put that out of our heads for right now. It’s impossible to get anything done otherwise, and with respect the situation…

Do you feel that? The sun’s starting to set earlier, temperatures are dropping – fall’s in full swing, baby! It’s hoodie season, aka my favorite time of the year. Cuffing season, if you will. We’re a few days out from Halloween, which means next week there will be massive candy sales across the country – there’s not much not to love right now. Well, except for all the death and destruction happening across the world, but let’s try to put that out of our heads for right now. It’s impossible to get anything done otherwise, and with respect the situation…

A Nevada commission will hear public comment this week on a proposal that would amend hiring standards for police officers to allow job candidates who were previously disqualified for certain marijuana-related offenses to be eligible for law enforcement positions. The change being considered by the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) at Thursday meeting would amend regulations around hiring that currently prevent a person from becoming a peace officer if they have been convicted of an offense involving the unlawful use, sale or possession of a controlled substance. The new language would state that the restriction doesn’t…

Officials in Malta have issued the European Union’s first two licenses to not-for-profit associations to legally grow and distribute marijuana, according to the leader of the country’s Authority for the Responsible Use of Cannabis (ARUC). It’s an example of the nation’s cautious first steps toward legal distribution of the drug after becoming the first EU nation to formally end prohibition in 2021. ARUC Executive Chair Leonid McKay announced that the agency granted operational licenses to two associations, KDD Society and Ta’ Zelli, allowing them to begin cultivation. The cannabis must be tested by ARUC before the groups can begin distributing…

The U.S. House of Representatives officially has a new speaker: Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA). A review of his marijuana-related votes reveals a new leader who has consistently opposed reform, including on incremental issues like cannabis banking and making it easier to conduct scientific research on the plant. It took the Republican majority about three weeks to elect a speaker after multiple GOP conference nominees failed to amass the required votes to ascend to the position. Johnson was nominated just hours after House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), who has backed cannabis banking and other reforms, was selected and then dropped…