Author: News Room

“This is going to be a huge economic driver for the reservation.” Buy Max Nesterak, Minnesota Reformer The first legal sale of recreational marijuana in Minnesota was made on the Red Lake reservation on Tuesday to a tribal employee before a throng of journalists and tribal leaders. Charles Goodwin, a Red Lake band member and employee of the tribal dispensary, selected some Nudder Budder and Caramel Creme—two of 12 cannabis strains the tribe grows on the reservation in rural northern Minnesota. “It’s an honor to be the first recreational customer,” said Goodwin, who was also the first customer when the…

A Minnesota law took effect on Tuesday that legalizes drug paraphernalia possession, syringe services, controlled substances residue and testing. The harm reduction reforms were included in a large-scale criminal justice and public safety omnibus package that Gov. Tim Walz (D) signed in May. They’re becoming effective on the same day that the state’s marijuana legalization law comes into force. The measure removes language from code that has criminalized the possession and delivery of drug paraphernalia. As revised, the new law only says that it is “unlawful for any person to intentionally manufacture drug paraphernalia for delivery,” omitting the previous possession…

A new law officially takes effect in Arkansas on Tuesday to clarify that medical marijuana patients can obtain concealed carry licenses for firearms. The governor signed the bill in April, just days after it sailed through the legislature with strong majority support. The newly effective law stipulates that a person’s status as a qualified medical cannabis patient in the state cannot be used “in determining whether an applicant is eligible to be issued a license to carry a concealed handgun.” State statute has also been amended to clarify that participation in the medical marijuana program doesn’t mean that a person…

Adults 21 and older in Minnesota can now possess and grow marijuana for personal use under a legalization law that was passed by lawmakers earlier this year and took effect on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the process of automatically expunging prior cannabis records is also being implemented by state officials. While traditional recreational cannabis retailers are not expected to open until at least next year, other key components of the legalization law that Gov. Tim Walz (D) enacted in May have now gone into effect. Meanwhile, two Indian tribes have been preparing to get a head start on adult-use cannabis sales, with…

Waves. Everywhere you looked, there were waves of people – 40,000 bodies moving, swaying, and flailing in the cool San Francisco breeze. This was the final Dead & Company show, an event brimming with tears of joy, gloriously goofy dancing, and, of course, epic jamming. Grateful Dead co-founder, Bob Weir, returned home for a trio of concerts at Oracle Park, marking the grand finale. Outside the stadium, the atmosphere exuded glee without a hint of bittersweetness. At a Dead & Company show, there was nothing to feel down about, even if it was purported to be the last gig. The…

The U.S. Senate has approved a large-scale defense bill that includes provisions to bar intelligence agencies like the CIA and NSA from denying security clearances to applicants solely due to their past marijuana use. Senators adopted a number of amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Thursday before approving the overall legislation. That included attaching the full text of the separate Intelligence Authorization Act, which was itself previously amended in committee last month to include the cannabis provision from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR). Previously, the senator filed a broader amendment to last year’s version of the authorization legislation…

Bipartisan Pennsylvania senators have introduced a bill that would expand the state’s medical cannabis program by giving patients 21 and older the right to grow their own plants for personal use. The legislation, filed on Thursday by Sens. Sharif Street (D) and Dan Laughlin (R), along with six other senators, would allow registered patients to cultivate up to six cannabis plants. Medical marijuana dispensaries would be able to sell cannabis seeds to patients, wh0 could then grow them in their own residence in an enclosed and locked location that’s outside of “ordinary” public view. If a person doesn’t own their…

A Democratic senator has refiled a bill that’s meant to lay the groundwork for federal marijuana legalization. Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) introduced the legislation—titled the Preparing Regulators Effectively for a Post-Prohibition Adult-Use Regulated Environment Act (PREPARE) Act—on Thursday. The incremental reform would direct the attorney general to create a commission charged with making recommendations on a regulatory system for cannabis that models what’s currently in place for alcohol. It’s largely identical to a House companion version filed by Reps. Dave Joyce (R-OH) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) in April, with some additional provisions related to commission membership and…

Top federal health officials say that psychedelics have “promising” therapeutic potential—but research into them has been stymied by ongoing federal prohibition. They also argue that as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers approving substances like psilocybin, it’s important to look at issues such as accessibility, affordability, health care reimbursements and ethics. In an opinion piece published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Psychiatry on Wednesday, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow and National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Director Joshua Gordon discussed how interest in psychedelic medicines has risen rapidly as early studies…

As advocates work to once again put marijuana legalization on South Dakota’s ballot, a Republican activist has filed a pair of initiatives to repeal the state’s medical cannabis law and keep federally banned substances from ever being legalized by voters. The state attorney general released the draft ballot explanation for the medical marijuana repeal measure on Friday, opening a public comment period. The second initiative from Travis Ismay, which contains a typo on the proposed title (using the word “band” instead of “banned”), will likely need to be revised and resubmitted, as the Legislative Research Council (LRC) identified a number…