Author: News Room

A Republican congressman from North Carolina is urging members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) to reject a referendum next month that would legalize marijuana on tribal land, warning that the move would mean a loss of federal funding under a bill he plans to introduce. In an op-ed published last week in The Cherokee One Feather, Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) acknowledged that Congress cannot stop the EBCI referendum, set for September 7, from going forward. But he appealed to the tribe’s members to vote against it. “I proudly consider the tribe my friends, and I respect their…

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy reiterated his support for federal marijuana legalization in an interview that aired on Sunday, saying the current state–federal conflict on cannabis is “a farce” that allows governments to unfairly target people. Appearing on the podcast Club Random with Bill Maher, who smoked a joint during the conversation, Ramaswamy said the gap between state and federal marijuana laws is “a joke” that “undermines the rule of law.” “I think we should align the federal law with the state law,” he told Maher. Pressed by Maher whether that was an endorsement of federal cannabis legalization, Ramaswamy acknowledged…

The governor of Minnesota is pushing back against a legal argument that the state Constitution allows people to sell their homegrown marijuana without obtaining a license, stating that it was “not our intention” to authorize that type of commerce under the legalization legislation he signed into law this year. While adults 21 and older may now possess, cultivate and gift cannabis under the law that took effect at the beginning of the month, retailers (beside those operated by tribes) are not expected to open for at least another year. As the law was being drafted, however, some advocates said that…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is encouraging hemp growers to construct a Ghostbusters-like backpack vacuum that will allow them to collect up to 10 grams of cannabis pollen in less than a minute. It’s part of an effort to gather and distribute the pollen to an international group of researchers and breeders. In an instructional video the agency recently posted, an official with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) first walks viewers through the process of building and setting up the device, which was invented by a former department employee and a hemp cultivator to streamline the pollen collection process.…

“I don’t think there’s any possibility we get through the ’24 session without some tweaking on the cannabis. This is not going to be ‘We fixed it and we’ve solved all the issues and we’ll never have a bill on this subject again.’” By Bryan P. Sears, Maryland Matters Maryland’s cannabis industry is less than two months old and lawmakers and regulators are already contemplating tweaks in the coming General Assembly session. Since July, the new recreational adult-use industry has recorded sales of almost $90 million. The expectation is that sales will surpass $1 billion. Will Tilburg, acting director of…

Revenue from legal marijuana in New Jersey will cover a third of the cost of a grant program aimed at violence intervention and prevention in the state, Gov. Phil Murphy (D) and Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin (D) announced this week. Of the $15 million in grant money that will be available to community organizations for the coming fiscal year, $5 million comes from the state’s Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Fund. The fund, which was established through the state’s marijuana legalization law, consists of monies from taxes on legal sales, industry fees and civil penalties. With the…

A new study of teens and young adults at risk of developing psychotic disorders found that regular marijuana use over a two-year period did not trigger early onset of symptoms—contrary to the claims of prohibitionists who argue that cannabis causes mental illness. In fact, it was associated with modest improvements in cognitive functioning and reduced use of other medications. A team of researchers at Zucker Hillside Hospital, Stanford University School of Medicine, University of Michigan and University of California at Davis carried out the study, which was published Tuesday in the journal Psychiatry Research. “Recreational cannabis use has recently gained…

“It is misleading at best and disingenuous at worst to imply that cannabis smoke exposure is either equal to or more hazardous to health than tobacco smoking.” By Paul Armentano, NORML A growing percentage of Americans perceive smoking cannabis to be less dangerous than smoking tobacco cigarettes. They’re correct, but you wouldn’t know it from reading the recent slew of media headlines. “Many Americans wrongly believe exposure to marijuana smoke is safer than tobacco,” screamed CNN. Coverage of the survey data in Everyday Health warned, “People Underestimate the Health Risks of Smoking Marijuana.” Syndicated coverage of the study by US…

By Charles Bukowski Larry awakened, got out of the twisted sheets, walked to the window which overlooked the neighborhood to the east and he saw the garage roofs and the trees with their barren branches. His hangover was about standard and he walked to the bathroom to piss, did that, turned to the basin to wash his hands, then he splashed water on his face, and then he did it: He looked at the face in the mirror, found it less than enchanting… He let the bathwater run, thinking, the problem with the History of Man is that it doesn’t…

Activists in Lubbock, Texas have launched a campaign to join the growing number of cities across the Lone Star State that have locally decriminalized marijuana. The committee behind the initiative filed paperwork for the Freedom Act Lubbock ordinance with the city secretary this week, which gives them 60 days to collect about 4,800 valid signatures, which equates to about 25 percent of registered voters who participated in the last municipal election in May. If they’re successful, the measure will first be transmitted to the city council for consideration and then, if they don’t enact it, the proposal will go on the…