Author: News Room

“Recognizing the litigation surrounding cannabis and the risk of judiciary employees or a judge or otherwise having any interest as operators obviously compromises partiality.” By Sophie Nieto-Muñoz, New Jersey Monitor People who work for New Jersey courts can no longer take any jobs in the medical or recreational cannabis industry. Chief Justice Stuart Rabner last week approved an amendment to Canon 5, which deals with outside employment for judicial employees and exists to avoid impropriety and conflicts of interest. The change makes employment in the cannabis industry off-limits for judiciary employees, as it is for jobs in the casino industry…

I was ready. Everyone I know who’s seen Tears for Fears live sings their praises. My anticipation only grew the days before as I listened to their new album, The Tipping Point. It’s a year old, but as co-founder Curt Smith states, that’s not old at all to the band, now in their early 60s – at that creative crossroads between youthfulness and experience.  The Tipping Point is the band’s first studio release in over 17 years. It’s an album with vitality. If a band waits that long, you know they’re not releasing an album for the wrong reasons. Total…

More than any big city in America, San Francisco has always been on the cutting edge of cannabis consumption––from the beats and poets smoking “mezz” while inhabiting the 1950s North Beach “beat scene” to the openly stoned hippies of 1960s Haight-Ashbury. Cannabis consumption in the “City by the Bay” continued with the groundbreaking use of medical marijuana in the Castro District to treat those affected by HIV and AIDS, leading to America’s first dispensaries. San Francisco has likewise been the vanguard for providing consumption lounges to dispensary customers, offering a place for pot patients and weed aficionados to consume in…

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says he supports federally legalizing marijuana and allowing veterans with PTSD to use certain psychedelics—but his campaign is also attacking a recent Fox News article that suggested he supports decriminalizing “certain hard drugs” even though he recently said the broader reform would be an “important” part of broader strategy. “Vivek is in favor of federal legalization of marijuana” his campaign said on Monday in response to the news report. “The current state-level ‘legalization’ farce contributes to the culture of lawbreaking. It’s literally against the law. For us to pretend otherwise only undermines the rule of…

South Dakota’s attorney general has released a final summary for a proposed initiative to repeal the state’s medical marijuana program that a Republican activist is trying to place on the 2024 ballot. Just days after Attorney General Marty Jackley (R) submitted a draft summary for a separate adult-use cannabis legalization measure, his office announced it finalized the explanation for the anti-reform initiative on Monday. The conservative activist behind the medical marijuana repeal proposal, Travis Ismay, is also seeking to put an additional measure before voters that would block the state from having future ballot questions to legalize any drug that…

The probe aims to determine whether cannabis regulators are operating “in a manner that is efficient, accountable and transparent.” By Jason Hancock, Missouri Independent Missouri Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick (R) has begun an investigation into the state’s marijuana program, vowing to assess whether regulators are operating “in a manner that is efficient, accountable and transparent.” The audit is not a routine, scheduled review. It was initiated by Fitzpatrick after he pledged last year during his campaign to look into how Missouri oversees legalized cannabis. It will cover both the medical and recreational programs, spanning back to when Missouri voters first signed…

Ohio could see up to $403.6 million in annual tax revenue from adult-use marijuana sales if voters approve a legalization measure that could appear on the November ballot, a newly updated analysis projects. The paper from Ohio State University researchers assesses the potential economic impact of cannabis legalization in the state, providing tax revenue estimates for the first years of sales based on an analysis of comparable state markets. The analysis focuses on marijuana sales trends in neighboring Michigan because the state has a similar population and because its tax structure largely mirrors what would be implemented in Ohio if…

The U.S. treasury secretary said that the magic mushrooms she ate at a restaurant in China last month were “delicious,” but she did not trip even though the fungi contained psychedelic properties. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen laughed about the meal during an interview with CNN on Monday, explaining that she was only informed after the fact that the mushroom dish, which has seen a surge in popularity since her dining experience was first reported, was made of the psychoactive Lanmaoa asiatica, a species of fungi native to Asia. “I went with this large group of people, and the person who…

“We have heard from many patients, some of whom are very sick, that the process of getting a medical card is long and cumbersome.” By Ross Williams, Georgia Recorder At 13, Darrell Johns of Macon weighed just 40 pounds and endured at least five seizures a week, said his mom and full-time caregiver Leslie Johns. “I was having to crush 17 pills a day to run through his G tube, and he was still having seizures,” she said. “And the Diastat, which is Valium, that I would have to give him as a rescue, it would make him sleep for…

A new study in the International Journal of Drug Policy found that states with legal medical marijuana enjoyed significant reductions in health insurance premiums compared to states where cannabis remained completely illegal. Analyzing a decade’s worth of private health insurance data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, researchers determined that in the years following a state’s implementation of a medical cannabis law, premiums dropped dramatically. While the reductions were modest immediately following implementation, the study found that by seven years afterward, annual premiums had fallen $1,663 compared to states in the control group. Similar reductions were seen after eight…