Author: News Room

South Dakota’s attorney general has officially released a draft summary of an initiative to legalize marijuana that advocates hope to place on the November 2024 ballot. The procedural development brings the campaign, South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws (SDBML), one step closer to being able to collect signatures to put the measure before voters next year. But advocates are first planning to use the 10-day public comment period that started after Attorney General Marty Jackley (R) submitted the draft summary last week to request a revision, as it currently says that the measure authorizes the “distribution” of cannabis even though…

If there were any lingering questions about the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) position on the scheduling status of delta-8 THC, an attorney recently dug up an email from a top official that makes it perfectly clear: when synthesized from legal CBD, the agency considers delta-8 THC to be a prohibited controlled substance. The market for delta-8 products has expanded rapidly in recent years following the federal legalization of hemp and its naturally extracted derivatives like CBD. The intoxicating cannabinoid is also at the center of several lawsuits challenging state policies that have banned its sale. Attorney Shane Pennington said in…

“We’re having to sell our farm,” said Federalsburg Mayor Kimberly Abner. “We’re not growing this year because basically they’re putting Maryland hemp farmers out of business.” By Bryan P. Sears, Maryland Matters The mayor of Federalsburg said Maryland’s legalization of cannabis is forcing her and her husband to close their business and sell their Eastern Shore hemp farm. Kimberly Abner, her husband Ken, and her brother-in-law have run a small hemp business making gummy and vape products for the last three years. The bill that legalized adult-use recreational cannabis is pushing them out of the market, she said. “I’m the…

The Justice Department has informed a federal appeals court that it believes a separate court’s ruling in a marijuana and gun rights case was “incorrectly decided” as it seeks a favorable decision in a related lawsuit. In a one-page brief filed on Friday, the federal government notified judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit that the separate U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently deemed the law barring cannabis consumers from buying or possessing firearms to be unconstitutional. DOJ contests the decision in that case, which is also relevant to a lawsuit that the…

“It is therefore imperative that we have the necessary data before making a policy change that could be perceived as watering down the standards to become a law enforcement officer in the State of Nebraska.” By Paul Hammel, Nebraska Examiner Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (R) has rejected a proposed relaxation in drug-use standards to qualify for training as a Nebraska law enforcement officer, saying it could be viewed as a “watering down” of the standards. A panel of state law enforcement officials had recommended the change as part of a broader effort to qualify more applicants for the necessary state…

The governor of Oregon has vetoed a bill that would have established a state task force to investigate the risks and benefits of creating a public bank that could, among other things, service the state’s marijuana industry. Gov. Tina Kotek (D) disapproved the legislation earlier this month saying that while she supports the overall concept of studying a public bank, the bill has “several logistical challenges,” such as mandating that the Oregon Business Development Department (OBDD) oversee the task force when it is already managing more than 80 programs. The proposal from Reps. Mark Gamba (D) and Jules Walters​ (D),…

I’ve dreaded writing about Neil Young. Ever since seeing him perform on his summer coast tour, I’ve been asked more than once, “What are you going to write about him? What are you going to say?” I stared at them blank-faced, like a total mouth-breather, and usually said, “I don’t know.” I knew what I felt while watching Young perform for the first time in my life: him alone on stage surrounded by guitars, pianos, and an organ on the stage. But what did I know after Neil Young? Honestly, I still don’t know – to an extent. What I…

Michigan marijuana sales reached yet another record high in July, with nearly $277 million worth of cannabis sold. Adult-use marijuana purchases accounted for the majority of the total, at $270,603,217. Medical marijuana sales were at $6,143,046.  This beats the prior record set in June by more than $16 million. Most of the cannabis purchases came from flower, followed by vape cartridges and infused edibles, the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA) data, first reported by New Cannabis Ventures, shows. The state is seeing these consistent record-setting sales even as the average cost of marijuana has remained at record lows, with the price of an ounce…

In his first major interview in four years, America’s most well-known and outspoken political prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal, discusses his past, his counterculture roots with the Black Panther Party, and his hopes for a new trial and for the youth of tomorrow. Abu-Jamal, convicted of killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, has been on Death Row since 1982. This past October, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge scheduled his execution for December 2. Abu-Jamal’s lawyers, who are appealing to the federal courts, immediately filed for a stay. Abu-Jamal’s supporters argue that he received an unfair and biased trial, with a racist pro-police judge…

People increasingly view smoking marijuana or being exposed to secondhand cannabis smoke as safer than smoking or being near tobacco smoke, according to a new study published by the American Medical Association (AMA). Researchers surveyed 5,035 U.S. adults three times—in 2017, 2020 and 2021—about how they perceive the risks of both substances, and they found a “significant shift” over time as more people expressed that they felt cannabis smoke was generally safer than tobacco smoke. The survey—results of which were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Substance Use and Addiction on Friday—asked people whether they felt…