Author: News Room

I am incredibly proud to bring you another former United States Marine 0311 rifleman (like myself) to this month’s Veteran Chronicles: Tom Rand. Rand is a Marine Corps veteran, activist, proud father, and husband who was born and raised in Reading, Massachusetts. At the ripe young age of 17, Rand bravely stepped on the yellow footprints at Parris Island, South Carolina, a tradition that all recruits undergo in their transition from civilian to U.S. Marine. He was immediately deployed to Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983, and when he returned home, he was stationed at Camp Geiger, North Carolina, for the duration…

Not far from the coast of Kenya in the iridescent Indian Ocean lies an island called Lamu, very much the same as it was a thousand years ago. Since time out of mind, Lamu has been a bustling entrépot of the African-Arabian trade, its wharves aswarm with dhows freighting ostrich feathers, elephant tusks and green hashish, its bazaars awash with every exotic skin tone from Tibetan gold to Zulu ebony. And in recent years, gliding inconspicuously in their shimmering wraparound kikoys among all these motley traders, an increasing number of Western adventurers have been living out fantasies straight from the…

New York marijuana regulators say that they are working to launch a pilot program to allow cannabis farmers markets, which could potentially start “within a month.” At a town hall event for cultivators that was organized by the Cannabis Association of New York (CANY) on Thursday, officials with the state Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) said that marijuana farmers markets could help meet consumer demand while allowing growers to finally get products that were grown last year to the legal market. Rules for the “New York Cannabis Growers Showcase” program haven’t been released, and OCM Director of Policy John Kagia…

California officials have awarded more than $50 million in marijuana tax-funded community reinvestment grants, the state announced on Thursday. The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) said that the funds are being distributed to 31 different local health departments and community-based nonprofit organizations that support economic and social development in areas disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. This marks the fifth year in a row that the office has provided the grant funding. And the cannabis tax dollars that are supporting the program increased by about $15 million compared to last year. The funds will be used…

Maryland officials have released draft regulations for the state’s adult-use marijuana market that’s set to come online in July in accordance with a legalization ballot referendum that voters approved last year. Weeks after Gov. Wes Moore (D) signed cannabis sales legislation into law, the Marijuana Cannabis Administration (MCA) submitted a first batch of rules for the industry on Friday to the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive, and Legislative Review (AELR). That panel will need to review and approve the emergency regulations, which will also be published in the Maryland Register before they’re enacted. But the relatively quick turnaround with the…

“Incoming commissioners have the responsibility to continue consulting, uplifting, and working with members of impacted communities.” By Kevin G. Andrade, Rhode Island Current A small group of social justice advocates gathered in font of the State House Thursday to call on the Rhode Island Senate to use a social justice lens when vetting the governor’s three nominees for the state Cannabis Control Commission. Among them was David-Alan Sumner, a man once incarcerated on cannabis charges, who joined the Rhode Island Cannabis Justice Coalition to use his voice to draw attention to communities harmed by the War on Drugs, in particular…

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) seized more than 5.7 million marijuana plants last year, a demonstrable increase that bucks the trend that’s been observed over recent years amid the state legalization movement. Meanwhile, the agency made far fewer cannabis-related arrests in 2022. DEA’s statistical report for the Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program (DCE/SP), which was released earlier this spring, revealed the latest enforcement trends, with the total number of seized plants last year at the highest level since 2011. Marijuana arrests continue to decline, however. In 2022, DEA made 5,061 cannabis-related arrests—down 24 percent compared to the year prior when 6,606…

Resolving safety issues and setting a legal path for CBD looks like it won’t come anytime soon, according to comments during a webinar held by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Thursday. “We understand the urgency of establishing a regulatory framework for these products and providing regulatory certainty to consumers and industry,” said Norman Birenbaum, a senior advisor who is the FDA’s cannabis expert.  ”Historically there’s been bi-partisan interest in addressing this issue, particularly as the market has evolved,” said Birenbaum, who noted that resolving issues regarding CBD rests first with Congress, which must decide if CBD and other…

A major marijuana lobbying firm has apologized after sending a letter to Senate committee leadership concerning a bipartisan cannabis banking bill that contained “inappropriate” references to investments from China in a “misguided attempt” to push for amendments expanding the legislation. The original letter that was sent to Senate Banking Committee leaders last week took some by surprise—in part because it advocated for a significant revision to free up all financial services to the cannabis industry, including representation on major U.S. stock exchanges. But controversy also swelled around its argument that the expanded reform is necessary in order to compete against…

The claims made by Big Tobacco against major cannabis companies and the celebrities behind them are often outrageous, if not laughable. In recent trademark lawsuits, a tobacco company claimed that pre-rolled cones, organic hemp papers, and more staples of the rolling paper industry amount to paraphernalia. The latest claim is that pre-rolled cones, organic hemp papers and hemp gum are intended for use with pot—but not traditional rolling papers—which some tobacco companies sell.  “Big Tobacco is coming for legal marijuana,” The Boston Globe reported, referring to Marlboro owner Altria’s endeavors in pot. And while some Big Tobacco companies are attempting…