Author: News Room

“Sex, drugs, and rock & roll, baby!” That is the Freddie Gibbs story, at least according to the man himself. Posted up at a Los Angeles restaurant just hours before his latest album $oul $old $eparately was to arrive, Gibbs was in good spirits, seemingly without a care in the world. He flirted with the waitress, flashed his 1,000-watt smile as he spoke and laughed easily, a stark contrast from the Gangsta Gibbs persona that is sprinkled throughout his catalog. Growing up in Gary, Indiana (which he proudly pointed out is the same city where Michael Jackson was born), Gibbs’s…

Cannabis consumers pay higher prices, and their favorite suppliers run the risk of robbery because the federal government treats banking legal cannabis dollars like banking heroin itself.Last week, about 40 Senators introduced the SAFE Banking Act as a bill in Congress and it’s heading to the Senate Banking Committee. What’s actually in SAFE Banking? What chances does it have of passing? Listen to Leafly Senior Editor David Downs breaking it down for National Public Radio affiliate KCRW in Santa Monica, CA. We’ve been doing a three-year-running ‘This Week in Weed’ appearance there.Press the play button to hear the interview.“We know…

A Maine legislative committee has rejected a bill that would have authorized the governor to enter into agreements with other legal marijuana states to allow interstate cannabis commerce once federal policy changes. The legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs took up the legislation from Rep. Joseph Perry (D), but members voted unanimously on a motion not to pass it. That said, the chairman emphasized that cross-border trade and other cannabis issues that the panel stalled at the hearing could still advance as part of a separate vehicle as lawmakers continue to work throughout the summer, saying that…

Forty-five years ago, a tenacious glaucoma patient named Robert Randall made history, becoming the first person in the U.S. under prohibition to secure a legal supply of cannabis that was grown, processed and delivered by the federal government itself. Now his widow, Alice O’Leary Randall, a lifelong reform advocate, is marking the anniversary by releasing a digitized “Factual Record” of the case, preserving the legacy of the marijuana pioneer and the work and sacrifices of early activists who helped build the foundation of the modest cannabis legalization movement. Randall had already achieved something extraordinary just two years before the settlement.…

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke at a marijuana rally in New York City on Saturday, vowing again to pass federal cannabis banking reform legislation as Congress works to end prohibition. Schumer was among a variety of lawmakers, officials, advocates and entrepreneurs to reflect on the progress of the reform movement at the NYC Cannabis Parade & Rally (NYCCPR), which celebrated its 50th anniversary on Saturday. This is the third year in a row that the majority leader has participated in the event. He told attendees that there’s ample reason to celebrate, from the rollout of New York’s adult-use…

The state’s cannabis industry is poised to top $1 billion this year in combined medical and recreational sales. By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent Hippos Cannabis has a 40,000-square-foot production facility in Vienna, Missouri, a town of 600 people that’s just 30 minutes north of Rolla. Since Missouri’s recreational marijuana sales began in February, they’ve added 25 workers, bringing the total employees to 70—who come from Vienna or the surrounding communities. “A lot of the employees were born and raised and went to high school in Vienna, and now they’re all working together,” said Nicholas Rinella, CEO of Hippos which also includes…

“Say no to CBD,” federal Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is telling its workers—and their family members. The agency recently published an overview of issues related to the non-intoxicating cannabinoid, warning that CBD products remain unregulated and may contain concentrations of THC that could show up in a drug test. CBP isn’t technically prohibiting workers from using hemp-derived CBD products, which were federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill, but it’s strongly urging border patrol agents to abstain as a precaution. “The CBP Drug Free Workplace Plan, which requires drug testing, applies to all CBP federal civilian employees,” the advisory…

Vermont lawmakers held a committee hearing on Thursday where members discussed legislation to legalize psilocybin and take first steps toward providing regulated access to the psychedelic. Members of the House Judiciary Committee took up H. 371 from Reps. Chip Troiano (D) and Brian Cina (D), who said he’s personally benefitted from using psychedelics. There seemed to be agreement among members about the overall merits of the proposal, but the panel’s chairman said that “we’re not going pass this out this session” because there’s not enough floor time left before lawmakers adjourn in the coming days. However, the plan is to…

Colorado lawmakers say they have worked out a compromise in proposed legislation stakeholders had feared would place overly strict limits on CBD. The measure, Senate Bill 271 (SB 271), is aimed primarily at reigning in highly-concentrated delta-8 THC products, which are synthetically produced from hemp-derived CBD in the lab. The products, which produce a “high” that mimics that of marijuana-derived delta-9 THC, have flourished in Colorado and other states amid safety concerns due to regulatory gaps. While SB 271 would put up guardrails for delta-8 by placing the compound under rules for delta-9 (marijuana) products, stakeholders complained that limits in…

Voters in Texas’s second-most populous city, San Antonio, overwhelmingly rejected a ballot initiative on Saturday that would have decriminalized marijuana and blocked enforcement of abortion restrictions. Voters in Harker Heights, meanwhile, narrowly reaffirmed a cannabis decriminalization measure they previously approved last year but which was later repealed by local officials. The results come as advocates await Senate action on a statewide decriminalization bill that passed the House last month. The San Antonio measure would have blocked police from making arrests or issuing citations for low-level marijuana possession, prevented the enforcement of laws criminalizing abortion, banned no-knock warrants and made other…