Author: News Room

“Louisiana received about $1,900 in revenue [last year] and the market is actually stamp collectors. I don’t know that they’ve even recouped the price of printing all the stamps yet.” By Piper Hutchinson, LA Illuminator A Louisiana House committee voted down a bill Monday that would have repealed a little-used and little-enforced tax on the sale of illegal marijuana. House Bill 492, sponsored by Rep. Joe Marino (I) would have abolished a program that required dealers to buy stamps to place on every parcel of illegal marijuana sold. The bill was killed in the House Committee on Ways and Means…

Bipartisan House and Senate lawmakers are refiling bills to legalize medical marijuana for military veterans—the latest in a series of cannabis measures that have been introduced in the week leading up to the 4/20 holiday. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, introduced the Veterans Medical Marijuana Safe Harbor Act on Tuesday with 12 cosponsors. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) is leading a companion measure set to be filed on Thursday. The bill would temporarily allow veterans to legally possess and use cannabis under federal law, as recommended by doctors in accordance with state law. Physicians with the…

The Democratic governor of Delaware reiterated on Tuesday that he opposes marijuana legalization—though he gave some mixed signals about how he will act on a pair of bills to legalize and regulate cannabis that were sent to his desk late last month. At a town hall event, Gov. John Carney (D) faced several questions about marijuana policy issues, and he declined to say whether he would veto the legalization legislation like he did with an earlier bill last session. But he also suggested that he views the reform as inevitable and said that it’s “time to move on” from the…

Bicycle Day falls on 420 eve each year on April 19 to commemorate the pivotal 1943 discovery of the effects of the most potent hallucinogen known to humankind—lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann is the first person on record to trip on LSD, and the first scientist to note its profound effects on the mind. Hofmann eventually put together lab notes, documents and other data to publish LSD – My Problem Child in 1980. In it, he recorded the discoveries of LSD in great detail—providing some fascinating insight into a beautiful accident that eventually transformed culture as we…

Oregon regulators announced on Tuesday that they have approved the nation’s first state-licensed psilocybin facilitators to administer the psychedelic to adults at regulated facilities. The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) approved three facilitators—David Naftalin, Alexander Polvi and Jeanette Small—to provide psilocybin health services under the law that voters approved in 2020. “We want to congratulate the first facilitators to be licensed in Oregon,” Oregon Psilocybin Services (OPS) Section Manager Angie Allbee said in a press release. “As your work in providing non-directive psilocybin services takes shape, we thank you for your dedication to client safety and access as we move closer…

A coalition of 85 civil rights and drug policy reform groups are sending a letter to President Joe Biden and other key federal officials on Thursday, using the unofficial marijuana holiday 4/20 to urge the administration to deschedule cannabis and support comprehensive legalization legislation. The letter, led by the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) with other signatories like the ACLU and Human Rights Watch, further outlines administrative steps that officials can take in the interim to build on Biden’s mass marijuana pardon last year and repair some of the harms of prohibition. The groups applauded the clemency proclamation, as well as…

Let’s set the scene. It’s Brooklyn in 2014 and here comes Bobby Shmurda and GS9 with a song called “Hot N——“ that the streets are going absolutely bonkers over, no matter what corner you turn. It seemed like only moments later there was Beyoncé on stage hitting the Shmoney dance.  The music video was an accurate portrayal of NYC youth and a glimpse of what it was like when Bobby’s block was in full-on party mode. It didn’t take an intellectual to realize that GS9 was the definition of being outside.  Meanwhile, as a hip hop purist, I was all…

We’re thrilled to announce that PHCANN International will be joining us as a Gold Sponsor of Cannabis Europa London, 2023. Global pharmaceutical company PHCANN International operates in accordance with EU GMP standards and is headquartered in Warsaw, Poland. In order to produce specialised medical cannabis products, PHCANN’s European medicinal cannabis facility combines state-of-the-art growing, extraction, and packaging technology with tried-and-true scientific development procedures. As 500 kg of dried flower may be produced daily to 15 tonnes annually, PHCANN International ensures their facility complies with the toughest EU GMP criteria from seed through packaging to storage. Moreover, PHCANN International has vertically…

“I feel like this is operating under a loophole right now.”  By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent As he was checking out at a convenience store one day, state Rep. Kurtis Gregory (R) said he looked down and saw “delta-8 THC” products being sold. He had no idea THC, the intoxicating component mostly associated with marijuana, could be sold openly outside of dispensaries. “I messaged a few folks and to my surprise, yep, that is completely at this point legal to be sold,” Gregory, a Republican from Marshall, said during a House committee hearing on Tuesday. The products that caught Gregory’s…

The governor of New York announced on Tuesday that the state is launching a public education campaign ahead of the 4/20 holiday to encourage adults to buy their marijuana from licensed shops to ensure that products are safe and that revenue is used to advance equity and reinvestment goals. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said that the “Why Buy Legal New York” campaign is meant to “bolster the public health and safety of all New Yorkers, we are providing them with information they need to make informed decisions and enjoy cannabis responsibly.” Educating people about the benefits of shopping at licensed…