Author: News Room

“I feel like you can never get too excited until you make your first sale. There’s just been so much disappointment.” By Rosalind Adams, THE CITY This story was originally published by THE CITY. Sign up to get the latest New York City news delivered to you each morning. Hundreds of people impacted by cannabis-related criminal charges will finally be allowed to move forward with the pot-shops they had already been granted licenses for—if the terms of a settlement agreement filed Tuesday are approved. With marijuana legalization in 2021, the state created a special class of license called the Conditional Adult-Use Retail…

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), a 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, didn’t “literally” mean it when he said President Joe Biden should smoke some marijuana earlier this month, he now says. “Truth is I wouldn’t recommend he start now,” the congressman said on Tuesday, reversing the tongue-in-cheek comments he made at a New Hampshire campaign event, where he also cast doubt on whether the president has smoked “or even smelled weed.” Truth is I wouldn’t recommend he start now. But it’s absolutely absurd that a naturally occurring plant on which no human has overdosed remains a Schedule I narcotic in America. It…

The Supreme Court on Monday heard the case of a defendant seeking to reduce his criminal penalty for firearm possession as the result of the federal government’s legalization of hemp in 2018. At issue are the boundaries of the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), a 1984 law that imposes penalties on gun possession for people with past violent felonies or serious drug offenses. Initially the law imposes a 10-year maximum penalty for having a firearm, but after three offenses, a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence kicks in. Like other three-strikes laws, the act was intended to dissuade recidivism by ratcheting up…

A newly formed cannabis organization is pledging to provide a fresh avenue to promote industry standards in a way that it hopes will align advocates, stakeholders, regulators and government bodies behind reform. The nonprofit S3 Collective is co-founded by David Vaillencourt, who’s served as vice chair of a cannabis-focused committee of the standards organization ASTM International. S3, accordingly, stands for Standards, Science and Safety. While there’s no deficit of marijuana advocacy and trade groups working on reform issues, the mission behind S3 is to fill a “major gap” that still exists by collecting and disseminating the “objective, trusted data and…

“We’re like a trauma center for the nation’s worst depressed people. This industry’s like a triage for people like that.” By Grant Singer, Oregon Capital Chronicle Hundreds of people have used psilocybin legally in Oregon since the first licensed center opened in Eugene in June. But only a minority appear to be from Oregon. Though data about clients is protected by confidentiality rules, several magic mushroom entrepreneurs told the Capital Chronicle that most customers have traveled to Oregon from out of state to take the drug in a safe setting. Brian Lindley, co-owner of the psilocybin center Omnia Group Ashland,…

It may be the first week off I’ve had in ages, but you know I couldn’t let another month close without dropping you a new list of heat to acquire. I know last week was all about supposed deals amidst all the stuff we’re already thankful for, but the good news is over here life’s green everyday – we don’t have to limit it to just one that’s designed by corporations to suck your coffers dry. There are always deals if you know where to shop! Anyway, November’s just about over, it’s officially (at least) hoodie weather everywhere, and the…

Maryland consumers will remain at risk from unregulated and potentially dangerous psychoactive hemp products after the state’s Supreme Court declined to review a lower court’s injunction.The state high court decision last week leaves in place an injunction that allows the sale of such products as delta-8 and delta-10, two synthetic forms of THC made from hemp, to continue. The products are made by putting hemp-derived CBD through a process in the lab that often results in adulterated products that can be harmful to users.Maryland officials said the original ruling allowing the resumption of sales of the high-producing, hemp-derived products hurts the state’s…

With just over a week until Ohio’s voter-approved marijuana legalization law takes effect, a Republican lawmaker has introduced a bill that would allow individual municipalities to locally ban the use and home cultivation of cannabis in their jurisdictions. The legislation would also revise how state marijuana tax revenue would be distributed by, for example, reducing funds allocated to social equity and jobs programs and instead steering them toward law enforcement training. The measure from Rep. Gary Click (R), filed on Tuesday, appears to be separate from a forthcoming proposal that GOP leadership and the governor have been discussing to similarly…

Advocates in Washington State say they’re looking forward to trying again to enact state-level psychedelics reform during the coming legislative session, especially after an effort earlier this year to broadly decriminalize psilocybin was watered down by lawmakers into a far more limited pilot program for mental health. But for now, much of the activity happening across the state is focused on local frontiers, with organizers working to pass measures in at least six municipal jurisdictions. Efforts are currently underway in the cities of Olympia, Bellingham, Spokane and Tacoma as well as King and San Juan counties, according to Psychedelic Medicine…

A New Hampshire commission charged with drafting legislation to legalize marijuana through a system of state-controlled stores decided at its final meeting on Monday not to issue recommendations at all. The conclusion leaves open questions about how lawmakers will proceed with cannabis reform in the coming 2024 session. After months of meetings, the 19-member panel ultimately failed to reach consensus on the issue. Adding to the disarray was a last-minute demand by Gov. Chris Sununu (R)—who has threatened to veto legislation that he disagrees with—that retail storefronts be limited to just 15 statewide and that marijuana businesses be barred from…