United States

California assembly passes cannabis 'sanctuary state' bill

Posted on June 5th, 2017 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , .

CaliforniaPortending an unprecedented showdown with federal power, California's State Assembly on June 1 approved a bill that would bar state and local law police from cooperating with the DEA and other federal agencies in cannabis enforcement efforts, unless compelled to do so by a court order. "Prohibiting our state and local law enforcement agencies from expending resources to assist federal intrusion of California-compliant cannabis activity reinforces...the will of our state's voters who overwhelmingly supported Proposition 64,” Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), lead author of the bill, told the Los Angeles Times when it was still pending.

Damian Marley and investors purchase High Times magazine

Posted on June 1st, 2017 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , , , .

High TimesDamian Marley, youngest son of late reggae superstar Bob Marley, has joined with a group of Colorado cannabis entrepreneurs associated with the firm Denver Relief to buy controlling interest in High Times magazine, the counterculture icon with a valuation of $70 million. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the deal includes websites, publishing and the Cannabis Cup trade shows and competitions.

DEA denies science on medical marijuana —again

Posted on May 30th, 2017 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , .

THC Oops, he did it again. Acting Drug Enforcement Administration chief Chuck Rosenberg reiterated his oft-voiced opinion on May 25 that "marijuana is not medicine." The Washington Examiner reports that he told an audience at a clinic in Cleveland: "If it turns out that there is something in smoked marijuana that helps people, that's awesome. I will be the last person to stand in the way of that... But let's run it through the Food and Drug Administration process, and let's stick to the science on it."

Florida health department tries to stop herbaceous medical pot

Posted on May 18th, 2017 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , .

FloridaFlorida is rapidly shaping up as a test case in whether the term "medical marijuana" necessarily has to include actual herbaceous cannabis. On May 15, the state's  Health Department ordered Quincy-based Trulieve dispensary to stop selling a "whole flower" product—officially intended for use in vaporizers but which can of course also be smoked. Trulieve just last week began sales of product dubbed “Entourage,”—named for the so-called "entourage effect," the synergistic workings of the various compounds in the actual cannabis flower. product meant to be used in the Volcano vaporizer, last week, reports Orlando Weekly. The Health Department's cease-and-desist letter came after local media reports about the sales of Entourage.

Oregon: controversy over legal cannabis revenues

Posted on May 10th, 2017 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , , , .

OregonOregon voted to legalize cannabis way back in November 2014, but promises of state coffers filled with canna-dollars are apparently being held up by an arcane bureaucratic logjam. Newsweek just noted a May 5 report from Oregon's KWG News finding that the state has brought in close to $75 million in cannabis tax revenue since the start of 2016—yet not a penny has gone to actually closing Salem's yawning $1.6 billion budget deficit.

Florida: is it 'medical marijuana' if you can't smoke it?

Posted on May 3rd, 2017 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , , .

FloridaFollowing last-minute changes, the lower house of Florida's legislature on May 2 voted 105-9 to pass HB 1397, ostensibly following through on the voter mandate to establish a medical marijuana program in the Sunshine State. But those last-minute changes included both a limit on the number of license holders—and a ban on actually smoking herbaceous cannabis. House sponsor and Republican leader Ray Rodrigues blamed fears of interference from the Trump administration, telling the Tampa Bay Times: "We have to make it legal and available to Florida residents, but we have to do it in such a way that it complies to the guidance we’ve been given by the federal government."

No, Donald, your wall won't 'stop the drugs'

Posted on April 27th, 2017 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , .

border wallJust three days before the deadline to avert a government shutdown, Donald Trump blinked April 25, backing off from the demand that his planned border wall receive funding (to the whopping tune of $11.4 billion) in the spending measure now before Congress. But just two days earlier, in an interview with the Associated Press, Trump again invoked the need to protect the country from drugs as mandating his wall—and making absurdly hubristic claims about its effectiveness to do so...

Venture capital eyes legal cannabis sector —warily

Posted on April 25th, 2017 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

leafIt is certainly a sign of the times that a partnership of major California media—led by Bay Area News Group, owner of the San Jose Mercury News—has launched a website entitled The Cannifornian, "Covering the Golden State of Cannabis." That means it's dedicated to reportage on the fast-growing cannabis sector in post-legalization California. An April 25 offering, "Venture capital investors betting big on cannabis," notes that financial consultancy firm New Frontier Data is predicting nationwide legal cannabis sales will balloon to more than $24 billion by 2025.

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