Alabama

Oooh, that smell: can it still get you busted?

cannabisWith growing legal and cultural space for cannabis, can the mere smell of the stuff still be sufficient cause for a search that could potentially land you in jail? The answer is that the courts are divided on this question. Meanwhile, cannabis attorneys warn against the fatal error of consenting to a search.

Alabama enacts (limited) medical marijuana law

Posted on May 18th, 2021 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , , , .

AlabamaAlabama's Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill May 17 legalizing the use of medical cannabis products in the state—on strictly limited terms. The new law, coming after decades of Republican opposition, allows use of extracts, tinctures, tablets or gel cubes—but not herbaceous flower, or any other products that can be smoked or vaped. Edibles such as cookies or candies are also barred.

Vet faces five years for medical marijuana in Alabama

Posted on July 17th, 2020 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , , , , .

Sean WorsleyAmid national outrage over racial injustice, a Black disabled vet was sentenced to five years for cannabis that he uses medicinally in Alabama. A medical marijuana bill in the state seemed likely to pass this year, but was aborted when the legislature was shut down by the COVID-19 crisis. Alabama continues to have some of the harshest cannabis laws in the country.

Hemp Farming While Black

Farmer CeeCan Rural America's Expropriated Use a New Crop to Forge a New Agrarianism?

Green Heffa Farms, in North Carolina’s Piedmont, has emerged as a national symbol of vision and success in America’s new hemp economy. As a producer of boutique full-spectrum hemp-flower products, it has won a cachet in the industry—which is augmented, at least in more enlightened sectors, by the fact that it is Black-owned, and has an overt political consciousness.

Green Heffa’s CEO is Clarenda Stanley—popularly known as Farmer Cee. She was featured in the April issue of Oprah Winfrey’s O Magazine, and was last year the 2019 “Featured Farmer” for National Hemp History Week.

MLK and marijuana: making the connection

Posted on January 15th, 2020 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , .

MLKMartin Luther King Jr never spoke about cannabis, but his life and works have much to say about the fight for legalization, and against the "New Jim Crow" of the war on drugs. 

Alabama couple lose longtime home over $50 worth of cannabis

Posted on April 10th, 2019 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , .

AlabamaA couple in rural Alabama lost everything—home, belongings, business—after $50 worth of cannabis and a single legal pharmaceutical pill were found in a drug taskforce raid. The case raises questions about asset forfeiture laws, and their invitation to abuse by overzealous cops. 

Trump AG pick sparks fear of a cannabis crackdown

Posted on November 21st, 2016 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , .

Shadow WatchPresident-elect Donald Trump's transition team announced Nov. 18 that Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions has been named to the post of attorney general. The Republican former US attorney was the first senator to throw his support behind Trump's presidential bid, and he later worked with the candidate to craft his policies on immigration and counter-terrorism. Sessions must face a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where his past inflammatory remarks concerning race and his support for mass deportation of undocumented immigrants may stir opposition. Still, he should be confirmed, as Republicans will likely have a 52-48 advantage over Democrats in the committee.

Biggest prison strike in US history —amid media blackout

Posted on September 23rd, 2016 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , .

prisonAmid a shameful paucity of media coverage, inmates at facilities in several states have organized work stoppages following a call for a nationwide prison strike to begin on Sept. 9—the anniversary of the 1971 Attica prison uprising. Organizers say inmates in at least 29 prisons in 12 states have launched strikes, with an unprecedented more than 24,000 prisoners participating. "This is a call to end slavery," reads the official call for the strike, issued by the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee. "They cannot run these facilities without us." While there have been prison strikes before—two earlier this year, in Texas and Alabama—this marks the first one to be nationally coordinated. Prisoners are using social media and smuggled cell phones to organize the national strike.

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