Creation of a Cannabis Commission to regulate medical marijuana in the state was approved by the Oklahoma House of Representatives on Thursday night with no votes to spare. House Bill 3468, by Rep. John Jordan, R-Yukon, sets up an independent commission that would be activated if voters approve State Question 788 on June 26. That question would legalize medical uses of medical marijuana, although opponents say its broad construction would essentially make policing recreational use impossible. "If you're for full-on recreational marijuana, this is not your bill," Jordan said in explaining the bill. [end]
It's been about three years since one DeKalb County city made history with the most liberal marijuana enforcement policy in the state. Since then, several more municipalities have followed suit, eliminating the possibility of jail time and severely reducing the fine for possessing one ounce or less of weed. Months after the state Legislature passed a bill legalizing medical marijuana sales, the push toward recreational decriminalization on the local level is continuing; the city of Chamblee is currently considering a measure that echoes the rules in Clarkston, which passed its marijuana ordinance in July 2016. [continues 79 words]
A law that took effect July 1 legalized hemp and CBD products containing traces of THC, the compound in marijuana that gets you high. But field tests and crime labs haven't caught up. Texas hemp enterpreneur Zachary Miller, interviewed here by a television reporter, was arrested in Okaloosa County after products found in his car tested positive for THC. THC is illegal in Florida unless prescribed by a doctor for medical use but trace amounts are allowed in now-legal hemp products. [Courtesy of Zachary Miller] [continues 1525 words]
Humphrey Bogart had a way with life's little vices. When he bought you a drink, the critic Kenneth Tynan recalled, he wouldn't just pass it across - "he'd take me by the wrist and screw the glass into my hand as if it was a lamp socket." Bogart's manner with a cigarette was so vivid that his surname became an admonishing hippie-era verb: "Don't bogart that joint." I've tried repeatedly, over the course of my life, to become a druggie. It's never taken. But even I know what it means to bogart something: to hoard it, to refuse to share. It wasn't until I read Lizzie Post's helpful and inquisitive new book, "Higher Etiquette: A Guide to the World of Cannabis, From Dispensaries to Dinner Parties," however, that I fully understood the term's provenance. [continues 953 words]
Kush. Bud. Herb. Who knows what to call marijuana these days? Born of the need for secrecy, slang has long dominated pot culture. But as entrepreneurs seek to capitalize on new laws legalizing recreational and medical marijuana, they too are grappling with what to call it. Heading to the dispensary to buy a few nugs or dabs? Marketers seeking to exploit the $10 billion market would prefer that you just called it cannabis. Shirley Halperin, an author of 2007's "Pot Culture: The A-Z Guide to Stoner Language and Life," has seen the shift in recent years. Not long ago, she met with an executive to talk about his company's products. "He physically winced when I said the word 'pot,'" she recalled. "Businesses don't want to call it 'weed.'" [continues 1123 words]
Alex Berenson's allegation that public support for marijuana law reform is waning ("Marijuana Activists Pass Their High Point," op-ed, June 26) is nothing short of a pipe dream. Nearly one in four Americans reside in a jurisdiction where the adult use of cannabis is legal, and 33 states regulate medical marijuana access by statute. No state has ever repealed a marijuana legalization law, and two-thirds of adults-including majorities of self-identified Democrats, Republicans and independents-endorse making the plant legal, according to the latest Gallup poll. As more states amend their cannabis laws, public support for legalization continues to rise. [continues 190 words]
DENVER - Serenity Christensen, 14, is too young to set foot in one of Colorado's many marijuana shops, but she was able to spot a business opportunity in legal weed. She is a Girl Scout, and this year, she and her mother decided to sell their cookies outside a dispensary. "Good business," Serenity said. But on the other side of Denver, legalization has turned another high school student, David Perez, against the warehouselike marijuana cultivations now clustered around his neighborhood. He said their skunky aroma often smacks him in the face when he walks out his front door. [continues 2319 words]
It is wise to know where your cannabis comes from. Intoxicated by bullish demand forecasts, pot investors aren't paying nearly enough attention to supply. U.S. states currently decide whether to legalize cannabis within their own borders, even though the drug remains illegal at the federal level. It is a misnomer to speak of a single U.S. pot industry, considering the patchwork of self-contained cannabis economies across the country. Pot can't cross state lines today, even between two states where the drug is allowed. Should federal laws change, high-cost growers and areas with less favorable climates for cannabis growing will be undercut. [continues 518 words]
A landmark battle in the war on drugs ended Tuesday, and a new approach to address racial inequities began, as Gov. J.B. Pritzker acted to legalize marijuana in Illinois effective Jan. 1, 2020. Sponsors called the change "historic" as Pritzker signed into law a bill that will allow Illinois residents 21 and over to possess up to 30 grams of cannabis flower, 5 grams of concentrate and 500 milligrams of THC infused in edibles and other products. Out-of-state visitors may have up to half those amounts. [continues 1023 words]
Marking a historic moment in an expanding national movement, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has signed legislation that makes recreational marijuana legal in Illinois. After debate in Springfield earlier this year - during which one lawmaker even cracked eggs into a frying pan to depict the "brain on drugs" - the bill allowing possession and sales to begin on Jan. 1 was approved by the House and Senate. Illinois became the 11th state to legalize cannabis and the first state in which a legislature approved commercial sales. Vermont lawmakers legalized possession, but not yet commercial sales. Approval in other states came via referendum. [continues 609 words]
This was supposed to be the year full cannabis legalization in the U.S. moved much closer to being a reality. Instead it has been a disaster for advocates. Although Illinois legalized recreational use on the final day of its legislative schedule, a half-dozen other deep-blue states that were expected to legalize failed to follow-including New York. Advocates want to believe legalization on their terms, with few restrictions on marketing and age limits potentially as low as 18, remains inevitable. Polls show that between 62% and 66% of Americans support legalization. But cannabis supporters are wrong, and the pushback against marijuana has only begun. [continues 778 words]
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Illinois' new governor delivered on a top campaign promise Tuesday by signing legislation making the state the 11th to approve marijuana for recreational use in a program offering legal remedies and economic benefits to minorities whose lives critics say were damaged by a wayward war on drugs. Legalization in Illinois also means that nearly 800,000 people with criminal records for purchasing or possessing 30 grams of marijuana or less may have those records expunged, a provision minority lawmakers and interest groups demanded. It also gives cannabis-vendor preference to minority owners and promises 25% of tax revenue from marijuana sales to redevelop impoverished communities. [continues 742 words]
If you've got the munchies for cannabis edibles, you'll have to go to the liquor store. The province has tapped the Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. - which already sells dried and fresh cannabis, cannabis oil and cannabis accessories - - to sell edibles, extracts and topicals. "The NSLC has done a good job in preparing and implementing our new retail model as recreational cannabis was legalized across Canada," said Karen Casey, the minister responsible for the NSLC, in a news release Monday. [continues 244 words]
Recent efforts to legalize marijuana in New York and New Jersey have been stalled - but not killed - by disputes over how exactly to divvy up the revenues from marijuana sales and by worries about drugged driving. Those are both important issues. But another concern should be at the center of this debate: the medical implications of legalizing marijuana, particularly for young people. It's tempting to think marijuana is a harmless substance that poses no threat to teens and young adults. The medical facts, however, reveal a different reality. [continues 495 words]
TORONTO - Adam Ash, 37, wasn't the least bit shy in explaining why he was at the Hunny Pot Cannabis Co., a four-story boutique on Queen Street West in the middle of the city's downtown district. "Marijuana," the Toronto resident said midday on a recent Monday, a little bewildered as to why someone would even bother asking. Glass containers of marijuana flower were laid out on tables throughout the shop, amid glass cases of rolling papers, pipes, bongs, grinders and vaporizers. Employees known as "bud tenders" worked the floors, ready to provide advice and recommendations for picking just the right strain. [continues 803 words]
In the next few weeks, Nicholas DiPatrizio's lab at UC Riverside will receive a shipment of marijuana. DiPatrizio, a professor of biomedical sciences, then will begin giving mice precise doses of cannabis oil to see how marijuana impacts their weight and a host of serious health conditions often linked to obesity. The study marks the first time UC Riverside has received federal approval to conduct research on marijuana -- or any other substance in the Drug Enforcement Administration's strict Schedule I category. It also marks the school's first cannabis-related grant, with $744,000 from tobacco taxes being used to finance this three-year research project on how marijuana affects metabolic health. [continues 1049 words]
ALBANY - New York's plan to legalize marijuana this year collapsed on Wednesday, dashing hopes for a potential billion-dollar industry that supporters said would create jobs in minority communities and end decades of racially disproportionate policing. Democratic lawmakers had been in a headlong race to finalize an agreement before the end of the legislative session this week. But persistent disagreement about how to regulate the industry, as well as hesitation from moderate lawmakers, proved insurmountable. "It is clear now that M.R.T.A. is not going to pass this session," Senator Liz Krueger of Manhattan said in a statement on Wednesday morning, using an acronym for the legalization bill she had sponsored. "We came very close to crossing the finish line, but we ran out of time." [continues 806 words]
It can seem as though everyone in Silicon Valley is either heading to or coming back from a psychedelic trip, and it is probably Michael Pollan's fault. He did after all write a best seller, "How to Change Your Mind," about how healthful psychedelics can be. His neighbor Ayelet Waldman, whose memoir "A Really Good Day" recounts how taking acid helped her mood and marriage, has something to do with it, too. And now, inspired by Pollan, the writer T.C. Boyle has a new novel, "Outside Looking In," about Timothy Leary, the charismatic Harvard professor turned psychedelics pied piper of the 1960s. [continues 1164 words]
A new study shoots down the notion that medical marijuana laws can prevent opioid overdose deaths, challenging a favorite talking point of legal pot advocates. Researchers repeated an analysis that sparked excitement years ago. The previous work linked medical marijuana laws to slower than expected increases in state prescription opioid death rates from 1999 to 2010. The original authors speculated patients might be substituting marijuana for painkillers, but they warned against drawing conclusions. Still, states ravaged by painkiller overdose deaths began to rethink marijuana, leading several to legalize pot for medical use. [continues 409 words]
Planet 13 in Las Vegas has attracted international attention since it opened perhaps the world's biggest marijuana store last fall, with 3,000 people shopping each day for newly legal cannabis products while surrounded by light shows and interactive art displays that feel natural a few miles off The Strip. Now Planet 13 has announced that its second location - and likely the largest cannabis shop in California - will open early next year. And since it's being billed as the "Disneyland of dispensaries," it's fitting that it's opening just six miles from the theme park, in an industrial stretch of Santa Ana. [continues 734 words]
