Bone up on your actual cannabis facts while listening to the President's address to Congress tonight.
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Growing great cannabis is no easy feat, and many mistakes are possible. Learn about five of the most common mistakes to avoid for your cannabis garden.
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Sativa-dominant Raspberry Cough lends a deliciously fruity and floral element to this strain-specific dessert recipe for gluten-free raspberry bars.
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John Hickenlooper has never been a huge fan of marijuana legalization. When Colorado voted to legalized marijuana in 2012, Hickenlooper, a former mayor of Denver who’s served as the state’s Democratic governor since 2010, was in the minority who voted against legal cannabis. Now, the country’s marijuana movement is hoping Hickenlooper is serious when he suggests that he likes Donald Trump messing with him and his state even less than the reefer.
On Sunday, Hickenlooper appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press to utter the great conservative mantra—states’ rights—and declared, if in the most passive-aggressive (read: mainstream Democratic) way possible, his intent to abide by his oath of office and defend Colorado from all threats, foreign and domestic, even if that threat is the federal government and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
“Our voters passed [marijuana legalization] 55-45. It’s in our constitution,” Hickenlooper told moderator Chuck Todd. “It’s in our constitution, and I took a solemn oath to support our constitution.”
Not that Hickenlooper, whom Todd fingered as a possible presidential candidate in 2020, is planning to be the first man on the barricades if Sessions and the DEA come knocking. After all, it’s “unclear” if Sessions could follow through on a series of increasingly menacing statements about enforcing federal marijuana law—and, for that matter, Hickenlooper isn’t quite yet in support of recreational marijuana personally yet.
The cannabis world has been on high alert since Trump selected Sessions, a controversial former Alabama senator who favors mandatory minimum sentences and other failed hard-line drug war tactics, to lead the U.S. Justice Department. Tensions were heightened even further with Trump press secretary Sean Spicer’s offhand remark last week that adult-use marijuana states could “see greater enforcement,” and Sessions upped the ante even further on Monday and Tuesday.
The attorney general declared America would not be a better place if “marijuana is sold at every corner grocery store”—where, for the record, it is not currently sold, except illegally—and dismissed the growing body of scientific evidence that cannabis, a great tonic for chronic pain, could be a bulwark against the country’s raging epidemic of opiate abuse, which has its roots in prescription pain pills.
“My best view,” Session said, “is that we don’t need to be legalizing marijuana.”
Marijuana is clearly in need of a hero and champion in its hour of need, an hour that could well last until Trump is out of office, or until the strings of law enforcement are out of the hands of avowed drug warriors like the antebellum good ole boy currently running things.
If Hickenlooper won’t rally the troops and reassure his state that the industry that just supported $1.3 billion in legal sales is safe, officials in California—the place in the lower 48 states furthest away from Donald Trump in both mind and location—may take the lead, with help from the same lawyers who just beat Team Trump on the president’s much-ballyhooed travel ban.
Last week, officials reacted to Spicer’s comments by declaring that California’s marijuana industry would behave as if Donald Trump didn’t exist… at least for the moment. State officials would continue laying the framework for full regulation and oversight of commercial sales of both medical and recreational marijuana—and are still planning to allow dispensaries to sell to anyone 21 years or older on Jan. 1, 2018.
“Until we see any sort of formal plan from the federal government, it’s full speed ahead for us,” Alex Traverso, a spokesman for the California Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation, told the Los Angeles Times.
One of the strongest reactions has come from Xavier Becerra, California’s new attorney general. Like Hickenlooper, Becerra invoked the oath to defend the state.
“If there is action from the federal government on this subject, I will respond in an appropriate way to protect the interest of California,” he said in a statement.
Becerra may likely huddle with Washington attorney general Bob Ferguson, one of the lawyers responsible for beating Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s travel ban in federal court earlier this month, and plot a similar strategy to enjoin the feds from cracking down on weed.
Ferguson and Washington Governor Jay Inslee have requested a meeting with Sessions to explain how recreational weed works, according to the Times, though the attorney general is under no obligation to host the people who just kicked his boss’s ass, let alone listen to them.
Perhaps the greatest hope for weed is the Guantanamo-loving, former Ted Cruz supporter who uses medical marijuana to soothe an old surfing injury. U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is the co-author of a congressional budget amendment that prohibits the spending of federal dollars on enforcing federal marijuana laws on operators that follow state medical marijuana law.
Rohrabacher plans to expand that protection to law-abiding recreational marijuana as well, a spokesman told the Times.
But maybe marijuana will be OK with statements even as lukewarm as Hickenlooper’s. Trump may need help more than cannabis.
As drug policy expert Mark Kleinman observed recently, there are but 4,000 DEA agents around the world and a similarly limited number of Justice Department lawyers. DOJ officials would need to be pulled away from cracking down on immigrants to start busting weed.
As long as cannabis isn’t betrayed by quisling collaborators, everything could be OK—but unfortunately, there are plenty of local and state cops who might welcome a Sessions-led invasion with open arms.
RELATED: Jeff Sessions Breaks Silence on Pot Policy
You can keep up with all of HIGH TIMES’ marijuana news right here.
Lawmakers will weigh legislation to stifle cooperation between US law enforcement and local officials, a key ingredient of past federal enforcement actions.
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Munchies are one of the major results of getting really high, so one must be mindful not to over-munch.
However, there is a certain part of the cannabis plant that acts as an appetite suppressant.
This chemical element is called tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV), and in its pure form, it appears to have the capacity to subdue the irrational urge to overeat and even to stave off hunger.
THCV has gotten popular lately because of its high potency (and resulting fabulous high), as well as its promising quality of taming rather than provoking one’s appetite.
As the name suggests, THCV is similar to its cannabinoid cousin, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC); their chemical structures are nearly identical, but the processes involved in their creation are slightly different.
THCV, say researchers, could be a new weapon against obesity and can help treat type 2 diabetes, while also lowering cholesterol levels in the blood stream and fat in key organs such as the liver.
The problem is that THCV is only produced in tiny quantities in the pot plant, but it’s there.
Normally expensive and difficult to extract, one scientist referred to THCV as the needle-in-a-haystack cannabinoid, but advises not to lose hope.
Biotech firm Teewinot Life Sciences claims to be the first company that can replicate and produce this precious compound in commercial quantities.
Tweewinot’s use of a process called biocatalysis, which is the use of natural substances to speed up chemical reactions, allows it to manufacture cannabinoid molecules in a lab environment.
“Our technology removes the negative factors from the plant,” Jeff Korentur, Teewinot’s CEO, told Forbes. “We produce the same cannabinoid, just replicated outside the plant. It is identical in every way.”
But how does it work?
According to Medical Jane, “THCV is psychoactive, but causes more of a psychedelic, clear-headed effect. It causes the effects of THC to hit you much faster, and some think it could be the reason for those ‘1 hitter quitter’ strains. With that said, the THC effects also die off a bit more quickly with the presence of THCV.”
Korentur said researchers are anxious to get a hold of such compounds for research and that they need large amounts of consistent product.
And they’re not the only ones.
While waiting for Teewinot to develop their appetite suppressant formula, we’re guessing lots of people would also like to find “large amounts” of product to conduct their own testing?
Popular strains like Tangie and Girl Scout Cookies, among others, are said to contain THCV. Some of the most beloved, popular sativas in the world are high in THCV.
But keep in mind that weed strains containing THCV energize the cannabinoid cocktail, are quick-acting though not long-lasting and are even considered to be euphoric.
They’re out there, so go get ‘em while you can.
You can keep up with all of HIGH TIMES’ marijuana news right here.
Recreational cannabis was finally, officially legalized in California on November 9, 2016—the day after the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) passed at the ballot with 57 percent of the statewide vote. The new law immediately allows for personal possession and cultivation of pot, but retail stores will not be licensed until 2018, and large-scale commercial cultivation is delayed until 2023. This provides an opportunity for the “little guys” in the form of small business to get their feet in the dank door of for-profit pot sales.
For many cannabis activists, AUMA’s passage was long overdue—as California was forced to watch on the sidelines in 2012 as Colorado and Washington made history by legalizing recreational weed, an honor that really should have been reserved for the Golden Ganja state, the cannabis capital of the world for decades.
Though California is now ready to join the pot party, for many interests, both collective and individual, Prop. 64 is not entirely welcome, with opponents ranging from cultivators to cops, from patients to politicians, and even external opposition in the guise of shady corporations.
All of these factions could well create barriers to the successful implementation of Prop. 64, frustrating consumers and companies alike. Oh, and we mustn’t forget the federal government—that tiny little institution that just happens to regard all cannabis as illegal, regardless of individual state designation.
One of the provisions of Prop. 64 permits local cities and counties to set their own regulations, taxes and fees. And while such revenue was a major selling point to help get AUMA passed, it’s also resulted in a “greed factor” as delineated by hall-of-fame cannabis activist, author and consultant Chris Conrad.
Conrad warned of local governments seeking to cash in via licensing for legal weed businesses, based on the perceived “green rush” that Conrad flat-out terms “an illusion.” It’s the notion that everyone is getting rich overnight from legal weed, which motivates greedy politicos to jack up the price of licensing and make excessive demands bordering on legal bribery from those interests competing for canna-biz licenses. This then becomes a huge financial burden for those trying to establish a business.
As reported by East Bay Express, Oakland mandates the city be a 25-percent owner of certain new cannabis businesses and receives a seat on the company board. And while such money can be used to improve inner cities damaged by the War on Drugs, it also maintains the status quo of favoring those with more money. And does Oakland demand part-ownership of fast-food restaurants and other businesses? No way—it’s always pot that has to pay the extra price, even when legal.
Conrad suggested acquisition of pot-biz licenses be made cheaper, “so those living in drug-ravaged communities can create their own businesses and bring money and employment to them, instead of the high-fee licensing system that results in the ‘rich white guys’ taking over.”
2. Transition from Medical Marijuana
Though California wasn’t first when it came to recreational weed, it was the groundbreaking state for legalizing medicinal marijuana when voters passed Prop. 215 in 1996. That’s a 21-year head start MMJ has on “party pot,” and there are some issues to be settled.
Josh Drayton of the California Cannabis Industry Association (CCIA) considers this potentially the biggest threat to AUMA’s success.
“I see the big fight being at the state level, and the reconciliation between MCRSA (Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act, passed by state legislators in 2015) and Prop. 64.,” Drayton said.
AB 64 was introduced to reconcile MCRSA and Prop. 64, but as Drayton noted, “I think there will be many (related) bills introduced this year, but I think the thing to watch is to see how closely the legislature is willing to support Prop. 64’s rules and regulations, which were approved by the voters, in comparison to what they wrote in the MCRSA regulations. Because there are big gaps in cultivation and distribution levels, and those are some real hot topics.”
Prop. 64 represents an increased financial burden for pot patients, as they will have to pay the 15 percent excise tax to be added to all pot sales, recreational or medicinal.
Though there is the option to avoid state sales tax with a state medical marijuana card—if you’re going to spend enough money on those taxes in a calendar year to justify purchasing a card for $66 for non-MediCal patients. Taxation is one of the most unpleasant aspects of Prop. 64, but then, it was what helped get AUMA passed in the first place.
Additionally, not every medical marijuana patient is all in on Prop. 64. As noted by the OC Register, patients like Alexandra Rice of Grand Terrace in Southern California worry that MMJ users will be “misplaced and thrown to the side,” as the priority shifts to recreational cannabis. Rice is also concerned about medicine no longer being available at a “reasonable price.”
However, what Rice and others, especially younger pot patients, may fail to realize is that the use and social acceptance of modern medical marijuana began in the gay community of San Francisco—where it was initially used solely for recreational purposes, and then eventually discovered to be efficacious towards those suffering from HIV and AIDS.
Still, medical cannabis use in California must be respected by the incoming recreational industry.
3. Local Government and Community Acceptance
AUMA permits local governments to flat out ban outdoor grows, but also allows the administration of “reasonable regulation” of indoor ganja gardens, which is cause for some controversy.
Elk Grove—in Sacramento County—could become the first municipality sued over its own “unreasonable” ordinances that circumvent Prop. 64, as reported by Elk Grove News. The city has not let anyone grow any pot at all for three months and counting.
In January, the Elk Grove City Council voted unanimously to extend by 45 days a previously passed moratorium on establishing guidelines for personal use and cultivation, further delaying residents’ rights to use and grow recreational cannabis.
Cannabis licensing consultant Jackie McGowan criticized the Elk Grove moratorium on any indoor cultivation, noting that it is actually in violation of the AUMA law as it now stands.
There’s also the NIMBY—”Not In My Backyard”—factor to consider, the resistance of otherwise pro-weed supporters, as well as the haters, to having cannabis storefronts located in their particular neighborhoods. This attitude ranges from suburbanites who don’t want their pristine locales tainted by pot shops as well as inner cities damaged by drugs that don’t want another substance for sale in the hood.
And of course, there’s the holy rollers who seek to stand on a higher moral ground than the rest of us—by opposing legal pot stores as an affront to their faith. Yet somehow life-destroying gambling, alcohol and tobacco are perfectly permissible by their particular God.
This category obviously directly relates to number one on this list regarding the greed of local governments looking to cash in on the perceived huge profits of legal weed, which creates a system of big-money players who buy their way into the industry. The purported goal of AUMA is to avoid a system of pot “have’s and have-not’s” that would render the legal industry as just another reflection of soulless capitalism, but will it work out that way?
Even Prop. 64 supporter California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom expressed concerns about keeping the “big money interests at bay” in an interview with Billboard. Newsom envisions a “highly regulated market” that both protects public safety and benefits “the small farmer,” those who’ve cultivated cannabis in the state for years.
As Chris Conrad noted on the Leaf, Prop. 64 attempts to restrain corporate control of cannabis by withholding large scale (half an acre or larger) cultivation licenses for five years—until 2023—to see if they are needed or will be issued. If enough small growers can establish viable companies, it may well preclude the issuance of such licenses to “Big Weed.”
With notorious anti-pot-hawk Jeff Sessions newly minted as U.S. Attorney General, California’ legal industry—as well as the existing medical infrastructure—is now on high-risk-alert, at least until Sessions and the Dept of Justice unveil their full strategy. There is obviously cause for concern given Sessions’ recent comments (AKA alternative facts) that “there’s more violence around marijuana than one would think.”
Josh Drayton of CCIA is “cautiously optimistic; we want to have faith this administration does believe in states’ rights and they’re going to stick to that. From what we’re seeing, cannabis is low on (Trump’s) priority list, because they’re got their hands full (with other issues).”
Chris Conrad speculated the Trump administration can ultimately take one of three possible roads: “The first is a massive federal crackdown. That would result in a lot of negativity, but they could do that because they’re so openly fascist. The second would be to let the states do their own thing, follow Obama’s model, and that would be nice. But the third alternative, which I think is the most likely scenario, is they’ll create a federal marijuana law where certain corporations—run by Trump’s cronies—make the bulk of the profits, with everyone else having to buy it from them. Trump will try to figure out, ‘How do we make the money off of (legal weed)?'”
Legal pot is a perceived threat to the bottom-lines of existing industries such as Big Pharma and Big Alcohol, and there is a report of some alleged interference into Prop. 64’s implementation in the Bay Area from at least one of those industries.
As reported by Chris Conrad, coming second-hand from Sean Donahoe, formerly of CCIA and now with the Medical Jane website, there is some sort of “neighborhood group” consisting of the same exact people popping up at numerous Bay Area city council meetings on Prop. 64, such as in El Cerrito in the East Bay. This group voices their collective opposition to a cannabis retail outlet operating in “their neighborhood”—even though they don’t appear to belong to the particular neighborhood they’re “defending” at a given municipal meeting.
Even more alarming, allegedly this group of people report to a woman connected to a pharmaceutical drug distribution company. Big Pharma has good reason to fear legal weed, especially with the growing publicity that cannabis can replace deadly opioids as a safer form of pain relief, as noted by the Washington Post.
7. Opposition from the Old-Guard Growers
The cultivation of cannabis in Northern California, particularly in the ideal mountainous forests of the Emerald Triangle—comprised of Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity counties—is a multi-generational phenomenon with families firmly entrenched in the pot biz, legal or otherwise, and not necessarily ready to get all warm and fuzzy with every facet of Prop. 64.
The executive director of the Sacramento-based California Grower’s Association, Hezekiah Allen, told Fortune.com, “I don’t want to replace a criminal injustice with an economic injustice”—an allusion to big-money marijuana interests that could wipe out the old school farmers.
Chris Conrad expressed the complexity of the issue; there is a long-standing tradition of growers in the Triangle who paved the way for the marijuana industry we have now, yet that doesn’t mean that their way is the only proper method of running a pot industry. The older generation tends to be attached to an “outlaw culture” that wants exclusive control of the market, while the younger generation of ganjapreneurs have grown up in a climate of legalization.
Conrad detailed one of the darker stories: “In Trinity County, it seems like the old guard of growers have worked really hard to get anyone new trying to grow arrested. There were a bunch of Hmong (Southeast Asian) people that tried to start growing in Trinity, and they ended up getting busted left and right.”
Conrad added the racism of law enforcement in the Triangle may have also played a role in selectively eliminating the Hmong attempts at getting in on the marijuana market.
Humboldt Growers Collective CEO Steve Dodge told Fortune he opposes Prop. 64 due to regulatory inspections that a certain percentage of cultivators view as the equivalent of a warrant-less search by officials.
Prop. 64 is a “sticky bud” for cops; legalization takes away the easy quota-fills of busting pot users, yet once retail sales kick in during 2018, THC tax revenue will be directed to law enforcement. One issue for police is that public pot use remains criminalized, but of course, peeps are still gonna get high in the California sunshine! Especially when it’s smoked at a protest or festival with hundreds—if not thousands—of people consuming cannabis openly.
Josh Drayton opined that educating cops is key, “giving law enforcement the right tools to understand (Prop. 64) and to learn what (actions) are appropriate. They need to learn the law as well, (for example) how much (weed) can people transport, what do people (legally) require in order to transport large amounts?”
There’s also the issue of local and state law enforcement being used in conjunction with federal raids, if the newly elected Trump administration decides to go that route (see number five).
It remains to be seen if law enforcement will “go down easy” when it comes to handling Prop. 64. As noted by Brown-White Law.com, despite having some of the most lenient pot laws in the nation, there were nearly half-a-million weed busts statewide from 2006-2015, so cops in California are conditioned to make pot busts. Besides, there are ways in which the cops can still gladly arrest people for cannabis offenses in California (see #10).
It’s as inevitable as the rising sun or having to refill the bong—a state legalizes weed, and there’s instant concern about a sudden surge in vehicular accidents on its highways and byways. But is the worry warranted?
As reported by the Washington Post, a 2015 study from the federal government’s own National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found motorists using marijuana are at a markedly lower risk to get into an accident than drivers who drank alcohol. One issue is that cannabis metabolites can remain in the system long after consumption, meaning even if a driver tests positive for weed, he or she might have been as a sober as a DUI judge during the crash.
10. Individuals Respecting the Law
Surprise! Despite the many wonderful things about Prop. 64 liberating the weed, you can still be arrested and convicted for marijuana offenses in California—a whole bunch of ‘em, as it turns out. This applies to both the consumer and retailer.
For example, as noted by the San Diego Union Tribune, businesses have to check IDs when selling retail reefer to ensure that the buyer is at least 21 years old, and they cannot utilize any advertising that appears to be directed at minors.
One of the many great attributes about AUMA is that even should someone grow more than the legal limit of six plants, that offense is now a misdemeanor—provided it’s not a “third strike” conviction or an aggravated offense, like a grow involving a minor or weapons. Any kind of sales are required to have a license, but the penalty for illegal sales has been reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor. You can give up to an ounce away for free, if you’re so deep in dank you can afford to do that sort of thing.
Yet, you can still be fired from your job—or forced into rehab by your employer—for pot use, as reported by the Mercury News, depending on a company’s particular drug policy. Yet should that fate befall you, there’s an easy solution—get a job in the recreational cannabis industry!
We hear they’re hiring…
RELATED: The Ultimate Prop 64 California Marijuana Legalization FAQ
You can keep up with all of HIGH TIMES’ marijuana news right here.
Radio operators mostly say they don't have a problem with cannabis but worry growers may not know cheap ballasts can have phony FCC-compliance stickers.
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A Colombian cartel operative—who established Central America’s remote and lawless Miskito Coast as a major cocaine transfer point, building a mini-empire in the region of jungle, savanna and offshore cays—has been cooling his heels in Managua’s notorious El Chipote prison since Feb. 7, according to a new report in the Nicaraguan daily La Prensa.
Although his capture was confirmed by his attorney, Nicaraguan authorities failed to announce the arrest of the country’s most-wanted crime lord, Amauri Carmona Morelos AKA Alberto Ruiz Cano.
The account speculates this may be because he was actually captured by Honduran authorities, and quietly extradited. The Miskito Coast straddles the border of the two countries, and Carmona Morelos had operations on both sides.
According to a profile on InSight Crime, Carmona Morelos was first dispatched to Central America by the old Cali Cartel, and continued to work on behalf of its successor network, the Norte del Valle Cartel. In addition to his jungle operations, he also allegedly owned a nightclub in Managua, which he used as a strategic spot to negotiate prices and set up cocaine shipments.
His main base of operations was the coastal village of Walpa Siksa in Nicaragua’s North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN), which he protected with deadly force.
The most notorious incident was in December 2009, when a Nicaraguan naval patrol was sent to the area to look for a downed narco-plane. Carmona Morelos’s gunmen repulsed the patrol’s speed-boats in an ambush, leaving three troops dead.
It remains to be seen if the fall of Carmona Morelos will break the Colombian cartels’ Miskito Coast connection or if an heir will inherit his operations.
You can keep up with all of HIGH TIMES’ news right here.
Explore this list of strains with exceptional aroma, flavor and terpene profiles, and share your favorite tasting and smelling cannabis as well.
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The Trump administration’s spokesperson Sean Spicer has recently signaled that it will abide by the Congressional spending rider that prevents federal interference in the states that have legalized the medical use of marijuana. However, it has also made clear that recreational marijuana is very different than medical marijuana and that we could see more federal enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act in that regard.
Funny how the Trump administration can suggest that whether transgender kids can use the school restroom matching their gender identity is an issue North Carolina ought to decide, but eight states whose populations have voted to legalize the adult use of marijuana need the federal government’s corrective meddling, ain’t it?
Or like how the Obama administration overruled Arizona’s attempts to crack down on illegal immigration in favor of enforcing federal law, but then, four states whose populations had voted to legalize the adult use of marijuana should be left free from the federal government’s corrective meddling, huh?
States’ rights… so long as the White House agrees with your state, I suppose.
States’ rights used to be a battle cry from the right as it sought to maintain state policies out of step with federal laws on reproductive rights, segregation and taxation, to name a few.
Now, states’ rights may become a battle cry from the left seeking to maintain state policies on marijuana legalization, immigration and LGBT rights against a hostile administration in Washington.
California is leading the way in this new Civil Cold War. While much of the state is covered by cities and counties known as “sanctuary cities” for their ban on local law enforcement assisting federal immigration authorities, there is a bill pending now to extend that protection of immigrants to the entire state, banning state authorities’ cooperation with immigration forces as well.
Now, California is proposing a similar bill creating a de facto marijuana sanctuary state.
“This bill would prohibit a state or local agency, as defined, from taking certain actions without a court order signed by a judge,” according to the Assembly’s Legislative Counsel, “including using agency money, facilities, property, equipment, or personnel to assist a federal agency to investigate, detain, detect, report, or arrest a person for commercial or noncommercial marijuana or medical cannabis activity that is authorized by law in the State of California and transferring an individual to federal law enforcement authorities for purposes of marijuana enforcement.”
The penultimate authority in California, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, was a leading proponent of marijuana legalization in the Golden State. He has penned a letter to President Trump and Attorney General Sessions, expressing his objections to threats of federal interference in the state’s adult-use marijuana program.
The other legal states are gearing up for the Civil Cold War as well.
Colorado’s Governor Hickenlooper has indicated that he’s ready to defend his state’s constitutional marijuana rights. Washington’s Governor Inslee and Attorney General Ferguson also wrote a letter condemning the Trump administration’s saber-rattling on marijuana enforcement. Oregon’s Attorney General Rosenblum vowed to protect her state’s legalization programs. Nevada’s Senate Majority Leader Ford has urged his state’s attorney general to defend legalization. Maine’s Attorney General Mills has called potential federal interference with their legalization “unwise.” Massachusetts’ governor’s office has indicated it will “move forward” with their new legalization law. A spokeswoman for Alaska’s Department of Law has said that her state’s marijuana laws “wouldn’t be overturned.”
At the federal level, the newly-formed Congressional Cannabis Caucus has condemned the threat to their states’ marijuana laws.
Oregon’s Senators Merkley and Wyden and Congressman Blumenauer have all objected to Spicer’s comments. California’s Rep. Barbara Lee has vowed to fight “loudly” against federal marijuana interference in Congress. Vermont’s Senator Bernie Sanders tweeted that, “We should be moving toward decriminalization of marijuana, not reverting progress that states have made.”
The local papers in the legal states are rejecting Spicer’s rhetoric as well.
Maine’s Portland Press-Herald wrote that, “States like Maine that have legalized marijuana should fight this kind of federal overreach.” The Seattle Times wrote that, “Trump should read the will of the people and let the states continue to be the laboratories of democracy.” The Denver Post opined, “An abrupt change from the status quo would do far more harm than good.”
As NORML has threatened, if it’s a fight they want, it’s a fight they’ll get.
Except now, our side has the support of the media, 60 percent of the American people, attorneys general in eight states and maybe the funding from a nascent marijuana industry awakened to the reality that they need to invest in non-profit marijuana reform activism if they hope to expand their business.
Previously in Radical Rant: I Told You So
Click here for all of Russ Belville’s columns
Countries both sides of the Mediterranean are stepping up joint operations against hashish flowing into Europe from North Africa.
On February 17, Spanish authorities boasted the dismantling of two smuggling networks that were bringing Moroccan hashish into the port of Málaga. In a two-day operation, Spain’s Civil Guard arrested 50 people and confiscated a helicopter, cars, boats, cash and weapons, as well as 3.7 metric tons of hashish. Moroccan authorities cooperated in the investigation, according to a report on Morocco World News.
But the more victories claimed, the more the hash seems to keep on coming.
Back in December, Moroccan and Italian authorities announced the bust in Casablanca of Ben Ziane Berhili, considered to be the world’s most-wanted hashish smuggler, following a three-year investigation. His successful sweets company was a front for a far more lucrative operation that smuggled 400 tons of hashish to Europe every year, according to investigators.
Ominously, however, the New York Times story on the bust noted how the international crackdown is just squeezing the trade into alternative routes: “For years, smugglers had sent small shipments of Moroccan hashish to Spain via speedboats or Jet Skis that crossed the Strait of Gibraltar. Then in 2007, Spain began installing cameras along its southern coastline, and the smuggling route changed. Under the new route, the hashish passed from Libya through Egypt, before eventually reaching the Balkans, where European gangs distributed it across the continent, according to investigators.”
A September account in the NY Times noted that smugglers are abandoning the piecemeal approach of speedboats and Jet Skis for merchant ships with holds full of hashish.
Over the past three years, some 20 ships were intercepted in the Mediterranean with a collective cargo of more than 280 tons of hashish valued at 2.8 billion euros, or about $3.2 billion, according to the European Union’s Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction.
And interrogations and investigations from these busts have determined that Libya has emerged as a new staging ground for the hashish trade, as a profusion of militia and rebel groups turn to the old dope-for-arms commerce to fund their insurgencies—often in cooperation with Syrian armed factions.
You can keep up with all of HIGH TIMES’ news right here.
BY HOPE YEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Veterans Affairs said Monday it would boost employee drug testing and inspections amid rising cases of opioid theft and missing prescriptions, acknowledging gaps that had allowed thousands of doctors, nurses and other staff to go unchecked for signs of illicit drug use.
Testifying at a House hearing, Carolyn Clancy, a deputy VA undersecretary for health, said the department was moving aggressively to stem VA drug crimes. She said the VA was adding some inspectors to help check drug inventories across a network of 160 medical centers and 1,000 clinics. Computer systems also were being fine-tuned to ensure that all employees subject to drug testing were flagged for monitoring.
In the last week, she said, the VA held a conference call with hundreds of health clinics to develop action plans of improvement. The department was also considering more internal audits to make sure hospitals are complying with VA policy.
“The use of illegal drugs by VA employees is inconsistent with the special trust placed in such employees who care for veterans,” Clancy told the House Veterans Affairs subcommittee on oversight. “We actually need to up our game.”
The panel held a hearing Monday aimed at the VA’s efforts to deter drug theft.
The Associated Press reported last week on government data showing a sharp increase since 2009 in opioid theft and drugs that had simply disappeared at the VA, amid rising opioid abuse in the U.S.
Reported incidents of drug losses or theft at federal hospitals jumped from 272 in 2009 to 2,926 in 2015, before dipping to 2,457 last year, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. “Federal hospitals” include the VA’s facilities as well as seven correctional hospitals and roughly 20 hospitals serving Indian tribes.
Out of those cases, only a small fraction of VA doctors, nurses or pharmacy employees were disciplined.
About 372 VA employees were dismissed, suspended or reprimanded for a drug or alcohol-related issue since 2010, according to VA data obtained by AP. Roughly translated, VA employees were disciplined in 3 percent of cases.
Adding to the problem is that some VA hospitals have been lax in tracking drug supplies. Congressional auditors said spot checks found four VA hospitals skipped monthly inspections of drug stocks or missed other requirements.
Pressed to estimate what percentage of VA’s total facilities likely had notable problems with inspections, Randall Williamson, health care director at the Government Accountability Office, cited between 85 percent and 90 percent. He referred to “not a great track record” of accountability at the VA.
Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Mich., who chairs the House panel, said he was troubled by the reports, coming after repeated audit warnings dating back to at least 2009 of gaps in VA’s monitoring programs.
“Unfortunately, the news has recently been filled with story after story of drug diversion within VA,” Bergman said. “In case after case, what we see are examples of drugs being diverted for personal use or personal gain, yet there does not seem to be much progress being made by VA.”
“We are in the midst of an opioid epidemic, and it is time for VA to start making effective changes to avoid putting veterans and the employees who serve them at risk.”
Rep. Ann Kuster of New Hampshire, the panel’s top Democrat, said she worried that the VA may not be receiving adequate resources to stem drug theft. She pointed to President Donald Trump’s federal hiring freeze.
“Without adequate support staff in place, VA medical facilities will struggle to comply with the procedures and programs they must follow to ensure our veterans receive safe, high quality care,” she said.
VA acknowledged it has had spotty compliance with drug inspections and employee drug testing and said most reform efforts were already underway. Among other problems, the VA inspector general’s office found the department had failed to test 70 percent – or 15,800 – prospective employees over a 12-month period who would serve in sensitive VA positions such as doctor, nurse or police officer.
At the Atlanta medical center, mandatory drug testing for new hires did not occur at all for a period of at least 6 months between 2014 and 2015.
Clancy said the VA was now committed to “100 percent testing” of new hires in sensitive VA positions and would fix gaps that had allowed nearly 1 in 10 employees subject to random drug testing to avoid being monitored at all. She also cited strong policies, such as 72-hour inventory checks and “double lock and key access” to drugs, to keep VA drug crime in check.
Keith Berge, a Mayo Clinic anesthesiologist who chairs its Medication Diversion Prevention group, said drug theft was serious and patients could be seriously harmed if deprived of medication. Conducting drug tests before hiring at the VA was critical, he said.
“It is not good enough to merely have effective policies and procedures on the books; they must actually be rigorously followed.”
RELATED: VA Employees Stealing Prescription Painkillers
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For years, marijuana has been recognized as the most commonly used illicit drug in the U.S. Across the country, there is a trend for legalization, with 29 states allowing medical and eight states allowing recreational use.
With the recent mass legalization of marijuana, have people’s perceptions changed on the illicit status of marijuana? If so, are people who would have never used marijuana before using now?
With the legalization of marijuana there has come a boom in product development. There are tons of product categories—flowers, topicals, drinks, edibles, blunts, shatter, dabbing, tinctures, keif, phoenix tears, vapes and so on. Someone who might not have been “down” with smoking flowers might love the idea of edibles or spicing up his or her sex-life with lubes. Has the development of new product types drawn in new types of users?
The burning question is that with all the changes in marijuana legalization and new product types, are there new types of users? Have decades-old beliefs, personality types and motivations for marijuana use been blown away?
What about strain preferences—sativa, indica, hybrids? Marijuana is a complicated substance, containing dozens of chemicals. The two most discussed are tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), to which the psychological effects of marijuana are attributed, and cannabidiol (CBD), to which some of the medicinal effects are attributed.
With new strain development has come a big push to increase levels of THC in products. In the 1980s, THC level averaged around three percent; in 2012, the THC levels averaged 12 percent. Now, THC levels can reach 45 percent and above. Has the rising level of THC changed how many people use pot, or influenced why people use it?
Our knowledge on marijuana users’ personality types and motivations for use needs to be updated. And to ensure that users have the information they need, researchers need to assess risk levels of marijuana abuse. Please help answer these pertinent questions by participating in this groundbreaking study.
Deborah Daugherty, B.A. and Katherine G. Hill, Ph.D. in the Department of Psychology at Metropolitan State University in Denver are conducting a study looking at personality traits associated with medicinal and recreational marijuana use.
Contributors will be asked to complete surveys about what types of cannabis products they use and why. All information is anonymous.
To be eligible for participation, you must be at least 18 years old. Approximate completion time is 15-30 minutes. If you have any questions regarding the survey, please contact Hill via email khill26@msudenver.edu or by phone 303-556-3089.
If you are interested, please click HERE.
RELATED: Everything You Want to Know About Pot’s Health Effects
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Attorney General Jeff Sessions broke his self-imposed silence on Monday, mentioning the word “marijuana” for the first time since taking over the federal Justice Department.
And while his plans to stymie marijuana legalization in America are still unclear—if he indeed has any such plans—he did deliver this newsflash: The longtime drug warrior still doesn’t like weed, and may yet do something about it that the cannabis industry will not like one bit.
Donald Trump’s controversial choice to lead American law enforcement, Sessions has become a grand imperial bogeyman for the cannabis industry, which sees him as its most mortal threat. A Sessions-initiated federal crackdown is considered the most imminent danger facing a market that sold nearly $6.7 billion worth of product last year—and the only possible obstacle that could slow down the near-perfect success statewide legalization campaigns have enjoyed over the past few election cycles.
Sessions’ selection has spooked investors and stoked fears of a recession in Colorado. Anxiety reached new heights last week, when Trump press secretary Sean Spicer announced that Sessions would likely apply “greater enforcement” in states that have legalized recreational marijuana.
But this is the first time Sessions has shared his own insight as A.G.
Speaking with reporters on Monday, Sessions repeated the vague-yet-threatening line he uttered during his Senate confirmation hearings—that marijuana is illegal under federal law—and added an alternative fact, the claim that legalization is causing “violence.”
Here’s everything he said, via POLITICO and the Huffington Post:
“Most of you probably know I don’t think America is going to be a better place when more people of all ages and particularly young people start smoking pot,” Sessions said. “I believe it’s an unhealthy practice and current levels of THC in marijuana are very high compared to what they were a few years ago.”
“Experts are telling me there’s more violence around marijuana than one would think and there’s big money involved,” he said. “You can’t sue somebody for drug debt; the only way to get your money is through strong-arm tactics, and violence tends to follow that.”
“I’m definitely not a fan of expanded use of marijuana,” he said. “States, they can pass the laws they choose. I would just say it does remain a violation of federal law to distribute marijuana throughout any place in the United States, whether a state legalizes it or not.”
As for these “experts,” they apparently include Doug Peterson, the attorney general of Nebraska, with whom Sessions met on Monday.
Nebraska and Oklahoma were the two states to attempt to sue Colorado in order to undo marijuana legalization. The lawsuit failed when the Supreme Court refused to hear the case, but Sessions spoke kindly of the effort and is apparently taking counsel from Peterson. The lawsuit’s other architect, former Oklahoma A.G. and current EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, may also be sharing “advice” during Trump Cabinet meetings.
Possibly the most loaded comment Sessions issued Monday was in response to questions about the Cole memo. A non-binding, Obama-era policy that suggests federal law enforcement resources be steered away from legal states and toward illicit marijuana operations that cross state lines or involve violence, the Cole memo is nonetheless the marijuana industry’s best legal defense.
And Sessions indicated he’s still reserving the right to shred it.
“Most states have some limits on it and, already, people are violating those limits,” he said. “We’re going to look at it… and try to adopt responsible policies.”
Parsing Sessions’s words, there’s nothing concrete to freak out about—but there’s also plenty to cause worry, beyond the attorney general hunkering down with lawyers whose failed chess moves he respects for some reason.
Notice that Sessions seemed to suggest that legalization is leading more children to use cannabis.
One of the tenets of the Cole Memo was to reserve the federal sword for situations where kids are involved. There’s no evidence legalization is doing this, but it may not matter. Ditto with the allegation that legalization is causing violence, but that comment is in line with the plan, announced the day he was sworn in, to crack down on drug cartels.
Cartels have very little to do with taxpaying marijuana businesses who join the local Chamber of Commerce and advertise in the newspaper, but Sessions is a guy who hates weed, says legalization is a mistake and has slammed Obama’s hands-off policy—and may also have fabricated an award from the NAACP.
It’s clear he has something planned for cannabis, but we still don’t know what, where or when.
He could just be toying with us and enjoying the hand-wringing every time he says boo—which for now is more than enough to make marijuana types justifiably paranoid.
RELATED: Jeff Sessions Breaks Silence on Pot Policy
You can keep up with all of HIGH TIMES’ marijuana news right here.
Of all the questions people ask me about cannabis cooking, dosing THC properly is one topic that always causes home cooks the most concern.
When I started writing about cooking with cannabis, I taught people how to estimate a reasonable THC dosage range to use in their cooking, just as cannabis cooks have been doing for thousands of years. Determining this “dosage window” involves balancing factors such as plant strength with the tolerance levels of the people consuming the food.
But instead of a reasonable dosage window with variations of 10 – 15 milligrams, wouldn’t it be great to know exactly how many milligrams of THC per serving your homemade edibles contain?
There’s a formula you can use to get a pretty close approximation, even when the plant matter you are using has not been lab-tested. Is this formula totally foolproof? No, because THC levels can vary widely, but it will give you a pretty good idea.
However, if you are cooking with cannabis that HAS been lab-tested, you can use this formula to calculate even more precisely just how many milligrams of THC—and even CBD—per serving your homemade edibles contain.
I’m going to explain the formula here, but don’t worry about doing the math because there’s a handy Marijuana Dosage Calculator tool that does all the work for you. You get access when you sign up for my free 10 minute online dosing class that will teach you how to use it anytime you cook with marijuana.
Determine THC Percentage
For the sake of argument, let’s say that you do not know how much THC is in the plant material you are using, since most people won’t. A U.S. government study in 2009 said the national average of THC is 10 percent, but we know that not all weed is created equal.
Reportedly, the government grown cannabis from the University of Mississippi that is supplied to researchers tops out at a measly 3 percent THC, whereas a 2015 Colorado study that analyzed 600 samples from that state saw some top shelf strains containing a whopping 30 percent THC.
If you are cooking with schwag—low quality brick weed, trim or with government weed—use a THC content closer to 3 percent to start your estimate. If you know that your plant material is more potent than schwag, you might want to start your estimate with 10 percent or slightly higher.
But since Uncle Sam says average marijuana contains 10 percent THC, that’s what we will use in our example.
It’s also a nice round number that makes it easier for people who are mathematically challenged to grasp the concept.
The Formula
Here’s how to do it:
1 gram of cannabis = 1000 milligrams
10% of 1000 milligrams is 100 milligrams
This means that, assuming we are using “average” marijuana, one gram of cannabis contains 100 milligrams of THC.
Are you with me so far?
Next, let’s calculate how many milligrams are in a batch of marijuana butter.
As an example, let’s say I used one ounce (equalling 28 grams) of average quality marijuana to make one cup of butter. That would mean 2800 milligrams of THC went into that one cup of butter.
Moving on, the amount of THC in a given recipe will depend on the amount of butter used.
If I used 1/2 cup of that butter to make a batch of 36 cookies, then the entire batch would contain 1400 milligrams. Divide 1400 mg by the number of servings, in this case 36, to determine that each cookie will contain about 38.8 milligrams of THC.
To recap, first you need to estimate the percentage of THC in your plant material (or use the numbers from the lab test) and divide that into 1000 to get the per milligram amount.
Next, calculate the number of milligrams in your infusion and in the amount of infusion you will use to make your recipe. Divide that by the number of servings your recipe makes, and you will know the per serving dose.
You can use this formula to create recipes that always ensure you are delivering a THC dose that meets your needs.
If you find a given recipe delivers too strong of a dose, cut the amount of cannabutter or oil and dilute with regular butter or oil to make up the difference. Cookies not strong enough? Add more THC to your recipe with some decarboxylated kief, hash or hash oil.
I hope you grasp the dosage calculation concept. If not, don’t worry; click to the free dosing class for another example and access to the dosage calculator tool that will do all the work for you.
Cheri Sicard is the author of The Cannabis Gourmet Cookbook (2012 Z-Dog Media) and Mary Jane: The Complete Marijuana Handbook for Women (2015 Seal Press), and the creator of the internet’s first comprehensive online Marijuana Cooking Course for Home Cooks.
RELATED: The Ultimate Cannabutter Experiment Results
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BY MARINA VILLENEUVE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Retired Coast Guard officer Roger Johnson sometimes notices a harsh buzz when he turns on his amateur radio, and he blames high-powered lighting used to grow pot.
Amateur radio operators say the legalization of marijuana is creating a chronic nuisance thanks to interference caused by electrical ballasts that regulate indoor lamps used to grow pot. The American Radio Relay League wants the Federal Communications Commission to take a stand against devices that give off much more interference than federal law allows in homes.
Ham radio operators generally say they don’t have a problem with pot but worry amateur growers may not be aware that cheap ballasts can have phony FCC-compliance stickers. The operators point out they serve as backup communication during emergencies – but concede it’s unlikely any lighting devices would still be on if the power goes out.
Johnson, one of the radio league’s 166,000 members, said he worries interference will only become a bigger inconvenience in years to come in Maine, which recently legalized growing up to six flowering marijuana plants, 12 immature plants and unlimited seedlings.
When he recently heard suspicious noisy static, Johnson said, he drove up and down side streets with a spectrum analyzer hooked up to his laptop to determine the source, which turned out to be a licensed grower a mile away who said he had no idea he was causing a disturbance.
“My prediction is that as more and more states legalize marijuana, the number of growers is going to increase exponentially and overwhelm the FCC’s ability to regulate it,” he said.
The American Radio Relay League has filed four complaints against the FCC and said it hasn’t heard back, and says complaints concerning alleged interference continue to trickle in, particularly in Colorado and California. Cultivation of recreational marijuana is also now legal in Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, Alaska, Washington state and the District of Columbia.
Will Wiquist, an FCC spokesman, said the agency takes all interference issues seriously and sends warning letters after receiving complaints about unlawful interference, including from lighting. He declined to comment further.
Grow lamps are distinctive because they power on and off for 12 hours at a time, and marijuana grow lighting can be powerful enough to produce the same amount of radio interference as a 1,000-watt AM radio station, said Bill Crowley, the Maine section manager of the Radio Relay League.
One inexpensive ballast sold by big-box retailers produced 640 times the level of interference of a legal unit, said Mike Gruber, the league’s resident radio interference expert, who did the test.
The interference often sounds like the kind of harsh, grating static generated by a lightning strike – except it doesn’t stop, said Tom Thompson, an amateur radio operator in Boulder, Colorado.
Thompson said he has dealt with independent pot growers causing interference a half-dozen times. Given the weak federal enforcement and declining FCC manpower, he said, he has created his own solution: a filtering device that almost eliminates the static by suppressing interference from non-compliant ballasts.
“Some won’t cooperate, but most do,” he said. “I go to their places and give them a filter and give them instructions how to install it.”
Last year, Kalkaska, Michigan, began requiring medical marijuana growers to use FCC-compliant lighting equipment. Scott Yost, the village’s manager, is an amateur radio operator himself.
In Maine, Johnson wants legislators to get the state to step in and ban ballasts that produce radio frequency noise extending beyond the user’s property. Out-of-compliance ballasts could be refunded or replaced with a unit that doesn’t produce noise, he suggests.
Several legislators said such a move would likely pre-empt federal law, and a committee recently voted to kill such a bill. Other ham radio operators say the federal government should do its job.
Crowley said he has experienced a disturbance himself, and hopes President Donald Trump’s new FCC chairman, Ajit Varadaraj Pai – who has praised pending federal legislation aimed at helping amateur radio operators – will be more sympathetic.
Education might be the answer and could make growers more aware of the need to use ballasts approved by the FCC, said Erin Worthing, of Cape Elizabeth, a recreational marijuana caregiver.
The FCC-approved grow lighting he uses for his crops lead to a higher-quality product, he said, as noncompliant ballasts also tend to be cheap and poorly designed.
The White House said last week that the Justice Department will begin stepping up enforcement of federal laws prohibiting recreational marijuana. Noting that marijuana remains federally illegal, Worthing said, “Under the current climate, we don’t want feds knocking on doors.”
You can keep up with all of HIGH TIMES’ marijuana news right here.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — On a patch of tribal land in western New Mexico, a company plans to build a $160 million state-of-the-art greenhouse for researching and growing medicinal plants, including marijuana.
Bright Green Group of Companies is partnering with Acoma Pueblo on what would be the nation’s largest commercial growing operation, by far dwarfing medical marijuana greenhouses already planned in Massachusetts, Illinois and California.
Plans call for Bright Green’s greenhouse and its associated research facility to eventually cover nearly 6 million square feet, or about 100 football fields. Officials at the Delaware-based company say they would have room for as many as 40 million medicinal plants, from marijuana to pennywort and Indian ginseng.
While marijuana is expected to make up a significant portion of the operation, supporters of the project say the business plan was originally designed to sustain itself by producing oils used for various remedies already popular in the homeopathic world.
“We’re just in the process of building our facilities so we’ll be customizing our crops to what the market is most receptive to, but it’s definitely an important part of this,” Bright Green chief operating officer Clarity Patton said of marijuana’s role in the venture.
The multibillion-dollar industry is expected to continue its upward trajectory as voters in more states embrace the idea of legalizing marijuana, market researchers say. Eight states and Washington, D.C., have legalized marijuana for recreational use, while New Mexico and more than two dozen states have medical marijuana programs.
Only licensed nonprofit producers are allowed to grow medical marijuana in New Mexico, and the competition is fierce. For example, more than 80 applicants filed paperwork with the state in 2015, and only 12 licenses were granted.
Bright Green officials don’t intend to seek a state license, saying their operation would be on tribal land and subject only to tribal and federal laws.
Under a 25-year agreement with Acoma Pueblo, Bright Green has vowed that whatever plants it grows and the oils it produces would adhere to federal regulations.
“What we plan on doing is working with the FDA to approve our novel prescription drugs. We’re not in the smoke business; we’re in the oil business,” chief executive John Stockwell said. “To spend this much money and to integrate this much technology, we’re looking to abide by the federal rules. We want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.”
The Trump administration has warned of a crackdown on recreational marijuana use, but White House spokesman Sean Spicer has said the president does not oppose medical marijuana.
Kris Krane, president of Boston-based 4Front Ventures , an investment and consulting firm focused on the medical marijuana industry, said it’s too early to tell how the administration’s comments will affect the marijuana business but that those on the medical side are feeling somewhat reassured.
Krane said the economic effects are hard to ignore. “As this industry grows, job opportunities grow, tax revenue grows and ancillary businesses grow around them. It’s been a real financial boon for the states where it’s been implemented,” he said.
Still, Krane questioned the size of the New Mexico project given the state’s stance on recreational use and the relatively small medicinal market. Such a large greenhouse has the potential to produce four times the annual volume of medical marijuana used in the state, with no opportunity for shipping beyond New Mexico’s borders because of current federal laws.
Bright Green and Acoma Pueblo say the focus is on the future.
Chris Ahmie with Acoma Business Enterprises described the marijuana debate as complex and contentious. He said the goal is to create what he called a gold-standard facility that would be recognized internationally.
“We’re not willing to risk that investment or that goal by skirting or subverting federal laws or anything like that,” he said. “That’s what we’re looking at, the long range. We’re taking our time with it. We’re going to make sure everything is right.”
Company and tribal officials are meeting at the site Tuesday to mark what they hope will soon be the start of construction, which is expected to take about two years. The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs must still sign off on the lease agreement between the company and the pueblo, Ahmie said.
You can keep up with all of HIGH TIMES’ marijuana news right here.
The repercussions from Trump administration comments continue to echo through the cannabis industry.
The post Spicer Sends Cannabis Stocks Into Trump Slump appeared first on Leafly.
Sessions stopped short of saying what he would do, but said he doesn't think America will be a better place with "more people smoking pot."
The post AG Sessions: ‘More Violence Around Marijuana Than One Would Think’ appeared first on Leafly.
BY SADIE GURMAN AND ERIC TUCKER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department will try to adopt “responsible policies” for enforcement of federal anti-marijuana laws, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday, adding that he believes violence surrounds sales and use of the drug in the U.S.
In a meeting with reporters, Sessions said the department was reviewing an Obama administration Justice Department memo that gave states flexibility in passing marijuana laws.
“Experts are telling me there’s more violence around marijuana than one would think,” Sessions said.
The comments were in keeping with remarks last week from White House spokesman Sean Spicer, who said the Justice Department would step up enforcement of federal law against recreational marijuana. Sessions stopped short of saying what he would do, but said he doesn’t think America will be a better place with “more people smoking pot.”
“I am definitely not a fan of expanded use of marijuana,” he said. “But states, they can pass the laws they choose. I would just say, it does remain a violation of federal law to distribute marijuana throughout any place in the United States, whether a state legalizes it or not.”
Eight states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for recreational use. The Justice Department has several options available should it decide to enforce the law, including filing lawsuits on the grounds that state laws regulating pot are unconstitutional because they are pre-empted by federal law.
Studies have found no correlation between legalization of marijuana and violent crime rates. But law enforcement officials in states such as Colorado say drug traffickers have taken advantage of lax marijuana laws to hide in plain sight, illegally growing and shipping the drug across state lines, where it can sell for much higher.
Pot advocates say the officials have exaggerated the problem.
“You can’t sue somebody for a drug debt. The only way to get your money is through strong-arm tactics, and violence tends to follow that,” Sessions said.
Sessions said he met with Nebraska’s attorney general, who sued Colorado for allegedly not keeping marijuana within its borders. That lawsuit was dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court, but neighboring states continue to gripe that Colorado and other pot-legal states have not done enough to keep the drug from crossing their borders.
RELATED: Who Will Stop Donald Trump’s Marijuana Crackdown?
You can keep up with all of HIGH TIMES’ marijuana news right here.
Generally speaking, police stations are secure places. Access in and out is controlled, and actions within are closely monitored—by the police who work there, for one.
In Great Britain, a surveillance state so out of control with cameras that it’s difficult to breathe without a recording of the act becoming available, one would presume very little goes on inside a police station that would elude the attention of the police. But somehow, a brace of cannabis plants—seized during a raid and held as evidence—is among the items stolen from a police station in Liverpool, one of the country’s major metropolitan areas.
And police say they don’t have the foggiest idea what became of the plants, which were kept “safe” in an evidence locker area—or who might have done it.
The brazen 2015 theft came to light following a public-records request inquiring for a list of goods stolen from police. As the Liverpool Echo reported, police have lost bicycles, Apple electronic devices including iPhones and iPads, and even had a police hat stolen from inside a station to go along with the missing bags of marijuana and cannabis plants.
This doesn’t generally happen, as one salient observer noted.
“It’s usually cops who go round nicking people not being nicked from,” an unnamed individual told the UK Sun. “So exactly how this opportunistic thief managed to walk out of a cop shop carrying several cannabis plants without being spotted is anyone’s guess.”
A spokesman for Liverpool police confirmed to the Echo that visitors to police stations are “generally” accompanied by cops, and that items—like weed—kept as evidence is usually kept in “secure lockable storage facilities.”
This doesn’t reflect well on police, who either let someone waltz in and out carrying a big bag of weed, or are victims of an obvious inside job, which would make them very typical among police forces across the world.
Like everywhere else in the UK, Liverpool isn’t quite sure what to do about marijuana.
Cannabis possession can be punished with nothing more than a judge’s warning, but sales and cultivation are crimes. The underground cannabis trade is worth close to 7 billion pounds—which includes the “Amsterdam-style” underground cannabis cafes set up by risk-averse, self-styled marijuana freedom fighters.
Then again, Liverpool police are so overwhelmed with raiding cannabis farms that they’ve openly appealed to the public to snitch on friends and neighbors to help out. Until Prime Minister Theresa May listens to reason and changes national policy, the evidence locker won’t stay empty for long.
You can keep up with all of HIGH TIMES’ marijuana news right here.
Donald Trump’s choice for his mouthpiece as White House press secretary and communications director was the hot-headed Sean Spicer, who ruffled just a few feathers last week when he said Americans will see “greater enforcement” of federal law on recreational marijuana.
Spicer’s choice for marriage in 2004 was the booze-lauding Rebecca Spicer. Rebecca Spicer has been the senior vice president of communications & public affairs for the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) since 2007. The NBWA “represents the interests of America’s 3,300 licensed, independent beer distributors.”
Rebecca Spicer’s job for the NBWA is to “manage the communications strategy for the trade association…and executes key public relations strategies related to the association’s advocacy priorities.” In other words, its Rebecca Spicer’s job to make beer distributing companies look good–and to protect their best interests.
In some cases, that’s simply philanthropy:
Thanks @NBWABeer colleagues for helping @SalArmyNCA Grate Patrol deliver meals to those in need. @SalvationArmyUs pic.twitter.com/AKFAPBS5WS
— Rebecca Spicer (@RebeccaMSpicer) November 9, 2015
However, what if that position means Rebecca Spicer slides behind closed doors in the White House or her bedroom and whispers sweet nothings into her husband’s ear about the “danger of weed”? Perhaps that a stretch, but with this administration and last week’s news on a potential legal weed crackdown coming from Sean Spicer’s mouth, is it wrong to point out a clearcut conflict of interest?
When you consider a three-month-old report that clearly outlines how legal marijuana leads to a decline in alcohol sales, the conflict of interest begins to spike. Consider these numbers:
“Legal recreational cannabis states of Colorado, Oregon and Washington are under-performing the overall U.S. beer market by 2.6 percentage points year-to-date.”
Translation: Where weed is legal, beer sales decline. Think that makes beer distributors in America happy? Probably not. Especially when it happens to this degree:
“Sales volume of ‘below-premium’ beers (think Busch and Natty Light) is down 2.4 percent year-to-date in the three highlighted pot states; ‘premium domestic’ beers (your Bud Lights and Coors Lights) are down 4.4 percent year-to-date. Craft beer sales in Colorado, Oregon and Washington are flat, but under-performing the total U.S. craft sales by 9.5 percentage points, according to the report.” [The Cannabist]
This isn’t some minor dip either: both low-level and craft beers’ sales clearly worsen where weed is legal. Is it a coincidence–or is it enough smoke to lead to some serious fire? Well, Sean Spicer didn’t mention it.
Moreover, here are direct quotes from Sean Spicer’s press briefing last week that beg the question—What the hell is going on?
“Well, I think that’s a question for the Department of Justice. I do believe that you’ll see greater enforcement of it. Because again, there’s a big difference between the medical use”
Greater enforcement is a vague term. Whether this is fear-mongering or fact is unclear. What is clear is that the White House isn’t opening its windows and screaming with joy about weed. While this administration will respect states’ same-sex bathroom laws, they’ve made it clear when it comes to cannabis, respecting states’ rights is no sure thing.
“There is a big difference between that and recreational marijuana. And I think that when you see something like the opioid addiction crisis blossoming in so many states around this country, the last thing that we should be doing is encouraging people. There is still a federal law that we need to abide by in terms of the medical—when it comes to recreational marijuana and other drugs of that nature,” Spicer said.
Spicer actually tried to draw a link between marijuana use and opioid addiction—when in reality, states with medical marijuana see a sharp decrease in opioid abuse/overdoses. Meanwhile, we were left with this cliffhanger:
“I believe that they [the DOJ] are going to continue to enforce the laws on the books with respect to recreational marijuana,” Spicer concluded.
That could mean anything. But given that Attorney General Jeff Sessions almost simultaneously revoked a bill that would halt private prisons (meaning more prisoners and money for these prisons), that probably means more minorities arrested for weed and more jails filled with those minorities.
The connections between marijuana enforcement and a corrupt government become harder and harder to miss.
Whether it’s the liquor industry or the pill industry coming to slash our throats through their lobbyists and coffers, something appears amiss when it comes to this administrations early marijuana policy.
And it’s spicy.
RELATED: Big Beer Going After Bud With Big Bucks
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Barry Poppins has been covering cannabis for over five years. His work has appeared on TIME.com, Weedmaps, Marijuana.com and NowThis Weed. Follow him on Instagram @weedwriter.
