Evanston, Illinois, a wealthy suburb of Chicago and home to Northwestern University, recently voted to allow legal cannabis dispensaries to open within the city limits, but instead of collecting on the profits, Evanston will put the money cannabis dispensaries eventually pay the city into a fund that will disperse reparations to the city&#8217;s black residents.
<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/evanston/ct-evr-evanston-reparations-marijuana-tax-tl-1205-20191126-g3ifwaikrjfmrillfv6ytvwgii-story.html">The Chicago Tribune reports</a> that Evanston is hoping the measure will halt gentrification and keep the city &#8220;diverse,&#8221; though the city council did not go so far as to admit that the program could, essentially, pay minority residents to stay within the city limits. Instead, the city council claims that it merely wants to rectify past wrongs using a new, controversial source of city revenue.
&#8220;Evanston leaders say they see the dispensaries as an opportunity to pay for a local reparations program that would address the lingering institutional effects of slavery and discrimination,&#8221; the Tribune says.
&#8220;The tax on marijuana will &#8216;be invested in the community it unfairly policed and damaged,'&#8221; according to one supporter of the measure. &#8220;The plan stems from the idea that African Americans should disproportionately benefit from the sale of cannabis &#8230; because they have been disproportionately affected by the policing of marijuana — both nationally and locally.&#8221;
Evanston is no exception. The Tribune says that &#8220;three-quarters&#8221; of marijuana-related arrests in Evanston were of minorities.
The city, which has a reputation as a haven for so-called &#8220;limousine liberals,&#8221; isn&#8217;t new to the idea of reparations, though, just this particular program.
<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/evanston/ct-evr-evanston-local-reperations-study-tl-0919-20190913-tojzvl4idndjlarufzyaxiqwmi-story.html">The Tribune reported last year that Evanston convened a committee</a> to investigate the possibility of starting a reparations program after the city&#8217;s black population dropped, partly due to ongoing gentrification efforts and an ever-expanding Big Ten university in the city&#8217;s center. The Equity and Empowerment Commission came up with the plan to issue reparations before they came up with a source of funding for the program. Luckily for them, Illinois legalized recreational marijuana last summer; the two puzzle pieces fit neatly.
It&#8217;s especially convenient because the issue of dispensaries is deeply dividing suburban Chicagoans who were supportive of legalization but who have not been quite so supportive of cannabis dispensaries in their midst. Several suburbs have already voted to ban dispensaries within city limits and it&#8217;s possible Evanston would have been among them if not for the added detail of reparations.
But while they may know what they want to do with the money, Evanston officials don&#8217;t yet know how to make a reparations program happen. Evanston won&#8217;t be simply sending checks to the city&#8217;s black residents because, it seems, they&#8217;re concerned with what individuals might do with the money. In a paternalistic move, Evanston will instead &#8220;provide reparations in the form of assistance&#8221; by shuttling the money into a &#8220;fund&#8221; that they will use to support various &#8220;community programs&#8221; designed to help minorities, even if that&#8217;s not exactly what minorities who live in Evanston need.
&#8220;A committee of residents is currently examining ways to spend the money and how to best support the black community through housing, education and economic incentives. The fund will be capped at $10 million, according to city of Evanston staff reports. City estimates project the marijuana tax could generate $500,000 to $750,000 per year,&#8221; according to the Tribune.
There&#8217;s one big problem with Evanston&#8217;s plan, though: it&#8217;s not clear that the Constitution allows for money, gathered through taxation, to be put to use benefitting only a single race.

Cannabis Shop

Chicago Suburb Votes To Use Profits From Legal Pot Sales To Fund Reparations For Slavery

Chicago

Marijuana

Reparations

Former Vice President Joe Biden has been receiving widespread blowback from his Democratic primary rivals since voicing his support for a federal ban on recreational marijuana.
While speaking at a town hall event on Saturday, Biden said that while he believes that states &#8220;should be able to make a judgment to legalize marijuana&#8221; and even supports the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, his opposition to recreational marijuana use &#8220;hasn&#8217;t changed.&#8221;
&#8220;The truth of the matter is, there&#8217;s not nearly been enough evidence that has been acquired as to whether or not it is a gateway drug. It&#8217;s a debate, and I want a lot more before I legalize it nationally,&#8221; Biden told a crowd of his supporters. &#8220;I want to make sure we know a lot more about the science behind it.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s not irrational to do more scientific investigations to determine, which we have not done significantly enough, whether or not there are any things that relate to whether it&#8217;s a gateway drug or not,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know enough to know whether it is.&#8221;
While the Democratic frontrunner is not the sole presidential hopeful calling to keep marijuana illegal under federal law, he has been receiving criticism from his primary challengers for the position.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), who oversaw the prosecution of nearly 2,000 marijuana convictions while serving as San Francisco&#8217;s District Attorney, has recently flipped her stance on legalization of the drug and even joked about smoking while she was a student at Howard University.
&#8220;Let&#8217;s be clear: marijuana isn&#8217;t a gateway drug and should be legalized,&#8221; Harris responded to Biden. &#8220;Glad to see my bill with Rep. [Jerry] Nadler take the next step in the House this week.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Let&#39;s be clear: marijuana isn&#39;t a gateway drug and should be legalized. Glad to see my bill with Rep. Nadler take the next step in the House this week. <a href="https://t.co/d6BcMFlpYT">https://t.co/d6BcMFlpYT</a>
&mdash; Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) <a href="https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/1196473557833932803?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Accordingly, the California lawmaker <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/2227/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22marijuana%22%5D%7D&amp;r=32&amp;s=1">introduced legislation</a> into the Senate in July which would not only decriminalize and deschedule marijuana, but also provide for reinvestment into certain individuals who have been convicted of drug crimes.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a longtime advocate of marijuana legalization, also scolded Biden for his opposition.
&#8220;The American people are united on issue after issue,&#8221; Sanders said. &#8220;We must legalize marijuana now &#8212; and expunge all past marijuana convictions as a matter of racial and economic justice.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The American people are united on issue after issue. We must legalize marijuana now—and expunge all past marijuana convictions as a matter of racial and economic justice. <a href="https://t.co/NQjp7WOko3">https://t.co/NQjp7WOko3</a>
&mdash; Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/1196196982425038848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Less than a month ago, the self-styled democratic socialist unveiled a sweeping proposal where he would use his executive power as president of the United States to both federally legalize the drug and expunge related criminal convictions. Sanders argues that the law disproportionately targets minorities and &#8220;ruined the lives of millions of Americans,&#8221; as reported by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bernie-sanders-offers-marijuana-legalization-plan/2019/10/24/c44a45ba-f5c4-11e9-ad8b-85e2aa00b5ce_story.html">The Washington Post</a>.
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang also echoed similar sentiments, calling to resolve the ambiguity and legalize marijuana at the federal level.
&#8220;Marijuana should be legal nationwide,&#8221; Yang said. &#8220;It is already legal in several states, it reflects a safer approach to pain relief than opiates, and our administration of drug laws is deeply uneven and racist.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Marijuana should be legal nationwide. It is already legal in several states, it reflects a safer approach to pain relief than opiates, and our administration of drug laws is deeply uneven and racist. <a href="https://t.co/0Uhl17MW98">https://t.co/0Uhl17MW98</a>
&mdash; Andrew Yang🧢 (@AndrewYang) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/status/1196456686875099136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 18, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Yang has previously stated that legalization would not only improve safety and social equity, but would also generate tens of billions of dollars in new revenue based on legal cannabis businesses.

Presidential Candidate Joe Biden Files Paperwork For New Hampshire Primary

2020 Democrats Pounce After Joe Biden Pushes Back On Marijuana Legalization

2020 Election

Andrew Yang

Bernie Sanders

Joe Biden

Kamala Harris

California is home to the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-14/californias-biggest-legal-marijuana-market">largest</a> legal marijuana market in the world, but consumers are almost three times more likely to purchase cannabis products from unlicensed dispensaries and delivery services in the state than regulated sellers, resulting in lost tax revenue and a thriving underground pot trade, <a href="https://ucba.com/2019/09/enforce-ab-97/">according</a> to an audit made public last week.
The study was conducted by the United Cannabis Business Association (UCBA), which describes itself as &#8220;the leading voice for legal cannabis&#8221; in the Golden State. The group has <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-09-11/california-marijuana-black-market-dwarfs-legal-pot-industry">criticized</a> elected officials and law enforcement for failing to shut down shops operating illegally. It claims many consumers are lured to unregulated stores via an online community forum called Weedmaps, where users can discuss the potency of various strains and find recreational and/or medical marijuana dispensaries in their area.
Among the UCBA&#8217;s findings:
An audit of Weedmaps’ platform this week showed a total of 3,757 active dispensaries or delivery services in California, only 922 of which have a potential license listed. This means, using Weedmaps, Californians are almost 3 times more likely to shop at an unlicensed retailer than a licensed one…
The unlicensed operators on Weedmaps do not pay taxes or the cost of compliance with local and state regulations, do not follow required worker or consumer protections and do not allow labor unions to organize workers, in turn allowing them to charge a fraction of the cost. Put simply, these retailers, that are allowed easy access to the public through Weedmaps, profit without contributing to California while risking the health and safety of our state’s residents.
The UCBA estimates there are even more illegal operators in the state than the data shows, noting that many unlicensed shops haven&#8217;t advertised on Weedmaps. <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-09-11/california-marijuana-black-market-dwarfs-legal-pot-industry">According</a> to the Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC), there are just 873 licensed marijuana retailers in the state. Edibles, vaping products, and flower sold in those regulated establishments are subject to state testing, which <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-marijuana-year-anniversary-review-20181227-story.html">drives up costs</a>.
UCBA President Jerred Kiloh sent a <a href="https://ucba.com/2019/09/enforce-ab-97/">letter</a> to Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom and the head of the BCC requesting officials &#8220;enforce laws that are already on the books to finally curb Weedmaps&#8217; advertisement of unlicensed retailers here and now.&#8221; The industry group called on authorities to retroactively fine the web platform for each violation posted on the site going back to July 1. Over the summer, Newsom <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-07-19/california-crackdown-illegal-pot-shops-marijuana">approved</a> penalties of up to $30,000 a day against illegal cannabis sellers.
Weedmaps <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190911005541/en/">insists</a> it recently implemented a &#8220;plan to support licensed operators&#8221; and stop non-regulated shops from advertising on the site by requiring a state license number and state identification. The website said it &#8220;is beginning to notify existing California-based advertisers that they must enter their state license number on their account.&#8221;
Chris Beals, CEO of Weedmaps, predicts &#8220;These policy changes will only have a symbolic impact on the size of California&#8217;s unlicensed market.&#8221;
&#8220;The only demonstrated solution to the size of the unlicensed market is for industry and government to come together to ensure sufficient numbers of licenses are issued,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190911005541/en/">added</a>. &#8220;We hope that monopolistic cannabis operators, as well as the lobbying organizations that represent them, will realize that their advocacy for limited license monopolies only hurts the diversity, size and strength of the licensed market.&#8221;
76% of California cities and 69% of its counties have <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-bill-requiring-cities-permit-pot-shops-20190528-story.html">banned</a> marijuana dispensaries, which some lawmakers say has contributed to the booming illicit market. The voter-approved referendum that permitted adults to possess and grow limited amounts of the drug for personal use also gave local jurisdictions the right to prohibit legal sales in their communities.
Industry officials <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-14/californias-biggest-legal-marijuana-market">project</a> $8.7 billion will be spent on unregulated cannabis merchandise in California this year, more than double the estimated $3.1 billion in legal sales.
In the last two years, the BCC has <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-07-19/california-crackdown-illegal-pot-shops-marijuana">seized</a> at least $30 million worth of marijuana products from unregulated sellers doing business in the state.
Follow Jeffrey Cawood on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/jeffreycawood">@JeffreyCawood</a>.

cannabis

AUDIT: California Cannabis Users 3x More Likely To Visit Illegal Pot Shops Than Licensed Dispensaries

California

On Friday, businessman and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang gave a speech in Concord, New Hampshire. During the speech, Yang stated that if elected president, he would &#8220;pardon everyone who is in jail for nonviolent marijuana-related offenses.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/andrew-yang-vows-to-mass-pardon-all-people-in-prison-for-nonviolent-marijuana-offenses">Fox News</a> reports that Yang also said: &#8220;Americans now recognize just how broken our mass incarceration system is and how much progress we need to make.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet"></div>
On Yang&#8217;s official <a href="https://www.yang2020.com/policies/legalization-of-marijuana/">website</a>, he makes his policy ideas on the legalization of marijuana abundantly clear:
<blockquote>Marijuana is still considered a controlled substance by federal law. Thousands are in jail for marijuana-related offenses, particularly people of color. Yet marijuana is now legal for adult use in 11 states and the District of Columbia, and 33 states have legalized medical marijuana in some form.
We need to resolve the ambiguity and legalize marijuana at the federal level. This would improve safety, social equity, and generate tens of billions of dollars in new revenue based on legal cannabis businesses.</blockquote>
His website further states:
<blockquote>As president, I will &#8230; Support the full legalization of marijuana at the federal level and remove it from the controlled substances list &#8230; Expunge the federal convictions of all marijuana-related use or possession offenses &#8230; Identify non-violent drug offenders for probation and potential early release.</blockquote>
Friday isn&#8217;t the first time Yang has spoken about such a proposal. In April, he stated at the National Action Network (NAN) conference that he plans to legalize marijuana, issue a pardon on April 20, 2021 to those in jail for nonviolent drug-based offenses (4/20 being a reference to weed culture), and give the newly freed individuals a &#8220;high-five &#8230; on the way out of jail.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">.<a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewYang?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AndrewYang</a> at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NANconv2019?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NANconv2019</a>: &#8220;I would legalize marijuana and then I would pardon everyone who&#8217;s in jail for a nonviolent drug-related offense. I would pardon them on April 20, 2021 and I would high-five them on the way out of jail.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/wqELzL9TwO">pic.twitter.com/wqELzL9TwO</a>
— The Hill (@thehill) <a href="https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1113507708093718529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
While Andrew Yang has been struggling to connect with a larger audience, currently sitting at just 1.5% according to the <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/2020_democratic_presidential_nomination-6730.html">RealClearPolitics</a> average of polls, he has an enthusiastic cult following. He was also the ninth candidate to qualify for the next set of Democratic debates in September by reaching the 130,000 unique donor requirement, as well as reaching &#8220;2% or more [support] in at least four separate polls released between June 28 and August 28 and conducted by approved pollsters,&#8221; according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/08/politics/andrew-yang-democratic-debate/index.html">CNN</a>.
Since the legalization of sales of recreational marijuana in Colorado, which began in 2014, the <a href="https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/revenue/colorado-marijuana-tax-data">taxes and fees</a> collected by the state have risen each year. As of July 2019, the state has collected approximately $1.069 billion in taxes and fees on the sale and distribution of marijuana.
According to the <a href="https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2019.html">Prison Policy Initiative</a> (PPI), &#8220;451,000 [people] are incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses on any given day,&#8221; approximately 198,000 of whom are in state prisons, 81,000 under the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and 118,000 not convicted in local jails.
The organization notes that in total, there are &#8220;2.3 million people in 1,719 state prisons, 109 federal prisons, 1,772 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,163 local jails, and 80 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the U.S.&#8221;
The Daily Wire reached out to Yang’s team for further comment regarding his position on drug legalization and low-level drug offenders, but as of publication, we have not received a reply.

Dem Candidate Yang: ‘Pardon Everyone Who Is In Jail For Nonviolent Marijuana-Related Offenses’

Crime

Democratic Party

Drugs

While cannabis enthusiasts assert that weed is harmless, according to a new study, the legalization of marijuana in Colorado has led to an increase in emergency room visits.
&#8220;Recreational cannabis went on sale in 2014 and it has led to an increase in emergency department visits, according to a new study,&#8221; reports <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/25/health/edible-cannabis-emergency-visit-study/index.html">CNN</a>. &#8220;Although inhaled cannabis leads to more visits overall, new research says, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/marijuana/faqs/edibles.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">edibles</a> &#8212; foods containing cannabis extract &#8212; account for more visits for psychiatric and cardiovascular symptoms.&#8221;
Colorado legalized cannabis for recreational use in 2014 after allowing it for medicinal purposes in 2009. Between 2012 and 2016, UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital saw a &#8220;threefold increase&#8221; in ER visits related to cannabis use &#8212; 9,973 cases. Dr. Andrew A. Monte, an emergency medicine physician at the hospital, said the research stemmed from his colleagues witnessing a high number of cannabis-related visits without any data to back up the spotted pattern.
Published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the <a href="http://annals.org/aim/article/doi/10.7326/M18-2809" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">study</a> showed that edible cannabis accounted for 10.7% of emergency room visits despite those being just 0.32% of cannabis sales in the state. In 2015, for instance, one man <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6428a6.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">committed suicide</a> after consuming such a product.
&#8220;We observed a higher number of visits attributable to edibles than expected, and there was no data to determine if this was indeed true,&#8221; said Monte. &#8220;There have been several high-profile deaths due to cannabis edibles but no documented death attributable to inhaled cannabis.&#8221;
Dr. G. Sam Wang, a pediatric emergency medicine physician and toxicologist at Children&#8217;s Hospital Colorado, told CNN that edible cannabis indeed has a different effect on the body, noting that it can last longer due to the body absorbing it more slowly, sometimes prompting users to overuse it for lack of immediate effect. Wang also noted that children have been exposed to edible cannabis accidentally. &#8220;I typically see the kids who unintentionally ingest cannabis, kids who use it medically or teenagers who recreationally use it.&#8221;
Colorado is one of <a href="https://www.governing.com/gov-data/safety-justice/state-marijuana-laws-map-medical-recreational.html">many states</a> increasingly embracing marijuana. Since California legalized marijuana in 2017, the move to make a social scene out of the recreational drug has been ongoing in certain parts of the state, primarily in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. The ultra-liberal town of West Hollywood is vying to become another red light district with Amsterdam-style pot lounges. According to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-31/cannabis-lounges-will-soon-light-up-west-hollywood-s-bar-scene">Bloomberg</a>, the city has already begun accepting applications.
The marijuana industry has even <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/26066/marijuana-industry-stop-using-word-pot-because-it-paul-bois">begun</a><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/26066/marijuana-industry-stop-using-word-pot-because-it-paul-bois"> a campaign of political correctness</a> by advising people to stop using the word &#8220;pot&#8221; when referring to the drug because it&#8217;s an offensive term. According to <a href="https://www.adn.com/alaska-marijuana/2018/01/17/marijuana-industry-gets-blunt-stop-using-the-word-pot/">Anchorage Daily News</a>, the marijuana industry has grown very self-conscious of the stereotypical image of &#8220;the stoner&#8221; and wants to clean up the stigma.

Is Weed &#8216;Harmless&#8217;? Legalized Cannabis Linked To More ER Visits In Colorado.

Health

On Friday, The Texas Tribune featured a <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2019/03/01/texas-marijuana-decriminalization/">report</a> on growing support for marijuana decriminalization measures in Texas. Under current Texas law, possession of any amount of marijuana is illegal. But, according to the Tribune, the <a href="http://maristpoll.marist.edu/yahoo-newsmarist-poll/#sthash.3nU5Bnez.hEmfGUbb.dpbs">Texas Department of Public Safety</a> claims that, over the past five years, a whopping 379,000 Texans have been arrested for possessing two ounces or less of marijuana.
The Tribune <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2019/03/01/texas-marijuana-decriminalization/">specified the nature</a> of some of the specific legislative proposals that are being debated in the current session of the Texas Legislature:
<blockquote>
Lawmakers this year are pushing a bevy of bills that range from reducing the criminal penalties for those found with small amounts of marijuana to eliminating those criminal penalties altogether. But there remains some lingering political pushback from conservative hardliners and law enforcement groups who fear decriminalizing marijuana will increase crime rates and eventually lead to the legalization of other drugs. &#8230;
[S]tate Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, filed House Bill 63. His bill would replace the criminal penalty for people caught with an ounce or less of marijuana and replace it with a civil fine of up to $250. Only those fined more than three times would face misdemeanor criminal charges.
</blockquote>
Elsewhere in Texas, local district attorneys are engaging in marijuana-driven prosecutorial discretion decisions, notwithstanding any independent actions that the Texas Legislature may or may not take in the current session. For example, the Tribune notes that new Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot has instituted a policy of declining prosecution for first-time marijuana possession offenders.
According to the <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/marijuana-overview.aspx#1">National Conference of State Legislatures</a>, ten states and Washington, D.C. have legalized some amount of marijuana for personal use. California is the largest state to fully legalize some amount of marijuana possession. In total, according to the <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/marijuana-overview.aspx#1">National Conference of State Legislatures</a>, 22 states and Washington, D.C. have all decriminalized some amount of marijuana.
Notwithstanding the opposition from some law enforcement groups, decriminalization measures in Texas, perhaps the nation&#8217;s most iconic red state, could potentially pick up bipartisan momentum. Just last year, the official platform for the Republican Party of Texas <a href="https://reason.com/blog/2018/06/18/texas-gop-endorses-marijuana-decriminali">endorsed</a> marijuana decriminalization. Forbes <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2018/06/17/texas-republican-party-endorses-marijuana-decriminalization/#7bbe3a295236">reported</a> last June:
<blockquote>
Delegates at the Republican Party of Texas convention on Saturday voted to approve platform planks endorsing marijuana decriminalization, medical cannabis and industrial hemp. They are also calling for a change in cannabis&#8217;s classification by the federal government.
&#8220;We support a change in the law to make it a civil, and not a criminal, offense for legal adults only to possess one ounce or less of marijuana for personal use, punishable by a fine of up to $100, but without jail time,&#8221; reads one of the party&#8217;s new positions.
&#8220;Congress should remove cannabis from the list of Schedule 1,&#8221; says another.
</blockquote>
The Texas Legislature meets for 140 calendar days every two years. The Texas <a href="https://lrl.texas.gov/sessions/sessionYears.cfm">86th legislative session</a> began on January 8, 2019 and runs through May 27, 2019. With such bread-and-butter fiscal issues as <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas-legislature/2019/01/18/teacher-raises-property-tax-relief-can-texas-lawmakers-solve-states-school-finance-problem">property tax reform</a> taking up a lot of legislators&#8217; time, it remains to be seen whether legislators might be able to ultimately find the time to legislatively address such secondary issues as marijuana decriminalization.

Weeding Out Misdemeanors? Iconic Red State Texas Considers Marijuana Decriminalization Measures.

Law Enforcement

Texas

Anthony Weiner might be trading politics for a much more lucrative industry &#8212; marijuana &#8212; according to an exclusive report from the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6735613/Anthony-Weiner-ditches-politics-marijuana-business.html">Daily Mail</a>.
Weiner is out on a form of supervised release, a privilege of being on &#8220;good behavior&#8221; for most of the 15 months he served in federal prison for sending lewd photos of himself to a teenager. He&#8217;s serving the remainder of his sentence at a halfway house in Manhattan, and appears to be free to roam the city during the day, so long as he returns to the appropriate building at night.
On Monday, the Mail reports, Weiner took a breakfast meeting with a potential business partner and a source close to the conversaion overheard what was clearly the beginning of marijuana venture. Weiner reportedly referenced &#8220;Colorado&#8221; and &#8220;California,&#8221; and spoke of his lack of experience with &#8220;hydroponics,&#8221; but instructed his potential partner about mentioning his involvement.
It&#8217;s not clear what role in the effort Weiner was reportedly discussing; as a convicted felon, he&#8217;d be barred from participating in legal marijuana production, distribution, or sales in most states and at the federal level, but he could consult or provide investment capital.
Regardless of whether he ends up in the pot business, Weiner will have to find gainful employment as a condition of remaining in the federal halfway house program. Conditional release, like the kind Weiner has been given, requires that former inmates work at least 40 hours per week. Weiner may be an exception to this rule, the Daily Mail claims, because of his notoriety &#8212; and because politics doesn&#8217;t exactly prepare you for the real world of post-incarceration employment.
Weiner&#8217;s troubles started years ago, when he was confronted with evidence that he had &#8220;sexted&#8221; a lewd photo of himself to a woman who was not his wife, using Twitter. After initially denying the photo, Weiner apologized for his behavior and resigned from his position in Congress as a representative from the state of New York.
A short time later, Weiner tried to revive his politial career with an ill-advised campaign for mayor. Again, during that stint, he was revealed to have traded lewd messages, in which he referred to himself by the alias &#8220;Carlos Danger,&#8221; with a Democratic campaign worker from Ohio named Sydney Leathers. Weiner closed his mayoral campaign in disgrace and receded from the public eye.
In early 2017, Weiner was arrested on charges that he&#8217;d engaged in lewd conversation across state lines with a minor &#8212; a fifteen-year-old girl. He was eventually tried and convicted on federal charges and sentenced to a nearly two-year stint in federal prison. He was released late last month after serving just over a year of his sentence. He is expected to officially finish his sentence and be re-released into public in May.

REPORT: Anthony Weiner Might Be Trading Politics For The Weed Industry

Anthony Weiner

As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43304/watch-kamala-harris-talks-about-smoking-marijuana-amanda-prestigiacomo">The Daily Wire</a> has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43361/kamala-harris-says-she-listened-tupac-and-snoop-ashe-schow">reported</a>, 2020 Democratic presidential contender and leftist firebrand Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) recently openly discussed her previous marijuana use in a radio interview. On February 11, The Daily Wire&#8217;s Amanda Prestigiacomo <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43304/watch-kamala-harris-talks-about-smoking-marijuana-amanda-prestigiacomo">noted</a>:
<blockquote>
Harris told [radio] co-host &#8220;Charlemagne tha God&#8221; that she &#8220;broke loose&#8221; and smoked marijuana in college. &#8220;And I did inhale!&#8221; she enthusiastically added.
&#8220;That&#8217;s not true,&#8221; the senator told Charlemagne when he said people think she&#8217;s against marijuana legalization. &#8220;Half my family is from Jamaica. Are you kidding me?&#8221; joked Harris.
&#8220;Have you ever smoked?&#8221; asked the co-host.
&#8220;I have,&#8221; she answered. &#8220;And I did inhale. I did inhale! It was a long time ago, but yes. I just broke loose.&#8221;
</blockquote>
Harris&#8217; comments initially drew some pushback for the contradictory timing that her comments referenced, as The Daily Wire&#8217;s Ashe Schow <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43361/kamala-harris-says-she-listened-tupac-and-snoop-ashe-schow">reported</a>:
<blockquote>
When asked what music she listened to when she smoked, Harris said, &#8220;Oh yeah, definitely Snoop. Tupac for sure.&#8221;
Except, Harris graduated from Howard University in 1986, and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1989. Tupac released his first album, &#8220;2Pacalypse Now,&#8221; on November 12, 1991 &#8212; two years after Harris graduated from law school. Snoop Dogg released his first album, &#8220;Doggystyle,&#8221; on November 23, 1993 &#8212; four years after Harris graduated law school.
By the time Tupac and Snoop began releasing albums, Harris was already working as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, CA. She started that job in 1990 and left in 1998.
</blockquote>
Oops.
But now, the pushback for Harris is getting even more personal &#8212; because it is coming from her proud Jamaican father himself.
As The Washington Times <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/feb/19/kamala-harris-jamaican-father-donald-harris-rips-2">reports</a>, Mr. Donald Harris &#8212; a <a href="https://economics.stanford.edu/people/donald-j-harris">professor of economics</a> at Stanford University &#8212; is none too happy with his daughter&#8217;s casual joking about her Jamaican background in invoking her previous marijuana use.
&#8220;My dear departed grandmother &#8230; as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their grave right now to see their family&#8217;s name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics,&#8221; Mr. Harris <a href="https://www.jamaicaglobalonline.com/donald-harris-slams-his-daughter-senator-kamala-harris-for-fraudulently-stereotyping-jamaicans-and-accusing-her-of-playing-identity-politics/">told</a> Jamaica Global Online. &#8220;[As a family,] we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty,&#8221; he added.
As The Washington Times notes, Jamaica Global Online was itself also worried about possible repercussions from the stereotypes to which Sen. Harris alluded in her radio interview.
&#8220;For some, it is more than mere unease; one Jamaican commenting on social media expressed the concern that &#8216;soon my job will be singling me out to drug test me since I am from Jamaica. What a stereotype.&#8217; Her concern is not unfounded given the experience of Jamaicans travelling to US ports having sniffer dogs around them in customs halls,&#8221; Jamaica Global wrote, according to The Washington Times.
Sen. Harris officially declared for the presidency in late January, as The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/42426/watch-kamala-harris-makes-it-official-she-wants-james-barrett">reported</a> at the time. A December <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/14/politics/cnn-poll-2020-democrats-beto-orourke-rising/index.html">poll</a> from CNN showed her with 4% support, far behind then-frontrunner Joe Biden, who had 30% support. The website <a href="https://www.predictit.org/markets/detail/3633/Who-will-win-the-2020-Democratic-presidential-nomination">PredictIt</a>, however, instead shows Harris as the Democratic frontrunner.

OUCH: Kamala Harris’s Jamaican Father Blasts His Daughter’s Marijuana Remarks As A ‘Travesty’

Ten states and Washington, D.C., have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. Twenty-two other states, along with U.S. territories Puerto Rico and Guam, allow marijuana to be used for medical purposes. Let&#8217;s examine some hidden issues about marijuana use. Before we start, permit me to state my values about medical or recreational use of any drug. We each own ourselves. If we choose to take chances with substances that can ruin our health, lead to death and otherwise destroy our own lives, that&#8217;s our right. But we do not have a right to harm others in the process of harming ourselves.
Alex Berenson is a graduate of Yale University, with degrees in history and economics. He delivered a <a href="http://tinyurl.com/yd933ocy">speech</a> last month at Hillsdale College&#8217;s Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship in Washington, D.C., on the hidden dangers of marijuana use. He told his audience, &#8220;Almost everything that you think you know about the health effects of cannabis, almost everything that advocates and the media have told you for a generation, is wrong.&#8221;
The active ingredient in marijuana is tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. Marijuana is most commonly prescribed for pain, but it&#8217;s rarely tested against other pain relief drugs, such as ibuprofen. Last July, a large four-year study of Australian patients with chronic pain showed that cannabis use was associated with greater pain over time. Marijuana, like alcohol, is too weak as a painkiller for people with terminal cancer. They need opiates. Berenson said, &#8220;Even cannabis advocates, like Rob Kampia, who co-founded the Marijuana Policy Project &#8230; acknowledge that they have always viewed medical marijuana laws mostly as a way to protect recreational users.&#8221;
Marijuana legalization advocates sometimes argue that its use reduces opiate use. That is untrue. Berenson said, &#8220;The United States and Canada, which are the countries that have the most opioid use, also have by far the worst problem with &#8230; cannabis.&#8221; Marijuana carries not only a devastating physical health risk but also mental health dangers. A 2017 National Academy of Medicine study found that &#8220;cannabis use is likely to increase the risk of developing schizophrenia and other psychoses; the higher the use, the greater the risk. &#8230; Regular cannabis use is likely to increase the risk for developing social anxiety disorder.&#8221; Also, a paper in the American Journal of Psychiatry last year showed that people who used cannabis in 2001 were almost three times as likely to use opiates three years later, even after adjusting for other potential risks.
Something else that&#8217;s not given much attention is that cannabis today is much more potent than it was in the 1970s, when most marijuana contained less than 2 percent THC. Today marijuana routinely contains 20 to 25 percent THC, as a result of sophisticated farming and cloning techniques. As such, it produces a stronger and quicker high. Berenson said that the difference between yesterday&#8217;s marijuana and today&#8217;s is like the difference between &#8220;near beer and a martini.&#8221;
Berenson cited several studies and other findings showing a relationship between marijuana use and violence and crime. According to a 2007 paper in The Medical Journal of Australia on 88 felons who had committed homicide during psychotic episodes, almost two-thirds reported misusing cannabis. A 2012 paper in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence examined a federal survey of more than 9,000 adolescents and found that marijuana use was associated with a doubling of domestic violence. The first four states to legalize marijuana for recreational use were Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Oregon. In 2013, those states combined had about 450 murders and 30,300 aggravated assaults. In 2017, they had almost 620 murders and 38,000 aggravated assaults &#8212; an increase of 37 percent for murders and 25 percent for aggravated assaults, far greater than the national increase, even after accounting for differences in population growth.
One of the problems with legalization of marijuana is that it gives social sanction to its use. A preferable strategy would be simple decriminalization, which does not imply social sanction. Moreover, where there is no criminal activity associated with any drug usage, it should be treated as a medical problem, as opposed to a criminal problem.
Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. To find out more about Walter E. Williams and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

WILLIAMS: Marijuana, Mental Illness And Violence

Did Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) smoke marijuana in college, or while she was arresting people for minor drug offenses?
That was the question circulating social media Monday evening, after Harris said she smoked a &#8220;joint&#8221; in college <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43304/watch-kamala-harris-talks-about-smoking-marijuana-amanda-prestigiacomo">during an interview</a> with the radio show, &#8220;The Breakfast Club.&#8221; Co-host &#8220;Charlemagne tha God&#8221; asked Harris if she had ever smoked marijuana, to which the California senator replied: &#8220;I have.&#8221;
&#8220;And I did inhale. I did inhale! It was a long time ago, but yes. I just broke loose,&#8221; Harris added. She then claimed she smoke a &#8220;joint&#8221; while in college and remembered being high.
&#8220;I think [marijuana] gives a lot of people joy,&#8221; Harris said. &#8220;And we need more joy in the world.&#8221;
When asked what music she listened to when she smoked, Harris said, &#8220;Oh yeah, definitely Snoop. Tupac for sure.&#8221;
Except, Harris graduated from Howard University in 1986, and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1989. Tupac released his first album, &#8220;2Pacalypse Now,&#8221; on November 12, 1991 &#8212; two years after Harris graduated from law school. Snoop Dogg released his first album, &#8220;Doggystyle,&#8221; on November 23, 1993 &#8212; four years after Harris graduated law school.
By the time Tupac and Snoop began releasing albums, Harris was already working as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, CA. She started that job in 1990 and left in 1998.
So, either Harris lied about who she listened to while smoking (or, more charitably, doesn&#8217;t remember who she listened to and named the first artists she thought of), or she actually had her one &#8220;joint&#8221; while she worked as a deputy district attorney putting people away for smoking marijuana.
In her book, &#8220;The Truths We Hold,&#8221; Harris talks about her newfound support for decriminalizing marijuana.
&#8220;We need to expunge nonviolent marijuana-related offenses from the records of millions of people who have been arrested and incarcerated so they can get on with their lives,&#8221; Harris wrote.
Harris hasn&#8217;t always supported marijuana legalization. As CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/11/politics/kamala-harris-record-on-marijuana-legalization/index.html">details</a>, as recently as 2010, when Harris was San Francisco&#8217;s district attorney, she opposed legislation that would legalized marijuana in the Golden State. Her then-campaign manager, Brian Brokaw, <a href="http://capitolweekly.net/leading-democrats-opposed-to-prop-19/">told Capitol Weekly</a> that Harris &#8220;believes that drug selling harms communities,&#8221; but did support the use of medical marijuana.
She continued this belief through 2015, when she spoke at the Democratic State Convention.
Earlier in her career, she worked to put nonviolent marijuana users <a href="https://reason.com/blog/2018/01/12/kamala-harris-is-not-smart-on-crime">behind bars</a>, according to Reason&#8217;s Ed Krayewski.
&#8220;As San Francisco D.A. she opposed a measure to legalize marijuana, and when she ran for attorney general she argued that legalization would encourage people to work and drive while high. As attorney general, she called for an expansion of the state&#8217;s efforts to track prescription drug users. She also opposed cuts to drug enforcement programs that often targeted drug dealers for nonviolent offenses,&#8221; Krayewski wrote.
CNN doesn&#8217;t look further back than 2010, but dismisses Harris&#8217; change in the politest terms possible.
&#8220;Perhaps it&#8217;s a story of gradual realization of the need for legalization, or maybe it&#8217;s just a story of one politician adapting to public opinion,&#8221; CNN reported.
Harris&#8217; office did not respond to a press inquiry prior to publication.

Kamala Harris Says She Listened To Tupac And Snoop While Smoking Weed In College. There’s Just One Problem.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) talked about her personal experience with smoking weed in college and seemingly backed the legalization of marijuana during a Monday morning radio interview on the New York City-based syndicated radio show, &#8220;The Breakfast Club.&#8221;
Harris told co-host &#8220;Charlemagne tha God&#8221; that she &#8220;broke loose&#8221; and smoked marijuana in college. &#8220;And I did inhale!&#8221; she enthusiastically added.
&#8220;That&#8217;s not true,&#8221; the senator told Charlemagne when he said people think she&#8217;s against marijuana legalization. &#8220;Half my family is from Jamaica. Are you kidding me?&#8221; joked Harris.
&#8220;Have you ever smoked?&#8221; asked the co-host.
&#8220;I have,&#8221; she answered. &#8220;And I did inhale. I did inhale! It was a long time ago, but yes. I just broke loose.&#8221;
Harris added that she smoked a &#8220;joint&#8221; in college and remembers the high.
&#8220;I think [marijuana] gives a lot of people joy,&#8221; the 2020 hopeful continued. &#8220;And we need more joy in the world.&#8221;
&#8220;We need to expunge nonviolent marijuana-related offenses from the records of millions of people who have been arrested and incarcerated so they can get on with their lives,&#8221; wrote Harris in her latest book, The Truths We Hold, <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/kamala-harris-says-she-smoked-weed-in-college-and-i-did-inhale">according</a> to The Daily Beast.
Harris&#8217; remark about &#8220;inhaling&#8221; was a reference to then-presidential hopeful Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. &#8220;When I was in England,&#8221; Clinton <a href="https://www.chron.com/news/strange-weird/article/Bill-Clinton-11035674.php">said</a> during a 1992 interview, &#8220;I experimented with marijuana a time or two, and didn&#8217;t like it. I didn&#8217;t inhale and I didn&#8217;t try it again.&#8221;
Former President Barack Obama similarly poked fun at Clinton&#8217;s I-didn&#8217;t-inhale comment. &#8220;When I was a kid, I inhaled frequently. That was the point,&#8221; <a href="https://www.chron.com/news/strange-weird/article/Bill-Clinton-11035674.php">joked</a> Obama, then a U.S. Senator for Illinois.
The American people have been trending in favor of marijuana legalization. <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/10/08/americans-support-marijuana-legalization/">According</a> to Pew Research published in October, 62% of Americans support legalization, divided most by generation and then party:
<blockquote>
About six-in-ten Americans (62%) say the use of marijuana should be legalized, reflecting a steady increase over the past decade, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. The share of U.S. adults who support marijuana legalization is little changed from about a year ago &#8211; when 61% favored it &#8212; but it is double what it was in 2000 (31%).
As in the past, there are wide generational and partisan differences in views of marijuana legalization. Majorities of Millennials (74%), Gen Xers (63%) and Baby Boomers (54%) say the use of marijuana should be legal. Members of the Silent Generation continue to be the least supportive of legalization (39%), but they have become more supportive in the past year.
Nearly seven-in-ten Democrats (69%) say marijuana use should be legal, as do 75% of independents who lean toward the Democratic Party.
Republicans are divided, with 45% in favor of legalizing marijuana and 51% opposed. Still, the share of Republicans saying marijuana should be legal has increased from 39% in 2015. Independents who lean toward the Republican Party are far more likely than Republicans to favor marijuana legalization (59% vs. 45%). 
</blockquote>
Harris, 54, announced her bid for 2020 last week on ABC&#8217;s Good Morning America. &#8220;I love my country, and this is a moment in time that I feel a sense of responsibility to fight for the best of who we are,&#8221; said Harris.
And the Democrat is polling rather well with those who are familiar with her: &#8220;A recent NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist Poll found that a majority of Americans &#8212; 54 percent &#8212; have not yet formed an opinion of Harris. But those who have a positive opinion of the California Democrat outnumbered those with a negative opinion by more than 3 to 1,&#8221; <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/01/21/677834764/sen-kamala-harris-announces-2020-presidential-candidacy">reported</a> NPR.
WATCH:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Hear what <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KamalaHarris?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KamalaHarris</a> thinks about legalizing marijuana <a href="https://t.co/YGZlCAKUZ0">pic.twitter.com/YGZlCAKUZ0</a>
&#8212; The Breakfast Club (@breakfastclubam) <a href="https://twitter.com/breakfastclubam/status/1094953059334176770?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>

WATCH: Kamala Harris Talks About Smoking Marijuana In Radio Interview: &#8216;I Did Inhale!&#8217;

Leftism

Progressivism

A California doctor has been stripped of his license after giving a four-year-old boy some marijuana cookies in order to control the child&#8217;s temper tantrums. According to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47039911">BBC</a>, Dr. William Eidelman, a natural medicine physician, misdiagnosed the boy with having bipolar disorder and attention deficit disorder (ADD).
&#8220;The Medical Board of California ruled to revoke the doctor&#8217;s license <a href="http://4patientsafety.org/documents/Eidelman,%20William%20S%202019-01-03%20Lawsuit.pdf">but he has launched an appeal</a>,&#8221; reports the outlet.
However, Dr. Eidelman did not have his license revoked due to giving the four-year-old boy marijuana, which is legal in California for medicinal purposes. It was instead due to his being &#8220;negligent in his care and treatment&#8221; for not consulting a psychiatrist or communicating with the boy&#8217;s school.
Dr. Eidelman&#8217;s &#8220;treatment&#8221; of the boy began at the request of his father in 2012, who suffered from ADHD and bipolar disorder himself as a child.
&#8220;The boy&#8217;s father consulted Dr. Eidelman in September 2012 because his son was misbehaving at school,&#8221; reports BBC. &#8220;As a child, the boy&#8217;s father had ADHD and bipolar disorder himself and had a negative experience with prescribed medications at the time, saying he felt like a &#8216;human guinea pig.&#8217; He started using marijuana later in life, saying it helped &#8216;calm him&#8217; and changed his behavior towards his wife, towards whom he had previously &#8216;exhibited anger.'&#8221;
The father had administered marijuana to his older son who was also struggling with ADHD and bipolar disorder. He claims the drug had a &#8220;positive effect&#8221; on both his children.
Dr. Eidelman prescribed tiny amounts of cannabis to the boy via weed cookies. A school nurse later discovered the secret ingredient when she was asked to administer it to the boy at lunchtime.
According to the <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article225213600.html">Sacramento Bee</a>, the board&#8217;s decision said that &#8220;tantrums alone &#8230; do not support&#8221; the doctor&#8217;s diagnosis, adding that Eidelman&#8217;s notes from the 2012 visit do not fit the diagnosis of ADHD and bipolar disorder.
&#8220;&#8216;Being agitated&#8217; and &#8216;having trouble sitting still&#8217; hint at ADHD, but could simply hint at a preschooler not happy to have driven many miles to a doctor&#8217;s appointment,&#8221; said the board. &#8220;Although he did not outright suggest a diagnosis &#8230; he all but made one up out of whole cloth.&#8221;
Marijuana has become an increasingly popular recreational item in California since being legalized in 2017. This past Christmas, several dispensaries reported a record number of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/39693/marijuana-becomes-most-popular-christmas-gift-paul-bois">customers buying gifts</a>. The move to make a social scene out of the recreational drug has been ongoing in certain parts of the state, primarily in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. The ultra-liberal town of West Hollywood is vying to become another red light district with Amsterdam-style pot lounges. According to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-31/cannabis-lounges-will-soon-light-up-west-hollywood-s-bar-scene">Bloomberg</a>, the city has already begun accepting applications.
Currently, only eight licenses are available for lounges that offer edible cannabis (pot brownies, cookies). Another eight will go to lounges where people can smoke and vape alongside food and drink. Similar proposals have popped up in San Francisco and Oakland. Since much of the state prohibits pot smoking in public places, the lounges would be an alternative social space.

California Doctor Gives Weed Cookies To A Hyper Four-Year-Old Boy, Loses License

According to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-22/super-bowl-advertisement-touting-medical-marijuana-nixed-by-cbs">Bloomberg News</a>, CBS has nixed a pro-cannabis ad calling for the legalization of medical marijuana from airing during the Super Bowl.
&#8220;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/ACRGF:US" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Acreage Holdings</a>, the multi-state cannabis company backed by John Boehner, says CBS rejected a television advertisement that calls for the legalization of medical marijuana,&#8221; reports the outlet. &#8220;The network, which is airing the game on Feb. 3, nixed the proposed spot after seeing a rough outline, according to the company.&#8221;
Medical marijuana remains legal in 30 states, though proponents say that the federal prohibition on cannabis has made it harder for patients to obtain the drug. Acreage President George Allen told Bloomberg the Super Bowl ad was designed to &#8220;create an advocacy campaign for constituents who are being lost in the dialogue.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s hard to compete with the amount of attention something gets when it airs during the Super Bowl,&#8221; Allen told the outlet. &#8220;We certainly thought there was a chance. You strike when the chance of your strike has the probability of success &#8212; this isn&#8217;t a doomed mission.&#8221;
Speaking with <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/22/media/cannabis-ad-super-bowl-cbs/index.html">CNN Business</a>, Allen said a 60-second version of the spot will be published on its <a href="https://www.acreageholdings.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">website</a>.
&#8220;We&#8217;re disappointed by the news but somewhat unsurprised,&#8221; Allen said, adding that media companies would be afraid to air the ad so long as recreational and medical marijuana remains illegal in certain parts of the country.
&#8220;Still, we developed the ad in the spirit of a public service announcement. We feel it&#8217;s our responsibility to advocate on behalf of our patients,&#8221; Allen said.
CBS has issued no comment on the matter.
Harris Damashek, Acreage&#8217;s chief marketing officer, echoed Allen&#8217;s sentiment that the ad was a public service announcement. &#8220;It&#8217;s a public service announcement really more than it is an advertisement,&#8221; Damashek <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/Ad-Meter/buzz-meter/2019/01/22/super-bowl-cbs-rejects-ad-benefits-medical-marijuana/2639175002/">told USA Today</a>. &#8220;We&#8217;re not marketing any of our products or retail in this spot.&#8221;
As the legalization of marijuana gains steam across the United States, the cannabis industry has been working overtime to remove the stigma associated with the drug, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/26066/marijuana-industry-stop-using-word-pot-because-it-paul-bois">to the point of even </a>advising people to stop using the word &#8220;pot&#8221; because it&#8217;s an offensive term.
&#8220;Marijuana still carries a stigma that surfaces with the use of old slang like pot and weed,&#8221; reports <a href="https://www.adn.com/alaska-marijuana/2018/01/17/marijuana-industry-gets-blunt-stop-using-the-word-pot/">Anchorage Daily News</a>,. &#8220;For many, the words evoke an image of lazy, not-so-bright people who puff their lives away.&#8221;
The industry wishes people would start using the more scientifically-minded name &#8220;cannabis&#8221; instead.
&#8220;The image deeply bothers the marijuana industry, which is telling the public &#8212; sometimes gently, sometimes curtly &#8212; that they should use the word cannabis,&#8221; ADN continued. &#8220;That&#8217;s the scientific name for the plant from which marijuana is derived.&#8221;
California legalized marijuana in 2017 and has been slowly building a social scene out of the recreational drug in certain parts of the state. Currently, the ultra-liberal town of West Hollywood is vying to become another red light district with Amsterdam-style pot lounges. According to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-31/cannabis-lounges-will-soon-light-up-west-hollywood-s-bar-scene">Bloomberg</a>, the city has already begun accepting applications.
&#8220;West Hollywood is one of the first cities in the country to introduce these kinds of licenses,&#8221; reports Bloomberg, &#8220;and the winners will be allowed to create the equivalent of alcohol-fueled social bars for cannabis users &#8212; sans booze.&#8221;
Similar proposals have popped up in San Francisco and Oakland. Since much of the state prohibits pot smoking in public places, the lounges would be an alternative social space.

CBS Nixes Multi-Million Dollar Weed Ad For Super Bowl

Sports

Super Bowl

Christmas came to all this year, even to stoners and potheads. In California, where cannabis was recently made legal, the recreational drug made quite a stocking stuffer.
According to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-dispensaries-report-high-numbers-leading-into-christmas">Fox News</a>, &#8220;some California dispensaries have reported high numbers in the days leading up to Christmas as customers have bought pot products as apparent stocking stuffers.&#8221;
On Christmas Eve this week, Kysa Butler, the assistant general manager of the Oakland-based Magnolia shop, told <a href="http://www.fox5ny.com/news/cannabis-is-a-big-hit-for-christmas-gift-giving" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">KTVU</a> that the store had lines out the door with people eager to purchase some fresh ganja. &#8220;From the moment we were open at 9 o&#8217;clock we had a line,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We&#8217;ve been knocking the lines out quickly but they&#8217;ve been steady, too.&#8221;
Many cannabis dispensaries in California reported having five times as many customers leading up to Christmas.
The reason for this spike in people purchasing marijuana products, Butler said, was a desire to alleviate some of the stress that the Christmas season brings. &#8220;People start stocking up. Sometimes you need a little stress reliever from Christmas shopping or sometimes you need a little something when you meet your family,&#8221; she said.
A 73-year-old woman, identified as Judy, has been smoking grass since the 1960s and wanted to relax on Christmas Eve with a few puffs of the magic dragon. &#8220;I just learned about this place a year ago,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I&#8217;m doing great now.&#8221;
Patrons buy various marijuana-infused products like gummies, chocolates, cartridges, and flowers.
Another customer, identified as Christopher, said he treats pot as a special snack, which inadvertently leads to him craving more special snacks.
&#8220;It&#8217;s definitely unique,&#8221; Christopher said. &#8220;It just feels like you&#8217;re having a snack and then later you want more snacks!&#8221;
Since California legalized marijuana, the move to make a social scene out of the recreational drug has been ongoing in certain parts of the state, primarily in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. The ultra-liberal town of West Hollywood is vying to become another red light district with Amsterdam-style pot lounges. According to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-31/cannabis-lounges-will-soon-light-up-west-hollywood-s-bar-scene">Bloomberg</a>, the city has already begun accepting applications.
&#8220;West Hollywood is one of the first cities in the country to introduce these kinds of licenses,&#8221; reports Bloomberg, &#8220;and the winners will be allowed to create the equivalent of alcohol-fueled social bars for cannabis users &#8212; sans booze.&#8221;
Currently, only eight licenses are available for lounges that offer edible cannabis (pot brownies, cookies). Another eight will go to lounges where people can smoke and vape alongside food and drink. As many as 100 applicants are expected, according to Jackie Rocco, business development manager for the city.
Similar proposals have popped up in San Francisco and Oakland. Since much of the state prohibits pot smoking in public places, the lounges would be an alternative social space.
The marijuana industry has even <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/26066/marijuana-industry-stop-using-word-pot-because-it-paul-bois">begun</a><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/26066/marijuana-industry-stop-using-word-pot-because-it-paul-bois"> a campaign of political correctness</a> by advising people to stop using the word &#8220;pot&#8221; when referring to the drug because it&#8217;s an offensive term. According to <a href="https://www.adn.com/alaska-marijuana/2018/01/17/marijuana-industry-gets-blunt-stop-using-the-word-pot/">Anchorage Daily News</a>, the marijuana industry has grown very self-conscious of the stereotypical image of &#8220;the stoner&#8221; and wants to clean up the stigma.
&#8220;Marijuana still carries a stigma that surfaces with the use of old slang like pot and weed,&#8221; reports ADN. &#8220;For many, the words evoke an image of lazy, not-so-bright people who puff their lives away.&#8221;
The industry wishes people would start using the more scientifically-minded name &#8220;cannabis&#8221; instead.
&#8220;The image deeply bothers the marijuana industry, which is telling the public &#8212; sometimes gently, sometimes curtly &#8212; that they should use the word cannabis,&#8221; ADN continued. &#8220;That&#8217;s the scientific name for the plant from which marijuana is derived.&#8221;

Cannabis Becomes A Popular Christmas Gift In California

Christmas

Canadian ministers are considering a measure that would allow Canadians convicted of &#8220;minor pot&#8221; offenses &#8212; like simple possession &#8212; to request an official pardon from the Canadian government now that marijuana is legal across the country.
&#8220;Senior government officials&#8221; <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pardons-pot-posession-expedite-1.4865291">told the CBC, Canada&#8217;s state television network</a>, that they&#8217;re working on laying out a process that would allow those convicted of minor pot offenses to fill out a form and apply directly to the Canadian government to have their convictions officially expunged.
The process, government ministers say, would be similar to the process used to pardon Canadians convicted of engaging in sexual activity with other members of the same sex before Canada passed sweeping anti-discrimination laws.
Before Wednesday, simple possession (up to 30 grams) of marijuana was &#8220;punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and six months in jail,&#8221; but anyone convicted under that law could already apply to have their conviction expunged, through the Parole Board of Canada, after five years passed.
The government is also considering a &#8220;blanket amnesty&#8221; for anyone currently facing a pot conviction.
As of Wednesday at 12:01AM, Canadians over the age of 18 (or 19, depending on province) are legally able to purchase and consume cannabis, and grow their own marijuana plants. They do not need a medical license or doctor&#8217;s note; medicinal marijuana has been legal across Canada for two years. The new law allows for recreational use.
Americans looking to get their hands on Canadian weed should be careful, though. The Federal government told <a href="http://time.com/5427522/canada-marijuana-travel/">TIME Magazine</a> that it will be on the lookout for &#8220;pot tourists&#8221; bringing marijuana from Canada, where it&#8217;s legal, over the border into the United States (where it&#8217;s mostly not).
&#8220;Regardless of Canada&#8217;s legalization of marijuana today, nothing will be changing on the U.S. side or with CBP policies and procedures at the border,&#8221; a spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection told the outlet. &#8220;Marijuana remains a controlled substance under U.S. federal law and it remains illegal.&#8221;
U.S. residents can consume marijuana legally in Canada, however. But as Erik Altieri, the executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana laws (NORML), put it recently: what happens in Canada needs to stay in Canada.

Canada Legalizes Marijuana, Plans To Offer Pardons For &#8216;Minor Pot Convictions&#8217;

Canada

A day will come when people have to issue trigger warnings before anyone in the vicinity utters the word &#8220;stoner,&#8221; should the marijuana industry succeed in striking it from the American lexicon.
According to the <a href="http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/marijuana/sd-me-stoner-story-20180914-story.html#">San Diego Union Tribune</a>, a recent billboard campaign from the cannabis company MedMen has spent $2 million to remind the public that pot smokers come from all walks of life and have feelings, too. Are they &#8220;stoners&#8221;? &#8220;No,&#8221; says the ad, which has the words crossed out, replaced by more dignified titles &#8212; cop, nurse, teacher, scientist, are just a few examples.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Photos of a white-haired grandmother, a schoolteacher, a CEO, a pro athlete &amp; a nurse &#8212; are being splashed across billboards in Los Angeles, Las Vegas &amp; New York. Each photo has the word &#8220;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/stoner?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#stoner</a>&#8221; crossed out and in its place a description of their job. <a href="https://t.co/qkClcJOjIo">https://t.co/qkClcJOjIo</a>
&#8212; GreenZone Properties (@GreenzoneProps) <a href="https://twitter.com/GreenzoneProps/status/1039193522966953984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
Daniel Yi, senior vice president of communications at MedMen, which operates 14 retail pot stores, said the word &#8220;stoner&#8221; carries negative connotations and is used to stereotype marijuana users.
&#8220;That word can be used to negatively stereotype people,&#8221; said Daniel Yi. &#8220;We want to take that stigma away. We want to make marijuana mainstream.&#8221;
This &#8220;Forget Stoner&#8221; campaign debuted earlier this year and is &#8220;part of a larger, on-going push by the cannabis industry to normalize the use of marijuana,&#8221; reports the Tribune. In fact, the campaign to clean up the language relating to pot began shortly after California legalized the drug, as multiple pot retailers began demanding that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/26066/marijuana-industry-stop-using-word-pot-because-it-paul-bois">people stop referring to pot as pot</a>, because even that was offensive.
&#8220;Marijuana still carries a stigma that surfaces with the use of old slang like pot and weed,&#8221; the <a href="https://www.adn.com/alaska-marijuana/2018/01/17/marijuana-industry-gets-blunt-stop-using-the-word-pot/">Anchorage Daily News</a> reported back in January. &#8220;For many, the words evoke an image of lazy, not-so-bright people who puff their lives away.&#8221;
The industry wishes people would start using the more scientifically-minded name &#8220;cannabis&#8221; instead.
&#8220;The image deeply bothers the marijuana industry, which is telling the public &#8212; sometimes gently, sometimes curtly &#8212; that they should use the word cannabis,&#8221; ADN continued. &#8220;That&#8217;s the scientific name for the plant from which marijuana is derived.&#8221;
Chris Coogan, co-founder of Therapy Tonics &amp; Provisions, a La Jolla cannabis drink company, says that more &#8220;sophisticated&#8221; references toward weed will kill the negativity.
&#8220;People are taking a more sophisticated approach to using cannabis, especially in using the right dosing,&#8221; Coogan said. &#8220;We don&#8217;t want people to think of it as negative.&#8221;

The Word ‘Stoner&#8217; Is Offensive, Says Marijuana Industry

Illegal marijuana is not only ruining the minds of America&#8217;s youth, it&#8217;s also ruining America&#8217;s national forests.
According to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/growing-marijuana-illegally-national-forests-ravaging-environment/">CBS News</a>, places like the San Bernardino National Forest (home to Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear) are being polluted with &#8220;thousands of pounds of trash and numerous toxic chemicals&#8221; due to a high presence of illegal pot farms. Last year, federal narcs &#8220;destroyed more than 1.4 million marijuana plants.&#8221;
In San Bernardino, the presence of illegal farms is so dense that &#8220;federal agents searching for marijuana are sometimes lifted from place to place by helicopter.&#8221;
Dan Briot of the U.S. Forest Service, who is overseeing an undercover operation, said the situation has created severe environmental damage.
&#8220;We have a marijuana garden down here with unknown number of plants and as of right now an unknown number of suspects,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The environmental damage is huge.&#8221;
One sting operation on a major crop collected 50 pounds of ready-made pot and at least 5,000 plants. Destroying the plants has proven to be a difficult task since they are fed by an intricate irrigation system and grow beneath the trees.
&#8220;The people growing the marijuana created a makeshift reservoir in the national forest by diverting water from a nearby natural stream,&#8221; reports CBS News. &#8220;The problem almost isn&#8217;t so much the marijuana, it&#8217;s the damage that they&#8217;re doing to the forest.&#8221;
Growers do damage to the forest in various ways, from chopping down vegetation to create their pot farms to using banned pesticides like carbofuran, the use of which creates a &#8220;toxic waste dump.&#8221;
&#8220;Just a small amount of the chemical can kill wildlife and further denigrate an area that includes a campsite filled with trash,&#8221; CBS News laments. &#8220;It&#8217;s the kind of damage done by illegal marijuana cultivation on public lands throughout the West.&#8221;
Approximately 400 illegal farms are found each year, but Dan Briot says that barely skims the surface. For every one that agencies find, there are probably two or three more they missed.

Illegally Grown Marijuana Destroying National Forests

Environmentalism

Experts warned Monday that large numbers of child slaves may be working on cannabis farms in London.
Since 2016, authorities have found 314 illegal cannabis farms in London, according to police data. The most alarming figures, however, come via human trafficking experts, who warn that the number of children used as slave labor on these farms is likely in the thousands.
&#8220;Experts say children are being trafficked from Vietnam and other countries to work in these farms, which are often located in residential properties, and that the scale of the problem has been vastly underestimated,&#8221; <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-crime-slavery/discovery-of-london-cannabis-farms-raises-child-slavery-fears-idUSKCN1L51TT">Reuters reports</a>.
The Australian human rights group, Walk Free, claims that Britain is home to 136,000 slaves. Last year, more than 2,000 child trafficking victims were reportedly referred to British authorities, the highest number on record, the group says.
&#8220;The high number of cannabis farms across London and trafficking of Vietnamese children to work in them is extremely worrying,&#8221; said Jakub Sobik, a spokesman for Anti-Slavery International. &#8220;Potentially thousands of children and young people are being trafficked from Vietnam and exploited by ruthless criminal gangs.&#8221;
In February, the British government came under fire for refusing asylum to an orphan from Vietnam who was trafficked to work in the cannabis industry.
&#8220;It is vital that these children are seen by police as victims first and foremost and given proper support, as too often they are treated as criminals instead,&#8221; Catherine Baker, a police officer at the anti-child trafficking organization ECPAT UK, told Reuters. &#8220;These vulnerable children are exploited in extremely dangerous conditions, with little or no pay and may be physically and psychologically abused by their traffickers.&#8221;
In 2015, Britain passed the Modern Slavery Act to fight human trafficking and put traffickers in jail for life, however; some have questioned if the law has had any effect on the trafficking industry.

SHOCK REPORT: Large Numbers Of Child Slaves May Be Working On Cannabis Farms In London

Children

Human Trafficking

United Kingdom

Vietnam

In a rare showing of bipartisanship, senators from both sides of the aisle have come together in an attempt to legalize the farming and production of hemp.
Politico reports that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has joined forces with none other than Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/04/mcconnell-comer-legalize-hemp-marijuana-kentucky-219156">to pass a bill</a> that would legalize the crop. McConnell had previously joined Rep. James Comer (R-KY) in his attempts to legalize hemp, as he takes an oil made from the crop to alleviate joint pain. Comer has been trying to get hemp legalized since 2012, and received a phone call from McConnell prior to a town hall saying the senator was about to publicly support hemp.
&#8220;He said, &#8216;I just wanted to run that by you to see if you had any problems with it.&#8217; I about fainted, because I never would have dreamed that he would have taken an interest in the issue,&#8221; Comer told Politico.
In April 2018, McConnell introduced a hemp bill, which gained Schumer as a co-sponsor.
The idea of legalizing hemp strikes many as a win for marijuana, though the two plants are very different. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) says that <a href="https://norml.org/laws/hemp-2">hemp contains less than 1% of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)</a>, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. A person would not be able to smoke enough hemp to get high.
Hemp, meanwhile, contains more cannabidiol (CBD), which is used to make oils like the one Comer uses.
The plants also can&#8217;t be grown close together because if the plants breed (marijuana plants are typically female, while hemp plants are typically male), it will dilute the level of THC. Obviously, those growing for psychoactive purposes would not want this, so hiding marijuana plants in hemp fields is not a realistic fear.
Hemp can be made into fiber, food, oil, and many other products, which may be one of the reasons it struggles to be made legal (cotton farmers, for example, have strong lobbyists).
The Drug Enforcement Agency also opposes hemp legalization, though McConnell has tried to change that.
Legalization has been included in the Senate version of the farm bill as an amendment, but not in the House version.

Hemp May Be Legalized Soon

Farming

A Republican candidate for governor of Tennessee made medicinal cannabis a pillar of her campaign and is using a clip of President Trump to push her message in a new ad. 
Beth Harwell, the current Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/26/medical-marijuana-tennessee-beth-harwell-legislation-republican-support/374780002/">came out in support of medicinal cannabis earlier this year</a>, claiming she arrived at her position because it helped her sister in Colorado with a back injury.
<a href="https://bethharwell.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Beth-Harwell_Cannabis-Ad_02E.mp4">In the ad released on Friday</a>, Harwell details her full support.
&#8220;I am the only Republican candidate for governor who supports legalizing doctor-prescribed medicinal cannabis,&#8221; Harwell says. &#8220;Many suffer: veterans, children with seizures, veterans, our elderly. I just know if it were my loved one, I would want this option.&#8221;
Then the ad shows a clip of then-candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally, saying, &#8220;I think medical should happen, right don&#8217;t we agree?&#8221;
Harwell <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2016/03/03/harwell-would-support-trump-if-he-becomes-gop-nominee/81267812/">announced her support for Trump</a> after the Tennessee primary in 2016.
&#8220;President Trump is attempting to hand each state the right to develop and tailor solutions that fit the needs of their citizens,&#8221; Harwell told The Daily Wire. &#8220;President Trump has expressed his support for medical cannabis, and he has repeatedly shown how in tune he is with the electorate and the conservative base.&#8221;
Harwell also noted that she believes medicinal cannabis will become more popular within the Republican Party but &#8220;its current popularity is deeply underestimated and misunderstood.&#8221; She believes that medicinal cannabis is &#8220;a conservative solution to easing the opioid crisis and mitigating a spectrum of pain, not a veil for recreational use.&#8221;
&#8220;Medicinal cannabis is a part of my campaign for governor of Tennessee,&#8221; Harwell added. &#8220;However, it is only one component in a platform built on state issues: the need for a greater emphasis on education, fiscal conservatism, and the safety of citizens.&#8221;
Harwell will be on the ballot for the Republican primary on August 2 against several other candidates.

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