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Editorial
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Congress
extended the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment
, which blocks the Justice Department from prosecuting state-legal MED businesses for two weeks, as part of the budget deal. It’s not clear whether the amendment will be re-extended.
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Repeal of industry-despised tax rule 280E didn’t make it into the Senate version of the Republican tax bill, but Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R)
hopes to get it into the final version
.
A Colorado dispensary is
suing the IRS
claiming 280E taxed them twice.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions (R), held a
closed-door meeting with legalization opponents
yesterday. Attendees included Ronald Reagan Attorney General Edwin Meese III; Kevin Sabet, head of Smart Approaches to Marijuana; Harvard Medical School professor and member of President Trump’s drug and opioid abuse commission Bertha Madras; Robert DuPont, former head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse; and David Evans, executive director of the Drug Free Schools Coalition. It’s not clear if Sessions has met with legalization supporters as attorney general.
Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to
regulate California’s largest REC market
. The new rules promise extra support to entrepreneurs with past drug convictions and those in areas deemed most affected by the war on drugs. But there are tight zoning restrictions as well. For more
see here
and
here
.
Maryland
named a health system CEO
as head of the state’s MED regulator. The previous director, a former state trooper, was the second to resign in two years.
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A pesticide-related lawsuit against Canadian MED producer Organigram, is
expanding its scope
to claim the company’s product made people ill. The company said it has not received any evidence of sickened patients.
After October wildfires destroyed dozens of NorCal cannabis farms, wildfires in southern California
threatened to taint
cannabis grown in Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo counties.
Cannabis biotech firm, GW Pharmaceuticals plans to
raise more than $250M
from American depository shares.
Aside from lawyer David Welch, the new owners of L.A.Weekly
appear not to have
ties to the cannabis industry.
The Hemp Industries Association is
suing the DEA
, for classifying CBD as a controlled substance. Arguments before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals are scheduled for February.
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The idea that certain drugs prime users to use more drugs, known as “
common liability theory,
” has breathed new life into the idea of gateway drugs.
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Thank You to WeedWeek's Sustaining Patrons:
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Pamela Hadfield
HelloMD: The largest online community of health and wellness cannabis consumers
Spencer Vodnoy
Affiliations: CA State Bar; Board Member, Adelanto Growers Association
Critical Mind, Inc. is a Medical Cannabis Cultivation and Manufacturing Facility located in Adelanto, CA. Providing the highest quality Cannabis products. Compliance without Compromise!
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In video of a Q&A session with Justice Department interns, AG Jeff Sessions
mocked someone
who noted, correctly, that guns kill far more Americans than marijuana, which doesn’t cause fatal overdoses.
A federal trial began for a Kansas couple
seeking $7 million after a 2012 raid
on their home. The couple, both former CIA employees, claim local authorities found tea leaves in their trash and falsely called it marijuana to obtain a warrant.
The Missouri Supreme Court
ruled against a grower
who argued the state’s right to farm law allowed cannabis growing. He’ll spend four months in prison.
In Adelanto, Calif., local authorities
raided an illegal extraction lab
at a locally prominent cannabis business. It came shortly after the FBI arrested Adelanto’s Mayor Pro-Tem on bribery and attempted arson charges.
Honolulu police
returned two guns
after re-evaluating its policy on firearms access for MED patients. Delaware law enforcement
wants to prohibit
cannabis users from buying guns.
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There’s
further intrigue
after the Euflora dispensary team camped outside a city building for 27 days but failed to secure the permit for Denver’s 2018 4/20 rally. Michael “Smokey” Ortiz who entered the building through a different door and beat the Euflora team by steps to the relevant desk, is reportedly friends with last year's organizer who was fined and banned from hosting future rallies after last year’s left a mess.
A lawyer for last year's organizer said his client owns the 4/20 Rally.
“It’s our property, we invented it,” he said. “Nobody else can just steal our trademark, our intellectual property, and do a rally.” Stay tuned.
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Bye,
Alex
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