|
This is WeedWeek, because cannabis news is everywhere.
In case you were wondering, this newsletter is not affiliated with Weed Week PDX, an event series in Portland this week.
Lots of news:
Politics
Speculation continues about what anti-pot U.S. Attorney General nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions could mean for the legal marijuana industry. The Associated Press says cannabis has the upper hand
but could still collapse. Fortune says smaller companies, already dealing with larger competitors,
can expect more pain.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee say Sessions will get an
contentious confirmation hearing.
An op-ed in the Wall Street Journal says Sessions is
not a racist, and in fact championed the end of sentencing discrepancies between cocaine, associated with affluent whites, and crack, which devastated inner cities. President Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act into law in 2010. Sessions later said that by granting clemency retroactively to non-violent drug offenders, Obama
was abusing the law.
D.C. pot-activists were
received warmly at Sessions office but didn’t leave feeling especially reassured. Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D.-N.Y.) aides weren’t as welcoming. "So typical that you are taking this less seriously than Republicans," an activist said. The whole piece, in USNews, is worth a read, and funny too.
President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Rep. Tom Price (R- Ga.), is
another staunch prohibitionist who, if confirmed, would have the authority to interfere with state-legal MED access.
I wrote a story for California Sunday about efforts in Oakland to
create a diverse cannabis industry. The photos are by Pulitzer winner Preston Gannaway.
Canada’s legalization push is getting complicated. The much-anticipated
task force report on legalization has been delayed. Meanwhile activists
wonder why shops are getting raided if the government plans to legalize. For more
see here.
Bill Blair a Canadian government official overseeing the issue appeared at a “
cash-for-access” fundraiser with cannabiz leaders that may have violated Liberal Party ethics guidelines. Blair
defended recent raids saying, "The only system for control is the existing legal regime. And we're a society of laws," he says.
President Obama
discussed legalization at length in an interview with Rolling Stone, conducted the day after the election:
I’ve been very clear about my belief that we should try to discourage substance abuse. And I am not somebody who believes that legalization is a panacea. But I do believe that treating this as a public-health issue, the same way we do with cigarettes or alcohol, is the much smarter way to deal with it. Typically how these classifications are changed are not done by presidential edict but are done either legislatively or through the DEA. As you might imagine, the DEA, whose job it is historically to enforce drug laws, is not always going to be on the cutting edge about these issues.
[Laughs] What about you? Are you gonna get on the cutting edge?
Look, I am now very much in lame-duck status. And I will have the opportunity as a private citizen to describe where I think we need to go. But in light of these referenda passing, including in California, I've already said, and as I think I mentioned on Bill Maher's show, where he asked me about the same issue, that it is untenable over the long term for the Justice Department or the DEA to be enforcing a patchwork of laws, where something that's legal in one state could get you a 20-year prison sentence in another. So this is a debate that is now ripe, much in the same way that we ended up making progress on same-sex marriage. There's something to this whole states-being-laboratories-of-democracy and an evolutionary approach. You now have about a fifth of the country where this is legal.
|
|
After some tough decisions, I'm thrilled to introduce Carolyn Lipka:
Hi! My name is Carolyn Lipka and I’m a writer and comedian living in Los Angeles. My work has been in Noisey, Interview and Paper Magazine. I’ve been a medical cannabis patient since moving to LA in 2014 and a recreational user since 2008; I’ve smoked it all from extremely dirt weed in the suburbs of New Jersey to Wifi OG from an upscale dispensary in Los Angeles. The comedy and cannabis community have significant overlap (from Getting Doug With High to Broad City) and I’m happy to continue the trend. My interests include any edible that features dark chocolate and a dense indica heavy hybrid. I love testing out new weed products and my proximity to a huge sector of the industry has afforded me the opportunity to really plunge into trying every vape, bong, grinder and elaborate dab blow torch I can get my hands on. I graduated from Yale University in 2014 where I did extensive research on the cold war making me the world’s dorkiest weed critic. Follow me on twitter for humor @clipka_, on instagram for selfies @clipka or snapchat for high thoughts @carolynlipka.
Carolyn will be reviewing accessories and other lifestyle products that may appeal to WeedWeek readers. She will not review submitted cannabis products.
Got anything you think Carolyn should try? Send it to:
Carolyn Lipka
WeedWeek
3154 Glendale Blvd #122
Los Angeles CA 90039
****
Criminal Justice
Singapore executed
Chijioke Stephen Obioha by hanging. A Nigerian national and football player, Obioha was found with 2.5 kg (5.5 pounds) of marijuana in 2007. According to Singapore law, anyone with more than 500 g is presumed to be trafficking.
Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, known as “The Punisher” for his advocacy of vigilante murders,
threatened his human rights activist critics.
Culture
Seantrel Henderson, a Buffalo Bills offensive lineman, may
sue the NFL over his second cannabis suspension of the season. Henderson’s Crohn’s disease forced him to have two and a half feet of his colon removed.
The Bay Area has the country’s
highest concentration of cannabis users in the country.
My friend Reilly Capps wrote a story for The Rooster about “
Stoners anonymous.”
A survey found that cannabis is attracting an
increasingly upscale clientele.
Anita Thompson, widow of Hunter S. Thompson, wants to market the gonzo journalist’s personal cannabis strains.
Skepticism abounds.
The founder of Healing Church, a Catholicism-inflected pot “ministry” in Rhode Island, is involved in a
bizarre legal situation. If I’m reading this correctly, Anne Armstrong had a vision of cannabis leaves on a six-foot replica of the Virgin of Guadeloupe – an image said to have appeared on a Mexican peasant’s poncho in 1531. Armstrong later obtained and then lost custody of the replica. She also faces a possession charge.
The Stranger put together a
cannabis gift guide. It includes weed filled advent calendars and Christmas ornaments. The piece also cites scripture to prove Jesus was a stoner.
Country music legend Loretta Lynn
smoked pot for the first time at 84, for her glaucoma. She didn’t like it, but defended Willie Nelson and the right to do it.
A woman in Greensboro, N.C., was
“shocked,” in a bad way, when someone mistakenly mailed her four pounds of weed.
Want to reach a devoted audience of top cannabis professionals? Advertise in WeedWeek. Contact Adrienne Nascimento at
weedweekads@gmail.com
for details. There's a 40% discount on ads placed by Friday November 4.
Bye,
Alex
Advertising policy:
Advertisers have no influence on WeedWeek's editorial content or on the content of articles that I write for other publications. In an effort to replicate the separation of business and editorial operations practiced at reputable news organizations, a WeedWeek salesperson will be responsible for all sales-related contact with advertisers and will work, as much as possible, without input from me. Any future advertising queries sent to me will be referred to a salesperson. In the newsletter, all ads and other forms of paid content will be clearly marked. I will not approach potential advertisers to solicit business, and reserve the right to reject ads if they present a conflict of interest, the appearance of a conflict of interest or for any other reason.
alexhalperin.com
All rights reserved.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|