midwest
NATIONAL NEWS
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“Let’s legalize adult use of marijuana.” - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo “The federal government failed Americans with opioids, And we cannot allow that to happen with cannabinoids,” gov. cuomo said in a may 20, 2020 announcement of a legalized marijuana program that could raise $300 million in tax revenue and billions more in economic activity, the new york times reported last month.
TRUMP ADMIN. CUTS OFF FEDERAL FUNDING FOR MENTAL HEALTH OVER MAINE’S MMJ ACCESS
caliFornialeaf.COM
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he federal government will not provide $3.3 million in approved funding for Maine’s mental health programs for kids, because the state allows students to use medicinal Cannabis when authorized. The state got the money as scheduled for the first two years, but recently learned it has been cut off due to a Trump Administration policy change, cutting off states that allow students access to medical Cannabis. Lender Makin, Maine’s Commissioner of Education, said the state has a statutory obligation to permit students to use medical Cannabis if they possess the necessary authorization to do so. Maine won a five year grant in 2018, providing $1.1 million annually for a program called Maine-AWARE, assisting in bolstering mental health support for students. State officials still don’t know if other federal grants will be impacted “by this new and arbitrary requirement,” said Kelli Deveaux, Director of Communications for the state Department of Education.
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Los Angeles County firefighters were injured while working to put out a warehouse explosion last month linked to an illegal butane hash extraction operation, The blast even soared across the street and damaged firetrucks.
June 2020
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23-year-old Portage, Ind. woman is facing charges for driving while under the influence, resisting arrest and possessing drugs, after allegedly throwing a joint out the window of her car at the feet of a police officer, reports the NWI Times. Police claimed they stopped Evelyn Vann’s vehicle THE OFFICER shortly before 1 a.m. on May 16 after watching it swerve - nearly SAID HE SMELLED striking another vehicle and a concrete pillar. WEED AS HE The officer said he smelled weed as he approached her vehicle and APPROACHED saw a marijuana cigarette near the vehicle’s gear shift, according to HER VEHICLE. police. Vann reportedly denied having any Cannabis in the car, and when questioned about the joint, admitted it was marijuana and threw it out the passenger window where the officer was standing. “I advised Miss Vann she should not be littering,” the officer said. Vann reportedly told police she had drank “a fifth” of liquor that night. She is accused of being verbally abusive with officers, challenging them “to take off her handcuffs and they would see,” according to the police report. the south
LOUISIANA HOUSE APPROVES MMJ FOR ANY DEBILITATING CONDITION
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policy & law
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LITTERING LEADS TO ARREST AND CHARGES FOR JOINT TOSSER
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percent of Washington state residents believe that Cannabis legalization was a success, according to YouGov, an international research data and analytics group based in London.
ouisiana’s House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved bills to expand the state’s medical Cannabis program by including patients with more conditions, and allowing medical dispensaries to deliver Cannabis products directly to patients’ homes, reports Marijuana Moment. The legislation, passed in May 2020, lets doctors issue medical mar“IT’S SOMETHING THAT DESERVES ijuana recommendations for all debilitating conditions, rather than the TO BE DONE,” short list of specific maladies under the previous law. REP. BAGLEY SAID. Both bills were sponsored by Rep. Larry Bagley, a Republican. Bagley’s medical expansion bill was approved 76-15, and the delivery legislation passed 80-15. “It’s something that deserves to be done,” Rep. Bagley said. “I knew that it was bipartisan. I never thought it had a chance to fail unless I messed up somewhere in the presentation.”
east coast
MASS. POT SHOPS WILL OPEN BACK UP
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ecreational Cannabis shops in Massachusetts will be allowed to reopen on May 25 after a two month mandated closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, state officials announced on May 18. The shops had been deemed ‘nonessential’ in March, when Gov. Charlie Baker listed them GOV. BAKER SAID as such in his initial business closure AT THE TIME order. Medical dispensaries, however, THAT REOPENING RECREATIONAL were allowed to remain open and were encouraged to use curbside pickup POT SHOPS WAS to limit contact between patients and employees. A “NONSTARTER.” Gov. Baker said at the time that reopening recreational pot shops was a “nonstarter” - fearing the dispensaries would lure visitors from surrounding states at a time when people were being encouraged to remain home to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
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Cannabis plants and 300 pounds of weed were seized on May 19 by Lake County, FL deputies in what they hailed “the largest marijuana bust in Lake County history.”
$250k $31m is the fee for a marijuana dispensary permit in Rhode Island under new legislation released by the Rhode Island General Assembly. Until 2018, the fee was only $5,000. There are currently just three dispensaries open for the whole state.
was the value of a scuttled deal for Colorado-based pot retail chain Strawberry Fields to be acquired by vertically integrated chain Schwazze, before talks fell through in May 2020.
STORIES by STEVE ELLIOTT, AUTHOR OF THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF MARIJUANA
