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WNBA STAR GRINER RELEASED BY RUSSIA IN PRISONER SWAP

Russia has finally released Brittney Griner, the WNBA player held for months on marijuana charges. Russian authorities released Griner in December in a one-for-one prisoner swap for international arms dealer Viktor Bout.

President Joe Biden approved the one-for-one exchange agreement with Moscow, according to sources familiar with the deal. The swap took place in the United Arab Emirates.

Griner was convicted by Russian courts of possession of a small amount of hash oil in a medical marijuana vape cartridge she carried with her during a trip for a basketball game in Russia.

To secure Griner’s release, the president ordered Bout freed and returned to Russia. Biden signed the commutation order cutting short Bout’s 25-year federal prison sentence.

Griner told fans she will play in the upcoming WBNA season with her team, the Phoenix Mercury.

“Your letters helped me to not lose hope during a time where I was full of regret and vulnerable in ways I could have never imagined,” said Griner, who wrote a heartfelt note on her Instagram Dec. 21, 2022.

“Because of you I never lost hope,” she said. ”My family is whole and now... we are fortunate to get to spend the holidays together.” T wo New Hampshire lawmakers, one Republican and the other Democrat, share a common interest: legalizing marijuana.

House Majority Leader Jason Osborne (R) and Minority Leader Matt Wilhelm (D) joined forces to file a bill to legalize adult-use Cannabis for the 2023 session.

The bipartisan measure would allow adults 21 and up to possess or give away up to four ounces of Cannabis, and also clear records of past weed possession offenses. In addition, it taxes marijuana sales at 8.5%. The bill would set up a new market with state-approved retailers to sell pot, reports Benzinga.

The new legislation allows cultivation of up to six plants, including three of which may be mature, and possession of marijuana produced at home.

Adate hasn’t been announced yet for retail marijuana sales in New York. And that slow rollout is creating a Cannabis conundrum, reports NBC New York.

Local growers were awarded the first licenses. And they bet the farm on legal weed. But now they have half a billion dollars worth of marijuana, ready to sell, without any buyers.

The first harvest for the state’s pot pioneers came with high expectations. But now, excitement has turned to fear for the 200-plus licensed Cannabis growers in the Empire State.

“It’s terrifying, because we just don’t know,” said Colin Brogan, who also works for Hudson River Farms in Dutchess County.

Stuck inside a secure storage room for weeks now is almost 2,000 pounds of fragrant weed. And that’s just this one farm alone. Nonetheless, there’s just no place to sell it.

“Until we have that final piece of the supply chain – the dispensaries that can actually sell to a consumer – everybody’s kind of in the same boat, and we’re just sitting around, waiting to sell it to somebody,” said Hudson River Farms’ Alex Keenan.

GLOBAL

COPS CLAIM RATS ATE HALF TON OF WEED

Police in India claim rats ate more than a half ton of seized Cannabis stored as evidence, reports CNN. The local cops admitted to a judge they can’t come up with the confiscated weed.

Police claimed the rampaging rodents ate 581 kilograms of marijuana stored at the Shergarh and Highway stations, reports India Today. Cops were responding to a court order asking them to cough up the marijuana they recovered in a case.

The prosecution said more than 700 kilograms of Cannabis stored in stations across Mathura could have been devoured by the stoned rodents.

This was (allegedly) not the first time the marauding party-rats had struck. The judge hearing the case noted Mathura police had already blamed the libertine rodents for destroying a total of more than 500 kilos of marijuana.

3

states – Arkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota – rejected adult-use Cannabis in the November 2022 elections.

percent is the amount that Cannabis arrests decrease after legalization in states which have already decriminalized.

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homes on one single block in Portland, Ore., were involved in untaxed marijuana cultivation.

THE NEWS IN BRIEF ADULT-USE SALES ENJOY BRISK FIRST WEEK IN RHODE ISLAND

RHODE ISLAND’S Cannabis shops saw brisk business during their first week of operation under adult-use legalization allowing retail sales, according to a state agency.

The state’s six licensed Cannabis dispensaries collectively sold more than $1.63 million worth of marijuana from Dec. 1 to Dec. 7, according to the Department of Business Regulation. About half of those sales were for adult-use marijuana, for an estimated $786,000, reports the Washington Examiner. The remaining $845,400 consisted of sales to medical Cannabis patients, the agency said.

The busy sales bode well for the state.

Rhode Island will take in an estimated $133,600 in taxes – about $23,500 of which will go to towns and cities where the weed stores are located.

The Rhode Island Office of Management and Budget is projecting $5.9 million in marijuana tax revenue in the current fiscal year, ending June 30, 2023.

KANSAS LAWMAKERS WILL INTRODUCE MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

IT’S BEEN a long (and so far at least, fruitless) journey for medical marijuana advocates in Kansas. Now, state lawmakers say they’re ready to take yet another shot at legalizing medicinal Cannabis, reports KCUR.

Republican Sen. Rob Olson chairs the 2022 Special Committee on Medical Marijuana. Olson said he plans to introduce a bill at the beginning of the January legislative session. He said passing legislation out of committee would be too difficult – so he plans to introduce it in the Senate as an alternative approach.

He encouraged lawmakers in the House to introduce similar legislation.

“I think that’s probably the best way forward,” said Olson.

VIRAL TIKTOKER “DOGGFACE” ARRESTED IN IDAHO

NATHAN APODACA, a TikToker who went viral for skateboarding videos that were set to iconic Fleetwood Mac tracks, was arrested by Idaho State Police in December on charges of possessing marijuana. Apodaca was driving with an expired registration tag when the police pulled him over. Officers ended up finding THC gummies in the vehicle and took Apodaca into custody. He was released on a $600 bond.

NEW YORK GROWERS HAVE WEED BACKSTOCK

“The bipartisan measure would allow adults 21 and up to possess or give away up to four ounces of Cannabis...”

east coast

“Stuck inside a secure storage room for weeks now is almost 2,000 pounds of fragrant weed.”

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debilitating medical conditions qualify patients in Mississippi for medical marijuana.

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of Missouri’s 322 licensed medical marijuana dispensaries applied for adult-use sales permits.

$14m

in fines were forgiven as part of Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s pardons of 45,000 marijuana convictions.