NATIONAL NEWS

THE EMERALD CITY DECRIMINALIZES PSYCHEDELICS

Seattle in October became the largest U.S. city to allow adult cultivation and consumption of mushrooms and other psychedelics, as the Seattle City Council unanimously passed a resolution to decriminalize non-commercial use around natural psychedelic substances.

The Emerald City joins a handful of other enlightened cities in decriminalizing psilocybin and similar substances since Denver kicked off a wave of such changes three years ago. Police will make it among their lowest priorities to arrest or prosecute anyone in activities related to “entheogens,” reports Bloomberg. That category includes natural substances like psilocybin and ayahuasca, often used for spiritual or religious purposes.

Psilocybin, a mind-altering substance found in magic mushrooms, is a Schedule I drug, the most-restrictive category.

Seattle becomes at least the ninth U.S. city to take such landmark action in recent years. It joins Denver, Washington D.C. and Ann Arbor, Michigan, among other cities. In 2020, Oregon became the first state to legalize psilocybin for therapeutic use. C annabis has been in a cultural process of “main- The groundbreaking ceremony Oct. 6 streaming” for awhile now, in New Mexico and nationwide. But the federal government has remained a stubborn roadblock to progress. However, federal officials are finally allowing the plant to be researched. The Bright Green Corporation has obtained a federal permit for a sanctioned marijuana grow in Grants, New Mexico.

“We are one of three, in the United States of America, that are federally legal to handle Schedule I drugs,” said Terry Rafih, chairman of Bright Green Corporation. “We chose Grants, NM because of the climate.”

“If you look at the number of people that are dependent on opioids for many different pains and ailments that we deal with, the product that we are going to be producing out of here and the patents that we have – hopefully – we’re hoping it will eliminate, eventually, opioids. That is our goal.”

The structure of a greenhouse has already been erected at the New Mexico facility. The entire facility will soon be a 115-acre research and manufacturing Cannabis plant. With more than 100 employees, company officials say it’s worth more than $300 million in investments.

64k

marijuana distribution charges were sealed by Virginia in October along with 330,000 simple possession charges.

$1b

in legal marijuana sales were recorded in Nevada for the 2021 fiscal year.

$2.1b

deal makes Florida’s Trulieve the nation’s largest retailer of medical Cannabis, according to an October news release.

nov. 2021

STORIES by STEVE ELLIOTT, AUTHOR OF THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF MARIJUANA

NATURALLY GROWN IN LAKE STEVENS, WA

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