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Tag: recreational marijuana

  • Michigan Company Sells Books, Gifts Marijuana, In Legal Gray Area

    Michigan Company Sells Books, Gifts Marijuana, In Legal Gray Area

    Blaze Michigan’s book bundles come with a special “edible” gift.

    While marijuana users in Michigan must wait for legal marijuana shops to open their doors, one store has found a clever workaround—gifting marijuana edibles to people who purchase book bundles. 

    Blaze Michigan sells bundles of books, which can be picked up in person or delivered. Consumers purchase the books, and if they are 21 or older they’ll receive a free gift. With bundle names like the Brownie Edible Book Bundle ($65), Full Vape Book Bundle ($90) and Mary Jane Flower Books ($80), it’s easy to guess what the free gift might be. 

    “You’re buying gifts, and then the gift is unknown. We try to hint at what the gift is going to be, by how we name our book bundles,” Blaze Michigan owner Stephanie Swearengin told WSBT 22. 

    The bundles are a big hit, Swearengin said. “Pretty much demand has been hard to keep up with for the most part.”

    Michigan became the first midwestern state to legalize recreational cannabis in 2018, but until shops begin opening in 2020, there are no outlets to legally purchase marijuana.

    Swearengin believes she has found a workaround, as she explained on Blaze Michigan’s website. 

    “We’ve talked to multiple lawyers about the issue and as far as we can tell it’s just a large gray area,” she said. “Just like medical dispensaries. I mean with the state and the federal law, it’s already a gray area. Even though medical marijuana has been legal, they can still get shut down by the feds. So if you ask me it’s all kind of gray.”

    However, Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz was not convinced that Blaze Michigan’s business model is legal. “People engaging in this activity are definitely subjecting themselves to potential prosecution.”

    Despite the semantics, the intent of businesses like Blaze Michigan is clear, Fitz said. 

    “Certainly when you’re gifting marijuana as part of the incentive of a transaction, that can very easily be interpreted that you are doing it for profit,” he said. “It’s wise for people to follow the law. Tread softly and be cautious. The step you make may end up in causing you to be in court resulting in a civil infraction, a misdemeanor, or even a felony conviction.”

    In 2017, a Massachusetts store was shut down for charging an admission free and then distributing free marijuana gifts to consumers. Recreational marijuana had been legalized in the state, but shops that could legally sell pot were not yet open. 

    “He can no longer do business like he’s doing right now—taking a cover at the door, leaving with a gift of marijuana,” the local police chief said at the time. “It’s not legal in the state to do that. He’s not a licensed distributor of marijuana. That’s yet to come.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • NYPD Gears Up To Address Pot Legalization Downside

    NYPD Gears Up To Address Pot Legalization Downside

    The city’s police commissioner is sending NYPD officials to other pot-legal states to gauge what the city is in for when marijuana becomes legal.  

    The New York Police Department is gearing up for the effects of legal marijuana without knowing exactly what those effects will be. The top of the NYPD chain has some specific concerns for the future of pot in New York: underage consumption and dangerous marijuana grow houses.

    As reported in The New York Post, NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill told radio host John Catsimatidis’ AM 970 show, The Cats Roundtable, “We have to make sure that we’re able to address people that are under 21 that are using marijuana to make sure there are sanctions for that and also to keep young people safe.”

    Colorado has made pot smoking legal, and data from possible changes in use is beginning to be compiled and distributed. The CDPHE Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey reported that underage marijuana use did not increase after pot was made legal. However, Colorado kids felt their peers were using much more marijuana than before the law passed.

    Commissioner O’Neill is taking the reigns in investigating the possible ramifications for legal pot in New York. “I’m concerned about the gray and the black markets for marijuana,” O’Neill said. “We sent people from the NYPD out to Colorado and Washington and [California] to take a look at what’s happening out there.”

    Governor Cuomo has said he still has questions and concerns about legalizing marijuana for recreational use. Cuomo is putting his trust in the process of working with a panel of experts, including law enforcement and health officials who have determined that legalization can be safe for the city. Governor Cuomo’s position on legalized pot has been colored by watching the neighboring states of Massachusetts and New Jersey legalize marijuana or begin the process.

    O’Neill remains concerned. “There’s a proposal out there that people are going to be able to grow their own marijuana in their houses,” he said. “We really really have to get this right.”

    O’Neill noted the 2016 explosion of a marijuana grow house in the Bronx that killed a fire chief when he was hit in the head with debris from the explosion. Commissioner O’Neill cited this house fire and subsequent death as a factor “that makes people unsafe.”

    O’Neill also worried about the need to retire marijuana-trained drug dogs and the concurrent difficulty of detecting THC among stoned drivers. “I’m concerned about driving while under the influence of marijuana,” the New York Post reported the commissioner saying. “Right now there is no instant test.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Pot Legalization A Priority for 2019, Gov. Cuomo Says

    Pot Legalization A Priority for 2019, Gov. Cuomo Says

    Cuomo has positioned legalization as a key factor in “the most progressive agenda this state has ever seen, period.”

    The state of New York inched closer to major marijuana legalization and reform when Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that recreational marijuana should be legalized “once and for all” in early 2019.

    Speaking on December 17, 2018 and again in his inaugural address on January 1, 2019, Cuomo included legalization, as well as an end to “needless and unjust criminal convictions” for possession, as part of his administration’s agenda for the first 100 days of the new year. 

    Cuomo’s latest push for legalization comes at a time when support is reaching large and diverse numbers: Half of metro-area New York residents and the New York City mayor, Bill de Blasio, have expressed support for such a measure. The decision has far-ranging implications for the state – as WABC in New York noted, City Comptroller Scott Stringer estimated that the state stands to reap approximately $1.3 million in annual tax revenue from legalization.

    For his part, Cuomo has positioned legalization as a key factor in “the most progressive agenda this state has ever seen, period,” and one that includes justice reform, gun control, affordable health care and increased spending on the state’s infrastructure, and which can be viewed as rebuke of the Trump administration. 

    “When they write the history books and ask what did we do – in the face of anger and division, when people were disillusioned, let New York’s answer be that in this defining moment we brought healing and light and hope and progress and action,” said Cuomo in prepared remarks during his inaugural speech. “That New York led on legalizing recreational marijuana, bringing justice and new economic opportunity, not for rich corporations, but for the poor communities that paid too high a price for too long.”

    District Attorney Gonzalez’s actions in Brooklyn echoed Cuomo’s message of progressive reform by asking for the removal of 28 past convictions for misdemeanor possession charges. The court also vacated 1,400 open warrants for individuals who missed court appearances for marijuana possession charges. 

    “I do not believe these cases keep us safer,” Gonzalez said. “They cause a lot of distrust in our justice system. We all here know there is a tremendous racial disparity in respect to how these cases have been enforced in the past.”

    Gonzalez added that the decision to clear the convictions does not indicate a blanket response to all such past charges but instead reflects the growing legal attitude towards such cases. “It’s a little unfair to say we’re no longer prosecuting these cases, but to have these folks carry these convictions for the rest of their lives [would be unfair],” said Gonzalez. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • How Cannabis Sales Are Affecting Canada’s Employment Rate

    How Cannabis Sales Are Affecting Canada’s Employment Rate

    A new report suggests that the recent legalization of cannabis in Canada has made a positive impact on unemployment rates. 

    Canada’s unemployment rate is the lowest since 1976 – and the country may have the legalization of cannabis to thank.

    According to new data from Statistics Canada, the legalization and growth of the cannabis industry have played a role in the drop in unemployment.

    High Times pointed out that the unemployment rate decreased by 0.2% in November, bringing the rate to 5.6%. In six different Canadian provinces, the rates increased, and the report stated that “private sector jobs” grew the most while public sector jobs and self-employment remained fairly unchanged. Cannabis was legalized in Canada in October. 

    Part of the report focused specifically on the cannabis industry and stated that in November, the month following legalization, there were 10,400 jobs related to the industry. In comparison, last November there were 7,500 fewer jobs in the industry, meaning that in one year, the jobs more than doubled. 

    More specifically, 58% of those jobs were in agriculture, while the other 42% ranged from educational services to health care to retail. Those working in the industry were also making more wage-wise than average, at about $29.58 per hour in comparison to the average of $27.03.

    The report also states that men were more likely to work in the industry than women, as men made up about 79% of jobs in the cannabis industry. 

    Alison McMahon, founder and CEO of Cannabis at Work, tells The Growth Op that the biggest demand for jobs is coming from licensed producers needing assistance with growing, cultivation, quality checks, post-production and order fulfillment. And the market will likely keep growing, as McMahon adds that “we expect to see a lot of jobs emerge around extraction, formulation and product R&D (research and development).” 

    In fact, there is even a new job engine dedicated solely to cannabis-related jobs. Brian Sekandi, the co-founder of Careers Cannabis, agrees that more and more research related jobs will be emerging over time. He also tells The Growth Op that he thinks jobs will be opening in the marketing of cannabis as more products hit the market.

    “With the massive restrictions on brand marketing and advertising the cannabis industry is faced with now, the big challenge is on how to educate consumers – particularly those who may be new cannabis users – about the different types of cannabis that are available to them and what the effects are of using cannabis,” Sekandi said. 

    Sekandi added that as of now, those working in the industry in Canada are ahead of much of the world.

    “Things are only going to go up from here for people gaining skills and experience in the Canadian cannabis industry,” he said. “The trend is definitely toward more liberalized cannabis laws being introduced around the world, so anybody who starts working in the industry in Canada today has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be at the ground floor of a global industry and to help shape it for years to come.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • How Does Recreational Marijuana Use Affect Your Sex Life?

    How Does Recreational Marijuana Use Affect Your Sex Life?

    A new report found that cannabis use can affect your sex life in a variety of unexpected ways. 

    Changes to marijuana policy are sweeping through the country, but experts say that legalizing weed could have unintended consequences where Americans least expect them: in the bedroom. 

    According to a report by The Verge, cannabis use can lead to people having more sex and using contraceptives less often, so much that legalization has increased the birth rate by about 16 births a year per 10,000 women of childbearing age. It can also change the quality of the sex people are having, although whether pot will make your experience better or worse is a toss-up. 

    “It’s not like the more, the better,” said gynecologist Melanie Bone, who prescribes medical marijuana for patients who have low libido or trouble orgasming. “Maybe some amount will relax you and make you more open to sensations and less inhibited with your body, but if you get super stoned, you’re not going to be able to concentrate.”

    Lubes infused with cannabis claim to increase pleasure, but Bone said that is open to debate. 

    “For many of the lubes, is it more hype or more true response?” she said. “The only way to know is to study it,” something that is difficult to do because of the on-going federal prohibition on pot. 

    One study found that for men, cannabis use is linked with difficulty climaxing, and another study found that it can lower sperm quality. However, another study found that marijuana use is associated with more sexual partners and that it doesn’t seem to affect sexual functioning.

    Michael Eisenberg, a urologist at Stanford University, found that women who use marijuana have 34% more sex than women who don’t smoke, and men who use pot saw their sex life expand 22%. Although people who use marijuana might just have more sex than people who don’t, researchers still found an increase tied to use.

    “The interesting thing about the study is that we also were able to look at all different demographic groups, based on race and ethnicity, marital status, and education level,” Eisenberg said. “And across all groups, you saw the same relationship, so it’s not like this association is being driven by one particular group.”

    In addition, a working paper published last month found that more and riskier sex associated with cannabis use is driving up birth rates. 

    “Our novel results reveal that birth rates increased after the passage of a [medical marijuana] law corresponding to increased frequency of sexual intercourse, decreased purchase of condoms and suggestive evidence on decreased condom use during sex,” the authors wrote. “More sex and less contraceptive use may be attributed to behavioral responses such as increased attention to the immediate hedonic effects of sexual contact, delayed discounting and ignoring costs associated with risky sex.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Mexico May Become Third Nation To Legalize Marijuana

    Mexico May Become Third Nation To Legalize Marijuana

    A new bill submitted by Mexico’s president-elect would allow individuals to grow up to 20 plants and produce up to 17 ounces of marijuana each year.

    Mexico has a good chance of becoming the third nation in the world to legalize marijuana for adult use—after Uruguay and Canada.

    President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who will take office on Dec. 1, has submitted legislation this month seeking to legalize marijuana for adult use.

    The country legalized marijuana for medical use in June 2017—but the law limits medical marijuana products to “cannabis derivatives” that contain less than 1% THC.

    The bill submitted by Lopez Obrador would allow individuals to grow up to 20 plants and produce up to 17 ounces of marijuana each year. The law would allow public smoking and growing cooperatives, but not edible products.

    This comes after Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled in October that a ban on marijuana for adult use is unconstitutional, declaring, “The effects caused by marijuana do not justify an absolute prohibition on its consumption.”

    According to political analysts, the bill has a good shot at passing, possibly in 2019. Lopez-Obrador has been a vocal critic of the “war on drugs” approach, and promised to cut down violent crimes in the country.

    According to the LA Times, there were 31,174 recorded homicide victims in 2017—the highest number in 20 years when this data was first collected. This year is on track to surpass that number.

    Lopez Obrador’s political party, Morena, has control of both houses of Congress. And the president-elect’s interior minister and former Supreme Court justice, Olga Sanchez Cordero, has criticized Mexico’s “prohibitionist” drug policy and co-wrote the proposed marijuana bill.

    According to the legislation, 62% of Mexico’s prison population in 2012 were there on drug charges, a majority of them marijuana-related.

    The recent high-profile trial of one of Mexico’s most notorious drug kingpins exemplifies the extent of the drug trade there.

    The trial of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera began in Brooklyn, New York on Nov. 13. The former Sinaloa cartel boss was extradited to the United States after escaping from maximum-security prison twice in Mexico.

    The trial is unveiling the inner workings of the Sinaloa cartel. Jesus Zambada Garcia, its official accountant, testified that in an average year, the drug trafficking organization would transact “billions” of dollars in shipments.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Mexico's Supreme Court Strikes Down Recreational Marijuana Ban

    Mexico's Supreme Court Strikes Down Recreational Marijuana Ban

    Though limited in scope, the decision was considered a victory for pro-cannabis groups.

    Lawmakers in Mexico opened a door to marijuana legalization by declaring an absolute ban on recreational use a violation of constitutional rights.

    The country’s top court declared on October 31 that it had found in favor of two amparos (or legal injunctions) against the ban, which when added to three previous challenges, resulting in the five amparos required to change national law.

    The country’s top court ruled in all five cases that the “effects caused by marijuana do not justify an absolute prohibition on its consumption.”

    Though limited in scope, the decision was considered a victory for pro-cannabis groups, and was soon followed by legislation submitted to Congress that would legalize recreational marijuana use in the country.

    The Mexican government has maintained a hardline stance towards marijuana legalization for decades. Senator Olga Sanchez, who is President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s choice for interior minister and the author of the legalization bill, suggested that this approach can be considered a contributing factor in the deaths of more than 230,000 individuals in Mexico, victims of the country’s decades-long war against drug cartels. 

    The first significant effort towards legalization came with the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling, which allowed eight-year-old Graciela Elizalde to use cannabis as treatment for a severe form of epilepsy.

    The second amparo came the same year, when the court granted four members of the Mexican Society for Responsible and Tolerant Self-Consumption the right to grow, transport and use marijuana. Medical marijuana was approved in the country in 2017, though health professionals are only allowed to prescribe cannabis oil with less than 1% THC.

    Pro-cannabis groups marshaled their forces to present three more legal challenges, and passed one before ruling on the final two on October 31 and establishing jurisprudence. In its statement, the Supreme Court noted that its decision did not allow for unrestricted or unregulated use of marijuana; more importantly, the ruling only allowed those individuals that filed the legal challenges to cultivate and consume marijuana. 

    Senator Sanchez’s bill, submitted this week, proposes that licensed companies could grow and sell marijuana, and individuals would be allowed to grow plants for private use—though in the latter case, approximately one pound would be allowed per year.

    Exactly what form the bill will take once it is passed into the hands of Mexico’s Congress remains unclear, but Supreme Court Judge Arturo Zaldlívar said that the move towards legalization is inevitable.

    “The world is going in that direction,” he said. “I think that when we announced the first approval of cannabis amparo, it was very polemic, very controversial. But time and history are proving that we were right, fortunately.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Low-Level Weed Cases Not A Priority, Michigan's Top Prosecutors Say

    Low-Level Weed Cases Not A Priority, Michigan's Top Prosecutors Say

    Michigan voters approved a ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana last week.

    On the heels of a successful ballot measure that legalized recreational weed in Michigan, prosecutors last week put out a statement clarifying that pot is still illegal on a federal level – but they won’t make weed cases a priority. 

    “Marijuana continues to be an illegal drug under federal law,” Matthew Schneider and Andrew Birge, U.S. Attorneys for the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan, wrote in a statement Thursday, according to the Detroit Free Press. “Because we have taken oaths to protect and defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States, we will not unilaterally immunize anyone from prosecution for violating federal laws simply because of the passage of Proposal One.”

    But – following the lead of federal prosecutors elsewhere – the duo said they wouldn’t make throwing resources at marijuana enforcement a priority. 

    “Our offices have never focused on the prosecution of marijuana users or low-level offenders, unless aggravating factors are present,” the federal prosecutors said. “That will not change.”

    The factors that could pique federal interest in a given case include everything from the involvement of other illegal drugs to suspects’ past criminal records and from the use of guns to the possibility of environmental contamination. 

    The ballot measure approved by 56% of Michigan voters on Tuesday will allow adults over 21 to grow and use weed legally, and it’ll take effect 10 days after the vote is certified.

    “The Proposal 1 campaign boiled down into one of fact versus fear,” Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Spokesperson Josh Hovey said, according to Forbes. “The data from the nine other states to have legalized marijuana made clear that regulation and taxation are a better solution. Legalization of marijuana will end the unnecessary waste of law enforcement resources used to enforce the failed policy of prohibition while generating hundreds of millions of dollars each year for Michigan’s most important needs.”

    But, while Michiganders greenlit legal pot on Tuesday, the resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions a day later created some uncertainty about the future of the nation’s marijuana enforcement policies. 

    Although Sessions was no friend to marijuana reformers, he did clarify earlier this year that he was not interested in pursuing small-time weed cases due to a lack of resources for low-level crimes.

    It’s not clear what a new attorney general might mean for federal approaches to pot. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Medical Marijuana Participation Drastically Drops In Oregon

    Medical Marijuana Participation Drastically Drops In Oregon

    Experts have a number of theories as to why the state’s medical marijuana program has experienced a 40% drop in participation.

    The number of people participating in the medical marijuana program in Oregon has dropped by about 40% this year, as more people opt to get their cannabis from recreational outlets rather than navigate the complex medical marijuana system.

    “Marijuana is legal in Oregon,” Oregon Health Authority spokesman Jonathan Modie told the Sun Herald. “You don’t need a medical card. We’re not surprised we’ve seen a drop.” 

    Medical marijuana patients don’t need to pay the same taxes as recreational users, who are taxed at about 20%. However, medical patients need to pay a $200 annual registration fee to renew their license and are subject to tight restrictions. 

    Diana Calvert of River City Retail marijuana dispensary says she repeatedly heard from customers who have left the medical marijuana system. 

    “They say, ‘I let my medical card expire. It’s too expensive to renew. I’ll just pay the taxes.’”

    At the same time, growers are opting to switch to recreational sales rather than learning a complex new tracking system that the state requires for medical sales or exchanges.

    “I think a lot of people say, ‘Let’s cut my overhead and go to the rec side,’” Republican State Rep. Carl Wilson said. 

    The changes could reflect that some people on the medical marijuana program were just trying to access the drug legally, said Rob Bovett, legal counsel for the Association of Oregon Counties.

    “Those that were getting an [medical marijuana] card as a ruse to get marijuana for recreational purposes … no longer need to continue the ruse after we legalized recreational marijuana,” he said. 

    The medical system in Oregon was legalized in 1998, and allows registered participants to grow their own cannabis or obtain it from someone who grows it for them.

    However, a new tracking system has made exchanging marijuana on the medical market more complex, so that many people who previously grew cannabis for medical patients have stopped doing so. 

    “Many patients are just unable to find a grower to supply them. Previously I think it was relatively easy for a patient who didn’t know anyone, in relatively short order, to find a grower to provide free or low-cost cannabis,” said Cedar Grey, a grower and member of the Oregon Cannabis Commission, a state advisory body. “With the changes they’ve made [to the medical marijuana program], it’s much more difficult to care for other patients. Therefore, the number of growers willing to do that has dropped significantly.”

    Recreational use of marijuana was legalized in 2014, allowing people to grow their own plants or obtain cannabis from licensed growers and dispensaries. 

    Despite the fact that it’s arguably easier than ever to obtain pot, Pete Gendron, president of the Oregon SunGrowers Guild, an association of growers, said that the breakdown of the medical market could affect low income people particularly hard. 

    “They don’t have the money to go to the corner dispensary,” he said.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Mixed Results For Marijuana Legalization At The Polls

    Mixed Results For Marijuana Legalization At The Polls

    Advocates received a major win in Michigan, which became the first midwest state to legalize recreational marijuana.

    Marijuana advocates hoping for a mandate on legalization instead got a mixed result at the polls on Tuesday, when Michigan became the 10th state to legalize recreational cannabis and voters in Missouri and Utah approved medical marijuana programs, but North Dakota residents rejected a legalization bid. 

    Michigan became the first midwest state to legalize recreational marijuana, with 56% of voters coming out in favor. 

    “Adults will no longer be punished for consuming a substance less harmful than alcohol, and rather than having to resort to the illegal market, they will be able to access it safely and legally from licensed businesses,” Marijuana Policy Project deputy director Matthew Schweich told The Washington Post. 

    Michigan residents who are 21 and older will be able to legally posses up to 2.5 ounces of weed in public and 10 ounces at home as soon as the election results are certified, which is likely to be in early September, according to the Detroit Free Press. Commercial sale of marijuana is likely to begin in 2020, although public consumption will remain banned in the state. 

    The change to the law in Michigan means that 25% of Americans now live in a state that has legalized recreational weed, despite the fact that cannabis remains a Schedule I substance under federal law. 

    In Utah, a hotly contested measure to begin a medical marijuana program in the state was slightly ahead with 53% of the vote in unofficial reporting, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. The deeply conservative state is heavily influenced by the Mormon church, which opposed approval of the medical marijuana program. Advocates for cannabis reform say that the victory shows a wide-spread change in the public perception of marijuana. 

    “When Utah flips, the whole country will be watching, and you all did that,” Christine Stenquist, a medical cannabis patient and founder of the advocacy group TRUCE Utah, told voters on Tuesday night. 

    In Missouri, 65% of voters approved a measure to legalize medical marijuana and tax it at 4%, with the funds directed toward healthcare for veterans. Voters rejected two similar measures that also legalized medical marijuana, but taxed it at either 2 or 15%. 

    However, the news was not rosy for marijuana advocates in North Dakota, where nearly 60% of voters rejected a ballot initiative that would have legalized recreational cannabis without establishing a marketplace or even regulations. 

    “Tonight, parents can sleep easy knowing their children won’t wake up to more marijuana use in their schools,” Luke Niforatos, senior policy adviser to Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a group that opposes legalization, wrote on Twitter. “The sensible, wonderful people of North Dakota have rejected marijuana commercialization in their state.”

    View the original article at thefix.com