It follows an infamous raid..
Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Download WeedWeek’s free 2016 election guide here.
Santa Ana, Calif. paid $100,000 to a the dispensary raided by police in 2015, and agreed to drop misdemeanor charges against employees, in exchange for them agreeing not to sue. Three officers face charges after surveillance footage recorded them mocking an amputee and playing darts during the raid. They argued that they shouldn’t be charged since they believed they had disabled all of the dispensary’s video cameras.
The federal government is dropping its case, against Berkeley Patients Group, the country’s oldest dispensary, which has been operating since 1999.
In several jurisdictions, including Maricopa County, Az. (Phoenix) and Harris County, Texas (Houston) prosecutors who are ostentatiously tough on pot face uphill re-election battles.
President Obama issued 98 more commutations to prisoners, setting a single year record. He has granted about 5.5 percent of applications.
MuckRock uses government documents to ask: Does the DEA’s cannabis eradication program have a future. For more, see here.
Alaska’s proposed background checks for cannabis workers have been criticized as too harsh.
Danny Glover, Sarah Silverman and Common are among the celebrities who’ve signed on to the “Artists for 64” initiative in California. The Washington Post calls Hollywood the drug war’s “ most enthusiastic recruit.”
NiemanReports says the green rush demands good journalism.
The Cannabist spoke at length to Willie Nelson. It also looks at plans to create cannabis “ appellations,” designed to protect small farms in the Emerald Triangle. The AP speaks to Emerald Triangle growers who are not on board with REC legalization.
A man pulled a mobile home across the country in support of MED for veterans. It took 18 months.
Illegal cannabis growing thrives in Lebanon.
Former NBA player and legalization supporter Al Harrington talked to The Root.
A gory picture of a man with his head split open that circulated on social media does not document the effects of marijuana. It’s a picture of an actor from the zombie show Walking Dead. The post was a contribution to the Faces of Marijuana meme series.
Business Insider says cannabis slang is changing. Marijuana Business Daily publishes a word cloud of the most common words in cannabis business names. Farm, green and wellness are among the favorites.
The Wirecutter, the exhaustive product review site recently purchased by the New York Times, says theGrenco Science G Pen Elite is the best portable vaporizer.
