“Verifying their stories is as difficult as finding your way through the forest at night.”
Here’s your daily round up of pot news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek.
A major investigation by The Center for Investigative Reporting’s Reveal project found “ dozens of accounts of sexual exploitation, abuse and trafficking” in the northern California grow regions. In Humboldt County alone 352 people went missing, more per capita than any other county in California.
Politicians have not caught up with public opinion.
The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.
A new poll found that for the first time, Republicans narrowly favor legalizing marijuana, 45% to 42%. Last week, however, Republicans voted against including support for MED in their party platform. As far as I saw, the plant went unmentioned at the convention.
Hillary Clinton named Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine (D) as her running mate. Speaking at a high school in April, Kaine said he favors “drastic changes in sentencing laws…[but] wouldn’t vote for a law at the federal or state level that would decriminalize marijuana.” Kaine has a NORML rating of F.
Donald Trump has a NORML rating of C+. Hillary Clinton gets a B+. Libertarian Gary Johnson scores an A+.
Leafly meets Ann Lee, founder of Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition (RAMP). Lee, 86, attended the GOP convention as an alternate in the Texas delegation. Her son Richard Lee founded the trade school Oaksterdam University in Oakland.
Decriminalization appears to have support from the Texas Association of Business and bipartisan support in the Texas legislature. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) opposes legalization.
Marijuana.com digs up that the DEA has reduced the size of its 2017 cannabis order from last year. This hints, the piece suggests, that the agency will not reschedule. The DEA gets its weed from a facility at the University of Mississippi, the only federally legal grow in the country.
Fifty-one percent of voters oppose Massachusetts’ REC initiative and 41% percent support. The numbers are similar in Arizona.
An Arizona judge will hear cannabis-opponents in a case that could block the upcoming REC vote. They argue that the 100-word petition voters signed didn’t adequately explain the effects of legalization. Plaintiffs include Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery (R), Phoenix’s lead prosecutor.
Last year, before a weed convention in Phoenix, Montgomery offered “An aside, just a polite warning to folks traveling here…I can’t confirm or deny whether or not local or federal law enforcement may be on hand in an undercover capacity. So welcome to Phoenix, enjoy your stay, but be careful.”
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) opposes the state’s MED initiative. In Wisconsin, a poll found that REC legalization has 59% support. Activists are collecting signatures for a MED initiative in Oklahoma.
Florida’s first CBD dispensary opens this week. The state is expected to vote on MED in November.
| The Weed Blog |
| The Weed Blog |
A proposed ballot measure to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries in the city of San Diego which would also impose a tax on dispensary operators won’t be on the ballot in November, supporters announced on Monday.
| The Weed Blog |
| California 420 Cannabis Network |
| Rev. Eddy Lepp, left, with hemp legend Jack Herer |
| SafeAccessIB.org |
| Just more than 1,000 valid signatures are needed for November’s ballot, but organizers plan to turn in 2,000 to make sure |
Advocates Begin Circulating Petitions To Overturn City’s Ban On Safe Access To Medicinal Cannabis
| Electronic Frontier Foundation |
███ ██ █ ████ the Drug War ███ █████ is █████ ████ ████ good ████ and you ███ █should ██████ trust █████ ██████ ███ your █████ ████ government.
| Riverfront Times |
A Missouri group has won approval to start circulating petitions to legalize marijuana in the state of Missouri.
| Graphic: Show-Me Cannabis |
Petitions have been filed with the Missouri secretary of state’s office, and it could be the first step toward the legalization of marijuana — if it attracts enough support.