Westword photo-illustrationOf the 33 state legislators from Colorado who signed a recent letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions calling for congressional action “to protect the sovereignty of states like Colorado and ensure that marijuana businesses and consumers will be free from undue federal interference,” none were Republicans.
Brandon MarshallIn a story of strange political bedfellows, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws is working with the office of Colorado Republican Senator Cory Gardner on an upcoming bill that would prevent the federal government from interfering with the marijuana system here and in other states that have legalized.
Kate McKee SimmonsBack in February, Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet were among the eighteen senators who urged the Senate Committee on Appropriations to “respect states’ laws regarding the regulation of marijuana.” But this week, those laws didn’t get any respect.
Jacqueline CollinsWhen President Donald Trump implemented the sweeping 2018 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, most of America wasn’t concerned with how it’d affect the legal cannabis industry.
File photo/FacebookLast year, then-eleven-year-old Colorado resident and medical marijuana patient Alexis Bortell joined other plaintiffs in a lawsuit against pot-hating Attorney General Jeff Sessions over federal scheduling of cannabis. Yesterday, February 26, a judge with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the suit, but Bortell, now twelve, wasn’t distressed. Shortly after the news went public, a post appeared on her Facebook page reading, “We were ready. Smile. We know #SCOTUS [Supreme Court of the United States] is where we are probably going.”
The note ended with the hashtags #IStandWithAlexis and #AlexisBortell.
www.thenewsstation.comWelcome to 2018, when distinguished political reporters are jumping ship to report on pot. Run by longtime political reporter Peter Marcus, just-launched website TheNewsStation.com is striving to be the intersection between pot and politics while also shedding light on daily developments in the cannabis industry as a whole.
Courtesy of Alertmeter.comToday, February 21, as we’ve reported, Denver’s National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws branch is taking part in a lobbying day at the Colorado State Capitol during which lawmakers will get the chance to learn about a major element in the group’s attempt to fix drug-testing laws that put cannabis users at risk of being fired for lawful use. Specifically, they’ll be able to try out Alert Meter, which tests for impairment rather than relying on blood or fluid draws that Denver NORML sees as undependable and unfair.
Shutterstock.com (left)/Medicine ManThey say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery — but in 2018, imitation can also be simple mockery. Count a Denver dispensary chain’s decision to name a marijuana strain after United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions among the latter.
Courtesy of CannabrandAt this writing, thirty states and the District of Columbia have legalized some form of marijuana, be it recreational, medical or both, with Colorado having been in the latter category for more than four years. Nonetheless, Facebook and Instagram continue to make it difficult for cannabis businesses to advertise and promote themselves on the platforms. The scenario causes frustration within the industry even as it forces marketers to come up with clever ways to get around restrictions.
Gleti/shutterstock.comStay strong, Arizona medical-marijuana patients.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and local authorities have little power to stop you from consuming, possessing, or even growing cannabis under state law.
The 2010 Arizona Medical Marijuana Act contains a sort of “Dracula clause“: If freedom-hating prohibitionists try to kill it, it will come back to life and bite them. Read it in the Phoenix New Times.