By next year, there may be as many as a thousand medical cannabis patients in northern Minnesota, though it’s seeming less and less likely that any of them will pick up their supplies in Duluth. Earlier this month, the city’s planning committee proposed a six-month moratorium on cannabis manufacturers or distributors, giving city officials time to consider how a facility would affect the homestead.
On Monday, city council president Linda Krug cited zoning concerns and asked, “Where would it have the least amount of destruction to neighborhoods and people’s lives?” But the city might not be having this discussion at all if it weren’t for Jim Carlson, owner of the Last Place on Earth, a downtown headship. He was sentenced recently to 17 and a half years in prison for allegedly selling synthetic drugs. Carlson maintains that he did nothing wrong: He sold incense and bath salts, some of which came with a warning not to consume. But consume people did — causing the city establishment to gasp.

A new report put together by the Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union finds that black people are way more likely to be arrested for low-level, non-violent offenses in Minneapolis than whites.
Using the Minneapolis Police Department’s own data, the report finds that from 2004 to 2012, blacks in Minneapolis were 11.5 more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites; 8.86 times more likely to be arrested for disorderly conduct; 7.54 times more likely to be arrested for vagrancy; and 16.39 times more likely to be arrested for curfew/loitering. More at the Minneapolis City Pages.

An unexpected result of Colorado’s legalization of limited marijuana sales for recreational purposes has been a rise in the number of academic studies about whether the change has been good or bad for the state. A few months ago, a paper released by the Brookings Institution found that the rollout was succeeding. But a new analysis by a Harvard economist, released under the auspices of the Cato Institute, offers a more mixed view: It suggests that the nightmares predicted by critics haven’t come to pass, but neither have many of the benefits foreseen by advocates of reform.

The inaugural National Cannabis Industry Association’s Infused Products and Extraction Symposium kicked off last night with a cocktail reception and networking event; today, the symposium started in earnest with two different tracks for attendees. “This is an area of the industry that’s creating a lot of conversations right now,” says NCIA deputy director Taylor West, “so the timing is great for this. And it’ll be a great opportunity for people in that sector to compare notes about how they’re planning for the complicated regulatory future.”
West says that after the first-ever NCIA national conference in June, the organization started brainstorming sector-specific events for members. “A lot of our members are pretty experienced,” notes West, “and the Cannabusiness 101 lectures are too simple for them. So we wanted to start creating some events that allow for a deep dive into parts of the industry that are important — and infused products is obviously a large and rapidly growing sector of the industry.”

U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, says he will most certainly vote to legalize limited amounts of marijuana in Oregon next week. Merkley tells Talking Points Memo that he’s tired of seeing resources wasted on a failed war on pot.
“I think folks on both sides of the argument make a good case,” Merkley said. “And there is concern about a series of new products — and we don’t have a real track record from Colorado and Washington. But I feel on balance that we spend a lot of money on our criminal justice system in the wrong places and I lean in favor of this ballot measure.”