Tag Archives: MerryJane.com

Mexican legislators met Friday and voted in a landslide to approve a far reaching medical marijuana bill.

Marijuana advocates in Michigan are currently preparing a new measure that would put recreational marijuana legalization up for a vote on next year's ballot. At the same time, officials are working to finalize the state's medical marijuana regulations by the deadline of December 15th.

This week, the Marijuana Policy Project organized a discussion between several stakeholders in the marijuana industry regarding the 2018 legalization effort.

Earlier this morning, a day after the start of the 2017 NFL draft, commissioner Roger Goodell went on ESPN radio’s Mike and Mike to express his ridiculously antiquated views on cannabis use in professional football.

“I think you still have to look at a lot of aspects of marijuana use.” Goodell told the radio hosts. “Is it something that can be negative to the health of our players? Listen, you’re ingesting smoke, so that’s not usually a very positive thing that people would say. It does have addictive nature.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has ordered a study to investigate whether minorities are getting equal opportunities to become involved in the state's growing medical marijuana industry. The disparity study will be initiated by the Governor's Office of Minority Affairs, working in conjunction with the state's medical marijuana commission and transportation department.

The study was ordered in response to lobbying from the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, who have been fighting to ensure equal opportunities in the new industry.

In a criminal conspiracy straight from Breaking Bad’s cutting room floor, law enforcement officials in Minnesota have discovered over 1,100 pounds of marijuana sent through brand new Ford Fusions. The weed was apparently packed at the automotive plant in Mexico where the cars were put together, and sent to the U.S.

Because the federal government still considers marijuana to be one of the most dangerous illicit substances in the world, it is difficult for businesses operating in the legal pot business to secure baking solutions. However, a group of federal lawmakers hope to change that.

A group of congressmen, including Representatives Ed Perlmutter, Don Young, and Denny Heck, recently announced that they would soon introduce a bill called the “Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act” (SAFE Banking Act) to the U.S.

While the Canadian government prepares to legalize recreational cannabis nationwide by July 2018, the country already has a long history with medical marijuana. Their system has been in place for over 15 years now, but it has only recently been transformed into the lucrative industry that it is today.  

The number of patients signing up for medical cannabis tripled in just one year’s time, and some companies are even offering medical cannabis access on their health insurance plans.

While Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program is only supposed to allow patients to use cannabis products like oils, pills, and topical ointments, a loophole in the law may actually allow dispensaries to carry the herb in plant form, according to a report from Billy Penn.

Referencing an unsung section of the state’s medical marijuana law, Senator Daylin Leach said, earlier last week, that by next spring, “when dispensaries open, it is likely that they will have whole plants on their shelves.”

He told a crowd during a panel discussion at the World Medical Cannabis Expo in Pittsburgh that this revision

According to USA Today, the newest study to make controversial claims about cannabis was published this week in JAMA Psychiatry, and says that people living in states with legalized medical marijuana are more likely to use, and abuse, cannabis.

Researchers used face-to-face interviews and looked at data from 2001-2013 to conclude that states with medical marijuana legislation are home to more cannabis use, and thusly, more cannabis addicts. 

“If you increase the prevalence of users, you are going to increase the prevalence of people who have adverse consequences,” the study’s lead author Deborah Hasin, a professor of epidemiology

Although there remains a great deal of uncertainty with respect to whether U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will impose a federal crackdown on the legal marijuana industry, a recent interview with Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper suggests that the Justice Department may already have its hands too full with other, more pressing matters to give much, if any, attention to the legal cannabis industry.

On Wednesday, Hickenlooper told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd that after meeting with Attorney General Sessions, he doesn’t believe the federal government is going to step in and pull the plug on legal weed.