The Denver FBI honored a youth dropout prevention group Thursday, apparently without realizing it is partially funded with taxes from the marijuana industry. The U.S. Justice Department, the FBI’s parent agency, considers the marijuana industry operating in Colorado and other states illegal, and new U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has indicated he wants stronger enforcement of federal law.
Category: Marijuana
Marijuana crackdown is so yesterday
We’re disappointed that White House press secretary Sean Spicer recently said “greater enforcement” of federal drug laws, including prohibition of marijuana, is coming. “There’s a federal law that we need to abide by when it comes to recreational marijuana and other drugs of that nature,” he said.
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The mayor of the Mississippi city where a train hit a bus, killing four Texas tourists, is vowing to close some railroad crossings and make others safer. Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner’s new deputy governor is scheduled to receive half of her pay out of an employee health care account that is more than $4 billion behind on its bills due to the state’s budget crisis.
News | Legalizing Marijuana is “Throwing Gasoline” on Addiction…
Former Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy spoke with GoLocal LIVE on Wednesday about efforts in Rhode Island once again to legalize marijuana – and what he said is the country’s crisis of addiction, and why he is opposed to marijuana legalization. “We’re going though an epidemic of addiction and depressionand we’re in the midst of the rollback the biggest expansion of healthcare coverage that benefits people with mental illness [and] addiction, and this was the first time the ever got coverage,” Kennedy told GoLocal’s Kate Nagle on Wednesday.
UN chief: Funding, support needed for AU troops in Somalia
Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin says it’s important for Congress to act quickly to extend a program aimed at widening veterans’ access to private-sector health care. Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin says it’s important for Congress to act quickly to extend a program aimed at widening veterans’ access to private-sector health care.
UK treasury chief to take cautious approach in budget
Hammond will del… . Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, poses for photographs during final preparations for his official 2017 budget announcement, in his office at the Treasury in London Tuesday March 7, 2017.
Blue vs. Grey
Okay, this country is in the biggest divide since the Civil War. So, how would the sides be divided today? Who would claim to be the blue on issues, who would navigate to the grey? States Rights: Both the right and left wings of society have claims on this one.
Thursday, March 2, 2017: Marijuana oversight, Trump’s immigration…
The Feb. 22 Washington Post article that appeared in the BDN online about the discovery of seven Earth-like planets circling Trappist-1 made me think that we’re looking for life in all the wrong places. Indeed, the discovery of planetary systems is wonderful news, yet the one God and creator – Jesus Christ – stooped to our planet to seek us.
Sessions says marijuana should not be sold a at every corner grocery storea
Sen. Jeff Sessions was sworn in as attorney general on Thursday morning. “He’s devoted his life to the cause of justice and believes deeply that all people are equals in the eyes of the law,” President Trump said about Sessions.
Lawmakers: Tax exemptions to be examined in upcoming session
Lawmakers who closed a $304 million mid-year budget deficit are already looking ahead to April, when the Legislature will look for revenue sources to help remedy the state’s consistently dire financial picture. After pulling $99 million from the state’s rainy day fund and filling the remaining gap with cuts, including $40 million cut primarily from healthcare administration, the looming task is now to prevent these budget deficits from reoccurring.
Washington prepared for any federal action on legal pot, Ferguson says – Sat, 25 Feb 2017 PST
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson may never be confused for Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry, but he seems to be telling the U.S. Justice Department to “go ahead, make my day” one more time. His office already beat lawyers from the nascent Trump administration over the immigration ban executive border.
Legal pot businesses brace for federal crackdown
After White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s remarks about a possible crackdown on recreational marijuana sales in states where it is legal, businesses are gearing up for a fight if it comes. Spicer’s remarks that “greater enforcement” could come from the Department of Justice came in response to an Arkansas reporter’s question during Thursday’s briefing.
Tommy Chong on potential pot crackdown: Stay high
After White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Thursday that the Department of Justice “will be further looking into” recreational pot use, Chong tweeted, “Of course Trump is going after legal marijuana but like the failed Muslim ban it will be defeated in court.
A.M. Roundup: Medical marijuana program set to grow
Good morning! Yesterday’s temps broke records , and proved me useless as a daffodil whisperer: My bulbs sent up shoots despite my words of warning. In another sign of spring, the Yankees play their first spring training game today , and so do the Mets .
White House says it will step up enforcement of marijuana laws
Oregon lawmakers have repudiated a White House statement suggesting the U.S. Justice Department will enforce the federal prohibition on recreational marijuana in states that have legalized it. When Oregonians legalized recreational pot in 2014, they knew there was a risk of a federal crackdown with future presidential administrations, said Senate Majority Leader Ginny Burdick, D-Portland.
Alaska’s Don Young is a founding member of the bipartisan U.S. House Cannabis Caucus
Alaska’s sole congressman, Don Young, on Thursday co-launched the House Cannabis Caucus with three other lawmakers, vowing to pursue changes to banking and other federal laws that stand between states and autonomy over the marijuana industry. Young joined with Reps.
Colorado warms to pot clubs despite federal uncertainty
Colorado is on the bri… . FILE – In this Dec. 31, 2013 file photo, partygoers smoke marijuana during a Prohibition-era themed New Year’s Eve invite-only party celebrating the start of retail pot sales, at a bar in Denver.
John Morgan, Jack Latvala testing waters in governor’s race
Speculation about contenders for the 2018 campaign for governor picked up steam Thursday, as trial attorney John Morgan continued to flirt with a bid and a powerful state senator said he might join the fray. In a visit to Tallahassee, one almost certain to stoke talk that he will run for the state’s highest office, Morgan told reporters he was in no hurry to make up his mind.
Bannon’s power puts Republicans on edge
Republicans on Capitol Hill are on edge over what they view as Stephen Bannon’s growing influence inside President Trump’s White House. The White House counselor’s elevation to being a permanent member of the National Security Council has deepened the debate, as has the furor surrounding Trump’s controversial executive order on immigration.
Barrett defense calls first witnesses
Three .22 caliber shell casings that could fit in a rifle were found away from the location where three men were killed at a marijuana farm just outside of Mountain Ranch in October 2015, a private investigator testified Wednesday. Matt Thompson, one of eight defense witnesses called Wednesday, said they were found under grass but on top of the ground.
Desperate Dems Eye Mandy Powers Norrell
Palmetto Democrats desperate to mount a competitive candidate in the upcoming special election for South Carolina’s fifth congressional district are openly courting S.C. Rep. Mandy Powers Norrell . That remains to be seen, but a major push is underway to convince Norrell to enter this race.
BUFFINGTON: Medical cannabis debate returns
The medical marijuana debate will be back again this year in the Georgia Legislature, but the efforts remain a long shot. Rep. Allen Peake has introduced legislation calling for a state constitutional amendment that would allow medical marijuana to be cultivated in the state for medical use.
Trump has two paths he can take on marijuana legalization – …
After his inauguration on January 20, Trump signed an executive order that directs federal agencies to start rolling back the Affordable Care Act, revived two controversial oil pipelines, staged a war on the media, and played a game of chicken with the president of Mexico. But we still don’t know much about Trump’s plans for marijuana legalization.
Hemp and Pot Restrictions Not Dying Fast Enough
I finally escaped Washington, D.C., last month, arriving by car with my girlfriend as new residents of Seattle early this month. I’ve welcomed most of the changes I’ve seen here-apart from the Lenin Statue near our apartment.
Wolf faces tough second-half fight
For about 45 minutes, the scene at Highlands Hospital on Friday looked like a textbook illustration on how government should work. There was Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf in a conference room, flanked by three local Republican state legislators, listening to doctors, local officials, and a grieving mother discuss how to address the plague of opioid abuse.
Sessions suggests Trump admin could stamp out legal pot
Sen. Jeff Sessions indicated at his confirmation hearing Tuesday that as attorney general, he might break the federal government’s truce with states on marijuana. During President Barack Obama’s administration, states have been allowed to “experiment” with legalizing pot, and the Justice Department, under Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch, has allowed many legal operations to continue without laying down the full weight of federal law against them.
Pot luck: Advocates to hand out joints at Trump inauguration
A group of marijuana legalization advocates plan to hand out thousands of joints during President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Pro-marijuana organization DCMJ will begin distributing the 4,200 joints at 8 a.m. on Jan. 20 on the west side of Dupont Circle.
US Sen. Warren seeks to pull pot shops out of banking limbo
As marijuana shops sprout in states that have legalized the drug, they face a critical stumbling block – lack of access to the kind of routine banking services other businesses take for granted. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, is leading an effort to make sure vendors working with legal marijuana businesses, from chemists who test marijuana for harmful substances to firms that provide security, don’t have their banking services taken away.
Analysis: Medical pot, Trump shape Arkansas politics in ’17
The approval of a constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana and Donald Trump ‘s surprise White House win weren’t just two of the biggest political stories in Arkansas. They also upended the agenda for the upcoming legislative session and are likely to dominate Arkansas’ politics in 2017.
The Year’s Best Drug Scares
Marijuana was on the ballot in six states this year, and prohibitionists hauled out some familiar, even quaint, arguments against legalization. Three of those warnings made my list of the year’s most memorable drug scares, which is rounded out by the panic over adolescent vaping and the DEA’s decision to treat kratom as a public menace.
Top story of 2016 in Maine: Legalized marijuana
In this Dec. 19, 2016 file photo, Lorry Fleming, center, of Bath, Maine, a supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, shouts at Donald Trump supporter Tom Thompson, left, of Topsham, Maine, outside the State House in Augusta, Maine, where the electoral college was meeting to elect the president. The split of Maine’s presidential electoral votes for the first time was among the state’s top stories in 2016.
Top story of 2016 in Maine: Legalized marijuana
In this Dec. 19, 2016 file photo, Lorry Fleming, center, of Bath, Maine, a supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, shouts at Donald Trump supporter Tom Thompson, left, of Topsham, Maine, outside the State House in Augusta, Maine, where the electoral college was meeting to elect the president. The split of Maine’s presidential electoral votes for the first time was among the state’s top stories in 2016.