Author: Brandon Soderberg
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Virginia Medicinal Cannabis On Its Way, Maryland Medicinal Continues To Deal With Racial Equity
The Outlaw Report has been paying close attention to the cannabis reforms happening in Virginia this past legislative session including decriminalization of possession of up to an ounce of cannabis, a serious look at implementing legalization, and the establishment of a medicinal cannabis program. The speed at which Virginia has navigated these reforms has illustrated…
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Quick Hit: What Happens When A Politician Gets Gifted a CBD Pen?
Last week, The Baltimore Brew revealed that Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who has been known as being particularly progressive when it comes to cannabis reform, received a number of gifts over the past few years including some cannabis-related products from Select Brands. “The Peripatetic Prosecutor: Marilyn Mosby took 23 trips in 2018 and…
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Maryland Hemp Farming Program Proposal Released
The July 6 edition of the Maryland Register includes the proposal for the long-awaited hemp farming program by the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA). While there has been plenty of discussion about Maryland responding to the 2018 Farm Bill and the pending deadline for Maryland to get in compliance with the interim final rules from…
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Enemy to Cannabis Andy Harris Goes After Shrooms
Republican Congressman Andy Harris is at it again. Almost immediately after it was announced that Decriminalize Nature D.C. succeeded in gathering enough signatures to get the decriminalization of psychedelics on the ballot, the well-known enemy to cannabis reform declared that he would try to stop Initiative 81 (the Entheogenic Plant and Fungus Policy Act of…
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For Many Advocates in Virginia, Decriminalization Is Not Enough
Just because Virginia’s cannabis decriminalization has gone into effect, it doesn’t mean the push for cannabis legalization for recreational adult-use has slowed. While passing decriminalization also included a provision to ensure a study about legalization would happen (two different reports on the topic are due later this year), many want legalization to happen sooner and…
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Quick Hit: If You Care About Racial Equity and Cannabis Put ‘Pleasure Activism’ On Your Reading List
Following the police killing of George Floyd and the nationwide uprising against police violence that still continues (even if the media’s gaze at protesters across the country is not quite where it was a few weeks ago), many people—mostly white people—felt more than a little lost. To understand the extent of the problems with American…
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Virginia Cannabis Decriminalization: What It Is and What It Isn’t
On July 1, the state of Virginia decriminalized possession of cannabis of up to one ounce. This law, a few years in the making (it was ostensibly part of Governor Ralph Northam’s campaign in 2017), eliminates any criminal penalty for having small amounts of cannabis and also eliminates cannabis possession appearing on one’s criminal record…
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The 2018 Farm Bill Makes It Harder For Crime Labs To Test For THC
The 2018 Farm Bill was great news for hemp farmers across the country when it made the production of hemp for agricultural purposes legal. The 2018 Bill removed hemp from the federal list of controlled substances and defined it as any part of the plant with the botanical name Cannabis Sativa (the same name as…
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Quick Hit: Learn About Weed and Vaping…From the DEA
Last month, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) released a whole bunch of drug fact sheets, detailing the basics of a number of drugs from A to Z or close enough to A to Z—more like from amphetamines to U-47700. The fact sheets are part of the DEA’s Get Smart About Drugs (GSAD) program, focused on…
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Amendment Would Allow Former Military To Reenlist Even If They Have Used Cannabis
Last week, Democratic Representative from Arizona Ruben Gallego’s amendment to the House National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed. If approved by both the House and Senate, it would allow people who had formerly enlisted in the military to reenlist if they admit they used cannabis while they were not enlisted. The amendment also applies to…
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Maryland Cannabis Companies Called Out For Racism and Discrimination
Last week, a former employee of Baltimore County dispensary Charm City Medicus took to Twitter to describe how they quit working as a receptionist after they said dispensary owner Bryan Hill asked them to remove the letters “BLM”—for Black Lives Matter—written on their cheek. In response, the former employee who identified themselves as “Lynn” only…
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Embattled Cannabis Company MedMen Loses Its License In Virginia
California-based cannabis behemoths MedMen is teetering on the edge right now. What was not too long ago the largest and most valued cannabis company in the world, has been amid a public relations nightmare for months now and was recently kicked out of burgeoning medicinal cannabis state, Virginia. Earlier this month, the Virginia Board of…