Author: Brandon Soderberg
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The Outlaw Report Podcast Episode 03: Cannabis and Defunding The Police
In the third episode of The Outlaw Report podcast, Prohibited podcast founder Scott Cecil talks to reporter Brandon Soderberg about racial justice and cannabis amid nationwide protests against police violence following the police killing of George Floyd. Cecil and Soderberg discussed Washington D.C.’s proposed budget and its perceived workaround for facilitating a commercial cannabis industry…
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What Washington D.C. Statehood Could Mean For Cannabis Justice
Last week, the House of Representatives approved legislation to make Washington D.C. the country’s 51st state. The vote, which passed 232-180, would make the District and its 700,000 residents properly and fully represented (though it is very likely it will face serious opposition from the Republican-led Senate). Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton who sponsored H.R.51 (Washington,…
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West Virginia Medicinal Cannabis Program Considers Its 2021 Launch
Not long after it was announced that West Virginia would likely not have a medicinal cannabis program until 2021, the state’s Medical Cannabis Advisory Board (MCAB) hosted a virtual meeting last week providing a number of updates on its infamously, slow-going program. In April 2017, West Virginia passed a bill allowing for the creation of…
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Cannabis Reform And The Justice In Policing Act
Last week, in response to the ongoing uprisings against police violence, Democrats in Congress introduced The Justice In Policing Act. The police reform legislation intends to end racial profiling by police, bans chokeholds and no-knock warrants, reduces police use of military equipment, and pushes for greater transparency among police departments making it easier for more…
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Maryland’s Hemp Rush and Federal Changes To Hemp Banking
In The Carroll County Times last week, journalist Jon Kelvey provided an fascinating portrait of what growing industrial hemp in Maryland looks like at this moment. “The Other Cannabis Crop: Carroll County farmers test out growing logistics, market for newly legal hemp,” details how Maryland got to this mini-moment with hemo—due to the 2014 Farm…
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Concerned About Racial Equity In The Cannabis Industry? Consult The Accountability List
Cannaclusive, a website advocating for black representation in the legalized cannabis industry recently released The Accountability List. Posted as a Google doc and therefore “a living document,” The Accountability List gathers cannabis and hemp companies and details whether or not they are black-owned, the number of black people employed, and the company’s comments (or lack…
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Baltimore’s Next Mayor and City Council President Are Pro-Cannabis
The results of Baltimore’s June 2 primary election—mostly done via mail and then seriously mishandled by the Baltimore City Board of Elections—are finally in as of last week and they suggest some potential change in the city when it comes to cannabis (in Baltimore, winners of the Democratic primary are presumed General Election winners). Both…
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Psychedelics Decriminalization Efforts in Washington D.C. Ramp Up
The Outlaw Report has been keeping an eye on cannabis-adjacent organizing within Washington D.C. having to do with Initiative 81, or the Entheogenic Plant and Fungus Policy Act of 2020, which would decriminalize psychedelics. The organization behind the effort, Decriminalize Nature D.C., has kept up its goal of getting an initiative to decriminalize psychedelics on…
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Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission Meeting Addresses George Floyd, Rejects a Dispensary License
In its first meeting since March and following a Finance Committee meeting and Policy Committee meeting at the end of May, the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission addressed its role in racial justice amid nationwide protests against police violence, approved a number of regulatory changes, and in a rare move for the aggressively pro-business commission, rescinded…
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Virginia Governor Connects Cannabis Reform To Nationwide Protests Against Police Violence
Last week during a press briefing, Virginia governor Ralph Northam, who has been instrumental in moving cannabis reform forward in the state, connected cannabis laws to the broader Black Lives Matter movement and the current moment of nationwide protest against police violence and police militarization. “Through 400 years of American history—starting with the enslavement of…
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DEA Has Trump’s Permission To Surveil Protesters: What Does That Mean When Cannabis Remains Federally Illegal?
As first revealed by Buzzfeed, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has been given additional policing powers under the Trump administration to surveil protesters. Generally, the DEA can only enforce drug-related crimes but this temporary adjustment means that the DEA’s resources and surveillance network can be used towards those marching in protest of the police killing…
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Maryland Court of Special Appeals Rules Against Cop Who Tackled and Pepper-Sprayed Man Found With Cannabis
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals ruled in favor of Richard Williams, a man who was stopped by police back in 2018 for driving while using his cell phone and then tackled and pepper-sprayed by police and had his person and car searched for cannabis. The opinion says that Williams’ Fourth Amendment rights were violated…