Author: Brandon Soderberg
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15 Year-Old Federal Grant Revoked Because Maryland Town Rented Space to a Cannabis Grower
The town of Hancock, MD has agreed to pay back a $600,000 federal loan they received to rehab a building because they began renting that building out to a cannabis company in 2015, nearly a decade after the loan was given to them. In 2015, Harvest Health & Recreation Inc., an Arizona-based cannabis company with…
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Federal Court: ‘Common Sense’ That Cops Can Search Residence Due To Cannabis Smell
While a bill to decriminalize cannabis in the state of Virginia moved through the House and Senate earlier this year (it was ultimately approved by Governor Ralph Northam earlier this month), the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Virginia was making its decision regarding a 2016 arrest that began with a…
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Washington D.C. Medicinal Cannabis Dispensaries Can Now Deliver During COVID-19
Washington, D.C. is allowing the delivery and curbside pick-up of medicinal cannabis during COVID-19. D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser and the Department of Health made the announcement on Monday, April 13: “This…is necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the District’s residents reducing the spread of COVID-19 by enabling District of Columbia residents registered…
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The Outlaw Report Talks Cannabis and Cops on The Real News Network
For 4/20, The Outlaw Report’s Brandon Soderberg joined The Real News Network’s daily live commentary show Stir Crazy! to discuss a number of cannabis issues with host Kim Brown and reporter Baynard Woods and Real News producer Jaisal Noor. Topics include the ACLU’s new report on racial disparity and cannabis arrests, how 4/20 has changed…
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Charlotte Figi’s Death and The Importance of CBD and Medicinal Cannabis For Minors
Charlotte Figi, who had become a poster child for CBD, died at age 13 due to a seizure on April 7. Born in 2006, Figi began having seizures at the age of three months and by age five, she was often having hundreds of seizures each week. In 2011, when Figi was five years old,…
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Virginia Decriminalizes Cannabis, Plans To Establish Legalization Workgroup
Over the weekend, Governor Ralph Northam approved House Bill 972/Senate Bill 02, decriminalizing cannabis in Virginia. Decriminalization, which begins on July 1, 2020 means that cannabis possession of up to one ounce can only result in a maximum $25 citation and also means Virginians cannot be arrested or criminally charged for it. Additionally, amendments to…
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Dealing During COVID-19: Marylander With 100 Pounds of Cannabis Arrested
On April 3, Kayla Messinese, a 24 year-old resident of Edgewater, Maryland was arrested in King Of Prussia in Pennsylvania for, police say, attempting to deliver 100 pounds of cannabis worth $200,000 dollars. They cite “a joint investigation into large-scale drug trafficking,” but do not mention specifically how they were made aware of this attempted…
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Baltimore Cannabis Arrests Rare Amid COVID-19
On Saturday, April 11, the Baltimore Police Department (BPD), posted, as they often do, a photo to Facebook of what they seized after an arrest the night before. The photo showed, laid out on a table, a Walther PPQ .45 pistol, 12 bullets, 10 pills, two phones (a flip phone and an iPhone), a stack…
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Medicinal Cannabis During COVID-19 When You Have a Disability
COVID-19 and the curve-flattening responses to it have altered the way most industries in the United States have operated including the cannabis industry, both aboveground and underground: Maryland’s Medical Cannabis Commission has adjusted its guidelines for the sale of cannabis to keep patients and processors safe; the owners of dispensaries have changed their approaches and…
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D.C. Effort To Decriminalize Psilocybin Mushrooms Gets Creative; Baltimore Psychedelics Info Online
COVID-19 won’t stop Decriminalize Nature D.C.’s goal of getting an initiative to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms on the ballot in 2020. After unsuccessfully asking Washington D.C. City Council and Mayor Muriel Bowser to allow online signatures due to the pandemic (which makes it impossible to gather signatures “IRL”), Decriminalize Nature D.C is now floating the possibility…
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West Virginia Medicinal Cannabis Program Inches Along; USDA Approves WV’s Hemp Plan
Medicinal cannabis in West Virginia has been slow going. In 2017, West Virginia governor Jim Justice signed into law the Medical Cannabis Act which allowed for regulated cannabis products to be purchased by those with specific medical conditions which included cancer, Crohn’s disease, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, neuropathy, and Parkinson’s disease. Patients could only purchase it…
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Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton Pushes For Commercial Cannabis in Washington D.C.
On Friday, April 3, Democratic Congresswoman for Washington, D.C. Eleanor Holmes Norton demanded Congress remove the rider that prevents D.C. from using local funds to establish a commercial recreational cannabis industry in the district. “At this moment of unparalleled need, D.C. should be able to collect tax revenue from all available sources, like every other…