Author: Brandon Soderberg
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Quick Hit: In Jersey Where Legalization Is Imminent, Cops Keep Making Weed Arrests
According to NJ.com, police in New Jersey have arrested more than 6,000 people for minor cannabis possession since November’s election—an election where 2.7 million New Jersey voters went to the ballots in support of legalizing cannabis. According to a report from the state judiciary, 2,378 people were arrested for cannabis possession of 50 grams or…
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Bipartisan Bill From Congress Would Legalize CBD Supplements
Earlier this month, United States Representatives Kurt Schrader, a Democrat from Oregon, and Morgan Griffith, a Republican from Virginia, introduced HR 841 or the Hemp and Hemp-Derived CBD Consumer Protection and Market Stabilization Act to the House. HR 841 would, the bill says, “make hemp, cannabidiol derived from hemp, and any other ingredient derived from…
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Quick Hit: The Outlaw Report Turns One Year Old
Allow us all to boast a little bit: The Outlaw Report has been at it for a full year now. Across more than 50 newsletters, plenty of podcasts, and quite a few of these pithy quick hits (and probably to some readers, a little too many Andy Harris jokes), myself and our small, scrappy team…
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Senate Democrats Announce Plans To Legalize Cannabis
On Monday Feb. 1, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senators Cory Booker and Ron Wyden announced that they would soon be releasing “a draft discussion bill outlining how best to legalize and regulate cannabis and cannabis commerce in a post-prohibition America.” The announcement arrived months after the House voted on the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment…
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Quick Hit: MMCC Debates Maryland Cannabis Legalization Bill
A fascinating debate about the future of cannabis in Maryland popped-up in the middle of last week’s Maryland Medicinal Cannabis Commission (MMCC) meeting. Director of the Office of Policy and Government Affairs Taylor Kasky highlighted a number of particularly notable cannabis bills introduced this legislative session (Kasky noted that in total there are about 35…
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Quick Hit: Anti-Cannabis Andy Harris Brought a Gun Into the Capitol Last Week?
On Thursday Jan. 21, the day after President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Maryland Representative Andy Harris—who as we’re saying here at The Outlaw Report just about every week, is the main reason why there’s no regulated, commercial cannabis in Washington D.C.—set off the Capitol building metal detector because he had a gun on him. According to…
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Episode 13: What’s Next for Cannabis Reform in the DMV?
For the Season One finale, Scott and Brandon reflect on cannabis reform in 2020 and the recent coup attempt at the Capitol. They go on to discuss what’s next for cannabis reform in 2021 in the DMV, including the implications of potential DC statehood and the legalization bills working their ways through the legislatures in…
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Clemency For 12 Cannabis Prisoners Thanks To Trump’s Last-Minute Pardons
President Donald Trump’s last-minute pardons of 143 people included 12 people currently or formerly incarcerated for cannabis. Primarily of course, the pardons made news for the numerous Trump associates who received clemency (such as Steve Bannon) and for the pop culture oddballs who did not receive clemency (such as Tiger King’s Joe Exotic)—all of which…
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Quick Hit: Move Over Andy Harris, Idaho’s Scott Grow is the New Enemy to Cannabis Reform
The Outlaw Report has spent plenty of time reflecting the general consensus among cannabis advocates when it comes to Maryland Representative Andy Harris: He is an enemy of cannabis reform. Harris, as we’ve discussed plenty of times, is why cannabis is legal in Washington D.C. but there is no regulated, commercial industry, has opposed to…
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Following Capitol Attack, Maryland Democrats Demand Cannabis Reform Enemy Andy Harris Resign
Undeterred by the previous day’s attack on the Capitol where Trump supporters destroyed property, stole objects, and killed one police officer and injured many more, Maryland Representative—and well-known enemy for cannabis reform—Andy Harris continued making claims of election fraud on the House Floor, yelling and punching his fists in the air early in the morning…
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Quick Hit: In Praise Of John Fetterman
Amid the months of bogus claims of election fraud from President Donald Trump and his fanatical supporters which escalated further last week during the attack on the Capitol, one of the beacons of progressive politics and just downright reasonability has been Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania John Fetterman. Amid an endless sea of bloviating wrinkled-up Republicans…
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The Year in Cannabis: Virginia
The police killing of George Floyd was not mentioned in The Outlaw Report’s year in cannabis round-ups for Maryland and Washington D.C. That’s because the state, which has decriminalized cannabis since 2014, and the District, which has had legal cannabis since 2014, did very little to address the obvious intersection between racial justice and cannabis…