Author: Brandon Soderberg
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Quick Hit: DEA Uses the Postal Service To Promote Drug Abstinence
While the Trump administration has no interest in even addressing the Covid-19 pandemic, his Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is offering up an equally feckless response to drugs in America: Just don’t do it. Last week, in a typically Trumpian collaboration, the DEA, Miss America 2020 Camille Schrier, and the United States Postal Service Trump has…
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Lawsuit From White, Women-owned Cannabis Company Argues Black and Indigenous Cannabis Entrepreneurs Not “More Disadvantaged”
A cannabis company has filed a lawsuit against the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission (MMCC) and a number of minority-owned cannabis companies arguing that the process for scoring minority businesses is unfair to white women. Hippocratic Growth, who applied for grower and processor licenses and were ranked 21st as a grower and 50th as a processor,…
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‘Tainted’ Cannabis Scare in Virginia Makes The Case For Legalization
Last week, Alexandria, Virginia officials put out a warning to citizens about the possibility of cannabis that, they wrote, “may be mixed with unusual substances.” The warning was put out after there were what officials characterized as four “overdoses”—including one fatal overdose—that it would seem, cannabis was involved. The three people who suffered non-fatal overdoses…
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Episode 10: 2020 Elections Special
For this special episode of The Outlaw Report, Scott is joined by Mike Liszewski, one of the foremost experts on Capitol Hill on cannabis law and policy and more broadly, drug policy reform. They preview the 2020 elections and what wins for either party at the Presidential and Congressional levels would mean for cannabis in…
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Episode 09: ABRAcadabra: Dank Deliveries and Cannabis for Cops
Scott, Shabnam, and Brandon discuss the continued easing of restrictions for cannabis delivery in the District, a new law in Virginia preventing the alleged smell of cannabis from leading to a vehicle search, and Maryland’s recommendation to ease restrictions of prior cannabis use for law enforcement recruits.
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Virginia Cannabis Smell Bills Amended; Dropped Weed Charges More Likely Thanks to Northam
Two bills considered by Virginia governor Ralph Northam last week will help protect people who use cannabis from prosecution by preventing police from searching a vehicle based on weed smell alone and preventing judges from overruling the wishes of prosecutors and defense attorneys when both sides agree a charge should be dismissed. The Outlaw Report…
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Maryland Now Has Proposed Regulations For Edibles
During the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission’s October meeting, the MMCC finally awarded a number of grower and processor approvals and announced that in the coming weeks, they would release its annual report and the drafted regulations for edibles. While the annual report has not yet arrived, the October 23 edition of the Maryland Register contained…
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Quick Hit: Can Kamala Harris Convince a Legalization-Averse Biden?
You likely tuned into Sunday night’s episode of 60 Minutes to see President Donald Trump snipe and grumble at reporter Lesley Stahl and ultimately, get up and leave early because he claimed the questions were “unfair.” We have seen this all before with our man child of a president. What viewers might have also caught…
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Virginians Can Finally Purchase Medicinal Cannabis in a Dispensary
2020 has been a banner year for cannabis reform in Virginia, even as nearby Maryland has stalled numerous modest cannabis reforms such as increasing the decriminalization threshold often blaming the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Last week, Virginia opened its first medicinal cannabis dispensary and Virginia’s special legislative session which was framed as a response to cannabis’…
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Quick Hit: Dispensaries and Their Effect on Crime, Explored
The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) recently released a memo titled, “Medical Marijuana Dispensaries and Their Effect on Crime” which explored the claims “that medical marijuana dispensaries will lead to increased crime rates in surrounding areas.” What the report shows is that dispensaries do not correlate with increases in crime: “These studies suggest that dispensaries are…
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Ocean City, MD Councilperson Proposes Council ‘Attack Pot’
During a Ocean City Council meeting last week that was ostensibly about expanding the city’s police force by funding 10 additional full-time officers, the council took some time to figure out how they can curtail cannabis use on the boardwalk and beach. In Maryland, cannabis is decriminalized up to 10 grams which is punishable only…
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D.C. Bill Would Allow Formerly Incarcerated To Enter The Medicinal Cannabis Industry
Last week, The Returning Citizens Cannabis Equity Amendment Act of 2020 (B23-0974) was introduced by councilmembers David Grosso (At-Large), Vincent Gray (Ward 7), Brianne Nadeau (Ward 1), and Trayon White (Ward 8). The bill intends to allow those who were incarcerated and are now out of prison the ability to work in the medicinal cannabis…