Author: Brandon Soderberg
-
Virginia Senate Passes Legislation Preventing Cops From Searching Cars Based On Cannabis Smell
While cannabis legalization has not yet been considered during Virginia’s Special Legislative Session, two notable bills introduced passed the Senate last week: Senate Bill 5049, which prevents police officers from searching a person or their vehicle due to cannabis smell, and Senate Bill 5013 which would allow Virginians to pay their $25 ticket for possessing…
-
In Baltimore, an Unconstitutional Stop, a Blunt, Planted Cocaine, and an Unsolved Murder
A complaint filed against two Baltimore Police officers on behalf of the family of a Baltimore man describes an unconstitutional police stop that resulted in the discovery of a decriminalized amount of cannabis which quickly escalated into, lawyers allege, cops deleting evidence and planting drugs. The complaint goes on to detail how the man, Sherman…
-
Ballot Initiative in Washington D.C. Pushes For Cannabis Industry in the District
Back in 2014, when Washington D.C. residents took to the voting booth to declare that indeed they wanted cannabis legal in the District (through home growing and the decriminalization of low-level possession), most didn’t think that a regulated cannabis industry, the messier second half of legalization, would be this far behind. Yet here D.C. is…
-
Virginia’s Special Legislative Sessions Considers More Macro and Micro Cannabis Reforms
The special legislative session convened by Virginia Governor Ralph Northam began last week on Tuesday August 18, and among the issues discussed are ongoing changes both big and small to cannabis reform in the state. For months, advocates have pushed Northam on the issue of cannabis legalization—something Northam has been less vocal about even as…
-
The Outlaw Report Podcast Episode 05: Talking the MORE Act with NORML’s Justin Strekal
In the latest episode of The Outlaw Report podcast, Scott Cecil talks to NORML Political Director Justin Strekal about the MORE Act, sponsored by Joe Biden’s vice presidential pick Kamala Harris. And The Outlaw Report’s Brandon Soderberg discusses Virginia’s ongoing reforms and the special legislative session and Maryland’s woeful progress when it comes to cannabis…
-
Quick Hit: Trump Administration’s Anti-Cannabis Stance Goes Public With Hemp Rule
It has seemed, for quite some time, that President Donald Trump’s administration is out to get cannabis. Why exactly, is unclear. Trump, before he found his way to the White House, did not care about much or what anyone else did, unless it affected him—a sort of spoiled Democrat touched by super rich Libertarianism—and so…
-
Kamala Harris Offers Something Like Hope For Cannabis Legalization Nationwide
Cannabis reformers’ hope for cannabis legalization across the United States sits squarely on the shoulders of a former prosecutor who as recently as 2014 was laughing at reporters for asking her questions about legal weed. We are of course talking about Kamala Harris, the Democratic pick for Vice President—chosen by Joe Biden, virulently opposed to…
-
Virginia Decriminalized Cannabis, Now it Considers Legalization and Begins its Medicinal Program
In July, Virginia officially decriminalized cannabis possession of up to one ounce, a positive for cannabis reform and a benefit to the many residents of Virginia who are now a bit less apt to get jammed up in the system for using and possessing cannabis. Leading up to decriminalization, arrests for cannabis were actually increasing…
-
Quick Hit: MDMA Made From Crude Oil A Harbinger of How Big Cannabis Will Become Big Psychedelics
Earlier this month, the website Psymposia published a fascinating—and mildly terrifying—article titled, “Forget Plant-Based Medicine, MDMA is Now Made From Crude Oil.” Citing an article from the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies’ (MAPS) Spring 2020 bulletin titled “The Commercial Chemistry of MDMA: From Research to Patient Access,” writer Russell Hausfeld (with David Nickels) quote from…
-
Maryland Could Have Increased Its Decriminalization Threshold—And Didn’t
At the beginning of the 2020 legislative session, Luke Jones of The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Maryland (NORML) told The Outlaw Report that the “number one policy goal” for those pushing for cannabis reform in Maryland was House Bill 550, which would increase the decriminalization threshold in the state from 10…
-
Synthetic Cannabinoid Seller Pleads Not Guilty in Virginia Federal Court
In March of this year, a federal indictment was unsealed revealing a three-year long investigation into a multi-state conspiracy to distribute and sell the synthetic cannabinoid colloquially called “spice.” The investigation, which began in Virginia alleged that Joseph Ruis, Kimberly Drumm and Bonnie Turner ran a business out of California that was called Aroma Superstore…
-
Maryland Hemp Plan Approved by USDA
As first reported by Marijuana Moment, the United States Department Of Agriculture (USDA) announced last week that it had approved Maryland’s hemp regulatory plan. As The Outlaw Report first reported last month, the July 6 edition of the Maryland Register included the proposal for the farming program by the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) which…