Cannabis News Round-Up
Booker introduces bill to legalize marijuana nationwide. Congress is heading for a confrontation with Sessions over marijuana. Make America great again by legalizing weed, majority of voters say. Sessions’ task force doesn’t recommend crackdown on legal marijuana. Sessions criticizes Washington legal marijuana system. Sessions raises “serious questions” about Colorado marijuana management in letter to governor. Read the letters here.
Cannabis grower buys California town to build pot-friendly outpost. Despite California legalization, illegal pot is not going away. Pot legal in Nevada but tourists have nearly nowhere to smoke. Officials grapple with limiting pot ads at Las Vegas airport.
Massachusetts marijuana boom is bad news for the state’s energy efficiency efforts. Maine lawmakers propose limits on size of marijuana home grow.
Is supporting legal pot becoming politically viable in DC? How three missing words cast confusion over South Dakota marijuana ballot measure.
Banks don’t like risks associated with legal pot business. Marijuana research grows alongside legal use of drug. Advisors are mellow about legal marijuana.
Looming legalization spurs ‘massive interest’ in marijuana retail opportunities in Alberta. With marijuana legal, Uruguay should heed lessons from the illicit tobacco trade.
RIP Andrea. You are missed by many.
Not so long ago, I was smitten with a beautiful young woman. My feelings for her weren’t fully reciprocated, though she would complain to me on occasion about someone she was seeing, in that why-can’t-my-boyfriend-be-more-like-you way all-too-familiar to many of us apparently destined to be pruned from the gene pool.
As I recall, the peak of my romantic success was fetching her some boondoggle. I was eleven years old, at Camp Sisol, in Rochester, NY.
Balloon Fest, Lisle, Illinois July, 2017
In the way of modern life, we became Facebook friends thirty-five years later. She would send me questions and firm pronouncements regarding health reform, and post the occasional ribald graphic concerning President Trump. Her chutzpah and acerbic wit remained charming. Last month, she posted some sweet missives about finding a new home for her cats, thanking the people who were providing wonderful palliative care for her advanced breast cancer.
She passed away yesterday. Today’s Facebook is alight as her family and close friends share sweet memories, including old pictures of her on our high school stage. She was perfectly cast as Golde, in Fiddler on the Roof.
RIP, Andrea. You are missed by many.
In my mind’s eye, you will always be that young girl with flowing blonde hair, fending off the flirtations of bolder, pre-adolescent boys.
Our awkward problem of political gerontocracy
I wrote at Vox today about an awkward problem we should discuss without rancor or euphemism:
In one of the most dramatic moments in the Senate in years, 80-year-old John McCain rallied from surgery and a diagnosis of brain cancer to cast a 1 am vote that torpedoed Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare — for now. The vote had been put on hold once already, to give him time to recuperate.
For all the drama, we shouldn’t be surprised that a medical emergency interfered with Senate business. The highest levels of American politics bear an uncomfortable resemblance to a gerontocracy. From the Senate to the presidency to — perhaps most strikingly — the Supreme Court, top positions are held more and more by people in their 70s or above.
Disruptive medical tragedies are an unavoidable statistical consequence of this trend, as is the risk that key political actors will develop cognitive impairment. There’s no easy solution to the problem, but it demands a frank conversation.
Reforms such as term appointments for justices could help with the problem, but it’s just as important to try to shift societal norms to take more seriously some elemental realities of human aging.
One paragraph that didn’t make it into the piece for space is also pertinent:
Where policies affecting same-sex marriage, student loans, immigration, climate change, and net neutrality are being debated, we need more young voices at the table. Particularly in safe districts with low partisan turnover, senior politicians accumulate privileges of seniority while they consolidate their personal power. Veteran politicians like Charles Rangel become difficult to dislodge, even when it’s past time for them to pass the baton.
What’s more, young adults who don’t see their issues prioritized, and who see elite politics dominated by their parents’ and grandparents’ generations can easily tune out, ceding the process to others.
More here.
Big bug, little bug: Accidental ISO 8000 photography.
I left my camera on ISO 8000 by mistake. (This shot would normally be maybe ISO 320 if the camera were on automatic.) It’s grainy, especially if cropped. But it has nice depth of field on a fast shutter speed. Kindof an interesting effect.
Big Bug, Little Bug
Cannabis News Round Up
California must overhaul cannabis regulations using emergency process so sales can start January 2nd. Oakland gives marijuana convicts first chance to open legal weed businesses. Riverside, California mulls options on legal marijuana businesses. Anti-marijuana group takes aim at Nevada rules. Be glad Arizona turned down recreational marijuana.
This 59-year-old Colorado mother of 2 is making millions selling legal marijuana gummies. Durango, Colorado voters may be asked to raise marijuana taxes. Marijuana grows leaving more Colorado homes filled with mold. Washington Puyallup tribe is running the pot lab of the future. Washington weed industry has a million-pound waste problem.
Through the haze of Massachusetts legal pot sales. Christie’s departure creates chance for New Jersey legal pot. DC marijuana market: stuck in a gray zone. Norton challenges Trump Administration on its support of harmful DC marijuana rider.
Michigan ballot initiative would grant highest cannabis possession limits in the US. Illinois lawmakers debate marijuana legalization.
What’s the big deal with legal pot? No one knows yet. Marijuana legalization fuels black market in other states. DEA data shows drug cartels continue to “operate and profit” from marijuana sales in legalized markets. Work in legal weed? Want to take out a loan? Good luck. States forge path through uncharted territory to legal pot.
Trump’s top strategist Robert Stone says he’s trying to convince the president to legalize marijuana. Why Sessions is going to lose his war against cannabis. Federal lawsuit against Sessions and DEA says marijuana’s Schedule I status unconstitutional. Sen. Booker just introduced a bill that could legalize marijuana nationwide.
Civil challenges to cannabis businesses in legal states. Marijuana is the new moneymaker for wedding planners. Former Seminole chief leads partnership to boost legal marijuana industry on tribal lands.
Ontario prepping reefer awareness campaign on the dangers of marijuana as legalization date approaches. The movement to make marijuana legal in India now has support from one of Modi’s ministers.
The Future of Drug Policy and the Opioid Crisis
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing this week about the re-authorization of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, which understandably ended up being as much about what to do about the still-exploding epidemic of opioid addiction and overdose.
Video from C-Span below
Cannabis News Round-Up
Massachusetts governor signs revamped marijuana legalization bill. What Maine recreational marijuana market will look like.
How Sessions could crack down on legal marijuana (and why he might not). Bipartisan group of senators rebuke Sessions’ attempt to ignore marijuana laws. DOJ gears up for crackdown on marijuana. Despite growing support for marijuana, legalization faces rocky road.
California has too much pot, and growers won’t be able to export the surplus. Should California start its own bank to serve marijuana companies? It wouldn’t be easy. Gavin Newsom dominates donations from a growing California industry aiming for influence. Nevada legal pot industry ramping up delivery services.
Colorado will come to regret legalizing marijuana.What actually happened to violent crime after Washington legalized marijuana. Michigan residents could keep enough marijuana for 880 joints under proposal.
New podcast to dive into how marijuana legalization is changing America. MADD manager says legalization of marijuana is going to create significant issues. These college students lost access to legal pot — and started getting better grades.
Questions remain for local leaders around Canada legalization of marijuana. Ahead of legalization, New Brunswick doctors release education program on marijuana health risks. Manitoba appears open to private marijuana sales when pot becomes legal.
Lunch walk buddy
The joy of a simple 50mm lens
Scary Genius
h/t Josh Holland here. Josh’s podcast has fantastic music. It also features a fantastic Sean Spicer farewell montage to the tune “The way we were.”