Sean “The Disruptor” Parker joins the cause… Growers required to register… “Armed commandos” threaten Mendo growers… Feds investigate working conditions for bud-trimmers… and more.
LEGALIZATION & LEGISLATION
“Adult Use of Marijuana Act” gets big boost // SF Weekly This 2016 ballot initiative pulls ahead in a crowded field.
A summary of the Adult Use Act // East Bay Express “Here’s what’s inside the initiative, which was filed by noted environmentalist Michael Sutton and a rare, cannabis-educated physician, Dr. Donald Lyman.”
Growers required to register with State // Cal NORML “ The California Board of Equalization has issued a special notice to growers and sellers of medical cannabis telling them that they are required to register and file returns. There is no charge for registering.” NORML “strongly advises all parties involved in the marijuana industry to register with the BOE if they are interested in becoming legal providers under California law.”
“End federal ban on marijuana” – Bernie Sanders // Wall Street Journal Bernie Sanders may be a candidate for President, but he’s also still a U.S. Senator. And it’s in that role that he plans to propose legislation to put marijuana under the control of state authorities, not federal.
Big fail in Ohio // Dispatch.com The ballot measure to legalize cannabis both medically and recreationally in Ohio lost on Tuesday by a roughly 2-to-1 margin. But was it because of the issue or the way it was presented? [See related story in Opinion.]
Mexico’s Supreme Court rules in favor of (limited) recreational cannabis // Reuters The decision only applies to the plaintiffs in this case, but is seen as “a landmark decision that could lead to legalization in a country with a bloody history of conflict with drug cartels.”
COPS & COURT
“Armed commandos dropped from the sky” // CBS Local “Mendocino shakedown” uses unmarked helicopters in raids, growers say. The county sheriff disputes that.
BUSINESS
Willie Nelson fights Big Marijuana // New York magazine “Even the most ardent advocates of legalization have been troubled by the rise of Big Pot. The legalization movement is organized largely around issues of social justice, and for activists who have spent decades railing against the disproportionate impact of the drug war on poor communities, it has been unsettling to watch legalization engender a new slate of economic disparities."
HEALTH
Unprecedented: Federal investigators visit pot farm // KOMO-TV Marijuana is still highly illegal on the federal level, but bud-trimming is a legal occupation in the state of Washington, so researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health are authorized to investigate working conditions.
“Concussion” doctor joins Kannalife // PR News Wire The doctor portrayed by actor Will Smith in “Concussion,” a film to be released in December, has joined the board of Kannalife Sciences. Dr. BennetOmalu will serve on the Scientific Advisory Board “to assist the company in the advancement of its research and development efforts towards the use of cannabinoid therapeutics for the treatment of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).”
EVENT
State Board of Equalization Telephone Town Hall today // California Board of Equalization Call in to this event which starts today at 1pm. Click the link for details.
OPINION
What you can learn from Ohio’s setback // SF Chronicle “Ohio’s ballot measure beatdown wasn’t as much about weed as it was money and control.”
IN OTHER NEWS….
Smoke some bud, go to college // Associated Press A new tax on marijuana farmers in Pueblo County, Colorado is expected to generate millions in scholarship money “for any high school senior in the county who attends one of two public colleges in the county.”
Three things Californians should know about marijuana policy // KALW Radio Here’s my look at recent cannabis events.
Creatures of the forest at risk from abandoned pesticides // SF Chronicle “Fishers, those rare little forest animals barely larger than a big house cat, are dying from rat poisons left behind by illegal marijuana growers in California who abandon their plantations when the law closes in.”
-0-
[New content is generally posted on Friday.]