CBS News: “Does driving while high have any impact on auto accident rates? Legalized recreational marijuana use in Colorado, Oregon and Washington correlates to about a 3 percent increase in auto collision claim frequencies compared to states without such legislation, according to a new Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) study. It’s the first one the group has conducted since the drug went on sale legally.”
PJ Media: “Facing a Justice Department seeking to crack down on medical marijuana jurisdictions, Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and a group of bipartisan lawmakers on Thursday reintroduced legislation that would allow states to set their own medical marijuana policies free from the threat of federal prosecution. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in May asked that Congress eliminate protections for medical marijuana users and proprietors in legal states, so that the department could crack down on illegal activity and combat dangerous drug traffickers in the midst of a historic drug epidemic. Sessions in his May 1 letter to leaders in both chambers asked lawmakers to remove the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, which bars DOJ from spending appropriated funds to prosecute medical marijuana users and proprietors in legal states.”
Yahoo: “It’s early morning, just after breakfast, and six-year-old Cayley is wide awake, eagerly anticipating her daily dose of cannabis. The black labrador, tail wagging, laps up the liquid tincture owner Brett Hartmann squirts into her mouth, a remedy he uses morning and evening to help alleviate Cayley’s anxiety. “Ever since I started her on CBD (cannabidiol — a marijuana extract), her separation anxiety has disappeared,” says Hartmann, 30, of his pet, a service dog he acquired while in college because he had epilepsy.”
Brietbart: “Less than a year after Massachusetts voters approved legalizing marijuana and taxing it at a rate of 12 percent, lawmakers already seek a larger take of the dealer’s cut. In shifting marijuana from decriminalized to legal status, voters permitted a maximum tax of 12 percent on sales of the sweet leaf. Seven months later, the state legislature seeks to grab more of pot profits by permitting taxes as high as 28 percent.”
Bloomberg Technology: “Cannabis companies are turning to the world’s most popular digital currency in an effort to get rid of all that cash. The inability to access traditional financial institutions is one of the marijuana industry’s biggest impediments. Legal cannabis was a $6 billion industry last year and is expected to grow to $50 billion by 2026, according to Cowen & Co. But because pot is illegal under federal law, big banks and credit-card companies steer clear. That’s forced most merchants to accept cash only, a logistical headache and constant security threat. Enter bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that consists of digital coins “mined” by computers solving increasingly complex math problems.”
See Circa’s slideshow.
Phoenix New Times: “Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich asked the state Supreme Court on Thursday to review an appeals-court ruling that struck down a ban on medical marijuana on college campuses. In the 15-page petition for review, lawyers for the state claim that the Arizona Legislature had the right to alter the voter-enacted law with a new law signed by former Governor Jan Brewer in 2012. They want provisions of the 2012 law re-established so that college students with medical-marijuana cards can face felony arrest and prosecution for possessing any amount of marijuana.”
Washington Post: “Marijuana has been decriminalized and regulated by various states, but it remains forbidden by federal law. This means that state-legal marijuana growers might still face federal charges, though federal prosecutors could choose not to enforce the federal ban in such situations. But it also means that private citizens . . . could sue neighboring marijuana growers under the federal RICO statute, on the theory that the growers are interfering with the neighbors’ use of their land — as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit just held Wednesday in Safe Streets Alliance v. Alternative Holistic Healing, LLC. And this would not be affected by a Justice Department policy of not enforcing the criminal ban on marijuana production and distribution in those states that allow marijuana.”
This lawsuit concerns marijuana growing in Colorado.
Santafe New Mexican: “A state-licensed medical marijuana producer is suing EXPO New Mexico officials, saying restrictions on what the company would be allowed to display in an informational booth during the annual state fair in Albuquerque violate free speech laws. New Mexico Top Organics-Ultra Health says in a complaint filed this week in U.S. District Court that the rules are so strict the company couldn’t even display its logo, which features a stylized image of a marijuana leaf, and would moot the purpose of having an informational booth at the fair. . . . Ultra Health President Duke Rodriguez said his company had permission to display the nonflowering seedling”
Tucson Weekly: “Arizona medical marijuana users lawyered up late last year to contest the state’s fees for certification. Those efforts burnt out in mid-May as a Maricopa County Superior Court Judge decided there was nothing she could do about the situation. The lawsuit arose when a caregiver claimed that the medical marijuana program under the state’s Department of Health Services collected more money that it needed to operate and the $150 annual fee for patients and the $200 fee for caregivers were unnecessarily burdensome.”
CNN: “Thirty-eight days into the job, the new director of the US Secret Service, Randolph Alles, is getting to know his agency. Alles told reporters Thursday that he’s working to grow the Secret Service, including by relaxing the agency’s drug policy on marijuana. Instead of a policy that would disqualify an applicant who has used the drug more than a certain number of times, the agency will now use a ‘whole-person concept’ to measure marijuana use, potentially allowing candidates who admit to marijuana use based on the last age at which they used the drug and the amount of time between then and their application to the agency.”