Free Republic

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will take a historic step toward easing federal restrictions on cannabis, with plans to announce an interim rule soon reclassifying the drug for the first time since the Controlled Substances Act was enacted more than 50 years ago, four sources with knowledge of the decision said. The Drug Enforcement Administration is expected to approve an opinion by the Department of Health and Human Services that marijuana should be reclassified from the strictest Schedule I to the less stringent Schedule III. It would be the first time that the U.S. government has acknowledged its potential medical...

I do not advocate for pot, only for the individuals right to choose. I don't use it. It has an odor. It's bad for the lungs. I never got a euphoric "high" when I did try it. it's a nothingburger for me personally. I do have friends who partake (vets with PTSD). It is certainly less harmful than fentanyl, heroin and all of the other Schedule 1 drugs and never should have been classified as such. The only thing I can say in its defense is I hear that some of the nurses in rehab are supposedly pretty . ....

Washington, D.C. – The Bureau of Labor Statistics sent out another warning today, due to inflation. National Marijuana Day has been rescheduled. It will now be April 30th. “Supply chain issues, expanded money supply, and the lagging effect of COVID-19 has forced us to make this move,” the Department said. Marijuana enthusiasts were not in high spirits upon hearing the news. It put a damper on many who hoped that, with COVID-19 receding and loosening cannabis laws, 2022 would be the year of the hash bash. “This sucks! I want to be high, not my prices,” said customer Reid Stephens...

WASHINGTON — On the eve of the 4/20 cannabis holiday, federal inmates again are wondering if and when President Biden will make good on his 2020 campaign pledge to free “everyone” locked up on marijuana charges. About 2,700 inmates are behind federal bars on pot-related charges — even though 18 states and DC now allow recreational use of the drug and two-thirds of Americans support legalization. ... In January 2021, then-President Donald Trump commuted the sentences of seven people serving life terms for marijuana — including two men who were given life without parole under the three-strikes provision of the...

The bill also would establish a fund for people impacted by drugs, impose a 5% tax on legal marijuana sales, and establish a process to expunge certain convictions and review sentences related to past federal marijuana offenses...Clyburn, D-S.C., told members that the vote is expected to take place in the September work period...According to an American Civil Liberties Union report earlier this year, Black Americans are 3.64 time more likely than White Americans to be arrested for marijuana possession...

Germany is not planning to relax current restrictions on public life before April 20, Helge Braun, the head of Angela Merkel’s Chancellery, has told a national newspaper. Braun made the comments just days after the country introduced sweeping nationwide measures in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19. This week, most food and entertainment outlets shut down, along with schools, universities and non-essential shops. “We will not discuss any relaxing [of restrictions] until April 20, and until then, all measures will remain in place,” Braun told Der Tagesspiegel, adding that it should be clear after Easter whether the restrictions...

Failed Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum (D) was allegedly involved in a suspected crystal meth incident on Friday morning at a Miami Beach hotel, according to a local police report. The Miami Beach Police Department report states officers found Gillum inside a West Avenue hotel room with two other men shortly before 1:00 a.m., where first responders were providing medical attention to one of the individuals for a possible drug overdose. “Mr. Gillum was unable to communicate with officers due to his inebriated state,” according to the report.

When the most popular medical marijuana dispensary in Chicago begins selling recreational pot on New Year’s Day, it will operate like a busy restaurant. Dispensary 33 plans to take names from those in line and page customers by phone when they can get in. The North Side cannabis shop will take that unusual step due to the huge crowds expected when weed sales become legal under state law at 6 a.m. Jan. 1, 2020. The celebration will be similar to the unofficial pot holiday of April 20, or 4/20, when a Dispensary 33 street fest and special deals this year...

VIDEO John Hickenlooper announced his candidacy for President today to universal ennui. However, the one place that is not completely oblivious to his candidacy is the DUmmie FUnnies. We here wish to become the semi-official chronicler of Hickenlooper's exploits on the 2020 campaign trail from a humor perspective. In fact, when Hickenlooper campaigns in Florida, he has an open invitation to be interviewed by the DUmmie FUnnies. It could well be his only interview invitation in the Sunshine State. Therefore let it be announced unto all the world that John Hickenlooper is now being endorsed (it could be his first...

GREENFIELD, Calif. — A huge fire broke out just after 4:20 p.m. Monday at a marijuana growing operation in Greenfield. Videos sent to KSBW by Greenfield residents show several greenhouses on fire that are used for cultivating cannabis. The property at 900 Cherry Avenue is operated by Greenfield's largest employer, Loudpack Farms. At least 300 people work at the cannabis facility. Dispatchers said employees were evacuated, and no injuries have been reported. Witness Delia Gonzales said, "A marijuana company is up in smoke." "The Greenfield Fire Department and Soledad Fire Department are on the scene of multiple greenhouse structures on...

Last year, the white nationalist Richard Spencer was kicked out of his Virginia gym after another member confronted him and called him a Nazi. This incident did not generate a national round of hand-wringing about the death of tolerance, perhaps because most people tacitly agree that it’s O.K. to shun professional racists. It’s a little more complicated when the professional racist is the president of the United States. The norms of our political life require a degree of bipartisan forbearance. But treating members of Donald Trump’s administration as ordinary public officials rather than pariahs does more to normalize bigotry than...

PITTSBURGH - Local rapper Jimmy Wopo has died following a double shooting in Pittsburgh's Hill District neighborhood Monday. The drive-by shooting was reported around 4:20 p.m. near the intersection of Wylie Avenue and Duff Street. Wopo, whose birth name is Travon Smart, died at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital about two hours after he was shot, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office. Channel 11 talked to Wopo's grandfather outside of the hospital. "He has everything going for him. Everything. But the streets will kill you," James White said. XXL Magazine recently called him one of the best and brightest new...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced legislation Friday that would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level and establish “dedicated funding streams” for women and minority businesses to grow and distribute the drug. “The time has come to decriminalize marijuana,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement. “My thinking, as well as the general population’s views on the issue has evolved, and so I believe there’s no better time than the present to get this done. It’s simply the right thing to do.” Schumer’s legislation would maintain laws that prevent trafficking of marijuana across state lines in cases where the drug is...

Laura Ingraham did a segment on her show tonight. One of the guests was a pro-pot lawyer from Denver. Segment starts at the 40:18 mark, guest comes on at the 42:11 mark. Hilarity ensues.

The Wyoming, Minn., Police Department is at it again with its comical tweets. In just a few hours, the quick-witted officers received thousands of retweets and “likes” on their Twitter message on marijuana’s high holiday, 4/20.   “Undercover #420 operations are in place,” the department tweeted around 4 a.m. Thursday. “Discreet traps have been set up throughout the city today. #Happy420.” The "traps" are Doritos, Cheetos, Mountain Dew, White Castle and video games such as "Grand Theft Auto." Also pictured is a squad car and police officer standing by with a net.

Today is April 20th 2017, its 4/20. As in 4:20. Weed, Cush, pot, Marijuana hemp, Canibis, whatever you want to call it. I didn't want to write an article today since I personally am against recreational marijuana usage though I believe it should be up to states on whether or not to allow it. Today I thought, why not talk about it since its now legal in most of New England? Soon to be legal everywhere in New England I am also certain... Three states have legalized marijuna for recreational useage: Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont. Well its not quite that...

This Thursday, April 20, marks the annual unofficial holiday celebrated around the world by marijuana users. And this year, "4/20" will be observed while America's burgeoning legal cannabis industry sits at a crossroads. Public opinion polls indicate that support for marijuana legalization is at an all-time high in the U.S., and November's election saw four new states vote to legalize recreational cannabis while another four states legalized medical pot. As a result, a majority of the U.S. population lives in a state with some access to legal marijuana. However, cannabis remains illegal on the federal level, and the new administration...

They came. They smoked. They left more than seven tons of trash. After more than 8,000 people flocked Golden Gate Park on Wednesday, or 4/20, as the San Francisco’s marijuana-loving community call it, countless bottles of Shasta soda, beer cans, Fruit Loops boxes and butts were left scattered across the grassy, green lawn. "We think we will end up with over 15,000 pounds of trash," San Francisco Recreation and Park General Manager Phil Ginsburg said Thursday morning. "Yes, it's impactful to our park." Ginsburg noted the mess was an improvement from last year. That trashy haul tipped the scales at...

Marijuana legalization advocates in Washington have rescheduled the infamous 4/20 holiday for Saturday. Organizers said they moved the event up a few weeks to call attention to the need for reform by President Obama. "Due to popular demand, we're rescheduling 4/20 this year to 4/2 because Obama's been a BIG ZERO on cannabis reform," the D.C. Cannabis Campaign said in a statement. "Some people think we should not protest President Obama in an election year. But if not now, when? Let's make the rescheduling of cannabis a campaign issue now." The organization also hopes their challenge to Obama spills over...

President Obama is hopefully planning a visit to Cuba and sees longtime co-dictator Raul Castro, who has taken over for ailing brother Fidel, as a pragmatist, not "an ideologue." In a newly released Yahoo interview, Obama said, "I am very much interested in going to Cuba, but I think the conditions have to be right."The president told correspondent Olivier Knox, "My hope is that sometime next year we look at the conditions there and we say, you know what? Now would be a good time to shine a light on progress that's been made, but also maybe to nudge the...