Free Republic

Members of the House of Delegates expect it to pass. In the Senate, they give it “slightly better than 50-50 odds.” And Gov. Ralph Northam’s office says he’s “certainly open to it.” Proposals to legalize recreational marijuana in Virginia are set to get their first serious hearings when the General Assembly convenes in January and, at least for now, it looks like there’s a decent chance they could succeed... The movement in Virginia comes after voters in four states overwhelmingly approved referendums legalizing marijuana, bringing the total nationwide total to 15. If lawmakers in Virginia move forward, the state would...

OAKLAND — The man shot by Oakland police Tuesday evening during a chaotic confrontation with suspected armed robbers died at the scene, authorities said late Wednesday. He was a 20-year-old Oakland resident. Police did not release his name. The shooting happened at around 10:15 p.m. Tuesday when officers interrupted an attempted burglary and robbery of a cannabis grow inside a building in the 1400 block of 92nd Avenue, at Holly Street. The burglary was one of several officers responded to Tuesday evening, as a group police described as a “caravan of armed robbers” robbed or attempted to rob several marijuana...

That most American of institutions — the referendum — has been growing in recent election cycles as voters realize how much direct power they can wield on certain issues. Pioneered by California’s reformist Governor Hiram Johnson, the ballot initiative has become popular with both the left and right as a means to short-circuit entrenched interests. Some states make putting an issue on the ballot a simple matter of getting enough signatures. Other states find ways to put roadblocks in the way of citizens looking to change the system or the law. But without a doubt, ground zero for referenda continues...

Marijuana has been called a “Gateway” drug. The thinking is that once a person experiences the effects of pot, they will have lost their reluctance to try stronger drugs such as cocaine, meth and heroin. “I smoked pot and lived through it. I kind of liked it. Maybe the stronger drugs won’t hurt me. Maybe they will be like pot, only better. They probably won’t kill me. Plus, it’s kind of exciting.” We sit after this election wondering how so many of our fellow citizens feel the need to cheat to achieve a political goal. Cheating is against the rules....

Drugs are winning the war on drugs. [...] But there was one absolutely certain loser last night: the war on drugs. If Americans across the country provided a clear mandate for anything this year, it's ending the hold that drug prohibition has on our country. Of nine drug decriminalization or legalization measures on state ballots last night—including two addressing hallucinogens and one covering all illegal drugs—not a single one failed. These were decisive victories, too, not close calls. And unlike some previous waves of pro-marijuana votes, which were concentrated in predictable areas, successful anti–drug war measures in 2020 spanned a...

The Associated Press says voters in five states have approved measures to legalize medical or recreational marijuana, or both, in Tuesday’s election. Voters in Arizona, New Jersey, Montana and South Dakota voted to legalize recreational marijuana for people ages 21 or older, joining 11 other states and Washington, D.C. South Dakotans also approved a measure to establish a medical marijuana program in the state for “individuals with a debilitating medical condition.” According to the Marijuana Policy Project, that makes South Dakota the first state to legalize medical and adult-use marijuana on the same day. In Mississippi, two versions of a...

Oregon has become the first state in the U.S. to decriminalize personal possession of all drugs, while Washington D.C. allows for consumption of magic mushrooms and New Jersey and Arizona legalize marijuana for recreational use. The move to decriminalize hard drugs including heroin and methamphetamine in Oregon - as well as legalizing the use of psilocybin mushrooms - passed by two large margins on Tuesday. Known as Measure 110, it will completely change how Oregon's justice system treats those who are found with personal-use amounts of the hard drugs.

Cannabis stocks are a good indicator for what the stock market is thinking about the election. After the VP debate when Harris pitched decriminalizing cannabis at the federal level, these stocks soared. Today they are largely down despite a big up day for the market. I'm watching CGC, TLRY, ACB, TCNNF as a representative basket.

As voters head to the polls to select the next president, citizens of five states will decide whether to legalize medical or recreational marijuana. Right now, 33 states have legalized medical cannabis, according to CNN. Eleven of those states have legalized marijuana for recreational use. In 2016, pot measures passed in eight out of nine states where it was on the ballot. Here’s a look at the states where voters will decide the future of pot: Arizona A proposition on the ballot would legalize the possession and use of marijuana for adults who are 21 or older. People would be...

The boy knew how his mother made a living. He also knew the danger inherent in it. As recently as two months ago, he had stayed at a property in Aguanga, a small community in rural Riverside County, where his mother, helped by recent immigrants from Laos, grew marijuana.

Four years ago, Pennsylvania allowed patients suffering from any of 17 serious medical conditions to relieve their symptoms with marijuana. But there was a catch: If they used cannabis as a medicine, they could no longer legally drive. Last week, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives approved a bill that would eliminate that legal disability by requiring evidence of impairment to convict medical marijuana patients of driving under the influence. That reform points the way to an overdue reevaluation of DUI laws that irrationally and unfairly punish cannabis consumers who pose no threat to public safety. Thirty-three states have legalized medical...

PUEBLO, Colo.—It’s a common story across America: A city loses its main employer, usually a manufacturing company with well-paying, blue-collar jobs (that often go to China). The city’s economy crumbles, and those who can move out, do. Decades later, and looking peeling-paint tired, the city hasn’t managed to recover, but drugs have found a permanent home. In Pueblo, Colorado, the manufacturer was a steel plant beleaguered by a market crash in the 1980s and worker strikes in the 1990s. And one drug was given a red-carpet welcome. For years, Pueblo has been looking for industries to revive its economy, and...

As a libertarian, I think it’s reprehensible that liberals are against medical marijuana, and also reprehensible that they tried to raise the price of wheat at a time when millions of Americans were hungry. I hope Amy Coney Barrett will help overturn these rulings. In the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case Gonzales v. Raich, the court ruled that a person who grew and smoked their own medical marijuana was engaging in interstate commerce, even thought the marijuana never crossed state lines, and no money changed hands.Voting for the majority were Stevens, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer, and Scalia.The dissenters were O’Connor, Rehnquist,...

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf is proposing that the state legalize recreational marijuana in an effort to raise tax revenues lost during the Covid pandemic. Ironically, his draconian shutdown of much of the state over the past six months has seriously impacted the PA economy, and hence the state’s tax revenue. But it’s a pipe dream. In Colorado, for every dollar gained from marijuana taxes, taxpayers spend $4.50 to mitigate the effects of legalization. For Pennsylvania, any short term revenue increase will be swallowed up by the serious long term social and economic effects of legalization.In fact, if the governor is...

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf on Tuesday called for marijuana use to be legalized, which he said could help shore up the state’s economy. Wolf said on Twitter that he would be renewing calls on the state legislature to legalize adult-use to provide a new revenue stream as the state battles a multibillion-dollar coronavirus-related budget deficit. During a press conference on Tuesday, Wolf acknowledged that so far there has been no movement among Pennsylvania lawmakers to advance corresponding legislation.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A 20-year-old woman is accused of carrying 85 pounds of marijuana in two pieces of luggage at Nashville International Airport, authorities said. Tomisha Hamm was arrested Wednesday night and charged with a felony possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, WKRN reported. She was booked into the Nashville Metro Jail and her bail was set at $100,000, the television station reported. At 3 p.m. Wednesday, a drug dog at Nashville international Airport alerted detectives to possible narcotics in luggage on a Southwest Airlines flight that originated from Los Angeles and was bound for Cleveland, WZTV reported. The...

The wildfire called the August Complex is nearing the small communities of Post Mountain and Trinity Pines, about 200 miles (322 kilometers) northwest of Sacramento, the Los Angeles Times reported. Law enforcement officers went door to door warning of the encroaching fire danger but could not force residents to evacuate, Trinity County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Nate Trujillo said. As many as 1,000 people remained in Post Mountain and Trinity Pines, authorities and local residents estimated Thursday. The threatened marijuana growing area is in the Emerald Triangle, a three-county corner of Northern California that by some estimates is the nation’s largest...

California’s largest wildfire is threatening a marijuana-growing enclave, and authorities said many of the locals have refused to evacuate and abandon their maturing crops even as weather forecasters predict more hot, dry and windy conditions that could fan flames. The wildfire called the August Complex is nearing the small communities of Post Mountain and Trinity Pines, about 200 miles (322 kilometers) northwest of Sacramento, the Los Angeles Times reported. Law enforcement officers went door to door warning of the encroaching fire danger but could not force residents to evacuate, Trinity County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Nate Trujillo said.

The Legal Marijuana Now Party’s candidate in the race for the Second Congressional District has died, prompting a special election in February. Adam Charles Weeks died earlier this week, said Kevin O’Connor, the party’s candidate for U.S. Senate. “It’s a sad and sudden thing. We are pretty much taken aback,” he said. Weeks was facing off with Democratic U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and Republican candidate Tyler Kistner to represent the district. That election will now be postponed. “The law is clear on what happens next,” Secretary of State Steve Simon said in a statement Thursday. “If a major party nominee...

Some Florida parents have turned to booze and weed to get through remote learning with their kids..."...parents...with joints in their hand and cigarettes in their mouth," Pride told Fox News. "Sometimes the joints are as big as cigars...Elysa Grossman, a Johns Hopkins University professor, and Susan Sonnenschein, a UMBC professor, polled parents earlier..."We found that parents who are stressed by having to help their children with distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic drink seven more drinks per month...