Free Republic

Diners accused of smoking weed, walking out on $420 restaurant bill Police are looking for a group of more than a dozen diners who allegedly tried to smoke marijuana inside a restaurant before causing a scene and walking out on the $420 bill. The incident happened Sunday night at Frida’s Mexican Restaurante in Memphis, Tennessee, WREG reported. The group of 16 came in at 10:30 pm, a half an hour before closing. “They came in at the last minute,” Frida’s manager Jesse Gonzalez told WREG. “We didn’t think anything of it.” According to Gonzalez, the group ordered some of the...

President Trump said he likely will support a congressional effort to end the federal ban on marijuana, a major step that would reshape the pot industry and end the threat of a Justice Department crackdown. Trump’s remarks put him sharply at odds with Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions on the issue. The bill in question, pushed by a bipartisan coalition, would allow states to go forward with legalization unencumbered by threats of federal prosecution. Trump made his comments to a gaggle of reporters Friday morning just before he boarded a helicopter on his way to the G-7 summit in Canada. His...

The Senate vote on Bill C-45, commonly known as the Cannabis Act, was expected Thursday evening, ahead of a G7 summit of the leaders of the world's seven largest economies that was scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Charlevoix, Quebec. The legislation would legalize access to cannabis while controlling and regulating how it is grown, distributed and sold. Canadian regulators suggest that, if passed and signed into law, sales are likely to commence 10 to 12 weeks post-legalization. Under the legislation, adults would be permitted to purchase up to 30 grams from distributors that have been licensed by the federal...

Sens. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican, and Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, introduced a bill Thursday intended to protect the laws of states that have legalized some form of marijuana from federal intervention. The Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act would ensure that states can make and enforce their own laws pertaining to the production and distribution of marijuana as long as states comply with a few federally-mandated basic protections. Currently, 46 states and additional territories have laws permitting medical and/or recreational marijuana. Both Colorado and Massachusetts have legalized recreational marijuana. But on the federal level, the...

CNN Refuses to Show This Hillary Video. Click Here to Watch Health Sciences Institute Ads by Revcontent Lawmakers introduced legislation Thursday aimed at resolving the long-running tension between states that legalized medical and recreational marijuana sales and the federal government, which still deems all use a federal crime. The bill, offered by Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., comes after President Trump's April assurance to Gardner that he would support reform. Gardner told reporters at a morning press conference that "I have spoken to the president today and that certainly was part of the conversation."

A Georgia family has been torn apart after authorities placed a 15-year-old teen in a group home following a tip from his therapist that his parents gave him marijuana in an effort to control his seizures. David Brill, whose parents Suzeanna and Matthew spent six days in jail after their arrest, allegedly suffers from near-constant seizures. The couple maintains that marijuana kept him seizure-free for 71 days, until Twiggs County sheriff’s deputies knocked on their door and told them to stop. The couple said they obliged, only for Brill’s seizures to return just hours later. “Within 14 hours of complying...

With regulations trending toward medical programs and adult-use in markets across the world, the cannabis industry is one of the fastest growing businesses, which means companies are looking for top talent to support and further their growth. It can be challenging to find qualified candidates due to stigma that still exists, as well as the job security issues that come with the startup nature of many cannabis companies. Despite these obstacles, the cannabis space is filled with passionate people dedicated to building a thriving industry, and more people like them are looking to make their mark. Here are some examples...

Some 22.3 percent of fatally injured motorists who were tested for drugs tested positive for marijuana in 2016, a figure that researchers say has "increased substantially" in recent years as states have legalized the drug for recreational or medicinal use, according to a new report. The finding, in a study released Thursday by the Governors Highway Safety Association, was one of several regarding the growing prevalence of drugs in vehicle fatalities. The report also found that 44 percent of drivers killed in automobile accidents in 2016 who were tested for drugs tested positive for one or more substances – a...

The legalization of cannabis in California has done almost nothing to halt illegal marijuana growing by Mexican drug cartels, which are laying bare large swaths of national forest in California, poisoning wildlife, and siphoning precious water out of creeks and rivers, U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott said Tuesday.

Veterans from across the country will be gathering in our nation's capital on Memorial Day this year to not only honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice, but to advocate for a cause that isn't typically associated with our nation's heroes -- the legalization of marijuana. The veterans and advocates taking part in the Memorial Day Veterans Rally DC hope to change the stigma that surrounds cannabis, the preferred term for marijuana among advocates, by arguing that this alternative medicine is already helping some vets treat issues like PTSD, chronic pain and depression -- all without the use of dangerous...

... The offspring of partying adolescents, specifically those who used THC, may be at increased risk for mental illness and addiction as a result of changes to the epigenome — even if those children are years away from being conceived. The epigenome is a record of molecular imprints of potent experiences, including cannabis exposure, that lead to persistent changes in gene expression and behavior, even across generations. Though the critical studies are only now beginning, many neuroscientists prophesize a social version of Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” in which we learn we’ve burdened our heirs only generations hence.

The leader of the New York arm of the Black Lives Matter movement is calling out New York gubernatorial candidate and actress/activist Cynthia Nixon for her comments on legalizing marijuana over the weekend, in which she said that the industry could provide a form of “reparations” for communities of color. While he supports cannabis legalization, Black Lives Matter of Greater New York president Hawk Newsome told the Times Union on Monday that candidates for office should not use words like “reparations” lightly, a topic on which there is a growing body of serious scholarship. “Cynthia Nixon’s comments that the legalization...

One of the groups formed to fight the legalization of marijuana for recreational use has now decided it’s for the measure — but only if the Michigan legislature takes it up and amends the proposal. The Committee to Keep Pot out of Neighborhoods and Schools — a political action committee formed to fight a ballot proposal to legalize marijuana — is now urging the Legislature to take up the initiative, amend it and pass a full legalization of pot for adult recreational use. The committee hopes that if the Legislature acts, recreational use will be regulated as stringently as the...

Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday that the scent of legal weed is in the air — and he wants New Yorkers to feel free to blaze away in public without fear of getting tossed in jail. In an unexpected announcement, City Hall said Hizzoner was eager to see the NYPD stop busting pot smokers and instead hand out summonses for sidewalk toking. “With marijuana legalization likely to occur in our state in the near future, it is critical our city plans for the public safety, health and financial consequences involved,” de Blasio said in a statement.

Defiance . . . nullification. It is a trend. I take it as a sign of our contentious times that we now witness states in open rebellion against centralized control from the Imperial City of Washington, D.C., while cities and counties are also rattling the chains set by their respective state capitals. The sweep of marijuana decriminalization and legalization is only the most obvious. Gay marriage became a legal mandate set by the Supreme Court only after several state legislatures, initiative measures, and courts took the lead on the issue. The Supreme Court has not weighed in on marijuana in...

CARPINTERIA - This picturesque coastal town cradled by mountains and sandy shores is a scene out of a Southern California postcard. Residents of Carpinteria say they feel lucky to live in what they consider a slice of paradise. But change is in the air. And sometimes, they say, it stinks. That’s because marijuana has become a new crop of choice in the farmlands surrounding this tight-knit community of 14,000, which has long helped fuel the U.S. cut flower industry. Residents say a thick, skunk-like odor from the marijuana plants settles over the valley in the evenings and before dawn. To...

If Illinois legalizes recreational marijuana by ballot measure this November, police may have to "put down" many of the 275 K-9 dogs trained to recognize narcotic substances across the state. Police organizations oppose legalizing marijuana for recreational use, and some marijuana advocates have condemned them for dangling canine death as a political tool. Police agencies invest thousands of dollars and months of training to teach dogs to sniff out and alert officers to the presence of various illegal narcotics, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and other drugs. These dogs, affectionately known as K-9 units, are very specialized, and police insist that...

Marijuana reform activists have created a new super PAC aimed exclusively at defeating Texas Republican Rep. Pete Sessions, the House Rules Committee chairman who has blocked cannabis reform legislation from reaching the House floor. Marijuana Policy Project founder and former Executive Director Rob Kampia is leading the effort, which he said is crucial to legalizing medical marijuana federally and affirming federalism for recreational pot, two policies supported in principle by President Trump. “Everyone knows who he is and that he’s our biggest problem on Capitol Hill. Half of my job has already been done by Pete Sessions himself," Kampia told...

(CNN)To get away from the memories of war in Afghanistan -- the violence, the unexpected danger, the rush of adrenaline and the hypervigilance that can come with post-traumatic stress disorder -- Aaron Newsom started gardening. Since World War II, generations of veterans have found healing in horticulture. Digging in the dirt did that for Newsom, but the Marine, who served in an attack helicopter squadron, wanted more. He wanted to share this healing feeling with service members who may never even touch a spade, and he had an idea. In addition to the public gardening he was doing in Santa...

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. voters back legalizing marijuana, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday. Support for legalization hit 63 percent in the survey — the highest level of support recorded by a Quinnipiac poll. A third of American voters still oppose legalization, the poll found. Support for medical marijuana is even higher, at 93 percent. Only about 5 percent of respondents opposed it. The poll also found little support for Attorney General Jeff Sessions's decision earlier this year to rescind an Obama-era policy that paved the way for individual states to legalize marijuana without federal interference. Seventy percent...