Free Republic

At a Nov. 15 hearing on cannabis reform at the federal level, House Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said President Joe Biden’s pardon of people convicted of “simple possession” of marijuana under federal law was “a good first step,” and added that the next step is that “cannabis must be decriminalized at the federal level as a matter of basic justice in the country.” Under current federal law, marijuana is classified as a Schedule 1 illegal drug, which means it has a “high potential for abuse” and is not a “currently accepted medical treatment in the U.S.,” according to Drugs.com. Other...

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Forty-two percent of America’s young-but-cynical Generation Z are dealing with a mental health condition, a new survey finds. A range of these issues were largely identified during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis by Harmony Healthcare IT suggests tens of millions of Gen Z young adults started dealing with a mental health problem in the months immediately following the start of the global pandemic in March 2020. The Indiana-based data management company’s survey highlights a staggering percentage of young adults diagnosed with anxiety, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the...

FOR DECADES,A major piece of counter-culture history was wedged behind a bed in Merl Saunders’ San Francisco house. The crude pipe looks like something a teen may have cobbled together at summer camp, but according to art historian Steve Cabella, it’s basically a religious object. A so-called “spirit pipe,” this particular pot implement was made by LSD pioneer Augustus Owsley Stanley for Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia, & it’s been MIA for decades. “I’ve bought party pipes from rock people before,” Cabella — owner of California antiquities shop The Modern i — tells Rolling Stone. “They’re just funny little things;...

Manson, she warned. SNIP One such tidbit takes us back to the Hollywood Hills of the 1960s, when Charles Manson was recruiting kids of the famous and well-to-do into what would become his infamous murder cult. Manson wooed, or attempted to woo, the likes of Terry Melcher, the son of Doris Day, Deana Martin, daughter of Dean Martin, and Lansbury's kids, Anthony and Deidre Shaw. Dame Lansbury recounted how Diedre in particular fell under Manson's sway and how she plucked both her kids out of Hollywood and absconded to Ireland in a 2014 interview with Mail Online. "It started with...

On the ropes and with no message about rising crime or the struggling economy to appeal to voters, President Joe Biden has gone to pot. Literally. The president’s election-eve marijuana decriminalization order has him yet again putting politics over people’s lives and health. In a shameless attempt to buy the votes of young people and lower-income minority communities, Mr. Biden is waving his pen around again to dig himself out of the political cellar. The American Left, and some on the Right, along with the Big Tobacco companies already responsible for millions of deaths from their products, have spent heavily...

At sunset from atop Haystack Butte, the desert floor below shimmers with a thousand lights Illegal cannabis farms. At this hour and distance, serene hues cloak the rugged enclave of Mount Shasta Vista, a tense collective of seasonal camps guarded by guns and dogs where the daily runs of water trucks are interrupted by police raids, armed robberies and, sometimes, death. So many hoop houses pack this valley near the Oregon border that last year it had the capacity to supply half of California’s entire legal cannabis market

more damning proof of the wild and irresponsible life of President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. Images are from a “wild” video that takes place at a $4,140 per night Malibu rental property. ... The video is the latest in the trove of treasures unearthed from Hunter’s abandoned personal laptop. ... when he “invited prostitutes to his wild pool parties and even took one photo showing two hookers naked in the hot tub with a jar of marijuana nearby.” ... Biz Pac Review reports on the comparison to other leaked footage and images of Hunter’s shenanigans: While it’s certainly not as...

Since the marijuana legalization era began in 2012, the federal government has operated under an unwritten understanding that it would not enforce marijuana laws in states where the drug is legal. So, how is that working out? The Los Angeles Times looked for answers in rural California and published the results in a new series this month. California legalized the recreational use of marijuana by referendum in 2016. Proponents promised that a taxable and orderly marijuana trade would be the result, a clear improvement over the violent black market trade that had preceded legalization. They promised that the legal marijuana...

Memphis police officers Thursday night were frantically searching for a duo who posted a video online threatening to kill white people.

If weed fails in the Senate, and no one hears, does it make any noise? On July 21, 2022, the three most ambitious U.S. senators ever to pay attention to cannabis sheepishly launched federal cannabis legislation into the future, with the introduction of the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act. The landmark announcement drew surprisingly little fanfare. Senators Schumer, Wyden, and Booker seemed resigned. The cannabis cognoscenti immediately denied the infeasibility of the timing and the impossibility of getting to 60 votes in a bitterly divided U.S. Senate. Then, the seas started to change in Washington. After months of gridlock, Congress...

Shortly before my first run for governor of Massachusetts, in 2014, the Bay State became one of the first to legalize "medical" marijuana and would soon legalize recreational use. I was one of five candidates in the race that included uber-RINO Charlie Baker, ultra-corrupt Democrat Attorney General Martha Coakley, and three Independents: progressive darling Evan Falchuk (launching a new Socialist Party), businessman Jeff McCormick and yours truly. My reason for running was two-fold: to have a platform to shine the light of the Gospel in the darkest arena of human affairs – politics – and to break out of the...

Those who knew the 21-year-old suspect, Robert Crimo III, say he habitually smoked cannabis, a habit he appeared to share with young mass shooters, including at Uvalde, Dayton, Parkland and Aurora...At some point, his father moved out of the family home into a house two miles away in Highwood, while Crimo stayed with his mother and the Highland Park house fell into disrepair...But when Crimo turned 18, his personality changed, Pacileo told NBC News,..."Instead of therapy, he turned to drugs..."...Another former friend, Bennett Brizes, described the Crimo he knew from age 14 to 17 as "an isolated stoner who completely...

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...

It's a class B drug in the UK - but in the US state it's led to spiralling addiction, psychotic illnesses and hospitals facing a deluge of poisonings A row of luxury 'healing' creams is guarded by a locked glass cabinet, gilded in gold trim. The packaging is stylishly minimal – clean and white with small black typeface – and beside the tubs sit decorative, artificial fruit and images of sprawling fields, with a small flyer to remind customers of the high-quality, organic nature of the products. I spot one pot – a snip at $43, or roughly £35 –...

Bill Maher has argued Republicans could easily 'steal' the issue of federal marijuana legalization by making it an issue about freedom after Democrats inserted 'too much stuff' about racial 'equity' in the House-passed measure aimed to decriminalize pot. The comedian, argued Friday night that legalization of marijuana swings in the favor of Republicans and is 'something we ought to do.' 'Republicans are gonna steal the issue. I think eventually,' Maher told former Attorney General Eric Holder after being asked why President Joe Biden hadn't yet pushed for federal legalization of pot. 'I mean, it could be one of those freedom...

The American Trucking Association released a statement in October 2021, citing retiring driving veterans and lower wages as the partial cause for the shortage of more than 80,000 drivers. However, another cause for this shortage is being attributed to adult-use legalization and drivers testing positive for cannabis. A March 2022 U.S. Department of Transportation summary report states that as of April 1, 2022, 10,276 commercial truck drivers tested positive for THC. (Although this is a significant decrease in numbers, compared to 31,085 violations in 2021 and 29,511 violations in 2020.) Cannabis leads the data as the highest positive drug tests...

<p>TISHOMINGO, Okla. (AP) — The teenage driver of a small car that collided with a large truck in Oklahoma, killing all six occupants in the car, tested negative for alcohol but positive for cannabis after her death, according to a preliminary report released Thursday.</p>

Heavy regulation, high taxes, and local bans combined to cripple the legal cannabis industry, which accounts for just a third of the state's pot market.Six years after California legalized recreational marijuana, the black market still accounts for roughly two-thirds of the state's cannabis sales. Since legalization was supposed to eliminate the black market, that embarrassing situation represents a stark failure to fulfill the promise of Proposition 64, the 2016 ballot initiative that allowed recreational consumers to buy marijuana from state-licensed retailers. Regulatory costs, high taxes, and local bans on retailers are the main factors impeding the transition to a legal...

Democrats in Washington state are cracking down on marijuana — not the actual drug, the word itself. The Evergreen State legislature recently passed a bill banning the word “marijuana” from official state law and documents over concerns that it is “racist.” At the same time, to help increase diversity in the cannabis business, a taxpayer-funded task force has been spending the last two years focusing on helping minorities in Washington state break into the marijuana business. “The term ‘marijuana’ itself is pejorative and racist,” Washington state Representative Melanie Morgan (D) said during testimony regarding the piece of legislation officially known...

A Florida bride and her caterer face felony charges after they allegedly dosed unwitting wedding guests with a weed-laced menu, sending several to the hospital. Now, the dazed and confused revelers are pressing charges. Bride Danya Shea Glenny Svoboda, 42, and wedding caterer Joycelyn Montrinice Bryant, 31, were charged on April 18 with delivering marijuana, tampering with guests' food and misdemeanor culpable negligence. Both parties turned themselves in to the Seminole County Sheriff's Department, have since been released and are scheduled for arraignment on June 7. About 50 guest attended the February 19 wedding reception at The Springs Clubhouse in...