https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/ Empire State Cannabis Discussion Board en-US Fri, 24 Apr 2026 14:41:47 +0000 wpForo 60 https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/my-county-is-lowering-a-giant-mj-leaf-downtown-on-nye/ Mon, 29 Dec 2025 17:39:35 +0000
MONROE, MI — Monroe County is preparing to ring in the New Year with a celebration that organizers describe as “festive, community-focused, and just self-aware enough to work.”

This New Year’s Eve, downtown Monroe will host a public countdown featuring a 25-foot illuminated marijuana leaf, lowered at midnight as music plays, confetti flies, and several thousand residents briefly agree that standing outside in December was, in fact, a good idea.

“Other places drop apples or fish,” a city official said. “We looked around and thought, ‘What’s something that really says Monroe County?’ And then we all nodded at the same time.”

The leaf, constructed from a steel frame and wrapped in programmable LED lights, will hover above a temporary stage on Monroe Street before descending slowly at midnight. Organizers promise the motion will be smooth, dignified, and significantly less dramatic than most people’s New Year’s resolutions.

Officials were quick to clarify that the leaf is symbolic — a phrase that appeared repeatedly during planning meetings.

“This is not an instruction manual,” one official said. “It’s a lighted object on a timer. That’s it.”

The event is being sponsored by The Cannabus, a cannabis retailer scheduled to open in Monroe Township in 2026. While the business won’t open its doors for few more months, its owners said they wanted to introduce themselves to the community by funding something memorable — and preferably visible from several blocks away.

“We could have bought ads,” a Cannabus owner said. “Instead, we helped buy a very large glowing leaf. We feel that’s more honest.”

The sponsorship covers stage lighting, sound equipment, and a portion of downtown cleanup costs — including, officials noted, the inevitable collection of discarded gloves, novelty hats, and at least one shoe with no explanation.

City officials say the celebration, informally branded “Midnight on Main,” will begin early in the evening with live music from local bands, warming tents, and extended hours for downtown businesses. Food trucks will line nearby streets offering hot food, hot drinks, and food that was hot ten minutes ago but still appreciated.

“This is a downtown event,” a city official said. “We want people walking around, popping into shops, and remembering that Monroe has a downtown — even in winter.”

Police, fire, and public works crews will be on hand to manage traffic, crowds, and the occasional deeply enthusiastic celebrant.

“We’ve planned for weather, crowds, and people insisting they’re not cold,” one official said. “We are less prepared for the guy who insists the leaf should drop faster.”

Organizers say they’re also coordinating with local transportation services and ride-share companies to encourage safe trips home, especially for those who celebrate the New Year a little too confidently.

As expected, news of the leaf drop has already generated lively discussion online. Supporters have praised it as clever, unique, and very Monroe. Critics have suggested alternatives ranging from historical symbols to “literally anything else.”

City officials say that reaction is part of the process.

“If everyone agreed immediately, it wouldn’t be a tradition,” one official said. “It would just be a meeting.”

Supporters argue the event reflects Monroe County’s evolving identity and its growing role in Michigan’s cannabis economy. Others point out that the county has always found creative ways to stand out — sometimes intentionally.

“We’re not trying to be Times Square,” a city official said. “We’re trying to be Monroe on New Year’s Eve. Those are very different goals.”

Cannabus owners say they’re comfortable being part of the conversation, even if not everyone is convinced.

“We understand this won’t be for everyone,” one owner said. “But if nothing else, it gives people something to talk about — and something to take pictures of.”

Final details, including road closures, parking information, and the full music lineup, are expected to be released in the coming days. City crews have already begun staging logistics, and the leaf itself is reportedly nearing completion.

Officials say it will be impossible to miss.

“If you’re downtown at midnight and don’t see it,” one official joked, “check your phone clock — you might already be in next year.”

Whether the leaf drop becomes a long-standing tradition or simply a uniquely Monroe moment, city leaders say the goal is simple: bring people together, support local businesses, and start the year with a shared experience — even if that experience involves counting down beneath a very large, very bright leaf.

]]> In The News orthene https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/my-county-is-lowering-a-giant-mj-leaf-downtown-on-nye/ https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/we-cant-fix-the-opioid-crisis-if-we-dont-know-whats-killing-people/ Wed, 19 Nov 2025 09:20:09 +0000 IDEAS
HEALTH

Two hands in black gloves hold a bag containing a sample of nitazene powder.
Joe Lamberti—The Washington Post via Getty Images
by
Dr. Shravani Durbhakula
DR. SHRAVANI DURBHAKULA IS AN ANESTHESIOLOGIST AND PAIN PHYSICIAN IN NASHVILLE, TENN.

In Tennessee, data pins Knox County as the hotspot for emerging synthetic opioids known as nitazenes—compounds estimated to be 10 to 40 times stronger than fentanyl, now appearing in the illicit drug supply across the United States.

Yet, according to Chris Thomas, Chief Administrative Officer at the Knox County Regional Forensic Center, Tennessee’s overdose map is more reflective of where testing is happening, not necessarily where people are dying. “It’s not that Knox County is definitely the hardest-hit spot of the epidemic,” he explains. “Other counties simply don’t have the resources to test for drugs like nitazenes or other novel synthetics. They only have the funding to run basic panels.”

That chilling insight exposes a national blind spot. Across the country, medical examiner and coroner offices—our first line of defense in understanding what’s killing Americans—are unable to detect many of the compounds fueling the next phase of the overdose crisis. But simple changes could be transformational.

A public health crisis hidden in plain sight
Much of our country still relies on toxicology panels built for yesterday’s drug supply. These panels can reliably identify heroin, oxycodone, and fentanyl, but fail to catch nitazenes, brorphine, or other new synthetic analogs. This gap means that policymakers and public health professionals chase outdated trends.

Meanwhile, drug manufacturers exploit loopholes, evading detection and remaining a step ahead. This is exactly what happened with the rise of xylazine, the veterinarian tranquilizer that doesn’t respond to Narcan, which has significantly complicated overdose responses across the country. It took years, and too many deaths, before xylazine testing became a relatively common practice.

Our statistics may look highly granular—broken down by county, substance, and year—yet they’re still vulnerable to major blind spots. A person who dies with both cocaine and a nitazene in their system might still be coded as a “cocaine death” if the nitazene wasn’t recognized or confirmed. As fentanyl deaths steeply decline, national figures make cocaine seem responsible for a growing share of overdoses—but that’s misleading if many of those cases actually involve cocaine combined with nitazenes or other synthetic opioids that weren’t detected.

If we don’t have a true grasp of the epidemiology, we can’t understand where the epidemic is heading—or how to stop it.

Why aren’t we tracking this?
As Thomas explains, most medical examiner and coroner offices were created to serve the criminal justice system and determine cause and manner of death for legal and administrative purposes. Their budgets, set by counties or municipalities as opposed to health departments, are not structured to empower the tracking of emerging drug threats.

Detecting nitazenes and other novel compounds requires expensive technology, like liquid or gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, and highly trained personnel that can find these drugs despite their low molecular weight. Many offices, especially in rural areas, lack both the infrastructure and the funding for this.

Read more: We Can Prevent Overdose Deaths if We Change How We Think About Them

While the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has partnered with the University of California, San Diego in a promising endeavor to cover the costs of secondary laboratory testing, the scale remains minuscule. In the fourth quarter of 2024, the program received and analyzed only 88 samples from 18 states and one U.S. territory. Per Thomas, even the act of saving, storing, recording, packaging, and shipping samples requires time and staff that many offices don’t have.

The result is a fragmented, inequitable national surveillance system—one where the drugs we detect depend largely on where a person dies. Our lack of understanding paralyzes our ability to get in front of the supply.

The fix: Increase funding to see the crisis clearly
The money to fix this problem already exists. More than $50 billion in opioid abatement settlements—paid by pharmaceutical companies, distributors, and pharmacies—is now flowing to states. These funds were designed to prevent and mitigate further harm from the opioid epidemic, but each state divides its share differently among agencies, counties, and community programs. And just this month, a new deal with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family added up to $7.4 billion in potential additional payments, a portion of which will reach state and local governments.

Most funds go toward treatment, prevention, and harm reduction—all essential work—but little supports forensic and toxicology systems, even though they underpin our understanding of the crisis itself. These offices are often so chronically underfunded that even a modest investment could be transformational in helping us respond to the crisis before the next wave hits.

Many states retain a state-controlled portion of the settlements that allows for strategic, discretionary use. These funds can have flexible applications, and Tennessee recently directed its discretionary share to launch a wastewater drug-testing pilot.

Federal policymakers could go further by mandating states to dedicate a small portion of their discretionary funds to strengthen forensic capacity nationwide. With this funding, states could broaden toxicology panels to detect novel synthetic opioids and other emerging threats; hire and retain forensic toxicologists to interpret results and update testing libraries; support staffing and logistics to send samples to DEA or university reference labs for secondary testing; and integrate death-investigation data with public-health systems in real time.

The stakes of staying blind
We can’t solve what we can’t measure, so let’s use opioid abatement funds to help. Comprehensive toxicology would let us anticipate the next crisis instead of chasing the last. Testing the drug supply is not just a courtroom or administrative function; it’s a cornerstone of public health.

https://time.com/7334846/hidden-opioid-crisis-nitazenes-testing-gap/
]]> In The News jones https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/we-cant-fix-the-opioid-crisis-if-we-dont-know-whats-killing-people/ https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/ohio-to-enact-temporary-ban-on-intoxicating-hemp-products/ Fri, 10 Oct 2025 18:52:07 +0000
TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - After waiting for more than 20 months for state lawmakers to crack down on intoxicating hemp products, Ohio’s governor signed an executive order on Wednesday temporarily banning their sales.

His order declares an adulterated consumer emergency for products containing intoxicating hemp. It includes THC-infused beverages and products like gummies containing Delta-8 THC.

Delta-8 produces a high similar to recreational marijuana but is unregulated.

“It’s really become a problem in Ohio. It’s become a problem across the country,” DeWine said.

Ohio’s Republican governor first started raising concerns about Delta 8 in January 2024 when he called a press conference to highlight how the unregulated products can be packaged and sold to children.

At his news conference announcing his executive actions, DeWine showed more intoxicating hemp products packaged to look like popular candies that he said were bought within the last 48 hours in Franklin County.

“They’re designed clearly to mimic candy, designed clearly to entice children to consume these,” DeWine said. “There’s no check on age. Anyone can walk in and buy one of these. I think the danger to our children is clear. Our children are vulnerable to these potent knockoff products that are for sale here in Ohio.”

Temporary ban
Effective October 14, DeWine’s executive order gives the Ohio Department of Agriculture the ability to exclude intoxicating hemp from the definition of legal hemp in Ohio.

When the order goes into effect Tuesday, the sale of intoxicating hemp products will be illegal under administrative law. By Tuesday, retailers must remove products containing intoxicating hemp from their shelves and end all sales. Violators could be subject to fines of $500 per day while the products are on sale.

The order lasts for 90 days, DeWine said. Then, the legislature can choose to extend the order or let it expire, the governor said.

“This is specifically aimed at synthetic, intoxicating hemp products that can be sold to kids, has no quality control, and are simply dangerous,” DeWine said.

The governor said simply implementing age restrictions on these products or limiting their sales to specific retailers would require legislative action.

Retailers don’t have to destroy the products ahead of the ban, he said. Instead, they can send them back to their manufacturers.

DeWine’s order does not apply to non-intoxicating hemp products or legal marijuana sold in dispensaries.

Lack of legislative action
The governor initially called on the legislature to enact regulations for the products or outright ban their sales in the state. Lawmakers have since debated various bills that would either implement new restrictions or ban them altogether, but none of the bills have made it to his desk.

“While the General Assembly continues to work on this important legislation, I am taking action under my authority as governor of the state of Ohio to get these products off the streets and have them taken off our shelves,” DeWine said. “Intoxicating hemp is dangerous. We need better to protect our children.”

DeWine said in January 2024 that his lawyers didn’t believe he could take executive action against intoxicating hemp products. He said Wednesday that as he saw the problem “getting worse,” he went back to his lawyers to ask them to revisit the issue. He said after another review, his team believed he can take this action.

The governor said if members of the legislature believe he doesn’t have the authority to act, then they should at least enact guardrails for the products.

“If they want to save kids from having damage from this, they can take action as well,” DeWine said. “We believe we have the authority to do this. I’m not going to sit back and not do it.”

The GOP-controlled legislature has also failed to agree on how to change Ohio’s marijuana laws that voters approved in 2022, though DeWine said during Wednesday’s news conference that the laws at least have advertising and age restrictions, unlike intoxicating hemp products.

Increasing poison center calls
DeWine cited increasing reports of Delta 8 THC poisonings reported in recent years to the Ohio Poison Control Center. 90% of reports involving children under age 12 required emergency room visits, he said.

Dr. Hannah Hays, the medical director at the Central Ohio Poison Center, said the number of accidental poisonings among children has risen sharply since poison control centers started tracking exposures in 2021.

“Intoxicating hemp products pose a serious and preventable threat to child health,” Hays said.

Pushback from the industry
Some in the industry have pushed back against the idea of full bans of their products while calling on lawmakers to enact what they view as some responsible regulations.

“You’re hearing from one of the few industries that comes before you and says ‘please regulate us,’” Jonathon Miller of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable said in testimony to lawmakers in December. “Robust regulation is clearly preferable to misguided prohibition in ensuring that products are safe and kept out of the hands of minors.”

Ban it or regulate it?
DeWine said when voters legalized marijuana, they didn’t vote to allow intoxicating products to be sold to children.

“When they’re dealing with THC, they expect it to be regulated, they expect to know what’s in the product, they expect to make sure that it’s pure,” DeWine said.

DeWine said if lawmakers enact similar regulations for intoxicating hemp products that are in effect for recreational marijuana, then he would sign that bill.]]> In The News orthene https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/ohio-to-enact-temporary-ban-on-intoxicating-hemp-products/ https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/kentucky-facility-begins-cultivating-states-first-medical-cannabis-inventory/ Tue, 15 Jul 2025 18:09:07 +0000
Armory Kentucky—a Tier II cultivator based in Mayfield—has introduced the first medical cannabis inventory in the state's history. Cultivation at the site in Graves County began Friday, following the facility's approval after an inspection by the Kentucky Office of Medical Cannabis.

The start of cultivation at the Mayfield facility marks "a major milestone" "to deliver safe, affordable access to medical cannabis," Beshear said in a news release Tuesday. He added that additional licensees—including processors and testing labs—should be starting operations in the coming weeks.

The process to legalize medical marijuana in the commonwealth has been ongoing for several years. In March 2023, Beshear signed Senate Bill 47, which legalized medical cannabis for eligible patients starting Jan. 1 of this year. In April 2024, the governor signed House Bill 829, moving up the timeline by six months to begin medical cannabis licensing. Last July, the Kentucky Office of Medical Cannabis started taking applications from prospective businesses.

Despite medical marijuana becoming legal in Kentucky more than six months ago, patients have not yet been able to get any product. All product sold in Kentucky must be grown in Kentucky, so dispensaries are not yet in operation as they wait for product to be grown at state-approved cannabis cultivator facilities.

The Kentucky Office of Medical Cannabis, which is part of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, was tasked with implementing and administering the state's Medical Cannabis Program. As of April 2024, the state said the program had filed 17 regulations to establish the processes and procedures for businesses and registered cardholders.

To date, the state has licensed 81 businesses and registered over 400 medical cannabis practitioners.

As of Tuesday, the state said more than 17,000 Kentuckians have been issued a written certification and more than 11,000 have received a medical cannabis card.

To learn more about the rollout of medical marijuana in Kentucky and the Medical Cannabis Program, click here for the state's dashboard. It includes information and links to apply for a medical cannabis card, find a practitioner, find a dispensary once they open and more.

The state is hosting webinars for potential patients and caregivers about how to become a cardholder. The next webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, July 16, from 12-1 p.m. Registration is required to attend, which can be done so by clicking here. The webinars include information about the process, who qualifies for a card, how to get written certification to obtain a card and how to register for a card.]]> In The News orthene https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/kentucky-facility-begins-cultivating-states-first-medical-cannabis-inventory/ https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/toledo-police-officer-who-was-accused-of-buying-marijuana-on-duty-fired-by-tpd/ Tue, 01 Jul 2025 20:26:13 +0000

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TOLEDO, Ohio — Jeremy Berndt, who entered an Alford plea earlier this month, has been officially fired by the Toledo Police Department. This comes six months after he was charged and accused of purchasing marijuana while on duty.

Toledo police confirmed to WTOL 11 Tuesday that Berndt's employment with TPD was terminated on June 13. On June 3, he entered an Alford plea to a charge of attempting to commit an offense. Berndt was initially charged with dereliction of duty in January. 

Authorities said the purchase occurred while Berndt was wearing his department-issued police uniform and firearm, and arrived and left in his department-issued and marked police vehicle.

Following the Alford plea, a judge found Berndt guilty. He is due back in court on June 25 for sentencing.

An Alford plea is not an admission of guilt. A defendant entering an Alford plea agrees to be found guilty without admitting they committed the crime. The defendant acknowledges there is enough evidence against them to be convicted. It is often entered to avoid a greater penalty and is treated as a guilty plea.

Berndt had been with the Toledo Police Department for 21 years, TPD said. Toledo Police Chief Michael Troendle provided the following statement:

“It is an understatement to say that I was disappointed when I was informed that one of our officers was being investigated for criminal conduct. The community places great trust in the over 600 sworn officers of the Toledo Police Department to abide by and uphold the law. When an officer breaches that trust, they must be held accountable. We hold our officers to a high standard of personal and professional conduct, and that will always be the case under my administration.”]]> In The News orthene https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/toledo-police-officer-who-was-accused-of-buying-marijuana-on-duty-fired-by-tpd/ https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/adult-use-cannabis-fund-allocations-in-my-township/ Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:25:14 +0000 Treasury: Adult-Use Marijuana Payments Being Distributed to Michigan Municipalities and Counties; More Than $87 Million Going to 269 Municipalities and Counties

Monroe County has 18 licensed facilities. 16 of them are in Monroe Township. Over 1 million dollars will be issued to Monroe County.

Monroe Township will receive $945,381.60
Luna Pier will receive $59,086.35
Petersburg will receive $59.086.35

The Michigan Department of Treasury today announced that more than $87 million is being distributed among 269 municipalities and counties as a part of the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act.
Over the next few days, 99 cities, 30 villages, 69 townships and 71 counties will receive payments from the Marihuana Regulation Fund. For the state of Michigan's 2023 fiscal year, this means each eligible municipality and county will receive more than $59,000 for every licensed retail store and microbusiness located within its jurisdiction.
"This week, many Michigan municipalities and counties will begin seeing their share of adult-use marijuana payments appear in their banking accounts," State Treasurer Rachael Eubanks said. "Through a partnership, the dollars received from the adult-use marijuana taxes and fees are distributed to our participating communities. These dollars may be spent how our local units deem fit to their needs."]]> In The News orthene https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/adult-use-cannabis-fund-allocations-in-my-township/ https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/little-known-psych-found-to-have-a-fascinating-effect-w-one-dose/ Wed, 27 Nov 2024 18:17:21 +0000
Anew study published in Molecular Psychiatry has revealed that a single dose of the psychedelic drug 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine (DOI) can lead to long-lasting changes in brain structure and cognitive flexibility in mice. The researchers found that mice treated with DOI became more attuned to previously overlooked cues, allowing them to learn more efficiently from their experiences. These effects appeared to depend on the timing of drug administration and the animals’ experiences after the treatment.

DOI is a synthetic psychedelic from the amphetamine class that acts primarily by activating serotonin receptors in the brain. It is known for inducing long-lasting alterations in perception and has been studied for its ability to promote neuroplasticity, or the brain’s ability to form new connections. But much of this work has focused on the short-term effects immediately following drug administration.

Less is known about how these structural changes in the brain translate into long-term behavioral adaptations, particularly in relation to cognitive flexibility, a key feature of mental health and well-being. Cognitive flexibility is the ability to adapt one’s thinking or behavior in response to new information or changing circumstances, and impairments in this ability are often linked to mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.]]> In The News orthene https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/little-known-psych-found-to-have-a-fascinating-effect-w-one-dose/ https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/oregon-lawmakers-voted-to-recriminalize-drugs/ Mon, 04 Mar 2024 19:56:54 +0000
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The future of an Oregon bill that would roll back the state’s first-in-the-nation drug decriminalization law is now in the hands of Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek.

The bill — which would make the possession of small amounts of drugs a crime once more — has not yet reached Kotek’s desk, but she will review it when it does, her office said Monday. Kotek has not commented on the bill since its passage on Friday but previously indicated she was open to considering it.

“If it’s a bill that I think will have the outcomes we need, I’m committed to making sure we can move forward,” Kotek told reporters in January before the start of the short 35-day legislative session.

“The issue of addiction and the need for pathways to recovery should not be a political football. We should understand any changes that we’re making” and ensure they improve the lives of Oregonians, she added.
For social justice groups, the new bill represents a major setback. The Portland-based advocacy group Imagine Black said it felt like lawmakers prioritized the voices of police over those of communities of color.

“This is an ache. It hurts in a very real way,” said Danita Harris, the group’s deputy director of movement building.

Measure 110, approved by voters in 2020, decriminalized the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. Supporters said treatment is more effective than jail in helping people overcome addiction and that the decades-long approach of arresting people for possessing and using drugs hasn’t worked.

The law directed hundreds of millions of dollars of the state’s cannabis tax revenue toward addiction services. But the money was slow to get out the door and health authorities, already grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, struggled to stand up the new treatment system, state auditors found. At the same time, the fentanyl crisis began to fuel an increase in deadly overdoses.

Some researchers have found the law was not associated with the spike in fatal overdoses, but others say it is still too early to have conclusive data.

As Oregon started to see one of the nation’s largest spikes in overdose fatalities, Republican opposition to the law intensified and a well-funded campaign group called for a ballot measure to amend or repeal it. Facing growing political and public pressure, Democrats who had historically supported the law shifted their stance and ultimately agreed to restore criminal penalties for so-called personal use possession.

But some Democratic lawmakers opposed the bill, concerned the policy will result in more arrests and exacerbate social inequities.

“This bill will have devastating impacts on communities of color and low-income Oregonians, burdening our already-strained justice system while failing to address the root causes of our addiction crisis,” Democratic Sen. Kayse Jama wrote in a letter explaining his “no” vote.

The newly approved bill makes personal use possession a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail. It enables police to crack down on their use in public areas such as parks and aims to make it easier to prosecute people who sell drugs.

The bill also establishes ways for treatment to be offered as an alternative to criminal penalties. But it only “encourages,” rather than mandates, law enforcement agencies to create deflection programs that would divert people to addiction and mental health services instead of the criminal justice system.

“Counties are not required to offer deflection or diversion programs, and even if these programs are created, police and prosecutors are not required to use them,” Jama said. “Even a ‘minor’ misdemeanor drug charge creates barriers that last a lifetime, preventing Oregonians from accessing stable housing, qualifying for loans, or getting a job.”

Jama added the bill may flood Oregon's legal system, which is already grappling with a critical shortage of public defenders, with a new surge of low-level possession cases.

In an analysis shared with lawmakers, the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission predicted Black people would be disproportionately impacted by possession convictions as a result of the bill, but said the racial disparity would be smaller when compared with the years preceding decriminalization.

The bill ended up passing the state Senate 21-8 with bipartisan support, including from the chamber’s Democratic president and the Republican minority leader. The state House passed it 51-7 the day before, also with support from both parties.

Under Oregon law, the governor has five business days to veto a bill once it reaches their desk. If the governor signs it — or does nothing — it takes effect. However, if the Legislature adjourns before the five-day countdown begins, the governor has 30 days to veto a bill.

It appears Kotek will have the longer window to issue a veto, as the legislative session is scheduled to end Sunday, and she had yet to receive the bill as of Monday.]]> In The News orthene https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/oregon-lawmakers-voted-to-recriminalize-drugs/ https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/cops-car-explodes-at-argentine-gas-station-blowing-44lbs-of-cocaine-into-air/ Sun, 11 Feb 2024 21:18:05 +0000
The explosion at a gas station in northern Argentina resulted in two injuries and one arrest. Shockingly, amidst the chaos, kilos of hidden cocaine were ejected from the vehicle by the blast, revealing a deeper illicit operation beyond the car parts initially suspected.

As can be seen in security camera footage of the incident from the gas station (first shared with us by a reader going by Diegudio), there is little warning that an explosion is imminent. In any case, the blast manages to do a lot of damage, blowing the doors open and tearing sheet metal apart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLOqEJ-gPEQ

The cause of the explosion remains uncertain; however, there is relief that the woman driving the car and the three accompanying children were outside the vehicle at the time. This was attributed to safety regulations in Argentina mandating occupants to vacate their vehicle while refueling with compressed natural gas.

Unfortunately, one adult and one child suffered injuries in the incident, reports A24. The driver was arrested in the wake of the accident. She is a police officer from Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires.

The woman denied knowledge of the cocaine hidden in the car’s fuel tank, claiming that the car did not belong to her. She said she was driving from Oran to Salta, which is about 168 miles (270 km) away. Given the proximity to the country’s northern border, some suspect that the vehicle, and its illicit cargo, were bound for export.

Authorities say that 20 kilograms (44 lbs) of cocaine were identified, though the nature of the incident makes it difficult to determine precisely how much the vehicle was carrying in total before the explosion.]]> In The News orthene https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/cops-car-explodes-at-argentine-gas-station-blowing-44lbs-of-cocaine-into-air/ https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/congresswoman-warns-colleagues-messing-with-legalization-could-mean-losing-seat/ Fri, 09 Feb 2024 22:42:50 +0000
Ohio Representative Juanita Brent (D-Cleveland), a vocal advocate for social equity in cannabis policy, issued a stern warning to her GOP colleagues on their efforts to change or dismantle voters’ decision to legalize marijuana, cautioning they could jeopardize their re-election chances.

"If we go against the people in the state of Ohio, I don't expect any of us to get reelected because we are not going for what the people want,” Brent said at a panel discussion organized by Ohio State University Drug Enforcement and Policy Center.

Ohio’s primary elections are slated for next month, and there are ongoing legislative efforts to amend the voter-approved cannabis legalization measure.

"I know sometimes people feel like they know best when it comes to people, but the people who know best is the people who got me here elected and the people who voted" for legalization, Brent said, according to Marijuana Moment's Kyle Jaeger.

In November 2023, 57% of Ohio voters approved the legalization measure. Republican Governor Mike DeWine and the GOP leadership under Senate leader Matt Huffman almost immediately began to push for changes to the law, which included the use of tax revenue.

The GOP and DeWine want cannabis tax dollars to go toward beefing up Ohio's law enforcement whereas the voter-approved initiative, known as Issue 2, foresaw providing financial support for license applications to individuals disproportionately affected by past marijuana-related law enforcement.

"What we can do is we allocate this money and make sure that people have access to it, instead of giving all this money to police training," Brent said at the conference that included representatives of the Last Prisoner Project (LPP), Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association and the Adams Project, an Ohio-based organization that advocates for second chances and public safety.

"It blows my mind — particularly how much money they want to put towards police training within the state — but particularly for hospital agencies, which came out of the Senate. It to me is ridiculous," Brent said. "People have told us time and time again when Issue 2 was passed what they want. All we're doing right now is going against the people's will."]]> In The News orthene https://empirestatecannabis.org/community/in-the-news/congresswoman-warns-colleagues-messing-with-legalization-could-mean-losing-seat/