Carl Sagan on the War on (Some) Drugs…
Tag: cannabis
Marijuana Arrests Comprised Nearly Half of All Drug-Related Arrests in Over a Dozen States in 2024
Marijuana-related arrests far outpace arrests for other drug-related violations in jurisdictions where its possession and use remain criminally prohibited under state law.
In five states (Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, and Wisconsin), more than half of all drug-related arrests reported by state and local law enforcement agencies in 2024 were cannabis-related, according to data provided by the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer.
In nine other states (Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Carolina, Utah, and Wyoming), 40 percent or more of all drug-related arrests were for marijuana-related violations. In the District of Columbia, where adult-use is legal but public use remains a criminal — not a civil — violation, 42 percent of all drug-related arrests were marijuana-related.
In these states, marijuana-related arrests are almost exclusively for low-level possession. In Alabama, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming more than 97 percent of all marijuana-related arrests in 2024 were for minor possession, not trafficking or sales.
By comparison, marijuana-related arrests typically comprise only a small percentage of arrests in states where personal possession has been legalized. For instance, in Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, Vermont, and Washington, marijuana-related arrests comprised fewer than five percent of all drug-related arrests in 2024. By contrast, marijuana-related arrests comprised over one-third of all drug-related arrests in Illinois, despite lawmakers legalizing the adult-use market in 2019.
MAJOR FAFO: DOJ Announces Federal Charges Against 10 Anti-ICE Protestors Who Ambushed Law Enforcement During Raid on California Pot Farm
The Justice Department on Wednesday announced federal charges against 10 anti-ICE protestors who ambushed law enforcement officers during a raid on a California pot farm over the summer.
Federal agents descended on two marijuana farms in Ventura County owned Glass House Farms located in Camarillo and Carpinteria in Southern California over the summer.
According to reports, anti-ICE protestors were tipped off to the raid after federal agents obtained a search warrant on the marijuana farm.
Amid the chaos, a protestor was caught on video shooting at federal agents. No one was struck by the gunfire.
The anti-ICE rioter who fired shots at federal agents is still at large.
Per the DOJ:
Law enforcement has arrested a total of 10 defendants federally charged in three criminal complaints with engaging in violence and civil disorder against law enforcement officers and property during immigration enforcement actions in Southern California earlier this year, the Justice Department announced today.
Ten defendants are in federal custody. One defendant is in state custody and is expected to be handed over to federal authorities. One defendant is a fugitive. All 12 defendants are charged with federal crimes alleging they committed violence against law enforcement authorities and property.
Study: Cannabidiol Alters Gene Expression Linked to Immune Response and Cell Death in Leukemia Cells
The study focused on K-562S cells, an imatinib-sensitive leukemia line, which were treated with CBD at an IC50 concentration of 17.69 μM for four and twelve hours. RNA sequencing revealed over 3,400 differentially expressed genes at both time points. Notably, CBD influenced oxidative stress pathways regulated by metallothionein genes (MT1, MT2, SLC30A2) and activated p53-dependent apoptotic markers such as TP53TG3, BBC3, CHAC1, DDIT4, NOXA1, and DAPK2.
Beyond apoptosis, CBD exposure was linked to altered immune signaling, including type I interferon activity, PI3K-Akt-mTOR regulation, and Toll-like receptor signaling—all central to leukemia progression. The compound also appeared to impact lipid metabolism and mitochondrial stability, underscoring its broad influence on cancer-related cellular processes.
The authors conclude that CBD induces sweeping transcriptional and signaling changes that could have therapeutic implications for blood cancers. While additional preclinical and clinical studies are needed, the research lays groundwork for exploring CBD as a potential precision therapy in hematological malignancies.
Florida Court Blocks Police From Using The Smell Of Marijuana Alone To Search Vehicles
A Florida court has ruled that police cannot search a person’s vehicle based only on the smell of marijuana.
The District Court of Appeal of Florida Second District on Wednesday issued an opinion, authored by Judge Nelly Khouzam, overturning a lower court decision that upheld the “plain smell doctrine” that has long permitted cannabis odor to be used as a pretense for vehicle searches.
The policy was challenged in district court after a man had his probation revoked when police pulled over a car he was in, claimed to smell marijuana, forced the occupants to exit the vehicle to conduct a search and discovered cannabis and pills.
But while it might have made sense in the past to use cannabis odor as a pretext for a search when it was strictly prohibited, the state’s laws have “fundamentally” changed, the appellate court said, referencing the legalization of hemp and medical marijuana in Florida.
“For generations, cannabis was illegal in all forms—thereby rendering its distinct odor immediately indicative of criminal activity. But several legislative amendments over the years have fundamentally changed its definition and regulation,” it said. “The cumulative result is that cannabis is now legal to possess in multiple forms, depending on discrete characteristics such as where it was procured or its chemical concentration by weight.”
“We are obligated under well-established constitutional principles to give meaning and effect to the legislature’s significant amendments to cannabis regulation,” the opinion, first reported by News Service of Florida, said.
Feds Call Marijuana A ‘Deadly’ Drug And Say Even Medical Cannabis Has ‘Serious Consequences’
Federal officials are calling marijuana a “deadly” drug—touting their efforts to seize it and other illegal substances—while also warning that possessing cannabis, even for medical use, carries “serious consequences.”
As President Donald Trump considers a cannabis rescheduling proposal—and after he posted a video on the health benefits of CBD—the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are sending a conflicting message about cannabis.
In a press release about an August “surge” in drug seizures that was sent out on Tuesday, DHS said that CBP, as part of its “mission to stop harmful drugs from entering the United States,” was announcing that “seizures of deadly drugs—including fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana—increased substantially from July to August.”
That rhetoric as it concerns marijuana departs from how most people view and compare the plant with the other listed substances that can be associated with overdose deaths. By the federal government’s own admission in the past, cannabis has not on its own caused a fatal overdose.
“Cartels are increasingly desperate to keep doing business, but the Trump Administration is stopping their deadly operations,” CBP said.
While looping together marijuana and drugs like fentanyl might raise eyebrows, cartel-related crime associated with cannabis has been a consistent talking point in Congress. In fact, it was the subject of a House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, & Accountability hearing last month that focused on a so-called “invasion” of Chinese and Mexican cartels via illicit cannabis operations.
“Secretary Noem and the Department of Homeland Security are fulfilling President Trump’s promise to make America safe again by dismantling drug cartels and stopping the flow of deadly drugs into American communities,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “Thanks to President Trump, fewer American families will be torn apart by addiction, fewer lives will be lost to overdoses, and fewer profits will go to violent cartels.”
Separately, CBP posted a reminder on social media on Tuesday that cautioned travelers against bringing cannabis across the border.
“Attention, travelers! Did you know that marijuana is still a controlled substance under U.S. federal law?” it said. “This means that selling, possessing, producing, or distributing both medical and recreational cannabis is illegal!”
Oklahoma Overrun With Chinese-Operated Marijuana Farms
Chinese gangs are taking advantage of loose marijuana rules in Oklahoma to grow and transport marijuana to other states for sale on the black market, authorities say.
Oklahoma narcotics officials told Congress $153 billion worth of marijuana is unaccounted for and likely leaving the state for the black market in other states.
As many as 85 percent of licensed grow sites have connections with Chinese owners or operators, according to Mark Woodward, information officer with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.
Since 2022, the state has shut down more than 6,000 illegal growing operations. Most U.S. states have made marijuana legally available, but taxes and regulations have pushed up its price, leaving an opening for black market sales.
Donnie Anderson, director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, said at a press conference in March 2025 that his department was conducting raids on illegal marijuana operations every day.
Here’s what we know about the ongoing crisis.
Black Market Operations Flourish
Oklahoma approved medical marijuana in 2018, licensing its cultivation and sale within the state. The state then reported an explosive growth of growers as the law established no cap on the number of farms that could be licensed to grow marijuana and no limit on how many marijuana plants each farm could cultivate.
The majority of these sites are run by Chinese nationals, according to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.
By the end of 2022, Oklahoma had 8,400 farms licensed for growing marijuana. The state stopped issuing new licenses in 2022. As of mid-2025, there are under 2,000 licensed farms, which is still more than enough to meet the needs of the 325,000 patients licensed to use marijuana for medical purposes.
As the state has increased the reporting required of the licensed growers, it has come to light that an enormous amount of marijuana is not accounted for.
Between March 2024 and March 2025, medical marijuana dispensaries sold 1.7 million pounds of marijuana in Oklahoma, according to Anderson, director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics. But farms licensed to grow marijuana reported growing 87 million plants of marijuana, with a typical yield of one pound per plant.
Anderson told Congress on Sept. 18, 2025, that the marijuana produced by 85 million plants is unaccounted for. That amount is worth around $153 billion, according to state estimates. It is unknown where all the unaccounted product went.
Locals Recruited as Straw Owners
The Oklahoma law, passed in 2018, prohibits marijuana grown in the state from being transported to other states.
Enforcing that law is a challenge. Oklahoma is at the intersection of North-South and East-West interstate highways. In addition, to obtain a license, growers must have two years of residency in the state. Anderson told Congress that some out-of-state operators paid local “straw owners” to fraudulently obtain an Oklahoma license.
These operations are growing marijuana in Oklahoma and transporting the drug to other states for sale. And in one case, one Oklahoma man was registered as owning 300 farms, said Anderson.
The vast majority of these grow sites have a Chinese connection. According to Woodward, currently there are 1,995 active farms in the state, and 85 percent are Chinese-operated or owned.
Several recent convictions of Chinese operators in Oklahoma show the connection between Oklahoma marijuana cultivation and East Coast Chinese criminal organizations.
One case from December 2024 involved Jeff Weng and Tong Lin, who were convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Weng operated out of Brooklyn, New York, while Tong Lin oversaw the grow operation in Wetumka, Oklahoma. According to witness testimony, they transported more than 56,000 pounds of marijuana out of Oklahoma over seven months.
Utah Church That Uses Marijuana, Psychedelics And Vapes As Sacraments Sues Over Police Raids
Months after Utah’s ban on flavored vapes, Blackhouse, a former Sugar House vape shop, became a sanctuary and a safe haven for those searching to get flavored cartridges—for spiritual and religious practices.
The electronic cigarettes joined other sacraments that have been at the center of religious legal challenges in the state like psychedelic mushrooms and cannabis. But, after Utah law enforcement agencies raided the Sugar House location, as well as the Salt City Sanctuary in South Salt Lake in August, all of these sacraments have been put into legal question, with the Sugarleaf Church, the institution overseeing both sanctuaries, initiating a lawsuit to keep them.
“Officers arrived using riot gear, AR-15s, pry bars, and battering rams, forcibly entered both sanctuaries, and immediately began disabling the security systems and surveillance cameras with a crow bar,” the church said in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City in August.
During the raids officers confiscated cannabis and psilocybin products, which the church called “sacramental property,” as well as thousands of flavored vape cartridges, blank checkbooks, waivers, clergy rosters, cash donations, tablets and membership records.
The church is asking a judge to order law enforcement to stop interfering with members’ free exercise of religion and to award compensatory damages. The institution is also asking the South Salt Lake Police Department and the Utah State Bureau of Investigation to undergo mandatory religious sensitivity training and for the immediate return of property.
At Salt City Sanctuary the agents seized “4.24 kilograms of packaged marijuana flower; over a kilogram of ‘fresh flower’ marijuana; 956 1-gram pre-rolled marijuana joints, 8 display jars of marijuana flower, 152.5 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, mushroom gummies and sample packs, numerous edibles with THC, and rolling papers,” according to a motion to dismiss filed by the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office.
At Blackhouse, officers confiscated “significant quantities of raw marijuana; psilocybin mushrooms; THC vapes, cookies, gummies, candies, syrups, oils, and similar products; psilocybin cookies, gummies, and similar products; and over 3,000 flavored vape cartridges and order receipts,” the district attorney’s office said in its motion.
Joshua Robers, a church reverend, was also arrested and booked into Salt Lake County Jail during the Salt City Sanctuary raid. He faces multiple charges in 3rd District Court, including possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, a third-degree felony.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit this month and declined to comment because the litigation is ongoing.
Feds Move To Dismiss Marijuana And Gun Rights Case In Anticipation Of Landmark Ruling From Supreme Court
The Trump administration is asking a federal court to dismiss one of multiple pending cases concerning marijuana and gun rights, in large part because it expects the U.S. Supreme Court to make a precedent-setting ruling on the issue.
In a filing with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma on Tuesday, attorneys for the Justice Department urged a judge to dismiss a case “without prejudice” that involves a man charged in 2022 after police discovered cannabis and a handgun in his vehicle during a traffic stop.
Attorneys for the man, Jared Michael Harrison, also want the court to dismiss the case—but they take issue with DOJ’s specific request, as dismissing the case without prejudice would mean he could be prosecuted again. And they criticized the government’s arguments in support of its motion, noting that the department relied heavily on the length of the court battle that’s lasted three years. The lawyers also challenged the idea that outstanding Supreme Court cases that similarly deal with cannabis and federal firearms laws justify dismissal without prejudice.
But according to the federal government, the request would be “in the interest of justice,” while recognizing that the constitutionality of the statute in question–18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3)—”remains open both in this case and in the country as a whole. ”
“There are currently seven petitions for certiorari pending before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of § 922(g)(3) under the Second Amendment, six of which involve as-applied challenges, and are a mix of petitions filed by the United States and criminal defendants,” DOJ said, adding that they expect there’s a “reasonable likelihood that the Supreme Court will grant certiorari” in at least one of the pending cases.
“Continuing to pursue this case at this time would needlessly waste judicial and prosecutorial resources,” the government’s filing said.
Lawmakers Debate Whether Marijuana Legalization Helps Or Hurts Organized Crime At Hearing On Chinese-Linked Illicit Grows
A GOP-led House committee held a hearing on Thursday focused on Chinese criminal organizations behind large-scale illicit marijuana grows, taking testimony from a group of law enforcement officials and a researcher who each attempted to link the issue to state-level legalization.
But one Democratic lawmaker took the opportunity to make the case for cannabis rescheduling and broader federal reform to mitigate the issue.
The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, & Accountability hearing was titled “Invasion of the Homeland: How China is Using Illegal Marijuana to Build a Criminal Network Across America.”
While there was some talk among experts and lawmakers about differentiating state-sanctioned cannabis cultivation from the illicit market, the conversation largely skewed prohibitionist. Witnesses included a former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent, top Oklahoma law enforcement official and a researcher with the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank.
The subcommittee chairman, Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK) said in his opening remarks that “we’ve enabled these foreign organizations with potential links to the [Chinese Community Party, or CCP] to build up a sophisticated network throughout the United States, which facilitates a wide range of other criminal activity and presents a national security threat.”
“This is a convergence of organized crime, human drug trafficking, public health risks—all operating at scale and sophistication crossing the state national lines beyond the normal capabilities of state and local law enforcement to combat,” he said. “These agencies need the help of federal law enforcement to unravel these criminal networks.”
Rep. Troy Carter (D-LA), however, spoke about the collateral consequences of prohibition, saying the “federal government’s decision to criminalize marijuana has been nothing short of disastrous for our communities, for our economy and for justice in America.”
“The failed war against cannabis has especially devastated Black and brown communities. Arrest and incarceration rates for marijuana offenses have been wildly disproportionate,” he said. “Today, with most Americans supporting legalization, it is past time that we acknowledge the truth: Marijuana prohibition has failed.”
“If we want to dismantle foreign criminal networks and protect American communities, then we need to strengthen, not weaken, regulated markets,” Carter said.
Hellbound and Down 
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