Tag: legalized marijuana

Illinois Supreme Court Says Police Can’t Use Smell Of Burnt Marijuana To Justify Vehicle Searches

The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that the odor of burnt marijuana alone cannot be lawfully used by police as probable cause to conduct a warrantless vehicle search.

On Thursday, justices published an opinion in two consolidtated cases—People vs. Redmond and People vs. Molina—concerning law enforcement searching the cars of people after claiming they could smell burnt cannabis. Officers discovered small amounts of marijuana and charged the defendants for improper storage, as state law requires that cannabis being transported is kept in odor-proof containers.

After reviewing the cases, justices upheld lower court decisions to grant defendants’ motions to suppress the cannabis as evidence in the trial, affirming that “the odor of burnt cannabis, alone, is insufficient to provide probable cause for police officers to perform a warrantless search of a vehicle.”

The Supreme Court opinion was delivered by Justice P. Scott Neville, with five other justices concurring. The opinion pointed out that Illinois State Police Officer Hayden Combs “did not observe any signs of impairment or signs indicative of recent cannabis use” when he pulled over Ryan Redmond in 2020, and the officer later tried substantiating the search after learning that he was traveling from Des Moines to Chicago, which he claimed to be “hubs of criminal activity.”

Neville noted that “cannabis law has changed drastically over the last decade,” with Illinois enacting adult-use legalization in 2019. While the “appellate court has reached conflicting results in cases concerning the effect of legalization on probable cause for automobile searches,” the Supreme Court has now rendered a final verdict on the issue.

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The Only Legal Marijuana Store In North Carolina Is Thriving—And Represents A Win For Tribal Sovereignty, Leaders Say

More than a week after legal marijuana sales kicked off to all adults at The Great Smoky Cannabis Co., in Cherokee, North Carolina, thousands from across the region have now made purchases at what’s currently the only regulated cannabis retailer within hundreds of square miles.

Marijuana remains outlawed for all purposes in North Carolina, and none of the state’s neighbors—Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina or Virginia—have legalized recreational sales. That puts Great Smoky, located on the 57,000-acre Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), in a unique and sometimes complicated situation.

Ahead of last year’s election in which the tribe legalized adult-use cannabis, for example, a U.S. congressman representing North Carolina introduced legislation that would have cut federal funding for tribes where marijuana is legal.

But since first opening to all adults 21 and older on September 10, the mood at Great Smoky has been celebratory. Tribal members—including Great Smoky’s general manager, Forrest Parker—and the thousands of non-members who’ve showed up in recent days are reveling in the significance of the moment.

Parker himself described the project as “the most inspiring thing I’ve ever been a part of.”

“We’re the first regulated cannabis in the Bible Belt—in this region,” he told Marijuana Moment in an interview last week. “When you go talk to some of these people, even if they’ve been waiting way longer than they expected, a lot of folks are showing up to just be part of history.”

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Thousands Flock To Tribal Marijuana Store In North Carolina, Where Cannabis Is Otherwise Illegal, For Launch Of Adult-Use Sales

More than 4,000 of people lined up at The Great Smoky Cannabis Co. this past weekend as the tribal marijuana retailer began the first-ever legal adult-use cannabis sales within North Carolina.

Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), which voted a year ago to legalize adult-use cannabis on its 57,000-acre Qualla Boundary, called the launch “a significant milestone for our tribe, marking a new chapter of opportunity and growth.”

“This initiative is our right as a Tribal government to assert our Sovereignty,” he wrote.

“I want to take a moment to personally acknowledge and thank everyone who has poured their hard work, time, and passion into making this day possible,” he said. “Your dedication has been instrumental in bringing this vision to life, and I’m confident that this is just the beginning.”

Sales began at 10 a.m. local time on Saturday, with any adult 21 and older eligible to buy marijuana products.

“It’s a special day for us,” Forrest Parker, general manager for Qualla Enterprises, which operates Great Smoky Cannabis Co., told the tribe’s newspaper, Cherokee One Feather. “It’s a special day for the Eastern Band of Cherokees, period.”

Videos posted to social media on opening day Saturday showed a long line of cars waiting to take advantage of the dispensary’s drive-thru.

“When you see the people in this line, it’s clear,” Parker said. “And it’s very validating, I think, to the plant and to the medicine that comes from the ground. Which, nobody understands that more than Indigenous people.”

Great Smoky Cannabis began selling medical marijuana on April 20 of this year. In July, the store began recreational sales, but only to members of EBCI and other federally recognized Indian tribes. Saturday marked the first time any adult 21 and older could purchase cannabis from the store.

Speaking to local reporters on Monday, Parker said the opening was “humbling” and that he expects even more activity as momentum builds.

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Colombia’s Diverse Environments Grow Marijuana With ‘Uncommon Terpenes’ That Can Have ‘Unique Therapeutic Benefits,’ Study Shows

New research on Colombian-grown cannabis reveals “significant phytochemical diversity” in the plants, uncovering what authors say are “four distinct chemotypes based on cannabinoid profile” as well as plants that are rich in uncommon terpenes.

The findings “underscore Colombia’s capacity to pioneer global C. sativa production,” the study says, “particularly in South America with new emerging markets.”

The diversity in compounds produced by Colombian cannabis plants could benefit not only growers—for example, by increasing resistance to pests and other pathogens—but also the development of unique medical marijuana products, says the study, published in the journal Phytochemical Analysis.

One factor behind the observed biological diversity could be Colombia’s varied environmental zones, the research says. The country is home to snow-covered volcanoes, tropical beaches, deserts, grasslands, rainforest and more. That variety also contributes to Colombia’s other agricultural industries, such as coffee.

Authors of the new study, from universities in Columbia, Germany and the United States, sought out licensed cultivators of medical marijuana across Colombia. Ultimately, growers donated 156 samples from 17 total cultivation sites, representing seven provinces and five different regions.

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Rhode Island Officials Consider Letting Marijuana Packages Have More Color—And Requiring More Info About The Product

Drive along the highway and you’ll see plenty of big, attention-grabbing billboards with bright colors advertising Rhode Island’s few licensed cannabis retailers. But go inside one of those stores and you’ll be met with a sea of neutral colors: white, gray or black. Occasionally, there’s navy blue.

Those neutral colors are by design, mostly to ensure products are not attractive to children who might accidentally ingest them. But state regulators may allow for some color in the future as the Rhode Island Cannabis Control Commission ponders changes to its packaging regulations.

Commissioners were presented with the idea during their July 30 meeting, where the three-member panel decided to add the language to its ongoing draft regulations that will govern the state’s fledgling cannabis sector. Other proposals include placing the name of the lab that tested the cannabis, the use of a QR code (with commission approval), and a list of cannabinoids that make up the product.

Allowing color “provides for more branding freedom for licensees” and came at the recommendation of the commission’s 18-member Cannabis Advisory Board, according to the July presentation.

“We’re trying to give the people the ability to brand the product, which gives them the ability to differentiate themselves in the market,” advisory board member Stuart Procter, co-founder and lab director for cannabis testing facility PureVita Labs in West Warwick, said in an interview.

The commission was formed last June, just a little over a year after recreational cannabis was legalized. Commissioners spent last summer on a listening tour, hearing the concerns of community members and cannabis workers, which include ensuring the commission prioritizes social equity measures.

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Federal Ban On Gun Ownership By Marijuana Users Is Unconstitutional, Appeals Court Says

A federal appeals court panel on Wednesday ruled in favor of a Texas woman whom judges described as a “non-violent, marijuana smoking gunowner,” affirming a lower court’s ruling that federal charges filed against the woman for owning a firearm as a cannabis user are unconstitutional.

“The short of it is that our history and tradition may support some limits on a presently intoxicated person’s right to carry a weapon,” the court wrote in the new opinion, “but they do not support disarming a sober person based solely on past substance usage.”

Judges also pushed back against claims by Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys that cannabis users are inherently more dangerous than other Americans.

“Nor, contrary to what the government contends, do restrictions on the mentally ill or more generalized traditions of disarming ‘dangerous’ persons apply to nonviolent, occasional drug users when of sound mind,” the decision says.

DOJ has argued in this and other recent court cases that the federal law against gun and ammunition possession by someone who uses marijuana is consistent with other historical restrictions on gun ownership, such as by “mental defectives…and others whose possession of firearms is contrary to the public interests.”

But the Fifth Circuit panel disagreed.

“We must ask: why was severe mental illness a reason the Founders disarmed people, and is that ‘why’ ‘relevantly similar’ to § 922(g)(3)?” says the opinion, referring to the statute against gun ownership by people who consume illegal drugs.

Wrote the court: “It is not.”

“The government highlights nothing demonstrating that laws designed to confine (and consequently, disarm) those so severely mentally ill that they presented a danger to themselves and others map onto § 922(g)(3)’s rationale,” the panel said. “Repeat marijuana users, like repeat alcohol users, are of sound mind upon regaining sobriety, whereas those adjudged severely mentally ill often require extensive treatment and follow-up examination before they can be said to be of sound mind again.”

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Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura Calls On Marijuana Consumers To Boycott State Fair For Banning Cannabis But Allowing Alcohol And Tobacco

Minnesota’s former governor is calling on people to boycott this year’s State Fair for prohibiting marijuana use at the venue while at the same time allowing attendees to consume alcohol and tobacco—even though the state enacted a cannabis legalization law last year. But while Jesse Venture is fired up about the fair’s policy, he’s also optimistic about the prospects of federal marijuana reform under a Harris-Walz administration.

In an interview with Marijuana Moment on Thursday, Ventura said he does hope that Vice President Harris Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic nominee, and her running mate, current Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), advocate for an end to federal cannabis prohibition on the campaign trail, saying it would be “smart for them to do so” given the popularity of the issue.

“If they would come out and say they would lift the federal ban on cannabis, marijuana, I think that could help ensure their victory,” he said. “There is a tremendous amount of cannabis users out there who would vote accordingly so that they would not feel, federally, like they’re still criminals in any way, shape or form.”

During her time in the Senate, Harris sponsored a comprehensive marijuana legalization bill, and she’s called for major reform as recently as March during a roundtable with presidential pardon recipients. Walz signed cannabis legalization into law in Minnesota last year—and he invited Ventura, a longstanding champion of reform, to attend the signing ceremony.

Despite Minnesota enacting legalization, however, Ventura says the State Fair is not allowing cannabis use, even as it makes accommodations for tobacco use in specific areas and will have alcohol available for purchase on-site at beer gardens and other vendors.

“It’s supposed to be legal in the state of Minnesota. How can they outlaw it at the State Fair when they allow tobacco and alcohol? And my point being is this: All we ask in the cannabis world is to treat us equally,” he said. “Treat us fairly. Treat us the same as you do tobacco and alcohol. And unfortunately, that’s not happening. We’re being discriminated against, even though it is now legal.”

“All cannabis smokers ought to boycott the State Fair,” Ventura, a former wrestler and actor, said. “Don’t go there until we’re given our equal rights and we’re treated equally to tobacco and alcohol.”

A spokesperson for the Minnesota State Fair confirmed in an email to Marijuana Moment that “the smoking and vaping of cannabis is prohibited on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds” during the 2024 event.

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Ohio Marijuana Retailers Bring In More Than $11.5 Million During First Four Days Of Legal Recreational Sales

Ohio legal weed sales topped $11.5 million in less than a week.

The state’s total recreational marijuana sales was $11,530,708 as of August 10, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Cannabis Control. Recreational sales started August 6—eight months after 57 percent of Ohioans voted to legalize recreational marijuana. The average of price of an ounce of flower was $266 last week, according to the division.

There were 173,043 units of manufacturer product sold and 1,285 pounds of plant material, according to the division.

Ohio currently has 120 dual-use dispensaries as of Wednesday, meaning they can sell both medical and non-medical marijuana, according to the division. Ohio had 98 dual-use dispensaries when recreational sales started.

More than 70 Ohio cities have local moratoriums prohibiting adult-use cannabis business, according to Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law.

Under Ohio’s ballot measure to legalize marijuana, there is a 10 percent tax at the point of sales for each non-medical marijuana transaction.

The ballot measure created five funds in the state treasury—the adult use tax fund, the cannabis social equity and jobs fund, the host community cannabis fund, the substance abuse and addiction fund and the division of cannabis control and tax commissioner fund.

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California Senators Approve Bill To Let Marijuana Growers Sell Directly To Consumers At Farmers Markets

California senators have advanced an Assembly-passed bill that would allow regulators to issue a new license allowing small marijuana growers to sell their products directly to consumers at state-organized farmers markets and other temporary events.

The legislation from Assemblymember Gail Pellerin (D) was unanimously approved in the Senate Appropriations Committee in a 4-0 vote on Thursday. Adults would also be able to consume cannabis on-site at approved events.

The bill cleared the Assembly in late May with nearly unanimous support before moving to the Senate, where it passed through two committees. It now heads to the floor.

If approved, it will still need to go back to the Assembly for concurrence on Senate amendments, including one stipulating that the licensee can only sell and allow on-site consumption at “state temporary events.” The original language was broader, permitting such activity at “specified temporary events.”

The Senate Appropriations Committee also amended the legislation to delay implementation until January 1, 2026.

Under the proposal, the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) would be authorized to issue “a state temporary event license to a licensee authorizing onsite cannabis sales to, and consumption by, persons 21 years of age or older at certain venues expressly approved by a local jurisdiction, as specified,” the bill text says.

Local jurisdictions would need to consent to allowing the events in order for a license to be granted.

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Updated Minnesota Law Allows Recreational Marijuana Smoking In Public, But Not In Apartments

Minnesota has some of the nation’s most permissive rules for smoking and vaping cannabis, being one of just a handful of states that allows public consumption. Aside from some local ordinances that are more restrictive, those 21 and older generally can smoke and vape wherever tobacco smoking is allowed.

But a date change in the state’s recreational marijuana and hemp law passed in May imposed a new restriction on private consumption that started July 1: Owners of multifamily housing must now ban smoking and vaping of cannabis. The restriction was contained in 2023’s House File 100 but it wasn’t to take effect until March of 2025.

There is a significant exception to that apartment ban, however. Medical cannabis users who are registered with the program and have a medical card must be allowed to use smokable and vapable cannabis, even in multifamily housing.

The ban was pushed last year by Sen. Ron Latz (DFL-St. Louis Park) as one condition for his support for HF 100. Because there were no GOP votes for the bill, every DFL member’s support was needed. As a compromise with bill sponsors, the effectiveness date was set for next March. That was the same time other provisions of the recreational law were to take effect and coincided when sponsors estimated the first recreational dispensaries would open for business.

This year it was determined that the March 2025 date was unworkable for various reasons. First, in order to enforce restrictions on sales of raw cannabis flower being marketed as hemp, the Office of Medical Cannabis needed to be merged with the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) sooner. Second, so as to allow some cannabis cultivators to begin growing this fall, OCM needed to have jurisdiction over the rules governing medical cannabis cultivation right away, not next spring.

Changing the effectiveness dates of those provisions had the coincident effect of advancing the ban on smoking and vaping in multifamily housing. Existing clean indoor air laws and ordinances ban smoking of tobacco or cannabis in common areas of buildings—lobbies, hallways, laundry rooms and common outdoor areas. But until last month, apartment owners and managers could ban smoking in individual units but weren’t required to. Now they are, at least for cannabis.

Residents can still possess marijuana in multifamily housing and can likely grow plants under limits in the law. And they can use products such as edibles that don’t require combustion via smoking or vaping.

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