Tag: legalized marijuana

Supreme Court to Take Up Ban on Gun Ownership for Marijuana Users

The Supreme Court will consider hearing a gun control case related to a federal ban on firearm possession by marijuana users.

The high court is reportedly expected to have a private discussion on whether it will take up the case of US v. Cooper on September 29. The law has been roundly criticized by gun rights advocates who argue that it is a violation of the Second Amendment.

The case centers on LaVance LeMarr Cooper, who was prosecuted for owning a firearm as a marijuana user, which made him a “prohibited person” under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), a federal criminal statute that bars certain people from owning firearms or ammunition.

This subsection targets those who unlawfully use controlled substances.

A police officer pulled Cooper over in Iowa during a traffic stop. They found a loaded Glock 20 in his vehicle. He did not have any felony convictions, but did have a misdemeanor conviction in 1996 for driving with a suspended license and marijuana possession.

Cooper later admitted to smoking marijuana on a regular basis — about three to four times per week. Prosecutors charged him with violating the federal statute. He waived his right to a jury trial and consented to a bench trial. This means he did not dispute that he owned a firearm while being a marijuana user.

The district court found him guilty on both counts and sentences him to over three years in prison  for the offenses — even though he was not intoxicated at the time of the traffic stop.

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in February vacated Cooper’s convicted and remanded the case. The panel rules that the lower court failed to properly apply the Supreme Court’s ruling in New York Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen in Cooper’s case.

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Marijuana Legalization Doesn’t Increase Youth Use, Top Researcher Says At Federal Meeting

At a webinar hosted by the federal Substances and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) last week, a leading cannabis researcher threw cold water on the notion that legalizing marijuana leads to increases in youth use of the drug. He also touched on problems with roadside assessments of cannabis impairment, the risk of testing positive for THC after using CBD products and the need for more nuanced regulation around cannabinoids themselves.

The public talk, from Ryan Vandry, an experimental psychologist and professor at Johns Hopkins University’s Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit, was aimed at providing continuing education on marijuana for healthcare professionals. Titled “Behavioral Pharmacology of Cannabis – Trends in Use, Novel Products, and Impact,” it focused primarily on how variables like dosage, product formulation, mode of administration and chemical components such as terpenes can influence the drug’s effects.

Vandry began by noting that marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. While self-reported consumption by adults has risen as more states have legalized in recent years, he noted, use by youth has generally remained flat or fallen.

“Use among youth is one of the biggest areas of concern related to the legalization and increased accessibility of cannabis,” he said, “but surprisingly, that cohort has actually maintained relatively stable [for] both past-year and daily use.”

Pointing to data from California going back to 1996, when the state ended prohibition for medical patients, Vandry said there has “really been no change in the rates of cannabis use among eighth, 10th or 12th graders. And in fact, in very recent years, we’ve seen a decrease in rates of consumption.”

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New Congressional Bill Would Allow Interstate Marijuana Shipping By USPS To Help Small Growers Compete Against Large Corporations

A pair of Democratic congressional lawmakers have introduced a bill intended to help small marijuana growers compete against large corporations when cannabis is federally legalized—proposing to give them the ability to ship and sell products directly to consumers within and across state lines via the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and commercial carriers.

The legislation—titled the “Small and Homestead Independent Producers (SHIP) Act—is being sponsored by Reps. Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Val Hoyle (D-OR). It represents a slightly revised version of a measure filed two sessions ago that was not ultimately enacted.

As Congress continues to work toward ending cannabis prohibition, there have been concerns that smaller businesses will struggle to compete against the handful of multi-state operators that have the resources and infrastructure to quickly expand, threatening to further consolidate the market when the federal floodgates finally open.

The SHIP Act is designed to minimize that risk and maximize opportunities for those smaller farmers and producers.

“Larger, commercialized cannabis operators are infiltrating the market and squeezing out our local farmers in the process,” Huffman said in a press release on Tuesday. “So when the antiquated federal prohibition on cannabis finally gets repealed, we need to have substantial legislation ready to help these small businesses survive.”

“My legislation would ensure that folks can ship their products straight to consumers, which would both help expand small businesses and ensure farmers stay afloat,” he said. “When full legalization is guaranteed, we must commit to not leaving our smallest family-farmers behind.”

The proposal has been amended in certain ways compared to the original version, including a new requirement that the Postal Service or “any private or commercial interstate carrier” transporting cannabis must verify that recipients of cannabis products are at least 21 years old.

It also clarifies provisions related to federal preemption of state marijuana laws as it concerns interstate commerce, making it clear that states that prohibit cannabis can continue to do so, except that they can’t prevent the transportation of marijuana across their borders. On the flip side, states with legal marijuana programs would be preempted by federal law “to the extent that such laws restrict the interstate or intrastate shipment of cannabis or a cannabis product directly to an individual with respect to whom the possession of cannabis or a cannabis product is lawful under the laws of the State.”

Finally, the latest version includes a new section that would amend U.S. postal laws by stipulating that the “Postal Service is authorized and directed to permit the transmission in the mails, under regulations to be prescribed by it, of cannabis.”

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Why Do Republican Lawmakers Keep Trying To Overturn Marijuana Laws Approved By Voters?

Elections have consequences. Or so we’re told. But when it comes to respecting the outcomes of marijuana-related votes, Republican lawmakers are increasingly saying, “Not so fast.”

A case in point: Following Nebraskans’ decision to legalize medical cannabis access this past fall, Republican state Attorney General Mike Hilgers urged lawmakers to ignore the voter-approved law. Months later, a regulatory commission appointed by Republican Gov. Jim Pillen enacted “emergency rules” largely gutting the nascent program, despite over two-thirds of Nebraskans having voted for it.

Nebraska’s situation is hardly unique. In Texas, Republican AG Ken Paxton single-handedly pushed litigation striking down voter-approved marijuana depenalization ordinances in Austin, Dallas, San Marcos and other cities. All of the ordinances, which sought to limit local police from making low-level marijuana possession arrests, had been overwhelmingly approved by municipal voters.

In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation this spring that makes it harder for advocates to place policy questions on the ballot. He did so after last year’s marijuana legalization initiative gained 56 percent of the vote, just shy of the state’s mandatory 60 percent threshold.

Lawmakers in the Republican-dominated legislature further turned their backs on voters by rejecting numerous pieces of cannabis reform legislation this spring. In fact, the only marijuana-related bill approved by Florida lawmakers this year was legislation denying medical cannabis access to those with certain marijuana or other drug-related convictions on their record.

In Ohio, GOP leaders have spent the better part of the past two years seeking to repeal elements of the state’s 2023 voter-approved adult-use legalization law. These efforts include bills to recriminalize marijuana possession, rescind adults’ home cultivation rights and arbitrarily cap the total number of cannabis retail outlets permitted statewide. Thus far, none of this legislation has been successful, but at least two separate roll-back bills remain pending and are anticipated to be revisited by lawmakers this fall. (Separately, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine sought to double the special sales tax on cannabis products. While that effort also failed, lawmakers did approve a budget bill restructuring the way cannabis-related taxes are spent.)

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THERE IT IS: Cannabis Farm Raided by ICE Donated LOTS of Money to CA Dems Including Gavin Newsom

The President of Glass House Farms, the cannabis farm that federal immigration authorities raided in California on Thursday despite protests, has donated thousands to Democrats in California.

Co-founder, president, and board director Graham Farrar, who self-identifies on social media as residing in Santa Barbara, California, has made numerous political donations to the Santa Barbara County Democratic Central Committee’s federal political action committee and Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., according to Federal Election Commission records.

According to California public campaign finance records, he also donated $10,000 to California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2018, and his most recent public political donation was to California Democratic Assemblymember Gregg Hart in July 2023.

Incredible stuff.

While Gavin Newsom pretends to be righteously indignant about these raids, he’s really just mad one of his campaign donors got busted.

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Marijuana Industry Workers Are The Happiest In Any Job Sector In The U.S., Survey Finds

Hourly workers in the marijuana industry rank at the top of the list of “happiest” employees across multiple sectors—with more than 9 in 10 reporting a “positive sentiment” in their job—according to a new survey.

The annual Shift Pulse Report from the workforce management platform Deputy gauged how hourly workers felt about their jobs in 10 common industries—from cannabis to cleaning services to firearms.

While the overall finding of the report is that American workers are becoming less happy, with the happiness sentiment down to 78.5 percent in 2025 compared to 80 percent the prior year, the sector with the most content employees work at marijuana or e-cigarette/tobacco businesses.

A total of nearly 92 percent of cannabis and tobacco hourly workers said they feel positively about their jobs. By contrast, that sentiment is shared by 91 percent of hourly employees at catering, 90 percent in cafes, 90 percent of those in dentistry, 89 percent in gyms, 87 percent in firearms, 86 percent in sit-down restaurants, 84 percent in cleaning services and 83 percent in childcare.

“This may reflect stronger workplace culture and wage competitiveness in newer, regulated industries that prioritize employee retention as they scale rapidly,” Deputy said.

It’s also notable that cannabis sector hourly workers report higher levels of happiness in their trade considering that the industry faces unique challenges under federal prohibition, which has included an outsized risk of being targeted in robberies since many marijuana businesses operate in a largely cash-based environment.

“This year’s happiest industry sectors reveal a growing trend: purpose, predictability, and a sense of control over one’s workday matter just as much—if not more—than prestige or pay alone,” the report says. “For employers looking to improve sentiment, these industries offer practical lessons in team cohesion, autonomy, and culture-building.”

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Legal Weed Is Working, Data Suggests: $24.7 Billion In Taxes, Teen Use Down In Most States

More than a decade into America’s state-by-state experiment with cannabis legalization, the results are no longer theoretical. Government data now confirms what early advocates envisioned—and what critics warned against: legal cannabis is reshaping public policy. The numbers tell a clear story, one grounded in billions in state tax revenue and a measurable decline in teen marijuana use.

According to two reports from the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), legal adult-use cannabis sales have generated more than $24.7 billion in state tax revenue since 2014. Much of that money is being directed toward education, healthcare, infrastructure, substance use prevention and community reinvestment. At the same time, teen cannabis use has declined in most legal states, defying long-held fears that legalization would increase youth access and consumption.

“Legalization does not increase youth cannabis use. In fact, evidence suggests the opposite,” MPP’s youth impact report states.

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Ohio GOP Lawmakers Can’t Agree On How To Amend Marijuana Law, Causing Planned Vote To Be Canceled

Despite efforts in the Ohio legislature to pass a bill to significantly change the state’s voter-approved marijuana law, last-minute disagreements between the House and Senate Republicans seemed to have derailed that plan for now—with House lawmakers signaling that a deal won’t be struck before the summer recess.

After taking public testimony and adopting certain changes to the Senate-passed legislation, SB 56, in recent weeks, the House Judiciary Committee ultimately declined to advance the proposal as scheduled at a Wednesday hearing, making it so the measure couldn’t advance to a floor vote planned for that day. Evidently, the revisions didn’t sit well with key senators, according to several legislators.

“Apparently the Senate changed their mind,” Rep. Jamie Callender (R), a pro-legalization lawmaker, told News 5 Cleveland.

Changes approved at a hearing late last month, for example, rolled back some of the strict limits included in a version of the measure passed by the Senate in February, including a criminal prohibition on sharing marijuana between adults on private property.

“They wanted to make a mandatory jail sentence for passing a joint between friends,” Callender, who has spent weeks working on additional changes to the legislation, said. He also complained about the Senate’s proposal to put all cannabis tax revenue in the state’s general fund, which would have prevented local municipalities from getting a share of those dollars as is currently the law.

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Maine Legislature Passes Bill Creating Separate Licensing System for Sun-Grown Marijuana With Significantly Lower Fees

The legislation was approved by the Senate in a 21 to 14 vote, after clearing the House 110 to 35. The measure defines “sun-grown cultivation” and “sun-grown cultivator” under state law, applying to those who grow marijuana primarily using natural sunlight and limited artificial lighting.

The bill creates a separate licensing framework for outdoor cultivators, including significantly lower fees. For example, a Tier 4 outdoor cultivation license would cost $15,000 annually—half the cost of an equivalent indoor operation.

Under the proposed law, sun-grown caregivers would be allowed to grow up to 150 mature plants or use up to 2,500 square feet of canopy each year, expanding the current limits. Additional provisions include updated security requirements for cultivation facilities, a grace period for new employees awaiting ID card approval, and the elimination of yeast and mold testing requirements for adult-use marijuana.

Supporters say the measure promotes sustainability, lowers barriers for small growers, and reflects Maine’s agricultural roots. If signed into law, it would mark a significant shift in how the state regulates outdoor marijuana cultivation, and it would make Maine one of the only states with a designated license for sun-grown cannabis growers.

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Legalization turns Germany into a cannabis hotspot: Mary Jane becomes the world’s largest cannabis trade fair for the first time

About a year after partial legalization by the “traffic light” government coalition, Germany has become the key meeting point for the global cannabis scene. With 60,000 expected visitors, over 500 exhibitors, and an expanded festival area, Mary Jane Berlin will – for the first time since its founding in 2016 – be the largest cannabis trade fair in the world, taking place from June 19 to 22, 2025. On more than 70,000 square meters of exhibition space, industry icons like former world boxing champion Mike Tyson will present the latest products, top acts such as Samy Deluxe will perform on the festival stage, and experts will discuss home cultivation, the booming demand for medical cannabis, and the growing telemedicine market at the professional conference. Cannabis-related sales in Germany are expected to reach around one billion euros in 2025.

“We started as a small scene gathering and are now the largest cannabis trade fair in the world. When it came to cannabis, the world used to look to the U.S. – now it looks to Germany, and Mary Jane is the highlight of the industry,” says Nhung Nguyen, organizer and co-founder of the fair. A record 40,000 tickets were sold in advance. For the first-ever B2B day on June 19, 5,000 industry representatives from 50 countries have registered. The professional conference, organized in cooperation with the Cannabis Industry Association (BvCW), will host 90 high-profile speakers from business, science, and politics. “We want to showcase all facets and the many positive qualities of cannabis – and why legalization is the only right way forward,” says Nguyen.

The effects of legalization are also reflected in the numbers: Germany has around 4.5 million cannabis users, and that number has roughly doubled over the past 15 years. According to Statista, cannabis market revenues in Germany are expected to reach around one billion euros in 2025. Special focus is being placed on medical cannabis. Thanks to the new legal situation, the market is booming like never before. The import of cannabis for medical and scientific purposes has significantly increased over the course of 2024, according to the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices. The quantity rose from 8.1 tons in Q1 to 11.6 tons in Q2, 20.7 tons in Q3, and 31.7 tons in Q4.

Numerous medical cannabis distributors will showcase their product ranges and services at the fair. In addition, telemedicine is playing an increasingly important role. More and more people are using the option to order cannabis with a prescription online and receive it via a pharmacy. Delivery services bring the products directly to customers. “The medical community is increasingly recognizing the plant’s value in treating illnesses and relieving pain. Initial hesitations from doctors and pharmacies are slowly dissolving,” says Nguyen.

In addition to medical cannabis, visitors will also find the latest industry trends at the fair: digitalized balcony greenhouses for home growing, edibles from brownies to granola bars, and a wide selection of non-intoxicating CBD products ranging from massage oils to meditation teas. “Mary Jane offers something for everyone. We’ve tailored the entire fair concept to attract new audiences as well. Smoking is prohibited in the halls out of consideration for all guests, and there will be various chill-out areas, international food trucks, and awareness teams. Everyone should feel comfortable and have fun,” says Nguyen.

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