Tag: the war on (some) drugs

New Buffalo Township tries to rein in cannabis boom it helped create

A booming cannabis market that turned New Buffalo Township into one of Michigan’s busiest marijuana destinations is now prompting local leaders to ask a difficult question:

How much is too much?

Recent reporting by Crain’s Chicago Business and Crain’s Grand Rapids Business highlights a community trying to regain control of an industry it once aggressively welcomed — even as it continues to benefit from the revenue those businesses generate.

From opportunity to overload

In just a few years, New Buffalo Township has gone from cannabis newcomer to one of the most concentrated retail markets in the state.

Today, nearly 30 dispensaries operate within the township — a remarkable number for a community of roughly 2,500 residents. Several more have been proposed or approved, creating a level of density that has drawn attention well beyond Southwest Michigan.

The location tells much of the story. Positioned along the I-94 corridor near the Indiana line, the township has become a convenient stop for out-of-state customers, particularly from Illinois, where prices and taxes are typically higher, and Indiana, where cannabis is still illegal.

That steady stream of traffic helped fuel rapid growth — and a steady flow of revenue.

A shift in tone at the Township Hall

Now, township officials are signaling that the rapid expansion may have gone too far.

According to Crain’s reporting, local leaders have begun taking steps aimed at reducing the number of dispensaries, not by banning cannabis outright, but by tightening oversight and enforcement.

Those efforts include:

  • Reviewing and, in some cases, seeking to revoke special land use permits
  • Holding public hearings tied to compliance concerns
  • Working more closely with the state on enforcement actions involving individual operators

The approach reflects a notable shift — from encouraging development to managing its consequences.

The revenue reality

Complicating the picture is the financial upside.

Cannabis sales have generated significant tax revenue for Michigan communities, and New Buffalo Township has been among the biggest beneficiaries due to its unusually high concentration of stores.

That revenue supports local services and budgets, making it difficult to simply shut the door on the industry.

At the same time, more dispensaries mean the pie is divided into smaller slices. As additional licenses come online, the amount of state-distributed revenue tied to each location can decline — raising questions about whether continued growth actually benefits the township in the long run.

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West Virginia Supreme Court Considers Whether Smell Of Marijuana Can Be Basis For Police To Search Homes

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia is considering a case that questions whether the odor of marijuana alone is enough for law enforcement to obtain a warrant to search a person’s home.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on an appeal of Berkeley County Circuit Court’s decision to throw out evidence Martinsburg police officers found in a home after detecting the “strong odor” of the drug. Excluding the evidence effectively stopped the state from prosecuting a man on drug charges, an attorney told justices last week.

Aaron Lewis was arrested in 2020 on three counts of drug possession with intent to deliver and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, according to reporting by the Herald-Mail.

Court documents say Martinsburg police were answering another man’s call about a suicidal woman who had reportedly stabbed herself when they came across Lewis while searching the caller’s backyard. Officers were unable to locate the woman so they started going door-to-door looking for her.

The officers went to Lewis’s home where his son, Aaron Lewis Jr. answered the door. The officers detected the “strong odor of marijuana,” according to court documents. The younger Lewis refused to give officers permission to search the home.

Before they obtained a search warrant, they entered the home to conduct a “protective sweep,” during which they found a bundle of money and two clear bowls with a leafy substance on the kitchen stove, court documents say. Two officers then left to obtain the search warrant while other officers stayed on scene to secure the apartment.

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Michigan State University Forced to Close Academic Building After Discovery of a METH LAB

Police were forced to shut down the largest academic building at Michigan State University this week after it was discovered that it was housing a meth lab.

This sounds like something out of the TV series ‘Breaking Bad.’

It’s another embarrassing black eye for higher education but on the bright side, at least the lab didn’t blow up first.

NBC News reports:

Man arrested and charged in meth incident at Michigan State University

A 31-year-old man has been arrested and charged in an incident involving methamphetamines at Michigan State University, prompting the closure of Wells Hall, the largest academic building on campus, this week.

Xin Tong faces charges of malicious destruction of property over $20,000 and operating or maintaining a methamphetamine lab, state police said in a news release. He is being held at the Ingham County Jail on a $500,000 cash surety bond. It is not clear whether Tong has an attorney.

Campus Public Safety Chief Mike Yankowski said at a news conference Wednesday that the incident involved an unknown substance found on flooring and doors throughout the building in East Lansing.

At around 9:30 p.m. Sunday, campus police responded to a report of possible trespassing. Officers found Tong on the fifth floor with four or five backpacks and duffel bags, Yankowski said.

Police obtained a search warrant and found “several labeled and unlabeled containers of an unknown liquid substance inside,” the safety chief said.

The news release identified the substances as sodium hydroxide pellets, hydrochloric acid, methanol, isopropyl alcohol, acetone and butane. Police said the substances can be purchased legally online and in stores.

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Delaware Bill Would Require Intoxicating Hemp Products to Be Sold Through Licensed Marijuana Stores

A bill filed today in the Delaware House would place hemp-derived THC products under the state’s marijuana regulatory system, requiring products above a set THC threshold to be sold only through licensed marijuana stores.

House Bill 395 was filed by State Representative Nnamdi Chukwuocha (D), with State Senator Darius Brown (D), State Representative Edward Osienski (D), State Representative Debra Heffernan (D) and State Representative Alonna Berry (D) signed on as sponsors. The measure was assigned to the House Economic Development/Banking/Insurance and Commerce Committee.

The proposal would revise Delaware law so that industrial hemp is measured by total THC, rather than only delta-9 THC. Under the bill, a marijuana product would include any product intended to be ingested, inhaled, absorbed or otherwise introduced into the body that contains more than 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container. The bill specifies that, for multipacks and similar products, the limit would apply to the combined THC content of the full package.

HB 395 would also define THC broadly to include delta-7, delta-8, delta-9 and delta-10 THC, along with salts, isomers and related compounds. It would create a new offense for maintaining an unlicensed marijuana establishment, applying to businesses that facilitate the sale, storage, delivery, distribution or cultivation of marijuana products without a valid Delaware marijuana license or endorsement.

Most violations would be a Class A misdemeanor, but the offense would rise to a Class G felony if the business is within 1,000 feet of a school, daycare or public park, operates by mail or without a storefront, involves individuals under 21, or has a prior violation within five years.

The bill would also make selling or providing marijuana or marijuana products to someone under 21 a Class B misdemeanor, while preserving an affirmative defense if the person presented identification that reasonably appeared to show they were 21 or older.

Proponents of the legislation say that it is not intended to criminalize lawful industrial hemp, but rather to address unregulated intoxicating THC products being sold outside Delaware’s licensed marijuana system.

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Feds Charge Sinaloa’s Governor, Senator, Mayor, & Other Top Officials With Running A Narco-State

Federal prosecutors in New York have charged ten current and former senior Mexican government officials — among them the sitting governor of Sinaloa, a sitting federal senator, the mayor of the state capital, and the state’s former secretary of public security — with conspiring to protect the Sinaloa Cartel’s most powerful faction in exchange for millions of dollars in drug money, in what may be the most sweeping corruption indictment ever brought against a sitting government in the Western Hemisphere.

The superseding indictment, filed in the Southern District of New York and unsealed Wednesday, charges all ten defendants with narcotics importation conspiracy — specifically, conspiracy to flood the United States with fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine — as well as conspiracy to possess machineguns and destructive devices in furtherance of drug trafficking.

One defendant, a municipal police commander, faces additional charges of kidnapping resulting in death: the alleged abduction and murder of a Drug Enforcement Administration confidential source, his relative, and a 13-year-old boy, carried out using a police patrol car.

The document does not describe a cartel that corrupted a government. It describes a government that became the cartel’s operating infrastructure.

In what appears to be the first instance in American legal history of the Justice Department indicting a sitting Mexican governor, prosecutors allege that Ruben Rocha Moya, 76, who has served as governor of Sinaloa since November 2021, did not simply accept cartel money. He allegedly made his deal with the Chapitos — the sons of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman — before he was ever elected, in a meeting guarded by Cartel sicarios armed with machineguns, and delivered on every term thereafter.

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Dem Rep Suggests Hegseth Could Be EXECUTED For War Crimes Like NAZI Sub Captains

In a stunning escalation of partisan rhetoric, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) declared on national television that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is “guilty” of war crimes — and compared U.S. military operations against drug-smuggling boats to the actions of Nazi submarine captains executed after World War II.

The remarks, delivered Wednesday on CNN’s OutFront, come as the Trump administration presses aggressive action to dismantle narco-terrorist networks flooding America with deadly fentanyl and other poisons.

Instead of backing efforts to secure the homeland, Moulton opted to invoke the language of international tribunals.

Host Erin Burnett asked Moulton directly: “Do you believe that the Secretary of Defense is guilty of war crimes?”

Moulton answered without hesitation: “Absolutely. I mean, he’s clearly behind the operation to shoot all these boats in the Caribbean when it’s very unclear that we actually have any confirmation that these so-called narco terrorists, a term the administration invented to justify this action, are even on the boats.”

He continued, “I mean, in fact, there’s a lot of evidence that these are just fishermen, you know, getting jobs, piloting these boats, trying to feed their families. There’s been press reporting on some of these individuals who have been killed, who are clearly not war criminals.”

He added, “And on top of that, we then have the strike where they came back in and hit it again, a double tap, just purely to kill these survivors who were clinging to wreckage. You know, it’s interesting, Erin, another historical analogy back in World War II, the Allies tried Nazi submarine captains for doing this exact same thing. And guess what the conclusion was? They got executed. Listen to THAT, Mr. Secretary!”

The X post capturing the moment quickly went viral, with users reacting in disbelief at a sitting congressman invoking execution rhetoric against a Trump cabinet official.

This isn’t isolated grandstanding. It fits a clear pattern: Democrats framing routine counter-narcotics operations — strikes on vessels tied to designated terrorist organizations like Tren de Aragua operating on known smuggling routes — as criminal acts worthy of prosecution.

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NJ recreational marijuana could put PA buyers in legal trouble

Recreational marijuana is legal in 24 states and Washington D.C., but Pennsylvania has yet to approve its use

But while it is readily accessible nearby, especially in Bucks County with easy borders to New Jersey, a short trip over the bridge to purchase fun weed could still get you a long prison term and may force you to forfeit your gun rights and face fines.

The law allows for drug trafficking charges up to $250,000 under the federal Controlled Substances Act, since it still classifies marijuana as a “Schedule I” narcotic as dangerous as heroin.

While there’s been a shift in the public’s attitude toward marijuana, penalties for possessing it have not eased with the federal government or with Pennsylvania.

Here’s what you should know if you buy New Jersey recreational weed, but live in Bucks County.

Can I buy recreational marijuana in New Jersey if I’m from Pennsylvania?

Yes. Since 2022, when NJ legalized recreational marijuana, any shop will sell it to you. Five shops this news organization visited this spring said they have no idea how many out-of-state buyers they have, and take a don’t ask-don’t tell attitude.

“Our busiest days are Fridays when everyone’s coming home from work, (after 5 p.m.) and Sunday’s right before Eagles games,” said a Willingboro shop employee, who asked that his name not be published.

Do NJ weed shops require identification?

The shops we visited require a current driver’s license or government issued ID to enter. In New Jersey, you must be 21 to use recreational marijuana. Your ID is digitally scanned and, if you’re purchasing medical marijuana, it’s sent to Trenton, the state capital where the the Cannabis Regulatory Commission controls sales.

Is there a record of my purchase?

Yes. For medical marijuana, time, date and what you bought is recorded and retained for four years, but not for recreational cannabis, according to the state website, and those records are kept for four years. Weed shops aren’t permitted to copy your ID or retain record of your purchase “beyond what is required for the completion of that single financial transaction.” If you put your name on a mailing list for customer programs, that’s considered voluntary and can be subject to review by the authorities.

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Louisiana Lawmakers Pass Bill To Send People To Jail For Smoking Marijuana Near College Campuses

Louisiana lawmakers have approved a bill that threatens to send people to jail for up to one year if they smoke marijuana within 2,000 feet of a school property—including a college campus.

The legislation from Rep. Gabe Firment (R) was passed by the House of Representatives in a 59-34 vote last week.

HB 568, which now heads to the Senate for consideration, applies to people who violate drug laws “while smoking, vaping, or otherwise abusing such controlled dangerous substance while on any property used for school purposes by any school, within two thousand feet of any such property, or while on a school bus.”

The pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) said the “incredibly draconian penalties” in the legislation threaten to reverse cannabis reform progress made in the state in recent years.

In 2021, then-Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) signed a bill decriminalizing marijuana by removing the threat of jail time for possessing up to 14 grams.

“HB 568 would make cannabis use a felony in huge swaths of urban and suburban areas. Two thousand feet is a little over ⅓ of a mile,” Kevin Caldwell, MPP”s Southeast legislative manager, said in an action alert to supporters. “In addition to mandatory incarceration of up to a year, the bill includes a fine of up to $1,000.”

“This is an attempt to bring back the draconian penalties that Louisiana was infamous for in decades past. This bill seeks to undo years of hard work by advocates for ending jail time for minor cannabis offenses,” he said. “Under this legislation, a student could be incarcerated for a year for consuming in a college dorm room.”

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You Can’t Make This Up: Indiana Democrat Busted After Allegedly Campaigning While High on Cocaine

A Democrat State Senate candidate in Indiana was busted by police after apparently being unable to keep his nose clean while campaigning.

As WTHR reported, The Fishers Police Department received a call on April 26 regarding a man who was soliciting a neighborhood in the 13000 block of Ravenswood Trail, around 8 p.m.

Once police officers arrived, they found 39-year-old Andrew Dezelan in his vehicle at the neighborhood’s clubhouse.

When officers asked Dezelan why he was in the neighborhood, he could not provide a clear answer. But he did say he received permission from HOA board member.

FOX 59 reports that Dezelan posted multiple times to his social media accounts that he was canvassing the neighborhood as part of his election efforts.

Court documents obtained by WTHR reveal that Dezelan was speaking rapidly and making very quick, nervous and unorganized movements. Moreover, he was sweating and his pupils were “pinpoint.”

The court documents note that these are signs of someone under the influence.

After a responding officer requested ID from Dezelan, he claimed that he needed to leave and slammed his vehicle in reverse.

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Canadian smoking ban ‘being looked into’: health minister

The federal health minister says she is looking into legislation that would permanently ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 2008.

Speaking on Parliament Hill Tuesday, Majorie Michel was asked if Canada would consider legislation similar to the United Kingdom’s recently proposed bill that aims to reduce the use of cigarettes and vapes for young people.

“I am looking into it right now,” she told reporters. “We saw what the U.K. did, but I am looking into it with all partners for now.”

Last week, both houses of the U.K. Parliament passed what’s being called the “Tobacco and Vapes Bill,” aimed to stop anyone born after Jan. 1, 2009, now aged 17, from taking up smoking. The bill still requires royal assent.

Asked whether Health Canada has been tasked with looking into a U.K.-style ban, a spokesperson for the department said they had nothing to add to a statement issued to CTV News last week.

On April 22, Health Canada told CTV News the Government of Canada has invested $66 million annually since 2018 to help Canadians quit smoking and reduce the harms of nicotine addiction. The department did not specifically say whether it was, or had ever, seriously considered a lifetime ban for people aged 17 and younger.

“The Government of Canada works collaboratively with partners and key stakeholders to protect Canadians, especially youth, from the harms of smoking using the best available data and evidence,” said Mark Johnson, a spokesperson for Health Canada.

Canada has set a goal of reducing tobacco use to less than five per cent by 2035. The 2024 Canadian Community Health Survey estimates 11 per cent of Canadians aged 18 years and over reported smoking.

When it comes to vaping, data from Statistics Canada suggests one in 10 Canadians aged 20 to 24, and one in 50 aged 25 and older, use a vape every day.

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