Law Atrocious and Horrible Cannabis News

[Baron23]

Death Penalty for Cannabis: Which Countries Will Kill You​

It’s almost hard to believe that as the UN voted on recommendations to globally open the legality of cannabis, that some countries are still so against it that they’ll kill you for crimes related to it. Yup, it might be 2020, but you can still receive the death penalty for cannabis crimes in many different places.
The first thing to understand about the death penalty for cannabis is that there are different kinds of cannabis crimes, and just because a country employs the death sentence, it doesn’t mean it’s applicable to all crimes involving cannabis. Some countries will only enforce such a law for traffickers, others are more hardcore, and will go after actual users with death. While it all seems like a massive overstep in any scenario, here are the places that still give out the death penalty for cannabis crimes.
Before we go to the list of countries where you shouldn’t use cannabis, we need to keep in mind that the situation in the United States is different and you can use cannabis related products almost anywhere. Recently, a new kind of cannabis product, hemp-derived Delta-8 THC (also known as cannabis-lite) has become very popular, as it legal to order it online, even in countries where recreational use of cannabis is still forbidden. People who use Delta-8 THC report that while it is very uplifting and relaxing, it is also “easier to the mind” and brings no anxiety or paranoia at all, so they prefer it over regular cannabis.
Ready to finish out your holiday shopping? Check out the best Delta-8 THC deals this year, and make everyone happy this holiday season.

China​

China is at the top of pretty much any list when it comes to the use of capital punishment. Though the country didn’t begin handing out sentences for cannabis use until the 1980’s, it certainly went from 0 to 100 pretty fast. In China, being caught with just five kilograms can be enough to get the death penalty, though some publications put the amount at 10 kilograms of hash or 150 kilograms of marijuana. Lesser punishments involve prison sentences of five years to life, with a fine of up to 1,000 yuan. Sale and supply crimes will get you a death sentence that much faster, even with smaller amounts. The problem with China is that information is very rarely released with actual, usable numbers. While there is a strong expectation that China is killing its own people for all kinds of crimes, the specifics are merely speculation.
According to Amnesty International in its 2018 report for the use of the death penalty in the world, there was a 30% decrease in 2018 for known applications of capital punishment. However the report went on to stipulate that China is not involved in these numbers as it has never released this information, making the actual death – and the percentage it has increased or decreased, unknown. It stated: “As in previous years, the global totals do not include the thousands of executions that Amnesty International believed were carried out in China, where data on capital punishment is classified as a state secret.”
So, the number of deaths could be in the hundreds, or thousands, or even tens-of-thousands, but we have no way of knowing. What we do know is China doesn’t have a problem killing travelers in its country. In August of this year, China sentenced its fourth Canadian to death on drug smuggling charges. This highlighting an escalating tension between the two countries that began with Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou in late 2018. Wanzhou is the daughter of Huawei’s founder and an executive of the company. The request actually came from the US, stemming from fraud charges related to Iran. It is thought by some that the recent death sentences leveraged on Canadian citizens Ye Jianhui; Xu Weihong, who was sentenced to death a day before Jianhui; Robert Schellenberg, a convicted Canadian smuggler; and Fan Wei, who was given the death penalty in April of 2019, are a form of retaliation for Wanzhou.
China’s illegalization and harsh punishments for cannabis are similar to India in the sense that China is home to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), just like India is home to Ayurvedic medicine. Both are thousands-of-years old natural medicine traditions that employ the use of cannabis. While it’s not often spoken about these days – probably because China is good at suppressing information it doesn’t want out there, cannabis is considered one of 50 fundamental herbs, which goes by the name ‘da ma’. This has not helped with acceptance of the plant today, nor has it inspired China to legalize cannabis for medicinal use.

Singapore​

Another country known for its liberal use of the death penalty for cannabis crimes is Singapore. This shouldn’t come as a huge shock to anyone who remembers young Michael Vay being caned in Singapore as a punishment for minor vandalism charges back in 1994. Whether the numbers released by Singapore’s government are accurate is a different story, but they are at least released through the Singapore Prison Service which publishes execution numbers for each year. In 2019, it stated there were four hangings, two for drug-related charges, and two for murder. In 2018 there were 13, 11 for drug offences, and two for murder.

The country’s drug policy is carried out through the Misuse of Drugs Act, which puts the burden of proof on the individual rather than the government. Being found with a large amount of drugs is automatically considered a trafficking offense, and if illegal drugs are found in the home or car of a person, it is deemed theirs automatically, even if it is not. In terms of cannabis, the amount at which it is termed trafficking is 10 grams of hash, or 15 grams of cannabis. Schedule two of the Misuse of Drugs Act allows for the death penalty for cannabis if the offender has 200 grams of hash, or 500 grams of flower.

Iran​

Iran is yet another country known for its strict laws, and use of the death penalty for cannabis crimes. Possession of 50 kilograms can still get a person a death sentence, although Iran has technically loosened its laws to be a bit less harsh. It was reported in 2018 that Iran got rid of the death penalty for some drug charges, creating a need to review all death row cases. It was estimated at the time that as many as 5,000 lives could be spared because of the update. It used to be that 30 grams of cocaine would incur the death penalty, and now the amount has been raised to two kilograms. Both opium and marijuana were increased to 50 kilograms. It was approximated that of the 5,000 people sitting on death row at the time of the legal update, 90% were first-time offenders between the ages of 20-30.



What was just mentioned is merely for use. If a person is caught trafficking over five kilograms of cannabis in Iran, they are likely to get a death sentence, as well as having all property taken away, save for what is necessary for the offender’s family to survive on. This means the family of offenders pay for the crimes of those who actually perpetrate them. Cultivation is illegal in Iran, and offenders caught for the fourth time are subject to a death penalty. Strangely enough, if the plants are not intended for narcotic use, cultivation is tolerated, although how this is determined is less defined.

India​

India truly seems out of place on the list. Like China, it has a longstanding medical tradition – Ayurvedic medicine – which employs the use of cannabis, and yet this history hasn’t helped with legalization measures. India does stand apart from China in that it is slowly loosening policies, or at least giving individual states the ability to set their own laws. Some states even instituted medicinal cannabis policies.
India isn’t generally known as having a high level of violence, unlike other entries on this list. But this hasn’t stopped the country from employing the death penalty for cannabis crimes. And, it’s a country that will use the death sentence on non-trafficking crimes. In India, if an offender is caught with 20 kilograms of marijuana or hash with a THC content of 500 grams, they can incur the death penalty. It used to be that such a crime automatically meant a death penalty, but this was struck down in 2011 by the Bombay High Court, which knocked it down from a requirement to an option. Since possession and supply crimes actually have the same penalties, suppliers caught with 20 kilograms can be subject to the death penalty. When it comes to actual trafficking, this is considered just as severe. The maximum sentence of a 100,000-200,000 rupee fine is the same as the top punishment for possession and supply crimes, and trafficking also can incur the death penalty under certain circumstances.

The rest​

The examples above are not the only countries to employ the death sentence for cannabis crimes. Saudi Arabia is another hardcore country that doesn’t allow for much. Cannabis is illegal in the country in all forms. The country beheaded approximately 60 people in 2017 for drug-related crimes, with some of them being for cannabis. This amount equals about 40% of beheadings for that year, which was up from about 16% the year before according to Amnesty International. What it takes exactly to incur the death penalty in Saudi Arabia is hard to say, but it seems first time offenders and small-time users are punished with minor jail sentences, or lashings, with beheadings saved for repeat offenders who deal with large amounts.

Malaysia is known as one of the toughest countries on drug possessors and traffickers. Malaysian law makes the assumption that if a person has 200 grams or more that they are trafficking. Under the Malaysian Law Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, this is punishable by death. In 2018, upon enough public outrage over these killings, the government began talks to legalize cannabis for medicinal use, which is quite a turnaround from capital punishment.
The case that caused this disruption regarded a man, Muhammad Lukman, who was sentenced to death for selling cannabis oil to sick people. After his sentencing, over 10,000 residents signed a petition to have his case reviewed, resulting in the government announcing it would remove the death sentence for drug charges and 31 other crimes. Talking is not the same as doing, however, and it seems that talk of removing the death penalty hasn’t resulted in action yet. As of May 2020, the Malaysian Court of Appeals upheld Muhammad Lukman’s conviction, stating that there was no evidence that cannabis could be beneficial for cancer patients.
In fact, to give an idea of how little the proclamation to abolish the death penalty meant in 2018, another man, R Siva Raman, was sentenced for drug trafficking on September 30th 2020. And this for having 208 grams only. In general, Malaysia is not a country that releases statistics on capital punishment for drug charges, so specifics are hard to come by.

Vietnam, much like China and Malaysia, isn’t really big on releasing data on executions. It is therefore impossible to know how many death sentences for cannabis, or drugs in general, were handed down. The UN Human Rights Committee has repeatedly asked for this data, but the Supreme People’s Court has repeatedly sidestepped the request. The only information to go on comes from media reports which state Vietnam gave out at least 75 death sentences in 2019, 74 for drug offenses!
Then there’s Egypt, which approved death sentences for drug traffickers as late as 2019, which is odd since the general trajectory has been to get rid of capital punishment, not institute it. In Egypt, sale and supply crimes can be met with the death penalty, although possession of small amounts can still incur severe punishments as well.
Indonesia technically allows the death penalty for traffickers. This can be imposed if the offender has over one kilogram of raw drug materials, or five kilograms of processed drugs. Though Indonesia has plenty of people sitting on death row for drug trafficking, there have been no executions since 2016, likely because of building public outrage against them.
Myanmar gets added to the list as well. Though it’s not a country that comes up often when discussing death sentences for cannabis crimes, it came into the spotlight in early 2019 when a US citizen and two locals were sentenced to possible death for violating local drug laws.

Other countries like Bahrain, Kuwait, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Jordan, Mauritania, Qatar, South Korea, Palestine, Taiwan, Yemen, Cuba, Oman, Sudan, the UAE, and the USA all have the ability for the death sentence, though not all will do so for drugs. Countries like Libya, North Korea, and Syria have death penalties as well, but limited information on how they are used.

Conclusion​

There really isn’t much to be said. Be careful where you do drugs. And know the laws of the country you are in if you don’t want the death penalty for cannabis.
Welcome to your #1 location for all cannabis-related news, CBDtesters.co. Stop by daily to keep up-to-date, and sign up to our newsletter so you never miss a beat!

 

[momofthegoons]

Mitch McConnell Cheers Lack Of Marijuana Banking Protections In New COVID Bill​

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is celebrating that the large-scale coronavirus relief bill Congress passed this week does not contain language to protect banks that service state-legal marijuana businesses from being penalized by federal regulators.

While some industry stakeholders have maintained that cannabis banking legislation has a good chance of advancing regardless of which party controls the Senate next year, McConnell’s new press release gives another signal he’s hostile to the reform—and it is his position that will ultimately determine whether the bill goes to the floor if Republicans stay in power following next month’s two runoff elections in Georgia.

In a recap of the new COVID-19 measure, McConnell’s office listed various provisions included in previous Democratic House bills that the GOP opposed and were left out of the final deal.

“From may through December, Democrats held up bipartisan COVID relief for unrelated partisan provisions like tax cuts for wealthy residents of big spending states, federal election mandates, and marijuana studies,” it states.

That’s a reference to part of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act that would require reports on “access to financial services for minority-owned and women-owned cannabis-related legitimate businesses.” McConnell has taken particular issue with that component, though he’s also more broadly criticized the marijuana-focused financial service reform being included in coronavirus relief at all.

“Speaker Pelosi’s partisan bill included… provisions ensuring cannabis businesses can work with federally backed banks and insurers,” the new release says. It also includes a chart celebrating the fact that marijuana provisions were not included in the final bicameral agreement.

The House has passed the cannabis banking measure three times over the past year—first as a standalone bill and then twice as part of COVID-19 relief legislation. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) also filed his own COVID-19 bill in September that contained the marijuana banking language, but that did not advance.

There is some hope on the horizon for advocates and stakeholders. McConnell might not be especially amenable to reform, but he could face pressure to take up the bill if it moves out of the Senate Banking Committee. And if Republicans keep control on the chamber, the incoming chair of that panel, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) recently indicated he is open to advancing the proposal.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has defended inserting the SAFE Banking Act into COVID-19 relief, arguing that it is germane.

But as far as McConnell is concerned, the language is part of a “multi-trillion-dollar left-wing wish list,” as he said on Monday.

In July, bipartisan treasurers from 15 states and one territory sent a letter to congressional leadership, urging the inclusion of the SAFE Banking Act in any coronavirus legislation that’s sent to the president’s desk. Following GOP attacks on the House proposal, a group of Democratic state treasurers renewed that call.

Meanwhile, the number of financial institutions reporting that they service state-legal marijuana businesses has declined for the third quarter in a row, federal data released last month shows.

 

[Baron23]

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has defended inserting the SAFE Banking Act into COVID-19 relief, arguing that it is germane.

Actually, she is full of shit. Its a very typical rider attached to a larger piece of legislation that has critical importance and support thus taking the unrelated rider with it.

As for the exact piece of it he was objecting to.....??? I rather think there were lot bigger extraneous features in the bill than studies on minority access to financial instruments in the cannabis industry.

Look, I support legalization and that includes access to banking/etc.

But over my life time I have seen many objectionable pieces of legislation attached as rider's because they don't have sufficient support on their own to pass. And for decades, I have thought that very wrong and no matter the subject, if it can't be debated and passed on its merits alone, then it shouldn't pass.

That goes for cannabis related legislation as well as any other.

People are talking a lot these days about "anti-democratic" actions and IMO there is little more anti-democratic than jamming a rider thru parliamentary maneuvering that doesn't have sufficient support to stand up to open debate and voting.

Just my opinion and has been since high school civics classes.....do they still teach this stuff or are they too busy telling kids that they are either victims or guilty perpetrators.

 

[Cuckfumbustion]

To Protect 'Children' From E-Cigarettes, Congress Imposes New Restrictions on Everything Related to Vaping of Any Kind​

(Excerpt)
The Feinstein bill further expands the Jenkins Act, redefining cigarette to include "electronic nicotine delivery systems," which are not cigarettes. It also counterintuitively defines electronic nicotine delivery system to include products that do not deliver nicotine: "any electronic device that, through an aerosolized solution, delivers nicotine, flavor, or any other substance to the user inhaling from the device" (emphasis added). That category includes e-cigarettes, e-hookahs, e-cigars, electronic pipes, vape pens, and refillable vaporizers, plus "any component, liquid, part, or accessory" used with those devices, whether shipped together with them or sold separately.

This was included with the lastest covid releif bill.

 

[momofthegoons]

GOP Gov: ‘If You Legalize Marijuana You’re Going to Kill Your Kids’​

“This is a dangerous drug that will impact our kids,” Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts told reporters

Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts opposes the legalization of medical marijuana in his state, and warned parents that the substance will “kill your kids.”

“This is a dangerous drug that will impact our kids,” the Republican governor said on Wednesday. “If you legalize marijuana, you’re gonna kill your kids. That’s what the data shows from around the country.” (Note: Even the CDC says that a fatal overdose from marijuana is quite “unlikely.”)



Ricketts held a press conference this week to rail against a bill that would only make marijuana legal if it were recommended by a health care practitioner, come in oil form, pills, or tinctures. Additionally, the legislation would not make smoking marijuana, even in the privacy of a patient’s home, legal.

Ricketts said the legalization movement is “big industry” trying to skirt federal regulations at the state level.

“Big pot, big marijuana is a big industry. This a big industry that is trying not to be regulated, to go around the regulatory process. And that’s going to put people at risk: when you go around regulations that are designed for the health and safety of our society,” the governor said.
But Democratic State Senator Anna Wishart, who introduced the bill, called bullshit on the governor’s claims on Twitter writing that “facts matter.”

“There are few things in this world that won’t kill you if you do or take too much. The cannabis plant is one of those. Facts matter,” Wishart wrote. Another Democratic local lawmaker also took to Twitter calling what Ricketts said a non-starter.

“It’s really hard to have a reasonable conversation with someone like this,” State Sen. Adam Morfeld tweeted.

But Ricketts doesn’t seem to have the same concerns about alcohol that he does marijuana. Just two days ago, as USA Today pointed out, he endorsed a bill that would make permanent new regulations allowing customers to order alcoholic beverages with their take-out orders. And according to the CDC, “excessive alcohol use is responsible for more than 95,000 deaths in the United States each year.” But you won’t hear Ricketts yelling about how big take-out is killing our kids.

​

 

[Tincandtoke]

GOP Gov: ‘If You Legalize Marijuana You’re Going to Kill Your Kids’​

“This is a dangerous drug that will impact our kids,” Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts told reporters

​

Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts opposes the legalization of medical marijuana in his state, and warned parents that the substance will “kill your kids.”​

​

“This is a dangerous drug that will impact our kids,” the Republican governor said on Wednesday. “If you legalize marijuana, you’re gonna kill your kids. That’s what the data shows from around the country.” (Note: Even the CDC says that a fatal overdose from marijuana is quite “unlikely.”)​

​

​

​

Ricketts held a press conference this week to rail against a bill that would only make marijuana legal if it were recommended by a health care practitioner, come in oil form, pills, or tinctures. Additionally, the legislation would not make smoking marijuana, even in the privacy of a patient’s home, legal.​

​

Ricketts said the legalization movement is “big industry” trying to skirt federal regulations at the state level.​

​

“Big pot, big marijuana is a big industry. This a big industry that is trying not to be regulated, to go around the regulatory process. And that’s going to put people at risk: when you go around regulations that are designed for the health and safety of our society,” the governor said.​

But Democratic State Senator Anna Wishart, who introduced the bill, called bullshit on the governor’s claims on Twitter writing that “facts matter.”​

​

“There are few things in this world that won’t kill you if you do or take too much. The cannabis plant is one of those. Facts matter,” Wishart wrote. Another Democratic local lawmaker also took to Twitter calling what Ricketts said a non-starter.​

​

“It’s really hard to have a reasonable conversation with someone like this,” State Sen. Adam Morfeld tweeted.​

​

But Ricketts doesn’t seem to have the same concerns about alcohol that he does marijuana. Just two days ago, as USA Today pointed out, he endorsed a bill that would make permanent new regulations allowing customers to order alcoholic beverages with their take-out orders. And according to the CDC, “excessive alcohol use is responsible for more than 95,000 deaths in the United States each year.” But you won’t hear Ricketts yelling about how big take-out is killing our kids.​

​

​

Yes, your kids are so much safer purchasing through the illicit market
Chances of a budtender jumping over the counter and taking your money or selling you oregano are high
Buying smoke from someone you don't know, from a source you don't know in places you don't know
So much safer
My guess is that Boehner and his hypocrite buddies shut him out of the licensing and now he has to punish someone
I have no more tolerance for the "do as we say, not as we do" crowd
Time to put down your meth pipe ricketts, come out of the closet and marry your boyfriend
We will support you

 

[momofthegoons]

Biden White House asks staffers to resign over past marijuana use: report​

A number of White House staffers were asked to resign or demoted for past marijuana use — regardless of whether those employees had been in one of the 14 states where the drug is legal, according to a report.

The Biden administration had required workers to disclose past marijuana use on a background check form, but told some new hires that it would “overlook” those who answered yes, the Daily Beast reported.

Despite this, White House director of management and administration Anne Filipic reportedly led a series of one-on-one calls with staffers this month, asking those who admitted to past marijuana use to resign or be placed in a remote work program.

“It’s exclusively targeting younger staff and staff who came from states where it was legal,” one former staffer told the Beast.

The move comes after the administration officially updated its guidelines earlier this year to allow for “limited” use of the drug in the past.

Although marijuana has been legalized in a growing number of states, the drug remains illegal on the federal level — making it difficult for staffers trying to get security clearances if they’ve used the drug before.

“The policies were never explained, the threshold for what was excusable and what was inexcusable was never explained,” one ex-staffer told the outlet.

Under the Biden administration’s new guidelines, staffers were asked to cease all use of marijuana while working at the White House and submit to random drug tests.

 

[momofthegoons]

A little more about the firings....

Marijuana-Related Firings In Biden White House Represent ‘Antiquated Response,’ Congressman Says​

The Biden administration has reportedly asked dozens of White House staff to resign or otherwise punished them over past marijuana use—a response that one congressman described to Marijuana Moment as “antiquated” and inconsistent with the burgeoning legalization movement.

Despite earlier reporting that the administration had instituted a policy of granting waivers to certain workers who admit to prior cannabis use, sources familiar with the issue told The Daily Beast that dozens of staffers have been fired, suspended or placed in a remote work program after disclosing their previous consumption on a federal form that’s used as part of the background check process.

One person who has gone on the record about using marijuana in her youth but who has ostensibly not faced employment penalties is Vice President Kamala Harris, who joked about her own cannabis consumption during her 2020 presidential campaign. It’s a point that advocates were quick to pick up on after news about the marijuana-related firings broke.

Asked about the report on Friday, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, told Marijuana Moment that “we still have a very uneven response” to marijuana use in the federal government.

“One of the things that has happened with our efforts on legalization is that we are acknowledging that this is an antiquated response to an emerging issue,” he said. “People now understand how ubiquitous use of cannabis is for recreational use and for medical use, and it is something that involves well over 100 million Americans.”

“I think that you have blips like this occasionally—people sometimes get a little edgy—but this is going to be a thing of the past very soon. And our reform legislation that will be moving forward to will make clear that that’s not a basis for discrimination,” he added. “In fact, even people with past convictions dealing with cannabis will ultimately be able to be involved with the industry. This is part of an evolution. It’s taking place very quickly, and we’re watching changes in these policies as we speak.”



It’s not clear at this point whether the forthcoming congressional legislation would remove marijuana as a negative criteria in federal employment decisions, however, as a bill that the House passed last year maintained that cannabis could still be included in drug testing programs for federal workers.

The focus of lawmakers’ Friday call was on the reintroduction of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act in the House this week. That legislation, which would protect banks that service cannabis businesses from being penalized by federal regulators, is being led by Reps. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), who also weighed in on the Biden White House marijuana policy development.

The congressman told Marijuana Moment that while he hadn’t seen the news report, he is “sorry to hear that,” adding that it highlights the need for Congress to advance cannabis reform.

“We need to get the conflict between the federal and the state laws resolved because this does result in things like you just talked about,” he said. “And I think the first place we’re going to see real action and get it done because of the public safety and public health aspects will be on the SAFE Banking Act.”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also addressed the controversy on Friday, pushing back on the extent of the firings over marijuana.

“We announced a few weeks ago that the White House had worked with the security service to update the policies to ensure that past marijuana use wouldn’t automatically disqualify staff from serving in the White House,” she said. “As a result, more people will serve who would not have in the past with the same level of recent drug use. The bottom line is this: of the hundreds of people hired, only five people who had started working at the White House are no longer employed as a result of this policy.”



While five may have been terminated according to the White House, Psaki did not give figures on the number of people who faced suspensions or were asked to work remotely due to their cannabis use admission. The Daily Beast also noted that some of the adverse employment actions could have been because of inconsistencies in how people filled out their forms. For example, they may have misstated when they last used marijuana.

In any case, advocates maintain that any admission of cannabis use should not justify being penalized or prevented from working in the federal government, especially given that a majority of states have legalized marijuana in some form and given efforts in Congress to end federal prohibition.

Ben Rhodes, who served as national security adviser under President Barack Obama, reacted to the report by saying, “I have no idea if this is true, but I do know I served as a deputy national security advisor from 2009-2017 having acknowledged past marijuana use on my forms,” adding that it “would be wrong to punish people for something that is entirely normal and increasingly legal.”



“This would also obviously disproportionately impact young people who are HONEST,” he said.

President Joe Biden personally opposes adult-use legalization but has backed more modest reforms such as legalizing for medical use, expunging prior cannabis records, rescheduling marijuana and allowing states to set their own policies.

There was optimism about reports earlier this year that the White House had enacted a more lenient policy when it comes to employment eligibility for people who’ve used cannabis.

An administration official told NBC News that their guidelines “effectively protect our national security while modernizing policies to ensure that talented and otherwise well-qualified applicants with limited marijuana use will not be barred from serving the American people.”

Separately, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said in a recent memo distributed to federal agencies that admitting to past marijuana use should not automatically disqualify people from being employed in the federal government.

 

[arb]

Does that mean Harris is out?
She openly and freely admitted her use of cannabis,a joint and stated she did in fact inhale.

 

[Tincandtoke]

We have a pandemic to deal with and this is a priority
He is projecting his son's short comings on other people and making horrible personnel decisions based on it
What comes around
His son should step down from whatever he is doing based on that kind of logic
Idiot!

 

[momofthegoons]

Shocker...seems like a whole lot of spin to me.

White House Tries To Snuff Out Report On Staffers Who Were Let Go For Pot Use​

The White House says five employees were let go from their jobs related to past marijuana use, even though personnel policies were updated so that past pot use would not automatically bar people from working there.

Responding to a Daily Beast report about the issue, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday on Twitter: "The bottom line is this: of the hundreds of people hired, only five people who had started working at the White House are no longer employed as a result of this policy."

Psaki pointed to a recent NBC report on the new guidelines, which were negotiated because marijuana use is legal in some places in the United States but remains illegal under federal law.



The NBC report said the White House would grant waivers on a case-by-case basis to people who smoked marijuana on a "limited" basis and don't need a security clearance. The waiver requires employees to stop all pot use and agree to drug testing.

"As a result, more people will serve who would not have in the past with the same level of recent drug use," Psaki said on Twitter.

The Daily Beast reported that "dozens of young White House staffers have been suspended, asked to resign, or placed in a remote work program due to past marijuana use," citing anonymous sources "familiar with the matter."

"In some cases, staffers were informally told by transition higher-ups ahead of formally joining the administration that they would likely overlook some past marijuana use, only to be asked later to resign," according to the Daily Beast report. NPR has not independently confirmed if that is the case.

In an additional statement to The Daily Beast, Psaki said, "While we will not get into individual cases, there were additional factors at play in many instances for the small number of individuals who were terminated."

 

[arb]

More of the exact same lies.........least there's no mean tweets.
Or a minimum wage,Medicare for all,cannabis legalization, ubi,or a 2000 dollar check but we ARE drone striking brown people in Syria and not pulling out of Afghanistan.
Record levels of brown children in cages in the facilities that were built under the last Democratic president.
To name a few but its early yet.......unless you're a female athlete then its game over.

 

[Baron23]

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, told Marijuana Moment that “we still have a very uneven response” to marijuana use

“I think that you have blips like this occasionally

Well, I bet he wouldn't think it was an uneven response or a blip if it was his fucking ass that got fired....right after moving to DC. Lovely

only five people who had started working at the White House are no longer employed as a result of this policy.”

And I also bet she wouldn't be so sanguine about it if it was her job.

And yes, this is all spin and total and utter bullshit.

As for Harris, why isn't she being fired for using MJ.....and lying. eh?

 

[Bologna]

Yeah, smoking pot and partying never messes with anyone's memory, naaaaaah... get dates wrong, song titles mixed up.... repeat themselves ad nauseam without care or empathy, completely oblivious, maybe even defiantly.... nope. never happens.

 

[Baron23]

And once again our idiot professional political class....the all time kings of half ass legislation and unintended consequence....did it yet again. They could fuck up having a wet dream. sigh

U.S. postal rules make outlook bleak for small vape companies​

Rules taking effect this week in the U.S. could cause serious headaches for companies making hemp-based vape products due to broad definitions in a law aimed at curbing vape sales to minors — perhaps putting a crushing burden on small producers.


The Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act (2020) comprises revisions to a previous law, the 2010 Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT Act) which bans direct sales of cigarettes to consumers through the mail.


Passed last December as part of a COVID-19 relief bill, the amendment adds all e-cigarettes and vaping products to the direct sales ban. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) last week published guidance in the Federal Register and notified vape component makers that the new prohibitions on the mailing of their products is imminent.

Critical distribution channel​

The USPS is a critical distribution channel for vape companies, as major private shippers United Parcel Service, FedEx and DHL already have restrictions on shipping vaping products.


While hemp and CBD stakeholders have said they don’t believe the law is targeted at them, language in the amendment could be interpreted to include legal hemp and CBD-derived vapes, they say.


Vape makers and sellers have suggested that the definition of “electronic nicotine delivery systems” (ENDS) in the law is so broad that it may be interpreted to include even batteries and empty cartridges, and say they are particularly concerned about language that refers to the banning of “any electronic device that, through an aerosolized solution, delivers nicotine, flavor or any other substance to the user inhaling from the device.”

Specified products restricted​

Restrictions also apply to ENDS products such as: “an e-cigarette; an e-hookah; an e-cigar; a vape pen; an advanced refillable personal vaporizer; an electronic pipe; and any component, liquid, part, or accessory of a device described [above], without regard to whether the component, liquid, part, or accessory is sold separately from the device,” according to the law.


Based on this definition of ENDS, zero-nicotine e-liquids, synthetic “tobacco-free” nicotine e-cigarettes, and CBD and THC hemp vape pens would all appear to be products that cannot be mailed through the USPS, observers have said.


The new law allows companies to apply for exemption of their products for USPS shipping. But companies worry that delays and bureaucracy caused by the application process could kill their businesses.

Crowded exemption process​

Guidance issued by the government last week indicates the potential for a flood of applications to clear specific products for sales, suggesting a lengthy path to market. “the Postal Service anticipates receiving . . . applications at a rate several orders of magnitude above the historic norm,” according to the guidance issued last week.


Many vape businesses are exploring arrangements with private logistics and transportation companies, The National Law Review observed earlier this year, “But the outlook for many small vapor companies and online retailers looks bleak,” the Review said.


Rules under exemption allow business-to-business sales, but manufacturers must register with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm and Explosives (ATF), and file monthly reports with state tobacco tax administrators. Shippers must also retain federal, state and local compliance records that should be available upon request

 

[Tincandtoke]

Brick and mortar Vape stores
Buy stock!

I bitch about having to put pants on to go and get the box my vape came in and I only had to open the door and reach down
Now I have to get in a car!!
And go to a store!!!
Will they let me put things in a cart and leave it there for weeks?!!!!

 

[Baron23]

Fuck him and rioters of all stripes, motivations, banner they are rioting under, or political persuasions. Yeah, I'm a law and order liking kind of guy and if you riot, assault people, destroy property...then you go to jail

A Proud Boy claimed marijuana made him storm the Capitol. Stoner Twitter owned him​

Robert Gieswein, a 24 -year-old Colorado man, currently sits in jail awaiting trial on charges of assaulting police with pepper spray and a baseball bat in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol Building.



A number of photographs appear to capture Gieswein marching with a group of Proud Boys and storming the Capitol on the 6th. He’s decked out in paramilitary style, including fatigues, flak jacket, goggles, and combat helmet. Federal prosecutors accuse him of being one of the first rioters to breach the U.S. Capitol that day.

Gieswein, circled, is accused of assaulting police officers with pepper spray and a baseball bat on Jan. 6. (Photo via U.S. v. Gieswein)

Is he seriously blaming the weed?​

In his legal motion to release Gieswein from jail, the Proud Boy’s lawyer apparently leaned into a too-stoned-to-be-responsible defense.


As NBC4 Washington investigative reporter Scott MacFarlane revealed over the weekend, Gieswein’s motion included this information:

[On January 5, 2021], Mr. Gieswein was at Freedom Plaza in the District with other Trump supporters. He was approached by someone with a video camera, who engaged him in conversation. He had just smoked a significant amount of marijuana, and his intoxication is palpable in his dilated pupils and grin, and in the rambling comments that ensued. Asked why he had come, he said “to keep President Trump in.”

That is, to say the least, a creative claim of non-responsibility.


It’s unclear whether the judge was meant to conclude that Gieswein was just joking, or mentally incapacitated, or that Giesewein was so stoned on Jan. 5th that his intoxication carried over to the 6th, when he allegedly assaulted police officers as part of the Capitol insurrection.


Giesewein’s lawyer clearly banked on the judge having zero experience with cannabis. Because those theories are ludicrous. They aren’t without precedent, though. The myth that cannabis smoking causes a consumer to go off the rails on a crime spree is one of the oldest canards in the reefer madness playbook. It literally reaches back to the time of Harry Anslinger.


To help the cause of justice, dozens of cannabis-experienced citizens clapped back. The string of responses to MacFarlane’s original tweet made for some of the weekend’s most entertaining reading. Here are but a few choice selections.

 

[arb]

Fuck him and rioters of all stripes, motivations, banner they are rioting under, or political persuasions. Yeah, I'm a law and order liking kind of guy and if you riot, assault people, destroy property...then you go to jail

A Proud Boy claimed marijuana made him storm the Capitol. Stoner Twitter owned him​

Robert Gieswein, a 24 -year-old Colorado man, currently sits in jail awaiting trial on charges of assaulting police with pepper spray and a baseball bat in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol Building.



A number of photographs appear to capture Gieswein marching with a group of Proud Boys and storming the Capitol on the 6th. He’s decked out in paramilitary style, including fatigues, flak jacket, goggles, and combat helmet. Federal prosecutors accuse him of being one of the first rioters to breach the U.S. Capitol that day.

Gieswein, circled, is accused of assaulting police officers with pepper spray and a baseball bat on Jan. 6. (Photo via U.S. v. Gieswein)

Is he seriously blaming the weed?​

In his legal motion to release Gieswein from jail, the Proud Boy’s lawyer apparently leaned into a too-stoned-to-be-responsible defense.


As NBC4 Washington investigative reporter Scott MacFarlane revealed over the weekend, Gieswein’s motion included this information:






That is, to say the least, a creative claim of non-responsibility.


It’s unclear whether the judge was meant to conclude that Gieswein was just joking, or mentally incapacitated, or that Giesewein was so stoned on Jan. 5th that his intoxication carried over to the 6th, when he allegedly assaulted police officers as part of the Capitol insurrection.


Giesewein’s lawyer clearly banked on the judge having zero experience with cannabis. Because those theories are ludicrous. They aren’t without precedent, though. The myth that cannabis smoking causes a consumer to go off the rails on a crime spree is one of the oldest canards in the reefer madness playbook. It literally reaches back to the time of Harry Anslinger.


To help the cause of justice, dozens of cannabis-experienced citizens clapped back. The string of responses to MacFarlane’s original tweet made for some of the weekend’s most entertaining reading. Here are but a few choice selections.

We have bred and trained A generation of children to be unable to self regulate.
I agree if you destroy property,impede other peoples movements,commit violence then the rules of civilized society do not apply to you any longer and you should be dealt with accordingly.
Walking down the sidewalk talking shit and waving signs is awesome, big difference.

 

[ataxian]

Fuck him and rioters of all stripes, motivations, banner they are rioting under, or political persuasions. Yeah, I'm a law and order liking kind of guy and if you riot, assault people, destroy property...then you go to jail

A Proud Boy claimed marijuana made him storm the Capitol. Stoner Twitter owned him​

Robert Gieswein, a 24 -year-old Colorado man, currently sits in jail awaiting trial on charges of assaulting police with pepper spray and a baseball bat in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol Building.



A number of photographs appear to capture Gieswein marching with a group of Proud Boys and storming the Capitol on the 6th. He’s decked out in paramilitary style, including fatigues, flak jacket, goggles, and combat helmet. Federal prosecutors accuse him of being one of the first rioters to breach the U.S. Capitol that day.

Gieswein, circled, is accused of assaulting police officers with pepper spray and a baseball bat on Jan. 6. (Photo via U.S. v. Gieswein)

Is he seriously blaming the weed?​

In his legal motion to release Gieswein from jail, the Proud Boy’s lawyer apparently leaned into a too-stoned-to-be-responsible defense.


As NBC4 Washington investigative reporter Scott MacFarlane revealed over the weekend, Gieswein’s motion included this information:






That is, to say the least, a creative claim of non-responsibility.


It’s unclear whether the judge was meant to conclude that Gieswein was just joking, or mentally incapacitated, or that Giesewein was so stoned on Jan. 5th that his intoxication carried over to the 6th, when he allegedly assaulted police officers as part of the Capitol insurrection.


Giesewein’s lawyer clearly banked on the judge having zero experience with cannabis. Because those theories are ludicrous. They aren’t without precedent, though. The myth that cannabis smoking causes a consumer to go off the rails on a crime spree is one of the oldest canards in the reefer madness playbook. It literally reaches back to the time of Harry Anslinger.


To help the cause of justice, dozens of cannabis-experienced citizens clapped back. The string of responses to MacFarlane’s original tweet made for some of the weekend’s most entertaining reading. Here are but a few choice selections.

Your completely correct in your above post!
is powerful (just saying)?

 

[momofthegoons]

Alabama removes toddler from Michigan family found with marijuana​

Erika Prock left Michigan at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, March 10, with a change of clothes and a set of pajamas for her and her son.

She drove all night while the 18-month-old slept in the car seat and then picked up her husband at her in-laws’ home in Hamilton, along the Mississippi border in north Alabama. After a two-hour visit, they started back toward Hillsdale, Mich., with plans to stop in Nashville for sleep.

The family only made it as far as Moulton, where someone reported a disturbance as they stopped at Jack’s for lunch. When police responded, Prock’s husband was smoking a cigarette outside the car. An officer smelled marijuana on his breath.

Todd Prock told police he had marijuana in the trunk of the car. Then they arrested both adults and placed the child in foster care – trapping the family inside a nightmare for possessing a substance that’s legal in their home state.

“If we could have taken our situation and transported it to Michigan, we would have been on our way,” Erika Prock said. “None of this would have happened. Nothing. Like absolutely nothing.”

In 2008, Michigan adopted medical marijuana. And in 2018, the voters of Michigan approved a measure to legalize recreational marijuana, which is now legal in some form in 19 states. Alabama is not one of those states.

“Although an officer may exercise discretion,” said Lawrence County District Attorney Errek Jett, whose office is handling the case, “there is no provision under the laws of Alabama to permit possession of marijuana if the individual is from a state where it is lawful.”

Local officials would later add charges unique to just a few states, charges used most often in a handful of rural counties in north Alabama. Weeks after the arrest, Prock and her husband were charged with felony chemical endangerment, a law originally meant to target parents whose children were near meth labs. The experience has highlighted the stark differences in consequences between Alabama and Michigan for parents caught in possession of marijuana.

“I don’t understand how the same situation in two different states can differ so drastically to the point where in one state your child is taken and put into foster care over marijuana and you’re charged with chemical endangerment,” said Prock, “but in another state, they consider it legal and safe and you go home to your family that night and never have to worry about your child being taken.”

Jett said visitors to Alabama are subject to the state’s laws, just like Alabama residents would be in other states.

“In short, possession of marijuana is illegal under our laws,” said Jett. “A similar situation exists where one of our citizens has a pistol carry permit but travels to New York for instance. In that situation the Alabama citizen has committed a criminal offense under the laws of the State of New York.”

Instead of returning to Michigan, Prock and her husband moved into a tent behind her in-laws’ trailer while they fight allegations in criminal and family court. Her child has been placed with an Alabama foster family, separated from the parents and grandparents who cared for him every day since his birth.

Gar Blume, an attorney who works in family court, said some counties are quicker to remove children than others. He works all over the state and has encountered several cases where children were removed due to parental marijuana use. Smaller departments in more conservative counties may be more prone to err on the side of caution, particularly with an out-of-state couple with marijuana and prescription methadone.

“Some counties treat marijuana the same as they treat methamphetamine, cocaine or opiates,” Blume said. “It’s the same as any other illegal drug to them.”

He said Alabama courts have ruled that drug use can’t be the sole reason for removing a child to foster care, but it can contribute in situations where a parent is frequently intoxicated or exposes them to drugs. Prock said her child was clean, happy and well-fed when he was taken.

Prock said the experience is one of the worst things that’s ever happened to her. The worst was her son’s birth – almost four months premature. His early medical struggles left Prock with post-traumatic stress disorder and a fierce protectiveness over her child’s health, she said.

Although her husband smoked cigarettes and marijuana, Prock said she never allowed a whiff of smoke near her child. That’s why her husband was standing 12 feet away from the car with a cigarette when the police pulled up.

“Like he was being kidnapped”

Prock admitted that in her initial panic she tried to help her husband hide some marijuana. And her husband had smoked marijuana before the Moulton police arrived, she said. But she said the couple quickly admitted they had pot in the trunk, alongside a locked box with Prock’s prescribed methadone.

The officer asked Prock to take a field sobriety test, which she said she failed due to a sprained ankle from a car wreck three weeks earlier. She was placed into the back of a squad car while a worker from the Department of Human Resources took her son.

“They just ripped him away from me,” she said. “It was like he was being kidnapped.”

Prock shouted at the social worker through the open window. She said she tried to tell the social worker about her son’s medical issues and told the woman to call her mother. Then the officer rolled up the window. A spokesman for DHR declined to comment, citing confidentiality.

“That’s the first thing that’s in my head,” Prock said. “What if he goes there and they don’t know and he’s sleeping and stops breathing and dies? I mean, horrible thoughts go through my head because of what we have been through. I have a little bit of PTSD from it.”

Prock became inconsolable inside the jail. She cried so much she said the jailer moved her to a visitation room that was under construction.

Because the couple lived in Michigan, it took five days to find a bail bondsman willing to post bail, even though they had no intention of leaving Alabama without their son.

A judge dismissed marijuana possession and public intoxication charges against Erika Prock after she produced hospital discharge records for her sprained ankle and two years of clean drug screens from the methadone clinic.

That wasn’t the end of her legal troubles.

Life on hold

Two weeks after the arrest, authorities filed felony charges of chemical endangerment against the couple. That law was written to protect children against exposure to toxic fumes from meth labs, but in this case, officers alleged their 18-month-old was exposed to marijuana. A person commits the felony if he or she “knowingly, recklessly, or intentionally causes or permits a child to be exposed to, to ingest or inhale, or to have contact with a controlled substance, chemical substance, or drug paraphernalia.”

Todd Prock is also facing felony charges of marijuana possession.

Both parents say they never exposed their son to drugs.

Jett would not list the specific evidence for the chemical endangerment charges.

“However, the evidence in this case provides probable cause that a child was exposed or had access to a controlled substance and/or paraphernalia,” he said.

According to the legal complaint against Prock, the couple had four-and-a-half ounces of marijuana, a small amount of marijuana powder, “and several tools, bowls and various other items with residue on them in close proximity to an 18-month-old child in a car.”

In Michigan, adults can possess up to two-and-a-half ounces of marijuana, which can be consumed at home. Prock said her husband only had that much in the trunk when arrested. An adult with more than two-and-a-half ounces but less than five ounces can receive a civil penalty similar to a traffic ticket.

Prock said the Department of Human Resources in Alabama will soon send her son to his grandparents’ home in Michigan. She feels certain the custody case will resolve quickly once it moves to her home state.

However, she worries about the chemical endangerment felony and plans to fight the charges in court. The couple has been living in Hamilton for more than three months since their arrest. Todd Prock, who juggled jobs in a factory, at a roofing company and as a tattoo artist, hasn’t worked since the arrest. Both parents have older children in Michigan they haven’t seen in months.

The couple is still paying rent and bills on a house in Michigan while living in a tent in Alabama. The Moulton police also seized about $2,500 in cash Prock said she received as part of the settlement from her traffic accident. Their money has almost run out.

In the month after the arrest, Prock said she struggled with dark feelings. She couldn’t look at pictures of her son. Before she met her husband and became pregnant, she struggled with opioid addiction that started after emergency surgery for an ectopic pregnancy – a life-threatening condition where the fetus implants in the fallopian tube.

Eventually she started using heroin and went to prison, where she got clean. Prock said she hasn’t used in five years. In the days after her arrest in Alabama, her thoughts drifted back to her struggle with heroin.

“It’s brought back so many bad memories and feelings,” Prock said. “I haven’t felt like this since four years ago or five years ago and I was doing bad. All that guilt and shame is back.”

In the past two months, Prock said she has gained a sense of purpose – to get her son back and prove that she’s a good mom, and not the kind person who would have exposed a medically-fragile child to dangerous drug fumes.

“I am a recovering addict and I just want to do something about this,” Prock said. “Because what if this happens to somebody else and they’re a recovering addict and they’re not strong enough to stay clean. And they end up relapsing, or even worse, dying or overdosing and then a child is without a mother because Alabama is so just overkilling with that charge and taking children.”