9/11 Twenty Years Later

 

Almost every American remembers where they were when the planes smashed into the World Trade Center in New York on the eleventh day of September 2001. The horrific images on the TV mesmerized everyone as they watched one of the most devastating attacks on U.S. soil, which included a devastating assault on the pentagon.  As the towers collapsed, we watched and listened to the newsmen and newswomen comment on the days tragic events. Controversy and unanswered questions faded into a state-sponsored media blackout. All major networks went into wartime emergency protocols, working directly with the military industrial complex. 

President Bush eventually mustered up the courage to face the American public. Armed with a list of terrorists (Muslim extremists from the Middle East), he declared war against Al Qaida. General Powell and Condoleezza Rice sold the war to the world as the White House rallied the American people. By the end of October, less than two months after the attacks in September, The Patriot Act was approved by Congress and signed by Bush, giving the government and the military authority to supersede the U.S. Constitution, including warrantless detention and domestic surveillance. 

Family members of victims of 9/11 are deeply concerned that official investigations and findings made by the government did not reveal the truths. Bob Mcllvaine’s son, Bobby, was killed on 9/11.  He went to the 9/11 Commission to discuss the investigation.  His response to the investigation was, “It was obvious the investigation was a sham.” Kristen Breitweiser, Patty Casazza, Lorie Van Auken, and Mindy Kleinberg, AKA The Jersey Girls, headed the 9/11 Family Steering Committee, which was highly critical of the commission and its work. The widows called for a new independent panel. “I’m very disturbed, and I want to get some answers,” said Breitweiser. “I want to know what the truth is.” She called the 2004 findings “an utterly hollow report.” Even the commissioners themselves were concerned about the results. Governor Thomas Kean, Chairman of the 9/11 Commission stated, “We think the Commission, in many ways, was set up to fail. Because we had not enough money, we didn’t have enough time, and we have been appointed by the most partisan people in Washington.”

Richard Gage, AIA is the founder of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, and he insists that there is indisputable forensic evidence which proves the three towers that collapsed did so because of a controlled demolition. His organization boasts 1700 architects and engineers that call for a new investigation. Many of his concerns revolve around World Trade Center building 7, which was not hit by an airplane, but also collapsed into its own footprint. The 9/11 commissions neglected to investigate this building collapse as part of their report. Building 7 housed the Securities and Exchange Commission, IRS, CIA, DOD, and many other financial institutions. Richard and his colleagues believe the recorded collapse of all the towers follow the characteristics of a controlled implosion, and he is convinced that all of the towers were packed with weapons grade thermite.  Residue from the debris has the signatures of thermite, and has been tested by multiple laboratories. The molten metal that pooled underneath the wreckage of the World Trade Center supports the conclusion. Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth chooses not to make any assumptions as to why the buildings were imploded with military grade explosives, and why the official investigations ignored the hard evidence that contradicted the official version of what happened on 9/11.

On Friday, July 16, 2021, the Lawyers’ Committee for 9/11 Inquiry Litigation Director, Mick Harrison, and Washington D.C. attorney John Clifford filed a Petition for Certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States on behalf of the Lawyers’ Committee for 9/11 Inquiry, Robert McIlvaine, and Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth.

The First Amended Complaint filed in the District Court on August 30, 2019, requested the Court to order the FBI to comply with a mandate from Congress to perform an independent assessment of evidence known to the FBI that was not considered by the original 9/11 Commission related to any facts that contributed in any manner to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The First Amended Complaint addressed seven areas of important 9/11 evidence that the FBI’s 2015 9/11 Review Commission failed to assess and ignored completely. Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth joined this lawsuit on Count one concerning the evidence of controlled demolition (use of explosives) at the World Trade Center on 9/11.

It seems unlikely that a new investigation will take place regarding what happened on that horrible day. The mainstream media and government officials often marginalize people that openly question the official version of the story by labeling them as crazy conspiracy theorists. Some believe that the attacks on the trade center were a false flag attack instigated by Bush, Cheney, and their neo-con advisors. The neo-cons include Paul Wolfowitz- State and Defense Department official, R. James Woolsey-Jr. Director of Central Intelligence, Richard Perle-Assistant Secretary of Defense, Jeane Kirkpatrick--Ambassador to the United Nations, Scooter Libby-Chief-of-Staff to Cheney, Condoleezza Rice-Secretary of State, Richard Armitage-Defense Department official, and Elliot Abrams-Republican foreign policy adviser among many others. Also included in that group of friends was Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater. 

Certain powerful families in Michigan have strong connections to the NeoCons, including Bill Schuette. Mitt Romney recently defended Blackwater regarding an alleged killing of 11 Iraqi civilians during the war.  Many of these folks have mingled amongst the Michigan power elite. Schuette and Mitt Romney are linked through the DeVos family via Dow Chemical, one of America’s key producers of military components, and Blackwater, America’s leading mercenary company. These folks are part of the ultra rich that control the media and influence the public to support their corporate empires. Some of the family members of the victims of 9/11 hold them more responsible for the event then the accused Muslim hijackers. They ask, “What would you do if it was your child that died? Would you want to know the whole truth, even if the truth hurt?”

Many people consider how similar 9/11 is to the covid pandemic. In the post 9/11 world spying on Americans by our government has protections set aside under the Patriot Act, which expired in March 2020. In March of 2020 Trump declared a national emergency, which was renewed again this year by Biden. 

John Sinclair’s legacy over Nixon regarding domestic wiretaps is still on hold twenty years after 9/11. Our government never lets a good crisis go to waste. 

John Sinclair - Free the Weed #122 - Aug/Sept 2021

 

A COLUMN BY JOHN SINCLAIR

Hi everybody, and welcome to another month of my venerable column for the Michigan Marijuana Report. I’ve been with this magazine since its first few issues and just completed 10 full years of contributing my monthly 1200 words to its editorial mix.

Before I launch into the meat of my column for this month, I must ask for a few seconds of your time to address a matter of personal integrity. My publisher and editor have both taken serious stands recently against other members of our legalization community, among whom are two of my closest friends and associates: Jamie Lowell and Rick Thompson. 

While it is only natural that we have disagreements among the people on our side, my strongest belief is that these discrepancies should always be kept among ourselves and never aired to the benefit of our real enemies, the thugs and criminals in the United States government and its local affiliates. 

Our movement has benefited greatly from the unity among our activists over the years, the most spectacular result of which has been the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana in the State of Michigan. We’ve got a lot of work to do in the future to evict the government from our affairs and truly Free The Weed, and it’s important to maintain our unity and togetherness in order to achieve the rest of our goals in this regard. 

Our most successful stratagem to date has been the citizens’ ballot initiative, which bypasses the governmental establishment and places our issues directly on the ballot. But now, according to Matthew Schweich of the Marijuana Policy Project, cannabis reform opponents are seeking to block measures from appearing on the ballot and trying to overturn them after they pass. 

“There is often a clear and direct contradiction between the will of the people and the laws of the people,” Schweich says. “For over one hundred years, Americans have used the ballot initiative process to correct these situations by directly enacting policies that politicians have rejected or ignored.” 

Cannabis legalization has been a notable example over the past decade. Between 2012 and 2020, voters in thirteen states approved ballot initiatives to legalize cannabis for adults 21 and over. Five more states have legalized through legislative action. The ballot initiative process, which exists in 24 states, was the key to making major progress on cannabis legalization in the United States. 

Unfortunately, the war on drugs has also inspired a war on democracy itself. Across the country, ballot initiatives on a range of issues are under attack. First, our opponents are working to restrict future ballot initiatives. Second, they are filing lawsuits to prevent initiatives from qualifying for the ballot. Last year, for example, the Nebraska Supreme Court disqualified a proposed medical cannabis ballot initiative that had already collected 190,000 voter signatures. 

Third, our opponents are filing lawsuits to overturn ballot initiatives after they have been approved by voters. And fourth, they are trying to pass legislation to delay or undo the laws enacted through ballot initiatives. Many Republican politicians, inspired by former President Donald Trump, have embraced a philosophy that extends beyond policy debates and into the underlying structure of our republic. They are actively working to thwart the will of the people. In doing so, they are rejecting core American values of liberty, justice and self-determination. 

So what else is new? Back when the CIA was rarely mentioned in everyday life in America and was banned by Congress and the government from any domestic political activity, the agency rented a building at 450 S. Main Street in Ann Arbor to use as a recruitment office for University of Michigan students. 

This blatant violation of domestic policy enraged radicals in Ann Arbor and the building housing the CIA office was bombed in September 1968. The bombing was blamed on three members of a group that shortly became known as the White Panther Party: Lawrence “Pun” Plamondon, John “Jack” Forrest, and this writer. 

The government charged the trio with bomb conspiracy charges, which were later dropped after a countersuit was filed in Detroit’s Eastern District federal court by defendants’ lawyers William Kunstler, Leonard Weinglass, and Hugh M. “Buck” Davis Jr. over claims of illegal wire-tapping. Judge Damon Keith ruled that the government had no right to wiretap citizens without a judicial warrant and must disclose the contents of the wiretaps to the defendants or drop the conspiracy charges. 

The charges against Pun, Jack and myself were dropped, but the government appealed Judge Keith’s ruling to the 6th District Court of Appeals and, failing there, to the United States Supreme Court, where the White Panthers won our appeal by an 8-0 vote. 

Jordyn Pair, writing for milive.com, now reveals that this former CIA building in downtown Ann Arbor is now home to a marijuana dispensary operated by JARS Cannabis. The new store is currently open under a medical license and is set to offer a full line of recreational products by the end of July, according to JARS Chief Operating Officer Raymond Abro. 

Further, Larry Gabriel reports in the Detroit Metro Times, ”a cannabis lounge is coming to DTE Energy music theatre—and other Detroit venues.” 

Gabriel writes: “Lume—the biggest cannabis company in Michigan, with 21 dispensaries in addition to growing and processing facilities—has entered an agreement with entertainment company 313 Presents to make Lume the official cannabis of DTE Energy Music Theatre.” 

“Of course,” Gabriel adds, “plenty of pot has been smoked and vaped up on the amphitheater’s hill since the days when it was known as Pine Knob. The surprise is that such a big name as DTE Energy has an official cannabis brand, and the long-term plan is for Lume to actually sell products for consumption at the concert venue.” 

The five-year agreement includes signage and branding throughout the venue (“stage, parking lot, everywhere you go,” Gregory says), with products under glass for people to look at and the opportunity to place orders for later pick up at the stores. Eventually, the “Lume Tree House” can be easily converted into a consumption lounge. 

“Not only will Lume be present at DTE Energy Music Theatre,” Gabriel says, ”but Gregory claims that the company has the right of first refusal for any company that 313 Presents has contracts with—places like the Fox Theatre, Little Caesars Arena, and Comerica Park.” “It’s not if, it’s when,” says Gregory, who admits to being in talks with the major sports stadiums. 

A quick look at the DTE Energy concert schedule for the rest of the year, Gabriel says, “shows that acts such as Dead & Company, the Black Crowes, Chris Stapleton, Dave Matthews, and Pitbull and Iggy Azalea will attract audiences with plenty of cannabis-friendly folks.”  Indeed, although Lume won’t be providing any consumables just yet, there will be plenty of cannabis consumption in the place. The Lume plan is sort of sanctioning what people are already doing. 

On a similar note, The SaferMichigan listserv reports the Dunesville music festival announced that Lume would be sponsoring their event the last weekend in July. Many people expressed their disapproval of Lume sponsoring this festival, which is attended by many caregivers and cannabis consumers who know Lume’s behind-the-scenes lobbying in past years against many things consumers have traditionally held dear. 

When the smoke settled, Dunesville decided to step away from Lumes sponsorship. “It certainly won’t hurt Lume,” SaferMich concludes, “but it was a little moral victory for many of us.” 

Free The Weed!

Will Medical Cannabis Caregivers Be Trimmed in Michigan?

 

In past weeks, there has been a wave of fear, anger and near panic on social media and cannabis listservs that the end is near for medical marijuana caregivers in Michigan. Cadres are being formed to boycott many big marijuana businesses. Demonstrations are taking place in various Michigan cities and a big rally is planned for Lansing in September.

 As best as one can tell, this fear is emanating from two sources. One is real and the other seems exaggerated.

Last year, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled in Deruiter v Byron Township that local communities have the right to do most anything they want per zoning in their communities-- including making caregiver home growing  illegal. Most caregivers who do not have the resources to move to a new location such as an industrial park, so they are de facto put out of business. This threat to caregivers in hostile communities is very real.

In May of this year, Steve Linder, executive director of the Michigan Cannabis Manufacturers  Association (MCMA), a Lansing based cannabis trade group representing big marijuana producers; made what were considered serious threats to caregivers. In the media outlet “Grown In” Linder expressed his long standing belief that “unregulated” caregivers are a dangerous threat to cannabis consumers, because  the product is not tested and is fueling black market cannabis sales. He went on to suggest legislative action is needed to eliminate this alleged danger. To date, Mr. Linder’s statements have been all bark and no bite. No hostile legislation has been introduced at the Capitol to date.

Some longtime activists like Adam Brook however, believe this is all part of a long term plan going back for years, to take away growers’ rights and it must be stopped now. He is a leader in the boycott movement and encourages aggressive, scorched earth action, both locally and in Lansing.

 “This is all just politics what we’ve been going through. This is exactly what the Michigan Municipal League wanted to happen. Just get us a couple good court cases and we’ll (The Michigan Municipal League) start getting some traction” Brook declared on the “Jazz Cabbage Cafe” podcast July 13.

Thetford Township Trustee Eric Gunnells, who was pro cannabis way before it was legalized, and who authored a township regulatory model which preserves caregivers rights had a different take.

“Prior to legalization, caregivers were very quiet and secretive. With legalization, more people became emboldened and that is a good thing, but sometimes nuisances occurred.” he said, referring to odor problems and neighborhood feuding. “Sometimes these incidents gave an excuse” for local leaders to zone out caregivers after the Deruiter decision last year.

Gunnells said that for better or worse, Deruiter is the real thing. The only solution is for caregivers to get involved in their local government, get to know local leaders and go overboard to run a clean, low key, caregiver grow operation. “That will go a long way to head off trouble.”

 Attorney Barton Morris from the Cannabis Legal Group, who ably represented caregiver Judith Pontius in an effort to save her medical plants from destruction by Ypsilanti Township, echoed Gunnels words. He said it is “essential” for local caregivers to proactively get involved in their communities, rather than wait around for things to hit the fan in a courthouse. In some places it could be bad news, especially in communities where houses are in close proximity. He also noted that some city attorney’s have multiple municipal clients. If conditions are right and maybe in an effort to churn legal fees, they will spread the anti caregiver gospel to their other clients

Morris went on to say the fight is on the local level and the assault on caregivers is coming from that direction, not Lansing. “It is almost impossible for the Legislature to change the MMMA (Michigan Medical Marijuana Act) and get rid of caregivers” he asserted, given the 3/4 supermajority required for legislative action to change the law. 

Jen Lindemann, who is deeply involved in fighting caregiver restrictions in Flushing and was a primary organizer for the Judith Pontius demonstration in Ann Arbor, is laser-like focused on local organizing. “This is where the action is right now,’’ she said.

As for my two cents, there are lots of good people who for one reason or another do not like  the smell of marijuana, my wife included. She does not use cannabis. After 27 years of marriage we have accommodated ourselves in our own way to the issue.  As an added plus, I’ve lately developed a taste for Delta-8 THC gummies.

 Last summer we had a visitor from South Bend, Indiana, a senior political activist, who was not attuned to cannabis issues. We legally grow a few plants on our property and they are hidden in plain sight. When we gave this gentleman a tour of our vegetable garden, his face grimaced and he asked “hey do you have skunks around here?” He had not noticed the marijuana plants nearby. In my wildest imagination, I cannot imagine this man wanting to live next to a home grow operation producing skunk odors 24/7.

In an indirect microcosmic connection, as a teen I got my first job picking tomatoes and sweet corn for .75c per hour in 1966, in rural Monroe County, Michigan, near the Ohio line. At the height of the harvest season, your pay could go up to $1.00 if you had been dependable through the early summer prep work.

The employer was “Smith Brothers Farms” consisting of around 1,000 acres. Gus, Wilbur, Martha, Barbara, Andy and Sandy Smith were fair, kind proprietors. Sometimes they worked  side by side with youngsters like me and you could get a stern lecture if you screwed up.

One thing I cannot forget, is Martha Smith was head of the Monroe County Chapter of the “Women’s Christian Temperance Union” (WCTU), which was a big player in the enactment of national alcohol prohibition in the early 20th century. There was regular talk on the farm about the evils of alcoholic beverages. We all listened to it, but when the work day was over, most of us did whatever we wanted. That was 1966, 30+ years after federal alcohol prohibition ended in America.

There is no WCTU chapter in Monroe County anymore and Mrs Smith has passed on to her  reward.

However, the WCTU still exists. Its headquarters is 1730 Chicago Ave, Evanston, Illinois. It’s mission/pledge has remained unchanged since 1874. It reads in part: “to reform...the drinking classes...I solemnly promise, God helping me, to abstain from all distilled, fermented and malt liquors, including beer, wine and hard cider and to employ all proper means to discourage the use and traffic in the same”

I got a feeling those who do not like cannabis are going to be around for a long time.

Tinfoil Hat Time! - Aug/Sept 2021

 

"The best way to minimize disagreement is to make sure that all the stakeholders are in the room."

-Cheryl (Yeoh) Sew Hoy

Stakeholder is an interesting word.  Merriam-Webster defines stakeholder in three ways: 

1) a person entrusted with the stakes of bettors

2) one that has a stake in an enterprise

3) one who is involved in or affected by a course of action

According to the dictionary this word can be used to describe anything from everyone who will in any way be affected, over to anyone who has a hand or interest in the venture, firm, operation, company or business, all the way down to a single specific individual with a specific purpose.  Using this magic word, statements in reference to Delta-8 laws from MRA Director Andrew Brisbo such as this one in the Daily Mining Gazette “We were proud to work with legislators and industry stakeholders to proactively address this issue and move an untested, unlicensed, intoxicating synthetic, product into our licensed and regulated system” could be used to summarize all manner of things and still be an accurate use of the term.

That could mean the MRA worked with the taxpayers and voters of Michigan, the producers of Delta-8 products, the sellers of Delta-8 products, the buyers and consumers of Delta-8 products, micro-cannabusinesses, caregivers, licensed marijuana facilities and the marijuana special interest and lobbying acronyms that represent them, as well as with state legislators, and decided to take control of Delta-8.

But it could also mean the MRA worked with just licensed marijuana facilities and the marijuana special interest and lobbying acronyms that represent them, as well as with state legislators, and decided to take control of Delta-8.  Or anywhere in between.  One could include, or exclude, anyone with a word like stakeholder.  

It’s not unlike the phrase ‘tinfoil hat’.  Time and again people who simply observe and question, as humans do, get lumped in with people who believe that aliens have placed microchips in their teeth.  Questioning current events is not the same as believing in the Loch Ness monster, same as working with everyone who will be affected by government action is not the same as working with a select group of industry players.

Which is what the MRA did.  They worked behind closed doors with private interest.  Not the taxpayers who fund their operations and will eventually fall victim to the precedence set by their agency, and certainly not the businesses who produce Delta-8 products, the businesses who sell Delta-8 products, or the people who use Delta-8 products, otherwise known as the majority of stakeholders.  Which is probably why Brisbo precedes the above quote with, “The team at the MRA has always been committed to transparency and forward thinking and this was once again the case regarding Delta-8,” because the exact opposite is true.  To be fair, the ‘forward’ part is accurate, in a ‘progressive’ totalitarian sense, that is. 

With such a commitment to transparency, one would think the MRA would avoid using words with such broad and vague definitions.  In a world constructed on integrity, a commitment to transparency would include a list of everyone who had a seat at that table.  Strange one would go to such lengths, and such adjectives, to describe Delta-8 but not put forth the same effort when telling everyone who it was that decided the licensed market should be the only ones making money with Delta-8, is it not?  Equally odd are the sheer number of stakeholders who are rather unhappy with this news. 

Take Anqunette Sarfoh, a well known and highly respected multi-level Delta-8 stakeholder here in the state of Michigan, for instance.  “Lord knows I tried to get them to reconsider.  I sell Delta 8 online and will be moving my online CBD business to Indiana on October 1st.  I have so many people with MS who love it, myself included.  I reached out to Rep. Rahbi and received a reply that he wanted to talk to me about it.  And then they ghosted me and never bothered to schedule the conversation or meeting.”  The Michigan cannabis community’s own Q (who agreed to be quoted) sent a well constructed and professional list of solid points, in an email to 53rd district representative and bill sponsor Yousef Rahbi, and asked for a place in the Delta-8 conversation only to receive a standard boilerplate response and no follow up appointment.  Her next move was to call Senator Jeff Irwin, who she credits for helping secure the 90-day window that pushes the new rules out until October.  But in the opinion of this author, giving the true majority of Delta-8 stakeholders (who did not have a voice) three months before they officially have their stakeholder status removed by force of law and see it handed to a factual minority of entities that do not even deal in Delta-8 and yet somehow are included as stakeholders even before they benefit directly from the law by becoming the sole stakeholders, is hardly a victory.  

The truth is victory was impossible in a battle that sprung into existence in April, was fueled by fear mongering news that exaggerated a handful of incidents among millions of users, fought behind invite only closed doors, and settled by July.  The entire war was rigged from the onset by those who have no intention of losing, and have the money and political power to make damn sure they do not.

They are the clear winners here, the select few graced with stakeholder status, the MRA, and the scum politicians whose palms were greased to get the ball rolling.  With their combined power not only can they eliminate competition in the market without competing, but actually go as far as stealing innovation in broad daylight while patting themselves on the back.  Regulations are the tools of the oppressors, used to manipulate otherwise uncontrollable situations, like someone else making money off something you did not think of, or other people growing better cheaper weed than you.

Everyone on the street knows what these organized criminals have accomplished.  Only those who will benefit financially from the new Delta-8 regulations say it is about safety, or pretend to think MRA regulations and testing are about anything other than controlling a market and who profits in it.  These entities who were extorted for tens of thousands of dollars or more by the same government who attacked innocent pot smokers, in order to become ‘legal’, now feel they are owed the sole rights to profit from marijuana.  No matter the acronym, no matter the party alignment, these captains of industry will cry to their government masters and take what they want for as long as the MRA exists.  That is why it exists.

The proprietor of the Sunoco near our office, that sells Delta-8 and was also not considered a stakeholder by the MRA, summarized the whole thing perfectly, “They are playing games.  It’s all about money.”

Michigan News - Aug/Sept 2021

 

MRA Updates Approved Ingredients List for Growers

Michigan- August 4th the MRA released a technical bulletin adding to the list of approved active ingredients which can be used for marijuana cultivation.

Pseudomonas chlororaphis strain AFS009 is the new addition, an active ingredient in manufacturing-use pesticides petitioned to the EPA for use by AFS009 Plant Protection, Inc. in 2017.  Pseudomonas chlororaphis is described as a bacterium that protects crop roots from fungi that attack them.

This new list supersedes the bulletin released on December 4 of 2020, is extensive, and is organized by the intended target of the substance, bactericide, fungicide, herbicide, insecticide, miticide, and rodenticide.  To see the full list visit: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mra/Marihuana_Operations_-_Agency_Approved_Active_Ingredients_for_Growers_691058_7.pdf

MRA Makes Up Rules for Immature Plant Sales

Michigan- The MRA has announced rules for the sale of immature plants in an August 3rd advisory bulletin.  

Administrative rule 1 of the Marijuana Sampling and Testing Rule Set defines immature plant as “a nonflowering marijuana plant that is no taller than 8 inches from the growing or cultivating medium and no wider than 8 inches produced from a cutting, clipping, tissue culture, or seeding that is in a growing or cultivating medium or in a growing or cultivating container.”

The advisory bulletin then references Rule 6, which states “a cultivator who has obtained good agricultural collection processes certification may sell immature plants to a marijuana sales location under the allowances published by the agency” which it then goes on to describe as no more than three plants can be sold to a customer “per transaction.”

The cultivator must first obtain GACP-GMP certification, then submit a plan to the MRA describing in detail every step of their process including how the cultivator will ensure plants have been pre-ordered, how they will be packaged for transfer, the method of transportation, and their refund and return policies.

Equally, sales locations will be required to have procedures in place for how they will pre-order immature plants (accounting for all immature plants with pre-order sales), as well as a copy of the cultivator attesting to the use of only approved active ingredients for growers.  Immature plants must also be sealed in a package before leaving the sales location, and sellers will be required to inform buyers that the immature plants were not safety compliance tested.

This MRA advisory bulletin can be read in full here: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mra/Marihuana_Sale_or_Transfer_-_Immature_Plant_Sales_731798_7.pdf

Unemployment Benefits and Marijuana Testing

Michigan- Three cases exist where three Michigan employees have been disqualified from unemployment benefits from instances of use of marijuana. The employees all tested positive for marijuana use but the specifics of the time of use are not detailed.

According to MI Live, “An HVAC employee, while off duty, crashed a company car, a maintenance man injured himself on the job and a warehouse worker was hospitalized due to an on-the-job accident. All tested positive for marijuana, although it’s not clear how long before their accidents they ingested it. All claim to have been sober at the time of their incidents.”

Each of the employers of the claimants tried to use the marijuana positive testing to deny each of the employees’ unemployment benefits.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel stated about the cases, ““The people spoke loud and clear when they voted in 2018 to legalize marijuana once and for all,” Nessel said. “Nobody over 21 can be penalized or denied any right or privilege solely for legally using marijuana, and employers cannot control their employees’ private lives by calling the legal use of marijuana outside of work hours ‘misconduct’.”

There has yet been a conclusive decision on the cases. The article about the cases can be read at: https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2021/08/private-marijuana-use-shouldnt-disqualify-michigan-residents-from-unemployment-benefits-ag-argues.html.

Petoskey Still Debating, Needs Signatures

Petoskey- The city of Petoskey voted in 2020 to allowed for medical weed centers. The current city policy, which city council passed in 2019 and voters affirmed in 2020, only allows for medical marijuana provisioning centers, and only within a narrow set of parameters. 

As of the middle of August, the city is working on getting recreational marijuana on the ballot. The city needs 91 more signatures for the petition drive to get the ordinance placed on the ballot.

William Perkins wrote for the News-Review, “That 2020 vote came about initially as part of an oppositional campaign to the medical marijuana ordinance council members had passed months prior. That ballot question was defeated, but voters were more mixed on a second initiative which essentially sought to strip city council of its power to opt-in to recreational marijuana facilities, and place that power solely into the hands of future voters, if such a move were ever to be considered.” https://www.petoskeynews.com/story/news/2021/08/05/petoskey-marijuana-petition-still-pending/5482523001/

World News - Aug/Sept 2021

 

Mexico Moves On

Mexico - Medical marijuana has been legal in Mexico since 2017.

At the end of June, the supreme court of Mexico ruled 8-3 for the use of recreational marijuana, even though legislation in congress is still not solidified.  

As it stands now, adults who want to grow and consume their own cannabis can apply for permits from the country’s health regulator, but there are restrictions on the amount of marijuana they can possess, and they cannot sell it.

According to MJBizDaily Canada, “Mexico’s national health agency was ordered to develop rules for granting permits to recreational cannabis users and charting a plan for them to acquire seeds and the like.” https://mjbizdaily.com/mexico-ruling-opens-new-opportunities-in-looming-marijuana-giant

The agency will also be processing permits for cultivating and harvesting cannabis plants.

Mexico will be the third country in the world to legalize recreational pot.

Cheers to Infusion

World - There are both THC and CBD infused drinks arriving on the market every day. The idea of going to a bar or restaurant to order a THC or CBD drink with a favorite meal sounds like a party in the mind.

THC drinks come in different flavors and styles. Lagunitas Hi-Fi Hops looks like a lite draft beer in the beer looking glass bottle.  It is a sparkling, hops-infused non-alcoholic beverage with THC. It comes in three different flavors. Canna Cola is another bottle shaped THC drink that looks more like an old-fashioned soda drink with colorful bottle designs and vibrant graphics. The brand comes in such brews as Orange Kush, Doc Weed, and Canna Cola. For a switch to cool down in the summer heat, Cannabis Quencher sells lemonade flavored cannabis infused drinks with 75 milligrams of THC. The Quencher comes in a bottle resembling a vitamin drink bottle.

CBD infused drinks come in a variety of different forms from sparkling waters to coffee drinks. CBD American Shaman makes a CBD infused sparkling water in a can with flavors such as Watermelon-Strawberry Lime. Buddha Teas serves a variety of organic CBD teas that come in bags to brew form like CBD Peppermint Tea and CBD Matcha Green Tea. Stäva Craft Coffee brews CBD Colombian coffee which can be bought in three potency levels and in different forms like whole bean, ground, or pods.

Greece Going Medical

Greece - At the end of May Greece voted 158 to 33 for the right of citizens to grow and sell medical marijuana.

Citizens will have to receive two separate licenses to grow marijuana. One license will be for an installation permit, and one will be for an operating permit. 

New Democracy spokesperson Christos Kellas said the new law was “an integrated framework for the development of the cannabis industry in our country, from which we expect that there will be benefits for our economy through investments and the creation of new jobs.” https://greekreporter.com/2021/05/23/medical-cannabis-approved-production-sale-greece/. 

The Ganjapreneur reported that, “The vote comes nearly four years after a decision by the health and justice ministers to downgrade cannabis from under the nation’s drug control guidelines, but those reforms did not include cultivation or sale.” https://www.ganjapreneur.com/greece-legalizes-medical-cannabis-sales-cultivation/.

Pot Up in Pandemic

World - Recent reports from the United Nations as well as in Canada news show a growth in the pot business possibly stimulated by the pandemic. According to MJBiz Canada, the United Nations reported the pandemic, “created circumstances that likely caused cannabis markets in some parts of the world to expand faster than they otherwise would have, particularly in high-income countries.“

The report notes that COVID-19 may have accelerated the pre existing trends towards increased use and availability of cannabis in some high-income countries as some people have turned to the drug to alleviate stress or manage boredom brought on by stay-at-home orders.https://mjbizdaily.com/un-report-cannabis-markets-likely-grew-because-of-pandemic/.  An April MJ Biz Canada article stated that marijuana use was up at the end of 2020. A report from Statistics Canada didn’t want to say the increase was from the pandemic. https://mjbizdaily.com/cannabis-use-grew-in-2020-statistics-canada-data-suggests/

National News - Aug/Sept 2021

 

More Pot in New England

Rhode Island - Rhode Island is the next headed to legalize Marijuana in the New England States.

Rhode Island House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi (D) said in the beginning of July that marijuana legalization is “inevitable” in Rhode Island. He also stated that it was going to happen “soon.” According to WPRI-TV Speaker Shekarchi does not believe the bill will be passed until the end of 2021. He is quoted in various other interviews as not rushing legalization. “I’m not in any hurry to legalize marijuana for the sake of legalizing it. I want to do it right.”  “It doesn’t matter to me if we’re the last state in the union to legalize it or we never legalize it, but I need to do it right. I need to make sure that we do this right for the taxpayers of Rhode Island and for the medical community, the business community,” he continued. “This needs to be done properly, and I’m not going to be rushed into it because other states are moving fast. I want to learn from other states, look at the mistakes they’ve made, look at what’s worked in other states, collaborate with them and work to put out a good product.” 

Rhode Island is also looking into who will regulate the industry there which may be a separate commission for marijuana or a state department. Rhode Island’s closest neighbors, Connecticut and Massachusetts, have already legalized.

Clarence Goes Green

United States - At the end of June conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said federal
marijuana prohibition is not necessary. 

Thomas wrote on the subject in response to the Supreme Court not hearing a case related to medical marijuana tax deductions in Colorado. “A prohibition on interstate use or cultivation of marijuana may no longer be necessary or proper to support the federal government’s piecemeal approach.”

 He also stated, “Federal policies of the past 16 years have greatly undermined its reasoning. The federal government’s current approach is a half-in, half-out regime that simultaneously tolerates and forbids local use of marijuana. If the Government is now content to allow States to act ‘as laboratories, then it might no longer have authority to intrude on ‘[t]he States’ core police powers . . . to define criminal law and to protect the health, safety, and welfare of their citizens.” 18 states have passed recreational laws, and 36 states have medical marijuana laws.

Schumer At It Again

United States - July 14th Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, D-NY laid out his cannabis legalization bill, the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act. The bill was presented by Senator Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey. Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat from Oregon, and Schumer co-sponsored the bill. President Biden remains opposed to legalization and is slightly leaning on decriminalization.

A part of the bill is the Community Reinvestment Grant Program. This program would give taxes from marijuana sales to communities to use that were affected by the War on Drugs and give to grants for various nonprofit organizations like literacy programs and youth recreation and mentoring. The Cannabis Opportunity Program is also a part of the bill which would give small business loans to cannabis to individuals who are socially and economically disadvantaged and who operate a cannabis company.

Just some of the policies the bill does not exclude federal employees from being drug tested. It would also propose a federal cannabis tax starting at 10 percent and raising to 25 percent, which would be added to state and local taxes.

The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act can be read in full here: https://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/CAOA%20Detailed%20Summary%20-.pdf

Running with Weed

United States - United States sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, who was disqualified from the Olympics for testing positive for THC, has started a debate on why marijuana should be tested for by the World Anti-Doping Agency. One reason The Agency cites that marijuana is banned is because it is “performance enhancing” for some athletes even though the research that marijuana is enhancing to athletes is inconclusive.  Richardson said she used cannabis to aid with “emotional panic” after the death of her mother.

A debate on the research if marijuana is enhancing athletes has begun.  A Marie Claire recent article stated, “Though more conclusive research is needed,..” that a 2017 academic review, “..found that THC does not improve aerobic performance.”.https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/a36920666/women-disqualified-tokyo-olympics-rules-track-field/. 

The academic review that Marie Claire mentioned can be read here: https://www.jsams.org/article/S1440-2440(17)30342-0/fulltext

In 2018 CBD was taken off the list of  banned substances by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Alcohol, such as beer and soft-alcoholic beverages are banned only before doping tests and are tested by the Agency for such sports as competitive archery.