Tinfoil Hat Time! - July 2020

“The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.”  

-Aldous Huxley

Let’s assume Mr. Huxley was on to something.  Let us ride this wild and crazy notion that dividing and conquering using tried and true methods of mass psychology is the job of the propagandist.  

Now turn on your TV.  Flick your tablet out of hibernation.  Whip out your mobile device.  Check out the news.  Jump onto Twitter, or Facebook.   

The perception of life in America has changed rather drastically in the past four months.  The interesting thing about it is, the only thing that changed is what was on TV.  What was subsequently being ‘shared’, thought about, talked about, and acted upon.  Because the truth of the matter is, life in America has been changing rather drastically for decades, and yet nothing ever really changes.  Out of the crock-pot and into the microwave, so to speak.

Welcome to Tin-foil Hat Time!  Still with me?  Cool.

One should not have to preface every original thought with virtue signals indicating obvious moral points.  What do I mean?  Racism is wrong.  Cops killing citizens is wrong.  Everyone should know this, and no one should have to say this before expressing themselves.  However, and of interesting note, racism is a subcategory of a thing called a blanket stereotype, and cops killing citizens is a subcategory of a thing called murder.  I believe both of those things are wrong, as well as every single subcategory thereof. 
  
I’m also one of these crazy people who believes in innocence until guilt is proven, fair trials based on evidence, a global conspiracy to take over the lives of free individuals by a corrupt international institution of lies, and in the old adage of looking before you leap. 

Is there definitive evidence that the cop is a racist?  What happened before the arrest, why were the police involved?  Did they know each other, as some sources report?  What is the cop’s history?  The victim’s?  Why would you chill on your car, as the 911 call reveals, and wait for the cops to come?  Over a pack of smokes?  The move is authorized for use by his department, why is the pig being punished for what is essentially corporate barnyard policy?  Why isn’t anyone mad at Asians?  Why did they give George such a ritualistic and extravagant, spit to the face of anyone told they could not have a family funeral due to Covid, style funeral?  What in the hell does a bunch of indoctrinated college students taking over seven blocks of a city have to do with racism or police brutality?  Why is the wound 400 years old, and not thousands?  Do people honestly believe ignorantly destroying only American history is the solution?   Why do these perfectly rational questions make me racist? 

Questions are what should be asked.  Questions reveal the truth.  Questions make sense of situations that are confusing and chaotic.  Questions are a key part of basic human nature.  So why are we called names and censored and ridiculed for asking questions?  

The answer, I believe, is simple.  Because this is not about getting to the bottom of a specific incident and ensuring ‘justice’, or in Covids case ‘science’, this is about sowing the seeds of discord and division.  This is about killing any remaining semblance of unity this nation has.  This is about controlling public opinion in order to manipulate minds into agreeing with things that one would normally not.  This is about the destruction of a country whose heart and constitution stand polar opposite that of central authoritarianism and group ideology.  This is about using propaganda to get one set of people to forget that another set is human.

After all, propagandists are why protesters and rioters are being lumped together, creating the perfect protest-riot hybrids.  All eyes are right, and wrong.  Evil looters destroy innocent communities and statues, seemingly oblivious to their racial make-up or historical context, in the same images and on the same screens as peaceful mourners protesting.  The propagandists tell us “This is their voice!” and “Look, it’s White Supremicsts and ANTIFA!”, as half of America turns its ire toward the other half of America, each seeing what they choose, and anyone opposed is no longer deemed human.  Exact same playbook as Covid, rumor billed as truth, distorting perspective, resulting in division where it once was not.

Propaganda is the only reason there were five days of hybridized protest-riots that spread to the globe before the cop was even charged.  Police of all races kill people of all races.  Police die needlessly too, murdered in cold blood for wearing a badge.  All over the world.  Would anyone outside of George Floyd’s family even know if not for the propagandists?  My cousin was murdered in 2001 by a criminal.  No one says his name.  How many can say the same?  More blatant cases of both police brutality and racism were skipped by the national news.  Propagandists chose this particular story among a million.  But why?


Consider this:  What happens when the cop gets off?  What happens to this ‘wound’ the propagandists tell us we have when a police officer, with no evidence of racism, after a fair trial, in which he is accused of trumped up mob rule murder charges, for following department policy, is found innocent of said charges and receives a light sentence or walks? 

What happens when a sea of people, who were convinced by propagandists of a verdict without evidence and of character without having ever met the individuals, are told by the propagandists that the reason he walks is systemic racism?  Injustice?  White people?  Trump?  The very existence of the United States of America?  Rather than the results of a trial in which he was found innocent of the overblown charges the propagandists told everyone were true before charges were even filed, let alone a court date set or a verdict reached? 

Of course, this whole thing could also be one big part of the operation known as Covid.  The propagandists stop talking about Covid and drop the ‘protests are bad for quarantine’ narrative, reducing the number of people testing, which creates a false lull, so they can then put Covid back in the news and balloon the testing numbers, conjuring up a second wave.  Then the powers that be can institute totalitarian and intrusive ‘new norms’ on our children this fall, that will slowly grow and grow to encompass their adult life over time, while we are all worried or angry about the latest propaganda, too busy dehumanizing our fellow countrymen and casting foresight to the wind.  A multi-edged sword always cuts the best.  Rigging pseudo-elections between puppets is for amateurs.

Think the President is going to save the world from the big bad illuminati?  Tune in next month for the Tinfoil Hat truth about Donald “Agent Orange” Trump!
  

Assuming I’m not buried under a mountain of hate mail in the meantime.

A Different Choice: Jo Jorgensen - Cover - July 2020

In the fervor of election season, it is easy to forget that there are more than two options for President of the United States.  Although, the media sure does a great job of helping everyone forget.

Well, not at the MM Report.  

We took a chance and contacted the Libertarian Party candidate for President, Jo Jorgensen, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Clemson University.  Her campaign, that includes repurposing the Hillary hashtag ‘#ImWithHer’, which promises such things as ending the war on drugs, promoting free trade, ending quotas on immigration, releasing non violent criminals from federal prisons, bringing all of America’s troops home, legalizing all drugs, shrinking government, reducing taxation, and protecting 2nd Amendment rights,  appeals to many aspects of both sides of the aisle.  To our surprise, she reached out, and took the time to chat with us a bit about herself, and a bit about marijuana.

MM Report: So, why do you want to be President?  Why did you get into politics?

Jo:  I never got into politics, and I don’t want to be in politics.  Some people ask, “Were you student council?”, no I never ran for that, I hate the idea of a few elite people getting to make the rules for everyone else.  I vote Libertarian as an act of self defense, so I can keep my freedoms.  I am running so I can keep my liberty. 

MM Report:  Right to the point, do you have any experience with marijuana?

Jo: I made it through high school and college without smoking weed, not even cigarettes, but I think all drugs should be legal.  Even if marujuana were dangerous, it should be up to the person.  The problems we have are not from marijuana, it is from the fact it is illegal.

“I never got into politics, and I don’t want to be in politics.  Some people ask, “Were you student council?”, no I never ran for that, I hate the idea of a few elite people getting to make the rules for everyone else.”

MM Report: So you support legalization at all levels?

Jo: People will typically get the drug or sex they are looking for, if we made it all legal they would not need to go underground.  It’s the same with all drugs, heroin deaths, they say Janis Joplin received a stronger dose than she was used to.  Street drugs do not have certifications, or ingredients.  Government making it illegal puts it underground and makes it less safe.  My drug of choice is Bourbon, I am not in this for me, I have legal access to my drug.  I am fighting so that we all have our individual rights, and individual liberty. 

MM Report:  Your website does say you want to ‘End the War on Drugs’, so what exactly does that mean to you?

Jo: Well obviously the President can’t just end the war on drugs.  But, the first day in office I would pardon all federal non-violent drug users, any non-violent crime, that really is not a crime because there is no victim.  I would set that example and hope the states followed it.  I would also tell the Attorney General, don’t go after them, because I am just going to let them out.  Then I would work with congress to change these terrible laws.  There is a saying, “liberty is right, and liberty works.”  It’s the right thing to do both morally and practically.  When is the last time you heard of a liquor store owner selling Gin to kids?  When is the last time you heard of anyone stealing to support their liquor habit?  When do liquor stores fight like gangs?  The problem is not the drugs, not to say there aren’t drug problems, there are.  But, the problem is the fact they are illegal.

MM Report:  What are your thoughts on how marijuana should be regulated?

Jo: Marijuana should not be so highly taxed that people still go underground, and whoever wants to sell it, they should be able to sell it.  I am fine with some restrictions, like with alcohol, for instance an age limit, but I don’t want it so highly regulated that only corporations can sell it, or that you have to grow it yourself.  I don’t want to see the equivalent of bath-tub Gin out there where people have to go to the underground because it’s so highly taxed.

MM Report: What would be your message to the marijuana smoking voters in Michigan?

Jo: Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton, in 2012, they were against gay marriage.  The younger people who weren’t around might ask, “Why is that?”  It’s because they are not interested in individual rights, or individual liberty; they are interested in votes.  Politicians don’t look out for the average individual, they want to run the world in a way that they see fit, that matches their beliefs.  The Libertarian party is the only party that has supported individual rights since the 1970’s.  Not because we are gay, or we use, but because we want to see each individual free.  We want each individual to be free to make their own choices, regardless.  Whether it’s getting married, smoking weed, or owning a gun.  If it is consensual and between adults, and there is no victim, then there is no crime.  Of course, that goes for sex work as well.

To learn more about Jo Jorgensen and her campaign for President visit:

joj2020.com

John Sinclair - Free the Weed #109 - July 2020

A Column By John Sinclair

Hi everybody, welcome to the beginning of true summertime in the Motor City, our sweetest and kindest season of all if you don’t mind the boiling sunshine on so many summer days. Me, I love it. I lived in New Orleans for 12 years and got used to it being hot. It was the opposite of our life here up North: you had to have air conditioning from spring thru the fall, and you didn’t need a furnace or carry a crippling heating bill in the wintertime. 

We had a mild winter and a rainy spring here in Michigan but what we have now is sure-enough summertime—time to get out after the quarantine and take in the sun and see your friends again and  share some of those good tokes that we seem to find at any time of the year. I remember when they used to have a killer drought every August and September it seemed, but those days are long gone.

I’ve been writing columns for a long time, and the great thing about writing a column is that you can talk about whatever you feel like. I wrote my first columns when I was an undergraduate at the Flint College of the University of Michigan—where my granddaughter is now a sophomore!—and I edited the student newspaper, a little mimeographed publication called The Word. I was inspired by my friend Ike Stein, who published a street-level entertainment guide to the city of Flint and contributed a column to every issue that talked about what was going on and who was doing it.

My roommate, the organist and composer Lyman Woodard, and I used to go over to Ike’s place on the south side every Sunday afternoon and listen to Miles Davis records and smoke weed. This is in 1962, and Ike had a big influence on my future development. I was working in a record shop downtown, in charge of the jazz department, and I was up on all the latest records, while I was also a literary fanatic and followed every development in the modern poetry world. I also headed the Cinema Guild at the college and kept up on the foreign art movie scene, so I was eminently qualified to scribe a regular multi-arts column for the students at UM—Flint, and I did until I graduated in the winter of 1964.

Then I transferred to Detroit to attend graduate school at Wayne State University and fell in with a guy called Kelly Williams, an art dealer who published a journal called Art & Artists and appointed me the music & poetry columnist. The next year the Fifth Estate started its existence as Detroit’s underground newspaper and I joined them in their second issue as the paper’s art columnist, writing a regular column called “The Coatpuller” that continued for several years.

At the same time I was selected to write the Detroit column for downbeat magazine, the bible of the jazz community, and covered the happenings in the clubs and concert halls and recording studios of the Motor City every two weeks for a couple of years.

I haven’t got enough space here in this column to drag you through through all the details of my column-writing career, but let it suffice to say that I’ve contributed columns to magazines in San Francisco, Oxford Mississippi, New Orleans, and the late lamented blues monthly called Blues Access, as well as the Ann Arbor Sun and its successor, the Detroit Sun. I’m a guy who’s always got a lot on his mind, so it’s never difficult to come up with things to talk about in my columns.

This is my 109th column for this particular magazine, and my text for today is the impact on our community of the draconian rules and regulations that the state, counties and municipalities of Michigan have dictated to shape the world of legalized marijuana in spite of the realities of marijuana life or the needs of the people to be served, from growers and retailers to consumers.

First of all, we have to note that these ridiculously punitive laws governing every aspect of marijuana commerce and use are dreamed up and instituted by the same people who were putting us in prison not too long ago for anything having to do with marijuana use and sales. They are not good people, and they perpetrated their unscientific bullshit attack on marijuana and its users for about 80 years until our voters decided just last fall to legalize the weed.  

Now they’re creating a system of laws and regulations intended to punish the marijuana entrepreneurs in every direction and make it next to impossible for small-time growers and sellers to do enough acceptable business to make their time and investments worthwhile. 

Over the many years of underground, or what they call “black market,” growing and distribution of marijuana, systems of transference, delivery, and individual sales were developed that worked beautifully for a lot of people for a long time. In fact, most of this underground network is still in place and functioning in real life for the long-time smokers who can’t stomach the price tags on weed in the dispensaries and don’t really feel like abandoning the people who have taken care of them for so long.

In terms of commercial ventures in the weed industry today, the big corporate spenders are gearing up to take a supermarket approach to distributing and selling weed while the persons who’ve been growing and selling weed on the black market find that the system is stacked against them from beginning to end.

To apply for a dispensary license they wanted a $60,000 payment to the state plus another $6,000 to the authority governing the place you want to operate, and then additional charges as you went along. You have to show that you have $300,000 or $500,000 in the bank before beginning operations, and of course you were barred from having a criminal record under the War On Drugs. 

As long as it took to legalize marijuana in Michigan—we started in 1965, finally won in 2019—I’m afraid it might take us to get rid of the War On Drugs mentality in the ranks of our public legislators and administrators, who continue to think and feel that marijuana is something wrong and people who are involved in its proliferation and use are doing wrong in defiance of established social mores. 

Horseshit. Marijuana needs about as much supervision and regulation as carrots or celery. It bears less risk and less responsibility for social ills than coffee, tobacco, beer and wine and whiskey.  Growing and selling marijuana should be like dealing in carrots or lettuce—you make your crop, sell your desired amount, and pay sales taxes on what you’ve sold. That’s as far as it should go, and all the administrators and bureaucrats working to employ thousands of personnel and impede the natural progress we should be able to expect after legalization should be stripped of their powers and put out to pasture.

If we’re gonna free the weed, we have to free it and ourselves from the control of those ignorant interlopers who want to put all kinds of special money-grubbing conditions on marijuana entrepreneurship to continue to fatten their coffers at our expense. 

It is my hope that the great people who have led our legalization struggle on to victory will continue to fight against the kind of insane, greedy state interference that’s holding things back as we speak. That’s my two cents worth for this month. Free The Weed! 


—Detroit
June 24-25, 2020


© 2020 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.

Herbert Huncke's America - Edited By Jerome Poynton Literary Executor - Didi

Didi

The ticking of the clock I found yesterday stopped and I wound it and now it gives out the life beat of the hours.

For an instant I almost felt the need to begin in another place in this notebook but – after a flash reflection – continued with this which is already started.

The weekend was incredible with many people falling on the scene I hadn’t been in touch with. It was a weekend of all kinds of drugs from ordinary pot through barbiturates, amphetamines, heroin, cocaine and LSD.

The general tenor of last Friday, Saturday and Sunday was good and several people spoke of it as the time of Leo’s ascendancy and coming alive. I know several people born of that sign and one in particular – Didi.

Didi the beautiful one – sensitive and fleet – who believes her nature with shaded eyelids and languid cat-green eyes that see everything. She is small and can assume any role assigned her. Her hair wash blond color when we first met – through my boy – dear John Wieners – and the three of us walked in the fresh gentle morning winds bathed in the pale light and Didi and John, and sometimes I, sang songs of the past.

Roughly six years have passed since then.

Didi has never permitted me too deep a glance into her – so very vulnerable a being – which knows too well loneliness and need of love – but whose strength sends it ever seeking even though invariably it drops defences at a moments notice and Didi is again a lover and woman of fortitude and cunning – sharp and keen – strong and enduring, full of wit and good spirit yet forever the eternal female – ever ready to fulfil whatever obligation is required to complete the unit of two – the male and the female – man and woman.

She feels deeply and probes deeper still for her answer and although her mind is alive and healthy – her heart is large and dominates the mind and has made her one of the beautiful women of her era – and one of the few honest women – or men for that matter – I’ve known or know of.

She will always be as long as I live (and I would make of that a very positive thing – where it within my power) and – if my fates are generous with me – my heart’s last beat will stop the quicker and with cleaner severance from the life force for the fine and good love and friendship of Didi.

Didi

(an afterword)

by Jerome Poynton

Herbert Huncke died August 8, 1996; in January 1997 my apartment phone rang.

“This is Didi,” a woman’s voice said.

I only knew of one Didi, the title of Herbert Huncke’s story.

Since that I time I learned Sharon (Didi) Morrill Doyle was married to San Francisco Renaissance poet Kirby Doyle. She made a short film with him and Larry Jordan titled Portrait of Sharon in 1963 and was published in Diane DiPrima’s Floating Bear, issue #32 and possibly in Semina Culture.

Didi moved to New York and was paramour with Bobby Driscoll, famous childhood actor for Walt Disney (Peter Pan) and Bryon Haskins (Treasure Island). Bobby Driscoll won an Academy Award at age 12. As an adult, Driscoll became an obscure drug user. His films were made before actor residuals and he died broke in an abandoned tenement March 30, 1968. With no identification his body was classified as “John Doe” and buried in Potter’s Field for New York’s unclaimed bodies.

In his final film, Didi played opposite Bobby Driscoll – both in nun costume – in Piero Heliczer film, Dirt, produced by Andy Warhol. She is credited as “Dee Dee Driscoll” but I don’t think they were ever legally married.

At the time of her call, I only knew Didi from the Huncke story – not her films with Heliczer and Jordan or her writing in Floating Bear. With the sound of her voice, it was “love at first sound”, and I melted.

“I went to the library,” she told me. “Of all my friends I thought – maybe Huncke – would have published a book. I asked the librarian if there was anything by Herbert Huncke. She said yes, they didn’t have it but could order it via inter-library loan.”

“They called me when the book came in. I went to the library to pick it up. Walking down the font steps, I opened the book and it opened to Didi.”

---

Over the next couple of months Didi and I had telephone conversations and letters.

She spoke about her breaking out of prison – the women’s prison in Montreal – New Years Eve – “in 1967 or 68,” she said.

“It was the year of the Expo, it could have been either.”

She was returning to the United States, via Montreal – from Morocco with a stop over in Paris where she purchased a set of matching luggage.

“I always wanted a matching set of luggage and in Paris, I bought a set.”

Entering Montreal, extra vigilance was being paid due to the Expo, and she was “busted” as her Moroccan luggage contained “two kilos of the most wonderful cannabis.”

At trial, the evidence, “her two wonderful two kilos of cannabis,” had been switched-out for scrub Canadian weed. The final insult:

“To get busted and robbed simultaneously.”

“Oh well,” they gave her nine years in the Établissement de détention Maison Tanguay, the women’s prison in Montreal.

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/tanguay-prison-for-women-to-close-next-year

The Canadian prison was peaceful; but it was still prison. A formidable metal screen stretched over her second floor window, overlooking the prison yard with barbed wire fencing.

On Canadian holidays, extra care was given to the holiday meal – meat, turkey – and inmates were given the option of eating in commissary or in their cell alone.

Her Thanksgiving her meal arrived in her cell with a steak knife.

“I took that knife and it cut through the screen like butter. They said it was impenetrable.”

Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve inmates would be given the same option.

She planned her escape.

From Didi’s window she could see the flight path of planes coming and going from Montreal’s airport. She learned flight times for the planes to New York and of a special morning flight on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

She didn’t want to leave without her luggage. She petitioned the court that her Paris luggage was not used in the service of her crime, and should be returned. It was. She learned her lawyer misappropriated $2,000 and she demanded he return it, in cash, or she would report his actions to the Canadian Bar Association. He did.

She had her luggage, cash and knew on New Year’s Eve she would have a steak knife.

She made a form of herself asleep in bed.

“I left a copy of the Koran under my pillow,” she said.

“I thought it might give them something to think about.”

Near midnight she lowered herself (with bed sheets) and luggage down from her second floor cell.

She brought along a blanket for the barbed-wire fence. She didn’t have to. The front prison gate was wide open and she heard the guards partying. She snuck out into the employee parking lot – hiding behind parked cars – finding a street – walking with her luggage. In the distance she saw an idling cab with its light on.

She took the cab to the airport and hid in the women’s rest room until prior to the 7 AM flight and stormed the gate – in hysterics – saying she had to get back to New York.

“I told them I was a New York Jew.”

She explained she was in Montreal because her daughter had run-off with a “draft dodger” and while looking for her, she was robbed of of her identification.

She bought a ticket with cash, no identification, and was on the plane. Once seated she called the stewardess over.

“Today’s a special day, you wouldn’t happen to have a bottle of champagne?”

“Of course,” was the reply.

When the plane took off – looking out the window – she could see her former house of residence and toasted the prison with a glass of champagne.

“What did you do when you got to New York,” I asked?

“I called Huncke,” she replied. “He gave me a place to stay.”

The prison didn’t know she was gone till 10am New Year’s Day.

In the early 1990s Didi was a reformed citizen working a straight job (possibly under alias Zola Terri Morrill) in a city office in Southern California. One day two FBI men came into the office and she knew her gig was up. They sent her back to prison in Montreal. There was a board in the prison with the names of women who had escaped – there were two names of women who had not been recaptured – and her name was scratched off, leaving only one name.

“I had to serve a year,” she said.

–

Didi’s death: Didi and I became quite close over the winter months. I was in the midst of working on The Escape Artist, a play by Michael Laurence at the Phil Bosakowski Theater.

Didi decided she would come to New York for an open-ended visit. Her plan was to arrive on a Thursday night, spend the first night with her friend Pat Chapman near Tompkins Square Park and in the morning we would meet for a famous New York deli breakfast – egg on a roll with coffee – and she would come back and stay with me in my 5^th Avenue apartment.

On Thursday night she didn’t call and on Friday morning I phoned Pat Chapman, asking for Didi.

Pat was not happy. Didi had not shown up.

I phoned her California phone and a man answered.

“Is Didi there,” I asked?

“Who is this,” the man asked suspiciously?

I told him.

He exhaled deeply. “I know who you are,” he said. “Didi spoke of you.

I’m her brother.”

“Didi died,” he continued. “They Police found her parked in her car, on the side of the road, on the way to the airport. The car was running. She had her plane ticket. Her luggage was in the trunk.”

He did not know the cause of death.

“The police got to her house before us. I don’t know if they found anything or not.”

Michigan News - July 2020

MRA Announces New Topic-Based Rule Sets

In a June 22nd email from the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), the Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) announced a new topic-based administrative rule set.  These ten topic-based rule sets will cover both the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act (MMFLA) and the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act (MRTMA).  

Effective June 22nd, the email states, applicants must use the updated applications and resources, now posted to the MRA website.  All previous medical and adult-use application forms will no longer be accepted.  The state is also encouraging applicants to use the online application portal Accela Citizen Access (ACA), service provided by a private company, Accela, who specializes in government software.  ACA will also be updated to conform with the new topic-based rules.


The state highlights the following changes as the most noteworthy:

• Results in a single set of rules for all applicants including all application requirements
• Extended prequalification period from 1-year to 2-years
• Added that a safety compliance facility may be co-located with a non-MRA lab under certain circumstances
• Increased the timeframe for secure transporters to maintain product from 48 hours to 96 hours
• Changed waste rules to allow recycling and composting of marijuana plant waste that has not been treated with hazardous chemicals
• Changed delivery so that it can be dynamic, drivers can have inventory in their vehicle and be dispatched from delivery to delivery
• Added a rule creating allowances to be issued by the agency if a licensee becomes GMP or GACP-GMP certified
• A grower may transfer or sell marijuana to a processor without it being tested to produce live resin or concentrate with approval
• Allows remediation of chemical residue pursuant to the remediation protocol
• Allows remediation of microbials pursuant to the remediation protocol
• Allows more retesting of products
• All non-marijuana derived inactive ingredients, other than botanical terpenes, must be listed on the label, below FDA approved levels, and approved for the intended use of the product

The full details can be found at: michigan.gov/mra

Recall Whitmer Campaign Underway

The Committee to Recall Governor Gretchen Whitmer received unanimous approval from the Board of State Canvassers on Monday, June 8th, to begin collecting signatures.  The campaign begins drive up canvassing on July 1st.

According to their website, the committee cites specific Executive Orders (2020-04, 17, 21, 32, 33, 42, 67, 68, and 92) as reasoning for the recall.  Many Michiganders think these orders were in direct conflict with the constitution and bill of rights and crippled Michigans’ economy unnecessarily.

The situation is tricky though, due to Whitmer’s Stay Home Stay Safe order.  The website explains ‘drive up canvassing’ in its timeline of important dates, “People can fill out their form from this website and either drive them to a canvassing location or send the signatures via mail.”  

While attempting to recall a sitting Governor who has complete executive control and continuously renews states of emergency which shutter public spaces and force events to cancel may seem like a daunting task, volunteers and participants are passionate about their cause, and hopeful that Michiganders will answer their call.  

Anyone wishing to volunteer, participate, or find out where and how to sign a petition should visit: recallgovernorwhitmer.com

Adult-Use Out Buys Medical Weed In Michigan

According to an MLive article that uses data provided by the Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA), rec weed has out sold medical marijuana for the first time since legalization.  In the week of June 8th to June 14th a reported $9.97 million in medical sales took place.  Recreational cannabis inched its way ahead with $10.02 million in reported sales.

MLive, and other cannabis news outlets, are also stating that since adult-use sales began in Michigan, patient counts have dropped 7% in total.

MLive quoted Steve Linder, president of the Michigan Cannabis Manufacturers Association, who consider their members the GM, Ford, and Chrysler of Michigan weed, “This is a trend in every state...Almost every state has medical first...And then when people get used to it and they go to recreational...and you see this dramatic shift away from medical.  The market is just still really in an upward trajectory.”

The government provided data indicates that adult-use marijuana sales have sky-rocketed since December.  In the same time period medical sales have nearly doubled, compared to adult-use sales which are up 800%.  

MLive says the industry credits “quick action” by the governor and the MRA for classifying both medical, and adult-use recreational, marijuana as essential during the governors ordered shutdown.  Spokesman for the MRA, David Harns, complemented state licensing employees as well for “a great job over the last several months quickly issuing licenses for the adult-use marijuana industry” and for not having “missed a beat, even after having to adjust to doing their work remotely due to the coronavirus.”

At the time of this writing, the state of Michigan has collected over $22.9 million in taxes from just recreational marijuana sales since December of 2019. 

National News - July 2020

L.A. Considers Cannabis Social Equity Reforms

California’s Department of Cannabis Reform (DCR) has proposed sweeping changes to the licensing system.  On June 23rd, the Los Angeles City Council met to consider these new proposals, many of which address social equity issues.


The City of Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Reform website (cannabis.lacity.org/blog/dcr-transmits-reports-immediate-council-consideration) lists the following as the objectives:

• Establish a process for the issuance of temporary approval for all applicants
• Allow businesses to relocate
• Clarify the process for applicants to request a finding of Public Convenience or Necessity
• Allow individuals to participate in the Social Equity Program based on the original criteria or new criteria as supported by the Expanded Cannabis Social Equity Analysis
• Amend the selection process for Phase 3 Round 2 Type 10 retail application processing by establishing a selection process that identifies Social Equity Individual Applicants eligible for further process via a lottery process rather than an online, first-come, first serve process
• Limit Type 10 and Type 9 application processing to Social Equity Individual Applicants until January 1, 2025, unless an applicant received priority processing under LAMC Sec. 104.07
• Expand the definition of Equity Share and establish related requirements to provide additional protections to mitigate against potential predatory practices
• Reorganize, clarify and include necessary procedures for the administration of the CIty’s commercial cannabis Licensing and Social Equity Program
• Address recommendations put forth by the Cannabis Regulation Commission
• Address extensive feedback from the licensing and Social Equity Program stakeholders

Some, like cannabis industry consultant Lynne Lyman, are excited about the proposals, telling MJBizDaily, “It’s like this big omnibus fix for the whole ordinance, and it really re-creates the social equity program to make it work, because it has not worked.”  But others, such as cannabis attorney Michael Chernis, were less enthusiastic.  He voices support for the social equity program, but also the concerns of others as the plan would, “cut off any chance for anyone but a social equity applicant to get a retail license, a non-storefront retail license or, as far as I can tell, any license for five years,” including pre-existing cannabis businesses.

Leafreport Finds CBD Accuracy Better, Still Off

In a new report released June 11th, Leafreport teamed with Las Vegas based Canalysis Laboratories to check up on the accuracy of CBD labels.  While their findings were encouraging, with an overall summary that the CBD industry has “come a long way in improving the quality and accuracy of its products,” there were still some rather large discrepancies. 

The effort began with 37 different CBD products, with more possibly added in future tests.  Of those products, 73% had CBD levels that were within 10% of the listed amount, 13% had levels more than 40% higher or lower than what was claimed, and one product only contained 6% of the CBD on the label.  The study also found that 84% of the products that had inaccurate labels actually contained more CBD than advertised, and 33% of the brands had significant amounts of various cannabinoids other than CBD, indicating they were of high quality.  The team also mentions that the products with the best marks were made by well known reputable brands, with lesser known companies offering the more inaccurate doses.  

Harborside Inc Challenges Federal Tax Code 280E

In the early 1980s a rather clever and brave drug dealer named Jeffry Edmondson attempted to deduct business expenses from his federal taxes, resulting in the addition of Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code being added in 1982.  The law prevents any entity that sells Schedule 1 or 2 controlled substances from claiming tax deductions regularly available to businesses.  Harborside Inc. is looking to change that by challenging the law in court.

Previously deemed “a giant drug trafficker, unentitled to the usual deductions that legitimate businesses can claim” by the U.S. Tax Court, Harborside Inc on its website declares itself “a California-focused cannabis company with retail, production, and cultivation operations built around recognized brands.”  With five retail dispensaries and one cultivation facility under a vertically-integrated model, the company also trades on the Canadian Securities Exchange.

They’ve hired lawyer James Mann, who does not mince words when it comes to the law in question, “280E is this unwelcome intrusion of moral judgement in the tax law and it doesn’t really belong there.”  Mann argues that 280E violates the 16th Amendment because it taxes more than just income.  He also contests that the company should be allowed to deduct cost of goods sold, same as wages, because the law only applies to bottom-line expenses.  “They’re trying to force expenses from above the line, which is cost of goods sold, to below the line, which is expenses and deductions, and I think that’s opportunistic rather than out of a desire for fair and just administration of the tax law.”

Success in court could make huge waves in the cannabis industry, as laws like 280E force marijuana businesses to pay tax rates as high as 70%.  Many business owners struggle to make the gap, as the government sucks up the majority of the estimated industry revenue.

World News - July 2020

Big Tobacco Firm Files for Bankruptcy Protection

In 2018 Pyxus, then called Alliance One International, jumped into the marijuana market by purchasing Canada based Island Garden and 80% stake in Goldleaf Pharm.  But the recent pandemic has resulted in major losses, forcing the Morrisville, North Carolina, based big tobacco company to seek bankruptcy protection.  Pyxus’ supply chain relies on tobacco leaf from thirty different countries and over 300,000 international farmers.  Reduced global tobacco consumption had already brought about dwindling profits.

The plan to reduce debt by $400 million and give control to a group of bondholders will not include Pyxus’ Canadian cannabis operations, which are based in Prince Edward Island and known as Figr.  The company also grows hemp in the United States.

Swiss Adult-Use Experiment Moves Forward

In June the lower house of Switzerland’s Federal Assembly green lit a research program allowing for the temporary cultivation and sales of marijuana for adult-use.  As promising as the news may sound, this only means the measure moves to the upper house.  

Earlier in the year the Swiss National Council Health Commission approved the experiment, and now the Council of States will debate the bill before casting their votes.  While most remain optimistic toward eventual passage, many warn that there is no guarantee it will pass, and that it could undergo modifications and/or delays.  Even if approved, this temporary trial would need to be completed, and analysed, before legalization efforts moved forward.  “This scientific process is expected to last five years, which could be extended two more, and the evidence collected from it is supposed to provide scientific arguments for a national debate on the opportunity to legally regulate cannabis for adult consumers,” stated Swiss drug policy expert Simon Anderfuhren-Biget.  He speculates it will be some time before this pilot program is off the ground, “this legislative process is still ongoing and somewhat uncertain, and according to this political agenda, even in the best scenario, I would be surprised to see distribution before 2022.”

Aurora Sees President, Co-Founder Step Down

Steve Dobler co-founded Aurora in 2013 with Terry Booth, and has been president and board member since 2014.  Effective June 30th Dobler is stepping down and retiring.

Executive chairman and interim CEO Michael Singer, former CFO for Clementia Pharmaceuticals Inc, said in a press release, “Steve’s decision to retire and help streamline our leadership team further supports the objectives of our business transformation plan as we remain focused on driving Aurora to become a profitable and robust global cannabis company.”  Aurora’s most recent quarterly earnings show a reduced net loss of $137 million Canadian, or $97 million U.S dollars.

United Nations Begins Cannabis Topical Meetings

With a tentative vote coming before December, the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) Secretariat sent an email informing all permanent Vienna based missions that the “first topical meeting of the intersessional considerations of the WHO scheduling recommendations” would be held June 24-25.  Set behind closed doors and only involving UN-member nations and “relevant governmental organizations”, it was the first of a series of topical meetings to be held before the vote.

The focus of the first meeting was the United Nations World Health Organizations recommendations to strike cannabis “extracts and tinctures” from schedule 1 of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotics and Drugs, and to add a footnote clarifying that predominantly CBD (up to 0.2%) products would not be under international control.

Some of the sub-issues brought up in the email include implications for international trade, the impact rescheduling would have on control of these substances, a possible guideline “to ensure a common understanding”, the consequences of including both medical and nonmedical products, the “possible legitimization of recreational consumption of derivatives of hemp with low THC content”, the necessity of a common methodology for testing THC, and the definition of the word ‘predominantly’.