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The Fresh Toast Marijuana Legislative Roundup: April 24

Alec Engber
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The Fresh Toast Marijuana Legislative Roundup: April 24

There were some major statewide victories last week for those fighting for the reform of cannabis laws — including West Virginia becoming the 29th state to pass a medical marijuana program. Find out in our weekly marijuana legislative roundup.

Iowa 

Early Saturday morning, Iowa legislators passed a last-minute bill loosening the state’s restrictive medical marijuana law. Currently, epilepsy patients are permitted to possess and consume cannabis oil. However, growing the plant and selling the oil remain illegal, leaving patients with no lawful means of obtaining it. The new legislation would allow the plant to be grown, processed, and distributed in oil form by a limited number of state-licensed businesses. If signed by the governor, House File 524 would also expand the list of approved diagnoses to include cancer, multiple sclerosis, AIDS, and other severe or terminal conditions.

Vermont 

By a 21-9 vote, the Vermont Senate on Saturday passed a measure to legalize marijuana in the state. Under the legislation, adults 21 and older would be allowed to possess up to one ounce of cannabis, as well as grow two plants and four seedlings for personal use. The state would also license marijuana growers, distributors, and research laboratories. To become law, the bill would have to be passed by the House and signed by the governor before the 2017 legislative session ends in early May. A similar bill died in the House last year following Senate passage.

 California 

On Tuesday, the California Assembly Public Safety Committee voted 5-2 to clear legislation designed to protect its future recreational marijuana industry from federal law enforcement. AB 1578 would prohibit the use of state resources by state and local police to “investigate, detain, detect, report, or arrest a person for marijuana activity that is authorized by law in the State of California and transferring an individual to federal law enforcement authorities for purposes of marijuana enforcement, unless directed to do so by a court order.” The law faces several more procedural hurdles before an Assembly vote can be called.

 West Virginia

On Wednesday, Governor Jim Justice signed legislation making West Virginia the 29th state to allow patients with certain, serious health conditions to acquire and consume medical cannabis. The final bill is far more restrictive than its original Senate version, which offered doctors some freedom to recommend marijuana for patients with conditions other than those specifically enumerated in the legislation, and also allowed patients to consume cannabis in flower form. Under the new law, patients will be able to purchase marijuana in the form of tinctures, extracts, and other products from state-licensed dispensaries.

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Why Is California Deporting People For Using Marijuana?

Sam Jones
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Why Is California Deporting People For Using Marijuana?

Recreational and medical marijuana is legal in California, but it’s still a Schedule 1 drug in the eyes of federal law. Under certain circumstances, according to cannabis culture blog the Californian, this means that immigrants are at a higher risk of being deported because of marijuana use:

Immigrant rights activists and attorneys are reminding immigrants of potential consequences at a time when President Donald Trump is ramping up deportation efforts. The White House has said that any immigrant living in the U.S. illegally who has been charged or convicted of any crime, or even suspected of committing a crime, is now an enforcement priority. Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, declined to say how the agency deals with immigrants accused or convicted of marijuana crimes in states where it’s legal. Instead, she reiterated the Department of Homeland Security’s focus on targeting all “removable aliens” who have committed crimes, beginning with those who have been convicted of a criminal offense.

More undocumented immigrants live in California than anywhere else in the US, according to the Orange County Register.

The Californian notes that the Immigrant Legal Resource Center has responded to recent uptick in deportations with a flier that outlines advice for individuals, including:

  • Don’t use marijuana until you are a U.S. citizen. Don’t work in a marijuana shop.
  • If you have a real medical need and there is no good substitute for medical marijuana, get legal counsel.
  • Never leave the house carrying marijuana, a medical marijuana card, paraphernalia (like a pipe), or accessories like marijuana T-shirts or stickers. Don’t have photos or text about you and marijuana on your phone, Facebook, or anywhere else.
  • Most important, never admit to any immigration or border official that you ever have used or possessed marijuana, unless you have expert legal advice that this is OK.

California lawmakers are outspokenly against President Trump’s immigration raids, and at the same time, many are outspokenly supportive of the marijuana industry in their state.

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Gossip: Amy Schumer Dropped $2,000 Just To Use A Store’s Restroom; Tucker Carlson Admits He Once Beat Up A Gay Guy

Naughty Gossip
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Gossip: Amy Schumer Dropped $2,000 Just To Use A Store’s Restroom; Tucker Carlson Admits He Once Beat Up A Gay Guy

Amy Schumer just shelled out big bucks as a token of appreciation for shopkeeper let her used the store’s bathroom during a morning run. According to Sagine Lazarre, who works at a Mattress Firm in Chicago, the Trainwreck star purchased a $2,000 mattress just for her as thank you gift.

Lazarre said she didn’t think any of it at first when she allowed a female jogger to use the store’s restroom on last week. “She comes out of the bathroom and asks me which one of these (mattresses) is my favorite. I told her … She told me she wanted to buy it for me. And I was was so shocked! And I was was so shocked!” she recalled to WGN.

The clerk explained she had seen Schumer’s work, but she didn’t recognize the actress’ face until she saw Schumer’s name on the credit card.

“After she left, I Googled her name,” she remembered. “The lady that was right there talking to me is Amy Schumer. It was amazing. Unbelievable.”

Lazarre added the new mattress came at a good time as she had just moved into a new home with her daughter.

However, this wasn’t Schumer’s first time making someone’s day! Last year, the comedienne left a $1,000 tip on a $77 bar tab when she went to see Hamilton in New York City. “Lots of love to my fellow bartenders and artists,” she tweeted when word got out about her bill. “I’m grateful to them and the cast and crew for another great night.”

Tucker Carlson Admits He Once Beat Up A Gay Guy Who ‘Bothered’ Him

Carlson later issued the following statement to Media Matters:

Let me be clear about an incident I referred to on MSNBC last night: In the mid-1980s, while I was a high school student, a man physically grabbed me in a men’s room in Washington, DC. I yelled, pulled away from him and ran out of the room. Twenty-five minutes later, a friend of mine and I returned to the men’s room. The man was still there, presumably waiting to do to someone else what he had done to me. My friend and I seized the man and held him until a security guard arrived.

Several bloggers have characterized this is a sort of gay bashing. That’s absurd, and an insult to anybody who has fought back against an unsolicited sexual attack. I wasn’t angry with the man because he was gay. I was angry because he assaulted me.

Love the fresh dirt we bring over daily from Naughty Gossip? Let us know in the comments!

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What’s Preventing Most Investors From Jumping Into The Cannabis Industry

Mike Adams
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What’s Preventing Most Investors From Jumping Into The Cannabis Industry

If not for a few key issues, the cannabis industry would become the investment community’s happiest place, according to a new report from the stock advisors over at Motley Fool.

In 2016, legal marijuana sales hit an all time high of nearly $7 billion. As more states continue to allow legal weed to become part of their world, some of the latest market analysis predict the sale of legal grass could generate somewhere near the $50 billion mark within the next decade. Although these numbers are only estimates, the current data indicates that the legal cannabis trade is growing up to30 percent a year – one of the primary reasons investors are eyeing the industry like a starving hawk.

But there is enough standing in the way of this newfound industry to given investors pause.

One of the biggest concerns right now is that the marijuana market might not survive the Trump administration, specifically the pot-hating leader of the Justice Department, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Although he has yet to confirm his true intentions with respect to legal marijuana, Sessions has given the cannabis community ever reason to suspect that a federal crackdown is on the horizon. He has mentioned at least once since his confirmation that he believes legal weed is connected to an increase in violent activity, as well made comments concerning the herb’s contribution to the national opioid epidemic.

On Friday, a report from NPR’s “All Things Considered” suggested that Sessions might threaten to pull funding if states do not comply with federal marijuana laws. We already know that he has approved a task force to execute a full review of existing policies, including those pertaining to marijuana. At bare minimum, there is belief that Sessions will at least amend the Cole memo set out by the Obama Administration, which allowed legal marijuana to function regardless of its outlaw status with the Feds.

“The lack of a clear line in the sand between federal and state laws, and even legal cannabis laws within some states, can also create issues and lead to business uncertainty. While the sky could be the limit for marijuana stocks, they’ve been largely held back by a number of adverse factors,” Sean Williams wrote in his article for The Fool.

There is also a push in some states to eliminate marijuana cultivation cooperatives, which could prove beneficial for pot stocks, reports the Fool. In Colorado, lawmakers are working to put the kibosh on both the grey and black markets by dismantling those legal operations that allow multiple people to grow weed under the blanket of a single farmer.

“Though a tougher regulatory environment might not seem like a good thing for the industry, it’s actually great news for legal businesses and marijuana stocks” Williams wrote. “By more precisely defining the legality of who can grow recreational pot, Colorado is laying the groundwork for its legal businesses to thrive.

“Since Colorado is such a marijuana pioneer, other states may soon follow its lead,” he added.

A couple of weeks ago, a new medical marijuana fund launched in the Canadian market, where marijuana is expected to be fully legal by 2018, suggesting that investors are hungry to start sinking their money into the cannabis industry. However, while the fund managed to sell over one million shares within the first 24 hours, financial experts were quick to point out that apprehension still exists because the majority of the cash was not coming from big money sources.

Although big time investors are interested, they will almost certainly remain aloof about adding pot stocks to their portfolios until the U.S. government put an end to prohibition once and for all.

“We really need to see a change of heart on Capitol Hill if real progress is to be made within the pot industry and with marijuana stocks as a whole,” Williams concluded.

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California Fights Back As Jeff Sessions Escalates War On Drugs

Drug Policy Alliance
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California Fights Back As Jeff Sessions Escalates War On Drugs

While U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions escalates the war on drugs, drug policy reform surges ahead in California, joining states such as Washington and New York, where similar innovative approaches to some of our greatest challenges, like drug overdose deaths and mass incarceration, are being pioneered.

The Drug Policy Alliance had another successful day in the California state legislature, with two more bills passing through the first house committee, AB 1578 and SB 180. These bills join the agenda with two others bills that passed through their first house committees in preceding weeks.

AB 1578 successfully passed in a 5-2 committee vote, and will now move to the full Assembly. AB 1578, authored by Los Angeles Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, will protect Californians who are operating lawfully under California state laws, by providing that absent a court order, local and state agencies, including regulators and law enforcement, shall not assist in any federal enforcement against state authorized medical cannabis or commercial or noncommercial marijuana activity. DPA’s California State Director Lynne Lyman testified at Tuesday’s Assembly Public Safety Hearing, saying:

“AB 1578 is intended to prevent federal government over-reach in the era of Trump. We do not want the federal government harassing, intimidating or prosecuting people who are operating lawfully under state law.”

Also having its first hearing Tuesday was SB 180 by Senator Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles, passing 5-2 out of Senate Public Safety. Dubbed the RISE Act, (Repeal of Ineffective Sentencing Enhancements Act), Mitchell’s bill would repeal the three-year sentencing enhancements that are tacked onto new convictions for petty drug possession for sale or sale cases. These enhancements are the leading cause of long sentences that create crisis-level overcrowding in county jails.

Enhancement and mandatory minimums are central to the failed drug war that has done nothing to reduce the availability of drugs or to deter illegal drug sales. This enhancement disproportionately impacts the poorest and most marginalized people in our communities — those with substance use, mental health needs, and people of color. By removing this enhancement, SB 180 will remove one of the mechanisms that increase racial disparities within the criminal justice system, and free funds that can be reinvested in community programs that improve the quality of life and reduce crime. SB 180 will next be considered by the full Senate.

For the first time ever in the United States, a state bill to authorize safe consumption services passed a legislative vote. AB 186, authored by Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman of Stockton, co-sponsored by DPA and leading health policy and drug treatment associations, would allow local jurisdictions to permit supervised consumption services and provide legal protections for the programs and participants. Participants use pre-obtained drugs under supervision of medical professionals.

Supervised consumption services prevent overdose deaths, improve public order, and link people to treatment and other services. Around 100 exist around the world, but none yet in the United States. AB 186 goes to the Assembly Public Safety Committee next. San Francisco has recently established a task force to develop a policy recommendation on placement of services in the city. This bill protects local jurisdictions that want to pilot these life-saving programs.

Also on DPA’s winning ticket is AB 208 by Eggman, a bill to provide equal protection to immigrants who seek drug treatment diversion for drug misdemeanors. Under current law, persons accused of possession of a small amount of drugs for personal use must plead guilty in order to access court ordered drug treatment. When they complete the program, their records are cleaned. However, the federal government response to the guilty plea is to deport the defendant or deny re-entry, even for legal residents, combat veterans, and family members of legal residents. Even for those who successfully complete the programs, the guilty plea hangs over their head forever.

This bill would allow the court to refer a person to treatment before a plea is entered, and if the person succeeds they move on with their life, and should they fail the charges are reinstated. It passed the Assembly Public Safety Committee on March 14, and is currently under consideration in the Appropriations Committee.

Lynne Lyman is the California state director of the Drug Policy Alliance.

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All She Wanted Was A Pepsi: Woman Busted For Allegedly Raiding Drake’s Fridge

Taylor Berman
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All She Wanted Was A Pepsi: Woman Busted For Allegedly Raiding Drake’s Fridge

With the possible exceptions of Kendrick Lamar and Future, Drake is the most popular rapper on the planet. Every album he releases immediately breaks streaming records, and he routinely sells out arenas around the world. But the truest sign of his international stardom is the fact that a literally thirsty fan allegedly broke into his Los Angeles house to drink some water and soda from his fridge.

The Associated Press reports that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department says its deputies found 24-year-old Mesha Collins inside Drake’s home on Monday. She was allegedly discovered in a locked room, with opened water and soda bottles all around here. Nothing else was taken or disturbed in the home, according to the deputies.

Collins is being held on $100,000 bail for entering a residence with intent to steal the victim’s property.

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Fun Ways To Eat Your Favorite Cereal

Amy Hansen
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Fun Ways To Eat Your Favorite Cereal

Cereal. What started out as a Saturday morning cartoon companion has become a ubiquitous ingredient for anything that needs a pop of color, and hint of sweetness and a crunchy coating.

There are cereals for adults, cereal ice cream, and fast-food cereal shakes. Here are 9 more hacks to create a cereal that takes your favorite anytime meal to the next level.

Sure, it’s kind of a milkshake, but there’s no ice cream in it. Just blend a basic cereal, like Corn Pops, with a bit of sugar and some cold milk and voila! Or finely grind some healthier type of cereal, like bran flakes, into a fine powder and then add that to your regular fruit smoothie or sprinkle on top of your oatmeal.

2. Make Dessert Sushi

This may sound hardcore, but it’s rather easy. Just start making some Rice Krispies treats (melt some marshmallows with butter and add cereal), then portion off some “rice” and wrap it in some type of fruit leather or Fruit Roll-Ups and top with gummy candy.

Related: 10 Ways To Make Your Pizza Taste Better The Next Day

 3. Make Cereal Muffins

You can go either way with this recipe: add some bran flakes for a healthy breakfast, or sugar cereal for well-deserved treat. Toss in some brightly colored cereal, like Fruity Pebbles, Trix or Froot Loops, for a funfetti party in your mouth.

4. Make A “Cereal Milk” Milkshake

Take that leftover milk from your bowl of cereal and blend it with some ice cream for a cereal milk milkshake. It’s incredibly delicious and people pay big bucks for this stuff!

5. Make Cereal-Coated Frozen Bananas 

This is a total kids recipe, but any adult will love these, too! Simply skewer a banana, coat in yogurt, roll in your favorite cereal, then freeze and drizzle with (or dunk into) maple syrup before eating.

6. Coat Your French Toast 

Once you dip your slices of French toast into the eggwash, give them a nice roll in some Fruity Pebbles or similar cereal. Top with whipped cream and syrup and eat up! Look how easy it is to make a dessert sound “healthy” by adding the words “toast” and “cereal” to the recipe!

7. Make Tea

Yep. Froot Loops tea exists. The recipe involves pulverizing some cereal and stuffing it into a regular tea bag that’s been emptied. The bag dispenser may be the best part.

8. Make a Pie Crust

Replace graham cracker crumbs with your favorite cereal (Golden Grahams and Cinnamon Toast Crunch work great). It’s easy and it makes any pie taste better. If for no other reason, people will be trying to guess the “secret ingredient” forever.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BKBOa8zD1VU

9. Add Rice Krispies And Marshmallows To Your Brownies

The recipe involves sprinkling your brownie batter with marshmallows and then topping it with a mixture of Rice Krispies and peanut butter. You’ll never eat brownies any other way.

How Your Favorite Celebrities Enjoyed 4/20

Brendan Bures
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How Your Favorite Celebrities Enjoyed 4/20

Celebrities are just like us: They’re humans, they (sometimes) eat food, and occasionally enjoy cannabis. That was the case Thursday during marijuana most popular day, when celebrities both known for their relationship with marijuana and those a little more underneath the cover, showed love for the leaf. Here is how your favorite celebrities enjoyed 4/20.

RELATED: Sharks Can Differentiate Between Different Types Of Music

Jessica Biel

Travis Scott

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTHqi5HFQrU/

Broad City’s Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson


Joe Rogan

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTI3sgKBPbN/

Kendall Jenner

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTIlHLMDl3a/

Kevin Smith

ScHoolboy Q

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTH1jL9Dp59/

Snoop Dogg

Wiz Khalifa

Chelsea Handler

https://twitter.com/Chelseashow/status/855044154081988608

Post Malone

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTHrwGSjjvj/

Kim Kardashian

Ludacris

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTFz_NSjOIe/

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In 1971, five high school students in San Rafael, California,[ used the term “4:20” in connection with a plan to search for an abandoned cannabis crop, based on a treasure map made by the grower. Calling themselves the Waldos, because their typical hang-out spot “was a wall outside the school”, the five students—Steve Capper, Dave Reddix, Jeffrey Noel, Larry Schwartz, and Mark Gravich —designated the Louis Pasteur statue on the grounds of San Rafael High School as their meeting place, and 4:20 pm as their meeting time.[11] The Waldos referred to this plan with the phrase “4:20 Louis”. After several failed attempts to find the crop, the group eventually shortened their phrase to “4:20”, which ultimately evolved into a code-word the teens used to refer to consuming cannabis.

Steven Hager of High Times popularized the story of the Waldos. The first High Times mention of 4:20 smoking and a 4/20 holiday appeared in May 1991 and erroneously attributed the origin of the term to a police code; this and other spurious incorrect origin stories became common. The connection to the Waldos appeared in December 1998. Hager attributed the early spread of the phrase to Grateful Dead followers —after “Waldo” Reddix became a roadie for the Grateful Dead‘s bassist, Phil Lesh —and called for 4:20 pm to be the socially accepted time of the day to consume cannabis.

Here is how your favorite celebrities enjoyed 4/20 and hopefully it give you ideas for next year!

Fascists Get Freaky: Denver Furry Convention Is Canceled

TFT Editors
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Fascists Get Freaky: Denver Furry Convention Is Canceled

The scandal around Denver’s furry community is absolutely wild.

Rocky Mountain Fur Con, the annual convention of furries in Colorado, was abruptly canceled. The official reason: Too many fascists.

For the unfamiliar, “furries” are generally defined as enthusiasts of anthropomorphized animals, or animals given human traits, especially in the context of cosplaying as animals. That’s a very simplified explanation of this varied, complex community.


The organizers sent out a statement dated April 10 explaining why there would be no furry convention in Denver this year. He wrote that because of “external influences of hate, intolerance, and stubborn refusal to compromise,” the 10th year of the convention was called off.

Last month, we were faced with a sudden and drastic increase in security costs amounting to more than a third of our entire existing operating budget. This cost increase stemmed directly from the very public threats of violence against one another by members of this community, as well as the negative backlash from misinformation spread about the convention, its staff and attendees. Therefore, Rocky Mountain Fur Con 2017 is officially canceled. I will no longer continue to subject my staff and our community to the lies, hate, violence and slander that was disseminated by a small, vocal minority.

According to a local Denver news station, the real story is even more complicated. Journalist JJ MacNab drew attention to the investigative reporting done by furry-focused news blog Flayrah.

https://twitter.com/jjmacnab/status/851666150991708160


Yep, that’s a thing. From the Flayrah report:

While their official statement cites rising security costs, the closure follows the controversial issues surrounding CEO Kendal Emery (Kahuki Liaru), and the “Furry Raiders” group. It has also been discovered by Flayrah that the convention’s parent company’s Federal tax-exempt status, obtained in 2009, had lapsed, and it had not filed taxes for a period of seven years, while still claiming to be a registered 501(c) non-profit.

Fans of the convention were upset by the decision to cancel. Read the full breakdown of the dramatic and scandalous end of Fur Con, here.

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The Day After 4/20: Remembering Those Jailed For Marijuana

Drug Policy Alliance
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The Day After 4/20: Remembering Those Jailed For Marijuana

Those who live in states that have legalized marijuana hopefully had a blast yesterday, but we also hope they took the time to remember to think of those incarcerated for marijuana.


The last few years have been great for marijuana policy reform, especially 2016. Recreational marijuana is now legal for adult recreational use in eight states, plus Washington, D.C; medical marijuana is legal in 28 states and D.C.

However, not all people were be able to celebrate 4/20 or facilitate 4/20 celebrations by selling marijuana without fear of legal consequences. According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, last year 26.1 percent of people who suffered federal drug offenses for marijuana were sentenced to at least a five-year mandatory minimum sentence. This statistic is disturbing when one considers that according to a Gallup Poll in October of 2016, 60 percent of Americans support marijuana legalization. This is the highest level of public support for legalizing marijuana yet, but people are still incarcerated and given criminal records for marijuana drug offenses.

A criminal record because of a drug offense can haunt the person for the rest of their life—affecting housing, employment, and student loan eligibility. The criminalization of people through drug offenses does not affect everyone equally. Institutionalized racism has long relied on marijuana to incarcerate massive numbers of people especially in Black and Latinx communities. This is despite roughly equal rates of marijuana use across racial and ethnic lines.


The war on drugs and the criminalization of marijuana is also used as a tool to wage war against immigrant communities. Simple marijuana possession was the fourth most common cause of deportation for any offense in 2013 and more than 13,000 people were deported in 2012 and 2013 for marijuana possession.

California is one state that is pioneering legislation to make sure that their state laws are respected. California’s AB 1578 just passed the public safety committee and is now set to go to the full assembly floor. This legislation will protect Californians who are operating lawfully under California state laws. AB 1578 would make it so that absent a court order, local and state agencies, including regulators and law enforcement, will not assist in any federal enforcement against state authorized medical cannabis or commercial or noncommercial marijuana activity.

While you responsibly celebrate 4/20, please think of those who cannot do the same and then take action by signing this petition. Let them know that you support marijuana legalization for recreational and medicinal purposes and that the federal prohibition on marijuana must end.

Virginia Purcell is a media intern with the Drug Policy Alliance.

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