WeedLife News Network

New Jersey courts have either dismissed or vacated an estimated 362,000 marijuana cases since July 1, according to data provided by the state Judiciary and reported by NJ.com

The actions come just months after the New Jersey Supreme Court issued an order providing for the automatic dismissal and expungement of certain marijuana offenses from people’s records. Democratic Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation into law in 2019 facilitating a process for the review and vacation of the criminal records of those previously convicted of low-level marijuana offenses. Governor Murphy signed separate into law this year legislation legalizing adult-use marijuana possession and sales.

As many as an additional 150,000 New Jersey residents could also be eligible to have their marijuana-related records automatically expunged by the courts, said MaryAnn Spoto, a spokeswoman for the Judiciary. People with marijuana cases that are not automatically expunged can file a motion for review with the court.

New Jersey is one of several states in recent months to automatically review and vacate marijuana-specific criminal records. In Illinois, officials have moved to expunge an estimated 500,000 marijuana-related records, and in California officials have cleared nearly 200,000 records.

New Jersey’s cannabis regulators on Tuesday moved to streamline the licensing of new weed businesses and approved another marijuana grow site — but it did not announce the recipients of some two dozen businesses that have sat in limbo for nearly two years.

Throughout the centuries, humans have depicted facets of everyday life into our artistic expressions. Snapshots of popular opinion at the time of creation can be gleaned from the penny plays and murals of old.A good barometer on public opinion can be gauged in the various forms of media available to us in today’s world. Just as the evolution of technology has dramatically improved the viewing experience, content has shifted over time to align with current public opinion on topics. While there is not unanimous support for cannabis legalization, representation in mainstream media has gained traction with the overall purpose of educating the public on the positive effects of cannabis use. Even in an area where reporting on cannabis legalization is occurring, biases occur that affect the overall impact of the article.

The timeline for overall public opinion on cannabis legalization can find its early days in Richard Nixon’s successful “War on Drugs.” This campaign regulated cannabis as a Schedule I drug and was so effective in its terror tactics that by 1989, 64% of Americans viewed drug abuse as the nation’s number one problem after climbing from a measly 2-6%.

Over the last three decades, there was a significant change in attitude towards cannabis due to various interlocking factors. After juxtaposition to modern calamities, the risk of cannabis was reassessed. Large-scale public skepticism of pain killers after opioid epidemics ravaged communities across the nation, potential financial opportunities afforded through the cannabis business, and the potential for many other unknown medical benefits of medicinal cannabis have all contributed to the legalization of cannabis.

As with many other topics of heated discussion, misinformation abounds on all sides of the argument; within the cannabis industry, in particular, heavy emphasis has been placed on education to counter opposition to legalization.

While there seems to be general support for legalizing cannabis in public opinion, this is not the case everywhere. In traditional media sources, such as news stations and newspapers, cannabis representation in media that is not nationwide can determine a territory’s overall attitude towards legalization.

Marijuana has been legal for more than five months, yet there’s still no cannabis industry set up in New York.

The governor and the legislative leaders still have to appoint the remaining members of the cannabis control board, which is a part of the newly formed Office of Cannabis Management.

The executive director of OCM, and the chairperson of the control board, have both been appointed and confirmed. But it’s unclear whether the remaining positions have been filled.

Here’s a breakdown of how the board works.

 Arrests on marijuana-related charges have fallen dramatically this summer in and around Virginia’s capital since a new law legalized possession of small amounts of pot and residents keeping a few cannabis plants, according to a newspaper report.

Twenty-five marijuana-related arrests occurred in Richmond and in Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico counties in the first seven weeks after the law took effect July 1, compared to 257 arrrests during the same period last year, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported, citing local law enforcement data.

The law legalized possession by adults age 21 and over of up to 1 ounce of marijuana and the cultivation of four pot plants per household, among other decriminalization provisions. Selling marijuana remains illegal until the state lauches a regulated market in 2024 and issues licenses. A regulatory board will help carry out the details.

Marijuana enforcement hasn’t been a high priority for Richmond’s police department, during a time of high numbers of shootings and slayings, the newspaper reported.

ARAU (Bernama) - Universiti Malaysia Perlis (Unimap) has become the first public university in the country to conduct research on hemp (a member of the cannabis sativa plant) as an agricultural product with the potential of being economically developed in the future.

Its vice-chancellor, Professor Dr Zaliman Sauli said for that purpose, Unimap has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Kuala Lumpur-based company MyUS Hemphouse Sdn Bhd.

"Through the MoU, research and development can be carried out at UniMAP and focus will be given through Institut Agroteknologi Lestari (Insat) in Sungai Chuchuh, Padang Besar on an area of 0.8 hectares,” he said here, on Friday (Sept 10).

Zaliman signed the MoU on behalf of the university while while MyUS was represented by its chief executive officer Datuk Nellsen Young.

Unimap and MYUS will conduct research on hemp cultivation procedures and applications as well as focus on functional materials for agriculture especially organic farming to improve the country’s agricultural products.

Cannabis breathalyzer company Hound Labs, Inc. has raised $20 million from a variety of cannabis investment groups. Investors in the company include Entourage Effect Capital (EEC),  Intrinsic Capital, Benchmark, Icon Ventures, and Tuatara Capital. The company raised the funds in order to scale production of the HOUND MARIJUANA BREATHALYZER. Hound Labs says it has developed a patented and one-of-a-kind ultra-sensitive technology that is at the core of the company’s first commercial product.

“The groundbreaking breath testing technology created by Hound Labs provides a substantial competitive advantage to the Company,” said Dov Szapiro, Managing Partner at EEC. “The Hound Labs team has accomplished an impressive scientific achievement – precisely and consistently targeting one specific type of molecule out of the more than 3,500 different compounds found in breath. Not only are we excited about the immediate capabilities of the Hound breath technology to measure recent cannabis use, we are also excited about future applications that can detect pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 or biomarkers for disease by changing the targeted compound.”

Cannabis use testing has been notoriously difficult. Unlike alcohol use, which is relatively easy to measure with traditional breathalyzers, cannabis consumers often show positive results long after actually consuming the product making traditional methods unreliable. Hound Labs says its product has been designed to isolate recent cannabis use by specifically measuring THC1 (the primary psychoactive ingredient in cannabis). The company noted that the ability to determine when an employee used cannabis is critical now that most adults in the U.S. can legally use recreational cannabis outside of work hours. While Amazon made news recently by saying it wouldn’t test employees for cannabis use, it specifically carved out drivers from that statement.

Hound Labs claims to be the only ultra-sensitive cannabis testing solution that identifies recent use that correlates with the window of impairment, allowing employers to keep employees who might otherwise test positive via conventional cannabis tests of oral fluid, urine, and hair.

“In order to manage our supply chain and meet demand for inventory, we have been reaching out to employers on our Wait List to understand the volumes required for our commercial units in 2022,” stated Dr. Mike Lynn, CEO of Hound Labs. “The response has been incredible. We are negotiating multi-million-dollar contracts with companies from a variety of industries who want to secure HOUND MARIJUANA BREATHALYZERS ahead of our 1Q22 commercial launch.”

Medical marijuana retail licenses will be a hot commodity in Sioux Falls.

The Sioux Falls City Council Tuesday night signed off on a proposal coming from Mayor Paul TenHaken's office that will cap the number of retail stores that can operate in the city at five. And though councilors halved the $100,000 license fee that City Hall wanted, another late change allowing the sale of the licenses on the secondary market is expected to drive the value of a license up even hirer.

"The Sioux Falls City Council, by making a license worth $50,000 and transferrable, has just made dispensary licenses into liquor licenses," said Drew Duncan, a Sioux Falls attorney and lobbyist for clients in South Dakota's gambling and alcohol industry, via social media following the 7-1 vote.

TenHaken and supporters of his provision barring the transfer of dispensary licenses worry that allowing them to be sold on the secondary market will give them an artificial value, just like has happened with liquor licenses. But Councilor Janet Brekke and the rest of the Council decided without allowing a license to be owned outright, the city's medical marijuana rules would unduly restrict a cannabis retailer's ability to grow their business.

TenHaken's proposal underwent a series of other changes before earning final passage as well.

Since unveiling the proposal in August, the first-term mayor has taken criticism both publicly and behind the scenes for pushing for what pro-business and pro-cannabis advocates have characterized as a "de facto ban" on medical marijuana due to high cost of a license and zoning rules that make the majority of the city and its commercial districts off limits to marijuana retail.

A federal judge has blocked a Northern California county’s ban on trucks delivering water to Hmong cannabis farmers, saying it raises “serious questions” about racial discrimination and leaves the growers without a source of water for basic sanitation, vegetable gardens and livestock.

On Friday, Chief U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller issued a temporary injunction against Siskiyou County’s prohibition on trucked-in water deliveries to Hmong farmers growing marijuana in the Mount Shasta Vista subdivision in the Big Springs area north of Weed.

“Without an injunction, the plaintiffs and other members of the Shasta Vista Hmong community will likely go without water for their basic needs and will likely lose more plants and livestock,” she wrote. “Fires may burn more homes. People may be forced to leave their homes and land behind without compensation.

Over the last five years, hundreds of Hmong farmers have bought cheap land in the subdivision and erected hundreds of marijuana greenhouses on the lava-rock covered hillsides in violation of the county’s ban on commercial cannabis cultivation.

Sonora, CA  — A Mexican National convicted of operating an illegal marijuana grow in the Stanislaus National Forest will spend the next four and a half years in prison.

37-year-old Eleno Fernandez-Garcia of Michoacán, Mexico, was also ordered to pay $45,688 in restitution to the U.S. Forest Service for the environmental damage that the toxic chemicals and cultivation operation had on public land, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert.

In May Fernandez-Garcia pled guilty to conspiring to manufacture, distribute, and possess with intent to distribute marijuana on the Stanislaus National Forest. The cultivation operation contained 9,654 marijuana plants and was located in the Basin Creek drainage in the forest in Tuolumne County. As reported here, Fernandez was found at the grow site holding pruning shears and was covered with marijuana debris. Three other individuals fled from the area.

Talbert detailed the significant damage to the environment including grazing cows, wildlife, endangered fish, and frogs. Additionally, investigative agents found the pesticide Weevelcide, a lethal restricted-use chemical; two types of rodenticides; 837 pounds of soluble fertilizer; 45.65 gallons of liquid fertilizer; and a dead raccoon. Also, besides chemicals and fertilizer, there was over 2,000 pounds of trash and irrigation tubing. Talbert also noted that nearly all of the native vegetation was cut down to make room for the marijuana plants, which were close to recreational activities, and Sugar Pine Springs, a natural spring used by two companies for bottled water.

Participating agencies involved in this investigation included the U.S. Forest Service, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) of the California Department of Justice, and the California Fish and Wildlife.

YONCALLA, Ore. — A large-scale criminal marijuana grow operating under the guise of a legal hemp operation has been shut down by law enforcement in Douglas County, according to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.

According to a release from the DCSO, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and Douglas Interagency Narcotics Team (DINT) executed a search warrant in the 1000-block of Scotts Valley Road Wednesday, September 1, 2021. The warrant stemmed from an investigation into a large-scale black-market marijuana grow operation.

Law enforcement became aware of the operation on tips from concerned citizens.

When law enforcement arrived approximately 30-50 workers began fleeing the location on foot. An individual identified as “the manager” of the operation, 44-year-old Jose Francisco Figueroa-Aguilar of Modesto, California, was ultimately arrested and lodged at the Douglas County Jail on charges of Unlawful Possession and Unlawful Manufacture of Marijuana.

Deputies located multiple vehicles, tents, and two RVs concealed under greenhouses and in the timber. The property was also found to be littered with garbage, fertilizer, containers, and human waste; all of which were adjacent to Elk Creek.

The rollout of New York’s new cannabis policies has new life after the state legislature confirmed appointments to oversee the regulatory process last week, but the state is still months away from issuing licenses to retailers, growers and processors.

The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, or MRTA, passed in April. However, much of the rollout has been delayed because Governor Andrew Cuomo did not nominate officials to the newly created Office of Cannabis Management and Cannabis Control Board.

“These are people that wrote the bill. They should’ve had these people in mind when they wrote those statutes,” said Troy Smit, Deputy Director of Empire State NORML.

Governor Kathy Hochul appointed two people to fill the top posts for cannabis regulation. Acting in a special summer session, the state senate quickly confirmed Christopher Alexander to be Executive Director of the Office of Cannabis Management. The move pleased many cannabis proponents, including those from the more progressive activist center given Alexander’s former work for the Drug Policy Alliance.

“He is the right person to live out the vision of the MRTA and make sure we have the social and economic equity in the New York State cannabis industry,” said Allan Gandelman, President of the New York Cannabis Processors and Growers Association.

Texas, one of the most conservative states in the U.S. seems to be moving one step forward and two steps back when it comes to civil liberties; in this case, marijuana and abortion.

On the one hand, the state is loosening its policies regarding cannabis, starting with changes to state law allowing more eligible patients to request a prescription for medical cannabis.

In addition, a Texas court declared unconstitutional a law prohibiting the smoking of hemp.( As originally seen on Benzinga by Franca Quarneti)

Despite these more progressive policies, a law banning abortion after six weeks went into effect statewide on Wednesday.

Social justice advocates in New Jersey are flocking together to hold a special, free expungement clinic at Doubletree by Hilton Penn Station Hotel in Newark.

The clinic will be held on Tuesday, September 14 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time. Those who attend will get free support on how to expunge low-level cannabis convictions now that cannabis is legal in the state. 

The event will be hosted by 420NJEvents, a Black-owned cannabis lifestyle brand, and sponsored by Brach Eichler LLC, Columbia Care, REEForm New Jersey, Apothecarium, and Minority Cannabis Academy. Those who have been disproportionately affected by the War on Drugs will now have a chance to seek justice. Pro-bono attorneys from Brach Eichler law firm will be onsite to help and answer questions. 

New Jersey Steps Up

“We’re focused on educating minorities around cannabis as an avenue to create generational wealth, and break into an emerging industry ripe with opportunity and alternative medicine,” they explained via a press release. “We promise to remain true to the culture, true to ourselves and provide you with all the up-to-date information that’ll help you navigate the cannabis industry!”

One of the pro-bono attorneys who will be offering his services at the event explained in a press release why this event is valuable to communities of color in New Jersey. “Marijuana laws have often disproportionately impacted communities of color. As New Jersey looks to establish its recreational marijuana market, there must be a focus on righting the societal wrongs that the prohibition of cannabis has created. We need more individuals, particularly Black and brown people, to understand the law and their rights, what it means, and how it can help them,” said Charles X. Gormally, Co-Chair of the Cannabis Law Practice at Brach Eichler LLC.

Righting the wrongs of the War on Drugs is in full gear in Arizona. According to an August 30 press release, the Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County granted 3,643 petitions for expungement of cannabis-related charges since the process started last month.

The court announced that following the passage of Proposition 207 in 2020, an average of 650 people per week are filing petitions with the Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County to have felony cannabis-related convictions wiped off their records.

Before filing a petition for expungement, people should check with their respective court. In the event that the conviction was adjudicated in a justice or city court, that court should be contacted for more information. If the case was resolved in the Juvenile Department of Superior Court, there is a separate juvenile petition to expunge. Anybody who has been arrested but not charged will need to file a civil petition to expunge the record. 

A fee is not charged for the petition to expunge the conviction.

At its two bi-monthly meetings in August, the Hopewell Township Committee discussed COVID cases, food truck licenses, and the next phase of the cannabis ordinance.

As the COVID Delta variant continues to prolong the pandemic, Township Health Officer Dawn Marling explained at the August 2 meeting that Hopewell has seen a spike within its own residents. “We were doing about four cases a week during July, and I had five cases this past weekend, so that was a big uptick there. We are seeing cases among vaccinated residents, but again, given that a large number of our residents are vaccinated, that’s not unexpected,” Marling said.

Mayor Julie Blake explained that, even if residents are fully vaccinated, they are encouraged to continue to wear their masks to help stop the spread of the Delta variant. “I do want to remind them to use their best practices. Even I am having a hard time remembering to take a mask into public spaces. As you know, fully vaccinated or not, it’s really important. The CDC has been saying that we [may be] carriers of the virus even despite our vaccination status,” Blake said.

In a previous meeting, the Committee had discussed going back to in-person meetings in September. However, Marling advised that the pandemic is ever-evolving and could change within a month. “I think a lot can change by mid-September. Hopewell Valley isn’t considered one of the high transmission areas at the moment, but to have a crystal ball and say by the middle of September, it would be a wise decision to have a bunch of residents together in a meeting room, that could very well be something we need to pull back from,” she said.

On August 2, the Committee also discussed allowing licensed food trucks to operate within the Township without requiring a permit each time they “set-up shop.” The Committee considered, instead, a streamlined permitting process that would allow a food truck to come into the Township to different venues throughout the year under one annual license. Scott Miccio, an attorney for the Committee, presented the Robbinsville ordinance for the Committee to examine. “I turned to the Robbinsville ordinance [because] they had the scope, and the purpose of their ordinance, [which] I think is similar to what we might be trying to accomplish here in Hopewell,” Miccio said.

The decision to take an early-morning drive with cannabis debris clearly visible inside his vehicle turned out to be a bad one for a 20-year-old California man with a weed-sounding moniker.This past Saturday proved anything but relaxing for Kody Idica — just one letter shy of Indica, a cannabis variety long associated with sedating effects — when police stopped his vehicle at about 3:30 a.m. in Redwood Valley, Calif.

That find prompted a search of the vehicle, where the officer “found other evidence associated with the transportation and sale of illicit drugs.”

Recreational cannabis is legal in California, with adults 21 and older able to buy, possess and consume up to 28.5 grams of weed in their private residence or an establishment that has been licensed for consumption, FindLaw reports. The drug can not be consumed, whatever the method used, when a vehicle is in motion, adds Chambers Law Firm.

Under the Controlled Substance Act, first offenders for possessing cocaine could face imprisonment for as long as a year and a fine ranging from US$1,000 ($1,260) and US$100,000 ($126,000). Penalties increase with second or third convictions, according to McElfresh Law Inc.

When Colorado became the first state to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012, it didn't have a playbook.

While the state worked out the early rules regarding sales and taxation, it didn't initially consider how years of marijuana criminalization had impacted historically marginalized communities, and whether those communities should get special access to opportunities in the cannabis industry. (As originally posted on Westword by HILAL BAHCETEPE)

But in the years that followed, other states that legalized recreational marijuana did consider those issues and built social equity provisions into their programs.

Colorado is now playing social equity catch-up. On October 1, Governor Jared Polis pardoned 2,732 past marijuana possession convictions. When he signed Senate Bill 111 earlier this year, he approved $4 million going to support social-equity marijuana entrepreneurs. And on April 20 — that unofficial stoner holiday – Mayor Michael Hancock signed into law Denver’s social equity program, which began accepting applications for licenses in June.