Where Does Trump’s Choice for the Supreme Court Stand on Weed Legalization?

Does Neil Gorsuch believe that states’ rights and medical marijuana laws should be respected and protected? Good question and there aren’t a lot of answers just yet.

But, then, after not even two weeks into the Trump administration, we are witnessing history’s most chaotic authoritarian rule via a narcissist’s Twitter account and a radical right wing presidential puppeteer, Stephen Bannon, who just moved into the West Wing and on to the National Security Council.

Onward to the Supreme Court.

Despite Neil Gorsuch’s tenure on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, he has made precious few public pronouncements about marijuana policy.

One way to glean more information, therefore, is to look at his rulings.

In one case, covered by the New York Daily News, Gorsuch ruled on a cannabis industry tax case in which a Colorado dispensary was forced by the IRS to pay taxes on their business expenses, which one normally is allowed to deduct. The dispensary in question deducted theirs but did not wish to disclose the nature of their business, to avoid incriminating themselves because weed is still illegal under federal law.

Gorsuch ruled against the dispensary, although he did go out on a limb and question the government’s strange and confusing federal vs. state government pot laws and the “mixed messages” that continue to confound all of us.

“This case owes its genesis to the mixed messages the federal government is sending these days about the distribution of marijuana,” Gorsuch explained. “So it is that today prosecutors will almost always overlook federal marijuana distribution crimes in Colorado but the tax man never will.”

While Gorsuch did not care for the mixed messages (who does?), he didn’t exactly say which side of the debate he was on.

He went on to wonder how the taxman gets to cash in on a business the feds consider illegal. This begs the question gnawing at many these days: who has the final say and will the federal government respect the will of the people who have voted to legalize marijuana in over half the country?

Another hint on Gorsuch’s stance came out on the Joint Blog, which reported that a former student of Gorsuch’s asked him several years ago whether or not he supported legalization. Gorsuch responded by saying that, at the very least, he supports “the federal government getting out of the business of prohibiting in.” Still not clear what that means, strange grammatical sentence structure notwithstanding.

Gorsuch also acknowledged the Obama administration’s willingness to allow legal marijuana states to work out their own issues. He even expressed concern that everything could come crashing down in the event of a new attorney general.

Of course, back when these remarks were made, no one imagined that we would be living under a Trump government with the possibility of pot-hater Jeff Sessions at the head of the Justice Department.

Apart from his scantly-known views on pot legalization, it is worth noting that the Daily Beast referred Neil Gorsuch as the “dream candidate of the Christian Right” who is “enthusiastically pro-life and conservative on all other issues near and dear to evangelicals who held their noses and who elected a morally flawed president.”

That alone, speaks volumes.

You can keep up with all of HIGH TIMES’ marijuana news right here.

from
http://hightimes.com/news/where-does-trumps-choice-for-the-supreme-court-stand-on-weed-legalization/

Over $200K Worth of Cocaine Found in Nose of American Airlines Plane

When it comes to the magnificent art of international drug smuggling, it is imperative to constantly make logistical advancements in transport practices because, no matter how clever a method is for getting a shipment from one place to another, there will always be some pesky bastard who will stumble onto the scheme and render it obsolete.

We suspect that a Colombian drug cartel is back to the drawing board again this week after a maintenance crew with American Airlines discovered around 30 pounds of cocaine stowed in the nose of a Boeing 757.

Reports indicate the plane, which originated from Bogota, ended up getting pegged for a routine checkup once it landed in Miami, but some timing issues caused that service to be delayed until the plane touched down in Tulsa. That’s where a technician discovered the drugs stowed inside the electronics bay of the nose gear.

“One of my deputies received a call out here saying that maintenance individuals working on a plane found what essentially was cocaine,” Tulsa’s sheriff, Vic Regalado told CBS News. “The plane left Bogota, came into Miami, got picked up on a computer for routine maintenance. Usually that would happen in Miami, but they were overloaded so they assigned it up here.”

There were a total of seven bricks of cocaine found in the nose of the plane. Law enforcement officials said the entire shipment had been covered in wheel grease in what they believe was an effort to prevent drug-sniffing dogs from going buck wild in case the heat came on in Miami.

But while investigators are not divulging too much information on the case, it most definitely spells bad news for some Miami American Airlines employees who are obviously in cahoots with a drug cartel. Right now, the U.S. DEA is reportedly conducting an investigation to see if they can find out more about the origins of what is being called a “sophisticated operation.”

According to estimates provided by Tulsa law enforcement, the shipment is worth somewhere between $200,000 and $434,000 on the black market.

This is not the first time drugs have been discovered by an airline maintenance crew in Tulsa.

In 2015, the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office seized just over 26 pounds of cocaine that had been found on a plane owned by American Airlines. In fact, American Airlines employees have a rather extensive history for assisting in the distribution of illegal drugs. Several years ago, the DEA busted dozens of AA ramp workers and contractors suspected of smuggling cocaine and heroin into the United States, reports the Associated Press.

Many of those arrested were booked on charges that come with a sentence of life in prison if convicted.

You can keep up with all of HIGH TIMES’ marijuana news right here.

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http://hightimes.com/news/over-200k-worth-of-cocaine-found-in-nose-of-american-airlines-plane/

5 Cannabis-Infused Recipes for Epic Superbowl Pot Parties

Tennessee Republicans Move to Undo Local Pot Decriminalization

Like everywhere else in the South, marijuana isn’t legal in Tennessee. But since last fall, police in Nashville and Memphis have had a less-punitive alternative to an arrest and subsequent misdemeanor charge for someone caught possessing a small amount of cannabis. City councils in the state’s two largest cities both passed limited decriminalization efforts, which give cops the option of handing out a civil infraction—comparable to a parking ticket—for marijuana possession.

You can still be arrested and charged for marijuana possession, but if it’s less than a half-ounce, the cop might give you a break. Such a conservative and limited move is hardly legalization, but it’s nonetheless a significant step forward in the marijuana-unfriendly South. It’s also a big deal for civil liberties and racial justice advocates, as black people are arrested for marijuana possession at four times the rate of whites in Tennessee. As it happens, Memphis is a majority-black city, and Nashville is roughly 28 percent black.

Tennessee attorney general Herbert Slatery III is not black. Neither is William Lamberth, a state representative from the tiny hamlet of Cottontown and chairman of the Tennessee General Assembly’s House Criminal Justice Committee.We’re not saying that’s why Slatery declared both cities’ decriminalization efforts invalid, which was enough to scare Memphis into putting its decriminalization plan on hold.

And certainly it has nothing to do with Lamberth introducing state legislation this week that would repeal both cities’ limited decriminalization—and prohibit any other city going forward from passing drug laws that are “inconsistent” with state law going forward, as the Tennessean reported.

But for the otherwise-staunch Republicans to go big government and violate hallowed conservative principles, there has to be a good, solid reason. Take it away, Mr. Lamberth.

“We’ve never had cities that have just blatantly disregarded state criminal laws and just started making up their own criminal laws on their own,” Lamberth told the newspaper. (Join the party, Tennessee; cities in other states are going hog-wild with writing their own drug laws.)

“If that were to continue, you would have a hodgepodge of criminal laws throughout our state that no attorney, judge or individual would ever be able to understand or explain as to what penalties you may face where and when,” he added. “You can’t allow an officer at their whim to treat two different individuals who have potentially committed the same crime in drastically different ways depending on what that officer feels like at a given time.”

Here, Lamberth identifies the heart of the matter, if only by accident.

In Nashville, police have continued handing out the harsher misdemeanors. Marijuana possession has been punished under state law 815 times, as per the Tennessean, compared to only 27 of the local civil infractions. So surely Lamberth will be on board with Nashville’s Rep. Harold Love and Sen. Jeff Yarbro, who countered his repeal proposal with a plan that would reduce the penalty under Tennessee state law for marijuana possession to a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a $50 fine.

According to the Tennessean: Lamberth said he applauds “Nashville and Memphis’ efforts to try to dive into criminal justice reform,” but added that they passed ordinances that are illegal under state law and violate the Tennessee Constitution and the U.S. Constitution…

Lamberth was a critic of Nashville and Memphis’ legislative efforts from the outset. During debate of the local marijuana bills, he had discussed a state bill that would have penalized either city financially by withholding state highway funds if they approved the ordinances.

Marijuana has made William Lamberth a constitutional scholar—one so agitated about what people in other places are doing about marijuana that he’s willing to threaten them with potholes. This is powerful stuff, indeed. Tennessee’s legislative session is just beginning and there’s no indication which proposal will succeed, but the posturing has just begun.

from
http://hightimes.com/news/tennessee-republicans-move-to-undo-local-pot-decriminalization/

Grow Q&A: Do I Need Odor Control For My Marijuana Mother-Plants?

Dear Dan,
Do you still need a carbon filter exhaust and a fresh air intake when housing a mother-plant in a tent? I didn’t think so because a carbon filter is an odor eliminator. I can see the fresh air intake, but I don’t know I’m new to this. Also do I need to exhaust the air from inside the tent if I’m using an LED set up? — Matt M.

Dear Matt,

I would certainly recommend both a carbon filter and a fresh air intake for any grow operation. The carbon filter will eliminate any telltale odors from your exhaust air. You would be surprised how much mother-plants and plants in their vegetative stage can smell as they grow. Even without flowers, the plant matter will exude a strong scent that should be filtered before it’s released into the air.

Fresh air intake is also essential to all stages of plant growth. When air becomes spent and stagnant, growth rates slow to a crawl. Fresh cool air with CO2 (carbon dioxide) keeps photosynthesis chugging along, so there must be both intake and exhaust fans as well as an oscillating within the space to keep air moving. And yes, even with an LED light, you still need to exhaust the air from inside your tent.

Don’t miss our previous Grow Q&A: Should I Grow Pot with a Partner or By Myself?

For all of HIGH TIMES’ grow coverage, click here.

from
http://hightimes.com/grow/grow-qa-do-i-need-odor-control-for-my-marijuana-mother-plants/

High Horoscopes | February 2017

Now monthly: The HIGH TIMES astrological forecast, complete with strain recommendations!

Ask Aelie anything! Find her on Facebook and Twitter.

ARIES

White is the color of raw cotton, the hair of our grandparents, soft kittens that bounce on toilet paper and Casper the ghost. It is crisp linens, a flag of surrender, racist pointy hats and robes, clouds, and snow. It is the absence of color and yet it contains all colors. It is heavy with implications in society, politics, mythology, psychology and art. It is lighter than air. White is complex, as are you. There is no way through this month without blinding yourself in the bright light of revelation. A woke moment is upon you. Keep a grip on yourself during this time or the white you see could be from the padded cells of a hopefully symbolic sanatorium. Strain recommendation: Green Crack

TAURUS

Brown is the color of hair, eyes, skin, fur, and Mother Earth. It is natural things like tree bark and poop. So much of our living world is brown. It is comforting, organic and wholesome. It is real. It is your color this month. You are incapable of fakeness right now.  You are so you: all over the place, all over your face, inescapably you. Some like it; some don’t. No matter: keep your chin up and get on with the business of doing you, to-the-max. And there is a lot to do. People need telling off, others need inspiring. You’ve been procrastinating but now’s the time to make your mark. You will be heard, believe me. Strain recommendation: Super Blue Dream

GEMINI

Pink is the color of little animal noses, party dresses, cotton candy, some people’s lips, genitalia and skin, a rare steak, a monkey’s butt, a flower. It is sensitive and raw, much like you are this month. Careful not to upset the pinkness of you, your friends and family are walking on eggshells. You are not the strong pink of the women’s march knitted pussy hat: you are the easily offended and hurt by everything light pink of a scraped knee. I send many pink candy hearts your way in hopes that some compassion will ease the sting of this month, but I also offer you a pink ribbon to remind you that many have it much harder than you right now. Strain recommendation: White Rhino

CANCER

Black is the color of hair, of fur, of skin and the night. It is the stuff of myths. It’s powerful and clean, containing all and consuming everything. Like white, it can represent almost anything to anyone, from mourning to fashion, from outer space to the sacred place behind our closed eyes. It holds all colors and is the absolute absence of it. It is taken seriously. You wear the color black on your soul this month. You are everything and nothing. You are the ALL. Rarely are you more capable of achieving what you desire. You have the strength and gravitas to make big things happen. Pick your direction, and GO, GO, GO. Strain recommendation: Tangerine Haze

LEO

Yellow is more than the color of Donovan’s true love’s hair. It is the sun, the moon, the stars and cake. It’s Big Bird and buttercups, jaundice and pee. Most yellow things are as frivolous and carefree as a Tweety Pie eating a banana. Your yellow month has arrived, and I encourage you to make the most of it. Be silly. Speak in nothing more than dad jokes and limericks. Give no fucks. Everything must slide like water off a rubber ducky’s back. You will be forgiven for peeing in the pool because you can’t help it: the cosmos have nothing serious planned for you at all. If something heavy does come down on you, put on your yellow rain coat and take it with a spoonful of golden honey. Strain recommendation: Honey Bananas

VIRGO

Green: nature abounds with vibrant shades of it. Verdant fresh cut grass: that is your smell this month. Spring forward, fresh and awake to all possibility. A brand new mindset is upon you, clean and unjaded. Beware however, green is also the color of gangrene, rot and infection. Keep your health up, take your vitamins and charge forth with the vivacity of a zesty lime. It’s no fun to be that person who refuses to shake hands in cold season, but you’ll have to take the social hit to secure your wellbeing. There is so much to do and this young frog needs to jump! Strain recommendation: Red Headed Stranger

LIBRA

Orange rhymes with nothing and not many things are naturally orange beyond the namesake fruit, pumpkins, some flowers and birds, and those rare freckly-faced beauties. It is a special color because it is somewhat scarce while also being the color of an element central to our survival as a species: Fire. You have an orange aura about you this month. We are, in fact, at the start of the Chinese year of the Rooster; being similarly hued might not be a bad thing. But what does Orange mean to you? Whatever part of you that is absolutely unique is the orange bit, and that’s what’s shining right now. Nurture it, love it, and revel in it.  Be proud to be a ginger! Strain recommendation: Super Silver Haze

SCORPIO

Purple will always be associated with Prince. He, of course, chose it to underscore his Princely name, as it is traditionally the color of the monarchy. I’ve also heard it described as the color of mental instability, dreams, sensuality and pain.  It is somewhat rare in nature though prevalent in objects meant to resemble desirable things: like flavored juice, candies, paintings of sunsets, semi-precious jewels (with the exception of the rare Purple diamond) and hair dye. You can be royal or you can be a reasonable facsimile at a reasonable price. Most people won’t bother to investigate any deeper than what you choose to present on the surface, so either way, it’s your call. Strain recommendation: Blue Dream

SAGITTARIUS

Beige is often knocked as being bland and insipid. Sometimes simple can be good though: it is a staple of a classic wardrobe for example. And beyond fashion, beige fur is a very handy natural camouflage for animals in a desert location. All in all, it is a safe and somewhat boring choice. Some people are beige, as is sand, paper and dry long grasses. If you haven’t guessed, the theme here are things that are mundane; exactly how your month should be—a careful, uneventful, lame month of regular household duties, easy work and a bit of telly before early nights to bed.  You might as well act like you have the stomach flu and only eat weak tea and toast. Take it easy, you need the rest—to heal and to prepare for what’s to come. Strain recommendation: Purple Urkle

CAPRICORN

Blue is the color of almost everything. Ask most people what their favorite color is and they say blue. It’s the stuff of dreams, clear waters and bright skies.  It’s too big to fail; it’s all they said it would be but more; it’s everything but the kitchen sink. It’s overwhelming and calming at the same time. This is your month in a nutshell. Endless streams of paper boats floating on still waters. Hunker down, take it one page at a time, enjoy the breaks, breathe deeply and hug your animals a lot (people are animals too).  By this month’s end you will master the blue, and it will elevate you as reward. Strain recommendation: Blackberry

AQUARIUS

Gray used to be considered depressed, institutional, and monotonous: basically Kafka’s The Trial if it was a color. Then it became the new neutral: accent walls and button down shirts popped up in grays. After that it got kind of cool, like Black’s little sister who’s just old enough to party and is bringing some new Scandinavian friends with her to the museum rave. These days it’s cozy: a fuzzy microfiber blanket and a Weimaraner dog on a rainy day in a beach house. After an eternity as the stalwart color of stalwarts, it has drastically changed personas many times in the last 15 years. What a surprise it has turned out to be. This is your gray time. You are a chameleon, switching up your tactics and tones with the ease of a variety show performer. This should come in handy as you navigate the many worlds you visit this month. Strain recommendation: Panama Red

PISCES

Red is a heavy hitter color—it connotes passion, rage, fear, sex, hell, love, heat, boudoirs and Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day and clown noses, fire trucks, cherries, hearts and blood. You are dripping in red, my Pisces friends. So many oohs and aahs to be had this month. How exciting, painful, wonderful and terrifying. Brace yourself, eat well, grab whatever sleep you can: a rollercoaster is picking you up from work and a waterjet is dropping you off. A tidal wave is your shower and a cyclone your hair dryer. It’s elderberries and ackee for breakfast, puffer fish for lunch and Sannakji for dinner! But without the risk there is no chance for reward! Strain recommendation: Agent Orange

from
http://hightimes.com/culture/high-horoscopes-february-2017/

Let Nevada Smoke: Push to Legalize Public Marijuana Consumption

In legalized Nevada, marijuana smoking in public is still a revolutionary act—if your idea of raging against the machine is committing an “offense” that will barely raise an eyebrow among the people, while risking a $600 ticket from police. 

As in the four other states that legalized recreational marijuana in November, adults 21 and over can cultivate and possess cannabis in Nevada, but smoking in public is forbidden. Those who want to use cannabis legally in Nevada have no venue for their sessions aside from private residences. Smoking in public, consuming at a bar or club, a private party, a dab lounge—none of the above is a thing you can do with the blessing of the state.

This is a pain. It’s also patently stupid.

Las Vegas is set to become the capital for cannabis tourism in America. Medical cannabis patients from other states with a government-issued medical marijuana identification card can already patronize Vegas dispensaries. Once the city starts opening retail locations, the city will be swamped with weed tourists from all over the world, who will be welcomed by being forced to huddle in furtive circles underneath neon-lit casinos, sneaking forbidden tokes of a legal substance. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

State Sen. Tick Segerblom, who represents Las Vegas, recognizes the madness. So the state’s most-cannabis-friendly lawmaker, Segerblom is now pushing a proposal to allow some public marijuana consumption in Nevada, as the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.

“If we’re going to bring people here for marijuana tourism, they need a place to use it,” he sagely told the newspaper. “We don’t want them walking up and down the Strip smoking. Let’s give them some place to go.”

When Nevada’s legislative session resumes on Feb. 6, Segerblom plans to introduce a bill that would allow cities and other local governments the ability to issue “public marijuana-use permits.” Similar to the pilot program in Denver, where bars, art galleries, coffee houses and other businesses can apply for public-use permits, Segerblom’s plan would allow music festivals, hookah lounges and “just about every possibility,” all the way down to designated marijuana-friendly streets, to acquire a pot-smoking permit—provided the local government be down.

As usual, marijuana-friendly lawmaking in the legislature will be a slog. The usual cries of “it’s too fast!” and “let’s see what other states are doing!” are already echoing throughout the state. (Other states, for the record, have put up with weed smoking in public and outlaw puffing on bar patios for four years, just like they did before legalization.)

Segerblom’s plan even has opponents at home in Clark County, Nevada’s most populous county (and, obviously, where Las Vegas is located). Mary Beth Scow, one of Clark County’s elected commissioners, believes “having it in a public square when we just passed it” is too much. Another commissioner, Steve Sisolak, told the Review-Journal that the county needs more time to handle pressing issues like the “odor from cultivation facilities” before it can figure out where people can consume cannabis legally.

You never hear complaints about the sour smell of brewed hops shutting down a bar, but ok, then. How much time? That’s not proscribed in Segerblom’s plan, which would merely give local lawmakers the ability to permit public use at such time when they see fit.

“If they want, they can take 10 years,” he told the paper.

Great. If that’s what passes for marijuana-friendly, see you at the Vegas dab lounge in 2027—if we’re lucky.

You can keep up with all of HIGH TIMES’ marijuana news right here.

from
http://hightimes.com/news/let-nevada-smoke-push-to-legalize-public-marijuana-consumption/