420DC Weekly Round Up

Headlines from 8/4-8/11

Brought to you by The Outlaw Report

Maryland

Maryland’s Highest Court Rules Cops Can’t Search You Based On Cannabis Smell

Last week, Maryland’s Court of Appeals issued an important ruling for cannabis advocates and fourth amendment warriors: A police officer in Maryland can no longer use the smell of cannabis as a reason to search and arrest someone. “The mere odor of marijuana emanating from a person, without more, does not provide the police with probable cause to support an arrest and a full-scale search of the arrestee incident thereto,” Chief Judge Mary Ellen Barbera wrote.

 

Maryland

Racial Equity in Maryland’s Cannabis Industry Get More Complicated: Glenn Sentenced, MMCC Ponders Diversity

Former Delegate Cheryl Glenn has been sentenced to two years for accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes related to the medicinal cannabis industry. The next day, the Maryland Medicinal Cannabis Commission—which is named after Glenn’s mother, Natalie M. LaPrade—held its Policy Committee meeting where they heard public comment on diversity in the cannabis industry. Kristina Johnson of Marylanders for a Diverse and Equitable Cannabis recommended creating, committing to, and maintaining a “safe feedback loop to hear from minority participants and desired entrants.”

 

Washington D.C.

Commercial Cannabis and Decriminalized Psychedelics in Washington D.C. More Likely

The Outlaw Report catches up with a number of encouraging developments when it comes to drug reform in Washington D.C. The Financial Services and General Government spending bill, if passed, would eliminate the controversial rider that has prevented the District from having a commercial cannabis industry and the effort to put the decriminalization of psychedelics up for a vote in D.C. seems like it has been a success. 

 

This Week’s Quick Hit

Quick Hit: On Netflix’s ‘The Business Of Drugs’

Maybe it’s because of the mind-expanding, harm reductionist cartoon spectacle The Midnight Gospel and the goofy The Goop Lab With Gwyneth Paltrow which really veers into pseudo-science, but Netflix’s latest drug show The Business Of Drugs plays it straight—a little too straight. It’s hosted by somebody who used to in the C.I.A.! The Outlaw Report thinks too hard about this interesting and fraught docuseries.