In the days of the Armada, a fleet of warships, the scuttlebutt was the rumor or gossip that would spread throughout the ship. Today, Armada Law Corp presents The Scuttlebutt, a daily summery of news articles that people within the cannabis, hemp and plant medicine industries are chatting about along with links to the full articles.
In today’s news:
#cannabispolitics – “The measure would allow the governor to enter into agreement with other legal cannabis states, pending a federal policy change “to allow for the interstate transfer of cannabis” or a federal Justice Department opinion “allowing or tolerating” marijuana commerce across state lines.
If Inslee signs the proposal into law, that would mean all three coastal states on the West would be positioned to allow instate imports and exports of cannabis. Oregon was the first state to take the step in 2019, followed by California last year.”
#psychedelics – “It’s interesting seeing how many people still believe there is a link between psychedelic use and prolonged psychosis, but it’s hard to blame them. Most of the knowledge people had about psychedelics before 2018, when research began to ramp up again, was by word of mouth and portrayals in media. People have unknowingly spread misinformation regarding the negative effects of psychedelics because that was all they have known and heard from the media and friends. The rise of societal misinformation was partly why psychedelics became so stigmatized and feared, with a lot of this being able to be traced back to government-backed anti-drug campaigns that continued to foster stigmatization.”
#californiacannabis – “A former cannabis company employee says she was paid less than her male counterparts, unfairly denied a promotion because of appearance and constructively fired after she complained, according to a lawsuit filed in California state court.
Danielle Leigh Greenlin says in her suit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court that she was hired by defendant Ice Kream around May 2018 to work as a budtender at a dispensary. She alleges the company treated male employees more favorably, and that she was denied equal pay. Also named as a defendant in the suit is UTR Management LLC.
According to Greenlin, the defendants claimed they didn’t have enough money to boost her pay, but two male counterparts doing the same work got raises. She was also told she was going to be promoted to manager — only to have the rug pulled and be informed by Ice Kream, through managers, that “she is not attractive enough to be promoted.””
#californiacannabis – “California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced CAMP seized nearly 1 million illegally cultivated cannabis plants and more than 200,000 pounds of illegally processed cannabis. Bonta also announced that the Department of Justice will be phasing out CAMP in favor of a year-round multi-agency program, Eradication and Prevention of Illicit Cannabis (EPIC).
The EPIC program focuses on the investigation and prosecution of civil and criminal cases relating to illicit cannabis cultivation with a focus on environmental and economic harms and labor exploitation.
Beginning in 2022, EPIC transitioned the Department of Justice’s 30-year seasonal eradication program into a year-round task force.”
#cannabislaw – “The city of Westland’s process for selecting which companies would be allowed to sell cannabis within its borders did not violate the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act, an appellate panel ruled. The 33-page opinion rejected arguments by five businesses who claimed that city officials overstepped their authority provided in the state law.
“There is nothing in the language [the Michigan law] that suggests that the state intended to restrict the criteria a municipality can consider when evaluating competing licensing applications, other than those limitations specifically prescribed in [section] 333.27956,” the panel said in its Thursday filing. “Thus, a municipality may consider criteria unique to its own community and citizens.””