state

It seems for the most part that federal laws yield to state laws when it comes to cannabis. How does it work on the local level? Say a city has passed an ordinance that says possessing small amounts of cannabis in a private residence, whether growing or not, is not a crime. Yet the state is...

"Question 1 is not just bad for Maine, it can be deadly," said state Governor Paul LePage in a warning to voters against approving a marijuana legalization measure. "We do not need to legalize another drug that could lead to more deaths." With the governor's anti-cannabis rhetoric, it was no...

If you listen to the federal government, marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug, illegal and on par with heroin, LSD, peyote and MDMA, better known as ecstasy. In California, however, voters legalized the weed in November 2016 with the passage of Proposition 64, setting up a collision of sorts...

Licensed businesses around California can begin legally growing and selling marijuana for recreational use Monday, and a hodgepodge of enforcement agencies will be trying to make sure they adhere to a slew of new pot laws. Since no single agency has overarching responsibility, supporters and...

After about one month of medical marijuana sales in Maryland, Montgomery County leads the state in the number of patients certified to buy the substance. A state database shows that as of Dec. 21, about 10,995 people in Maryland have gotten permission to shop at a medical cannabis dispensary...

Utah authorities are investigating a rapidly growing industry that has led businesses to offer cannabis products that people are using without prescription to treat various ailments amid uncertainty in state and federal law. Businesses across Utah are selling cannabidiol, or CBD, a...

For the first time in more than 100 years, it will be legal in California to buy marijuana for recreational use. But that doesn't mean it will be easy to find — especially if you live in the central San Joaquin Valley. State licenses for recreational sales will kick in on New Year's Day...

It's been 21 years since Californians made it "legal" to use marijuana for alleviating severe medical symptoms by passing Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act. But it took seven more years for Senate Bill 420, the Medical Marijuana Program Act, to be signed into law, allowing patients...

On Dec. 7, the state of California released its "final proposed" regulations to guide aspects of the budding marijuana industry such as issuing licenses to grow, test, distribute, manufacture and sell cannabis. The regulations, for the first time since the drug was legalized by voters in...

More than twenty years after I first attempted to quell a migraine headache with a bong hit, I have become a card-carrying medical-marijuana user. Well, not exactly. This is New York State. You can't get actual marijuana, only extracts. This makes it impossible to access what could be my best...

Nearly 50 marijuana dispensaries may be forced by the city to close within a few weeks, fined up to $1,000 a day if they don't close or have their owners taken to court. City Attorney Jim Smiertka said Tuesday his office has identified 48 locations that may be dispensaries in violation of the...

On January 1st it will be legal to buy marijuana products in cities and counties that have agreed to allow it. It's been a year since voters approved legalizing pot and three main state agencies have been created to license and regulate it. At the top of the list is the Bureau of Cannabis...

Placer County's only medpot dispensary has opened again in Colfax after an absence of five years. The re-opening of Golden State Patient Care, 233 Highway 174, comes two months after a tumultuous Colfax City Council meeting and a 3-2 vote allowing the medical dispensary to renew its business...

The push to legalize recreational marijuana in New Mexico is being revived by legislators. State lawmakers behind the idea say their only hurdle is getting marijuana legalization on the ballot for voters to decide. That means getting a majority of legislators on board. The senator behind...

The Silver State went green in 2017, becoming the fifth state to have legal recreational marijuana sales in the U.S. Of all the eight states, and Washington, D.C., to have legalized recreational marijuana since 2014, the Silver State bravely turned around the fastest sales following its 2016...

A 30-year-old man from Oakland County has big plans for cultivating medical marijuana in Capac. "Basically to take it out of the basement and make it commercial," said Matt Roman. His proposal includes a development of 600,000 to 850,000 square feet on about 60 acres. Roman said he'll...

Until firestorms overtook the North Bay in October, cannabis had been the business story of 2017. Voters legalized adult-use cannabis in November 2016 and opened the door to new businesses that had the sanction of the state, though not the federal government. Cannabis already had a foothold in...

Local lawmakers say it's unlikely the West Virginia Legislature will consider legalizing recreational marijuana in 2018, as the state has more pressing issues. Senate Majority Leader Ryan Ferns, R-Ohio, said a move to make the use of cannabis lawful might not even prove financially beneficial...

On a gray afternoon in early November, Samantha Miller supervised a handful of people in long white coats while they placed very delicate samples into very expensive machines. Miller spends most of her waking hours inside the peppy, lime-green-accented lab she founded. For five and a half years...

California's legal pot market opens for business on Jan. 1. The day will be a milestone, but what exactly will happen then and, especially, in the weeks and months to come is unclear. Lori Ajax is the state's top pot regulator and has been at the center of the effort to establish rules for a...