Category: cannabis

WNBA’s Brittney Griner Ordered to Trial Friday in Russia

MOSCOW—WNBA player Brittney Griner was ordered Monday to stand trial by a court near Moscow on cannabis possession charges, about 4.5 months after her arrest at an airport while returning to play for a Russian team. The Phoenix Mercury center and two-time U.S. Olympic gold medalist also was ordered to remain in custody for the…


Costa Mesa Planning Commission OKs First Retail Cannabis Permits

Costa Mesa planning commissioners approved the city’s first two retail cannabis permits at its regular meeting June 13. The new retail outlets are planned for Harbor and Newport boulevards. “We’re excited to be one of the first storefront retailers here,” Culture Cannabis Club owner Devon Julian told commissioners before his permit was unanimously approved. Culture…


Thin Evidence of Cannabis Pain Relief Benefits Despite Popular Medical and Recreational Use: Study

A federally funded study reviewing research on cannabis has found very little concrete evidence on its benefits as a chronic pain reliever, despite popular media and academic coverage of its medicinal potential. “With so much buzz around cannabis-related products, and the easy availability of recreational and medical marijuana in many states, consumers and patients might…


LA Unified Combats Cannabis Dispensaries Near Schools

LOS ANGELES—The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is working with local authorities to crack down on cannabis dispensaries near school campuses, according to officials. “Since I arrived in Los Angeles, I have heard reports about dispensaries that are located across the street from some of our schools,” Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said in a…


California School Children Sickened After Eating Cannabis Candy

BAYSIDE, Calif.—Three third-grade students at a Northern California elementary school were hospitalized after inadvertently eating cannabis gummies, authorities said. A student shared the gummies with four other children during their snack recess on Thursday at Jacoby Creek Elementary in the Humboldt County community of Bayside, police and school officials said. The student who brought the…


Over 100 Arrested in Los Angeles County Marijuana Grow Operation

LANCASTER, Calif.—The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced Tuesday a joint operation to take down multiple illegal marijuana grows in the Antelope Valley resulted in more than 100 arrests and the destruction of several thousands of pounds of marijuana products. The Marijuana Eradication Team—which consists of the LA sheriff’s department, the California National Guard Counterdrug…


NTSB: Teenage Driver in Deadly Crash Had Cannabis in System

TISHOMINGO, Okla.—The teenage driver of a small car that collided with a large truck in Oklahoma, killing all six occupants in the car, tested negative for alcohol but positive for cannabis after her death, according to a preliminary report released Thursday. The teens were on a school lunch break in a Chevrolet Spark that is…


Los Angeles Councilors Seek to Issue Emblem Placards to Licensed Cannabis Stores

LOS ANGELES—As a measure to protect cannabis consumers from untested and unregulated products at unlicensed businesses, two Los Angeles City Councilors introduced a motion on May 4 aimed at implementing a county program that issues emblem placards to licensed cannabis businesses. Under the County of Los Angeles’s Emblem Program for Authorized Cannabis Stores, storefront and…


Laguna Woods to Vote on Cannabis Tax

LAGUNA WOODS, Calif.—The Laguna Woods City Council voted 4–1 on April 20 to move forward a tax on cannabis businesses, despite the city’s existing ban on retail cannabis. Mayor Carol Moore, who is up for reelection this year, was the dissenting vote. The ordinance—which will need final approval from the city council at their May…


Chicago Prosecutors Erase Thousands of Cannabis Convictions

Chicago prosecutors on Wednesday announced that over 15,000 cannabis convictions have been expunged. Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, the state’s top prosecutor, said her office would expunge an additional 214 cannabis cases this week, bringing the total number of cannabis convictions removed from the record since December 2019 to 15,191. The measure is in…