Featured guests: Addiction treatment psychologist Cali Estes and Jyl Ferris of Tikun Olam USA.
LOTS TO TALK ABOUT
• Using cannabis in treating opioid dependence; concerns about potentially trading one addiction for another.
• Marijuana use in American professional sports — only the NHL doesn’t test for THC — helping athletes recover in the offseason with CBD and THC products alike.
• Bringing an historic Israeli medical marijuana company to the United States, fitting in to the system.
TOP MARIJUANA NEWS
Persistent prosecution of Oklahoma head shop seems like “a waste of taxpayer money” to residents: For years, attempts to open up shops in this left-leaning Oklahoma college town to sell things like rolling papers and smoking accessories have faced a harsh crackdown from local law enforcement. Officers raided stores, confiscated merchandise and shut down the operations. While other states across the nation are easing penalties for marijuana use or legalizing the drug altogether, Norman police and its Republican district attorney are taking the opposite tack: pursuing criminal charges against the now-shuttered Friendly Market shop owner Robert Cox and several of his clerks for selling glass pipes in a local store. But the latest target of police and prosecutors is fighting back. –Report by the Associated Press’ Sean Murphy
Trump says he reserves right to ignore medical marijuana protection provision in spending bill: President Donald Trump signed his first piece of major legislation on Friday, a $1 trillion spending bill to keep the government operating through September. Trump signed the bill despite his objections to numerous provisions included in the measure. One such provision prohibits the Justice Department from using any funds to block implementation of medical marijuana laws by states and U.S. territories. In a signing statement that accompanied the bill and that laid out his objections, Trump said he reserved the right to ignore the provision. He held out the possibility that the administration could pursue legal action against states and territories that legalize marijuana for medical use. –Report by The Associated Press’ Darlene Superville
QUICK HIT
An employee at a Denver marijuana shop handles cash during a transaction in May 2014. (Brennan Linsley, Associated Press file)
Colorado marijuana sales top $131M, set record in March 2017: The Colorado cannabis industry’s unbridled growth hasn’t waned — in fact, it’s still setting records. The state’s licensed marijuana shops captured nearly $132 million of recreational and medical cannabis sales in March, according to The Cannabist’s extrapolations of state sales tax data. The monthly sales haul of $131.7 million sets a record for Colorado’s relatively young legal marijuana industry, besting the previous high of $127.8 million set last September, The Cannabist’s calculations show. It’s the tenth consecutive month that sales have topped $100 million. Sales tax revenue generated for the state during March was $22.9 million, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue. –Report by The Cannabist’s Alicia Wallace
POT QUIZ
Test your current-events knowledge about politicians trading pot insults, a Washington state cop linked to a cross-country trafficking operation, an abstaining pop star and more.
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