Cannabis Headline News is heard at the top of every hour on RadicalRuss Radio and Friday’s news is contained within the free The Russ Belville Show live podcast. For daily downloads of Cannabis Headline news podcast to your device every morning, subscribe by becoming a Patron of RadicalRuss Radio.
Missouri Lawmaker Files Bill to Allow Medical Marijuana Use at Hotels
Hotels, Airbnbs and other lodging facilities in Missouri would be allowed to let medical marijuana patients consume cannabis on their properties under a recently filed bill reported by Marijuana Moment.
The legislation, titled the “Reduction of Illegal Public Consumption by Allowing for Compassionate Access to Medical Marijuana Act,” would require the state Department of Health and Senior Services to create a new “medical marijuana lodging establishment” license for the facilities. They would have to submit an application and a $50 fee to the agency in order to obtain the new approval.
Once licensed, lodging facilities would have to follow certain rules such as confirming that guests are registered medical cannabis patients, posting signage that says marijuana can be consumed on the property and ensuring that consumption areas are at least 25 feet away from sections where its prohibited.
Places that knowingly permit cannabis to be used without a license would be subject to a $1,000 fine for a first offense, $2,000 for a second, $5,000 for a third and the suspension of their business license for a fourth.
Utah Medical Marijuana Patients Must Now Buy Wholly In-State
With the advent of 2021, Utah medical marijuana patients lost the legal ability to cross state lines and buy their medicine in Colorado or Nevada, as many of them have been doing for months. State lawmakers put this sunset date on out-of-state purchases in anticipation that, by this point, Utah’s medical cannabis program would be robust enough to serve its own patient population.
But nearly a year since legal cannabis sales began in Utah, the Salt Lake Tribune reports that only half the state’s 14 approved marijuana pharmacies have opened, and the retailers that are up and running have often struggled to keep their shelves full. On top of that, half the state’s cultivators harvested next to nothing through much of 2020 and resulting product shortages drove up the costs for patients.
Jackpot, Nevada, Commissioners Consider Two Dispensaries on Idaho Border
Two competing sites for marijuana dispensaries in Jackpot, Nevada, advanced this month as Elko County Commissioners approved one rezoning request and county planning commissioners agreed to hear a second request next month.
Both locations are along U.S. Highway 93, not far from the Idaho-Nevada border about 45 miles south of Twin Falls, reports MagicValley.com.
Jackpot has suffered economically because of COVID-19 and is looking at marijuana sales to give the town a boost. County commissioners approved an ordinance in November allowing sales, despite opposition from Twin Falls County officials.
Opening these dispensaries will create a fifth Idaho border town and the first on Idaho’s southern border to supply marijuana to the only state in the nation that still bans industrial hemp.
Coronavirus Leads to Severe Reduction in Minnesota County Drug Tests
The COVID–19 pandemic has effectively ended random drug testing on hundreds of people in the criminal justice system in Hennepin County, Minnesota, home to Minneapolis, the state’s largest city.
Data from the county’s lab examined by KTSP-TV shows a 95% decrease in testing capacity from 2019 to 2020, a striking reduction that is worrisome to drug advocates and a county judge who say it will result in dire consequences for people struggling with addiction.
The lab-tested, on average, 990 people a week in 2019. Those numbers fell to 45 people a week the following year. For several weeks in April 2020, data shows only a handful of people were brought in for drug testing.
The limited capacity is due, in part, to new COVID safety protocols, according to Carrie Scardigli, who oversees the testing lab in Hennepin County’s Department of Community Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Thailand Decriminalizes Cannabis, Allows Edibles in Restaurants
“Giggling bread” and “joyfully dancing salad” are not the usual meals served in Thailand. But one eatery is hoping its foods made with parts of the cannabis plant can interest foreign visitors.
The restaurant at a hospital in Prachin Buri province started serving the meals this month. Voice of America notes that Thailand recently took cannabis off its list of narcotic drugs. The government then permitted some businesses to grow the plant.
The hospital is known as being the first in Thailand to study marijuana and its ability to ease pain and extreme tiredness.
The restaurant’s offerings include a happy pork soup and deep-fried bread topped with pork and a marijuana leaf. Another is a mix of crispy cannabis leaves served with pork and vegetables.
