Filed under: Weekly Burn
Legalization looks great on paper. But on the ground, it is a tangle of vetoes, raids, zoning nightmares, and political theater. Let’s grade the week in weed before the next rule gets rewritten.
FEDERAL FUMBLE
Congress Pretends to Back Cannabis for Vets
In what feels like déjà vu, Congress passed another amendment to expand medical cannabis access for veterans through the VA. But just like every year, it is buried in a giant appropriations bill that is likely to be gutted before final passage.
Lawmakers call it a “symbolic win.” Vets call it bullshit. The clock keeps ticking, but no prescriptions, no protection, no peace.
DUMBEST MOVE
New York’s Zoning Chaos Still Screws Weed Shops
New York regulators admitted this week that dozens of licensed dispensaries were approved for storefronts that are now out of compliance because of flawed zoning guidance.
Applicants followed OCM instructions. Then the state changed the rules. Now licenses are at risk.
Pot Culture Magazine covered this disaster in full. It is a textbook example of bureaucracy kneecapping equity.
MOST UNHINGED STORY
Michigan State Raids $10 Million Illegal Grow
Two days ago, Michigan State Police raided an unlicensed cannabis operation in Lake County, Baldwin, seizing over 13,400 plants and hundreds of pounds of dried marijuana from a 17,000-square-foot facility on 19 acres. The haul’s street value is estimated at over $10 million. Multiple arrests were made.
The site had no valid Cannabis Regulatory Agency license, and authorities claimed illegal grows often carry contamination risks like pesticides and heavy metals.
CULTURE AND CHAOS
DEA Still Raiding While Rescheduling Stalls
The DEA hit licensed dispensaries in Nevada and Wisconsin this week for “compliance violations,” despite no formal movement on rescheduling cannabis.
Products were seized, businesses closed, and no charges were filed.
The feds keep flipping the light switch while pretending the bulb is broken.
FINAL GRADE: F
One state stops raiding farms. Another keeps suing hemp. Congress hits rewind. The DEA never left. The only thing moving fast in weed this week is confusion. Until the system stops eating its own tail, we’re stuck in circles.
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F O R T H E C U L T U R E B Y T H E C U L T U R E
The Drug Test Lie Finally Cracks in New Mexico
New Mexico’s Senate Bill 129 challenges the long standing assumption that a positive cannabis test equals impairment. By separating outdated drug testing from actual workplace safety, the bill aims to protect medical cannabis patients from job discrimination while preserving employer authority over real on the job risk and misconduct.
How Cannabis Can Cost You Your Gun
Federal law still allows cannabis use to strip Americans of firearm rights without proof of danger or misuse. As the Supreme Court weighs United States v. Hemani, courts are confronting whether the government can continue punishing people based on status rather than conduct in a country where cannabis is legal in most states.
Reefer Report Card Vol. 32: Kicking the Can Again
This week’s Reefer Report Card tracks a familiar pattern in cannabis policy: delay dressed as progress. Federal lawmakers punted again on hemp regulation, states flirted with dismantling legal markets, and patients were left waiting. Oversight weakened, accountability faded, and reform stalled. Another week in weed, graded.
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