For the Culture By The Culture
Across Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, quiet legalization is replacing old fear. Dispensaries open, hemp farms thrive, and police turn away from small possession. Lawmakers who once preached prohibition now profit from regulation. The Bible Belt’s cannabis rebellion is alive and growing, and the South is no longer waiting for Washington to catch up.
This week, the global cannabis movement faced storms, setbacks, and scattered progress. Jamaica’s farmers reeled from Hurricane Melissa, U.S. politicians revived outdated fears about senior stoners, and Florida tangled its medical system in red tape. South Africa finally legalized personal use, while Congress kept banking reform buried. A chaotic week graded
The Omaha Tribe legalized cannabis and created its own governing body to regulate cultivation, licensing, and sales. Meanwhile, Nebraska still criminalizes flower. This is a story about sovereignty, survival, and state resistance. The border is more than a line. It is a trap. Cross it with weed and you're no longer legal.
Michigan’s new 24 percent wholesale cannabis tax is being sold as a road repair plan but looks more like a cash grab. Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s law faces a constitutional challenge from the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association, while NORML’s Paul Armentano warns that greedy taxation drives consumers back underground and destroys legal markets that voters fought to build. The weed war is back this time in a budget.
Michigan’s new 24% wholesale cannabis tax has ignited outrage across the state. Pitched as a fix for crumbling roads, the law instead cripples small growers and pushes the market back underground. With lawsuits already filed and jobs on the line, the move exposes how easily lawmakers can rewrite voter-approved legalization into a state-sponsored shakedown for profit.
Reefer Report Card Vol. 17 grades the latest moves in cannabis policy. California brings intoxicating hemp under regulated sales, Nebraska misses its medical deadline, a Florida court curbs police search powers, Oregon challenges the interstate commerce ban, and the FDA starts tracking hemp events. Thailand offers a rare global bright spot. Better than last week but still a mess.
