#alabama marijuana

[cannabisbusinessexecutive]

Who will dispense medical marijuana in Alabama and what will they need to know?

Who will dispense medical marijuana in Alabama and what will they need to know?

The qualifications of the dispensers who will manage the sales of medical marijuana products in Alabama are still to be determined for the state’s new industry. In some states, pharmacists dispense medical cannabis products. It’s unclear whether that will be the case in Alabama. Nothing in the law or regulations passed so far indicates that pharmacists will be involved. Pharmacist Sam Blakemore…

[alapoet]

Local marijuana advocacy groups are asking Alabama lawmakers to decriminalize cannabis convictions during the 2023 legislative session

[steinwayobserver]

Illegal Marijuana Growing Operation Seized in Mobile County

MOBILE COUNTY, AL — An unregistered marijuana growing operation was seized by the Mobile County Sheriff's Department last Friday.

The operation, located 3 miles west of Steinway, consisted of a small high tunnel and just four plants.

While medical marijuana was recently legalized in the state of Alabama, smoking it and taking it in the form of an "edible", or marijuana included in foods intended to be eaten, is still illegal.

The MCSD did not respond to requests for comment.

[topguncortez]

Night Moves | Chapter 1

masterlist | next part

synopsis: Bradley meets the new girl next door, however he finds her in a compromising position.

word count: 4.1k

warnings: nudity, mentions of religious trauma, mentions of teen pregnancy, mentions of drug usage (marijuana), cancer, illusions of mental abuse, abandonment issues

Bradley didn’t get why he had to sit through lifeguard orientation again. It was the third summer in a row he was working at Roaring Waters Water Park and nothing had hardly changed from year to year. It was a good job, it paid well during the summer, but it sucked having to sit in the lifeguard chair while Bradley’s friends hung out in the cool water. If it was up to Bradley, he would be spending the whole summer inside in front of his xbox, taking it easy this summer and taking care of his mother. But Carole Bradshaw was a fierce woman and Bradley knew better than to argue with her. 

“Has Paul changed these slides from 1980?” TJ leaned over and asked Bradley just shrugged and rubbed his eyes. He looked at his watch and wondered if his mom had gotten to her appointment alright. 

About two months ago the Bradshaws had heard the words that no one ever wants to hear. Carole’s cancer had returned and had spread. Bradley feared for the worse, knowing that it was never good if the cancer came back, but Carole was determined to fight once again. She told Bradley if she beat it once, she could beat it again. But the devil on both their shoulders was already yapping in their ears. 

“Alright, any questions on the whistle system?” Paul asked, looking around the room of board lifeguards. Most if not all of the lifeguards had been returners and Bradley didn’t get why they had to go over the handbook in detail like this. “Oh, yes, questions,” Paul nodded towards the back of the room. 

“Is there a cheat sheet posted somewhere?” The accent was thick with a southern twang, clearly from somewhere other than Norfolk. 

“Sweet home Alabama,” Max said under his breath which got a couple laughs. Max was voted class clown in high school, and Bradley used to laugh at his jokes but he had grown tired of them since graduating. In fact, Bradley had grown tired of most of his friends. Maybe it was his mother’s illness or the fact that his whole life had been derailed, but Bradley didn’t find the things funny anymore. 

“Uh yes. . .” Paul looked over the name roster. 

“Y/N,” The girl answered. 

“Ah yes, Y/N, you’re the one from Texas?” 

“Yeah, but my question-” 

“It’s in the handbook,” Bradley groaned. 

The rest of the class went off without a hitch and Paul handed out the summer schedule, t-shirts, first aid fanny packs and whistles. Bradley was putting stuff in his locker, it was the same one he always used from the other summers, his name was still faintly on it. The locker next to his used to belong to Olivia Bachman, one of the hottest lifeguards to ever work at Roaring Waters, but she had graduated and went on to college at NYU. Bradley thought he was pretty cool when she invited him to her end of the summer bonfire, but then he saw that her boyfriend Michael was there and learned that Olivia had invited all of the lifeguard staff. 

“Hey, what’s your schedule look like?” Max asked. 

Bradley looked over at his schedule, seeing that Paul had given him the times he requested, late afternoon so he can still take his mom to appointments in the morning. He handed Max his schedule so he could compare. 

“Ha, you gotta work with Bama,” Max said and handed the schedule back. 

“Bama?” Bradley asked. 

“Oh ya know, miss ‘is there a cheat sheet’?” Max said in a horrible fake accent and laughed at himself. Bradley gave Max a look, “Sorry. Hey! Do you want to play the new fall out-” 

“Can’t,” Bradley said, “I’ve got things to do.” Which included applying to new colleges. He was still undecided on where to go since the whole Maverick thing. 

He was yet to talk to his uncle since finding out that he had pulled his papers and took away his chances of getting into the Naval Academy and following in his father’s footsteps. Ever since Bradley could talk he dreamed of being just like his father, and Maverick knew it. Bradley had done everything he possibly could to get into the Academy. He took his SATs twice, took all the AP classes that he could, had great letters of recommendation from his Uncle Iceman and Slider, and on top of all of that, Bradley was a legacy child. Bradley was a shoo-in for a spot, and would’ve had one if it wasn’t for Maverick. 

“Man, when are you gonna loosen up! You’ve been like a stick in the mud since spring break,” Max groaned and leaned his head against the locker. 

Bradley sighed and closed his locker, “My mom is sick again.” 

Max straightened and looked at his friend. Most of Bradley’s close friends like Max and TJ knew that Carole had cancer once before and had been in remission. Max was one of Bradley’s oldest friends, he was one of the first people that he met when he moved from on base to the small house on Maple street. Max loved Carole and saw her as a second mom. Max’s parents weren’t ever home so he usually spent weekends with Carole and Bradley. Carole used to drive them to all their baseball games in the summer before she got sick the first time. 

“Shit, Brad, I’m sorry,” Max said and looked down at his shoes, “I-I didn’t know.” 

“She hasn’t told a lot of people,” Bradley shrugged, “It’s alright, don’t sweat it.” 

Max smiled sadly, “Well, you know you can always come to mine if you need to. My parents stopped checking the liquor cabinet freshman year.” 

Bradley chuckled, “Thanks.” 

Max nodded and walked out of the breakroom leaving Bradley alone with his thoughts. Bradley sighed and made sure he had what he needed in his locker before leaving for the day. First day starts tomorrow and Bradley was not looking forward to it. Opening day of the summer season was always the busiest and there was always at least one kid who throws up on the pool deck. 

Bradley whistled to himself as he walked to the parking lot, swinging his truck keys around his finger. He had just finished fixing the wheel bearings on it and stopped shaking when it went over forty-five miles per hour. He stopped in his tracks noticing an unfamiliar girl sitting in front of the pool gates. He looked around the barren parking lot not even noticing a bike chained up. 

“You waiting on something?” He asked her. 

“My gran,” Bradley recognized the accent from earlier. 

“Bama.” 

“What?” She narrowed her eyes at him, “So that’s what they called me. Those girls with the fake tans were sayin’ somethin’ earlier but it sounded like banana, y’all Virginia folk sound weird.” 

“We sound weird? You sound like something straight out of a John Wayne movie,” Bradley scoffed, “Do you need a ride?” 

“I can wait,” She said, placing her hand over her eyes to shield them from the unrelenting afternoon sun, “You got a name?” 

“Bradley,” He introduced himself, “I can wait with you.” 

The girl shook her head, “Better you not, Bradley. I’m supposed to be stayin away from the men folk. My gran will lose a damn screw if she sees you sitting next to me.” 

“But she’d rather her granddaughter wait outside in a town she doesn’t even know?” Bradley questioned and the girl just shrugged, “Whatever, ‘Bama.” Bradley started walking towards his truck when he heard her sweet voice say again. 

“It’s Y/N,” He turned towards her, “I’d rather be called ‘Tex’ than godforsaken ‘Bama’.” 

“Y/N, huh. . .Bama suits you better,” Bradley winked and got into his truck. 

He kept his eyes on her the whole time as he pulled out of the parking lot leaving her alone. She had sweet honey brown eyes that pulled him in deep. Her voice was playing over in his head like a record. He shook his head, it had to be that it wasn’t an accent he heard every day, not that he wanted to talk to her again to hear the way his name fell from her pink lips. He did wonder why she was supposed to stay away from the “men folk” or why she was in Virginia in the first place. She was a mystery and it was one mystery that Bradley was now intrigued in. 

When he got home he noticed his mom’s ford focus sitting in the driveway and he sighed. She either forgot about the appointment or it was another short one. He hated short appointments; it meant that her cancer hadn’t shrunk and they were staying with the plan they had already put in place. He sighed, and got out of the truck to go inside. When inside, he opened his mouth to call out to his mother but heard the sounds of retching coming from the upstairs bathroom. It was days like this that Bradley wished his dad was still around. He hated seeing his mother sick, and it had become such a regular occurrence lately. Wordlessly, Bradley went to the kitchen to get a can of ginger ale and a sleeve of saltine crackers. He grabbed her water cup and went upstairs to tend to her. 

Carole leaned her forearm over the toilet seat and rested her head on her arm. She knew she missed her appointment but the drugs had made her sicker than a dog. She could hardly even lay in bed without feeling motion sick, and had puked up probably all the food in her system. She ran her hand through her hair, and grimaced as yet another clump of hair fell out. 

“Hi Mom,” Bradley said, walking into the bathroom. Carole looked up at her son and frowned, watching as he grabbed a cool washcloth and sat on the lip of the bathtub. He placed it on her overheated forehead and she groaned at the coolness. 

“You don’t have to stay here, sweetie. I’ll be fine,” Carole said and patted her son’s thigh. 

“It’s fine,” Bradley said. Carole said that Bradley’s natural calling in life was caregiving. He had been taking care of her since the age of two when his dad died. Of course back then he was still too little to really understand, but when he grew up he filled in the big shoes left behind by Goose. Carole did her best to keep him young, not wanting him to grow up too quickly, but she couldn’t help it. 

“How was work?” 

“Stupid like it always is before the summer starts. Paul shows the same slides from nineteen eighty-two and we sat in a classroom with one box fan,” Bradley rolled his eyes. 

Carole chuckled, “You’ll miss it next year.” 

“No, I don’t think I will,” Bradley answered and Carole shook her head and pushed herself up from the ground. Bradley helped her to her feet, “Where do you want to go?” 

“To bed, please,” Carole said, and Bradley nodded, helping guide her back to her bed, “Can you open the window? I want fresh air.”

Bradley did as she said, opening the large bay window in her bedroom that overlooked the lake. She had bought the house a couple years ago, after the first time she beat cancer. She told Bradley about the night she met his father and they sat on the dock and watched the sunset. Goose had told her some story about knowing the owners, which turned out to be a lie, and they both had to explain to the cop what they were doing on someone else's dock.

Thankfully, at the time Carole’s dad was the chief of police and they both got let off with a warning. But that was the night that both Carole and Goose knew they wanted to marry each other. Goose had told her that he was going to buy the house on the lake, but never got the chance before he died. But Carole did. 

“Bradley,” Carole called out to her son. He looked away from the window and over at her, “What’s on your mind?” 

“Nothing,” He said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. He walked over to her and kissed her forehead, “Get some rest, I have some school stuff to go work on.” 

Carole nodded and felt that pit in her stomach grow as Bradley walked out of her room. She hadn’t told him that she was part of the reason why he wasn’t going to the academy. When she told Maverick she didn’t want her son to fly, he didn’t think he’d go as far as pulling Bradley’s papers out of the academy. She thought maybe he’d do something to make him ineligible for flight school, not completely derail his plans. Bradley was beyond devastated when he came home from school and had heard he wasn’t selected for the academy. He cried into his mother’s arms that night and all Carole could do was hold him. 

But the devastation quickly subsided when he found out from his Uncle Ice that his application had been pulled. He went through the list of possible suspects and landed on the one person who had been interfering with his whole life. The words Bradley Bradshaw had spewed at Pete Mitchell were evil and fueled by anger. Carole had tried to break up the fight between the two of them, but Pete wouldn’t let her, and took the blame. Pete didn’t want Bradley to spend what could be the last possible months with his mother hating her. 

Bradley let out a deep breath as he flopped down on his bed, and laid on his back. He looked up at the glow in the dark stars that had been there since he was ten. Bradley had a hard time throwing things away, which was why he still had the solar system planets hanging down from his ceiling and a Jaws poster that once belonged to his dad hanging on the wall. He smiled softly at the picture of him and his dad that was tapped to his ceiling. He put that up there when he was about eight, and learned a bit more about his dad’s job. 

His mind slowly started replaying Y/N’s accent in his head. The soft twang and the way she said his name. It hadn’t even been in a sexual manner, but he was still in love with it. He had heard his name called in various tones and ways, but none had stuck with him like this. He closed his eyes, suddenly feeling all the blood rush south. He cursed, this had been happening more since he broke up with Brook. He missed having a girl on speed dial to come over and fix this issue. He hardly even knew this girl, why was he thinking about her moaning his name with that sweet accent. 

“Fucking hell, Bradshaw,” Bradley shook his head and reached over for the bottle of lotion on his bedside table, “Get yourself together.” 

Y/N kicked the gravel around under her shoe as she waited for her grandmother to show up. She had texted her and told her the class was over, but she doubted that she saw it, or maybe she was still looking for her cheaters to read the text message. If Y/N knew where she was going she would’ve just walked home by now. But the last time she was in Norfolk, Virginia, she was six. 

When Y/N’s parents told her that she was being sent to Virginia for the summer, she put up a fight. They had gone totally crazy after they caught her smoking weed in the shed with her now ex boyfriend. Her parents were strict Catholics, which always made Y/N laugh cause her mother hardly ever went to church. Gran had told Y/N that her mother, Jessica, spent most Sunday mornings trying to gather up her shoes and clothes. 

Y/N had been a product of a teenage pregnancy, and had spent her whole life being treated as such. Her mother married Craig when Y/N was ten. And two years later came along her little brother and not long after him came her little sister. Both Jessica and Craig had put Y/N aside to care for their children, and paid more attention. 

So maybe, the weed smoking was an act of defiance. But she didn’t expect to be exiled to Virginia because of it. 

Gran hadn’t been happy about the situation either. When Jessica had Y/N, Gran told her that she was not going to raise another baby. Gran had already raised four kids, three of them were out of the house at the time. Jessica had been a surprise and was six years younger than the last eldest sibling. Gran held strong on her word about raising Y/N for Jessica. Of course, Gran would watch Y/N when she had too and helped provide for her, but it was mainly Jessica’s job. Gran had given Jessica a piece of her mind when Y/N showed up on her front door with a full suitcase and backpack. 

Y/N thought she was going to have an easy summer too, but that idea was squashed when Gran woke her up at 7AM and told her to start with chores and that she had a job orientation. If Y/N was living with Gran for the summer, she was going to pay her way and follow the rules. Which, rule number one and the only rule, was no boys. Y/N didn’t think the whole “no boys” thing was gonna be that hard, seeing as mostly every boy she had seen looked like an off the shelf Ken doll. But that was before she saw him. 

His brown curls, his hair a bit too long and looked like the beginning of a mullet. The dirty stache above his lip, Y/N guessed he could hardly grow facial hair. His eyes looked like the color of sweet tea when the sun hit them. He had a nice smile and a cute laugh. And she loved the way her name fell from his lips. 

The sound of tires crunching on the gravel snapped her out of her thoughts about Bradley. Y/N stood up from the curb and dusted off her shorts seeing her grandmother’s beat up old Grandwagoneer pulling into the parking lot. She gave her Gran a tight lipped smile before getting into the passenger seat. 

“How was it?” Her grandmother had to be the only other person in all of Virginia to have a Texas accent. 

“Good,” Y/N answered and buckled up. Gran looked her over and Y/N glanced back at her, “What?” 

“Nothing,” Gran said, putting the car in drive, “Got your momma’s bike out of the garage and had Leroy fix it up. You’ll take that to work.” 

“And if it’s raining?” Y/N asked. 

“Pool ain’t open when it rains, sweetheart,” Gran said and Y/N nodded, “When we get home, wash up and come help with dinner.” 

Later that night, Y/N laid in the backyard of her grandparents house, wide awake. There was no central air in the house, and her grandfather was cheap and didn’t believe in putting in the window units until the forecast predicted a triple degree day. Being outside was more comfortable than being upstairs in the bedroom that once belonged to her mother. The house sat a bit back from the lake, but Y/N could see the shimmer of the water from the moon’s glow. 

She sat up and looked back at the dark house. Her grandparents had gone to bed hours ago, and the cool water was calling her name. She took a deep breath before pushing herself up from the grass and quickly, and quietly walked down towards the lake. She chose to walk on the only dock that didn’t have a boat or jet ski hoist on it, hoping that she was less likely to get caught walking on someone else's property. 

The wood creaked and moaned under her weight. She tiptoed as quietly as she could until she got to the end. The water was up pretty high thanks to the influx of rain they had gotten, and it tickled the bottoms of her feet as she dangled her legs over the end of the dock. 

It was peaceful. Not a single boat or jetski out at night. Even the crickets were quiet and the only sound that could be heard was the small waves crashing against the rocks. Occasionally the sight of glowing fireflies caught her eye. She could remember running around in her Gran’s backyard with her mother trying to capture them in a jar. Oh how did she wish she could go back to those days. 

Y/N bit her lip as an idea came to her head. There was not a single soul out and the night was pitch black. She stood up from the dock, grabbing the bottom hem of her long sundress, she pulled it over her head. She slipped her underwear down her legs and threw them into the heap of dress sitting on the dock. Ever so carefully she lowered herself into the cold lake water, trying to make as little splash as possible. When she slipped in, she went completely underwater, feeling refreshed by the water. She giggled as she waded in the water on her back, feeling her hair float out around her. Her eyes were trained on the sky, trying to figure out the patterns in the stars. 

“What the hell are you doing?” 

Y/N quickly sat up and covered her chest, seeing the boy from earlier in the day standing by her clothes. 

“Brandon, right?” Y/N asked. 

“Bradley,” He corrected, “And you didn’t answer my question. . . what the hell are you doing?” 

Y/N held her arms out and gestured to the water, “Swimming.” 

“At ten pm?” She nodded, “Naked?” She blushed but nodded again. Bradley shook his head and squatted down to be closer to her level. Y/N swam closer to him, keeping eye contact the whole time. Even at night his eyes still looked warm and inviting. 

“How’s the water?” He asked. 

“Good,” Y/N said, “You should join me.” 

Bradley smirked, “I’m gonna let you in a little secret, Tex, since you’re not from around here.” 

“And that is?” 

“You get caught swimming naked in the lake, it's a thousand dollar fine and a free ride down to the station.” Her smile dropped at his words, “I stopped my mom from calling the cops, can’t be so sure about the Hamiltons next door.” 

“I didn’t bring a towel,” She spoke softly. Bradley smiled as he held up a towel in his hand. 

“C’mon, I’ll help ya,” He reached his hand out towards her. She gently placed her smaller hand in his large one. She could see the muscles in his arm flex as she took it, ready to pull her out. But Y/N had a trick up her sleeve as she wrapped both her hands around Bradley’s and pulled him in. 

“Shit!” Bradley yelled and tossed the towel on the dock as he went in head first. Y/N giggled as he broke the surface, huffing and puffing, “Oh you think this is funny, Bama!” 

“Hilarious, Bentley,” Y/N said, slowly swimming away from him. Bradley moved towards her, kind of like Jaws coming for his prey. Neither one seemed to care for Y/N’s lack of clothing as they splashed about in the water. 

Carole stepped out onto the back porch, feeling the cool night air whip past her. She pulled the sleeves of her cardigan tighter around her body as she crossed her arms over her chest. A smile danced on her lips as she watched Bradley splash water onto the girl, her giggle filling the air. It was like deja vu, as Carole closed her eyes and remembered a night quite like this one several years ago. The sound of her husband's voice filled her head as she felt a warm wind brush against her. She opened her eyes and looked back towards the lake to see Bradley holding the girl in his arms, his lips on hers. Carole shook her head with a small laugh. 

“Bradley James Bradshaw. . . what have you gotten yourself into,” Carole whispered to herself as she set an extra beach towel on the back steps and then went back inside.

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[beardedmrbean]

An Alabama mom was arrested after sheriff deputies discovered two kilos of cocaine stuffed inside the blue Nike backpack that her 3-year-old was wearing.

Mobile County Sheriff deputies arrested Tierra Tocorra Hill, 35, after they discovered $450,000 worth of narcotics and multiple firearms during a search of her car and home, according to WKRG.

Deputies with the narcotics team had received a tip about the mom having large amounts of drugs inside the home she shared with her four children, ages 3, 8, 10 and 15, and began surveillance of the house.

They waited until Hill left in her car and then pulled her over in a traffic stop. They searched the vehicle and allegedly found 1.5 kilograms of cocaine, a handgun and a small amount of marijuana, the local CBS affiliate station reported.

But that discovery only touched the surface.

The narcotics investigators were granted a search warrant for Hill’s home, which they executed shortly after.

Inside the home, they met the toddler with the blue backpack. They searched the bag and allegedly discovered 2 kilograms of cocaine inside.

“It’s safe to say that the 3-year-old probably did not put the drugs in the backpack,” Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch told the local news station. “Each kilo is 2.2 pounds and they commonly refer to that as a brick, so you got two bricks in the backpack being worn by a three-year-old.”

The deputies found another kilogram and two handguns inside another backpack in the house as well.

The four children were inside the home at the time with no adults present. The drugs and guns were easily accessible to the kids, the sheriff’s office noted.

“Say making a poor decision, I think that’s giving too much credit. I think she made a deliberate decision,” Burch said.

“I think she made a deliberate decision to ride around with substantial amounts of drugs and a firearm in her car and leave her children home unintended with even more cocaine and more drugs, so that’s a deliberate action, not a poor decision,” the sheriff added.

Hill was charged with trafficking cocaine, second-degree possession of marijuana, tampering with physical evidence and four counts of chemical endangerment of a child.

[itsmythang]

We literally watch horror stories everyday and it’s just “news”

What type of devil resides in evil, cold-hearted, racist colonizers?

This is so honestly so sad! An Alabama cop is on administrative leave after cameras caught her tasing a crying black man as he laid on top of a car in handcuffs. ————————————————— According to the Alabama Political Reporter, 24-year-old Micah Washington and two other people were in Reform, Alabama changing a tire when the officer pulled up and began to question them. When things began to escalate, the officer handcuffed Micah and threw him against her patrol car. In the video, you can see Micah following her orders while she continues to verbally assault him. He then informs her that there’s a gun in his pocket, from which she takes it out and says “Oh yeah!” ________________________________________ Micah, who is obviously confused, questions why the officer said that, given he didn’t pull the weapon out on her. The officer then abruptly tases him in the back as Micah screams in pain and begins to cry. The officer, showing no remorse, readjusts the taser and tells Micah to “shut the f*** up” or she’ll do it again. “Shut yo b**** a** up,” she says before the video ends. _________________________________________ Since the video has gone viral, the officer is currently suspended and the Reform Police Department is investigating the situation. Micah was charged with resisting arrest, marijuana possession, obstructing governmental operations, drug trafficking and possessing a firearm as a felon. ———————————————- “The department is in the process of turning over all materials related to this arrest to the Alabama State Bureau of Investigation and has requested a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the arrest,’’ the release from the police department stated. _________________________________________

[strange-broo]

The story behind my favorite picture of my grandmother.

In the early ‘80s, my grandmother was working for a newspaper in a small town in Alabama. She was asked to cover a story about a local marijuana bust. Thus this photo was taken.

[us-laws-you-should-know]

Marijuana Legality: The Quick(er) Version

A few days ago, I started writing a very long, very detailed post about marijuana legality state by state... and it got eaten by tumblr's drafts features.

This post is going to be the Cliff Notes version of that post.

First off, Wikipedia's Legality of cannabis by U.S. jurisdiction page is an excellent resource for this. It doesn't capture everything, but it captures a lot, and you can always go to linked pages for individual states and/or check the linked sources for more information.

The short(ish) version:

Under federal law, specifically the Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is a Schedule I drug and cannot be prescribed or possessed legally aside from a very tightly-controlled quota for scientific research purposes. This scheduling includes language stating that marijuana "has no currently accepted medical use" and "[t]here is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision", which is... arguable.

There is a process for changing drugs, including marijuana, to a less restrictive schedule under the Controlled Substances Act or removing them as a controlled substance altogether. But that process hasn't happened for marijuana so far.

Technically, this supersedes state and local law on the subject; state law can be more restrictive than federal law, but not less restrictive, or else the whole idea of federal law governing the whole country is moot. Theoretically, that means that federal police could arrest anyone, anywhere, for marijuana possession under the Controlled Substances Act, regardless of what local authorities say on the matter.

Realistically, that's highly unlikely. Any case where someone gets arrested for marijuana in a state that says it's okay is practically asking for a Supreme Court case on the matter, and said Supreme Court ruling would inevitable be controversial and divisive, and right now everybody's content to just... pretend the federal law doesn't exist when the state says otherwise. Probably some years down the line such a Supreme Court case will indeed happen and cause a shift to the current murky and unstable status quo, but it's highly unlikely that said Supreme Court case will star you, random marijuana user. (And if it does, well, upside is there's bound to be a bunch of folks willing to represent you for free just to get in on the action!)

Also, the federal police are busy, and hey, if they don't have to worry about marijuana use in a large chunk of the country, that just gives them more time to go after other kinds of federal criminals.

So, if state law's what matters, what do the states say?

Again, I point you to the Wikipedia page outlining exactly this. (It's most of what I'm using for a resource here myself.)

Recreational use of marijuana is legal in 24 states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington state), three U.S. territories (Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and U.S. Virgin Islands), and Washington D.C. Note that Ohio's measure here is newly passed and doesn't actually take effect until December 7, 2023, three days from now.

Commercial distribution is legal everywhere that recreational use is legal except Virginia and Washington D.C.

Personal cultivation for recreational use is legal everywhere that recreational use is legal except Delaware, Illinois, New Jersey, and Washington state.

Recreational use is decriminalized in Hawaii, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and North Dakota.

Medicinal use of marijuana is legal in 38 states (the recreational use ones, plus Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia), four U.S. territories (the recreational use ones plus Puerto Rico), and Washington D.C.

Medicinal use is decriminalized in Nebraska and North Carolina.

Iowa gets a special shout-out here for allowing medicinal marijuana, but not allowing any actual distributors of said medicinal marijuana in the state; medicinal marijuana patients need to go out-of-state to get their marijuana supplies, but those supplies remain legal upon bringing them back to Iowa.

Personal cultivation for medicinal use is legal everywhere that recreational cultivation is legal plus Illinois, Washington state, Hawaii, Oklahoma, and South Dakota.

Marijuana remains illegal for both medicinal and recreational use in ten states: Georgia (though several cities/counties in Georgia have decriminalized it), Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, and also the territory of American Samoa. Everywhere but American Samoa has some exception for CBD oil, though, with limits on the percentage of THC present.

A number of Native American reservations have also legalized marijuana use, either recreational or medicinal.

Most of these laws have restrictions beyond just "it's legal". You might have to be 18 to purchase marijuana, or 19, or 21; there's generally a maximum amount you're allowed to possess, or grow, at one time; medicinal use might be restricted to specific symptoms or conditions outlined in the original law; details may vary about having it in a public place, or about the specific forms allowed.

Also, some laws specifically address potential effects of marijuana use within the state beyond simple criminality. Can marijuana use be considered in a child welfare case, and held against you as a parent? Can use of medicinal marijuana get you fired if you fail a drug test your employer gave you, or just because your employer doesn't like it? Does being fired for using marijuana count as being fired "for cause" for unemployment purposes? Can marijuana use disqualify you from accessing needed health care like organ transplants? Excellent questions! The answers will vary. Or they might not be specified in the original statute at all, which leaves it open for the courts to decide.

If you're going to purchase and/or consume marijuana, please, look up all the details of your local laws on the matter beforehand.

[queersatanic]

At a traffic stop, the police officer found a small amount of weed. Ashley Banks, a 23-year-old woman living in Alabama, admitted to the cops that she had smoked marijuana two days earlier. It was the same day that she learned she was pregnant. She was six weeks along. It was this disclosure – that she was pregnant – that led Etowah county officials to keep her in jail, without a trial, for the next three months.

Alabama has an exceptionally high incarceration rate, locking up about 938 people per 100,000 residents. But even in a state with a disproportionate prison population, an arrest for small-scale drug possession would not usually lead to such an extended pre-trial jail stay. But Banks fell victim to a peculiar Alabama law that advocates say Etowah county enforces with special zeal: pregnant women who are arrested for drug offenses are not allowed to post bail and go free, the way other people are. They have to stay in state custody: either in jail, or in a residential drug rehab program. The logic is that the women are a danger to their fetuses: they need to be imprisoned by the state, and kept from their freedom, in order to protect their pregnancies.

In Banks’s case, jail officials tried to send her to rehab, but after an assessment, the facility turned her away: Banks, they said, was merely a casual marijuana user, not an addict, and did not need in-patient drug treatment. Too healthy for rehab, but not trusted enough by the state to be set free, she was kept in limbo in jail. Meanwhile, Banks’s pregnancy wasn’t going well. She has a family history of miscarriages, and was experiencing bleeding in jail. At one point, jail officials assigned her to sleep in a bed that was already occupied by another prisoner; Banks slept on the floor.

[cannabisbusinessexecutive]

Companies begin requesting applications for medical marijuana licenses in Alabama

Companies begin requesting applications for medical marijuana licenses in Alabama

One week into the opening of applications into the cannabis industry, there are already many more suitors then there are licenses to give. John McMillan, head of the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission, said there have already been around 200 total application requests with still a month left for applications to be made. But McMillan said he expects the number of serious contenders will be much…

[alapoet]

Pregnant women arrested for weed in Alabama aren’t even allowed to post bail and go free like everyone else. They have to stay in custody: either in jail, or in drug rehab 😡

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

One week after the federal government made it easier to get abortion pills, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said Tuesday that women in Alabama who use those pills to end pregnancies could be prosecuted.

That’s despite wording in Alabama’s new Human Life Protection Act that criminalizes abortion providers and prevents its use against the people receiving abortions. Instead, the attorney general’s office said Alabama could rely on an older law, one initially designed to protect children from meth lab fumes.

“The Human Life Protection Act targets abortion providers, exempting women ‘upon whom an abortion is performed or attempted to be performed’ from liability under the law,” Marshall said in an emailed statement. “It does not provide an across-the-board exemption from all criminal laws, including the chemical-endangerment law—which the Alabama Supreme Court has affirmed and reaffirmed protects unborn children.”

The announcement followed changes last week to regulations of two medications commonly prescribed for abortion. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized a change that will allow brick-and-mortar and mail-order pharmacies to dispense mifepristone and misoprostol, two drugs used in more than half of abortions in the United States.

Before the change, people using medication for abortions had to pick it up at specialty clinics. Officials at the U.S. Department of Justice issued an opinion that carriers with the U.S. Postal Service could deliver pills in states that banned abortion. The new rules will expand access through telehealth and mail-order pharmacies but could set up clashes with anti-abortion states such as Alabama.

Marshall has said in the past his office could prosecute doctors with U.S. Veterans Affairs who perform abortions for victims of rape or incest. He has also said people who assist in setting up out-of-state abortions could face criminal penalties. This is the first time he has said police and prosecutors could arrest women who have undergone medication abortion.

“Promoting the remote prescription and administration of abortion pills endangers both women and unborn children,” Marshall said in an email. “Elective abortion—including abortion pills—is illegal in Alabama. Nothing about the Justice Department’s guidance changes that. Anyone who remotely prescribes abortion pills in Alabama does so at their own peril: I will vigorously enforce Alabama law to protect unborn life.”

In 2019, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed the Human Life Protection Act, which banned abortion except in cases where the mother’s health is in danger. That law went into effect when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade last summer.

The law specifically states that women receiving abortions cannot be held criminally liable. However, Marshall said women using pills to induce abortions could be prosecuted under the chemical endangerment law.

Lawmakers passed the chemical endangerment law in 2006 to protect small children from fumes and chemicals from home-based meth labs. District attorneys soon began applying the law to protect the fetuses of women who used various drugs during pregnancy. Justices on the Alabama Supreme Court upheld and affirmed prosecutions of pregnant people in 2013 and 2014.

Since then, the law has been used against more than a thousand Alabama women who used drugs during pregnancy. Its enforcement varies widely. District attorneys in some counties rarely apply the law to pregnant women, while others routinely arrest those who use any illegal substance, including marijuana, while pregnant.

The chemical endangerment law has been used to incarcerate women for years who have had miscarriages or stillbirths after using drugs. Etowah County officials jailed pregnant women for months before trial under bond conditions designed to protect fetuses, despite evidence that incarceration increases the risk of pregnancy loss. After the publication of an investigative series in 2015 by ProPublica and Al.com, lawmakers voted to amend the law so it couldn’t be used against women who had lawful prescriptions from doctors.

Attorneys with Pregnancy Justice, a legal organization that represents pregnant women, have fought efforts to criminalize pregnancy and abortion. Emma Roth, a staff attorney at Pregnancy Justice, said prosecutors have already twisted the chemical endangerment law so it can be used against pregnant women. Using the law to go after those who use medications to induce abortions could be unlawful and would undermine the goals of lawmakers who voted for the Human Life Protection Act, she said.

“The Alabama legislature made clear its opposition to any such prosecution when it explicitly exempted patients from criminal liability under its abortion ban,” Roth said in an email. “Yet Alabama prosecutors and courts have shown a willingness to disregard legislative intent time and again in their crusade to criminalize pregnant women. Pregnancy Justice stands ready to challenge any attempt to expand the chemical endangerment statute to criminalize the use of abortion medication.”

JaTaune Bosby Gilchrist, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama, said women have the right to receive prescriptions from out-of-state doctors.

“The ACLU of Alabama is disappointed to learn that Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is continuing to insert himself into a person’s medical exam room,” Gilchrist said. “Medical decisions should remain the private choice between a patient and doctor. The Alabama Attorney General lacks the jurisdiction to prosecute Alabamians from receiving legal and legitimate medical services prescribed outside the state of Alabama.”

[truecrimetime]

The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway

Natalee Holloway was an 18-year-old American whose mysterious disappearance made international news after she vanished on May 30, 2005, near the end of a high school graduation trip to Aruba in the Caribbean. Holloway was scheduled to fly home from the Caribbean island on May 30, 2005, but she failed to appear for her flight. Her classmates had stated that the last time they saw Holloway was outside of Carlos'n Charlie's, a restaurant and nightclub in Oranjestad. She was in a car with local residents Jordan van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satfish Kalpoe. The three men were questioned and said that they dropped Holloway off at her hotel and denied knowing what had become of her.

 Upon further investigation by authorities, Van der Sloot was arrested twice on suspicion of involvement in her disappearance and the Kalpoes were each arrested three times. However, due to a lack of evidence, the three suspects were released each time without being charged with a crime.  Holloway's parents have criticized Aruban police for the lack of progress in the investigation and interrogation of the three men who were last seen with their daughter.

With the assistance of hundreds of volunteers, Aruban investigators conducted an extensive search operation. American special agents from the FBI, 50 Dutch soldiers and three specially equipped Dutch Air Force F-16 aircraft participated in the search. In addition to the ground search, divers searched the ocean for Holloway's body. Despite all of these search efforts, Holloway's body was never found. On December 18, 2007, Aruban prosecutors announced that the case would be closed without charging anyone with a crime.

On February 1, 2008, the Aruban prosecutor's office reopened the case after receiving footage of Van der Sloot, under the influence of marijuana, saying that Holloway had died on the morning of her disappearance, and that a friend has disposed of her body. Van der Sloot later denied that what he said was true. In a future interview he said that he had sold Holloway into sexual slavery but later retracted those that claim. In January 2012, Van der Sloot was convicted of the May 30, 2010, murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores Ramírez In Lima, Peru.

At the request of Holloway's father, Alabama judge, Alan King declared Holloway legally dead on January 12, 2012. Her body has never been found.

[carsonjonesfiance]

On one hand it's nice to know that even the Alabama House of Representatives acknowledges that the inexorable march of progress will see recreational marijuana legalized but not quite yet.

On the other hand I personally find most potheads insufferable so I'm not looking forward to the time-frame of "within the decade"

[astralforests]

speaking of weed alabama is continuing to fuck around wrt getting medical marijuana running and it is so frustrating they've already outlawed fun (no smoking no edibles gummies only available in one flavor and they decided on PEACH?) are only allowing like 4 dispensaries in the entire state and now it turns out one guy on the board wasn't technically allowed to hold that position so he's resigned and they have to redo all the industry approvals and i'm soooo tired i thought i would be out of here by now but i'm not and i can't even get weed? boo

[coochiequeens]

Oklahoma wants women to go through with pregnancies but not let them have relief for morning sickness.

NEWKIRK, OKLA. — Early in her pregnancy, Amanda Aguilar struggled with severe nausea that sometimes made it hard to eat. 

A doctor had previously approved a medical marijuana license for her, so she used pot to ease her morning sickness.

This story was produced with the Oklahoma nonprofit newsroom The Frontier.

Aguilar, 33, said she stopped using marijuana after her third month of pregnancy and tested negative for the drug after her healthy son was born in October 2020. But the hospital found traces of marijuana in her baby’s stool.

Two months later, the district attorney in Aguilar’s mostly rural county near the Kansas border charged her with child neglect, a felony. She has decided to fight the charge, and recently declined to comment on the advice of her public defender.

She is one of at least 26 women charged with felony child neglect in Oklahoma since 2019 for using marijuana during their pregnancies, an investigation by The Frontier found. The crime can carry a term of up to life in prison in Oklahoma, though previous defendants pleaded guilty and received probation.

At least eight of the women had state medical marijuana licenses, which allow holders to legally purchase and use cannabis after a recommendation from a physician. 

The nonprofit National Advocates for Pregnant Women, which tracks pregnancy-related prosecutions, says these Oklahoma cases are the only ones of this kind the group has heard about. In Alabama, pregnant women have been prosecuted after filling prescriptions for medications from their doctors.

Officials in Arizona placed one mother on a career-limiting child abuse registry after the birth of her son in 2019, claiming she had neglected her unborn child by using marijuana with a medical license. That case was overturned earlier this year, with the appeals court finding that medical marijuana was similar to any medicine used under physician's care.

In Oklahoma, the issue of whether medical marijuana can be considered an “illegal drug” is likely to be key in future prosecutions. People in Oklahoma can be charged with child neglect for using illegal drugs while pregnant, under rulings in 2020 and 2021 by the state Court of Criminal Appeals. These rulings all involved women who used methamphetamine during their pregnancies. Women here have been prosecuted even after giving birth to healthy babies.

But marijuana is generally legal for people in the state if they have a license from the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority. 

The agency says it has no rules prohibiting pregnant people from using the drug or holding a license, and there are no penalties for doing so. Oklahoma doesn’t require doctors to ask if someone is pregnant or may become pregnant before signing off on a medical marijuana license.

Medical licenses and cannabis products in the state do carry advisory warnings against use during pregnancy, similar to those found on cigarette packaging. Medical experts advise against using marijuana, cigarettes, alcohol and other drugs while pregnant. 

Brian Hermanson, one of two prosecutors in the state who has brought charges against pregnant women, has not responded to multiple recent requests for comment. In past interviews, he has said the warnings on Oklahoma’s medical marijuana license justify his cases against mothers.

“If they make bad decisions about using drugs while they're pregnant, they're probably going to make other bad decisions when raising the child,” he said last November. 

The prosecutions involving medical marijuana are “inconsistent with state law,” said Ryan Kiesel, a civil rights attorney and former Oklahoma lawmaker who worked on litigation on behalf of the 2018 campaign to legalize medical marijuana in the state. 

“Those women are protected as medical marijuana patients under the law,” Kiesel said. “It's important to remember, if you have a medical marijuana license, you are under the care of a physician.” 

Dana Sussman, acting executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, said Hermanson is exceeding his authority by applying his own ideas about parenting to medical marijuana patients. 

“His role as a prosecutor is not to impose his moral authority on the people in his jurisdiction,” Sussman said. 

Three-quarters of U.S. states permit marijuana use for medical purposes, and 19 have authorized recreational use. Oklahoma may vote on legalizing recreational marijuana use in a coming election, now that legalization proponents have submitted more than the required number of signatures to get the measure on the ballot. Similar measures have already qualified for referendums this year in Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota. 

Between 2002 and 2017, the proportion of U.S. women who reported using marijuana during the first trimester of pregnancy grew from under 6% to 12%, according to data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which collected information from close to half a million women.

The number of Oklahoma newborns who tested positive for marijuana has jumped more than 160% since state voters legalized medical use in 2018, according to data from the state Department of Human Services. More than three-quarters of the roughly 1,000 newborns who tested positive for drugs in the 12 months ending in June 2021 were exposed to marijuana in the womb.

While drugs like methamphetamine and cocaine pass through the body rapidly, it’s possible for evidence of marijuana to show up in a newborn screening months after a mother’s last use, according to medical journals and court testimony. 

But Dr. Mishka Terplan, who has researched substance use in pregnancy and has helped develop American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist guidance on addiction, said decades' worth of data on prenatal exposure to cannabis suggests any long-term health effects on babies are minimal. The impact of cannabis exposure in the womb can also be hard to separate from that of tobacco use and other health and environmental factors, he said. 

The threat of criminal prosecution in Oklahoma has made it harder to gain pregnant patients’ trust and to provide treatment, said Dr. Stephanie Pierce, who runs a clinic for pregnant women with substance-use disorders at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Instead of acting as a deterrent for drug use, she added, fear of arrest can keep women from seeking prenatal care. 

“We know that if you don't get regular prenatal care during pregnancy, or if you come to prenatal care really late, that's a huge risk factor for adverse outcomes in the pregnancy,” Pierce said. “So it really just kind of compounds all of their risks.”

I wonder if the state would take their anti drugs during pregnancy far enough to penalize others for smoking pot around a pregnant woman? Would young men be asked if their girlfriends or wives are planning on becoming pregnant before they get their prescription filled?