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Green and White All Over

Maryland’s had a rocky start getting its medical cannabis program up and running. Although it passed in 2013, the program stalled after initially requiring that the only growers allowed to grow and distribute cannabis be academic centers. No one stepped up to the plate (including Johns Hopkins University—more on them in a bit), so last year the legislature chose 15 finalists to grow cannabis and another 15 to process it. Turns out every candidate they selected was white, which, you know, happens quite a bit in the industry, and no, it’s not cool.

According to the Cannabist, the chair of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, Cheryl Glenn, stepped up to sponsor a House bill that added five more grower licenses and five more processor licenses. Glenn pointed out that the state’s cannabis law notes that racial diversity should be considered. “Passing this bill will show the country that this is not an issue that we’re going lock African Americans and other minorities from participating in this business venture,” Glenn said before the House vote. “Less than one percent of the licenses held in the entire country are held by African Americans and other minorities.”


Governor Super Friends, Assemble!

The Governors from Oregon, Colorado, Alaska, and Washington sent a letter on April 3 to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, asking that they “engage with us before embarking on any changes to regulatory and enforcement systems.” The letter went on to point out that “overhauling the Cole Memorandum is sure to produce unintended and harmful consequences,” and that “Changes that hurt the regulated market would divert existing marijuana product into the black market and increase dangerous activity in both our states and our neighboring states.”

The four governors, including Oregon’s Kate Brown, concluded by reminding Sessions and Mnuchin that “28 states, representing more than 60 percent of Americans, have authorized some form of marijuana-related conduct.” Earlier in the year, 11 US Senators from eight states with medical or adult-use cannabis programs sent a letter to Sessions asking for virtually the same thing.

No word yet if Sessions read the letter, or if, in fact, he can even read.


We Need a Spine Transplant, Stat!

Johns Hopkins University withdrew from an upcoming federally sanctioned study on cannabis and post-traumatic stress disorder after its study partner called bullshit on the cannabis to be used. The PTSD study is important, as it had something rare: the blessing of the DEA. Johns Hopkins’ withdrawal came about after the study’s administrator, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), challenged federal rules stating that the cannabis used in the studies must come from the black hole of decent cannabis, the research facility at the University of Mississippi. (It’s widely known in cannabis circles how bad Ole Miss’ weed is, and how it’s not at all representative of the quality and variety of cannabis available through other channels.) MAPS will move their study forward at a private lab in Arizona, along with researchers at the Universities of Pennsylvania and Colorado.


Your Pre-Roll May Be on Jenny Craig

Just how fat is your fattie? A new study reveals your doobie may have been hitting a spin class while you weren’t looking. As reported in the Washington Post, a new study published by the Drug and Alcohol Dependence medical journal utilized rigorous statistical analysis to determine the amount in the average American’s joint. And it’s certainly less than most people claim or believe to be present: .32 grams, or a little over one 100th of an ounce. These are some very thin joints—our math says you could squeeze 88.5 pinners per ounce according to these figures.

This reported amount falls comically short of what the average smoker believes to be the size of their joints. High Times did a survey of nearly 3,000 readers, who responded that they believed the average joint weighed in at a much more believable .75 grams, with three in 10 respondents believing their joints were a gram or more. So check the weight of your pre-roll, because a five-dollar joint weighing .32 grams adds up to more than $15 per gram. And at $15 a gram, that had better be some damn good weed.