WeedLife News Network

An attorney in Myrtle Beach wants to write a law that would decriminalize cannabis in the city of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. 

Jonny McCoy is the man who served as attorney for Julian Betton, a man who was shot nine times by police during a drug raid in Myrtle Beach in 2015. Now, McCoy wants the city to decriminalize cannabis so something like this doesn’t happen again. 

“In South Carolina, if you get stopped and you get arrested and you have 28 grams of marijuana on you, you go to jail. My office is right here and we’re filled to the brim with clients who’ve been arrested for simple possession of marijuana,” McCoy said.

McCoy’s proposal would decriminalize cannabis just within city limits. Simple possession wouldn’t carry with it a serious criminal punishment, and this would hopefully decrease incidents like the one that left Betton wounded. Although Betton received $11.25 million in a settlement with the state, he is still permanently disabled from the accident. 

“In my mind, you go to jail, you pay a bond and you get out. If you can pay the bond. But in this instance, you would get a ticket, and get out,” said Gregg Smith of Myrtle Beach City Council, who has seen the proposal. “To me, it’s something worth looking at. I don’t know if it’s the right answer, but it’s something worth looking at.”  

New Jersey lawmakers have introduced a bill that would decrease punishments for marijuana possession from arrests to fines, reviving a years-long effort as the nation grapples with racial bias and brutality in policing.

The new bill, S2535, introduced to the state Senate Thursday afternoon, would decriminalize possession and distribution of less than one pound of weed, but would not make marijuana legal. Violators would receive a written warning for a first offense and a face fines of $25 for second and subsequent offenses.

“We have been over-penalizing marijuana offenses for far too long. We all know it is not nearly as dangerous as heroin or cocaine and it has no place being classified with them in statute,” Sen. Sandra Cunningham, D-Hudson, a bill sponsor, said in a statement.

“This legislation will right the ship, revising the damaging criminal codes put in place under the war on drugs, which were intentionally created to target the black community.”

Currently, possessing from one ounce to five pounds is an offense punishable by three to five years in prison and up to a $25,000 fine. Under the new bill, anyone caught with more than one pound of weed would receive a disorderly persons offense, punishable by six months in jail and up to $1,000 in fines.

Though NORML said marijuana legalization will not solve racial injustice in America, the organization believes it can be “an important part of this emerging discussion.”

The National Organization for the Reformation of Marijuana Laws (NORML) released a statement this week detailing how marijuana advocates can play a role in enacting racial justice in America. Following George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police, voices across the nation have protested against police brutality and policies that disproportionately target communities of color.

Racial inequalities have long existed in enforcing drug policies. According to analysis by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), African Americans are close to four times as likely to get arrested for marijuana possession compared to white Americans, despite the group consuming marijuana at similar rates. In some states, black people were up to six, eight, or almost ten times more likely to be arrested. From 2010 to 2018, racial disparities actually increased in marijuana enforcement.

“As protests continue to take place across our nation, more Americans are beginning to publicly demand action from their local, state, and federal leaders to end the policies and practices that promote, enable, and drive systemic racial injustice,” NORML executive director Erik Altieri said in a statement.

“In these conversations about policy solutions, many will include in their demands an ending to the war on drugs — or, at a minimum, an ending to marijuana criminalization. But while ending cannabis prohibition is both important and necessary, we must also recognize that doing so is but a single piece of a much larger puzzle.”

The movement to show support for Black Lives Matter has encompassed the nation. Protests have erupted calling for systematic change, police have responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, stores have been ransacked, including some in the cannabis industry.

We help, in part, beginning in the smallest way—where our money goes.

Not every consumer knows where they spend precious dollars, or how to best contribute their money to causes and people they want to support. As we become more conscious consumers, Green Entrepreneur is highlighting small businesses and black-owned, equity, indigenous, and people of color-owned businesses.

In cannabis, those businesses are few-and-far-between. Equity entrepreneurs work tirelessly to receive licenses in their respective markets. Against all odds, sometimes with massive inequities in funding and access to the type of revenue stream that cannabis industry businesses need to get off the ground. They deserve patronage now.

Here are 20 black-owned cannabis businesses that you can support.

America’s cannabis industry is a fractured marketplace. A scattered hodgepodge of state, county, and local municipalities piecing together a byzantine set of rules and regulations that seem to defy logic and common sense. And don’t even get me started about the social media restrictions.

Figuring out which hoops brands have to jump through within each state takes up enormous resources. But the fog of this minutiae can cloud the bigger picture: Do you know who your audience truly is?

To define how consumer psychographics can vary from state to state, we at The Statement Group dug into the analytics of cannabis consumers in Florida and California. While Florida is a medical-only state, it is a growing powerhouse with massive potential that will only increase as restrictions loosen. And California is already the largest legal cannabis market on the planet.

Below are four notable macro-level takeaways on the behavioral interests and psychographic makeup of each state’s consumers. We define those consumers by analyzing the millions of connections across those following a cross-section of brands in each state.

This analysis gives us the ability to understand the broad differences in interests (can you guess which state loves Porsche more?), as well as digs deep into the data to find the granular passions specific to each brand. We get insights into everything from which influencers their audience actually follows most, to the publications and other brands they consume. Answering these questions is vital for brands to build laser-focused marketing strategies and create deeper connections with their target audience.

A new poll found that 65% of Arizonans would vote for the Smart and Safe Arizona Act if it makes it onto the ballot this November. The initiative would legalize marijuana use and possession for adults 21 years and older in Arizona.

The poll by HighGround also found that just 25% said they’d oppose the ballot measure and 9% are still undecided, AZ Mirror reported.

In March, the Smart and Safe Arizona ballot initiative reported that it had already gathered more than 300,000 signatures, well surpassing the 237,645 required to get listed on the ballots in November.

“Voters 50 and older are likely to make up more than half of the Arizona electorate this November,” said HighGround. “Despite reservations that these audiences have indicated in the past, they appear likely to support Smart and Safe Arizona this time around. Voters 50-64 support the proposal with 63% and 65 and older indicated 55% support… In fact, across all demographics, the only subset that did not achieve a majority of support was among those who described themselves as ‘Very conservative.’ Among that audience, the issue was split evenly – 47.6% in favor and 47.6% opposed.”

In 2016, Proposition 205, an initiative attempting to legalize recreational marijuana in Arizona, failed 48.23% to 51.77%. This failure was, in part, due to pro-marijuana Arizonans vying for multiple initiatives instead of compromising on Prop 205, which was by far the most popular initiative with the best chance of winning. If Arizonans had joined forces, Prop 205 would have passed and adults in Arizona could have been enjoying legalized recreational cannabis for the past few years.