Alabama Senate Panel Passes Bill To End Jail Time For Pot Possession

An Alabama legislative committee approved a bill on Wednesday that would eliminate jail time as a punishment for marijuana possession offenses. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 6 to 3 to approve the measure, SB149, which will now be considered by the full Senate. Under the bill, penalties for marijuana possession convictions would be limited to fines and those convicted of such offenses would no longer be subject to incarceration. Cases involving possession of less than two ounces of cannabis would no longer be considered a misdemeanor. Instead, such offenses would be considered a violation punishable by a fine of not […]

Alabama Cannabis News

Republican State Senator Trying Again To Bring Medical Cannabis To Alabama

February 3, 2021February 3, 2021

One Republican lawmaker in Alabama is re-upping his efforts to bring medical cannabis to his state. A bill put up by state Sen. Tim Melson reportedly won easy passage out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, with local TV station WAAY saying it was approved by an 8-3 margin. Groundhog Day may have fallen on Tuesday, but the effort likely still feels quite familiar to Melson. After all, it was a year ago when the GOP legislator put up a bill to legalize medical cannabis in Alabama, something that has been done in nearly 40 other states. That proposal […]

Alabama Cannabis Colorado

New 'national alt-weekly' The News Station has roots in the Colorado cannabis world – The Colorado Independent

November 14, 2020November 15, 2020

A laptop open to The News Station, a site styled as a “national alt-weekly” with a Colorado cannabis connection (Photo by Corey Hutchins) A new digital site that’s recruiting freelance journalists and looking to become a “national alt-weekly” is co-owned by a former Colorado journalist-turned cannabis PR guy. The News Station, whose managing editor Matt Laslo, a D.C-based journalist who put out a call for new writers this week, is a recently expanded and spun-off national project co-owned by Peter Marcus of Arvada. A former reporter for The Durango Herald and Colorado Politics, Marcus left journalism in 2017 to become director of communications for the privately-owned Terrapin Care Station, one of […]

Alabama Cannabis

Five States Voted to Legalize Cannabis, What it Means for Each

November 5, 2020November 15, 2020

While the country waits with bated breath for the results of the presidential election to trickle in, some results have already made history. The election wasn’t just about the individuals who will be representing different localities; people also voted on the direction their states will take. Several states made historic decisions regarding marijuana. There were five states voting to legalize cannabis in some capacity: Arizona, New Jersey, South Dakota, Montana, and Mississippi. Every single measure passed. Continue Reading Below Mississippi Mississippi’s step was the most modest, but could represent the most impactful change due to the state’s sluggish pace and […]

Alabama Health

Alabama Archives Faces Its Legacy As Confederate “Attic”

September 21, 2020October 3, 2020

1 / 4 Racial Injustice Confederate Archives Steve Murray, director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, looks through boxes containing archival materials in Montgomery, Ala., on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. Murray and other current leaders of the agency are confronting the early legacy of the department, which once embraced the “lost cause” version of Civil War history that diminished the role of slavery and portrayed the Southern cause as noble. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves) MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Hundreds of memorials glorifying the Confederacy had been erected by the time Marie Bankhead Owen built what may have been the […]

Alabama Vaping

American Lung Association addresses youth vaping – Trussvilletribune

September 11, 2020September 15, 2020

From The Tribune staff reports BIRMINGHAM — On Tuesday, Sept. 1, the American Lung Association in Alabama announced a comprehensive plan to end youth vaping. The plan is broken down into four components, including an Ad Council awareness campaign, the Vape-Free Schools Initiative, advocacy efforts and a $2 million research investment. In Alabama, 19% of high school students used e-cigarettes in 2019, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey. Vaping harms developing lungs and overall health and may place people at an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19. “With kids back in school, more students […]

Alabama Cannabis

Will Trulieve Dominate Cannabis in the South? – Cannabis Wire

August 31, 2020September 1, 2020

Cannabis reform has, until recently, come along slowly in the southern United States. But the region is home to the third most populous state, and one of the largest cannabis markets in the country: Florida. While there are more than a dozen active medical cannabis companies in the state, one company, Trulieve, is behind half of all medical cannabis product sales to the state’s nearly 400,000 patients. Trulieve is already eyeing Florida’s neighbors, according to a Cannabis Wire analysis of state lobbying disclosures. The company is registered to lobby in Georgia and Alabama, and, while Trulieve would not comment on […]