Here's your weekly weed news update for the DMV!
Washington, DC
The latest spending bill being passed around the House omits the "Harris rider" language that currently prohibits the District from passing tax & sales laws for marijuana like other like-minded states. On account of its not a state and the federal govt is in charge of the purse-strings after fiscal mismanagement in the 90s under Mayor Marion Berry.
There's still a long ways to go before the spending bill is passed. It needs to pass the Appropriations Committee and a Floor Vote. And the Senate. Yikes! Remember, DC has been used in the past as a bargaining chip in Congressional negotiations.
Much like a Silver Age villain, the notorious Rider may rear its ugly, stupid Harris-head yet again. So don't go counting any chickens! Tempting as it might be.
Virginia
Following the revelation that Virginia's crime labs aren't able to tell the difference between THC & legal CBD products, the state is working on new testing procedures to rectify the oversight. Linda Jackson, Director of the Dept of Forensic Science, expects the problem to be fixed within two months.
That is certainly an ambitious time frame to get through the bureaucracy. Some might even say 'unrealistic.' But where there's a will to extort stoners for court fees and cheap labor, there's gotta be a way, gobdarnit!
INTERESTING NOTES!
- technically, the problem is that the current tests can't test the amount of THC in flowers and edibles to determine if it's under federally-allowed levels for the product to be classified as hemp
- it can, however, determine the amount in oils, like vape carts. Keep that in mind when traveling thru the Savage Land!
Maryland
Awww. The latest report out of Maryland says that getting the regulations together for edibles is gonna take a while longer than I expected. Like, the end of 2019. And since you can't have products on shelves before there are rules- perish the thought! we're not getting classic edibles til 2020.
The hang-ups look to be dosing and packaging. They're really worried about newbies having a bad time on edibles. That's a legit concern! However, I don't think it's fair to ignore the needs of high-tolerance patients just cuz Maureen Dowd can't handle her brownies, man. I think BOTH options need to be available.
As I've said before, I'm down with weed pills. I think they're cool and have better optics than sugar-filled treats. But I gotta admit it'd be way easier to eat one 100mg cookie than it would be to take 20 freakin pills. Or even 10. Makes me feel a bit of a fiend, chugging pills like that.