Bill would protect therapeutic cannabis patients from Trump Organization

North Dakota voters passed Measure 5 in 2016 and last year the legislature drafted rules then a Republican governor signed it into law. Now the state's Department of Health has issued cards to over 70 therapeutic cannabis patients still awaiting the opening of dispensaries for their medication but the Trump shutdown is delaying protections for their medical secrecy.

There is concern among activists that Republican operatives will provide names of patients to the Trump Organization that would prevent them from purchasing firearms.

A provision to extend protections shielding state medical marijuana laws from federal interference is part of a 1,070-page bill the incoming House Democratic majority intends to pass this week as part of a plan to end an ongoing government shutdown. The fight over which marijuana-related and other riders will be included in FY2020 appropriations bills should heat up this spring. [Tom Angell writing in Forbes]

A new Senate bill sponsored by ranking member Jon Tester (D-MT) compels the Department of Veterans Affairs to increase research on the medical benefits of cannabis for military veterans. Read the rest of the story and text of the bill here.

North Dakota's failed poorly-written Amendment 3 that would have legalized for all adults also included language that would have forced the expungement of the records for some cannabis convictions yet in its repressive, nanny state neighbor to the south if you're even suspected of ingesting cannabis members of the law enforcement industry will force a catheter into your urethra and seize your assets.

Every ag product, meats both wild and domestic not grown organically in South Dakota are contaminated with glyphosate, dicamba, DDT, mercury, lead, cadmium, PFOs, E. coli, Shigella and Legionella. Cannabis grown in the state by industrial agriculture would be no different. Why anyone would want to buy hybrid genetically engineered cannabis seed from Bayer CropScience/Monsanto or some other earth hater every year remains a mystery. Seeds with decent CBD-producing genetics are a buck apiece costing about $50,000 to sow 20 acres. Pretty spendy investment for any farmer.

All cannabis industry growth in my home state should occur in the tribal nations trapped in South Dakota. If whiners want shit to change they should help elect Democrats.