On June 3, a crowd drove federal agents out of Minneapolis following a raid on a taqueria. On June 4, people confronted US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as they carried out raids in Chicago and Grand Rapids. On Friday, June 6, people in Los Angeles responded to an ICE raid, precipitating a full day of clashes that continue today. In the following firsthand report, participants describe how people came together to do their best to prevent federal agents from kidnapping people from their community.

Donald Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, has announced that he will send the National Guard into Los Angeles in response. If the situation escalates elsewhere around the country, as well, it is thinkable that we could see a movement that picks up where the George Floyd uprising left off. Arguably, in sweeping up the president of the California chapter of the Service Employees International Union in their attacks on people in Los Angeles, ICE and the various federal agencies that are being reassigned to support them risk making more enemies just as this confrontation is getting underway.

Although the Trump administration has begun by attacking immigrants—both documented and undocumented—this is only the first step in their effort to establish an autocracy. They are targeting immigrants because they believe them to be the most vulnerable target, but their overarching goal is to accustom all of us to passivity in the face of brutal state violence, breaking the basic bonds of solidarity that ought to connect all human beings.

It must be clear to everyone—even the most milquetoast centrists—that the outcome of the conflict that is ramping up now will determine the prospects for every other target Trump has lined up in his sights, from Harvard University to those who simply wish to be able to afford groceries.

Incidentally, if it is possible that you will be in an environment in which chemical weapons are deployed, it is possible to extinguish tear gas canisters—read this short guide. You can find a wealth of similar information about how to stay safe in demonstrations here. To learn about other things you can do to stop ICE, start here.

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First Action, High Noon

On social media, the news spread that ICE was raiding several spots in downtown Los Angeles, Highland Park, and MacArthur Park. Agents had begun to raid a building in the flower district when a spontaneous mob trapped them inside. People blocked every side of the building, every single entrance, so the agents couldn’t get out. They had detained a lot of people in the building already and hadn’t expected a swarm of 50-100 Angelenos to trap them.

Apparently, they expected to be able to conduct a visible raid in downtown Los Angeles without a response from the neighborhood. They were wrong. Of the six or more locations that they raided, that one was in the area with the densest population, just blocks from skid row and a few steps from the Piñata district.

A large number of people were at the front entrance blocking ICE from leaving the building. Caught off guard by the crowd, the ICE agents were visibly trying to figure out how to evacuate. Family members of the detained were crying at the doors and the gates, wondering what was going to happen to their loved ones.

The federal government had declared war on Los Angeles.

ICE ordered in an armored truck with three dozen federal riot police and a fleet of vans in tow. The entrance they wanted to come into was the one being blocked by an SEIU sound truck and they began threatening to tow it. SEIU complied and moved their truck, even going so far as to use their sound system to yell “Get on the sidewalk!” at the crowd. Half of the people listened to them and half didn’t, but it was a small enough crowd that that made a significant difference. As a consequence, the armored truck and the vans were able to make it up to the gate.

Federal agents in riot gear began trying to push everyone out. The small group who had refused to leave continued to stand their ground, twisting their little riot shields and mocking them. The agents were visibly rattled by the resilience of this group that had somehow assembled within fifteen minutes. In a desperate push, the FBI agents began to throw tear gas canisters into the crowd. Everyone was screaming at the fascist mercenaries as they tried to push back the line. Amid the confusion, the agents managed to clear a path for the vans to enter through the gate.

The feds put the detained workers into the van and began to drive out. The crowd tried to stop them but the FBI escalated—snatching protesters and shooting pepper balls and rubber bullets at everyone. One of the vans sped up and struck the president of the California branch of the Service Employees International Union, injuring him. He was then arrested.

The crowd got more rowdy, lighting fireworks and throwing debris, water bottles, and cabbage at the mercenaries. The FBI responded with a barrage of flash-bang grenades and rubber bullets and more pepper balls.

While that fight continued, someone followed the ICE vans to the Burbank airport, where agents had reportedly claimed that they were bringing a “hockey team.” People have been attempting to track the flight and see where it went since.

The other detainees were taken to the MDC* (Metro Detention Center) which triggered an action to be called for a couple hours later.

MDC is where hundreds of detainees from the raids are still currently being held. It was also the site of the 2017 abolish ICE encampment which lasted for 60 days.

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Second Action, 4 pm

People started amassing at the Metropolitan Detention Center. A press conference took place involving Union Del Barrio, the SEIU, and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. Peace policing caused fights between the paid activists and the crowd. The activists ended up leaving and the crowd stayed—tagging everything, smashing windows, breaking things, and being ungovernable. Someone had brought a sledgehammer and was breaking the concrete pillars so that people could use the pieces as projectiles to throw at the police. Someone used a swivel chair as a barricade; another person showed up in a dinosaur suit.

The feds were scrambling, throwing everything they could back at the crowd. People were tear-gassed several times, but were neutralizing the effect by putting ice and water on the canisters as well as traffic cones like they did in Chile. Some people were also throwing the canisters back to the Department of Homeland Security agents that were responsible for them. The crowd was extremely lively and brave. Some right-wing internet streamers tried to get into the area, but they were spotted and promptly dealt with.

DHS couldn’t control the situation. The feds were overwhelmed and begged the Los Angeles Police Department to come save them. Despite LA mayor Karen Bass saying she was “appalled” about the presence of ICE in Los Angeles, the LAPD still showed up in large numbers. A low-flying helicopter was telling people that they would be arrested and issuing dispersal orders as LAPD pushed people away from the building over the next four to five hours. Everyone left covered in pepper ball dust and tear gas.

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Third Action, 10 pm

A message circulated to the effect that ICE was spotted staging for a raid in Chinatown. (Later, it turned out that they were planning to hold that parking lot for a press conference for Thomas Homan, Trump’s “Border Czar,” at 7 am the following morning—a press conference that was apparently cancelled.)

Hundreds of people started trickling in, strobing flashlights in the eyes of the federal agents and yelling chants and insults at the riot line.

Even though people had been at actions all day, the energy was high, attracting passersby and random Dodgers fans to join in. The crowd took the street and blocked the entrances once again as things started getting rowdy. This time, LAPD wasn’t present, so the federal agents prepared to try to push the people out themselves.

Participants in the crowd tagged the armored ICE vehicle and begin jumping up and down on it while an LRAD was blaring. Someone tagged “FUCK ICE” and spray painted the cameras on a Waymo self-driving car. No organizations were present except a strong contingent from the Los Angeles Tenants Union, who were present for every action in the course of the day.

The federal agents decided that the parking lot was too difficult to hold and began to retreat. The crowd seized the opportunity to block them off, throwing fireworks and rocks, bottles, and, somehow, ceramic plates. The FBI threw a few flash-bang grenades and tear gas canisters in response, but the spirits of those standing up to them remained high.

People began to smash the windows on the feds’ cars. At that point, ICE decided to leave, and a celebration began in the street. More fireworks were set off in a jubilant atmosphere. People partied momentarily before drifting home, heartened by a small victory after a horrifying and dehumanizing day in the so-called United States.

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You might suspect that a one-line bill about Bigfoot that bears the number "666" is a joke, but AB-666 is apparently a serious offering from California Assemblymember Chris Rogers. Rogers represents a California district known for its Bigfoot sightings (or "sightings," depending on your persuasion—many of these have been faked), and he wants to make Bigfoot the "official cryptid" of the state.

His bill notes that California already has many official symbols, including the golden poppy (official flower), the California redwood (official tree), the word "Eureka" (official motto), the red-legged frog (official amphibian), the grizzly bear (official animal), swing dancing (official dance), and the saber-toothed cat (official fossil). The state has so many of these that there are separate categories for freshwater fish (golden trout) and marine fish (garibaldi). So why not, Rogers wants to know, "designate Bigfoot as the official state cryptid"?

That's... pretty much the bill, which was introduced this week and already has Bigfoot advocates excited. SFGate talked to Matt Moneymaker, who it describes as "a longtime Bigfoot researcher and former star of the Animal Planet series Finding Bigfoot," about the bill. Moneymaker loves it, noting that he has personally “had a face-to-face encounter one time, after which I was absolutely sure they existed because I had one about 20 feet in front of me, growling at me.”

Read full article

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Sources tell WIRED that the ability of DOGE’s Marko Elez to alter code controlling trillions in federal spending was rescinded days after US Treasury and White House officials said it didn’t exist.

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Billionaire Elon Musk and his band of young Silicon Valley engineers have gained access to IT systems controlling critical functions of the federal government, from the Treasury Department to the Small Business Administration.

The problem is no one outside of the Trump administration really knows what Musk and his team at the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planning to do with that access. 

In the name of uncovering fat to trim, they now have the personal information of millions of Americans stored in government databases at their fingertips and newfound influence over key parts of the federal bureaucracy long controlled by nonpartisan career officials. It’s clear Musk has exceptional access to government data, but it’s still not clear how much he can do with it. Most saliently, watchdogs and Democratic lawmakers suspect that Musk’s endgame is not just visibility into the payments the government is making, but also control over them. 

This is all part of the cloud of confusion surrounding DOGE. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Monday that Musk is operating in his capacity as a non-Senate-confirmed “special government employee,” a category of employee that is typically brought on for a period of less than a year, hired for their expertise, and subject to less stringent conflicts-of-interest rules than other federal officials. Leavitt offered no further details on what Musk working on, though she claimed he is “abiding by all applicable federal laws.”

That claim will be subject to legal scrutiny.

The litigation arm of Public Citizen, a left-leaning consumer rights advocacy group, sued the Trump administration Monday on behalf of workers whose personal information is stored in Treasury Department databases, alleging that officials broke privacy laws in giving DOGE access. Other groups have raised similar privacy concerns about databases at other federal agencies to which Musk’s team has sought access.

Adam Schwartz, privacy litigation director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights advocacy group, said that reports of DOGE staff obtaining “extraordinary access” to government databases that contain sensitive personal information about millions of Americans marks a “huge departure from privacy and security norms.”

“Legal safeguards must be strictly enforced,” he said. “EFF is deeply concerned and learning all we can.”

Watchdog groups are also demanding more transparency into why DOGE is seeking access to these government IT systems in the first place, given their sensitivity and the host of potential conflicts of interest Musk brings given his stakes in Tesla and SpaceX. One fear is that DOGE could use its newfound access to the federal government’s payment system to slash the budget without Congress’s approval.

The Treasury Department wrote in a letter to Congress on Tuesday that Musk has “read-only” access to the payment system — at least for now. But if he were to gain operational control of it, Noah Bookbinder, executive director of the government oversight group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said he is skeptical that Musk will use that access just to “perform regular maintenance and do troubleshooting on tech problems.”

What we know and don’t know about Musk’s access

Musk and his team have rapidly sought to gain access to the IT systems of various government agencies and offices in recent days, including at least the Treasury, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and the Small Business Administration (SBA). 

Last week, Treasury’s acting Deputy Secretary David Lebryk resigned after DOGE requested and was granted access to the Treasury’s payment systems, which handle sensitive payments including to Social Security and Medicare customers. 

DOGE also reportedly locked career civil servants out of OPM’s computer systems, which contain the personal data of millions of federal employees and contractors. Federal employees sought a temporary restraining order Tuesday to shut down a private server that DOGE had connected to OPM’s network to scrape sensitive employee information.

SBA employees were also informed Monday that DOGE would be granted access to “all SBA systems,” including HR, contracts, and payments systems. The agency has supported over 100,000 financings to small businesses in the last year alone. 

Musk and his team have yet to publicly announce what they intend to do with all of that data, however, and that makes ethics watchdogs extremely nervous.

“Just from an accountability perspective, there is so much we don’t know about what’s going on,” said Don Moynihan, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan and co-director of the Better Government Lab, which identifies technological solutions in government to improve social safety net access. “We’re relying on these leaked reports, rather than someone going in front of Congress and explaining in detail what it is that these people are actually doing and why it’s not a security risk.”

Why Musk’s attempts to penetrate government IT are so concerning

Musk and his team’s efforts to control IT systems across the government raise concerns about privacy and conflicts of interest. They may also give Musk, a partisan political appointee, the ability to interfere in the management of the federal budget set by Congress. 

Current and former government employees sued the Trump administration on Monday claiming that it violated privacy laws in allowing their data to be disclosed to Musk and his team. 

“Federal laws protect sensitive personal and financial information from improper disclosure and misuse, including by barring disclosure to individuals who lack a lawful and legitimate need for it,” the complaint states. “The scale of the intrusion into individuals’ privacy is massive and unprecedented.”

The same concerns may apply to other federal agencies’ IT systems that DOGE has sought to access. The SBA, for example, keeps records of business owners and the health of their businesses. 

Musk, as a business owner, also has the potential to privately profit from that kind of information: “It is really concerning to have someone with this scope of business interest, between Tesla SpaceX and X — all of these things would benefit from the information he’s gleaning,” said Lindsay Owens, executive director of Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive advocacy group focused on economic policy. 

Perhaps most concerningly, however, Musk’s access to Treasury payment systems could give him undue influence over the federal budget at a time when there is a looming debt-ceiling crisis. 

The now-departed Lebryk and his team of nonpartisan career Treasury officials typically determine when the government is at risk of default by carefully tracking the payment system. Any disruption to that system could put the “country at greater risk of defaulting on our debt, which could trigger a global financial crisis,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) warned Tuesday in a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. 

Bessent tried to quell lawmakers’ concerns in a private meeting with the GOP conference on Monday, before later assuring Congress publicly that Musk has only “read-only” access to the payment system. 

But if Musk were to gain operational access, that may give him the tools to cancel payments unilaterally — essentially, circumventing Congress and its power to set the federal budget. Especially after courts have ruled against President Donald Trump’s attempts to freeze congressionally approved federal grants, using the Treasury payments system might be an attractive, if legally questionable workaround to control the flow of federal funds.

Trump has tried to tamp down fears about how Musk could abuse his powers at DOGE: “Elon can’t do and won’t do anything without our approval,” he told reporters Monday. “If there was something that didn’t have my okay, I’d let you know about it really fast.”

But that offers little assurance to watchdog groups, who say that Congress should ask Musk and his team to testify in an open forum about what they’re doing and why. Sens. Warren and Ron Wyden (D-OR) have asked the Government Accountability Office to open an inquiry into the decision to give Musk’s team access to the Treasury payment systems. 

“You have this unelected, very powerful, very wealthy person potentially exerting great control over the government,” Bookbinder, from the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said. “People should know what’s happening, how it’s happening, why, and have real transparency.”

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. attorney general instantly excited many marijuana industry stakeholders based on his record of supporting cannabis legalization. But well before Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was even considered a potential candidate, he’d already previewed his plans if he was chosen to lead the Department of Justice: “Go easy on marijuana.”

Gaetz, who resigned from his House seat this week after Trump tapped him for the nation’s top law enforcement position, was among the only GOP members of Congress who voted for a Democratic-led cannabis legalization bill. He did so twice, and he’s also backed other more modest reforms such as marijuana industry banking access.

Trump’s decision to select him for the attorney general role took many, including congressional colleagues and insiders, by surprise. But for marijuana stakeholders, it was a welcome choice in the sense that it signaled state cannabis markets would likely continue to see a policy of non-interference from the federal government and that Biden administration’s plans to reschedule marijuana would proceed despite the White House changeup.

Gaetz’s ascent to attorney general is not guaranteed. The congressman, who was under Justice Department investigation and the subject of a GOP-led committee’s ethics probe over various allegations, will still need to be confirmed by the Senate or otherwise ascend to the job via a recess appointment. Even with Senate Republicans having won a majority, it’s unclear if controversies related to the investigations, as well as his role in ousting former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), will jeopardize his potential confirmation.

Beyond his votes in support of a legalization bill—the Marijuana, Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act—and other pro-reform actions he took in Congress, Gaetz also previously commented on how he’d approach cannabis issues as attorney general.

“I figure in the next term of Donald Trump—whether that’s in 2021 or 2025—that he ought to pick me to be the attorney general,” he said in 2020. “I’d go easy on marijuana, tough on big tech and I would go after the deep state. Wouldn’t that be a nice reversal?”

He made a similar comment at a New York Young Republicans event later that year, again committing to “be easy on marijuana and tough on big tech” if he became attorney general.

FLASHBACK; Matt Gaetz speaking about possibly being Attorney General: pic.twitter.com/FJT2Dnejlr

— Henry Rodgers (@henryrodgersdc) November 13, 2024

While cannabis industry investors are largely excited by the Gaetz news, some policy reform advocates have so far been largely reluctant to endorse the choice, despite the stark contrast to Trump’s first attorney general when he started his first term in 2017. Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions vociferously opposed cannabis reform and rescinded Obama-era guidance that generally urged prosecutorial discretion in federal marijuana enforcement.

Marijuana Moment reached out to multiple drug policy reform groups for comment. The Marijuana Policy Project and Drug Policy Alliance declined, while NORML’s representative was not immediately available.

Others in the space have strongly endorsed the choice, however.

“The nomination of Matt Gaetz to be attorney general is Exhibit A that president-elect Trump plans to keep his campaign promises regarding cannabis policy,” Don Murphy, a cannabis lobbyist and former GOP Maryland legislator, told Marijuana Moment on Thursday. “Have we ever been closer to the end of cannabis prohibition? I don’t think so.”

Meanwhile, as part of the inquiry into Gaetz by the House Ethics Committee, which lost jurisdiction over the matter after the congressman resigned, he told members in a letter this summer that he has “not used drugs which are illegal, absent some law allowing use in a jurisdiction of the United States,” and has “not used ‘illicit’ drugs, which I consider to be drugs unlawful for medical or over-the-counter use everywhere in the United States.”

The nuanced verbiage led some to wonder whether he was carving out an exception for marijuana use in a jurisdiction that has legalized it. It is also worth noting that certain psychedelics have also been legalized in Colorado and Oregon.

Meanwhile, Gaetz also said last year that he’s concerned that if the federal government doesn’t “go further” than simply moving marijuana to a lower drug schedule, large pharmaceutical companies might be able to overtake the cannabis industry.

Delist Cannabis https://t.co/UXuDODca3J

— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) August 26, 2024

While Gaetz voted in favor of a federal legalization bill, he actually departed from Trump on a state-level measure to legalize adult-use cannabis in Florida that failed at the ballot this month. Unlike Trump, who endorsed the measure, the congressman said in August that the reform should be enacted statutorily so that there’s more flexibility for the legislature to adjust the law in the future.

“Regardless of how someone feels about abortion or marijuana, I don’t believe that those issues should be resolved in the state Constitution,” he said.

The congressman pointed out that a limited medical cannabis bill—which he sponsored during his time in the Florida legislature—“had lots of flaws” that required fixes that would have been more difficult to address if the policy change had been written into the state Constitution.

Gaetz also joined Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and lawyer John Morgan in 2019 to advocate for expanding the medical marijuana bill he helped usher into law by making it so patients had access to smokable products.

In Congress, Gaetz has on two occasions voted in favor of a bipartisan marijuana banking bill to ensure that financial institutions are protected from being penalized by federal regulators simply for working with state-legal cannabis businesses.

He further sponsored amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would have eliminated language preventing military branches for testing recruits for cannabis for enlistment or commission.

New Mexico County Officials Advance Plan To Stop Punishing Off-Duty Marijuana Use By Government Workers

The post Trump’s Pick For Attorney General Has Vowed To ‘Go Easy On Marijuana’ If He Gets The Job appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has signed a bill to legalize cannabis cafes in the state—just one day after vetoing a separate proposal to allow small marijuana growers to sell their products directly to consumers at state-organized farmers markets and

On Monday’s signing deadline, the governor gave final approval to the cannabis lounge legislation from Assemblymember Matt Haney (D).

He also signed a series of modest reform proposals over the weekend, including a proposal to make it so medical marijuana donated to low-income patients is tax-exempt and another measure to prevent what advocates call the “double taxation” of marijuana by restricting the ability of local governments to calculate their cannabis levies after state taxes are already applied.

While the governor supports cannabis legalization, he’s been notably reserved about various drug policy proposals in recent years, for example vetoing legislation to legalize psychedelics and allow safe consumption sites for illegal drugs, in addition to nixing the farmers market proposal.

And with supporters and opponents of the cannabis cafe reform measure putting pressure on his office in recent week, the final outcome has been unclear.

Newsom vetoed a prior version of Haney’s cannabis cafe bill, saying that while he appreciated that the intent was to “provide cannabis retailers with increased business opportunities and an avenue to attract new customers,” he felt “concerned this bill could undermine California’s long-standing smoke-free workplace protections.”

To that end, the measure as passed by the legislature contains changes to create separation between public consumption spaces and back rooms of businesses where food is prepared or stored in order to better protect the health of workers in line with the governor’s concerns.

“I commend the author for incorporating additional safeguards, such as expressly protecting employees discretion to wear a mask for respiration, paid for at the expense of the employer, and requiring employees to receive additional guidance on the risks of secondhand cannabis smoke,” Newsom said in a signing statement on Monday.

“While I am signing this bill, any future measure that diverges from this tailored approach will not be looked upon favorably,” he said. “Furthermore, it is critical that local governments utilize this delegated authority responsibly by prioritizing worker safety and implementing stringent safeguards that minimize public health risks when authorizing these activities. If adequate protections are not established at the local level, it could necessitate reconsideration of this limited expansion.”

Overall, the legislation that Newsom signed into law would allow on-site marijuana consumption at licensed businesses to also offer non-cannabis food and non-alcoholic drinks and host live events such as concerts if they get permission from their local government.

The bill makes explicitly clear that hemp-based food items or drinks are not considered “non-cannabis” products that could be sold at the cafes. It also says that non-cannabis items “shall be stored and displayed separately and distinctly from all cannabis and cannabis products present on the premises.”

The legislation would also allow live musical or other performances on the premises of a cannabis retailer in areas where on-site consumption is allowed.

There have been examples of California businesses that have found workarounds to permit on-site consumption while making food available to guests—but they’ve operated in a grey area, partnering with separately licensed restaurants that receive the profits.

“Lots of people want to enjoy legal cannabis in the company of others,”Haney, the bill sponsor, said. “And many people want to do that while sipping coffee, eating a scone, or listening to music.”

“There’s absolutely no good reason from an economic, health or safety standpoint that the state should make that illegal,” he said. “If an authorized cannabis retail store wants to also sell a cup of coffee and a sandwich, we should allow cities to make that possible and stop holding back these small businesses.”

Meanwhile, earlier this month, Haney also addressed a recent statement from the American Cancer Society (ACS), which urged the governor to veto his legislation out of concern about the potential health implications of smoke exposure.

“If you’re worried about secondhand smoke, shouldn’t we give people safe places to go—to consume with others who have made that choice?” he said. “Right now, because of the limits on where people can smoke legally, many people may be forced to smoke at home, around their kids, or in a car or on the street where others are walking by.”

“If you’re worried about secondhand smoke, support us in giving people safe places to go where there are protections and where people have made that choice,” he said.

Ahead of Newsom’s signing of the measure, actor Woody Harrelson—who owns a marijuana lounge in West Hollywood called The Woods, alongside co-founders comedian Bill Maher and tennis star John McEnroe—called for its enactment. Whoopi Goldberg also joined in that push, with a video encouraging the governor to sign it.

“We thank Governor Newsom for this much-needed support of social use by California’s cannabis consumers, as well as supporting the state’s cannabis industry in this way,” Cal NORML director Dale Gieringer said in a press release on Monday.

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Meanwhile, the governor also signed bills to allow tax-free medical marijuana donations for low-income patients, block “double taxation” of marijuana by local governments, allow for the consolidation of licenses for marijuana businesses involved in multiple sectors of the cannabis economy, extend existing advertising restrictions for marijuana and hemp businesses and increase enforcement authorities to prevent water violations in cannabis cultivation.

Newsom’s legislative actions come about a week after members of the hemp industry—including Cheech and Chong’s cannabis company—filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn new California regulations that outlaw most consumable hemp products in the state, including those containing any intoxicating cannabinoids derived from the plant.

The suit says the rules, backed by Newsom, are based on a faulty declaration of “emergency” and come after officials failed to effectively implement hemp regulation legislation that was enacted in 2021.

First unveiled earlier this month, Newsom’s new emergency ban won official approval from California’s Office of Administrative Law last week and took effect immediately. The rules prohibit hemp products with any “detectable amount of total THC,” while hemp products that don’t contain THC are limited to five servings per package and may only be sold to adults 21 and older.

The action came less than a month after the state legislature effectively killed a governor-backed bill that would have imposed somewhat similar restrictions on intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids.

Meanwhile, a state-funded effort is underway in California to analyze the genetic information of various marijuana strains in order to preserve the state’s rich history of cannabis cultivation. It’s part of a project meant not only to acknowledge the past but also protect the future of legacy growing regions such as the Emerald Triangle.

Kamala Harris Says ‘We Need To Legalize’ Marijuana For First Time As Democratic Presidential Nominee

Image element courtesy of Gage Skidmore.

The post California Governor Signs Bill To Legalize Marijuana Cafes After Vetoing Measure To Let Cannabis Farmers Sell Directly To Consumers appeared first on Marijuana Moment.