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K9 Named Karma Poses With 18-Pound Suitcase of Weed from Florida Airport Bust

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The comment section in the K9 bust post didn’t go as planned, however.

Monday, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) in Orlando, Florida posted a photo on X, formerly known as Twitter, gloating over a large bust involving 18 pounds of what appears to be brick weed that was found at Orlando International Airport.

“Karma ruins Central Florida marijuana delivery,” Yahoo! News reports. Cannabis isn’t tolerated quite yet in Florida airports, especially not in amounts that large.

While Florida approved Amendment 2, allowing for medical cannabis, airport officials went out of their way to clarify no pot is allowed onsite. The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority Board promptly issued a policy that bans visitors from traveling with their prescription cannabis at the airport. The reason for the policy is to avoid potential conflicts with the Federal Aviation Authority board, which provides grants to the Orlando International Airport.

Police proudly posed Karma in front of the suitcase. “OCSO K9 Karma would like to meet the owner of this suitcase found at baggage claim with 18lbs of marijuana inside of it. Thanks to K9 Karma and her skilled detection, these drugs will never make it to the streets of Orlando.”

Eighteen pounds of pot is below the 25-pound threshold that normally enhances a possession charge to a trafficking charge, as defined under Florida Statute 893.1351(4). But at airports, federal law trumps state law.

Commenters were not having it. “Imagine liquor is legal where you live, which ruins far more lives than weed ever could, but you can’t relax with a joint & munchies to watch your favorite movie,” one commenter posted. “How ridiculous.”

“This was a waste of money, resources, and time,” another commenter wrote. “I know y’all have to be transparent, but sounding proud of it sounds, really bad.”

This comes at a time when police routinely get roasted for bragging about pot busts that are posted on social media. In one post, cops in Tenaha County in Texas fanned out one-dollar bills on a table after arresting three twenty-some-year-olds in a post that was supposed to impress people. Commenters roasted details in the photo, like an empty canister and empty baggies spread across the table.

Pot busts aren’t celebrated by all when dozens of states have legalized it in one form or another—even when it involves 18 pounds of the plant.

Drug-Sniffing Dogs and Pot

Karma’s days as a drug dog could be numbered, however. At least when it comes to common traffic stops on the road.

Cannabis legalization is putting police dogs out of work. The Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office in Minnesota, for instance, recently told USA Today last July that their last few drug-sniffing dogs are headed for retirement.

According to USA Today, a 2005 Supreme Court decision essentially means that if a dog detects drugs during a traffic stop, the officer has probable cause to search your car without a warrant. He adds that when a dog smelled weed in his jurisdiction, it could often lead to the discovery of illegal firearms or other drugs. But that could fall apart fast in court in states that have legalized forms of cannabis.

In 2015, the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote that searching a vehicle involving drug-sniffing dogs was a clear violation of the shield that is supposed to protect Americans from unreasonable seizures

“We hold that a police stop exceeding the time needed to handle the matter for which the stop was made violates the Constitution’s shield against unreasonable seizures,” the ruling states. “A seizure justified only by a police-observed traffic violation, therefore, ‘becomes unlawful if it is prolonged beyond the time reasonably required to complete the mission’ of issuing a ticket for the violation.”

Source: https://hightimes.com/news/k9-named-karma-poses-with-18-pound-suitcase-of-weed-from-florida-airport-bust/

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New Mexico cannabis operator fined, loses license for alleged BioTrack fraud

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New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.

The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.

Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.

The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.

The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.

Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.

After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.

In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.

The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.

At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.

Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.

Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.

The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:

Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.

Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/

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Marijuana companies suing US attorney general in federal prohibition challenge

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Four marijuana companies, including a multistate operator, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in which they allege the federal MJ prohibition under the Controlled Substances Act is no longer constitutional.

According to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, retailer Canna Provisions, Treevit delivery service CEO Gyasi Sellers, cultivator Wiseacre Farm and MSO Verano Holdings Corp. are all harmed by “the federal government’s unconstitutional ban on cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing intrastate marijuana.”

Verano is headquartered in Chicago but has operations in Massachusetts; the other three operators are based in Massachusetts.

The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the “Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate cultivation, manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana pursuant to state law.”

The companies want the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.

They hired prominent law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to represent them.

The New York-based firm’s principal is David Boies, whose former clients include Microsoft, former presidential candidate Al Gore and Elizabeth Holmes’ disgraced startup Theranos.

Similar challenges to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have failed.

One such challenge led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2005.

In Gonzalez vs. Raich, the highest court in the United States ruled in a 6-3 decision that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to outlaw marijuana federally, even though state laws allow the cultivation and sale of cannabis.

In the 18 years since that ruling, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana and the federal government has allowed a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry to thrive.

Since both Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, currently headed by Garland, have declined to intervene in state-licensed marijuana markets, the key facts that led to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling “no longer apply,” Boies said in a statement Thursday.

“The Supreme Court has since made clear that the federal government lacks the authority to regulate purely intrastate commerce,” Boies said.

“Moreover, the facts on which those precedents are based are no longer true.”

Verano President Darren Weiss said in a statement the company is “prepared to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to align federal law with how Congress has acted for years.”

While the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana would help solve marijuana operators’ federal tax woes, neither rescheduling nor modest Congressional reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act “solve the fundamental issue,” Weiss added.

“The application of the CSA to lawful state-run cannabis business is an unconstitutional overreach on state sovereignty that has led to decades of harm, failed businesses, lost jobs, and unsafe working conditions.”

Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/marijuana-companies-suing-us-attorney-general-to-overturn-federal-prohibition/

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Alabama to make another attempt Dec. 1 to award medical cannabis licenses

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Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.

The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).

Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.

Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.

That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.

Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.

Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.

A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.

Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/

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