This week the state of California has seen issues with illegal grow operations using immigrants to tend to their illegal grows. The illegal grows have popped up due to supply issued caused by the state’s licensing system. John Fetterman had a meeting with Joe Biden, but Karine Jean-Pierre led reporters to repetitive details in the recent press conference where she was asked. Audio player included for those on the go.
An NBC news investigative piece highlighted a severe problem taking place within the California recreational cannabis market.
Grows that are not licensed by the state were caught in the desert growing marijuana using trafficked labor. Individuals on the greenhouse grow site refused to openly admit they were trafficked and received misdemeanors for their participation in the activity. The owners of the grows only received misdemeanors as well according to the report because of the lack of admission to trafficking.
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The report inadvertently highlighted a major issue with the laws California put in place regarding legalization. An officer stated on camera that there are not enough grow operations or products to fill the demand at the state legal dispensaries. Advocates pointed out that it is a result of the structure that California put into place that has caused this abomination of actions upon other human beings. Comments regarding how expensive it is to obtain a license, and how much tax has been placed on the product have led to this current situation.
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The report was noting that the people in question are usually people that have a debt to pay for being trafficked into the country and that is how they wind up in these positions.
Texas elected officials in the past have talked about concerns for results like this, with cannabis advocates also noting that Texas could learn from the other state’s pitfalls of legalization. The current structure for medical dispensaries mirrors the exact same issue California faces. The two currently operating medical dispensaries in the state pay 100’s of thousands of dollars every year to keep their license, and paid over a 100 thousand more than their yearly cost to even apply for the initial license.
Texans will be having a chance to shake up their leadership across the board in the November midterms with many statewide positions up for vote, along with the entire legislature.
The Whitehouse has stated that it knows of no plan by President Joe Biden to decriminalize marijuana.
During a press brief this past week, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated, “I don’t have anything else to share in the upcoming weeks.”
The Secretary stated the same talking points as before and stated by Biden in the past, that Biden wishes to leave adult-use legalization to the states, reschedule marijuana, federally decriminalize the plant and expunge prior records. None of these things has come to fruition though since Biden took office in January of 2021.
Learn how to become a medical cannabis patient in Texas
The past week saw Democrat Senate candidate John Fetterman having a meeting with Biden about the topic, but no news of the meeting has surfaced since that took place.
“This is something that he has talked about during the campaign, and you’ve heard from him many other times talking about his drug policy focus and what’s important to him,” she said at the time. “We just don’t have anything to speak to.”
This is being taken to be believed by some that Biden has zero plans to deal with cannabis issues on a presidential level before the mid-terms. There is question as to whether the president believes this may hurt mid-term chances for elections if he acts on it, or whether his abstinence from the topic may cost his party in November.
That is it for this week in cannabis news review here at the Texas Cannabis Collective. If there is something going on in the Texas cannabis space that you think others should be aware of, just drop us a note on our contact form online. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter at tx canna co dot com and search for Lonestar Collective Podcast in your search engine to get updates about our show and weekly news. Like and subscribe to our YouTube channel for updates as well. Have a safe week Texas and stay hydrated to beat the heat.