[author: Susan Ryan]
Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana. This week, the White Earth Nation signed a compact with the state of Minnesota allowing off-reservation cannabis sales. A ban on hemp containing THC passed the Texas Legislature. There’s a new adult-use marijuana bill in Pennsylvania. And finally, someone picked a pound of weed out of a discount store in Iowa.
MINNESOTA
Minnesota governor Tim Walz (D) signed a compact with the White Earth Nation of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe allowing them to operate dispensaries outside of their reservations. The first dispensary is scheduled to open in Moorhead, Minnesota, which is located just over the state line from Fargo, North Dakota. Adult-use cannabis has been legal in the state since 2023, but no retail marketplace exists, although the state is working on setting up a lottery for licenses.
TEXAS
Meanwhile, the Texas Legislature has passed a bill outlawing hemp products containing any amount of THC. Under the terms of this bill, the hemp industry in Texas would largely cease to exist in September, when the bill would take effect. This is an $8 billion industry with approximately 8,000 retailers selling intoxicating hemp products in the state and supporting an estimated 50,000 jobs. As to what Governor Greg Abbott (R) will do about this legislation, a spokesperson would only say that he “will thoughtfully review any legislation sent to his desk.”
PENNSYLVANIA
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. A Pennsylvania lawmaker took that old adage to heart this week, introducing a new bill to legalize adult-use cannabis in the state. As regular readers know, the Keystone State attempted, unsuccessfully, to set up a retail market with state-run dispensaries earlier this month. Senator Marty Flynn (D-Scranton) has introduced a bill that would set up a more traditional model for sales, with state regulation and social equity provisions. Flynn has no co-sponsors as of this writing, and the deadline to incorporate this idea into the state’s budget is June 30, so time is of the essence.
AND FINALLY
Most of what’s available for sale at Where Ya Bin in Clive, Iowa are the usual overstock items you might expect: last year’s fashions, small appliances, electronics, baby items. Undeliverable mail also winds up here, and recently one shopper discovered a pound of marijuana in one of the bins. Since there was no sender information on the package (probably typical for sending federally illegal material through the US Mail, which we at The Blunt Truth advise you strongly not to do), all the local police could do was confiscate the weed and tell the store to let them know if any more turned up.
Be well everyone – we’ll see you next week.
