Pubdate: Thu, 08 Oct 2015
Source: Portland Mercury (OR)
Column: Cannabuzz: The Week in Cannabis
Copyright: 2015 The Portland Mercury
Contact:  http://www.portlandmercury.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1174
Author: Josh Jardine

POT NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Got your legal cannabis now? Good. Roll one up or fire up the 
vaporizer as we look at what's going on outside our state.

SOUTH DAKOTA is opening a canna resort-and while I have been vaping, 
that's not a typo. That liberal bastion of progressive activism, 
South Dakota, has plans to open the nation's first resort for 
cannabis consumption. The Santee Sioux tribe, all 400 of them, have 
had success operating a hotel and casino, along with a 240-head bison 
ranch, according to the AP. Now they plan to open what they're 
calling an "adult playground," where the tribe will grow and sell 
more than 30 strains of cannabis in a complex that will include a 
smoking lounge, nightclub, restaurant, and, eventually, slot machines 
and an outdoor music venue. Based on 5,000 acres of tribal land 
located 45 miles north of Sioux Falls, the Santee Sioux will have 
their first joints available December 31 at a New Year's Eve event.

The tribe expects the venture to bring in $2 million a month once 
fully operational. The cannabis may only be consumed on the 
reservation, and will sell for $12.50 to $15 a gram. Consumers will 
be limited to one gram at a time, and cannot purchase a second gram 
until the barcoded packaging from the first is returned to the sales 
counter. Spirit Mountain Casino, are you listening? I would take this 
over another weekend of Ron White, and I'm sure I'm not alone.

IN 2014, arrests for cannabis rose to 700,933 in the United States, 
up from 693,482 in 2013, according to an FBI report. What that means:

That's one American arrested for cannabis every 45 seconds.

More than 88 percent of those arrests were for simple possession.

Drug arrests are the most popular "arrest category" for police, and 
pot arrests account for almost half.

Black people were 30 times more likely to be arrested, even though 
cannabis usage rates are similar between blacks and whites.

Enforcing marijuana laws costs us $3.6 billion a year.

All of this is going on while more than 53 percent of the country is 
in favor of legalized cannabis use for those 21 and over.

DONALD TRUMP, the living "burnt orange" edition of Mr. Potato Head, 
has started running an attack that asks of Jeb! Bush, "Are we sure it 
was only 40 years ago?" regarding his recent admission that he smoked 
cannabis in 1975. Because we can all agree Jeb! seems like someone 
who partakes regularly, as evidenced by his enlightened positions, 
smiling demeanor, and overall kind and righteous vibe. (If only that 
were true-for Bush or any other candidate.) I can't look at the 
Donald without being reminded of comic Anthony Jeselnik's joke at 
Trump's Comedy Central Roast: "The only difference between you, 
Donald, and Michael Douglas in the movie Wall Street is that nobody's 
going to be sad when you get cancer."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom