KY MedMJ Takes a Step Forward, Near 200 Dead in Sinaloa Cartel Clashes, More… (10/28/24)

A Kansas ballot reveals that lawmakers are nicely behind their constituents with regards to marijuana coverage, former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is unrepentant in testimony about demise squads and his drug conflict, and extra. 

Marijuana Coverage

Kansas Ballot Has Robust Help for Medical Marijuana, Grownup-Use Legalization. Whilst state lawmakers once more postpone contemplating medical marijuana laws, a brand new ballot reveals that they’re more and more out of contact with their constituents. The Kansas Speaks survey from Fort Hays State College has help for medical marijuana at 73 % and help for legalization at 61 %. On legalization, that determine rises to 65 % when respondents had been requested taxing weed to generate income for the state. 

Kansans would reasonably tax weed than improve taxes on cigars and cigarettes (57 %) or on alcohol (50 %). 

Respondents had been additionally requested whether or not they would help a politician who supported medical marijuana. Round 60 % mentioned they had been “extremely seemingly” or “considerably seemingly” to vote for such a candidate. 

The ballot comes because the legislature’s Particular Committee on Medical Marijuana met for a second listening to a couple of path towards medical marijuana however rejected a proposal that might have urged the legislature to maneuver forward with it. 

Medical Marijuana

Kentucky Takes Subsequent Step Towards Medical Marijuana. Throughout a live-streamed lottery led by Gov. Andy Beshear (D) on Monday, the state introduced the names of 26 companies that can obtain medical marijuana enterprise licenses. The primary spherical of licensing covers solely cultivators and processors. 

Cultivator licenses permit companies to develop medical marijuana and promote it to licensed processors, producers, or dispensaries, whereas processor licenses authorize the acquisition, processing, and sale of medical marijuana to different producers or dispensaries. 

The state obtained greater than 5,000 enterprise license functions however solely 774 cultivation or processing functions had been permitted. They then participated in a random lottery to see who would get the coveted licenses. 

“We thought-about one of the best processes utilized in every state and decided this was essentially the most truthful and clear solution to construct this thrilling new trade within the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” mentioned Sam Flynn, Government Director of the Kentucky Workplace of Medical Hashish.

Beneath laws signed into regulation by Beshear final 12 months, medical marijuana can be authorized within the state as of January 1. A lottery for dispensary licenses will happen on Thursday. It was barely delayed by a deluge of late-arriving functions.

Worldwide

Sinaloa Cartel Faction Combat Exhibits No Signal of Slowing. The demise toll from factional clashes inside the Sinaloa Cartel that started on September 8 has climbed to round 200 after state authorities mentioned Sunday that at the very least 14 folks had been killed in cartel clashes on Saturday. 

Tensions inside the cartel had been rising since co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was kidnapped and delivered to US authorities by one of many sons of imprisoned co-founder Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who’s now serving a prolonged jail sentence within the US himself. The son additionally turned himself in and is now reportedly partaking in plea negotiations with prosecutors in Chicago. 

Current weeks have seen repeated shoot-outs on the streets of Culiacan, the state capital, in addition to the shuttering of colleges and companies amid the violence. The brand new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has despatched lots of of troops and armored personnel carriers to the state, however the combating continues. 

The official demise toll was at the very least 172 on October 18 and retains climbing. 

Philippines Listening to on Duterte’s Drug Battle Begins; Duterte Unrepentant. The official numbers say fewer than 7,000 folks had been killed in a bloody drug marketing campaign throughout the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, though human rights teams say the true quantity is within the tens of hundreds. Now, for the primary time, Duterte has testified in an official investigation of his drug conflict, and he stays unrepentant and, he says, able to do it once more. 

It was additionally the primary time he got here nose to nose with relations of victims, in addition to with former Sen. Leila de Lima, who was imprisoned for practically seven years on bogus drug prices after criticizing the drug conflict. 

Duterte admitted to having organized a demise squad as mayor Davao Metropolis, however mentioned it consisted of criminals, not police. He mentioned he instructed them “Kill this particular person, as a result of if you don’t, I’ll kill you now.”

“I could make the confession now if you’d like. I had a demise squad of seven, however they weren’t police, they had been gangsters.”

His promise to copy his anti-crime marketing campaign in Davao Metropolis helped propel him to victory within the 2016 election. He testified Monday that as president, he instructed police to “encourage” drug suspects to battle again so they might kill them. 

“Don’t query my insurance policies as a result of I supply no apologies, no excuses. I did what I needed to do, and whether or not or not you consider it… I did it for my nation,” he mentioned in a gap assertion. “I hate medicine, make no mistake about it.”

And he is able to do it yet again, saying that criminals are already coming again since he left workplace. “If given one other probability, I will wipe all of you,” he mentioned.