Featured Analysis
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Four Pot Shops Five Minutes Over the Iowa Line Sell the Flower Iowa Still Won’t License
North Sioux City, South Dakota, is a town of a few thousand people on the Missouri River. Sioux City, Iowa, is across the water. Between them is a five-minute drive and a statutory mismatch Iowa has never closed.¹ South Dakota’s Department of Health currently lists four licensed medical cannabis dispensaries in North Sioux City: Dakota…
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WeedPress Asks South Dakota Health Department to Rule Whether Schedule I Cannabis Still Fits the State’s Own Statute
Update 1: Delivered in person and received and stamped by Department as of 3:33 pm: South Dakota still lists tetrahydrocannabinol in Schedule I. The same Department of Health that runs the medical cannabis program is also charged with applying the Schedule I test in SDCL 34-20B-11. That test requires, among other things, “no accepted medical…
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SD AG WeedPress Questions: October’s MMOC Meeting
South Dakota’s August 17 MMOC meeting confirmed institutional uncertainty that WeedPress policy posts had already identified and documented in statutory detail. Those WeedPress posts do not replace official guidance, but they do supply usable legal architecture, prior administrative filings, and concrete policy questions that the Committee and DOH can employ as they move toward the…
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$150: Paying for the Record in Nebraska’s First Freedom Act Appeal
On Wednesday, August 26, 2026, I mailed a $150 cashier’s check to the Thurston County District Court at P.O. Box 216, Pender, Nebraska 68047. The check covers the estimated cost of the Bill of Exceptions for the April 8, 2026 evidentiary hearing on my request to modify a probation condition under Nebraska’s First Freedom Act.¹…
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DEA Brief To Judge…Use These DEA Quotes For Lawsuits
DEA brief to DEA Judge… Here are strong, usable quotes from the Government’s Post-Hearing Brief (August 17, 2026) in the DEA marijuana rescheduling hearing (DEA Docket No. 1362 / Hearing Docket No. 26-96), with page citations. These are drawn from the official DOJ/DEA brief arguing that marijuana no longer meets the statutory requirements for Schedule…
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New Mexico Draws a Clear Line: Federal Rescheduling Does Not Rewrite State Cannabis Rules
While some states have challenged, delayed, or insulated themselves from the federal marijuana rescheduling order, New Mexico has chosen a different approach. In Industry Bulletin 26-07, issued June 16, 2026, the Cannabis Control Division made clear that the federal Schedule III order does not automatically alter New Mexico’s cannabis laws or the obligations of state…
Policy
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South Dakota’s Schedule I Listing Still Shapes Real Cases. Moving Cannabis to Schedule III Would Change Who Gets Charged How.
South Dakota already runs a medical cannabis program. It also still lists hashish, hash oil, and tetrahydrocannabinols in Schedule I. Those two facts sit in different titles of the code, and they do not cancel each other out. The medical statutes create a permission structure for qualifying patients and licensees. The Schedule I listing still…
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Health Department Tells Lawmakers South Dakota’s $20 Home-Grow Law Is Too Thin to Police — and Tightening It Raises Safety Questions
The Department of Health did not need a ballot fight to put a warning on the medical cannabis statute. It used the August Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee.¹ Program administrator Whitney Brunner told the committee that licensed home cultivators rose from 61 in fiscal year 2022 to 715 in fiscal year 2026 — a 1,072 percent…
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Michigan Promised Further Guidance On Federal Law. Months Later, Where Is It?
When the Department of Justice announced its historic federal medical cannabis rescheduling order on April 23, 2026, state cannabis regulators immediately faced a common challenge: determining how the new federal framework would affect their own licensing systems, regulatory programs, and compliance expectations. Michigan’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA) responded the same day with a measured and…
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When States Respond Differently to Federal Medical Cannabis Rescheduling: The Growing Legal and Operational Risks Facing Cannabis Licensees
The Department of Justice’s April 2026 final order placing qualifying state-licensed medical cannabis into Schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act represented the most significant federal regulatory development affecting state medical cannabis programs since Congress first enacted the Controlled Substances Act in 1970.¹ Although the order did not legalize adult-use marijuana, nor eliminate federal…
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Federal Medical Cannabis Rescheduling Has Produced Four Distinct State Responses—But Most States Still Have Not Chosen One
On April 23, 2026, the United States Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration fundamentally changed federal cannabis policy by issuing a final order placing FDA-approved marijuana products and marijuana distributed pursuant to qualifying state medical marijuana licenses into Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act while simultaneously initiating broader administrative proceedings regarding additional…
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South Dakota Reports Fewer Cannabis Businesses—but Not Why Their Licenses Disappeared
Welcome back to WeedPress, South Dakota’s only source for transparency and open public debate. South Dakota’s medical cannabis industry has lost 34 certified establishments since reaching its reported peak in state fiscal year 2023. The Department of Health reported 139 registered establishments in SFY 2023. That total fell to 124 in SFY 2024, 118 in…
Law
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West Virginia and Mississippi Tried to Move Marijuana to Schedule III. Both Bills Reveal the Same Structural Problem.
April 24, 2026 West Virginia and Mississippi each opened the 2026 session with a bill that would have done something their existing marijuana laws still refuse to do: move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under state law.¹ ² Both proposals were straightforward on paper. West Virginia’s SB 809 would amend W. Va. Code…
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Weedpress Email To South Dakota DOH, April 24, 2026
Ms. Jorgensen, Rereading this letter today. I wanted to express gratitude for the clarity and professional guidance on the laws in this state. Also, I have attached a file provided to me two years ago on state scheduling processes and laws. The laws are not up to date and have likely been adjusted from the…
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The Attorney General Just Said State Medical Marijuana Systems Work
April 24, 2026 The most important sentence in the new federal marijuana rescheduling order may not be the word “Schedule III.” It may be the Attorney General’s finding that state medical-marijuana systems, “taken as a whole,” have demonstrated a “sustained capacity” to achieve the public-interest objectives behind the Controlled Substances Act’s registration framework: public health,…
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Nick Moser’s Role in the Hemp Quarters 605 Case
April 24, 2026 South Dakota’s 2024 hemp fight produced one notable federal case: Hemp Quarters 605 LLC v. Noem, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota on June 13, 2024. The plaintiff, Hemp Quarters 605 LLC, challenged House Bill 1125, South Dakota’s law restricting chemically derived hemp cannabinoids. Yankton attorney…
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Marijuana’s Schedule I Original Sin: Nixon, Political Control, and Fifty Years of Failed Federal Rescheduling
April 23, 2026 Marijuana’s federal Schedule I status was never just a scientific judgment. It was born at the intersection of bureaucracy, racial politics, antiwar backlash, and executive power. The Controlled Substances Act placed marijuana in Schedule I in 1970, the most restrictive category in federal drug law, reserved for substances deemed to have a…
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Five Structural Weaknesses Still Haunting South Dakota Cannabis
April 23, 2026 South Dakota’s medical-cannabis program is no longer a novelty. It is a real system with real patients, real establishments, real regulators, and real consequences. By April 2026, the state program had approved 18,759 patient cards.² That is large enough that the old excuses no longer work. We are past the stage where…
Science
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When Public Advocates Attack Motives Instead of Answering Evidence
Public policy debates should be resolved by evidence, not by assumptions about the motives of the people participating in them. Yet it is common for substantive criticism to be met with claims that the critic is motivated by jealousy, a desire for power, or some other personal grievance rather than by the merits of the…
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Online Workshop – Candidate Vulnerability Assessment
Every candidate enters a race with potential vulnerabilities. These may include previous statements, professional history, financial records, social media activity, personal relationships, policy positions, or inconsistencies in the candidate’s public record. https://leadershipinstitute.org/event/701VL00000xvu8MYAQ Campaigns often devote significant time and resources to researching their opponents while failing to conduct the same level of research on their own…
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Professional Eyes on WeedPress: What an Exiger Referral Means
Analytics occasionally reveal more than pageviews. One recent referral to WeedPress came from insight.exiger.com. That domain belongs to Exiger, a global risk, compliance, and investigative intelligence firm. Their Insight platform is used by corporations, law firms, financial institutions, and investigative teams to conduct due diligence, monitor public information, and assess risk. When traffic arrives from…
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Working in Huron’s Federal Building Today — and a Reminder of What Rounds’ Staff Said Last Summer
I’m in Huron today working at the federal building, troubleshooting and repairing an IT failure for the offices here. While on site, conversations with staff turned to cannabis policy and federal rescheduling. It brought back a discussion I had last summer while installing computers in Senator Mike Rounds’ offices in Pierre. During that work, staff…
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Cannabis Is Being Rebuilt From the Ground Up: Closed Technology Systems and Medical Gaps Force a New Foundation
The cannabis industry is still operating on incomplete infrastructure—both technological and scientific. That was the central message of a recent Trade to Black episode from The Dales Report, featuring Flowhub founder and CEO Kyle Sherman and Dr. Paul Shields.¹ The conversation made clear that many of the systems currently supporting cannabis retail and medical use…
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Iowa Medical Cannabis Board Public Meeting This Friday July 24 (DETAILS) (YOUTUBE)
Update: video is linked below of this meeting: Meeting Information for July 24, 2026 Medical Cannabidiol Board Meeting Beginning at 10:00am on Friday, July 24, the second Medical Cannabidiol Board meeting of 2026 will be held virtually using the information below: * For those who wish to participate in the public comment period virtually, please send an email…
Current Events
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Health Department Tells Lawmakers South Dakota’s $20 Home-Grow Law Is Too Thin to Police — and Tightening It Raises Safety Questions
The Department of Health did not need a ballot fight to put a warning on the medical cannabis statute. It used the August Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee.¹ Program administrator Whitney Brunner told the committee that licensed home cultivators rose from 61 in fiscal year 2022 to 715 in fiscal year 2026 — a 1,072 percent…
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SD AG WeedPress Questions: October’s MMOC Meeting
South Dakota’s August 17 MMOC meeting confirmed institutional uncertainty that WeedPress policy posts had already identified and documented in statutory detail. Those WeedPress posts do not replace official guidance, but they do supply usable legal architecture, prior administrative filings, and concrete policy questions that the Committee and DOH can employ as they move toward the…
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When States Respond Differently to Federal Medical Cannabis Rescheduling: The Growing Legal and Operational Risks Facing Cannabis Licensees
The Department of Justice’s April 2026 final order placing qualifying state-licensed medical cannabis into Schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act represented the most significant federal regulatory development affecting state medical cannabis programs since Congress first enacted the Controlled Substances Act in 1970.¹ Although the order did not legalize adult-use marijuana, nor eliminate federal…
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South Dakota Reports Fewer Cannabis Businesses—but Not Why Their Licenses Disappeared
Welcome back to WeedPress, South Dakota’s only source for transparency and open public debate. South Dakota’s medical cannabis industry has lost 34 certified establishments since reaching its reported peak in state fiscal year 2023. The Department of Health reported 139 registered establishments in SFY 2023. That total fell to 124 in SFY 2024, 118 in…
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Online Workshop – Candidate Vulnerability Assessment
Every candidate enters a race with potential vulnerabilities. These may include previous statements, professional history, financial records, social media activity, personal relationships, policy positions, or inconsistencies in the candidate’s public record. https://leadershipinstitute.org/event/701VL00000xvu8MYAQ Campaigns often devote significant time and resources to researching their opponents while failing to conduct the same level of research on their own…
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South Dakota Medical Cannabis Establishments Drop 11% as National License Counts Continue Multi-Year Decline
South Dakota’s medical cannabis industry continues to contract, extending a multi-year decline in licensed establishments. Official Department of Health figures show the total number of certified establishments fell from 118 in FY 2025 to 105 as of the July 14, 2026, public list—a decline of 11.0%, from 118 establishments to 105.¹ Measured from the SFY…
Legislation
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Iowa Set The Example For Pressing The Feds. Hawaii’s Senate Just Backed The Same Approach.
Iowa Set The Example For Pressing The Feds. Hawaii’s Senate Just Backed The Same Approach By Jason Karimi | WeedPress April 4, 2026 For years, too many states have talked big about medical cannabis while acting like helpless subsidiaries of federal drug policy. Iowa challenged that weakness. Hawaii is challenging it again now. Hawaii senators…
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Leadership Matters: Strategy Failure — Not the Supreme Court — Doomed Legalization in South Dakota
Editors note: This piece analyzes past campaign strategy using publicly available court records and election results. When South Dakota voters approved Constitutional Amendment A in November 2020 to legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana, many supporters saw it as a historic victory for reform. But what followed — a legal challenge and a ruling from the…
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No. 15 — The Uniform Controlled Substances Act and the Architecture of Modern Drug Scheduling
No. 15 — The Uniform Controlled Substances Act and the Architecture of Modern Drug Scheduling A Structural Analysis of State Scheduling Mechanisms in a Post-Medical Recognition Era By Jason Karimi | WeedPress Policy Series No. 15 March 1st, 2026 Note: The following notes were provided from Vicente LLP and are referenced in this article: I.…
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Iowa Medical Cannabis Board Hearing Friday March 27 (DETAILS)
Meeting Information: March 27, 2026 – Medical Cannabidiol Board Beginning at 10:00am on Friday, March 27 the first Medical Cannabidiol Board meeting of 2026 will be held virtually using the information below: * For those who wish to participate in the public comment period virtually, please send an email to medical.cannabis@hhs.iowa.gov expressing your interest. You will use the zoom or…
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No. 14 – The South Dakota Controlled Substances Act: Legislative Architecture, Intent, and Institutional Design in a Potential Federal Rescheduling Context
The South Dakota Controlled Substances Act: Legislative Architecture, Intent, and Institutional Design in a Potential Federal Rescheduling Context By Jason Karimi | WeedPress Policy Series No 14 March 24, 2026 I. Introduction As previewed in WeedPress White Paper No. 1, South Dakota adopted its Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”) in 1970 as part of a broader…
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Nebraska Voters Approved Medical Cannabis. Now Protect the Doctors Who Make It Possible
Nebraska Voters Approved Medical Cannabis. Now Protect the Doctors Who Make It Possible Nebraska voters spoke when they approved medical cannabis. But a medical program cannot exist without doctors willing to recommend it. Right now, Nebraska law does not provide basic protections for physicians who choose to recommend cannabis to their patients. That means doctors…
RFRA Updates
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Nebraska First Freedom Act RFRA Appeal: Notes On General Language In Judicial Opinions
Türkiye Halk Bankası / Illinois v. Lidster: general language in an opinion is about the case then in front of the Court, not every later fact pattern. He is telling you not to treat a sentence from O Centro or a church case as a machine that prints a win for a lone probationer in…
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$150: Paying for the Record in Nebraska’s First Freedom Act Appeal
On Wednesday, August 26, 2026, I mailed a $150 cashier’s check to the Thurston County District Court at P.O. Box 216, Pender, Nebraska 68047. The check covers the estimated cost of the Bill of Exceptions for the April 8, 2026 evidentiary hearing on my request to modify a probation condition under Nebraska’s First Freedom Act.¹…
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Court Said I Didn’t Prove My Religion Because I Didn’t Testify. I’m Appealing Under Nebraska’s Religious “First Freedom Act”
Today I filed a Notice of Appeal in Thurston County District Court challenging the July 1, 2026 Order that denied my motion to modify a probation condition under the Nebraska First Freedom Act. The motion I filed sought a narrowly tailored religious accommodation allowing sacramental cannabis use consistent with my practice of the Rastafari faith.…
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Nebraska RFRA Appeal Argument, July 21, 2026
ARGUMENT I. The District Court Erred by Treating Defendant’s Personal Testimony as Effectively Indispensable to Establishing Sincerity Under the Nebraska First Freedom Act. The district court denied Defendant’s motion on the ground that he failed to establish a “sincerely held religious belief.” The court reasoned as follows: “There was no direct evidence of Defendant’s sincerely…
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Clarifying the Burden of Proof on Religious Sincerity Under RFRA and the Nebraska First Freedom Act
This submission addresses the proper burden of proof regarding religious sincerity under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”), 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-1, and the Nebraska First Freedom Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 20-1701 et seq., in the context of a probation modification request seeking a religious exemption for the sacramental use of cannabis. Legal Standard:…
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“Exorcism:” Why Spiritually Attuned Paths Reject Fear-Based Rituals of Casting Out
This article examines why exorcism, as commonly understood and practiced across traditions, often represents a spiritually mistaken approach. It externalizes power that belongs to the individual’s divine spark, frequently misattributes psychological or energetic imbalances, and can reinforce fear-based dualism instead of the living reality of “I and I”—the recognition that the Divine dwells within and…
Upcoming Events
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Online Workshop – Candidate Vulnerability Assessment
Every candidate enters a race with potential vulnerabilities. These may include previous statements, professional history, financial records, social media activity, personal relationships, policy positions, or inconsistencies in the candidate’s public record. https://leadershipinstitute.org/event/701VL00000xvu8MYAQ Campaigns often devote significant time and resources to researching their opponents while failing to conduct the same level of research on their own…
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Indigenous Women’s Medicine Wheel Ride – August 9 Sturgis (Sign Up Here)
I’ll be on this ride at Sturgis this year on the marijuana Harley ultra glide. Go to the guy with the reggae blasting to link. Prayer at 8:30. Bring your safety gear as well. $60 registration. Follow Doodle On A Motorcycle on YouTube for updates. Ride starts at Outlaw Square. Register here: https://www.medicinewheelride.org/ Who We…
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The June 27 DEA Registration Deadline Is Coming Fast: South Dakota Operators Face a Compliance Cliff as the Safe Harbor Window Closes
With the June 27 DEA registration deadline approaching, the following analysis examines the practical timeline and compliance pressures facing South Dakota operators. South Dakota’s licensed medical cannabis operators now have roughly 29 days to secure critical federal protections before the expedited DEA registration window closes. On April 28, 2026, the Department of Justice and Drug…
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Advance Notice to South Dakota Department of Health: Petition for Scheduling Review Will Follow Federal Rescheduling Hearings
South Dakota’s medical cannabis program stands at a critical juncture following the federal partial rescheduling of certain marijuana products to Schedule III.¹ After the DEA’s June 29, 2026 rescheduling hearing concludes, the undersigned will formally petition the South Dakota Department of Health (DOH) to review and align the state’s Schedule I classification of marijuana with…
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Why South Dakota’s Own Statutes Now Make Schedule I Marijuana Unlawful to Maintain
“Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is placing both FDA-approved drug products containing marijuana, and medicinal marijuana products subject to a qualifying state-issued license in Schedule III under his authority to reschedule drugs to carry out the United States’ obligations under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.”¹ South Dakota, however, is not automatically bound by that…
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South Dakota’s Schedule I Marijuana Prohibition Heads to Court This Summer: Lawsuit Will Seek Declaration That State Law No Longer Satisfies Its Own Criteria
This summer I intend to file a civil action against the State of South Dakota seeking a judicial declaration that the state’s Schedule I classification of marijuana no longer satisfies the statutory criteria required for Schedule I placement under South Dakota law.¹ The claim is straightforward: once the factual predicate of “no accepted medical use”…
For The Record (2026), By Jason Karimi
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South Dakota Faces Risk of Automatic Rescheduling Under Existing Statutory Language
The recent action by Wyoming’s Attorney General demonstrates that states are increasingly recognizing the legal significance of federal marijuana rescheduling where state statutes incorporate federal scheduling decisions. South Dakota’s existing statutory language raises similar questions that should be addressed before federal reform takes effect. WeedPress has previously warned that South Dakota law contains automatic trigger…
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Travis Ismay Responds to My Congratulatory Email: A Small Step Toward Civil Discourse in South Dakota Politics
Yesterday, Rep. Travis Ismay (R-House District 28B) replied to the congratulatory email I sent him shortly after his decisive Republican primary victory on June 2.¹ For context, here is the full exchange: My email (June 2, 2026): For context, here is the full exchange: It’s a brief, gracious response — and one I appreciate. Background…
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DARE Poster Kid to Marijuana Regulation Advocate: My Unchanging Fight to Protect Kids
When I was in elementary school, the DARE program left a lasting impression. Officers visited regularly, warning us about the dangers of drugs and pushing the “just say no” message. I took it seriously. So when the school announced an anti-drug poster contest open to elementary students, I threw myself into creating something impactful. My…
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Chapter 10: What Remains
Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 — The First ArrestEarly rupture, authority, and the beginning of resistance Chapter 2 — Before the File Was Opened Gifted education, faith, discipline, and early legitimacy Chapter 3 — Becoming a ProblemWork, exhaustion, collapse, and the cost of visibility Chapter 4 — Learning the Language of PowerCourts, probation, jail, campaigns, and proximity to decision-makers…
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Chapter 9: The Record vs. the Narrative
Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 — The First ArrestEarly rupture, authority, and the beginning of resistance Chapter 2 — Before the File Was Opened Gifted education, faith, discipline, and early legitimacy Chapter 3 — Becoming a ProblemWork, exhaustion, collapse, and the cost of visibility Chapter 4 — Learning the Language of PowerCourts, probation, jail, campaigns, and proximity to decision-makers…
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Chapter 8: What the Media Gets Wrong
Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 — The First ArrestEarly rupture, authority, and the beginning of resistance Chapter 2 — Before the File Was Opened Gifted education, faith, discipline, and early legitimacy Chapter 3 — Becoming a ProblemWork, exhaustion, collapse, and the cost of visibility Chapter 4 — Learning the Language of PowerCourts, probation, jail, campaigns, and proximity to decision-makers…
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Chapter 7: Why I Never Left
Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 — The First ArrestEarly rupture, authority, and the beginning of resistance Chapter 2 — Before the File Was Opened Gifted education, faith, discipline, and early legitimacy Chapter 3 — Becoming a ProblemWork, exhaustion, collapse, and the cost of visibility Chapter 4 — Learning the Language of PowerCourts, probation, jail, campaigns, and proximity to decision-makers…
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Chapter 6: Staying Power
Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 — The First ArrestEarly rupture, authority, and the beginning of resistance Chapter 2 — Before the File Was Opened Gifted education, faith, discipline, and early legitimacy Chapter 3 — Becoming a ProblemWork, exhaustion, collapse, and the cost of visibility Chapter 4 — Learning the Language of PowerCourts, probation, jail, campaigns, and proximity to decision-makers…
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Chapter 5: The Apprenticeship
Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 — The First ArrestEarly rupture, authority, and the beginning of resistance Chapter 2 — Before the File Was Opened Gifted education, faith, discipline, and early legitimacy Chapter 3 — Becoming a ProblemWork, exhaustion, collapse, and the cost of visibility Chapter 4 — Learning the Language of PowerCourts, probation, jail, campaigns, and proximity to decision-makers…
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Chapter 4: Learning the Language of Power
Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 — The First ArrestEarly rupture, authority, and the beginning of resistance Chapter 2 — Before the File Was Opened Gifted education, faith, discipline, and early legitimacy Chapter 3 — Becoming a ProblemWork, exhaustion, collapse, and the cost of visibility Chapter 4 — Learning the Language of PowerCourts, probation, jail, campaigns, and proximity to decision-makers…
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Chapter 3: Becoming a Problem
Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 — The First ArrestEarly rupture, authority, and the beginning of resistance Chapter 2 — Before the File Was Opened Gifted education, faith, discipline, and early legitimacy Chapter 3 — Becoming a ProblemWork, exhaustion, collapse, and the cost of visibility Chapter 4 — Learning the Language of PowerCourts, probation, jail, campaigns, and proximity to decision-makers…
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Chapter 2: Before the File Was Opened
Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 — The First ArrestEarly rupture, authority, and the beginning of resistance Chapter 2 — Before the File Was Opened Gifted education, faith, discipline, and early legitimacy Chapter 3 — Becoming a ProblemWork, exhaustion, collapse, and the cost of visibility Chapter 4 — Learning the Language of PowerCourts, probation, jail, campaigns, and proximity to decision-makers…
Commentary
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Leadership Matters: Strategy Failure — Not the Supreme Court — Doomed Legalization in South Dakota
Editors note: This piece analyzes past campaign strategy using publicly available court records and election results. When South Dakota voters approved Constitutional Amendment A in November 2020 to legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana, many supporters saw it as a historic victory for reform. But what followed — a legal challenge and a ruling from the…
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Deadwood Was South Dakota’s Origin Story
Deadwood Was South Dakota’s Origin Story HBO’s western is not just about one outlaw camp. It is about the culture of theft, violated Lakota land, gold obsession, and rough power that helped shape the state By Jason Karimi | WeedPress March 26, 2026 HBO’s Deadwood is not a documentary. It is something more dangerous to…
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The District Math: How Primary Elections Actually Decide Legislative Power in South Dakota
The District Math: How Primary Elections Actually Decide Legislative Power in South Dakota By Jason Karimi | WeedPress February 23, 2026 If HB 1065 was a diagnostic, district math is the operating manual. Political influence in South Dakota is not determined by statewide sentiment alone. It is determined district by district — often by a…
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From Diagnosis to Discipline: Building Primary Leverage in South Dakota’s Medical Cannabis Politics
From Diagnosis to Discipline: Building Primary Leverage in South Dakota’s Medical Cannabis Politics By Jason Karimi | WeedPress February 16, 2026 HB 1065 advancing is a test for the medical cannabis movement in South Dakota. If a restriction bill can clear committee 8–3 and advance toward the House floor with minimal electoral anxiety, the movement…
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WeedPress Is Mapping the Battlefield While Others Debate the Map
WeedPress Is Mapping the Battlefield While Others Debate the Map WeedPress Policy SeriesBy Jason Karimi ⸻ There are two kinds of publications in contentious policy environments. Some debate what the terrain should look like. Others study what the terrain actually is. WeedPress was built to do the second. While many cannabis commentators remain focused on…
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HB 1065 Heads to the Floor: The Primary Gap in South Dakota’s Medical Cannabis Politics
HB 1065 Heads to the Floor: The Primary Gap in South Dakota’s Medical Cannabis Politics As restriction legislation advances, the absence of effectively deterrent electoral pressure reveals a leverage problem within the state’s cannabis movement. As House Bill 1065 advances to the South Dakota House floor, the moment calls for structural reflection rather than rhetorical…
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Discipline Forged Under Scrutiny: Why the Hard Path Produces the Most Careful Lawyers
Discipline Forged Under Scrutiny: Why the Hard Path Produces the Most Careful LawyersBy Jason Karimi | WeedPress | February 14th, 2026 ⸻ Some of the most disciplined lawyers are not the ones who glide through clean transcripts and uninterrupted résumés. They are the ones who had to fight to be admitted. They understand that the…
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Outline of Cannabis Federalism: Constitutional Architecture in a Post-Prohibition Era
New book in monograph form incoming. Estimated release date: July 4, 2026 Cannabis Federalism: Constitutional Architecture in a Post-Prohibition Era Subtitle: A Structural Analysis of Vertical Preemption, Horizontal Protectionism, and Patient-Centered Regulatory Design By Jason Karimi Proposed Table of Contents Preface From Conflict to Architecture Brief, measured acknowledgment of the volatility of the cannabis policy…
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The “Lazy but Ambitious” Minority: Why 15–20% of People Are Wired Differently — and How That Can Be a Strength
The “Lazy but Ambitious” Minority: Why 15–20% of People Are Wired Differently — and How That Can Be a Strength By Jason Karimi A growing body of productivity and behavioral-psychology content points to a counterintuitive personality pattern: a significant minority of people — often estimated informally at 15–20% of the population in coaching and productivity…
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Why I No Longer Testify at Most Hearings
Why I No Longer Testify at Most Hearings Seventeen Years, Four Bills Passed, and Managing Campaigns and Staff Have Taught Me Institutional Architecture Is Not a Two-Minute Topic By Jason Karimi | WeedPress | February 12, 2026 This week’s attempt to repeal South Dakota’s medical cannabis laws leaned on ignorance of the federal architecture and…
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Call for Prosecutions Raises Concerns About Politicization
Call for Prosecutions Raises Concerns About Politicization When criminal law becomes a first-resort response to disagreement, institutional trust is at risk By Jason Karimi | WeedPress | January 17, 2026. In recent weeks, prominent progressive commentators have openly discussed the need for criminal accountability for political opponents. On a podcast appearance with CNN’s Jim Acosta,…
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Patient Perspectives
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Understanding High-Conflict Personalities: When You Become the Target of Blame
High-conflict personalities are individuals who consistently turn disagreements into prolonged, intense, and destructive battles. Unlike people who simply disagree or become emotional during conflict, high-conflict personalities tend to escalate disputes, externalize blame, and struggle to resolve conflict in a healthy or proportionate way.¹ Over the past several months, nearly a year straight now, I have…
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New Approach South Dakota’s Damaged Credibility, Lies To Judges To Get Political Competitor Arrested: Court Transcripts
Transcript PDF of Mentele v Karimi court hearing round 4 in full: You folks out there can do what you want. As for me, I’m going to go back to focusing on federal exemption advocacy as I have since 2009, before Mentele told me to stop and then got me arrested for continuing advocating, by…
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New Approach South Dakota Pivots And Rebrands With New Leadership Amid Ongoing Concerns
Following publication of this article, New Approach South Dakota publicly clarified that the anticipated leadership changes referenced in an earlier discussion concerned the Marijuana Policy Project, not New Approach South Dakota itself. New Approach states it is adding partners and expanding resources but will remain under its current leadership. Multiple conflicting statements in 2026 about…
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Fixing A SD Courthouse Electrical Cabling For Gate Entrance
GSA, the General Services Administration, sent me out as an IT tech to troubleshoot a control panel issue at a gate for judges and attorneys to enter at a courthouse. Determined the electrical cable run at the gate was needing replaced. The GSA had me bend conduit and run a new cable which I didn’t…
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New York Launches Program to Educate Doctors About Cannabis
“The University at Albany and Albany Medical Center are supporting the initiative. SUNY Upstate Medical University, Stony Brook Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, CUNY School of Public Health, and New York State Office of Mental Health are also involved in the center.” Read: https://ganjapreneur.com/new-york-launches-program-to-educate-doctors-about-cannabis/
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Seventeen Years of Federal Exemption Architecture: From 2011 Arizona Preemption Fights to Schedule III in 2026
For more than seventeen years, the central argument advanced on WeedPress has been straightforward: medical cannabis cannot achieve real legitimacy or stability while operating in a permanent state of federal prohibition. State programs alone, no matter how well-intentioned, were always structurally limited by the Controlled Substances Act’s Schedule I classification and the absence of workable…
WeedPress: The Paper Trail 