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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Minnesota Was Arguing Schedule III Before Washington Caught Up
April 26, 2026 Minnesota has already done what many cannabis lawyers, reformers, and national reporters still describe as hypothetical: it moved marijuana and naturally occurring tetrahydrocannabinols into Schedule III under state controlled-substances law.¹ The change has been sitting in Minnesota law quietly, without anything close to the national attention now surrounding federal rescheduling.² That matters…
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South Dakota Values Freedom More Than Security — And We Should Be Grateful for That
April 25, 2026 In an era when governments increasingly justify expanded surveillance, paternal regulation, and administrative control in the name of “public safety,” South Dakota often reflects an older constitutional instinct: that liberty is not a secondary value to be balanced away, but a primary political commitment. That instinct is imperfectly honored, and often contested.…
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The Litigation Front of Cannabis Reform: Why Ryan Kolbeck’s Courtroom Work Matters Beyond South Dakota
April 25, 2026 While cannabis reform is often narrated through ballot initiatives, legislatures, and federal rescheduling debates, some of its most consequential work occurs in trial courts, where rights are defended one defendant at a time.¹ In South Dakota, attorney Ryan Kolbeck’s work illustrates that underappreciated litigation front.² Prohibition survives not merely through statutes, but…
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Maryland Just Drew a New Line on Veterinary Cannabis
April 24, 2026 In a new development, Maryland has protected veterinarians from professional discipline solely for discussing or recommending cannabis or cannabidiol products for animals. House Bill 452 and Senate Bill 54, signed on April 14, 2026 as Chapters 47 and 48, bar the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners from suspending or revoking 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…
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South Dakota Protects Free Speech With New Anti-SLAPP Law
April 17, 2026 For years, South Dakota had a hole in its legal architecture that should have embarrassed any state claiming to respect free speech. If someone with money, status, or institutional backing wanted to punish a critic, a journalist, a blogger, or an activist, the process itself could become the weapon. Even a weak…
Law
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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…
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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Big Day for Cannabis Consolidation — and a Reality Check on Exports
The Dales Report Trade to Black podcast had a good show today. A wave of significant corporate moves landed on July 27, underscoring how quickly the U.S. cannabis industry is consolidating as companies position themselves for a post-rescheduling environment. At the same time, industry analysts are delivering a more sober message about what international export…
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DEA To Hit South Dakota Dispensaries Monday
Inspections to approve DEA licensing begins next week in South Dakota! Once the first federal DEA licensing applications are approved WeedPress will have the scoop. Cities DEA is expected to inspect include Huron and Aberdeen. WeedPress will be in Aberdeen Monday on site to get the details for South Dakota patients and industry thought leaders.…
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Rob Cool Raided Again, Denied Bail
Intake time this morning in the Minnehaha jail: 1:47 am. Neighbors report to WeedPress that Rob Cool was again raided last night in Sioux Falls. This time the judge has denied bail. Previous raid this year covered here: Stay tuned for updates as court docs come in.
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Global Eyes on WeedPress: Yandex Traffic Shows Worldwide Interest in Federal & International Cannabis Policy as History Unfolds
This morning I noticed something humbling in the site analytics: Yandex — Russia’s primary search engine — has been sending readers to WeedPress, along with hits from many other countries around the world, including a noticeable spike from Israel. It’s a quiet reminder that this singular issue — federal and international drug law reform, rescheduling…
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What Happens After Cannabis Rescheduling? Industry Experts Warn of Major Operational, Compliance, and Structural Challenges Ahead
While much attention has focused on the DEA’s Administrative Law Judge hearing regarding cannabis rescheduling, the more difficult work begins after any final decision. In a recent discussion on the TDR channel, industry and legal experts examined the practical implications if marijuana moves to Schedule III, warning that companies treating rescheduling as the finish line…
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Here’s What Happens If This Drama Queen Files Another TPO Against WeedPress Now That the Anti-SLAPP Law Has Changed
The filer doesn’t just lose again — she risks paying the costs, watching the public record of failed claims grow longer, and handing WeedPress even stronger structural protection under the new law. Over the past seven months, Melissa Mentele filed at least four protection order petitions against me across Hanson and Minnehaha counties, full of…
Legislation
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The Patients Left Behind: How South Dakota’s Medical Cannabis Law Still Punishes the Sickest Among Us
In Iowa recently, a 91-year-old woman was told she had to leave the nursing home she called home because she used medical cannabis to manage her pain and symptoms. The facility gave her an ultimatum: stop using the medicine her doctor supported, or move out. She refused. The case went to court. What should have…
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Patient Legal Risks Solved: A User-Level Exemption Model for Schedule III
The April 28, 2026 federal partial rescheduling order left a significant gap: personal home cultivation was not included in the narrow categories moved to Schedule III. Colorado attorneys Brian Vicente and Rachel Gillette have been direct about the practical consequences. Vicente noted that home grows do not qualify for the new federal registration pathway because…
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The Rural Access Question South Dakota’s New Pharmacy Rules Raise for Medical Cannabis
As regulators embrace telepharmacy and remote prescription pickup, policymakers may eventually face similar questions about medical cannabis access in rural communities. South Dakota’s Board of Pharmacy is advancing updated rules under Article 20:51 of the Administrative Rules of South Dakota (ARSD) that formalize the use of remote drop sites for prescription medications and introduce a…
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Stork Just Sent a Researcher to WeedPress: What Academic Tools Mean for Cannabis Policy Analysis
Independent statutory deep-dives are showing up alongside peer-reviewed literature in researchers’ workflows. It’s not every day your analytics dashboard lights up with a referrer you’ve never seen before. Today, May 5, 2026, WeedPress received a visit from paper-box.co — the domain tied to Stork (storkapp.me), a specialized publication-tracking and research intelligence platform used by academics,…
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Why Cannabis Operators Can’t Afford to Ignore the Federal Rescheduling Details — And What You Must Do Now
The federal government has split cannabis into two tracks. FDA-approved drug products containing marijuana and marijuana activity tied to a qualifying state-issued medical marijuana license under the new federal framework now occupy a different federal posture, while broader marijuana remains in Schedule I pending further proceedings.¹ That split is real, immediate, and carries tax, compliance,…
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WeedPress Looked Deeper: Congress’ Quiet Move to Block Trump’s Cannabis Rescheduling — and Why It Threatens Operators
The quietest threat to the federal cannabis shift is not coming from DEA’s June hearing. It is coming from the House appropriations process. On May 13, 2026, the full House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to mark up the FY2027 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) bill after the CJS subcommittee approved its version on April 30. Buried…
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 