Featured Analysis
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Model Legal Arguments & Proposed Legislative Language for Rastafarian Religious Cannabis Protections in South Dakota
I. Model Legal Arguments for a RFRA Defense A. Establishing a Substantial Burden on Religious Exercise B. State Fails Strict Scrutiny Test C. Precedent Favoring Religious Exemptions II. Proposed Legislative Language for Religious Cannabis Protections A. Amendment to South Dakota Medical Cannabis Law (SDCL 34-20G) Add a new section: B. RFRA Clarification Amendment (SDCL 1-1-23)…
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South Dakota report: allowing probationers to use medical cannabis is authorizing violations of federal law
I told you federal law matters. The solution is for South Dakota to apply for federal exemption pursuant to 21 USC 822(d).
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Religious Cannabis Exemption Iowa Research
Government cannot favor religious activity over secular, or visa versa. The judicial cannon of constitutional avoidance means an unconstitutional statute is only unconstitutional if it is actually applied to someone in an unconstitutional way. Someone has to be injured by it, or it’s never going to be held unconstitutional. The problem with…
Policy
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What Rescheduling Still Doesn’t Fix for Probationers, Workers, and Patients
Editors note: this article was written prior the the April 23 final order rescheduling cannabis products into federal Schedule III. Article is published unchanged as originally drafted for clarity. April 30, 2026 Too much cannabis coverage still treats federal rescheduling like a magic wand patients should uncritically celebrate. I’ve studied these laws more than anyone…
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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”…
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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…
Law
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What Rescheduling Still Doesn’t Fix for Probationers, Workers, and Patients
Editors note: this article was written prior the the April 23 final order rescheduling cannabis products into federal Schedule III. Article is published unchanged as originally drafted for clarity. April 30, 2026 Too much cannabis coverage still treats federal rescheduling like a magic wand patients should uncritically celebrate. I’ve studied these laws more than anyone…
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Formal Establishment Complaint Filed with SD DOH Medical Cannabis Program: Program Integrity Review Requested re: Licensed Establishment Agent Conduct
Sioux Falls, SD — Today, April 29, 2026, I filed a formal Establishment Complaint with South Dakota Department of Health (DOH) Medical Cannabis Program Administrator Whitney Brunner pursuant to SDCL Chapter 34-20G and ARSD Article 44:90. The complaint addresses a documented pattern of civil Temporary Protective Order (TPO) filings under SDCL Chapter 25-10 by Melissa…
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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”…
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South Dakota Patients and Taxpayers Deserve More Transparency in Medical Cannabis Enforcement
As federal rescheduling advances, unresolved transparency gaps remain in South Dakota’s medical market. South Dakota’s Medical Cannabis Program is designed to operate through patient, caregiver, practitioner, and establishment fees rather than ordinary general-fund appropriations.¹ But a fee-funded program still creates public administrative costs. Enforcement actions require inspectors, lawyers, agency leadership, public notices, patient communications, litigation…
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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…
Science
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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”…
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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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Why Italian Wikipedia Cites an Old WeedPress Cannabis Science Article
April 24, 2026 Independent advocacy journalism rarely imagines itself entering the reference architecture of the internet. Most movement publishing assumes a shorter shelf life: intervention, argument, disappearance. But sometimes old work lingers. An older WeedPress article on the LD50 of cannabis—addressing the longstanding toxicology point that lethal overdose from cannabis is extraordinarily difficult to achieve—appears…
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Science Measures Outcomes. Patients Measure Survival.
April 16, 2026 Science likes clean variables. Patients rarely get that luxury. Pain is messy. Nausea is messy. Trauma is messy. Insomnia is messy. The body does not wait for the literature to become elegant. It does not wait for committees to grow comfortable. It does not wait for institutions to decide whether the suffering…
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Freud’s Dirty Secret: How Candace Book Club Is Tearing Apart the Father of Psychoanalysis
Freud’s Dirty Secret: How Candace Book Club Is Tearing Apart the Father of Psychoanalysis By Jason Karimi | WeedPress March 22, 2026 The Assault on Truth and Sigmund Freud and the Jewish Mystical Tradition do not just question Freud’s legacy. They argue that modern psychoanalysis may have been built on suppression, repackaging, and intellectual disguise. Candace Owens’ book…
Current Events
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Leonard Read on Violence, Liberty, and Love
Timely article here at Mises.org. Writes Pepperdine University’s Gary Galles, “Virtue is widely preached and admired. Most consider themselves virtuous. Yet in our society, virtue is being progressively crowded out by coercion.” “In Students of Liberty, Leonard Read drew out the superiority of a society whose organizing principle is virtue—love voluntarily acted out in practical…
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Small Business Administration Refuses Cannabis Businesses Corona Disaster Relief Business Loans
The reason? Federal prohibition not exempting state laws (yet). State legal businesses cannot get federal access to business relief funding due to federal prohibition. This article from Tom Angell’s excellent as always Marijuana Moment has the details, and is yet another reason why the state’s failure to protect their state legal industries by ducking the…
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[VIDEO] March 10th 2020 Iowa House Debate Over Medical Cannabis, Vote
Jarad Klein appears to volunteer for the head horse’s ass in a room full of federal criminals. Watch:
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Action Happening Now: Eight Amendments Filed, House Debate Calendar Schedule Show Cannabis Bill On Deck
Here is my summary of the eight amendments filed this morning. The House is currently debating medical cannabis bills. You can find your representative to contact and urge a yes vote on whatever Kim Reynolds dictator like statehouse claims is morally correct here this year. These amendments are for House File 2589. The following…
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Developing: Senator Miller-Meeks, Others, Discuss Medical Cannabis At Yesterday’s Ottumwa League of Women Voter’s Forum
Ottumwa, Iowa Senator Miller-Meeks and other state actors discussed concerns about lack of federal influence on fixing outdated marijuana laws at a League of Women Voter’s forum in Ottumwa Saturday morning. See below for video from an Iowa patient discussing concerns with limitations being placed on Iowa’s medical cannabis program as well as a major…
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The Real Nature of Politics and Politicians
The Real Nature of Politics and Politicians or America’s System Works, But Not the Way You Think! By Mike Rothfeld (Editor’s Note: I met Mike at the Campaign For Liberty convention in Atlanta in January 2010. This guy is a take-no-prisoners guerrilla fighter. If you see Mike in person giving a speech, you’ll either love him…
Legislation
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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 Blueprint Update 1
April 23, 2026 Tracker — newly surfaced / incremental developments since last sweep https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/the-week-in-weed-april-2026-3-9554026/ https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/the-week-in-weed-april-2026-3-9554026/ Priority watchlist shift: Rhode Island residency litigation + possible legislative cure is the most material new development in this run.
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Blueprint 2026
April 21, 2021 The architecture WeedPress is following to cover policy nationwide this year: Layer 1: Source monitoring Layer 2: Structured trackerGoogle Sheet with columns like: Master tracker columns Use one Google Sheet with these columns: Core identity Legal substance Source control Workflow Best values for each column Category Use only: Subcategory Examples: Item type…
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No. 19 — Religious Accommodation in Medical-Only Cannabis States
No. 19 — Religious Accommodation in Medical-Only Cannabis States: Structural Litigation Risk and Legislative Design By Jason Karimi | WeedPress Policy Series No. 19April 20, 2026 ⸻ I. Introduction: The Unaddressed Gap Medical-only cannabis states operate within a tightly regulated framework. Cultivation is limited. Home grows require registration. Plant counts are capped. Inspections are authorized.…
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No. 17 — Federal Rescheduling and State Statutory Insulation: Indiana as a Case Study in Vertical Federalism Design
No. 17 — Federal Rescheduling and State Statutory Insulation: Indiana as a Case Study in Vertical Federalism Design By Jason Karimi | WeedPress Policy Series No. 17April 7, 2026 ⸻ When the federal government signals that marijuana may be rescheduled under the Controlled Substances Act, public debate gravitates toward legalization politics. That is the wrong…
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South Dakota District 35’s Republican Primary: Who’s Best Positioned in the Four-Way Race?
South Dakota District 35’s Republican Primary: Who’s Best Positioned in the Four-Way Race? By Jason Karimi | WeedPress April 4, 2026 South Dakota House District 35 is one of the more interesting Republican primaries in the state this cycle because it is an open-seat race with four Republican candidates competing for two House nominations on…
RFRA Updates
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Connecticut’s HB 5044 Is Not Just a Vaccine Bill. It Is a Legislative Rewrite of RFRA Mid-Litigation.
April 24, 2026 Connecticut’s HB 5044 is being sold as a vaccine-governance bill. In one sense, that is true: the bill deals broadly with immunization standards, the Department of Public Health’s authority, insurance coverage, and related vaccine-administration issues.¹ But buried inside that larger package is the provision that matters most for religious-liberty law: HB 5044…
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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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The State of Religious Freedom in America in 2026: Strong but Uneven Protection Across the States
April 21, 2026 State-level protection for religious exercise in 2026 is both stronger and less uniform than many summary accounts suggest. Roughly thirty states are commonly identified as having enacted statutory Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (“RFRAs”), while a smaller additional set is often described as providing RFRA-like protection through state constitutional doctrine. The trend is…
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No. 19 — Religious Accommodation in Medical-Only Cannabis States
No. 19 — Religious Accommodation in Medical-Only Cannabis States: Structural Litigation Risk and Legislative Design By Jason Karimi | WeedPress Policy Series No. 19April 20, 2026 ⸻ I. Introduction: The Unaddressed Gap Medical-only cannabis states operate within a tightly regulated framework. Cultivation is limited. Home grows require registration. Plant counts are capped. Inspections are authorized.…
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The Record Is the Case: Religious-Cannabis Claims Are Won Long Before the Judge Rules
The Record Is the Case: Religious-Cannabis Claims Are Won Long Before the Judge Rules By Jason Karimi | WeedPress April 14, 2026 Religious-cannabis cases are not won on sympathy. They are not won on slogans. They are not won because a claimant sounds sincere in the hallway or because a cause feels morally compelling in…
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The Next Religious-Cannabis Test Case: What Courts Will Actually Need To See
The Next Religious-Cannabis Test Case: What Courts Will Actually Need To See By Jason Karimi | WeedPress April 14, 2026 Religious-cannabis cases have been discussed as though the central question were whether a judge personally finds the practice unusual, controversial, or politically inconvenient. That is not the real question. The real question is whether a…
Upcoming Events
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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”…
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They Don’t Get To License The Press
Recent reporting indicates a Florida judge extended a temporary restraining order involving James O’Keefe and also ordered firearm surrender pending further proceedings. Whether that order is a pure First Amendment prior-restraint problem depends on what it actually forbids. If it regulates threats, contact, or violence, that is one thing; if it blocks publication, reporting, or…
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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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Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana Launches Statewide Town Hall Tour
Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana Launches Statewide Town Hall Tour By Jason Karimi | WeedPress | February 7, 2026 Scottsbluff to Lincoln: Advocates Take Patient Access Conversation Across the State Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana (NMM) is hitting the road this week with a statewide town hall tour aimed at updating patients, families, and community members on…
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Federal Public Comment Available Now (Texas Too)
Public input needed! Federal first then Texas: Federal Update: CMS & Hemp-Derived Cannabinoids On November 28, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) filed a proposed ruleto incorporate the federal definition of hemp that will take effect on November 12, 2026. This proposed rule clarifies that cannabis or hemp-derived products illegal under federal or state…
For The Record (2026), By Jason Karimi
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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 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 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…
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“For The Record” Chapter 1: The First Arrest
The following 8,580 word book is ten chapters long and written for future advocates. FOR THE RECORD How Power Actually Works—and Why Documentation Outlasts the Narrative By Jason Karimi Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 — The First ArrestEarly rupture, authority, and the beginning of resistance Chapter 2 — Before the File Was Opened Gifted…
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On Independence, Accountability, and Why I Don’t Build My Work Around Approval
On Independence, Accountability, and Why I Don’t Build My Work Around Approval By Jason Karimi At 19, I ended up in a homeless shelter. Not because I committed a crime.Not because I was addicted.Not because I couldn’t work. I was there because I stood up in court for religious cannabis rights, made the front page…
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Why WeedPress Chooses to Be a High-Heat, Contrarian Watchdog
Why WeedPress Chooses to Be a High-Heat, Contrarian Watchdog By Jason Karimi | WeedPressJanuary 24, 2026 WeedPress was not created to be polite. It was not created to echo press releases, recycle activist talking points, or play nice with institutions that have repeatedly failed cannabis patients, small operators, and civil liberties. WeedPress exists to document,…
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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Ziggy Marley’s “Racism Is A Killa” Uses Satire as a Public-Health Warning
Ziggy Marley’s “Racism Is A Killa” Uses Satire as a Public-Health Warning By Jason Karimi | WeedPress March 26, 2027 In the video for “Racism Is A Killa,” Ziggy Marley does not treat racism as a private flaw or a bad opinion. He frames it as a social sickness, and satire is the instrument that…
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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,…
Patient Perspectives
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HB 1160 Went Down in the Senate: South Dakota’s MMOC Repeal Bill Fails After Smoke-Out
HB 1160 Went Down in the Senate: South Dakota’s MMOC Repeal Bill Fails After Smoke-Out By Jason Karimi | WeedPress March 11, 2026 South Dakota’s effort to repeal the Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee has now stalled in the Senate. HB 1160 was first killed in Senate Health and Human Services on March 4, when the…
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Why Formal Process Matters in Cannabis Reform: My South Dakota DOH Petition
Why Formal Process Matters in Cannabis Reform: My South Dakota DOH Petition By Jason Karimi | WeedPress March 8, 2026 When I filed my petition with the South Dakota Department of Health, I already knew some people would hate it. Not because it was sloppy. Not because it was unserious. Not because it lacked legal…
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South Dakota Senate Uses “Smoke-Out” Procedure to Revive MMOC Repeal Bill
South Dakota Senate Uses “Smoke-Out” Procedure to Revive MMOC Repeal Bill By Jason Karimi | WeedPress March 6, 2026 In a procedural move that underscores how legislative strategy can override committee decisions, the South Dakota Senate has revived HB 1160, the bill that would eliminate the state’s Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee (MMOC). Just one day…
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Iowa Moves to Give Medical Cannabis Operators State Tax Relief Under HSB 687
Iowa Moves to Give Medical Cannabis Operators State Tax Relief Under HSB 687 By Jason Karimi | WeedPress March 6, 2026 Iowa lawmakers have introduced House Study Bill 687, a tax measure that would let licensed medical cannabis manufacturers and dispensaries deduct ordinary business expenses on their Iowa tax returns even though those same deductions…
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DOH Confirms Receipt: South Dakota’s Schedule I Review Petition Is Officially in the Record
DOH Confirms Receipt: South Dakota’s Schedule I Review Petition Is Officially in the Record By Jason Karimi | WeedPress March 5, 2026 Previously on WeedPress: The South Dakota Department of Health has now confirmed it received my Petition for Declaratory Judgment and Mandatory Scheduling Review of Cannabis. This matters for one reason: it removes any…
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Senate HHS Buries HB 1160: MMOC Repeal Killed on a 4–3 “41st Day” Vote
Senate HHS Buries HB 1160: MMOC Repeal Killed on a 4–3 “41st Day” Vote By Jason Karimi | Weed PressMarch 5, 2026 South Dakota’s bill to repeal the Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee (MMOC) is effectively dead. On Wednesday, March 4, 2026, Senate Health & Human Services voted to defer HB 1160 to the “41st legislative…
WeedPress: The Paper Trail 