Featured Analysis
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South Dakota Finally Decides Free Speech Should Not Be Bankrupted
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…
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Start Here: What WeedPress Is, What It Covers, and Why the Record Matters
April 16, 2026 WeedPress is a publication about records, policy, law, and power. It exists for one reason: in cannabis politics, if you do not document the record, someone else will rewrite it. For 17 years, WeedPress has tracked the gap between rhetoric and structure — between what movements say, what institutions do, and what…
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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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Why Cannabis Reform Keeps Winning Headlines but Losing on Structure
April 16, 2026 Cannabis reform has spent years winning the visible fight while losing too many of the structural ones: That is the contradiction at the heart of the modern marijuana debate. The headlines look triumphant. More states legalize. More politicians soften. More investors return every election cycle to promise that normalization is just around…
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The Next Cannabis Boom Will Reward Operators — Not Amateurs
The real 2026–2027 unlock is not federal reform alone. It is the moment policy relief begins rewarding scale, infrastructure, experience, and real business discipline. April 15, 2026 For years, cannabis commentary has treated federal reform as the singular unlock. That was always too simplistic. The real 2026–2027 cannabis unlock is not just a policy shift…
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No. 18 — Federal Question Preservation in State Cannabis Prosecutions
April 15, 2026 ⸻ I. Introduction: The Structural Risk No One Discusses Cannabis litigation frequently turns on constitutional arguments. Yet many disputes fail not because the constitutional theory is weak, but because the federal question was not properly preserved. In state prosecutions, litigation sequencing determines whether a federal issue survives long enough to reach meaningful…
Policy
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Obtaining the Official Transcript: February 10, 2026 TPO Hearing in Mentele v. Karimi
In the seemingly never-ending series of protection order filings brought by 605 Cannabis LLC against me, WeedPress continues to build and preserve the complete public record on matters involving South Dakota’s medical cannabis program. We are now on censorship attempt number 7 in four months between two county courthouses… Today, I received a response from…
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605 Cannabis CEO Ned Horsted Seeks Republican House Seat While Chairing Referendum Drive Against GOP-Backed Property Tax Relief Law
As a candidate for South Dakota House District 6, Horsted claims “practical” conservative leadership — while chairing a referendum drive against a tax bill Governor Rhoden and Republican leaders promoted as part of the largest property-tax cut in state history. In the final weeks before South Dakota’s June 2, 2026 Republican primary, voters in House…
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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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DEA Registration Decision Tree: 5 Questions Every Medical Operator Should Answer Before June 26
The June 26, 2026 deadline is not a suggestion. It is the cutoff for expedited DEA Schedule III registration under the new federal medical marijuana framework. File on time and you lock in six-month guaranteed processing, continued state-law operations during review, and the clearest path to improved banking and payments. Miss it and you fall…
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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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The Federal Government Just Split Cannabis into Two Legal Tracks Overnight — and Congress Could Kill Both Within Weeks
Last week, the Department of Justice, acting through DEA, created a dual-track federal cannabis regime: state-licensed medical cannabis moved to Schedule III, while recreational cannabis remains in Schedule I.¹ This bifurcation is unstable. A single appropriations rider could functionally nullify the entire framework before medical operators stabilize and before the broader rescheduling process advances.² What…
Law
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DEA Registration Decision Tree: 5 Questions Every Medical Operator Should Answer Before June 26
The June 26, 2026 deadline is not a suggestion. It is the cutoff for expedited DEA Schedule III registration under the new federal medical marijuana framework. File on time and you lock in six-month guaranteed processing, continued state-law operations during review, and the clearest path to improved banking and payments. Miss it and you fall…
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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…
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The Federal Government Just Split Cannabis into Two Legal Tracks Overnight — and Congress Could Kill Both Within Weeks
Last week, the Department of Justice, acting through DEA, created a dual-track federal cannabis regime: state-licensed medical cannabis moved to Schedule III, while recreational cannabis remains in Schedule I.¹ This bifurcation is unstable. A single appropriations rider could functionally nullify the entire framework before medical operators stabilize and before the broader rescheduling process advances.² What…
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The South Dakota Board of Pharmacy and the April 2026 Federal Partial Rescheduling: An Implementing Role in a Layered Statutory Framework
The federal government’s April 2026 partial rescheduling of marijuana—placing FDA-approved products and marijuana subject to a qualifying state-issued medical marijuana license into Schedule III while leaving most adult-use marijuana in Schedule I—has created new conformity pressures for mature medical cannabis states.¹ South Dakota illustrates one variant of this federalism challenge. Unlike states with a single…
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Massachusetts and Arizona After the Partial Federal Schedule III Shift: Two Mature Markets, Two Different Conformity Problems
Summary: This article examines how Massachusetts and Arizona are responding to the federal government’s April 2026 partial move of state-licensed medical marijuana into Schedule III. It argues that mature cannabis states are now entering a post-announcement phase in which the central question is not whether federal policy changed, but how states must adjust licensing, compliance,…
Science
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Updates from Week 5 of the Iowa Legislative Session via Iowa Harm Reduction Coalition
*** Note: the following email from IHRC is being shared here because it includes excellent summaries of drug policy bills going through the plumbing at the golden downtown system in 2020. *** Legislative Updates from the State House It’s been a busy week at the state house in Des Moines during week five. From “Ending…
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Iowa Cannabis Advisory Board Meeting, Valentine’s Day 2020, Part 1 [VIDEO]
Runtime: 2 hours 18 minutes Part 2 here:
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Ankeny DMACC Tomorrow: Medical Cannabis Advisory Board Public Meeting, On Valentine’s Day At 10 AM
Upcoming Meeting Detail Title: Iowa Medical Cannabidiol Advisory Board – Iowa Medical Cannabidiol Board Meeting Date: 02/14/2020 Time: 10:00 am Location: Iowa Laboratory Facility – 2240 DMACC Blvd., Ankeny, IA Agenda: 02.14.2020 Medical Cannabidiol Board Meeting Agenda Other Files: Draft Minutes: 11.01.2019 mCBD Board Meeting I guess it’s a date.
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Ben From Iowa City: His Story
For more information, visit: https://www.iowaharmreductioncoalition.org/syringe-exchange/ Ben’s Story SSPs offer connections to treatment Ben is a 26 year old from Iowa City who has been using heroin for several years. In the fall of 2017, he met the Iowa Harm Reduction Coalition (IHRC) while they were conducting community outreach. He received a naloxone kit and was…
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Iowa Law Enforcement Officers Support Syringe Service Programs and Needle Exchange
The following information is courtesy of the Iowa Harm Reduction Coalition. Law Enforcement Officers Support Syringe Service Programs and Needle Exchange Chief Michael Tupper Marshalltown Chief of Police, Marshalltown Police Department “SSPs save money, lives, and take used needles off the streets, which protects both law enforcement and the public. Now is the time to…
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IDW’s Dr. Jordan Peterson Placed In Coma After Western Medicine Nearly Kills Him
Dr. Jordan Peterson Placed In Coma After Pharmaceuticals Nearly Kill Him North American hospitals had misdiagnosed him and nearly killed him as a result, says National Post. The man, the myth, and the legend, intellectual dark web superhero Jordan Peterson nearly died last month after having a bad reaction to benzodiazepines. Jordan was placed in…
Current Events
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VIDEO | Here’s Illinois Governor-Elect J.B. Pritzker on legalizing pot “nearly right away” in Illinois Wednesday
My favorite parts: J.B. Pritzker: “We have an opportunity here in Illinois to bring $700 million of revenue to the state to create jobs across the state. Production facilities, dispensaries, and to reserve some of the licenses for people who have been most put upon and ill effected by the War on Drugs.”…
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Eleven Newly Elected Governors Now Support Cannabis Reform | Marijuana “Green Wave” The Big Winner In 2018 Midterms
From Civilized.Life: https://www.civilized.life/articles/new-governors-feel-about-marijuana/ Yesterday was the midterm elections, and 20 new governors were elected in the United States, including seven Democrats who wrestled control of the governor’s mansion away from Republicans. Considering most marijuana legalization laws occur at the state level, it’s probably a good idea to see how the new governors feels about cannabis.…
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Minnesota Governor-Elect Tim Walz Supports Recreational Marijuana Regulations And Taxation, Expungement of Minnesotans Marijuana Crimes
I support legalizing marijuana for adult recreational use by developing a system of taxation, guaranteeing that it is Minnesota grown, and expunging the records of Minnesotans convicted of marijuana crimes. #mngov #OneMinnesota— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) August 10, 2018 https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2018/11/07/pro-marijuana-party-gets-major-party-status-in-minnesota/ Pot is now legal in 10 states. Minnesota’s path to legalization will be much different than…
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WISCONSIN | Governor-Elect Tony Evers openly supports statewide referendum on recreational cannabis regulations — Sixteen Wisconsin counties also approved some sort of advisory marijuana question during yesterday’s midterm elections
“Tony believes this is a decision that should reside with Wisconsin residents and would support a statewide referendum on the issue.” From the Governor-elect’s website: https://tonyevers.com/plan/marijuana-legalization/ Tony believes it’s time for Wisconsin to join nearly 30 other states and the District of Columbia in legalizing medical marijuana. As a cancer survivor himself, Tony is…
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Column By Chicago Tribune Editorial Board Member | “The growing consensus for legal marijuana”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chapman/ct-perspec-chapman-marijuana-pritzker-michigan-medical-1108-20181107-story.html “Neither party is consistent on matters of federalism. But this is the rare occasion when Republicans could enlist Democrats in curbing Washington’s meddling in matters that can be handled perfectly well at the state level — deploying a concept that liberals might find attractive under President Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Justice…
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Marijuana Policy Project Updates On Illinois Legislative Session: “Sen. Heather Steans and Rep. Kelly Cassidy prepare to introduce a revised bill for the session starting in January that would legalize cannabis for adults in Illinois.”
Illinois: Cannabis reform candidates J.B. Pritzker, Kwame Raoul, Bob Morgan cruise to victory Yesterday’s blue wave in Illinois poised to become a green wave next session Dear Supporter, Gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker, who has been a vocal supporter of legalizing, taxing, and regulating cannabis for adults’ use, appears to have handily won yesterday’s gubernatorial election.…
Legislation
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605 Cannabis CEO Ned Horsted Seeks Republican House Seat While Chairing Referendum Drive Against GOP-Backed Property Tax Relief Law
As a candidate for South Dakota House District 6, Horsted claims “practical” conservative leadership — while chairing a referendum drive against a tax bill Governor Rhoden and Republican leaders promoted as part of the largest property-tax cut in state history. In the final weeks before South Dakota’s June 2, 2026 Republican primary, voters in House…
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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…
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Ned Horsted’s “Family Values” GOP Run Is a Democrat Trojan Horse — While His Family Farm Hosts LGBTQ Pride Events and Pushes Progressive Radicalism
Editors note: The following is voter information on a public candidate based solely on public records on a regulated industry and candidate. Protective order proceedings are separate and this publication is not intended to influence any court matter. South Dakota House District 6 voters have four and a half short weeks until the June 2…
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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…
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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Obtaining the Official Transcript: February 10, 2026 TPO Hearing in Mentele v. Karimi
In the seemingly never-ending series of protection order filings brought by 605 Cannabis LLC against me, WeedPress continues to build and preserve the complete public record on matters involving South Dakota’s medical cannabis program. We are now on censorship attempt number 7 in four months between two county courthouses… Today, I received a response from…
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Ned Horsted’s “Family Values” GOP Run Is a Democrat Trojan Horse — While His Family Farm Hosts LGBTQ Pride Events and Pushes Progressive Radicalism
Editors note: The following is voter information on a public candidate based solely on public records on a regulated industry and candidate. Protective order proceedings are separate and this publication is not intended to influence any court matter. South Dakota House District 6 voters have four and a half short weeks until the June 2…
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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…
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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…
Commentary
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605 Cannabis CEO Ned Horsted Seeks Republican House Seat While Chairing Referendum Drive Against GOP-Backed Property Tax Relief Law
As a candidate for South Dakota House District 6, Horsted claims “practical” conservative leadership — while chairing a referendum drive against a tax bill Governor Rhoden and Republican leaders promoted as part of the largest property-tax cut in state history. In the final weeks before South Dakota’s June 2, 2026 Republican primary, voters in House…
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Ned Horsted’s “Family Values” GOP Run Is a Democrat Trojan Horse — While His Family Farm Hosts LGBTQ Pride Events and Pushes Progressive Radicalism
Editors note: The following is voter information on a public candidate based solely on public records on a regulated industry and candidate. Protective order proceedings are separate and this publication is not intended to influence any court matter. South Dakota House District 6 voters have four and a half short weeks until the June 2…
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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…
Patient Perspectives
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Obtaining the Official Transcript: February 10, 2026 TPO Hearing in Mentele v. Karimi
In the seemingly never-ending series of protection order filings brought by 605 Cannabis LLC against me, WeedPress continues to build and preserve the complete public record on matters involving South Dakota’s medical cannabis program. We are now on censorship attempt number 7 in four months between two county courthouses… Today, I received a response from…
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605 Cannabis CEO Ned Horsted Seeks Republican House Seat While Chairing Referendum Drive Against GOP-Backed Property Tax Relief Law
As a candidate for South Dakota House District 6, Horsted claims “practical” conservative leadership — while chairing a referendum drive against a tax bill Governor Rhoden and Republican leaders promoted as part of the largest property-tax cut in state history. In the final weeks before South Dakota’s June 2, 2026 Republican primary, voters in House…
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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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The South Dakota Board of Pharmacy and the April 2026 Federal Partial Rescheduling: An Implementing Role in a Layered Statutory Framework
The federal government’s April 2026 partial rescheduling of marijuana—placing FDA-approved products and marijuana subject to a qualifying state-issued medical marijuana license into Schedule III while leaving most adult-use marijuana in Schedule I—has created new conformity pressures for mature medical cannabis states.¹ South Dakota illustrates one variant of this federalism challenge. Unlike states with a single…
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Ned Horsted’s “Family Values” GOP Run Is a Democrat Trojan Horse — While His Family Farm Hosts LGBTQ Pride Events and Pushes Progressive Radicalism
Editors note: The following is voter information on a public candidate based solely on public records on a regulated industry and candidate. Protective order proceedings are separate and this publication is not intended to influence any court matter. South Dakota House District 6 voters have four and a half short weeks until the June 2…
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The Post-Announcement Phase of Cannabis Rescheduling: What the June DEA Hearing Means, What States May Have to Change, and What to Watch Next
The most important cannabis-law story in the country is no longer the announcement that part of the marijuana market has been moved into Schedule III. It is the implementation phase that follows. In April 2026, the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration took the unusual step of immediately placing state-licensed medical marijuana and…
WeedPress: The Paper Trail 