Featured Analysis
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No. 14 – The South Dakota Controlled Substances Act: Legislative Architecture, Intent, and Institutional Design in a Potential Federal Rescheduling Context
The South Dakota Controlled Substances Act: Legislative Architecture, Intent, and Institutional Design in a Potential Federal Rescheduling Context By Jason Karimi | WeedPress Policy Series No 14 March 24, 2026 I. Introduction As previewed in WeedPress White Paper No. 1, South Dakota adopted its Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”) in 1970 as part of a broader…
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RFRA: A Case Law Survey
These RFRA cases show the recurring doctrinal questions courts ask: substantial burden, exhaustion, factual specificity, and whether courts—not agencies alone—may recognize exceptions. Oklevueha Native Am. Church of Haw., Inc. v. Lynch, 828 F.3d 1012, 1016–17 (9th Cir. 2016) (“RFRA itself provides no explicit definition of ‘substantial burden.’ However, we have held that the meaning of…
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Why Medical Cannabis Programs Usually Don’t Trigger Lukumi Strict Scrutiny
Why Medical Cannabis Programs Usually Don’t Trigger Lukumi Strict Scrutiny Why take a detour to get to strict scrutiny when you don’t need to? State RFRA may be inferior to a world where Smith is overruled, but in actual cannabis litigation it is usually superior to relying on Smith exceptions alone. By Jason Karimi |…
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Jack Woody and the Forgotten Origin of Peyote Exemptions
Jack Woody and the Forgotten Origin of Peyote Exemptions By Jason Karimi | WeedPress March 23, 2026 Before peyote exemptions were narrowed into modern statutory categories, the issue was simpler: people were being prosecuted for practicing their religion. That is what People v. Woody was about. In 1964, the California Supreme Court reversed peyote convictions…
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1995 Article: Nebraska Had No State Peyote Exemption
1995 Article: Nebraska Had No State Peyote Exemption By Jason Karimi | WeedPress March 23, 2026 A 1995 NARF Legal Review article states it plainly: “Nebraska state law never provided an exemption for the religious use of peyote by Indians.” The article explains that this created a practical problem in Nebraska. Native American Church members…
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The Real Tactical Choice in Religious-Cannabis Litigation: RFRA or Section 1983?
The Real Tactical Choice in Religious-Cannabis Litigation: RFRA or Section 1983? A major strategic question is emerging in religious-cannabis litigation, and it is bigger than any one state. If a Rastafarian plaintiff is challenging marijuana restrictions as applied to religious use, what is the best vehicle: a state Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or 42 U.S.C.…
Policy
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Drug Scheduling Is Institutional Design — And That Changes Everything
Drug Scheduling Is Institutional Design — And That Changes Everything By Jason Karimi | WeedPress | Feb 10, 2026 In Volume 139 of the Harvard Law Review (p. 849), Matthew B. Lawrence and David E. Pozen published a piece that should be required reading for anyone serious about cannabis reform: “Drug Scheduling as Institutional Design.”…
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Why South Dakota’s Cannabis Licensing Framework Risks Being Ruled Unconstitutional
Why South Dakota’s Cannabis Licensing Framework Risks Being Ruled Unconstitutional — Federal Court Ruling Signals Constitutional Trouble Ahead By Jason Karimi | WeedPress| February 6th, 2026 South Dakota’s medical cannabis law contains a quiet but consequential line: To get a state registration certificate for a medical cannabis establishment, “[a]t least one principal officer is a…
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Who’s Tracking Cannabis Sales in South Dakota? The Health Department Isn’t
Who’s Tracking Cannabis Sales in South Dakota? The Health Department Isn’t By Jason Karimi | WeedPress | February 5, 2026 As lawmakers debate cannabis enforcement and market controls, the South Dakota Department of Health confirms it does not collect or receive dispensary-level sales or dispensing reports. As South Dakota lawmakers continue debating cannabis enforcement and…
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When Competence Shows Up: Electoral Losses vs. Legislative Wins
When Competence Shows Up: Electoral Losses vs. Legislative Wins By Jason Karimi | WeedPress | February 5, 2026 Editors note added Thursday February 5th: After writing this article I am glad Iowa does not have ballot initiatives, so people don’t confuse these differences and conflate the tactics used in electoral and legislative avenues of relief…
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Why So Much Cannabis Activism Burns People Out — and Why Mine Doesn’t
Why So Much Cannabis Activism Burns People Out — and Why Mine Doesn’t By Jason Karimi | WeedPress | February 4, 2026 If this work can be energizing, why do so many advocates flame out, disappear, or turn bitter? The answer isn’t workload.It’s structure. Burnout Is a Design Failure Most activist burnout isn’t personal weakness…
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Why WeedPress Exists the Way It Does: How I Learned to Navigate Hostile Systems — and Still Publish Solutions
WeedPress focuses on documented facts, public records, and procedural analysis, not personal vendettas or speculation. Why WeedPress Exists the Way It Does: How I Learned to Navigate Hostile Systems — and Still Publish Solutions By Jason Karimi | WeedPress | January 29, 2026 WeedPress wasn’t built by someone who grew up with a safety net.…
Law
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No. 14 – The South Dakota Controlled Substances Act: Legislative Architecture, Intent, and Institutional Design in a Potential Federal Rescheduling Context
The South Dakota Controlled Substances Act: Legislative Architecture, Intent, and Institutional Design in a Potential Federal Rescheduling Context By Jason Karimi | WeedPress Policy Series No 14 March 24, 2026 I. Introduction As previewed in WeedPress White Paper No. 1, South Dakota adopted its Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”) in 1970 as part of a broader…
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RFRA: A Case Law Survey
These RFRA cases show the recurring doctrinal questions courts ask: substantial burden, exhaustion, factual specificity, and whether courts—not agencies alone—may recognize exceptions. Oklevueha Native Am. Church of Haw., Inc. v. Lynch, 828 F.3d 1012, 1016–17 (9th Cir. 2016) (“RFRA itself provides no explicit definition of ‘substantial burden.’ However, we have held that the meaning of…
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Why Medical Cannabis Programs Usually Don’t Trigger Lukumi Strict Scrutiny
Why Medical Cannabis Programs Usually Don’t Trigger Lukumi Strict Scrutiny Why take a detour to get to strict scrutiny when you don’t need to? State RFRA may be inferior to a world where Smith is overruled, but in actual cannabis litigation it is usually superior to relying on Smith exceptions alone. By Jason Karimi |…
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Jack Woody and the Forgotten Origin of Peyote Exemptions
Jack Woody and the Forgotten Origin of Peyote Exemptions By Jason Karimi | WeedPress March 23, 2026 Before peyote exemptions were narrowed into modern statutory categories, the issue was simpler: people were being prosecuted for practicing their religion. That is what People v. Woody was about. In 1964, the California Supreme Court reversed peyote convictions…
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1995 Article: Nebraska Had No State Peyote Exemption
1995 Article: Nebraska Had No State Peyote Exemption By Jason Karimi | WeedPress March 23, 2026 A 1995 NARF Legal Review article states it plainly: “Nebraska state law never provided an exemption for the religious use of peyote by Indians.” The article explains that this created a practical problem in Nebraska. Native American Church members…
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The Real Tactical Choice in Religious-Cannabis Litigation: RFRA or Section 1983?
The Real Tactical Choice in Religious-Cannabis Litigation: RFRA or Section 1983? A major strategic question is emerging in religious-cannabis litigation, and it is bigger than any one state. If a Rastafarian plaintiff is challenging marijuana restrictions as applied to religious use, what is the best vehicle: a state Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or 42 U.S.C.…
Science
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Proposed Medical Cannabis Changes Worry Some Iowa Patients
Iowa Public Radio covers an Iowa patient’s story of getting her life back through the medical cannabis program. If some proposed legal changes take effect at the statehouse this year, says IPR, Iowan Wendy Shoemaker’s dose will be interfered with. Important nod to Lucas Nelson of Medpharm Iowa’s citation of Conant v Walters (prohibiting…
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Finally: Reynolds says she’s comfortable with board recs on medical marijuana
Radio Iowa has this predictable news from the drunken governor whose alcoholic past has been one of her excuses for dodging patients or engaging them as human freaking beings for the past three years.
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Just Say No To Microdosing?
Read why microdosing could be perverting a sacred sacrament into a corporate capitalist culture driven tool instead: Double Blind has a subversive perspective about psychedelic medicines ayahuasca, magic mushrooms and LSD.
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Iowa Employee Receives Warning Email From CEO: CBD Is Illegal And You Will Be Fired
“I’m here because my CEO, um, made it an announcement that CBD is illegal. And I was taking that, and I was healthy.” — Iowan Mike Nixon, Valentine’s day medical cannabidiol advisory board hearing public testimony This public testimony comes from Iowa Veteran Mike Nixon. You can read his full story here: [TRANSCRIPT] Iowa…
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![[TRANSCRIPT] Iowa Cannabidiol Advisory Board Meeting, Full Transcript, 2-14-20](https://weedpress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/img_4407.jpg?w=1024)
[TRANSCRIPT] Iowa Cannabidiol Advisory Board Meeting, Full Transcript, 2-14-20
Iowa Cannabis Advisory Board Meeting, Valentine’s Day 2020, Part 1 Runtime: 2 Hours 18 Minutes Unofficial transcript prepared by Jason Karimi Audio and video originally provided by MedPharm Iowa’s Facebook LiveStream. Backup of this video is available here: https://weedpress.wordpress.com/2020/02/14/iowa-cannabis-advisory-board-meeting-valentines-day-2020-part-1-video/ Moderator: Let’s take a roll call here. Dr. Cheyne? Dr. Liesveld? Dr. Liesveld: Here. Dr.…
Current Events
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Arrests Made in Pot Brownie Case
By LORI PREUITT Updated 5:00 PM PST, Wed, Jan 27, 2010 // // // Union City police say they know who made five high school students sick last week. They announced late Wednesday the arrest of two men who they say sold the marijuana which ended up in a batch of brownies that made the…
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Medical marijuana bill spelling out doctor-patient relationship advances
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2010/01/25/daily51.html Wednesday, January 27, 2010, 3:58pm MST Denver Business Journal – by Bob Mook A proposal to spell out the doctor-patient relationship in prescribing medical marijuana cleared its first hurdle in the Colorado Legislature on Wednesday. Senate Bill 109, sponsored by Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, was approved by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee…
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Denver seeks to clarify doctor-patient relationship for mmj
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14260764?source=rss medical marijuana Senate bill aims to clarify doctor-patient relationship concerning medical marijuana By Jessica Fender The Denver Post Posted: 01/25/2010 01:00:00 AM MST Updated: 01/25/2010 01:13:04 AM MST A medical-marijuana bill months in the making could see more changes Wednesday when state lawmakers for the first time take up the complicated task of regulating the quickly…
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California Supreme Court invalidates state limits on medical marijuana possession
latimes.com/news/local/la-me-medical-marijuana22-2010jan22,0,7843693.story latimes.com California Supreme Court invalidates state limits on medical marijuana possession The justices unanimously declare unconstitutional a 2003 provision that capped possession at eight ounces and cultivation at six mature or 12 immature plants. By John Hoeffel January 22, 2010 In a unanimous decision filed Thursday, the California Supreme Court struck down the state’s…
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Government’s new drug adviser Les Iversen wanted cannabis legalised
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6987115.ece January 14, 2010 Richard Ford, Home Corresponden A retired academic who once called for cannabis to be legalised was appointed yesterday as the Government’s new adviser on the harm caused by drugs.Les Iversen, a former pharmacology professor at the University of Oxford, was made interim chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of…
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Michele Leonhart new DEA head? What is Obama thinking??
Sounds like politics as usual to me… http://reason.com/blog/2010/01/26/meet-the-new-dea-administrator Meet the New DEA Administrator… Jacob Sullum | January 26, 2010 For those hoping that Barack Obama would wage the war on drugs less aggressively than his predecessor, this is not a good sign: Yesterday he announced that the new head of the Drug Enforcement Administration will…
Legislation
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No. 14 – The South Dakota Controlled Substances Act: Legislative Architecture, Intent, and Institutional Design in a Potential Federal Rescheduling Context
The South Dakota Controlled Substances Act: Legislative Architecture, Intent, and Institutional Design in a Potential Federal Rescheduling Context By Jason Karimi | WeedPress Policy Series No 14 March 24, 2026 I. Introduction As previewed in WeedPress White Paper No. 1, South Dakota adopted its Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”) in 1970 as part of a broader…
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Nebraska Voters Approved Medical Cannabis. Now Protect the Doctors Who Make It Possible
Nebraska Voters Approved Medical Cannabis. Now Protect the Doctors Who Make It Possible Nebraska voters spoke when they approved medical cannabis. But a medical program cannot exist without doctors willing to recommend it. Right now, Nebraska law does not provide basic protections for physicians who choose to recommend cannabis to their patients. That means doctors…
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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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Iowa Advances HSB 687 as the State Starts Questioning Its Own Cannabis Tax Hypocrisy
Iowa Advances HSB 687 as the State Starts Questioning Its Own Cannabis Tax Hypocrisy By Jason Karimi | WeedPress March 11, 2026 On March 10, Iowa lawmakers moved HSB 687 forward when a House Ways and Means subcommittee recommended passage, advancing a bill that would let licensed medical cannabis manufacturers and dispensaries deduct qualifying business…
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Kill the MMOC: South Dakota Should Stop Protecting a Failed Anti-Patient Committee
HB 1160 Should Pass: The MMOC Lost Any Claim to Speak for Patients By Jason Karimi | WeedPress March 7, 2026 South Dakota’s Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee should be repealed, and the Senate should stop dragging out the inevitable. HB 1160—the bill to repeal the MMOC—was smoked out of committee and forced back onto the…
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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…
RFRA Updates
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RFRA: A Case Law Survey
These RFRA cases show the recurring doctrinal questions courts ask: substantial burden, exhaustion, factual specificity, and whether courts—not agencies alone—may recognize exceptions. Oklevueha Native Am. Church of Haw., Inc. v. Lynch, 828 F.3d 1012, 1016–17 (9th Cir. 2016) (“RFRA itself provides no explicit definition of ‘substantial burden.’ However, we have held that the meaning of…
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Why Medical Cannabis Programs Usually Don’t Trigger Lukumi Strict Scrutiny
Why Medical Cannabis Programs Usually Don’t Trigger Lukumi Strict Scrutiny Why take a detour to get to strict scrutiny when you don’t need to? State RFRA may be inferior to a world where Smith is overruled, but in actual cannabis litigation it is usually superior to relying on Smith exceptions alone. By Jason Karimi |…
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Jack Woody and the Forgotten Origin of Peyote Exemptions
Jack Woody and the Forgotten Origin of Peyote Exemptions By Jason Karimi | WeedPress March 23, 2026 Before peyote exemptions were narrowed into modern statutory categories, the issue was simpler: people were being prosecuted for practicing their religion. That is what People v. Woody was about. In 1964, the California Supreme Court reversed peyote convictions…
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1995 Article: Nebraska Had No State Peyote Exemption
1995 Article: Nebraska Had No State Peyote Exemption By Jason Karimi | WeedPress March 23, 2026 A 1995 NARF Legal Review article states it plainly: “Nebraska state law never provided an exemption for the religious use of peyote by Indians.” The article explains that this created a practical problem in Nebraska. Native American Church members…
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The Real Tactical Choice in Religious-Cannabis Litigation: RFRA or Section 1983?
The Real Tactical Choice in Religious-Cannabis Litigation: RFRA or Section 1983? A major strategic question is emerging in religious-cannabis litigation, and it is bigger than any one state. If a Rastafarian plaintiff is challenging marijuana restrictions as applied to religious use, what is the best vehicle: a state Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or 42 U.S.C.…
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Today’s Probation Meeting Matters More Than It Looks
Today’s Probation Meeting Matters More Than It Looks Today’s meeting with probation may end up being one of the most important timeline entries in this entire case. At the meeting, my probation officer indicated that he had been planning to administer a UA. But once the pending religious evidentiary hearing was part of the picture,…
Upcoming Events
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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…
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Tomorrow: Best Attorneys Discuss Federal Rescheduling At Noon
https://x.com/jamiecampbell/status/2006159843267145790?s=46 RSVP and attend at noon central/ 1 eastern 1-6-2025 Be there or be square. Link also here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UKmdX9EBQs2HYOW7epomvA#/registration
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Reminder: Rising to the Moment: Protecting and Advancing Cannabis Legalization in a Changing America
Rising to the Moment: Protecting and Advancing Cannabis Legalization in a Changing America Date & TimeDec 17, 2025 12:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada) Webinar ID815 7712 0875 Description BGM and Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) invite you to join us for a timely discussion on the current state of the national legalization landscape. We will…
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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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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Why So Much Cannabis Activism Burns People Out — and Why Mine Doesn’t
Why So Much Cannabis Activism Burns People Out — and Why Mine Doesn’t By Jason Karimi | WeedPress | February 4, 2026 If this work can be energizing, why do so many advocates flame out, disappear, or turn bitter? The answer isn’t workload.It’s structure. Burnout Is a Design Failure Most activist burnout isn’t personal weakness…
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Why WeedPress Exists the Way It Does: How I Learned to Navigate Hostile Systems — and Still Publish Solutions
WeedPress focuses on documented facts, public records, and procedural analysis, not personal vendettas or speculation. Why WeedPress Exists the Way It Does: How I Learned to Navigate Hostile Systems — and Still Publish Solutions By Jason Karimi | WeedPress | January 29, 2026 WeedPress wasn’t built by someone who grew up with a safety net.…
Patient Perspectives
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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…
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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…
WeedPress: The Paper Trail 