MAILMAN
DELIVERS
A pair of US Postal
Service drivers in
Baltimore have been
delivering something
besides mail. William
McRae and Michael
Gray both pleaded
guilty of conspiracy to
distribute marijuana,
which they apparently
did with gusto—some
100 kilograms over a
12-month period. The Baltimore Sun reported that investigators found “over 200 suspicious
parcels were mailed from California to a particular ZIP code...in Baltimore” between November
2017 and November 2018, according to court records. “The packages routinely contained
between 1 and 7 kilograms each and would often arrive in batches of up (to) 6 or 7 packages
at a time,” McRae’s plea agreement reads. McRae could get 40 years in the federal pen; Gray
is facing up to 20 years. Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said earlier this year
that her office would no longer prosecute weed-possession cases, regardless of quantity or a
suspect’s criminal history, but that sensible policy has no bearing on federal cases like these.INSIDE
THE WIDE
WORLD OF
WEEDWORKING SPLIFFS
Now that Illinois has legalized weed, a native son plans to return to his home
state and cash in. Actor Jim Belushi, who has been growing his own on his 93-
acre Belushi Farms in Oregon since the Beaver State went legal in 2014, aims to
make his products a national brand. “Illinois is going to be a huge market,” Belushi
told Crain’s Chicago Business. “I want to be on the shelves come Jan. 1.” There is
a plan afoot to publicize the venture by driving a Bluesmobile replica on Lake
Street under the el in Chicago (with a big joint on the roof, instead of the giant PA
speaker as seen in The Blues Brothers). Fans might be able to follow the progress
of the cannabusiness on a reality-TV project slated for sometime next year.
Belushi is also revving up grow ops in California and Nevada to expand the supply.26 HIGH TIMES I OCTOBER 2019
Stamp of disapprovalHIGHWITNESS NEWSFRIENDS OF FUNGUS
Oakland, CA, became the second US city
to decriminalize magic mushrooms this
year, following Denver’s lead into this trippy
territory. The City Council voted unanimously
to decrim possession of psilocybin
mushrooms, along with ayahuasca, cacti and
iboga. Synthesized psychedelics like LSD or
MDMA will remain verboten at this time. In
practice, the new law will make investigations
and arrests for using or growing plant-based
hallucinogens a low priority for cops. Impetus
for the cool policy began last October when
Carlos Plazola, who was a chief of staff for
a former Oakland City Council president,
locked himself in a bedroom and noshed
a heroic five grams of shrooms, the Los
Angeles Times reported. The trip, Plazola’s
first, inspired him to co-found Decriminalize
Nature Oakland, which wrote the ordinance
and lobbied to get it passed. Now a group
called Decriminalize California will work on
getting the whole state onboard in 2020.
Nature’s
wayZOEWILDER,^ DOUG^ SHUTTER/^ SHUTTERSTOCKWeed
according
to JimCHILLINOIS
The great state of Illinois has joined the ranks
of the free, as it becomes the 11th US state to
legalize weed. Beginning January 1, 2020,
adults in the Prairie State will be allowed to
buy and possess 30 grams of cannabis, along
with five grams of concentrate and edibles
containing up to 500 milligrams of THC. Just
visiting? Nonresidents will be able to purchase
up to half of these amounts. Provisions in
the new law will also pardon individuals with
nonviolent convictions for simple possession,
establish a grant and loan program to help
communities hit hardest by prohibition and
assist folks looking to get in on the newly
legalized industry. “In the past 50 years, the
war on cannabis has destroyed families,
filled prisons with nonviolent offenders and
disproportionately disrupted black and brown
communities,” Governor J.B. Pritzker said at
the bill-signing ceremony in Chicago.