DeSantis Takes Flak for Spending State Funds to Defeat Pot Init, Evo Morales Claims Assassination Attempt, More... (10/28/24)

New York marijuana regulators crack down on a THC-caffeine product, and more.

Bullet holes in the windshield of the car carrying former Bolivian President Evo Morales. (Morales handout)

Florida Governor Takes Flak for Spending Taxpayer Funds to Try to Defeat Marijuana Legalization Initiative. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has spent $50 million of state funds to try to defeat the Amendment 3 marijuana legalization initiative, and now he is facing harsh criticism from bipartisan political figures in the state over what they call a misuse of taxpayer money.

"No matter where you stand on this issue, this is still a democracy. We do not spend taxpayer dollars in advance of a political issue," said Sarasota Republican state Sen. Joe Gruters on a Zoom conference call organized by Safe & Smart Florida, the advocacy group behind Amendment 3. "Tax dollars are meant to be spent on our police, schools, roads, and other public programs that make our state great, not political agendas."

Gruters is no lib. He was chairman of the state Republican Party from 2018 to 2022 and was twice the state co-chair of the Donald Trump presidential campaigns. (Trump has also come out in support of Amendment 3.)

Meanwhile, state Sen. Jason Pizzo (D) filed a lawsuit last month over the state Department of Transportation campaigning against Amendment 3. He said the purpose of his lawsuit was to stop the state agency stop running misleading public service announcements warning that "DUI crashes increase in states with legalized marijuana putting everyone at risk." But a Leon County judge last week threw out that case. Pizzo has not said whether he will appeal.

New York Regulators Ban Cannabis Pills Containing Caffeine. The state Office of Cannabis Management has banned the sale of hemp-derived pills containing caffeine. It did so by issuing a stop order to Hudson Cannabis, an upstate hemp and marijuana operation that provides the key ingredients for the 1906 cannabis brand.

The brand sells two different products, "Go" and "Genius" that contain small doses of THC and larger doses of caffeine. The product has been popular with health and fitness enthusiasts and office workers.

While the pills have been marketed in the state since February 2023, regulators issued a stop order after inspecting the Hudson Cannabis facility and examining the caffeine-THC mixtures.

"Evidence supports that ingredients used in the product are not allowed to be used in cannabis products," said the quarantine order signed by inspectors Natalie DeLong and Matthew Hinken.

The order said the mixture of ingredients "may jeopardize public health or safety."

Hudson Cannabis disagrees and is appealing that ruling, which affects about $1 million of its inventory.

"Hudson Cannabis and our production facilities fully follow New York State's cannabis regulations," said Melany Dobson, cofounder of Hudson Cannabis.

"We are surprised by this decision from the State to quarantine products that have been on the market for over 18 months, are sold legally in States across the nation, and as far as we know have had zero reported adverse effects."

"This type of arbitrary and capricious behavior, preventing the sale of safe and tested products readily available across the country, only serves to benefit the illicit market Governor Hochul claims to care about shutting down," Dobson said.

International

Bolivia's Coca Leader Ex-President Evo Morales Accuses Foes of Assassination Attempt. Former Bolivian President Evo Morales, who rose to power as the leader of a coca grower union only to be deposed after a disputed election in 2019, accused his political foes of trying to assassinate him while he was driving to an event in Cochabamba Sunday.

Morales is in a bitter feud with current Bolivian President Luis Arce, a former ally in the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) Party who replaced him as head of the nation after a brief rightist interregnum. The two have been in a standoff over who controls the party for weeks.

Morales said police in Cochabamba riddled his car with bullets, leaving 14 bullet holes and wounding his driver. Morales shared a video that showed bullet holes and the driver with blood on his head. A woman'' voice can be heard screaming "Duck, president, duck!" and urging the driver to speed off.

But Arce's government on Monday accused Morales of lying, saying police opened fire only after his vehicle ran a highway checkpoint. Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo said Morales' vehicle failed to stop at a drug checkpoint in Chapare province, and that the driver ignored orders to pull over.

"Rather than slow down, they speed up, take out guns" and "shoot from inside a car" at police, the minister said. Morales would "have to answer... for the crime of attempted murder" of a police officer, del Castillo added.

Tensions were already running high in the Cochabamba region, where his supporters have been blocking roads for two weeks to prevent his arrest on charges of rape of a minor. Those charges first surfaced in the hotly contested 2019 election campaign that resulted in his ouster. Morales, who wants to return to the presidency, has denied those charges and claimed he was the victim of an attempted political assassination.

"This was planned. The idea was to kill Evo," Morales said Sunday. "Lucho [President Arce] has destroyed Bolivia and now he wants to eliminate our process by killing Evo," Morales said.

Arce, for his part, said he had ordered "an immediate and thorough investigation to clarify the facts" surrounding what he called "the alleged attack" on Morales.

"Any violent practice in politics must be condemned and clarified," Arce added.