The first day of fall is upon us, but although the seasons are changing, Jeff Sessions’ opinion of cannabis hasn’t. He sounds off once again about his disdain for the plant, Iceland eyes legalization, Russia thinks Morgan Freeman is sick from too much cannabis, and more. Here’s a roundup of quotes from the past week.
“I’ve never felt that we should legalize marijuana. It doesn’t strike me that the country would be better if it’s being sold on every street corner. We do know that legalization results in greater use.”
– US Attorney General Jeff Sessions responding to a reporter’s question after a San Diego press conference centered on the Coast Guard seizing large quantities of heroin and cocaine
“What’s really interesting to see, with all the legalization of marijuana happening, is how there’s evidence that it can be helpful in a medicinal sense for people. That it can really be an alternative pain management system, and, in some cases, helpful for depression. I think there is a lot of pushback against [medical marijuana], because I don’t think we can monetize it with the same kind of margin you can with an anti-anxiety pill that you get from behind the counter. But it’s incredible to see people who can’t sleep, or people who have chronic pain, report really positive results, and it’s a natural substance.”
– Gwyneth Paltrow during a conversation with Goop writer Sarah Mesle
“I was having a bad day, a very bad day. He got the ugly side of it.”
– Donavon Culps, who admitted to kidnapping and killing Lucid budtender Cameron Smith in Cheney, Washington. Culps was denied entry to Lucid for failing to produce proper identification. He subsequently took his anger out on Smith, who was taking a lunch break in his own vehicle.
“I said before my order was: ‘If I have children who are into drugs, kill them so people will not have anything to say.’ So I told Pulong [Duterte’s son]: ‘My order is to kill you if you are caught. And I will protect the police who kill you, if it is true.’”
– Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, whose son has recently denied allegations that he is a member of a Chinese gang that is smuggling methamphetamines into the country. Duterte’s violent crackdown on drugs in the Philippines has resulted in thousands of deaths since he took office in June 2016.
“Decriminalisation would be progress. But if the production and sale [of drugs] remains illegal we miss the opportunity to control access, protect children and minors, and to tax consumption.”
– Pawel Bartozek, an MP for Iceland’s Reform Party, who introduced a bill to Parliament that would legalize cannabis in Iceland
“The Rossiya 24 rolling news channel brought together a panel of psychiatrists, who attributed Morgan Freeman’s performance to a Messianic complex resulting from playing God or the president in several films, not to mention ‘drug abuse.’ The channel’s eccentric weatherman Vadim Zavodchenkov also got in on the act, explaining that Mr Freeman was ill through ‘overwork and marijuana use.'”
– BBC News translating Russian news’ reaction to Morgan Freeman’s appearance in a video clip produced by The Committee to Investigate Russia. In the video, Freeman calls attention to Russia’s role in interfering with the 2016 presidential election, declaring, “We have been attacked. We are at war.”
“I had eaten over 800mg of THC and was way too high for confrontation so I just held back with two other passersby to watch what would unfold.”
– Sean Patrick Duff, who saw a man wearing a Nazi armband get punched unconscious by a passerby after they got into a verbal altercation in Seattle
