New Jersey on Thursday became the latest state to begin selling legal recreational marijuana — not on Wednesday, explained Tori-Anne Blake, spokeswoman for New Jersey's newly formed Cannabis Regulatory Commission, because "selecting 4/20 for opening day would have presented unmanageable logistical challenges" for buyers and communities. People lined up before dawn to buy pot from a legal dispensary, not their illegal dealer, The New York Times reports.
In Florida, medical marijuana is legal but recreational weed is not. And even if it were, slipping people marijuana in their food unawares is a felony, as a bride and her caterer learned.
Seminole County Sheriff's Office arrested Danya Svoboda and her wedding caterer, Joycelyn Bryant, on charges of reckless tampering, delivery of marijuana, and culpable negligence, local news stations reported Wednesday night. Guests at Svoboda's Feb. 19 wedding reception in Longwood told deputies they felt "weird" and "stoned" after eating the food, according to the police report.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Deputies asked Svoboda if she had consented to or requested that the food contain marijuana, and "the report states that she stared at the deputy with a blank expression before saying no." Fox 35 Orlando notes. But the guests' "feelings of being stoned were later confirmed when they tested positive for marijuana," The Washington Post reports. A lawyer for the bride told WESH 2 News that he and his client are not commenting on the case.
Miranda Cady, a guest at the wedding, is commenting. A friend at her table was "like, 'Are we stoned right now?' And everyone was just kind of looking around each other laughing and we absolutely were. We were high as a kite, out of our minds," Cady told WESH 2. Later, she said, "I thought I was having a heart attack. My heart was racing and before I went to bed that night, I actually slept in my car right on-site."
"I know so many of my friends wouldn't want me speaking," Cady added, "but I think it's so important that people stand up for what's right and you have to respect other people's free will and boundaries and to have a choice in something like that."
-
Navy jet, helicopter crash half-hour apart off carrierSpeed Read A US Navy helicopter and a fighter jet both crashed in the same half-hour during separate operations
-
Hurricane Melissa slams Jamaica as Category 5 stormSpeed Read The year’s most powerful storm is also expected to be the strongest ever recorded in Jamaica
-
Protesters fight to topple one of Africa’s longstanding authoritarian nationsIn the Spotlight Cameroon’s president has been in office 1982
-
9 inviting bookstores ready for you to attack their shelvesThe Week Recommends Your new favorite book awaits
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
