New York’s struggling legal pot industry has been thrown into turmoil yet again after a judge issued a ruling striking down state rules banning cannabis advertising and marketing as a violation of commerce and free speech.
The same Albany judge, Kevin Bryant, last summer struck down other Cannabis Control Board rules as illegal for providing convicted potheads preference in obtaining licenses over disabled vets and other applicants.
The legal woes last year froze the licensing and opening of new cannabis shops for months while the number of unlicensed marijuana shops sprouted across the city and state like weeds.
In a withering 13-page ruling issued Wednesday, Bryant said the Office of Cannabis Management issued regulations outlawing promotions and marketing on third-party platforms without evidence backing them up, all but saying the edicts came out of thin air.
“There is nothing in the record to establish precisely how OCM developed the regulations,” Bryant said.
“This court must find that the conclusion was arbitrary and capricious and that there is no substantial basis in the record to support respondents [OCM’s] action. The regulations are unconstitutional violations of petitioners’ free speech rights.”
The ruling tossed out the Third-Party Marketing Ban that also covered the listing of prices of cannabis products like loose flower, joints and gummies.
Cannabis operators expressed alarm that the ruling appeared to toss out virtually all of OCM’s rules.
But the judge amended the ruling on Thursday to limit its impact to ones banning ads.
Seattle-based third-party cannabis promoter Leafly, a licensed cannabis store in upstate Rensselaer, brought the case.
Stage One dispensary and one of its customers, Rosanna St. John, was also party to the suit.
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The plaintiffs claimed the state OCM barred Stage One from contracting with Leafly to promote its cannabis products on Leafly’s site.
“We are pleased to hear that the court agreed with our claims and we couldnt be more excited to support consumers and licensed retailers in New York with Leaflys full suite of products and services,” Leafly said in a statement.
“We hope this decision ultimately leads to a healthy, stable adult-use market in the state. Its impossible to overstate the importance of providing consumers with choices, and educational information when making purchasing decisions. It is critically important that licensed-retailers have equal access to important advertising and marketing tools to help them succeed in a competitive landscape.”
The Post has reached out to OCM and state Attorney General Letitia James’ office, OCM’s lawyer, for comment.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who oversees OCM, did not comment Thursday when reporters in Albany asked her questions about the ruling.
She recently initiated a review and potential overhaul of OCM’s licensing and management.
Judge Bryant ordered the state to pay for plaintiffs’ legal expenses.
The man suspected of shooting dead two Israeli embassy workers in Washington DC leaned over and fired at them repeatedly after they fell to the ground, the FBI has said.
Elias Rodriguez, 31, has been charged with murdering Sarah Milgrim and her boyfriend Yaron Lischinsky, after they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday night.
Footage has showed Rodriguez, from Chicago, chanting “free, free Palestine” as he was arrested.
It later emerged Mr Lischinsky had bought a ring and planned to propose to Ms Milgrim.
Authorities are investigating the killings as both a hate crime against the Jewish community and terrorism.
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1:39
Shootings suspect shouts ‘free Palestine!’
‘I did it for Gaza’
It comes as the FBI has said in a charging document on Thursday that surveillance footage shows how Ms Milgrim and Mr Lischinsky died.
Rodriguez is allegedly seen passing the couple after they left the museum before shooting them in the back.
The FBI says the footage then shows him leaning over the couple and firing at them several more times after they fell to the ground.
The video then shows Ms Milgrim attempting to crawl away before “(Rodriguez) followed behind her and fired again”, the charging document says.
The suspected gunman is then accused of reloading his weapon and firing at Ms Milgrim as she sat up.
According to the charging document, Rodriguez then jogged to the museum and once inside asked to speak to a police officer before stating that he “did it” and that he was unarmed.
He is then said to have told police: “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed.”
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DC shooting: Father pays tribute to ‘perfect’ daughter
Suspect ‘expressed admiration’ for fatal protest
The court document also states that 21 expended 9mm bullet cases were found at the scene and the gun was slide-locked – meaning it was empty of ammunition.
An empty gun magazine was also recovered from the scene.
The FBI says it has obtained travel records which show Rodriguez flew from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport to the Reagan National in Washington DC on Tuesday with the gun in his checked baggage.
Rodriguez had bought the weapon in the state of Illinois on 6 March 2020, according to the charging document.
The FBI has said that while Rodriguez was in custody he “expressed admiration” for a US Air Force member who set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington DC on 25 February 2024.
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10:20
Starmer ‘on wrong side of history’
During a brief court appearance at the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington DC today, Rodriguez was charged with two counts of first degree murder and with the murder of foreign officials.
He has also been charged with causing the death of a person through the use of a firearm and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.
Rodriguez was told he could face life in prison or the death penalty if he is found guilty.
He remained calm throughout the hearing, paying attention to the proceedings throughout and confirmed that he is asking the court to appoint an attorney on his behalf.
He will next appear at a federal court in Washington DC on 18 June.
Murdered couple ‘were perfect for each other’
Meanwhile, Ms Milgrim’s father, Robert, says he feared his daughter might be in danger when he saw news alerts of a fatal shooting in Washington DC.
Ms Milgrim’s mother Nancy opened a phone locator app and saw Ms Milgrim was at the Capital Jewish Museum.
“Shortly after that, the Israeli ambassador called us on my wife’s phone,” Mr Milgrim told Sky News’ partner network NBC News, fighting back tears.
He added that it was the ambassador who told them Mr Lischinksy had bought a ring and was planning to propose to Ms Milgrim.
“They were perfect for each other, he said.
Mr Milgrim continued: “They just brought us joy, and her memory, which is a blessing, will continue to bring us joy – but it’s not the same as her not being here.”
Kid Cudi has told a court Sean “Diddy” Combs broke into his home, “messed with” his dog and opened some of his Christmas presents during a break-in in December 2011.
The 41-year-old rapper was giving evidence on day nine of the trial, after briefly dating Diddy’s former girlfriend Cassie the same year.
Cassie and Diddy dated for 11 years, from 2007 to 2018, and Cassie has testified the rapper physically abused her during most of their relationship.
Cudi described Cassie phoning him early one morning, sounding “stressed, nervous and scared”, telling him Diddy had “found out about us”.
He said Diddy later called him from his home and told him, “I’m here waiting for you”.
After dropping Cassie at a West Hollywood hotel, Cudi said he returned to his home and found no one there, but said his dog had been locked in the bathroom.
He described his pet later becoming “jittery and on edge all the time”.
He also said someone had opened Christmas presents he’d bought for his family.
While Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, said he initially wanted “to fight” Diddy, he later thought through “the reality of the situation,” and called the police to report the break-in.
Earlier this week, Cassie finished giving four days of evidence, becoming emotional at times, and testifying that Combs had threatened to blow up Cudi’s car and hurt him after he learned she was dating him by looking at messages on her phone during a “freak off”.
Prosecutors say Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Records, forced women to take part in days-long, drug-fuelled sexual performances known as “Freak Offs” from 2004 to 2024, facilitated by his large retinue of staff.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty.
The rapper faces five criminal counts: one count of racketeering conspiracy; two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
Image: Diddy and Cassie on a red carpet in 2016. Pic: zz/JMA/STAR MAX/IPx/AP
The month after the break-in, Cudi’s Porsche was firebombed in his drive, with a hole cut into the roof and a Molotov cocktail dropped into the driver’s seat.
Cudi said he realised he had to talk to Diddy, before things “got out of hand,” meeting up with Diddy, who he said was weirdly “calm” and staring out the window with his hands behind his back “like a Marvel super villain”.
Cudi says Diddy told him he had still been dating Cassie during his relationship with her, with Cudi replying: “[Cassie] told me you were broke up and I took her word for it.”
Shaking hands at the end of the conversation, Cudi said he asked Diddy about “burning” his car, and Diddy replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about”. Cudi later said he believed that to be a lie.
Cudi says he saw Diddy once a few years later at Soho House in Los Angeles with his daughter, and Diddy told him: “Man, I just want to apologise for all that bullshit”.
Image: Diddy sketched in court while listening to Kaplan’s testimony. Pic: Reuters/Jane Rosenberg
During his cross-examination, the defence suggested Cassie had been “living two different lives”, and “played” both Cudi and Combs.
Cudi concluded his time on the stand, saying his relationship with Cassie ended because he wanted “to give her space” and “the drama was too out of hand”.
Celebrity make-up artist Mylah Morales also gave evidence, describing a fight between Cassie and Diddy in 2010, which she says left Cassie with a “swollen eye, busted lip, and knots on her head”.
Image: Celebrity make-up artist Mylah Morales. Pic: AP
Morales said while she had heard the row, she hadn’t physically seen it as she wasn’t in the room.
She told the court, “I feared for my life”, explaining that she took Cassie to her apartment for several days to recover, but that Cassie refused to go to hospital as she was afraid of Diddy’s reaction.
The defence attempted to damage Morales’s credibility by listing her TV appearances, which included programmes on CNN, and with Don Lemon and Piers Morgan, attempting to paint her as attention-seeking.
The day also saw Combs’s former assistant George Kaplan complete his testimony.
Image: George Kaplan, former assistant to Combs. Pic: AP
He talked about two occasions when he had been asked to carry cash for Diddy, who he said never paid for things himself in the moment, recalling one time in 2015 when he looked after $50,000, and another when he was asked to pick up $10,000.
Kaplan described seeing “regular” physical violence between Cassie and Diddy, including an incident in 2015 with whisky glasses on a private plane, when he heard glass breaking and saw Diddy standing over Cassie in the plane’s central aisle.
He says he also saw Diddy hurling “decorative apples” at another of his girlfriends, Gina, late the same year, handing in his notice the following month.
Also known throughout his career as Puff Daddy and P Diddy, Combs turned artists like Notorious BIG and Usher into household names, elevating hip-hop in American culture and becoming a billionaire in the process.
Diddy has been held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since September and faces at least 15 years or possibly life in prison if convicted.
The trial is set to last for around six weeks in total and will go into its third week next week.
Irish rock star Bono has called for Israel to be “released from Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right fundamentalists” during an awards ceremony.
The U2 frontman’s comments at the Ivors mark the first time the human rights activist has spoken out in public against the Israeli prime minister since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023.
Bono, who received the Peace Summit Award at the 2008 Nobel Peace Laureates summit, also called for Hamas to release its remaining Israeli hostages.
It comes as Western leaders have been criticising Mr Netanyahu and the Israeli authorities over the renewed offensive in the Palestinian territory and the risk of famine due to an 11-week aid blockade, which is slowly easing.
Bono, whose real name is Paul Hewson, said on Thursday evening at London’s Grosvenor House: “Peace creates possibilities in the most intractable situations.
“Lord knows there’s a few of them out there right now. Hamas release the hostages. Stop the war.
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“Israel be released from Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right fundamentalists that twist your sacred texts.
“All of you protect our aid workers, they are the best of us.”
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The group became the first Irish songwriters to be awarded an academy fellowship at the 70th year of the awards.
U2 then performed their song Sunday Bloody Sunday, which references the 1972 Bloody Sunday shootings in Londonderry, where members of the British army’s Parachute Regiment opened fire at civil rights demonstrators.
The group ended the evening with a performance of their 1988 song Angel Of Harlem.
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Netanyahu hits out at Starmer, Macron and Carney
Also on Thursday, Mr Netanyahu said UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was “on the wrong side of humanity” after he called for an end to the war in Gaza.
In a video he shared on social media, the Israeli prime minister also attacked the leaders of France and Canada for their criticism of Israel’s actions in the conflict.
Mr Netanyahu specifically linked the criticism from the UK, France and Canada to the killings in Washington DCof Israeli embassy workers Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim on Wednesday night.