{"id":2019384,"date":"2023-09-01T13:48:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T17:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/north-carolina-lawmakers-took-530000-from-marijuana-and-gambling-interests-amid-legislation-push-report\/"},"modified":"2023-09-01T13:51:08","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T17:51:08","slug":"north-carolina-lawmakers-took-530000-from-marijuana-and-gambling-interests-amid-legislation-push-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/north-carolina-lawmakers-took-530000-from-marijuana-and-gambling-interests-amid-legislation-push-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: North Carolina legislators received $530k from marijuana and gambling industries during push for new laws."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnorth-carolina-lawmakers-took-530000-from-marijuana-and-gambling-interests-amid-legislation-push-report%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2019384&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Report: North Carolina Legislators Receive $530,000 in Campaign Donations from Pro-Marijuana and Casino Interests<\/h2>\n<p>According to a new report, state legislators in North Carolina have pocketed \u2062a staggering $530,000 \u2063in campaign donations in the first half of 2023 from \u200bpro-marijuana and casino industry interests. The \u200dreport, released by longtime money and politics expert Bob Hall, reveals that these\u200d major contributions primarily came from out-of-state donors and individuals\u200d who have \u200bfaced sanctions for their involvement\u200b in unlawful drug\u200d and gambling \u200doperations.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;It\u2019s \u2062hard to understand why legislative leaders would want to help\u200b these shady \u200ccharacters, particularly in the gambling industry, until you\u200c see all the money \u2064they give politicians,&#8221; Hall said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The release of this report coincides with\u200d the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/brad-pitt-says-its-exhausting-to-have-to-constantly-chase-the-clint-eastwood-image-of-masculinity\/\" title=\"Brad Pitt Says \u201cIt\u2019s Exhausting\u201d to Have to Constantly Chase the \u201cClint Eastwood\u201d Image of Masculinity\">ongoing debate surrounding<\/a> the regulation and laws surrounding both the marijuana and gambling industries in North Carolina. While Governor Roy Cooper has signed a\u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/north-carolina-lawmakers-took-530000-from-marijuana-and-gambling-interests-amid-legislation-push-report\/\" title=\"Report: North Carolina legislators received 0k from marijuana and gambling industries during push for new laws.\">bill legalizing sports betting starting<\/a> \u2064next year, the approval of medical marijuana\u2064 sales has faced obstacles\u200b in the state&#8217;s\u200b House of Representatives.<\/p>\n<p>The report highlights Clint Patterson of Owasso, Oklahoma as the single largest\u200c donor to North Carolina\u2063 legislators\u200c in \u200bthe first half of the\u200c year. Patterson, the CEO \u2063of\u200d Mockingbird \u200dCannabis, a\u200d licensed medical marijuana grower in Mississippi, contributed $137,900 to\u2063 26 \u200blawmakers and \u200dfour caucus committees. However, Mockingbird \u2062Cannabis has faced violations of state regulations and was ordered to destroy $1 million worth of \u2062plants due to non-compliance.<\/p>\n<p>Another \u200dnotable donor mentioned in the report is Michael Pappas of Orlando Park, Illinois, who serves as the \u200d<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/flashback-former-ag-barr-initiated-spying-program-on-americans-back-in-1992\/\" title=\"FLASHBACK: Former AG Barr Initiated Spying Program on Americans Back in 1992\">executive vice president<\/a> for business development for the Accel\u200d Entertainment Group, a gaming \u2064company. Pappas made his first donation to a North Carolina legislator, specifically\u200c Senate Appropriations Committee Co-Chairman Brent \u2063Jackson, in mid-March. Accel Entertainment Group has encountered \u2063legal troubles in the past and paid a $1 million fine\u200d in Illinois for alleged unlawful commissions.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cSuddenly, they\u2019re writing checks for $2,000 or\u2064 $5,000 \u2062to a \u200clegislator,&#8221; Hall said. &#8220;It looks like a lobbyist or somebody told them that this is a pay-to-play \u2064state \u2014 you need to \u200cput in \u2064the money if you want your bill passed this year or next.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Hall&#8217;s review\u2062 also reveals that there are 38 gambling-linked associations and businesses, \u200cincluding 29 located outside of \u200cNorth Carolina, that are funneling cash to over 70 lobbyists. Additionally, 13 pro-pot firms and organizations have \u200dpaid 29 lobbyists, according to the report.<\/p>\n<p>In other news, President Joe\u2063 Biden&#8217;s Department of Health \u2064and \u2063Human Services has recommended \u2064that the\u2062 Drug Enforcement Administration reclassify marijuana\u200b as \u200da Schedule III \u2064drug. This classification would place marijuana in the same category as substances \u200cwith \u200d&#8221;moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence,&#8221; such as ketamine and certain \u200danabolic steroids. Currently, marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin, LSD, and\u200d peyote. Last year, President Biden pardoned thousands of individuals convicted of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/aoc-advocates-pardoning-pothead-illegal-aliens\/\" title=\"AOC Advocates Pardoning Pothead Illegal Aliens\">federal marijuana possession<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Following the data and\u2062 science, HHS \u2064has expeditiously responded to President Biden\u2019s directive to HHS Secretary [Xavier Becerra] and provided its scheduling recommendation for marijuana to the DEA on August 29, 2023,&#8221; an HHS spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\">CLICK HERE TO READ \u200bMORE FROM\u2064 THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>gambling activities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2019385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2019384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2019384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2019385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2019384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2019384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2019384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}