Jimmy Buffett: Margaritaville is a state of mind...and a trademark.
Jimmy Buffett: Margaritaville is a state of mind...and a trademark. Al Schaben via Getty Images

Some fascinating factoids and stories for this week’s Week in Weed: cannabis sales are through the roof and growing (despite uncertainty about the feds), and Jimmy Buffett put an end to one pot shop’s plans to name their store ‘Marijuanaville’ (it’s their own damn fault). Learn about how not to talk about weed in front of a Customs and Border Protection agent, and watch Stephen Colbert mock Sessions on marijuana, after the jump.

Colbert Takes on Sessions

Stephen Colbert gave a hilarious rebuttal to the comparison between marijuana and heroin that Attorney General Jeff Sessions made last week (starts at 3:09):

And don’t miss the part where he mentions a recent donation at a Monroe, WA Goodwill Center—a cooler filled with 4 pounds of marijuana. As it turns out, it may have been a thief's stash.

Recreational Weed Tourists: Please Don’t Tell Customs and Border Protection You Smoke Weed

Or you will be sent back. A Chilean traveler headed to Los Angeles was searched and had her phone confiscated. Customs officers found photos of glass pipes and marijuana jars taken during her previous US visit at a recreational pot store in Colorado. The real problems started when they asked her what she had been doing there:

"I said, yes. I tried marijuana in Colorado," she said. "I went to the store. I pass my passport to the store. They say to me, 'OK, no problem, you can go inside of the store, you can buy whatever you want to buy... and no problem. You are OK. Go to your home. Have fun.'"

He asked her if she'd ever used acid, mushrooms, cocaine or heroin, and whether she'd ever sold any illegal drugs. She said no. She was then moved to another room and held for 15 hours. She missed her bus. When officers came to get her, they told her that she was being denied entry to the U.S. and being sent back to Chile. She was also barred from returning indefinitely.

What the traveler didn’t know is that her admission of consuming drugs as a foreign national was enough for the US to bar her entry (even if the store told her it was okay).

Lyft 320 Safety Campaign Helps Stoners Get Rides

Ride-sharing company Lyft has teamed up with the Colorado Department of Transportation to offer discounts for high customers living in Denver at 3:20pm every Sunday until April 20. Why 3:20pm?

The 320 Movement, the company explains on their website, “is about getting ahead of your high. No matter what you do at 4:20, rather than drive, sit back and enjoy the ride.”

Do they know stoners? Not the type who plan ahead, typically. The ‘320 Movement’ is the newest part of CDOT's "Drive High, Get a DUI" campaign, since 17 percent of Colorado State Patrol DUI arrests last year involved marijuana.

"People think about getting a Lyft when they're drunk, but they don't necessarily think about getting a Lyft when they're high. Impairment is impairment," CDOT spokesman Sam Cole said.

In the US—and Washington State—Cannabizness Is Flush with Green

Across the United States, legal weed sales topped $5.4 billion in 2016, up nearly 18 percent from the previous year. And a new study shows that legalized pot in North America will continue to grow at a compound annual rate of 27 percent through 2021. And almost three years after legalization, revenues have already exceeded $1 billion dollars in Washington State alone.

Teen Cannabis Use in Washington Remains Stable

Looks like legalization hasn’t made any impact on the number of teens consuming marijuana in Washington State. According to the Washington State Healthy Youth Survey:

Self-reported cannabis use within the last 30 days among eighth-graders fell from 8 percent in 2014 to 6 percent last year; 17 percent of 10th graders students reported using cannabis within the last 30 days, down slightly from 18 percent in 2014 and on par with the lowest survey figures reported in 2004; and cannabis use among 12th-graders fell 2 percent from 28 percent in 2014 to 26 percent last year…Comparatively, 8 percent of 8th-graders, 20 percent of 10th-graders, and 32 percent of high school seniors reported using alcohol within the last 30 days.

Oregon Weed Strain Pesticide Recall

In the first ever recall of a recreational marijuana product, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission told customers who bought the Blue Magoo marijuana strain sold at Buds 4 U in Mapleton, OR, that they should return it to the retailer or dispose of it, due to high pyrethrin levels in the plant.

Oregon Seeks to Protect Weed Consumer Info from Feds

Oregon lawmakers have proposed legislation to protect recreational weed consumers and medical marijuana patients in their state against potential federal enforcement activities. Under the legislation, retailers would have 30 days to purge patients’ personally identifiable information like names, addresses, driver’s license numbers, and other personal information from their records.

Buffett Wastes Away ‘Marijuanaville’ Trademark Attempt

Jimmy, chill out! In yet another weed-based trademark dispute (two weeks ago it was Ganjagonia vs Patagonia), Buffett challenged a pot store’s attempt to use “Marijuanaville” as their name, explaining that not only does it sound similar to his trademark song, but that the soul of Margaritaville goes even deeper: it’s actually “a state of mind inspired by margaritas.” Buffett’s lawyers said that the “overall connotation and commercial impression of the marks is highly similar—a chemically induced mental paradise.” The court ruled in Buffett’s favor.

Cannabis Weddings Are a Thing, Because Of Course They Are

What’s ‘in’ for weddings in 2017: rustic barn settings, metallic and neutral color palettes, mason jars as flower vases, and…cannabis. According to Leafly, more couples are weaving weed into their wedding plans: whether it be dab bars, canna-bouquets, or hemp smoothies.