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“Cannabis reform is the most popular issue in American politics, and…it’s on Congress to pass a comprehensive legalization bill that centers the release of cannabis prisoners.” By Jack Gorsline, Filter A national coalition of 41 advocacy groups converged on Capitol Hill for the Cannabis Week of Unity, when a coordinated lobbying blitz pressed a gridlocked Congress to act on federal marijuana descheduling, criminal-legal reform and equitable access. The mobilization, which ran from May 12-14, brought together labor unions, veterans, civil liberties advocates, legal experts, industry executives and directly impacted individuals around three core demands: federally legalizing cannabis, releasing federal cannabis prisoners and expunging records to restore civil rights. The coalition spent three days navigating the halls of both congressional chambers to pitch a comprehensive package of 13 separate hemp and cannabis reform bills. The legislative push comes at a critical juncture. While an overwhelming majority of states have legalized medical or adult-use cannabis in some form, and the Trump administration last month rescheduled state-legal medical marijuana, federal law otherwise continues to classify the plant as a Schedule I controlled substance—creating a legal and economic paradox that advocates say can no longer be ignored. Central to the coalition’s push is the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, introduced as HR 5068. If passed, the MORE Act would completely remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, effectively ending nearly a century of federal prohibition. The bill’s provisions extend far beyond simple descheduling. It aims to eliminate all federal criminal penalties for marijuana activity, establish clear pathways for expungement and resentencing, and create community reinvestment from federal cannabis tax revenues. The bill also contains equity measures designed to lower barriers to entry for small, independent businesses attempting to navigate the highly capitalized legal market. “Cannabis reform is the most popular issue in American politics, and now that the president has signaled he is open to reform, it’s on Congress to pass a comprehensive legalization bill that centers the release of cannabis prisoners who should no longer be incarcerated,” Jason Ortiz, director of strategic initiatives for the Last Prisoner Project and cofounder of the Latino Cannabis Alliance, told Filter. Ortiz emphasized that administrative gestures must be backed by concrete statutory moves. “LPP stands ready to work with the Cannabis Caucus co-chairs and the Cannabis Unity Coalition to pass a full descheduling bill like the MORE Act,” he continued, “to finally end the nightmare that has been cannabis prohibition, and create a path for everyone incarcerated for cannabis crimes to rejoin their families and become full members of society.” A driving theme of the Week of Unity was the disproportionate impact of federal prohibition on minority communities, specifically Latino populations. In a May 13 press conference outside the Senate wing of the Capitol, advocates drew a direct line from early 20th-century anti-immigrant rhetoric to modern-day deportation statistics. “Buenos dias. My name is Jessica Gonzalez. I am an Ecuadorian immigrant, an attorney and the president of the Latino Cannabis Alliance, a national coalition of Latino advocates, attorneys, organizers, researchers and storytellers fighting to move our communities from the margins of cannabis policy to the center of it,” Gonzalez told a crowd of reporters and lawmakers. “We are Harry Anslinger’s worst nightmare.” Anslinger, the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, weaponized anti-Latino and anti-Black prejudice in the 1930s to secure the initial federal restriction of cannabis. Gonzalez noted that the structural machinery built during that era continues to function with devastating efficiency. “We are here because Latinos are the largest immigrant group in the country, and the cannabis industry benefits tremendously from Latino consumers and workers while staying silent on the same policies that make participation for non-citizen Latinos dangerous,” Gonzalez said. “That is a contradiction we are here to say out loud. And here is a number we do not hear often enough: 70 percent. Over 70 percent of people sentenced federally for cannabis possession are classified as Hispanic. That is not a coincidence but the result of a system that fused cannabis prohibition and immigration enforcement into a deportation pipeline, and aimed it at our families.” For non-citizens, even legal residents, a federal conviction or disclosure of cannabis possession can trigger mandatory deportation without judicial discretion. Gonzalez stated that the Latino Cannabis Alliance refuses to let the economic boom of state-sanctioned cannabis eclipse the human cost of federal inaction. “But we have never been a people who accept the terms we are given,” Gonzalez said. “My family refused when they left everything they knew and built a life in a foreign country. Our communities refused when prohibition tried to turn our families into criminals and our neighborhoods into evidence. And today the Latino Cannabis Alliance refuses to let one more family be deported, one more worker be silenced or one more community be erased from a movement we have always belonged to.” She continued that, “decriminalization is the floor, not the ceiling. We will not forget the deported. We will not forget the detained. Our work spans borders, but it begins where this system was built. Prohibition began with a lie about our people. It will end with the truth from us.” Business leaders also described the injustice and inequity of the current landscape. “Cannabis Unity Week is not a celebration of victory—it is a call to action,” said Susie Plascencia, founder of Latinas in Cannabis and a representative for the National Hispanic Cannabis Council. “Thousands of people are still incarcerated for cannabis offenses, families are still living with the consequences of prohibition and Latino communities remain disproportionately harmed and underrepresented in this industry.” Today, Plascencia pointed out multi-state marijuana operators are generating billions of dollars on public stock exchanges, yet independent, minority-owned startups face severe capital constraints due to federal banking restrictions. “Latino entrepreneurs are among the fastest-growing in the country, building businesses despite systemic barriers,” she said, “but in cannabis, many still face limited access to capital, restrictive policies and exclusion from ownership. We are building in spite of it all, but we should not have to build alone. We are here to demand federal action … Because equity is not just about repairing harm—it’s about investing in the future.” The broader drug policy reform movement also lent its institutional weight to the coalition. “As MAPS celebrates its 40th anniversary, we’re proud to join the Cannabis Unity Coalition in advancing the movement for compassionate, evidence-based drug policy,” said gina vensel, community partnerships manager for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). “This milestone is an opportunity to reflect on the progress made in challenging the War on Drugs while recognizing the crucial work that still lies ahead, especially around restorative justice,” vensel told Filter. “Together, we strive to dismantle stigma, educate our communities and advocate for meaningful reform. The Cannabis Unity Coalition represents the power of collective action to drive lasting, positive change.” Beyond the comprehensive framework of the MORE Act, advocates spent time on the Hill educating lawmakers on a variety of narrower measures designed to solve immediate, practical problems. Among these is the STATES 2.0 Act (HR 2934), a bipartisan bill that would amend federal law to respect state-legal cannabis programs, shielding state-regulated businesses from federal interference and asset forfeiture. Advocates also pushed for the PREPARE Act (HR 2935 / S 3576), which would establish a federal commission tasked with designing a comprehensive regulatory framework for the eventual post-prohibition transition. To counter decades of politically motivated restrictions on scientific inquiry, the coalition also advocated for the Evidence-Based Drug Policy Act (HR 3082), to remove barriers that prevent the Office of National Drug Control Policy from conducting objective research on the societal impacts of cannabis legalization. The coalition additionally brought a heavy focus to “clean slate” initiatives, housing stability and agricultural guidelines. Key legislation on this front includes the Clean Slate Act, a bipartisan measure mandating the automatic sealing of certain federal records for nonviolent cannabis convictions, to help impacted people access employment and educational opportunities. Advocates are championing the Veterans Cannabis Use for Safe Healing Act and the Veterans Equal Access Act, too—complementary bills to prevent removal of Department of Veterans Affairs benefits if veterans participate in state-legal medical cannabis programs, and to allow VA physicians to recommend medical cannabis in states where it is legal. Another item on the coalition’s agenda is the Marijuana in Federally Assisted Housing Parity Act, to protect people in federally assisted housing from eviction or denial of residency based solely on state-compliant cannabis use. Finally, organizers are seeking hemp regulatory clarifications through a suite of agricultural bills. While the coalition faced an uphill battle given entrenched congressional leadership, several lawmakers emerged from their offices to signal solidarity. Following the press conference, Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN), spoke candidly with TMZ about shifting currents inside the Capitol. Omar noted that the immense financial drain of maintaining prohibition has fundamentally changed the conversation, making fiscal conservatives increasingly open to reform. “I will say, advocacy for legalizing doesn’t necessarily mean that you are a user, so everybody can be an advocate…because we understand that it is not OK for us to spend the billions of dollars we do now on incarcerating people for smoking a joint,” Omar said. Omar also suggested that policy positions on the Hill lag behind private reality. “I think there are a lot of people who smoke cannabis in Congress,” she said. As the three-day mobilization concluded, organizers expressed optimism, saying that the sheer breadth of the 41-group alliance forces lawmakers to view cannabis not as a boutique drug policy issue, but as a critical intersection of labor rights, immigration justice, veteran health care and economic equity, among other issues. Whether their unity can spur legislative movement in a highly polarized Congress remains to be seen, but advocates left Washington with a clear message: The floor of decriminalization has been established; the fight for the ceiling of full justice is underway. This article was originally published by Filter, an online magazine covering drug use, drug policy and human rights through a harm reduction lens. Follow Filter on Bluesky, X or Facebook, and sign up for its newsletter. The post Cannabis Advocacy Groups Push Congress For Legalization And Other Reforms Following Trump’s Rescheduling Move appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

Bipartisan leaders of a key House committee have released the text of transportation legislation containing provisions to require federal officials to study the issue of driving of driving under the influence of marijuana and other drugs and propose “evidence-based impairment standards.” Reps. Sam Graves (R-MO) and Rick Larsen (D-WA), who are, respectively, the chair and ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, announced the new bill on Sunday. The 1,005-page “Building Unrivaled Infrastructure and Long-term Development (BUILD) for America’s 250th Act” covers broad areas of transportation, including roads, bridges, rail and highway programs. The proposal’s section on drug issues would require the secretary of transportation to collaborate with the heads of other relevant federal agencies to “study the effect that marijuana and polysubstance impairment has on driving” and to analyze measures for detecting and reducing impaired driving. The federal officials would then need to “propose evidence-based impairment standards for marijuana or polysubstance use,” and the transportation secretary would need to provide Congress with a report describing progress on the effort. Under a separate provision of the legislation, the secretary would be directed to establish a national drug involved crash data collection system. Its duties would be to: ‘‘(A) collect standardized toxicology data from States for fatal and serious injury crashes; (B) link crash data with medical, coroner, hospital, and emergency medical services records; and (C) provide model protocols for specimen collection, testing, and reporting.” Under that system, the Department of Transportation (DOT) could award grants to states assist with launching pilot programs for enhanced data collection and to support toxicology labs, specimen collection, training, data systems and data linkage. In order to protect people’s privacy, the data would need to be “deidentified” before it is made publicly available, including through a report the transportation secretary would be required to provide to Congress that would “analyze trends, substance types, and geographic patterns collected under the system.” The bill would require the department to spend $110 million to support the effort from Fiscal Years 2027-2031. Additionally, the legislation would direct administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to submit a report to Congress on the status of the collaborative research effort to advance impaired driving prevention technology. The announcement of the new bipartisan bill with impaired driving provisions comes days after DOT issued new guidance saying that truck drivers, airline pilots and other safety-sensitive workers still cannot use medical marijuana without punishment despite the Trump administration’s move to reschedule it. “Marijuana use is not compatible with safety-sensitive functions,” the agency said on Friday. Medical review officers (MROs) who receive drug test results indicating cannabis consumption cannot deem them to be negative for illegal substance use, even when an employee says it was the result of state-licensed medical marijuana, the department said. “Currently, there is no instance when the MRO could verify a laboratory-confirmed marijuana positive drug test result as ‘negative’ when an employee claims the positive was caused by a State licensed marijuana product,” DOT said, explaining that even after rescheduling, medical marijuana dispensed in accordance with state law “does not constitute” a drug that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Last October, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy suggested President Donald Trump was “getting pressure” to reschedule cannabis—arguing that marijuana is “really addictive” and saying that policy reform around the issue sends a “dangerous” message. “At a time when culture is pushing and celebrating the use of marijuana, we’re not talking about the risk,” Duffy said. The post Feds Would Develop ‘Impairment Standards’ For Marijuana And Other Drugs Under New Bipartisan Transportation Bill In Congress appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

A new federally funded study is challenging a longstanding stereotype about marijuana munchies leading to obesity in lazy stoners—finding that whole extract cannabis is linked to both weight loss and and reduced risk of diabetes. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine set out to investigate potential reasons behind a scientific paradox. That is, if cannabinoids such as THC stimulate appetite, why have multiple previous studies found that marijuana users have healthier weights on average, as well as a lower risk of developing diabetes? The study, published in the Journal of Physiology, first involved feeding mice with a “Western diet” rich in fat and sugar. The subsequently obese rodents were then treated with either full-spectrum cannabis extract or THC alone for 30 days. “Our key findings demonstrate that THC and cannabis extract robustly reduced body weight and visceral adiposity in [diet-induced obesity] mice with notable improvements in glucose homeostasis particularly with cannabis extract—but not THC alone—improving glucose clearance,” the researchers wrote. Fat cells in healthy organisms release signaling molecules that enable the regulation of insulin secretion from the pancreas, whereas those with obesity and type-2 diabetes often experience disrupted communication to that end. Notably, the cannabis extract proved to be significantly more effective at helping mice regulate glucose compared to THC. And while extracts normalized glucose clearance in obese mice to levels seen in lean mice, the same could not be said of obese mice treated with isolated THC. This seems to be more evidence of the “entourage effect,” with marijuana proving more therapeutically effective when its cannabinoids work together rather than individually. “THC and cannabis extract robustly reduced body weight and visceral adiposity in [diet-induced obesity] mice.” “The enhanced metabolic effects observed with cannabis extract relative to THC alone in the present study may therefore reflect combinatorial or synergistic interactions among multiple cannabinoids,” the study authors wrote, adding that looking at the “contribution of individual phytocannabinoids will be an important direction for future studies.” Nicholas DiPatrizio, professor of biomedical sciences at UCR School of Medicine and lead author of the study, echoed that point. He said the data suggests “THC alone is not responsible for the metabolic benefits associated with cannabis use.” “Other compounds in the plant appear to play a critical role,” DiPatrizio, director of the UCR Center for Cannabinoid Research, said. While the preclinical research shouldn’t be taken as proof that humans should use marijuana as a weight loss or diabetes prevention supplement, he said the findings could eventually inform the development of therapeutics from non-intoxicating phytocannabinoids in the whole plant. “Clinicians, researchers, and policymakers should stay tuned and pay attention to this space,” he said. “We need evidence-based approaches to fully understand both the risks and potential benefits of cannabis and its components.” “Chronic cannabinoid exposure, particularly with cannabis extract, reduces body weight, improves glucose homeostasis and normalizes adipose tissue function in a mouse model of” diet-induced obesity. The research—which was supported by grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the University of California’s the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program—ultimately underscores that there may be a potential mechanism through which fat tissue communicates with the pancreas. This is one of the latest examples of research peeling back the mysterious relationship between cannabis and body weight. For example, a study released last year on the use of marijuana components to aid weight loss found that use of a combined product containing the cannabinoids THCV and CBD “was associated with statistically significant weight loss” as well as a slimmer waistline, lower blood pressure and decreased cholesterol. A separate study in 2024 found that regular marijuana users were less likely to be obese than people who don’t consume cannabis. In fact, the analysis showed a “dose-response relationship between marijuana use and [body mass index], with the lower the BMI classification, the higher marijuana use.” People who’d used cannabis within the past month were “31 percent less likely to be obese than non-users, after adjustment,” the study says, while “daily marijuana users are 32 percent less likely to be obese than non-users.” Additional research published in 2020 found that “compared to older adult nonusers, older adult cannabis users had lower [body mass index] at the beginning of an exercise intervention study, engaged in more weekly exercise days during the intervention, and were engaging in more exercise-related activities at the conclusion of the intervention.” Another 2024 study found that young to midlife adults were neither more sedentary nor more intensely active after consuming cannabis. In fact, recent marijuana use was associated with a “marginal increase” in light exercise. “Our findings provide evidence against existing concerns that cannabis use independently promotes sedentary behavior and decreases physical activity,” authors of that paper wrote, adding that “the stereotypical ‘lazy stoner’ archetype historically portrayed with chronic cannabis use does not acknowledge the diverse uses of cannabis today.” A study published in 2023 separately linked marijuana use to an enhanced “runner’s high” and lower pain during exercise. Participants experienced “less negative affect, greater feelings of positive affect, tranquility, enjoyment, and dissociation, and more runner’s high symptoms during their cannabis (vs. non-cannabis) runs,” according to those findings. And in 2021, researchers found that frequent marijuana consumers are actually more likely to be physically active compared to their non-using counterparts. Yet another study, in 2019, found that people use cannabis to elevate their workout tend to get a healthier amount of exercise. It also concluded that consuming before or after exercising improved the experience and aided in recovery. Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan. The post Marijuana Can Play A Role In Combating Obesity, Contrary To Stereotypes About Lazy Stoners With The Munchies, New Federally Funded Study Suggests appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

Indiana’s Republican governor says he hopes that opposition to legalizing medical marijuana from GOP leaders in the state legislature “softens”—pointing to the benefits cannabis has for military veterans and other people dealing with trauma and issues “where there’s nothing else that seems to work.” Gov. Mike Braun (R) told WPTA-TV in an interview posted on Friday that Indiana is now “surrounded by four states that now have medical marijuana available,” and Hoosiers are “crossing the border” to purchase it. “I think there’s going to be a serious consideration of it,” he said of legalization legislation. “And when it comes to the medical side of it—where I said I was agnostic in general—everything I can see, I think, especially now that you have four states where it’s available, we need to look at it seriously.” A Republican state senator last week announced plans to file legislation to legalize medical marijuana in the 2027 session in light of previous comments from the governor about cannabis and as reform advances at the federal level under the Trump administration. Braun acknowledged in the new interview that his power on the issue is fairly limited and that it will be up to leadership in the state Senate and House of Representatives to put a bill on his desk. “In our state, what the governor wants to do is mostly messaging, because a veto can be overridden with a simple majority—and of course we got a supermajority,” he said. “So a lot of that needs to build steam in the legislative chambers, and the leaders there, especially in the Senate, have said they’re against it either way. I hope that softens on the medical side.” The governor said he doesn’t have specific thoughts about provisions he would like to see in the recently announced medical cannabis legislation from Sen. Mike Bohacek (R) “I think it’ll become a serious discussion now that he has broached it in the form of a bill,” Braun said. “It’s at the conceptual side now. Working out the details to get the right legislation, I think, is what announcing early, working it through the committee system, getting a lot of people to come in and testify about it—that’s how we get a good product through the legislature.” The governor recently said separately that the state is “more likely” to legalize marijuana now that the Trump administration is moving to federally reschedule cannabis. — Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments. Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access. — Last month, U.S. Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) sent a letter urging the governor to “maintain the state’s prohibitions on marijuana use” despite federal reform. Under an order signed last month by U.S. Acting Attorney General Blanche, marijuana products regulated by a state medical cannabis license immediately moved from Schedule I to Schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), as did any marijuana products that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “I think the fact that the feds made that move, that makes it more likely” the state will act to reform its cannabis laws, the governor said recently. “You’re going to need to ask the legislators and the leaders in those two chambers to see what they’re thinking, because I’m clear in terms of where I’m at,” Braun continued. “You’ve got to take what’s evolved over time. [If you] stick your head in the sand, you’re generally going to make the wrong decision.” Meanwhile, at Braun’s direction, state officials have been holding a series of meetings with medical marijuana advocates, and members of the Indiana Board of Pharmacy have begun preliminary discussions about the impact of federal cannabis rescheduling on state policy. In March, the governor said the “crescendo will rise” in the call to legalize marijuana, with regional dynamics and even law enforcement buy-in favoring reform down the line. But for now, he said GOP legislative leadership in the state is “not interested in doing anything soon,” even if “over half of Hoosiers probably smoke it illegally.” Braun said at the time that he thinks lawmakers should take “an additional look at” medical cannabis and that, while he’s personally “agnostic” on legalization, the reality is that Indiana is “surrounded now by four states” that allow either medical or adult-use cannabis. “Over half of Hoosiers probably smoke it illegally,” he said, noting that neighboring Kentucky permits patients to access medical cannabis, while Illinois, Michigan and Ohio have recreational marijuana laws on the books. “I’m going to listen to law enforcement. Even they have changed their opinion in terms of legalizing it and regulating it,” Braun said, adding that he’d compare cannabis to gambling. The state was late in the game to adopt laws allowing adults to gamble, he said, but now it ranks in the top three states nationwide in terms of revenue per capita from the vice. “Some people aren’t going to want it, just out of principle. A lot of our state police and sheriffs are tolerating people going across the border [to buy cannabis]. It’ll be an increasing issue that, so far, our state legislature has kind of dug in against it,” he said. “I’ve been more agnostic about it. I can see points of view, and I’ve seen law enforcement move on it somewhat.” “So that would give you the best description of where the dynamic is in our state,” the governor told WOWO. “I think the leader of the Senate especially, and the Speaker of the House, are pretty—and they control the legislative agenda—not interested in doing anything soon. But I think the crescendo will rise, and that describes in a snapshot where we’re at.” Braun similarly talked about the issue in another recent interview, saying the state is “probably going to have to address” the issue and likening cannabis reform to sports betting. Lawmakers in the state had already signaled that marijuana legalization isn’t in the cards in the 2026 session, meaning another year where Indiana will be an outlier as one of the few remaining states without effective medical or adult-use cannabis laws. The governor separately said in January that he’s “amenable” to the idea of legalizing medical cannabis in the state. Instead, Indiana legislators this session have been focused on efforts to ban hemp THC products—though it seems that fight is over for 2026 after a last-minute push failed in February. Braun has previously said that federal marijuana rescheduling could add “a little bit of fire” to the local push for cannabis legalization in his state. Among Indiana residents, a survey released in January found that nearly three in five back legalizing cannabis for medical and recreational use. Specifically, the annual Hoosier Survey from the Bowen Center at Ball State University (BSU) found that 59 percent of residents are in favor of legalizing cannabis for both medical and recreational purposes. An additional 25 percent back only allowing patients to access medical marijuana, raising the total support for that reform to 84 percent. Braun, for his part, previously said that “it’s probably time” to allow access to therapeutic cannabis among patients in the state. Those comments came alongside a separate poll indicating that nearly 9 in 10 Indiana adults (87 percent) support marijuana legalization. Top Republicans in the legislature, however, have openly opposed marijuana reform. “It’s no secret that I am not for this,” Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray (R) said in late 2024. “I don’t have people coming to me with really compelling medical cases as to why it’s so beneficial. And any state that I’ve seen pass medical marijuana is essentially passing recreational marijuana.” House Speaker Todd Huston (R) doubted any medical benefits associated with marijuana, calling the substance “a deterrent to mental health.” He and others suggested that lawmakers supportive of the reform merely want to boost state revenue. The post Indiana Governor Touts Medical Marijuana’s Benefits For Veterans, Saying He Hopes Opposition From GOP Lawmakers ‘Softens’ appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

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Last month, the Trump administration moved to federally reclassify medical marijuana that is dispensed to patients in accordance with state programs. But that doesn’t mean truck drivers, airline pilots and other federally regulated workers can now use it without being punished, the Department of Transportation (DOT) is clarifying in a new notice. “Marijuana use is not compatible with safety-sensitive functions,” the agency said on Friday. Medical review officers (MROs) who receive drug test results indicating cannabis consumption cannot deem them to be negative for illegal substance use, even when an employee says it was the result of state-licensed medical marijuana, DOT’s guidance said. That is the case even after the Department of Justice issued an order moving state-regulated medical cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), making such use federally legal. “Currently, there is no instance when the MRO could verify a laboratory-confirmed marijuana positive drug test result as ‘negative’ when an employee claims the positive was caused by a State licensed marijuana product,” DOT said, explaining that even after rescheduling, medical marijuana dispensed in accordance with state law “does not constitute” a drug that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “Without FDA approval for a controlled substance, it cannot be prescribed,” DOT said. “A ‘legitimate medical explanation’ requires use of a legally prescribed controlled substance in compliance with Federal laws governing such a prescription.” Even if the worker in question presents “documentation such as State-issued medical marijuana cards, physician recommendations or certifications, or dispensary records or receipts,” those documents “do not satisfy” federal regulations governing what constitutes a “legitimate medical explanation” for use of a drug, the notice says. “Marijuana use under State marijuana programs or other non-prescription sources do not qualify as a ‘legitimate medical explanation.'” The guidance from DOT’s Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance and its Office of the General Counsel says in a footnote that it does “not have the force and effect of law” and is “not meant to bind the public in any way.” “The document is intended only to provide clarity to the public regarding existing requirements under the law or agency policies, and compliance may be achieved in more than one way,” it says. The drug testing rules cited by DOT cover workers in aviation, trucking, railroads, mass transit, pipelines and other transportation industries. — Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments. Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access. — While it is widely accepted that safety-sensitive transportation workers should not perform their jobs under the influence of marijuana or other substances, legalization supporters point out that cannabis metabolites can stay in a person’s system for weeks after use and still be detected on drug tests even when there is no impairment. DOT’s hard-line position contrasts to some extent with the findings of a recent congressional analysis of rescheduling’s impact and with how other agencies are implementing reforms in response to the move. The Congressional Research Service published a report on the current cannabis rescheduling move explaining that certified patients who possess medical marijuana from state-licensed dispensaries now have certain protections under Schedule III. “The order appears to authorize end users to possess marijuana for medical use without a CSA-compliant prescription,” it says. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has posted a draft update to a gun purchase form to acknowledge the federally legal status of medical marijuana under rescheduling. The revised section in question notably says that only “use or possession of marijuana for recreational purposes” is federally prohibited, leaving out the prior form’s mention of medical cannabis. The U.S. Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said they plan to issue new tax guidance for the marijuana industry following rescheduling. The reform will benefit state-licensed marijuana businesses by allowing them to take federal tax deductions they’re currently barred from under an IRS code known as 280E that doesn’t apply to Schedule III substances. Even the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which has long opposed cannabis legalization and was accused of stalling the rescheduling process initiative by the Biden administration, has launched a registration process for state-legal marijuana businesses to take advantage of federal benefits that come with the reform. DEA will also oversee a hearing starting next month to consider broader marijuana rescheduling beyond state-legal medical cannabis. DOT, for its part, stands out so far among agencies that have issued formal reactions to marijuana rescheduling by claiming that the move will not change much, if anything, for covered entities. In December, when President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the Department of Justice to complete the process of rescheduling cannabis “in the most expeditious manner,” the transportation agency posted an advisory saying that all safety-sensitive workers must still comply with federal drug testing requirements. At the time, DOT didn’t quite specify what would change if marijuana was ultimately rescheduled, but the latest notice makes clear its view that state-legal medical cannabis under Schedule III is still no excuse for a positive drug test despite the Trump administration’s federal change. Last October, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy suggested Trump was “getting pressure” to reschedule cannabis—arguing that marijuana is “really addictive” and saying that policy reform around the issue sends a “dangerous” message. “At a time when culture is pushing and celebrating the use of marijuana, we’re not talking about the risk,” Duffy said. Then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieig said in 2024 that placing cannabis in Schedule III wouldn’t affect drug testing policies for commercial truckers, noting that the department specifically lists marijuana as substance to screen. “Our understanding of the rescheduling of marijuana from Schedule I to schedule III is that it would not alter DOT’s marijuana testing requirements with respect to the regulated community,” the Biden administration official said. “For private individuals who are performing safety-sensitive functions subject to drug testing, marijuana is identified by name, not by reference to one of those classes. So even if it moves in its classification, we do not believe that that would have a direct impact on that authority.” In March, DOT included a directive to substance abuse professionals to disregard attempts to justify positive tests for THC due to a worker’s use of medical marijuana or hemp oil. Meanwhile, last year, DOT proposed a new rule to update its drug testing guidelines, revising terminology around cannabis in a way that provides more specificity related to THC. In a notice published in the Federal Register last September, the department said it was proposing the rule change to “harmonize” with cannabis terminology adopted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the administration is moving forward with marijuana rescheduling because cannabis reform is “overwhelmingly popular” with voters and because doing so will help people who need access to the drug for medical purposes. During a press event in the Oval Office, Trump spoke about the medical benefits of marijuana, saying that “a lot of people are suffering from big problems, which this seems to be the best answer.” “So hopefully you don’t need it,” the president said. “But if you do need it, I hear it’s the best of all the alternatives.” The post Truckers And Pilots Still Can’t Use Medical Marijuana Even Though Trump Reclassified It, Transportation Department Says appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

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VA gov signs cannabis resentencing bill; Fetterman praises Trump’s marijuana & psychedelics moves; Study: CBD to treat cancer in dogs Subscribe to receive Marijuana Moment’s newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning. It’s the best way to make sure you know which cannabis stories are shaping the day. Get our daily newsletter. Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human: Your support makes Marijuana Moment possible… Free to read (but not free to produce)! We’re proud of our newsletter and the reporting we publish at Marijuana Moment, and we’re happy to provide it for free. But it takes a lot of work and resources to make this happen. If you value Marijuana Moment, invest in our success on Patreon so we can expand our coverage and more readers can benefit: https://www.patreon.com/marijuanamoment / TOP THINGS TO KNOW Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) said in a meeting with hemp industry representatives that his forthcoming bill to regulate products derived from the crop is facing opposition from a coalition of strange bedfellows that includes sectors of the alcohol industry, marijuana businesses and cannabis legalization opponents. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) praised President Donald Trump’s moves to reschedule marijuana and accelerate therapeutic access to psychedelics, saying “we could all agree” on the reforms. “I don’t judge or knock anyone for whatever that they knock their edge off to just make it through in this world… A little weed, whatever, sitting in front of the fire pit in your backyard.” Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) signed legislation to provide resentencing relief to people with marijuana convictions—even after lawmakers rejected her proposed amendments to scale back the scope of the reform. A new scientific review highlighted the “potential of CBD as an anticancer agent across different cancer types” in dogs, finding that studies “consistently show” that cannabidiol “exerts antiproliferative and proapoptotic effects.” “CBD has been shown to be safe and well-tolerated in dogs.” Alabama’s first medical cannabis dispensary is just “days away” from opening its doors and beginning sales to patients—nearly five years after lawmakers voted to enact legalization. A lawyer for two Jersey City, New Jersey police officers who were fired for off-duty marijuana use says the new mayor has failed to reinstate them despite several rulings in their favor. Some petitioners for a failed referendum to block new marijuana and hemp restrictions say the campaign didn’t pay for signatures they collected. Texas hemp business owners say a flurry of conflicting court rulings that have alternately paused and reinstated a ban on smokable products has already forced them to scale back hours, cut staff and prepare to shut down. Shannon Hughes of Elemental Psychedelics argues that the pharmaceutical and natural medicine pathways for psychedelics “are not competing rivers” but are in fact “tributaries of the same watershed.” / FEDERAL The Drug Enforcement Administration said a question on a medical cannabis business registration form about previous unregistered involvement with controlled substances is “not intended to serve as a categorical barrier” to approval. The new acting director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research previously served as an official for the Usona Institute, which develops psychedelic medicines. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is seeking White House Office of Management and Budget approval for information collection related to state and tribal hemp plans. The House bill to delay the federal recriminalization of hemp THC products got one new cosponsor for a total of 34. / STATES Oklahoma’s attorney general noted marijuana enforcement efforts in a press release about how he was invited to White House to discuss the state’s “public safety wins.” Colorado lawmakers sent Gov. Jared Polis (D) a bill to establish an ibogaine research pilot program. The Delaware Senate passed a bill to decriminalize drug paraphernalia. The New Jersey Assembly Appropriations and Oversight Committees approved a bill to allow sales of large-container hemp beverages and to let medical cannabis dispensaries add adult-use marijuana sales without local approval. Wisconsin’s Assembly minority leader said Democrats see cannabis legalization as a way to generate revenue to pay for other priorities. Oklahoma regulators expanded a recall of medical cannabis products. Michigan regulators published a monthly report on disciplinary actions taken against marijuana businesses. — Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments. Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access. — / SCIENCE & HEALTH A review concluded that “cannabinoids hold significant potential to address diseases driven by inflammation and oxidative stress and to expand therapeutic landscape.” / ADVOCACY, OPINION & ANALYSIS A poll of U.S. adults found they support legalizing marijuana, 56 percent to 30 percent. / BUSINESS Ascend Wellness Holdings is closing a Lansing, Michigan cultivation facility. Good Day Farm is facing a lawsuit from a consumer who alleges it and affiliated LLCs used a network of marijuana dispensary licenses to limit competition and inflate prices. Make sure to subscribe to get Marijuana Moment’s daily dispatch in your inbox. Get our daily newsletter. Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human: The post Marijuana & alcohol industries oppose hemp bill, congressman says (Newsletter: May 18, 2026) appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

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I stumbled upon the open sea for brainrots discord server and found it buzzing with creative discussions about escape tsunami for brainrots strategies, which made me curious how their game hub blends real-world social issues with virtual challenges.

I heard about the freak circus full game while waiting for my coffee, which made me curious about how such a niche title could be so popular. The workshop at Project Object on October 26th sounds like a great chance to learn from Elly Blue, who’s been in the publishing scene for years.

“The pharmaceutical pathway and the natural medicine pathway are not competing rivers. They are tributaries of the same watershed.” By Shannon Hughes, Elemental Psychedelics via Colorado Newsline Two signatures, 48 hours apart, just changed how psychedelic medicine arrives in America. On April 18, President Donald Trump signed an executive order accelerating federal review of psychedelic drugs for serious mental illness. Within days, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) awarded three commissioner’s national priority vouchers—to Compass Pathways for psilocybin-assisted therapy in treatment-resistant depression, Usona Institute for psilocybin in major depressive disorder, and Otsuka for methylone (a relative of MDMA) in PTSD. These vouchers may compress what is typically a 10-to-12-month FDA review down to as little as one or two months. On April 20, with far less fanfare, Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed Colorado’s Senate Bill 26-31. The bill specifies that the moment the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reschedules an FDA-approved Schedule I drug, Colorado’s law follows automatically. Pharmaceutical psilocybin will be legal to dispense in Colorado the instant federal approval lands. I’m hopeful about this. Patients with treatment-resistant depression have been waiting a long time. So have veterans with PTSD. So have practitioners who have spent years preparing to do this work with care. I am also worried. Not about what’s coming, but about what we might accidentally let go of in the rush to receive it. SB-31 explicitly carves out natural medicine and marijuana, leaving Colorado’s Proposition 122 framework—the voter-approved natural medicine program with its facilitator-led healing centers—entirely intact. That carve-out matters more than it appears. Most states pursuing psychedelic policy are picking a single lane, choosing between a medical, prescription-based pathway and a community-based, facilitator-led one, as though the two were incompatible. Colorado is choosing both. This is rarer than people realize, and it is more honest about how healing actually works. The pharmaceutical pathway and the natural medicine pathway are not competing rivers. They are tributaries of the same watershed. Different people need different doors. A patient with treatment-resistant depression whose insurance will eventually cover psilocybin-assisted therapy needs one door. Someone seeking to grieve a loss in community, or to find their way back to themselves through ceremony, needs another. Both are legitimate. The question Colorado now faces is not which path wins, but whether we can hold both with integrity as the federal pace quickens. Here is what I worry the temptation will be: Now that medicalized access is coming, perhaps some will think that the work of expanding community access is done. The healing centers, the facilitator licensing, the careful and slow work of Prop 122 implementation—all of it can be de-prioritized, the thinking goes, because patients will soon be able to get psilocybin from a doctor and a pharmacy. This would be a profound mistake. Medicalized access and community access serve different needs, draw on different lineages of knowledge, and answer different kinds of suffering. Collapsing the two is misunderstanding what these medicines are asking of us. The work of reform and opening up access is not done. Colorado voters chose a wider path with Prop. 122. So here is what I would ask in this particular moment. To Colorado legislators and regulators: Keep faith with the voters. The careful work of Prop. 122 implementation—facilitator licensing, healing center regulation, training standards, equitable access, and the ongoing rulemaking around whether and how ibogaine will be incorporated—is exactly the work that makes a wider path real. Fund it. Staff it. Defend it from the gravitational pull of a federal model that will, by virtue of its pace and resources, threaten to absorb everything in its orbit. To my colleagues who will soon be prescribing or administering these medicines: Please, let us not treat psilocybin-assisted therapy as the next SSRI. A one-to-two-month FDA review does not give practitioners one-to-two months to become ready. Genuine readiness to hold non-ordinary states of consciousness with skill, to attend to set and setting, to support the integration that follows, takes far longer than the regulatory clock. Get trained well, and get trained before you prescribe, not after. To Coloradans: The next year of natural medicine rulemaking will shape what Prop. 122 actually delivers in your community. Public input matters here. Show up for it. To other states watching Colorado: A wider path is possible. The federal acceleration does not require abandoning community-based access. It makes protecting it more urgent, not less. The medicines are coming, faster than we expected. The question is whether we will meet them with the depth and care this moment asks of us, and whether we will keep faith with the wider path Coloradans already chose. We can hold both. But only if we choose to. Dr. Shannon Hughes is co-founder and program director of Elemental Psychedelics, a Colorado-based, women-led training organization for psychedelic practitioners. She served as an advisor to the Qualifications, Training, and Licensing Subcommittee of Colorado’s Natural Medicine Advisory Board and co-founded the Colorado nonprofit The Nowak Society. This piece was first published by Colorado Newsline. Photo courtesy of Mark Groeneveld. The post For Psychedelics, The Pharmaceutical And Natural Medicine Pathways Are Both Legitimate—And Compatible (Op-Ed) appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

“Where’s our money? I worked really hard, and I want to be paid in full.” By Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal Petitioners who tried to get a hemp and marijuana referendum on Ohio’s November ballot are saying they either never got paid or only got partially paid for the signatures they collected. Lisa Flagella and Amanda Ward say they—along with several other petitioners—did not get paid for the signatures they collected for the Ohio Senate Bill 56 referendum effort. The referendum would have overturned the lawmaker-passed overhaul of the adult-use marijuana law passed by voters in 2023. Ultimately the referendum effort did not gather enough signatures to move forward within the necessary timeline for the ballot. Thomas Miller and Pat Manning said they only got partially paid for the signatures they collected. “We made the decision at one point in the campaign to suspend paid signature collection as we assessed how many signatures we had collected at that point because we did have a large grass roots movement of unpaid volunteers collecting signatures,” Dennis Williard, campaign spokesperson, said in an email. Ohioans for Cannabis Choice had more than 5,000 people and businesses pledge to sign, collect, or host places where people could sign the petitions, Williard said. If the referendum made it to the ballot, it would have given voters a chance to overturn a law that went into effect on March 20 that changes Ohio’s voter-passed recreational marijuana law and bans intoxicating hemp products, including THC-infused beverages. Ohioans for Cannabis Choice would not say how many signatures were collected. They needed to collect 248,092 signatures and also needed to gather 3 percent of an individual county’s gubernatorial turnout in 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties to get on the November 3 ballot. The S.B. 56 referendum collected about 208,000 signatures, said Mark Fashian, formerly the president of hemp product wholesaler Midwest Analytical Solutions in Delaware, Ohio. Fashian, who said he helped raise money for the referendum effort, said the number of signatures while testifying during a May 4 injunction hearing of an ongoing lawsuit in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. The new law reduces THC levels in adult-use marijuana extracts from a maximum of 90 percent down to a maximum of 70 percent, caps THC levels in adult-use flower to 35 percent, and prohibits smoking in most public places. It also bans possessing marijuana in anything outside of its original packaging and criminalizes bringing legal marijuana from another state back to Ohio. “I believed in the cause,” Flagella said. Ohioans for Cannabis Choice hired ​​Arno Petition Consultant as the lead consultant, a California-based firm run by Michael Arno—who hired Larry Laws of L&R Political Consultants to get petitioners to collect signatures. The Ohio Capital Journal left messages and sent questions to Arno, but he did not respond. Ohio Petitioning Partners, which is owned by Pam Lauter, was hired as a sub-contractor. Lauter said she has not been paid either. “I’m infuriated,” Lauter said in an email. “This was the biggest debacle I have ever been involved with. I am in the same exact boat as everybody else is. I was not in control of this petition drive.” She said her job was to hire people to collect signatures. “The whole thing is shameful,” Lauter said in an email. “The whole thing is embarrassing. And my heart is broken over at [sic] all.” Ohioans for Cannabis Choice didn’t pay people what they were supposed to be paid, claimed Laws, who has been involved in petition work for 30 years. “I don’t think [Ohioans for Cannabis Choice] put out more than $100,000,” he said. “We took care of a lot of people as best we could, but certainly there wasn’t enough money there to take care of everything.” Laws is not optimistic people will be paid. “If it hasn’t happened by now, it’s not going to happen,” he said. The petitioners were reportedly told they would get paid $9 per valid signature. Flagella collected 1,012 signatures for the S.B. 56 referendum in 10 days and has not gotten paid. “Where’s our money?” she said. Flagella could have been paid about $9,000, depending on how many signatures were valid. “I worked really hard, and I want to be paid in full,” she said. “I drove hours away from my house, spent ten hours on my feet, then drove another hour back to my house.” Flagella, Miller, Manning and seven other people sent a demand letter for immediate payment to Lauter, Laws, Arno, and several other people involved in Ohioans for Cannabis Choice on March 27. “This letter serves as a formal demand for the immediate payment of all outstanding wages owed to myself and 9 other petitioners for services rendered during the Ohio SB 56 referendum signature-gathering campaign… Professional petitioners were brought in from California and Florida as well as Ohio that were instructed to stop work and have subsequently been denied their earned pay.” The Ohio Attorney General initially rejected the referendum’s summary language in January, but certified it February 3 after Ohioans for Cannabis Choice made changes to the language. “That really limited our ability to get our signatures,” Fashian said. Ohioans for Cannabis Choice stopped collecting signatures when the money ran out, Laws said. “I was all for shutting it down when I seen that they were delaying [payments],” Laws said. “If I had it my way, I would have shut it down a week earlier.” The paid petitioners were pulled off collecting signatures for the referendum on February 25, Flagella said, even though the deadline to collect signatures was March 19. “We just got started,” Flagella said. “I was ready to pump it up.” Pat Manning said he got paid for most of his signatures, but not all of them. He collected about 1,000 signatures and he said he got paid about $7,000 from Ohio Petitions Partners. “The first two weeks, everybody got paid,” he said. “The last [signature] turn in, nobody got anything.” He turned in about 100 signatures during the last turn in, so he was expecting to be paid an additional $1,000, but he has not received any of that money. “I’m still baffled as to what happened,” Manning said. “I’m very disappointed in the whole thing.” He has been doing petition work for 10 years. “It’s a ridiculous amount of money for the people that really know what they’re doing,” he said. Flagella has been doing petition work for more than 20 years and said she’s “never been so burned.” “I’ve never experienced anything like this before,” she said. “I’ve always gotten paid. I’ve always done an excellent job and I hold myself to very high standards and in the work that I do.” Flagella remembers signing a contract, but has not been able to track it down. The other petitioners the Ohio Capital Journal talked to also said they are unable to access the contracts they signed. “I signed the contract onboarding through this site, and the site is broken,” Flagella said. “I should be able to see my validity. I should be able to retrieve my contract that I signed.” Thomas Miller—who has previously done marijuana petitions in Missouri and Florida—saw a Facebook post about getting involved with the S.B. 56 referendum. “It’s great money when you get paid,” said Miller, who lives in Mansfield. He collected 101 signatures in one day in eight degree temperatures in front of Beyond Hello Cannabis Dispensary in Mansfield to get the initial signatures needed to submit the initial proposal to the Ohio Attorney General. He got paid $540 for those signatures, but he said he should have received $900. “I know my signatures were good because I checked,” Miller said. He then went on to collect an additional 311 signatures and estimated he should have been paid $2,800. “I need my $2,800,” Miller said. “That’s why I got involved in this. It’s quick money, easy money.” Amanda Ward collected about 100 signatures in 16 days and expected to be paid about $900. “It’s very frustrating,” she said. “I felt like I put myself out there for nothing.” Ward planned on using the money from collecting signatures to go take her family on a summer trip to Connecticut and Pennsylvania. “I don’t see that happening,” she said. “It really sucks, but at this point, it’s not even necessarily about the money. It’s about that we were promised something and those conditions weren’t met. I know I’ll probably never see the money.” This story was first published by Ohio Capital Journal. Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan. The post Ohio Marijuana And Hemp Referendum Campaign Failed To Pay For Some Signatures As Promised, Petitioners Say appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

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“We thought they were going to come in and do the right thing, and they’re not. They’re doubling down, and they’re lying about it, which is even worse.” By Sophie Nieto-Muñoz, New Jersey Monitor A state appellate court earlier this month sided with two Jersey City cops who say they shouldn’t have been fired for their off-duty cannabis use, but it’s unknown what the next steps are in this yearslong fight over New Jersey’s marijuana legalization law. A spokesman for James Solomon, a Democrat who became the city’s new mayor in January, said the city is reviewing the policies of Solomon’s predecessor, Steve Fulop, who argued that federal law prevents armed police officers from using cannabis at any time. But the officers’ lawyer, Michael Rubas, said the city has refused to return them to their old jobs despite several rulings that they should be reinstated. “I’m very disturbed by the way the Solomon administration has been handling things. We thought they were going to come in and do the right thing, and they’re not,” Rubas said. “They’re doubling down, and they’re lying about it, which is even worse.” Solomon spokesman Nathaniel Styer declined to respond to Rubas’s charges, but indicated the mayor’s view on police officers using cannabis while off duty differs from how the city operated under Fulop. “We are reviewing those policies as they are not in line with our views and values,” said the spokesman, Nathaniel Styer. The dispute dates to 2022, a few months after New Jersey’s legal recreational cannabis market opened. The state Attorney General’s Office told police departments then that the state’s marijuana legalization law does not allow them to discipline officers for using cannabis off duty, but Fulop argued that federal law prohibits anyone who uses a controlled substance from possessing a firearm. In September 2022, two Jersey City cops, Norhan Mansour and Omar Polanco, tested positive for cannabis they claimed they bought on the legal market. The city suspended and then fired them, but administrative law judges and later the state Civil Service Commission sided with the officers and ordered the city to reinstate them. The officers were placed on modified duty in 2024 but they were not returned to their previous positions. The city appealed both rulings, and on May 1, a state appellate panel ruled in the officers’ favor. A separate decision involving a third police officer upheld that officer’s termination because he bought cannabis from an unlicensed individual. Rubas said Mansour and Polanco are each owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in back pay, and have not had their firearm ID cards or their weapons returned to them. Spokespeople for Jersey City did not respond to multiple requests asking about the officers’ guns. A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office declined to comment. The officers still have to get their police licenses reissued by the state Police Training Commission, Rubas said, adding that if the city cooperated the officers could be reinstated to their typical posts within a week. Rubas said he’s reached out to the Solomon administration multiple times, including shortly after Solomon took office, to attempt to resolve the issue. He said he was hoping the city’s stance would change once Fulop left office. “Nothing’s changed at all. It’s been worse,” he said. This story was first published by New Jersey Monitor. The post New Jersey Police Fired For Off-Duty Marijuana Use Still Haven’t Been Reinstated Despite Court Ruling In Their Favor appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

“This is what we call the ‘Texas whiplash.’ These poor guys don’t know what is going to happen one day to the next. All they want is certainty and to sell their products.” By Paul Cobler, The Texas Tribune Hemp flower buds and rolled joints were piled into boxes and tucked out of public view by the staff of Dream Planet Smoke and Vape last Thursday after the state filed an appeal that triggered an hourslong ban. By Friday, the items were back on the store shelves, and are flying off them once again as customers rush to stock up while they still can, said Leroy Sims, a cashier at the East Austin smoke shop. “My boss is really big on keeping us all informed because he’s aware of the fact that Texas can’t really make its mind up,” Sims said. “We just put stuff in a box until they can make a decision because we can’t send it anywhere else to sell.” Some of the most profitable products at smoke shops around Texas have been forced off store shelves, then allowed back on, then forced off again, then allowed to return—all within a 45-day span—amid a dizzying slew of court actions centered on the state’s ban on smokable hemp products. This ping-ponging regulatory landscape in recent months has injected economic uncertainty into and bled revenue for an industry that employs more than 30,000 people around the state. “This is what we call the ‘Texas whiplash,’” said David Sergi, an attorney for the hemp industry. “These poor guys don’t know what is going to happen one day to the next. All they want is certainty and to sell their products.” While the percentage varied at each shop that spoke to The Texas Tribune, managers and cashiers said smokable hemp products make up a sizable portion of their total profits. The uncertainty surrounding a potential ban on their sales is already leading to employees losing their jobs, hours being cut back and plans being made to close store locations. The ultimate fear is that customers will soon start losing access to some of their favorite products even before the courts permanently rule on the ban. Austin Vape & Smoke is eyeing closing its less popular location near the University of Texas at Austin campus, leaving a handful of employees out of work, and cutting back on hours at their South Austin location, said Zaquiri Hensen, a manager at the South Austin store. About 43 percent of the company’s sales are smokable hemp products. “It…sucks,” Hensen said, using an expletive to emphasize his frustration with the recent uncertainty. “We’re lucky that we don’t really have any turnover, so a lot of our guys have been working here for a long, long time. I’m very close with them.” Texas smoke shops have had the opportunity to plan for a ban because it has already happened twice in recent months as the Texas Department of State Health Services’ efforts to further regulate the consumable hemp industry is challenged in state courts. A statewide ban on the sale of smokable hemp went into effect on March 31 under rules imposed by the public health agency. Smoke shops briefly pulled the products from their shelves until a Travis County district judge on April 10 temporarily lifted the ban until May 1 as a lawsuit by the hemp industry challenged the ban played out in court. Earlier this month, a judge ruled to extend the ban until the next hearing in the district courts, scheduled for July 27, but because the 15th Court of Appeals agreed to considering the state’s appeal, the ban was back in effect last Thursday. That ban only lasted for some hours—briefly forcing the products off store shelves again—until the appeals court last Thursday allowed the sale of the smokable flower. The next ruling on whether or not the injunction will stand is expected in the coming weeks. If the appeals court blocks the injunction, the ban will remain in effect at least until the district court’s July 27 hearing. The regulatory effort to ban smokable hemp began last fall after an effort to completely ban consumable hemp products failed in the Legislature. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) and other conservative legislators leading the effort argued the products are dangerous to Texans and must be banned. Rather than keep the Legislature in Austin for a special session on the topic, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered DSHS and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission to create stricter regulations on the products, which culminated with the state health agency’s ban of smokable hemp. Abbott referred a request to comment to DSHS, which referred a request for comment to Abbott’s fall executive order. Patrick did not respond to a request for comment. Businesses are working to comply with changing state laws and regulations, all while enforcement raids of smoke shops have picked up in recent years. But following the recent flurry of court actions has proved challenging. “I wasn’t even aware it was illegal because the last I had heard we were good to sell it until July 27,” Anthony Vazquez, owner of Dooby’s Smoking Depot in south-central Austin, said of last week’s hours-long ban. “I didn’t get any messages saying that it was gone. It wasn’t brought to my attention until Friday when I went to my distribution company and they were pulling the stuff back out on roller carts again.” Other smoke shops have been following the court proceedings in group chats with thousands of members created by the state’s largest trade association for the industry and one of the plaintiffs in the case, the Texas Hemp Business Council. Others said they are closely following updates in the news and pass the updates on to their customers. More than half of the sales at Dream Planet are smokable hemp, Sims said, and the company’s three locations may work to transition away from the products regardless of the court rulings because of the ongoing uncertainty. Sam Mafza, a cashier at La Casa Smoke Shop in East Austin, said 50 percent of the sales at his store are smokable hemp, and they have already cut back on hours. Mafza said he has a friend at a different smoke shop who recently lost his job due to the uncertainty. “Everybody is watching this,” Mafza said. “You can’t just abandon a product everybody uses.” The Texas Hemp Business Council, Hemp Industry & Farmers of America, and several Texas-based dispensaries and manufacturers have been fighting the state’s new testing requirements that create a 0.3 percent total THC threshold that would effectively bar the sale of natural smokable hemp products. The state also created a 3,000 percent increase in licensing fees for hemp retailers. During a three-day hearing before the district court on the injunction, attorneys for the state argued that Texas law requires the health agency to prioritize Texans’s well-being in rulemaking, allowing them to implement new hemp regulations. Lawyers for the hemp industry argued that the state’s public health agency overstepped its constitutional authority by rewriting the legal definitions of hemp to make it different from what lawmakers passed in 2019, and the ban would put stores out of business. Cynthia Cabrera, president of the Texas Hemp Business Council, said the effects of a ban go far beyond smoke shops, harming farmers that grow hemp, suppliers that manufacture the products, packaging companies, transportation and consumers. Beau Whitney, the founder and chief economist at Whitney Economics, a cannabis economic research firm, told the district court that the new rules and regulations will have a $7.2 billion negative impact on the Texas economy due to job losses and reduced tax revenue from hemp retail closures. “The ripple effects are far, wide and deep,” Cabrera said. In the meantime, the business council is simply trying to keep its members informed of the fast-moving legal landscape, Cabrera said. While smoke shops await clarity from the courts, many stores are trying to diversify their merchandise, such as hemp edibles and drinks, that will not be banned under the new rules, she said. Many are also trying to move their products through their stores as quickly as possible, offering promotions like buy two get one free for joints and other discounts on smokable flower buds. If a full ban goes into effect, “I just have to take a loss on everything,” Vazquez said. “I’d rather have cash than be stuck with a bunch of weed.” This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune. The post Texas’s On-Again, Off-Again Hemp Product Ban Causes Confusion For Businesses And Consumers appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

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“This is a healthcare program. This is for the health of our patients in Alabama, and it says we are not a recreational program.” By Anna Barrett, Alabama Reflector Patients in Alabama with qualifying medical conditions are “days away” from being able to purchase medical cannabis with a physician’s recommendation, according to Vince Schilleci, owner of a dispensary. Callie’s Apothecary in Montgomery will be the first medical cannabis dispensary to open in Alabama. When the program is fully up and running, there will be 12 dispensaries across the state between four companies. “Our goal is to get any questions answered, but get our patients in and out of here quickly, efficiently, do it in a professional manner, but most importantly, be compassionate,” said Vince Schilleci, owner of dispensary Callie’s Apothecary, Thursday morning during a tour. “These patients are dealing with issues, pain, and dealing with them for a while.” Schilleci would not give a specific date for the Montgomery location’s opening because it depends on the testing of the products and delivery. He said the order for the first round of product has been placed from the processor, but when it will be delivered cannot be certain. “We have to remember this product is not like potato chips or something that’s easy to ship, and we have testing that it has to go through. We have to get it into the state’s seed-to-sale tracking system,” Schilleci said. “There’s a lot of moving parts, but we’re close.” Three of the companies, CCS of Alabama, LLC, GP6 Wellness, LLC, and RJK Holdings, LLC, have licenses and are expected to open their storefronts this summer, according to Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission Director John McMillan. A fourth license is pending litigation, but is likely to go to Yellowhammer Medical Dispensaries, LLC. “We’re very anxious to move forward so we can become what the Legislature envisioned, and the public and patients need,” McMillan said in a phone interview Thursday afternoon. The Alabama medical cannabis law, enacted in 2021, allows registered physicians to recommend cannabis for about 15 medical conditions, including cancer, depression, Parkinson’s Disease, PTSD, sickle-cell anemia, chronic pain and terminal diseases. The approved product forms are restricted to tablets, tinctures, patches, oils and gummies (only peach flavor), with raw plant material and smokable forms remaining prohibited. People who suffer from the qualifying conditions must get approval from their physician and enter the patient registry in order to buy products at a dispensary. Litigation has also held up access to medical cannabis. Some firms sued the commission for not being awarded a license, citing a discriminatory process. Another case involved five parents that sued the commission over delays in access to cannabis, which was dismissed in August. McMillan said that there were 181 patients registered with the commission as of Monday. As of Thursday, there are 43 physicians certified to recommend medical cannabis to patients in Alabama, according to the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners. Schilleci said that Callie’s is just waiting on products to be delivered before it can open. Once it does, patients will present their “cannabis card” that their recommending physician will give them in order to enter the storefront. They will then sign in and enter a pharmacy-like room where they can receive consultation from dispensary staff and select a cannabis product. “This is a healthcare program. This is for the health of our patients in Alabama, and it says we are not a recreational program,” Schilleci said. “You just can’t come in here and buy something. You’ve got to go through the process of getting the card and going and making sure you have a qualifying condition.” Schilleci said he is unsure of the total price of each product, but their estimates are lower than their original estimates when they applied. In 2023, Schilleci said CCS estimated that patients would pay $65 for a supply of cuboids, or gummies. “As time moves on and we have more as the processors get comfortable with the program, I think you’ll start seeing the more advanced, gel caps, or maybe transdermal patches, perhaps inhalers and nebulizers and things like that,” Schilleci said. Alora Frank, the area manager at Callie’s, worked in the medical cannabis industry in Florida before moving to Alabama, her home state, to work at the Montgomery dispensary. “On your first visit, there’s a lot of nerves, a lot of fear, there’s a lot of stigma around using this as an alternative medical product. But after their first visit, that second, that third visit, when you start to see people come in and they tell you, ‘Wow, I was able to stop this medication, stop that medication.’ Or you have a patient that had to come in with a wheelchair, and then can come in on their own power. It’s very, very fulfilling,” Frank said. “We are dosing cannabis, but we get doses of humanity back.” Dispensary Locations: CCS of Alabama, LLC Montgomery, Bessemer and Talladega GP6 Wellness, LLC Birmingham, Athens and Attalla RJK Holdings, LLC Oxford, Daphne and Mobile Yellowhammer Medical Dispensary, LLC *pending license approval Birmingham, Owens Cross Roads and Demopolis This story was first published by Alabama Reflector. The post The Launch Of Alabama Medical Marijuana Sales Is Just ‘Days Away,’ With First Dispensary Preparing To Open Its Doors appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

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