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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has once again included a bipartisan marijuana banking bill in a list of legislative priorities he hopes to advance this year. During a press briefing on Tuesday, Schumer was asked about what’s on the chamber’s agenda after senators passed a foreign aid package this week. He said that “we have a bunch of different bills” that will “all have to work in a bipartisan way, and we’ll do our best to get many of them done.” That includes “trying to deal with” the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act “and cannabis reform,” Schumer said. He also listed legislation addressing insulin pricing, online child safety and railway safety as priorities. “We’ve got a lot to do,” the majority leader said. “And if we can work in a bipartisan way, we will.” Schumer has made repeated pledges to move the SAFER Banking Act since it cleared the Senate Banking Committee last September. And now that the Senate has approved must-pass appropriations legislation and foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, there are heightened expectations that floor action could be on the horizon. Adding to those expectations is the recent introduction of a bill to incentivize expungements for past cannabis offenses at the state, local and tribal levels. Schumer has made clear he intends to attach that measure to the banking legislation on the floor. Bipartisan and bicameral lawmakers have become increasingly vocal about different mechanisms through which they might be able to advance the cannabis banking measure, including the possibility of moving it as part of a package with cryptocurrency regulations legislation that could be attached to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization measure. Schumer also recently asked people to show their support for the SAFER Banking Act by signing a petition as he steps up his push for the legislation. A poll released last month by the American Bankers Association (ABA) shows that roughly three out of five Americans support allowing marijuana industry access to the banking system. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) said that that “if Republicans want to keep the House,” they should pass the marijuana banking bill, arguing that “there are votes” to approve it. Schumer told Marijuana Moment last month that the bill remains a “very high priority” for the Senate, and members are having “very productive” bicameral talks to reach a final agreement. — Marijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,400 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. — Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) also said last month that passing the SAFER Banking Act off the floor is a “high priority.” However, he also recently said in a separate interview that advancing the legislation is complicated by current House dynamics. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) separately said during a recent American Bankers Association (ABA) summit that he wants to see the SAFER Banking Act move. He said that, “for whatever reason, the federal government has been slow” to act on the incremental reform that he supports even though he doesn’t identify as “a marijuana guy.” One key factor that’s kept the bill from the Senate floor is disagreement over mostly non-cannabis provisions dealing with broader banking regulations, primarily those contained in Section 10 of the legislation. Bicameral negotiations have been ongoing, however, and recent reporting suggests that a final deal could be just over the horizon. The Democratic Senate sponsor of the SAFER Banking Act, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), told Marijuana Moment last month that the legislation is “gaining momentum” as lawmakers work to bring it to the floor and pass it “this year.” Rep. Earl Blumenauer, founding co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, told Marijuana Moment last week that, “every day we’re closer on SAFE Banking, and negotiations “are ongoing in the House and Senate, and we are, in fact, making progress.” At the close of the first half of the 118th Congress in December, Schumer said in a floor speech that lawmakers would “hit the ground running” in 2024, aiming to build on bipartisan progress on several key issues, including marijuana banking reform—though he noted it “won’t be easy.” Federal Settlement Will Allow Arizona Church To Import, Process And Use Ayahuasca As Religious Sacrament The post Senators Will ‘Do Our Best’ To Pass Marijuana Banking Bill ‘In A Bipartisan Way,’ Schumer Says appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

Authors of a new research letter published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on Wednesday said there’s no evidence that states’ adoption of laws to legalize and regulate marijuana for adults have led to an increase in youth use of cannabis. To arrive at the results, researchers at Montana State University and San Diego State University took responses from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), which asks high-school students about various health-related activities, the report explains. All told, the four-author team analyzed results from 207,781 respondents. Findings showed that states’ adoption of recreational marijuana laws (RMLs) had no association with the prevalence of youth cannabis consumption. “In this repeated cross-sectional study, there was no evidence that RMLs were associated with encouraging youth marijuana use,” the two-page paper published in JAMA Psychiatry says. “After legalization, there was no evidence of an increase in marijuana use.” Legalization “adoption was not associated with current marijuana use or frequent marijuana use.” Nor did the opening of marijuana retail stores seem to impact youth use. “Estimates based on the state YRBS and estimates of the association between the first dispensary opening and marijuana use were qualitatively similar,” the team wrote. Authors wrote that, in their study, “more policy variation was captured than in any prior study on RMLs and youth marijuana use.” Pre- and post-legalization data were available for 12 states, and nine contributed data from before and after retail sales began. Data also included 36 states without adult-use cannabis laws. The data come on the heels of another JAMA-published study earlier this month that found that neither legalization nor the opening of retail stores led to increases in youth cannabis use. That study, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, concluded that the reforms were actually associated with more young people reporting not using marijuana, along with increases in those who say they don’t use alcohol or vape products either. Passage of recreational cannabis laws (RCL) “was not associated with adolescents’ likelihood or frequency of cannabis use,” found the analysis, by researchers at Boston College and the University of Maryland at College Park. Nor was the opening of retail stores associated with increases in youth use. Over time, that study suggested, adult-use marijuana laws in fact led to lower odds of any cannabis use. “Each additional year of RCL,” it says, “was associated with 8% higher odds of zero cannabis use (lower likelihood of any use), with non-significant total estimates.” “Results,” that study concluded, “suggest that legalization and greater control over cannabis markets have not facilitated adolescents’ entry into substance use.” The subject of youth use has been a contentious topic as more states consider legalizing marijuana, with opponents and supporters of the reform often disagreeing on how to interpret results of various studies, especially in light of the sometimes mixed results in the latest JAMA paper and others. Recently released data from a Washington State survey of adolescent and teenage students found overall declines in both lifetime and past-30-day marijuana use since legalizations, with striking drops in recent years that held steady through 2023. The results also indicate that perceived ease of access to cannabis among underage students has generally fallen since the state enacted legalization for adults in 2012. A separate study late last year also found that Canadian high-school students reported it was more difficult to access marijuana since the government legalized the drug nationwide in 2019. The prevalence of current cannabis use also fell during the study period, from 12.7 percent in 2018–19 to 7.5 percent in 2020–21, even as retail sales of marijuana expanded across the country. In December, meanwhile, a U.S. health official said that teen marijuana use has not increased “even as state legalization has proliferated across the country.” “There have been no substantial increases at all,” said Marsha Lopez, chief of the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s (NIDA) epidemiological research branch. “In fact, they have not reported an increase in perceived availability either, which is kind of interesting.” Another earlier analysis from CDC found that rates of current and lifetime cannabis use among high school students have continued to drop amid the legalization movement. A study of high school students in Massachusetts that was published last November found that youth in that state were no more likely to use marijuana after legalization, though more students perceived their parents as cannabis consumers after the policy change. A separate NIDA-funded study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in 2022 also found that state-level cannabis legalization was not associated with increased youth use. The study demonstrated that “youth who spent more of their adolescence under legalization were no more or less likely to have used cannabis at age 15 years than adolescents who spent little or no time under legalization.” Yet another 2022 study from Michigan State University researchers, published in the journal PLOS One, found that “cannabis retail sales might be followed by the increased occurrence of cannabis onsets for older adults” in legal states, “but not for underage persons who cannot buy cannabis products in a retail outlet.” The trends were observed despite adult use of marijuana and certain psychedelics reaching “historic highs” in 2022, according to separate data released last year. Feds Consider Removing MDMA From Workplace Drug Testing While Adding Fentanyl Instead The post ‘No Evidence’ That Marijuana Legalization For Adults Increases Youth Cannabis Use, New Research Published By American Medical Association Finds appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

“We said we were doing this bill for criminal justice purposes, and to partially correct the very failed multi-billion war on drugs campaign that happened for decades in New Jersey, so this is frustrating. I feel like we’re not headed in the right direction.” By Sophie Nieto-Munoz, New Jersey Monitor For the last two years, people have been able to stroll into New Jersey dispensaries to buy weed. But growing your own cannabis plant remains a third-degree felony. Despite a growing number of nearby states legalizing the growing of marijuana plants at home, bills to do the same in New Jersey have languished every session since cannabis was legalized. A state senator and chief sponsor of a bill to allow medical marijuana patients to grow cannabis, plus another bill that would expand that to 10 plants for medical patients and six plants for recreational users, said the fight for home grow is “at a standstill.” “We said we were doing this bill for criminal justice purposes, and to partially correct the very failed multi-billion war on drugs campaign that happened for decades in New Jersey, so this is frustrating. I feel like we’re not headed in the right direction,” said Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Monmouth). Under the state’s cannabis laws, the only people allowed to grow marijuana are those with cultivator licenses. Lawmakers, particularly Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), have previously voiced hesitancy over a home grow program, saying it would stunt the growth of the legal industry and allow the underground market to flourish without regulations. Scutari long pushed to make marijuana legal and sponsored the recreational legalization law. In an interview last April, he said discussions had started about “perhaps allowing for a very, very slim amount of home grow applicants, some of the more significant or medical patients.” Scutari did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Marijuana advocates say lawmakers opposed to home grow are misinformed about its financial impact on the cannabis industry, and have stressed the importance of a home cultivation program for medical marijuana users. Growing cannabis at home would be beneficial to patients who have trouble getting to a dispensary or who can’t afford the high prices of medical marijuana. The average cost of an eighth ounce of recreational weed is around $60. Plus, they argue, Scutari’s argument is moot—the cannabis industry in New Jersey is thriving. More than 100 dispensaries have opened their doors since sales first began April 21, 2022. Hundreds of licenses have been awarded for cultivation, manufacturing, and retail. Recreational sales exceeded $675 million in 2023, nearly double the year prior. And in February, the Cannabis Regulatory Commission said the state surpassed $2 billion in recreational and marijuana sales since 2018. The agency predicted that sales could exceed $1 billion alone this year. At that meeting, officials noted that while legalizing home cultivation is not in their purview, they would encourage the Legislature to look into it. Chris Goldstein is an organizer with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and a longtime cannabis activist in New Jersey. He questioned where Scutari “gets this idea that he needs to protect the industry from home cultivation.” He said it’s ironic that Scutari helped get the cannabis industry off the ground but now continues to stifle it. “The small business owners I talk to, the consumers, the patients, they say he’s off base,” said Goldstein. “And again, the delay has been really terrible for New Jersey. We’ve seen nothing but the highest prices as well.” Goldstein noted that six senators from both sides of the aisle have cosponsored Gopal’s and Sen. Troy Singleton’s (D) bill to allow medical marijuana patients to grow their own cannabis. “I’m not sure what Scutari’s new excuse will be, but I think this is a sort of critical mass on home cultivation coming up pretty fast,” he said. Goldstein joined other cannabis advocates at a protest in front of the Statehouse Monday to bring attention to the need for home grow. Gopal noted that without a home grow program, people can still be arrested for growing a plant for personal purposes that is otherwise legal, he said. — Marijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,400 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. — He said he hasn’t talked to Scutari about the home grow bills since the winter, noting that issues like NJ Transit’s financial woes and school funding have been at the center of the conversation in the Statehouse. He said support from the governor’s office would help put a spotlight on the issue. A spokeswoman for Gov. Phil Murphy (D), who campaigned in 2017 on legalizing marijuana, noted that in 2023 Murphy said he’s “very much open-minded” to home grow. “I’d love to see the governor and the governor’s office get louder on this,” Gopal said. “I’d love to see him play a more active role in this. We’re two years in and constituents have had trouble getting affordable, accessible, legal cannabis.” This story was first published by New Jersey Monitor. More Than A Decade After Approving Marijuana Legalization, Colorado Voters’ Support Continues To Grow, New Polls Show The post New Jersey Lawmakers And Marijuana Activists Push To Legalize Home Cultivation, Which Is Still A Felony appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

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The anti-drug group D.A.R.E.’s 2022 officer of the year asserts in a new online documentary that “alcohol is a gateway drug”—though he occasionally drinks it. But marijuana is another story and can’t be safely enjoyed recreationally, he says, despite believing that cannabis has medical value after it helped treat his brother-in-law’s cancer-related pain. D.A.R.E.’s president, meanwhile, acknowledges in the documentary that some of the criticism of the war on drugs might have something to do with earlier scandals within federal agencies, such as the CIA’s implication in a cocaine-smuggling conspiracy that he described as an “unfortunate part of our history.” As the decades-old program works to reshape its image and move away from its scaremongering anti-drug roots under the Reagan administration, the leaders of the group convened for an international conference in Las Vegas last year where independent journalist Andrew Callaghan spoke to them about contemporary drug policy issues. The interviews are featured in a documentary for the Callahan’s YouTube program Channel 5 that was released this month. One of the more notable conversations involved Alex Mendoza, the 2022 D.A.R.E. officer of the year, who has worked to redefine the program’s approach to youth drug prevention. “For me, it’s really about educating the youth that are out there—to give them the tools necessary to navigate whatever pain that they’re going through” that might lead to substance misuse, he said. “I think that if you don’t have that self-love for yourself and that resiliency, then you’re gonna go to that external source, whatever that might be.” “Do you feel the same way about alcohol?” Callaghan asked. “Absolutely. I mean, alcohol is a gateway drug,” Mendoza said. “You don’t drink?” the reporter pressed. The D.A.R.E. official admitted he does drink, albeit “rarely” and “maybe once or twice within a month period of time.” As Callaghan noted in his narration, that admission seemed to call into question the very concept of the gateway drug theory. If this decorated D.A.R.E. officer could responsibly and recreationally use what he had just described as a “gateway drug,” why wouldn’t the same principle apply to marijuana? “Do you feel that marijuana can be treated the same way—like semi-recreational, not necessarily a gateway drug?” the journalist asked. “You know, there’s so many things about about marijuana that go far beyond, I guess, really our understanding, right?” Mendoza replied. “From a lot of the statistics that are out there, obviously, they say that it can be more dangerous than tobacco products.” However, the D.A.R.E. officer went on to say that he’s aware there are “people out there that say that marijuana could be used to treat people that have some sort of illnesses to help them navigate and deal with that.” “I think the problem that you run into is that you have the people that truly legitimately have a need and a purpose behind it and will use it to help them navigate their pain,” he said. “My brother-in-law recently passed away of cancer, and he didn’t want to go with any type of prescription medication. He wanted something natural and he resorted to using THC to deal with his pain. And it helped.” “It helps them navigate that, right?” Mendoza continued. “And then you have, unfortunately, people that will use that as an excuse to try to use that product for recreational purposes.” Later in the documentary, Callaghan talks to D.A.R.E. President and CEO Francisco Pegueros, a retired Los Angeles Police Department officer who oversaw one of the department’s more controversial divisions in the 1980s. “A lot of people were critical of the war on drugs overall,” Callaghan acknowledged. “Well, there was some evidence that certain governmental agencies were involved in a lot of activity that were kind of contrary to the whole concept of the war on drugs,” Pegueros said. “Are you talking about, like, the CIA giving crack to Freeway Ricky Ross?” the journalist asked, referencing reports from the 1980s that the federal intelligence agency had a relationship with an international drug trafficking syndicate that was supplying Ross with cocaine for domestic illicit sales before he was convicted. “It’s an unfortunate part of our history. But evidently, it’s reality,” Pegueros said. South Carolina House Panel Takes Up Senate-Passed Medical Marijuana Legalization Bill After Months Of Delay Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images. The post Top D.A.R.E. Officer Says Medical Marijuana Helped His Brother-In-Law Treat Cancer Pain appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

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A new settlement between the federal government and an Arizona-based nonprofit will permit the group to import and use ayahuasca as a religious sacrament—an agreement leaders are calling a historic milestone for spiritual freedom. Under the settlement announced by the Church of the the Eagle and the Condor (CEC), the group will be permitted “to import, receive, manufacture, distribute, transport, securely store, and dispose of ayahuasca solely for CEC’s religious purposes.” Specifically, the agreement says the church will import ayahuasca, which contains the psychedelic substance DMT, “in concentrated paste or in liquid form” and then “combine the ayahuasca paste with water to manufacture ayahuasca tea for sacramental uses” at a location in Phoenix. CEC says it’s “the first non-Christian church to receive protection for its spiritual practices regarding Ayahusca,” adding that the development under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Action marks “the first time in history a church’s right to import and share its sacrament has been secured without going to trial.” On the other side of the dispute was the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). CEC sued in 2022 over DHS’s seizures of shipments of ayahuasca intended for ceremonial use as well as the government’s threats that the group and its members could face federal prosecution. The settlement document shared by CEC on Monday establishes that the group can now import, process and use ayahuasca, though DEA reserves the right to take spot samples of the imports “for the purpose of confirming that the consignment is in fact ayahuasca which contains no controlled substance other than DMT.” Joseph Tafur, a doctor and ayahuasquero for CEC, said in a statement that the “Ayahuasca ceremony is an essential sacrament for our church.” “Our ceremony is rooted in the Shipibo Amazonian tradition which has been passed down by countless generations. Now, in fulfillment of the ancient Prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor, this tradition has come to North America,” Tafur said. “Our ancestral practice will continue to support the community and nourish our holistic well-being.” The group’s general counsel called the agreement “a watershed moment in the United States.” “The resolution of this case represents the government’s recognition of this community’s right to exercise their religious beliefs without interference,” Martha Hartney said in a CEC release about the settlement. “Indigenous ways are returning to a place of honor, respect, and care in American culture–a culture made more beautiful because of Indigenous ritual, art, and cosmology in which all of creation is family.” While some U.S. jurisdictions have recently loosened psychedelics laws, none has included provisions around importing psychedelic substances internationally. Separately, DEA argued late last week in a U.S. appeals court case that the federal Right to Try Act—intended give patients with terminal conditions the opportunity to try investigational medications that have not been approved for general use—“does not provide anyone with a right to dispense or receive controlled substances.” The agency’s claim came in a new brief in a lawsuit filed by a Washington State doctor seeking to legally use psilocybin to treat cancer patients in end-of-life care. Meanwhile, earlier this year DEA called for the production of even more DMT—along with psilocybin and THC—for research purposes than it had initially proposed for 2024, raising quotas for those drugs while maintaining already high production goals for marijuana and psychedelics. DEA has touted its Schedule I drug production quotas as evidence that is supports rigorous research into the substances, but it’s faced criticism from advocates and scientists over actions that are viewed as antithetical to promoting studies. For example, DEA in December announced that it would take another shot at banning two psychedelics after abandoning its original scheduling proposal in 2022, teeing up a fight with researchers and advocates who say the compounds hold therapeutic potential and who more recently argued that the agency’s administrative approach to the proposed scheduling is unconstitutional. The agency separately backed down from a proposal to ban five different tryptamine psychedelics in 2022 amid pushback from researchers and advocates. Read the full settlement agreement below: Study Finds Natural Psychedelic Mushrooms Produce ‘Enhanced Effects’ Compared To Synthesized Psilocybin, Suggesting Entourage Effect Photo courtesy of Apollo/Flickr. The post Federal Settlement Will Allow Arizona Church To Import, Process And Use Ayahuasca As Religious Sacrament appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

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SC medical marijuana; Feds removing MDMA from drug testing; CA psychedelics; Ventura on cannabis politics; DEA psilocybin; Legalization & immigrants 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… Before you dig into today’s cannabis news, I wanted you to know you can keep this resource free and published daily by subscribing to Marijuana Moment on Patreon. We’re a small independent publication diving deep into the cannabis world and rely on readers like you to keep going. Join us at https://www.patreon.com/marijuanamoment / TOP THINGS TO KNOW Reps. Morgan McGarvey (D-KY), Morgan Luttrell (R-TX) and seven other bipartisan members of Congress sent a letter pressing the Department of Veterans Affairs to form a strategic plan to implement MDMA-assisted psychedelic therapy in preparation for federal approval as soon as this summer. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Drug Testing Advisory Board is weighing proposals to remove MDMA from federal workplace drug testing programs while adding fentanyl. The South Carolina House Medical Cannabis Ad Hoc Committee held a hearing on a Senate-passed bill to legalize patient access—but only took testimony from law enforcement and the medical community. The Drug Enforcement Administration is arguing in a new court brief that a federal right to try law does not allow a doctor to treat cancer patients with psilocybin for end-of-life care. A pair of new polls found that significantly more Biden voters than Trump voters want to live in a place where marijuana is legal, but that majorities of both Democrats and Republicans back legalizing cannabis as a policy. The California Senate Public Safety Committee approved a bill to legalize psychedelic service centers where people could access psilocybin, MDMA, mescaline and DMT in a supervised environment with trained facilitators. Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura spoke to Marijuana Moment about his new cannabis brand and the politics of legalization—including his view that the Drug Enforcement Administration should not be in charge rescheduling decisions. “I think the people that banned marijuana should be put in prison.” A new study found that states that legalize marijuana see a “moderate relative decrease” in immigrant deportation rates—suggesting that legalization “may help to mitigate some of the unintended immigration-related consequences of cannabis prohibition.” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) launched an investigation into four companies as part of an effort to crack down on intoxicating hemp products. South Dakota activists used 4/20 sales events at medical cannabis dispensaries to collect signatures for a recreational marijuana legalization initiative they hope to qualify for the November ballot. / FEDERAL The Drug Enforcement Administration is promoting a prohibitionist organization’s analysis of data on teen marijuana use. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the revocation of a pilot certificate over transportation of marijuana. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) said marijuana is “sort of the sleeper issue of this election.” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said he is undecided on the marijuana legalization initiative on Florida’s November ballot and that he’d be surprised if former President Donald Trump supported it as a voter in the state. / STATES Ohio’s top marijuana regulator spoke about efforts to launch recreational marijuana sales. Wisconsin regulators filed hemp research rules. A Missouri regulatory spokesperson said Dutchie outages over 4/20 did not interfere with the state’s marijuana tracking system. New Jersey regulators made a blog post celebrating “three years of growth and equity” in the cannabis industry. The Colorado Disability Funding Committee is auctioning off another round of marijuana-themed license plates. Michigan regulators will host an event about rules that apply to THCA on Thursday. — Marijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,400 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. — / LOCAL New York City’s mayor spoke about plans to crack down on unlicensed marijuana sellers. Kenton County, Kentucky mayors discussed steps toward launching medical cannabis access. Siskiyou County, California’s sheriff is calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to provide funds to help clean up illegal marijuana grow sites. / INTERNATIONAL Canadian Prime MInister Justin Trudeau said the federal government is “happy to support” British Columbia in allowing it to implement a drug decriminalization policy. Meanwhile, some Vancouver City Council members are seeking to end the pilot program. An official with Pakistan’s Special Investment Facilitation Council spoke about efforts to develop cannabis regulations. / SCIENCE & HEALTH A study found that “acute migraine treatment with vaporized cannabis flower containing 6% THC/11% CBD was efficacious at 2 hours post-treatment with sustained pain freedom at 24 hours.” / ADVOCACY, OPINION & ANALYSIS A poll of New Yorkers found that 48 percent think illegal cannabis sales is a serious problem and that 56 percent want the government to do more to crack down on it. The Miami Herald editorial board criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for the arguments he is making to oppose the marijuana legalization initiative on the state’s November ballot. / BUSINESS Trulieve and a former manager who sued the company after he said he was fired for reporting misconduct and safety violations reached a settlement. 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 Biden & Trump voters’ cannabis views (Newsletter: April 24, 2024) appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

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A South Carolina House committee has taken up a GOP-led medical marijuana legalization bill—the first action the legislation has seen in the chamber since being approved by the Senate months ago. Members heard from multiple medical experts and law enforcement officials, including a retired chief of the state sheriffs’ association who gave impassioned testimony in favor of the reform while discussing how cannabis saved his son and could’ve helped his late wife with symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. The legislation from Sen. Tom Davis (R) has been billed as strictly conservative, but it’s stalled in the House since February. Now the measure has received consideration from lawmakers in the House Medical Cannabis Ad Hoc Committee. With just three weeks left in the legislative session, lawmakers have little time to waste to get the legislation to the desk of Gov. Henry McMaster (R). Any amendments made in the House would mean that it’d need to return to the Senate for concurrence, Davis also pointed out over the weekend that, at the same time that an Indian tribe in neighboring North Carolina is opening its first medical cannabis dispensary, his “even-tighter” bill has laid idle in the “freedom loving House,” despite recent polling that shows the reform enjoys overwhelming bipartisan support in his state. The South Carolina Senate had passed an earlier version of the legislation in 2022 but it stalled in the opposite body over a procedural hiccup. Overall, the current bill would allow patients to access cannabis from licensed dispensaries if they receive a doctor’s recommendation for the treatment of qualifying conditions, which include several specific ailments as well as terminal illnesses and chronic diseases where opioids are the standard of care. Sheriff Duane Lewis of Berkeley County, representing the South Carolina Sheriff’s Association (SCSA), testified in opposition to the proposal, arguing that marijuana is a gateway drug and that the proposed reform “would only exacerbate existing challenges and jeopardize safety.” That’s what made the testimony from Lewis’s predecessor, retired Chief Jeffrey Moore, all the more compelling when he came out in strong support of the medical cannabis bill, describing how his son struggled with alcohol abuse after experiencing significant trauma during military service in Iraq, only to find recovery with the help of marijuana he obtained legally in Michigan. “Marijuana saved his life. I’m not going to talk about all the anecdotes of other people. I’m not going to talk about statistics,” he said. Cannabis “gave him a relief from the nightmares—the grief the constant tears gave him a chance to put his life back together.” Meanwhile, Prakash Nagarkatti, a distinguished professor of medicine at the University of South Carolina, pushed back on the current SCSA chief’s perspective and defended the therapeutic potential of cannabis for dozens of health conditions. “People who are healthy do not have a right to tell people who are sick and say that, ‘No you cannot have this plant, which has the medicinal value, because if you start using this, we who are healthy will also start abusing it,'” he said. “I don’t think the society should be made in such such a way that we decline any type of medicine that provides relief for patients who have no other source of medicines available to treat that pain as well as debilitating conditions.” Stephen Cutler, dean of USC’s School of Pharmacy, echoed Nagarkatti’s points and argued that, just as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a CBD isolate as an epilepsy treatment option, he anticipates “we will see, in our lifetime, new drugs come from cannabis.” Mark Keel, chief of the S.C. Law Enforcement Division (SLED), also voiced opposition to the medical cannabis bill, stating that, “once we go down that road, we’re not gonna be able to claw it back.” Rep. Marvin Smith (R) told the chief that while he is “not in favor or in support of legalizing marijuana usage throughout the state,” it is “impossible not to empathize with the stories that we hear from families who were in the oftentimes end-of-life situations, are dealing with significant chronic pain issues and seizure issues.” “It’s really, really difficult for me to just totally dismiss this bill as as an elected official—to say that it’s not an issue that we need to deal with. I don’t think that’s fair,” he said. “We’re here to serve all the populations.” Teshieka Curtis-Pugh, executive director of the South Carolina Nurses Association, told the committee that “the nurses of South Carolina support this bill.” “We believe that it’s time for South Carolina to be added to the states that put compassionate care at the forefront of medical provisions of care and allow the use of medical cannabis for the people of our great state,” she said. When senators began debating the medical marijuana legislation in February, the body adopted an amendment that clarifies the bill does not require landlords or people who control property to allow vaporization of cannabis products. As debate on the legislation continued, members clashed over whether the current version of the legislation contains major differences from an earlier iteration that the body passed in 2022. Certain lawmakers have also raised concerns that medical cannabis legalization would lead to broader reform to allow adult-use marijuana, that it could put pharmacists with roles in dispensing cannabis in jeopardy and that federal law could preempt the state’s program, among other worries. Here are the main provisions of the bill: “Debilitating medical conditions” for which patients could receive a medical cannabis recommendation include cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Crohn’s disease, autism, a terminal illness where the patient is expected to live for less than one year and a chronic illness where opioids are the standard of care, among others. The state Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) and Board of Pharmacy would be responsible for promulgating rules and licensing cannabis businesses, including dispensaries that would need to have a pharmacist on-site at all times of operation. In an effort to prevent excess market consolidation, the bill has been revised to include language requiring regulators to set limits on the number of businesses a person or entity could hold more than five percent interest in, at the state-level and regionally. A “Medical Cannabis Advisory Board” would be established, tasked with adding or removing qualifying conditions for the program. The legislation was revised from its earlier form to make it so legislative leaders, in addition to the governor, would be making appointments for the board. Importantly, the bill omits language prescribing a tax on medical cannabis sales, unlike the last version. The inclusion of tax provisions resulted in the House rejecting the earlier bill because of procedural rules in the South Carolina legislature that require legislation containing tax-related measures to originate in that body rather than the Senate. Smoking marijuana and cultivating the plant for personal use would be prohibited. The legislation would sunset five years after the first legal sale of medical cannabis by a licensed facility in order to allow lawmakers to revisit the efficacy of the regulations. Doctors would be able to specify the amount of cannabis that a patient could purchase in a 14-day window, or they could recommend the default standard of 1,600 milligrams of THC for edibles, 8,200 milligrams for oils for vaporization and 4,000 milligrams for topics like lotions. Edibles couldn’t contain more than 10 milligrams of THC per serving. There would also be packaging and labeling requirements to provide consumers with warnings about possible health risks. Products couldn’t be packaged in a way that might appeal to children. Patients could not use medical marijuana or receive a cannabis card if they work in public safety, commercial transportation or commercial machinery positions. That would include law enforcement, pilots and commercial drivers, for example. Local governments would be able to ban marijuana businesses from operating in their area, or set rules on policies like the number of cannabis businesses that may be licensed and hours of operation. DHEC would need to take steps to prevent over-concentration of such businesses in a given area of the state. Lawmakers and their immediate family members could not work for, or have a financial stake in, the marijuana industry until July 2029, unless they recuse themselves from voting on the reform legislation. DHEC would be required to produce annual reports on the medical cannabis program, including information about the number of registered patients, types of conditions that qualified patients and the products they’re purchasing and an analysis of how independent businesses are serving patients compared to vertically integrated companies. — Marijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,400 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. — After Davis’s Senate-passed medical cannabis bill was blocked in the House in 2022, he tried another avenue for the reform proposal, but that similarly failed on procedural grounds. The lawmaker has called the stance of his own party, particularly as it concerns medical marijuana, “an intellectually lazy position that doesn’t even try to present medical facts as they currently exist.” Congressional Progressive Caucus Says Democrats Can Legalize Marijuana If They Win House And Senate Majorities In November Election The post South Carolina House Panel Takes Up Senate-Passed Medical Marijuana Legalization Bill After Months Of Delay appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is arguing that a federal law giving seriously ill people the “right to try” investigational drugs doesn’t apply to controlled substances like psychedelics. The agency’s claim comes in a new brief in a lawsuit filed by a Washington State doctor seeking to legally use psilocybin to treat cancer patients in end-of-life care. “Because substances in Schedule I are deemed to have no accepted medical use in under the CSA,” DEA contends, referring to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), “the law does not provide for any registration that would permit such drugs to be dispensed in the course of professional practice.” DEA filed the brief late last week in U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in response to the latest legal challenge from Dr. Sunil Aggarwal and the Advanced Integrative Medical Science (AIMS) Institute. Aggarwal and AIMS have spent years pursuing various legal and regulatory pathways to allow the clinic to use psilocybin in palliative care. The clinic generally argues that the CSA must accommodate a path to legally accessing psilocybin under state and federal right to try (RTT) laws, which are intended to give patients with terminal conditions the opportunity to try investigational medications that have not been approved for general use. Washington State adopted a right to try law in 2017, and then-President Donald Trump (R) signed the federal Right to Try Act the following year. Dozens of other states have also enacted right to try policies. In the years since, AIMS has presented DEA with multiple proposals in order either to legally cultivate or otherwise obtain psilocybin to treat patients under RTT. The agency has denied them all. “DEA has rejected each request,” the clinic argued in its opening brief earlier this year, “but has never addressed the arguments that Dr. Aggarwal has raised in support of them.” “If DEA wants to disclaim authority to grant Dr. Aggarwal access to psilocybin under the CSA and RTT,” AIMS contined, “it must provide a reasoned explanation for how that decision comports with the CSA and the agency’s own precedent.” Eight U.S. states as well as Washington, D.C. have filed a friend of the court brief in support of AIMS’s effort to use psilocybin under state and federal RTT laws. But in its response this week, DEA asserts that the federal RTT Act doesn’t affect CSA’s prohibition of certain drugs. “The Right to Try Act does not provide anyone with a right to dispense or receive controlled substances,” the new brief says. Rather, the primary function of the federal law was “to relieve qualifying individuals from regulatory requirements that would otherwise be imposed on eligible investigational drugs under the” federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act (FDCA), DEA argues. “As DEA explained, the Right to Try Act does not ‘provide any exemptions from the CSA or its implementing regulations. And it does not ‘give the DEA authority to waive CSA requirements,'” the government’s brief says. “Indeed, the Right to Try Act does not even mention the CSA or controlled substances at all.” If Aggarwal wants to give psilocybin to patients, DEA contends he would need to be a registered researcher conducting an approved project—which DEA says are matters handled by different federal agencies. “The only registration that would permit a physician to dispense a schedule I controlled substance is registration as a researcher conducting an approved research project,” its brief says. “DEA cannot issue such a registration unless the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through FDA, determines that the research protocol is meritorious and the applicant is qualified and competent to conduct it.” DEA’s brief criticizes the AIMS lawsuit’s interpretation of the law as “a fundamental misunderstanding” and “a tortuous account of the interaction between the two statutes”—RTT and FDCA. Such a reading, it says, “would vest authority in DEA to allow physicians to provide patients with schedule I substances for therapeutic purposes, notwithstanding Congress’s determination that the drugs lack accepted medical use or safety under medical supervision.” “Petitioners’ posited tensions between the CSA and the FDCA are without basis,” the agency’s brief says. “While the subject matter of the two statutes overlaps somewhat (because they both deal with drugs), each statute establishes its own requirements and prohibitions, and DEA and FDA have complementary spheres of authority… But that does not mean that one agency has superseded or interfered with the other’s statutory regime.” A 2022 amendment to the federal RTT Act created a separate registration process to facilitate cannabis research, DEA noted in its brief, but “this new process still requires that new research projects be ‘reviewed and allowed…by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.'” “Thus,” the filing says, “even when Congress has acted specifically to enhance research of a Schedule I drug, it has made researcher registration conditional on approval by the Secretary.” Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Washington State and eight other jurisdictions—Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.—filed an amicus brief in support of the clinic’s position, arguing that CSA doesn’t prohibit the use of controlled substances under RTT. Many of the same states filed an amicus brief in a related 2021 case involving Aggarwal. “The CSA was intended to combat drug trafficking and abuse,” says the latest filing, led by the office of Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D). “It is easy to make sense of both the CSA and the later, more specific RTT Act,” it suggests: “neither law facilitates traffic in illicit substances, both laws emphasize the primacy of states in the regulation of medical practice, and the RTT Act includes broad immunity from liability.” “It is irrelevant whether a Schedule I substance has a ‘currently accepted medical use’ under the CSA in the context of uses authorized by the RTT Act,” the states’ brief says. “The RTT Act’s purpose is to provide a unique, targeted exemption from such requirements.” Aggarwal and AIMS have been working since at least 2020 to find a way to legally obtain psilocybin for patients in palliative care, initially seeking to win permission from regulators under state and federal RTT laws. When DEA rebuffed that request, Aggarwal sued. But in early 2022, a federal appellate panel dismissed the lawsuit, opining that the court lacked jurisdiction because DEA’s rejection of Aggarwal’s administrative request didn’t constitute a reviewable agency action. The current Ninth Circuit cases stems from Aggarwal’s responses to that ruling. In February 2022, the doctor filed a formal petition with DEA to reschedule psilocybin from Schedule I to Schedule II under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA)—the denial of which is a reviewable action. He also applied for the regulatory waiver to obtain psilocybin. DEA denied Aggarwal’s petition in September 2022 and rejected the waiver request the next month. The doctor’s Ninth Circuit cases challenge both decisions. As Aggarwal’s efforts have made its way through the courts, a number of studies have strengthened the case for psilocybin’s legitimate medical use. In response, Congress late last year sent a defense bill to President Joe Biden (D) that contains provisions to fund studies into the therapeutic use of psychedelics such as psilocybin and MDMA for military service members. A recent clinical trial published by the American Medical Association, meanwhile, found that psilocybin “displayed strong and persistent antidepressant effects” in people with bipolar II disorder, “with no signal of worsening mood instability or increased suicidality.” In September of last year, researchers at Johns Hopkins and Ohio State universities published a report that linked psilocybin use with “persisting reductions” in depression, anxiety and alcohol misuse, as well as increases in emotional regulation, spiritual wellbeing and extraversion. Those results were “highly consistent with a growing body of clinical trial, behavioral pharmacology, and epidemiological data on psilocybin,” authors of the study said. “Overall, these data provide an important window into the current resurgence of public interest in classic psychedelics and the outcomes of contemporaneous increases in naturalistic psilocybin use.” Last August, a separate study from the American Medical Association (AMA) found that people with major depression experienced “clinically significant sustained reduction” in their symptoms after just one dose of psilocybin. And a survey by Canadian researchers published in October said psilocybin use can help ease psychological distress in people who had adverse experiences as children. Researchers said psilocybin appeared to offer “particularly strong benefits to those with more severe childhood adversity.” Canada, for its part, allowed four cancer patients in 2020 to become the nation’s first people in decades to legally possess psilocybin after being granted permission by the country’s health minister to use the substance for end-of-life care. Later that year, some healthcare professionals also gained the ability to legally possess and use psilocybin themselves. A survey published earlier this year found that roughly 8 in 10 Canadians believe psilocybin is “a reasonable choice” for end-of-life care. Read the DEA response brief in AIMS v. DEA below: Second California Senate Committee Approves Bill To Legalize Psychedelic Service Centers Photo courtesy of Wikimedia/Workman. The post In Case On Psilocybin Access For Cancer Patients, DEA Says Federal Right To Try Law ‘Does Not Provide Any Exemptions’ From Controlled Substance Act appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

A second California Senate committee has approved a bill to legalize psychedelic service centers where adults 21 and older could access psilocybin, MDMA, mescaline and DMT in a supervised environment with trained facilitators. About a week after an initial panel cleared the legislation, the Senate Public Safety Committee passed the measure from Sen. Scott Wiener (D) in a 3-2 vote on Tuesday. It next heads to the Appropriations Committee. The “Regulated Therapeutic Access to Psychedelics Act” has been drafted in a way that’s meant to be responsive to concerns voiced by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) last year when he vetoed a broader proposal that included provisions to legalize low-level possession of substances such as psilocybin. Instead, the new bill that’s now being unveiled would provide regulated access to psychedelics in a facilitated setting, without removing criminal penalties for possession outside of that context. It does not lay out any specific qualifying medical conditions that a person must have in order to access the services. The measure had already undergone a series of mostly technical amendments before reaching committee. Wiener also agreed to revise the legislation at last week’s hearing to make it so psychedelics facilitators would need to have an existing professional health license, such as those for psychiatrists, social workers, drug and alcohol counselors and nurse practitioners. Our legislation legalizing supervised use of psychedelics, with licensed facilitators, just passed its second committee, the Senate Public Safety Committee. SB 1012 will help people access psychedelics while increasing safety & education. Thank you, colleagues! — Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) April 23, 2024 SB 1012 is an “overdue approach,” Wiener told committee members on Tuesday. “People are using psychedelics today. There is incredible potential in terms of treating mental health and substance use disorders. And we should bring it into the sunlight so people can use safely in a supervised, structured setting.” Advocates were disappointed to see the governor, who championed marijuana legalization while serving as the state’s lieutenant governor, reject the earlier psychedelics measure from Wiener last year. But the senator has said he was encouraged that Newsom “constructively” recommended a dialed-back pathway to reform. SB 1012 is a “direct response to the governor’s request,” Wiener’s office said last week. Retired Lt. Diane Goldstein, executive director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), testified in favor of the legislation during Tuesday’s hearing, stating that it would “craft an actionable plan for the regulated use of psychedelics as an issue of public health.” “This bill is a first step towards saving lives by helping to destigmatize cutting edge treatments for the underlying mental health challenges that drive addiction and other behavioral health issues while providing needed guardrails and safety to access treatment,” she said. Several law enforcement associations, including the California State Sheriffs’ Association, expressed opposition to the reform. Sen. Kelly Seyarto (R), vice chair of the Public Safety Committee, also criticized the proposal. He voiced “grave concerns about expanding the ability for people to alter their minds and then go out into the public” and said he would not be supporting it unless it is “narrowed way down.” Here’s what the bill, SB 1012, would accomplish: Adults 21 and older could access psilocybin, psilocyn, DMT, mescaline (excluding peyote) and MDMA at licensed facilities with trained facilitators. Facilitators would need to undergo training and obtain a license under a professional board that’d be established under the California Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA). The board would be overseen by an expert oversight committee under the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency (BCSHA)—with members appointed by the governor. The bill would establish a “Division of Regulated Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy” under the BCSHA that would be tasked with regulating the psychedelics program. Regulators would need to develop rules to allow for the licensing of producers and laboratory testing facilities for psychedelics. The bill would not restrict psychedelic services to people with a specific set of qualifying medical conditions. Individuals interested in participating in the psychedelic services would need to submit to a health and safety screening. Facilitators would be required to conduct follow-up appointments with participants, report any adverse effects and provide integration services. The legislation would create a public-private fund that’d be tasked with promoting public education around the safe use of psychedelic substances. Psychedelics would remain prohibited outside of the licensed service centers, and there would be no commercial sales component of the law. Regulators would also need to ensure that psychedelic services are affordable and accessible to low-income populations. A “Public Education and Harm Reduction Fund” would also be created to support efforts to educate the public about the potential benefits and risks of psychedelics. Meanwhile, Assemblymember Marie Waldron (R), the lead on the Assembly side, is sponsoring a separate psychedelics bill focused on promoting research and creating a framework for the possibility of regulated therapeutic access that has already moved through the Assembly this year with unanimous support. — Marijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,400 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. — Separately, a California campaign to put psilocybin legalization on the state’s November ballot recently announced that it did not secure enough signature to qualify in time for a deadline. Another campaign filed and then abruptly withdrew an initiative to create a $5 billion state agency tasked with funding and promoting psychedelics research last year. A third campaign also entered the mix late last year, proposing to legalize the possession and cultivation of substances like psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, DMT, ibogaine and mescaline. People could buy them for therapeutic use with a doctor’s recommendation. Advocates for that measure still have time to gather and turn in signatures. The California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) has since released its review of that proposal, outlining not only the plan’s policy implications but also its potential fiscal impacts on the state—which the report calls “various” and “uncertain.” Some California municipalities, meanwhile, are pushing forward with reform on the local level. The city of Eureka, for example, adopted a resolution in October to decriminalize psychedelic plants and fungi and make enforcement of laws against personal use, cultivation and possession a low priority for police. It’s at least the fifth local jurisdiction in the state to embrace the policy change. Others include San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Cruz and Arcata. DEA Shouldn’t Be In Charge Of Marijuana Rescheduling Decision, Jesse Ventura Says The post Second California Senate Committee Approves Bill To Legalize Psychedelic Service Centers appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

States that legalize marijuana see a “moderate relative decrease” in immigrant deportation rates compared to states where the drug remains illegal, according to a new study, as well as a slight decrease in overall cannabis-related arrests. The Columbia University researchers behind the study, published in the journal BMC Public Health, said the findings show recreational cannabis laws (RCLs) could “help to mitigate some of the unintended immigration-related consequences of cannabis prohibition.” “Arrest trends in both legalization and non-legalization states were relatively similar, and generally stable over the period,” authors said. “For the deportation outcome, trends suggested that the overall prevalence of deportations decreased between 2009 and 2020.” “Our results suggest that the RCLs were associated with a moderate relative decrease in deportation levels, that was observed relatively consistently across multiple model specifications. Findings also suggested potential relative decreases in immigration arrest levels; however for almost all specifications, associated confidence intervals were wide and included the null. Together these finding support the overall possibility that RCLs may help to mitigate some of the unintended immigration-related consequences of cannabis prohibition.” Researchers didn’t reach any specific conclusion about the seeming connection between state-level legalization and decreased deportations. But it is the case that all 11 sanctuary states for immigrants, where it is generally the policy to discourage reporting immigrants to federal authorities, are also states that have legalized cannabis for adult use. Further, legalization broadly leads to decreased arrests for cannabis-related offenses, so it’s likely fewer immigrants would be caught up in marijuana criminalization in the first place, regardless of the potential referral to federal agencies. The researchers did point to two “countervailing pathways” that they said are “relevant to anticipating the potential immigration implications of RCL adoption”: “First, RCLs could lead to potential decreases in the overall number of cannabis-related arrests or convictions, and therefore cannabis-related immigration enforcement. A second possibility, however, is that state adoption of RCLs might lead more people who are non-citizens to reasonably but falsely assume that federal immigration status is unaffected by cannabis use permissible under state law—potentially leading to increases in immigration enforcement.” In other words, state legalization could risk giving immigrants a false sense of security. “Because cannabis remains illegal at the federal level,” the study says, “cannabis infractions, even for minor or civil offenses, and otherwise ‘legal’ cannabis-related conduct, can have severe repercussions for people who are not US citizens, including temporary or permanent residents, dreamers and those granted asylum.” “Under federal policy, a conviction, charge, or admission of simple cannabis possession is considered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as sufficient grounds for status ineligibility, arrest, detention, or deportation, as is employment in the cannabis industry,” it says. There have been efforts by members of Congress to address that issue. For example, in 2022, a House spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) included a section that would have prevented the agency from using any federal funding to deny admission to, or deport, immigrants who’ve used or possessed marijuana. Similar language also advanced through the appropriations process in 2021, but it was not included in the final package following bicameral negotiations. Nor was the 2022 version. Advocates have also pressured the Biden administration to extend presidential cannabis possession pardons to the immigrant community. But immigrants have not been included in either of the last two clemency rounds. The new study says more research is needed to understand the interactions between cannabis and immigration policy. “While our results are specific to immigration arrests and deportations, these findings add to a growing body of literature evaluating the social justice and health equity implications of cannabis law reforms including RCLs,” the study says. “Given significant overlap between drug and immigration enforcement, but relatively few studies on this topic, additional research is needed to examine other important dimensions of these intersecting issues.” “Future research employing exposures more proximate to immigration enforcement, such as examination of cannabis arrest or conviction rates directly—and related mediation analyses—would also strengthen the evidence for a causal relationship between cannabis policies and immigration enforcement activities,” authors wrote. “Trends in immigration enforcement should also continue to be monitored as more states adopt RCLs and as additional follow-up time post-legalization is accumulated.” Under legislation introduced in 2021, an immigrant’s admission to prior marijuana use could no longer be used to deny them U.S. citizenship. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a person who currently admits to using cannabis—even in compliance with state law—is morally unfit for citizenship. The agency clarified that position in a 2019 memo, adding that employment in a state-legal marijuana market is another factor that could impact a person’s immigration status. In June 2019, a coalition of 10 senators sent a letter to the head of the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security calling for a rule change to permit people working in state-legal markets to gain citizenship. The letter echoes points made in a separate message sent by a bipartisan group of 43 House members earlier that year. In that letter, the group called the USCIS guidance “fatally flawed, as it provides no cogent basis for the agency’s apparent conclusion that lawful employment in a state-licensed industry could be treated as a negative factor in establishing good moral character and places a negative burden upon the individuals against a non-existent discretionary element.” Congressional Progressive Caucus Says Democrats Can Legalize Marijuana If They Win House And Senate Majorities In November Election Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer. The post State Marijuana Legalization Linked To Fewer Immigrant Deportations, Study Finds appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

“I am a little nervous about our total signature count. I think it’s really important that supporters of cannabis reforms are not complacent.” By John Hult, South Dakota Searchlight Cannabis advocates in South Dakota hope the weekend’s unofficial pot holiday and its associated concerts and dispensary discounts will improve the odds of getting recreational marijuana on the general election ballot in November. April 20 is widely celebrated in the cannabis community as 4/20, and dispensaries in South Dakota took advantage of the date to offer special deals to medical marijuana patients. The number began its evolution from an inside joke into an international code for pot culture after 1971. That was the year a group of high school kids in California began to meet at 4:20 p.m. after school to smoke marijuana. One of those students wound up working with the band The Grateful Dead, whose members and fans adopted the shorthand. The number eventually caught the attention of a reporter for the marijuana-centric High Times magazine, who put it in the publication and presented it to a wide audience. Events double as petition drives The events in South Dakota extend beyond dispensaries. Big’s Bar in Sioux Falls hosted its fourth annual 420 fest tonight, with music from local acts Tuff Roots and Denham. ICON Lounge hosted comedian Sarah King that night, and the Hello Hi bar hosted DJ Relic. The events and dispensary discount sales doubled as signature drives this year. South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws aimed to collect 27,000 petition signatures in hopes of hitting the required 17,508 needed from registered voters to make the ballot. Signatures must be delivered to the Secretary of State’s Office by May 7. At last count, the group had 12,500 signatures, said Matthew Schweich, who leads the marijuana law advocacy group. “I am a little nervous about our total signature count,” Schweich told South Dakota Searchlight last week. “I think it’s really important that supporters of cannabis reforms are not complacent. With less than three weekends to go, I’m hoping we can have a big weekend.” The group has held drive-through petition signing events, Schweich said, to bolster the work of its paid petition circulators. Nearly every dispensary in the state also keeps signature sheets on hand. But Schweich said it’s clear that not all of the 13,581 medical marijuana cardholders in the state have signed the petitions. Schweich hoped the weekend would change that. “The reason patients can go to these dispensaries this weekend and purchase cannabis that’s safe and regulated is because of advocates,” said Schweich, whose organization launched the website LegalizeSD.com to help its supporters find petition locations. “If you’re going to enjoy the benefits of this excellent policy, it behooves you to support this work.” Dispensary owners have done more than make petitions available, according to Kittridge Jeffries, owner of Puffy’s Dispensary shops in Rapid City and Sturgis. Jeffries and others collect signatures as volunteers for Grow South Dakota, another state-level marijuana reform group. “We’ve been collecting like crazy,” Jeffries said on Thursday, as he worked to get his shop “all pretty” for what he expected would be a busy weekend. “I’ve been putting a lot of miles on the car these last few weeks.” On Wednesday night, for example, Jeffries said he was out collecting signatures at “Stoner Bingo,” a weekly game at Aby’s bar in Rapid City. Aby’s hosted a special session of Stoner Bingo this weekend in recognition of the pot holiday. Jeffries is confident that the people of South Dakota will ultimately back recreational marijuana, which he said will keep the state from spending money to police adult pot use. Voters previously approved recreational and medical marijuana in 2020, but the recreational portion of the ballot measure was invalidated in court. “I think the people in South Dakota have spoken about freedom, and when we talk about freedom, we’re talking about adults over the age of 21 being able to use marijuana in small amounts in a fashion they see fit,” Jeffries said. “It fits right in line with South Dakota values of being the freest state in the country.” Medical pot card company supporting events Moe Branson’s organization is also backing the weekend petition push in Sioux Falls and Rapid City. Branson is the CEO of My Marijuana Cards, which he said is responsible for 70 percent of the medical marijuana cards issued in South Dakota. The organization has storefronts in Sioux Falls and Rapid City and a satellite office in Yankton where patients with the appropriate medical paperwork can meet with a medical provider to determine their eligibility. Some patients get rejected, but Branson said his company wants to work with people who might be eligible but lack the appropriate records. South Dakota’s major health systems have not embraced the issuance of medical marijuana cards, so Branson said the company’s role is important for patient access. “Just in general, we’re here to help patients get their medical marijuana cards and reduce the stigma by providing education and information, around not just the state program, but around cannabis writ large.” The company used the whole week as a “patient appreciation week,” Branson said, and its storefronts had cookies—without cannabis in them—alongside recreational petitions and information on marijuana. “We can always see it as an opportunity to get additional patients set up, but we’ll always have petitions out,” Branson said. The company also has a South Dakota-specific section of its website for the “fun holiday.” Among its offerings: a list of “42 weed movies for 420” and a page on the history of 4/20. Branson suspects it will take time, even if recreational marijuana makes the ballot and is passed by voters, before the substance and its associated culture goes mainstream in South Dakota. South Dakota lawmakers have added new requirements for medical marijuana during every session since voters passed a medical marijuana initiative in 2020. “South Dakota’s an interesting state,” Branson said. “A lot of it depends on what the government wants to do. It’s really going to take changing the minds of politicians.” Marijuana is legal for recreational use in 24 states and the District of Columbia. Medical cannabis is legal in all but 12 states. The drug remains illegal on the federal level. The recreational marijuana measure is one of eight circulating for potential inclusion on the November 5 ballot, including high-profile measures seeking open primaries, abortion rights and a repeal of sales taxes on food. The Legislature has also exercised its right to place two measures on the ballot: one would replace references to male officeholders in the state constitution with neutral language, and the other would ask voters to lift a prohibition against work requirements for Medicaid expansion enrollees. This story was first published by South Dakota Searchlight. DEA Shouldn’t Be In Charge Of Marijuana Rescheduling Decision, Jesse Ventura Says The post 4/20 Events At South Dakota’s Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Double As Petition Drives For Full Legalization appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

“When purchasing products, Missourians have a right to know if they will be subject to serious and potentially dangerous side effect.” By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) launched an investigation into four companies Wednesday as part of an effort to crack down on intoxicating hemp products. The problem, according to Bailey, is the products in question—such delta-8 edibles and vape pens—are not clearly labeled to indicate that they’ll get you high. “When purchasing products, Missourians have a right to know if they will be subject to serious and potentially dangerous side effects,” Bailey stated in his press release, “like psychotic episodes, severe confusion, hallucinations and other life-threatening problems.” Intoxicating hemp products are completely unregulated but can still be sold in places like bars and gas stations—because hemp is federally legal. However, everyone from the companies making these products to stores selling them to elected officials want to see age restrictions put in place by the state, along with label and testing requirements. Two Republican lawmakers have proposed legislation to do that, but the bills would also likely ban a majority of the intoxicating hemp products currently on the market—putting hundreds of companies out of business. The large divide in how regulations should happen has essentially tanked the bills’ chances of making it to the governor’s desk. Bailey seems to be joining the push to regulate the products. However, it’s unclear exactly who he’s targeting. Bailey issued a “civil investigative demand,” which are essentially subpoenas, to CBD Kratom Connect LLC of St. Louis, a company that several leaders in the hemp industry say they’ve never heard of and which has virtually no online presence indicating it is operating in Missouri. Some wonder if Bailey meant to target CBD Kratom, which is one of the largest intoxicating hemp companies in the state and country. When asked for clarification, Madeline Sieren, spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s office, said: “Unfortunately because the investigations are ongoing, I cannot comment beyond what is written in the CIDs.” Also based in St. Louis, CBD Kratom has over 60 retail locations throughout Chicago, Dallas, Houston, New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis. And it has no connection to CBD Kratom Connect, the company’s owner David Palatnik told The Independent Thursday. During hearings regarding the proposed legislation, Palatnik testified in support of banning products that look like candy and are attractive to children—the exact issue Bailey is hoping to address by the investigations. “It’s an issue in the industry that some people sell child-looking packaging that is also fraudulent and is also a violation of federal laws,” Palatnik said. “So we’d agree with the attorney general on that front.” His company ensures all its products have transparent labeling, he said. Palatnik says he opposed the legislation proposed in the Missouri General Assembly because of the harmful impact it would have on hemp businesses. On Wednesday, Bailey also ordered an investigation into American Shaman, one of the largest intoxicating hemp companies in the state and country. Vince Sanders, owner of American Shaman, told The Independent Thursday that his company makes gummies and chocolates made with hemp-derived THC, but they’re sold in child-proof containers, similar to what is required by state law for marijuana products. “They all say ‘21-plus,’” Sanders said. “If you’re in one of our stores, you actually have to sign a document that says you understand that these are psychoactive.” Sanders has also been a vocal and influential opponent to the proposed legislation. Two individuals also received investigation notices from Bailey: Cara Buchanan with Smoke Smart LLC in St. Louis and Tariq Zeiadeh with Vape Society Supplies in Columbia. An employee at the Smoke Smart location in St. Peters said Buchanan no longer owns the business or lives in Missouri, and the current owners do not operate as Smoke Smart LLC. Zeidadeh has not responded to a request for comment. In his press release, Bailey states that he’s received reports that businesses were “potentially violating the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, which grants Missourians the right to a marketplace free from fraudulent or deceptive business practices.” Bailey also pointed to the six elementary-age children in St. Louis County who became sick and intoxicated at school after reportedly ingesting delta-8 products that were packaged as “Nerds Rope Bites and Mad Monkey Sour Strawberry Premium Gummies.” The attorney general’s office didn’t respond to The Independent’s question on whether any of the four companies under investigation made the products in the St. Louis County incident. The great divide Among the biggest supporters of the proposed legislation are leaders of the marijuana industry. The intoxicating hemp industry poses a major threat to marijuana businesses. Hemp is often known for being the part of the cannabis plant that doesn’t get people high. It’s full of CBD, a nonpyschoactive cannabinoid that helps people relax and is often found in massage oils and sleep aids. However, hemp was taken off the controlled substance list in 2018 by the last U.S. Agriculture Improvement Act, more commonly known as the farm bill. Since then, people have found numerous ways to make intoxicating products from hemp—largely through a chemical process of converting CBD to THC. The market for things like delta-8 drinks and edibles is one of the fastest growing markets in the country. Because of the farm bill, there’s no state or federal law saying teenagers or children can’t buy them or stores can’t sell them to minors—though some stores and vendors, including American Shaman and CBD Kratom, have taken it upon themselves to impose age restrictions of 21 and up. Mitch Meyers, partner at BeLeaf Medical, said at a recent industry summit that the intent of the bill was to put the hemp-derived products under the strict packaging and other requirements that marijuana companies must go through. “So that’s why we’re just in complete amazement that this stuff just can be out there without any of these checks and balances,” Meyers said. The Missouri Hemp Trade Association has continuously advocated for measures such as prohibiting sales to minors and mandating clear user instructions and rigorous product testing. The big problem the hemp industry has with the legislation is that it would place these products under the same constitutional framework and rules that the marijuana industry must abide by—including the mandate that products are only sold at licensed marijuana dispensaries regulated by the cannabis division within the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. There are no new marijuana facility licenses available currently, so there would be no way for the current hemp storefronts to sell these products. Last week, Republican state Rep. Barry Hovis of Whitewater offered a different draft of the House legislation—backed by the hemp industry—that would allow the Division of Cannabis Regulation to issue licenses to companies that sell intoxicating hemp products, as well as oversee age restrictions and labeling requirements. — Marijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,400 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. — Under Hovis’s proposal, the licensees would not come under other marijuana rules, which includes a ban on the “chemical conversion” process used to create the majority of hemp-derived THC products. The state rules also require that THC may only come from cannabis cultivated by a Missouri-licensed cultivation facility. Most hemp-derived THC is currently brought in from other states. Few products currently on the market would meet these requirements. Hovis’s proposal failed, largely because the division said the licensing fee he proposed wouldn’t produce enough revenue to cover the division’s costs. “There’s something we need to do because of the unregulated market that we have right now,” Hovis said. “I do feel that for the safety of children… this would be a good move.” State Sen. Karla May, a Democrat from St. Louis, said she plans on offering an amendment to Republican Sen. Nick Schroer’s bill to regulate these products, which will likely be similar to Hovis’s proposal. May said the license fees in her proposal will be higher. Schroer’s bill could be brought up on the Senate floor for debate any time, May said, and that’s when she’d offer her proposal. “My only concern is that we get an independent structure for these businesses,” May said, “and that they don’t have to come up under marijuana. Because the only license they will be given is a microbusiness license and that is not fair to them.” Second Missouri House Panel Approves Bill To Legalize Psilocybin Therapy For Veterans This story was first published by the Missouri Independent. The post Missouri Attorney General Opens Investigation Into Intoxicating Hemp Products appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

Bipartisan congressional lawmakers are asking the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to produce a plan to begin providing MDMA-assisted therapy for veterans as soon as the psychedelic is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In a letter sent to VA Under Secretary Shereef Elnahal on Tuesday, Reps. Morgan McGarvey (D-KY), Morgan Luttrell (R-TX) and seven other members said FDA could approve alternative treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) such as MDMA “as soon as this summer,” demanding planning on VA’s part. “We’re concerned that if VA is not prepared to implement emerging psychedelic-assisted therapies when they become available, veterans will be left to navigate providers outside VA who may not have the specialized expertise in addressing their unique needs and the relevant military context of their trauma,” they wrote. “The potential lack of in-house capacity at the VA could threaten the mental health of our nations’ veterans and carries significant cost implications for VA.” FDA agreed to review MDMA-assisted therapy as a potential treatment option in February, and the application was granted priority status. The agency set a target date for determination by August 11. In January, meanwhile, VA issued a request for applications to conduct in-depth research on the use of psychedelics to treat PTSD and depression. A House committee separately approved a GOP-led bill last week requiring VA to notify Congress if any psychedelics are added to its formulary of covered prescription drugs. VA came out against the legislation, arguing that it’s “unnecessary.” But in general, the department has been receptive to calls to explore the potential of psychedelic substances. “We are encouraged by VA’s commitment to further research, but remain concerned about the implications of FDA approval of MDMA-assisted therapies without a plan in place at VA to ensure these treatments are available to veterans through VA and that there are adequate training initiatives to ensure proper staffing levels once these therapies are approved,” the lawmakers said in their new letter. I led a letter with @RepMcGarvey requesting the that the VA produce a strategic plan to implement psychedelic MDMA therapy in-house for veterans should it be approved by the FDA.https://t.co/0j0UNhh64x pic.twitter.com/PyAxhHx3y1 — Congressman Morgan Luttrell (@RepLuttrell) April 23, 2024 “We respectfully request that you produce VA’s implementation plan that would be deployable as soon as this novel treatment option is approved for clinical use,” they said. Specifically, that plan should address care model details, the implementation timeline, locations for in-house administration of MDMA, staff training and more. The legislators are asking VA to produce the report by July 1. Beside McGarvey and Luttrell, signatories on the letter include Reps. Jack Bergman (R-MI), Julia Brownley (D-CA), Chris Deluzio (D-PA), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) and others. “The effects of emerging therapies for our veterans have been groundbreaking, and I’m proud to be a leader on pushing forward this innovative tool into the proverbial toolbox, especially while moving away from opioids,” Luttrell said in a press release. “As the FDA is finally playing ball to move towards approving these therapies, it’s critical we ensure the VA has an implementation plan and can effectively and efficiently treat veterans,” the congressman, who has experienced firsthand the transformative effects of ibogaine and 5‐MeO‐DMT to treat trauma he incurred in combat, said. McGarvey said “VA is the leader in mental health care for veterans, and its providers’ specialized knowledge in treating issues such as combat trauma and military sexual trauma is unmatched by any other healthcare system in this country.” “We want to be prepared to support the VA in leading the nation through expanded research and clinical implementation of this novel care model, ensuring veterans receive access to the highest quality mental health care available,” he said. DEA Shouldn’t Be In Charge Of Marijuana Rescheduling Decision, Jesse Ventura Says Photo courtesy of Pretty Drugthings on Unsplash. The post Bipartisan Congressional Lawmakers Tell VA To Prepare Plan For MDMA-Assisted Therapy As FDA Considers Approving The Psychedelic appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura isn’t planning to run for elected office again in the foreseeable future, choosing instead to commit his “total focus” to his newly launched cannabis brand. But if he was running, he tells Marijuana Moment that he’d make cannabis legalization a top campaign issue to align with the uniquely “loyal” base of consumers eager for reform. And if he had it his way, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) would not be the agency making drug scheduling decisions. It wasn’t always the case that politicians felt comfortable courting the marijuana community. Ventura knows that all too well. Back when he came out in favor of legalization while running for governor, the Independence Party told him—incorrectly—that he “blew the entire election” by embracing what was at the time a controversial topic that few elected officials were willing to broach. But voters ultimately rewarded him—an early sign that the public might not consider marijuana the polarizing issue that many lawmakers made it out to be. “It didn’t hurt me a bit,” Ventura told Marijuana Moment. “It actually, I think in the end, strengthened me because it showed the public I have balls enough to bring up topics that were real in life and not be the typical politician and sweep them under the rug and run from them.” Today support for legalization is at a record high, with bipartisan majorities in favor of ending prohibition. Nearly half of the states in the nation have legalized marijuana for adult use. And Ventura is proud to now be making history again as the first major political figure to launch a cannabis brand with his name and likeness on it. For now, Jesse Ventura Farms is a hemp business, offering a line of cannabis products that are available nationwide since the crop is federally legal as long as it contains no more than 0.3 percent THC by dry weight. But once Minnesota regulators begin licensing recreational marijuana businesses under the state’s legalization law that’s being implemented, he says he intends to expand the state-level operation. “We’re going to participate in every aspect of the cannabis business, and I look forward to it,” he said. Ventura spoke with Marijuana Moment last week about his cannabis legacy, the evolving politics of marijuana, his new brand and more. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. Marijuana Moment: You’ve been in this game for decades. What does it feel like to see how far marijuana reform has come in Minnesota and nationwide? Jesse Ventura: It’s wonderful. I actually have experience with marijuana that goes back to 1969—the end of the 60s—and throughout my life. Coming from there to where we’re at today, it’s wonderful. It’s just frustrating to think, “My God, it took over 50 years.” It took over 50 years to educate the public to the point where they could get past all of this propaganda from William Randolph Hearst and finally legalize a plant that is a medical plant to begin with. I’ve already said publicly, I think the people that banned marijuana should be put in prison. MM: Most states have legalized cannabis in some form, but federal law still prohibits it. When do you think that’s going to change? JV: Probably when we elect a president who’s not in their 70s. I’m saying that a little tongue-in-cheek, but if I were either one of these candidates [President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump], I would immediately advocate that you would legalize it and drop the federal everything because there are so many cannabis users. Look at all the votes you’d get. MM: To that point, a recent poll showed about one in five American adults are regular marijuana consumers who’ve used it 10 or more times in the past month. JV: As a person who knows about getting elected and how dynamic one out of five, 20 percent is, wow. I mean, if I were running right now, cannabis would be one of my major issues, because that’s the one thing about cannabis smokers that I’ve learned through the years is we’re all very loyal to each other. MM: President Biden has been leaning into cannabis reform, albeit maintaining his opposition to broad legalization. But what do you think the chances are that Trump embraces the issue ahead of the election? JV: I don’t know if Trump would have the courage to do that because it would depend on how much kickback there would be from the evangelical right. That, of course, is the core of his group. He’s not going to do much to offend the core group, and him coming out saying he will drop the federal laws against cannabis, well, that could be a negative with his core group. MM: You’ve championed reform for decades, but why did you decide to enter the cannabis industry now? JV: Because the time is right. And for me, it’s because it’s a personal issue. Cannabis, marijuana—let me make a blunt statement—saved my life. And when I say that, I don’t mean me directly. But I’ve been married, it’ll be 49 years this summer. And what happened was, a decade ago, my wife developed late-in-life epileptic seizure disorders. In other words, my wife was seizing two to three times a week. And these were the type of seizures where you’re holding her, she’s on the floor, you’re cradling her head, making sure she’s not swallowing her tongue, ensuring she’s breathing. These were the type of seizures that are life-threatening. We went to the doctor, and the doctors put her on four different types of seizure medicines, one after the other after the other after the other. None of them worked. They all had horrible side effects. In desperation, I learned about cannabis, and marijuana was having success stopping seizures. At the time, Colorado was the only state that had decriminalized. We physically drove to Colorado. We had friends there from Mexico. We drove to Colorado. The night before we got there, my wife had a seizure. We got to Colorado, my friends illegally went in and bought what was needed, drops under the tongue, came out and my wife illegally took them because we were not Colorado citizens. I can proudly say she has not had a seizure since. It’s cannabis, marijuana, that did it and did it by itself. That’s why Jesse Ventura is totally focused now. This is the focus. I’m not focusing on movies. I don’t focus on politics. I’m joining Willie Nelson. I don’t want any family to have to go through what I did. MM: There’s bipartisan support for legalization now. But when you first endorsed the reform, it was a different story. How was your support at the time received? JV: Well, initially, the Independence Party said I blew the entire election. “You blew it. You’ve lost it. There’s no hope.” And my friend, [former Sen. Dean Barkley] walked into the room, smoking his cigar, sat down in the chair and looked over at me and says, “Well, he said, how do we take this lemon and turn it into lemonade?” And I looked at Dean and said, “Dean, I don’t know. Help me. What do we do?” Dean says, “I got it.” He said, “We’re going out to the press and saying you’re the only candidate with enough balls and enough guts to bring up real life problems and you’re the only one with the courage and guts to talk about it.” And that’s what we did. And the people [agreed] completely. They said, ‘Yeah, here’s a guy who will talk about problems and will be honest and forthcoming about them. It didn’t hurt me a bit. It actually, I think in the end, strengthened me because it showed the public I have balls enough to bring up topics that were real in life and not be the typical politician and sweep them under the rug and run from them. MM: Right now your business is selling hemp products. Do you have any plans to expand to marijuana once Minnesota begins accepting licensing applications under the legalization law? JV: We will be we will absolutely participate. We’re going to participate in every aspect of the cannabis business. And I look forward to it. MM: Biden has issued marijuana pardons and initiated the cannabis scheduling review that’s now being carried out by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Can I get your thoughts about that process? JV: I guess the first thing that I did was I had to scratch my head and go, “Why is the DEA, the enforcement people, allowed to make the decisions on whether it should be legal or not?” I mean, excuse me, they have the biggest conflict of interest of anybody on the planet, right? Because if they keep it illegal, that means they stay in business and they get way more money allocated to them by the federal government to continue to go out and bust people for cannabis. How come they’re the deciding agency? Excuse my French, but that’s bullshit. You know, that’s like putting the police in charge of lawmaking. You elect people to make laws. The police merely enforce the law. Why are you allowing the enforcer of the law to make the law? MM: Minnesota lawmakers have also recently explored psychedelics reform, creating a task force to explore possible regulations for substances like psilocybin? Are you in favor of that kind of reform as well? JV: Like anything, when you bridge things like that, you’re giving responsibility to the people to conduct themselves accordingly. Now, you have to remember, some people are not going to do that. So you are going to have, for lack of better term, casualties. And it all depends upon society itself. Are they ready for the responsibility? I don’t think hallucinogenics, where you actually see things that aren’t there, like the mushrooms and things like that—I’m not too sure that they should be openly sold. I think that there should be a little bit more stipulation. If you’re high on pot and drive in the car, you’re probably driving under the speed limit for the most part in my experience. The other things that make you see things that don’t exist, that’s a whole ‘nother ballgame. So you run the risk with hallucinogenics of people operating equipment and cars and things of that nature where you would really have to be on top of it so that that things like that wouldn’t happen. I don’t think it should necessarily be against the law. You shouldn’t go to jail. But I think the mechanism of getting hallucinogenics, there’s a spot where you probably need to show a good ID and have a reason for it. MM: Is there anything else you’d like to add about you current work? JV: I’d like to say is that I’m super proud of our product. The taste of the product is fantastic. And I also want to tell people that we’re not just doing this for profit. A lot of this stuff is going to have charitable and good things are going to come out of it. The other thing personally for me, I’ve got all these multiple careers, but I have one more goal now. I want to be recognized, like Paul Newman is for spaghetti sauce. You have an entire generation of people out there that have no idea what a great actor Paul was or that he raced cars. The fact is they know him as the guy on the spaghetti sauce. I want Jesse Ventura to be known as the cannabis man. That’s it. That’s my new goal. I want to achieve the status Paul Newman has achieved with his spaghetti sauce and his food products. I want to achieve that same status with my marijuana, cannabis, joining Willie Nelson. More Biden Voters Than Trump Voters Want To Live Where Marijuana Is Legal, But Majorities In Both Parties Support Legalization Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer. The post DEA Shouldn’t Be In Charge Of Marijuana Rescheduling Decision, Jesse Ventura Says appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

Proposed changes to federal workforce drug testing guidelines that are currently being reviewed by officials would remove screening for MDMA—which has only rarely appeared in workers’ urine samples during recent years—and add testing for fentanyl, a substance that’s become far more widespread in unregulated drug markets over the past decade. Both MDMA—which the federal government could reschedule later this year—and the related substance MDA, which the government would also remove from inclusion in required drug tests under the proposed changes, were less common in tests than PCP, which was also considered for removal from the testing panel but for now will remain. The offered changes were the topic of a meeting last month of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Drug Testing Advisory Board (DTAB), which advises the agency’s drug testing and laboratory testing certification activities. While MDMA is slated for removal, fentanyl is “involved in a large proportion of overdose deaths in the United States and is therefore an important public safety concern,” SAMHSA said in a Federal Register posting about the meeting. It’s also increasingly used as a standalone substance, the agency said. Previously the substance was more common in conjunction with other opioids or unintentionally as an adulterant in other unregulated drugs. The proposed threshold for a fentanyl positive under the Federal Workforce Drug Testing Programs would be 1 nanogram per milliliter of blood. Fentanyl was the third most frequently identified drug of all substances reported by forensic laboratories, according a 2022 National Forensic Laboratory Information System report cited by SAMHSA, accounting for 13.81 percent of all drug positives. As for the two psychedelics, SAMHSA’s Federal Register posting says they’re set for removal “because the number of positive specimens reported by [Health and Human Services (HHS)]-certified laboratories does not support testing all specimens for MDA and MDMA.” According to National Laboratory Certification Program (NLCP) data from 2021 and 2022, the posting says, “the positivity rate for MDMA ranges from 0.001 to 0.003%, and a review of the results indicate that >25% of the positive specimens are likely agency blind samples. MDA has a lower positivity rate than MDMA and both have lower positivity rates than phencyclidine (PCP).” “SAMHSA also considered removing PCP,” it adds, “but decided against this change.” SAMHSA “While PCP has an overall positivity rate nearly as low as MDMA, there are regional differences in positivity, with some areas of the country having much higher rates,” the agency explained, “so PCP remains a regulated test analyte.” Case-by-case testing, for example in post-accident drug testing or instances where there’s reasonable suspicion of use of MDMA or MDA, would still be permitted under the changes. Financially, the removal of MDMA and MDA is expected to save between $3,800 and $38,000 per year, according to an NLCP cost/benefit analysis of the changes, though it notes that additional administrative costs “will likely be incurred” as a result of the change. Adding fentanyl, meanwhile, would add a projected $9,139 to $192,850 in annual costs. The greater costs compared to the savings from MDMA/MDA removal is the result of higher initial testing costs of $0.23 to $5 per specimen to test for fentanyl compared to $0.10 to $1.00 per specimen to test for the psychedelics. Confirmation testing for both substances is the same, though the process for fentanyl is expected to add $304 to $2,850 in annual costs, while positivity rates in initial tests for MDMA and MDA are so low that savings on confirmation testing costs would be “negligible,” the NLCP report says. RTI International / NLCP via SAMHSA Positivity rates have remained low for MDMA for more than a decade, according to a SAMHSA report on the proposed changes that looked at data stretching back to January 2013. The highest positivity rate of all 10 years analyzed was 0.005%, with the last three consecutive years of data (2021–2023) showing rates of roughly 0.002%. According to a SAMHSA slideshow from the meeting last month, the next step on the proposal is for the board to present its responses to public comments received during a period that closed in January. Still ahead is a federal review process that could include multiple comment rounds and revisions, followed by a formal explanation and announcement of the changes. DTAB previously discussed the changes at a meeting in December. SAMHSA Betty Aldworth, director of communications and post-prohibition strategy for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), described the SAMHSA proposal as “a bureaucratic change driven by the preponderance of fentanyl in the unregulated drug market and MDMA use patterns—perhaps most notably that it is used rarely and doesn’t have characteristics suited for the workplace.” But she also said the decision will have “at best, a neutral impact on the overdose crisis.” “It’s the same failed drug war ‘prevention’ tactics that don’t prevent chaotic drug use and further stigmatize people with opioid use disorder, a serious mental health condition,” she told Marijuana Moment in an email. “Public safety would be better served—more lives would be saved—if the dollars were spent on workplace testing for fentanyl were immediately diverted to evidence-based treatment and overdose prevention activities.” Aldworth added that she’s also concerned for those workers who use fentanyl with a doctor’s prescription, “as they may be forced to make a choice between their medical privacy or the ability to keep and get a job.” “If we wanted to make workplaces and roadways safer, we would immediately divest from expensive workplace drug testing and divert those resources to cognitive impairment testing, which could be installed on smart phones or even in vehicles and made a routine part of the workday,” she said. “Impairment can be caused by illegal drugs, prescription drugs, OTC drugs, fatigue, stress, grief, or even dehydration or hunger. Cognitive impairment testing is inexpensive, ubiquitously available, and a far better measure of a person’s performance at any given moment.” SAMHSA The proposed adjustments in the federal guidelines come as shifts in drug laws and use patterns force both public and private organizations to rethink drug testing programs. Regarding marijuana, however, which has generally been the focus of most legislative discussions on illicit substances and driving, a Justice Department researcher said in February that states may need to “get away from that idea” that marijuana impairment can be tested based on the concentration of THC in a person’s system. Last month, meanwhile, a federal traffic safety agency said there’s “relatively little research” backing the idea that THC concentrations in blood can be used to determine impairment, calling into question laws in several states that set “per se” limits for cannabinoid metabolites. Separately, Job Corps, the national job-training program administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, announced changes to its drug-screening protocol for marijuana earlier this year in order to avoid punishing young people for using cannabis prior to starting the program. And earlier this month, new data showed that the number of positive drug tests among commercial drivers fell last year compared to the year before, dropping from 57,597 in 2022 to 54,464 in 2023. At the same time, however, the number of drivers who refused to be screened at all also increased by 39 percent. More Than 90% Of Smokable Hemp Samples Analyzed By Researchers Contained Illegal Amounts Of THC, New Federal Study Finds Photo courtesy of Pretty Drugthings on Unsplash The post Feds Consider Removing MDMA From Workplace Drug Testing While Adding Fentanyl Instead appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

More Biden voters than Trump voters want to live in a place where marijuana is legal, according to a new survey. But a separate poll shows that legalization itself has majority support among both Democrats and Republicans. Nearly half (48.6 percent) of U.S. homeowners and renters who plan to vote for Joe Biden in November’s presidential election said they want to live in a jurisdiction where cannabis is legal, says a new report published last week that was commissioned by the real estate platform Redfin and conducted in February by polling firm Qualtrics. Among likely Trump voters, just 12.4 percent said they’d like to live somewhere with legal marijuana. Of the 2,995 people surveyed in the Redfin poll, 1,171 (39.1 percent) said they plan to vote for Biden and 1,162 (38.8 percent) said they will vote for Trump. The other respondents said they don’t intend to vote for either candidate. The plurality of those surveyed—41.3 percent—were indifferent as to whether or not they’d want to live where cannabis is legal. About a third (32.3 percent) said they don’t want to live in a legal jurisdiction, while just over a quarter (26.4 percent) said they do. Redfin People with college degrees and those who earn higher incomes were both more likely to want to live where cannabis is legal, the report found. Despite the strong partisan difference when it comes to whether people want to live in an area with legal marijuana, majorities of voters from both parties said in a separate new poll published last week that they support legalization as a policy. The Data for Progress survey of 1,207 likely voters, conducted April 11–12, found that 75 percent of Democrats, 54 percent of Republicans and 67 percent of Independents favor the reform, as measured by either strong or somewhat support. Overall, 66 percent of respondents said they approve of legalization. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent. NEW POLL: Sixty-six percent of voters, including 75% of Democrats, 67% of Independents, and 54% of Republicans, support legalizing marijuana at the federal level for all adults over the age of 21.https://t.co/Ie22Sqk9EC pic.twitter.com/gMFo86QyND — Data for Progress (@DataProgress) April 20, 2024 Across party lines, 76 percent of voters also said they favor the Biden administration’s pardons of Americans with past federal convictions for simple marijuana possession. Those actions had 87 percent support among Democratic voters, 65 percent support among Republicans and 76 percent support among Independents. The report also found broad support for rescheduling marijuana—59 percent overall, lower than support for legalization. Support for a move to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, as the Department of Health and Human Services has recommended, was most popular among surveyed Independents, at 66 percent support. Meanwhile 60 percent of Democrats favored the Reform, as did 52 percent of Republicans. A fourth question on the Data for Progress survey asked whether respondents “think marijuana is addictive.” Overall, 23 percent of people said they believe marijuana is “highly addictive,” while 46 percent said it’s “somewhat addictive.” Another 27 percent said cannabis is “not addictive,” and 4 percent said they didn’t know. Data for Progress Meanwhile a separate Gallup poll published earlier last week found that rates of marijuana use are nearly the same in states that have legalized versus those that maintain prohibition, which the polling firm said suggests that “criminalization does little to curtail its use.” Overall, one in 10 American adults said they had used marijuana 10 or more times in the past month, while one in five had used cannabis at least once in the past month. Notably, the use rate in the West (California, Oregon and Washington State) was slightly lower, at 10 percent, despite all three states having established adult-use cannabis markets. While a minority of Americans report regularly using marijuana, polls have consistently found that there’s increasingly bipartisan majority support for legalizing cannabis. For example, nine in 10 Americans say marijuana should be legal for recreational or medical purposes, a Pew Research Center poll that was released last month found. And most agree that legalization bolsters local economies and makes the criminal justice system more fair. A separate Gallup poll from last November found that support for marijuana legalization reached a new record high nationally, with seven in 10 Americans—including a sizable majority of Republicans, Democrats and independents—backing an end to prohibition. Another survey released last month found that a strong majority of voters in three states—including more than 60 percent of Republicans—support congressional legislation to protect states’ rights to set their own marijuana laws. Pew also released a separate report in February that found eight in 10 Americans now live in a county with at least one marijuana dispensary. The analysis also shows that high concentrations of retailers often “cluster” near borders abutting other states that have “less permissive cannabis laws”—indicating that there’s a large market of people who live in still-criminalized jurisdictions who cross state lines to purchase regulated products. Congressional Progressive Caucus Says Democrats Can Legalize Marijuana If They Win House And Senate Majorities In November Election The post More Biden Voters Than Trump Voters Want To Live Where Marijuana Is Legal, But Majorities In Both Parties Support Legalization appeared first on Marijuana Moment. 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