Tag: cannabis

Trump’s Marijuana Executive Order Details Leaked Ahead Of Announcement, Including CBD And Hemp Provisions

President Donald Trump will be signing an executive order on Thursday that will direct the attorney to “expedite” and “complete” the marijuana rescheduling process, throw a lifeline to the hemp industry, allow doctors to prescribe CBD products that would be eligible for Medicare coverage and more, a White House official told reporters at a readout ahead of the signing event.

Marijuana Moment wasn’t invited to attend the background briefing, but obtained the transcript of the conversation.

Many details are consistent with reporting about the plan to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), but the discussion revealed additional information about the order and how the administration is framing the reform.

The official started by emphasizing that the “common sense” administrative action is “focused on increasing medical research for medical marijuana and CBD” to “better inform patients and doctors.”

That means expediting the finalization of a rule to reschedule marijuana, they said. The move wouldn’t legalize cannabis, but it would help promote research while also letting marijuana businesses take federal tax deductions they’ve been barred from under an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code known as 280E.

Here are new details about Trump’s executive order on cannabis:

  • Direct the attorney general to expedite the completion of the process of rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III of the CSA.
  • Direct top White House staff to work with Congress to give patients access to full-spectrum CBD products, “while still restricting the sale and access to products that cause serious and potentially life threatening health risks.”
  • Urge Congress to examine updating the definition of hemp to ensure that full-spectrum CBD is accessible to patients—a policy change that could mitigate some concerns in the sector about a recent spending bill Trump signed with provisions that would broadly ban consumable hemp products.
  • Direct the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to “develop research methods and models, to utilize real world evidence [and] to improve access to hemp-derived CBD products in accordance with federal law” while informing “standards of care.”

Separate from Trump’s order, Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), will also be announcing “a model that will allow a number of CMS beneficiaries to benefit from receiving CBD under doctor recommendation at no cost,” the White House official said.

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CBD Provides Pain Relief, Improves Sleep And Aids Relaxation, Study Involving Olympic Athletes Shows

Elite athletes find cannabidiol, or CBD, useful for soreness and recovery, a new study shows.

Researchers found that top competitors use CBD to manage pain, improve sleep and ease the stress of training at the highest level. But the results suggest that even as many athletes believe the cannabis compound helps them recover, they also worry that using it could jeopardize their careers under international anti-doping rules.

The study, conducted between late 2021 and mid-2023 and published this month in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, surveyed 80 elite Canadian athletes across 27 national sport organizations. To be included, athletes needed to have experience as part of the country’s Olympic or Paralympic team program.

About 38 percent reported using CBD at some point, and nearly a third of those said they were still using it at the time of the survey.

The participants’ motivations reflect a broader societal trend of relying on CBD for therapeutic benefit. The study found that 96 percent of CBD users said they believed the substance was safe, 93 percent said it improved their sleep, 90 percent said it helped them relax and 77 percent credited it with reducing pain from training.

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Key cannabis compounds may help in the battle against one of the deadliest diseases

Talk about a new joint effort in cancer care.

A promising treatment approach for one of the most dangerous cancers has been identified by a team of researchers in Thailand exploring the effects of key cannabis compounds.

The research team looked at the two most well-known compounds in weed plants — THC and CBD — and discovered that both produced significant anti-cancer activity when tested on ovarian cancer cells.

Each slowed cell growth, formed fewer and smaller clusters and prevented them from spreading.

The results were most notable when CBD and THC were used as a combined treatment, proving highly effective at killing a large number of cancerous cells.

While more research is needed, a medication derived from marijuana could be developed to treat ovarian cancer, the 5th deadliest female cancer in the US, affecting more than 20,000 women each year.

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Feds Launch New Marijuana-Focused Ad Campaign To ‘Challenge The Dangerous Belief’ That People Drive Better While High

The Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Ad Council are rolling out a new campaign to “challenge the dangerous belief that it’s safe to drive after consuming marijuana,” with a disturbing ad that they say depicts a real-life story of a child killed by a driver who was under the influence of cannabis.

In an announcement on Tuesday, the Ad Council promoted the “Tell That to Them” initiative, which includes a 60-second ad showing a person claiming they “focus” better when driving while high and then causing a fatal car accident.

“I actually drive better when I’m high,” the man says. “If anything, I’m more careful, more chill, more relaxed.”

He is then shown driving head-on into an incoming car.

DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) partnered with the Ad Council for the campaign.

“Too many young men think marijuana doesn’t affect their driving ability or even makes them safer drivers,” NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison said in a press release. “That couldn’t be further from the truth.”

“Marijuana slows down a driver’s reaction time and impairs their coordination and judgement,” he said. “This new PSA reminds motorists that driving high puts us all at risk and can have deadly consequences.”

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‘Green Wednesday’ surges as Americans swap alcohol for cannabis ahead of Thanksgiving

The biggest shopping day of the year may be Black Friday, but the cannabis equivalent happens the day before Thanksgiving.

Despite potential health risks, “Green Wednesday” has been named the second-highest day of the year for pot sales, according to various reports, second only to April 20 (4/20) as the leading day for sales.

This is in part due to dispensaries offering large discounts on products like pre-rolls, edibles, gummies, vapes and flowers.

According to Dutchie, an Oregon-based e-commerce platform used by thousands of dispensaries across the U.S., average sales increased 91% on Nov. 27, 2024 — the day before Thanksgiving last year — compared to a typical Wednesday. The average basket per shopper increased by 9% to more than $70.

New York dispensaries reported even higher numbers, according to the analysis, with medical baskets reaching more than $106.

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The other thing Americans consume in record numbers on Thanksgiving: marijuana

On what was shaping up to be the busiest day of the year at a marijuana dispensary in Maryland, people kept rolling in. They had all come with the same plan: to get a little something extra to bring to Thanksgiving dinner.

Edibles for the in-laws, pre-rolls for that post-meal walk. Maybe some special cookies to share with friends.

“People getting stocked up for Thanksgiving, huh?” one customer observed, scanning the busy rows of check-out stations.

“Yeah, you know, cousins coming into town, family getting together, people needing to relax a little” said E. Friday, a personal care specialist who goes by their first initial and uses the pronouns they and them. Friday works at RISE, a cannabis dispensary in Silver Spring, Md.

“You know how it goes,” Friday added.

They chuckled.

As cannabis has become less stigmatized and more readily available in the U.S., industry experts said, Green Wednesday has begun to rival famed stoner holiday 4/20, which falls on April 20, as the day weed dispensaries see the highest sales numbers and the most foot traffic.

At RISE, the merchandise was moving. Doorbuster deals like the exclusive Queen Cola — a long stem with 14 grams of marijuana flower cut from the cluster at the very top of a cannabis plant, which experts say produces the highest concentration of resin — flew off the shelves at $100.Expand article logo  Continue reading

General manager Rick Gizzi said the batch of limited-edition Queen Cola flowers the store had in stock sold out in 15 minutes.

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GOP-Controlled Senate Committee Warns DC That Marijuana Is Federally Illegal, With ‘Enhanced Penalties’ For Sales Near Schools

GOP members of a powerful Senate committee are issuing a reminder that marijuana remains illegal under federal law and that the sale of cannabis near public schools and playgrounds can carry “enhanced penalties”—an issue they are specifically highlighting in relation to the location of dispensaries in Washington, D.C.

The Republican majority in the Senate Appropriations Committee released the text of a Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) spending bill and an attached report on Tuesday. As expected, the legislation itself retains a rider long championed by Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) barring D.C. from using its tax dollars to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana sales, despite voters approving a ballot initiative to allow possession and home cultivation more than a decade ago.

In the report, a section on funding for “emergency planning and security costs” associated with the federal government’s presence in the District includes additional language related to cannabis enforcement and zoning issues.

Here’s the text of that section:

“Marijuana Dispensary Proximity to Schools—The Committee reminds the District that the distribution, manufacturing, and sale of marijuana remains illegal under Federal law, which includes enhanced penalties for such distribution within one thousand feet of a public or private elementary, vocational, or secondary school or public or private college, junior college, or university, or a playground, among other real property where children frequent.”

The report language is being released months after anti-marijuana organizations formally narced on several locally licensed cannabis businesses in D.C.—sending a letter to President Donald Trump, the U.S. attorney general and a federal prosecutor that identifies dispensaries they allege are too close to schools despite approval from District officials.

The groups said that while they were “pleased” to see former interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin “take initial steps against one of the worst offenders” by threatening a locally licensed medical marijuana dispensary with criminal prosecution back in March, “we have not seen any public progress since then.”

Martin, for his part, has since been tapped by Trump to serve as U.S. pardon attorney.

Meanwhile, the underlying FSGG spending bill put forward by the committee’s GOP majority would continue to prohibit D.C. from creating a regulated, commercial cannabis market.

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US Attorney Will Begin ‘Rigorously’ Prosecuting People For Marijuana On Federal Land After Trump DOJ Rescinds Biden-Era Guidance

A U.S. attorney’s office says it will now begin “rigorously” prosecuting people over simple possession or use of marijuana on federal lands after the Trump administration rescinded Biden-era guidance that advised against taking such legal actions.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming said in a press release on Thursday that the Justice Department “rescinded previous guidance concerning the prosecution of simple marijuana possession” in a memo to prosecutors on September 29.

“This comes after President Biden pardoned certain U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents for offenses related to simple possession, attempted possession, or use of marijuana and directed U.S. Attorney’s [sic] not to prosecute those offenses,” it said. “This significantly curtailed federal prosecutions of misdemeanor marijuana offenses.”

While Biden granted two rounds of mass pardons for people who’ve committed federal cannabis possession offenses during his term—specifically including those prosecuted for possession on federal lands during the second round—the administration didn’t publicize that any prosecutorial guidance directive had been issued, and none has previously been reported.

As far as the September 29 DOJ rescission action referenced by the U.S. attorney’s office is concerned, that memo also does not appear to be publicly available. Marijuana Moment reached out to the Justice Department for clarification, but a representative did not immediately provide the document or details about it.

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Women Who Use Marijuana At A ‘High Intensity’ Report Greater Romantic Relationship Satisfaction, New Study Finds

Women who frequently use marijuana report greater satisfaction in their romantic relationships, according to a new study. But for men, the opposite appears to be true for reasons that aren’t immediately clear.

The study from researchers at Ariel University and Achva Academic College in Israel was published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence this month.

Researchers recruited 110 couples who completed questionnaires on “cannabis use patterns, general satisfaction with relationship quality, satisfaction with the quality of sex, and perceived partner responsiveness,” the paper says.

They found that women who used marijuana at a “high intensity” experienced greater relationship satisfaction, perceiving both their own and their partner’s fulfillment higher compared to those who consumed cannabis less frequently or not at all.

Curiously, however, the study—funded in part by the Israeli Science Foundation, which receives support from the Israeli government—concluded that “men reported the opposite” experience.

The reasons that the intensity of marijuana use seems to impact romantic relationship satisfaction differently between genders warrants further research, the study authors said.

While numerous studies have examined the intersection of cannabis consumption and romantic or sexual behavior, this latest contribution is novel in part because it looked at possible dose-response effects.

“Results indicated that discrepancy in cannabis use intensity was significantly associated with lower general relationship satisfaction and lower satisfaction with the quality of sex,” the study says. “Additionally, dyadic analyses indicated that women who used cannabis at a high intensity tended to report an increase in relationship satisfaction and exhibit an increase in their own and, to some degree, their partner’s perceived partner responsiveness.”

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Florida GOP Lawmaker Files Bill To Ban Public Marijuana Smoking As Campaign Works To Put Legalization On 2026 Ballot

A pro-legalization Florida lawmaker has filed a bill to amend state law to codify that the public use of marijuana is prohibited.

Rep. Alex Andrade (R)—who has voiced support for removing cannabis from the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and earned an “A” grade from NORML—introduced the public smoking and vaping legislation on Thursday.

Under the proposal, state statute on the use of tobacco in public would be revised to incorporate cannabis, making it unlawful to smoke or vape in any public space.

A public space would be defined as place “to which the public has access, including, but not limited to, streets; sidewalks; highways; public parks; public beaches; and the common areas, both inside and outside, of schools, hospitals, government buildings, apartment buildings, office buildings, lodging establishments, restaurants, transportation facilities, and retail shops.”

The legislation specifies that the prohibition on public smoking “does not apply to the smoking of unfiltered cigars.”

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