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Tag: cannabis
Court Brief Slams DEA’s ‘Indefensible’ Rationale For Firing Agent Over Positive THC Test Attributed To CBD Hemp Product
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) fired a former agent based on an “unjustifiable, unlawful, and inexplicable” rationale after he tested positive for THC after using CBD products that were marketed as being derived from federally legal hemp, an attorney argued in a new brief in a federal court case challenging the removal.
Anthony Armour—described by DEA itself as an “outstanding” special agent during his 16-year tenure—was terminated in 2019 following a random drug screening that revealed traces of THC metabolites. He admitted to taking CBD for chronic pain as an opioid alternative—and he turned over the products he believed to be federally legal under the 2018 Farm Bill—but DEA upheld his firing even upon appeal.
In a brief submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit this week, the former DEA agent’s attorney, Matt Zorn, challenged a series of arguments from the agency, asserting that it relied on “undeniably flawed evidence” to support its claim that Armour unlawfully used marijuana by consuming a CBD product he believed to be within the federal definition of legal hemp.
“This is all indefensible enough. But [DEA’s response] disturbingly sheds new light on how an outstanding DEA agent landed a draconian punishment for an unintentional act,” the brief says. “Deep in the Response, the government notes that DEA intended to remove Armour regardless of his intent, outstanding service, and remorse. DEA would have removed Armour from federal service even if he were just negligent in purchasing CBD products.“
“DEA could have charged Armour whatever it wanted under its guidelines. Likewise, it can fashion whatever drug policy it desires,” it says. “But DEA put Armour on a pedestal and charged him with use/possession of marijuana and never proved the charge. Instead, it took unjustifiable, unlawful, and inexplicable shortcuts.”
Marijuana Helps People Quit Using Prescription Sleep Aids And Allows Them To Wake Up More Focused And Refreshed, Study Indicates
A new survey of cannabis consumers with sleep issues found that most preferred to use marijuana instead of other sleep aids to help get to bed, reporting better outcomes the next morning and fewer side effects. Smoking joints or vaping products that contained THC, CBD and the terpene myrcene were especially popular.
Compared to using conventional sleep aids or no sleep aids at all, respondents reported that cannabis made them feel more refreshed, focused and better able to function the morning after, with fewer headaches and less nausea. But they also reported some side effects from marijuana use, including waking up feeling sleepy, anxious and irritable.
The study, conducted by a pair of psychology researchers at Washington State University (WSU), was published late last month in the journal Exploration of Medicine. Authors say they believe it’s the first research comparing cannabis to prescription sleep aids (PSAs) and over-the-counter (OTC) sleep aids.
“In general, the use of cannabis for sleep-related issues was perceived as more advantageous than over-the-counter medications or prescription sleeps aids,” Carrie Cuttler, a WSU professor and one of the study co-authors, said in a press release on Monday. “Unlike long-acting sedatives and alcohol, cannabis was not associated with a ‘hangover’ effect, although individuals reported some lingering effects such as sleepiness and changes in mood.”
Smoking cannabis can make you more empathetic, according to a new study
Stoners are better at empathising than those who don’t use the drug, a new study has found.
People who regularly enjoy a joint are better at recognising other people’s feelings and putting themselves in someone else’s shoes.
Researchers from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma in Mexico asked 81 cannabis users and 51 people who didn’t use the psychoactive drug to complete a 33-item questionnaire that measured empathetic skills.
It looked at perspective taking – the capacity to place oneself in the shoes of another – and emotional comprehension, which is spotting and understanding other people’s emotions.
The scientists also analysed whether or not volunteers could tune in to positive or negative feelings, and behave accordingly.
Roughly half of the week smokers and two thirds of the non-users then underwent brain scans to look for differences in activity in areas associated with sensing the emotions in others.
Results published in the Journal of Neuroscience Research showed that cannabis users scored higher on the empathy test, and had greater connectivity in areas involved with emotion, such as the anterior cingulate near the front of the brain.
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s ‘adopted’ 40-year-old son Michael Tirrell James in court on charges of running illegal cannabis business and possession of brass knuckles – as it’s revealed rap sheet goes back to 2003
The ‘adopted’ black son of new House Speaker Mike Johnson has spoken out for the first time in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com.
Michael Tirrell James said he would ‘probably be in prison’ were it not for Johnson – after he appeared in a Los Angeles court Wednesday on charges of running an illegal cannabis business and possessing brass knuckles.
James has never taken part in publicity for Johnson’s political campaigns, and little has been known about the 40-year-old father of four.
But now DailyMail.com can reveal how the top GOP lawmaker and his wife Kelly informally adopted James after meeting him while doing charitable community work in Louisiana in the 1990s.
James went on to have a string of conflicts with law enforcement, beginning just a few years after the Johnsons took him in, and continuing to this day.
His rap sheet extends back to 2003 and includes a long list of drug-related and other petty crimes, some of which landed him in jail, DailyMail.com can reveal.
The 51-year-old House Speaker, elected October 25 after three weeks of confusion following the ousting of previous Speaker Kevin McCarthy, has revealed he informally adopted James, a Baton Rouge then-teenager, and raised him during the first few years of his marriage.
James told DailyMail.com: ‘If the Johnsons hadn’t taken me in as a teenager, my life would look very different today. I would probably be in prison or I might not have made it at all.’
The Louisiana Republican congressman first met James in 1996 while volunteering with Young Life, a Christian ministry catering to middle and high school teens.
The future speaker, then a 24-year-old law school student, became a mentor for the 14-year-old boy, a source close to the Speaker’s office said.
When James became homeless in 1999 age 16, newlyweds Mike and Kelly Johnson took him in, filing papers with the local Baton Rouge district court to become his legal guardians.
His life appears to have gotten back on track after the informal adoption. He earned his G.E.D. and graduated from a Job Corps program in 2002, and even ‘began to refer to the Johnsons as his parents, and they regarded him as a son,’ the source said.
The Johnsons later had four biological children: Jack, Will, Hannah, and Abigail.
Nevada Commission Seeks Comment On Plan To Let People With Marijuana Convictions Become Police Officers
A Nevada commission will hear public comment this week on a proposal that would amend hiring standards for police officers to allow job candidates who were previously disqualified for certain marijuana-related offenses to be eligible for law enforcement positions.
The change being considered by the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) at Thursday meeting would amend regulations around hiring that currently prevent a person from becoming a peace officer if they have been convicted of an offense involving the unlawful use, sale or possession of a controlled substance.
The new language would state that the restriction doesn’t apply “to a person who has been convicted of an offense involving the unlawful use, sale, or possession of marijuana if the offense is not unlawful at the time the person submits an application for certification as a police officer.”
A notice of intent says the change would expand the pool of eligible candidates for law enforcement positions and “aid agencies in the ability to fill much needed positions.” There would be no adverse effects from the change, it says, nor additional costs to regulators.
Members of the public wishing to comment on the proposal can either appear in person at the October 26 meeting, held at 8 a.m. in Napa Room B of the Southpoint Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Approval of the change would not mean that officers could use cannabis once employed, but it would represent a significant policy change, especially given that the current rules are written in a way that explicitly emphasizes the no-tolerance policy for marijuana.
“As with any psychoactive drug, POST strongly believes there is no room for marijuana usage in the policing profession,” the current administration manual says. “POST strongly encourages law enforcement agencies across the state to adopted [sic] policies prohibiting the on or off duty recreational or medical use of marijuana.”
New York Officials Debunk ‘Misinformation’ About Fentanyl-Laced Marijuana
New York marijuana regulators are working to debunk what they say is the “false” narrative that cannabis is commonly contaminated with fentanyl—a “misconception” that remains “widespread” despite a lack of evidence.
The state Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) recently put out a factsheet on the issue, acknowledging that while fentanyl has been found in drugs like MDMA and heroin, anecdotal claims about marijuana laced with the potent opioid are so far unfounded.
OCM published the two-page document—titled “Cannabis and Fentanyl: Facts and Unknowns”—to “address misconceptions about cannabis being mixed with fentanyl,” it said. “The goal of this fact sheet is to provide evidence where it is available, to share information about what is currently known and unknown, and to provide safety tips to help alleviate some of these misconceptions, often spread through misinformed media coverage and anecdotal reporting.”
“Misinformation related to the danger of accidental overdose due to cannabis ‘contaminated’ with fentanyl remains widespread,” the office said. “Anecdotal reports of fentanyl ‘contaminated’ cannabis continue to be found to be false, as of the date of this publication” last week.
FBI Report Says 3 In 10 Drug Arrests Are For Marijuana, But Agency’s Inconsistent Data Hinders Policy Analysis
Arrests for marijuana made up nearly a third of all drug arrests in the United States in 2022, according to a newly released report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). As with last year’s report, however, inconsistencies in the data and recent changes to the agency’s methodology make it difficult to draw year-to-year comparisons or meaningful conclusions about cannabis and broader drug enforcement trends.
The data, according to FBI, comes from more than 11 million criminal offenses reported to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, which is submitted by 13,293 law enforcement agencies and 2,431 other agencies whose jurisdictions comprise more than 90 percent of the country’s population.
“Of the 18,884 state, county, city, university and college, and tribal agencies eligible to participate in the UCR Program, 15,724 agencies submitted data in 2022,” the bureau said in a press release about its annual 2022 Crime in the Nation statistics.
Because not all agencies provide data for the complete reporting periods, FBI explains in a methodology section of its website, the bureau calculates estimated crime numbers, essentially extrapolating “by following a standard estimation procedure using the data provided.” In terms of total reported arrests for “drug abuse violations,” for example, FBI said there were 766,595 arrests. The estimated number of arrests for drug abuse violations, by contrast, is 907,958.
Those numbers, however, aren’t consistent throughout the FBI report. In a section on arrests by region, FBI said there were 726,746 total drug arrests in 2022—nearly 40,000 fewer than its top-level number. In an analysis of historical trends, meanwhile, FBI reported just 633,576 drug arrests in 2022. A section on racial breakdowns says there were 714,442 drug abuse violations.
Other sections list “drug/narcotic offenses” for the year at 1,459,460, the number of arrestees for drug/narcotic offenses at 787,347 and the total number of drug/narcotics offenders at 1,755,788. The agency further said there were 902,482 crimes involving a person’s suspected use of drugs other than alcohol in 2022.
FBI’s press office did not immediately respond to an email from Marijuana Moment requesting clarification on the conflicting numbers.
German Lawmakers Delay Marijuana Legalization Bill Debate Due To Conflict In Israel
German lawmakers say that initial consideration of a bill to legalize marijuana will be delayed until at least next week due to the ongoing conflict in Israel that’s shifted international attention—though one legislator outlined a revised schedule that still puts the country on track to enact the first part of the government’s legal cannabis plan by early next year.
While Germany’s federal parliament, called the Bundestag, was scheduled to take up the cannabis reform legislation for a first reading on Friday, the scheduled debate has been postponed until next week, according to Carmen Wegge and Dirk Heidenblut of the Social Democratic Party.
They said the “global political situation” is the reason for the delay, but lawmakers “will make sure that everything gets done somehow in the next week,” according to a translation.
Human Use Of Cannabis—For Food, Fiber And Psychoactive Effects—Stretches Back Millennia, New Report Says
A new paper in the European Journal for Chemistry traces the history of cannabis through “thousands of years of contact with mankind,” noting the plant’s legacy as a source of fiber, nutrition, medicine, spirituality and pleasure.
At the same time, it notes that cannabis “is perhaps one of the greatest controversies in contemporary humanity” and a key driver of the modern war on drugs.
The paper, “From ancient Asian relics to contemporaneity: A review of historical and chemical aspects of Cannabis,” was written by Gabriel Vitor de Lima Marques and Renata Barbosa de Olivera, of the pharmacy department at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil.
The cannabis plant appears to have first been used for its fiber, as a material for ropes and other manufactured goods, the authors wrote. Use of hemp fiber dates back to approximately 10,000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia and to roughly 6,000 and 5,000 years ago in China and Kazakhstan, respectively.
Ancient peoples considered cannabis one of the five main grains, along with rice, soy, barley and millet, the paper continues. And once stalks were processed into hemp fibers, they became durable materials for ropes, sails and boat rigging, clothing, paper, animal husbandry and more.
“Used as a stunner to facilitate the capture of fish,” it says, “Cannabis is possibly the first plant to be cultivated for non-food purposes.”
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