Tag: marijuana

Pennsylvania GOP Senator Calls Marijuana Prohibition A ‘Disaster,’ Signaling Support For Treating Cannabis Like Alcohol And Tobacco

Amid growing calls for marijuana legalization in Pennsylvania, a GOP state senator says prohibition has been a “disaster,” and a regulated sales model for cannabis—similar to how alcohol and tobacco are handled—could serve as an effective alternative.

Sen. Gene Yaw (R) said both alcohol and tobacco have been “used for thousands of years,” just like marijuana. Yet only cannabis continues to be strictly criminalized.

“I don’t think marijuana is any different than these other things,” Yaw told The Standard-Journal. “We’ve regulated it and taxed it.”

The senator noted that Pennsylvania lawmakers have introduced numerous cannabis reform bills over recent sessions. And while, years ago, “I never thought I would support medical marijuana,” he said he came around on the issue and voted for it because “it has its place for some people.”

Yaw didn’t explicitly endorse any specific recreational marijuana legalization proposals that have been filed for the 2025 session, but his description of prohibition as a “disaster” indicates a willingness to advance the reform at a key time in the Pennsylvania legislature.

Voters are ready to see that policy change, according to a poll released this week.

The survey found that nearly 7 in 10 voters in the state support the reform—including a majority of Republicans. And 63 percent want to see the legislature enact the reform this year, rather than delaying it.

While Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) once again included a proposal to enact cannabis legalization in his latest budget request, there’s been mixed feedback from legislators—some of whom want to see the governor more proactively come to the table to discuss possible pathways for reform and others skeptical about the possibility of advancing the issue this session.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Scott Martin (R), for example, said this week that he doesn’t “see any path whatsoever” to enacting legalization in line with the governor’s plan.

At the same time, the state secretary for the Department of Revenue has predicted that Shapiro’s proposal could be passed during the current budget cycle, indicating that he feels reform could start to be implemented within months.

House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D), meanwhile, said following the governor’s budget speech that “there is real diversity of opinions among our members,” likely referencing split perspectives on regulatory models, with some lawmakers pushing for a state-run cannabis program.

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Medical Marijuana Helps Mothers Be ‘More Present Parents’ And Develop ‘Positive Relationships With Their Children,’ Study Finds

New government-funded research out of New Zealand finds that mothers who were able to access medical marijuana reported that cannabis improved their quality of parenting by allowing them to more effectively manage health conditions and tolerate the stress of caring for children.

At the same time, study participants reported persistent obstacles, such as the high cost of legal products and ongoing stigma and legal risks.

The new report, published this week in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review, drew from interviews with 15 mothers who used medical cannabis (MC) obtained either through prescriptions, the illicit market or both during the past year. They were asked about use in general, their conversations with children, societal stigma and risks.

“Mothers reported MC as an important facilitator of their ability to positively parent their children,” the study found, “enabling them to manage their own health needs (i.e., anxiety, endometriosis and arthritis).”

Mothers also reported feeling that “managing their health with MC allowed them to be more present parents and better tolerate the stressors of motherhood,” wrote authors at Massey University in Auckland.

The mothers were recruited for the survey from a larger group of 38 participants who were part of a larger project around women’s relationship with medical marijuana. They were interviewed one-on-one either in person or via an online video call.

“Participants felt that being able to manage their physical pain and mental distress with [medical cannabis] meant they were in a better mood and more present.”

Nearly half the mothers who participated (46.6 percent) said they primarily smoked marijuana, while smaller proportions reported using edibles (40 percent), oils (26.6 percent), vaporization (20 percent), tea (6.7 percent) and topicals (6.7 percent).

Most obtained marijuana through the unregulated, illegal market (53.3 percent), while a third of participants (33.3 percent) reported accessing both prescription and illicit products. Only two mothers (13.3 percent) said they used exclusively prescription products.

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CBD Could Effectively Treat Common Vaginal Infections, Study Concludes

Newly published research on cannabidiol (CBD) suggests that the popular marijuana component could be a promising treatment for a common type of vaginal infection.

The report focuses on the bacterium Gardnerella vaginalis, which is found naturally in the vagina but can also cause vaginosis when out of balance with other microbes. In laboratory tests, CBD demonstrated antibacterial and antioxidant effects that weakened G. vaginalis and eliminated communities of the bacteria known as biofilms.

“Our study shows that CBD exhibits antibacterial and antibiofilm activities against G. vaginalis clinical isolates,” the new paper says, “and is thus a potential drug for the treatment of vaginosis caused by this bacterium.”

The article was published this month in a special issue of the journal Antibiotics dedicated to “Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Activity by Natural Compounds.” It was authored by a four-person team from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, also in Jerusalem, Israel.

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Idaho Lawmakers Send Bill Creating A Mandatory Minimum Fine For Marijuana Possession To Governor’s Desk

The Idaho Senate voted 27-8 on Tuesday to pass a bill creating a mandatory minimum fine of $300 for simple marijuana possession.

Passing the Senate was the final legislative hurdle for the bill. The Idaho House of Representatives already voted 54-14 to pass the bill January 21.

House Bill 7 next heads to Gov. Brad Little’s (R) desk for final consideration. Once it reaches his desk, Little will have three options. He can sign it into law, he can allow it to become law without his signature or he can veto it.

If the bill becomes law it would take effect July 1.

House Bill 7 was co-sponsored by Sen. Brandon Shippy, R-New Plymouth. If passed into law, it would create a mandatory minimum fine of $300 for anybody 18 and over convicted of possessing less than 3 ounces of marijuana—in addition to any other penalties allowed by law.

Supporters of the bill said it is a way to be tough on marijuana and differentiate Idaho from its neighboring states.

Most of Idaho’s neighboring states allow for the recreational or medical use of cannabis. Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Montana allow the recreational sale and possession of cannabis, while Utah offers medical cannabis.

“Not long ago, marijuana was illegal in all 50 states,” Shippy said. “In not one state where marijuana is legalized has that state become a better, safer or more wealthy place to live and raise a family.”

Some opponents of the bill argued against creating a mandatory minimum fine, saying it removes discretion that judges and prosecutors exercise on a case-by-case basis.

The bill is similar to a failed bill from last year, House Bill 606, which would have created a mandatory minimum fine of $420 for marijuana possession.

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The origins of cannabis smoking: Chemical residue evidence from the first millennium BCE in the Pamirs

Mind-altering plants can produce various altered states of consciousness and have thus played important roles in ritual and/or religious activities in various areas of the world (1–4). In prehistoric and early historic Central Eurasia, many plants were used for their secondary compounds, and several are still in prominent use today, notably the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), ephedra (Ephedra spp.), and cannabis (Cannabis sativa). Plants in the Cannabis genus represent a hybrid complex, with ongoing controversy relating to taxonomy; the lack of taxonomic clarity combined with continual gene flow between wild and domesticated populations has hampered attempts to study the origins and dispersal of this plant (5, 6). Wild cannabis grows across many of the cooler mountain foothills from the Caucasus to western China, especially in the well-watered habitats of Central Asia. However, cannabinol (CBN) levels in most wild cannabis plant populations are low, and it remains a largely unanswered question as to when, where, and how the plant was first cultivated for higher psychoactive tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) production (6). Little is known about the prehistoric use of cannabis outside eastern China, where it was domesticated as an oil-seed crop (7, 8). While recent well-reported and photographed cannabis macroremains have been recovered from burials in the Turpan Basin (ca. 800 to 400 BCE) in northwest China, suggesting shamanic or medicinal uses (9, 10), these discoveries do not adequately reveal how the cannabis plant was used.

Historically, cannabis plants used for ritual and medicinal purposes involved oral ingestion or inhaling the smoke or vapors produced by burning the dried plant. Smoking is defined as the act of inhaling and exhaling the fumes of burning plant material (11) and is today often associated with cigarettes, cigars, and pipes. However, smoking pipes were likely introduced to Eurasia from the New World (12), and no clear evidence exists for them in Central Asia before the modern era. The practice of smoking or inhaling cannabis fumes in ritual and recreational activities was documented in Herodotus’ fifth-century BCE The Histories (13) and was supported by the discovery of carbonized hemp seeds in burials from a handful of sites in Eurasia (1, 14, 15). However, most of the archaeological reports of ancient drug remains were published several decades ago, and re-examination of some of these reports has led to the claims being refuted (discussed below). Modern scientific studies are thus needed to corroborate the remaining reports. Here, we investigated residues from archaeological artifacts recovered in the Pamir Mountains (Fig. 1Opens in image viewer), a region that served as an important culture communication channel through Eurasia, linking ancient populations in the modern regions of China, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan. The chemical analysis reveals ancient cannabis burning and suggests high levels of psychoactive chemicals, indicating that people may have been cultivating cannabis and possibly actively selecting for stronger specimens or choosing plant populations with naturally high terpenophenolic secondary metabolites (6). Alternatively, a process of domestication through hybridization between wild and cultivated subspecies may have inadvertently led to stronger chemical-producing plants through human dispersal and subsequent selection (7).

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GOP Congressman Wants To Talk With RFK Jr. About How ‘Marijuana Is Harmful’ As Trump’s Cabinet Pick Heads To Confirmation Vote

A GOP congressman says it’s “definitely” time to have a talk with President Donald Trump’s pick for head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to convince him that “marijuana is harmful” and that the way to make Americans healthy is by “limiting” its use.

After Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was cleared in an initial confirmation vote in the Senate Finance Committee, Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) told Marijuana Moment that he wanted to have a chat with the potential HHS secretary, who has previously voiced support for cannabis legalization prior to being selected for the top federal health role by Trump.

“Marijuana is harmful,” Harris said in an interview at the Capitol on Wednesday. “We should definitely have a talk with RFK Jr. I mean, the bottom line is: We should keep Americans healthy by limiting the use of marijuana.”

But Harris—a staunchly anti-cannabis lawmaker who has championed legislation to block adult-use marijuana sales in Washington, D.C.—expressed a softer tone when asked about the therapeutic potential of psychedelics, which is another issue that Kennedy has pushed.

The congressman said it “might be possible” that psychedelics could be used in the treatment of conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“We may want to do some more research, but we don’t want to do what D.C. did, which is just make them widely available,” he said, referencing a voter-approved initiative to decriminalize certain psychedelics—which would not inherently increase availability given the lack of any regulated sales component of the reform.

Meanwhile, despite Harris’s apparent concerns about Kennedy’s history of advocating for cannabis legalization, the nominee said last week that he will defer to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on marijuana rescheduling if confirmed.

That could complicate rescheduling given the fact that the current acting administrator of DEA, Derek Maltz, has made multiple comments expressing hostility to cannabis reform.

Relatedly, prior to Kennedy’s written responses to the Finance Committee, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) recently pressed Kennedy to reiterate his position on marijuana legalization amid the ongoing effort to federally reschedule cannabis.

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Elizabeth Warren Pushes Elon Musk To Cut Federal Marijuana Enforcement Through New DOGE Agency

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is urging Elon Musk, chair of the Trump administration’s newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to target “unnecessary” federal enforcement against marijuana consumers and businesses as a key way to reduce spending by the federal government.

In a letter sent to Musk on Thursday, Warren laid out a series of recommendations for DOGE that she said would translate into upwards of $2 trillion in savings over the next decade. One of those recommendations concerned the federal government’s spending on cannabis enforcement.

“The United States could save hundreds of millions of dollars each year by reducing wasteful spending on unnecessary federal enforcement actions and detention,” Warren wrote. “For example, almost half of states have legalized recreational marijuana, yet federal arrests for marijuana possession account for roughly a quarter of all drug possession arrests, even though federal sentences for marijuana possession are rare.”

The senator also pointed out that “the Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA] and Customs and Border Patrol [CBP] continue to raid marijuana businesses and seize marijuana plants, including in states where marijuana is legal.”

“These arrests and seizures unnecessarily drain federal resources,” Warren said.

Warren cited reporting from Marijuana Moment and other outlets on DEA’s ongoing cannabis seizures, with the agency reporting that it eradicated more than 5.7 million marijuana plants in 2022, for example.

However, DEA has faced more recent criticism after failing to release updated annual data on marijuana-related arrests and seizures in 2024 as it has done in prior years.

With respect to CBP, the agency recently implored a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit from licensed New Mexico marijuana businesses that claimed the agencies have been unconstitutionally seizing state-regulated marijuana products and detaining industry workers at interior checkpoints.

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Trump’s New DEA Head Blamed Marijuana For School Shootings And Claimed Rescheduling Push Was Politically Motivated

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has a new interim leader—and he’s no fan of marijuana, previously linking cannabis use to school shootings and repeatedly insisting that the Biden administration”hijacked” the rescheduling process from the agency for political purposes.

DEA announced on Monday that Derek Maltz, who retired from the agency in 2014 after 28 years of service, will be serving as acting administrator. With President Donald Trump still having yet to name his choice to run DEA as administrator, it’s unclear if Maltz is positioned to receive that nomination or if he will ultimately be replaced.

But for cannabis advocates and stakeholders, Maltz’s return to DEA for now—especially as anxieties around the fate of the ongoing marijuana rescheduling process grow—represents a troubling development.

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People Are More Physically Active On Days They Use Marijuana, New Federally Funded Study Shows, Smashing ‘Lazy Stoner’ Stereotype

A new federally funded study examining the associations between cannabis use and other health-related behaviors finds that adults are more physically active on days they used marijuana—evidence that contradicts the “lazy stoner” stereotype—although they also drank alcohol more heavily and smoked more cigarettes.

The paper, by a team of ten researchers from across the U.S., was published by the journal Addictive Behaviors late last month. It used data from a four-week nationwide study of 98 adults over the age of 18 that tracked behaviors such as moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) as well as consumption of controlled substances.

Only people who reported marijuana use on at least one of the 28 days were included, allowing the team to assess how past-month cannabis consumers’ use on a particular day was associated with other health behaviors that same day. Participants were asked questions via smartphone-based surveys such as, “In the past 24 h, which of the following have you used?” with regard to substances, and “How many minutes of VIGOROUS leisure time physical activity did you get yesterday?” with examples including running, aerobics and heavy yard work.

Authors—from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences, University of Texas School of Public Health, University of Michigan, University of Oklahoma, Texas A&M-Commerce, Louisiana State University Health Science Center, Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Colorado Boulder—said the study of is “among the first” to use the real-time tracking data, called ecological momentary assessment (EMA), “to examine associations between cannabis use and same-day MVPA, alcohol consumption, and cigarettes smoked.”

Though the analysis didn’t compare marijuana users to non-users, the team said their findings supported earlier research that found cannabis consumers were more active.

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Despite Sweeping Updates To Facebook Policies In Favor Of ‘Free Expression,’ Restrictions On Marijuana-Related Accounts Remain

Despite new changes to content moderation announced earlier this week, Meta—the owner of Facebook, Instagram and Threads—appears not to be changing its practices around marijuana, continuing to block search results on the social media platform for terms such as “marijuana” and “cannabis” and instead displaying a notice encouraging users to report “the sale of drugs.”

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced a number of changes to content policies and moderation on Tuesday, such as stepping away from practices like third-party fact checking in favor of a community notes model, in which users are responsible for flagging questionable content. The company said it’s also “getting rid of a number of restrictions on topics like immigration, gender identity and gender that are the subject of frequent political discourse and debate.”

“We will allow more speech by lifting restrictions on some topics that are part of mainstream discourse,” the company said as part of the announcement, “and focusing our enforcement on illegal and high-severity violations.”

“Up until now, we have been using automated systems to scan for all policy violations, but this has resulted in too many mistakes and too much content being censored that shouldn’t have been,” the company added.

To many in the cannabis space—including some medical marijuana patients, cannabis content creators, news outlets and even government agencies—that feels like an apt description of how they’ve have been treated by the company, which has historically removed or limited the visibility of marijuana-related accounts.

But the new changes—touted under the banner of “free expression”—don’t appear to affect the handling of cannabis on Meta’s platforms.

Neither Facebook nor Meta replied to Marijuana Moment’s request for clarifications on the new policies this week, but the only mention of drugs in the new announcement is the company’s stated intent to “continue to focus” its content moderation systems “on tackling illegal and high-severity violations, like terrorism, drugs, fraud and scams.”

“For less severe policy violations, we’re going to rely on someone reporting an issue before we take action,” it says.

It’s unclear exactly when all the changes will be deployed. Facebook said it would implement the use of community notes “over the next couple of months, and will continue to improve it over the course of the year.” It didn’t provide a timeframe for changes to content moderation policies.

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