Tag: marijuana

Federal Science Agency Begins Selling ‘Most Carefully Quantified Cannabis Ever Sold’—For $174 A Gram

As part of an ongoing effort to help testing laboratories more reliably determine the potency and purity of marijuana and hemp, a federal science agency has begun selling packages of what it’s calling “some of the most carefully quantified cannabis ever sold.”

Picking up 4.5 grams of the stuff will cost $783, or $174 a gram—far more expensive than the cannabis that’s commercially available in states across the country.

The hemp product, sold by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), isn’t intended for consumption. Rather, it’s a tool to help labs calibrate their analyses of cannabinoids and toxic elements in both hemp and higher-THC marijuana.

“To ensure that their measurement methods are working properly, labs can analyze a bit of this material,” NIST said in a press release about its new offering, known as hemp plant reference material, or RM 8210. “If their numbers match those from NIST to within an accepted margin of error, all is well. If not, they’ll know they need to recalibrate their instruments or otherwise troubleshoot their methods.”

For just under $800, a lab receives three 1.5-gram sample packages of hemp. The samples are carefully measured by NIST for a variety of chemical components, including eight individual cannabinoids such as CBD and delta-9 THC, as well as 13 different toxic elements, like arsenic and heavy metals.

“Although this reference material is composed of hemp,” NIST said in its release, “labs can use it to validate their measurements of both hemp and marijuana, and it will help companies in the fast-growing cannabis industry and state regulators ensure that cannabis products are safe and accurately labeled.”

NIST biologist Colleen Bryan, who was part of the team the developed the reference material, said that consumers ought to be able to rely on what’s printed on product labels.

“If you buy a product that claims to have 25 milligrams of CBD per dose, you should be able to trust that number,” Bryan said, noting that some people use cannabis for medical reasons and may be particularly concerned about safety. “This reference material will help ensure that the cannabis they buy does not contain unsafe levels of toxic elements.”

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U.S. Supreme Court Sends Marijuana And Gun Case Back To Lower Court, Emboldening DOJ’s Defense Of Firearm Ban

The U.S. Supreme Court has sent a case concerning gun rights for marijuana consumers back down to a lower court after issuing a potentially relevant ruling in a separate Second Amendment case, and the Justice Department is now reiterating its position that cannabis use warrants a ban on firearm ownership.

The high court has remanded several gun cases to their respective lower courts in light of the ruling in United States v. Rahimi, which affirmed the government’s right to restrict gun rights for a man with restraining orders for domestic violence. The cases heading back to lower levels include at least one related to the cannabis ban, and DOJ is now arguing that the SCOTUS decision “undermines” a federal court’s ruling that deemed the prohibition for marijuana consumers to be unconstitutional last year.

In a supplemental letter brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, where the United States vs. Daniels case was remanded by SCOTUS, the Justice Department said history “supports the government’s authority to disarm categories of persons whose firearm possession would endanger themselves or others.”

“Consistent with that principle, Congress may temporarily disarm unlawful users of controlled substances during periods of active drug use, when they present a special danger of firearm misuse,” it said. “The Supreme Court’s decision in Rahimi also is in tension with this Court’s opinion in United States v. Daniels, which made some of the very methodological errors that Rahimi corrected to find Section 922(g)(3) unconstitutional as applied to a marijuana user. The district court’s judgment should be reversed.”

DOJ has argued in multiple federal cases over the couple year that the statute banning cannabis consumers from owning or possessing guns is constitutional because it’s consistent with the nation’s history of disarming “dangerous” individuals.

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Does Weed Cause Strokes and Heart Attacks?

Thirty years ago, the sociologist Craig Reinarman observed that there’s something “woven into the very fabric of American culture” that makes us susceptible to believing that a “chemical boogeyman” is to blame for “society’s ills.” He added that every moral panic about drugs since the 19th century has been fueled by “media magnification” in which the danger of a particular substance is dramatized and distorted.

Now that recreational marijuana is legal in about half of U.S. states, and more Americans are consuming weed than ever before, the chemical bogeyman is back, and he’s armed with a new paper in the Journal of the American Heart Association by researchers from Harvard and the University of California, San Francisco.

This study, which was amplified in The New York Times and The Washington Post, commits so many egregious statistical errors that it’s a poster child for junk science. The paper would be comical if it didn’t offer bad medical advice. The researchers did almost everything wrong.

Which is not to say that the authors committed fraud or misconduct. In fact, they did exactly what Ph.D. students are taught to do, what journal editors look for, what referees approve, what universities reward, and what granting agencies fund. Because the paper uses conventional methods to arrive at false conclusions, it speaks to the profound crisis in academic research.

We’ve forgotten that the point of scientific studies isn’t seeking the approval of institutions. It’s the pursuit of truth.

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Louisiana Governor Vetoes Bill That Would Have Let Him Pardon Past Marijuana Convictions

The governor of Louisiana has vetoed a bill that would have allowed him and future governors to issue pardons for people with past marijuana convictions.

Gov. Jeff Landry (R) rejected the legislation on Wednesday, about a month after it was approved in the legislature. It remains to be seen what he will do with separate proposals to decriminalize cannabis paraphernalia and regulate hemp products that have also been sent to his desk.

The pardon bill from Rep. Delisha Boyd (D) would have made people convicted of cannabis possession eligible for a gubernatorial pardon after paying all court costs associated with the offense, without the need for a recommendation from the Board of Pardons.

Individuals could have only received a pardon for their first possession offense, and anyone “who received such pardon shall not be entitled to receive another pardon by the governor pursuant to this Section,” the legislation says.

Kevin Caldwell, Southeast legislative manager for the advocacy group Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), said his organization is “saddened” by the governor’s veto of the bill.

“This legislation would have granted him the authority to pardon tens of thousands Louisianans who have a cannabis conviction on their records,” he told Marijuana Moment in an email. “This is a missed opportunity to help everyday citizens better their lives and economic opportunities.”

“This legislation was always about improving opportunities,” Caldwell added. “The strong bipartisan support this legislation achieved is a testament to the level of support sensible cannabis policy has in Louisiana.”

Meanwhile, the governor still has several other cannabis bills pending action.

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Older Patients Using Medical Cannabis ‘Experience Considerable Improvement In Health And Well-Being,’ Study Finds

A new study on the impacts of medical marijuana on older adults finds that cannabis-based products may provide multiple therapeutic benefits for the demographic, including for health, well-being, sleep and mood.

Authors also observed “sizable reductions in pain severity and pain interference among older aged patients [reporting] chronic pain as their primary condition.”

The research, published this week in the journal Drugs and Aging, is meant to address what authors call “a general paucity of high quality research” around cannabis and older adults “and a common methodological practice of excluding those aged over 65 years from clinical trials” at a time when older patients are increasingly turning to medical marijuana for relief.

“International evidence that older individuals may be the fastest-growing increase in the use of medical marijuana, coupled with their frequent exclusion from controlled trials, indicates a growing need for real-world evidence to assess the effectiveness and safety of these drugs for older individuals,” the paper says.

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GOP Congressman Says ‘Millions Of Marijuana Users’ Own Guns And Shouldn’t Face Prosecution Like Hunter Biden Did

Two Republican congressmen are challenging the basis of the conviction of President Joe Biden’s son Hunter for purchasing a gun while being a consumer of illegal drugs, with one pointing out that there are “millions of marijuana users” who own guns but should not be prosecuted.

After a federal jury found Hunter Biden guilty of three felony charges related to his purchase of a firearm while being a user of crack cocaine on Tuesday, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said he “might deserve to be in jail for something, but purchasing a gun is not it.”

“There are millions of marijuana users who own guns in this country, and none of them should be in jail for purchasing or possessing a firearm against current laws,” the congressman said.

This past December, attorneys for Hunter Biden called on a federal court to dismiss the case against their client based on a similar principle, arguing that prosecutors are applying an unconstitutional statute that would criminalize millions of marijuana consumers acting in compliance with state law if broadly enforced.

The federal statute banning people who use cannabis from buying or possessing firearms has been challenged in multiple federal courts over recent years, with one case pending a review in the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Woman Faces Possible 30-Year Prison Sentence In Minnesota For Possessing Bong Water

Last year the Legislature decriminalized drug paraphernalia, even if it contains drug residue. The change represented a step back from the drug war tactics of previous decades, with an eye toward treating substance abuse as a public health problem, rather than a criminal justice concern.

But one obscure relic of the war on drug paraphernalia got overlooked, and was not included in the decriminalization bill: a provision in state law that treats bong water—the water at the bottom of a smoking device, used to cool and purify the intoxicating smoke—as a controlled substance, no different than the uncut version of whatever illicit drug the bong was used to smoke.

People don’t consume bong water, but some prosecutors still use it as evidence to charge drug defendants with more serious crimes than they otherwise would be eligible for.

Just ask Jessica Beske.

On May 8, the 43-year-old Fargo resident was pulled over for speeding on Highway 59 in Polk County, Minnesota, according to charging documents. Deputies smelled marijuana and searched the car, where they allege they found a bong, a glass jar containing a “crystal substance” and some items of paraphernalia, including pipes.

The residue on the paraphernalia tested positive for methamphetamine, as did the water in the bong and the substance in the glass jar. Deputies further reported that the bong water weighed 8 ounces and, somewhat confusingly, that the crystal substance weighed 13.2 grams “in total with the packaging.”

Beske says the “packaging” is the glass jar, and that the reason deputies included the jar in the weight is that there wasn’t a measurable quantity of substance in it. She maintains she had no drugs on her, only paraphernalia containing residue. That’s precisely the sort of offense that lawmakers decriminalized in the 2023 bill.

But the Polk County prosecutor has instead charged her with first-degree felony possession, which carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.

It’s because of the bong water.

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Marijuana Terpenes Are ‘As Effective As Morphine’ For Pain Relief And Have Fewer Side Effects, New Study Finds

A new federally funded study into the effects of cannabis terpenes suggests that the compounds could be “potential therapeutics for chronic neuropathic pain,” finding that an injected dose of the compounds produced a “roughly equal” reduction in pain markers when compared to a smaller dose of morphine. Terpenes also appeared to enhance the efficacy of morphine when given in combination.

Unlike with morphine, however, none of the studied terpenes produced a meaningful reward response, the research found, indicating that “terpenes could be effective analgesics with no rewarding or dysphoric side effects.”

Notably, terpenes that were vaporized or administered orally seemed to have little impact on pain.

The paper, “Terpenes from Cannabis sativa induce antinociception in a mouse model of chronic neuropathic pain via activation of adenosine A2A receptors,” was published this month in PAIN, the journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain. The 14-author team behind the report includes researchers from the University of Arizona’s Comprehensive Center for Pain and Addiction as well as the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“A question that we’ve been very interested in is could terpenes be used to manage chronic pain?” lead researcher John Streicher, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Arizona’s College of Medicine in Tucson, said in a press release about the study. “What we found is that terpenes are really good at relieving a specific type of chronic pain with side effects that are low and manageable.”

Authors note that while primary chemical components in marijuana, like THC and CBD, have been shown in some studies to be effective in managing chronic pain, “their efficacy is generally moderate, and THC is burdened by unwanted psychoactive side effects.”

“These limits have focused attention on other potentially therapeutic components of Cannabis,” they wrote, “including minor cannabinoids, flavonoids, and terpenes.”

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Biden Finally Acknowledges His Marijuana Pardons Did Not Expunge Records After Repeatedly Claiming They Did

President Joe Biden, who has previously falsely stated on several occasions that his marijuana pardons also expunged people’s records, has now acknowledged the limitations of his action—stating that for clemency recipients, “their records should be expunged as well, I might add.”

At a campaign event in Philadelphia on Wednesday, where Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris made their pitch to Black voters ahead of the November election, the president said, “I’m keeping my promises that no one should be in jail merely for using or possessing marijuana.”

“I pardoned thousands of people incarcerated for the mere possession of marijuana—thousands. A promise made and a promise kept,” he said. “And their records should be expunged as well, I might add.”

Biden has repeatedly touted the mass cannabis pardons he granted, signaling the campaign’s understanding of the popularity of marijuana reform. But in the past, he’s falsely suggested that the pardons did expunge records—making the claim during his State of the Union address this year, for example—when that’s not the case.

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Daily marijuana use is now more common than daily alcohol use in the U.S., new study finds

Daily and near-daily marijuana use is now more common than similar levels of drinking in the U.S., according to an analysis of national survey data over four decades.

Alcohol is still more widely used, but 2022 was the first time this intensive level of marijuana use overtook high-frequency drinking, said the study’s author, Jonathan Caulkins, a cannabis policy researcher at Carnegie Mellon University

“A good 40 percent of current cannabis users are using it daily or near daily, a pattern that is more associated with tobacco use than typical alcohol use,” Caulkins said.

The research, based on data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, was published Wednesday in the journal Addiction. The survey is a highly regarded source of estimates of tobacco, alcohol and drug use in the United States.

In 2022, an estimated 17.7 million people used marijuana daily or near-daily compared to 14.7 million daily or near-daily drinkers, according to the study. From 1992 to 2022, the per capita rate of reporting daily or near-daily marijuana use increased 15-fold.

The trend reflects changes in public policy. Most states now allow medical or recreational marijuana, though it remains illegal at the federal level. In November, Florida voters will decide on a constitutional amendment allowing recreational cannabis, and the federal government is moving to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug.

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