Tag: medical marijuana

Delaware House Committee Approves Bill To Significantly Expand Medical Marijuana Program Ahead Of Adult-Use Sales Launch

Delaware House lawmakers have approved a bill to significantly expand the state’s medical marijuana program ahead of the launch of adult-use sales that may take another year to implement.

At a meeting of the House Health & Human Development Committee on Wednesday, members took public testimony and then voted to pass the reform legislation from Rep. Ed Osienski (D).

The bill would make a series of changes to Delaware’s medical cannabis program, including removing limitations for patient eligibility based on a specific set of qualifying health conditions. Instead, doctors could issue marijuana recommendations for any condition they see fit.

Osienski, who also sponsored a pair of complementary adult-use legalization and regulation bills that Gov. Jay Carney (D) allowed to become law without his signature last year, said on Wednesday that the medical cannabis legislation will allow the program “to be more successful as the state moves forward with recreational sales, and to make it less expensive and easier for patients to access medical marijuana.”

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Wisconsin Republicans Unveil Plan To Legalize Non-Smokable Medical Marijuana With State-Run Dispensaries

Wisconsin Republicans have unveiled a plan to legalize non-smokable medical marijuana through state-run dispensaries staffed by government-employed pharmacists, with a limited set of conditions that could qualify patients for the program.

At a series of press conferences across the state on Monday, GOP state lawmakers detailed the much-anticipated legislation, which would make Wisconsin the “first state to have state-run dispensaries,” operated by the Department of Health Services (DHS).

As expected, the proposal would create a restrictive system that limits patients to smokeless cannabis options such as oils and gummies. People with qualifying conditions would be eligible to receive a doctor’s recommendation and access the products, which would be sold at five dispensaries across the state.

“We’ve come up with a program I think is going to be very beneficial to a lot of Wisconsinites,” Rep. Jon Plumer (R) said, while acknowledging that the state-controlled dispensaries component is a key area “where our program is different” than other medical marijuana states.

The qualifying conditions include cancer, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), glaucoma, severe chronic pain, muscle spasms, chronic nausea, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, Alzheimer’s disease and terminal illness with less than one year life expectancy.

While the dispensaries would be state-run, growers and processors would be independently operated if they obtain a permit from the state. The pharmacists who dispense the cannabis to patients would be “state employees,” Plumer said.

“We think we have a good program put together. It’s going to be probably modified over the years as we learn about it—as we realize we have changes we should probably make,” he said. “But I think we’re at a really strong starting point here.”

Rep. Tony Kurtz (R) said the proposal underscores how Republicans are “leading to have a great opportunity to introduce a much-needed program with medical cannabis with controls.”

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Kentucky Governor Pushes Lawmakers To Approve More Medical Marijuana Qualifying Conditions While Unveiling First Program Rules

The governor of Kentucky is urging lawmakers to significantly expand the state’s medical marijuana law by adding new qualifying conditions as the administration puts forward a series of initial proposed regulations to begin implementing the program.

At a briefing on Thursday, Gov. Andy Beshear (D) announced that two independent advisory groups he appointed have unanimously voted to recommend that the legislature add more than a dozen new conditions to qualify patients for medical cannabis under a law he signed last year.

“This is a crucial step. While the legislation referenced several qualifying conditions, it left others out,” he said, adding that the expanded list includes “very serious conditions that we believe—but more importantly that these medical groups and advisory groups all unanimously agree—should become a part of the program.”

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South Dakota Bill Would Force Medical Cannabis Dispensaries To Warn Patients About Federal Gun Ban For People ‘Addicted To Marijuana’

South Dakota Republican lawmakers have filed a bill to mandate that state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries post a sign at their businesses warning patients that federal law prohibits cannabis consumers from possessing firearms.

The legislation, led by Rep. Kevin Jensen (R) and Sen. Jim Stalzer (R) and 10 other legislators, comes at a time when the constitutionality of the underlying federal gun ban for marijuana consumers is being challenged in multiple courts.

Under the bill, South Dakota medical cannabis dispensaries would need to post at each entrance to their business and at each register or point of sale a sign that reads:

“WARNING: Federal law prohibits the possession of a firearm by certain individuals who are users of or addicted to marijuana. See 18 U.S.C. § 922(g).”

The measure, HB 1036, states that the warning requirement would be suspended if the attorney general certifies that “federal law no longer prohibits the possession of a firearm by certain individuals who are users of or addicted to marijuana.”

Until then, businesses that fail to post the notice would be subject to a civil penalty of $250 per day, with those fees going to state general fund.

The GOP lawmakers also filed a separate bill, HB 1024, that would require state application forms for medical cannabis cards to contain a notice of the federal restrictions on gun possession by marijuana consumers. Patients would have to sign to specifically acknowledge the warning.

The Justice Department has insisted on the necessity of the ban in numerous federal courts, arguing at points that people who use marijuana and possess guns pose a unique danger, akin to permitting people with serious mental illness to own firearms.

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Federal Lawsuit Challenges Mississippi’s Ban On Marijuana Advertising, Citing Free-Speech Rights

Mississippi’s medical cannabis advertising ban is preventing a small dispensary from attracting customers, Tru Source owner Clarence Cocroft is arguing in a federal lawsuit that casts the law as a violation of his free-speech rights.

Though medical marijuana is now legal for Mississippians with qualifying conditions and a medical cannabis card, state law prohibits dispensary owners and cultivators from advertising cannabis products.

“It’s a daunting task to stay in the industry when you can’t advertise,” Cocroft told the Mississippi Free Press on December 8. “And it’s legal. If they allow you to get licensed, they should allow you to promote your business.”

Cocroft owns Tru Source, the state’s first Black-owned medical cannabis dispensary, located in the southeast industrial zoning area of Olive Branch, Mississippi. Cocroft and his dispensary filed a lawsuit on November 14 against the officials in charge of the regulations at the Mississippi State Department of Health, the Mississippi Department of Revenue and the Mississippi Alcohol Beverage Control Bureau.

To open a medical cannabis shop in the state, a person must apply for a dispensary license, register for a sales tax permit and pay thousands of dollars in fees. A person must have a medical cannabis card and be over the age of 21 to enter a dispensary.

“The fight was, ‘OK, we’re paying you all a lot of taxes. We’re abiding by all your rules that you have set forth. All we’re asking is simple: Allow us to advertise. It’s going to increase your tax rate as a state,’” Cocroft said.

Tru Source relies on its website, word of mouth and signs posted on the building for advertising. But Cocroft cannot advertise his dispensary or its website in any other advertising medium. The owner said many customers would not have known about the store if they had not driven by the area.

“It’s not just me in my location that cannot advertise,” he said. “It’s every location in Olive Branch; it’s every dispensary in DeSoto County and all 82 counties,” Cocroft said.

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Most Military Service Members, Veterans And Their Families Support Allowing VA Doctors To Recommend Marijuana And Psychedelics

Active duty military personnel, veterans and their family members support allowing U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) doctors to recommend medical marijuana and psychedelics to patients if they believe it would provide a benefit, according to results of a survey from Ohio State University (OSU).

Researchers polled service members, veterans, their family members and non-military respondents over a few weeks in late August and early September, the report says. All told, 1,168 individuals participated, including 315 active and veteran military members, 426 members of military families and 427 non-military individuals. The goal was to assess the differing likelihoods across the categories of respondents to support various statements about medical marijuana and psychedelics as available treatment options.

“Given the prevalence of health issues within the veteran community and the need for a wide range of treatment options, some researchers have started to explore whether and how veteran populations should have access to alternative treatment options such as marijuana and psychedelics,” authors wrote in the preprint paper, which was published this month by OSU law school’s Drug Enforcement and Policy Center and has not been peer-reviewed. “Studies of veteran views on these issues, however, have not closely explored how veteran perspectives on certain drug issues compare directly to those in their immediate and broader community.”

The survey participants, drawn from the volunteer American Population Panel, were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with four statements about marijuana and psychedelics:

  1. Marijuana/psychedelics can be an effective treatment for various medical conditions.
  2. A doctor should be legally allowed to recommend marijuana/psychedelics if the doctor believes the patient could benefit from medical marijuana/psychedelics, even without FDA approval.
  3. A doctor should be legally allowed to recommend marijuana/psychedelics, but only after it has received an approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
  4. Because of the unique hardships and health conditions experienced by veterans, U.S. Veterans Administration doctors should be legally allowed to recommend marijuana/psychedelics to veterans if the doctor believes the patient could benefit from marijuana/psychedelics.

Strong majorities of all three surveyed groups agreed the substances can be effective treatments, with even more sizable proportions saying that Veterans Administration (VA) doctors should be able to legally recommend the substances to patients if they believe they would provide some benefit.

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Ukraine Legalizes Medical Marijuana

Ukraine’s unicameral parliament, the Verkhovna Rada’ passed a bill Thursday on the legalization of medical marijuana. The bill was approved in a 248-16 votes, reported the Odessa Journal.

The legislation was recently blocked by a single opposition party and hundreds of its “spam amendments.”

In June 2023 Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed his support for legalizing medical marijuana. He said at the time that Ukraine should undertake an effort to create the best mental and physical rehabilitation sector in Europe by building centers and educating personnel.

“In particular, we must finally honestly legalize cannabis-based medicine for everyone who needs it, [with] the relevant scientific research and controlled Ukrainian manufacturing,” Zelensky said.

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Pennsylvania Lawmakers Approve Bills To Protect Medical Cannabis Patients From DUI Charges

Pennsylvania lawmakers have advanced a pair of bills meant to prevent police from charging medical cannabis patients with impaired driving without proof of intoxication.

The Senate version of the legislation from Sen. Camera Bartolotta (R) cleared the Senate Transportation Committee, with amendments, in a unanimous vote last week.

Meanwhile, a House bill sponsored by Rep. Christopher Rabb (D), which is drafted differently but meant to achieve the same goal, passed that chamber’s Transportation Committee, 14-10.

Bartolotta said the measure—an earlier version of which also advanced last year—is designed to close a “loophole” in Pennsylvania’s medical cannabis law that currently permits law enforcement to arrest and prosecute patients for driving under the influence of marijuana without demonstrating that they are actively impaired.

“In 2016, we legalized the use of medicinal cannabis for a myriad of conditions. We were very careful with how the language was crafted in an attempt to avoid unintended consequences,” the senator said during the committee meeting. “Since that time, it has become very obvious that we overlooked one very important aspect.”

She pointed out that the majority of states, including some that have not legalized medical marijuana, require proof of impairment for DUI cases. But Pennsylvania’s law maintains that cannabis is considered a Schedule I drug for the purposes of impaired driving, regardless of a person’s status as a state-registered medical marijuana patient.

That’s led to situations where people have faced DUI charges after being stopped by police, identifying as a medical cannabis patient and then being required to submit to a drug test that showed the presence of inactive THC metabolites, which can stay in a person’s systems for days or weeks after using marijuana.

“No one should be put through this situation if they are legally and responsibly using medical cannabis in Pennsylvania,” Bartolotta said. “It is past time that we correct this egregious oversight.”

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29 Former Federal Prosecutors Urge Biden Administration To Leave Marijuana In Schedule I

In a letter sent to the heads of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) this week, 29 former U.S. attorneys are urging the Biden administration to leave cannabis in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), arguing that “marijuana has only become more dangerous, potent, and addictive” since the government last reviewed its scheduling in 2016.

The correspondence comes as DEA continues its review of marijuana’s scheduling after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommended in August that the substance be moved, reportedly to Schedule III.

“Almost no one has benefitted from legal weed,” the former federal prosecutors claim in the new letter, “but there is one group coming out on top: drug cartels. Many states have enacted home-grow marijuana laws, which led to cartels growing marijuana in the United States to cut trafficking costs.”

The letter, to Attorney General Merrick Garland and DEA Administrator Anne Milgram, does not cite a source for that claim. Most states limit legal home cultivation for cannabis to less than a dozen plants and outlaw unlicensed commercial sales.

One of the main reasons for marijuana’s current Schedule I status is the government’s assertion that the plant has no recognized medical use—an issue reform advocates have challenged as more than three-quarters of all U.S. states have adopted medical cannabis laws.

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GOP Kansas Senate President Is ‘Open’ To Limited Medical Marijuana For Seriously Ill While Dismissing Public Support For Legalization

The GOP Kansas Senate leader says he’s “open” to medical marijuana—but only in restricted form for seriously ill or terminal patients. And he might want to do a pilot program first before potentially expanding the limited reform.

During an interview with KCUR that aired on Thursday, Senate President Ty Masterson (R) was asked about his willingness to enact cannabis legalization given how recent polling shows overwhelming public support for the policy change.

He first suggested that most Kansans only support medical cannabis for “palliative care,” and claimed that “recreational was not addressed as a majority” in the recent survey. The host pressed him, pointing out that the recent Kansas Speaks fall poll found 67 percent support for taxing and regulating adult-use marijuana.

“If you look at that question, I think most people would answer yes, but they don’t know what they’re actually saying yes to,” Masterson, whose chamber declined to act on a House-passed medical marijuana legalization bill in 2021, argued. He cited concerns with the implementation of adult-use legalization in neighboring Oklahoma.

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