Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Federal Ban On Gun Ownership By Marijuana Users Is Unconstitutional, Appeals Court Says

A federal appeals court panel on Wednesday ruled in favor of a Texas woman whom judges described as a “non-violent, marijuana smoking gunowner,” affirming a lower court’s ruling that federal charges filed against the woman for owning a firearm as a cannabis user are unconstitutional.

“The short of it is that our history and tradition may support some limits on a presently intoxicated person’s right to carry a weapon,” the court wrote in the new opinion, “but they do not support disarming a sober person based solely on past substance usage.”

Judges also pushed back against claims by Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys that cannabis users are inherently more dangerous than other Americans.

“Nor, contrary to what the government contends, do restrictions on the mentally ill or more generalized traditions of disarming ‘dangerous’ persons apply to nonviolent, occasional drug users when of sound mind,” the decision says.

DOJ has argued in this and other recent court cases that the federal law against gun and ammunition possession by someone who uses marijuana is consistent with other historical restrictions on gun ownership, such as by “mental defectives…and others whose possession of firearms is contrary to the public interests.”

But the Fifth Circuit panel disagreed.

“We must ask: why was severe mental illness a reason the Founders disarmed people, and is that ‘why’ ‘relevantly similar’ to § 922(g)(3)?” says the opinion, referring to the statute against gun ownership by people who consume illegal drugs.

Wrote the court: “It is not.”

“The government highlights nothing demonstrating that laws designed to confine (and consequently, disarm) those so severely mentally ill that they presented a danger to themselves and others map onto § 922(g)(3)’s rationale,” the panel said. “Repeat marijuana users, like repeat alcohol users, are of sound mind upon regaining sobriety, whereas those adjudged severely mentally ill often require extensive treatment and follow-up examination before they can be said to be of sound mind again.”

Keep reading

Marijuana Compound Has ‘Anti-Aging Effect On The Brain,’ Study Of Mice Dosed With THC Finds

Authors of a new study on the neurological impacts of long-term THC administration say their findings “could be the basis for an effective antiaging and pro-cognitive medication,” noting increased energy and synaptic protein production in mice that received low doses of the chief psychoactive substance in marijuana.

“Long-term low-dose Δ9-THC had an antiaging effect on the brain by restoring cognitive abilities and synapse densities in old mice,” says the new research, published this month in the American Chemical Society journal Pharmacology and Translational Science, adding that the “results suggest that Δ9-THC-induced consecutive bidirectional changes [in the brain] may play a significant role in the positive effect of Δ9-THC treatment against brain aging.”

The study, which was supported by an organization funded by the German government as that country launches its new marijuana legalization policy, also sheds some light on the mechanisms that could underlie the beneficial effects of the cannabis component, though it acknowledges the cause remains “an open question.”

Researchers took older and younger age groups of male mice—four months old and 18 months old—and gave them either THC or a placebo for a period for about a month. Measurements included brain function as well as levels of proteins associated with things like metabolism, memory and aging. One of the main proteins analyzed was mTOR, which influences cognitive performance and a variety of aging-related cell functions across the body, such as growth and metabolism.

Keep reading

Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura Calls On Marijuana Consumers To Boycott State Fair For Banning Cannabis But Allowing Alcohol And Tobacco

Minnesota’s former governor is calling on people to boycott this year’s State Fair for prohibiting marijuana use at the venue while at the same time allowing attendees to consume alcohol and tobacco—even though the state enacted a cannabis legalization law last year. But while Jesse Venture is fired up about the fair’s policy, he’s also optimistic about the prospects of federal marijuana reform under a Harris-Walz administration.

In an interview with Marijuana Moment on Thursday, Ventura said he does hope that Vice President Harris Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic nominee, and her running mate, current Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), advocate for an end to federal cannabis prohibition on the campaign trail, saying it would be “smart for them to do so” given the popularity of the issue.

“If they would come out and say they would lift the federal ban on cannabis, marijuana, I think that could help ensure their victory,” he said. “There is a tremendous amount of cannabis users out there who would vote accordingly so that they would not feel, federally, like they’re still criminals in any way, shape or form.”

During her time in the Senate, Harris sponsored a comprehensive marijuana legalization bill, and she’s called for major reform as recently as March during a roundtable with presidential pardon recipients. Walz signed cannabis legalization into law in Minnesota last year—and he invited Ventura, a longstanding champion of reform, to attend the signing ceremony.

Despite Minnesota enacting legalization, however, Ventura says the State Fair is not allowing cannabis use, even as it makes accommodations for tobacco use in specific areas and will have alcohol available for purchase on-site at beer gardens and other vendors.

“It’s supposed to be legal in the state of Minnesota. How can they outlaw it at the State Fair when they allow tobacco and alcohol? And my point being is this: All we ask in the cannabis world is to treat us equally,” he said. “Treat us fairly. Treat us the same as you do tobacco and alcohol. And unfortunately, that’s not happening. We’re being discriminated against, even though it is now legal.”

“All cannabis smokers ought to boycott the State Fair,” Ventura, a former wrestler and actor, said. “Don’t go there until we’re given our equal rights and we’re treated equally to tobacco and alcohol.”

A spokesperson for the Minnesota State Fair confirmed in an email to Marijuana Moment that “the smoking and vaping of cannabis is prohibited on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds” during the 2024 event.

Keep reading

Intoxicating Hemp Products Are Undercutting South Dakota Medical Marijuana Sales, Businesses Tell Lawmakers

South Dakota’s legislative oversight committee on medical marijuana was thrust into the world of synthetic THC on Monday as members heard complaints about how loosely regulated, hemp-derived products are affecting the state’s medical marijuana industry.

The Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee heard from business owners and the State Public Health Laboratory director during a meeting in Pierre. They’re concerned about the growth in synthetically altered, hemp-derived products, sold under terms including delta-8 THC and delta-10 THC, which are compounds that can produce a high similar to marijuana. The compound that gives marijuana its high is delta-9 THC.

As with marijuana, the synthetic products take the form of smokable flower, pre-rolled joints, vape oil and edibles. Unlike marijuana, the companies that produce them aren’t subject to the testing, security and labeling requirements attached to the state’s legal medical cannabis market.

Alternatives not only pose a health risk, the witnesses told the oversight committee, but can cut into demand for medical marijuana since the products can be purchased without a medical marijuana patient card and can be loaded with large enough quantities of THC variants to act as a stand-in for marijuana.

Congress authorized hemp growing with the 2018 Farm Bill, and South Dakota has become the largest producer of hemp in the country after legalizing it four years ago. In that time period, the availability and variety of hemp-derived marijuana alternatives has exploded.

The Legislature passed House Bill 1125 last winter to address the “diet weed” market. The law, which went into effect in July but is being challenged in court, bans the creation or sale of some products created through chemical modification of hemp. Possession of the products is still legal.

The new law bans four THC variants, State Public Health Laboratory Director Tim Southern told the committee, but several others remain available. THC-A products, for example, remain widely available in smoke shops that had previously sold other products that are now illegal to sell.

Keep reading

GOP Senators Claim Marijuana Is A ‘Gateway Drug’ As They Oppose Rescheduling And Legalization

Two GOP senators said recently that they remain opposed to marijuana reform—in part, because they believe cannabis is a “gateway drug,” perpetuating the dubious claim as other Republican lawmakers members raise concerns about the Biden administration’s push to enact rescheduling.

In an interview with St. Louis Public Radio that aired on Monday, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) was asked about his views on various cannabis reform proposals, including comprehensive legalization and bipartisan legislation to protect banks that work with state-licensed marijuana businesses.

“I just think that marijuana is still a gateway drug,” Hawley said. “We have medicinal marijuana, which I did support in Missouri. So if you want to get the medicinal benefits, there’s a way to capture that.” He did caveat, however, that he thinks “the medicinal benefits of it are limited.”

But while he knows the state’s voters have since approved adult-use legalization and would “abide by” the law, he said he didn’t vote for it and “wouldn’t support extending it.”

Keep reading

Ohio Marijuana Retailers Bring In More Than $11.5 Million During First Four Days Of Legal Recreational Sales

Ohio legal weed sales topped $11.5 million in less than a week.

The state’s total recreational marijuana sales was $11,530,708 as of August 10, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Cannabis Control. Recreational sales started August 6—eight months after 57 percent of Ohioans voted to legalize recreational marijuana. The average of price of an ounce of flower was $266 last week, according to the division.

There were 173,043 units of manufacturer product sold and 1,285 pounds of plant material, according to the division.

Ohio currently has 120 dual-use dispensaries as of Wednesday, meaning they can sell both medical and non-medical marijuana, according to the division. Ohio had 98 dual-use dispensaries when recreational sales started.

More than 70 Ohio cities have local moratoriums prohibiting adult-use cannabis business, according to Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law.

Under Ohio’s ballot measure to legalize marijuana, there is a 10 percent tax at the point of sales for each non-medical marijuana transaction.

The ballot measure created five funds in the state treasury—the adult use tax fund, the cannabis social equity and jobs fund, the host community cannabis fund, the substance abuse and addiction fund and the division of cannabis control and tax commissioner fund.

Keep reading

Why Psychedelic Drugs May Become a Key Treatment for PTSD and Depression

While it has been referenced throughout history, notably in World War I, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as we know it today was first described as a distinct diagnosis after World War II among individuals who had survived Nazi concentration camps. The patients came home experiencing anxiety, depression and nightmares. They were frequently startled. In a paper synthesizing some of these early observations in 1963, psychiatrist Paul Chodoff wrote, “Perhaps the most nearly universal and most characteristic symptom was an obsessive rumination state in which the patient was more or less constantly preoccupied with recollections of, and ruminations about, his experiences during persecution, and about family who had died or been killed.” Psychiatrists tested a variety of treatments from drugs to exposure therapy for what Chodoff referred to as “concentration camp syndrome.”

More than 70 years after the initial observations, patients diagnosed with PTSD today still have few treatment options; most likely they will be prescribed a combination of therapy and antidepressant drugs. For some patients, these treatments make a positive difference in their quality of life, but many others continue for years without relief from nightmares, flashbacks, severe guilt and anxiety that can come with the condition. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, about 6 percent of Americans will be diagnosed with PTSD at some point in their lives, whether they served in the military or not. While PTSD is often associated with traumas from war, it can also refer to symptoms after other traumatic experiences such as being involved in a serious accident, witnessing death or injury or being a victim of sexual assault.

Patients and scientists have longed for more options. “How many drugs are registered [in the U.S. and Europe] for PTSD?” asks Eric Vermetten, a psychiatrist at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands and a military veteran himself. “The answer is two. And when were they registered? 21 years ago. That’s 21 years, we haven’t had any new drugs registered for PTSD.”

Keep reading

JD Vance Claims There’s ‘Fentanyl In Our Marijuana Bags That Our Teenagers Are Using’

Former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), is claiming that “marijuana bags” are being laced with fentanyl, and he says the Biden administration’s border policies are making it so that youth, including his own kids, can’t experiment with cannabis or other drugs without risking fatal overdoses.

During a campaign event with the Milwaukee Police Association in Wisconsin on Friday, Vance said he spoke to a police officer who told him that “we’ve got fentanyl in our marijuana bags that our teenagers are using,” echoing a claim about laced cannabis that’s been routinely contested by advocates and certain state regulators.

“Look, I’m the parent of three young kids… A seven-year-old, a four-year-old and a two-year-old,” he said. “We don’t have to worry about this yet, but I’m certain—because kids are kids—that one day, one of my kids is going to take something or do something that I don’t want them to take. But I don’t want that mistake to ruin their life.”

“I want them to learn from it. I want their parents to be able to punish them. I don’t want our kids to make mistakes on American streets and have it take their lives away from them,” he said, suggesting that he recognizes when his children grow up they may experiment with certain substances such as marijuana, but he’s more concerned with potentially lethal contamination.

Advocates would argue that’s a key reason to enact a regulatory framework for marijuana or other drugs that includes testing requirements and other safeguards to mitigate the risk of dangerous contaminants, but the GOP candidate did not draw that connection and continues to maintain an opposition to cannabis legalization.

Keep reading

California Senators Approve Bill To Let Marijuana Growers Sell Directly To Consumers At Farmers Markets

California senators have advanced an Assembly-passed bill that would allow regulators to issue a new license allowing small marijuana growers to sell their products directly to consumers at state-organized farmers markets and other temporary events.

The legislation from Assemblymember Gail Pellerin (D) was unanimously approved in the Senate Appropriations Committee in a 4-0 vote on Thursday. Adults would also be able to consume cannabis on-site at approved events.

The bill cleared the Assembly in late May with nearly unanimous support before moving to the Senate, where it passed through two committees. It now heads to the floor.

If approved, it will still need to go back to the Assembly for concurrence on Senate amendments, including one stipulating that the licensee can only sell and allow on-site consumption at “state temporary events.” The original language was broader, permitting such activity at “specified temporary events.”

The Senate Appropriations Committee also amended the legislation to delay implementation until January 1, 2026.

Under the proposal, the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) would be authorized to issue “a state temporary event license to a licensee authorizing onsite cannabis sales to, and consumption by, persons 21 years of age or older at certain venues expressly approved by a local jurisdiction, as specified,” the bill text says.

Local jurisdictions would need to consent to allowing the events in order for a license to be granted.

Keep reading