Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Ohio Would Ban Intoxicating Hemp Product Sales Under GOP Senator’s New Bill

State Sen. Steve Huffman, R-Tipp City, introduced a bill that would ban the sale of intoxicating hemp products in Ohio.

The Republican lawmaker introduced Senate Bill 326 on Thursday. State lawmakers are set to return to the Ohio Statehouse next week for the start of lame duck.

S.B. 326 defines intoxicating hemp products as containing more than 0.5 of a milligram of delta-9 THC per serving, two milligrams of delta-9 THC per package, or 0.5 of a milligram of total non-delta-9 THC per package, according to the bill’s language.

“This act is hereby declared to be an emergency measure necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety,” the bill said. “The reason for such necessity is to protect Ohioans, especially Ohio’s youth, from untested, unregulated dangerous tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) products. Therefore, this act shall go into immediate effect.”

Marijuana, which is legal in Ohio, is not included as an intoxicating hemp product, according to the bill’s language. Ohio recreational marijuana sales recently topped $143.4 million since sales started three months ago, according to the the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Cannabis Control.

The 2018 Farm Bill says hemp can be grown legally if it contains less than 0.3 percent THC. Intoxicating hemp products can come in many forms including edibles, beverages, vaping cartridges or oils, among other things.

Delta-9 THC is the main naturally occurring intoxicating part of the cannabis plant and people typically experience a high after consuming or smoking delta-9 THC beyond a certain threshold.

Under S.B. 326, the Ohio Investigative Unit would enforce this piece of legislation if it were to become law, with the assistance of the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

The Ohio Department of Commerce Director (who is currently Sheryl Maxfield) could impose an administrative penalty against someone who sells intoxicating hemp products—$10,000 for a first violation, $25,000 for a second violation and $50,000 for a third violation.

Violating the proposed law would be a first degree misdemeanor on a first offense and a fifth degree felony for a second offense, according to the bill’s language. It would be a fifth degree felony if someone sold intoxicating hemp to someone under 21.

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A Psychedelic Ban Would Disrupt Important Research

You have probably never heard of 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine (DOI), much less worried about its possible abuse. Yet the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) wants to ban this synthetic psychedelic, a promising research chemical used in more than 900 published studies, by placing it in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), which defeated a previous DEA attempt to ban DOI in 2022, is determined to stop the agency’s interference with science again.

A DEA administrative law judge has scheduled a 10-day hearing on the proposed ban, beginning on November 12. SSDP, which filed a prehearing statement on behalf of more than 20 scientists, argues that placing DOI in Schedule I would impose “onerous financial and bureaucratic obstacles on researchers.” SSDP also opposes the scheduling of another psychedelic, 2,5-dimethoxy-4-chloroamphetamine (DOC), under the same proposed rule, which the DEA published last December.

“DOI and DOC are important research chemicals with basically no evidence of abuse,” says SSDP alum and legal counsel Brett Phelps. Phelps is working with Denver attorney Robert Rush, who represents 
University of California, Berkeley, neuroscientist Raul Ramos.

“The DEA’s attempt to classify DOI, a compound of great significance to both psychedelic and fundamental serotonin research, as a Schedule I substance exemplifies an administrative agency overstepping its bounds,” Rush says. “The government admits DOI is not being diverted for use outside of scientific research yet insists on placing this substance in such a restricted class that it will disrupt virtually all current research.”

SSDP describes the two compounds as “essential research chemicals in pre-clinical psychiatry and neurobiology,” noting that their unscheduled status has made them accessible as tools for studying serotonin receptors. It says DOI, in particular, has been “a cornerstone in neuroscience research” due to its selectivity for the 5-HT2A serotonin receptor, crucial for understanding the therapeutic effects of psychedelics. Scientists have used DOI to “map the localization of an important serotonin receptor in the brain critical in learning, memory, and psychiatric disease,” SSDP notes, and DOI studies “have shown encouraging results in managing pain and reducing opioid cravings.”

The DEA argues that DOI and DOC “have a high potential for abuse.” While the two compounds “are available for purchase from legitimate chemical synthesis companies,” the DEA concedes, “there is no evidence of diversion from these companies.” But it notes that both drugs “have been encountered by law enforcement in the United States,” indicating their “availability for abuse.” Because “DOI and DOC are not found in FDA-approved drug products,” the DEA says, people who use them must be doing so “on their own initiative, rather than based on medical advice.”

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Florida Sen. Rick Scott says he’ll vote against recreational pot after brother’s death

Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida says he’ll be voting in November against a ballot amendment to legalize recreational marijuana in his state, a deeply personal decision based on his brother’s long history of addiction.

The senator and former Florida governor said he watched his brother Roger Scott begin smoking marijuana as a teenager and then struggle with substance use for the rest of life.

“People end up with addictive personalities, and so he did,” Scott said in an interview. “It messes up your life, and so that’s why I’ve never supported legalization of drugs.”

When Roger Scott died in April at 67, the cause wasn’t substance abuse, but rather “a life of drugs and alcohol” catching up with him, the senator said. He had lived in an apartment in Dallas, Texas, where he served jail time in 1990 on a misdemeanor conviction of possessing dangerous drugs, court records show.

Rick Scott became wealthy as a lawyer and health care industry executive before entering politics. Now running for reelection, he lamented that his brother had a “tough life” and says it all began with marijuana.

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Dallas Voters Nix an All-Purpose Excuse for Police Harassment: ‘I Smelled Marijuana’

The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a case involving a Texas police officer, Roberto Felix Jr., who shot and killed a motorist, Ashtian Barnes, after stopping him for toll violations tied to the rental car he was driving. The issue in Barnes v. Felix is whether that use of deadly force, which happened after Felix leaped onto the car as Barnes began driving away, should be assessed based solely on “the moment of the threat” or based on an analysis that includes the circumstances that produced the threat. But another detail of the encounter reflects the role that the purported odor of marijuana plays in police stops that may lead to humiliating searches, cash seizures, arrests, or, as in this case, potentially lethal violence.

When Felix asked Barnes for his driver’s license and proof of insurance, a federal judge noted in 2021, “Barnes informed him that he did not have his license and that he had rented the vehicle a week earlier in his girlfriend’s name.” Barnes started “reaching around the vehicle and rummaging through papers.” Felix told him to stop “digging around” and “asked Barnes whether he had anything in the vehicle he should know about, claiming he smelled marijuana.” Although a search conducted after Felix killed Barnes found no marijuana, the alleged odor helped escalate the encounter, indicating that Felix suspected Barnes of criminal activity as well as toll violations.

A ballot initiative that Dallas voters overwhelmingly approved this week aims to avoid such escalation. In addition to generally barring local police from arresting people for marijuana possession misdemeanors, Proposition R says “Dallas police shall not consider the odor of marijuana or hemp to constitute probable cause for any search or seizure.” That seemingly modest restriction undercuts an excuse that in practice gives cops the discretion to stop, harass, and search pretty much anyone by claiming to smell pot.

Proposition R reflects an ongoing controversy over marijuana odor and probable cause. In states that have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use, some courts have held that the smell of cannabis, whether detected by a human or a police dog, can no longer justify a search, since it does not necessarily constitute evidence of a crime. And while Texas has not legalized marijuana for any use, it has legalized hemp, which comes from the same plant species and cannot be distinguished from marijuana without a laboratory test to measure THC content.

In 2019, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 1325, which changed the state’s definition of “marihuana” to exclude “hemp, as that term is defined by Section 121.001” of the Texas Agriculture Code. Consistent with federal law, Section 121.001 defines “hemp” as “the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, including the seeds of the plant and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.”

The difference between legal “hemp” and prohibited “marihuana,” in other words, is the THC concentration, which cannot be measured by smell or even by a field test. “Before H.B. 1325,” Dallas attorney Jon McCurley notes, “marijuana’s distinct and readily recognizable odor often [led] law enforcement to believe that a criminal act was occurring.” But after H.B. 1325, “simply detecting the odor of marijuana may not be enough to justify a search or seizure under the Fourth Amendment because in order to search or get a warrant, law enforcement officials must have probable cause that a crime has been committed or is about to be committed.”

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Colorado Springs Voters Approve Two Contradictory Marijuana Ballot Measures To Both Allow And Ban Recreational Sales

Colorado Springs voters approved two competing ballot measures this week, one that would ban retail marijuana in the city and another that would allow existing medical marijuana stores to also sell recreationally.

As of 6 p.m. on Wednesday night, about 53 percent of voters approved Ballot Issue 2D, a city charter amendment referred by City Council that would prohibit sales within city limits. About the same share of voters also approved Ballot Question 300, an initiated ordinance which would allow the approximately 90 medical marijuana stores in the city to apply for a recreational license.

Mayor Yemi Mobolade said the result creates “a really interesting legal dilemma for us,” according to Westword.

“Although the election is not final until the results are certified, it appears as though both Ballot Question 2D and Ballot Question 300 will have been approved by the voters. If this is the case, Ballot Question 300 must be read, interpreted, and implemented in a manner to be consistent and harmonious with Ballot Question 2D,” city spokesperson Max D’Onofrio wrote in an email.

The city charter takes precedence over ordinances, so provisions of Ballot Question 300 that conflict with Ballot Issue 2D cannot be implemented, which appears to mean recreational marijuana sales would continue to be outlawed. D’Onofrio said the city is currently reviewing the ballot language. City Council next meets on November 12.

At the same time, backers of Ballot Issue 2D are optimistic.

“When all the votes are counted and the will of voters is given effect, responsible regulation will be law and the city council’s cynical ploy will be defeated,” Citizens for Responsible Marijuana Regulation said in a statement. “We know that those in municipal government will defer to the clearly expressed intent of voters to authorize recreational marijuana, and we look forward to working with city leaders over the coming months to create a responsible regulatory framework.”

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‘Outdated’ Marijuana Packaging Rules Make It ‘Impossible’ For Cannabis Industry To Be Environmentally Sustainable, Study Says

A newly published study of product packaging from the commercial marijuana industry concludes that the market shift toward vape pens in recent years has been “a seismic event for cannabis waste,” with packaging from California’s legal market now nearly on par with that of household pharmaceuticals in the state.

But while there’s “a robust infrastructure in place for reverse distribution” of pharmaceuticals, the study notes, “no such infrastructure exists for cannabis waste at large scale.”

The new research, by Oaksterdam University researcher Mitchell Colbert, published this week in the standards organization ATSM International’s Journal of Testing and Evaluation, also highlights how state cannabis regulations contribute to excessive cannabis waste that doesn’t exist for other industries.

The paper describes itself as “a novel attempt to estimate the volume of cannabis consumer packaging waste produced in California each year…and compare it with other household hazardous waste (HHW).”

It notes that while California regulators collected waste data through the state’s track-and-trace program, that information “is not publicly available even with a state Public Records Act request to the [Department of Cannabis Control].” Instead the study looked at a sample of cannabis packaging of 256 California cannabis products from 138 manufacturers, combining those findings with sales data on the number of product units sold.

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RFK Jr. Declares War on Big Pharma: Vows to Clear Out ‘Entire Departments’ at the FDA in Push for Health Reform

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., known for his relentless stance against corporate influence in health policy, is now taking direct aim at the entrenched bureaucracies within the U.S. health agencies.

As a possible future Trump administration appointee, RFK Jr. has laid out a plan to rid the FDA and other key federal agencies of the deeply-rooted corruption that prioritizes corporate profits over public health.

Recall that Trump said that if he is elected, Kennedy will work on “health and women’s health ” and the nation’s food supply.

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. we have. And he’s going to work on health and women’s health and all of the different reasons, because we’re not really a wealthy or a healthy country,” Trump said during his rally in Nevada.

“I told Bobby, ‘I want you to take care of health, I want you to look at the food and the food supply and what we put on the food and all sorts of — you can look at, but let me handle the oil and gas, Bobby,’” Trump added.

In Kennedy’s crosshairs are not only the FDA but also the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Department of Agriculture (USDA).

On Saturday, Robert Kennedy Jr. announced that the Trump administration would advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from tap water on day one.

“On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S​. water systems to remove fluoride from public water,” Kennedy wrote. “Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease. President ​Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump want to Make America Healthy Again.”

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Trump’s top healthcare priority must be repealing Big Pharma’s legal immunity for vaccines

Lawsuits aren’t fun.

At best they’re draining and distracting – especially against big companies with tough legal teams. (Trust me.) Federal courts have now raised the bar even to reach the “discovery” phase of suits, where plaintiffs can see documents relevant to their claims.

No, lawsuits aren’t fun. No one sues a Fortune 500 company for kicks.

But sometimes they’re are necessary. Except, apparently, when it comes to vaccines1.

In its infinite wisdom, in 1986, Congress passed a law making it nearly impossible for any American to sue pharmaceutical companies over vaccine injuries. Instead, it routed all claims to a special federal court program that would judge possible injuries on a “no-fault” basis and compare them to a prespecified list of injuries.

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Vaccines Contain Glyphosate, One of the Most Toxic Chemicals on the Planet

Childhood vaccines were originally developed to protect young children from virulent, sometimes lethal, diseases.

According to mainstream medicine, “Vaccines have played a crucial role in reducing the burden of infectious diseases.”

“A May study in the Lancet estimated that vaccines against 14 common pathogens have saved 154 million lives over the past five decades—at a rate of six lives every minute,” asserts Tara Haelle in a Scientific American article published this week called “The Staggering Success of Vaccines.”

At the same time, even the most diehard vaccine supporters found themselves ill at ease during COVID when they learned that unvaccinated children were being barred from public life and vaccine-hesitant people had to be bribed to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

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FDA Knows That China and India Drug Quality Is Poor, But Independently Collects and Tests Only about 0.001%

Quality control errors during pharmaceutical manufacturing are unfortunately common occurrences. The majority (around 50%) of employees that work in pharmaceutical manufacturing tend to have duties which are safety/quality-control related, but apparently even that isn’t enough. 

Even with a major focus on quality, there is still an estimated 2-3σ (sigma) level of imprecision when it comes to pharmaceutical manufacturing. That corresponds to 66,807 to 308,537 defects per 1,000,000 opportunities. But with pharmaceutical development being so complicated, there could be more than 1,000,000 “opportunities” for error. 

The above listed error calculation – while alarming enough – was referenced in small-molecule pharmacology. However, increasingly complex pharmaceuticals (such as today’s widely used biotechnological products, including GLP-1 diabetes/weight loss or mRNA products for Covid-19) have molecular weights that can be thousands times larger than small molecule compounds. That could mean an even greater opportunity for error. 

The FDA is abundantly aware of pharmaceutical fragility and potential quality shortcomings, including at the highest levels of its leadership. 

In fact, Dr. Michael Kopcha, the current Director of the FDA’s Office of Pharmaceutical Quality (OPQ), wrote and published the above published Six Sigma calculation, lamenting the imprecise nature of pharmaceutical manufacturing – back in 2017. 

Any alteration in structure that occurs during manufacturing has the potential to vastly change a compound’s clinical activity, including a change from therapeutic drug into a poison.

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