Tag: the war on (some) drugs

DeSantis Reportedly Plans To Veto Hemp Ban In Hopes Industry Will Help Defeat Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiative

The governor of Florida is reportedly planning to veto a bill that would ban consumable hemp-derived cannabinoid products such as delta-8 THC, apparently because he’s hoping the hemp industry will help finance a campaign opposing a marijuana legalization initiative on the state’s November ballot.

As Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) prepares to step up his push against the legalization measure, officials close to the governor who spoke anonymously to CBS News say he’s plotting to leverage the hemp industry’s economic interest in participating in the intoxicating cannabinoid market to convince people to vote against marijuana reform.

DeSantis has made abundantly clear that he’s against marijuana legalization, arguing that the state shouldn’t go beyond the existing medical cannabis program and that broader reform would negatively impact the quality of life for Floridians.

But in the background, another cannabis battle has played out in the state legislature, with lawmakers in both chambers approving a bill to severely restrict consumable hemp products. It hasn’t been formally transmitted to the governor yet, but a source told the local news outlet that “he’s going to veto.”

“The marijuana people are furious,” they said, “and they are scrambling.”

Another source said there was “never a thought the governor would veto the bill,” but “they are now signaling that they are going to veto, and I think it would be fair to say he is leaning toward a veto.”

By vetoing the legislation, the governor is reportedly banking on hemp businesses returning the favor by aiding in his campaign to defeat the marijuana legalization initiative. It’s unclear if that would play out, but it is the case that certain leadership in the Florida Republican Party, which formally came out against Amendment 3 earlier this month, have close ties to the hemp industry.

The state party’s president and interim executive director, Evan Power and Bill Helmich, are both top lobbyists for the Florida Healthy Alternatives Association that represents hemp stakeholders.

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Medical Marijuana Is The Leading Cause Of Rejected Gun Permits In Hawaii, New Report From AG’s Office Shows

Of the roughly 500 firearm permit applications denied by officials in Hawaii last year, more than 40 percent were rejected because of applicants’ status as medical marijuana patients, according to new data from the state attorney general’s office.

Across Hawaii, state-legal cannabis use was the leading cause of gun permits being denied (40.7 percent), with mental health issues responsible for about a quarter of rejections and domestic violence disqualifying about 7 percent.

That said, a relatively small portion of firearm registrations were rejected by law enforcement last year. Of 23,528 applications processed during 2023, only 519—about 2.2 percent—were denied.

Of the rejected applications, 211 resulted from medical marijuana. Those denials included not only patients currently enrolled in the state program but also former patients. As the AG report notes, “police departments allow former patients to apply for firearms no less than one year after the expiration of their medical marijuana card.”

Under federal law, being an “unlawful user” of a controlled substance, including marijuana, means a person cannot legally buy or possess a gun.

Notably, the report showed that rejection rates varied significantly by region. In Kauai County, for instance, just 0.2 percent of applications were denied in 2023, compared to about 6.9 percent in Hawaii County, which comprises the Big Island.

Of 332 denials in Hawaii County last year, 191—about 57.5 percent—were due primarily to medical marijuana.

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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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Massachusetts Marijuana Regulator Calls Intoxicating Hemp Products A ‘Public Menace’

The Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) for the first time is raising concerns about intoxicating hemp products showing up in stores, restaurants and gas stations across Massachusetts, with commissioner Kimberly Roy calling them a “public menace.”

At a meeting of the commission last week, Roy and other commissioners said the largely unregulated products are putting more heavily regulated cannabis products at a disadvantage.

“I’ve heard from many of our licensees that [unregulated hemp is] impacting them greatly. It’s a phenomenon known as gas station weed,” said Roy. “These are hemp products that are unregulated, that aren’t tested, that our children can buy. It keeps me up at night, the concerns around this gas station weed.”

Intoxicating hemp products contain the same active ingredient as cannabis products but are regulated very differently. They are on shelves in the Commonwealth because of a 2018 federal law that removed hemp from the definition of marijuana. An entire industry has popped up around the country selling intoxicating hemp products.

Adam Terry, the CEO of Cantrip, a Boston beverage maker, said in a CommonWealth Beacon commentary last month that many of the hemp-based products are manufactured in Minnesota, which regulates them just as rigorously as marijuana products.

Previously, the Cannabis Control Commission had not taken a stance on the hemp products because the agency believes the product falls outside of its jurisdiction. But the agency, which regulates cannabis and hemp products that are sold inside cannabis dispensaries, is now preparing to testify before a joint legislative hearing on the hemp products before the cannabis policy and agricultural committees on July 11.

Roy offered to serve as the commission’s representative at the legislative hearing. She stressed that the unregulated hemp products are not tested or age restricted in the same way that cannabis products are.

“[Unregulated hemp products are] having a serious negative impact on our licensees who are bound by the law and bound by our regulations,” said Roy. “Then you have all these other convenience stores or smoke shops or gas stations who are not.”

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Atlanta Could Add Psilocybin And Ketamine To City Workers’ Healthcare Plans Under Pending Resolution

A new proposal from an Atlanta City Council member would direct municipal officials to explore the pros and cons of adding coverage for psilocybin and ketamine as mental health treatments to the city’s healthcare plan for firefighters, police and other government workers.

“Traditional treatments for mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, and others have shown limited effectiveness for some individuals, leading to a need for exploring alternative therapeutic options,” the legislation, which is currently being sponsored by 11 of the Council’s 16 members, states. “Recent research has demonstrated the potential efficacy of alternative therapies such as ketamine-assisted therapy and psilocybin-assisted therapy in treating various mental health conditions, offering promising results where other treatments have failed.”

The resolution’s lead sponsor, Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari, has said city workers deserve access to a broad range of mental health services.

“We should be offering our employees—and especially our first responders, who are expected to be superhuman—the same amount of grace and providing them with a tool set to essentially overcome this issue,” The lawmaker recently told Axios.

Bakhtiari said the impetus for including the drugs on public employees’ health plans was meeting a West Virginia police officer who witnessed a fellow officer die of suicide and later used ketamine to treat his PTSD. The lawmaker said they’re not aware of any other city governments that have looked into covering psilocybin or ketamine treatment.

The resolution from Bakhtiari would request the Atlanta’s human resources department to “explore the feasibility of adding coverage for ketamine therapy, psilocybin therapy, and other alternative therapies for mental illness in the City’s employee benefits contract during its next round of negotiations.”

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Delaware Governor Signs Bill To Expand Medical Marijuana Access By Letting Doctors Recommend It For Any Condition

Delaware’s governor has signed a bill to significantly expand the state’s medical cannabis program as regulators take steps to launch the recreational marijuana market.

The new law approved by Gov. John Carney (D) on Tuesday removes limitations for patient eligibility based on a specific set of qualifying health conditions. Instead, doctors will be able to issue marijuana recommendations for any condition they see fit.

The measure will also allow patients over the age of 65 to self-certify for medical cannabis access without the need for a doctor’s recommendation.

Here are the key provisions of the medical cannabis expansion legislation, HB 285:

  • The list of qualifying conditions for medical marijuana will be removed, allowing doctors to recommend cannabis for any condition that they believe patients could benefit from.
  • Patients 65 or older will be able to self-certify their need for medical cannabis—without any need for a recommendation from a healthcare provider.
  • Regulators will be authorized to issue medical cannabis cards with two- or three-year terms, instead of just the current one-year term.
  • Patients diagnosed with a terminal illness, meanwhile, will be able to qualify for a card with an “indefinite” expiration date.
  • The measure will provide patients with medical marijuana cards from other jurisdictions with the same privileges as registered in-state patients.

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DEA Says ‘THCA Does Not Meet The Definition’ Of Legal Hemp As Congress Weighs Cannabinoid Recriminalization In Farm Bill

To meet the federal definition of hemp under the 2018 Farm Bill, a cannabis product must contain less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC. Now, in a new letter clarifying that limit, a top Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) official says the threshold includes not only delta-9 THC itself but also the related cannabinoid THCA, which is converted into delta-9 THC when heated—a process known as decarboxylation.

“In regards to THCA, Congress has directed that, when determining whether a substance constitutes hemp, the delta-9 THC concentration is to be tested ‘using post-decarboxylation or other similarly reliable methods,’” says the letter, sent earlier this month by Terrence Boos, chief of DEA’s drug and chemical evaluation section.

“The ‘decarboxylation’ process converts delta-9-THCA to delta-9-THC,” Boos continued. “Thus, for the purposes of enforcing the hemp definition, the delta-9 THC level must account for any delta-9 THCA.”

“Accordingly, cannabis-derived THCA does not meet the definition of hemp under the CSA,” he concluded, “because upon conversion for identification purposes as required by Congress, it is equivalent to delta-9-THC”

The position articulated in the May 13 letter comes in response to a request for clarification sent to DEA last month by cannabis attorney Shane Pennington, who declined to comment for this story. According to the DEA letter, Pennington last month “requested the control status of tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA) under the Controlled Substances Act.”

A similar request from Pennington, a lawyer at the firm Porter Wright, was also the impetus for DEA’s declaration in 2022 that marijuana seeds are considered legal hemp as long as they don’t exceed federal THC limits.

DEA’s position on THCA comes as federal lawmakers reconsider how to address hemp and cannabinoids under a revised version of the Farm Bill, with a key House committee having recently adopted an amendment that would generally ban hemp-derived cannabinoids such as delta-8 THC.

DEA is essentially saying in the letter that because THCA so readily converts into delta-9 THC, it can’t be ignored when measuring a product’s delta-9 THC level.

That’s not at all how the U.S. hemp industry sees it, however.

“This interpretation would destroy the hemp industry,” Jonathan Miller, general counsel for the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, told Marijuana Moment on Friday. “Most hemp growers, even fiber and grain growers, would be out of compliance.”

Asked if he thought hemp farmers would object to the idea that a product that tests at 0.2 percent delta-9 THC but also 4.6 percent THCA, Miller replied: “I would imagine nearly every hemp farmer and company would find this interpretation objectionable.”

Shawn Hauser, who co-chairs cannabis-focused law firm Vicente LLP’s hemp and cannabinoids practice, said the Farm Bill “requires biomass to be tested pre-harvest for total THC, which considers the percentage of THCA in pre-harvest material.”

Hemp products are required to have a pre-harvest certificate of analysis showing the products are compliant, she said.

“So pre-harvest, a plant with high THCA likely exceeds the maximum allowable THC content and wouldn’t be lawful,” Hauser said. “This has been a point of confusion among businesses and state regulators.”

The situation—including ongoing discussions of how to amend the Farm Bill’s handling of cannabinoids—”just underscores the imminent need for legalization and regulation of the whole plant,” she added. “Trying to draw arbitrary lines in the plant and the law without a federal regulatory or enforcement framework doesn’t work.”

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VENOM NATION: Shocking Number of Americans Have Tried Gila Monster Venom-Based Weight Loss Drugs

A new poll reveals that a shocking percentage of Americans are taking risky Gila monster venom-based weight loss drugs.

According to the latest KFF Health Tracking Poll, one out of every eight adults in the U.S. has used one of the trendy GLP-1 agonist weight loss and diabetes drugs, such as Ozempic and Wegovy.

This class of drugs is based on compounds in the venom of Gila monsters, a type of small Southwestern lizard that happens to be the only venomous type of lizard found in America. Researchers discovered in the early 1990s that they have a special hormone in their venom that can control hunger and slow digestion.

GLP-1 agonists work by imitating a hormone known as GLP-1 that is naturally produced by the body and secreted from the small intestine to trigger the release of insulin while slowing stomach emptying and blocking glucagon secretion. It can also help people feel fuller after eating by impacting the parts of the brain responsible for processing satiety and hunger signals.

The poll found that roughly 6% of all American adults are currently taking one of these medications, which amounts to 15 million people.

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Massachusetts Marijuana Delivery Rule Requiring Two Drivers Per Vehicle Remains In Force Despite Vote To Repeal It

Last December, after months of deliberation, the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) voted to eliminate its so-called two-driver rule—which requires all marijuana deliveries to be handled by two drivers.

The vote was 3–1, with Commissioner Bruce Stebbins the lone holdout. He was concerned about dropping a safety requirement to make the delivery license more lucrative. His fellow commissioners, however, wanted to reduce overhead costs for the delivery companies, which are headed by social equity licensees. “Ample security measures are already in place,” said Commissioner Nurys Camargo, referring to body cams and GPS tracking.

Five months later, the two-driver rule remains in place. Delivery operators are still waiting for relief, and the commission has no timetable for when the rule will be modified. At the commission’s public meeting on May 9, the commission’s general counsel shared that it would be months before the two-driver rule is removed. The CCC attributed the delay to an effort to consolidate a number of regulatory changes dealing with deliveries in a single rewrite.

In the meantime, the two-driver rule remains in place, which is not sitting well with the delivery companies.

“The two-driver rule is a hurdle and a handcuff that companies like mine are facing,” said Gyasi Sellers, the owner of cannabis delivery company Treevit. “There are a lot of companies like mine that are running out of time. Some have gone under already, and that rule is one of the primary causes of that.”

The two-driver rule requires that any cannabis delivery have two drivers in the vehicle so that when one person leaves the vehicle to actually make the delivery, the other person can stay and guard the vehicle. According to the delivery companies, the rule doubles the cost of each job because two people have to be paid for work that can be done by a single person. Plus, if one driver is out, the other driver can’t make the delivery.

Cannabis delivery operators have been speaking out against the two-driver rule for a long time. “[Back] in 2020 and 2021, we were telling the commission that the two-driver rule is gonna really hurt businesses,” said Chris Fevry, the co-owner of Dris Delivery. “We’ve told them multiple times it’s literally just gonna hurt equity. And come to find out it’s still 2024 and the two-driver rule is in place, and companies have gone out of business because of the two driver rule.”

Ulysses Youngblood, the owner of cannabis company Major Bloom, which has a dispensary in Worcester and also a delivery arm, expressed frustration that the CCC wasn’t prioritizing this issue.

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