Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Vermont House Passes Bill To Legalize And Fund Safe Drug Consumption Sites Over Governor’s Objection

Vermont’s House of Representatives has passed a bill to create and fund overdose prevention centers in the state, part of a pilot program aimed at quelling the ongoing epidemic of drug-related deaths. It’s another attempt by lawmakers to allow the facilities following Gov. Phil Scott’s (R) veto of a 2022 measure that would have established a task force to create a plan to open the sites.

If the measure, H.72, is enacted into law, Vermont would join Rhode Island and Minnesota in authorizing the facilities, where people can use illicit drugs in a supervised environment and be connected to various support services, including treatment.

Led by Rep. Taylor Small (D) and 28 other co-sponsors, the bill in its current form would earmark $2 million to support the creation of two overdose prevention centers along with $300,000 to study the impacts of the program.

After adopting a number of amendments, the full House passed the measure on Thursday, advancing the proposal to the Senate.

“People around the country are acknowledging that old, stigmatizing approaches aren’t working, while evidence is clear overdose prevention centers save lives,” said Grey Gardner, senior policy council for the advocacy group Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), which supports the legislation.

Since 2010, Gardner noted, overdose fatalities in Vermont have climbed by nearly 500 percent.

“The priority needs to be saving lives, improving connections to care, and benefiting communities,” he said, “and that’s exactly what overdose prevention centers are proven to do.”

Among the more notable recent changes ahead of House passage, an amendment offered by Rep. Eric Maguire (R) added a local opt-in provision that would allow sites to open “only upon an affirmative vote of the legislative body of the municipality.”

Earlier House amendments to the bill doubled the funding for the sites—from $1 million to $2 million—and directed that funding to study the pilot program should come from the a state opioid abatement fund.

Even if the overdose prevention center legislation passes the Senate, where it has been referred to the Health and Welfare Committee, it still faces a possible veto from Scott.

“I just don’t think that a government entity should be in the business of enabling those who are addicted to these drugs that are illegal,” the governor said of the measure, according to WCAX.

Scott wrote in his 2022 veto message on the earlier legislation that “it seems counterintuitive to divert resources from proven harm reduction strategies to plan injection sites without clear data on the effectiveness of this approach.”

Though Rhode Island and Minnesota have state laws on the books allowing safe consumption sites, New York City became the first U.S. jurisdiction to open locally sanctioned harm reduction centers in November 2021, and officials have reported positive results saving lives.

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New York Governor Proposes Repealing Marijuana Potency Tax To Reduce Costs And Combat Illicit Market

The governor of New York is calling for the elimination of a THC potency tax as part of her executive budget, aiming to reduce costs for consumers in a way that could make the regulated market more competitive against illicit operators.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) budget proposal for the 2025 fiscal year would repeal the potency tax and replace it with a wholesale excise tax of 9 percent in a way that “simplifies, streamlines, and reduces the tax collection obligations and burden for cultivators, processors, and distributors.”

Cannabis would also still be subject to the existing 9 percent state retail excise tax and four percent local retail excise tax. The changes are estimated to effectively drive down the total tax rate on marijuana from an average 38 percent to 22 percent.

For vertically-integrated medical cannabis operators and microbusinesses, the new wholesale excise tax would accrue on the final retail sale to consumers and be imposed on 75 percent of the final retail sales price, the governor’s proposal says.

The briefing book for the budget says the tax changes would “promote and support the expansion of the legal adult-use cannabis market” and also result in a “net positive impact” of $6.5 million for localities.

But by reducing costs for consumers and businesses, the tax policy reform could also help the administration and regulators address one of their top priorities: driving out the illicit market.

While licensing of legal marijuana businesses has rolled out slowly amid litigation, New York has been dealing with a proliferation of hundreds of unregulated cannabis shops with prices that are generally lower because the operators don’t concern themselves with excise taxes and abiding by other regulations that increase costs.

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Scientists Discover The Exact Reason Marijuana Causes The ‘Munchies’ In New Federally Funded Study

For the first time, scientists have identified exactly what happens in the brain after using marijuana that causes the “munchies,” a new federally funded study shows.

Researchers at Washington State University (WSU) published the findings in the journal Scientific Reports, revealing how cannabis activates a specific cluster of neurons in the hypothalamus region of the brain that stimulates appetite.

The hunger-inducing effects of marijuana have been well-understood by consumers, but now the results of the new animal research offer insights that could help lead to the development of targeted therapeutics for people with conditions such as anorexia and obesity.

After mice were exposed to vaporized cannabis, researchers used calcium imaging technology (similar to a brain MRI) to track changes in neuron activity. They found that marijuana vapor attached to cannabinoid-1 receptors in the brain and activated so-called “feeding” neurons in the hypothalamus called Agouti Related Protein neurons.

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The Newly Unveiled HHS Rationale for Rescheduling Marijuana Underlines Drug Warriors’ Dishonesty

Last week, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by Houston lawyer Matthew Zorn, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revealed the rationale for its August 2023 recommendation that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act. The document not only contradicts the position that the DEA has long taken on this issue; it contradicts the position that HHS itself took in 2016, when the DEA rejected a 2011 rescheduling petition. The reversal shows that marijuana’s classification has always been a political question rather than a legal or scientific matter.

On October 7, 2022, the same day he announced a mass pardon for people convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law, President Joe Biden instructed HHS and Attorney General Merrick Garland to “initiate the administrative process to review expeditiously how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.” Biden noted that Schedule I, which includes “heroin and LSD,” is “the classification meant for the most dangerous substances” and is “even higher than the classification of fentanyl and methamphetamine—the drugs that are driving our overdose epidemic.” On Twitter, he reiterated that “we classify marijuana at the same level as heroin” and treat it as “more serious than fentanyl,” which he said “makes no sense.”

In short, it was clear that Biden did not expect HHS to confirm its previous position that marijuana belongs in Schedule I. He expected HHS to recommend that marijuana be moved to a lower schedule, which is what it ultimately did. As the details of the HHS recommendation clarify, that decision was not based on new scientific evidence. It was based on a reinterpretation of the criteria for Schedule I that could have been implemented much sooner if HHS and the DEA had been open to it, or if a previous president had encouraged it.

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NCAA Division I To Vote On Removing Marijuana From Banned Substances List For Student Athletes

A new collegiate athletics proposal would remove marijuana from the list of substances included in drug screenings for National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship competitions, with officials set to vote on the matter in June. Proponents say the approach is consistent with designing rules to focus on reducing harm rather than punishing student athletes.

The plan would build on a 2022 change that increased the allowable THC threshold for college athletes, aligning NCAA’s rules with those of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The latest proposal would effectively treat marijuana more like alcohol. While NCAA doesn’t intend for the change to promote cannabis use, the substance isn’t believed to give competitors an unfair advantage in sport.

“Cannabis is not a performance-enhancing drug, and we determined that the drug testing conducted at NCAA championships should focus on substances that impact competitive outcomes,” Pat Chun, athletics director at Washington State and chair of the Strategic Vision and Planning Committee, said in a statement last week. “To be clear, this does not mean that NCAA members condone or promote use of cannabinoids. However, rather than focus on testing and subsequently penalizing student-athletes who use cannabis, NCAA efforts should focus on a harm reduction strategy, similar to substances like alcohol.”

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Field trip: inside America’s first magic mushroom school

At a forest facility in Oregon, the first US state to allow supervised use of the drug, students work toward becoming licensed trip facilitator.

  • Inside a spacious and light-filled retreat in the forest outside Portland, 30 students sat gazing into each other’s eyes.

A heavy silence filled the room, save for the occasional creaking chair. A soft voice urged the group to envision the pain and joy their fellow students had experienced during their lives, to view them as a friend, a child, a teacher. Some broke into grins, others teared up.

“We never get the opportunity to just look at somebody,” the instructor said.

The intense exercise was a fitting start to the day for students preparing for unconventional careers as facilitators in Oregon’s groundbreaking new psilocybin program.

The state is the first in the US to allow supervised use of the psychedelic for adults 21 and older. In a few months, the students, who include midwives, educators and retirees, could support people through a magic mushroom experience at one of Oregon’s 19 service centers.

But first, they’ll need to complete a program like the one taking place at InnerTrek – the first government-recognized licensed and operating training program in the world, according to staff. After they complete the training, they can go on to apply for their licenses with the state.

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Top Biden Health Official In Touch With DEA About Marijuana Rescheduling Recommendation

The head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says his agency has “communicated” the agency’s “position” on marijuana rescheduling to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and has continued to offer additional information to assist with the final determination.

HHS for the first time confirmed that it had recommended moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) on Friday, releasing a trove of documents it submitted to DEA last year amid a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit initiated by attorney Matt Zorn.

Xavier Becerra, secretary of HHS, told The New York Times in a new interview that his department “communicated to them our position” and “put it all out there for them,” referring to the comprehensive scientific review it conducted and submitted to DEA as part of a scheduling directive from President Joe Biden.

“We continue to offer them any follow up, technical information if they have any questions,” Becerra said.

The status of DEA’s review is currently unknown, though some suspect the release of the cannabis materials in the FOIA lawsuit may indicate the scheduling decision announcement is imminent. Marijuana Moment reached out to DEA for clarification on the timing, and a spokesperson referred the inquiry to the Justice Department, which has not responded to requests for comment.

Congressional lawmakers, meanwhile, have touted the HHS Schedule III recommendation following Friday’s disclosure of the review documents.

“I’m encouraged by this news & urge the DEA to follow this common-sense scientific recommendation to move cannabis to Schedule III,” Rep. Dwight Evans (D-PA) said on Friday. “I continue to support full legalization but this would be a positive action.”

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Arkansas Ballot Initiative Would Allow Medical Marijuana Homegrow And Trigger Recreational Legalization After Federal Reform

A marijuana industry group on Friday proposed a constitutional amendment to improve patient access to medical cannabis and legalize the drug for recreational use in Arkansas if it becomes legal under federal law.

Arkansans for Patient Access said it was submitting ballot language to Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin (R) on Friday for the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Amendment of 2024.

The ballot initiative would make it legal for patients to grow their own cannabis at home and make a series of changes to Amendment 98 to the Arkansas Constitution, which Arkansans ratified in 2016 to legalize marijuana for medical use.

The tweaks comprise a wishlist for patients as well as cultivators and dispensaries.

“The goal of this ballot proposal is to reaffirm and build upon Amendment 98 to better serve patients,” Amy Martin, owner of The Greenery dispensary in Fort Smith, said a statement from the ballot question committee. “This amendment reflects a commitment to the principles established by the state’s voters. It reduces barriers and streamlines processes so qualifying patients can access the medicines and treatment options that best serve them.”

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Congressman Delivers ‘Angry’ Floor Speech About Stalled Federal Marijuana Reform, But Says It’s ‘Not Too Late’ To Act

It’s “not too late” for the current Congress to pass sensible marijuana reform legislation and end the “insane” prohibitionist policies of the war on drugs, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) says.

In an impassioned speech on the House floor on Thursday, the founding member of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus said he is both “sad” and “angry” over the continued federal inaction on marijuana reform, arguing that it’s “time for Congress to stop making this problem worse.”

“I’ve been working for 50 years leading the effort to end the failed, unfair, cynical, dangerous war on drugs that targeted Black people, that discouraged the illegal use of a therapeutic good—something that could have enriched our economy but instead criminalized behavior,” he said.

Blumenauer, who is retiring at the end of this year but still plans to be involved in advancing the issue, said members have seen stories about the potential harms of cannabis for vulnerable populations—but that’s precisely why they should support a legal regulatory framework to mitigate risks.

“We don’t have a system that regulates it, that taxes it, that keeps it out of the hands of children,” he said. “No neighborhood drug dealer looks for identification, and they’re perfectly happy to sell kids other more dangerous and potent drugs. We don’t have to do this.”

The congressman, who is also sponsoring a newly reintroduced resolution alongside Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) promoting equity in state cannabis markets, pointed out that the House under Democratic control has previously passed comprehensive legalization legislation, as well as proposals to address the unique financial challenges of the marijuana industry. But none of those have yet been enacted into law.

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I spent over £100,000 on therapy… but it was taking magic mushrooms that helped me conquer my OCD

On the surface, Pandora Morris, 35, has everything. She’s pretty, blonde, well-connected and has a posh London address – the type of woman you might see on the pages of society magazine Tatler.

But there is a sadness about her cornflower blue eyes which reflect a less golden story. Pandora, a lawyer by profession and scion of a large London banking dynasty, has spent decades battling obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), which developed into a severe exercise addiction and eating disorder in her early teens.

It has been more than three years since her last ‘relapse’, and though wary of describing herself as ‘cured’, Pandora is now in a very different place to her condition before lockdown, when her heart rate fell to 31 and doctors told her that if she didn’t stop exercising eight hours a day and eat more than 700 calories, she would probably die.

When we meet, Pandora has just come from the studio where she is recording the second series of Hurt To Healing, the podcast she launched in October 2022, in which she interviews experts and those who have struggled with mental health issues.

Pandora certainly knows her subject. Her desperate parents spent the price of a small house on treatments — none of which, including seven months in an eating disorder clinic in South Africa, seemed to work long term.

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