Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Utah Governor Lets Psychedelics Pilot Program Bill Become Law Without His Signature, Citing ‘Overwhelming Support’

The Republican governor of Utah has allowed a bill to become law without his signature that authorizes a pilot program for hospitals to administer psilocybin and MDMA as an alternative treatment option.

Gov. Spencer Cox (R) said in a letter to legislative leaders last week that he was letting the psychedelics legislation become enacted despite his reservations due to the “overwhelming support” it received, with both chambers unanimously approving the measure.

“I am generally supportive of scientific efforts to discover the benefits of new substances that can relieve suffering,” Cox said. “However, we have a task force that was set up specifically to advise the Legislature on the best ways to study Psilocybin and I’m disappointed that their input was ignored.”

The governor didn’t specify which specific task force recommendations he wanted to see incorporated, but the panel did advise against authorizing the regulated use of psychedelics before they’re approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Lawmakers have cited the panel’s findings to support advancing the pilot program legislation from Senate Majority Whip Kirk Cullimore (R) and House Speaker Pro Tempore James Dunnigan (R).

The newly enacted measure provides for that regulated access at two types of health care systems in the state. Psychedelics can be administered by a privately owned, non-profit health care system with at least 15 licensed hospitals or within medical programs operated by institutions of higher education.

“A healthcare system may develop a behavioral health treatment program that includes a treatment” with psilocybin and MDMA that it “determines is supported by a broad collection of scientific and medical research,” the bill says.

By July 1, 2026, any hospital that establishes a psychedelics therapy pilot program will need to submit a report to the legislature that details which drugs are being utilized, healthcare outcomes of patients and any reported side effects.

The legislation Cox allowed to become enacted will take effect on May 1, 2024 and sunset after three years.

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California Bill Would Roll Back Marijuana Employment Protections For Law Enforcement Jobs

A California bill that was introduced last month as a minor technical fix to an existing law protecting workers from employment discrimination over legal marijuana use was substantially amended in committee this week with new section that would roll back the protections for various categories of workers, including those in law enforcement, coroners’ offices and animal control.

Under two pieces of legislation signed into law in 2022 and 2023, California employers are now prohibited from asking job applicants about past cannabis use, and most are barred from penalizing employees over lawful use of marijuana outside of the job.

The newly amended bill, SB 1264, sponsored by Sen. Shannon Grove (R), would remove those protections for “employees in sworn or nonsworn positions within law enforcement agencies who have or would have functions or activities” related to:

(1) The apprehension, incarceration, or correction of criminal offenders.
(2) Civil enforcement matters.
(3) Dispatch and other public safety communications.
(4) Evidence gathering and processing.
(5) Law enforcement records.
(6) Animal control.
(7) Community services duties.
(8) Public administrator or public guardian duties.
(9) Coroner functions.

The proposed change comes just months after the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training removed questions about marijuana from police job application forms. Several forms, the commission said at the time, were “modified to remove inquiries about a candidate’s prior cannabis use.”

Grove’s amendments were adopted on Tuesday, and the legislation currently sits before the Senate Rules Committee.

Both employment protections laws took effect on January 1 of this year. With certain exceptions, “it is unlawful for an employer to request information from an applicant for employment relating to the applicant’s prior use of cannabis,” one of them says.

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New Study Finds One Dose of LSD Could Effectively Treat Anxiety in Many Patients

After years of criminalization and marginalization, scientists have begun looking at LSD’s medical benefits more closely, so much so that the Food and Drug Administration just issued a groundbreaking stamp of approval. 

Biopharmaceutical company Mind Medicine announced March 7 that the FDA has awarded “breakthrough therapy” status to its trial of patients using MM120 (lysergide D-tartrate) to treat anxiety. MindMed chief medical officer Daniel Karlin explained what the trial approval means going forward. “A breakthrough designation is a recognition that a drug has demonstrated evidence of clinical efficacy in meeting an unmet medical need with morbidity and mortality associated with it,” he told CNN. The move allows the FDA to “engage more closely in drug development” and speeds up the road to final approval as the agency is involved throughout the process. 

MM120 is the codename for MindMed’s lysergide D-tartrate compound, which resembles and delivers similar effects to lysergic acid diethylamide, known more commonly as LSD. In its ongoing trial, which kicked off in 2022, MindMed has so far found that a single dose of MM120 led to a 48-percent rate of remission from generalized anxiety disorder after 12 weeks following the drug’s administration. Scientists also noted significantly improved clinical signs of generalized anxiety disorder among 65 percent of patients within three months. 

“The clinical improvement for many patients was more than double what we see with today’s standard of care,” Karlin said. “This occurred at all levels of anxiety, from moderate all the way up to severe.”

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Top Advocacy Center for Protecting Children from Harms of Vaccines Publishes CDC Propaganda Condemning Marijuana as Parents and Children Nationwide Use it for Treating Vaccine Injuries

I have been reporting on the dangers of vaccines to children for almost 2 decades now, and one of the real tragedies of children who are vaccine damaged, is that the medical system ignores, or even worse denies, that vaccine injuries exist.

The most common childhood vaccine injuries, by far, are the horrible symptoms that occur with autism. The medical system, in general, wants the public to believe that autism is genetic and not environmental, so that they can completely deny the vaccine – autism connection, and develop pharmaceutical drugs instead. The most common type of pharmaceutical drug used to treat children with autism are psychiatric drugs, which are incredibly toxic and dangerous, as we have reported over the years.

This has forced most parents over the years to seek treatment for their vaccine-damaged children outside of the medical system, seeking out help from alternative health providers who understand the corruption and dangers of the pharmaceutical system, and many of these alternative healers have developed alternative, non-pharmaceutical treatments.

When those treatments are successful, they become a threat to the economic prosperity of the medical system, and the Big Pharma machine will do everything they can to destroy the credibility of these wholistic practitioners and condemn the treatments they use.

The most effective way that private pharmaceutical companies use to silence their competitors in alternative and natural health, is to use the U.S. Government medical agencies such as the FDA and the CDC to declare such treatments “illegal” and seek to prosecute those who use them.

I learned this firsthand myself back in the 2000s, as I published research and testimonies about how healing Virgin Coconut Oil can be, only to have the FDA attack me and declare that I was selling “unapproved drugs” simply because we pointed people to the actual research and testimonials of how healthy coconut oil is, while at the same time selling it.

In the past decade or so, one of the most amazing natural therapies that has brought great relief to parents of vaccine injured children labeled as “autistic,” is “medical marijuana”, also referred to as “medical cannabis.”

Many thousands of parents in this country over the past decade plus can testify to how medical marijuana has dramatically healed their child with autism, and made their family whole again.

So I was horrified to read an article this week from The Vaccine Reaction, which is published by the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), the nation’s oldest and most effective organization in the United States for supplying information to parents about the dangers of childhood vaccines, condemning the use of marijuana, a product that is becoming more and more available as State laws change, and which is used by so many parents and families across this nation to treat their children who suffer from vaccine injuries.

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Study Shows Colorado Marijuana Products Are Overstating THC Potency, With Researcher Citing Possible ‘Lab Fraud’

Cannabis flower sold in Colorado claims to contain much more tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, than it actually does, according to my findings published in the peer-reviewed journal Plos One.

THC is the psychoactive compound that is derived when cannabis flower—commonly referred to as “bud”—is heated through smoking or cooking.

Why it matters

Accurate THC reporting is a linchpin for medical patients, recreational consumers and the overall integrity of the cannabis industry. Medical and recreational flower is generally the same—the difference is in testing requirements, price, taxes and purchase limits. Misleading potency information can disrupt medical dosages, misguide recreational users and erode trust in an industry striving for legitimacy.

Consumers often associate higher THC levels in cannabis flower with superior quality, potentially leading to overpayment for products that may not meet their expectations. This misconception can also create incentives for cultivators, testing labs and dispensaries to generate higher THC numbers—whether through cultivation techniques or through testing fraud.

Additionally, testing for toxins, pesticides and total yeast and mold can also fall victim to falsification. Recent reports reveal instances where labs in New York and other states have passed products that should have failed. This casts doubt on the credibility of the broader testing processes in place.

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The wild psychedelic origins of indigenous mystical rites — as revealed by archaeology

We’ll never know when and where humans first discovered the mind-altering power of psychedelics. But it seems fair to state three things about our relationship with visionary drugs: it’s incalculably old, globally pervasive, and rich with meaning. Our ancestors likely began their long journey with naturally occurring psychotropic substances tens or even hundreds of thousands of years ago.

The nascent field of archaeochemistry has convincingly demonstrated Neanderthal use of psychoactive plants like yarrow and chamomile going back 50,000 years. Anthropologist Scott M. Fitzpatrick envisions the early hunter-gatherers of our own species encountering, consuming and experimenting “with a wide array of plants” and fungi — just like their Neanderthal cousins.

A generation ago, Terence McKenna famously introduced the Stoned Ape Theory, proposing an evolutionary advantage for a diet of psilocybin-containing mushrooms across the African savannas — not merely hundreds of thousands, but millions of years in our hominin past, prompting the development of proto-language, creativity, and religious insight well before the Neanderthals. Only now are scholars, like paleoanthropologist Lee Berger in South Africa, seriously investigating the bold claim.

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Political Stupidity and Bureaucratic Bungling Created New York’s Pot Legalization ‘Disaster’

As of last June, more than two years after New York legalized recreational marijuana, just 12 state-licensed dispensaries had opened for business, falling far short of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s prediction that more than 100 would be operating by that summer. Six months later, Hochul was bragging that “nearly 40 adult-use dispensaries will have opened in 2023.” The current count is 87. Those stores, The New York Times notes, “are far outnumbered by more than 2,000 rogue head shops, the target of complaints that they siphon customers, sell to children and attract criminals.”

New York’s rollout of marijuana legalization has been a “disaster,” as Hochul conceded in January. “Every other storefront” is an unlicensed pot shop, she told The Buffalo News. “It’s insane.”

That disaster has frustrated would-be retailers, left farmers in the lurch, played havoc with tax revenue projections, and made a joke out of any expectation that New York, by learning from the experience of states that legalized marijuana earlier, would do a better job of displacing the black market. The insanity that Hochul perceives is a product of bad decisions by politicians who should have known better and obstruction by regulators who sacrificed efficiency on the altar of diversity.

Unlike states such as New Jersey, where voters approved legalization in 2020, and Maryland, where a similar ballot initiative passed two years later, New York did not initially allow existing medical dispensaries to start serving the recreational market. Its slow and complicated licensing process, which was skewed by an “equity” program that prioritized approval of applicants with marijuana-related criminal records or their relatives, is maddeningly hard to navigate.

Those preferences invited lawsuits by people who were excluded, which further delayed approval of licenses. Guidance and financial help for people struggling to jump through the state’s hoops never materialized. And as in other states, high taxes and burdensome regulations have made it hard for licensed businesses to compete with unauthorized dealers.

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Nebraska Lawmakers Approve 100% Tax Rate For CBD And Hemp Products To Help Offset Property Taxes

A Nebraska legislative committee has given preliminary approval to a bill that would tax hemp and CBD products in the state at a whopping 100 percent rate.

The cannabis product tax hike is part of legislation designed to bring in more money to state coffers to offset property tax bills, according to an outline of the plan from Sen. Lou Ann Linehan (R), the legislation’s sponsor, that was posted by a Nebraska Public Media reporter.

The legislature’s Revenue Committee advanced the underlying measure, LB 388, on a 7–0 vote on Thursday, according to a report in the Nebraska Examiner. The state’s full unicameral legislature could take up the bill as soon as Tuesday.

“We are going to tax hemp and CBD at 100%,” Linehan’s document says, adding that, along with other reforms—including removing sales tax exemptions on soda, candy, pet services, advertising revenue over $1 billion and lottery tickets—the change is estimated to bring in $182 million in new revenue for the state.

The changes are not currently reflected in the bill’s language as available online, nor has any relevant amendment been posted to the bill page. Linehan, who also chairs the panel that approved the measure this week, did not immediately respond to emailed questions from Marijuana Moment.

Adam Morfeld, a former Nebraska state senator who co-chairs the advocacy group Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, reacted to the proposal with shock.

“The Legislature is going to tax hemp and CBD at 100 percent!??” he posted on social media.

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Organ Donations From Marijuana Users Pose No Significant Infectious Risks, Study Finds

A new federally funded study examining the possible risks of organ donation by marijuana users found no indication that recent cannabis use increases the likelihood of significant side effects in the year immediately after a transplant—even as many healthcare providers continue to restrict transplants to cannabis consumers.

Findings of the research, which looked at rates of infections, transplant failures and deaths among recipients, “suggest that organs from donors with a history of recent marijuana use do not pose significant infectious risks in the early posttransplant period.”

“Despite concern that donor exposure to marijuana increases the risk of fungal infection in recipients, our study found that a donor history of marijuana use did not increase (1) the likelihood of donor culture positivity (including respiratory cultures), or (2) the risk of early recipient bacterial or fungal infection, graft failure, or death posttransplant,” authors wrote. “Even when evaluating only lung recipients, there remained no association between donor marijuana use and the risk of posttransplant infection.”

As more states have legalized marijuana, reported rates of use among adults have also risen, notes the new study, published late last month in the American Journal of Transplantation. “It is likely that a growing proportion of deceased organ donors have a history of marijuana use, as well,” it says, “though this metric has not been specifically reported.”

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Study Finds Natural Psychedelic Mushrooms Produce ‘Enhanced Effects’ Compared To Synthesized Psilocybin, Suggesting Entourage Effect

A new study suggests that the use of full-spectrum psychedelic mushroom extract has a more powerful effect than chemically synthesized psilocybin alone, which could have implications for psychedelic-assisted therapy. The findings imply that the experience of entheogenic mushrooms may involve a so-called “entourage effect” similar to what’s observed with cannabis and its many components.

“To date, clinical trials have generally been conducted with chemically synthesized psilocybin,” wrote the 15-person research team, representing institutions such as the Hadassah Medical Center at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Boston-based Human Metabolome Technologies, Parow Entheobiosciences in Chicago and others, “and little attention has been given to additional, potentially therapeutic, psychoactive or non-psychoactive compounds found in psychedelic mushrooms.”

The findings, they said, indicate full-spectrum psychedelic mushroom extract (PME) “has a more potent and prolonged effect on synaptic plasticity” than chemically synthesized psilocybin (PSIL) on its own.

“These findings open up new possibilities for the therapeutic use of natural psychedelic compounds, providing hope for those who have found little relief in conventional psychiatric treatments,” Hebrew University said in a press release, adding that the study “suggests that psilocybin-containing mushroom extract may offer unique therapeutic effects not achievable with psilocybin alone.”

“This research not only underscores the superiority of extracts with diverse compounds,” the release says, “but also highlights the feasibility of incorporating them into Western medicine.”

To conduct the study, published late last month in the journal Molecular Psychology, researchers injected adult male mice with either synthesized psilocybin or a full-spectrum mushroom extract that contained not only psilocybin but also psilocin, norpsilocin, baeocystin, norbaeocystin and aerugeniscin. They then examined behavior in the mice, such as a head-twitch response (HTR), as well as samples of dissected brain tissue. Effects were measured at three days and 11 days after treatment.

“Our findings show no difference in acute effects on HTR,” authors wrote. “However, we found an effect of PME on synaptic protein levels in 4 brain areas that is significantly more pronounced overall than the effect of PSIL.”

Those synaptic proteins, they said, are seen as possible markers of neuroplasticity, which they describe as “the lifelong capacity of the brain to respond to experiences, learning and the environment and to reorganize structure, function and connections in response to such stimuli.”

That effect is believed to be central to the function of psychedelics in therapy.

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