Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Ohio Governor Says Voters Shouldn’t Expect ‘Surprises’ As He Works With GOP Leadership To Amend Marijuana Legalization Law

The governor of Ohio met with GOP Senate and House leadership on Monday to discuss changes to a voter-approved marijuana legalization initiative that he wants to see implemented before part of the law take effect next month. Meanwhile, a key Democratic lawmaker who has championed cannabis reform says Republicans should have taken the chance to shape policy on the issue months or years ago.

Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said voters shouldn’t expect any “surprises,” and the proposed revisions that are being discussed would still honor the “spirit” of the reform. Potential changes would focus on mitigating youth consumption, reallocating certain tax revenue and increasing resources to prevent impaired driving.

The governor had already previewed the meeting with Senate President Matt Huffman (R) and House Speaker Jason Stephens (R) shortly after last week’s election, which saw voters approve legalization 57-43 percent.

“We have an obligation I believe, to carry that out,” DeWine told reporters following Monday’s discussion.

With respect to possible changes, he said he doesn’t think “there’s any surprises out there,” nor does he think “any of the things that I have suggested that we do really flies in the face of the spirit of what people were voting for.”

“I truly believe that most people went in [to vote] and the issue was, ‘Are we gonna have legal marijuana or we’re not going to have legal marijuana?’ And the details—I’m not sure people got focused on it,” he said. “I have to focus on it because we have to administer it. We have to make sure it actually does, in fact, work.”

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Most Americans Say The U.S. Has ‘Lost Ground’ In War On Drugs, Gallup Poll Shows As Support For Marijuana Legalization Hits Record High

A majority of Americans now say that the U.S. is losing ground in the country’s “illegal drug problem,” according to a new Gallup poll. And at the same time, support for taking a fundamentally different approach to marijuana by enacting legalization has reached a record high.

The survey shows that 52 percent of respondents believe that the U.S. has “lost ground” in the drug war, while 24 percent said that the country has made progress. That’s a major reversal in public opinion compared to the last time Gallup asked Americans about the issue in 2019. At that time, a plurality (41 percent) was optimistic about progress, while 30 percent said the country was losing ground in combating illegal drugs.

That 22-point difference over the course of four years can likely be attributed to growing awareness and concern about the opioid overdose epidemic, which has compounded as fentanyl and other synthetic analogues have proliferated in the drug supply.

Part of the shift could also reflect a growing awareness that the decades-long focus on criminalization at the center of government drug strategies has not worked.

In any case, there are notable partisan divides in attitudes about progress in addressing drug issues, the new poll shows.

“Republicans are extremely negative about U.S. progress on illegal drugs, with 12 percent believing the U.S. is making progress and 75 percent losing ground,” Gallup’s analysis, published on Friday, says. “Independents are also decidedly pessimistic, with 22 percent believing progress is being made and 52 percent thinking the situation is getting worse.”

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Marijuana Helps People Quit Using Prescription Sleep Aids And Allows Them To Wake Up More Focused And Refreshed, Study Indicates

A new survey of cannabis consumers with sleep issues found that most preferred to use marijuana instead of other sleep aids to help get to bed, reporting better outcomes the next morning and fewer side effects. Smoking joints or vaping products that contained THC, CBD and the terpene myrcene were especially popular.

Compared to using conventional sleep aids or no sleep aids at all, respondents reported that cannabis made them feel more refreshed, focused and better able to function the morning after, with fewer headaches and less nausea. But they also reported some side effects from marijuana use, including waking up feeling sleepy, anxious and irritable.

The study, conducted by a pair of psychology researchers at Washington State University (WSU), was published late last month in the journal Exploration of Medicine. Authors say they believe it’s the first research comparing cannabis to prescription sleep aids (PSAs) and over-the-counter (OTC) sleep aids.

“In general, the use of cannabis for sleep-related issues was perceived as more advantageous than over-the-counter medications or prescription sleeps aids,” Carrie Cuttler, a WSU professor and one of the study co-authors, said in a press release on Monday. “Unlike long-acting sedatives and alcohol, cannabis was not associated with a ‘hangover’ effect, although individuals reported some lingering effects such as sleepiness and changes in mood.”

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First photos reveal the COCAINE found in the White House: Images of the baggy in cubby hole that sparked White House investigation – and the culprit has still not been found

Photos of cocaine found in a phone locker in President Joe Biden‘s White House this summer can be revealed by DailyMail.com for the first time. 

The Secret Service included images of the bag of white powder that was found in a cubby hole used to store personal belongings near the White House’s West Executive entrance in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. 

Cocaine was found on Sunday, July 2 while the Biden family – including son Hunter – was spending the weekend away at Camp David ahead of the Fourth of July holiday.

The discovery prompted an evacuation of the West Wing and street closures surrounding the White House and then triggered an 11-day investigation once the substance was identified as the illicit drug. 

Documents obtained by DailyMail.com also show the Deputy Director of the FBI was involved in the investigation, which clouded the Biden administration in scandal this summer. 

The Secret Service closed the investgation in less than two weeks due to a ‘lack of evidence.’ 

The list of suspects had been narrowed down to 500, but security footage wasn’t able to determine the owner as cameras do not face the locker area. 

It is unclear if any suspects were interviewed during the short investigation. 

There also weren’t usable fingerprints or other DNA evidence on the ‘dime-sized’ zipper-lock bag that contained less than a gram of the drug. 

It had been sent to the FBI’s lab at Quantico for this analysis, the documents show. 

The Secret Service said the cocaine was sent for ‘destruction’ on July 14, a day after the probe wrapped up. 

Initial reports about the incident said the cocaine was discovered in the White House library, then the West Wing lobby and then finally the cubbies by the West Executive entrance.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s initial response to questions about whether the cocaine could belong to a Biden came in the form of pointing out that they weren’t home. 

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Michigan Marijuana Tax Revenue Grew By 49% Over The Past Year, Surpassing Alcohol Earnings

Sales of legal marijuana in Michigan contributed $266.2 million in tax revenue to the government during the most recent fiscal year, according to a new report from the legislature’s nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency. That’s more than the state made from the sale of beer, wine and liquor combined.

Tax from sales of adult-use cannabis were up 49.1 percent in fiscal year 2022–23, which ended in October, compared to $178.6 million collected the year before. That amounted to an additional $87.6 million in state revenue from cannabis sales compared to the prior 12 months.

Of all the major tax revenues itemized in the House Fiscal Agency report published last week, none grew at a faster rate than cannabis revenue.

Adult-use marijuana products are subject to a 10 percent state excise tax, which accounts for the $266.2 million. Products also incur the state’s standard 6 percent sales tax, which works out to an additional $159.7 million in revenue from legal marijuana transactions.

Looking at the cannabis excise tax alone, marijuana was responsible for nearly 0.8 percent of total state revenue recorded in the annual report. Including sales tax, the share works out to about 1.3 percent of total revenue.

The marijuana excise tax brought in more money for the state last fiscal year than alcohol taxes, which contributed about $192.6 million total—$46.6 million from beer and wine and $146 million from liquor That’s a shift from fiscal 2021–22, when combined alcohol taxes brought in roughly $12.9 million more revenue than cannabis.

By contrast, marijuana revenue amounted to less than half of the $722.2 million Michigan made from tobacco taxes in the most recent fiscal year.

In October 2023 alone, the marijuana excise tax produced $52.4 million in tax revenue—more than any other single source aside from sales and use taxes, income taxes, insurance taxes and tobacco taxes.

Michigan voters approved adult-use marijuana legalization in 2018, with legal sales beginning the next year.

The state has set sales records even as the average cost of marijuana has remained at record lows, with the price of an ounce for adult-use cannabis now hovering around $98 just a few months ago. In December 2021, by contrast, the cost of an ounce was about $180.

Last month, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed a pair of bills into law to allow state-licensed marijuana businesses to conduct trade with tribal cannabis entities. Both took effect immediately.

“The bills are intended to allow for the sale of product between the two types of businesses while maintaining a level playing field by requiring tribal businesses to pay the same tax rate as other businesses,” according to an analysis prepared by House staff.

Michigan is one of several states where cannabis tax has earned more revenue than taxes on alcohol.

During the most recent fiscal year in Illinois, for example, legal cannabis brought in $451.9 million—about $135.6 million more than alcohol.

Colorado last year state generated more income from marijuana than alcohol or cigarettes—and nearly as much as alcohol and tobacco combined.

Similar milestones have been seen in Arizona and Washington State.

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Bipartisan Wisconsin Lawmakers File Bill To Create Psilocybin Research Pilot Program For Military Veterans With PTSD

As marijuana reform continues to stagnate in the Wisconsin legislature, bipartisan and bicameral lawmakers have come together to introduce a new bill that would create a psilocybin research pilot program in the state.

Sens. Jesse James (R) and Dianne Hesselbein (D), as well as Reps. Nate Gustafson (R) and Clinton Anderson (D), are sponsoring the legislation, which would focus on exploring the therapeutic potential of the psychedelic in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among veterans.

The pilot program would be facilitated through the University of Wisconsin at Madison, which already operates a multidisciplinary psychedelics research division that launched in 2021.

Veterans who are 21 and older with diagnosed treatment-resistant PTSD would be eligible to participate in the program. Psilocybin would need to be provided through existing pathways under the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has designated the psychedelic as a “breakthrough therapy.”

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Former FDA Official Says He’d Be ‘Shocked’ If DEA Doesn’t Reschedule Marijuana By 2024 Election

Speaking at a cannabis industry event on Thursday, a former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official said he’d be “shocked” if the Drug Enforcement Administration doesn’t reschedule marijuana by next year’s presidential election.

“I would be really shocked if it took the DEA longer than the second quarter of next year to come up with its final rule,” said Howard Sklamberg, former FDA deputy commissioner for global regulatory operations and compliance. “Even when I was at FDA, we knew that important regulations that you wanted to get done in an election year, you want to get done by the summer before.”

Sklamberg also said he expects DEA will ultimately accept the FDA’s recommendation to put cannabis in Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) instead of reaching a contradictory scheduling decision.

“I personally would be surprised if DEA did not agree ultimately with FDA and [the Department of Health and Human Services]’s decision,” Sklamberg, who served as chair of FDA’s Marijuana Working Group from 2014 to 2017, said. “It certainly would be strange, in an issue that is such an important priority for the administration, for one part of the administration to reverse what another one has said.”

Sklamberg, now a lawyer at the firm Arnold and Porter, was one of a handful of panelists who spoke during a Thursday webinar hosted by the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp’s (ATACH) Capital Markets Council. Others included Andrew Kline, a former policy advisor to then-Vice President Joe Biden (D) who’s now at the law firm Perkins Coie, and Adam Goers, a senior vice president at the multi-state marijuana operator The Cannabist Company (formerly Columbia Care).

The group’s mood toward August’s rescheduling recommendation was decidedly upbeat. “I’m really looking forward to this conversation,” Kline said at the start of the event, “and getting people to the place where they understand that this is a really good thing.”

Sklamberg called the possible move “a giant step in the right direction and one that, probably, you know, four years ago, most people would not have foreseen.”

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State-Licensed Pot Suppliers Say Federal Prohibition Is Unconstitutional As Applied to Them

A lawsuit filed late last month in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts argues that the federal marijuana ban is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate operations of state-licensed cannabis suppliers. That claim is similar to one that the U.S. Supreme Court decisively rejected in the 2005 case Gonzales v. Raich, which involved state-authorized medical use of marijuana. But the plaintiffs in Canna Provisions v. Garland—a pot shop chain and three other Massachusetts marijuana businesses—argue that several developments since then undermine the logic of that ruling.

In the 2005 case, Angel Raich and Diane Monson, two patients who used marijuana for symptom relief in compliance with California law, argued that Congress exceeded its authority “to regulate commerce…among the several states” when it purported to ban noncommercial production and possession of cannabis that never crossed state lines. Monson grew her own marijuana, while Raich relied on two caregivers who grew it for her.

It may seem obvious that the power to regulate interstate commerce does not cover conduct that is neither commercial nor interstate. But the Supreme Court had held otherwise in the 1942 case Wickard v. Filburn, which involved an Ohio farmer who exceeded his wheat quota under the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938. Although Roscoe Filburn planned to use the extra wheat “wholly for consumption on the farm,” the Court unanimously ruled that the collective impact of such decisions on interstate commerce was enough to justify the rule he violated.

When farmers grow wheat for their own consumption, the justices reasoned, that has “a substantial influence” on the interstate “price and market conditions” that Congress sought to regulate. “Even if appellee’s activity be local and though it may not be regarded as commerce,” Justice Robert H. Jackson wrote for the Court, “it may still, whatever its nature, be reached by Congress if it exerts a substantial economic effect on interstate commerce.”

Writing for the majority in Gonzales v. Raich, Justice John Paul Stevens applied similar reasoning to the federal ban on marijuana. “Our case law firmly establishes Congress’ power to regulate purely local activities that are part of an economic ‘class of activities’ that have a substantial effect on interstate commerce,” Stevens wrote. Wickard, he said, “establishes that Congress can regulate purely intrastate activity that is not itself ‘commercial,’ in that it is not produced for sale, if it concludes that failure to regulate that class of activity would undercut the regulation of the interstate market in that commodity.”

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Congressional Researchers Warn That High Federal Marijuana Taxes Could Inhibit Industry’s Economic Potential

As the Biden administration’s marijuana scheduling review continues, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) has released a report cautioning that if cannabis is eventually legalized, lawmakers should consider the potential unintended consequences of imposing high federal taxes on marijuana products.

The non-partisan research body isn’t necessarily suggesting that federal legalization is imminent, but it pointed out that there are a number of comprehensive reform proposals that Congress may consider as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) completes its scheduling review and decides whether to follow the recommendation of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by moving marijuana to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

As it argued in another recent report, CRS said it’s “likely that DEA will reschedule marijuana according to HHS’s recommendation,” based on past precedent. Meanwhile, lawmakers have put forward several federal legalization proposals that could expand on that incremental change, including legislation that would tax and regulate cannabis.

“Recreational marijuana’s potential economic effects may be a factor in any congressional actions on the substance,” the report says, caveating that federal data on the topic is limited given the ongoing prohibition of cannabis. Congress could collect additional data if it moved to require agencies like the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to start gathering such material, it said.

While federal data is generally limited, the U.S. Census Bureau did recently release its first report on state-level marijuana tax revenue following what the agency calls “a complete canvass of all state agencies” going back to July 2021.

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Laughing gas becomes illegal from TODAY with repeat offenders facing up to two years in jail – but campaigners say ban is ‘completely disproportionate’ and will place more pressure on justice system

Nitrous oxide is illegal from today with repeat offenders risking prison – raising the ire of campaigners who call the ban ‘completely disproportionate’. 

The substance, also known as NOS or hippy crack, is now a controlled Class C drug, meaning that dealers could face up to 14 years in jail.

Users face an unlimited fine, community service, a caution – which would appear on their criminal record – or a possible two-year sentence for serious habitual users. 

Nitrous oxide is the second most commonly used drug among 16 to 24-year-olds in England after cannabis, and has been blamed for fuelling littering and anti-social behaviour. 

This summer it was reported that there were 13 tonnes canisters of the drug collected after the Notting Hill carnival. 

Inhaling the gas brings about short-term feelings of lightheadedness, fits of giggles and hallucinations.  

Heavy, regular abuse risks significant health risks including anaemia and in more severe cases, nerve damage or paralysis. 

It has been identified as having potentially fatal consequences on the UK’s roads from incidents of drug driving. 

Nitrous oxide has legitimate uses and it will remain lawful for catering purposes and in maternity wards when used as pain relief during labour.

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