Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Texas Lawmakers Take Up Bills To Expedite Access To Psychedelic Therapy

A Texas House committee took testimony on Monday about two bills designed to prepare the state to provide swift access to therapeutic psychedelics in the event of approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

One measure, HB 4014, would establish a state-backed study, in collaboration with university researchers, on the use of psychedelics to treat mental health disorders such as PTSD and depression. It would direct officials at the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to make subsequent recommendations “to ensure patient access to psychedelic therapies” following FDA approval.

The other bill, HB 4813, would dictate that substances reclassified under federal law be similarly controlled under state law.

Members of the House Committee on Public Health heard from sponsors and public commenters at Monday’s hearing but did not take action on either bill.

Supporters said the proposals would work together to minimize delays to military veterans and others who stand to benefit from the potentially life-saving therapy.

“This is going to happen. This is coming,” Rep. John Bucy III (D), sponsor of HB 4014, said of what many described as impending FDA approval of psychedelic therapy. “This is the study bill to make sure we’re ready when it comes to implement.”

Bucy’s measure would establish a state-backed study into the use of psychedelics to treat mental health disorders, such as PTSD and depression, in consultation with researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Psychedelic Research and Therapy.

The project would include an assessment of clinical trials and published literature into the efficacy of psychedelics—specifically MDMA, psilocybin and ketamine—as a treatment PTSD, depression and other mental health disorders.

Officials would also review FDA actions around the therapies, evaluate treatment guidelines and make recommendations to eventually ensure legal access for Texas patients.

In a subsequent report, due by December 1, 2026, DSHS would need to “recommend legislative or other actions necessary to ensure patient access to psychedelic therapies following approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration, including considerations of provider availability, affordability, accessibility, training and licensure, and other regulatory requirements.”

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Maryland Governor Signs Marijuana Bills To Legalize Homemade Concentrates, Set Consumption Lounge Rules And Shield Conviction Records

The governor of Maryland has signed a series of cannabis bills, including one that will require state officials to automatically shield records for low-level marijuana convictions that have been pardoned from public access, and to more broadly expand expungement eligibility for certain other offenses.

Gov. Wes Moore (D) on Tuesday also gave final approval to a separate bill meant to clear up policies around on-site marijuana consumption businesses, lay out the plan for a second cannabis licensing lottery round and allow business owners to sell their companies to employees ahead of a current five-year waiting period.

And he further signed off on legislation that will allow adults to manufacture marijuana edibles and concentrates for personal use.

“Marylanders who have served their time and turned their lives around are being unfairly blocked from jobs, housing and opportunity—and that doesn’t just hurt them, it hurts all of us,” Moore said ahead of the expungement bill signing.

“I want to be very clear: This is not about letting criminals or repeat offenders off the hook. It’s about common sense,” he said. “The people who will be helped out by this reform are our neighbors and our parents, even people in our congregation. They’re people who just want to move forward but keep hitting a wall made of paperwork.”

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Trucking Industry Says Positive Marijuana Tests And ‘Sometimes Outdated’ Federal Regulations Are Contributing To National Driver Shortage

A recent policy paper from a pair of companies in the trucking industry says the sector was short about 80,000 drivers last year—an issue it asserts was exacerbated by workers testing positive for marijuana under the federal Department of Transportation’s (DOT) strict, zero-tolerance drug policy.

“A significant number of otherwise qualified drivers fail pre-employment or random drug tests due to marijuana use,” says the new report. “These drivers are often unaware of the DOT’s strict zero-tolerance policy or mistakenly believe that legal marijuana use in their home state is acceptable under federal law.”

Titled “Cannabis, Compliance and Driver Retention,” the white paper was published by fleet management firm Fleetworthy in partnership with the trade publication FreightWaves.

As marijuana has “moved from a largely prohibited substance to a widely legalized and socially accepted drug,” it says, “these cultural and legal shifts create complex challenges for both carriers and drivers.”

Other obstacles it points to are what it calls “the widespread proliferation of marijuana and CBD products” and “rigid (sometimes outdated) DOT regulations.”

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Cops Denied Qualified Immunity After Arresting Sober Teenager for DUI

Two police officers who arrested an Iowa college student for driving while intoxicated—even though a breathalyzer test showed he was completely sober—do not get qualified immunity protections for their actions, a panel of federal judges ruled Friday. 

In 2022, then-19-year-old Tayvin Galanakis was driving in Newton, Iowa, when two police officers—Nathan Winters and Christopher Wing—pulled him over and began asking how much alcohol he had consumed. When Galanakis denied drinking, Winters replied, “What do you mean none?”

Body camera footage of the incident shows Galanakis repeatedly asking to take a breathalyzer test. However, instead of administering a test, Winters required Galanakis to undergo a series of complex field sobriety tests. When Winters finally administered a breathalyzer test, it showed Galanakis’ blood alcohol content was 0.00. Almost immediately afterward, Winters began accusing Glanakis of being high on marijuana.

“I’ve had no weed tonight,” Galanakis told Winters. “I blew a zero, so now you’re trying to think I smoked weed? That’s what’s going on. You can’t do that, man. You really can’t do that.”

The officers were undeterred and arrested Galanakis, taking him to a local police station, where additional drug testing revealed that Galanakis had not consumed marijuana—or any other substances—before driving. Galanakis sued the officers in February 2023, alleging that his arrest was a “gross disregard of [his] civil rights.”

A lengthy legal battle followed Galanakis’ suit. Winters and Wing filed a counterclaim—arguing that several derogatory comments Galanakis left on the lightly edited footage and social media posts defamed them, though most of those claims were dismissed in May 2023. Last year, a district court judge denied the officers qualified immunity. They appealed, and last week, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed the district court’s ruling that the pair were not eligible for qualified immunity. 

“No officer could reasonably conclude that there was a substantial chance that Galanakis was under the influence of marijuana,” wrote Judge Jane L. Kelly of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in an opinion released Friday. “Galanakis evinced almost no indica of intoxication: no erratic driving; no odor of marijuana; no watery or bloodshot eyes; no staggering or physical instability; no refusal to take sobriety tests—rather, he twice asked to take a breathalyzer test.” 

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US House Reps File Bill to Legalize Cannabis, Deliver 280E Relief, Permit Interstate Commerce

Despite 11 U.S. House Republicans backing legislation that intends to permanently punish cannabis businesses in the federal tax code, a trio of bipartisan representatives introduced a bill on April 17 that would do just the opposite and then some.  

U.S. Reps. Dave Joyce, R-Ohio, Max Miller, R-Ohio, and Dina Titus, D-Nev., filed the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) 2.0 Act, legislation that aims to federally legalize cannabis through an approach that allows states, Washington, D.C., U.S. territories and tribal nations to determine how to regulate cannabis within their borders.

Primary provisions under the legislation include:

  • Removing cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act while also supporting states that choose to maintain prohibition enforcement policies;
  • Providing state-sanctioned cannabis businesses with federal tax relief by allowing them to deduct ordinary business expenses (removing their conduct as “drug trafficking” from Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code); and
  • Allowing for interstate cannabis commerce, including transportation through states and territories that choose to maintain prohibition policies.

Joyce, who co-chairs the Congressional Cannabis Caucus (CCC), sponsored a previous version of the STATES Act last Congress.

“Whether a state is pro-legalization or anti-legalization, we can all agree that the current federal approach to cannabis policy is not working,” Joyce said in a press release. “As President Trump has acknowledged, the existing policy has caused unnecessary harm and squandered taxpayer dollars by diverting law enforcement resources from combatting violent crimes to making needless arrests and facilitating incarcerations for small possessions of state-legal marijuana.”

Although President Donald Trump indicated along the campaign trail in September that he supported states’ rights on cannabis policy, as well as federal rescheduling and banking reform for the industry, he’s been silent on the issue since taking office 91 days ago.

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Nevada Senate Passes Joint Resolution Calling On Congress To Reschedule Psychedelics And Streamline Research

The Nevada Senate has approved a joint resolution that calls on Congress to reschedule certain psychedelics, provide protections for people using the substances in compliance with state law and streamline research.

About a week after the legislation from Sen. Rochelle Nguyen (D) cleared committee, the full chamber passed it in an 18-2 vote on Friday. It now moves to the Assembly for consideration.

Nguyen said on the floor that the proposal “sets forth the argument that certain research and therapeutic trials have demonstrated promising results for the use of these substances in the treatment of disorders such as traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, certain depressive disorders and other mental health conditions.”

“The measure notes the low abuse potential for classic psychedelics and highlights their safety in therapeutic session settings,” she said, adding that “SJR 10 expresses Nevada’s continued support for expanded research opportunities…and urges Congress and the appropriate federal agencies to increase related funding” for psychedelic medicines.

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Marijuana Industry PAC Ad Accuses Biden Of Waging ‘Deep State War’ Against Cannabis, Urging Trump To Save The Day With Rescheduling

A marijuana industry-backed political action committee (PAC) is making another targeted appeal to President Donald Trump.

This time it is accusing former President Joe Biden and his Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of waging a “deep state war” against medical cannabis patients—but without mentioning that the former president himself initiated the rescheduling process that marijuana companies want to see completed under Trump.

In its latest ad, titled “DEA Deep State,” the American Rights and Reform PAC said “medical cannabis has helped millions of patients,” leading to a rescheduling recommendation from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that was later endorsed by the Justice Department.

“But Joe Biden’s DEA deep state kept cannabis illegal,” it says. “Patients need help. President Donald Trump has beat the deep state before, and now Trump can finish what he started by leading the fight to reschedule cannabis and expand research and access to care.”

“It’s time to end Joe Biden’s deep state war on American patients,” it says, clearly attempting to leverage the sitting president’s desire to best his predecessor.

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Colorado Governor Could Grant Mass Pardons For Psychedelics-Related Convictions Under Newly Filed Bill

Colorado lawmakers have introduced a bill that would empower the governor to grant pardons to people who’ve been convicted of psychedelics-related offenses, while revising rules for the state’s psychedelics legalization law.

Sen. Matt Ball (D) and Rep. Lisa Feret (D) filed the legislation on Tuesday, proposing reforms to authorize Gov. Jared Polis (D) or future governors to grant mass clemency for people with convictions for low-level possession of substances such as psilocybin, ibogaine and DMT that have since been legalized for adults under state law.

In 2023, Polis called on lawmakers to take steps allowing him to issue mass pardons for people with prior psychedelics convictions as the voter-approved legalization policy was being implemented.

The governor said at the time that he needed the legislature to act to provide him with pardon authority, “so anybody who has something on their criminal record that is now legal can have that expunged and doesn’t hold them back from future employment opportunities.”

In addition to granting the governor that authority, the newly introduced measure would also require the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), Department of Revenue (DOR) and Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) to “collect information and data related to the use of natural medicine and natural medicine products.”

That would include data on law enforcement activities, adverse health events, consumer protection claims and behavioral impacts related to psychedelics.

“Subject to available appropriations, CDPHE shall also collect relevant data and information related to the use of natural medicine from facilitators and healing centers,” the bill says. “CDPHE is required to create and maintain a database of the information collected.”

The legislation, which is scheduled for a hearing before the Senate Health & Human Services Committee on Wednesday, further amends rules around licensing and ownership of psychedelic healing centers. For example, it removes a requirement for fingerprint background checks for owners and employees of licensed facilities, making it so they would only be subject to a name-based criminal background check.

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Southern California mayor’s twisted plan to wipe out homeless people sparks widespread condemnation

A Southern California mayor has sparked mass condemnation after revealing he’d give homeless residents ‘all the fentanyl they want’ in an effort to wipe them out.

R. Rex Parris, the mayor of Lancaster, made the remarks in front of stunned residents and councilmembers at a city council meeting earlier in the year but footage of his speech has just emerged.

Huge swathes of California have been gripped by a fentanyl crisis as the highly addictive and deadly drug becomes more accessible and affordable on the streets.

Just a tiny, two milligrams dose of the drug is enough to kill a human.  

Most of California is also in the grips of a housing crisis, as home costs soar and new developments stagnate – made exponentially worse by the devastating bushfires which tore through Los Angeles in January.

The Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count registered as many as 6,672 people experiencing homelessness in Lancaster and its surrounding areas in 2024.

Asked about his vision to tackle the crisis, the 73-year-old Republican mayor did not mince his words.

‘What I want to do is give them free fentanyl,’ Parris told the February 25 meeting, to the bewilderment of everybody else in the room.

‘I mean, that’s what I want to do. I want to give them all the fentanyl they want.’ 

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Are Police In Memphis Overcharging Drivers Caught With Small Amounts Of Marijuana?

Memphis simmered in the July heat as a police cruiser pulled over a blue Nissan Altima motoring through the downtown business district. The car’s temporary tag had expired days earlier, an oversight police often resolve by issuing a citation.

But this traffic stop took a more serious turn when a Memphis Police Department (MPD) officer said he “could smell an odor consistent with marijuana coming out of the vehicle.’’

After questioning a female passenger, police found slightly more than a half-ounce of marijuana in her purse—a small but critical amount that led officers to arrest the family-focused grandmother on a felony drug-trafficking charge.

As a special task force begins reviewing U.S. Justice Department claims of abuse by MPD during traffic stops, reform advocates say the woman’s arrest is yet another example of overly aggressive policing in Memphis.

“It’s absolutely a trumped-up charge,” said Claiborne Ferguson, a longtime Memphis defense attorney who reviewed the July 2, 2024, police affidavit filed against the woman. He has no official connection to the case.

The woman, a cancer victim, said she is no drug dealer and doesn’t even smoke that much.

“It was crazy,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified. Although the charge against her was later dropped, she said she fears any association with a criminal charge. “I’m a real-life good person. I treat everyone with respect,” she said.

The incident is one of 13 traffic-stop cases identified by the Institute for Public Service Reporting (IPSR) in which Shelby County law enforcement officers signed felony marijuana affidavits, only to see those charges vacated in court. Attorneys who reviewed the affidavits for The Institute said they appeared deficient in supporting felony charges of intent to sell.

The charges—which often involved warrantless searches of vehicles—led arrestees to spend several hours or more in jail.

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