Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Medical Marijuana Is ‘Effective’ In Providing Relief To Patients With Restless Legs Syndrome, Study Shows

People with restless legs syndrome (RLS) could find “significant” long-term relief with cannabis treatment, according to a new study.

Researchers said that while dopamine agonists have traditionally served as the “first-line treatment” of RLS, recent studies have signaled that gabapentinoids are now being recommended. Because cannabinoids, like gabapentinoids, inhibit a certain type of amino acid associated with the disorder, the scientists decided to test their therapeutic efficacy.

The exploratory open-label study, conducted by researchers at Universidad Europea de Madrid and published in the Journal of Neurology, found that a cannabis product containing 2.7mg THC and 2.5mg CBD “was effective in reducing RLS severity” among patients with multiple sclerosis and “associated idiopathic RLS.”

“Improvements were observed after 1 and 3 months of treatment and were maintained after 1 year among patients who continued therapy,” the study of 18 patients with RLS showed. For those that remained on treatment after one year, 67 percent “continued to show sustained improvement.”

The findings might not be especially surprising given that cannabis is well-known to reduce the severity of muscular spasms and related conditions, but its efficacy for RLS is notable considering that no states appear to explicitly list it as a qualifying condition for medical cannabis.

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Using Marijuana Will Make You ‘A Loser In Life,’ GOP Congressman Says

A Republican congressman claims that using marijuana “hurts your DNA,” will “make you a loser in life” and leads to young women being “taken advantage of.”

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), one of the most outspoken opponents of cannabis legalization in Congress, made the comments in an  appearance on “High Stakes,” a podcast produced by the prohibitionist organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM).

“If you want to become a loser in life—if you want, as a young woman, to be around areas where the knowledge that you have of being assaulted, taken advantage of, and harming your life—just go forth and be around marijuana,” he said.

“I became very aware in college about people who used marijuana, who ended up literally dropping out—dropping out of life—who just chose that way of life,” he said. “I saw it from a personal perspective of a danger to someone’s future in their life.”

“There is not one positive effect of this marijuana,” Sessions claimed, despite the fact that nearly every state in the country has legalized cannabis for medical uses and the Trump administration has partially federally rescheduled it, officially recognizing its therapeutic value.

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Former Democratic Florida Gubernatorial Nominee Andrew Gillum Arrested With Meth, Cut Straws, Bong

Former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum was arrested last week in Alabama on drug charges following a traffic stop. 

The former rising star in the Democratic Party, who served as Tallahassee Mayor from 2014 to 2018, narrowly lost his gubernatorial bid to Ron DeSantis by just 0.4% in 2018.

Police say they pulled him over for driving erratically on the night of July 2 and found methamphetamine, marijuana, and drug paraphernalia.

He now faces multiple charges, including unlawful possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of marijuana.

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U.N. Drug Report Highlights How Ineffective Cannabis Prohibition Is

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) recently released its World Drug Report 2026, finding that an estimated 256 million people have consumed cannabis within the last year, and that “cannabis remains the most widely used drug by far.” It is worth noting that alcohol and tobacco were not included in the analysis.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 2.3 billion people are alcohol consumers globally, more than 3 million people die annually due to alcohol, and “alcohol causes more than 5% of the global disease burden.” Additionally, WHO estimates that 1.2 billion people are tobacco consumers, and that tobacco use is “responsible for over 7 million deaths annually as well as disability and long-term suffering from tobacco-related diseases.” Both substances are legal and readily available across the globe, while cannabis commerce is still largely prohibited across the world.

“Cannabis production, trafficking and use are all evolving, likely in part due to the ongoing changes in perception towards the drug around the time when many jurisdictions, notably in North America, adopted legalization and/or decriminalization policies.” the UNODC wrote in a press release announcing the publication of its World Drug Report 2026. “The number of people using cannabis has grown by 40 per cent over the past decade, while the prevalence of its use increased from 3.8 per cent of the population aged 15-64 in 2014 to 4.8 per cent in 2024. Cannabis seizures also reached historically high levels in 2024.”

“Historically, most cannabis trafficking has been within regions, largely because cannabis can be grown virtually anywhere. Yet inter-regional trade, with supply coming from North America, is growing: over 2015–2024, 57 countries or territories outside North America identified it as a source region for cannabis seizures, up from just 11 in the preceding decade.” UNODC added.

If there is one major cannabis-focused takeaway from the World Drug Report, it is that cannabis prohibition does not work. Hundreds of millions of people around the world consume cannabis, whether it is legal or not. Cannabis prohibition does not eliminate use. Rather, it shifts the market profits toward organized crime and results in consumers and patients using untested cannabis products.

Furthermore, cannabis prohibition results in limited public resources being diverted away from more worthy efforts toward investigating, arresting, and incarcerating people for cannabis activity. Nearly every morning, people can read headlines about ‘major cannabis busts’ around the world involving large amounts of cannabis being seized. Every one of those headlines should serve as a reminder that there is a better, more sensible approach to cannabis commerce.

Thankfully, an increasing number of jurisdictions are modernizing their cannabis policies and regulations to permit medical and adult-use cannabis commerce. Those policy modernizations don’t just benefit people who consume cannabis; they also provide benefits to all members of society in direct and indirect ways.

For starters, legalized cannabis commerce creates jobs, generates taxes and fees, and boosts local economies. Also, cannabis legalization results in direct savings to national and local governments when they no longer waste money enforcing failed cannabis prohibition. For example, France spends an estimated €570m annually on cannabis prohibition enforcement. That money could either be returned to taxpayers or spent on other things that benefit society as a whole.

Another major benefit of modernized cannabis laws and regulations is affording patients and consumers the ability to acquire and use tested cannabis products. That, in turn, boosts public health outcomes. Allowing legalized cannabis commerce to boost public health outcomes is a major premise behind recent adult-use policy modernizations in Europe. Legalization works, and prohibition does not. Anyone who claims otherwise is likely benefiting in some way from prohibition, including politically and/or economically.

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Vermont Governor Signs Bill To Double Legal Marijuana Possession Limit And Allow Interstate Commerce

Vermont’s governor has signed legislation that will allow adults over the age of 21 to legally possess twice as much marijuana as they could previously, enable interstate cannabis commerce and make other changes to rules for licensed businesses.

Gov. Phil Scott (R) on Friday announced that he approved the large-scale cannabis regulatory reform bill, S. 278, which passed both chambers of the legislature last month.

One of the main impacts of the new law for consumers is that it doubles the prior legal possession limit to up to two ounces of marijuana or 10 grams of hashish.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale (D), also allows the governor to enter into compacts with other states for cross-border cannabis trade.

The legislative text notes that there is a “shifting federal posture on regulated cannabis markets” and says it is “the intent of the General Assembly to prepare for the possibility of regional or interstate cannabis markets.”

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SHOCKING: Fired Florida Juvenile Probation Officer Kept Access to Sensitive Court Database for YEARS – Used It 106 Times to Tip Off Drug Traffickers About Active Arrest Warrants

A 32-year-old former Florida Department of Juvenile Justice employee who was terminated in 2022 after a battery arrest has been hit with 113 felony counts after allegedly exploiting her still-active access to the state’s Comprehensive Case Information System (CCIS) to warn members of a drug trafficking organization about impending arrests.

Crystal Lawson was hired in February 2022 as a Juvenile Probation Officer. She was fired later that same year following her arrest on a battery charge. Critically, her access to the sensitive statewide court database was never revoked, WFTV9 reported.

Between January and May 2026, Lawson unlawfully accessed the CCIS database 106 times, specifically targeting active criminal cases involving a Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO) under investigation by law enforcement.

She searched for and located multiple active, unserved arrest warrants, identified co-defendants in the case, and then leaked that information directly to members and associates of the DTO.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) did not mince words in its official statement:

“These leaks resulted in lost evidence, unrecovered assets, and at least one flight to avoid arrest.”

Lawson now faces 113 felony counts of Computer Crimes – Unauthorized Access. Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, meaning she could be looking at 565 years behind bars if convicted on every charge.

OCSO Intelligence agents made the arrest, and the sheriff’s office released footage of Lawson in custody.

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U.K. Actress Emaa Hussen Charged with Importing $208m Worth of Meth into Australia

British actress Emaa Hussen was charged in Sydney after allegedly trying to smuggle roughly $208 million worth of methamphetamine into Australia through concealed “charcoal” shipments coming from Ghana, outlets reported.

The BBC reports that Hussen was arrested in a drug bust after allegedly trying to smuggle a massive amount of 320 kilograms of meth from West Africa into Australia. She appeared before a Sydney court on Thursday after being charged with attempting to import a commercial quantity of methamphetamine into Australian territory — which carries a maximum life in prison sentence.

Hussen, 34, is known for her roles in the 2013 film Redemption  and in a spinoff of British soap opera EastEnders that first aired in 2010.  The actress was refused bail last month and is due back in court in August.

The Australian Federal Police informed that it launched an investigation in April after Australian Border Force (ABF) officers in Sydney detected anomalies in shipping containers coming from Ghana. The illicit substance was found concealed in purported bags of coal. Further testing determined the substance to be methamphetamine.

Hussen allegedly attended the storage facility and supervised over several men as they unpacked the container, with a number of bags transported to a house in Blacktown. AFP investigators later executed a search warrant and arrested the British actress.

“Police located 32 bags at the house, which were allegedly those that had previously contained methamphetamine,” AFP said on Thursday. “Electronic devices and a notebook were also seized and will be subject to further forensic examination.”

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Supreme Court Upholds Marijuana Users’ Gun Rights, Rejecting Trump DOJ Arguments In Major Second Amendment Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously sided with a man who was prosecuted for possessing a gun while being a regular consumer of marijuana, ruling that the government’s actions violate the Second Amendment.

The opinion authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch is narrow in scope and does not entirely strike down the federal law known as 922(g)(3) that prohibits people who illegally consume controlled substances from possessing or purchasing firearms.

But it does say that as applied to the man in the current case, Ali Danial Hemani, it is unconstitutional to automatically bar people from lawful gun ownership just because they happen to use marijuana occasionally.

It also says that the broad ban and the government’s effort to defend it are “at odds with” the Trump administration’s move to federally reschedule cannabis.

The government “asks us to conclude that anyone who regularly uses marijuana is categorically violent and dangerous without any further showing,” the opinion says. “All based on little more than its current say-so, one at odds with its own regulatory actions. And affording the government that kind of ‘broad power to designate any group as dangerous and thereby disqualify its members from having a gun’ would risk allowing it to ‘quickly swallow’ the Second Amendment.”

The court’s opinion in U.S. vs. Hemani does not address “efforts to ban addicts, or those presently intoxicated, from possessing a firearm,” it says. “We do not address other prophylactic laws Congress might adopt after determining that users of a particular drug pose a special risk of misusing firearms. We do not address 18 U. S. C. §922(g)(1)’s provision disarming individuals convicted of felonies (often including drug-related ones).”

“We do not even address whether the government could bring a prosecution under §922(g)(3) accompanied by individualized proof that the defendant’s use of marijuana (or any other drug) renders him a danger to himself or others. Or proof that a certain drug always renders its users dangerous because of its potency or for some other reason. None of those issues is before us and we do not pass on them either way.”

“All that is before us is one, if surely ambitious, theory. The government maintains that it may automatically strip Mr. Hemani of his Second Amendment right to possess a firearm because he uses marijuana a few times a week,” Gorsuch wrote. “More than that, because he possessed a gun despite this prohibition, the government insists it may imprison him for up to 15 years and disarm him for life.”

“According to the government, none of this turns on how much marijuana Mr. Hemani uses or what effect it has on him. It makes no difference either if he keeps a firearm only in his home for selfdefense, never misuses a gun while intoxicated, and never poses a danger to himself or others as a result of his marijuana use. The only thing the government must show, it says, is that an individual like Mr. Hemani regularly uses any amount of any controlled substance.”

The court’s opinion details recent large-scale federal policy changes concerning marijuana, and how they undermine the broad statute seeking to strip cannabis consumers of their Second Amendment rights.

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Nonconsensual Drug Testing Has Criminalized Tens of Thousands of Pregnant People

New York had the chance to make history in more arenas than basketball this June. Earlier this month, the New York Senate passed the Maternal Health, Dignity and Consent Act, becoming the first legislative chamber in the country to pass legislation that would require informed consent for drug testing of pregnant people. But despite that promising step, the state has once again failed to protect some of its most vulnerable residents from unjust criminalization.

There was a broad coalition of support for this legislation, including researchers, health care providers, and advocates. Several prominent medical and legal groups supported the legislation, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the New York City Bar Association. However, despite the wave of support for the legislation, the victory in the New York Senate was short-lived. The Maternal Health, Dignity and Consent Act died when it didn’t get a vote in the Assembly.

This isn’t the first time this kind of legislation has failed to pass in New York; advocates have been trying for seven years to ban nonconsensual drug testing of pregnant people and have failed every year. This legislation, which has repeatedly been reintroduced only to fail, would have prohibited health care providers in the state from drug testing pregnant or postpartum people and their newborns without explicit verbal and written informed consent. The legislation would have, however, allowed for health care providers to override the ban if there was a significant and immediate medical emergency.

While drug and alcohol use while pregnant can present complications for a newborn, nonconsensual drug testing of pregnant people doesn’t solve the issue at hand. It erodes trust between the health care provider and the patient, a core tenet in any health care relationship. And it does nothing to treat addiction as the disease that it is. This practice has been shown to force pregnant people to delay prenatal care, afraid of the potential criminal consequences of being drug tested against their will. Moreover, nonconsensual drug testing could trap the birthing parent in a web of criminalization that, at best, hinders family bonding, and at worst, irrevocably tears families apart — all because of a disease.

Mandatory, nonconsensual drug testing has put more than 70,000 pregnant people in 21 states into the criminal legal system over a six-year period, according to a landmark study by the Marshall Project, and that is likely a significant undercount. This violation criminalizes pregnant people who are dealing with addiction. It does nothing to treat their addiction or support them and their newborn as they transition to this next phase of life. Instead, for too many pregnant people, it can tear their family apart at the most fragile time and force Child Protective Services (CPS) involvement, which can make recovery for birthing people even less likely in the wake of trauma.

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Czech Scientists Create Blood Plasma from Hemp Seeds

A protein hidden inside hemp seeds could one day save lives.

Researchers in the Czech Republic are developing a groundbreaking blood plasma substitute made from edestin, a naturally occurring protein found in hemp seeds. While the project is still in the preclinical stage, the concept has already attracted international attention because it could potentially address one of healthcare’s biggest challenges: the global shortage of blood plasma.

For cannabis advocates, it’s yet another reminder that the plant’s value extends far beyond cannabinoids like THC and CBD.

What Exactly Is Blood Plasma?

Blood plasma is the pale-yellow liquid that makes up around 55% of human blood. It transports proteins, nutrients, hormones, and other vital substances throughout the body.

Hospitals rely heavily on plasma during:

  • Severe blood loss
  • Major surgeries
  • Burn treatments
  • Trauma care
  • Various medical conditions require plasma proteins

The problem? Plasma can only be obtained from human donors, leading to persistent supply shortages worldwide. Estimates suggest that demand significantly exceeds available supply in many regions.

The Hemp Connection

The Czech project centers around edestin, a storage protein naturally found in hemp seeds.

Scientists believe edestin possesses several characteristics that make it an interesting candidate for a plasma substitute. The protein’s structure appears highly compatible with mammalian biology, prompting researchers to investigate whether it could mimic some functions traditionally performed by human plasma proteins.

The concept is not entirely new. Czech researchers have been studying the medical potential of hemp-derived edestin for decades, and a patent covering its use as a blood plasma substitute was granted in 2008.

Why This Could Be a Big Deal

If researchers can successfully develop a safe and effective plasma substitute from hemp, the advantages could be enormous.

Unlike donated human plasma, a hemp-derived alternative could potentially be:

  • Produced on a large scale
  • Less dependent on donor availability
  • Easier to store and transport
  • More accessible in developing countries
  • Free from many supply-chain limitations associated with human donations

The Czech startup behind the initiative, Plasma for People, believes the technology could eventually provide a low-cost, plant-based solution for emergency medicine and healthcare systems worldwide.

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