Tag: the war on (some) drugs

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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Hemp Farmers Say Texas Bill To Rein In Intoxicating Cannabinoid Products Could Destroy State Industry

Andrew Hill, who studied and farmed hemp in California before it was legal in Texas, was a keynote speaker at the state’s first-ever agricultural hemp expo in Dallas in 2019. Amid considerable hype and excitement that followed the recent federal legalization of hemp, Hill tried to warn farmers that the industry wasn’t as profitable as state officials and seed vendors were pitching.

“There were guys running around telling farmers they could make $2,500 to $3,000 an acre on hemp. Being an actual farmer, not trying to sell seeds or clones, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing,” Hill said. “Everyone looked at me and asked what was so funny, and they gave me the mic and I said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I’ll tell you right now—I haven’t seen over $1,000 an acre since 2015.’”

Still, Texas lawmakers embraced the opportunity hemp presented in 2019, legalizing hemp products of the cannabis plant with less than 0.3 percent THC, the psychoactive component in marijuana. Hill’s Texas Star Hemp Farms was among those to make the investment necessary to profit from hemp, including owning almost all the means of production and sales and spending millions on seeds, licenses and facilities.

Six years after that initial rush, industrial hemp farming in Texas stands on the brink. Senate Bill 3, which would ban any consumable hemp products that contain even trace amounts of THC, could destroy what farmers like Hill have built.

“Now, considering things like hemp hearts, hemp seed oils, salad dressings and those health products that don’t have any cannabinoids in them to get you high, [they] will still be illegal under this law,” Hill said.

Hill is one of about 450 licensed hemp producers in the Texas Industrial Hemp Program at risk of losing a chunk of their livelihoods as Texas lawmakers have prioritized banning tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, products. Farmers say there is no way they can produce hemp without traces of THC, even for non-consumable products like clothing and paper, meaning SB 3 could deliver a death blow to the industry.

The GOP-controlled Legislature authorized the sale of consumable hemp a year after it was legalized nationwide to boost Texas agriculture by allowing the commercialization of hemp containing trace amounts of delta-9 THC.

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GOP Congressman And House Democratic Leader Team Up To Prepare For Federal Marijuana Legalization With Alcohol-Like Regulations

A GOP congressman and the top House Democrat are teaming up on a new bill to lay the groundwork for federal marijuana legalization.

On the same day he announced the refiling of a separate bipartisan measure to end federal prohibition in states that have legalized cannabis, Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH) has again introduced the Preparing Regulators Effectively for a Post-Prohibition Adult-Use Regulated Environment Act (PREPARE) Act.

The legislation is also being sponsored by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who has worked with Joyce on earlier versions of the bill in past sessions.

The incremental reform would direct the attorney general to create a commission charged with making recommendations on a regulatory system for cannabis that models what’s currently in place for alcohol.

“Currently, nearly all 50 states have legalized or enacted cannabis to some degree, bringing us closer to the inevitable end to federal cannabis prohibition,” Joyce said in a press release on Thursday. “Recognizing this reality, the PREPARE Act delivers a bipartisan plan.”

“With this legislation, Congress would be equipped to develop a much-needed federal regulatory framework that not only respects the unique needs, rights, and laws of each state, but also ensures a responsible end to prohibition and a safer future for our communities,” he said.

The legislation largely resembles an earlier version introduced last session, with several largely technical changes.

One substantive from the last version is that the proposed cannabis commission would now include representatives of the Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Labor and Treasury, as well as the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and Office of Minority Health and Indian Health Service.

Language was also added to clarify that two commission members who’ve overseen the development of “two successful, separate, and unique State-level regulatory systems” must have served on state cannabis control commissions. Such commissions are newly defined as “any State commission, bureau, board, department, office, agency, division, or authority responsible for the regulation of the State’s legal medical and recreational cannabis program.”

The prospects of marijuana legislation advancing in the Republican-controlled Congress this session remain unclear, but certain members have expressed confidence that modest reform could be achievable on a bipartisan basis. The PREPARE Act could represent an area of agreement to that end.

“Since the failed war on drugs began more than 50 years ago, the prohibition of marijuana has ruined lives, families and communities, particularly communities of color,” Jeffries said. “The PREPARE Act is one of the bipartisan solutions that will lay the groundwork to finally right these wrongs in a way that advances public safety and boosts our economy.”

“I am grateful to Congressman Joyce for reintroducing this important bill and his leadership to help the United States be ready for the inevitable end to cannabis prohibition,” he said.

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Lawmakers In Slovenia Unveil Proposal To Legalize Marijuana For Medical And Scientific Use

Less than a year after voters in Slovenia approved a pair of marijuana ballot measures, lawmakers in the country have introduced a bill that would regulate cannabis specifically for medical and scientific use.

The measure, from the Freedom Movement (Gibanje Svoboda) and The Left (Levica) parties, would legalize cannabis extracts, plants and resin by removing the substances from Slovenia’s list of illegal drugs, according to local reports. THC, however, would remain prohibited unless used for medical or scientific reasons.

“Our goal is to protect patients and cannabis users from unverified products on the black market, enable uninterrupted medical cannabis supply to patients and address current legal shortcomings in the field of cannabis use for medical and scientific purposes,” the Freedom Movement said in a statement about the proposal, according to a report in N1.

Members of parliament “want to establish an efficient system that will take into account the existing competencies of the competent authorities, enable economic opportunities and clearly establish criteria for obtaining permits for growers, as well as researchers,” the party added.

Under the proposal, the Public Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices would be responsible for licensing and regulating the production and trade of medical marijuana. The Ministry of Health, meanwhile, would issue permits around marijuana used specifically for scientific purposes.

While the new proposal focuses only on medical marijuana, the Freedom Movement said it expects to take up regulation of cannabis for “limited personal use” by adults later this legislative session.

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