Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Ohio Bill Seeks To Regulate Intoxicating Hemp And Limit Sales To Marijuana Dispensaries

A pair of Ohio Republican state senators want intoxicating hemp products to be sold only at adult-use dispensaries—not convenience stores, smoke shops or gas stations.

Ohio state Sens. Steve Huffman (R-Tipp City) and Shane Wilkin (R-Hillsboro) introduced Senate Bill 86, which would also impose a 15 percent tax on intoxicating hemp products sold at dispensaries and ban the sale of intoxicating hemp products to anyone under 21.

“Currently, intoxicating hemp products are untested, unregulated psychoactive products that can be just as intoxicating, if not more intoxicating, than marijuana,” Wilkin said in his sponsor testimony to the Senate General Government Committee on Tuesday.

The 2018 U.S. Farm Bill says hemp can be grown legally if it contains less than 0.3 percent THC.

Ohio is one of about 20 states that does not have any regulations around intoxicating hemp products, according to an Ohio State University Drug Enforcement and Policy Center study from November 2024. Fifteen states ban these products. Seven states, including Michigan, regulate it like cannabis, while seven other states regulate it like consumer goods, according to the study.

“Given the lack of regulations, the intoxicating hemp industry has been able to confuse Ohio consumers and law enforcement by marketing themselves as ‘dispensaries’ with ‘recreational marijuana,’” Huffman said in his testimony.

Under the bill, intoxicating hemp products would only be sold at dispensaries if the products have been tested and comply with standards for packaging, labeling and advertising. The bill would only apply to products that can be ingested or inhaled.

“To suppress the illicit market, this bill prohibits hemp products that are not sold in dispensaries from marketing the products as marijuana, using any terms associated with the sale of the product that would cause a consumer to infer the product is marijuana or that the entity selling the product is a marijuana dispensary,” Huffman said in his testimony.

He had a bill in the last General Assembly that would have banned the sale of all intoxicating hemp products, but it wasn’t able to make it out of committee. Hemp business owners testified against the bill since it would end their livelihood, but they spoke in favor of regulations.

SB 86 would also regulate drinkable cannabinoid products.

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Marijuana Offers Hope For Treating Chronic Pain And Reducing Use Of Other Medications, New Study Shows

Marijuana and its cannabinoid components may be useful treatments for various types of chronic pain, in some cases helping to reduce the use of other medications, according to a newly published scientific review. The paper also says select mixtures of cannabinoids could help minimize undesirable effects of cannabis, such as the psychoactivity of THC.

Published last month in the journal Medical Cannabis and Cannabinoids and authored by researchers at Penn State College of Medicine, the paper reviews “the most recent evidence supporting the use of cannabis in the treatment of chronic pain disorders including chronic neuropathic pain, cancer-induced neuropathic pain, chronic musculoskeletal pain, and chronic headaches and migraines.”

The report concludes that a selection of cannabis compounds, with various effects on chemical receptors in the body, can have a pain-relieving effect. It also recommends further research into the possible analgesic properties of less-common cannabinoids such as cannabichromene (CBC) and cannabigerol (CBG).

All told, more than 180 different cannabinoids have now been isolated from the cannabis plant, the report notes, often interacting with different parts of the body. CBD and THC, for example, “have a wide potential for therapeutic effects based on their multiple molecular targets including ion channels, receptors, transporters and enzymes.”

“The two most abundant and studied cannabinoids, THC and CBD, along with an understudied cannabinoid, cannabigerol (CBG), have been shown, in our laboratories, to reduce neuropathic pain in animal models,” authors wrote, recommending that further study “into cannabinoids like THC, CBD and CBG should focus on the optimal therapeutic doses and the effects these cannabinoids can have on the management of chronic neuropathic pain in humans.”

Chronic pain affects more than 100 million Americans, the review says, and is one of the most common reasons adults seek medical care.

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Kentucky Senate Passes Hemp Drinks Bill With Amendment Regulating, Instead Of Banning, Them

The Kentucky Senate advanced a bill Friday that would regulate intoxicating hemp-derived beverages but without banning their sales as first proposed.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, amended Senate Bill 202 after Republicans and Democrats alike expressed skepticism about the ban when the measure was approved by a committee earlier this week.

Adams’s floor amendment removed the temporary sales ban and would instead impose a cap of 5 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, on cannabis-derived drinks. The bill adds regulation of the intoxicating beverages to state laws that regulate alcoholic beverages, giving the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control the authority to oversee their distribution and sale.

Raque Adams said her floor amendment provided a “really solid starting point to put guardrails around this product so it doesn’t get in the hands of our children, guardrails for public health and guardrails for safety while maintaining the small business interests that we have seen across the commonwealth.”

“We are treating cannabis-infused beverages exactly like we’re treating alcohol,” Adams said.

As canned hemp-derived beverages containing THC have been gaining popularity across the country and popping up in convenience stores, state governments have increasingly sought to regulate them.

SB 202 passed the Senate by a vote of 29-6 with the minority of Democrats opposing the legislation, arguing that, while they agreed with regulating the beverages, the legislation was rushed and that senators and the public were not given enough time to understand the changes.

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Georgia Senate Passes Bills To Expand Medical Marijuana Access And Limit THC In Hemp Beverages

Three bills changing the way Georgia regulates hemp and medical cannabis have cleared the Senate ahead of Thursday’s Crossover Day deadline. The votes on the bills are some of the only ones this session that didn’t fall cleanly along party lines, with Senate Republicans divided over expanding medical access to cannabis and members of both parties split over new regulations on recreational hemp products.

Medical cannabis

Senate Bill 220, also known as the “Putting Georgia’s Patients First Act,” passed in a contentious 39–17 vote after more than an hour of debate in the Senate. Like its counterpart in the other chamber, House Bill 227, the bill replaces the term “low-THC oil” with “medical cannabis” in Georgia code, removes requirements that certain medical diagnoses like cancer or Parkinson’s disease be “severe or end stage” and adds lupus to the list of qualifying health conditions.

Unlike the House version, SB 220 removes an existing prohibition against vaping cannabis oil and raises the percentage of THC that medical cannabis products may contain from 5 percent to 50 percent.

The bill was amended on the floor to include a provision allowing caregivers to pick up medical cannabis from pharmacies. Three other amendments aimed at reducing the amount of THC allowed in medical cannabis, removing the provision that allows for vaping, and removing PTSD and intractable pain from the list of approved diagnoses failed during a series of floor votes.

Hemp bills

Two bills aimed at strengthening hemp regulations in Georgia passed the Senate in decisive votes on Crossover Day, seeking to limit recreational use of marijuana as the chamber simultaneously eased restrictions for medical use.

Marietta Republican Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick’s SB 33 subjects chemical compounds like delta-8 THC, delta-10 THC, hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) and other cannabinoids to testing and labeling regulations that were added last year under SB 494. It passed in a 50–6 vote.

In her speech from the well, Kirkpatrick said her bill is aimed at cutting down on unregulated hemp products from China and other countries.

“This bill is not a ban,” Kirkpatrick said. “It’s a consumer protection bill that is not intended to impact processors that are already testing and labeling their products appropriately. It’s intended to make sure that consumers buying these products are clear on what they’re buying.”

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DOJ Identifies Chinese Nationals and Companies Directly Aiding Mexican Drug Cartels and Supplying Fentanyl Precursors to Mexico

The Department of Justice has identified Chinese nationals and companies that have been directly aiding the Mexican drug cartels. This raises troubling questions, especially if the cartels are designated as foreign terrorist organizations.

One of the executive orders signed by President Donald Trump on Jan. 20 is called “Designating Cartels and Other Organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists.” This order was a presidential direction to add the Mexican drug cartels to the list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The scourge of fentanyl can be traced directly to the cartels and is killing thousands of Americans per month. Combined drug overdoses in the United States leave about 120,000 people dead per year. At this rate, if no action is taken to address it, the number of overdoses will surpass the number of Americans killed in World War II—407,000—within a couple of years.

In the executive order, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was given the lead to develop the final list of groups to be designated as terrorist groups. The State Department is reported to have created a tentative list of eight groups to be placed on the formal terrorist organization list.

On “The Megyn Kelly Show” podcast on Jan. 30, Rubio said Mexico has significant amounts of ungoverned territory.

“They’re controlled by drug cartels,” he said. “They are the most powerful force on the ground, and they are plowing into the United States. … They’re facilitating illegal migration, but they are also bringing in fentanyl and deadly drugs to our country.

“That’s a national security threat, and that needs to stop.”

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New Hampshire Lawmakers Unanimously Approve Psilocybin Decriminalization Bill

A House committee in New Hampshire has advanced a bill that would decriminalize use and possession of psilocybin.

Members of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety voted unanimously, 16–0, to pass the bill, HB 528, from Rep. Kevin Verville (R).

Prior to moving the bill forward, the committee first adopted an amendment to temper the proposed reform. As originally introduced, it would have completely removed all penalties around obtaining, purchasing, transporting, possessing or using psilocybin, effectively legalizing it on a noncommercial basis.

The amended version of the legislation imposes penalties, but they’re significantly lower than the state’s current felony-level prohibition.

Under the new amendment, a first psilocybin offense would be a violation, subject to a fine of $100 or less. Second and third offenses would be class B misdemeanors, carrying fines of up to $500 and $1,000, respectively, but also with no risk of jail time.

Fourth and subsequent offenses would still be classified as felonies.

Notably, language of the proposal does not include any specific limit to the amount of psilocybin a person could possess.

The committee’s chair, Rep. Terry Roy (R), said that while he opposes full legalization of psilocybin, he believes the drug has medical value and ought not be punished as a felony.

“I’d like to see it done through proper scientific channels, through university studies and the [Department of Veterans Affairs],” Roy explained. “But having said that, I support this bill lowering it from a felony. We don’t need more intoxicated people, but we also don’t need more felons.”

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Psychedelics Have ‘Promising Medical Applications,’ Congressional Watchdog Agency Says, But Research Challenges Remain

A federal agency has published a short report on the medical use of psychedelics, finding that their ability to “change a person’s perceptions and sense of self” can make for “promising medical applications.”

The paper, from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), says there’s a need for further research, but it also notes that because psychedelics such as LSD, MDMA and psilocybin remain Schedule I controlled substances, securing permission to carry out that research can be a challenge.

“To conduct research on these drugs, scientists need to follow several steps,” the report from GAO, which is often referred to as Congress’s “watchdog,” states in a section about ongoing challenges. “These include obtaining permission from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, finding clinical grade drugs to test, and identifying appropriate spaces in which to test and store these drugs.”

“Difficulties associated with conducting large, blind trials of psychedelics have limited researchers’ ability to determine the safety and effectiveness of these drugs,” GAO continues, “which is required for them to gain approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA approval is generally required before prescription drugs can be marketed for sale in the U.S.”

Despite the obstacles, the paper acknowledges that hundreds of clinical trials have investigated psychedelics as a potential treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression.

“Between 2015 and early 2025, over 340 trials on psychedelics began or were completed,” it says. “For example, one study found that psilocybin reduced depression symptoms more than escitalopram, an SSRI.”

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Coating Dentures With CBD Can Help Prevent Oral Infections, Government-Funded Study Shows

A newly published journal article says the cannabis component CBD could be an effective way to avoid oral infections when incorporated into the primary material used in dentures.

Published last month in the journal Molecules, the government-funded research says bonding CBD to dentures demonstrates “potential for antibiotic-free denture coatings, reducing dental biofilms and plaque formation, and improving oral health outcomes.”

To study the properties of CBD in dentures, researchers incorporated the cannabinoid into a type of plastic known as poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), which the paper explains is “the primary material for dentures due to its favorable physical and aesthetic qualities.” Researchers then tested antimicrobial activity against three types of bacteria: Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Streptococcus agalactiae.

Results showed that the CBD denture coatings had “significant bactericidal effects” against so-called Gram-positive bacteria. In terms of Gram-negative bacteria—which are typically more resistant to antibiotics—the CBD coating was ineffective against free-floating, so-called “planktonic” Gram-negative bacteria but effectively eliminated communities of bacteria known as biofilms.

“Biofilm studies revealed a 99% reduction in biofilm growth for both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria on CBD-infused PMMA compared to standard PMMA,” the report says. “The CBD disrupted bacterial cell ways, causing lysis,” or the breakdown of the cell itself.

“In summary,” authors wrote, “biofilm studies showed PMMA/CBD coatings were effective in eradicating all the pathogens on their surface.”

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Kentucky Senate Panel Votes To Ban Sale Of Hemp-Derived Beverages On A Temporary Basis

Kentucky lawmakers advanced a “shell” bill Wednesday evening to ban the sale of hemp-derived beverages in the state until summer of 2026, a move supporters say will allow time to understand how intoxicating versions of the beverages are impacting consumers.

But those involved in the hemp industry decried the proposed moratorium on the sale of hemp-derived beverages as hampering, or even crippling, small businesses trying to market, distribute or sell the canned beverages that are gaining popularity across the country and popping up in places including convenience stores.

Senate Bill 202 sponsor Sen. Julie Raque Adams (R-Louisville) said the goal of her bill is to better understand and regulate intoxicating hemp-derived beverages similar to how the state regulates other intoxicating beverages such as beer or liquor.

She spoke to lawmakers alongside Rep. Matthew Koch (R- Paris) with a line of cans on a desk featuring various flavors and amounts of infused non-intoxicating cannabidiol, known as CBD, and other cannabinoids, which can include intoxicating tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.

“We are simply placing a moratorium on their sale until such time as we can establish robust regulations that protect Kentucky consumers and, most importantly, Kentucky children,” Adams said. “We have a real, I think, consumer protection issue going on right now. We need to make sure that Kentucky gets this right.”

Legislative concerns about regulating hemp-derived beverages sprang into public view on the 22nd day of this year’s 30-day session. The deadline for filing bills in the Senate was February 18.

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Ohio GOP Lawmaker Files Bill To Revise Voter-Approved Marijuana Law With Less Sweeping Changes Than Senate-Passed Measure

A Republican Ohio lawmaker has introduced a rival bill to Senate-passed legislation that seeks to amend the state’s voter-approved marijuana legalization law. And the proposed changes in the House measure are less sweeping—for example, maintaining the current allowable amount of cannabis plans that can be grown at home by adults.

Rep. Brian Stewart (R), chair of the House Finance Committee, is sponsoring the new 120-page cannabis bill.

Unlike the Senate proposal from Sen. Steve Huffman (R) that moved through the full chamber late last month, Stewart’s legislation would not alter a provision of the current law allowing adults 21 and older to grow up to 12 plants for personal use by cutting that amount in half.

However, it would reduce the maximum THC limit for cannabis extracts from 90 percent to 70 percent, as News 5 Cleveland first reported.

The Senate bill would lower the maximum household plant limit for home cultivation from 12 to six, but it similarly calls for the same reduced THC cap. Both bills would also make it so only 350 dispensaries could be licensed in the state.

“While there will obviously continue to be good faith debate and disagreement over the pros and cons of legalization, a majority of our constituents have made it clear to us that they support legal adult-use marijuana that is taxed at a reasonable rate, that is regulated by the state to ensure products are as safe as possible and that can, if desired, be grown at home,” Stewart said during a press briefing on Thursday.

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