Author: News Room

Voters in another Texas city will have the chance to decide on a local marijuana decriminalization initiative on the ballot after the Lubbock City Council declined to enact the reform legislatively on Tuesday. In a 0-7 vote, local lawmakers unanimously rejected the measure, which was put on the agenda after activists submitted enough signatures to force consideration of the decriminalization proposal. It will now go before voters in May 2024. The committee behind the initiative first filed paperwork for the Freedom Act Lubbock ordinance with the city secretary in August. After activists turned in more than 10,000 signatures, officials confirmed…

“We’d simply like to see transparency and accountability from our elected officials, and for them to do what they said they would do.” By Marc Fitch, Inside Investigator The following article was originally published on Inside Investigator. A task force to study whether individuals who grow their own cannabis at home should be allowed to sell their product at cannabis events has yet to be formed despite the statute requiring the task force to submit a report in January of 2024. The Task Force to Study Impact of Authorized Cannabis Sales and Retail Events Organized for Such Sales was part of a 2023…

House lawmakers are meeting on Tuesday to hold a first-ever congressional hearing focused on psychedelic-assisted therapy for military veterans’ mental health. Members of the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health were originally scheduled to meet last month to discuss the issue, but that hearing was postponed as Republicans scrambled to elect a House speaker. Tuesday’s hearing—titled “Emerging Therapies: Breakthroughs in the Battle Against Suicide?”—will feature a series of witnesses from the advocacy and scientific community, as well as three officials with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Watch the congressional psychedelics hearing live in the video below:  One witness…

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…

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…

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…

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food safety workers are being encouraged to exercise caution and avoid cannabis products, including federally legal CBD, as the agency observes an “uptick” in positive THC tests amid “confusion” as more states enact legalization. USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) put out a notice last last month reminding employees that they’re “required to follow all Federal laws regarding the use of illegal drugs, including cannabis, also commonly known as marijuana.” “Over the last decade, societal perspectives have undergone significant changes with respect to the use of certain drugs, especially for cannabis and cannabis products,”…

Legal cannabis retailers in Connecticut sold nearly $25 million worth of marijuana last month, including a record high amount of adult-use products. While overall marijuana sales in October were down slightly compared to September’s $25.2 million, sales of recreational products set yet another monthly record, coming in at $14.7 million. That means every single month since Connecticut’s adult-use market opened in January has set a new record for sales. Sales numbers were released Monday by the state’s Department of Consumer Protection (DCP). In addition to selling a higher value of adult-use products than ever, retailers also moved a record-high count…

The governor of Massachusetts filed a bill to create a psychedelics working group to study and make recommendations about the potential therapeutic benefits of substances like psilocybin and MDMA for military veterans. Weeks after activists turned in what they believe to be enough signatures to force Massachusetts lawmakers to consider a psychedelics legalization measure, Gov. Maura Healey (D) introduced large-scale legislation focused on veterans that includes a section on psychedelic-assisted therapy. The governor’s proposal wouldn’t immediately create a framework for legal access, but it would require the Executive Office of Veterans’ Services (EOVS) to convene a working group to study…

Vivek Ramaswamy, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, says that if he’s elected, he would remove federal restrictions on marijuana and psychedelics such as ayahuasca and MDMA to free up access for military veterans suffering from serious mental health conditions. The entrepreneur has previously discussed his support for psychedelics reform, but he’s now calling for descheduling as part of his veterans policy platform that’s meant to take a “holistic approach” the high rates of substance misuse and suicide within the veteran population. Ramaswamy would “de-schedule schedule 1 drug restrictions that stand in the way of Veterans with PTSD enjoying access to…