Author: News Room

Ohio’s vote to legalize marijuana on Tuesday captured national headlines as it became the 24th state to end prohibition. But at the local level, activists also chalked up a series of little-noticed wins to decriminalize larger amounts of cannabis in three Ohio cities, according to preliminary county election results. Starting on December 7, adults 21 and older will be able to lawfully possess and cultivate marijuana throughout the state as regulators work to craft rules for licensing cannabis businesses. The governor, lieutenant governor and GOP leadership in the legislature are already eyeing changes to the voter-approved statewide initiative. In the…

The odds that a patient visiting the emergency department is diagnosed with cannabis use disorder (CUD) is nearly 50 percent lower in states that have legalized marijuana compared to non-legal states, according to a new study. And researchers say the “counterintuitive” finding could be related to the destigmatization of cannabis use within the medical community as prohibition ends. The study, published in the journal Preventative Medicine Reports last week, looked at emergency department data from 2017 to 2020 in two states that had legalized cannabis (Colorado and Oregon) and two states where it was prohibited at the time of the…

Speaking at a cannabis industry event on Thursday, a former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official said he’d be “shocked” if the Drug Enforcement Administration doesn’t reschedule marijuana by next year’s presidential election. “I would be really shocked if it took the DEA longer than the second quarter of next year to come up with its final rule,” said Howard Sklamberg, former FDA deputy commissioner for global regulatory operations and compliance. “Even when I was at FDA, we knew that important regulations that you wanted to get done in an election year, you want to get done by the summer…

With Ohio becoming the latest state to legalize marijuana, there’s a renewed sense of urgency to follow suit in neighboring Pennsylvania, with the governor’s office calling it “another reminder” of the need to enact reform. Pennsylvania is now more solidly blanketed by states with legalization on the books. Five out of six bordering states—Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Ohio—have all done away with prohibition, leaving residents with plentiful and relatively accessible options to buy out-of-state cannabis products. Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) campaigned on legalization, and there have been bipartisan efforts to advance the issue—including a recent convening of…

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is soliciting proposals to develop psychedelics into treatments for substance use disorder (SUD), with plans to issue $2 million in grant money toward the research projects during fiscal year 2025. The funding opportunity will support research into a range of substances that might be used treat addiction, including “classic psychedelics” such as psilocybin and LSD, empathogens such as MDMA, dissociatives such as ketamine and other hallucinogens, including ibogaine and its analogues. The NIH listing refers to all the substances broadly as “psychedelics.” “There is an urgent need to develop novel treatments for SUD in…

Snoop Dogg’s cannabis and vape brand Dogg Lbs, appearing on labels as D*gg Lbs, was shipped from Canada to Israel last summer, and is now available in North America in vape form under a new deal. Vape company Ispire announced on Thursday that Aspire North America, one of its subsidiaries, has entered a five-year manufacturing and global distribution agreement with Hempacco Co.,a subsidiary of Green Globe International Inc., and makers of hemp-derived CBD and delta-9 THC cannabinoid products. Ispire typically releases carts, disposables, batteries, and dabbing products. Under the agreement, Aspire will distribute and sell Hempacco’s branded cannabinoid and nicotine…

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A delegation of more than two dozen Oregon officials and advocates returned this past weekend from a trip to Portugal, where they studied the country’s health-focused response to substance abuse disorders. The visit comes on the third anniversary of Oregon voters’ passage of Measure 110, which decriminalized all drugs in the state and funneled millions of dollars in marijuana tax revenue toward expanding addiction recovery services. “My main takeaway from this trip is that seeing is believing,” state Rep. Rob Nosse (D), a member of the delegation, said in a statement about the visit. “There’s no real disagreement between policymakers…

As the Biden administration’s marijuana scheduling review continues, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) has released a report cautioning that if cannabis is eventually legalized, lawmakers should consider the potential unintended consequences of imposing high federal taxes on marijuana products. The non-partisan research body isn’t necessarily suggesting that federal legalization is imminent, but it pointed out that there are a number of comprehensive reform proposals that Congress may consider as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) completes its scheduling review and decides whether to follow the recommendation of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by moving marijuana to Schedule…

Vivek Ramaswamy, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, says he voted against a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana in Ohio because he’s concerned the federal government could “weaponize” criminalization against people who are engaged in state-legal cannabis activities under the “fake” pretense that they’re protected from federal prosecution. Marijuana policy didn’t come up during the GOP primary debate in Florida on Wednesday—but Ramaswamy found himself being pressed on the issue twice by one dedicated attendee, cannabis lobbyist Don Murphy. During a commercial break, and again after the debate concluded, Murphy asked the candidate to explain why he voted against Issue 2,…