Author: News Room

“Five Shangri-La employees will be reinstated and the company will pay more than $145,000 in backpay, front pay, interest and compensation for direct or foreseeable financial harm to 10 employees.” By Joe Mueller, The Center Square A Missouri cannabis dispensary settled a dispute to resolve 15 charges of unfair labor practices, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Point Management, doing business as Shangri-La in Columbia, agreed to a settlement with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 655 based in St. Louis. The dispute was scheduled to go to trial in late October. The company filed a motion…

A Canadian Senate committee is calling on the federal government to launch a “large-scale research program” to explore the therapeutic potential of psychedelics like psilocybin and MDMA to treat mental health conditions that commonly afflict military veterans. At a press conference on Wednesday, the Senate Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs unveiled a report that recommends “the immediate implementation of a robust research program” funded by Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) and the Department of Defence, in partnership with federal health agencies, to carry out studies into the efficacy of psychedelic-assisted therapy for veterans with conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The…

Top Republican Ohio lawmakers and prohibitionist groups are already plotting ways to water down a marijuana legalization law that voters approved at the ballot on Tuesday, with some proposing changes to specific provisions like tax revenue allocations and others floating an outright repeal. The legalization initiative passed with about 57 percent of the vote, making Ohio the 24th state in the country to end prohibition, despite calls to reject the measure from the governor and leading lawmakers. Now that the statutory amendment has been approved, however, the message from opponents has been consistent: they plan to relitigate the issue in…

The Florida Supreme Court is holding oral arguments on Tuesday in a case that will decide whether a marijuana legalization initiative  can appear on the state’s 2024 ballot. Over the past several months, the court has been receiving briefs from both the state attorney general, who filed a legal challenge against the cannabis measure and is asking for it to be invalidated, and the Smart & Safe Florida campaign, which is behind the proposed reform. Attorney General Ashley Moody’s (R) main argument is that the ballot initiative is affirmatively misleading, in part because she says voters would not be able to…

Support for marijuana legalization has reached a new record high nationally, with seven in 10 Americans—including a sizable majority of Republicans, Democrats and independents—now backing an end to prohibition, according to a Gallup poll. The survey, released on Wednesday, shows that support for legalization is at its highest level since the firm started tracking public opinion on the issue in 1969, with majorities of every demographic polled in favor of the reform. Overall, seventy percent of respondents say they back legalization, which is a two percentage point increase from last year. Just 29 percent of Americans think cannabis should remain…

Ohio voters have officially legalized recreational cannabis via Issue 2. The ballot initiative passed this evening, November 7. The state’s vote to legalize cannabis follows several reforms. Ohio lawmakers legalized medical marijuana in 2016. Additionally, 38 Ohio cities have already decriminalized the possession of up to 7 ounces of cannabis. In 2015, Ohioans failed to pass a separate legalization initiative, by a vote of nearly two to one.Read on to learn how legalization in Ohio could unfold. We encourage readers to consider that the state’s legislature reserves the right to modify (or even repeal) the measure; any and all of these…

Ohio voters approved a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana on Tuesday, making the state the 24th in the U.S. to end prohibition. The measure, campaigned for by the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CTRMLA), establishes a regulatory framework to allow adults 21 and older to purchase, possess and cultivate cannabis. Recent surveys signaled it was in a strong position to pass—in spite of opposition from the governor and GOP state lawmakers. Results tracker sponsored by  Voters were presented with summary language for the initiative—designated as Issue 2—that says the measure would legalize and regulate “the cultivation, processing, sale, purchase,…

A month into the war between Israel and Hamas, data from Israel’s Ministry of Health shows a sharp expansion in the reach of the medical marijuana program in that country. Patient enrollments have spiked, especially those tied to PTSD and pain, and doctors have prescribed more cannabis by weight than ever before. Patient enrollment in Israel’s medical cannabis registry rose by 2,202 people in October, according to the newly released government numbers. That’s roughly twice the recent monthly average, though it’s not quite the rapid growth seen in early 2021, when nearly 3,000 patients were registering each month. Medical marijuana…

Recent comments by a U.S. State Department official to a United Nations (UN) drug commission are being seen by some legal experts as “a good sign” for marijuana’s potential domestic move to Schedule III under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA)—at least in terms of clearing the country’s obligations under international law. Patt Prugh, a senior legal advisor and the primary counsel for the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, told the UN’s Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) late last month that the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs—a 1961 treaty governing activity around controlled substances—and other…

A powerful GOP-controlled House committee has blocked an amendment to a spending bill that would have freed up Washington, D.C. to legalize marijuana sales in the nation’s capital, as well as a separate proposal to prevent drug testing federal job applicants for cannabis. The House Rules Committee declined to make in order for floor votes the two amendments to appropriations legislation covering Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) on Monday—the latest in a series of marijuana reform measures that the panel has prevented the full House from considering. Reps. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Barbara Lee (D-CA)…