Author: News Room

Germany’s Health Ministry has unveiled a draft bill to legalize marijuana, submitting it to state officials and the public for review. The legislation would allow adults to cultivate a limited number of cannabis plants for personal use and set rules for the creation of social clubs where they could obtain marijuana. Officials are also planning to introduce a complementary second measure that would establish pilot programs for commercial sales in cities throughout the country. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said that the country “can dry up the black market and fight crime by making it possible to sell cannabis to adults…

The bipartisan co-chairs of a congressional psychedelics caucus are touting the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) new draft guidance on researching substances like psilocybin and MDMA. Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman (R-MI), who founded the Psychedelics Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus last year, applauded the agency in a joint statement on Wednesday, commending FDA for “their considerable work in releasing the non-binding guidance for comment regarding the clinical study and development of psychedelic therapies for those suffering from mental and behavioral health conditions.” They noted that FDA has already designated psilocybin and MDMA as “breakthrough therapies” for the treatment…

Nebraska activists are officially collecting signatures to put a pair of medical marijuana legalization initiatives on the state’s 2024 ballot. About two months after submitting the petitions to the secretary of state’s office, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana (NMM) is now in petitioning mode and seeking donations and volunteers to assist in the grassroots effort. This is the campaign’s third attempt to allow voters to decide on medical cannabis legalization. Advocates collected enough signatures for ballot placement in 2020, but the measure was invalidated by the state Supreme Court following a single subject challenge. And they came up short on signatures for revised…

“You got jobs?” Noel Gallagher asks. “How can you have jobs if you’re high all the time? I’d be high all the time if I lived here.” Gallagher savored the herbal magic in the air during his recent tour with Garbage and Metric. The mind behind Oasis and High Flying Birds enjoyed the scents while delivering an exceptional performance during a recent stop in Los Angeles. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds is currently on tour in support of their latest album, Council Skies. Since 2011, Gallagher has released a trilogy of albums under this name. While all of them are…

Ohio activists have turned in what they say are more than enough signatures to qualify a marijuana legalization initiative for the state’s November ballot. After the legislature declined to take the opportunity to enact the reform during a court-imposed window this session, the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CTRMLA) turned in a batch of more than 220,000 signatures to the secretary of state’s office on Wednesday to put the issue before voters later this year. This represents the second group of signatures that activists have submitted to the state in order to qualify the measure. The first round triggered…

The New York Media Softball League (NYMSL)—which has teams representing The Wall Street Journal, High Times and BuzzFeed among its ranks—is one of the latest athletic organizations to embrace the cannabis industry, launching a new sponsorship deal with a Kentucky-based CBD company. Cornbread Hemp will become a sponsor of the media league, joining its playoff series in September and providing players with hats embroidered by the company’s logo and samples of its CBD products such as gummies and topicals. The idea behind the collaboration was inspired by moves by Major League Baseball (MLB) and certain teams like the Kansas City…

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have teamed up to send warning letters to six companies that the agencies say are unlawfully selling “copycat” delta-8 THC products that are misleadingly packaged to mimic popular brands like Doritos, Cheetos and Jolly Ranchers. The market for delta-8 THC and other novel cannabinoids has rapidly expanded in recent years following the legalization of hemp and its derivatives under the 2018 Farm Bill. FDA and FTC have generally exercised discretion in taking enforcement action against businesses that are selling products containing substances like CBD or delta-8, targeting those whose…

As Colorado approaches its 10-year anniversary since legal adult-use marijuana sales began, the city of Denver has released a report indicating that its local regulatory framework has effectively reduced the size of the illicit market, with law enforcement processing a record low amount of illegal cannabis in 2022. The municipal government’s report also provides an overview of marijuana licensing and sales trends, showing how the recreational market has gradually overtaken the medical cannabis industry and how overall sales have started to slump. It additionally details how tax revenue from marijuana purchases is being locally distributed and the limited progress of…

Maryland marijuana sales totaled more than $10 million this past holiday weekend as retail sales for adult consumers launched across the state, the Maryland Cannabis Administration (MCA) reported. From Friday through Sunday, collective recreational and medical cannabis purchases reached $10,429,736—which is more than double the $3,985,527 in medical marijuana sales that the state saw during last year’s 4th of July holiday weekend. For the first official day of adult-use sales on Saturday, Maryland sold $4,518,377 worth of cannabis—the vast majority of which ($3,558,947) came from recreational marijuana purchases. Medical cannabis sales, meanwhile, totaled $959,430 for the day. “We are now…

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) says that while he believes the justice system has effectively handled prosecution against President Joe Biden’s son, there’s still a double-standard in the country that has allowed presidents and members of Congress to admit to past marijuana use with impunity while subjecting thousands of less privileged people to punitive cannabis laws. In an interview with CNN’s “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace” that was released late last month, the senator was asked whether he believes that there’s a partisan bias in the criminal legal system, pointing out that the Justice Department offered Hunter Biden a deal in…