Author: News Room

A Brazilian court has agreed to rule on a case that would greenlight businesses and farmers to grow cannabis, but even with a positive outcome in the case, Brazil could still be years away from establishing a legal framework for the hemp industry. The Superior Court of Justice (STJ), Brazil’s top appeals court, will rule on the case, in which DNA Solucoes em Biotecnologia is seeking to import cultivation seeds and plant industrial hemp. The court is expected to make a final ruling in the next 12 months. While the case would set a legal precedent in Brazil, the country still needs specific…

A Maryland Senate committee has amended and approved a marijuana sales bill to get the state ready for the implementation of a voter-approved legalization referendum, sending it to the floor—where a vote is expected this week. At a meeting of the Senate Finance Committee, members passed the legislation from Sens. Brian Feldman (D) and Antonio Hayes (D) in a 7-2 vote. Senate President Bill Ferguson (D) said last week that there were a number of issues that lawmakers needed to address before advancing the measure, including input from existing hemp businesses who’ve expressed concern about possible ramifications of the measure…

In 1998, Ross Rebagliati took the gold medal for the men’s giant slalom snowboarding event at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. The day after his victory, he was stripped of his medal following a positive test for marijuana. Rebagliati’s urine test showed 17.8 nanograms in his system, while the limit at the time was 15 nanograms. Rebagliati maintained that the positive test was caused by secondhand smoke he inhaled at a party the night before he left for the Olympics, and a contentious appeal saw Rebagliati reinstated with his gold. Still, the event left many wondering—just how potent is secondhand…

A bill to legalize marijuana in New Hampshire is going back to the House floor after a second committee passed the legislation with amendments on Monday. The proposal, which is being sponsored by Majority Leader Jason Osborne (R) and Minority Leader Matthew Wilhelm (D), cleared the House Ways & Means Committee in a 16-4 vote. The full chamber already approved the legislation last month, but it needed to be sent back to the finance-focused committee because of its fiscal provisions. It must pass the House again before potentially being sent to the Senate for consideration. Previously, members of the House…

A congressional committee has approved a bill that aims to ramp up criminalization for fentanyl-related substances, while also streamlining research into Schedule I drugs like marijuana and certain psychedelics. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA), passed the House Energy & Commerce Committee with amendments on Thursday. An amendment in the nature of a substitute was adopted by the panel, striking original provisions of the bill and replacing them with updated language that lays out penalties for fentanyl-related offenses and revised requirements for researchers interested in studying any Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Advocates who…

Federal marijuana trafficking cases continued to decline in 2022, according to the latest annual report from the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC). As more states have moved to legalize cannabis and federal priorities have shifted, prosecutions for marijuana-related cases have significantly declined over the years. The number of federal cannabis trafficking offenders has fallen from about 5,000 in 2013 to just under 806 last year, USSC found. Meanwhile, trafficking cases involving powder cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamine increased from 2021 to 2022. Via USSC. The report also shows that marijuana cases carry the lowest sentences among the six drug types that USCC…

North Dakota’s governor has signed a bill allowing patients admitted to hospice care to self-certify as medical marijuana patients. The legislation, which cleared the House in an 86-6 vote and the Senate unanimously in a 45-0 vote, was signed into law on Thursday by Gov. Doug Burgum (R). Under the measure from Rep. Mary Schneider (D), terminally ill patients will be able to use proof of their admittance in hospice care in lieu of a doctor’s written recommendation to register as a medical cannabis patient. As introduced, the measure would have given the self-certification option to any person age 65…

A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate would unburden hemp grain and fiber growers of sampling and testing protocols, costly requirements that disincentivize growers, according to the measure’s sponsors. While hemp-derived grain and fiber products have always been exempt from the federal Controlled Substances Act, under current U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rules, all hemp crops are subject to compliance testing. Under provisions in the proposed law, the Industrial Hemp Act 2023, hemp farms would not be required to undergo background checks and testing protocols if their crops are deemed compliant. Producers who violate the rules would be barred from participating in…

Most of Idaho’s surrounding states either allow medical cannabis, as Utah does, or recreational cannabis. By Clark Corbin, Idaho Capital Sun A new bill designed to provide for a “tightly regulated system” of medical cannabis was introduced Friday morning in the Idaho House of Representatives. House Health and Welfare Committee Chairman John Vander Woude (R) introduced House Bill 370, the Idaho Medical Cannabis Act, as a personal bill on the floor of the Idaho House on Friday morning. Vander Woude took the unusual step of introducing the bill as a personal bill rather than following the more traditional practice of…

No, that is not a typo. Rare, designer cannabis products have been popping up more and more in the last couple of years. If you haven’t yet come across one of these super heady black miron jars in the wild, that’s because they’re very hard to find and typically only available in, dare I say, small batches.  The first time one of my friends, who is about as heady as they come, told me he willingly paid $1,500 for an ounce of flower my jaw hit the floor. I could not fathom a world in which somebody with access to…