Author: News Room

As Delaware lawmakers move closer to enacting marijuana legalization this session, the Senate approved a resolution on Thursday that urges the state’s congressional representatives to support legislation to end federal cannabis prohibition. The measure from Rep. Eric Buckson (R) cleared the chamber in a near-unanimous 15-1 vote, on the same week that the House passed complementary legalization and sales regulation bills. There “whereas” section of the resolution starts by describing how marijuana remains a Schedule I drug under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) despite the scientific consensus that cannabis has established medical benefits for certain conditions like pain and…

Texas lawmakers have filed a series of new bills aimed at promoting and expanding psychedelics research in the state. The Lone Star State took some observers by surprise last session after the conservative legislature enacted a measure to study the therapeutic potential of psychedelics—and now more legislators are hoping to build on that momentum. Three Democratic lawmakers in the state recently introduced separate reform proposals, including one that would expand the law that Gov. Greg Abbott (R) allowed to take effect without his signature in 2021. The other two bills would create entirely new psychedelics-focused government bodies in the state…

Professional athletes should be measured by their competitive abilities and the content of their character. They should never be measured by the presence of marijuana in their system. Unfortunately, many professional athletes over the years were subjected to the latter. One of those athletes is first baseman Jon Singleton who, after serving multiple suspensions for marijuana use and being out of Major League Baseball in recent years, is now mounting an inspiring comeback. In addition to receiving a second chance at a professional career in baseball, Singleton should also be afforded a long-overdue apology for what he was subjected to…

Always we awake to our metamorphosed condition, to the awareness that the strange body in the bed is our own. Women awake and discover, after centuries of dreaming, that they are men. Worms awaken into birds and music bursts from their astonished throats. An elderly businessman awakes and knows himself to be a plane tree: His leaves reach for the light and swell with growth. Often the amazement is too much to bear, and our awakening is brief. We slip back into being the rudimentary creatures that we were. We become less, and sleep resumes its old sovereignty, until once…

“I’m just looking at this as kind of an encroachment, where maybe one day they can come back and make marijuana illegal again.” By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent A Missouri House committee discussed a bill Thursday meant to mirror Illinois’s open-container law for having marijuana in vehicles. The bill from Rep. Kent Haden, R-Mexico, would require all marijuana products in vehicles to be kept in odor-proof and child-proof containers. “I don’t claim to be an expert on marijuana—I’ve never inhaled,” Haden said, earning laughs from members of the House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee. “So let’s clear the air.” The idea…

Bipartisan congressional lawmakers have refiled a bill to combat illicit marijuana grows on federal lands, framing it as a way that the federal government can help protect cannabis consumers’ health from banned pesticides that are often used in unregulated cultivation. While the idea of yet another stepped up federal effort to crack down on illegal cannabis production might seem like an extension of prohibitionist enforcement at a surface level, Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA) said on Thursday that the primary intent of the Targeting and Offsetting Existing Illegal Contaminants (TOXIC) Act is consumer safety and environmental protection. No buyer should be…

Raphael Mechoulam, the first person to synthesize THC, earning him the moniker the “Father of Cannabis Science,” has died, Analytical Cannabis reports. He was 92 years old, and his legacy will most certainly live on for centuries to come. The esteemed chemist is also called the father of cannabis research. Some of his additional game-changing contributions to drug science include isolating and synthesizing other cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol (CBD), cannabigerol (CBG), and cannabichromene (CBC).  While THC, CBD, and CBG are basically household names today, that would not be the case if it weren’t for Dr. Mechoulam, so smoke one out…

“We have sort of a ‘wild west’ situation. It’s a gray area. Delta-8 is being sold around the state, and it’s being sold in gas stations, health food stores.” By Liam Niemeyer, Kentucky Lantern After a court decision last year clarified the legality of an intoxicating compound derived from hemp, a bill to regulate Delta-8 THC sped through the House of Representatives on Thursday. Delta-8 THC can get a user “high” similar to the Delta-9 THC compound found in marijuana. Some hemp farmers have been trying to find a market for extra CBD-rich hemp by synthetically converting it into Delta-8 THC, and…

More than a dozen bipartisan congressional lawmakers sent a letter to top Biden administration officials on Thursday, demanding transparency in the ongoing marijuana scheduling review that the president directed last year. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) recently circulated a draft of the letter among colleagues, seeking signatories before sending the final version to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra. The letter states that Biden’s scheduling directive represents “an opportunity to make honest assessment of the origins and implications of federal policy,” adding that “marijuana was scheduled based on stigma not science,” and it’s…

The Maryland House of Delegates on Friday passed a bill to create regulations allowing for adult-use marijuana commerce following voter approval of legalization last year. Meanwhile, the Senate companion version received its first committee hearing on Thursday. In the House, members approved the legislation from Del. C.T. Wilson (D) in a 103-32 vote, just two days after the chamber advanced it through second reading. The measure now moves to the Senate. “This is a $1-2 billion industry for Maryland alone. You might not agree with marijuana or the vote that our citizens took, but they took it,” Wilson said on…