Author: News Room

A New York lawmaker has introduced a bill that would create a pilot program to provide psilocybin therapy to 10,000 people, focusing on military veterans and first responders, while the legislature also considers broader psychedelics reform. Assemblymember Pat Burke (D), who has championed various psychedelics measures over recent sessions, filed the therapeutic psilocybin pilot program legislation on Wednesday. It would create the program under the state Department of Health, which would be required to provide funding to cover the therapy and develop training guidelines for professional facilitators. It would need to issue a report on findings and policy recommendations to…

Here’s an idea for a 2024 resolution—please let the stoner myth of illiteracy die. Plenty of people who use cannabis also love to read, research, and dig up information. And cannabis as a topic and subject of photography, study, and discourse gets better and better every year. How many compelling books concerning cannabis were there 50 years ago, 20, even five? Now you can find weed in the pages of artistic coffee table books, memoirs, anthropological studies, and even etiquette guides. The holidays are in full swing, Leafly nation, and we’d bet that you may have left some shopping until the…

The commission that oversees Georgia’s medical marijuana program held a special meeting on Wednesday to discuss recent letters from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) warning pharmacies that dispensing THC under a state-authorized program could put their businesses at risk. Officials at the meeting generally said the letters stand in the way of expanding medical marijuana access to patients, with one calling on supporters to contact Congress about the issue and another alluding to potential litigation the state may file against DEA over the dispute. Georgia is the first state in the nation to pursue a plan to distribute medical marijuana…

New York’s governor and top regulators have announced that the state expects to open a dozen new marijuana shops in December now that a court-imposed blockade on processing licenses has been lifted. This represents a significant expansion on a relatively short timeline, as New York’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) has only licensed 34 retailers to date since legalization took effect. “As New York expands the most equitable cannabis market in the nation, my administration remains committed to building a safe industry for all New Yorkers that will grow our small business community,” Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said in a…

Want to try your hand at growing Permanent Marker? A lot of people will—now that it’s Leafly Strain of the Year 2023. Available first as clone in 2022, then as feminized seeds and crosses, Permanent Marker has hit grows big and small. It’s hyper-refined Gelato work, comprised of (Biscotti S1 x Sherb Bx1) x Jealousy F2. Here’s what we’re learning about growing it. Permanent Marker is an indoor-tested strainConsider that Permanent Marker was developed as an indoor strain in Northridge, CA, with large yields, big bling, fashionably intense flavor, medium stretch, and a solid finishing time.Seed Junky Genetics’ founder J…

Ohio’s top alcohol regulator who previously worked as a prosecutor will head up the state’s newly established marijuana division that’s being established under the legalization law voters approved last month. And he says his joint experience working with the retail industry and in law enforcement “will be central” to his cannabis efforts. Department of Commerce (DOC) Director Sherry Maxfield announced on Thursday that James Canepa has been selected to serve as the first superintendent of the Division of Cannabis Control (DCC). This comes as lawmakers continue to consider ways to amend the newly enacted law. Canepa has worked as the…

Colombia’s president says lawmakers who voted to shelve a marijuana legalization bill this week are only helping to perpetuate illegal drug trafficking and the violence associated with the unregulated trade. While the cannabis legislation advanced through the Chamber of Representatives and a Senate committee, the full Senate blocked it from advancing on Tuesday, which supporters blame on misinformation surrounding a separate decree President Gustavo Petro issued to end broader drug criminalization. Con tumbar la ley de legalización del cannabis lo único que se hace es elevarle las ganancias al narcotráfico y su violencia. — Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) December 13, 2023…

The GOP Kansas Senate leader says he’s “open” to medical marijuana—but only in restricted form for seriously ill or terminal patients. And he might want to do a pilot program first before potentially expanding the limited reform. During an interview with KCUR that aired on Thursday, Senate President Ty Masterson (R) was asked about his willingness to enact cannabis legalization given how recent polling shows overwhelming public support for the policy change. He first suggested that most Kansans only support medical cannabis for “palliative care,” and claimed that “recreational was not addressed as a majority” in the recent survey. The…

A Pennsylvania House committee held a second informational hearing on marijuana legalization this week as momentum builds in the state to enact the reform. After Ohio voters’ decision last month to legalize recreational cannabis, both Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) and U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) have said it’s time for Pennsylvania to make the change, too. “It’s just so simple and so easy—just give people what they want,” Fetterman said late last month. “Make it safe, make it pure and make jobs.” At the hearing of the House Health Subcommittee on Health Care on Wednesday, state lawmakers heard testimony…

A large-scale defense bill that contains provisions to fund studies into the therapeutic use of psychedelics such as psilocybin and MDMA for military service members is officially heading to President Joe Biden’s desk. Days after bicameral negotiators announced they’d reached an agreement on the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the Senate passed it on Wednesday and the House concurred on Thursday, sending it to the president. Advocates were encouraged to see that the final deal maintained psychedelics research provisions championed by Rep. Morgan Luttrell (R-TX) that were attached to the House version over the summer. However, House negotiators receded…