Author: News Room

A U.S. House subcommittee focused on health issues for military veterans has scheduled a hearing for next week where members will consider two GOP-led bills concerning medical marijuana and psychedelics. The House Veterans’ Affairs Health Subcommittee will meet on March 21 to discuss the drug policy measures, among several other veterans-focused proposals. The panel made history last November by holding a first-ever congressional hearing focused on psychedelics-assisted therapy for veterans. One of the bills that’s on the agenda, sponsored by the subcommittee chair Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), is titled the Veterans Cannabis Analysis, Research, and Effectiveness (CARE) Act. It would…

“I think you need to get it right but I think timeliness is critical.” By Peter Callaghan, MinnPost Minnesota state cannabis regulators think a key to getting the state’s program up and running by next spring is a lottery. Not THE lottery, as in the Minnesota state lottery. But a similarly random method for deciding which applicants receive the first licenses to open stores, build large grow operations or create the combination enterprises known as cannabis microbusinesses and cannabis mezzobusinesses. While the method in current law—deciding which applicants win licenses based on how many points they accumulate—might be just as…

A House committee in Alaska held a hearing Thursday on a bill to create a state task force that would study how to license and regulate psychedelic-assisted therapy—a plan supporters say will help prepare the state for the forthcoming federal approval of substances such as MDMA and psilocybin. At the meeting of the House State Affairs Committee, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jennie Armstrong (D) told members that given federal Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) likely sign-off on psychedelic-assisted therapy, it’s important that Alaska be prepared at the state level. “The state has to do this work anyway,” she said. “We…

A Maryland Senate committee has unanimously approved a bill to create a psychedelics task force to study and make recommendations on a possible regulatory framework for substances such as psilocybin and DMT. It would be charged specifically with ensuring “broad, equitable and affordable access to psychedelic substances” in the state. With a key legislative deadline fast approaching, the Senate Finance Committee on Friday moved to replace the language of the legislation from Sen. Brian Feldman (D) with that of an amended companion version that cleared the full House of Delegates this week, and then advanced it on a voice vote.…

President Joe Biden’s mistaken belief that his marijuana pardons expunged records could end up causing legal issues for recipients, as he not only continues to insist that those cases are sealed but now claims that those who received clemency no longer need to disclose their arrests or convictions on official forms, contrary to the law. The president has said on multiple occasions—including during his State of the Union address last week—that his pardons expunged thousands of cases, even though presidential pardons simply represent formal forgiveness and, as the Justice Department and congressional researchers have clarified, the forgiven offenses remain on…

Vice President Kamala Harris says the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) must reschedule marijuana “as quickly as possible,” calling it “absurd” and “patently unfair” that cannabis is still classified in the same category as heroin. At the beginning of a meeting at the White House with a group of people who received marijuana pardons under the president’s proclamations, Harris delivered a statement promoting both the administration’s clemency actions and its marijuana scheduling directive that led the U.S. Department of Human Service (HHS) to recommend that DEA reschedule cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). “I cannot emphasize enough that they need…

“This is going to cause a lot of folks to probably avoid the program altogether.” By Alexander Lekhtman, Filter On March 12, legislation that would impose multiple barriers on medical marijuana access in Kentucky passed through the House and on to the Senate. Among other stipulations, the proposed bill would make many people convicted of drug possession ineligible for the state’s medical marijuana program. House Bill 829 would require prospective patients pass background checks before they can be issued a medical marijuana card. It would further require them to meet with a pharmacist before they can buy medical marijuana from…

“We still need to consider the caregiver being allowed to administer the product on the premises, but I don’t know how that’s going to be worded.” By Alander Rocha, Alabama Reflector The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) approved a set of rules Thursday for public comment to safeguard patients’ access to medical cannabis while they are in a medical facility. The proposed rules would ease licensing requirements for “professional caregivers,” or someone “whose career is to assist another person in a way that enables them to live as independently as possible,” according to the current AMCC rules, by applying the…

For the first time since joining the ticket as President Joe Biden’s running mate in 2020, Vice President Kamala Harris has called for the legalization of marijuana—signaling a possible shift in the administration’s platform heading into the November elections. Harris told a room of cannabis pardon recipients at the White House on Friday that “we need to legalize marijuana,” a participant in the meeting has revealed. Harris had already made news earlier in the day, calling on the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to reschedule cannabis “as quickly as possible” in public opening remarks before the closed-door roundtable with the clemency…

Ganja in Jamaica is more than just the cannabis plant; it’s a culture, a way of life, and an expression of people from varying cultural backgrounds who ended up on the Caribbean Island via the plantation model. The British monarchy was responsible for the cultural clash that saw enslaved Africans and indentured laborers co-mingling and participating in the smoking of ganja after a day’s work in the sugarcane plantations. This unique phenomenon gave birth to Rastafari, a religious and political movement rooted in African culture with Emperor Haile Selassie I from Ethiopia as its redeemer, the red, green, and gold…