Author: News Room

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) says marijuana legalization is “inevitable.” But yet another one of his home state’s neighbors enacts the reform, he concedes that the path in Pennsylvania has proved more challenging amid GOP resistance to the “common sense” policy that’s backed by the majority of voters. The senator—who has long championed cannabis legalization and made it a key issue when he served as Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor—spoke about the prospects of reform at the state and federal level in an interview with City & State Pennsylvania that was published on Monday. “It’s absolutely absurd—how many states around Pennsylvania are we…

“I don’t think that our process before this one was flawed. There was value in what we did.” By Ralph Chapoco, Alabama Reflector Companies went before the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission Monday to make their cases for getting licenses, kicking off the third attempt to award medical marijuana licenses in the state. Most of the applicants were allotted 20 minutes to speak to the commission. Most stressed their expertise; some addressed perceived shortcomings in their applications. “When somebody is making a presentation, you can kind of read into what they are thinking,” said Rex Vaughn, chair of the Alabama Medical…

New Jersey’s governor says he remains “very much open-minded” about the idea of adding a home grow option to the state’s marijuana law—but he still wants to give the licensed industry more time to mature before implementing that change. In an interview with New 12 New Jersey on Monday, Gov. Phil Murphy (D) was asked about the state’s ongoing criminalization of home cultivation, especially as others states permit it. “I’m very much open-minded to this. I would bet—if I were a betting man—that down the road that that’s exactly where this would land,” he said. “I understand, having said that,…

Another federally funded study is suggesting that marijuana legalization may be linked to a “substitution effect,” with young adults in California “significantly” reducing their use of alcohol and cigarettes after the cannabis reform was enacted. What’s more, the research appeared to contradict prohibitionist arguments about the potential impact of legalization, as the data also revealed no significant increase in marijuana use among young adults who were still not of age to access retail dispensaries—though there were interesting changes in certain modes of consuming cannabis following the policy change. The study, published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs last week, involved…

Hemp growers may not expand their cannabis interests by producing marijuana, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is reminding stakeholders.USDA has revoked hemp licenses and warned hemp farmers in several states that holding both hemp and marijuana permits is illegal under federal regulations. Those rules apply to hemp farmers who operate directly under USDA as well as those governed by USDA-approved state programs, the agency has said.Farmers in Vermont, Mississippi and Missouri are among those affected, according to reports.Conflicting rulesThe 2018 Farm Bill made hemp production legal across the U.S. But while many states have legalized marijuana, it remains banned…

An Arizona Psilocybin Research Advisory Council will meet for the first time on Tuesday to start the process of providing millions of dollars in grant funding to support research into the therapeutic potential of psychedelic mushrooms. The council—which was established under the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) as part of large-scale budget legislation that the governor signed in May—is meeting about a month before officials plan to open an application period for potential grant recipients. The legislature has appropriated $5 million for psilocybin research, focused on clinical trials that are meant to identify therapeutic applications that could receive federal…

New York marijuana regulators have approved settlement agreements that could soon allow hundreds of cannabis businesses that have been blocked from opening amid litigation to finally begin operations. At a meeting of the Cannabis Control Board (CCB) on Monday, members accepted the terms of settlement for two lawsuits, though they declined to disclose details. The agreements must still be formally accepted by the state Supreme Court before the injunction is lifted. BREAKING: The #NYCCB approved agreement terms in hopes of continuing the CAURD program. If the NYS Supreme Court approves the agreement terms, it will mark the end of the…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is reportedly revoking hemp licenses for farmers who are simultaneously growing marijuana under state-approved programs, underscoring yet another policy conflict stemming from the ongoing federal prohibition of some forms of the cannabis plant. After hemp was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill, states quickly got to work developing rules to allow farmers to enter the market, while others opted for USDA’s generic plan. Farmers in states operating under that latter category say they’ve faced threats to abandon any plans to cultivate both hemp and marijuana. It’s not clear how many farmers have been…

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is being urged by public transit groups to quickly build out a system that would allow the use of saliva tests for marijuana and other drugs—a method proponents say will be less intrusive than typical urine-based screenings and more indicative of recent consumption so that people aren’t punished for smoking a joint as much as a month prior to testing. The Department of Transportation (DOT) adopted a rule change earlier this year to allow testing of oral fluid as an alternative to urine drug testing for truckers, commercial drivers, pilots and…

German lawmakers have reached an agreement to revise a marijuana legalization bill, relaxing certain provisions that were challenged by cannabis reform supporters and setting the stage for a final vote in the national parliament next week. Advocates were disappointed when a planned vote in the Bundestag was postponed last week, but there’s renewed optimism that the legislation as agreed upon by the traffic light coalition will advance, with legalization proposed to come into effect next spring. A Green Party lawmaker, Kirsten Kappert-Gonther, said on Monday that following “intensive negotiations,” the bill is being changed in several key ways that will…