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[bulllee]

Former FDA chief with no record on cannabinoids is pick for next commish​

By MJBizDaily Staff
November 12, 2021
(This story first appeared at Hemp Industry Daily.)
A cardiologist with no public comments on cannabinoid therapies, Dr. Robert Califf, was nominated Friday to serve as commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
President Joe Biden made the nomination Friday, calling Califf a “steady, independent hand.”
If confirmed, he would replace Stephen Hahn, who headed the FDA from December 2019 until January 2021.
Califf briefly led the FDA under President Barack Obama and formerly led the agency’s oversight of medical and tobacco products.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the Califf choice could affect the marijuana and hemp industries.
The FDA has been reviewing over-the-counter CBD since 2019 but has yet to signal any change from its existing policy – that the cannabinoid is an active ingredient in a pharmaceutical drug and shouldn’t be taken without a doctor’s oversight.
Key insights to inform decisions: MJBizFactbook
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Califf has said nothing publicly about cannabinoids such as CBD.
The National Industrial Hemp Council (NIHC) lauded the nomination as a needed step toward new leadership at the agency given oversight of consumed hemp products.
“Senate-confirmed leadership at the FDA will enhance consumer safety for cannabidiol and prime the pump to grow a hemp economy that works for everyone,” NIHC spokesman Larry Farnsworth told Hemp Industry Daily.
Califf’s nomination now awaits approval by the Senate.

 

[momofthegoons]

Here’s what’s in the new Republican marijuana legalization bill​

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) unveiled the States Reform Act earlier today, a measure that would remove marijuana from the federal schedule of controlled substances and let each state regulate the substance as its leaders see fit.

Most cannabis legalization measures have been led by Democrats, but the bill from the South Carolina representative breaks that pattern.

The States Reform Act puts a traditional Republican spin on legalization proposals by floating an extraordinarily low federal tax rate (3%) and omitting most social equity provisions.

Citing the supermajority of Americans who support cannabis decriminalization (70%, according to recent polls), Rep. Mace noted that “only 3 states today lack some form of legal cannabis (Idaho, Kansas, and Nebraska).”

“This legislation, I believe, has something for everyone. Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican,” Mace said at a press conference this afternoon.

What is the States Reform Act?​

According to a policy brief supplied by Mace’s office, the States Reform Act would “federally decriminalize cannabis and fully defer to state powers over prohibition and commercial regulation.”

“This bill will also limit a number of barriers inhibiting innovation and entrepreneurship in a free and open market,” Rep. Mace added.

So what’s in the bill? Here’s the full text of the bill. Leafly’s analysis of the measure continues below.

How would this affect current law?​

Under the States Reform Act, cannabis would be removed from the federal schedule of controlled substances. Individual states would be free to prohibit, allow, and/or regulate marijuana as they see fit. As with alcohol, cannabis would no longer be illegal under federal law, but it could be prohibited under state law.

Would cannabis crimes be erased?​

The Act promises “federal release and expungement for those convicted of nonviolent, cannabis-only related offenses.” This would include people convicted of federal cannabis offenses only. State-based offenses would need to be handled via the completely separate state judicial system.

Federal release and expungement would not be available for “cartel members, agents of cartel gangs or those convicted of driving under the influence (DUI),” according to an analysis supplied by Rep. Mace.


The expungement requirements have teeth. Expungement orders “shall” be “issued.”

Would medical marijuana be impacted?​

The Act protects medical cannabis for the following uses: arthritis, cancer, chronic pain, sickle cell, HIV/AIDS, PTSD, and other medical uses per a state’s specific cannabis regulations.

Rep. Mace also pledges to “ensure the safe harbor of state medical cannabis programs and patient access while allowing for new medical research and products to be developed.”

What’s the tax rate?​

Here’s where Rep. Mace’s measure differs significantly from previous legalization bids. Her proposed bill would impose a 3% federal excise tax on cannabis products. That’s dramatically lower than the 10% to 25% tax rate proposed in existing proposals put forward by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), and others.

How would the tax revenue be spent?​

Here’s another difference with Democratic-led bills. Under the States Reform Act, a significant percentage of the federal cannabis excise tax revenue would go toward law enforcement programs.

That same money could be going to social equity and education programs aimed at balancing the playing field for those most harmed by the War on Drugs. But terms like “social equity” are noticeably absent from the 131-page bill.

Here’s the breakdown:

• 40% to federal law enforcement grant programs
• 30% to support Small Business Administration funds for newly licensed small businesses
• 10% to military veterans mental health programs
• 5% to state opioid epidemic response programs
• 5% to underage cannabis use prevention programs

The reason for the low tax rate is to give legal companies a chance against the illicit market. “If you look at states like California where taxes are very high on cannabis, there’s still an illicit market,” said Rep. Mace Monday afternoon.

“The funding for that excise tax, we want to make sure that it’s very low, it’s gotta be under 4% in order to reduce the opportunity for illicit markets or Black markets in different states, depending on how they’re legalized.”
– Rep. Nancy Mace

How will the Act support small businesses?​

The Act proposes instant action for cannabis businesses who have been blocked from simple tasks like banking.

Rep. Mace explains that if the turnkey bill were passed today, “there wouldn’t be a need for SAFE banking (Act), because businesses would operate and be legal and regulated just like alcohol.”


Regulation on a federal level would be split from seed to sale between four agencies.

According to the plan, the US Department of Agriculture would oversee growing; the FDA would oversee medical access; the ATF would oversee legal cannabis products; and the Treasury Department’s Alcohol Tax and Trade Bureau would oversee interstate commerce.

The bill is traditionally conservative in letting each state regulate its unique cannabis market differently. Thus, there are no federal provisions in the Act preventing large companies from dominating state markets.

What about social equity?​

The bill does not cover any social equity measures specifically. The easy explanation for this is that each state’s market is too unique for one-size-fits-all reform. But with President Biden’s still unfulfilled campaign promise of mass pardons and expungements, political interests may also be in play.

With 40,000 non-violent cannabis offenders currently in prison according to Last Prisoner Project, Rep. Mace’s bill only projects to release 2,600 at the federal level. Her office advises that “state level releases and expungements will be left to each state to determine.”

The proposed bill does rule that those with pending state cannabis “charges or cases and convictions awaiting sentencing” should have all relevant charges dismissed within 14 days of enactment of the Act.

Some states give former cannabis offenders and their families exclusive access to some licenses. Other states have completely ignored the communities most damaged by the failed War on Drugs. This bill passes on the issue completely, while directing a large portion of taxes to law enforcement programs.

Read our Seeds of Change report to see how legal states stack up when it comes to social equity.

Leafly’s Equity Score measures expungement, equitable licensing systems, medical access and protections, reasonable home growing, taxes towards healing, not harm, tracking and sharing of data proactive stigma reduction and career development opportunities.

Who’s backing the bill?​

Rep. Mace revealed the SRA has five original Republican co-sponsors shortly before filing the bill this afternoon.

“We are getting a lot of great feedback from Republicans and Democrats on this bill,” she added. “My main goal was to get as much Republican support as I can initially. We’re hearing great feedback from both sides of the aisle on this legislation.”

The bill was endorsed by Americans for Prosperity, the Cannabis Freedom Alliance, and the Global Alliance for Cannabis Commerce.

NORML Political Director Justin Strekal praised the bill as a “comprehensive and sensible” proposal that “deserves serious consideration.”

“Between the previously passed MORE Act, the recent Senate proposal by Leader Schumer, and this new bill,” Strekal added, “it is truly a race to the top for the best ideas and smartest approaches to repeal the failed policy of marijuana prohibition.”

Not all Democrats are on board with legalization, nor are all Republicans. Shortly after presenting her bill, Rep. Mace received a snub from her home state party, which issued a statement clearly rejecting the idea of legalization. Politico’s Natalie Fertig posted the South Carolina Republican Party’s full response:

Age restrictions​

The States Reform Act does not impose a federally mandated age minimum, but rather incentivizes individual states to make cannabis legal only for adults age 21 and older, with medical exceptions for those under 21.

The measure also includes provisions to prevent advertising from reaching minors under the age of 21.

How will veterans be affected?​

The bill protects military veterans by ensuring they will not be discriminated against in federal hiring for cannabis use, or lose their VA healthcare benefits simply because of legal adult use.

Mace was joined this afternoon by veterans who thanked her for her leadership and called on the rest of the hill to follow her lead.

“In the last 20 years since the inception of conflict in 2001, we have lost approximately 7,000 service members,” said Gary Hess, a veteran who founded the Veterans Alliance For Hollistic Alternatives. “In that same period of time we have lost lost 120,000 veterans to suicide. That tells the story.“

Hess added, “I can tell you that veterans en masse are gravitating towards plants over pills.”

Interstate cannabis commerce is on​

“The Secretary shall expeditiously develop and implement a track-and-trace system for cannabis in interstate commerce.”

This scheduling saves ailing cannabis businesses crushed by taxes​

De-scheduling cannabis lifts the onerous “280E” tax penalty on marijuana businesses and will enable many to survive.

It’s ‘cannabis’​

Names and words matter. The bill would change all federal references from marijuana or marihuana to cannabis.

What a time to be alive​

Here you have a South Carolina Republican saying cannabis does not meet the requirements to be scheduled at all—what hippies said back in the ’60s. This is a big deal. Between this proposal and the Democrats’ two leading measures, there should be enough common ground to get something done.

It’s so cool to even see the words “Regulation of marijuana like alcohol” written by a member of Congress from the South. This version of Republican ‘freedom’ and low-tax philosophy is going to attract a lot of otherwise liberal voters.

The States Reform Act builds on what states have accomplished. It doesn’t shut down or override their state medical cannabis product systems. Instead, it grandfathers them in (with some FDA review).

Cannabis farming would be farming​

Discrimination against cannabis farmers would decrease under the bill, which calls for the US Department of Agriculture to treat raw cannabis as a “traditional agricultural commodity” and as a “specialty crop” like hops. Farmers could get crop insurance.

Who would regulate cannabis federally?​

The Act tasks the federal Treasury Department with cannabis regulation. This is auspicious, since the Department of Treasury is where the drug war started in the 1930s. Treasury was first into the drug war, and likely will be last out. Alcohol prohibition also ended with Treasury authority. (Federal Treasury agents, known as “revenuers,” went after moonshiners long after the repeal of alcohol prohibition, because the backwoods distillers refused to pay federal alcohol excise tax.)

Cannabis businesses would need a federal permit, with a cap on the fee for that license at $10,000. There would be small business waivers available, as well.

Responsibility for halting illegal marijuana trafficking would switch from the Drug Enforcement Administration to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, which would expand into the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Cannabis, and Firearms.

Any cannabis advertising restrictions?​

Lots of folks fret about direct-to-consumer drug advertising of all stripes. The States Reform Act would give regulators some control over false and misleading statements, as well as advertising that could affect underage use rates.

Would federal drug testing still be allowed?​

Yes.

Want more info?​

Here’s Rep. Mace’s official policy brief on the bill. View her States Reform Act Press Conference here.

 

[Baron23]

Her proposed bill would impose a 3% federal excise tax on cannabis products. That’s dramatically lower than the 10% to 25% tax rate proposed in existing proposals put forward by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), and others.

And does this surprise anyone?

 

[Baron23]

Cannabis bust on Indigenous land highlights legal divide​

A federal raid on a household marijuana garden on tribal land in northern New Mexico is sowing uncertainty and resentment about U.S. drug enforcement priorities on Native American reservations, as more states roll out legal marketplaces for recreational pot sales.

In late September, Bureau of Indian Affairs officers confiscated nine cannabis plants from a home garden at Picuris Pueblo that was tended by Charles Farden, a local resident since childhood who is not Native American. The 54-year-old is enrolled in the state’s medical marijuana program to ease post-traumatic stress and anxiety.


“I was just open with the officer, straightforward. When he asked what I was growing, I said, 'My vegetables, my medical cannabis,' ” Farden said of the Sept. 29 encounter. “And he was like, ‘That can be a problem.’ ”

The raid has cast a shadow over cannabis as an economic development opportunity for Indigenous communities, as tribal governments at Picuris Pueblo and at least one other reservation pursue agreements with New Mexico that would allow them to open marijuana businesses. The state is home to 23 federally recognized Native American communities. It's aiming to launch retail pot sales by April.

More than two-thirds of states have legalized marijuana in some form, including four that approved recreational pot in the 2020 election and four more by legislation this year. The U.S. government has avoided cracking down on them, even though the drug remains illegal under federal law to possess, use or sell.
The September raid has some scrutinizing its approach on tribal lands like Picuris Pueblo, where the Bureau of Indian Affairs provides policing to enforce federal and tribal laws in an arrangement common in Indian Country. Other tribes operate their own police forces under contract with the BIA.

“Prior notification of law enforcement operations is generally not appropriate,” the letter states. “The BIA Office of Justice Services is obligated to enforce federal law and does not instruct its officers to disregard violations of federal law in Indian Country.”

Officials with the BIA and its parent agency, the Interior Department, declined to comment and did not respond to the AP’s requests for details of the raid and its implications. Farden has not been charged and does not know if there will be further consequences.

President Joe Biden this week ordered several Cabinet departments to work together to combat human trafficking and crime on Native American lands, where violent crime rates are more than double the national average.

He did not specifically address marijuana, though he has said he supports decriminalizing the drug and expunging past pot use convictions. He has not embraced federally legalizing marijuana.

Portland-based criminal defense attorney Leland Berger, who last year advised the Oglala Sioux Tribe after it passed a cannabis ordinance, notes that Justice Department priorities for marijuana in Indian Country were outlined in writing under President Barack Obama then overturned under President Donald Trump, with little written public guidance since.

Across the U.S., tribal enterprises have taken a variety of approaches as they straddle state and federal law and jurisdictional issues to gain a foothold in the cannabis industry.

In Washington, the Suquamish Tribe forged a pioneering role under a 2015 compact with the state to open a retail marijuana outlet across Puget Sound from Seattle on the Port Madison reservation. It sells cannabis from dozens of independent producers.


Several Nevada tribes operate their own enforcement division to help ensure compliance with state- and tribal-authorized marijuana programs, including a registry for home-grown medical marijuana. Taxes collected at tribal dispensaries stay with tribes and go toward community improvement programs.
In South Dakota, the Oglala Sioux in early 2020 became the only tribe to set up a cannabis market without similar state regulations, endorsing medical and recreational use in a referendum at the Pine Ridge Reservation. Months later, a statewide vote legalized marijuana in South Dakota, with a challenge from Republican Gov. Kristi Noem's administration now pending at the state Supreme Court.

The U.S. government recognizes an “inherent and inalienable" right to self-governance by Native American tribes. But federal law enforcement agencies still selectively intervene to enforce cannabis prohibition, Berger said.

“The tribes are sovereign nations, and they have treaties with the United States, and in some cases there is concurrent jurisdiction. ... It’s sort of this hybrid,” he said.

At Picuris Pueblo, Quanchello said the cannabis industry holds economic promise for tribal lands that are too remote to support a full-blown casino. Picuris operates a smoke shop out of a roadside trailer and is close to opening a gas station with a sandwich shop and mini-grocery.

“We’re farmers by nature. It’s something we can do here and be good at it,” Quanchello said. “We don’t want to miss it.”

He described the BIA raid as an affront to Picuris Pueblo, with echoes of federal enforcement in 2018 that uprooted about 35 cannabis plants grown by the tribe in a foray into medical marijuana.

State lawmakers in 2019 adopted uniform regulations for medical marijuana on tribal and nontribal land.

In legalizing recreational marijuana this year, New Mexico’s Democratic-led Legislature and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham emphasized the need to create jobs, shore up state revenue and address concerns about harm inflicted on racial and ethnic minorities by drug criminalization.

Judith Dworkin, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based attorney specializing in Native American law, said tribal cannabis enterprises confront less risk of interference from federal law enforcement where states have robust legal markets for pot.

Quanchello said he sees federal enforcement of cannabis laws at Picuris Pueblo as unpredictable and discriminatory.

“We as a tribe can end up investing a million dollars into a project, thinking it’s OK. And because of a rogue officer or somebody that doesn’t believe something is right, it could be stopped,” he said.

 

[momofthegoons]

​

D.C. Lawmakers Hold Joint Hearing On Marijuana Legalization Bill In Anticipation Of End To Federal Ban​

Washington, D.C. lawmakers on Friday held a joint hearing on a pair of bills to authorize the legal sale of recreational marijuana and significantly expand the existing medical cannabis program in the nation’s capital.

The District Council’s Committee of the Whole, along with the Judiciary and Public Safety and Business and Economic Development Committees, took testimony from about 100 people on the legislation over the course of several hours.

They heard numerous recommendations on the legalization proposal, ranging from enhancing social equity provisions to ensuring that medical cannabis patients continue to have access to their medicine to establishing regulations for hemp and CBD products.

While D.C. voters legalized the possession, home cultivation and gifting of adult-use cannabis in 2014, a congressional rider has blocked the District from using its tax dollars to implement a regulated system of sales. Advocates are hopeful that the Democratic-controlled Congress will soon remove that barrier, however, and local legislators are now taking steps to advance reform legislation as soon as they get the green light from Capitol Hill.

The bill, sponsored by Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), would “require a regulatory scheme to license the cultivation, production, and retail sale of cannabis in the District.”



It would also “require that 50 percent of tax revenues from the sale of cannabis be deposited into a Community Reinvestment Program Fund and require automatic expungement of D.C. Code cannabis-related arrests and convictions, and provide an opportunities for re-sentencing of cannabis-related convictions,” according to a summary.

At the hearing, Mendelson said the bill “seeks to create a comprehensive regulatory framework for the cultivation, production and sale of recreational cannabis while centering reinvestment and opportunities for people in the communities hit hardest by the drug war.”

The House passed Fiscal Year 2022 spending legislation that would remove the block on D.C. in July. The Senate has not yet advanced its version of the bill through the Appropriations Committee or on the floor, though panel leaders released a draft measure last month that would similarly let D.C. legalize marijuana commerce.

Democratic congressional leaders are moving to delete the rider despite the fact that President Joe Biden’s budget proposal sought to continue the Republican-led ban.

Ahead of Friday’s hearing, Mendelson and Councilwoman At-Large Christina Henderson (D) sent a letter to Senate leadership, reiterating that they do not want to see appropriations legislation continue to restrict the ability of D.C. to legalize cannabis commerce.

“Currently, the District is in the unsustainable situation of permitting recreational possession and use of small quantities of marijuana while being unable to regulate its sale or distribution,” they wrote. “As a result, a black market has evolved and is becoming substantial… It is time for us to move forward with establishing a safe and equitable recreational marijuana market here in the District.”



At Friday’s hearing, Mendelson said that while “we must wait for the congressional rider to be lifted before this act can be implemented, it’s my hope that with a Democratic majority in the Senate, the time will come soon.”

Councilman Charles Allen, who chairs the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, said that the city is entering a “weighty moment, filled with a lot of expectation.”

“As someone who looks at this issue through the lens of autonomy, public health and restorative justice, today is a really big deal for the Council,” he said. “And it’s also rare that we hopefully have an opportunity to create an entirely new regulatory structure and, to be frank, grapple with the District’s and this Council’s past complicity in the war on drugs.”

Aurelie Mathieu with the D.C. Attorney General’s office testified that the current rider blocking local marijuana sales deprives “the District of an important funding stream and from creating a cannabis market that is inclusive and remedial to communities that have been hurt the most by the war on drugs.”

“Together we can build on this important work so that when the District finally is able to set up a legalized market for cannabis, the District will be positioned to enact effective legislation that protects public safety and addresses racial inequities,” she said.

The attorney general’s office also advised the Council to add a deadline for the courts to automate expungements for prior marijuana conviction.

Fred Moosally, director of the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA), said that the “current lack of a regulatory system for adult cannabis sales in the District has proven to be both unworkable and detrimental to the public health and safety of District residents and visitors.”

But while ABRA supports the legislation, Moosally laid out a number of recommended changes.

The agency said it was important that returning citizens and people with drug convictions be permitted to own cannabis businesses, that social equity applicants are immediately eligible for loans and grants and that community reinvestment funding should be expedited, rather than waiting for marijuana tax revenue to be generated.

It further called on regulators to promulgate rules for marketing hemp and CBD products. And the director said adult-use marijuana revenue should be used to offset the tax on medical cannabis products for patients.

The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) similarly called for the elimination of the medical marijuana tax, in addition to encouraging the Council to remove proposed caps on cannabis business licenses.

“It is long overdue that D.C. residents have access to safe, regulated cannabis,” MPP’s Olivia Naugle said. “This legislation will boost public health and public safety in D.C.and begin to repair the past harms cannabis prohibition has caused by reinvesting in those communities and providing opportunity in the legal cannabis industry.”

Queen Adesuyi, policy manager for the Drug Policy Alliance’s (DPA) Office of National Affairs, said in her testimony that the proposed legislation “is the product of a thoughtful, inclusive process that relied on input from stakeholders, experts, and best practices from other jurisdictions.”

DPA made several recommendations as well, such as giving first-year licensing priority to social equity applicants, rather than existing medical cannabis operators. It also said that social equity licensees “should be guaranteed a minimum percentage of the market so that at least half of all the cannabis grown and sold in the District is grown and sold by a social equity business.”

Further, the group encouraged the Council to enact regulations that don’t fully ban public smoking of cannabis, but rather treat it the same as tobacco.

Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), who represents the District in Congress, said on Thursday that she is “closer than ever” to removing the blockade on cannabis commerce in her district.

Meanwhile, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) said in April that local officials are prepared to move forward with implementing a legal system of recreational marijuana sales in the nation’s capital just as soon as they can get over the final “hurdle” of congressional interference.

Bowser introduced a cannabis commerce bill in February, though her measure was not on the agenda for Friday’s hearing alongside the cannabis legalization proposal put forward by Mendelson.

Under the chairman’s bill, at least half of marijuana business licensees would issued to social equity applicants, defined as people who faced previous convictions for cannabis-related offenses or have lived in areas with high levels of poverty, unemployment or marijuana arrests for 10 of the past 20 years.

The tax rate for adult-use marijuana products would be set at 13 percent, while medical cannabis would be taxed at six percent.

Thirty percent of tax revenue from cannabis sales would go toward a Cannabis Equity and Opportunity Fund, which would “provide loans, grants and technical assistance to these applicants.

Fifty percent of tax revenue would go to a community reinvestment fund that would provide grants to “organizations addressing issues such as economic development, homeless prevention, support for returning citizens, and civil legal aid in areas with high poverty, unemployment, and gun violence.

The courts would be required to identify and expunge records for people convicted of marijuana offenses made legal under the law. People who are actively incarcerated could have their sentence “modified, vacated, or set aside.

There are also consumer protections written into the legislation, ensuring that people using cannabis in compliance with the law don’t lose benefits, employment or other social services.

Local marijuana activists also proposed an amendment to Mendelson’s legalization bill that would allow small entrepreneurs to sell cannabis at farmers markets. It’s not clear when D.C. lawmakers will convene again to vote on proposed changes and the overall legislation.

The separate medical cannabis bill that the Council considered on Friday would allow patients to obtain marijuana from any registered dispensary in the District, instead of just one that they’re registered with under current law. A summary says that dispensaries could also “operate safe use treatment facilities as well as offer tastings and demonstrations and/or classes with the proper endorsements” under the proposal.

Further, delivery and curbside pickup would be permitted. The cap on the number of plants that a cultivation center can grow would be eliminated, and the number of dispensaries permitted in the District would be increased. Additionally, the bill seeks to remove “certain prohibitions against returning citizens ability to take part in the medical marijuana industry.”



In March, a federal oversight agency determined that the congressional rider blocking marijuana sales in D.C. does not preclude local officials from taking procedural steps to prepare for the eventual reform, such as holding hearings, even if they cannot yet enact it with the blockade pending.

Weeks before this committee meeting, a provision of a separate marijuana measure that could have led to a broad crackdown on the city’s unregulated market for recreational cannabis was removed—a win for advocates who had rallied against the proposal.

Activists strongly criticized the proposed measure over a component that would have punished businesses that “gift” marijuana in a manner that effectively circumvents the local prohibition on retail cannabis sales.

The bill contains separate provisions that are meant to help patients maintain their registration for medical cannabis and allow them to shop at medical dispensaries to encourage them not to make purchases in the illicit market. The mayor instituted emergency policies last year to make it so patient registrations wouldn’t expire during the coronavirus public health crisis, but those expired in July, resulting in thousands of patients no longer being eligible for cannabis in the regulated, medical market.

Mendelson previously said that drop off from patient registration rolls means some may be going to non-regulated sources for their cannabis because of financial and logistical challenges associated with re-registering for the program. And so his proposed legislation is meant to lower barriers to accessing medical cannabis.

Separately, another group of activists recently announced an effort to pressure local lawmakers enact broad drug decriminalization, with a focus on promoting harm reduction programs, in the nation’s capital. A poll released last month found that voters are strongly in favor of proposals.

 

[Baron23]

New GOP weed approach: Feds must ‘get out of the way’​

Republicans are warming to weed.

Nearly half of Republican voters support federally decriminalizing cannabis, and GOP lawmakers are now beginning to reflect their constituents’ view by increasingly supporting broad legalization at the state and federal level.

“We need the federal government just to get out of the way,” said Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who introduced the first Republican bill in Congress to decriminalize marijuana, tax and regulate the industry and expunge certain records this past week. She pointed to more than 70 percent of Americans supporting the idea.

Stronger Republican involvement could hasten a snowball effect on Capitol Hill, where Democrats lead the charge on decriminalization but lack results. It could also chip away at Democrats’ ability to use cannabis legalization to excite progressives and younger voters as the midterms approach.
“When the culture becomes more accepting of something, even the most resistant groups get tugged along,” said Dan Judy, vice president of North Star Opinion Research, which focuses on Republican politics. “I don't want to directly conflate marijuana legalization with something like gay marriage, but I think there's a similar dynamic at play.”

Earlier this year, North Dakota’s GOP-dominated House passed a marijuana legalization bill introduced by two Republican lawmakers — the first adult-use legalization bill to pass in a Republican-dominated chamber. And Mace's bill marks the first time a Republican has proposed federal legislation to decriminalize cannabis, expunge certain cannabis convictions and tax and regulate the industry.

As Republicans wade into the weed group chat, they are bringing their principles, constituents and special interest groups. When Mace introduced her bill on a freezing day on the House triangle, she was surrounded at the podium not by Drug Policy Alliance and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, but by veterans groups, medical marijuana parents, cannabis industry lobbyists and Koch-backed Americans For Prosperity.
Many GOP proposals include lower taxes and a less regulatory approach than Democratic-led bills, while often maintaining elements popular among most voters, like the expungement of nonviolent cannabis convictions.

“I tried to be very thoughtful about what I put in the bill that would appeal to Democrats and Republicans,” Mace said in an interview on Monday. “Which is why criminal justice reform is part of it. It's why the excise tax is low.”


The motivations bringing Republicans to the table are also changing.

Former Capitol Hill cannabis advocates like Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) advocated primarily for their state legalization programs, but Mace comes from South Carolina — a state with no medical or recreational cannabis program. She joins other GOP lawmakers who are pushing for federal policy to move beyond their own states — they include Reps. Matt Gaetz and Brian Mast of Florida, where only medical marijuana is legal, and libertarian-leaning Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, which does not yet have a medical program.

“Every two years, you get a new crop of members from both parties, but certainly from the Republican Party, who don't have to defend the drug war … and they don’t have to prop it up,” said cannabis advocate and former Maryland GOP state delegate Don Murphy. “They are free to vote their conscience.”
Deep divisions remain within the Republican Party, however. After Mace announced her bill, the South Carolina GOP was quick to condemn it — saying they were "unequivocally" against Mace's bill. "Since this will have widespread negative impacts, from rising crime, violence, and mental health issues in children, I think it’s a safe bet to say most Republicans will be against it too,” South Carolina GOP Chair Drew McKissick said in a statement.

Six in 10 younger GOP voters — what Pew described as the “Ambivalent Right” in a recent report — believe marijuana should be legal for medical and recreational use, but older, educated Republicans and Christian conservatives do not feel the same way.

The GOP split came to a head over the past year in South Dakota. Fifty-four percent of voters approved a ballot measure that legalized recreational marijuana last November in a state where only 27 percent of voters were registered Democrats. Despite support from voters, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem — a rising Republican star — supported a court challenge that has tied up the legalization measure since its passage. But while the state waits on a court decision, efforts to legalize marijuana at the ballot box and in the legislature are moving forward in the meantime.

“[Support] is growing because the people voted it in,” said South Dakota Republican Rep. Hugh Bartels, who led the adult-use marijuana study subcommittee over the summer.

Marijuana advocates are gearing up now to put legalization initiatives on the 2022 ballot in deep red states like Missouri, Idaho and Wyoming. The fact that more GOP-leaning voters are supportive of marijuana reform means lawmakers are increasingly out of step with their constituents — a fact some in politics are catching on to.
“We're now in a race,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said in an interview the week after the 2020 election. “If Republicans beat Democrats on marijuana legalization, they're just one or two of those kinds of social issues away from totally just eroding a ton of goodwill“ that Democrats are trying to build with voters.

Republicans who support legalization are viewing the issue through the prism of states' rights, personal freedom, job creation and tax revenue. Many libertarian-leaning Republicans are early supporters of cannabis policy reform, arguing that arresting people for using cannabis is a violation of personal liberties.
Some Republicans also cite the racial disparities in marijuana arrests as a reason to fix federal law — though Democrats focus more strongly on criminal justice reform on the whole. And, as is the case for Democrats, the shift is often generational: Texas Young Republicans announced they support marijuana decriminalization back in 2015.

The shift within the GOP at times is less about lawmakers’ own beliefs about marijuana and more about how much the public has shifted on the subject. Bill sponsors in North Dakota, for example, said they were personally opposed to marijuana, but introduced the bill anyways to head off the possibility of a ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana through the constitution — especially after South Dakota voters approved legalization in 2020.

Bartels himself is “not a real fan of marijuana,” but a draft legalization proposal is “going to get a good solid pitch from me” in the House next session, he said. He's satisfied with how the draft bill handles his chief concerns of public safety and youth use. “It’s a regulation bill, not an industry-leaning bill,” he said.
A lack of motivation to fight cannabis legalization is also a major factor, Judy said. White, conservative evangelicals are one of the largest constituencies against legalization, for example — but most of them are not handing out pamphlets or going door to door campaigning against ballot measures.

“There's definitely a strong sense in a lot of places that the train is leaving the station,” Judy said.

Marijuana reform is poised to make gains in red states now that so many blue states have already legalized it. Advocates are trying to place adult-use legalization initiatives on the 2022 ballot in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. Supporters in Wyoming and Idaho are collecting signatures for medical marijuana and decriminalization measures after state lawmakers have punted on the issue.

And one big benefit stands out for Republicans when and where they decide to move forward with legalization: they can tax and regulate the industry in their own way.
In Washington, though Republicans have taken some big steps recently, they do not have control of either house of Congress. Democrats are likely to continue to focus on moving Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s decriminalization bill, which has a high tax rate and social equity grant programs that deter conservatives.
But Republicans are one step closer to reaching a compromise with Democrats on the issue — if Democrats are willing to negotiate. Leaders such as Steve Hawkins, president of the U.S. Cannabis Council, hope that Mace’s bill will broaden the pool of support.

“This is an issue where there's not a ton of partisan division,” Judy said. “In this day and age, to find any issues with majority bipartisan support is like finding a unicorn.”

 

[Baron23]

People tend to forget that Biden was a key architect on legislation establishing minimum sentencing for drug violations...something he's tried to back up from more recently but it still remains a fact and that seems to me to be apparent from his administration's refusal so far to back any significant legalization...or even decriminalization.

Biden Pardons Turkeys, But White House Has ‘Nothing New’ On Relief For Marijuana Prisoners​

President Joe Biden ceremonially pardoned a pair of turkeys on Friday ahead of next week’s Thanksgiving holiday. But asked whether he’d also extend clemency to people incarcerated in federal prison over marijuana offenses, the president and administration officials didn’t have much to say.

When Steven Nelson of the New York Post directly pressed Biden on whether he would be pardoning “any people in addition to turkeys,” the president treated the question as a joke.

“You need a pardon?” the president quipped to the reporter. He didn’t reply to a follow-up question about marijuana prisoners as he walked away from assembled journalists.

During a separate briefing on Friday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was also pressed on the issue by Nelson.

“Are any humans going to be pardoned by President Biden? There are people who are serving life in prison for marijuana and want him to honor his commitment to release everyone in prison for pot,” the New York Post reporter said. “Are people going to get pardoned as well by President Biden?”

Psaki replied that she has “nothing new to update you on.”

“But the president is, of course—will look into the use of his clemency powers,” she added. “He’s talked about his approach, or his view, on non-violent drug offenders, but I don’t have anything to update you on on that today.”

It was a different tone than when the press secretary responded to a separate question about the Thanksgiving turkeys. When another reporter asked where the birds will go after they’re ceremonially pardoned, she said it was “an important question,” noting that the birds stayed in a hotel prior to Friday’s event.

All told, the episode speaks to the frustration of many advocates who have grown impatient with the president, who has served ten months in the Oval Office without having exercised his executive authority to fulfill his cannabis campaign pledge.

“Every day that goes by without pardon action, President Biden is breaking the promise he made to Senator Cory Booker and the American public in his campaign for the presidency,” Justin Strekal, political director of NORML, told Marijuana Moment. “He should pardon people, not just birds.”

While Biden’s opposition to adult-use marijuana legalization is well known, activists have been holding out hope that he would at least move ahead with a clemency effort for those who continue to serve time in federal prison over cannabis.

The non-comments from the president and White House officials come about a week after a group of senators sent a letter urging President Joe Biden to use his executive authority to grant a mass pardon for people with non-violent marijuana convictions.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who led that letter, said during a new interview that Biden could boost the economy and promote racial equity with the “stroke of a pen” by granting the relief.

A recently published Congressional Research Service (CRS) report affirmed that the president has it within his power to grant mass pardons for cannabis offenses. It also said that the administration can move to federally legalize cannabis without waiting for lawmakers to act.

Relatedly, a group of more than 150 celebrities, athletes, politicians, law enforcement professionals and academics signed a letter that was delivered to Biden in September, urging him to issue a “full, complete and unconditional pardon” to all people with non-violent federal marijuana convictions.

That letter came just as the administration started encouraging about 1,000 people who were temporarily placed on home confinement for federal drug offenses to fill out clemency application forms.

Early in his administration, Biden received a letter from 37 members of Congress that called on him to use executive authority to mass pardon all people with non-violent federal marijuana convictions.

The ask for this unique form of presidential clemency is modeled on actions taken by Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter in the 1970s to categorically forgive Americans who avoided the draft for the Vietnam War.

At the same time that this trio of senators is pushing for a blanket pardon, lawmakers in both chambers are hoping to advance comprehensive legislation to end prohibition.

The House Judiciary Committee in September approved a bill to federally legalize marijuana, and Senate leadership is in the process of finalizing their own reform proposal. Meanwhile, several Republican members of Congress introduced a bill on Monday to federally legalize and tax marijuana.

Warren and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) separately sent a letter to the attorney general last month, making the case that the Justice Department should initiate a marijuana descheduling process in order to “allow states to regulate cannabis as they see fit, begin to remedy the harm caused by decades of racial disparities in enforcement of cannabis laws, and facilitate valuable medical research.”

The White House said in August that the president was looking into using his executive authority to grant clemency to people with certain non-violent drug convictions. But apparently there’s nothing new to report to that end as of Friday.

Instead, Biden reserved his clemency power for the turkeys.

“By the power vested in me as president of the United States, I pardon you,” he told the birds. “I pardon you this Thanksgiving.”


Biden has faced criticism from drug policy reform advocates who’ve grown frustrated that he’s yet to make good on campaign promises such as decriminalizing marijuana possession. The president also campaigned on expunging prior cannabis records and respecting the rights of states to set their own laws.

Since taking office, however, his administration has made little progress on any of those pledges and has instead fired its own White House staffers over marijuana and sought to extend a budget provision that has blocked Washington, D.C. from legalizing cannabis sales.

In April, Psaki was pressed on Biden’s clemency promise for people with federal marijuana and said that process will start with modestly rescheduling cannabis—a proposal that advocates say wouldn’t actually accomplish what she’s suggesting.

Moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule II under the Controlled Substances Act, as Biden is proposing, wouldn’t facilitate mass clemency given that being convicted for crimes related to drugs in that slightly lower category—which currently includes cocaine—also carries significant penalties.

 

[Baron23]

Perhaps they should try this approach at Nordstroms in S.F.?

Sheriff: Cannabis store employee shoots suspected robbers​

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Law enforcement officials say an employee at a Spanaway marijuana shop shot two suspected robbers during a holdup earlier this week.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said deputies were called to the cannabis store for a robbery report about 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, The News Tribune reported.

The store employees told the deputies that four or five men held them at gunpoint while stealing cash and marijuana. The sheriff’s department said that at one point during the robbery, an employee retrieved a gun and shot at the suspects, who fled.

A short time later, two 19-year-old men showed up at a nearby hospital seeking treatment for gunshot wounds. The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said both were arrested on suspicion of first-degree robbery after they were released from the hospital.

The incident remains under investigation.

 

[bulllee]

The government of Malawi has defended its decision to ask Mike Tyson to become the country's official cannabis ambassador​

Malawi has defended its decision to ask Mike Tyson to become the country's cannabis ambassador.

• The boxer was sentenced to six years in jail in 1992 for raping 18-year-old Desiree Washington.
• "Mr. Tyson is a right and reformed person," said a spokesperson for Malawi's Ministry of Agriculture

The government of Malawi has defended its decision to ask the former heavyweight champion boxer Mike Tyson to become the country's official cannabis ambassador.
This week, Malawi's agriculture minister Lobin Low sent a letter to Tyson, who is involved in the cannabis industry in the United States through numerous ventures, inviting him to become the face of the country's cannabis industry in a bid to attract investors and tourism, according to CNN.
Malawi legalized the growing and processing of cannabis for medicinal purposes last year.
The invite has raised controversy, with Malawi's Centre for Public Accountability (CPA) accusing the government of ignoring Tyson's criminal history.
The 55-year-old was sentenced to six years in jail in 1992 after being convicted of raping 18-year-old Desiree Washington in an Indianapolis hotel room. Tyson, who is now a registered sex offender, served less than three years before being released.
Kondwani Munthali, acting director of the CPA, told CNN Friday that appointing a convicted rapist as Malawi's cannabis ambassador would be "wrong."
"Yes he paid his debt three years he was in jail, but we are saying to be the face of a nation is something beyond reformatory," she said. "We would want a less controversial character than Tyson."
However, Gracian Lungu, a spokesperson for Malawi's Ministry of Agriculture, dismissed Munthali's criticism, telling CNN: "Malawi as a nation believes that Mr. Tyson is a right and reformed person as he was released on parole."
He added: "The moral appeal by some quarters, to continue holding Mr. Tyson to a wall of moral incapacity doesn't hold water."
Malawi's Minister of Gender, Patricia Kaliati, echoed Lungu's comments.
"It's about business, (and) economic business of cannabis," Kaliati told CNN. "We look for the prominent people, the decision makers who can say a thing which can be recognized internationally."
In October, Tyson launched "Tyson 2.0" – a new company that will sell cannabis products across the US.
"Cannabis has changed me for the good both mentally and physically, and I want to share that gift with others who are also seeking relief," Tyson said. "My vision for Tyson 2.0 is to make high-quality cannabis products available to consumers at various price points."

 

[momofthegoons]

Credit Unions Urge Congress To Pass Marijuana Banking Reform Through Defense Bill​

Major associations representing U.S. credit unions are calling on Congress to pass marijuana banking reform through must-pass defense legislation.

It’s the latest in a series of requests from lawmakers, stakeholders and advocates to advance legislation to protect financial institutions that work with state-legal cannabis businesses from being penalized by federal regulators.

Specifically, they want to see the Senate follow the House’s lead in attaching language from the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

“We take no position on legalizing or decriminalizing medicinal or recreational cannabis at either the state or federal level,” the associations said in a letter to key committee leadership. “However, credit unions operating in states where it is legal have members and member businesses involved in the cannabis market who need access to traditional depository and lending services, the absence of which creates a significant public safety issue.”

The Credit Union National Association, Defense Credit Union Council and National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions signed the letter, which also touches on non-cannabis issues.



The groups, which wrote that they “strongly support” attaching SAFE Banking to NDAA, also stressed that “financial institutions that choose not to bank the cannabis industry still risk unknowingly serving those businesses in states where cannabis is legal.”

“Indirect connections are often difficult to identify and avoid because like any other industry, those offering cannabis-related services work with vendors and suppliers,” the letter continues. “Under the existing status quo, a credit union that does business with any one of these indirectly affiliated entities could unknowingly risk violating federal law.”

“Inclusion of the SAFE Banking Act puts in place necessary protections to bring revenue from state-sanctioned cannabis businesses into the financial services mainstream and, as a result, keeping communities safe,” it concludes.

While the Senate has yet to independently add the banking reform language to its version of NDAA, supporters want to see the provisions adopted by negotiators in conference for the final legislation sent to President Joe Biden’s desk.

Bipartisan members of the Senate Armed Services Committee recently sent their own letter urging leaders to include the SAFE Banking Act in the final NDAA. Shortly thereafter, U.S. senators representing Colorado made the same request in a separate letter.

The SAFE Banking Act has been approved in some form in the House five times now, but it’s so far languished in the Senate. Stakeholders have held out hope that the chamber would advance the legislation with a Democratic majority, but some key players like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have insisted on passing comprehensive legalization—like a reform bill he’s finalizing—first.

That said, Schumer has signaled that he’s open to enacting banking reform through NDAA if it contained social equity provisions.

Earlier this month, a bipartisan coalition of two dozen governors implored congressional leaders to finally enact marijuana banking reform through the large-scale defense legislation.

A group of small marijuana business owners also recently made the case that the incremental banking policy change could actually help support social equity efforts.

Rodney Hood, a board member of the National Credit Union Administration, wrote in a Marijuana Moment op-ed last month that legalization is an inevitability—and it makes the most sense for government agencies to get ahead of the policy change to resolve banking complications now.

Meanwhile, an official with the Internal Revenue Service said last month that the agency would like to “get paid,” and it’d help if the marijuana industry had access to banks like companies in other legal markets so they could more easily comply with tax laws.

Federal data shows that many financial institutions remain hesitant to take on cannabis companies as clients, however, which is likely due to the fact that the plant is a strictly controlled substance under federal law.

Read the letter from the credit union associations on marijuana banking by following title link and scrolling to the bottom of the article.

 

[momofthegoons]

Could those barriers be in place to assure that there's no chance of legalizing....?

Top Federal Drug Official Personally Hesitates To Study Marijuana Because Of Schedule I Research Barriers​

The top federal drug researcher says even she is reluctant to conduct studies on Schedule I drugs like marijuana because of the “cumbersome” rules that scientists face when investigating them.

Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), made the comments during a Wednesday forum moderated by The Hill and sponsored by the Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education, and Regulation (CPEAR) that also featured congressional lawmakers, state regulators and industry stakeholders.

Volkow has repeatedly talked about barriers to marijuana research in the U.S., where scientists must jump through bureaucratic hoops to access cannabis for study purposes. That’s because the plant is designated as Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act, the most restrictive category.

But it’s not just your average researcher who struggles to navigate the complex application process. Volkow—who runs America’s top drug science agency—said she personally avoids studying Schedule I substances because of the federal red tape.

“One of the barriers that has actually been noted is that cannabis, marijuana, by being a Schedule I substance, requires certain procedures that actually can be very lengthy,” she said. “In some instances, it detracts researchers who want to investigate it because it’s just much more cumbersome than doing studies with other substances.”

“I can testify to it. As a researcher, I always hesitate to go into doing research with Schedule I drugs. I do research in human subjects [and] it’s much more cumbersome,” Volkow said. “And this is what we hear also from our grantees, that it takes much longer to get the approval in order to initiate the research, and it’s more costly, and that actually delays everyone’s progress.”

The director also talked about how other federal agencies’ interpretations of international treaties have restricted research by making it so scientists have only been able to obtain marijuana for research from a single federally authorized through NIDA.

She said that “this is very limiting because you can imagine that there’s a wide variety of plants out there with very different properties—and so, to the extent that we are limited to just one product, that actually in many ways defeats the purpose of understanding the components that are responsible for therapeutic benefits.”

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is taking steps to approve additional cannabis manufacturers, but Volkow said in an earlier interview with Marijuana Moment that it should be taken a step further by allowing scientists to access cannabis from state-legal dispensaries.

Also, in a recent interview with FiveThirtyEight, the official raised eyebrows when she said she’s yet to see scientific evidence that occasional cannabis use by adults is seriously harmful.

Volkow also reiterated separate concerns at the new Hill event she has with the harms caused by the criminalization of drugs, something she has addressed in several other interviews and op-eds recently.

“I think that the stigma it has around it, and continues to surround addiction and the use of drugs, has actually jeopardized our ability to intervene both on prevention and treatment,” she said. “Our society overall has criminalized people that take drugs, and this has been shown repeatedly that it’s not only not beneficial, but it actually exacerbates the outcomes of individuals that are put in prison or in jail for the use of drugs.”

Pointing to racial racial disparities in prohibition enforcement, she said that “criminalizing drug users has also exacerbated health inequalities by promoting incarceration or certain groups.”

Current policy is “very negative as it relates to how we have criminalized our drug users,” the top drug science official said. “But also that stigma has interfered with the healthcare system to actually engage in the screening and proper treatment of individuals, whether they are early on the stage of a soft drug use disorder where an intervention can help them and prevent them from escalating, to intervening individuals that already have a moderate or severe substance use disorder that currently if not treated could actually have a higher risk of very negative outcomes, including death.”

The conversation with Vokow was just one component of the wide-ranging Hill event, where Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) and others also participated.

Hickenlooper, who served as governor of Colorado when the state became among the first to legalize marijuana via the ballot, addressed his past opposition to reform and how he’s since seen that concerns about the societal risks of legalization were unfounded.



“I believe that we should deschedule marijuana. I think the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that that we should deschedule it,” he said. “I do think we should recognize the past injustices [of prohibition] and we should use that process of descheduling—of essentially legalizing marijuana—to address some of those inequities and make sure that those those communities that suffered most grievously during the war on drugs, they get some of the benefit from these changing attitudes towards marijuana.”



He was also asked about the prospect of passing cannabis banking reform through defense spending legislation and said that he hasn’t been in Congress long enough to know for sure, but “I do think it makes a tremendous amount of sense to allow banks to in those states where it’s been legalized.”

Mace, meanwhile, is the sponsor of a new, Republican-led bill to legalize marijuana that she views as a compromise between comprehensive proposals that Democrats are championing and scaled-down reform measures from her GOP colleagues.



She said that she tried to “make sure that I put forward a bill that was common sense, that was very pragmatic and that would actually have something for everyone.”

Also speaking at the event were academics and a California state cannabis regulator, among others.

 

[momofthegoons]

Bipartisan Lawmakers Push VA To Allow Medical Marijuana Access For Veterans ‘As Soon As Possible’​

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) must urgently institute a policy change to ensure that military veterans can access cannabis for therapeutic use, a bipartisan coalition of congressional lawmakers said in a new letter.

Writing to VA Secretary Denis McDonough on Wednesday, the co-chairs of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus urged the official to consider “a change in policy to allow access to medical cannabis fro VA patients” and to “act swiftly and implement this change as soon as possible.”

The lawmakers pointed to surveys showing high rates of opioid addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among the veteran community.

“Research has shown that cannabis can be safe and effective in targeted pain-management. Additionally, cannabis has proven benefits in managing PTSD and other health issues, including multiple sclerosis (MS) and seizure disorders,” the letter states. “Despite its efficacy, antiquated bureaucratic red-tape continues to deny veterans these life-altering treatments.”

“Congress and several administrations have enacted various well-intentioned intervention attempts, however, over twenty veterans continue to die by suicide each day—it is past time we stop barring access from these innovative therapies. We therefore respectfully urge you to ensure no veteran can be denied medically prescribed cannabis treatments.”

The letter comes weeks after McDonough participated in a Veterans Day Q&A where he said that VA officials are “looking at” the possibility of an internal policy change and have discussed it with the White House and Department of Justice. The secretary also talked about being personally moved by stories from veterans who’ve found relief using medical marijuana.

“We’re trying to explore what more we can do,” he said at the time. “And I’ve talked to our friends in the rest of the federal government, including the Department of Justice, on what we can do on this, and with the White House.”

The Congressional Cannabis Caucus co-chairs—Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), David Joyce (R-OH), Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Don Young (R-AK)—want McDonough to speed up the policy change process.

“America’s veterans have risked life and limb to preserve our freedoms, so we must not allow the unnecessary politicization of medical cannabis to hinder their lifesaving therapies,” they wrote. “We stand ready to work with you and your administration in advancing these necessary treatments.”

While congressional lawmakers are working to advance legislation to end marijuana prohibition, McDonough’s department has resisted even modest proposals meant to promote veteran access and clinical research into the medical value of cannabis.

One such research bill was approved by the House Veterans Affairs Committee earlier this month, despite testimony from the department opposing the reform. VA’s David Carroll told lawmakers that the legislation was overly prescriptive and argued that the department is already conducting robust research into marijuana.

Some had held out hope that VA would back the reform this session after the sponsor, Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA), said that he’d had a conversation with McDonough about the issue of marijuana and veterans.

On the Senate side, a coalition of lawmakers recently filed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would federally legalize medical cannabis for military veterans who comply with a state program where they live. VA doctors would also be explicitly allowed to issue marijuana recommendations.

Read the letter to the VA secretary on marijuana access.

 

[Baron23]

Could those barriers be in place to assure that there's no chance of legalizing....?

Of course they are. Classic Catch 22

 

[momofthegoons]

Congressman Slams Senate After Marijuana Banking Excluded From Defense Bill​

A new version of a congressional defense bill does not include marijuana banking reform following negotiations between the House and Senate. But the lead sponsor of the cannabis reform didn’t go down without a fight, filing an amendment in committee to attach the marijuana language to the legislation—though he ultimately didn’t insist on a vote.

While the House passed its initial version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in September with language to protect banks that work with state-legal cannabis businesses, those provisions were not attached to a new bicameral deal filed on Tuesday.

This latest iteration will now go through both chambers again before potentially being sent to the president’s desk.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), chief sponsor of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, didn’t force a vote on the amendment in the House Rules Committee—but its last-minute introduction sparked an impassioned debate within the panel, where multiple members expressed frustration over how Senate leadership has approached the issue.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-MA) sharply criticized Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who has insisted that broad justice-focused marijuana reform should be addressed before passing something like the SAFE Banking Act.

“I don’t really quite know what the hell his problem is,” McGovernor said, referring to Schumer. “But what he’s doing is he’s making it very difficult for a lot of small businesses—and minority-owned businesses, too—deal with the issue of cannabis to be able to move forward and to expand and to hire more people.”



Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, who is a lead negotiator on NDAA, also expressed frustration over how Senate leadership has approached the cannabis banking issue.

“The impact of this, as a practical matter, to not have the SAFE Banking Act is incredibly dangerous,” he said, adding that small businesses “basically have to run a cash business” and they “can’t do the normal banking that is available to them in the states where where marijuana is legal.”

“I even seriously considered saying, you know, we’re just gonna put it in and the Senate can deal with it,” Smith said. “But the bottom line is, if the majority leader in the Senate has this opinion—and it’s worth noting that the minority leader has a similar position in the Senate—they don’t want this included, that’s not the way the process works.”

Smith and other lawmakers said that while they support the cannabis legislation, inserting it over the Senate’s objections could doom the overall defense bill, a scenario they weren’t willing to risk.



Perlmutter mused that “precisely why the majority leader, Mr. Schumer, is opposed to this is still pretty much a mystery to me.”

“It makes no sense because of the public safety aspect, the minority business aspect,” he said. “Without the ability to have banking, many small businesses—veteran-owned organizations, women-owned businesses—don’t have access to capital.”

“You have heard my ire and my irritation and my anger because people are getting killed. They’re getting robbed. And we’re making no moves,” he said. “We now have made some advancements, but this thing’s been sitting there for three years.”

Despite his frustration, Perlmutter said it’s not his intention to “start really throwing procedural wrenches into everything” to advance the reform, and so he didn’t push for a vote on the amendment in committee. That said, the congressman said he’s “not raising the white flag on this thing” and “we’re going to keep bringing this up.”

Perlmutter, who announced his plan to file an amendment in the Rules Committee shortly after the next of the negotiated defense bill was released earlier on Tuesday, said that he spoke with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) about pursuing other avenues to force the Senate to finally take up his legislation.



Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MA) applauded Perlmutter’s leadership on the issue and said “we have to do whatever we can to push it forward.” He added that “we’ve got to find another vehicle to make that [reform] real.”

Smith later added that the process of negotiating with the Senate on cannabis banking through NDAA resulted in “progress on this issue—and the Senate is under a lot more pressure to do something.”

Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH), who is not on the Rules Committee but who is a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, said it is “incredibly disappointing” that the cannabis language was taken out of NDAA.

“The longer the Senate delays giving state-legal cannabis businesses access to basic banking services that every other legal US business has, the more it endangers public safety, stifles economic equity, and exacerbates the unsustainable patchwork of federal/state cannabis laws,” he said.





Separately, the new defense bill also excludes an NDAA amendment filed by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) that would have streamlined the application process for researchers who want to investigate cannabis as well as manufacture the plant to be used in studies. It also doesn’t include a separate Schatz-led amendment to federally legalize medical marijuana for military veterans who comply with a state program where they live.

Advocates and lawmakers have been split on whether banking should advance through NDAA.

Supporters argue that enacting the reform is necessary for public safety, as many marijuana businesses operate on a largely cash-only basis without access to traditional financial institutions, making them targets of crime.



But some groups like the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) have urged leadership to hold off on banking reform until comprehensive legalization legislation that promotes social equity is approved.

Voices in favor of advancing marijuana banking through this defense vehicle have been wide ranging.

A coalition of financial associations and labor groups—including the American Bankers Association, Credit Union National Association (CUNA) and United Food and Commercial Workers Union—was the latest to send a letter to Senate leadership urging the inclusion of the SAFE Banking Act in NDAA.

CUNA and other credit union associations sent a letter with a similar request to earlier last month.

Bipartisan members of the Senate Armed Services Committee also recently sent their own letter urging leaders to include the SAFE Banking Act in the final NDAA. Shortly thereafter, U.S. senators representing Colorado made the same request in a separate letter.

Last month, a bipartisan coalition of two dozen governors implored congressional leaders to finally enact marijuana banking reform through the large-scale defense legislation.

A group of small marijuana business owners also recently made the case that the incremental banking policy change could actually help support social equity efforts.

Rodney Hood, a board member of the National Credit Union Administration, wrote in a recent Marijuana Moment op-ed that legalization is an inevitability—and it makes the most sense for government agencies to get ahead of the policy change to resolve banking complications now.

Meanwhile, an official with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said that the agency would like to “get paid,” and it’d help if the marijuana industry had access to banks like companies in other legal markets so they could more easily comply with tax laws.

The secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department said last week that freeing up banks to work with state-legal marijuana businesses would “of course” make the IRS’s job of collecting taxes easier.

Federal data shows that many financial institutions remain hesitant to take on cannabis companies as clients, however, which is likely due to the fact that the plant is a strictly controlled substance under federal law.

While Schumer has been adamant in his push to first pass comprehensive reform—like the legalization bill he’s working on alongside Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ)—he did signal that he’s open to enacting banking reform through NDAA if it contained social equity provisions.

On that note, a bipartisan duo filed a bill last week that would incentivize states and local governments to expunge cannabis records in their jurisdictions. And the Republican sponsor of that legislation, Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH), has been taunting Schumer in the days since to let banking reform be attached to NDAA.

 

[momofthegoons]

Congressional Lawmakers Want ‘Urgent’ Update From Biden On Marijuana Pardons As Holidays Approach​

It’s been almost ten months since a coalition of 37 congressional lawmakers sent a letter to President Joe Biden, urging him to use executive authority to issue mass pardons for people with federal marijuana convictions on their records. Lawmakers are growing impatient, and now they’ve sent a follow-up letter to “urgently request” an update as the holiday season approaches.

Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) wrote to the president last week that many Americans “remain behind bars due to racially discriminatory cannabis policies and continue to accrue criminal fees.”

“To begin rectifying the damage done by these discriminatorily implemented policies and reunite families before the holidays, we reiterate our ask that you use your executive authority to pardon all individuals convicted of nonviolent cannabis offenses, whether formerly or currently incarcerated,” they said. “We further write to specify that all federal criminal fines and fees be cancelled for all nonviolent cannabis offenses.”



This has become a familiar request over the course of Biden’s first year in office. Advocates, lawmakers, celebrities and others have repeatedly pressed the president to made good on his campaign pledge and provide relief to those with cannabis convictions.

Yet so far, the only pardons to take place under the Biden administration have benefited turkeys at a ceremonial Thanksgiving event.

“Many Americans do not believe we should take a punitive approach to marijuana and have already benefited significantly from efforts to loosen or eliminate cannabis regulations at the local or state level,” the congressional trio wrote, noting that polls show strong public support for marijuana reform.

“As the American public continues to voice its pro-legalization position, it’s important that the Black and brown communities most directly harmed by past and current cannabis laws are able to directly benefit from legalization efforts, which includes small business opportunities,” the letter continues. “In addition to economic development opportunities, timely legalization could help save lives and stem the continuing opioid crisis in our nation.”

They further said that fees and fines imposed by the criminal justice system “have also historically had a racially discriminatory impact on local communities,” and so the “federal government has a moral responsibility to stand against this system of structural racism and incentivize municipalities to follow suit.”

“Congress must act to reimagine our nation’s cannabis policies, but we firmly believe that you have the power to take decisive action to begin this necessary work,” they wrote, adding that the House Judiciary Committee approved a comprehensive legalization bill in the months since they sent their first letter on mass cannabis pardons.

“While this bill would make considerable progress towards overhauling American cannabis policies, you maintain the unilateral power to take transformative important action by issuing a blanket pardon of all non-violent federal cannabis offenses. Just as previous presidents have used executive authority to issue blanket pardons consistent with our values that benefit the American people, this is an opportunity for you to uphold commitments made during the campaign and revitalize communities across the country.”

“Therefore, we again urge you to utilize your power to pardon all individuals convicted of nonviolent cannabis offenses and cancel all related federal fines and fees, so that we can reunite families and communities in time for the winter holidays,” the letter concludes.

This letter comes about a month after group of senators separately sent a letter urging Biden to use his executive authority to grant a mass pardon for people with non-violent marijuana convictions.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who led that letter, said during a recent interview that Biden could boost the economy and promote racial equity with the “stroke of a pen” by granting the relief.

A recently published Congressional Research Service (CRS) report affirmed that the president has it within his power to grant mass pardons for cannabis offenses. It also said that the administration can move to federally legalize cannabis without waiting for lawmakers to act.

Relatedly, a group of more than 150 celebrities, athletes, politicians, law enforcement professionals and academics signed a letter that was delivered to Biden in September, urging him to issue a “full, complete and unconditional pardon” to all people with non-violent federal marijuana convictions.

That letter came just as the administration started encouraging about 1,000 people who were temporarily placed on home confinement for federal drug offenses to fill out clemency application forms.

Warren and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) separately sent a letter to the attorney general in October, making the case that the Justice Department should initiate a marijuana descheduling process in order to “allow states to regulate cannabis as they see fit, begin to remedy the harm caused by decades of racial disparities in enforcement of cannabis laws, and facilitate valuable medical research.”

The White House said in August that the president was looking into using his executive authority to grant clemency to people with certain non-violent drug convictions.

Biden has faced criticism from drug policy reform advocates who’ve grown frustrated that he’s yet to make good on campaign promises such as decriminalizing marijuana possession. The president also campaigned on expunging prior cannabis records and respecting the rights of states to set their own laws.

Since taking office, however, his administration has made little progress on any of those pledges and has instead fired its own White House staffers over marijuana and sought to extend a budget provision that has blocked Washington, D.C. from legalizing cannabis sales.

In April, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was pressed on Biden’s clemency promise for people with federal marijuana and said that process will start with modestly rescheduling cannabis—a proposal that advocates say wouldn’t actually accomplish what she’s suggesting.

Moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule II under the Controlled Substances Act, as Biden is proposing, wouldn’t facilitate mass clemency given that being convicted for crimes related to drugs in that slightly lower category—which currently includes cocaine—also carries significant penalties.

Read the new letter to Biden on marijuana pardons

 

[momofthegoons]

Anyone who tried to upload a Youtube vid during the last election has to remember Biden's ads saying he would legalize cannabis in his first month of office.....​

​

GOP Lawmakers Blast Biden And Harris Over ‘Continued Silence’ On Marijuana And Urge Rescheduling​

A pair of Republican lawmakers on Thursday sent President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris a letter criticizing their “lack of action” and “continued silence” on marijuana reform and urging the administration to reschedule cannabis under federal law.

Reps. Dave Joyce (R-OH) and Don Young (R-AK), both co-chairs of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, first requested that the president take steps to reclassify marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act in July. They’ve yet to receive a response to that initial letter, a spokesperson for Joyce told Marijuana Moment.

The new letter discusses the “significant research restrictions” caused by marijuana’s Schedule I classification, which “continues to thwart the treatment of a wide range of patients, including those suffering from cancer as well as veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to those living with multiple sclerosis and seizure disorders.”



“To be clear, we do not negate the benefit of traditional therapies, but question why the federal government continues to bar access to innovative, proven—and in many cases—safer alternatives,” the lawmakers wrote.

This is yet another example of legislators taking a demand for reform directly to the president, who has disappointed advocates in his first year in office by declining to take meaningful steps to change the country’s approach to cannabis despite campaigning on a pro-decriminalization and pre-rescheduling platform.

Since the election, neither the president or vide president—who sponsored a legalization bill while serving in the Senate—have spoken about their cannabis campaign pledges.



“As both legislative chambers continue to debate the merits of various common-sense proposals on the issue of cannabis reform and a complete end to federal prohibition garners more and more bipartisan support, your administration’s absence from these debates and lack of action, which is inconsistent with previous statements you have made on the topic, is of serious concern,” Joyce and Young wrote to Biden and Harris. “Each day cannabis remains overly scheduled, patients and researchers across the United States continue to lose access to life-saving therapies and data.”

“Further, cannabis’ Schedule I classification puts the U.S. far behind many of our international partners and scientific competitors including: Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Malta and the Netherlands,” the letter continues.



In a similar vein, a coalition of 37 congressional lawmakers sent a letter to Biden in February, imploring him to use executive authority to issue mass pardons for people with federal marijuana convictions on their records. Some of those legislators recently sent a follow-up letter demanding a status update.

This has become a familiar request over the course of Biden’s first year in office. Advocates, lawmakers, celebrities and others have repeatedly pressed the president to made good on his campaign pledge and provide relief to those with cannabis convictions.

Yet so far, the only pardons to take place under the Biden administration have benefited turkeys at a ceremonial Thanksgiving event.

In the new letter on marijuana rescheduling, the GOP lawmakers said that they “can appreciate when leaders come with different concerns and priorities.”

However, “with nearly two thirds of Americans in agreement on the need for federal cannabis reform, your administration must begin to seriously engage on the topic, regardless of where you stand,” they said. “Your continued silence speaks volumes.”



This letter comes about a month after a group of senators separately sent a letter urging Biden to use his executive authority to grant a mass pardon for people with non-violent marijuana convictions.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who led that letter, said during a recent interview that Biden could boost the economy and promote racial equity with the “stroke of a pen” by granting the relief.

A recently published Congressional Research Service (CRS) report affirmed that the president has it within his power to grant mass pardons for cannabis offenses. It also said that the administration can move to federally legalize cannabis without waiting for lawmakers to act.

Relatedly, a group of more than 150 celebrities, athletes, politicians, law enforcement professionals and academics signed a letter that was delivered to Biden in September, urging him to issue a “full, complete and unconditional pardon” to all people with non-violent federal marijuana convictions.

That letter came just as the administration started encouraging about 1,000 people who were temporarily placed on home confinement for federal drug offenses to fill out clemency application forms.

Warren and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) separately sent a letter to the attorney general in October, making the case that the Justice Department should initiate a marijuana descheduling process in order to “allow states to regulate cannabis as they see fit, begin to remedy the harm caused by decades of racial disparities in enforcement of cannabis laws, and facilitate valuable medical research.”

The White House said in August that the president was looking into using his executive authority to grant clemency to people with certain non-violent drug convictions.

Biden has faced criticism from drug policy reform advocates who’ve grown frustrated that he’s yet to make good on campaign promises such as decriminalizing marijuana possession. The president also campaigned on expunging prior cannabis records and respecting the rights of states to set their own laws.

Since taking office, however, his administration has made little progress on any of those pledges and has instead fired its own White House staffers over marijuana and sought to extend a budget provision that has blocked Washington, D.C. from legalizing cannabis sales.

In April, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was pressed on Biden’s clemency promise for people with federal marijuana and said that process will start with modestly rescheduling cannabis—a proposal that advocates say wouldn’t actually accomplish what she’s suggesting.

Moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule II under the Controlled Substances Act, as Biden is proposing, wouldn’t facilitate mass clemency given that being convicted for crimes related to drugs in that slightly lower category—which currently includes cocaine—also carries significant penalties.

Read the new letter to Biden and Harris on marijuana rescheduling

 

[momofthegoons]

Almost put this in the 'Horrible News' thread because I don't know that this is going to be a good thing...

Pfizer to Acquire Pharmaceutical Company Testing Cannabinoid Treatment​

Pfizer Inc. paid in cash the value of $6.7 billion in an agreement to acquire Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Pfizer Inc., one of the trifecta pharmaceutical companies manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines, is acquiring another large pharma company that is conducting clinical trials on a variety of drugs, including one that is examining the efficacy of cannabinoids.

Pfizer Inc. announced the planned acquisition of Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. on December 13. The two companies signed an agreement stating that Pfizer would receive all shares of Arena for $100 per share, paid in cash at the value of the agreement set to $6.7 billion. Arena offers a variety of multi-stage clinical trials for the drugs they’re currently developing—one of which is exploring the use of an oral cannabinoid medicine for gastrointestinal disorders.

According to a press release, the board of directors for both Pfizer and Arena approved of the deal. “The proposed acquisition of Arena complements our capabilities and expertise in Inflammation and Immunology, a Pfizer innovation engine developing potential therapies for patients with debilitating immuno-inflammatory diseases with a need for more effective treatment options,” said Pfizer Global President & General Manager Mike Gladstone. “Utilizing Pfizer’s leading research and global development capabilities, we plan to accelerate the clinical development of etrasimod for patients with immuno-inflammatory diseases.” Gladstone operates under the Pfizer inflammation and immunology department.

Arena has been working on a multitude of “development stage therapeutic candidates,” ranging from gastroenterology, dermatology, cardiology and more. One particular treatment of note is etrasimod, which is being tested as a treatment for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Other drug candidates for gastroenterology, dermatology and cardiology.

Furthermore, Arena has been working on an antagonist for a cannabinoid type 2 receptor. According to an interview with Nawan Butt, a portfolio manager of The Medical Cannabis and Wellness ICITS ETC, he mentions the importance of this deal to further push progress for medical cannabis research opportunities. “This acquisition displays the interest big pharma is taking in the fast-evolving world of cannabinoids. We are encouraged by the acquisition as it provides more resources and a wider platform for pharmaceutical development of cannabinoids. Overall, this transaction is in line [with] Pfizer’s long-term focus on innovative research and a great win for our investors,” he told proactiveinvestors.com.

Arena’s involvement in cannabinoid research is related to its drug candidate, Olorinab (APD371). “Olorinab (APD371) is an investigational, oral, peripherally acting, highly selective, full agonist of the cannabinoid type 2 receptor (CB2). Olorinab is an internally discovered drug candidate that Arena is exploring for development in several indications, with an initial focus on visceral pain associated with gastrointestinal disorders,” Arena’s website reads. “This compound, through its selectivity for CB2 versus CB1, is under investigation for pain relief without psychoactive adverse effects.”

Aside from official clinical trials, cannabis research has been growing rapidly over the past decade. But in early November, NORML released a compilation of 450 peer-reviewed studies in “Clinical Applications for Cannabis & Cannabinoids: A Review of the Recent Scientific Literature, 2000-2021.”

The compilation showcases the wide variety of studies examining cannabis in conjunction with autism, chronic pain, diabetes, fibromyalgia, migraines and PTSD. Studies such as these are likely to become the building blocks for clinical trials down the line. “NORML has long advocated for the enactment of evidence-based marijuana policies,” said the review’s main author, NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano. “When it comes to addressing questions specific to the safety and therapeutic efficacy of cannabis, this publication provides the evidence that patients and their physicians—as well as lawmakers—need to know.”

From studies on cannabis as an aid for sleep to exercise, the researchers in the U.S. are poised to continue conducting studies on cannabis for years to come, paving the way for more clinical trials to be conducted as well.

 

[bulllee]

Almost put this in the 'Horrible News' thread because I don't know that this is going to be a good thing...

Pfizer to Acquire Pharmaceutical Company Testing Cannabinoid Treatment​

Pfizer Inc. paid in cash the value of $6.7 billion in an agreement to acquire Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Pfizer Inc., one of the trifecta pharmaceutical companies manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines, is acquiring another large pharma company that is conducting clinical trials on a variety of drugs, including one that is examining the efficacy of cannabinoids.

Pfizer Inc. announced the planned acquisition of Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. on December 13. The two companies signed an agreement stating that Pfizer would receive all shares of Arena for $100 per share, paid in cash at the value of the agreement set to $6.7 billion. Arena offers a variety of multi-stage clinical trials for the drugs they’re currently developing—one of which is exploring the use of an oral cannabinoid medicine for gastrointestinal disorders.

According to a press release, the board of directors for both Pfizer and Arena approved of the deal. “The proposed acquisition of Arena complements our capabilities and expertise in Inflammation and Immunology, a Pfizer innovation engine developing potential therapies for patients with debilitating immuno-inflammatory diseases with a need for more effective treatment options,” said Pfizer Global President & General Manager Mike Gladstone. “Utilizing Pfizer’s leading research and global development capabilities, we plan to accelerate the clinical development of etrasimod for patients with immuno-inflammatory diseases.” Gladstone operates under the Pfizer inflammation and immunology department.

Arena has been working on a multitude of “development stage therapeutic candidates,” ranging from gastroenterology, dermatology, cardiology and more. One particular treatment of note is etrasimod, which is being tested as a treatment for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Other drug candidates for gastroenterology, dermatology and cardiology.

Furthermore, Arena has been working on an antagonist for a cannabinoid type 2 receptor. According to an interview with Nawan Butt, a portfolio manager of The Medical Cannabis and Wellness ICITS ETC, he mentions the importance of this deal to further push progress for medical cannabis research opportunities. “This acquisition displays the interest big pharma is taking in the fast-evolving world of cannabinoids. We are encouraged by the acquisition as it provides more resources and a wider platform for pharmaceutical development of cannabinoids. Overall, this transaction is in line [with] Pfizer’s long-term focus on innovative research and a great win for our investors,” he told proactiveinvestors.com.

Arena’s involvement in cannabinoid research is related to its drug candidate, Olorinab (APD371). “Olorinab (APD371) is an investigational, oral, peripherally acting, highly selective, full agonist of the cannabinoid type 2 receptor (CB2). Olorinab is an internally discovered drug candidate that Arena is exploring for development in several indications, with an initial focus on visceral pain associated with gastrointestinal disorders,” Arena’s website reads. “This compound, through its selectivity for CB2 versus CB1, is under investigation for pain relief without psychoactive adverse effects.”

Aside from official clinical trials, cannabis research has been growing rapidly over the past decade. But in early November, NORML released a compilation of 450 peer-reviewed studies in “Clinical Applications for Cannabis & Cannabinoids: A Review of the Recent Scientific Literature, 2000-2021.”

The compilation showcases the wide variety of studies examining cannabis in conjunction with autism, chronic pain, diabetes, fibromyalgia, migraines and PTSD. Studies such as these are likely to become the building blocks for clinical trials down the line. “NORML has long advocated for the enactment of evidence-based marijuana policies,” said the review’s main author, NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano. “When it comes to addressing questions specific to the safety and therapeutic efficacy of cannabis, this publication provides the evidence that patients and their physicians—as well as lawmakers—need to know.”

From studies on cannabis as an aid for sleep to exercise, the researchers in the U.S. are poised to continue conducting studies on cannabis for years to come, paving the way for more clinical trials to be conducted as well.

Hmmmm , big pharma and weed.....who would've thunk it ? Perhaps the money changers are involved ?

 

[momofthegoons]

Lawmakers Talk Next Steps For Marijuana Banking And Legalization After Reform Blocked By Senate Leader​

Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) is “still pretty irritated” that marijuana banking reform was omitted from a defense bill last week—apparently at the behest of Democratic Senate leadership. But he said in an interview with Marijuana Moment that the congressional debate that subsequently ensued has advanced the cause nonetheless.

Looking ahead, the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act sponsor sees additional opportunities to pass the legislation as part of other large-scale bills if the Senate remains unwilling to adopt the standalone measure. He’s had conversations with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to that end.

Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Dave Joyce (R-OH) also told Marijuana Moment this week that they remain adamant about finding a path to passage in spite of the recent setback.

Blumenauer, who also released a memo reflecting on the year’s progress on marijuana reform and outlining priorities for 2022 on Thursday, said during a briefing with reporters that he’s “learned to be patient” when it comes to cannabis reform on Capitol Hill.

“We’re playing the long game here, and we are in the best position we’ve ever been with the Senate,” Blumenauer said. “I’m confident, when we get these aligned, that we’ll be able to move.”

The congressional debate over SAFE Banking this year has divided certain lawmakers and advocates. They share the ultimate goal of ending cannabis criminalization, but there’s tension between the pragmatic desire to pursue bipartisan legislation that’s more incremental but has the votes to pass now and the push for comprehensive reform that will take time to build support for.

But despite the lawmakers’ optimism, it doesn’t necessarily take the sting out of the latest failed attempt to secure protections for banks that choose to work with state-legal cannabis businesses. The House had passed the reform as part of its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), only to have it sidelined following bicameral negotiations.

“By adding it to NDAA, we brought it up several notches in terms of the attention that the Senate had to take to SAFE Banking,” Perlmutter told Marijuana Moment in a phone interview on Tuesday.

And while he remains frustrated over inaction on cannabis policy in the Senate, he said he’s “somewhat encouraged by the conversation that developed” after he filed an amendment in the House Rules Committee to reinsert the legislation into the defense bill—even if he ultimately decided not to force a vote and risk blowing up the overall NDAA deal that emerged out of bicameral negotiations.

But he and other House lawmakers have signaled that the days of playing nice with the Senate and hoping that the other body will get around to taking up cannabis banking at its own pace are over.

Blumenauer told Marijuana Moment on Thursday that “it’s very clear that this is the last time that we’re going to basically avoid the showdown” without blowing up larger bills, if it comes to that. Perlmutter made similar comments during the Rules meeting last week.

It was no secret that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) posed an obstacle to enacting marijuana banking reform through NDAA, as he’s repeatedly said that he believes comprehensive reform to end federal cannabis prohibition and put in place a regulatory scheme should come first. Perlmutter said it really was the leader’s final word that nailed the coffin on passing banking reform as part of the defense bill.

“Senator Schumer really weighed in on this. It was one of the last things eliminated from the NDAA—really at the Senate majority leader’s insistence,” he said.

The congressman is a cosponsor of a legalization bill—the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, which passed the House last year and cleared the Judiciary Committee this session in September. He wants to see broad reform, too. But he’s not so confident that the proposal still has the votes to be approved in the full House again, with a narrower Democratic majority in place now than the last time it was brought up.

And that’s to say nothing of the Senate, where deep doubts remain about the prospects of getting 60 votes to advance federal descheduling.

“Right now, with SAFE Banking, we know clearly that has the votes in the House,” Perlmutter said, noting the strong bipartisan support his bill has received as it’s cleared the chamber five times in some form at this point.

“The bill that Senator Schumer and Senator Booker have talked about—they’ve got some basic outline of what they’d like to see that decriminalizes, has a criminal justice reform component in it, as well as a big taxation component in it,” he said, referring to their draft Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA). “I don’t think they have the votes for that.”

“It isn’t like this is a subject that’s brand new. Where is it going?”

“I don’t have a problem with [broad legalization] personally,” he said. “I just want to pass something that breaks the ice so that the Senate starts taking this up in, you know, bigger chunks if they’re willing to do that.”

He also said that there are other potential legislative vehicles that he could attempt to put the banking language in, and which he has discussed with Pelosi, but “it’s premature to talk about” the specifics publicly.

Blumenauer, for his part, insisted that the Senate could easily pass SAFE Banking if it was brought to the floor as standalone legislation.

“We’ve given them a bill. It is clean. It has broad support in the Senate,” he said. “That’s the simplest effort, but there will be vehicles going back and forth. And you will see there will be strong support to make sure that we don’t come up short on this again.”

Joyce, the Ohio Republican congressman who on Thursday sent a letter to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris criticizing the administration’s inaction on cannabis reform and who recently filed a new marijuana expungements bill, also recently spoke about the SAFE Banking Act and the thinking behind enacting that bipartisan policy change first.

At an event hosted by the Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education, and Regulation (CPEAR), Joyce said that the MORE Act is “DOA” in the Senate, meaning dead on arrival. So “we’ve got to find a more palatable path forward.”

“Our idea was to consider this—if you wouldn’t mind the term—flooding the zone,” the congressman said in response to a question from Marijuana Moment about combining his expungements legislation with banking to assuage the Senate’s concerns. “You know, piecemeal things like the HOPE Act and [SAFE Banking Act] and STATES Act and putting those things out there in front of it instead of an all-inclusive one-size-fits-all” bill.

“We know we don’t do big well. And so bite-sized pieces may be better,” Joyce said. “If we can get the Senate to at least bite on some of these smaller ones, I think that we’ll get into position where” reform can advance.



Perlmutter is quick to argue against people who say that SAFE Banking is all about the industry—emphasizing that access to capital and “not getting shot” due to the inherent dangers of marijuana businesses being forced to operate on a largely cash basis are equity issues in and of themselves. But he’s also not against having the Senate take the legislation and add additional social justice components.

Asked for his thoughts on attaching the marijuana expungements bill that Joyce recently filed with Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to the SAFE Banking Act as a way to assuage equity concerns expressed by Schumer and others, the congressman deferred to the Senate, saying he’s fine with it “if they have the votes.”

The congressman also reacted to strong pushback from House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-MA) against Schumer’s intervention against the banking provisions of the NDAA.

“I don’t really quite know what the hell his problem is,” the chairman said of Schumer at last week’s hearing.

“I’m glad” that the chairman was openly critical, Perlmutter told Marijuana Moment, “because mine would have been even harsher.”

 

[Baron23]

yada, yada, I've heard it all before, yada, yada, I'll believe it when I see it, yada, yada.

And of course they have to get this in: "it’s crucial that states incentivize equal opportunity to participate in the cannabis industry, especially for people of color."

Because it would not be sufficient to just fucking do it because its the right thing for these asshole politicians (all of them) to do? Maybe?

Congress to take up marijuana reform this spring​

Congressional Democrats are gearing up for a sweeping set of initiatives aimed at decriminalizing marijuana that they plan to take action on this spring.
The federal proposals seek to establish 21st-century banking services for the nearly $18 billion industry and purge the criminal records of thousands of marijuana offenders.

“The growing bipartisan momentum for cannabis reform shows that Congress is primed for progress in 2022, and we are closer than ever to bringing our cannabis policies and laws in line with the American people,” Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) wrote in a memo to the Congressional Cannabis Caucus on Thursday.

Nearly 70 percent of Americans — including roughly half of Republicans — support legalizing marijuana, the memo noted citing a 2020 Gallup poll. The past year saw five states join in allowing recreational cannabis — New Mexico, New Jersey, Virginia and Connecticut — as well as “a wealth of policy ideas” in Congress “targeted at ending cannabis prohibition,” the lawmakers noted.

The memo is a road map to dozens of bills that seek to reimagine the role of the federal government in every aspect of the cannabis industry, with some measures receiving GOP support.

Bills like the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, sponsored by Lee and Blumenauer, seek to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substance Act and purge records for those convicted of using marijuana.

Other bills would allow the development of a legal cannabis market in Washington, D.C.; enshrine the legality of state cannabis programs and the possibility that they should cover even federal workers; and provide for cannabis research trials for PTSD, while prohibiting retribution by the Veterans’ Administration against physicians who recommend the substance.

Another key bill, the SAFE Banking Act sponsored by Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), would allow the cannabis industry access to an array of financial services such as commercial loans, checking accounts and credit card processing.
“Under current law, financial institutions providing banking services to legitimate and licensed cannabis businesses under state laws are subject to criminal prosecution under several federal statutes such as ‘aiding and abetting’ a federal crime and money laundering,” Perlmutter’s explainer on the bill states.
This has forced the cannabis industry in most states where it is legal to conduct business — totaling in the billions of dollars — almost entirely in cash, leading to occasional high-profile robberies and murders.

Then there are bills like the bipartisan Medical Marijuana Research Act, co-sponsored by Blumenauer and Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), among others. That measure would remove restrictions to federal researchers studying marijuana “and ensure that researchers have access to the same high-grade product that is used by consumers, the memo states.

Taken together, the bills show in broad strokes what a marijuana liberalization policy could look like: a modern, diverse, regulated industry of small producers — not dominated by giants like alcohol and tobacco.

“For states making progress on cannabis reform, we must ensure access to the growing cannabis industry is equitable,” the memo reads.
“In addition to investing in the communities most impacted by the war on drugs, it’s crucial that states incentivize equal opportunity to participate in the cannabis industry, especially for people of color.

This matches statements from senators like Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).

“We don’t want the big boys to come in,” Schumer told former New York Assemblywoman Tremaine Wright in a panel discussion on news outlet Black Enterprise.
Given the long history of unequal enforcement for cannabis crimes “in communities like the one you represent in Brooklyn, where I’m from—to have the big boys come in and make all the money makes no sense,” Schumer said.

The Senate plans to take up the bill this spring, according to Tom Rodgers of Carlyle Consulting, a lobbyist for cannabis legalization and Native American civil rights who has been in touch with Schumer’s office.

“We’re going to have a huge debate next year on cannabis, and they want to have that debate before the midterms,” Rodgers said, adding that “virtually every committee in the Senate will receive a piece of this bill,” including panels focused on banking and criminal justice reform.

While Democrats in the House and Senate are looking to move sweeping legislation, one element has been left out of the discussion, according to Rodgers: protections for Native Americans using medical marijuana on tribal land.

A household on Picuris Pueblo land in New Mexico was raided in November by agents of the Bureau of Indian Affairs agents. They confiscated an estimated year’s supply of marijuana from a man enrolled in the state medical marijuana program, The Associated Press reported.

A similar raid would not have happened on non-tribal land, Rodgers said, because of New Mexico’s medical marijuana program. Another measure from Blumenauer and Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), first passed by the House in 2019 as part of the appropriations bill, also prohibits any funding to the Department of Justice for marijuana enforcement in defiance of state marijuana law.

A new version of the bill makes it explicit that it also refers to Indian tribes as well, meaning that tribal marijuana markets, like that of the Oglala Sioux on Pine Ridge, would get the same authority as their surrounding states.

But those amendments leave a big hole, Rodgers says, effectively leaving Native American consumers and entrepreneurs vulnerable. The Blumenauer amendments only cover actions by the Department of Justice, which is delegating authority to the states, he said. The Bureau of Indian Affairs is under Department of the Interior, and the tribal lands it polices are federal — “domestic dependent nations,” according to long legal conventions.

“Native Americans want to be treated — the First Americans — do not want to once again be treated disparately, disfavorably, disproportionately when it comes to application of laws and benefits of this country,” Rodgers said.

Much of the pressure for reform is bipartisan. On Thursday, Reps. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio) and Don Young (R-Alaska) sent a letter to Biden and Vice President Harris urging them to change the severity with which cannabis is listed, or “scheduled,” under the Federal Controlled Substances Act, distinguishing it from “far more dangerous drugs such as Fentanyl, morphine, methadone and cocaine.”

The restrictions forced by marijuana’s place as a Schedule 1 drug, Joyce wrote, “puts the United States far behind many of our international partners and scientific competitors,” from Ireland and the U.K to South Korea and Israel.

“For the sake of researchers, medical professionals and patients across the United States who continue to lose access to life-saving therapies and data every day #cannabis remains over controlled,” Joyce wrote on Twitter, “I will keep asking.”