Newsletter
Feds loosen cannabis restrictions on grant funds (Newsletter: August 4, 2021)
WY marijuana ballot language finalized; Local psychedelics decrim efforts; OR gov vows kratom veto; Mexico legalization status update
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/ TOP THINGS TO KNOW
The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration loosened restrictions that had blocked federal grant funds for any program that “provides or permits marijuana use for the purposes of treating substance use or mental disorders”—but it is maintaining a prohibition on the use of the money to actually pay for cannabis.
The Wyoming secretary of state’s office approved the latest versions of 2022 ballot initiatives to decriminalize marijuana and legalize medical cannabis. Activists can now begin collecting an initial round of signatures to qualify the measures.
Local efforts to decriminalize psychedelics are picking up steam across the country—with new momentum in cities like Grand Rapids, Michigan; Easthampton, Massachusetts and Arcata, California.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) plans to veto a bill to regulate kratom sales, saying the issue would be better handled by the federal Food and Drug Administration.
Mexico’s legislature reconvenes next month, and lawmakers could finally get around to legalizing and regulating marijuana sales after the Supreme Court moved to strike down the prohibition on possession and home cultivation.
/ FEDERAL
The Department of Veterans Affairs published concerns about military veterans using medical cannabis to treat PTSD.
The National Institutes of Health is seeking a contractor to prepare a special issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute about a symposium on cannabis.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) tweeted, “Nearly 70% support legalizing marijuana. The majority of Americans live in states where marijuana’s legal in some form. @RonWyden, @SenBooker, and I released our Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act to end the federal prohibition & repair the harms done by the War on Drugs.”
/ STATES
Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi (NPP) signed a bill protecting medical cannabis patients from workplace discrimination.
South Dakota’s education secretary spoke about new rules on medical cannabis in schools.
Some New York Indian tribes are getting a head start on allowing marijuana businesses ahead of state regulators.
Vermont regulators announced the members of a marijuana advisory committee.
New Jersey regulators tweeted that they don’t have the power to legalize marijuana home cultivation, override local bans on cannabis businesses or expunge criminal records.
Michigan regulators began hemp grower compliance inspections.
Ohio regulators published new data on medical cannabis licensing.
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/ LOCAL
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s mayor signed an executive order to decriminalize fentanyl test strips.
Pueblo County, Colorado is awarding more than $2 million in scholarships funded by marijuana tax revenue.
A former Ocean Springs, Mississippi mayor is calling on state lawmakers to sign a pledge to support legislation creating a “free market” medical cannabis program.
A candidate for Polk County, Iowa attorney tweeted, “The presumption of my office will be to not prosecute low level, nonviolent offenses like marijuana possession. We need to focus resources on things that make the public less safe, like sexual assault or violent crime.”
/ INTERNATIONAL
Argentine President Alberto Fernández said the country will have to debate legalizing marijuana at some point. Separately, the Ministry of Health made its first delivery of medical cannabis products to epilepsy patients at a hospital.
Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said the government is “now ready to explore all the possibilities that investments in cannabis offers.”
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned the U.S. State Department not to criticize his bloody “war on drugs” because America is “guilty also of so many violations of human rights.”
/ SCIENCE & HEALTH
A study of chronic pain patients found that “cannabis usage was associated with reduced opioid usage.”
A review suggested that “psychedelics have great potential in depression therapy and, after addressing and overcoming the current study limitations, may be used as a novel method of treating depression in the future.”
/ ADVOCACY, OPINION & ANALYSIS
Virginians for Safe Communities is seeking to recall Virginia prosecutors who declined to pursue marijuana and other low-level cases.
Prohibitionist organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana published a recording of a dispensary employee discussing cannabis recommendations to treat symptoms of morning sickness associated with pregnancy.
/ BUSINESS
The Parent Company acquired a Ceres, California dispensary from Jayden’s Journey.
Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. closed on the acquisition of a property in Illinois and entered into a long-term lease with a subsidiary of 4Front Ventures Corp.
Cybin Inc. closed an overnight marketed offering of shares for total gross proceeds of $34.5 million.
A federal judge ordered marijuana e-cigarette company Capna Intellectual not to use a logo featuring interlocking OO’s after Kool cigarette brand owner ITG Brands LLC filed a trademark infringement case.
Cornbread Hemp launched a new ad showing its co-founder throwing an orange tree into a wood chipper to illustrate how it says most other companies’ CBD oil is made from the whole hemp plant, instead of from flower only.
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