Newsletter
Hemp amendments blocked by House GOP (Newsletter: May 17, 2018)
Primary winners on marijuana; Thailand cabinet OKs medical cannabis; Another PA decrim vote
Subscribe to receive Marijuana Moment’s newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning. It’s the best way to make sure you know which cannabis stories are shaping the day.
Your support makes Marijuana Moment possible…
We watched 6 hours of congressional testimony to bring you today’s lead article. Estimated read time for you to get up to speed: 6 minutes.
If you value the time Marijana Moment’s work saves you, please consider starting a Patreon pledge of $10/month to support even more coverage from veteran cannabis journalists.
http://patreon.com/marijuanamoment
/ TOP THINGS TO KNOW
The U.S. House Rules Committee blocked floor consideration of three industrial hemp amendments, but anti-cannabis Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX) suggested that the issue might be worked out later as part of an agreement with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). He also claimed, seemingly incorrectly, that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration supports reclassifying hemp.
Here’s a look at where the winners of this week’s primary elections in four states stand on marijuana law reform.
/ FEDERAL
A California district attorney told President Trump during a meeting on immigration policy that the state’s legalization of marijuana has led to more illegal cultivation on public lands.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) tweeted, “We need to stop imprisoning people for smoking marijuana and start prosecuting the crooks on Wall Street whose greed and illegal behavior caused the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression.”
Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) tweeted, “Black and Hispanic citizens are arrested at a much higher level than white residents in marijuana-related incidents even though these communities have been found to use marijuana at similar rates. This flagrant racial discrimination must end.”
The U.S. Senate hemp legalization bill got one new cosponsor, for a total of 19.
The U.S. House bill to deschedule marijuana and withhold funding from states with discriminatory enforcement got two new cosponsors, for a total of 37.
/ STATES
Kansas Gov. Jeff Coyler (R) signed a bill exempting CBD from the definition of marijuana.
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) said he supports medical cannabis but opposes legalizing marijuana.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) tweeted, “Because so few doctors have access to medical marijuana to study its treatment potential, Pennsylvania’s clinical research program will serve as a model to the nation in developing new and innovative treatment options for patients who are suffering.”
Efforts to pass a medical cannabis bill through the Missouri legislature ended after marijuana language was removed from a larger healthcare omnibus bill. [Via a source]
A Florida judge heard a case seeking to overturn the state’s ban on smoking medical cannabis. Separately, the state Supreme Court is asking the regulators to file a response to a lawsuit on patients’ rights to grow their own marijuana.
Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, a gubernatorial candidate, is being accused by the Nevada Democratic Party of not doing more to defend the state’s marijuana law because of campaign contributions from prohibitionist casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson.
Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidates debated medical cannabis.
Supporters and opponents of Utah’s medical cannabis ballot measure are battling over confusion about when the deadline to turn in signature removal forms lapsed.
A Rhode Island senator plans to file a marijuana legalization bill.
West Virginia lawmakers are pushing to enact a fix to medical cannabis businesses’ banking access issue during a special session.
A New York senator filed legislation to allow veterinarians to recommend medical cannabis to animals.
Ohio regulators awarded an additional provisional medical cannabis cultivation license to a company whose application was initially rejected due to a scoring error.
Indiana’s Interim Study Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources will examine industrial hemp issues.
Louisiana lawmakers approved legislation to expand the medical cannabis program. Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) dodged a question about whether he would sign the bills, and said he opposes legalizing marijuana. Separately, a medical cannabis pharmacy applicant is suing regulators for awarding a license to a lower-ranked competitor.
Washington State regulators released guidance on new rules concerning CBD products.
North Dakota regulators selected two finalists for medical cannabis production licenses.
California’s insurance commissioner hosted a webinar on the unique insurance needs of the cannabis industry.
A Colorado senator says he trusts President Trump not to interfere with the state’s marijuana laws.
/ LOCAL
The Allentown, Pennsylvania City Council approved a marijuana decriminalization proposal.
Activists are asking why Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania marijuana arrests are rising following the enactment of a decriminalization ordinance.
Staten Island’s district attorney seemed to criticize moves by his Manhattan and Brooklyn counterparts to stop prosecuting marijuana possession and smoking offenses.
Ithaca, New York Mayor Svante Myrick (D) wants state officials to approve a safe consumption facility for illegal drugs in his city.
/ INTERNATIONAL
Thailand’s cabinet approved legislation to allow medical use of cannabis and other drugs.
A local government in Estonia approved using a flag with a cannabis leaf image after people in an online poll overwhelmingly voted for it.
/ ADVOCACY
Kevin Sabet of Smart Approaches to Marijuana is billing his prohibitionist movement as “the resistance.”
270 Strategies’s Jeremy Bird, who served as field director for Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, tweeted, “legalizing marijuana is not some extremist view anymore. It’s just the right thing to do for criminal justice reform, for our economy.”
/ SCIENCE & HEALTH
A study concluded, “Among children and adults with the Lennox–Gastaut syndrome, the addition of cannabidiol at a dose of 10 mg or 20 mg per kilogram per day to a conventional antiepileptic regimen resulted in greater reductions in the frequency of drop seizures than placebo.”
A study found that “driving stability was significantly impaired after THC, both in simulated and real driving conditions.”
A study concluded that “state implementation of medical marijuana laws between 2004 and 2012 was associated with a 4.72% point increase in the probability that young adults perceived no/low health risk related to marijuana use.”
/ BUSINESS
Beer Canada, a trade association that represents 50 beer makers, is asking Canadian lawmakers to raise marijuana taxes.
/ CULTURE
Snoop Dogg said that Tupac and Madonna brought him a big bag of marijuana when he hosted Saturday Night Live in the 1990s.
Actress Hilary Duff is in a dispute with her neighbor over his alleged frequent marijuana smoking.
The Onion riffed on the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down a federal gambling prohibition:
- “On the heels of this week’s decision lifting a federal ban on sports betting, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 7-2 ruling Wednesday that legalizes all worldly vices, with the justices decreeing that immoral behaviors such as gambling, drug use, prostitution, and incest are ‘all good now.’ ‘It is the opinion of this court that the right to participate in various forms of debauchery, whether heroin injection, illicit sex, or cannibalism, should not be impeded by any law,’ Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority, adding that if something is considered unethical or depraved, but you feel like doing it anyway, the court ‘doesn’t give a shit’ and you should just do whatever you want.”
/ CORRECTION
An item in Wednesday’s newsletter about a federal judge sentencing Detroit-area men to prison in a scheme to pay bribes for approval for a medical cannabis dispensary contained the incorrect link.
Make sure to subscribe to get Marijuana Moment’s daily dispatch in your inbox.
