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Justice Department defends student cannabis advocacy rights (Newsletter: December 10, 2019)

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Buttigieg backs safe injection sites; AOC to file more psychedelics legislation; Decrim Nature op-ed: Apply legal marijuana lessons to entheogens

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The Department of Justice filed a brief in a free speech case defending the right of college students to speak out on marijuana legalization and other issues.

  • “The United States of America is not a police state. Repressive speech codes are the indecent hallmark of despotic, totalitarian regimes. They have absolutely no place in our country, and the First Amendment outlaws all tyrannical policies, practices, and acts that abridge the freedom of speech.”

South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), a presidential candidate, said he supports safe injection facilities where people can consume illegal drugs under medical supervision to help mitigate overdoses.

  • “It is common sense that if you can prevent the harms associated with injection drug use, you should.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) plans to introduce more congressional legislation on psychedelics, according to a Decriminalize Nature activist who spoke with her at a town hall meeting.

In an op-ed for Marijuana Moment, Decriminalize Nature Board Chair Carlos Plazola argues that psychedelic activists need to learn lessons from legal cannabis’s implementation.

  • “If the common person has the ability to grow and use their own healing plants, and share with friends, they can forever hold the corporate interests accountable.”

/ FEDERAL

The Food and Drug Administration published an overview of the research and approval process for cannabis and cannabinoids.

U.S. officials knowingly carried out ineffective and at times counterproductive anti-drug operations in Afghanistan, according to documents obtained by the Washington Post.

The  U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the conviction of a former congressional staffer who tried to bribe marijuana business owners.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a presidential candidate, spoke about his support for ending the war on drugs, legalizing marijuana and expunging records in a speech in Iowa.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) discussed hemp at a Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation meeting.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) said he thinks his marijuana banking legislation will advance in the Senate.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) tweeted, “I’m proud to sponsor this House Resolution that would force Congress to admit that the War on Drugs was a racist failure, apologize, and provide justice to all those negatively impacted by it.”

/ STATES

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed a hemp regulation bill into law and announced the state will hold a hemp summit next month.

Illinois regulators will begin accepting applications for new recreational marijuana retail licenses on Tuesday.

Virginia regulators are moving to ban vitamin E acetate in medical cannabis vaping devices instead of banning THC and CBD vapes altogether.

Nevada regulators temporarily removed an online database of marijuana business owners and officers. Separately, an analysis portrays the state’s cannabis testing labs in an unflattering light.

New Mexico’s medical cannabis program now has more than 200 out-of-state patients.

The Washington, D.C. Council’s official Twitter account posted a video of the city’s Christmas tree lighting, saying, “There hasn’t been this much excitement about something being lit at the Wilson Building since we legalized marijuana.”


Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,000 cannabis bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.

/ LOCAL

Cincinnati, Ohio’s police chief denied that officers are specifically targeting African Americans for marijuana enforcement even though 95% of cannabis warning citations in October were issued to black people.

The Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey mayor, who also serves as executive director of New Jersey Responsible Approaches to Marijuana Policy, authored an op-ed arguing that lawmakers should not place a cannabis legalization referendum on the ballot.

/ INTERNATIONAL

A top aide of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is calling for an investigation into his boss to clear him of charges that he and his brother are linked to an illegal marijuana growing operation.

/ SCIENCE & HEALTH

A study “demonstrated a proof of concept that a competitive immunoassay construct can determine if a person has recently used products containing THC, specifically marijuana, from the sweat content of fingerprints.”

A study found that “cannabis exposure is linked to a lower odds of [neurocognitive impairment] in the context of HIV” and that a “possible mechanism of this result is the anti-inflammatory effect of cannabis.”

/ ADVOCACY, OPINION & ANALYSIS

Staff and affiliates of prohibitionist organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana will hold a Wednesday press conference to oppose legislation placing a cannabis legalization referendum on the 2020 ballot.

/ BUSINESS

Jeffrey O. Friedland, Intiva Pharma LLC and Global Corporate Strategies LLC agreed to pay $4.2 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges that they fraudulently promoted the stock of OWC Pharmaceutical Research Corp.

Canopy Growth Corporation named Constellation Brands’s CFO as its new CEO.

Medicine Man Technologies Inc. appointed a new CEO and leadership team.

Cresco Labs announced the first harvest from its large Illinois cultivation facility.

Burns & Levinson and Vicente Sederberg LLP are partnering to offer legal services to the cannabis industry.

Instagram deleted a post from CBD beverage maker Recess that the company paid people $3 each to share.

Leafly examines efforts to patent cannabis.

Michigan retailers sold more than $1.6 million in recreational marijuana products in the first eight days of legal sales.

/ CULTURE

Federal agents administered Narcan to Juice WRLD shortly before he died at a Chicago airport. Seventy pounds of marijuana, codeine cough syrup, firearms and ammunition were found on the private jet he had arrived on.

Beyoncé denied that she was high in a video in which she said she loves whales and would choose to be one if she could be any animal.

Musician Melissa Etheridge tweeted, “Over the past 40 years our incarcerated population has increased 500% mostly due to the failed war on drugs. Today thousands remain incarcerated for victimless cannabis offenses.”

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Tom Angell is the editor of Marijuana Moment. A 20-year veteran in the cannabis law reform movement, he covers the policy and politics of marijuana. Separately, he founded the nonprofit Marijuana Majority. Previously he reported for Marijuana.com and MassRoots, and handled media relations and campaigns for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

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