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Secret Sessions cannabis meeting busted open (Newsletter: Dec. 14, 2017)
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Another fed survey: Teen use down since legalization; Feds warn VT over safe injection sites; Norway decriminalizing drugs
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/ TOP THINGS TO KNOW
Thanks to some high-tech sleuthing and the fact that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions inadvertently showed a meeting agenda to a TV camera, we now know what he and a group of anti-marijuana activists discussed behind closed doors last week.
Another federally-funded survey found that despite a slight annual uptick in youth marijuana use, consumption levels are generally lower than when states began legalizing cannabis in 2012.
/ FEDERAL
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) introduced legislation to continue federal funding levels and policy riders like the state medical cannabis protections through January 19.
The U.S. attorney in Vermont warned a county state’s attorney over her endorsement of safe injection facilities for illegal drugs, saying it sends the “wrong message to children in Vermont: the government will help you use heroin.”
- “Of equal importance, the proposed SIFs would violate several federal criminal laws, including those prohibiting use of narcotics and maintaining a premises for the purpose of narcotics use. It is a crime, not only to use illicit narcotics, but to manage and maintain sites on which such drugs are used and distributed. Thus, exposure to criminal charges would arise for users and SIF workers and overseers. The properties that host SIFs would also be subject to federal forfeiture.”
The U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the Department of Justice has adopted some, but not all, previous recommendations to reduce the prison population by pursuing alternatives to incarceration for low-level nonviolent crimes.
Congressman Scott Taylor (R-VA) said he supports letting states set their own marijuana laws and that legalization comes with “the possibility to create jobs.”
Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) tweeted about marijuana again.
Two Michigan men pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of conspiring to bribe local officials to get approval to open a medical cannabis dispensary.
Anthony Clark, a Democratic congressional candidate in Illinois, supports legalizing marijuana.
/ STATES
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) reportedly said he has no problem with medical cannabis.
Here’s a look at decisions Massachusetts regulators made this week about marijuana legalization implementation.
Maine regulators are threatening to crack down on processors that make cannabis edibles and tinctures.
An Arizona senator filed legislation to restrict outdoor marijuana advertising.
North Dakota regulators held a meeting to take public input on proposed medical cannabis rules.
Ohio’s Medical Marijuana Advisory Committee will meet on Thursday. In a related development, a company that failed to win a medical marijuana business license sued regulators.
West Virginia’s Medical Cannabis Advisory Board will meet on Thursday.
Alaska regulators will discuss marijuana testing next week.
Maryland lawmakers filed several bills to tweak the state’s medical cannabis program.
/ LOCAL
Cook, County Illinois commissioners unanimously voted to place a nonbinding marijuana legalization question on the March primary ballot.
Las Vegas, Nevada officials held a public meeting to discuss proposed regulations on marijuana social use areas.
/ INTERNATIONAL
The World Health Organization’s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence has recommended not scheduling cannabidiol under international conventions.
Norway is decriminalizing drugs.
The Trump administration appears to be prioritizing drug and immigration enforcement over human rights and democracy concerns in Honduras.
/ SCIENCE & HEALTH
A survey found that “most pediatric oncology providers are willing to consider [medical cannabis] use in children with cancer.“
A study concluded that “components of cannabis, including THC, may decelerate peripheral monocyte processes that are implicated in HIV-associated neuroinflammation.”
/ BUSINESS
MassRoots founder Isaac Dietrich successfully engineered the departure of board members who ousted him as CEO earlier this year and reinstalled himself at the helm of the company. (Full disclosure: I am a former employee and minority shareholder.)
Bloomberg Businessweek looks at the threat that federal civil RICO suits pose for marijuana businesses.
