At the House Democratic retreat in Baltimore last week, President Obama made it clear that marijuana reform is not on his agenda for the last year of his presidential term. Press secretary Josh Earnest later said that the Congress will have to take the lead in marijuana reform.

U.S. Representative Steve Cohen from Tennessee told The Washington Post that the president repeated his answer of seven years ago to the same question: “If you get me a bill, and get it on my desk, I’ll probably sign it.” Several Democratic legislators want to move marijuana from its listing as a Schedule 1 drug, a classification reserved for the most dangerous drugs, to a Schedule 2 drug where its medical potential can be taken into account.

Marijuana activists were predictably disappointed with the president’s response. A spokesman for the advocacy group Marijuana Majority told the Post:

It’s unacceptable and frankly embarrassing for a president who has so nonchalantly acknowledged his own marijuana use to allow the federal government to continue classifying cannabis in such an inappropriate category.

By maintaining a Schedule 1 classification on marijuana—the same classification as heroin—federal law prohibits research into the medical potential for the plant. Reclassifying cannabis as Schedule 2 drug would not legalize marijuana either from recreational or medical use however.

Here are other important news stories for the week.

7 Ways New York’s Medical Marijuana Program Falls Short
New York’s long-delayed medical marijuana program finally rolled out this month, not with a bang, but with a whimper. What looks to be the country’s tightest medical marijuana program has an extremely limited number of producers and retailers, a tiny number of eligible patients, a dearth of doctors, and forbids both smoking marijuana and using edibles.

For patients and advocates, the very limited arrival of medical marijuana in the Empire State is not the end point they hoped to achieve. Now, instead of resting on their laurels, they will have to continue to fight to make the program one that actually serves the needs of New Yorkers.

“It’s a start,” said the Drug Policy Alliance’s Julie Netherland, until recently the deputy director of the group’s New York Policy Office, where she was deeply involved in massaging the law through the legislature and past a reluctant governor. “It’s the first time New Yorkers can legally purchase medical marijuana, and it’s the result of the hard work of thousands of patients and family members across New York.”

But, she was quick to grant, the program has some serious issues, immediate ones in the way the program has been rolled out and longer-term ones with the statute itself.

Read more at The Daily Chronic.

Does Colorado Have Control of Its Marijuana Supply Chain?

The Colorado experiment in legal marijuana is being watched around the country. That’s hardly surprising. The state, being the first in the country to legalize marijuana, is setting the standard for the management and control of this social experiment.

It’s not an easy task, and it will take time and many false starts and failures to create a smooth, reliable system with which to administer and manage the legal sale and use of marijuana.

One can argue that it was a bad decision, but the fact is voters of Colorado said marijuana use will be legal in this state.

The question, then, is not was that a good or bad decision. The question facing the state of Colorado is how to best implement and enforce a marijuana industry that satisfies the desires of the voters and protects the public from unscrupulous and illegal marijuana activity.

Consistent with the direction provided by voters in 2012, Colorado has organized a “seed to sale” management and control system for marijuana, which has become a significant business.

Preliminary figures indicate that marijuana sales in 2015 were double that of 2014. It’s not illogical, though, to assume that not all of those sales followed either the letter or the intent of the law.  Marijuana sales and use were illegal in Colorado before 2012 and it’s safe to assume that there continues to be some illegal sales now.

Read more at the [Grand Junction] Daily Sentinel.

Jim McMahon, Former Chicago Bears Quarterback, Endorses Medical Marijuana
Former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon lent his celebrity endorsement to medical marijuana this week. This endorsement served as a big shot in the arm to medical cannabis advocates, who are thrilled that the former NFL star has come forward on behalf of the cause. In addition to McMahon’s advocacy of cannabis, there has been much discussion about head injuries, brain trauma, and concussions in the football world as there has been about tackling as well as special teams play. The former Chicago Bears quarterback has been one of the most outspoken retired players on the subject of trauma brain injuries (TBIs) and concussions. Moreover, he has been part of class-action lawsuits against the league on the matter.

One of the long-term effects of concussions, which can often lead to a condition known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), is threatening the very core of the game itself and survival of its participants. CTE is a progressive, degenerative brain disease found in athletes (and others) with a history of repetitive brain injury and/or trauma, including symptomatic concussions as well as asymptomatic subconcussive hits to the head. …

Read more at Liberty Voice.

Medical Pot Shops Sue State, Call Licensing Process ‘A Mess’
Several longtime Seattle medical-marijuana businesses filed a lawsuit Friday against the state Liquor and Cannabis Board alleging that regulators are not following their own rules in issuing a new round of licenses for retail stores.

At issue is the process of bringing medical businesses into the state’s licensed recreational retail system. The Legislature last year gave the LCB authority to license new stores, with priority given to longtime medical players seen as good actors, in following rules and paying taxes.

The lawsuit filed in Thurston County Superior Court by medical marijuana activists John Davis, Philip Dawdy, Ken Adams and others contends that the LCB has not used a merit-based system to award new licenses.

Instead of licensing longtime operators, the lawsuit says the LCB is giving licenses to businesses that did not exist months ago.

“The entire process is a mess,” Davis said in a statement. “I am watching phantom entities gobble up scarce licenses that will put real people out of business.”

Read more at The Olympian.

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