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Marijuana News Roundup: Another Push to End Federal Controls on 'Marihuana'

Paul Ausick

Published: May 21, 2017 9:34 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 11:49 am

Last week the lead story in our weekly roundup of cannabis news related the contents of a memo from U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions specifying a set of directives establishing charging and sentencing policies that reversed what Sessions call “any previous inconsistent” department policies. One of those inconsistent policies would be the “look the other way” enforcement of federal laws governing marijuana possession and use.

In response, a small group of legislators has revived a bill introduced in February called the “Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2017” (H.R. 1227). The bill would delist marijuana (or, “marihuana” as the feds prefer to spell it) as a Schedule I drug and leave regulation of cannabis to the states.

The bill’s sponsor, Thomas Garrett (R-VA), a one-time criminal prosecutor in Virginia, told The Hill that he eventually grew tired of “creating criminals out of people who otherwise follow the law. … If there’s anything I cannot tolerate as a citizen and as a prosecutor, it is the unequal application of justice.”

Democratic representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) said:

The question before us is not whether you think marijuana use is good or bad, or how you feel about this issue, but whether we should be turning people into criminals.”

Cannabis Could Treat Traumatic Brain Injury, Israeli Researchers Say

Our body’s cannabinoid receptor system may play a part in protecting our nervous system following trauma, Israeli researchers believe.

A team at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has found that rats and mice subjected to traumatic brain injury (TBI) showed significantly better recovery when treated with cannabinoid compounds, possibly opening the way for clinical trials in the near future.

Cannabinoids are chemical compounds, either derived from cannabis or manufactured, that act on specific cannabinoid receptors in our body’s cells. The most well-known is tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, marijuana’s main psychoactive compound. The endocannabinoid system, our body’s natural cannabinoid receptors, is found in the brain and most organs of the body, and is believed to be a part of the neuroprotective mechanism in mammals, said Prof. Esther Shohami of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

When an external event like stroke or trauma occurs, the body responds by producing these molecules that should protect the brain, Shohami said. In previous studies, the researchers looked at the endocannabinoid 2-AG in mice following a traumatic brain injury. 2-AG is produced by the body naturally, but in relatively low amounts that are not enough to effectively protect the brain.

Read more at The Times of Israel.

Medical Cannabis Producers’ Numbers Don’t Match Reports

Keeping tabs on the amount of medical cannabis available throughout [New Mexico] may seem straightforward, but a review of quarterly reports seem to show more cannabis available for sale than what was grown or produced.

While the state’s Department of Health requires producers to accurately track every gram of cannabis—beginning with harvesting and ending with sales—reports from some producers appear to have glaring discrepancies.

Through a review of quarterly reports, “NM Political Report” found that at least five medical cannabis producers who reported sales exceeding the amount of cannabis that they produced. Those five producers reported selling a combined 676,272 grams of cannabis between January and March, but should have only had a combined 475,028 grams available to sell during that period. This means more than 200,000 grams, or 44 pounds, of medical cannabis sold in New Mexico in three months with almost no accounting of where it came from.

Read more at NM Political Report.

Report: Total Marijuana Demand Tops Ice Cream in U.S.

The marijuana industry is growing so fast that if the government legalized it nationally it would outsell ice cream. A new report from Marijuana Business Daily estimates that the total demand for marijuana, including the black market, is $45-$50 billion.

Annual ice cream sales are only $5.1 billion. Total recreational cannabis sales in the U.S. at this estimate would also top movie ticket sales ($11.1 billion) and snacks like Doritos, Cheetos and Funyuns ($4.9 billion.) The report says, “If the federal government legalized marijuana nationwide, sales might start out at around that level but would likely quickly rise as cannabis gained mainstream acceptance and the market evolved.” At that rate, it wouldn’t take long to eclipse cigarette sales and even potentially beer sales.

As it is, legal recreational and medical cannabis sales in 2016 were $4.0-$4.5 billion. This beats paid music streaming services at $2.5 billion and girl scout cookies at $776 million. “On the recreational side of the business, the originally legalized states are still posting massive growth,” said Editor Chris Walsh. “The demand for marijuana is so enormous in this country,” he added. Walsh thought demand might wane and that the novelty would wear off, but it hasn’t. Just the opposite, it keeps growing.

Read more at Forbes.

New Potential for Marijuana: Treating Drug Addiction

Harm reduction is a strategy for treating addiction that begins with acceptance. A friendlier, less disciplined sister of abstinence, this philosophy aims to reduce the overall level of drug use among people who are unable or simply unwilling to stop. What should naturally follow is a decrease in the many negative consequences of drug use.

In other words: progress, not perfection, as advocates of Alcoholics Anonymous often say.

Most European countries and Canada have embraced the idea of harm reduction, designing policies that help people with drug problems to live better, healthier lives rather than to punish them.

On the front lines of addiction in the United States, some addiction specialists have also begun to work toward this end.

Read more at CNN.