New York City now joins Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle in pushing for safe injection sites. But the DEA says they're illegal.
The stench of desperation is in the air.
A pair of Missouri medical marijuana initiative campaigns have handed in lots and lots of signatures, a federal appeals court upheld a DEA rule that CBD is a Schedule I controlled substance, the Utah initiative campaign gets organized opposition, and more.
We have a pill-peddling former deputy, a Baton Rouge cop who made a joint mysteriously disappear, and more.
Pre-employment workplace drug testing for marijuana appears to be going out of style, a federal appeals court disappoints on scheduling cannabinoids, a Vermont saliva drug testing bill is killed, and more.
Colorado could become the first state with a marijuana social consumption law, a new poll suggests New Yorkers are ready to free the weed, New York City's mayor gets behind safer injection facilities, a leading Colombian presidential contender trashes the drug war, and more.
Two separate Missouri medical marijuana initiatives appear set to qualify for the November ballot, the Utah medical marijuana initiative is generating organized opposition -- including the DEA -- Canada's prime minister says it's full steam ahead for marijuana legalization, and more.
A new report finds legal marijuana makes a marginal contribution to state budgets, a major Las Vegas casino quits pre-employment testing for marijuana, an Australian Senate panel advances a controversial plan to drug test welfare recipients, and more.
Mitch McConnell just says no, a House committee advances a VA medical marijuana bill, Pennsylvania's governor and attorney general aren't down with a Philadelphia safe injection site, and more.
Just a day after close to a hundred community activists, reform advocates, and local elected officials took to the streets outside New York City's City Hall Wednesday to demand that Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) move on a long-delayed feasibility study on safe injection sites, the mayor has moved -- and further than they expected.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio comes out for safe injection sites. (Flickr)
On Thursday evening, the mayor's office announced
de Blasio's support for a plan to open four of the sites, which the office refers to as Overdose Prevention Centers, a year from now, after a period of consultation with stakeholders.
"After a rigorous review of similar efforts across the world, and after careful consideration of public health and safety expert views, we believe overdose prevention centers will save lives and get more New Yorkers into the treatment they need to beat this deadly addiction," de Blasio said in a statement.
Safe injection sites (SISs) -- or safe injection facilities or supervised injection facilities or supervised consumption sites or overdose prevention centers -- allow drug users to inject (or sometimes inhale) their own drugs under medical supervision. They typically also have a social services component that aims to assist drug users in finding drug treatment and other services.
Operating in around 90 cities in Europe, Australia, and Canada, they are a proven harm reduction intervention. Numerous peer-reviewed scientific studies have shown they reduce public disorder; increase access to treatment, reduce the risk of HIV, Hep C, and bacterial infections; reduce drug overdose deaths; and reduce medical costs thanks to a reduction in disease and overdose, while at the same time increasing access to cost-saving preventive healthcare. What SISs don't do, the studies have found, is increase crime, injection drug use, or the initiation of new drug users.
Yet no such sites operate in the United States. Pushes are underway in several cities, including Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle, but all have faced challenges ranging from moralism and NIMBYism to the fact that they would appear to violate federal law. Just this week, DEA spokesman Melvin Patterson said they violate the Controlled Substances Act and are "subject to being prosecuted." Given the proclivities of the Trump administration, that is probably not a threat to be taken lightly.
Still, the cities are willing to push on the issue, the American Medical Association has endorsed the notion, and legislatures in a number of states are pondering bills to allow them. And now, with the country's largest city coming on board, momentum for the sites is only growing stronger.
In New York City, where the SIF NYC Campaign, a coalition of dozens of community, drug reform, public health, medical, and religious groups has been pressuring the administration to act for months, the mayor's announcement was greeted with relief.
"Mayor de Blasio's embrace of safer consumption spaces is a critical step forward in preventing overdose deaths in New York City. We know that safer consumption spaces are an evidence-based solution that can help dramatically in saving lives, reducing criminalization, and improving public health," said Kassandra Frederique, New York state director at the Drug Policy Alliance. "New York can and must be a leader now in saving lives by opening safer consumption spaces swiftly."
That will take some political acumen in dealing with city district attorneys and the state Health Department, which answers to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, with whom de Blasio's relations are strained at best. It will also take some political fortitude in taking on the Sessions Justice Department and the DEA.
De Blasio's announcement marks the successful culmination of the campaign to bring the city on board with safe injection sites as a harm reduction and overdose prevention measure, but it's just the beginning of the fight to actually get them up and running.
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As the state legislature ponders a bill that could make Illinois the 10th state to legalize marijuana, law enforcement is getting nervous. Old anti-marijuana shibboleths have lost their potency, but the Macon County Sheriff's Office has a brand new reason not to free the weed: They will have to kill their drug dogs.
drug dog at work (Creative Commons)
As the Daily Pantagraph reported in an article about
what happens to marijuana-sniffing drug dogs in states where it is legal, the dogs typically are trained to detect a number of drugs and it is difficult to retrain them not to alert on marijuana. Other states that have legalized it have either retired their pot-sensitive dogs, tried to retrain them, or used them to search for large, illicit amounts of marijuana.
But Chad Larner, training director of the K-9 Training Academy in Macon County, scoffed at the notion of retraining, saying it would be "extreme abuse" to try to do so, and "Larner said a number of dogs would likely have to be euthanized."
That claim is a ridiculous "red herring," Illinois NORML executive director Dan Linn told the Pantagraph. "The idea that legalizing for adults to have an ounce on them will equal… all these dogs being euthanized, that seems kind of ridiculous and hyperbolic," he said.
Other Illinois drug dog cops contacted by the Pantagraph largely agreed with Linn. They said retired drug dogs "typically live with their handlers" and they "dismissed the idea that any would be euthanized because of retirement."
The Macon County sheriff doesn't go as far as his drug dog trainer, but he is a staunch opponent of marijuana legalization because… drug dogs.
"The biggest thing for law enforcement is, you're going to have to replace all of your dogs," said Macon County Sheriff Howard Buffett. "So to me, it's a giant step forward for drug dealers, and it's a giant step backwards for law enforcements and the residents of the community."
Sheriff Buffett isn't just any sheriff. He's the son of Omaha billionaire investor Warren Buffett, and he's used his family wealth both to finance law enforcement spending in the county and to basically buy his way into the sheriff's office. Earlier this year, he announced that his Howard G. Buffett Foundation was donating $1.4 million to the county to pay for everything from new records systems to new guns and ballistic vests. He was appointed to his position by retiring Sheriff Thomas Schneider last September and will serve until a new sheriff is elected in November.
Buffett also financed drug dogs across the state. His foundation paid $2.2 million in 2016 to support drug dog units in 33 Illinois counties. No wonder he and his employees are doing the 2018 version of the classic National Lampoon cover: "Buy This Magazine or We'll Kill This Dog."
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A pair of Missouri medical marijuana initiative campaigns have handed in lots and lots of signatures, a federal appeals court upheld a DEA rule that CBD is a Schedule I controlled substance, the Utah initiative campaign gets organized opposition, and more.
National
Last Wednesday, a federal appeals court upheld a DEA rule on marijuana extracts. A three-judge panel on the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a DEA rule stating that marijuana extracts, including non-psychoactive CBD, are Schedule I substances. The Hemp Industries Association and others had challenged the rule, arguing that DEA overstepped its bounds by scheduling substances, such as cannabinoids, that were not classified as illicit under the Controlled Substances Act.
On Tuesday, House committee advanced a Veterans Affairs medical marijuana research bill. The House Veterans Affairs Committee Tuesday unanimously approved a measure that aims to increase VA research on medical marijuana. The bill would specify that the agency has the ability to research the herb for conditions including PTSD. The measure is part of a package of bills lawmakers hope to pass this month.
Arkansas
On Monday, the state Supreme Court agreed to hear oral arguments on the licensing imbroglio. The state Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear oral arguments on a judge's decision to prevent the state from licensing medical marijuana cultivation operators. The judge had ruled that the licensing program violated the voter-approved constitutional amendment that legalized medical marijuana after a complaint from a business that failed to get a license.
Georgia
On Monday, the governor signed a bill allowing CBD cannabis oil for PTSD, intractable pain. Gov. Nathan Deal (R) on Monday signed into law House Bill 65, which adds PTSD and intractable pain to the list of qualifying conditions that can be treated by CBD cannabis oil.
Louisiana
Last Thursday, the House killed a medical marijuana expansion bill. The House on Thursday voted down House Bill 826, which would have allowed any pharmacist in the state to open a medical marijuana dispensary. Instead, the state will maintain the status quo, which allows only nine pharmacies in the state to dispense medical marijuana.
On Monday, a medical marijuana for autistic children bill advanced. A bill that would allow the use of medical marijuana for children with severe autism has passed the House and, now, a vote in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee. House Bill 627 now heads for a Senate floor vote.
Michigan
On Monday, state regulators recommended approving 10 new qualifying conditions. The state's Medical Marihuana Review Panel has recommended the approval of 10 new conditions that could qualify people to use medical marijuana. That's out of a list of 22 conditions people had asked the panel to review. The conditions include obsessive compulsive disorder, arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, inflammatory bowel diseases, Parkinson's, Tourettes, spinal cord injury, autism, and chronic pain. The recommendations now go to Shelly Edgerton, the director of the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, who has until July 10 to make a final decision.
Missouri
On Tuesday, the Senate gave initial approval to a medical marijuana bill. The Senate Tuesday gave initial approval to House Bill 1554, which would allow people suffering from specified serious illnesses to use non-smokeable medical marijuana. The bill has already passed the House and now goes to the Senate Committee on Health and Pensions for a second reading. If it survives that, it then goes to the full Senate for a floor vote.
Last Friday, two initiative campaigns handed in lots and lots of signatures. New Approach Missouri and Find the Cure, the folks behind a pair of medical marijuana initiatives (they differ only on how regulations would work and where tax dollars would go), announced last Friday that they had handed in roughly double the number of signatures they need to come up with 160,000 valid voter signatures. Find the Cure said it had handed in more than 300,000 signatures, while New Approach Missouri said it had handed in more than 370,000. Although initiative petitions occasionally see half of their signatures get disqualified, it's far more typical for them to lose a third. If both initiatives make the ballot, the one with the most votes on election day wins.
New Hampshire
Last Thursday, the Senate effectively killed a bill to allow patients to grow their own. The Senate on Thursday refused to pass a bill that would allow medical marijuana patients to grow their own plants. Instead, the body voted to send House Bill 1476 to interim study, effectively killing it for the session.
Utah
On Monday, organized opposition to the medical marijuana initiative emerged, including the DEA. Organized opposition to the Utah Patients Coalition's medical marijuana initiative has emerged, and it includes a local DEA task force, raising questions about a federal agency interfering in a state-level ballot question. Drug Safe Utah is recruiting paid canvassers to try to get voters who signed initiative campaigns to retract their signatures. Its members include the Utah Medical Association and the DEA's Salt Lake City Metro Narcotics Task Force.
On Tuesday, the "Right To Try" CBD medical marijuana law is now in effect. A limited medical marijuana law is now in effect. Under House Bill 195, which passed in March, terminally ill patients will be able to access CBD cannabis oil under a provision that expands the state's 2015 Right to Try Act. Also now in effect is House Bill 197, which establishes a medical marijuana cultivation program in the state. Both of these laws could soon be irrelevant, though: A much broader medical marijuana initiative will be on the ballot in November.
[For extensive information about the medical marijuana debate, presented in a neutral format, visit MedicalMarijuana.ProCon.org.]
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We have a pill-peddling former deputy, a Baton Rouge cop who made a joint mysteriously disappear, and more. Let's get to it:
In Bolivia, North Carolina,
a former Brunswick County sheriff's deputy was arrested last Thursday on multiple drug and embezzlement charges. John Christian Blasingame, 42, had been fired in 2016, but was still in possession of state property, including a sheriff's office identification card, a sheriff's office badge, a sheriff's office tie with pin, a sheriff's office lapel pin, and sheriff's office plastic junior deputy badges. Oh, and various drugs. He is charged with selling a Schedule II controlled substance, possession with intent to sell a Schedule II controlled substance, felony possession of a Schedule II controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and embezzlement of state property, among other charges.
In Gretna, Louisiana, a Jefferson Parish jail guard was arrested Monday on charges he smuggled weed into the jail. Correctional deputy Lyndon Hawkins, 25, admitted to smuggling weed when confronted by narcotics detectives. He is charged with transporting drugs into a correctional facility.
In Baton Rouge, a Baton Rouge police officer was fired last Friday after spending seven months on paid administrative leave for failing to report a marijuana joint she seized from a suspect. Michelle Patterson rewrote her incident report to remove any mention of the weed. A criminal investigation is now ended.
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Pre-employment workplace drug testing for marijuana appears to be going out of style, a federal appeals court disappoints on scheduling cannabinoids, a Vermont saliva drug testing bill is killed, and more.
NYC protesters demand Mayor De Blasio move on a long-delayed safe injection site report. (Drug Policy Alliance)
Clock Ticking on Connecticut Marijuana Legalization Study Bill. With the state's legislative session set to end next Wednesday, time is running out for House Bill 5394, which directs state agencies to develop a plan to legalize and regulate marijuana sales. The bill has passed out of the Appropriations Committee and awaits a House floor vote. Activists are urging state residents to contact their legislators this week to prod them.
Medical Marijuana
Federal Appeals Court Upholds DEA Rule on Marijuana Extracts. A three-judge panel on the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a DEA rule stating that marijuana extracts, including non-psychoactive CBD, are Schedule I substances. The Hemp Industries Association and others had challenged the rule, arguing that DEA overstepped its bounds by scheduling substances, such as cannabinoids, that were not classified as illicit under the Controlled Substances Act.
Louisiana Medical Marijuana Expansion Bill Advances. A bill that would allow the use of medical marijuana for children with severe autism has passed the House and, now, a vote in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee. House Bill 627 now heads for a Senate floor vote.
Heroin and Prescription Opioids
Iowa Legislature Approves Prescription Monitoring Bill. The House on Wednesday gave final approval to the legislature's policy response to the opioid crisis, passing a bill that will require doctors to register prescriptions with the state's drug monitoring program within 24 hours. The bill now goes to the governor's desk.
Drug Testing
Employment Drug Testing for Marijuana Going Out of Favor. The Associated Press is reporting that numerous employers are "dropping marijuana from the drug tests they require of prospective employees." Testing for pot excludes too many potential workers, employers told the AP. Companies in labor-intensive industries -- hoteliers and home health care providers and employers with many warehouse and assembly jobs -- are most likely to drop marijuana testing. By contrast, businesses that contract with the government or that are in regulated industries, like air travel, or that have safety concerns involving machinery, are continuing marijuana tests, employment lawyers said.
Vermont Saliva Drug Testing Bill Dies. A bill that would have allowed police to obtain saliva for testing from motorists suspected of drugged driving is dead for the year. House Bill 237 had passed the House with law enforcement support, but was killed on a 4-1 vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Both the Vermont ACLU and the state's Defender General Office had threatened legal action if it became law.
Harm Reduction
NYC Council Member Arrested in Protest Calling for Action on Safer Injection Sites. Dozens of community activists, social advocates, and elected political figures rallied outside New York City's City Hall Wednesday to demand the long-delayed release of a feasibility study on safe injection sites in the city. As many as a dozen people were arrested for obstructing traffic, including NYC Council Member Stephen Levine.
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Colorado could become the first state with a marijuana social consumption law, a new poll suggests New Yorkers are ready to free the weed, New York City's mayor gets behind safer injection facilities, a leading Colombian presidential contender trashes the drug war, and more.
Vancouver's InSite safe injection site. Could New York City be next? (Wikimedia)
Colorado Marijuana "Tasting Rooms" Bill Goes to Governor. A groundbreaking bill that would allow customers at pot shops to consume small amounts of marijuana through edibles or vaping has passed out of the legislature and is now at the desk of Gov. John Hickenlooper (D). The measure, House Bill 1258, would, if signed into law, make Colorado the first state to adopt some sort of social consumption provision for marijuana.
New York Poll Shows Strong Support for Legalization. A Quinnipiac poll released Thursday has support for legalization among New Yorkers at 63%. That's the highest ever for Quinnipiac in the state, and it's up seven percentage points from a February Siena College Research Institute poll that had support at 56%.
Medical Marijuana
Louisiana House Kills Medical Marijuana Expansion Bill. The House on Thursday voted down House Bill 826, which would have allowed any pharmacist in the state to open a medical marijuana dispensary. Instead, the state will maintain the status quo, which allows only nine pharmacies in the state to dispense medical marijuana.
New Hampshire Senate Delays Bill to Allow Patients to Grow Their Own. The Senate on Thursday refused to pass a bill that would allow medical marijuana patients to grow their own plants. Instead, the body voted to send House Bill 1476 to interim study, effectively killing it for the session.
Harm Reduction
New York City Mayor Endorses Safer Injection Facilities. Bowing to growing pressure from community activists and public health specialists, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday endorsed a plan to set up at least four safe injection site pilot projects in the city after a year's worth of consultations with stakeholders. The nation's largest city now joins Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle in racing to be the first to open a permitted safe injection site in the US.
International
Leading Colombian Presidential Candidate Calls for End to Drug War. Gustavo Petro, the former mayor of Bogotá and one of the leading contenders in presidential elections set for the end of this month, has denounced Colombia's militarized drug war and its subservience to US drug war interests. "The militaristic approach to drugs has been effective," he said on May Day, adding that the country should instead implement "social policies in the regions where drugs are cultivated and help people escape the mafia."
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Two separate Missouri medical marijuana initiatives appear set to qualify for the November ballot, the Utah medical marijuana initiative is generating organized opposition -- including the DEA -- Canada's prime minister says it's full steam ahead for marijuana legalization, and more.
Black drivers in Ohio are more likely to get drug dogs sicced on them than white ones, official data shows. (Wikimedia)
Missouri Initiative Campaigns Hand in Many Signatures. New Approach Missouri and Find the Cure, the folks behind a pair of medical marijuana initiatives (they differ only on how regulations would work and where tax dollars would go), announced last Friday that they had handed in roughly double the number of signatures they need to come up with 160,000 valid voter signatures. Find the Cure said it had handed in more than 300,000 signatures, while New Approach Missouri said it had handed in more than 370,000. Although initiative petitions occasionally see half of their signatures get disqualified, it's far more typical for them to lose a third. If both initiatives make the ballot, the one with the most votes on election day wins.
Michigan Regulators Recommend Approving 10 New Qualifying Conditions. The state's Medical Marihuana Review Panel has recommended the approval of 10 new conditions that could qualify people to use medical marijuana. That's out of a list of 22 conditions people had asked the panel to review. The conditions include obsessive compulsive disorder, arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, inflammatory bowel diseases, Parkinson's, Tourettes, spinal cord injury, autism, and chronic pain. The recommendations now go to Shelly Edgerton, the director of the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, who has until July 10 to make a final decision.
Utah Medical Marijuana Initiative Gets Organized Opposition, Including the DEA. Organized opposition to the Utah Patients Coalition's medical marijuana initiative has emerged, and it includes a local DEA task force, raising questions about a federal agency interfering in a state-level ballot question. Drug Safe Utah is recruiting paid canvassers to try to get voters who signed initiative campaigns to retract their signatures. Its members include the Utah Medical Association and the DEA's Salt Lake City Metro Narcotics Task Force.
Heroin and Prescription Opioids
Three Democratic Senators Urge FDA to Pull High-Dose Opioids from Market. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Ed Markey (D-MA) are urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to remove ultra-high dose opioids from the market because of concerns about "accidental ingestion, borrowed medication, and recreational use." The senators said patients who need high dose opioids could just take more pills, patches, or other formulations. "We believe these ultra-high dose opioids can be removed from the market without imposing hardship on those with legitimate pain needs," the senators wrote. But the Academy of Integrative Pain Management disagreed, saying the pulling the high dose opioids would "in some situations, create a greater danger because patients would be required to have several times more pills available to meet their needs. The burden of this would fall on the sickest patients, including those with cancer and/or receiving palliative/hospice/end-of-life care, whose quality of life would be diminished."
Racial Profiling
Ohio Highway Patrol More Likely to Use Drug Dogs on Black Drivers. The Associated Press has examined records on highway stops that show the state Highway Patrol uses drug-sniffing dogs on black drivers at a disproportionate rate. Blacks account for about 13% of the state population and 14% of drivers stopped by troopers, but 28% of stops where drug dogs were used. The AP made the records request after a federal appeals court criticized the arrest of a black driver on the Ohio Turnpike in 2014 and threw out the evidence used to convict him.
International
Canadian PM Says Marijuana Legalization Plan Will Proceed Without Delay. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last Thursday that his plan to legalize marijuana this summer will proceed without delay, despite misgivings being voiced in the Senate. "We're going to continue to move forward. We're going to bring in legalization as we've committed to this summer on schedule," Trudeau said.
Nigeria Bans Codeine. Responding to the rising recreational use of codeine-based cough syrups, the Nigerian federal government last week banned further imports of codeine into the country. The move comes as the country attempts to rewrite its drug and mental health policies.
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A new report finds legal marijuana makes a marginal contribution to state budgets, a major Las Vegas casino quits pre-employment testing for marijuana, an Australian Senate panel advances a controversial plan to drug test welfare recipients, and more.
A major Las Vegas strip casino gives up on pre-employment screening for marijuana. (Creative Commons)
Report: Legal Marijuana Boostz Government Revenues, Somewhat. A new report from Moody's Investor Service finds that legalizing and taxing marijuana boost revenues, but not dramatically. In Colorado, the report found, marijuana taxes accounted for 2% of the state budget; in Washington state, 1.2%.
No Home Cultivation for New Hampshire This Year. Legal home cultivation is dead in the Granite State this year after the Senate refused to advance a bill approved by the House. The measure, House Bill 1476, would have allowed residents to grow two mature and 12 seedlings. The Senate Health and Human Services Committee voted to refer the bill to "interim study," where bills simply expire at the end of the session.
Major Las Vegas Casino Gives Up on Pre-Employment Marijuana Screening. In another sign of decreasing resort to drug testing for marijuana in a time of spreading legalization and low unemployment, Caesars Entertainment Group announced Monday that it has ended pre-employment drug testing for pot. "A number of states have changed their laws and we felt we might be missing some good candidates because of the marijuana issue and we felt that pre-screening for marijuana was on the whole, counterproductive," said Rich Broome, executive vice president of corporate communications and community affairs for Caesars. "If somebody is believed to be using or high at work, then we would continue to screen for marijuana and other drugs."
Medical Marijuana
Arkansas Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments on Licensing Imbroglio. The state Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear oral arguments on a judge's decision to prevent the state from licensing medical marijuana cultivation operators. The judge had ruled that the licensing program violated the voter-approved constitutional amendment that legalized medical marijuana after a complaint from a business that failed to get a license.
Georgia Governor Signs Bill Allowing CBD Cannabis Oil for PTSD, Intractable Pain. Gov. Nathan Deal (R) on Monday signed into law House Bill 65, which adds PTSD and intractable pain to the list of qualifying conditions that can be treated by CBD cannabis oil.
International
Australian Senate Committee Endorses Plans to Drug Test Welfare Recipients. The Australian federal government's Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee issued a report Monday recommending passage of the government's highly controversial plan to impose drug testing on welfare recipients. The bill would create a trial program under which some 5,000 welfare recipients would face mandatory testing. People who test positive would be placed on "income management" for two years, while those who test positive twice within two years could be forced to undergo drug treatment. The plan has been condemned by medical and social welfare organizations, including the Australian Medical Association, which expressed "significant concern" about the plan. "Elements of the proposal are unnecessarily punitive and will increase stigmatisation among the most disadvantaged in the community," the AMA said.
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Mitch McConnell just says no, a House committee advances a VA medical marijuana bill, Pennsylvania's governor and attorney general aren't down with a Philadelphia safe injection site, and more.
Mitch McConnell is down with hemp, but not pot. (Flickr/Gage Skidmore)
Mitch McConnell Confirms GOP Still the Party of "No" on Legal Marijuana. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he was not interested in legalizing marijuana, even though his Democratic counterpart, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has endorsed it. "I do not have any plans to endorse legalization of marijuana," McConnell said. McConnell is pushing for the legalization of hemp, though: "These are two entirely separate plants," McConnell said. "I hope everybody understands that. It is a different plant. It has an illicit cousin which I choose not to embrace."
Medical Marijuana
House Committee Advances Veterans Affairs Medical Marijuana Research Bill. The House Veterans' Affairs Committee Tuesday unanimously approved a measure that aims to increase VA research on medical marijuana. The bill would specify that the agency has the ability to research the herb for conditions including PTSD. The measure is part of a package of bills lawmakers hope to pass this month.
Missouri Senate Gives Initial Approval to Medical Marijuana Bill. The Senate Tuesday gave initial approval to House Bill 1554, which would allow people suffering from specified serious illnesses to use non-smokeable medical marijuana. The bill has already passed the House and now goes to the Senate Committee on Health and Pensions for a second reading. If it survives that, it then goes to the full Senate for a floor vote.
Utah "Right To Try" CBD Medical Marijuana Law Now in Effect. A limited medical marijuana law is now in effect. Under House Bill 195, which passed in March, terminally ill patients will be able to access CBD cannabis oil under a provision that expands the state's 2015 Right to Try Act. Also now in effect is House Bill 197, which establishes a medical marijuana cultivation program in the state. Both of these laws could soon be irrelevant, though: A much broader medical marijuana initiative will be on the ballot in November.
Heroin and Prescription Opioids
Study: Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs Have Little Effect on Overdose Deaths. A new study from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health finds that prescription drug monitoring programs may be only "marginally effective" in reducing drug overdose deaths. "What it really offers is this cautionary tale that says a few things. One, the amount of money and resources that are going into these programs need to be evaluated to understand what their ultimate costs are," social epidemiologist David Fink said. "Studies have come out in the past looking at reduced prescribing behavior, but we're taking it to the next level -- looking at fatal or nonfatal overdoses. And what we're seeing is that when you actually look at the literature, it isn't that strong to support" the programs. The study also found that half the studies looking at heroin overdose rates found a significant increase after prescription drug monitoring programs were implemented.
Walmart Tightens Opioid Prescription Policies. The nation's largest pharmacy chain announced Monday that beginning within 60 days, it will only fill first-time acute opioid prescriptions for a week or less nationwide. It will also limit dosages to 50 morphine milligram units per day. Walmart didn't say what it would do about patients who require greater dosages than that.
Harm Reduction
Officials in Philadelphia want a safe injection site in a bid to reduce drug overdoses that killed more than 1,200 people in the city last year, but the Democratic governor and attorney general aren't on board. A spokesman for Gov. Tom Wolf said the idea "presents a number of serious public health and legal concerns, while a spokesman for Attorney General Josh Shapiro said changes in federal law would have to come before he could support a safe injection site.
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