Chronicle AM: VT Senate Gives First Approval of Legalization Bill, CT MedMJ Expansion, More... (2/24/16)

Marijuana legalization advances in Vermont; medical marijuana advances in Connecticut, Australia, and Canada; Eric Holder says it's time to reschedule marijuana, Obama says restricting pain pills won't solve the opioid crisis, and more.

Busy, busy in New England. (wikimedia.org)

Arkansas Attorney General Rejects Another Marijuana Legalization Initiative. Attorney General Leslie Rutledge (R) has again rejected a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana, citing ambiguities in the text. The Arkansas Cannabis Amendment, filed by Mary Berry, was rejected the first time earlier this month.

Vermont Senate Approves Legalization in Preliminary Vote. The Senate voted 16-13 to approve Senate Bill 241, which would regulate, tax, and legalize marijuana. The bill, which is supported by Gov. Peter Shumlin (D), faces one more Senate vote before heading to the House. That vote is expected to come tomorrow.

Minneapolis City Council Takes Up Decriminalization. The council will decide this week whether small-time marijuana possession should be a misdemeanor or a petty misdemeanor under city ordinance. The current ordinance makes it a misdemeanor punishable by a fine, jail time, and a criminal record. That's tougher than state law, which makes it a petty misdemeanor, which is punishable only by a fine and carries to criminal record.

Medical Marijuana

Former Attorney General Eric Holder Now Supports Rescheduling Marijuana. In an interview with PBS, Holder signaled newfound support for rescheduling and decriminalizing marijuana. It's not something he acted on while in office, but he now says: "I certainly think it ought to be rescheduled. You know, we treat marijuana in the same way we treat heroin now, and that clearly is not appropriate."

Connecticut Legislators Expand Qualifying Conditions for Medical Marijuana. The legislature's regulation review committee Tuesday approved expanding the state's program by adding six new qualifying conditions: ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease; ulcerative colitis; sickle cell disease; severe psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis; complex regional pain syndrome; and post-laminectomy syndrome with chronic radiculopathy, which is recurring back pain after surgery. No other approval is required since these were regulatory, not legislative, changes. The changes will go into effect in 30 days.

Heroin and Opiates

Obama Says Restricting Opiate Prescriptions Won't Solve Crisis. At the National Governors' Conference last weekend, the governors recommended limiting the number of opioid pain relievers doctors can prescribe, but President Obama wasn't buying that. "If we go to doctors right now and say 'Don't overprescribe' without providing some mechanisms for people in these communities to deal with the pain that they have or the issues that they have, then we're not going to solve the problem, because the pain is real, the mental illness is real," Obama said in a meeting with governors Monday. "In some cases, addiction is already there."

Harm Reduction

Ithaca, New York, Unveils Comprehensive Drug Policy Plan. At a press conference today, Ithaca officials unveiled a comprehensive plan to deal with drug use from a public health perspective with a strong harm reduction component. The Ithaca Plan: A Public Health Approach to Drugs and Drug Policy, calls for the creation of a Vancouver-style Four Pillars (prevention, treatment, harm reduction, law enforcement) approach to the city's problems, particularly with heroin and opioid drug use. The plan recommends allowing supervised injection facilities and heroin maintenance, among other proposals.

International

Canadian Federal Judge Throws Out Ban on Patient Medical Marijuana Grows. A Vancouver-based federal judge ruled Wednesday that Health Canada regulations restricting patient medical marijuana grows violating charter rights and thus have no force and effect. But Judge Michael Phelan also gave the government six months to come up with new rules. In the meantime, an injunction allowing thousands of patients to grow their own remains in effect.

Australian Parliament Approves Medical Marijuana. Medical marijuana cleared the upper house Wednesday, clearing the way for its use Down Under. But several steps remain to be taken before a program gets up and running.