Singapore Hangs Man for Two Pounds of Weed, CO Senate Passes Psychedelic Regulation Bill, More... (4/26/23)

A bipartisan bill addressing xylazine gets filed, Texas Republican senators block a fentanyl test strip bill, and more.

Fentanyl test strips. Texas GOP senators are blocking a bill to decriminalize them. (Creative Commons)

Colorado Senate Advances Psychedelic Regulation Bill Without Local Ban Authority. The Senate on Tuesday approved Senate Bill 23-290, which amends the regulatory framework created by the voter-approved Natural Medicine Act. The bill creates regulations for unlicensed psychedelic facilitators, restrictions on home mushroom and natural medicine cultivation, and criminal penalties for the unlicensed sale of those substances. Under the bill, the Department of Revenue, which already oversees the state's liquor, marijuana, and gambling industries, would regulate licensed psychedelic manufacturing, distribution, and other business activities. The bill does not include language allowing local governments to ban psychedelic businesses. The bill now goes to the House, where it first heads to the House Finance Committee.

Drug Policy

Senators Cruz and Welch File Bill Targeting Xylazine. Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Peter Welch (D-VT) on Wednesday filed the Testing, Rapid Analysis, and Narcotic Quality (TRANQ) Research Act to address the rapid rise of the veterinary tranquilizer as a drug used in conjunction with street narcotics. The Office of National Drug Control Strategy (ONDCP -- the drug czar's office) designated xylazine mixed with fentanyl as an "emerging threat" earlier this month.

While xylazine has some opioid-like properties, it is not an opioid and is not responsive to opioid overdose reversal drugs. It is also linked to physical ailments such as necrosis, which can result in the loss of limbs.

The TRANQ Research Act "directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to take steps to enhance understanding of tranq and other novel synthetic drugs, develop new tests for detection, and establish partnerships with front-line entities that are often the first points of contact with new street drugs." It does not contain any criminal provisions. Companion legislation has also been filed in the House.

Harm Reduction

Texas Fentanyl Test Strip Decriminalization Bill Stalled in Senate. Even as the state faces a fentanyl overdose crisis, Senate Republicans are blocking action on a bill to decriminalize fentanyl test strips, House Bill 362, that has already passed the House. Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman Sen. John Whitmire (D-Houston) said Republican members of the committee fear that the move will encourage drug use. "It's just illogical, but there's a belief by some members that it might safeguard the use," he said Tuesday. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) supports the legislation, and the legislative session still has a few more weeks left, so supporters continue to hope it can still pass this year.

International

Singapore Ignores International Appeals, Executes Man for Two Pounds of Marijuana. Singapore hung Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, on Wednesday after he was convicted of conspiring to traffic two pounds of marijuana. The execution came despite an international campaign to spare his life, including an appeal from the UN Human Rights Commission and another from Global Drug Policy Commission member Richard Branson. While many other countries, including some of Singapore's neighbors are moving towards a more lenient approach to drugs and rejecting the death penalty, Singapore remains unmoved. "Tangaraju was accorded full due process under the law and had access to legal counsel throughout the process," the Central Narcotics Bureau said, adding without a hint of irony that the death penalty is "part of Singapore's comprehensive harm prevention strategy."