ID Lawmakers Move to Ban Weed Advertising, CA Therapeutic Psychedelic Bill Filed, More... (2/7/24)

The DEA settles with another opioid distributor, Oklahoma's Republican governor calls for civil asset forfeiture reform, and more.

Billboards like this would be illegal under a proposed Idaho law. (Creative Commons)

Idaho Lawmakers Move to Ban Marijuana Advertising. Rep. Judy Boyle (R) and Sen. Chris Trakel (R) on Wednesday introduced a bill to criminalize the advertising of products or services that are illegal in the state -- like marijuana.

While the state remains staunchly prohibitionist, it borders four legal marijuana states -- Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Lawmakers cited a marijuana billboard near the Oregon-Idaho border and newspaper advertisements from North Idaho.

The bill would allow misdemeanor charges for "any person who willfully publishes any notice or advertisement, in any medium, of a product or service that is illegal under Idaho law."

The House State Affairs Committee voted Wednesday to introduce the bill. The bill text is not yet available on the state's legislative web site.

Asset Forfeiture

Oklahoma Governor Says Asset Forfeiture "Isn't Fair" and Calls for Reform. In his annual State of the State address Monday, Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) called for reforms of the state's civil asset forfeiture laws.

"We need to address civil asset forfeiture," Stitt said. "It's crazy to me that somebody can be pulled over and have their cash and truck taken for an alleged crime, get acquitted of that crime, but they still never get their property back. "That isn't fair, and we need to make sure it isn't happening anywhere in Oklahoma," Stitt continued.

Oklahoma is one of a shrinking number of states that have yet to embrace civil asset forfeiture reform. Civil asset forfeiture laws allow police to seize property and cash they believe is linked to criminal activity even if the owner is never charged with or convicted of a crime.

Opiates and Opioids

DEA Announces Settlement with Morris & Dickson Co., LLC. The US DEA announced a settlement with pharmaceutical distributor Morris & Dickson Co., LLC for "failing to maintain effective controls against diversion of controlled substances, including failure to report to DEA thousands of unusually large orders of oxycodone and hydrocodone."

Under the settlement, Morris & Dickson "admitted to all wrongdoing previously determined by the DEA Administrator and will surrender one of their two DEA Certificates of Registration (COR)." The settlement also includes the distributor maintaining a compliance program, doing increased reporting to DEA for five years, and paying $19 million.

DEA accuses Morris & Dickson of "long-term, egregious failures... to maintain effective controls against diversion of controlled substances," "fail[ing] to design and operate an adequate [suspicious order monitoring] system" and "fail[ing] to investigate or report potentially thousands of suspicious orders of oxycodone and hydrocodone to DEA."

Psychedelics

California Therapeutic Psychedelics Bill Filed. State Sen. Scott Wiener (D) and Assembly Members Josh Lowenthal (D) and Marie Waldron (D) have coauthored a bill to permit the use of psychedelic mushrooms and certain other psychedelics for therapeutic purposes, Senate Bill 1012. The bill was introduced in the Senate Tuesday.

Otherwise referred to as the "Regulated Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Act," the proposed bill would authorize professionals to administer the consumption of psychedelics by individuals over the age of 21.

The bill would categorize dimethyltryptamine (DMT), mescaline, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), ibogaine, psilocybin, and psilocyn as "regulated psychedelic substances" and would create a regulatory entity "to license and regulate psychedelic-assisted therapy facilitators" who would supervise the administration of these substances.

The bill comes months after Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) vetoed a bill that would have legalized natural psychedelics. In his veto message, Newsom expressed his support of the potential therapeutic benefits of the substances once "regulated treatment guidelines" were designed. He also "urge[d] the legislature to send [him] legislation [in 2024] that includes therapeutic guidelines."