OH Issues First Adult-Use Marijuana Business Licenses, US Citizen Sentenced to 13 Years on Russian Drug Charges, More... (7/22/24)

A new Kentucky law regulating kratom is in limbo for lack of funding, a new Pennsylvania bill would impose restrictions on medical marijuana users working in safety-sensitive positions, and more.

Kratom. It is banned in six states, regulated in others. A Kentucky law to regulate is on hold for lack of funding. (Project CBD)

Marijuana Policy

Ohio Issues First Adult-Use Marijuana Business Licenses. The state's Division of Cannabis Control has issued the first round of licenses for adult-use marijuana businesses, handing them out to six marijuana processors and four growers. They can now begin legally supplying the state's adult-use market.

They will join a marketplace now dominated by existing medical marijuana dispensaries, more than a hundred of which were granted provisional adult-use market licenses last week.

Voters approved adult-use marijuana legalization with 57 percent of the vote last November and gave regulators a deadline of September 7 to fully implement the program and begin awarding licenses. They have now done so.

The Division of Cannabis Control issued Level I cultivator licenses to Pure Ohio Wellness, Green Thumb Industries, and Klutch Cannabis. A Level II cultivation license was given to Farkas Farms, while processor licenses were issued to Green Thumb Industries, Klutch Cannabis, Riviera Creek, One Orijin, and FN Group.

Medical Marijuana

Pennsylvania Bill Would Let Employers Take Action Against Medical Marijuana-Using Workers in Safety-Sensitive Positions. State Sen. Patrick Stefano (R) last week filed a bill that would allow employers to restrict workers with medical marijuana cards from working in safety-sensitive positions, Senate Bill 1290.

Under the bill, workers in safety-sensitive positions whose duties include working at heights or in confined spaces would no longer be allowed to do that work if they are found to be under the influence of marijuana, even if they have a medical marijuana card. Similarly, employers would be able to bar medical marijuana patients from doing any task the employer believes could be life-threatening. Such moves would not be considered adverse employment decisions under state law, even if they result in financial harm to the worker.

The bill would also allow employers to require that workers or job applicants disclose and produce a medical marijuana card if they have one. Under current state law, medical marijuana patient status is protected confidential information. It would also allow employers to require workers or job applicants to submit to a drug test for marijuana while working in or applying for safety-sensitive positions.

The bill is now before the Senate Law and Justice Committee.

Kratom

Kentucky Kratom Regulation Law in Limbo for Lack of Funding. The legislature passed and Gov. Andy Beshear (D) signed House Bill 159, which aims to regulate the herbal drug kratom. But there is a problem: There is no money to implement it.

The bill from Rep. Kim Moser (R) bans the sale of kratom, which is often offered at convenience stores and gas stations, to people under age 21. It also sets guidelines for manufacturing and labeling the product.

The kratom law was supposed to take effect on July 15, but it was included in a list of 22 bills mentioned in an April letter from Gov. Beshear, who said there was no funding to implement them.

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) moved in 2016 to place kratom on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act but retreated in the face of a loud clamor against the move. It currently considers kratom a "drug of concern." Six states have banned it -- Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Tennessee, Vermont, and Wisconsin -- as have a handful of localities. Other states, like Kentucky, have moved to regulate it.

International

Russian Court Sentences US Citizen to 13 Years on Drug Charges. Yet another US citizen is now serving time for a drug offense in Russia. Women's basketball star Britney Griner famously spent nearly ten months in a Russian prison over a medical marijuana vape before winning her freedom in a prisoner swap that freed Russian arms dealer Victor Bout. And Pennsylvania resident Marc Fogel has been jailed for more than a year after being busted for a small amount of medical marijuana.

Now, US citizen and Russian resident Travis Leake has been sentenced to 13 years in prison on drug charges in Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Court. Leake, a rock musician who is a fixture of the Moscow music scene, was arrested in June 2023 on suspicion of selling the synthetic stimulant mephedrone, and was found guilty last week.

Leake is a former paratrooper with the US military and performed in several Moscow rock bands, including Lovi Noch, a group he fronted. Authorities accused him of organizing a drug trafficking business "involving young people."

After he was arrested last year, a video circulated showing him saying that he was not admitting any guilt and he did not know what he was being charged with.

His mother, Glenda Garcia, said she was worried about his situation. "Of course, I am worried. Of course, I am concerned," Garcia said. "He's in prison in a foreign country, that is a concern."

Leake was sentenced the same week as Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich, who was handed a 16-year sentence for what he and the US government say are bogus espionage charges. The State Department has demanded the release of Gershkovich but has had nothing to say about Leake.