Trump Nominates RFK Jr. to Head HHS, NY Regulators Give Social Equity Pot Shot Operators a Break, More... (11/15/24)

A Vermont legislative advisory working group on therapeutic psychedelics says the state is not ready to go there yet, and more. 

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The Trump HHS nominee is good on psychedelics and marijuana, but has plenty of other controversial positions. (Creative Commons)

Marijuana Policy

New York Regulators Give Social Equity Retailers More Time to Open Stores. The state's Cannabis Control Board on Tuesday granted a six-month extension for social equity retailers who were issued provisional licenses before August 2023 to get their pot shops open. 

In doing so, the Control Board followed the recommendation of the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), which cited problems with getting money from the state's Social Equity Fund, as well as ongoing litigation. 

The first set of provisional licenses were set to expire at the end of this month, but now social equity operators will have 30 months from the time they got their provisional licenses to get a store up and running. 

The move comes nearly two years after the state launched its legal marijuana market, and there are still only 23

Psychedelics

Vermont Not Ready for Psychedelic Therapies, Advisory Group Says. The legislature's Psychedelic Therapy Advisory Working Group says the state is not ready to begin a program to use psychedelics to improve mental health. Lawmakers mandated the group to review the latest research on the use of psychedelics to treat mental disorders. 

The working group is asking lawmakers to extend its mandate and expand the number of study participants but basically concluded that more research is needed. 

The group met this summer, and while they are asking legislators to extend the group’s work and expand the number of participants in the study, they found that more research needs to be completed before allowing Vermont healthcare providers to administer psychedelic-assisted therapy.

"Our primary recommendations are to keep monitoring," said Kelley Klein, medical director for the Department of Mental Health and a member of the working group. "There is a lot of promising information out there, but it is really limited. The studies that are available currently, there are small sample sizes, and we want to make sure that there is enough evidence to be able to generalize to the population in Vermont."

The working group's report noted that some members did not want to move forward with a state therapeutic psychedelic program until the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves such therapies. 

"I am not surprised at the outcome of this. I knew there was going to be varied backgrounds of individuals coming into this," Klein said. "I think truly things are progressing research-wise and I think that before 2026, 2027 there likely will be approval for some of these medications in general, and that will help things progress as well."

It will now be up to lawmakers to decide where to go from here.

Drug Policy

Trump HHS Nominee RFK Jr. is Good on Marijuana and Psychedelics Reform, But… President-elect Donald Trump has nominated anti-vaccine activist and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to head the sprawling Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). While his stances on issues such as vaccine safety, vaccines and autism, the origins of COVID, AIDS, and fluoridation, among others, are well outside the mainstream, he has articulated progressive positions on marijuana and psychedelics policy. 

He has championed access to therapeutic psychedelics and called for taxing and regulating some psychedelics as well as marijuana. If confirmed as head of HHS, he would be in a prime position to further those goals. 

As head of HHS, he would supervise the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), among other federal health bureaucracies. Just last month, he criticized the FDA over its rejection of an application to approve MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, bemoaning the agency's "suppression of psychedelics."

"If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags," he said.

Whether Kennedy's good positions on certain drug policy issues outweigh his potentially damaging positions on other public health issues and his lack of scientific or medical expertise will be up to the Senate to decide.