A pair of Democratic senators file a bill to keep fentanyl out of federal prisons, President Biden addresses the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats, and more.

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Marijuana Policy

More Than 200,000 Arrested for Marijuana Last Year, FBI Reports. The latest FBI data shows that at least 200,000 people were arrested on marijuana charges in 2023, with, as usual, simple possession accounting for the vast majority of the cases. However given inconsistencies in the federal data and questions about the agency's methodology, these figures probably understate the actual number of arrests.

According to NORML, marijuana arrests spiked in the late 1960s and early 1970s to nearly 500,000 per year, then declined to about 300,000 a year in the mid-1990s before climbing dramatically in the late 1990s and early 2000s, peaking at about 900,000 a year in 2006.

The decline in arrests is attributable to marijuana decriminalization and legalization. Marijuana is now legal in 24 states, three US territories, and the District of Columbia. It is decriminalized in seven other states, Medical marijuana is now legal in 38 states, and 10 more states have laws allowing access to low-THC CBD products.

The FBI also reported a total of 879,000 "drug/narcotic" arrests in one spot, but in a breakdown by region reported 742,000, and in a report on historical trends, put the number at 635,000.

The FBI said marijuana accounted for 23 percent of all drug arrests, but that only two percent of marijuana arrests were for selling or growing marijuana.

The FBI data showed continuing racial disparities in drug arrests. Black people account for 13.6 percent of the US population but made up 29 percent of drug arrests last year.

California Emergency Ban on Hemp THC Products Goes into Effect. The state Office of Administrative Law on Monday approved Gov. Gavin Newsom's emergency ban on all hemp THC products, shutting down a thriving product category within the state's struggling legal marijuana market. In its order, the office said the emergency rules are "deemed to be an emergency."

The ban bars retailers from selling products such as drinks made with hemp THC, as well as medicinal products made with CBD from hemp.

Newsom said the ban was necessary because law rules have allowed minors to get access to intoxicating products. Earlier this month, he filed the emergency rules to ban the products.

Both the hemp industry and the medical marijuana community are displeased with the move. The hemp ban has reportedly caused "panic buying" of thousands of dollars worth of hemp before the rules went into effect. Some medical marijuana practitioners have warned that the ban could leave patients sick or even dead if they cannot get the hemp THC. The US Hemp Roundtable said earlier this month it would sue to end the ban if it went into effect.

Drug Policy

Pair of Senate Democrats File Bill to Keep Fentanyl Out of Prisons. Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Bob Casey (D-PA) have introduced legislation "to protect prison officers, staff, and inmates from fentanyl and other illicit substances entering the Federal Prison System through inmate mail," according to a joint press release.

The Interdiction of Fentanyl at Federal Prisons Act would protect officers, staff, and inmates by requiring the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to develop a strategy to intercept and interdict illicit substances, including fentanyl, mailed to federal correctional facilities. It would also require BOP to "acquire and deploy equipment and technology to achieve 100 percent scanning capacity of postal and legal mail arriving at federal correctional facilities."

Under the bill, prisoners would receive digital copies of mail addressed to them, and contraband-free mail would be delivered once screened.

The senators said at least one BOP employee had died after being exposed to fentanyl arriving in the mail and that others had been injured.

The bill is endorsed by several law enforcement and related entities, including the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), R Street Institute, National Association of Police Organizations, National District Attorneys Associations, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, and Voices of JOE ("dedicated to all fallen law enforcement officers").

President Biden Addresses Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats. During the meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York this week, President Joe Biden spoke to the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats, a grouping of 150 nations created by the Biden administration as part of its fight against fentanyl.

After relating the story of a family who lost a young daughter to a fentanyl overdose, Biden warned that "Opioids are the deadliest drug threat in our history. I've been working on drug control for a long, long time -- since the days I was a senator, but this is the deadliest of them all."

He then pointed to efforts his administration has undertaken to address the problem, including the expansion of naloxone access, the allocation of $80 billion across the 50 states to expand access to treatment and support, an executive order aimed at cartel leader finances, and the deployment of advanced scanning machines at ports of entry. Because, he said, "this is a national security threat."

But he also said he sees it as an international threat and pointed to actions on that front as well: "We established the Trilateral Fentanyl Committee with Canada and Mexico to stop narcotics from crossing our border," he said. "I reignited counternarcotics cooperation with China to increase law enforcement cooperation and tackle the supply chains of precursor chemicals and pill presses. And I directed my team to build this coalition -- this Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drugs."

He pointed to increased fentanyl seizures and the arrests of "dozens of major cartel leaders" as signs of progress, and proudly announced that "for the first time in five years, overdose deaths are actually coming down across America. The latest data shows a ten percent drop. That's the largest decrease on record."

Biden called for continued struggle on the fentanyl front: "Folks, this matters. These aren't just facts and figures. They're families -- families who don't have to bear the loss of a child, a parent, a spouse -- families who are kept whole. But there are too many that are still dying. There's so much more that needs to be done. So, my message today is very simple: We can't let up. We cannot let up."

He called on the group's member nations to do all they can "to seize more drugs, stop more cartels, save more lives."

He did not mention the idea of using alternatives for controlling drugs like fentanyl through regulating rather than strictly prohibiting opioid sales and manufacture.