Medical marijuana is killed in Kansas but survives in Kentucky, cocaine production hits an all-time high, and more.

Medical Marijuana

Kansas GOP Lawmakers Kill Medical Marijuana Bill. Medical marijuana is dead for this session after Republicans in the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee voted to "table" the medical marijuana bill, Senate Bill 135. Both Democrats on the committee voted to keep the bill alive. The vote came after two days of hearings on the bill, including a full opposition slate of Republican state leaders, health officials, and law enforcement on Thursday.

Kentucky Senate Passes Medical Marijuana Bill. On the last day to keep the bill alive, the Senate voted Thursday to approve a medical marijuana bill, Senate Bill 47. The bill allows for the use of medical marijuana for a list of specified medical conditions, but does not allow for smokeable marijuana. It does set up a system of taxed and regulated medical marijuana production and sales. The House could vote on the bill when the legislature returns for a one-day session at the end of the month.

Foreign Policy

Marjorie Taylor Greene Claims Cartels Left Bomb at Border; It Was a Ball of Sand. MAGA political arsonist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told her two million Twitter followers Wednesday that Mexican drug cartels had planted bombs on US soil at the border to terrorize Americans and kill or injure Border Patrol agents. She posted a picture of what turned out to be a ball stuffed with sand and covered with duct tape and claimed it was "explosive" and a "bomb," adding that "this changes everything" and calling on the US military to "take action" and "end this Cartel led war against America!" But Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz quickly shot down Greene's incendiary claim, tweeting that "During a Jan. briefing, leadership was notified that Agents found a duct-taped ball filled with sand that wasn't deemed a threat to agents/public." Greene has not deleted her post and instead doubled-down on her theory in response to the fact check. "That’s not what the border patrol agents are telling me," she retorted on Twitter. But the "bomb" is still just a bag of sand.

Harm Reduction

Mississippi Governor Signs Fentanyl Test Strip Decriminalization Bill into Law. Gov. Tate Reeves (R) has signed into law House Bill 722, which decriminalizes fentanyl test strips by removing them from the state's definition of drug paraphernalia. Use of the strips is aimed primarily at reducing drug overdoses by letting users know what is in their drug supply. As Reeves signed the bill into law, he could not resist taking a jab at the Biden administration: "I’ve signed HB 722 which decriminalizes fentanyl testing strips," he said. "It’s a sad reality that fentanyl overdoses are skyrocketing as a result of an open border." In reality, .fentanyl's role in fatal drug overdoses began about a decade ago and has increased steadily through both the Trump and the Biden administrations.

International

Cocaine Production at Highest Level Ever, UNODC Says. In a new report, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) finds that cocaine production is at its highest level ever as demand rebounded after the pandemic and new trafficking hubs emerged. Production rose a whopping 35 percent between 2021 and 2022, at least in part because of innovations in cultivating the coca plant and in converting coca leaf into cocaine. "The Covid-19 pandemic had a disruptive effect on drug markets. With international travel severely curtailed, producers struggled to get their product to market. Night clubs and bars were shut as officials ramped up their attempts to control the virus, causing demand to slump for drugs like cocaine," the report said. "However, the most recent data suggests this slump has had little impact on longer-term trends. The global supply of cocaine is at record levels," it said. UNODC said nearly 2,000 tons of cocaine were produced in 2020, a continuation of a "dramatic uptick in manufacture that began in 2014, when the total was less than half of today’s levels."

Last Year Saw a Surge in Drug Executions Worldwide. The number of people executed for drug offenses surged in 2022, according to a new report from drug policy reform group Harm Reduction International (HRI). The 1 cited at least 285 executions for drug offenses last year, more than double the 131 people executed in 2021. The number of people being handed out death sentences for drug offenses also grew, with at least 303 people in 18 countries facing the ultimate sanction. That is a 28 percent increase over 2021. The number of people currently on death row for drugs globally is now more than 3,700. HRI warned that the figures are low-balled because of the extreme secrecy surrounding the death penalty in countries that frequently resort to it, such as China, North Korea, and Vietnam.  

The Justice Department is open to Sentencing Commission marijuana guideline reforms, a Texas bill to remove jail time for pot possession advances, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Justice Department Backs Proposed Marijuana Sentencing Guideline Reform to Treat Past Convictions More Leniently. The Justice Department is in agreement with a US Sentencing Commission proposal to update sentencing guidelines to treat past marijuana possession offenses more leniently. Such a move would align with the Biden administration's "sentiment" toward reforming marijuana policy. The backing by DOJ came last Wednesday when a federal prosecutor testified at a public hearing on the proposal in support of it. The Sentencing Commission had made the recommendation back in January. The commission's proposal does not remove marijuana convictions as a criminal history factor, but it would "include sentences resulting from possession of marihuana offenses as an example of when a downward departure from the defendant’s criminal history may be warranted."

Bipartisan Bill Punishing Illegal Marijuana Grows Filed. Reps. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) and Scott Peters (D-CA) have filed the Targeting and Offsetting Existing Illegal Contaminants (TOXIC) Act, which would provide funding to clean up toxic wastes at marijuana grows on federal lands and increase criminal penalties "for using banned pesticides in illegal cannabis cultivation to a maximum of 20 years in prison and $250,000 in criminal fines to establish parity with the criminal penalties for smuggling banned pesticides into the US." The same pair filed the same bill in the last Congress, but it went nowhere.

Maryland House Approves Legal Marijuana Regulation Bill. The House voted last Friday to approve a measure to create a legal framework and tax structure for legal marijuana sales, House Bill 556. The bill now goes to the Senate, which is also advancing its own separate regulatory measure. If the legislature can come to agreement, legal sales could begin as early as July 1. The bill passed by the House would allow existing medical marijuana dispensaries to obtain dual licenses to sell recreational marijuana. The bill also contains equity provisions giving licensing priority to minority owners in communities adversely affected by the war on drugs.

Texas Marijuana Decriminalization Bill Wins Committee Vote. The House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee voted unanimously last week to approve a bill to decriminalize the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, House Bill 218. Possession of less than two ounces is currently a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail. Under this bill, possession would still be a misdemeanor (so not technically decriminalization), but without the possibility of arrest of jail time. Instead, offenders would be cited and fined up to $500. The bill now awaits a House floor vote.

Opiates and Opioids

US Opioid Settlement Causing Problems for Patients. The $21 billion settlement between pharmaceutical distributors and attorneys general in 46 states over the companies' role in the early stages of this century's opioid epidemic is having unintended consequences not only for opioid patients, but also for people trying to obtain controlled substances to treat many conditions, including anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and addiction. As a result of the settlement, the distributors are now tightening rules for these drugs, resulting in the cancellation of tens of thousands of drug orders and leaving patients in the lurch. The new controls have created "havoc in pharmacies, said Ilisa Bernstein, chief executive of the American Pharmacists Association. "They have patients coming in to get medication, and they can’t have it. It's disrupting patient care." 

Voters in Oklahoma resoundingly rejected the State Question 820 marijuana legalization initiative Tuesday in an election where it was the only thing on the ballot. With 99 percent of the vote in, it was losing 38.3 percent to 61.7 percent.

Because marijuana was the only item on the ballot, the number of people voting was much smaller than in last November's general election. Then, more than 1.1 million people cast ballots, but this week, only 566,000, or about half as many voters, turned out.

The initiative should have been on last November's general election ballot. The group behind the measure, Oklahomans for Sensible Marijuana Laws, turned in 69,000 more signatures than needed in a timely fashion, but private contractors hired by the Secretary of State's office took an excessive amount of time to verify the signatures.

Between that and questionable legal challenges from opponents, approval of the measure was so delayed that the state Supreme Court ruled weeks before the election that the measure would have to wait for the 2024 general election or until the governor or legislature calls a special election. Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) then announced the March 7 date.

The measure would have allowed people 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and eight grams of marijuana concentrates and grow up to six plants and six seedlings at home. It also would have protected parents from losing custody or visitation rights solely because of marijuana use and states that parolees and probationers cannot be punished for marijuana use. Nor could the odor of marijuana or burnt marijuana be used as probable cause for police to infer that a crime had been committed. And it included a provision for the expungement of some past marijuana offenses.

The measure would have up a system of taxed, licensed, and regulated marijuana commerce, but for the first two years, marijuana business licenses would go only to existing medical marijuana businesses that have been operating for at least a year. The state is now also under a moratorium on new grower, processor and dispensary licenses until August 2024, meaning any potential new pot business operators would have had to wait awhile to get in the game.

The state's robust -- some would say Wild West -- medical marijuana system may have convinced some voters that further moves were not necessary. Under Oklahoma law, medical marijuana can be recommended for just about any condition, and the state has nearly 400,000 enrolled patients -- about 10 percent of all adults in the state. There are also already some 12,000 licensed medical marijuana businesses, some of which have been in the news for unsavory reasons.

Tuesday's defeat may embolden marijuana critics in the state legislature to move to tighten controls on the state's medical marijuana program.

"The anti-revolutionary forces want to return Oklahoma to their dream of this bygone era," said Lawrence Pasternack, a legalization advocate who's written extensively about marijuana in the state. "They see marijuana as anathema to that dream."

Those forces would include Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and most of the state's Republican political establishment. Also prominent in the opposition camp was former Gov. Frank Keating, an ex-FBI agent, who headed the "no" campaign.

"Oklahoma is a law and order state," Stitt said after Tuesday's vote. "I remain committed to protecting Oklahomans and my administration will continue to hold bad actors accountable and crack down on illegal marijuana operations in our state."

It's been a tough run for marijuana legalization initiatives lately. Last November, Maryland and Missouri approved legal weed, but Arkansas, North Dakota, and South Dakota did not. And now Oklahoma has joined that red state rejectionist club, and the Republicans are casting the hairy eyeball on the existing medical marijuana system.

The Oklahoma marijuana legalization initiative gets crushed at the polls, a bipartisan federal bill to ease the rescheduling of therapeutic psychedelics gets filed, and more.

Delaware House Approves Marijuana Legalization Bill; Marijuana Regulation Bill Pending. The House on Tuesday gave final approval to House Bill 1, which legalizes the possession of up to an ounce by adults. Bill sponsor Rep. Ed Osienski (D) is also sponsoring House Bill 2, which would set up a regulatory system for marijuana commerce. That bill has passed out of committee and is awaiting a House floor vote. Last year, Osienski took a similar bifurcated path, with the legalization bill passing but the regulatory bill failing. Gov. John Carney (D) then vetoed the legalization bill. This year, the legalization bill passed with a veto proof majority.

Hawaii Senate Approves Marijuana Legalization Bill. The Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to approve a marijuana legalization bill, Senate Bill 669. The bill would legalize the possession of up to 30 grams, allow for the home cultivation of up to six plants, expunge past possession convictions, and reduce penalties for unlicensed cultivation and sales. The bill also contemplates the existing medical marijuana industry morphing into a full-fledged adult use marijuana market under the aegis of a Hawaii Cannabis Authority. The bill is now before the House.

Oklahoma Marijuana Legalization Initiative Defeated. Voters on Tuesday decisively defeated a marijuana legalization initiative, State Question 820 by a margin of 62 percent to 38 percent. See out feature story later today for full coverage.

Psychedelics-                                                                                          

Bipartisan "Breakthrough Therapies Act" Updated and Filed. Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Reps. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) and Nancy Mace (R-SC) on Thursday filed the "Breakthrough Therapies Act," which would streamline the federal rescheduling of drugs such as psilocybin and MDMA for therapeutic purposes. The bill would amend the Controlled Substance Act to create a pathway for current Schedule I drugs that could be deemed breakthrough therapies by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to qualify for a waiver under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and be moved to Schedule II, which is reserved for drugs with "currently accepted medical use with severe restrictions."

Missouri Therapeutic Psychedelic Bill Advances. The House Veterans Committee on Tuesday approved House Bill 1154, which would promote research into the therapeutic potential of psychedelics such as ketamine, MDMA, and psilocybin. The bill passed out of committee on a unanimous vote. The bill now awaits a possible House floor vote, which is yet to be scheduled.

Foreign Policy

.Reps. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) and Tim Walz (R-FL) on Monday filed a resolution, HJ Res. 18 "to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for trafficking fentanyl or a fentanyl-related substance into the United States or carrying out other related activities that cause regional destabilization in the Western Hemisphere." The resolution is cutely titled "Authorization for the Use of Military Force to Combat, Attack, Resist, Target, Eliminate, and Limit Influence Resolution" or the "AUMF CARTEL Influence Resolution." The bill specifically lists nine Mexican drug trafficking organization to be targeted, including the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, and Los Zetas.