Breaking News:Dangerous Delays: What Washington State (Re)Teaches Us About Cash and Cannabis Store Robberies [REPORT]

Congress

RSS Feed for this category

Revised Weed Banking Bill Filed, Scottish Safe Injection Site Location Revealed, More... (9/21/23)

A House panel approves the CURE Act to protect past marijuana users from federal employment discrimination, the new Thai minister vows to roll back marijuana decriminalization, and more.

Marijuana is on the agenda on Capitol Hill. (Creative Commons)
Marijuana Policy

Revised, Renamed Version of Marijuana Banking Bill Filed, Committee Vote Set for Next Wednesday. The bill aiming to pave the way for providing financial services to state-legal marijuana businesses known as the Safe and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act has now been revised and renamed the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act and is headed for a key Senate committee vote next Wednesday.

Sponsored by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Steve Daines (R-MT), the revised bill was filed Wednesday, is set for mark-up in the Senate Banking Committee, and after that, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says he intends to "bring it to the floor with all due speed."

But despite apparent clear skies in the Senate, the future is a bit cloudier in the House, where a key committee chairman has not committed to allowing it a vote.

Among the key changes to the bill: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation gets one year instead of 180 days to develop guidance for financial institutions, regulators must have a "valid" reason for requesting or requiring the termination of bank accounts for any business, regulators must work with state and federal counterparts to create rules or guidance for pot businesses to increase deposit accounts within two years, FDIC must conduct a biennial survey and report to identify barriers to accessing deposit accounts for small-and medium-sized businesses, and the words "diversity and inclusion" have been remove from section titles, even though required reports on data concerning small and minority-, veteran- and women-owned businesses are still in the bill.

Federal Bill to Remove Marijuana as Barrier to Federal Employment, Security Clearances Wins Committee Vote. The House Oversight and Accountability Committee voted Wednesday to approve the Cannabis Users' Restoration of Eligibility (CURE) Act (HR 5040). The bill would prevent the denial of federal employment or security clearances based on a candidate’s past marijuana use.

The bipartisan bill cosponsored by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Nancy Mace (R-NC), and Jamie Raskin (D-MD) passed on a 30-14 vote, with 10 Republicans joining Democrats in approving it.

The version of the bill approved in committee removed a provision that blocked federal employment and security clearance denials for current marijuana use, leaving the bill addressing only past marijuana use.

International

Scottish Safe Injection Site Pilot Scheme Location Revealed. The proposed safe injection pilot project for the country will be located at the Hunter Street Health Center in the east end of Glasgow. The center already provides a heroin assisted-treatment service.

The safe injection site is becoming a reality after the country's top lawyer officer said users would not be prosecuted for simple possession offenses and the United Kingdom in government in London has said it would not block the scheme.

Glasgow authorities just received a report that found safe injection sites have been shown to "reduce public injecting and discarded needles, and remove barriers to, and improve the uptake into, treatment and care." The report also noted that the Hunter Street Health Center site "offers a discrete base, closely located to the city center, and implementation of the enhanced drug treatment service within the center has not caused significant challenges for the community."

Thailand to Restrict Marijuana Use, New Prime Minister Says, After Decriminalization Last Year. After thousands of pot shops have opened across the country since it decriminalized marijuana a year ago, the new Thai prime minister is vowing to restrict the use of marijuana to medical purposes.

"The law will need to be rewritten," Prime Minister Srettha Thavasin said. "It needs to be rectified. We can have that regulated for medical use only," he said, adding that there can’t be a middle ground for recreational use.

Srettha's Pheu Thai Party ran a hardline anti-drug campaign and vowed to undo decriminalization, but his party is part of an 11-party governing coalition, and some of his partners have different ideas. One partner party, for example, wants tighter control over the industry but not reverting to classifying the plant as a drug.

The industry is not that concerned because it is convinced the genie cannot be put back in the bottle. "More regulation will be good as we don’t want a free-for-all anyway," Poonwarit said Poonwarit Wangpatravanich, president of the Phuket Cannabis Association. "Cannabis is here to stay, but in what status is not yet clear."

San Francisco Drug Crackdown Sparking Violence, SAFE Banking Act Hits "Sweet Spot," More... (9/19/23)

A Kentucky company used court-ordered urine tests to defraud Medicare, Secretary of State Blinken addresses synthetic drugs at a UN side event, and more.

Secretary of State Blinken addresses synthetic drugs as a side meeting of the UN General Assembly. (Creative Commons)
Marijuana Policy

SAFE Banking Act Negotiations Find "Sweet Spot," Senator Says. Senate Banking Committee member Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) says senators have "probably found a sweet spot" in negotiations over the SAFE Banking Act (S.1323), which is set to have a committee vote, likely next week. Senators have reached an agreement to leave a key section favored by Republicans "intact, as it is," Cramer said.

That section deals with broad banking regulations, and Republicans have insisted that it remain in the bill.

Committee member Sen. Jack Reed (D-NV) had previously expressed concerns about the section—Section 10—but now says senators have "talked extensively about Section 10, and we’ve made some progress." However, he didn’t specify what that progress looks like. "I think we’ve resolved most of the issues we had—and I hope we have so we can get it out of the committee with a strong vote," he said.

Drug Policy

San Francisco Drug Crackdown Has Sparked Violent Turf Warfare in Center of City, Supervisor Says. Mayor London Breed's crackdown on drugs in the Tenderloin and South of Market (Soma) neighborhoods has resulted in hundreds of arrests and the seizure of hundreds of pounds of fentanyl, but is also generating violence in those neighborhoods, one city supervisor says.

"They’re poking a hornet’s nest," Supervisor Dan Preston said in an interview. "There are increased turf wars that are occurring because you have a raid here, and another group moves in. I mean, we’ve had gunfire and a murder during the middle of the day." 

Preston cited two shootings three days apart on Golden Gate Avenue, with the second shooting leaving one person dead.

Meanwhile, street-level drug activity remains undeterred, with overdose deaths on pace to exceed the number from last year.

Tenderloin resident and Public Defender's Office attorney Alexandra Pray said she would rather see more patrols than more arrests.

"I walk to work every day, and I walked through just groups of young men huddled around, and I know what they’re doing," Pray said. "And I just don’t know where the police are. It feels like the police are allowing this to happen, and then when they feel like it, they swoop in and pick people up, and we’re not really solving the problem."

Drug Testing

Kentucky Lab Owner, Exec Plead Guilty to $2.8M Lab Fraud Scheme That Billed Medicare for Non-Medical, Court Ordered Drug Testing. The owner

 and CEO of a Lexington, Kentucky-based lab and the lab's compliance officer have pleaded guilty to a $2.8 million healthcare fraud scheme in which they billed Medicare for court-ordered urine drug tests even though Medicare only pays for medical testing.

LabTox owner Ronald Coburn and LabTox compliance officer and director of operations Erica Baker copped the guilty pleas. Baker helped solicit urine test drug orders submitted by the company. The pair worked with a company Baker recruited, Blue Waters Assessment and Testing Services to refer court-ordered drug tests to LabTox. Despite being aware this was not medical testing, Coburn billed Medicare and Kentucky Medicaid, gaining payments of $1.9 million between June 2019 and March 2021.

Baker also sought out samples from nonmedical substance abuse treatment programs, putting some facility staff on the lab's payroll and compensating them based on the number of urine drug tests sent to the lab. LabTox billed Medicaid and Kentucky Medicare $937,594 for this testing.

Coburn has agreed to pay $3.6 million to the IRS, representing income tax he owed in 2017 through 2021. The pair will be sentenced in December and are looking at up to 10 years in federal prison.

Foreign Policy

US Secretary of State Addresses Global Synthetic Drug Threats at U.S.-Hosted Side Event at 78th United Nations General AssemblyOn Monday, September 18, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken hosted an event on the margins of the 78th United Nations General Assembly addressing the pressing issue of synthetic drug challenges worldwide.  The U.S.-sponsored side event, titled "Addressing the Public Health and Security Threats of Synthetic Drugs Through Global Cooperation," convened international leaders and representatives from international organizations, private sector, and civil society to discuss comprehensive strategies for combatting the public health and security threats posed by synthetic drugs and advance the work of the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats.

As synthetic drugs continue to devastate communities at home and abroad, this discussion underscores the United States’ commitment to engaging with international partners to address this critical issue, including the provision of more than $100 million in assistance from the Department of State to build the capacity of partners across the world to detect, identify, and interdict synthetic drugs.  This assistance also includes providing vital treatment, prevention, and recovery initiatives, as well as supporting alternatives to incarceration systems development with a focus on drug treatment. 

The Global Coalition provides a platform for the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and collaborative efforts aimed at dismantling the criminal networks responsible for the production and distribution of synthetic drugs and sharing universal best practices for substance use harm reduction and will continue expert-level engagement through monthly meetings launching in October.

SAFE Banking Act Committee Vote Coming Soon, BC Bans Drug Possession Near Parks, Playgrounds, More... (9/15/2023)

Fentanyl in stimulants like meth and cocaine is driving a fourth wave of opioid overdoses, Vancouver's pioneering safe injection site marks 20 years in service, and more.

The InSite safe injection site in Vancouver, which marks 20 years of operation this week. (PCS Community Services Society)
Marijuana Policy

Senate Banking Committee Set to Vote on SAFE Banking Act by Month's End. The Senate Banking Committee is set to vote on the SAFE Banking Act (S.1323) on September 27, "a Senate source familiar with the discussions" told Marijuana Moment Friday.

That source confirmed earlier media reports that the vote was coming. The date is not yet official, so it could change, but the expectation is that it will take place the week of September 25, the source said.

What amendments—if any—will be offered or adopted remains unclear, although there has been talk about revisions to a key section on broad banking regulations, as well as changes concerning Small Business Administration access and stock uplisting for the marijuana industry.

Drug Policy

Fentanyl-Adulterated Meth and Cocaine Is Driving a Fourth Wave of Drug Overdoses. A study published Thursday in the scientific journal Addiction finds that drug overdoses involving both fentanyl and cocaine or methamphetamine have increased 50-fold since 2010, now account for nearly one-third (32 percent) of all fatal overdoses and are responsible for some 35,000 deaths.

"We're now seeing that the use of fentanyl together with stimulants is rapidly becoming the dominant force in the U.S. overdose crisis," said Joseph Friedman, the lead author of the study and a researcher at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. "Fentanyl has ushered in a polysubstance overdose crisis, meaning that people are mixing fentanyl with other drugs, like stimulants, but also countless other synthetic substances."

The authors described the phenomenon as a "fourth wave" of the ongoing opioid crisis that began with the rise in prescription opioids around the turn of the century, followed by the rise of heroin around 2010 as authorities tightened the screws on prescription opioid prescribing and the arrival of fentanyl around 2013.

International

Vancouver's Safe Injection Marks 20 Years in Operation This Week. Vancouver Coastal Health and the PHS Community Services Society, the two groups that run InSite, the city's pioneering safe injection site—the first one in North America—are celebrating 20 years of operation this week. On Friday, they met in front of the East Hastings Street location to commemorate the occasion.

"Insite was a really important step forward in terms of drug policy and harm reduction, and to be here 20 years after we opened, it just feels incredible," said Jeff West, manager of harm reduction for Vancouver Coastal Health. "Not only was Insite important to the community as a safe space, a symbol of a more progressive drug policy, it also is a really important public health intervention," said West.

PHS first set up InSite as an unsanctioned site and only later got permission from Health Canada to operate, but it has been there ever since. And it has done so with the approval of local, provincial, and federal authorities, as well as Vancouver Police and the Coastal Health Authority. It survived a challenge from the Conservative national government of Stephen Harper, which was slapped down by the Supreme Court.

"Insite saves lives. Its benefits have been proven," wrote Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin in her decision.

British Columbia to Ban Drug Use Near Parks and Playgrounds. The province has decriminalized the possession of personal use amounts of illicit drugs in a bid to get a grip on the overdose crisis, but now British Columbia Premier David Eby legislation is being drafted to ban drug use near parks and playgrounds.

The provincial Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions said Thursday that the federal government had approved the changes expanding the are where drug possession remains illegal.

Drug possession was already prohibited on school grounds and at child care facilities, but as of next Monday, it will also be prohibited within 15 meters of playgrounds, water parks, and skate parks.

Public intoxication remains a crime.

"I hope and expect that people, even when struggling with addiction, will understand the importance that we've all got to live in the community together, and if there's a place that's funded and safe and appropriate to use, that you should be going to that health-care site rather than to a site that's used by children," Premier Ebe said.

Mark Haden, an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia's School of Population and Public Health, said in an interview Thursday that the province is "tweaking" its decriminalization policy "in response to some pushback from mayors who are saying 'this isn't working particularly well for us because it's disempowering the police.'"

Haden said the province's move is not "dealing with the real problem of prohibition." "We have a supply-chain problem that decriminalization isn't resolving," he said. "It's the supply-chain problem that's actually killing people."

200 Familes Send Letter to Lawmakers Calling for a Health Response to ODs, Not Punishment [FEATURE]

In the face of the continuing overdose crisis and the regressive resort to punitive drug war tactics such as drug-induced homicide laws to combat it, a group of friends and family members of drug users, including many who have lost loved ones to drug overdoses, is calling on Congress to stand firm against looking to more criminalization and prosecution as a solution.

The people of Broken No More (broken-no-more.org_
In collaboration with the Drug Policy Alliance, the group, Broken No More, last week sent an open letter to lawmakers urging them to oppose more failed drug war policies and instead embrace evidence-based health responses proven to save lives and prevent other families from suffering the loss of loved ones.

"Opportunistic politicians supported by law enforcement are using the overdose crisis and parents’ grief to pass harsh drug laws that will only continue to fill our morgues and prisons," the open letter says. "Punitive laws will not bring our loved ones back, but they will subject other parents’ children to more suffering and deny them the support that can keep them alive.

The group makes concrete demands of Congress about what it does and does not want. It says "no more" to drug-induced homicide laws, new mandatory minimum sentencing laws, or new laws increasing penalties for the possession of personal use amounts of illicit drugs.

Instead, it calls for "health-based solutions focused on overdose prevention, harm reduction, and drug treatment," including drug decriminalization (with the savings invested in addiction services and social supports), the panoply of harm reduction measures from needle exchanges and drug checking to safe injection sites, effective voluntary drug treatment options (including access on demand for opioid disorder medications buprenorphine and methadone_, "reality based drug education," and removing civil punishments for drug use  (in food, housing, and employment).

"As a mother who lost her 16-year-old son to overdose, I strongly oppose imposing harsher penalties for those involved in drug-related deaths," said Tamara Olt, MD, executive director of Broken No More. "It is enough that one family has been devastated by the loss of their loved one. It is cruel and unjust for a second family to lose their child to incarceration and the laws will increase deaths by making people afraid to get help for someone experiencing an overdose. I support a health-based approach, harm reduction, and safer supply to cease the senseless and preventable overdose deaths that are increasing exponentially. No one is disposable."

"I lost my son, my only child, Jeff, to an overdose. But he didn’t have to die. There were two people with Jeff that day, one of whom had sold him the heroin he used. They could have called for help but, instead, they pulled him from the SUV and left him on a lawn. And while people will say that they were monsters, they weren’t. The monster was fear. Fear of the police. Fear of arrest. Fear of spending 20 years to life in prison. It was fear that killed my son," said Denise Cullen, LCSW, co-founder of Broken No More. "Criminalization and punitive drug laws have resulted in nothing but more imprisonment, more deaths, and more devastated families. We must, instead, invest in health-based solutions that will save the lives of the ones we love. Laws that charge people with murder for a drug-related death may sound like a good idea. Until that is, it’s your child that dies on a lawn."

"We stand behind the families who are bravely fighting for the right policy solutions so that no one else has to go through the heartbreak and pain they have experienced. Their voices are abundantly clear that the best way to address the overdose crisis is through continued investment in public health resources and services rather than doubling down on the deeply flawed, unjust, and failed punitive approaches of the past," said Emily Kaltenbach, senior director of state advocacy and criminal legal reform at the Drug Policy Alliance. "Turning to health solutions instead of punishment is the right way forward. People all across the country are looking for answers to the problems of public safety, mass criminalization, racist policing, addiction, overdose, and homelessness.  But we know that punishing people for possessing drugs for personal use is not the answer to these issues."

For a complete list of signatories go here. And it is not too late for other parents and family members who have lost loved ones to sign the letter here.

MN Supreme Court Rules Weed Odor No Cause for Search, Scottish Safe Injection Site Plans, More... (9/13/23)

Nebraska advocates kicked off their third campaign for a medical marijuana initiative on Wednesday, a pair of psychedelic amendments to the defense spending bill will get a House floor vote, and more.

The odor of marijuana alone is not probable cause for a vehicle search, the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled. (Creative Commons
Marijuana Policy

Minnesota Supreme Court Rules Weed Odor Alone Does Not Justify a Vehicle Search. The state Supreme Court has ruled that that the mere odor of marijuana does not establish probable cause for police to search a vehicle. The state now becomes the latest marijuana legalization state to see such a ruling.

The ruling came in the case of a Litchfield man was pulled over in 2021 for having "too many auxiliary lights on his grill." Two police officers claimed they smelled marijuana coming from an open car window. The man denied having marijuana and police search of the vehicle turned none up, but it did turn up a small amount of methamphetamine, for which the man was charged.

The trial court noted that the man was not driving erratically, nor was there any evidence of a crime in plain view when police approached the car and ruled the search inadmissible. (Even though the state did not legalize marijuana until this year, at the time of the search, medical marijuana was legal and pot possession was decriminalized.

The state appealed the decision to the appeals court and lost and then to the state Supreme Court, where it has now lost again.

Medical Marijuana

Nebrasksa Medical Marijuana Proponents Hope Third Time Is the Charm. Backers of a proposed 2024 medical marijuana ballot initiative kicks off their campaign in Lincoln Wednesday. Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana is hoping the third time is the charm after a first effort was sidelined by the state Supreme Court and a second effort ran short on signatures after losing a major donor.

The group’s co-chairs, State Senator Anna Wishart and former State Senator Adam Morfeld, are meeting with patients, families, caregivers, and volunteers in an initial fundraiser.

To qualify for the 2024 ballot, campaigners will need to come up with 87,000 valid voter signatures by the first week of July 2024.

Psychedelics

House Committee Clears Psychedelic Amendments to Defense Bill for Floor Vote. The House Rules Committee on Tuesday declared that two psychedelic amendments to the defense spending bill are in order, meaning they can advance to House floor votes. But the committee also blocked separate marijuana-related amendments from advancing.

One of the psychedelic amendments, from Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), would allow active-duty service members suffering from PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury to participate in clinical trials of the efficacy of psychedelic substances. The second, from Crenshaw and Rep. Morgan Luttrell (R-TX), would appropriate $15 million in funding for the Pentagon's Psychedelic Medical Clinical Trials.

While Republican-led committee advanced the psychedelic amendments sponsored by fellow Republicans, it blocked the marijuana amendments that came from Democrats. One would have ended the disqualification of potential enlistees for THC; the other would have barred federal funds for marijuana testing upon enlistment.

International

Scottish Safe Injection Site Could Be Approved Within Weeks. After Scotland's Lord Advocate, the Scottish government's highest legal official, confirmed that users of a proposed safe injection would not be prosecuted, the proposed pilot scheme is set to be approved by local officials—the next step toward its realization.

Scottish drugs minister Elena Whitman told members of the Scottish Parliament Tuesday that the plan would go before the city’s integrated joint board of council and health officials on 27 September, where it is expected to be approved and put out to public consultation.

While the Conservative government in London sets drug policy for the United Kingdom, it is the Scottish Lord Advocate who decides whether to prosecute.

Lord Advocate Bain said she believed it would "not be in the public interest to prosecute drug users for simple possession offences committed within a pilot safer drugs consumption facility."

The Scottish government and the Glasgow city council, both of which are led by the Scottish National Party, have been supportive of a pilot project for years, but now Scottish Labor, the Scottish Liberal Democrats, and the Scottish Greens are all on board, and the Scottish Tories have agreed not to try to block the proposal.

Latin American Countries Call for Drug War "Rethink," GOP Reps Tell DEA Not to Reschedule Pot, More... (9/12/23)

A California bill allowing pot shops to sell food and drink goes to the governor, a new report from Harm Reduction International tracks US and EU aid that goes to support the drug war, and more.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro continues to press for a new drugs approach. (Creative Commons)

Marijuana Policy

Fourteen GOP Lawmakers Tell DEA to Ignore HHS Recommendation, Keep Marijuana Schedule I. A dirty dozen plus two Republican House and Senate members have sent a letter to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram calling on her to reject a recommendation from the Department of Health and Human Services to down-schedule the drug. Instead, the conservative lawmakers wrote, marijuana should remain on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.

The lead authors on the letter were Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) and Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX). They were joined by Sens. Michael Rounds (R-SD), James Risch (R-ID), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Ted Budd (R-NC), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Tom Cotton (R-AR), as well as Reps. Chuck Edwards (R-NC), Robert Aderholt (R-AL), Hal Rogers (R-KY), Buddy Carter (R-GA) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ).

Any decision to reschedule marijuana "should be based on proven facts and science—not popular opinion, changes in state laws, or the preferred policy of an administration," they wrote, ignoring HHS's science-based review that led to the call for down-scheduling.

"It is irresponsible for HHS to recommend that marijuana be removed from Schedule I. It would also be irresponsible for DEA to act on this recommendation," the letter concludes. "Our country relies on DEA to enforce our nation’s drug laws. We ask you to uphold your mission by rejecting any effort to remove marijuana from Schedule I."

California Marijuana Café Bill Heads to Governor's Desk. After a final concurrence vote in the Assembly to approve amendments made in the Senate, the legislature on Tuesday approved Assembly Bill 374, which would allow marijuana retailers to offer food and drinks in they get local approval. It now heads to the desk of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).

The bill would let local governments authorize the preparation and sell of non-marijuana food and drinks. Sale of alcohol would continue to be prohibited, as would the smoking of tobacco.

The bill would also authorize "live musical or other performances on the premises of a retailer or microbusiness licensed under this division in the area where the consumption of cannabis is allowed, and the sale of tickets for those performances."

International

Led By Colombia and Mexica, 19 Latin American and Caribbean Nations Call for Rethink of War on Drugs. After meeting at the Latin American and Caribbean Conference on Drugs over the weekend, 19 Latin American and Caribbean nations have signed onto a joint statement calling for a rethinking of the war on drugs and instead focusing on "life, peace and development" within the region.

Under the current prohibitionist approach to drug policy, "the expected results have not been obtained when combating the world drug problem, leaving in many cases the underlying problems to be solved and exploiting and exacerbating vulnerabilities of our territories and societies."

The governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela all signed on.

Colombia and Mexico "are the biggest victims of this policy," said Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who likened the drug war to "genocide."

"What I propose is to have a different and unified voice that defends our society, our future and our history and stops repeating a failed discourse," Petro said. He argued that it was wrong to look at drug control "as a military problem and not as a health problem in society."

Supply-side solutions have been counterproductive, he argued. "Every dollar that is dedicated to cutting the supply makes the price grow," he said. "If the price increases, drug traffickers have more money to buy rifles, to buy armored vehicles, to buy missiles, to buy politicians, to buy senators, to buy generals, to buy judges, to buy presidents."

"The fundamental thing to face the scourge of drug addiction and violence is to address the causes, with a new criterion, not to think only of coercive measures," López Obrador, the Mexican president, said at the conference. "We have to put first the criterion that peace is the result of justice. We have to fight first against poverty, against inequality."

America and European Union Have Spent a Billion Dollars in Past Decade to Fight Drug War, Fueling Human Rights Abuses, New Report Finds. Between 2012 and 2021, the US and the European Union spent nearly a billion dollars of their budgets on programs supporting drug control policies, fueling human rights abuses as they did so, according to a new report from Harm Reduction International.

EU funding has been used to support surveillance capabilities in Colombia, Mozambique and the Dominican Republic, and undercover policing in Peru, while American funding has been used by the DEA train police and special units in Vietnam and Honduras, which have been accused of arbitrary arrests and killings.

"When you think about development, you don’t really think about it being used for those kinds of activities – you think of poverty reduction, working towards development goals on health or education," said Catherine Cook, sustainable financing lead at HRI, which monitors the impact of drug policies. "This money is actually being used to support punitive measures – so policing, prisons, essentially funding the ‘war on drugs’, even though we know the ‘war on drugs’ and punitive policies have repeatedly failed."

CO Lawmakers Call for Safe Injection Sites, CA Psychedelic Decrim Bill Heads for Final Vote, More... (9/5/23)

A North Carolina Republican congressman files a bill to punish localities that legalize marijuana, Peruvian Shining Path remnants tied to the cocaine trade clash with Peruvian army troops, and more 

Magic mushrooms and other natural psychedelics would be decriminalized under a California bill that heads for a final vote. (CC)
Marijuana Policy

North Carolina Congressman Files Bill to Punish Legal Weed States. Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) has filed a bill that would punish states or reservations where marijuana is legal by withholding 10 percent of highway funding to them. Edward's Stop Pot Act, filed last Friday, targets jurisdictions "in which the purchase or public possession of marijuana for recreational purposes is lawful."

It was spurred by his ire at the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, which will vote on whether to legalize marijuana this week. He argues that such laws are an affront to federal law.

"The laws of any government should not infringe on the overall laws of our nation, and federal funds should not be awarded to jurisdictions that willfully ignore federal law," he said in a press release. "During a time when our communities are seeing unprecedented crime, drug addiction, and mental illness, the Stop Pot Act will help prevent even greater access to drugs and ease the strain placed on our local law enforcement and mental health professionals who are already stretched thin."

The tribe does not think much of Edwards' move. Principal Chief Richard Sneed noted that Edwards is "a non-Indian, elected official telling a sovereign tribal nation how they ought to handle their business" and that he "overstepped his authority."

Psychedelics

California Psychedelic Decriminalization Bill Heads for Assembly Floor Vote. A bill to decriminalize certain plant- and fungi-based psychedelics is heading for a final Assembly floor vote after clearing a final committee vote last Friday. Senate Bill 58 , from Sen. Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco) has already passed the Senate and cleared the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Friday.

The bill would decriminalize plant-based and other natural hallucinogens such as psilocybin, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ibogaine, and mescaline, but in deference to the Native American Church, not peyote. Police would be unable to charge those in possession of personal use amounts of those substances, which range from two grams for psilocybin to 15 grams for ibogaine. The substances would remain illegal for minors.

The bill is a scaled back version of a bill first filed by Weiner in January 21 that would also have decriminalized synthetic psychedelics, such as ketamine, LSD, and MDMA. And as doubts lingered over whether the bill could pass this year, Weiner amended it to add a provision requiring the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHSA) to create a workgroup tasked with studying and making recommendations on the establishment of a framework for the therapeutic use of psychedelics.

"I’m particularly excited to see that a vote will be held for decriminalizing psychedelics, an idea whose time has come I," said Weiner."I look forward to working with my colleagues and a wide array of stakeholders to deliver these bills to the governor."

But whether Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) will sign the bill remains an open question.

"The bill does have a good shot of passing the Assembly," said former police officer and current drug counselor Marty Ribera. "But Newsom is the big one. He’s looking to run for president either next year or in 2028, and being the Governor who legalized a bunch of drugs would not be a good look."

Harm Reduction

Colorado Legislative Opioid Study Committee Calls for Safe Injection Sites. Lawmakers last year tried and failed to clear the way for safe injection sites last year, and this year they will be back again. The legislature's opioid study committee has called for a bill to be drafted to allow cities to create "overdose prevention centers" or safe injection sites.

The committee vote followed party lines, with Republicans opposed.

The need is evident. Opioid overdose deaths, most implicating fentanyl, rose 50 percent from 2019 to 2020 and another 27 percent from 2020 to 2021.

Safe injection sites are arguably illegal under federal law, specifically the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which forbids the use of premises for illicit drug use—the crack house act. The Trump administration Justice Department sued to block a Philadelphia safe injection site, but the Biden Justice Department is now in negotiations that could clear the way for it to open.

Rhode Island has authorized safe injection sites, but the only locally-authorized sites opened in New York City in late 2021. And now, the US attorney there is making noises calling into question whether they can remain.

International

Peru Clashes Between Military and Shining Path Leave Six Dead. Remnants of the Shining Path, a Maoist insurgency from the 1980s that left tens of thousands dead and has since devolved into players in the coca and cocaine trade, clashed with an army patrol Monday, leaving four soldiers and two Shining Path members dead.

The early morning attack by the rebel traffickers came in the province of Huanta in the Ayacucho region—the historic Shining Path stronghold.

"During the confrontation, the security forces managed to kill two terrorist criminals, who fell with their long-range weapons," the army said in a press release. "Unfortunately, during this action, four brave members of the armed forces died, whose remains will be transferred shortly to the city of Huamanga." The army said three wounded soldiers were also transferred to a nearby hospital.

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte paid tribute to the soldiers shortly afterwards on social media, referring to the Shining Path as "narcoterrorists."

The violence occurred in the Valley of Apurimac, Ene, and Mantaro Rivers (VRAEM), a center of coca cultivation and cocaine production. In 2021, the government estimated that 70 percent of the country's total coca leaf production came from the VRAEM. The VRAEM is also the last outpost of the Shining Path. 

Alarm Over New Synthetic Opioids, San Francisco Safe Injection Site Saves Lives, More... (8/29/23)

Garden State Democrats take flak for voting for a harsh fentanyl analog bill, a clandestine San Francisco safe injection site saved lives, and more. 

Nitazines. (Delaware Psychological Services)
Drug Policy

New Synthetic Opioids Raising Alarms. A group of new synthetic opioids called nitazenes are emerging in illicit drug markets and may be more powerful than fentanyl, a thousand times more potent that morphine, and may require even greater doses of opioid overdose reversal drugs to reverse overdoses, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Researchers found most patients who overdosed on nitazenes required two doses of the overdose reversal drug naloxone to recover, while most patients overdosing on fentanyl required only a single dose.

"Clinicians should be aware of these opioids in the drug supply so they are adequately prepared to care for these patients and anticipate needing to use multiple doses of naloxone," the researchers, from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, Lehigh Valley Health Network based in Pennsylvania, and other US institutions, wrote in the study. "In addition, to date there has been a lack of bystander education on repeat naloxone dosing."

The data came from a small study of 537 adults admitted to emergency rooms between 2020 and 2022, 11 of which tested positive only for fentanyl and nine who tested positive only for nitazenes. The researchers found that two-thirds of patients overdosing on nitazenes required two or more doses of naloxone, compared with only one-third of those overdosing on fentanyl.

Among the nitazenes are brorphine, isotonitazene, metonitazene, or N-piperidinyl etonitazene. Metonitazene appears to be the most dangerous.

"In the present study, metonitazene appears to have the most severe clinical toxicity given that both patients in which metonitazene was detected presented in cardiac arrest," the researchers wrote. Among those two patients who were found to have metonitazene, one patient died despite receiving six milligrams of naloxone in three separate doses. The other patient survived after receiving a total of 10 milligrams of naloxone in three doses.

New Jersey Congressional Democrats Take Flak for Voting for Mandatory Minimums for Fentanyl Analogs. Three New Jersey Democrats joined with three New Jersey Republicans to vote for the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl (HALT) Act (HR 467), which ramped up mandatory minimum sentences for fentanyl analogs, and now they are facing bitter criticism for doing so. The bill assumes that fentanyl analogs are harmful and criminalizes people despite a lack of scientific evidence.

Supported the drug war legislations were conservative Democrats Josh Gottheimer, Mikie Sherrill, and Donald Norcross, as well as Republicans Jeff Van Drew, Chris Smith, and Thomas Kean Jr.

"This shoot-first, ask-questions-later legislation would permanently schedule all fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I without first testing them for benefits or harm," said civil rights advocate Lisa McCormick. "By putting fentanyl-related substances on that list, they are among the most harshly criminalized drugs regardless of the science."

"This bill also imposes mandatory minimum sentences of 10 to 20 years in prison for fentanyl analog cases, hearkening back to failed drug war strategies of the past that have led to a stronger, more potent illicit drug supply," said McCormick. "Yet, Republican members of Congress and their corporate-controlled Democratic allies continue to double down on the disproven, failed approach of drug prohibition at the expense of people’s lives. "Of the nearly two million people incarcerated in the U.S. today, one in five is locked up for a drug offense," said McCormick, who said the legislation was strongly condemned by a variety of non-partisan civil rights, public health, drug policy, faith, law enforcement, criminal legal reform, and public policy research organizations.

"Our communities deserve real health solutions to the overdose crisis, not political grandstanding that is going to cost us more lives," said Maritza Perex Medina, director of the Office of Federal Affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance. "Yet, sadly, in passing the HALT Fentanyl Act, the House seems intent on doubling down on the same failed strategies that got us here to begin with."

"It’s sad to see lawmakers revert to over-criminalization once again when we have 50 years of evidence that the war on drugs has been an abject failure," said Laura Pitter, deputy director of the US Program at Human Rights Watch. "A vote for this bill was a vote against evidence and science."

Advocates are calling on Congress to reject drug war-style legislation and instead support public health approaches like the Support, Treatment, and Overdose Prevention of Fentanyl (STOP Fentanyl) Act of 2021 (HR 2366) and the Test Act (SB 1950). The former proposes increased access to harm reduction services and substance use disorder treatment, improved data collection, and other evidence-based methods to reduce overdose, while the latter would require the federal government to test all fentanyl-related substances that are currently classified as Schedule I substances and remove those that are proven medically beneficial or otherwise unharmful.

Harm Reduction

San Francisco's Clandestine Safe Injection Site Saved Hundreds of Lives. According to a study published Tuesday in the International Journal of Drug Policy, the Tenderloin Center, a clandestine safe injection site that operated throughout 2022 saw 333 overdoses—with no fatalities and every single one of them reversed. That was out of 124,000 visits.

The Tenderloin Center was "an effective harm-reduction strategy to save lives," wrote lead author Dr. Leslie Suen of the University of California, San Francisco. " 

The site has since shuttered, with neither City Attorney David Chiu nor Mayor London Breed willing to keep it open against federal law. Now, the city is on track for its highest recorded number of drug overdoses yet. 

US Citizens Dominate Fentanyl Trade, NV Regulators Approve More Social Consumption Lounges, More... (8/24/23)

Maine's congressional delegation is worried about alleged illegal Chinese marijuana grows, US Sentencing Commission statistics show that US citizens--not illegal immigrants--dominate the fentanyl trade, and more.

The US-Mexico border. Fentanyl is coming through ports of entry, not in immigrants' backpacks. (Creative Commons)
Marijuana Policy

Maine Congressional Delegation Asks Attorney General to Shut Down Alleged Chinese Marijuana Grow Operations. Responding to a "federal memo" circulating within the US Border Patrol that alleged there were 270 properties in the state linked to illegal Chinese marijuana grows and that they could generate $4 billion a year in revenue, the Maine congressional delegation on Thursday sent a letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland (D) urging the Justice Department to shut down the grows

The "federal memo" is questionable. First released by the conservative media source The Daily Caller, the memo (as characterized by the Daily Caller) does not rely on federal statistics but on reports from state and local law enforcement. It also has some funny numbers, including the claim that a plot with 100 plants could generate $5.4 million over three growth cycles in a year. If you crunch the numbers, the comes out to $17,000 per plant per cycle, which would require multi-pound harvests of each plant every four months. Such yields are typically associated with long-growing outdoor plants harvested once a year, not hothouse plants harvested every four months.

Still, the congressional delegation was concerned: "These illegal growing operations are detrimental to Maine businesses that comply with State laws, and we urge the Department of Justice to shut them down," the Maine delegation wrote in Thursday’s joint letter to the nation’s top law enforcement official.

They also sought answers to several questions, including: who produced the memo, what is the Justice Department doing to tackle illegal grows, how are profits returning to the country of origin, and is Justice aware of alleged Chinese ownership.

Nevada Regulators Approve Three More Marijuana Consumption Lounges. The state's Cannabis Control Board on Tuesday approved three more applications for marijuana consumption lounges, raising the number of licenses issued so far to seven. The board approved licenses for Deep Roots Harvest and Global Harmony, which operate Las Vegas pot shops , as well as KV Group in the southern Nevada town Pahrump.

In June, the board issued the first three licenses, for Cheyenne Medical in unincorporated Clark County, Common Sense Botanicals Nevada in Washoe Valley, and Planet 13 in Las Vegas.

The board also loosened air-ventilation standards for consumption lounges, a move that came after operators complained that the large upfront investment  and ongoing energy costs of operating the ventilation systems were economically not feasible for most operators and near impossible for social equity licensees.

Also Tuesday, regulators loosened air-ventilation standards for marijuana consumption, which provided more clarity for operators to move forward with construction plans in one of the nation’s largest tourism markets.

Despite the licensing actions, the only legal consumption lounge currently open in the state is the NuWu Cannabis Marketplace located on tribal land near downtown Las Vegas.

Opiates and Opioids

Despite Widespread Belief That Migrants Are Smuggling Fentanyl from Mexico, Nine Out of Ten Fentanyl Trafficking Busts Are of US Citizens. A recent NPR-Ipsos poll found that 39 percent of Americans and 60 percent of Republicans believe "Most of the fentanyl entering the US is smuggled in by unauthorized migrants crossing the border illegally," but that belief is mistaken.

According to data from the US Sentencing Commission, US citizens accounted for 89 percent of people convicted of fentanyl trafficking, a number 12 times greater that the number of illegal immigrants convicted on those charges.

Similarly, 93 percent of border fentanyl seizures occurred at legal ports of entry or interior vehicle checkpoints, not on illegal migration routes. That elevates the prospect for US citizens—who are subject to less scrutiny—to be successful fentanyl smugglers. Just 0.009 percent of people arrested by the Border Patrol for illegal border crossings were found with any amount of fentanyl.

This is something for policymakers to ponder when attempting to come up with solutions for the fentanyl problem. 

Trump Calls for Military Force Against Mexican Cartels, India Pols Call for Legal Opium, More... (8/22/23)

A Republican congressman threatens an Indian tribe over marijuana legalization, some surprising talk from politicians in the Punjab, and more

Mexican President Lopez Obrador does not think much of the tough talk coming from GOP politicians. (Creative Commons)
Marijuana Policy

GOP Congressman Threatens North Carolina Tribe with Loss of Federal Funding over Marijuana Legalization. The state's Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is set to vote on a referendum to legalize marijuana on tribal land in September, but now US Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) is warning that it could pay a price if it does. Edwards said the plans to introduce a bill—he says he will call it the Stop Pot Act—in Congress that would "defund governments that ignore federal law.

"I proudly consider the tribe my friends, and I respect their tribal sovereignty," the freshman House member wrote. "But there are times when friends disagree, and I must do so regarding this question of legalizing recreational marijuana. The tribe’s rights should not infringe on the overall laws of our nation. To allow our citizens to travel only a few miles to buy and use this common gateway drug would be irresponsible, and I intend to stop it."

Edwards, who opposed all efforts to reform marijuana laws while in the state legislature, including even medical marijuana, warned that legalization would lead to impaired driving, "drug tourism,"  hard drug sales, and unspecified "criminal activity that would inevitably follow."

"It is important that the tribe understands they will be voting on a measure that, if enacted, could soon be very costly," Edwards wrote. But only if his yet-to-be-filed bill actually becomes law..

Drug Policy

Trump Would Deploy US Military to Fight Drug Cartels. As part of a broader strategy to crack down on immigration and the border that includes vetting migrants to ensure that no "Marxists" are let it, Donald Trump plans at least two policies that take direct military aim at Mexican drug cartels.

The first policy would deploy Coast Guard and US Navy ships to stop drug smuggling boats and the second would designate drug cartels as "unlawful enemy combatants," which would allow the US military to target them in Mexico. That is the same designation used to detain 9/11 suspects for decades at Guantanamo.

Trump is only the latest Republican presidential contender to seek GOP political points by taking aggressive aim at the Mexican cartels, and none of it is going over very well with Mexico. Amidst similar talk earlier this year, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador warned that Mexico is "not going to permit any foreign government to intervene in our territory, much less that a government’s armed forces intervene."

International

Politicians in India's Punjab Call for Legal Opium Production, Sales. Amidst rising drug overdose deaths and growing drug mafias, some politicians in Punjab are calling for the legalization of opium and other drugs.

Former Patiala MP Dharamvira Gandhi, who had in 2016 even moved a private member’s bill in Parliament seeking to decriminalize opium, marijuana and poppy husk, said legalizing the sale of such drugs can severely wound drug mafias. "It will cut the ground from under their feet," he said. "It would also add to the state's revenue. Let there be an atmosphere of fearlessness that users can get the drugs from a reliable, legal, authenticated legal force," he said.

"This is the history of opium—that no one died by consuming it, nor anyone had to sell his house and property," said senior Alkali leader Sikander Singh Maluka, comparing its relatively mild effects to those of heroin and other synthetic drug. "There could be a rare exception who may have consumed it in large quantity."

"A user is never a promoter," said Gandhi. "The promoter of drugs is mafia which has vested interests. Crores of rupees are at stake. Not all, but many police officers, renowned politicians and many bigwigs are involved in drugs, not only in India but all across the world. It is the drug mafia, be it in Latin America, North America, South America, India, Brazil, or other countries for that matter. There are drug lords. And whatever success people have got against them is only after decriminalizing drugs. Portugal is one great example. The Portuguese government has done this. There was lot of crime because of drugs, lot of HIV and other communicable diseases by the use of intravenous injections and it (Portugal) had topped this table in entire Europe, but now it is at the bottom only because of decriminalizing all drugs."

(This article was prepared by StoptheDrugWar.org's 501(c)(4) lobbying nonprofit, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also pays the cost of maintaining this website. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)

Drug War Issues

Criminal JusticeAsset Forfeiture, Collateral Sanctions (College Aid, Drug Taxes, Housing, Welfare), Court Rulings, Drug Courts, Due Process, Felony Disenfranchisement, Incarceration, Policing (2011 Drug War Killings, 2012 Drug War Killings, 2013 Drug War Killings, 2014 Drug War Killings, 2015 Drug War Killings, 2016 Drug War Killings, 2017 Drug War Killings, Arrests, Eradication, Informants, Interdiction, Lowest Priority Policies, Police Corruption, Police Raids, Profiling, Search and Seizure, SWAT/Paramilitarization, Task Forces, Undercover Work), Probation or Parole, Prosecution, Reentry/Rehabilitation, Sentencing (Alternatives to Incarceration, Clemency and Pardon, Crack/Powder Cocaine Disparity, Death Penalty, Decriminalization, Defelonization, Drug Free Zones, Mandatory Minimums, Rockefeller Drug Laws, Sentencing Guidelines)CultureArt, Celebrities, Counter-Culture, Music, Poetry/Literature, Television, TheaterDrug UseParaphernalia, Vaping, ViolenceIntersecting IssuesCollateral Sanctions (College Aid, Drug Taxes, Housing, Welfare), Violence, Border, Budgets/Taxes/Economics, Business, Civil Rights, Driving, Economics, Education (College Aid), Employment, Environment, Families, Free Speech, Gun Policy, Human Rights, Immigration, Militarization, Money Laundering, Pregnancy, Privacy (Search and Seizure, Drug Testing), Race, Religion, Science, Sports, Women's IssuesMarijuana PolicyGateway Theory, Hemp, Marijuana -- Personal Use, Marijuana Industry, Medical MarijuanaMedicineMedical Marijuana, Science of Drugs, Under-treatment of PainPublic HealthAddiction, Addiction Treatment (Science of Drugs), Drug Education, Drug Prevention, Drug-Related AIDS/HIV or Hepatitis C, Harm Reduction (Methadone & Other Opiate Maintenance, Needle Exchange, Overdose Prevention, Pill Testing, Safer Injection Sites)Source and Transit CountriesAndean Drug War, Coca, Hashish, Mexican Drug War, Opium ProductionSpecific DrugsAlcohol, Ayahuasca, Cocaine (Crack Cocaine), Ecstasy, Heroin, Ibogaine, ketamine, Khat, Kratom, Marijuana (Gateway Theory, Marijuana -- Personal Use, Medical Marijuana, Hashish), Methamphetamine, New Synthetic Drugs (Synthetic Cannabinoids, Synthetic Stimulants), Nicotine, Prescription Opiates (Fentanyl, Oxycontin), Psilocybin / Magic Mushrooms, Psychedelics (LSD, Mescaline, Peyote, Salvia Divinorum)YouthGrade School, Post-Secondary School, Raves, Secondary School