A federal circuit court puts the hurt on a Nebraska medical marijuana initiative, DC residents can now self-certify as medical marijuana patients, and more.

Downtown Washington, DC. Adults there can now self-certify as medical marijuana patients. (Pixabay)

Arkansas Marijuana Legalization Initiative Campaign to Turn in Massive Signature Cache Tomorrow. Responsible Growth Arkansas, the group behind a constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana, the Arkansas Adult Use Cannabis Amendment, is handing in signatures Friday and the group says it has collected more than double the number of signatures required. These are just raw signatures, but initiative campaigns typically seek a cushion of excess signatures of 10, 20, or 30 percent to make up for any that are invalidated, and this is a cushion of 100 percent, so it looks very likely that Arkansans will be voting to free the weed in November. The amendment would allow people 21 and over to purchase and possess up to one ounce of marijuana but would not allow for home cultivation. It does not contain provisions to expunge past records or to address social equity.

Medical Marijuana

Federal Court Rules Against Nebraska Medical Marijuana Initiative Campaign in Signature-Gathering Case. The 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals has granted a stay to the state of Nebraska in a case regarding signature-gathering requirements for a pair of linked medical marijuana initiatives. The group behind the campaign, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, had successfully challenged the state's requirement that initiatives must obtain signatures from at least five percent of registered voters in at least 38 of the state's 93 counties, having won a preliminary injunction on the issue in federal district court. The 8th Circuit's ruling stayed that preliminary injunction, meaning the old requirements are once again in effect.

DC Mayor Signs Bill to Allow People 21 and Over to Buy Medical Marijuana Without a Doctor's Recommendation. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) on Wednesday signed into law a bill that allows DC residents to "self-certify" their need for medical marijuana, removing the need for obtaining a doctor's recommendation. "We know that by bringing more medical marijuana patients into the legal marketplace in a timely manner and doing more to level the playing field for licensed medical marijuana providers, we can protect residents, support local businesses, and provide clarity to the community," Bowser said. The move comes as Congress continues to block the District from being able to allow recreational marijuana sales and as the District grapples with the proliferation of unregulated marijuana "gifting shops," where people pay high prices for items such as t-shirts and then receive marijuana as a "gift."

International

Amnesty International Calls on Singapore to End Wave of Drug War Executions. "End the wave of hangings and immediately impose a moratorium on executions," the human rights group demanded Thursday after Singapore executed two men on drug charges. Responding to the execution of Malaysian national Kalwant Singh in Singapore, together with that of another man, Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director for Research Emerlynne Gil said: "Singapore has once again executed people convicted of drug-related offenses in violation of international law, callously disregarding public outcry. Going against a worldwide trend towards abolishing the death penalty, Singapore is just one of four countries known to have executed people for drug-related offenses in recent years. The death penalty is never the solution and we oppose it unconditionally. There is no evidence that it acts as a unique deterrent to crime."

The Nebraska medical marijuana initiative campaign is in a final frantic push to come up with additional signatures, the Oklahoma marijuana legalization initiative campaign hands in beaucoup signatures, and more.

President Biden is being pushed to deschedule marijuana via executive action. (whitehouse.gov)

Senate Democrats Press Biden to Use Existing Authority to Take Step Forward on Marijuana Legalization. A trio of leading progressive senators are among those who are pressing for President Biden to use his authority to deschedule marijuana. Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) signed on to a letter Wednesday that called on the administration to "use its existing authority to (i) deschedule cannabis and (ii) issue pardons to all individuals convicted of nonviolent cannabis-related offenses.

The senators said the letter was the second time they had asked the administration to move on descheduling. The first time was in October 2021, and they described the administration's response as "extraordinarily disappointing." "The Administration's failure to coordinate a timely review of its cannabis policy is harming thousands of Americans, slowing research, and depriving Americans of their ability to use marijuana for medical or other purposes," they wrote in the letter, which was addressed to President Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra.

Oklahoma Marijuana Legalization Initiative Campaign Hands in Signatures. Oklahomans for Sensible Marijuana Laws has handed in nearly double the number of raw signatures needed to get a measure legalizing adult use marijuana, State Question 820, on the November ballot. The group needed some 94,000 valid voter signatures to qualify and handed in more than 164,000 raw signatures. A companion measure, State Question 819, faces a higher signature threshold because it is a constitutional amendment, but is also expected to qualify for the November ballot. It needs 177,957 valid voter signatures to qualify and it has until August 1 to hand them in.

Medical Marijuana

Arizona Medical Marijuana Regulators Must Revise Fee Structure, Auditor's Review Finds. State auditors recommended three years that the Department of Health Services needed to make changes in how it manages the state's medical marijuana fund, and in a new report released late in June, the auditors said the department had failed to act on the initial recommendations. The auditors said the department had followed other of its 2019 recommendations, including performing medical marijuana facility inspections and addressing complaints and noncompliance issues, but has not adequately audited its fee structure nor addressed funding allocations for specific programs outlined in the medical marijuana law.

Nebraska Medical Marijuana Initiative Campaign Says It Is Near Signature Goal. State Sen. Anna Wishart (D), who is working with Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana to put a pair of linked initiatives on the November ballot, said Wednesday that "overwhelming number of Nebraskans have turned out and signed our petitions in the last ten days" and that the campaign has gathered some 87,000 raw signatures. It needs that amount of valid voter signatures to qualify. Initiative campaigns typically seek a cushion of 10, 20, or 30 percent more raw signatures than needed to account for signatures found to be invalid. But the campaign only has until Friday to come up with additional signatures, and it is pleading with Nebraskans to come up with at least 5,000 more signatures (a cushion of only about 4 percent) by then, which may or may not be sufficient to offset signatures found to be invalid.

A House committee has advanced an amendment to protect state-legal marijuana businesses, the DC city council votes to let adults "self-certify" for a medical marijuana card, and more.

A Colombian coca farmer. The country's truth commission is calling for big changes. (dea.gov)

House Appropriations Committee Approves Amendment to Protect Legal State Marijuana Programs. The House Committee on Appropriations voted Tuesday to approve an amendment that would prevent the Department of Justice from interfering with legal adult-use marijuana programs as part of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations legislation for Fiscal Year 2023. The bipartisan amendment, introduced by Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and David Joyce (R-OH), with the non-committee support of past champions Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Tom McClintock (R-CA), and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), would bar the DOJ from using resources to interfere with the ability of states, territories, tribal governments, or the District of Columbia to implement laws and regulations governing the legal and regulated production, sale, and use of cannabis by adults or to target people acting in compliance with those laws.

Medical Marijuana

DC Council Ends Requirement for Doctor's Recommendation Before Buying Medical Marijuana. The DC Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill eliminating the requirement that people seeking to purchase medical marijuana first obtain a doctor's recommendation. The bill allows city residents 21 and over to "self-certify" they need marijuana for medicinal purposes when they register for a patient card. The bill now goes to Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), who has indicated she supports the measure.

Drug Policy

Washington Activists End Bid to Put Drug Decriminalization Initiative on November Ballot, Cite Cost of Signature-Gathering. Commit to Change WA, the people behind a proposed drug decriminalization initiative, said Monday that it was halting efforts to qualify for the ballot this year and would instead work with the legislature to try to pass a decriminalization bill next year. "We will not be moving forward to qualify Washington State Initiative Measure No. 1922 to the November 8 general election ballot," the group said. "Signature gathering proved more challenging and prohibitively expensive than projected." The decision to quit comes even as new polling shows that two-thirds of state voters would have voted for the measure after reading the ballot language. "Though the proposed Initiative 1922 will no longer be on Washington ballots this November, legislators in the state must note that Washington voters are ready to end the War on Drugs and want to start treating substance use issues with compassion and data-backed policies," the pollsters said.

International

Colombian Truth Commission Calls for "Strict Legal Regulation of Drugs, End to Drug War. A truth commission appointed as part of the 2016 peace accords with the leftist guerrillas of the FARC called on Tuesday for the government to quit focusing on suppressing illicit drugs and instead take the global lead in moving to "strict legal regulation" of those substances. It recommended a new approach to illicit drug production that focuses more on sustainable development and less on the eradication of coca.

The commission offered a scathing critique of the country's drug war, backed by the United States. "The current drug policy is ineffective in preventing consumption," the panel writes in a nearly 900-page report. "The policy of the war on drugs and narcotrafficking has been a factor in the persistence of conflict and violence in Colombia." The commission is also calling for sweeping reforms of the criminal justice system and separating the National Police from the Ministry of Defense.

The commission's recommendations are non-binding, but incoming President Gustavo Petro has said he will follow them.

North Carolina House Republicans are blocking a medical marijuana bill that has already passed the Senate, opium sales continue at an Afghanistan opium market despite a Taliban ban, and more.

Despite an announced Taliban ban on opium, sales are continuing at the market in Helmand. (UNODC)

Nebraska Medical Marijuana Initiative Campaign Has Only Two Weeks to Come Up With 50,000 Signatures. Things are looking grim for Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, the group trying to qualify an initiative for the November ballot. The campaign needs 50,000 more valid voter signatures in the next two weeks to qualify but has only gathered 35,000 signatures in months of signature-gathering. The campaign has been plagued this year by the loss of significant donors who had funded past efforts. "The reality is we need 50,000 Nebraskans to sign the petition in the next two weeks. Now it's on Nebraskans. The volunteers and patients have carried the water this far. It's on Nebraskans to go out and find a place to sign it," said state Sen. Anna Wishart, co-chair of the initiative. The same group qualified an initiative for the 2020 ballot, only to have it thrown out by the state Supreme Court.

North Carolina House Republicans Block Medical Marijuana Bill. The state Senate has passed a medical marijuana bill, the Compassionate Use Act (Senate Bill 711), but it now appears doomed in the House even though the legislative session still has more than a week to run. During a closed-door meeting Wednesday, House Republicans voted internally not to advance the bill. But the bill is not dead until the session ends, and it is theoretically possible that the bill could advance because budget negotiations are still ongoing.

International

Afghanistan Opium Markets Still Operating in Helmand Province Despite Taliban Ban. The Taliban may have issued an edict banning opium production and the opium trade, but it has yet to take effect in the poppy-growing heartland of Helmand province. Opium farmers there are still selling their harvests to smugglers, and they say they are doing it out of economic necessity in the now poverty-wracked nation. "People will sell it as long as they have it at home, it is not food. By selling it, people can make some money to feed their families," one farmer explained.

Switzerland to Ease Medical Marijuana Access. The Swiss government announced Wednesday that it will lift the ban on medical marijuana, in line with a March 2021 amendment to the Swiss Narcotics Act. As of August 1, patients will no longer have to obtain permission from the Federal Office of Public Health, but instead can get a recommendation from a doctor. "The decision to use a cannabis-based medicine for therapeutic purposes will rest with the doctor, in consultation with the patient," the government said. The government had allowed some 3,000 people to use medical marijuana, but the public health office itself described the process as "tedious administrative procedures" and said "Sick people must be able to access these medicines without excessive bureaucracy."