Author: Ben Adlin

[ad_1] A Republican congressman from North Carolina is urging members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) to reject a referendum next month that would legalize marijuana on tribal land, warning that the move would mean a loss of federal funding under a bill he plans to introduce. In an op-ed published last week in The Cherokee One Feather, Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) acknowledged that Congress cannot stop the EBCI referendum, set for September 7, from going forward. But he appealed to the tribe’s members to vote against it. “I proudly consider the tribe my friends, and I respect…

[ad_1] Two top state elected officials—one Democrat, one Republican—are calling on the federal government to move forward on psychedelics reform, saying the opportunity to improve the lives of people with PTSD and other ailments shouldn’t boil down to partisan politics. “I try to tell people this isn’t partisan at all. Let’s take our labels away on this one,” former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) said in a new documentary from Reason. “This is about humankind. This is about taking care of individuals. This is about saving lives. This is about giving people their lives back.” Despite claiming the issue shouldn’t…

[ad_1] Revenue from legal marijuana in New Jersey will cover a third of the cost of a grant program aimed at violence intervention and prevention in the state, Gov. Phil Murphy (D) and Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin (D) announced this week. Of the $15 million in grant money that will be available to community organizations for the coming fiscal year, $5 million comes from the state’s Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Fund. The fund, which was established through the state’s marijuana legalization law, consists of monies from taxes on legal sales, industry fees and civil penalties. With…

[ad_1] A company focused on developing marijuana-derived pharmaceuticals is suing the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) over what it calls “exponential delays” in the agency’s process for granting licenses to grow cannabis for medical research. Rhode Island-based MMJ BioPharma Cultivation Inc. filed a petition for a writ of mandamus in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Friday, alleging that DEA’s yearslong licensing application process has hamstrung the company’s business and stymied innovation that could benefit patients. It’s asking the federal court to compel the agency to act. “Despite beginning this process in November of 2017,” the company…

[ad_1] Minnesota officials outlined the long, labyrinthine process for implementing the state’s new marijuana law during an informational meeting on Wednesday night, offering updates on the search for an Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) director as well as the array of issues still to be hammered out through an expedited rulemaking process. “This is really a unique opportunity for us to assess the business needs, to evaluate the authorities that the legislature and the governor have given to the Office of Cannabis Management and then to meet those business needs in a way that really helps us ensure the success…

[ad_1] The U.S. Census Bureau is updating its survey of American companies to better capture marijuana-related economic activity, part of an effort to “keep up with the nation’s ever-changing business landscape.” For the first time, the 2022 Economic Census—which is being conducted right now and asks businesses about their activities from last year—includes options for respondents to identify themselves as part of the cannabis economy. “While there are no specific questions about cannabis in the 2022 Economic Census,” the bureau said on its website this week, “options to select cannabis as a primary business activity are available to retail and…

[ad_1] California nonprofits and local health departments can soon apply for an estimated $48 million worth of community reinvestment grants, which are paid for by tax revenue from legal marijuana. Organizations will be able to request awards of between $600,000 and $3 million to support job placement, legal assistance, treatment of mental health and substance use disorders, referrals to medical care and other services for communities that have been disproportionately affected by the drug war. Applications for the forthcoming round of California Community Reinvestment Grants (CalCRG) will be accessible through an online portal beginning on Monday. Half of the $48…

[ad_1] Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says he supports federally legalizing marijuana and allowing veterans with PTSD to use certain psychedelics—but his campaign is also attacking a recent Fox News article that suggested he supports decriminalizing “certain hard drugs” even though he recently said the broader reform would be an “important” part of broader strategy. “Vivek is in favor of federal legalization of marijuana” his campaign said on Monday in response to the news report. “The current state-level ‘legalization’ farce contributes to the culture of lawbreaking. It’s literally against the law. For us to pretend otherwise only undermines the rule…

[ad_1] A new study in the International Journal of Drug Policy found that states with legal medical marijuana enjoyed significant reductions in health insurance premiums compared to states where cannabis remained completely illegal. Analyzing a decade’s worth of private health insurance data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, researchers determined that in the years following a state’s implementation of a medical cannabis law, premiums dropped dramatically. While the reductions were modest immediately following implementation, the study found that by seven years afterward, annual premiums had fallen $1,663 compared to states in the control group. Similar reductions were seen after…

[ad_1] Wage earners who joined New Mexico’s legal cannabis industry typically earn more than they did in their previous, non-marijuana jobs, according to a new article in the latest issue of the state Department of Workforce Solutions’s monthly Labor Market Review. “The data show that for some people, the grass is greener in the cannabis industry,” the report says. By the end of last year, 4,666 workers in New Mexico were employed in the state’s legal marijuana industry, which officially opened its doors in April 2022. Nearly 9 in 10 of those employees, the Department of Workforce Solutions report found,…