Author: Ben Adlin

[ad_1] A California bill that was introduced last month as a minor technical fix to an existing law protecting workers from employment discrimination over legal marijuana use was substantially amended in committee this week with new section that would roll back the protections for various categories of workers, including those in law enforcement, coroners’ offices and animal control. Under two pieces of legislation signed into law in 2022 and 2023, California employers are now prohibited from asking job applicants about past cannabis use, and most are barred from penalizing employees over lawful use of marijuana outside of the job. The…

[ad_1] A Nebraska legislative committee has given preliminary approval to a bill that would tax hemp and CBD products in the state at a whopping 100 percent rate. The cannabis product tax hike is part of legislation designed to bring in more money to state coffers to offset property tax bills, according to an outline of the plan from Sen. Lou Ann Linehan (R), the legislation’s sponsor, that was posted by a Nebraska Public Media reporter. The legislature’s Revenue Committee advanced the underlying measure, LB 388, on a 7–0 vote on Thursday, according to a report in the Nebraska Examiner.…

[ad_1] A new review of scientific literature around CBD and its effects suggests that the cannabinoid could be useful in managing symptoms of alcohol use disorder (AUD) by modulating brain networks that perpetuate addiction. The review, from authors at the University of Sydney and local health districts in the Australian city, attempts to “theorise the potential neurobiological mechanisms by which CBD may ameliorate various symptoms of AUD.” “Previous research suggests that CBD may affect salience, reward, emotion generation and regulation and executive control (including inhibition control, working memory and self-monitoring) processes,” the report, which was published on Thursday in the…

[ad_1] The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says a genetically modified version of hemp produced by researchers in Wisconsin “may be safely grown and bred in the United States” and is “unlikely to pose an increased plant pest risk compared to other cultivated plants.” The hemp variety, dubbed “Badger G,” does not produce THC or CBD but is designed to have higher levels of the cannabinoid CBG. It’s at least the second type of genetically modified hemp to get the OK from APHIS after another modified plant, which produces lower levels of THC and CBC, was approved in October. USDA’s…

[ad_1] Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) has signed legislation into law to exempt registered medical marijuana patients from the state’s 37 percent cannabis excise tax, which is currently one of the highest in the country. The exemption will only apply, however, to products that have been certified to higher testing standards than typical state-legal products. HB 1453, which lawmakers sent to the governor earlier this month, would allow registered patients and caregivers to avoid the tax when purchasing products that are compliant with Department of Health (DOH) testing standards. Medical marijuana cardholders already are eligible for exemptions from sales and…

[ad_1] Plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit over the Second Amendment rights of medical marijuana cardholders—including a local prosecutor in Pennsylvania who is himself a cannabis patient—filed a fresh brief in their case on Tuesday, arguing that the “deprivation of Second Amendment rights for merely using a medicinal substance has no basis in this nation’s history or tradition and is unconstitutional, full stop.” The underlying suit was filed in January by Pennsylvania’s Warren County District Attorney Robert Greene, along with advocacy group the Second Amendment Foundation and a U.S. military veteran who was recommended medical marijuana but has not registered as…

[ad_1] A new federally funded study examining the possible risks of organ donation by marijuana users found no indication that recent cannabis use increases the likelihood of significant side effects in the year immediately after a transplant—even as many healthcare providers continue to restrict transplants to cannabis consumers. Findings of the research, which looked at rates of infections, transplant failures and deaths among recipients, “suggest that organs from donors with a history of recent marijuana use do not pose significant infectious risks in the early posttransplant period.” “Despite concern that donor exposure to marijuana increases the risk of fungal infection…

[ad_1] A new study suggests that the use of full-spectrum psychedelic mushroom extract has a more powerful effect than chemically synthesized psilocybin alone, which could have implications for psychedelic-assisted therapy. The findings imply that the experience of entheogenic mushrooms may involve a so-called “entourage effect” similar to what’s observed with cannabis and its many components. “To date, clinical trials have generally been conducted with chemically synthesized psilocybin,” wrote the 15-person research team, representing institutions such as the Hadassah Medical Center at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Boston-based Human Metabolome Technologies, Parow Entheobiosciences in Chicago and others, “and little attention has been…

[ad_1] Attorneys general from 20 states and Washington, D.C. are asking congressional leaders to take action on intoxicating hemp products that became legal through the 2018 Farm Bill. Federal lawmakers should amend the definition of hemp, they wrote in a letter sent on Wednesday, and clarify that states can take their own measures to regulate the plant and its derivative products. “As Congress prepares to embark on a new five-year reauthorization of the Farm Bill, we strongly urge your committees to address the glaring vagueness created in the 2018 Farm Bill that has led to the proliferation of intoxicating hemp…

[ad_1] Another House committee in Hawaii has advanced a bill that would legalize and regulate adult-use marijuana in the state, making one amendment concerning labor peace agreement for cannabis businesses before signing off on the legislation. The House Consumer Protection and Commerce Committee voted 7–3 on Tuesday to advance the proposal, SB 3335, which would allow adults 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and up to five grams of cannabis concentrates. It next proceeds to the House Finance Committee. “I think that this bill is taking the best practices across the nation amongst other 24…

[ad_1] New federally funded research into the impacts of marijuana legalization on youth use found no association between legal adult-use cannabis sales and the prevalence of consumption among middle-school students. To test whether legal sales led to an uptick in youth use, authors compared middle-school use rates in Nevada and New Mexico, looking at 2017 and 2019 data from two state-run surveys. At the time, adult-use marijuana sales were legal in Nevada, while New Mexico allowed only medical marijuana. In both states, researchers found increases in the proportions of students that had ever consumed cannabis as well as those who…

[ad_1] Spiritual health practitioners “bring unique and specific expertise to psychedelic-assisted therapy,” researchers at Emory University concluded in a recently published study, noting that therapy teams could benefit from including the professionals in their work. “Psychedelic dosing often produces highly impactful, and sometimes challenging, experiences with pronounced effects on spirituality, worldview, and metaphysical perspectives,” wrote authors of the report, published in the journal PLOS ONE. Spiritual health practitioners (SHPs) “may have unique, and uniquely valuable, contributions to support the participant’s wellbeing and helping them benefit” from psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT). As the paper explains, SHPs include those who traditionally served “as…