Author: A.J. Herrington

[ad_1] An Alaska lawmaker has introduced a bill to create a task force to study the potential medical uses of psychedelic drugs including psilocybin and MDMA. The legislation, Senate Bill 166, was introduced earlier this month by Democratic state Senator Forrest Dunbar. If passed by the legislature and signed into law by Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy, Dunbar’s bill would establish a task force that would be given one year to study how psychedelics might be used to address Alaska’s mental health challenges. The task force would investigate paths to legalize psychedelics, requirements for licensing and insurance, and barriers to access…

[ad_1] New York State cannabis regulators are set to vote on proposed rules to govern home marijuana cultivation. If the draft regulations are approved, New Yorkers will be permitted to grow up to 12 cannabis plants at home, subject to some conditions and limitations. The  New York Cannabis Control Board was initially scheduled to vote on adopting the proposed home weed cultivation rules at a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, January 25. However, the board postponed the meeting earlier this week and will instead take up the matter at a meeting next month. Once the board gives its approval, the draft…

[ad_1] A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Mississippi medical marijuana dispensary owner challenging the state’s ban on cannabis advertising. In the legal action, Clarence Cocroft II, the owner of Tru Source Medical Cannabis, argued that Mississippi’s regulations prohibiting cannabis advertising in any media amounted to unconstitutional censorship of the industry. But U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills disagreed with Cocroft and dismissed the lawsuit on Monday. In his ruling, Mills wrote that because the possession of marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, it is not a “lawful activity” that is protected by the U.S. Constitution…

[ad_1] Pharmaceutical researchers in the United Kingdom are using the artificial intelligence tool AlphaFold to develop new psychedelic drugs, according to research released last month. The research, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, shows that using an AI tool is as useful as experimentally produced protein structures, which can take up to years to investigate. The findings give further evidence of the utility of AlphaFold, an artificial intelligence tool developed by DeepMind in London. “AlphaFold is an absolute revolution,” Jens Carlsson, a computational chemist at the University of Uppsala in Sweden, told Nature. “If we have a good structure, we…

[ad_1] New York City’s overdose prevention centers saved hundreds of lives in a single year of operation, according to a recent report. The findings of the baseline report from OnPoint, the operator of two centers in New York City, show that staff intervened 636 times in the year studied, averting overdose deaths and other associated harms. OnPoint operates overdose prevention centers (OPCs) in the New York City neighborhoods of Washington Heights and East Harlem. Under the OPC model, people are offered a place to use drugs in a supervised setting. The model allows trained personnel to be immediately present at…

[ad_1] Tens of thousands of people are wrongfully arrested for crimes based on a false positive result from a field drug test each year, according to a recent study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. The research, which analyzed data available from public agencies across the country, found that the use of presumptive field tests in drug arrests is likely the largest known factor contributing to wrongful arrests and convictions in the United States. The research was conducted by the University of Pennsylvania Penn Carey Law School’s Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice, a national research and…

[ad_1] Aspiring entrepreneurs and workers in Ohio’s upcoming legal recreational marijuana market have a new path to success with the launch of cannabis certification courses at Kent State University. Designed to give students a solid educational footing in the ins and outs of regulated adult-use cannabis, the first classes in Kent State’s cannabis certification program began this month. Ohio voters legalized recreational marijuana late last year with the passage of Question 2, a ballot measure that passed with 57% of the vote. State lawmakers are currently debating how and when adult-use cannabis sales will begin in the state, with some…

[ad_1] The Washington, D.C. District Council on Tuesday approved a measure that establishes new penalties for cannabis gifting shops. The bill, which could go into effect as soon as this week, is designed to regulate cannabis businesses that have refused attempts to bring them into the city’s medical marijuana program. Recreational marijuana was legalized in the nation’s capital with the passage of Initiative 71, a 2014 ballot measure that made it legal to possess, use, cultivate and give away small amounts of marijuana. Since then, city leaders have attempted to legalize and regulate adult-use cannabis dispensaries but their efforts have…

[ad_1] A federal judge in California has ruled against a motion from the U.S. Attorney General’s office to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a church that uses the psychedelic brew ayahuasca as a sacrament. The suit was filed last year by the Church of the Celestial Heart after a shipment of ayahuasca to the church was intercepted by law enforcement officials. The legal action, which names U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and other federal officials as defendants in the case, was filed by Jade Osborne, the wife of the Church of the Celestial Heart’s pastor Kai Karrel and the intended…

[ad_1] Maine’s regulated adult-use cannabis industry generated more than $200 million in sales last year, an increase of 36% over 2022, according to information from the state Office of Cannabis Policy. But cannabis business owners who feel that Maine’s cannabis market is becoming oversaturated say that the numbers obscure the challenges licensed operators will face in the not-too-distant future. Maine’s licensed recreational marijuana retailers rang up 3.7 million transactions in 2022, raking in about $217 million in the process, according to information released by state regulators on Monday. The yearly total represents a 36% increase over the $159 million in…

[ad_1] Ohio Governor Mike DeWine last week called on state lawmakers to pass legislation to ban hemp products with psychotropic cannabinoids such as delta-8 THC, saying that the intoxicating products pose a risk to children. The legislature reconvenes this month, with lawmakers already planning to consider new legislation to regulate recreational marijuana, which was legalized by the state’s voters in November.  The House of Representatives is expected to return to the Ohio Statehouse on Wednesday, two weeks earlier than planned. The Senate will also return to session later this month, with cannabis regulation one of the top priorities for the…

[ad_1] Wisconsin Democratic Governor Tony Evers said last week that he can support a medical marijuana legalization bill, acknowledging that more comprehensive cannabis policy reform is unlikely to be approved by the state’s Republican majority legislature.  Evers has long supported legalizing recreational marijuana and has twice included plans to regulate and tax adult-use cannabis in state budget proposals. But Republican leaders in the state legislature have resisted calls to legalize recreational cannabis and declined to approve the governor’s proposals. Late last month, Republican leaders announced their intention to introduce a limited medical marijuana legalization bill in this year’s legislative session.…