Author: Thomas Edward

[ad_1] An Illinois teenager living in a zip code with a medical cannabis dispensary is less likely to have used pot, according to new research. The findings, which come from researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, showed that “about 18.3% of the youths living in Illinois ZIP codes with medical dispensaries reported they used cannabis during the prior year compared with 22.4% of those who lived in ZIP codes without these businesses,” according to Illinois News Bureau, a news service at the university. “Likewise, fewer students – 12% – with medical dispensaries in their ZIP codes reported they had…

[ad_1] The scholarly research surrounding psychedelics remains fairly limited. While our understanding of the likes of MDMA and psilocybin has broadened in recent years, academics are still in some ways playing catch-up from the decades in which such drugs were strictly verboten –– even in a scientific setting.  That means that, in an age when policymakers and research institutions are increasingly receptive to the therapeutic and medical value of psychedelic drugs, extraordinary discoveries are always in the offing.  A newly released book explores one potential breakthrough. In “I Feel Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World,” the…

[ad_1] Regulators in Alabama last week abruptly suspended the process of awarding business licenses for the state’s new medical cannabis program, citing the “discovery of potential inconsistencies” in the application process. During an emergency meeting on Friday, the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission voted to “stay all proceedings related to the current offering of medical cannabis business licenses.” The commission said that the stay was issued following the “discovery of potential inconsistencies in the tabulation of scoring data” used to evaluate applications for business licenses. During the commission, the commission said that it will “seek an independent review of all scoring…

[ad_1] Law enforcement officials in Uruguay last week said they busted an international drug ring that had a gnarly way of smuggling its contraband: inside surfboards.  The BBC reports that Uruguayan police have arrested three Italians with the “help from counter-narcotics police in Spain, Portugal and Italy.”  “Sniffer dogs had alerted officers in Uruguay to six surfboards containing a total of 50kg (110lb) of cocaine,” according to the outlet. “Police allowed one board to be dispatched in order to track down those receiving it.” More from the BBC: “The dogs alerted their handlers to the suspicious package on 23 May.…

[ad_1] A new study from a government agency in Australia is highlighting how aboriginal people in the country are treated far differently than non-aboriginals when caught using cannabis by police. The research, released earlier this month by the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR), was based on “a dataset of 38,813 observations involving 27,127 adult offenders proceeded against for a cannabis use/ possession incident between January 2017 and February 2020.” Among aboriginal cannabis offenders, only 11.7% received “cautions” from police, compared with 43.9% of non-aboriginal offenders. “If you don’t receive a caution, you are proceeding through…

[ad_1] Regulators in Georgia have opened the door for medical cannabis patients in the state to have far greater access to treatment.  The state Board of Pharmacy “has released a set of regulations that will allow Georgia’s independent pharmacies to dispense cannabis oil to eligible patients enrolled in a registry maintained by the state Department of Public Health,” according to Northwest Georgia News. The outlet reports that state regulators have “granted manufacturing licenses thus far to two companies.”  “Trulieve Georgia and Botanical Sciences LLC have begun producing cannabis oil and have opened dispensaries in Marietta and Macon, with more to…

[ad_1] Regulators in Alabama will take a big step this week toward the launch of the state’s new medical cannabis industry, with plans to begin issuing licenses for businesses on Monday. Local news station WIAT reported that the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission will start the process of awarding licenses from the pool of 90 applications it says it has received. “Earlier this year, the group began reviewing the applications for cultivators, processors and dispensaries, along with other areas of the industry. The University of South Alabama collaborated with the commission to evaluate the applications,” the station reported. The Medical Cannabis…