Ohio Could Get Medical Marijuana Soon

Less than a year after marijuana reform suffered a stinging defeat in Ohio, lawmakers have unveiled a plan to legalize the drug as medicine by 2018.

Legislation was introduced in April that would allow patients aged 18 and up to buy, possess, and use marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation. If it passes, the new law would cover edibles, oils, and THC patches – and possibly smokeable cannabis.

The bill would create a state commission that would, in turn, create rules for how to grow, distribute, and sell the drug to patients. The process could take less than two years, said Republican state Rep. Kirk Schuring, who led the task force behind the legislation.

Gov. John Kasich, also a Republican, has already promised to sign “something” that provides medical marijuana to legitimate patients. Kasich could receive the bill over the summer, roughly the time his quixotic bid for the GOP presidential nomination will end.

The proposed law would grant adult patients with qualifying conditions permission to use cannabis as treatment. But it also would make a non-intoxicating form of the drug available to children with intractable epilepsy.

Home cultivation would be banned

Home grows would remain illegal, however, and lawmakers have yet to decide whether patients could smoke the drug. Several other states, including neighboring Pennsylvania, prohibit toking and require that patients vaporize the drug, eat it, or take it in pill form. Ohio would also allow transdermal patches.

Only doctors certified by the marijuana commission could recommend pot to patients, but the state would not limit the list of qualifying conditions. Instead, physicians would be given limited discretion in how they recommend the drug, and would have to submit an explanation of each recommendation every 90 days.

The bill would give local governments the power to ban dispensaries, an approach that has caused problems in other states. Lawmakers would also decide whether to tax the drug; prescription drugs regulated by the FDA are tax-free.

Critically, the bill would protect banks that opt to work with the medical marijuana industry. But that protection would not cover federal banking laws that currently discourage such financial relationships.

Reschedule marijuana to allow research

If the plan passes, Ohio would encourage the federal government to reschedule cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act, making it easier to research and legalize the drug. But employers could continue to fire workers who use it, even as medicine.

“The workplace can still be drug-free,” Schuring said. “Employers do not have to make accommodations for employees being recommended medical marijuana.”

Ohio voters killed an earlier proposal to legalize medical marijuana in November. That initiative also would have allowed pot for recreational use, but it died at the ballot box after voters turned on provisions that would have granted monopoly power to a small group of growers.

The new legislation was filed in the state House of Representatives. The Senate likely will wait until the House votes before acting, but senators will have their own concerns, said state Senate President Keith Faber.

“Does it include smokeable or not?” Fabre said. “Are we creating a database, just like we do with opiates? How are we going to allow the prescription? How many dispensaries are we going to have? Are we going to limit the production side? How are we going to award the licenses? Is it going to be a monopoly? All of those are questions that we have concerns about.”

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Tell us below: How long do you think it will take to legalize medical marijuana in Ohio? What about legalizing for recreational use?

Ohio Could Get Medical Marijuana Soon

DEA Clears PTSD Marijuana Study

A new study will attempt to determine whether marijuana is useful in treating the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, also known as PTSD.

The DEA cleared the way in April for a clinical trial that will examine whether traditional smoked cannabis can effectively treat the mental disorder, which is caused by profoundly traumatic experiences. The placebo-controlled study is the result of nearly 10 years worth of campaigning by researchers in three states.

“Mostly we’re just grateful that we get to see science move forward,” said Dr. Sue Sisley, one of the leaders of the trial.

The project will start as early as May and will enroll 76 combat veterans at clinics in Arizona and Maryland. The subjects will smoke different marijuana strains of varying potency to gauge how the drug affects the emotional and medical problems caused by PTSD.

A life-altering condition

The illness, which can be triggered by combat, sexual assault, child abuse, and other forms of severe trauma, has a wide range of potential symptoms. Nightmares, flashbacks, jumpiness, and intense anxiety are among them. PTSD comes in multiple forms and degrees of severity, but for most patients it is life-altering.

Whatever the study ultimately determines, conducting it is a scientific necessity, Sisley said. As the full scope of PTSD and its impact on veterans becomes more apparent, patients deserve to know about potential treatments, she said.

“The study needs to happen because these veterans have legitimate questions,” she said.

Sisley has been in the news before. She lost her previous job at the University of Arizona in 2014 amid a local political spat over medical marijuana, and with it a large chunk of funding dedicated to studying the drug’s medicinal benefits.

Officials in Colorado rescued her project with new grant money, though the study was delayed by another year and a half before the DEA finally approved it. The agency controls the nation’s only supply of federally legal research cannabis, grown in Mississippi.

“It’s about time,” said John Evans, a Navy veteran and the director of Veterans 4 Freedoms, a PTSD advocacy group. “It’s been a long struggle. She’s jumped through a lot of hoops.”

Federal agencies make it difficult to research cannabis

The DEA and its sister agency, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) have long made it nearly impossible for scientists to study the medical efficacy of marijuana. A growing number of states allow the drug for treatment of PTSD, but many others believe reliable scientific data is still too scarce.

Cannabis is a schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, meaning it is banned for any use under federal law. As a consequence, NIDA and the DEA make it extremely difficult to study it.

“It is amazing that anything actually ever happens,” Gershman said in January. “It is not easy. It is not simple.”

Sisley and her colleagues noted that the study will proceed slowly, even with DEA approval. It could take another two years before enough veterans have been enrolled, and the results may not be available until 2019.

“Immediately, it’s more symbolic,” Evans said. “Medium-to-long-term, it’s a big hurdle. A major hurdle.”

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Comment below: When do you think marijuana will be available for PTSD in your state?

DEA Clears PTSD Marijuana Study

Mexico Moving Toward Marijuana Reform

Mexico may finally be ready to put the failures of the drug war behind it.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said in April that the country should consider legalizing medical cannabis, decriminalizing larger amounts of the drug for recreation, and releasing inmates jailed on possession charges. Peña Nieto’s proposal marks a potential watershed moment for a nation devastated by decades of anti-drug policies that have backfired spectacularly.

The president said he would send his country’s Congress a plan to allow the import and use of marijuana as a medicine. The proposal would also allow Mexicans to carry 28 grams of cannabis, up from the current limit of 5 grams.

The drug is illegal for any use in Mexico, with limited exceptions, but penalties for possession of up to 5 grams are minimal. Peña Nieto didn’t say whether users would be given a legal avenue for obtaining marijuana.

Release of inmates with minor possession charges

His plan also would allow for the release of inmates imprisoned on minor cannabis charges, but he offered few details on that proposal. Mexico’s jails, like those in the United States, are overflowing with prisoners convicted of low-level drug crimes.

The county is plagued by violent drug cartels, even though most of the drugs it produces end up in the United States. Peña Nieto has long opposed marijuana reforms, but Mexicans have begun to turn against the strict anti-drug approach of the last century.

Mexico has suffered heavily from prohibition

“Our country has suffered the harmful effects of drug-linked organized crime,” the president said. “Thankfully, a new global consensus is gradually gathering steam in favor of a reform to the international drug regime. Instead of criminalizing consumers, it will offer alternatives and opportunities.”

Mexican drug policies have been shifting in recent years. The Supreme Court handed down a landmark ruling on the issue in November, allowing a small group of patients to grow and use the first legal medicinal cannabis in the country. That ruling and other legal changes have opened the door to further reform, including possible legalization.

Facilitating the availability of medical marijuana

The court’s decision was quickly followed by legislation that would allow patients to import medical marijuana for use in treating various conditions. The lawmaker behind the bill, Cristina Diaz, said she expects it to pass the Congress by May.

It’s uncertain how Peña Nieto’s announcement could effect the bill, but prospects for reform are increasingly bright. And Mexico isn’t the only North American country advancing toward legal pot. Canadian officials announced in April that they are already moving forward on a promise by new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make the drug legal for any use nationwide.

Reforms are rapidly spreading throughout Latin America as well. Uruguay was the first country to completely legalize marijuana, while debates are ongoing in South America, Central America, and the Caribbean.

And in the United States, cannabis is now legal for recreation in the District of Columbia and four states, while more than two dozen others have approved the drug for medical use.

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Tell us: Who do you think will legalize cannabis first, Mexico or Canada? Leave a comment below.

Mexico Moving Toward Marijuana Reform

Will DEA Reschedule Marijuana? No, Probably Not

The DEA announced in April that it will decide whether marijuana should be rescheduled under the Controlled Substances Act within “the first half of 2016.”

The drug is currently listed under “schedule 1,” the most restrictive class of drugs controlled by federal law. The government considers cannabis, heroin, LSD, and other drugs on this list so dangerous and addictive they are banned for any use, including medical.

Reformers have pushed for decades to move marijuana to a lower schedule so it can be better researched and made available for medical use across the country. More than two dozen states have legalized the drug as medicine under their laws, while four have made it legal for any adult use, but because of its listing on schedule 1, the federal government could force those states to prohibit it again.

Facilitating research into marijuana’s benefits

Moving marijuana to schedule 2, as many reformers have suggested, would protect states that legalize it and make it easier for scientists to study its benefits. But only Congress and the DEA can make that change.

Congress has repeatedly balked at doing so, and the DEA has even less impetus to act. A letter announcing the agency’s plan to decide soon didn’t say which way it might rule, but if history is any guide, rescheduling is extremely unlikely.

The letter was a response to a request by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and seven other senators who pushed the Obama administration to reclassify cannabis. That request was made in a 2015 letter to the DEA.

DEA has repeatedly opposed rescheduling cannabis

Legalization advocates have long pushed the DEA to reschedule marijuana, but the agency has repeatedly refused. President Barack Obama has demurred on the issue, saying the decision should lie with Congress, not the DEA or Department of Justice.

“(The) DEA understands the widespread interest in the prompt resolution to these petitions and hopes to release its determination in the first half of 2016,” the agency said in its letter.

DEA Administrator Chuck Rosenberg, who was appointed last year following a massive agency scandal, used the letter to explain the government’s control of the only federally legal marijuana supply, grown at the University of Mississippi for highly restricted research.

Awaiting a recommendation from the FDA

The final decision will rest in part on a recommendation from the FDA, which has reviewed medical evidence regarding the drug and sent its conclusions to the DEA, Rosenberg said. He didn’t tell the senators what the FDA recommended.

But he said the DEA would consider providing more federal cannabis to scientists if research needs were to exceed the supply in Mississippi. That might only mean a few new growers, not rescheduling.

Most recently in 2001 and 2006, the DEA rejected petitions to reclassify the substance. But neither of those requests came from U.S. senators.

The senators behind the new request, with the exception of Warren, have sponsored a bill that would make it much harder for federal agencies to block state-level legalization of marijuana. The legislation would also encourage more research.

“Almost half the states in the country have medical cannabis laws, and major groups like the American Nurses Association and the American College of Physicians are on board,” said Tom Angell of the Marijuana Majority. The administration, Angell said, should reschedule the drug “before this president leaves office.”

Read the DEA letter here.

Will DEA Reschedule Marijuana? No, Probably Not

Racial Disparity Persists in D.C. Marijuana Arrests

When residents of Washington, D.C., voted to legalize marijuana in 2014, they had more than a few reasons. But one stood out from the rest: wiping out racial disparities in drug arrests.

The overall number of cannabis-related arrests has dropped sharply in the months since, but the glaring divide remains. The statistics have changed, but the racial reality behind them has not.

Before the vote, black District residents accounted for 9 in 10 arrests on charges of simple drug possession. As a result, racial minorities charged with marijuana offenses were long over-represented in the city’s jails. They still are.

District police still disproportionately arrest blacks

According to arrest data published by The Washington Post in April, black people make up the vast majority of those who face marijuana charges, far more than their proportion of the District’s population would suggest. The District is roughly half black, while whites make up less than 40 percent.

The greatest disparity may be in arrests for smoking in public, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine. The charge is essentially the same as that for carrying an open container of alcohol in public.

Of 128 arrests for public marijuana use in 2015, 108 were targeted at black people, the Post reported. The newspaper got its data from the Drug Policy Alliance, which got them from the city’s Metropolitan Police.

District Council votes to ban members-only cannabis clubs

The report came at roughly the same time as a vote by the District Council to permanently ban members-only cannabis clubs and other forms of public use. The 7-6 vote reversed two earlier decisions by the council, though a second, final vote is required within the next few weeks.

Allowing the clubs would likely have reduced the continuing racial disparity in arrests, and would have followed the lead of Denver and other cities that could soon permit them. The clubs would have made life easier for local marijuana users, especially low-income residents barred from smoking in public housing. Those residents are disproportionately black.

Cannabis clubs would reduce public consumption

Though cannabis clubs would be treated as public spaces, allowing them would likely cut down on other public use dramatically. Public use charges are especially concerning for people who have nowhere to use except their cars, while driving.

The racial gap reported by the Post is troubling, but it doesn’t call the effectiveness of legalization into doubt. Fewer people are going to jail overall, and that means fewer black people are going to jail.

Still, the numbers are disturbing. They suggest racial problems in the city and its criminal justice system go much deeper than cannabis policy, especially considering the large disparity in other drug-related arrests.

If the District Council were to allow pot clubs, the disparity might shrink. But it likely would have persisted in other marijuana crimes, such as misdemeanor possession over the legal limit, commercial cultivation, and sales. Retail cannabis stores are prohibited in Washington under federal rules passed by Republicans in Congress.

Racial Disparity Persists in D.C. Marijuana Arrests

D.C. Bans Cannabis Clubs

Marijuana tokers in Washington, D.C., got some bad news in April, as District officials moved to permanently ban any use of the drug in public – including at members-only cannabis clubs.

The vote by the District Council on April 5 was a complete turnaround from council members’ previous stance on the issue, though it won’t be decided for good until a final vote in a matter of weeks.

The council vote was 7-6, a disappointing outcome for marijuana users and drug-policy reformers in the nation’s capital. It was a direct reversal of earlier votes in favor of cannabis clubs.

One of those votes, in February, created a task force to study whether the Distruct should start licensing members-only clubs. These pot bars, which have been discussed in other places where marijuana is legal for recreation, would allow only private members and would require them to bring their own supply; cannabis or alcohol sales would be prohibited.

Previous vote showed strong support for allowing private clubs

The February vote was unanimous, suggesting to many that the council would ultimately allow the clubs, and possibly other forms of public marijuana use. It is currently a misdemeanor to toke in public, while carrying or using the drug on federal property comes with particularly harsh penalties.

District voters legalized all adult cannabis possession and use in November 2014, and the policy took effect in 2015. It is now legal to possess small amounts of the drug and use it on private property. But retail pot shops remain illegal in the city under federal law.

Cannabis is also legal for recreational use in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. Commercial sales are allowed in those places, but as of yet, cannabis clubs are not.

Increasing public marijuana use since legalization

Public use of the drug has increased in the District since legalization took effect and marijuana arrests plummeted across the city. But as in other places, the ban on smoking in public has created problems for many users.

Landlords and other property managers often ban smoking even in private settings such as apartments. This leaves tokers, especially tourists, with nowhere to use. Many smoke in their cars, while driving, which is illegal.

District officials didn’t explain the rationale behind the new vote after it was cast.

Another earlier vote would have let the public smoking ban expire, but council members later reversed course under pressure from District Mayor Muriel Bowser. The April vote marked the second turnaround for the council on the marijuana issue.

Reform advocates complained that the task force was never allowed to do its job. Kate Bell, legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project, said the most recent decision defies the will of District residents.

“We are very disappointed that the council voted to permanently impose this unnecessary ban on the freedoms that the vast majority of the voters support,” Bell said.

D.C. Bans Cannabis Clubs

Dog Brings Her Owner a Trophy: Marijuana

As the old saying goes: “When a dog bites a man, that is not news. When a man bites a dog, that is news.” So what about when a man leaves marijuana out in the open and a dog brings it home?

Police in Laurel, Miss., were stumped in March when a black lab mix named Miley brought her owner a bag full of cannabis she found – somewhere – while looking for a place to pee. So stumped they didn’t even know where to begin.

Miley, whose owner wasn’t identified by police, apparently left home in search of a quiet spot to relieve herself. Somewhere along the way, she came across a white plastic bag full of cannabis. Perhaps thinking it was the morning paper, or a pair of slippers, or maybe just a bone, she brought it home to her master.

1lb of marijuana

The marijuana weighed roughly a pound, according to the Jones County, Miss., Sheriff’s Office. Officials there couldn’t say exactly how much it would be worth on the street, but it was doubtless a big loss for the dealer who left it sitting around unattended.

Miley’s owner called the sheriff’s office immediately after discovering her big prize Mar. 26. Investigators looked inside the bag and found several ounces of high-grade marijuana stuffed inside multiple plastic baggies, rolled up in stick-like shapes similar to the Thai Stick strain.

The white bag also contained baggies full of lower-grade weed, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Allyson Knotts. As of Mar. 30, there were no arrests and no apparent leads, Knotts said.

“They can’t really ask the dog, ‘From what pile did you get that?’” she said. “It’s under investigation, but it was a tricky incident.”

Dog’s owner not suspected of a crime

Miley’s owner was not suspected of any crime and was not under investigation, Knotts said. Laurel, Miss., is a small community located about 30 miles north of Hattiesburg in the southern part of the state.

Though bizarre, this sort of thing is not especially surprising. Marijuana dealers are no less prone to stupidity than anyone else, and sometimes much more so. The annals of cannabis news are littered with reports of less-than-brilliant traffickers who mailed pot to the wrong address or left it sitting around in full public view.

It’s anyone’s guess what led Miley to bring home her trophy. The more remarkable thing, as in most such cases, is that her owner called the police at all.

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Tell us: Would you turn in a pound of weed if your dog brought it home? What do you think happened to the dealer who left it behind?

Dog Brings Her Owner a Trophy: Marijuana