Notable News
Some of you may be wondering what led up to U.S. president Joe Biden’s recent decision to pardon federal crimes relating to simple cannabis charges, so we’ve compiled some media from the U.S. and a couple of allies which we hope will bring you up to speed.
U.S.: Senate; NDAA; NYFD; NYPD; Should We Shame Veterans Who Commit Suicide?; Community College;
Veterans: “We have ill treated our veterans,” … “There was a time when we passed out opioids to them like Tic Tacs while we denied them the ability to use their VA doctor to be able to deal with medical cannabis, which would have been safer and more effective.”
Senate: “U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) led Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to send a letter to President Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, following up on previous requests that the administration use its authority to deschedule cannabis and pardon non-violent cannabis-related offenders.”
House: “Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act or the MORE Act
Passed House (04/01/2022)
This bill decriminalizes marijuana. Specifically, it removes marijuana from the list of scheduled substances under the Controlled Substances Act and eliminates criminal penalties for an individual who manufactures, distributes, or possesses marijuana.
The bill also makes other changes, including the following:
replaces statutory references to marijuana and marihuana with cannabis,
requires the Bureau of Labor Statistics to regularly publish demographic data on cannabis business owners and employees,
establishes a trust fund to support various programs and services for individuals and businesses in communities impacted by the war on drugs,
imposes an excise tax on cannabis products produced in or imported into the United States and an occupational tax on cannabis production facilities and export warehouses,
makes Small Business Administration loans and services available to entities that are cannabis-related legitimate businesses or service providers,
prohibits the denial of federal public benefits to a person on the basis of certain cannabis-related conduct or convictions,
prohibits the denial of benefits and protections under immigration laws on the basis of a cannabis-related event (e.g., conduct or a conviction),
establishes a process to expunge convictions and conduct sentencing review hearings related to federal cannabis offenses,
directs the Government Accountability Office to study the societal impact of state legalization of recreational cannabis,
directs the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to study methods for determining whether a driver is impaired by marijuana,
directs the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to study the impact of state legalization of recreational cannabis on the workplace, and
directs the Department of Education to study the impact of state legalization of recreational cannabis on schools and school-aged children.”
Australia: #NOMOREZOMBIEVETERANS
Israel: Knesset: “A bill to regulate medical cannabis by broadening grants of growers’ licenses, creating quality oversight, and facilitating import and export failed to pass in the Knesset”
United Nations: “In reviewing a series of World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations on cannabis and its derivatives, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) zeroed-in on the decision to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs — where it was listed alongside specific deadly, addictive opioids, including heroin, recognized as having little to no therapeutic purposes.”
