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  • Thailand To Review Medical Marijuana, Kratom Legalization Proposal

    Thailand To Review Medical Marijuana, Kratom Legalization Proposal

    The kratom/marijuana legalization bill has received substantial support from the National Legislative Assembly and the Thai public. 

    Lawmakers in Thailand have unanimously accepted an initiative to review a bill that would legalize the production, import and export of marijuana and the herbal supplement kratom for medical use.

    The amendment, proposed by members of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), would revise the country’s Narcotics Act and allow patients to access medical marijuana and kratom for therapy and grant access to the Red Cross and medical professionals. The initiative must go before another panel of lawmakers for review, but support for legalization has already netted widespread approval among the Thai population, according to the NLA’s digital forum.

    The amendment bill, proposed by 44 members of the NLA, provides guidelines for medical use of marijuana and kratom, which under the current Narcotics Acts are listed as Category V drugs and illegal to consume, possess, produce, distribute, import and export, with imprisonment and/or substantial financial penalties levied against those convicted of such charges.

    As High Times noted, marijuana and kratom would be made available to approved patients as treatment and could be obtained from the Government Pharmaceutical Organization, the Red Cross, local administrative agencies, and medical professionals and ministries. Individuals who have a record of previous narcotics-related charges may not partake in the program, according to the Bangkok Post. Production sites and grow programs would be overseen by Thailand’s public health minister and the Office of the Narcotics Board.

    The amendment bill has to date received substantial support from the NLA and the Thai public. An initial read received 145 votes of support from NLA members while a public hearing on the NLA’s digital platform saw 99.03% of participants approve the bill’s provisions. Health care professionals and legal academics have also lobbied in support of revising the Narcotics Act in favor of providing Thai citizens with the alleged medical benefits of both substances.

    “The Narcotics Act was drafted and first enforced in 1985, so we can see it’s not only out of date, but also restricts people’s rights too much, especially considering the enormous benefits in healthcare that could come from medical cannabis and kratom,” said Paisal Limstit of Thammasat University’s Faculty of Law.  

    The NLA must now establish a 29-member panel to review the bill; the process, according to the Bangkok Post, takes approximately 60 days.

    Should the bill pass into law, the Thai government will face an uphill battle with the marijuana that is currently available in the country. Laboratory tests on marijuana seized by police revealed the presence of pesticides and heavy metals, which the Department of Medical Sciences determined was not suitable for consumption, medical or otherwise.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • How Does Recreational Marijuana Use Affect Your Sex Life?

    How Does Recreational Marijuana Use Affect Your Sex Life?

    A new report found that cannabis use can affect your sex life in a variety of unexpected ways. 

    Changes to marijuana policy are sweeping through the country, but experts say that legalizing weed could have unintended consequences where Americans least expect them: in the bedroom. 

    According to a report by The Verge, cannabis use can lead to people having more sex and using contraceptives less often, so much that legalization has increased the birth rate by about 16 births a year per 10,000 women of childbearing age. It can also change the quality of the sex people are having, although whether pot will make your experience better or worse is a toss-up. 

    “It’s not like the more, the better,” said gynecologist Melanie Bone, who prescribes medical marijuana for patients who have low libido or trouble orgasming. “Maybe some amount will relax you and make you more open to sensations and less inhibited with your body, but if you get super stoned, you’re not going to be able to concentrate.”

    Lubes infused with cannabis claim to increase pleasure, but Bone said that is open to debate. 

    “For many of the lubes, is it more hype or more true response?” she said. “The only way to know is to study it,” something that is difficult to do because of the on-going federal prohibition on pot. 

    One study found that for men, cannabis use is linked with difficulty climaxing, and another study found that it can lower sperm quality. However, another study found that marijuana use is associated with more sexual partners and that it doesn’t seem to affect sexual functioning.

    Michael Eisenberg, a urologist at Stanford University, found that women who use marijuana have 34% more sex than women who don’t smoke, and men who use pot saw their sex life expand 22%. Although people who use marijuana might just have more sex than people who don’t, researchers still found an increase tied to use.

    “The interesting thing about the study is that we also were able to look at all different demographic groups, based on race and ethnicity, marital status, and education level,” Eisenberg said. “And across all groups, you saw the same relationship, so it’s not like this association is being driven by one particular group.”

    In addition, a working paper published last month found that more and riskier sex associated with cannabis use is driving up birth rates. 

    “Our novel results reveal that birth rates increased after the passage of a [medical marijuana] law corresponding to increased frequency of sexual intercourse, decreased purchase of condoms and suggestive evidence on decreased condom use during sex,” the authors wrote. “More sex and less contraceptive use may be attributed to behavioral responses such as increased attention to the immediate hedonic effects of sexual contact, delayed discounting and ignoring costs associated with risky sex.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • New Jersey Moves Closer To Marijuana Legalization

    New Jersey Moves Closer To Marijuana Legalization

    Marijuana legalization could potentially happen before the end of the year in New Jersey. 

    Members of the state legislature in New Jersey took an important step toward legalizing recreational marijuana this week, although legalization might still be months away in the Garden State. 

    On Monday (Nov. 26) lawmakers in the Senate and Assembly budget committees approved a bill which would legalize recreational cannabis. That allows the bill to move forward to a vote in the full Senate and Assembly, clearing the way for recreational marijuana legalization potentially as soon as Dec. 17, the next time the full assembly will meet, according to NJ.com.

    However, most agree that it’s more likely that legalization will not take place until next year.

    As it is now, the bill would legalize possession and personal use of less than one ounce of weed for people 21 and older. The bill calls for a 12% state tax and a 2% excise tax that may apply to towns with marijuana businesses. In addition, the bill calls for an electronic system to speed up the expungement of low-level marijuana convictions.

    Some details of the bill, including the rate at which cannabis will be taxed, and how the state will handle the criminal records of people who have marijuana-related offenses, still have to be worked out.

    New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy campaigned in part on a promise to legalize marijuana in 2018. “I am committed to working with you to get this passed this year,” he said in March. 

    However, Murphy would like cannabis taxed at a higher rate, and said that he is not sure whether he’ll sign the bill in its current form. “It’s too early to tell,” he said this week. “We haven’t commented on specifics, but I am very happy that this is moving.”

    Other lawmakers are concerned that the bill does not address racial disparities in enforcing marijuana laws. 

    “This is still being sold under the auspices of social justice, but it’s about money,” said state Sen. Ron Rice, a Democrat who opposes legalization. “It’s not about social justice. It’s about money for white investors. It’s a slap in the face to people like me and people of color.”

    The bill also leaves some gray areas. Although it would allow possession and personal use, growing weed will remain illegal and it could take up to a year to get the recreational market functioning, according to NJ.com. However, existing medical facilities could begin selling recreational cannabis sooner. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Why Some Drug-Sniffing Dogs Are Being Forced Into Early Retirement

    Why Some Drug-Sniffing Dogs Are Being Forced Into Early Retirement

    Some police departments across the US have found that marijuana-trained drug-sniffing dogs have become a liability. 

    Police K-9s have helped sniff out many a marijuana offender, but as local governments relax their marijuana laws, some of these drug-sniffing dogs are being forced into early retirement.

    The New York Times reports that police departments across the United States are having to retire their drug-sniffing dogs and seek newer K-9s with no marijuana-sniffing experience. Not only is the skill becoming obsolete in parts of the country, it is now seen as a liability.

    “A dog can’t tell you, ‘Hey, I smell marijuana’ or ‘I smell meth.’ They have the same behavior for any drug that they’ve been trained on,” says Tommy Klein, police chief in Rifle, Colorado.

    Tulo, a yellow Labrador retriever who has helped with more than 170 arrests in his eight years with the Rifle police department, will retire in January. “If Tulo were to alert on a car, we no longer have probable cause for a search based on his alert alone,” said Klein.

    Colorado police departments like Rifle’s are following a 2017 ruling by a Colorado appeals court that said a marijuana-trained drug-sniffing dog’s signal was “no longer a reliable indicator of illegal activity,” the NYT reported.

    Kilo alerted Moffat County officers to the presence of contraband on a man’s truck. A search turned up a pipe with “what appeared to be methamphetamine residue.”

    However, based on the judge’s ruling, the officers had no legal grounds to search the man’s vehicle because Kilo was trained to detect marijuana, among other drugs.

    The state Supreme Court will review the decision and plans to hear arguments in January, but some police departments are taking it as a sign that times are changing.

    “Almost every state is trying to get ahead of this,” says David Ferland, executive director of the United States Police Canine Association. “Nearly every one is having some newly trained teams not introduce marijuana odors to their dogs.”

    Even in places like Texas, where marijuana is still criminalized, law enforcement are planning ahead.

    “I just did a dog for a department in Texas that asked me not to put marijuana on her. They and the feeling there could be some changes coming there, and they wanted to plan ahead,” said Ron Cloward, a K-9 trainer based in Modesto, California.

    Younger dogs, like Rudy in Arvada, Colorado, will be trained to detect only cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and methamphetamine. Makai and Jax will replace Tulo in Rifle, Colorado. They, too, will have no marijuana training.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Mexico May Become Third Nation To Legalize Marijuana

    Mexico May Become Third Nation To Legalize Marijuana

    A new bill submitted by Mexico’s president-elect would allow individuals to grow up to 20 plants and produce up to 17 ounces of marijuana each year.

    Mexico has a good chance of becoming the third nation in the world to legalize marijuana for adult use—after Uruguay and Canada.

    President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who will take office on Dec. 1, has submitted legislation this month seeking to legalize marijuana for adult use.

    The country legalized marijuana for medical use in June 2017—but the law limits medical marijuana products to “cannabis derivatives” that contain less than 1% THC.

    The bill submitted by Lopez Obrador would allow individuals to grow up to 20 plants and produce up to 17 ounces of marijuana each year. The law would allow public smoking and growing cooperatives, but not edible products.

    This comes after Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled in October that a ban on marijuana for adult use is unconstitutional, declaring, “The effects caused by marijuana do not justify an absolute prohibition on its consumption.”

    According to political analysts, the bill has a good shot at passing, possibly in 2019. Lopez-Obrador has been a vocal critic of the “war on drugs” approach, and promised to cut down violent crimes in the country.

    According to the LA Times, there were 31,174 recorded homicide victims in 2017—the highest number in 20 years when this data was first collected. This year is on track to surpass that number.

    Lopez Obrador’s political party, Morena, has control of both houses of Congress. And the president-elect’s interior minister and former Supreme Court justice, Olga Sanchez Cordero, has criticized Mexico’s “prohibitionist” drug policy and co-wrote the proposed marijuana bill.

    According to the legislation, 62% of Mexico’s prison population in 2012 were there on drug charges, a majority of them marijuana-related.

    The recent high-profile trial of one of Mexico’s most notorious drug kingpins exemplifies the extent of the drug trade there.

    The trial of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera began in Brooklyn, New York on Nov. 13. The former Sinaloa cartel boss was extradited to the United States after escaping from maximum-security prison twice in Mexico.

    The trial is unveiling the inner workings of the Sinaloa cartel. Jesus Zambada Garcia, its official accountant, testified that in an average year, the drug trafficking organization would transact “billions” of dollars in shipments.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • What Jeff Sessions’ Departure Means For Marijuana

    What Jeff Sessions’ Departure Means For Marijuana

    Sessions’ departure has left some people wondering if President Trump may change his stance on marijuana legalization.

    When President Trump demanded the resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions last week many people were alarmed, but proponents for marijuana legalization saw Sessions’ departure as good news.

    “It’s a step in the right direction,” Andrew Jolley, president of the Nevada Dispensary Association, told the Las Vegas Sun. 

    Sessions was staunchly against cannabis, having famously said that “good people don’t smoke marijuana.” During his tenure as attorney general he repealed the Cole Memo, an Obama-era document that acknowledged the Justice Department’s limited resources and instructed US Attorneys avoid prosecution in areas where marijuana was legal in some form, according to Forbes.

    Despite his tough stance, Sessions was not able to do much to target the cannabis industry because of The Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment, an amendment to the federal budget that specifically bars the Justice Department from spending money to enforce a ban on medical marijuana in states where it is legal.

    Following Sessions’ resignation on Wednesday morning, stocks in cannabis companies soared, with the marijuana index rising nearly 14% in two hours, according to Newsweek. 

    Sessions’ departure left some people wondering if President Trump would change his stance on marijuana, perhaps even removing the drug from the list of Schedule I substances with no medical benefit.

    “I think he’s waiting for after the midterms,” Anthony Scaramucci, former White House communications director, recently said.

    During the midterms, Michigan became the 10th state to fully legally recreational cannabis, and medical marijuana programs were established in Utah and Missouri. In addition, polling shows that two-thirds of Americans — including a majority of Republicans — support legalizing marijuana. 

    Sessions was replaced by his former chief of staff, Matthew Whitaker. Although it’s not clear what Whitaker’s stance on marijuana is, during his time as a U.S. attorney in Iowa, he worked to “reduce the availability of meth, cocaine, and marijuana in our communities,” according to his resignation letter from 2009.

    In 2014 when Whitaker was running to represent Iowa in the Senate, he said that he had sympathy for people who received relief from cannabidiol (CBD), and support the states CBD-only medical marijuana law. 

    “Families are going to be positively impacted by what happened in the state Senate,” he said. “And I applaud them for helping those families who need that help.”

    However, he added that the state should not establish a medical marijuana program while cannabis remained illegal under federal law. When he was asked whether Congress should legalize marijuana, Whitaker’s opinion wasn’t very clear.

    He said that the federal government “should regulate things that harm people,” like “hard drugs and the like,” but didn’t say whether he thought marijuana fit that description. However, he did talk about the dangers of a black market cannabis trade.

    “I saw the impact of marijuana on our border,” he said. “If you go to any of the counties in Texas where there’s an illegal importation of marijuana, there’s a tremendous amount of violence.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Big Claims About Pot's Health Benefits Made Possible By Limited Research

    Big Claims About Pot's Health Benefits Made Possible By Limited Research

    “It’s hard to study marijuana, and there’s money to be made in the business. That’s an unfortunate combination that makes it exceedingly hard to separate the truth from the hype.”

    Cannabidiol (CBD) can alleviate your PTSD and anxiety symptoms, while THC can reduce your nausea and inflammation—or, at least, that is what the medical marijuana industry wants you to believe.

    As using cannabis has become more socially acceptable, industry insiders are making big claims about their products’ health benefits, despite the fact that there is limited scientific research on cannabis due to the federal government’s tight control on the Schedule I substance. 

    “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but if something is being marketed as having health benefits, it needs to be proven to have health benefits,” Salomeh Keyhani, a professor of internal medicine at UC San Francisco told The Verge. “I think it’s very dangerous to be asserting that things are very beneficial without thinking about risks.”

    Keyhani authored a study published in September in the Annals of Internal Medicine examining how Americans perceive cannabis. He found that 81% of Americans believe that marijuana has at least some health benefit, and 66% believe it can help relieve pain. Nearly 30% of people surveyed believe that using marijuana can prevent health issues. 

    The research on the medical benefits of cannabis shows that Americans may be vastly overestimating its effectiveness. “Americans’ view of marijuana use is more favorable than existing evidence supports,” authors concluded. 

    “Limited evidence suggests that cannabis may alleviate neuropathic pain in some patients, but insufficient evidence exists for other types of chronic pain,” authors of another study in the Annals of Internal Medicine wrote, noting that research also shows that cannabis can increase the risk for mental health consequences. 

    Despite the Drug Enforcement Administration’s promise to grant more licenses to study cannabis, this has not happened, meaning that research has lagged behind the growing social acceptance of marijuana. This has allowed an industry to be created around cannabis as a health product, without research on the benefits or dangers. 

    “The irony is that by trying to keep us ‘safe’ and refusing to reschedule, the DEA is making us less safe by letting us be drowned by hype without quality evidence either way,” writes Angela Chen of The Verge. 

    Last Tuesday, voters in Michigan approved legalizing recreational marijuana, meaning that a quarter of Americans can now use the drug for non-medical use, and many more can opt into a medical marijuana program. 

    “All the while, the research lags behind,” Chen writes. “It’s hard to study marijuana, and there’s money to be made in the business. That’s an unfortunate combination that makes it exceedingly hard to separate the truth from the hype.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Low-Level Weed Cases Not A Priority, Michigan's Top Prosecutors Say

    Low-Level Weed Cases Not A Priority, Michigan's Top Prosecutors Say

    Michigan voters approved a ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana last week.

    On the heels of a successful ballot measure that legalized recreational weed in Michigan, prosecutors last week put out a statement clarifying that pot is still illegal on a federal level – but they won’t make weed cases a priority. 

    “Marijuana continues to be an illegal drug under federal law,” Matthew Schneider and Andrew Birge, U.S. Attorneys for the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan, wrote in a statement Thursday, according to the Detroit Free Press. “Because we have taken oaths to protect and defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States, we will not unilaterally immunize anyone from prosecution for violating federal laws simply because of the passage of Proposal One.”

    But – following the lead of federal prosecutors elsewhere – the duo said they wouldn’t make throwing resources at marijuana enforcement a priority. 

    “Our offices have never focused on the prosecution of marijuana users or low-level offenders, unless aggravating factors are present,” the federal prosecutors said. “That will not change.”

    The factors that could pique federal interest in a given case include everything from the involvement of other illegal drugs to suspects’ past criminal records and from the use of guns to the possibility of environmental contamination. 

    The ballot measure approved by 56% of Michigan voters on Tuesday will allow adults over 21 to grow and use weed legally, and it’ll take effect 10 days after the vote is certified.

    “The Proposal 1 campaign boiled down into one of fact versus fear,” Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Spokesperson Josh Hovey said, according to Forbes. “The data from the nine other states to have legalized marijuana made clear that regulation and taxation are a better solution. Legalization of marijuana will end the unnecessary waste of law enforcement resources used to enforce the failed policy of prohibition while generating hundreds of millions of dollars each year for Michigan’s most important needs.”

    But, while Michiganders greenlit legal pot on Tuesday, the resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions a day later created some uncertainty about the future of the nation’s marijuana enforcement policies. 

    Although Sessions was no friend to marijuana reformers, he did clarify earlier this year that he was not interested in pursuing small-time weed cases due to a lack of resources for low-level crimes.

    It’s not clear what a new attorney general might mean for federal approaches to pot. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Are Pregnant Women Using Marijuana More?

    Are Pregnant Women Using Marijuana More?

    A new report examined the most recent trends for smoking and alcohol use during pregnancy. 

    New federal data shows that while fewer women are taking in cigarettes and alcohol during pregnancy, more are using marijuana. A research letter published in JAMA Pediatrics examines the data, gathered between 2002 and 2016.

    According to the data, the percentage of pregnant women who reported smoking cigarettes during pregnancy changed from 17.5% to around 10%. Alcohol use also fell from nearly 10% to close to 8.5%. While cannabis use among pregnant women is rare, the data shows it has increased from near 3% of pregnant women in the data collection, to almost 5%.

    The National Survey of Drug Use and Health provided the data, which came from 12,000 pregnant women ages 18 to 44. Close to 3,500 of these women were in their first trimester of pregnancy, a critical time for fetal development in general but specifically and crucially, of brain and neurological function.

    The CDC asks expectant mothers not to use the drug while pregnant, due to potential developmental harms for infants. While pot and cigarette smoke differ, they both are known to cause harm to the lungs, as reported in the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

    According to NIDA, “Marijuana smoking is associated with large airway inflammation, increased airway resistance, and lung hyperinflation, and those who smoke marijuana regularly report more symptoms of chronic bronchitis than those who do not smoke.”

    The increase of pregnant women using cannabis may be due to new laws allowing medical marijuana use, which is now legal in nine states and on the agenda for approval in many more.

    However, this viewpoint is not as of yet supported by data, and it is probable to think that the increasing amount of stress for the average American­­­—expensive health insurance, costs of organic food, and pricey rent/mortgage—has played a role in pregnant women turning to smoking pot for stress relief.

    Overall, the percentage of smokers in the U.S. is at a new low, having dropped from 45.1 million cigarette smokers in 2005 to 36.5 million, close to 15% of the population, in 2015. The researchers did find that decreases in smoking were less pronounced among certain subgroups of pregnant women, including Black women, women ages 26 to 44, and those who did not finish high school.

    This data supports the idea that increased stress and lack of access to proper care and living also increases the chances that a pregnant woman would smoke marijuana.

    Alcohol use for the overall American population, including pregnant women, remains generally consistent. In other countries, especially European ones, drinking during pregnancy is acceptable in small doses, and even considered beneficial to the pregnancy.

    The National Survey researchers were reported in Time as concluding, “Greater public awareness regarding the consequences of prenatal cannabis exposure in offspring health is necessary.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Canada Faces Year-Long Legal Marijuana Shortage

    Canada Faces Year-Long Legal Marijuana Shortage

    Supply issues began almost immediately after recreational marijuana officially became legal in mid-October. 

    Less than a month after declaring marijuana legal, Canada’s legal dispensaries are struggling to meet the overwhelming demand for cannabis, which may remain in short supply or out of stock.

    News outlets like Vice have laid the blame on licensed producers that grossly overestimated their ability to deliver their product in massive amounts, though High Times noted that the supply issue is a temporary problem that will be corrected once growers can bring their production up to speed. How long that will take remains unclear, though some projections see the dry spell lasting up to 18 months.

    As the New York Times observed, shortage issues began almost immediately after the October 17 launch of legalization in the country. Some provinces were simply unprepared to meet the staggering demand. In Ontario, where physical cannabis stores will not be open to the public until April 2019, the sole online retailer received more than 150,000 orders in a single week, while in British Columbia, just two government-sanctioned retailers—one a 10-hour drive from Vancouver—are available to customers. 

    But even provinces with more retailers find themselves unable to keep up with orders. Quebec has 12 shops, but has been forced to close them for three days a week in order to catch up with the demand. 

    According to one industry member, the problem lies with licensers who saw the cannabis industry as the means to a quick cash influx. “Most of these guys, they’ve been wearing pinstripe suits their whole career,” said Dan Sutton, founder of Tantalus Labs in British Columbia. “They’ve never spent any time on a farm, and they don’t know shit about agriculture.”

    Sutton said that time and understanding are crucial to creating a sustainable cannabis facility with repeatable product. Tantalus Labs took four years to design and build its greenhouse, but according to Sutton, other companies have devoted only months to their operations.

    Additionally, few of the growers hired by these facilities have the experience to maintain large cannabis crops, which have specific requirements for irrigation and nutrients that, if not met, can spell doom for a crop. 

    With those factors in play, Sutton said that “we will not see anything close to equitable supply relative to demand in the next 18 months.” But other industry members believe that patience is the key to solving the shortage problem. Jordan Sinclair, vice president of communications for Canopy, the largest legal cannabis producer in the world, said that some product has yet to reach the level of maturity needed for cultivating, and the market will even out in a few months.

    Increasing the number of licenses issued to producers may also help, but as Rosalie Wyonch, an analyst with C.D. Howe Institute, said that even that may not be enough to deal with the problem. She also noted that the Canadian government should adhere to its plan to reduce the country’s black market marijuana trade, but ultimately, the solution remains with the supply.

    “Licensed producers basically need to grow as much weed as possible,” she said.

    View the original article at thefix.com