Virginia Governor Signs Bill Protecting Public Employees Who Use Medical Marijuana

Governor Glenn Youngkin has signed into law legislation designed to protect public employees who legally use medical marijuana.

Despite vetoing bills to legalize marijuana sales and protect parents who use marijuana legally, Governor Youngkin has signed Senate Bill 391 into law. The measure was passed with overwhelming support in the House of Representatives and Senate, with the vote being 8 to 18 and 30 to 10 respectively.

Under current law “No employer shall discharge, discipline, or discriminate against an employee for such employee’s lawful use of cannabis oil pursuant to a valid written certification issued by a practitioner for the treatment or to eliminate the symptoms of the employee’s diagnosed condition or disease”.
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US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to Introduce Federal Marijuana Legalization Bill This Month

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, along with Senators Ron Wyden and Cory Booker, have announced that they will soon file federal legislation to legalize recreational marijuana.

The trio of senators is currently circulating a letter to colleagues asking them to join as cosponsors for the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, which they plan to officially introduce on April 20.

“Dear Colleagues”, begins the letter. “Leader Schumer, Chair Wyden, and Senator Booker invite you to cosponsor the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA), a comprehensive bill to decriminalize, regulate, and tax cannabis.” The letter states that “A growing number of Americans have made it clear, at ballot boxes, through their legislatures, and with their dollars: the War on Drugs has failed, and the federal government must respect the decision of states that have chosen to legalize cannabis.”
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In New Study CBD Reduced the Cognitive Deficits Caused by Fragile X Syndrome

According to a new study utilizing an animal model, the marijuana-derived compound cannabidiol (CBD) was able to reduce the cognitive deficits associated with Fragile X Syndrome.

“Cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychotomimetic constituent of Cannabis sativa, has been recently approved for epileptic syndromes often associated with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)”, begins the study’s abstract. “However, the putative efficacy and mechanism of action of CBD in patients suffering from ASD and related comorbidities remain debated, especially because of the complex pharmacology of CBD.”

For this study, researchers “used pharmacological, immunohistochemical and biochemical approaches to investigate the effects and mechanisms of action of CBD in the recently validated rat model of ASD, that is also a model of Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), the leading monogenic cause of autism.”
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Study of 400,000 Patients With Collapsed Lunge Finds Marijuana Associated With Reduced Hospital Stay and In-Hospital Mortality

According to a new study of hundreds of thousands of patients with spontaneous pneumothora, also referred to as collapsed lung, those with a history of marijuana use had significantly reduced average hospital stays and in-hospital mortality than non-marijuana users.

Spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP) is a sudden onset of a lung that has collapsed without any apparent cause, which happens when air builds up in the space around the lungs putting pressure on the lung and preventing it from expanding normally. This can cause the lung to partially or completely collapse.

The study, published in the Cureus Journal of Medical Science and conducted by researchers at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, included 399,495 patients with PSP, 13,415 cannabis users and 386,080 non-cannabis users.
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Federal Bill to Deschedule Marijuana Sponsored by 40% of Democrats in US House of Representatives

A bill to fully deschedule marijuana is now sponsored by 40% of every Democrat in the United States House of Representatives.

Filed in September, 2023, the MORE Act (H.R. 5601) would decriminalize marijuana nationwide by removing it as a substance regulated under the federal Controlled Substances Act. This would end federal marijuana prohibition, while allowing states to legalize marijuana if they choose.

Under the proposed law, if a state does allow legal marijuana sales, there would be a 5% federal tax placed on sales. This tax would rise a little each year, reaching 8% by the fifth year. The MORE Act would also allow would the guaranteed expungement of past charges related to simple marijuana possession.
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Missouri Marijuana Stores Sold $124 Million Worth of Product in March, a New Monthly Record

In Missouri there was over $124 million worth of marijuana sold legally in March, a new monthly record.

According to data just released by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, there was $124.7 million in marijuana and marijuana products sold legally through licensed marijuana retail outlets and dispensaries. This breaks the previous monthly record of $123 million set in December, and is roughly $3 million more than the marijuana sales total for April, 2023.

Of the $114 million sold, $108.7 million was sold to recreational consumers, an over $10 million increase from February. Medical marijuana patients purchased $16 million worth of marijuana, an increase of $900k from April.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection Begins Seizing Marijuana From State-Legal Marijuana Businesses and Arresting Employees

United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has begun seizing massive amounts of marijuana from state-licensed marijuana businesses in New Mexico, while detaining and in some instances arresting employees.

(Photo credit: Eric Risberg/Associated Press).

Over the past two months the CBP has confiscated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of marijuana transported by state-licensed marijuana companies as they pass through interior border checkpoints in New Mexico. It’s also been reported that a handful of marijuana employees have been arrested.

In an audio recording of one of the seizures, a Border Patrol agent can be heard saying “We’ve been instructed to seize all cannabis—all illegal products. It’s still federally illegal.”
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Veterans Medical Marijuana Safe Harbor Act Gains 27th Sponsor in US Congress

Legislation to allow Veterans Affairs doctors to recommend medical marijuana is continuing to garner support in the US House and Senate.

(Photo credit: Getty Images Plus)

Veterans Medical Marijuana Safe Harbor Act (H.R. 2682) was filed on April 18 in the House of Representatives by Congressmember Barbara Lee (D-CA). The following day, a companion measure with identical language was filed in the Senate by Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI).

The Veterans Medical Marijuana Safe Harbor Act would allow veterans “to use, possess, or transport medical marijuana and to discuss the use of medical marijuana with a physician of the Department of Veterans Affairs [VA] as authorized by a State or Indian Tribe, and for other purposes.” Under current law VA doctors are not allowed to even discuss medical marijuana with patients.
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High Times Announces 2024 Michigan Cannabis Cup, Where Anyone Can Be a Judge

High Times has officially announced the return “of the highly-anticipated High Times Cannabis Cup Michigan 2024!”

“It’s the fifth year we’ve set up a competition in Michigan—one of our most enthusiastic event markets—and the most recent rundown of winners showcases Michigan’s finest products”, says High Times. “With a massive 20-category breakdown this year, we’re proud to display the winners of a variety of categories, as determined by our Michigan judges.”

According to High Times, anybody can be a Judge, as long as they “have the passion and grit needed to determine the next year’s winners.” Product submissions will be taken May 27 through June 7 in the Detroit area. Judge Kits go on sale June 22.
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SAFE Banking Act Garners 113th Sponsor in US House

The SAFE Banking Act now has 113 sponsors.

Yesterday Representative Lois Frankel (D-FL) joined the growing list of sponsors for the SAFE Banking Act, a measure to explicitly allow marijuana banking. The measure, introduced in September, has more sponsors than any other marijuana-related bill in US history. In the Senate, the updated SAFER Banking Act has 36 sponsors, with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer saying recently that the chamber will work to pass marijuana banking in the “weeks and months ahead”.

Both the SAFE Banking Act and SAFER Banking Act would make it clear that any bank or financial institution could provide financial services to marijuana businesses that are licensed under state law. Proponents of the measure say this change is vital; under the status quo marijuana stores are forced to operate as a cash-only business, putting them at an increased risk of robberies.
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