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The following editorial appeared in the Uniontown Herald-Standard. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tribune-Democrat.

The United States reached a milestone at the end of August that may have escaped many people’s attention.

According to a Gallup poll, more Americans admitted to smoking marijuana than puffing on cigarettes. Gallup reported that 16% of Americans say they currently use marijuana, while just 11% say they smoke cigarettes.

This is quite a sea change for anyone who remembers when offices, restaurants and shopping centers would routinely have a fog of cigarette smoke hanging over them, while, at the same time, marijuana was demonized as a drug favored by glassy-eyed stoners and outlaw rock musicians.

Some of this shift can be credited to baby boomers reaching the heights of political and economic power over the past couple of decades, and generations even more tolerant of marijuana following them.

It also undoubtedly is a result of a better understanding of just how addictive and harmful tobacco is, while marijuana has been shown to ease pain and nausea and is less addictive. Marijuana also does not seem to have the same destructive impact on the lungs and heart that cigarettes do.

Despite 19 states and Washington, D.C., legalizing marijuana for recreational use, farms and sellers of the drug operating off the books continue to thrive.

Marijuana remains strictly illegal at the federal level despite increasingly vocal pushes by congressional Democrats (and a smattering of Republicans) to take it off the prohibited list of drugs. That has led to states putting in place their own "legalized" marijuana programs.

What started out in the 1990s as state ballot initiatives limited to marijuana for medicinal use eventually spread to its legality for everyday enjoyment, including in some of the most populous states, such as California, New York, New Jersey, and Virginia.

But that doesn't mean all is going according to plan in states that have legalized marijuana.

Oregon, for example, has decriminalized marijuana use. Still, southern Oregon has become a hub for an illegal marijuana market, reportedly overwhelming law enforcement agencies.

Earlier this month, the Oregon State Police Southwest Region Drug Enforcement Section seized over 3,000 illegal marijuana plants and several hundred more pounds hanging or drying in Jackson County, which straddles Oregon's state line with California.

The study, by a former University of Colorado graduate student, looked at data on twins to answer a longstanding question.

In the decade since Colorado voters passed Amendment 64 legalizing adult use of marijuana in state law, a slew of studies have tried to estimate the impact.

They’ve looked broadly and more narrowly, and have concluded — depending on how you might read them — that legalization either did or did not lead to an increase in cannabis use.

But a new study, conducted by a former Ph.D. student in Colorado, takes perhaps the most novel approach yet and comes to the conclusion that legalization may, in fact, lead to people using marijuana more frequently.

The student, Stephanie Zellers, was studying neuroscience at the University of Colorado before she followed her adviser to finish up her doctorate at the University of Minnesota. She was interested in studying the effects of substance use on the brain, but a lot of studies on the brain work the same way: you have to crack open the craniums of lab animals. That didn’t sit well with Zellers.

So she went looking for a different method, and she found it in a massive dataset on the lives of twins born in Colorado or Minnesota.

The federal government’s decision to classify cannabis as a Schedule I controlled substance without accepted medical utility is arguably “irrational,” but it is not unconstitutional, according to a ruling recently handed down by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Defendants in the case argued that marijuana’s scheduling in the US Controlled Substances Act has no rational basis because cannabis does not meet the statutory criteria for inclusion on Schedule I.

(Under the law, Schedule I substances – by definition – meet three specific criteria: “A high potential for abuse,” “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States,” and “a lack of accepted safety for use … under medical supervision.”)

Judges for the US Court of Appeals rejected the defendants’ argument, opining, “[T]he Act’s scheduling criteria are largely irrelevant to our constitutional review because the rational basis test asks only whether Congress could have any conceivable basis for including marijuana on the strictest schedule.

Because there are other plausible considerations that could have motivated Congress’s scheduling of marijuana, we conclude that its classification does not violate the [plaintiffs’] due process or equal protection rights.”

Judges acknowledged that the defendants “convincingly argue[d] that it is irrational for the government to maintain that marijuana has no accepted medical use.” However, they ruled that this argument alone is insufficient to compel the Court to determine that cannabis’ Schedule I status is unconstitutional.

ALLENTOWN - State Reps. Mike Schlossberg and Peter Schweyer will host a town hall with Pennsylvania Board of Pardons Secretary Celeste Trusty this Friday, Sept. 16 to discuss the new Pennsylvania Marijuana Pardon Project.

The lawmakers said the event – which starts at 3 p.m. at Resurrected Life Community Church at 144 N. 9th St. – will provide residents and community members with a chance to learn about the pardon project and ask questions.

“The Pennsylvania Marijuana Pardon Project offers people convicted of extremely low-profile marijuana offenses the opportunity to move on with their lives,” said Schlossberg, D-Lehigh. “I am thrilled to work with Representative Schweyer, Mayor Tuerk and Lt. Governor Fetterman’s staff to make this event possible.”   

“Responsible recreational marijuana should be legal in Pennsylvania,” said Schweyer, D-Lehigh. “But until that day comes, we should stop punishing people for using cannabis when it is legal just on the other side of the Delaware River. I’m proud to help host this event so that many people in our region can clear their names and move on with their lives.”

“Too many people are burdened with a criminal record for something most of us don’t even think should be illegal,” Trusty said. “We are so excited to help as many people as possible get on their way to a clear record through the PA Marijuana Pardon Project. The application is free and available online – the only thing you have to lose is your record!”

“People make bad choices over the course of their lives. We believe in second chances and recognize that small mistakes can be learning opportunities,” said Matt Tuerk, Allentown mayor. “The commonwealth is giving Allentonians an opportunity for good outcomes by clearing that slate.”

TEXAS - Retired Army Major David Bass served in the U.S. Army for 25 years from 1985 to 2006. He’s a veteran of operations, Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom.

“When I returned to Fort Hood, I had these symptoms that I didn’t understand,” Bass said. “I was diagnosed by Army doctors with post-traumatic stress disorder, which was a condition that I had never thought I would be diagnosed with.

And so the doctors prescribed psychotropic medications for PTSD. And I was also prescribed opioids for chronic pain from some injuries I had on active duty. After I retired, I was being treated by the veterans administration in Temple. And after a few years, I got tired of those pills. I didn’t like the side effects. So I did some research for alternatives to the pills, and that’s when I discovered medical cannabis.”

In 2012, he told his psychiatrist at the VA that he wanted to stop taking the pills he had become addicted to. He said the psychiatrist told him he couldn’t, so he began researching cannabis on his own. He started using it illegally that year.

“By the end of 2012, I had stopped taking the pill,” Bass said. “I proved to myself that cannabis is effective medicine for PTSD. The symptoms of nightmares, sleeplessness, anger outbursts, paranoia, hypervigilance–medical cannabis took care of them.”

Bass joined a nonprofit focused on cannabis reform called Texas NORML in 2012. In 2013, he became the director of veteran outreach. Two years later, he founded Texas Veterans for Medical Marijuana in 2015. He’s been advocating for medical cannabis ever since. 

At the very least, the president should decriminalize marijuana and reschedule it through executive action at the federal level.

As the U.S. midterm elections edge closer, Democrats believe they have a window to push their agenda for cannabis reform.

Per The Hill, Democrats are pressuring President Joe Biden, trying to figure out what’s possible in terms of marijuana reform before the midterms in November. They reportedly believe the momentum gained by Biden’s previous decisions that leaned liberal — student loans, health care and tax reforms — might positively impact decriminalization of cannabis.

“Now that the president has delivered on a progressive policy of student debt relief, he has seen an uptick in the polls, he’s united the base, put Republicans on the defensive, and Democrats across the country seem to be riding the wave as well,” said Iowa Democrat Stacey Walker.​

“Along with several members of President Biden’s senior leadership team, we all agreed that, at the very least, the president should decriminalize marijuana and reschedule it through executive action at the federal level,” Walker added.

In recent weeks, other Democrats have echoed these statements, focusing on the benefits that this decision could have on the millions of people who have been negatively impacted by marijuana legislation in the past.

KANSAS CITY - A judge heard arguments Thursday in a lawsuit brought forth by an anti-drug group seeking to take a recreational marijuana legalization proposal off Missouri’s November ballot.

The suit alleges that marijuana supporters didn’t gather enough valid voter signatures to put the proposal to a vote.

Medical marijuana dispensaries across the state are hoping Missouri voters approve the measure in November.

“We think it’s something that’s exciting and new,” Fresh Karma Dispensaries Director of Marketing Jericho Heese said in an interview with FOX4 Thursday. “We think Missouri is potentially ready for that new market.”

But some state leaders, like Republican Gov. Mike Parson and U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, aren’t on board. Hawley supported medical marijuana, but he’s against recreational marijuana, calling it “terrible policy” in an interview with FOX4 Thursday. 

New law does not decriminalize drug.

The City of Pooler has a new marijuana ordinance in place, but that doesn’t mean it’s changing the severity of the charge for marijuana possession. What it does change is where alleged offenders may see their day in court.

The ordinance implementation was merely a formality, said council member Aaron Higgins, as Pooler did not have a marijuana ordinance already, so cases could not be tried within the municipal court. 

Up until the ordinance passage at Tuesday night’s council meeting, those who were caught with an ounce or less of marijuana within Pooler’s city limits were required to be tried in the Chatham County Superior Court, where wait times could be as long as 2 to 3 years. 

The wait for Pooler’s municipal court is around  to -3 months, according to Pooler Police Department pokesperson SHeintzman. 

However, if someone decides to pay the fine, they do not have to appear in front of a court judge. Fines for an ounce or less of marijuana possession in the state of Georgia can go up to $1,000. In Pooler, the fine is $400. 

TAMPA - The Florida Department of Health recently issued an emergency ruling on medical marijuana to limit amounts and dosage.

Some patients worry about what this could mean for future usage. “I started having what they refer to as grand mal cluster seizures in about 2012,” said Jeffery Swoyer, who uses medical cannabis.

The Mayo Clinic defines a grand mal seizure as a seizure with a loss of consciousness and violent muscle contractions.

“I would have those in clusters of up to five to seven at a time,” said Swoyer.

He tells ABC Action News after he got his diagnosis, he was put on heavy doses of pharmaceutical drugs, but they didn’t help.

That’s when he found a new doctor and turned to medical marijuana. He said he noticed improvements almost immediately.

Step past the Dick Tracy caricature on the sign advertising Street Lawyer Services and into the business at 409 H St. NE and you won’t find a lawyer. No lawyer’s shingle is visible anywhere, inside or out. 

“They’re upstairs,” the woman who greets customers assures us in the brightly lit room, directing our attention away from the art on the walls, the couch no customer is allowed to sit in and the large-screen TV on the wall blasting out “Without Remorse,’’ and toward an array of marijuana products known in DC’s burgeoning and unregulated weed industry as “flower.” 

For a $60-$90 donation to the lawyers supposedly a floor above – what is known in these shadowy businesses as the “gift” ‒ donors can walk out with a thank-you of 3.5 grams of the flower of their choice. At other similar DC businesses, which may number more than 100, the gift is a kid’s sticker normally costing pennies, a QR code giving ownership of amateurish art, a “counseling”’ session, a tiny tube of CBD topical muscle balm or other meaningless and inexpensive item. 

This sleight of hand allows I-71 cannabis entrepreneurs to skirt DC’s law allowing only personal use and sale of medical marijuana. I-71 refers to Initiative 71, approved by DC voters in 2014, which legalized possession of up to two ounces of weed, cultivation of only three mature plants at a time and a “gift” of no more than one ounce of pot to another person over 21 years of age. Federal law still classes marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance whose possession and sale are a felony. 

A loophole in the law has hindered regulation of DC’s retail marijuana sector and engendered a probably illegal and rapidly expanding drug business that appears to be spiraling out of control. 

Capital Community News, publishers of the Hill Rag, East of the River and MidCity DC newspapers, supported by Spotlight DC, a nonprofit supporter of local investigative journalism, has identified 60 of these storefronts, 31 of which appear to be operating without a Basic Business License (BBL), which enables consumers, employees and governmental officials to identify business owners. 25 are operating without a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O), which assures consumers the business has been certified as safe and can legally do business at its location.

Ethan Andrew started smoking marijuana during his sophomore year of high school in Colorado to help with his anxiety. 

Like many teens, he said he thought it was “just weed” and did not see the harm in smoking the popular drug containing THC, the active chemical found in cannabis that produces a “high.”

His causal marijuana use turned to smoking potent cannabis flower and concentrates, known as dabs, which contain high levels of THC. Andrew said he smoked every day from morning to night. 

“I couldn’t think or sleep without it,” the 23-year-old told Fox News. “When you’re a stoner, you think, ‘I’ll be fine. In the future, I’ll clean myself up.’”

However, it was too late. Two years after becoming an avid marijuana user, Ethan was only 18 when he developed cannabis-induced psychosis, a condition including severe hallucinations, delusions and paranoia.

“I had to quit my job because the voices in my head were so distracting,” Ethan said, adding that the worst symptom was confusing dreams with reality. “I’d wake up and tell my friends, ‘Yeah, remember when we hung out and did that?’ And they would have no idea what I’m talking about.”

Fetterman pledged to press on the topic of marijuana legalization ahead of Biden’s visit to his state of Pennsylvania.

If the recent polls are any indication, it’s looking like John Fetterman (D) has a good chance of beating Dr. Oz (R) to become Pennsylvania’s next Senator. Ahead of President Biden’s visit to Pittsburgh this Labor Day, Fetterman plans to press on the topic of marijuana decriminalization, an issue that has been one of the guiding posts of his campaign.

Fetterman released a statement this past Monday, urging Biden to deschedule marijuana before his visit to Pittsburgh.

“It’s long past time that we finally decriminalize marijuana,” said Fetterman. “The president needs to use his executive authority to begin descheduling marijuana, I would love to see him do this prior to his visit to Pittsburgh. This is just common sense and Pennslyvanians overwhelmingly support decriminalizing marijuana.”

Fetterman also posted his sentiments on Twitter, telling Biden that he has “the power to use your executive authority to chart a new course.”

During a press briefing on Monday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about Fetterman’s statements, but she deferred. “When it comes to drugs, the highest priority for the administration is addressing an overdose crisis,” she said. “But at the same time, President Biden believes that there are too many people serving unduly long sentences for nonviolent drug crimes, a disproportionate number of whom are black and brown. That’s why in April, during the Second Chance Month, President Biden announced 17 sentences, commutations, and three pardons, which are more grants of clemency at this point in a presidency than any of his five recent predecessors.”

The first day of classes is just around the corner and this year, some Rhode Island students will soon be able to take medical marijuana at school.

"It's about providing health equity, student health equity,” said Linda Mendonca, President of the National Association of School Nurses and a consultant for the Rhode Island Department of Health.

School districts must develop a medical marijuana policy for their students. Those policies would then only apply to students who have a medical marijuana card, which requires permission from a parent and a doctor.

Right now, the Department of Health says just 20 children statewide have medical marijuana cards, along with 154 older teens ages 18 and 19 -- out of about 150,000 students in K through 12th grade.

​"Smoking medical marijuana is prohibited. It's pretty clear. Self-administration of medical marijuana is prohibited as well,” Mendonca said.

School nurses would have to keep the drug locked up, and document each time it was dispensed to a student. Marijuana is not FDA approved, and it's still illegal at the federal level. That means nurses may choose to have a parent or caregiver administer it to students at school, rather than doing it themselves.

The board approved a resolution by a 4-2 vote during last week’s meeting for City Manager Aeric Ripley, City Attorney Tony Constanzo and other staff members to begin developing an ordinance regarding the establishment of adult-use marijuana facilities in the city.

The Alma city commission is considering allowing the sale of recreational marijuana. The board approved a resolution by a 4-2 vote during last week’s meeting for City Manager Aeric Ripley, City Attorney Tony Constanzo and other staff members to begin developing an ordinance regarding the establishment of adult-use marijuana facilities in the city.

Commissioners Audra Stahl and Danny Wernick cast the dissenting votes without comment. Commission Nick Piccolo was absent.

Three years ago the city commission OK’d the sale of medical marijuana but opted out of the Michigan Regulation and Taxation Marijuana Act that would have allowed the sale of recreational marijuana.

At that time commissioners cited state laws “were vague” and wanted to wait until the regulations became more clear-cut.

Not long after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that abortions are not a right covered by the U.S. Constitution, award-winning actress Bette Midler posted to Twitter a doctored picture of a New Mexico welcome sign.

Added to the sign were the words, “We’ve got chile, weed and reproductive rights,” referring to the fact that state lawmakers removed a criminal penalty for abortions and that the state legalized recreational-use cannabis. Hours later, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s reelection campaign jumped on the opportunity and reposted the picture with the added words, “And we’re going to keep it that way.”

If Lujan Grisham’s Republican opponent and former television meteorologist Mark Ronchetti wins the election in November, it’s likely that he will push for a change to the state’s abortion law, but his campaign has said little about whether he would push for changes to the state’s Cannabis Regulation Act. 

Medical cannabis patients and cannabis business owners who spoke with NM Political Report about cannabis and the upcoming gubernatorial election had various views on how each candidate might impact the current law, but most agreed that there is still more work to be done when it comes to the state’s cannabis industry. 

Alyssa Pearson, the chief operating officer of the cannabis company Dr. Green Organics Co., said her business is in the final stages of opening a cannabis retail store in Mesilla Park, in Southern New Mexico. Pearson declined to discuss who she plans on voting for in the upcoming election, but said she hopes lawmakers and the governor address what she sees as needed changes to the current law.  

“At this point, all that needs to be done to kill small businesses like ours is ambivalence,” Pearson said. “I know that that’s something that my business partners and I would never want to do, is vote for somebody who could potentially jeopardize the feasibility of the social equity mission of cannabis, because that’s, for us, such a huge thing. This should be economic development in New Mexico for New Mexicans, and somebody who doesn’t vote for the micro business changes that we’re hoping for, or doesn’t sign that bill into law, jeopardizes our future and in our minds, the futures of other people like us who are using this as a potential stepping stone.”

In July 2022, the Ukraine's Ministry of Healthcare (MoH) published for public discussion a draft governmental resolution (“Draft Resolution”) aimed at relaxing current cannabis legislation in Ukraine to facilitate medical use of cannabis-based products.

The MoH proposes amending the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 770 (2000), which lists the schedules of controlled psychoactive and narcotic substances.

For several years, regulating medical cannabis has been an important though contested issue on the Ukrainian political agenda. The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has only reinforced the importance of this topic since the pool of potential users of medical cannabis (for pain relief, PTSD, etc.) has risen manifold and the tendency does not appear to be changing. The Draft Resolution is the second initiative launched in recent months (alongside draft law No. 7457) that aims to improve the situation.

Here are the Draft Resolution's key proposed changes.

Allowing circulation of cannabis, cannabis resin, extracts and tinctures for medical and scientific purposes

One of the biggest issues surrounding the use of cannabis for medical purposes in Ukraine is the classification of cannabis, cannabis resin, extracts and tinctures as particularly dangerous and fully prohibited under Ukrainian legislation. While there are several cannabis-derived substances for which limited circulation is allowed (e.g. Dronabinol, Nabilone, Nabiximols and CBD isolate), the broad prohibition on the use of cannabis has created legal uncertainty, which has significantly hampered the development of this market. While the Draft Resolution does not reschedule cannabis, cannabis resin, extracts and tinctures, it expressly allows their use for medical and scientific purposes. Medical use is only allowed in the form of medicines or active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Allowing THC for medical and scientific purposes

In another potential positive development, the MoH proposes allowing the use of the cannabis compound THC for scientific purposes, as well as permitting the use of pharmaceuticals containing THC for medical purposes. Currently, Ukraine only allows circulation in the form of medicines of the following substances containing THC: Dronabinol and Nabiximols, as well as Nabilone that mimics the effect of THC. The Draft states that Dronabinol, Nabilone and Nabiximols may also be used for scientific purposes in any form.

Retail licences for adult-use weed have not yet been issued.

New York City police recently took to the streets to clamp down on illegal weed trucks that are popping up everywhere by seizing 19 of the pot shops on wheels.

“19 illegal vehicles and cannabis seized off the streets of NYC. While others follow the rules, these trucks and their vendors don’t have permits so we took action!” Maddrey continued.

“If you are looking to buy illegal Cannabis from the Weed World Bus located on 5th Avenue & 40th street it is no longer open for business. We do not anticipate it opening for business anytime soon!” Maddrey noted in a tweet this week.

One commenter asked, “Did you get ‘Uncle Budd’ on 116 and FDB in Harlem? There every day.”

This past June, deputies with the city’s sheriff’s office seized about a dozen Weed World Candies vehicles, reportedly for parking debts.

Petro compared the country’s possible cannabis market with that of Canada.

Gustavo Petro, the newly elected president of Colombia, is talking about potentially legalizing cannabis during his first weeks in office.

In a recent summit with the country’s mayors, Petro talked about the perks of legalizing cannabis and possibly releasing those who have been incarcerated in relation to the drug.

“Let’s see if by exporting cannabis we make a few dollars because in part of the world, the drug is legal,” said Petro in a translation per Noticias RCN. “Why can’t the farmers from Cauca plant cannabis?” he asked, referring to a region in Colombia where farming is a big part of the business.

Petro compared the country’s possible cannabis market with that of Canada. He also called out the U.S., using it as an example where cannabis is legal in almost half of the country.

Regarding those who’ve been incarcerated due to cannabis-related offences, Petro said: “If we’re going to legalize cannabis, are we going to allow all of those people who’ve been imprisoned to remain in jail? Or is it time to release those people?”