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It’s official: Minnesota has legal medical cannabis flower! Governor Tim Walz just signed legislation into law that allows medical patients to access flower instead of just extracts or non-smokables. 

Previously, Minnesota was only one of a few medically legal states that still did not allow patients to access flower medicine. 

Now, patients who are 21 and over with a valid med card can also access flower. The bill was approved earlier this month as part of a broader omnibus bill through a bicameral legislative conference committee. The bill was related to healthcare in general and was approved by both the Minnesota House and Senate. 

Additionally, the bill allows for curbside pickup and increases the number of patients per caregiver from one to six. The commissioner is also now allowed to remove existing, qualifying conditions from the no-prescribe list if they receive a petition to do so, meaning those who currently don’t have their condition covered may soon have a way to access cannabis as medicine. 

In the House, the bill passed 77 to 57, a close margin. The Senate passed it much more clearly with a 66 to 1 vote on the last day of the 2021 legislative session. However, the stand-alone piece of legislation that would have legalized adult-use cannabis and set up a retail system passed the House, but did not receive consideration in the Senate. 

One by one, US states have been adopting marijuana legalization programs, with the latest two: New York and New Mexico, happening within 24 hours of each other, and bringing the total number of states with legalization policies to 17. The south has been a bit slower to adopt, with states like Maryland, Virginia, and now Texas, leading the way. Within the last month, the Texas senate approved several bills for marijuana decriminalization, as well as to expand the medical cannabis industry, lower the penalty on THC concentrates, and to force the study of psychedelics.

The recent Texas marijuana decriminalization bill shows just how accepted cannabis has become. Every state seems to be updating its policies these days, creating room for more and more products, in a bigger and bigger market. And this is excellent for you! New products are on the rise, like delta-8 THC. This alternate form of THC provides users with a clear-headed, slightly less psychoactive high, and none of the anxiety created by delta-9. Sound interesting? If it does, we’ve got a host of Delta-8 THC products to try out. So go ahead and pick your products, and we’ll get them to you ASAP.

The US and cannabis

On the nights of March 31st 2021 and April 1st, 2021, New York and New Mexico respectively, passed legislation to open the two states for recreational cannabis markets. These two added on to become the 16th and 17th states to adopt legalization policies, with 20 locations total in the US, including Washington, DC, and the territories Guam and the Mariana Islands. All locations together include: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Guam, Illinois, Maine, Mariana Islands, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, and Washington DC.

As you’ll notice, though New Mexico, Arizona, and California are in the south, or have southern parts that touch the Mexican border, no state on the list is associated with ‘the South’, and certainly not of ‘the deep South’. However, two over from Arizona to the right, is Texas. And Texas is considered ‘the South’, along with Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Of the states listed as ‘southern’, there are no current legalizations for recreational cannabis, however, the following states do have some form of medical cannabis legalization: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Not bad for an area that was completely against such changes when the first medical legalizations happened a few decades ago.

Will The House Approve This Revised Cannabis Reform Bill?

A crucial and important chairman has set a goal to reintroduce a bill to federally legalize marijuana. Along with this bill will be measures that promote social equity. This reintroduced legislation may come as soon as next week in the House. As well its language will have at least two important modifications in comparison to the previous version of the bill. The news arrives as advocates anxiously await the filing of a separate cannabis reform bill. Currently, this bill is being planned by Senate leaders.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler has stood in favor of supporting the MORE Act. The Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement Act were passed in the chamber. This approval was a historic time in the House even though it was shut down in the Senate. According to an email thread from advocacy groups, it’s set to be refiled as soon next week with some new terms.

Different references that are familiar with the strategy shed some insight on the matter. They also said their understanding is that Nadler plans to introduce the revised legislation ahead of Congress’s Memorial Day recess. However, a spokesperson in the chairman’s office was not able to verify details by press time.

This new reform bill will not include language that was added just before last year’s House floor vote. Which would have stopped people with previous cannabis charges from obtaining federal cannabis permits. Which you would need to run a legal marijuana business

That was a controversial stipulation that surfaced at the last moment which advocates strongly stood against.

A bill that would make hemp-derived CBD products legal as an ingredient in dietary supplements, foods and beverages has been proposed by three U.S. Senators.

Longtime hemp supporters Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both Democrats, and Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, authored the measure, the Hemp Access and Consumer Safety Act, which directs the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to update its rules to clear a regulatory gray zone.

In the absence of federal regulations from the FDA, CBD makers and consumers have been faced with inconsistent rules – or no rules at all – in individual states, creating problems for legitimate CBD vendors and endangering public health. The proposed act in essence would force the FDA to clear a path for legal over-the-counter CBD.

Feet dragging at FDA

“Every day that the FDA drags its feet to update its CBD regulations, hemp farmers are left guessing about how their products will be regulated, and real economic gains for workers and business owners in Oregon and across the country are left on the table,” said Merkley. “Hemp-derived CBD products are already widely available, and all we need is for FDA to issue clear regulations for them just like they do for other foods, drinks and dietary supplements.”

Critics have said while the FDA makes efforts at enforcement – primarily by issuing occasional warning letters to unscrupulous CBD vendors – that has come in the absence of significant research and meaningful progress on CBD rules. CBD stakeholders criticized an update from the FDA released in January, saying the report shows little has been done to advance the process of establishing a regulatory framework for the hemp compound.

New York police may soon have cannabis removed from their oversight.

Axel Bernabe, assistant counsel to Governor Andrew Cuomo, said at last week’s Prohibition Partners conference that he’d recommend alternatives such as using social workers when coordinating with the state’s nascent Cannabis Control Board, which will soon lay out a framework for legalized recreational marijuana. New York State recently decided to allow recreational use and the board will soon decide on the details.

“The interaction of law enforcement with individuals around drugs is a big, big part of the bill,” Bernabe said of the state’s new legislation, under which recreational sales are expected in about a year. Bernabe said he thought that other states’ use of social case workers to enforce rules for legal, licensed cannabis businesses is a good idea. He also questioned who would deal with cannabis-related street crimes, such as the selling of unlicensed, black-market marijuana.

“Who’s going to interact with folks on the street, or folks that are selling illicitly?” Bernabe said. “Do we want law enforcement to do it? Is it a new form of law enforcement?”

New York’s dilemma on how to reform is playing out across the U.S. as local governments start to re-think criminal justice systems that disproportionately incarcerate Black men for marijuana possession. These policy decisions could determine how much interaction minorities like Black people have with police.

The operation concluded on 4/20.

The Paraguayan National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD) recently celebrated 4/20 by announcing that more than 300 tonnes of cannabis had been destroyed as part of “Operation Omega IX.”

Alongside a unit of the Paraguayan Armed Forces, authorities allegedly destroyed 96 hectares of crops and incinerated 19 drug camps over five days in April, reports Diálogo Americas.

While that operation concluded on 4/20, two days later authorities destroyed another four tonnes of cannabis that was found ready for packaging in a rural area.

If the Mexican military is deeply corrupt and now effectively controls the national government under its incompetent President, we are in a new phase of our Latin American disaster.

This article was originally published by The Fresh Toast. Disclaimer:The views expressed in this article solely belong to the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Fresh Toast.

In 2018, the Mexican Supreme Court found the country’s marijuana laws unconstitutional and ordered Congress to draft new laws. Congress has had to request several extensions, but now it has failed to meet another deadline, just as it seemed close to agreement on new laws.

For Americans, this problem may seem familiar, but in Mexico, the stakes are much higher.

Photo by Jezael Melgoza via Unsplash

That Mississippi’s medical cannabis program appears to have been sunk just prior to it starting hasn’t sat well with the state’s voters.

As we reported earlier this week, a voter-supported initiative to amend the state’s constitution to allow qualified patients with debilitating medical conditions to use medical marijuana has been cancelled due to a technicality with more wide-ranging ramifications.

Chism Strategies has carried out a poll since, gauging the mood of 905 Mississippi voters on the decision by the Mississippi Supreme Court to invalidate Initiative 65.

Here’s some of what it found.

The calls for impeachment may be a little rough – the Justices appeared to make their decision grudgingly and their personal views had to be put inside – this was purely a matter of law, as flawed as it was.

Will This Federal Reform Bill Pass Through The House?

A crucial and important chairman has set a goal to reintroduce a bill to federally legalize marijuana. Along with this bill will be measures that promote social equity. This reintroduced legislation may come as soon as next week in the House. As well its language will have at least two important modifications in comparison to the previous version of the bill. The news arrives as advocates anxiously await the filing of a separate cannabis reform bill. Currently, this bill is being planned by Senate leaders.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler has stood in favor of supporting the MORE Act. The Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement Act were passed in the chamber. This approval was a historic time in the House even though it was shut down in the Senate. According to an email thread from advocacy groups, it’s set to be refiled as soon next week with some new terms.

Different references that are familiar with the strategy shed some insight on the matter. They also said their understanding is that Nadler plans to introduce the revised legislation ahead of Congress’s Memorial Day recess. However, a spokesperson in the chairman’s office was not able to verify details by press time.

This new reform bill will not include language that was added just before last year’s House floor vote. Which would have stopped people with previous cannabis charges from obtaining federal cannabis permits. Which you would need to run a legal marijuana business

That was a controversial stipulation that surfaced at the last moment which advocates strongly stood against.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, expressed his belief that marijuana will soon be legalized in his state, while asserting that he still has concerns about allowing people to consume the plant.

The Louisiana state legislature was considering a bill that would have taxed cannabis as lawmakers there pushed for legalization. But that legislation was rejected in the state House on Tuesday, making it unlikely that cannabis will be legalized in the southern state this year.

However, Edwards suggested in a live radio interview on Wednesday that he believes marijuana will be legalized in the near future.

"In the past, as a legislator and as governor, I've been opposed to legalizing recreational marijuana," he said on the monthly program Ask the Governor broadcast on local radio. "I will tell you, I have come to believe that it is going to happen in Louisiana eventually."

"I'm not quite comfortable yet," the governor added, "but I understand we're likely to get there in the next several years."

After the legalization of medical marijuana in Germany in 2017, there has been a surge in interest from both patients who may benefit from cannabinoids and companies that produce and sell the drug.

Patients who meet the criteria for medicinal cannabis use and have failed to respond to traditional medicine will now expect to receive cannabis-based medications, though marijuana products are still out of reach for those looking to use them recreationally.

We will discuss some main points about the legal and political status of cannabis in Germany.

Is it legal to own and use cannabis in Germany?

The German Federal Narcotics Act makes it illegal to possess cannabis in Germany. If found in possession of certain drugs, the criminal faces a maximum sentence of five years in jail.

Cannabis use, on the other hand, is not classified as a crime. If a criminal is found with small quantities of cannabis for personal use, the legislation provides several options for punishment. These options are chosen based on the following criteria:

It seems as though everyday we catch news of yet another state making strides to legalize medical cannabis.

For those who rely on the healing properties of cannabis to improve their health, it’s great to see that more people will have access to safe, non-habit forming medicine.

This time, we’re talking about Alabama. 

On Monday, Alabama became the 37th state to legalize medical marijuana, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, becoming the second market in the Deep South.

Republican Governor Kay Ivey signed the historic bill, which will allow businesses to start applying for licenses Sept 1. 2022. 

Following months of discussion, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare is set to approve the use of pharmaceuticals containing cannabis as an ingredient in Japan, according to public broadcaster NHK.

The Japanese legal system takes a particularly hardline stance against drugs, and even the possession of a small amount of marijuana is generally treated as a major crime. However, following the approval of cannabis-based medicines in many other nations, at the beginning of the year the ministry formed a committee to discuss whether Japan should follow suit, with the effectiveness of such medications in treating sufferers of refractory epilepsy and as a pain suppressant for cancer patients.

The allowance will require amendments to Japan’s Cannabis Control Law, which currently forbids the use and importation of such medicines. Lifting the prohibition would ostensibly also allow Japanese pharmaceutical makers, with proper licensing, to produce cannabis-based medications of their own.

However, this doesn’t mean that the substance is going to be decriminalized in all forms and applications. It’s likely that the revision will allow for the use of cannabis only for specific medical conditions, and “anxiety” may not qualify, given the Japanese medical system’s comparative aversion to treating mental health issues with medication. Likewise, the lifting of the ban will not allow international travelers to bring as large a supply of cannabis-based pharmaceuticals as they want into Japan, much as how you can’t get through customs with a suitcase full of any other meds that require a prescription within Japan.

It’s also important to bear in mind that the revision appears to be specifically for cannabis-based medicines, not marijuana leaves, and strictly for legitimate medical purposes. Recreational marijuana use in Japan will still get you in as much trouble as it did before, and possibly even more. Possession and cultivation of marijuana are already crimes in Japan, and the ministry is considering amending the Cannabis Control Law to make the act itself of smoking marijuana a crime as well, at the same time that it lifts the ban on cannabis-based medicines.

The South Dakota Board of Education Standards unanimously adopted new rules on Monday that establish guidelines for the use of medical cannabis in South Dakota schools. The move was prompted by the passage of Initiated Measure 26 (IM 26),  a ballot proposition that legalizes medical marijuana in South Dakota, in last November’s general election.

The rules govern the administration of medical cannabis in South Dakota’s public and private elementary, middle, and high schools. The nine-page document includes provisions for the administration of medical cannabis to students, the allowable forms of medical cannabis, and notification requirements. The approved rules also delineate the responsibilities and rights of students, caregivers, volunteers, and school staff in relation to the administration of medical cannabis to students in schools.

South Dakota Board of Education Standards President Jacqueline Sly noted that because of the complexity of the issue, the new rules are subject to future amendments.

“Just like any other rules we put in place, sometimes we miss things or we have to adjust things. I would say we have the ability to do that (here),” said Sly. “I would also say that we need to give it a fair shake, and kind of work out the kinks, because some of that can be worked out at the local levels.”

Diane Roy, general counsel to the state Department of Education, agreed with Sly, noting that implementing IM 26 will be uncharted territory for school districts and administrators. As the legislation is rolled out across the state, school officials will have to remain flexible as policies governing medical marijuana evolve.

Last month, a warning was raised by a chemist on the constituents of delta-8 THC, its production techniques, and other unknowns.

Delta-8 THC is fast becoming an ever-present compound. While this may seem like good news, it is a thing of concern. There seems to be a lot of misinformation about this compound, with a lot of concerns about the production, labeling, and marketing strategy.

Colorado has recently banned sales of delta-8 THC products, and other states like Vermont have already removed it from the shelves.

Photo by Hector Roqueta Rivero/Getty Images

Delta-8 THC is commercially produced by different companies., with each company having its unique technique for preparing d8 isolates. These techniques have no regulations and most times third-party tests are not done. Because to this, some companies are introducing unhealthy compounds like heavy metals when creating these isolates.

Minnesota’s Department of Agriculture has welcomed the USDA’s approval of the state’s revised hemp plan.

The state’s original plan was approved in July last year, but after modifications were made to the USDA’s rules Minnesota needed to file a new plan.

Some of the changes included random sampling of fields being based on risk factors of the crop, allowing remediation of crops if plants exceed the 0.3% total THC threshold but test under 1%, and an extension of the testing window before harvest from 15 days to 30 days.

“This is a major step forward, and we’re pleased that modifications have been made at the federal level that can ensure Minnesota’s hemp growers and processors are successful in this fledging industry,” said Minnesota Department of Agriculture Assistant Commissioner Whitney Place.

In 2015, the Minnesota Industrial Hemp Development Act became law, allowing the Department to create a hemp pilot program that operated from 2016 through 2020. The pilot started off slowly, but gained significant steam in the final couple of years. The following statistics show the number of permitted growers each year since 2016.

The U.S. is in a unique position right now to make drastic policy changes that will continue to benefit the country for decades to come.

You or someone you know wants the United States government to legalize marijuana. In fact, it’s more likely than not that most of the people you rub elbows with on any given day support ending federal pot prohibition.

The latest poll from the Pew Research Center finds that 91% of the population now thinks Uncle Sam should end cannabis criminalization across the board and allow it to be used for therapeutic purposes. They also think it should be taxed and regulated like alcohol and tobacco. This means only 1 in 10 Americans believe marijuana should remain classified as an illegal drug, and that most of the population considers it ridiculous to keep policing it.

Photo by RobinOlimb/Getty Images

So, hey, someone should let the federal government know that the country is primed for legal weed. Because the inner workings of that rusty machine are not likely to come to terms on this issue anytime soon.

On Thursday 15 April, a crucial summit hosted by the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis convened to shape the future of medical cannabis in Britain. Medical cannabis has been lauded as an industry-creating, health-changing, and socially progressive medicine, but the UK has had anything but a smooth transition of medical cannabis from experimental agent to licensed medicine.

Understanding how this group of medicines has developed in the UK is key to understanding where they are heading, and most importantly how best to foster productive interventions for the medical cannabis industry, the clinical space, and above all the benefit of patient care.

Cannabis in the UK

Prior to 2018, cannabis was not a considered a medicine in the UK. Under the Misuse of Drugs Act, cannabis possession was illegal, supply and distribution were strictly limited to the research sphere and no prescriptions had been written of dispensed on UK soil to date. This contrasted greatly with the regulatory landscape in the USA and Canada, where for a decade the prescription and dispensation of medical cannabis has been common practice and very much in the lexicon and formulary of clinicians.

That all changed in November 2018, when Charlotte Caldwell, whose unwell son Billy had been successfully treated with medical cannabis in Canada, sought to return to British soil and continue their lives at home with an ongoing prescription. When Caldwell and her son returned to the UK, his cannabis-based medicine was confiscated at the UK border. Billy fell desperately unwell and was admitted to Great Ormond Street Hospital. With the assistance of a group of experts, Charlotte was able to make contact with the Home Secretary, and after a matter of days the law was changed. Cannabis was moved from a schedule 1 drug, which could not be prescribed under any circumstances, to a schedule 2 drug, meaning it could now be prescribed by a specialist doctor within their area of expertise. The Centre for Medicinal Cannabis was born. Billy was reunited with his medicine, thankfully recovered, and now enjoys a life at home with his mother.

Policy changes

The Centre for Medicinal Cannabis continues to advocate for policy changes which bring the right medicines to the right patients in a way that is transparent, fair and measured. We anticipated an increase in the prescribing of cannabis-based medicines across the UK, but to this date this has not occurred to any significant level. We knew that this would not be immediate. However, after over two years the number of prescriptions written in the UK for such is barely out of triple figures. Any prescriptions written are largely within the small private sector, not the NHS as we would have expected.

Mississippi will remain in the minority of states without a medical marijuana program after the state Supreme Court on Friday overturned an initiative that voters approved last fall — a decision that also limits other citizen-led efforts to put issues on the statewide ballot.

At the heart of the ruling is the fact that initiatives need signatures from five congressional districts to get on the ballot, but because of Mississippi’s stagnant population, the state only has four districts.

Six justices ruled that the medical marijuana initiative is void because the state's initiative process is outdated. Three justices dissented.

The initiative process was added to the Mississippi Constitution in the 1990s as Section 273. It requires petitioners trying to get any initiative on the ballot to gather one-fifth of signatures from each congressional district. Mississippi had five congressional districts at the time that was written. But the state dropped to four districts after the 2000 Census, and language dealing with the initiative process was never updated.

“Whether with intent, by oversight, or for some other reason, the drafters of section 273(3) wrote a ballot-initiative process that cannot work in a world where Mississippi has fewer than five representatives in Congress," Justice Josiah Coleman wrote for the majority in the ruling Friday. "To work in today’s reality, it will need amending — something that lies beyond the power of the Supreme Court.”

The Minnesota House of Representatives is planning a Thursday vote on a bill (HF 600) that would legalize adult-use cannabis in the state. The measure is expected to be passed by the House’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) majority in what will be the first cannabis legalization vote by the full legislative body in its history.

Under HF 600, adults 21 and older would be permitted to buy and use up to 1.5 ounces of marijuana for recreational purposes. Adults would also be allowed to cultivate up to four mature and four immature cannabis plants at home. The measure would establish a regulatory framework for the operation and taxation of licensed cannabis businesses. Cannabis taxes raised would be dedicated to youth access prevention and substance abuse treatment programs.

Under current Minnesota law, possession of even small amounts of marijuana is considered a misdemeanor criminal offense, although cases involving less than 42.5 grams of cannabis are punishable by a fine of not more than $200 instead of time in jail.

Additionally, the state has a strictly limited medicinal cannabis program. Patients with one or more of 18 serious medical conditions are eligible for the program with a doctor’s recommendation. Smoking of cannabis flower is not permitted under the state’s medical marijuana program.