MAP Drugnews - Top Stories

Seattle Weekly, 25 Nov 2024 - Time to reveal this year's cannabis turkeys-the fattest, most frivolous, flapping, dumb-ass ideas in need of being stuffed, baked, and smoked once and for all. Let's start with a turkey large enough for the whole family, and by that I mean Gov. Chris Christie. He not only had the nerve to call cannabis a gateway drug, but said potheads lack restraint (ahem). "If I'm elected president I will go after marijuana smokers and the states that allow them to smoke," he said. "I'll shut them down big-time. I'm sick of these addicts, sick of these liberals with no self-control." Governor GobbleGobble got in one more zinger on the campaign trail: "If you're getting high in Colorado today, enjoy it," Christie lectured a small crowd last month. "As of January 2017, I will enforce the federal laws." Don't hold your breath, Guv. Well, unless you inhaled, of course.

DrugSense

Los Angeles Times, 22 Sep 2018 - A kindergartner can keep bringing a cannabis-based drug used for emergency treatment of a rare form of epilepsy to her public school, a judge ruled Friday. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported that a judge sided with the family of 5-year-old Brooke Adams.

Sun-Sentinel, 21 Sep 2018 - More than 80 state legislative or statewide campaigns and campaign committees have accepted some $800,000 from the medical marijuana industry during the 2018 election cycle, according to a review of campaign finance records by the South Florida Sun Sentinel. That could mean the closure of accounts and a scramble to find a place to deposit campaign funds. Wells Fargo decided to close the campaign account of Democratic Agriculture Commissioner candidate Nikki Fried after she accepted industry money. She then opened an account with BB&T, which also promptly closed it. She now banks with Florida Community Bank.

Burlington County Times, 18 Sep 2018 - The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency on Tuesday granted approval to Tilray, Inc. to import research-grade marijuana products from Canada for a clinical trial at the University of California San Diego. Tilray, Inc.'s shares spiked more than 16 percent Tuesday morning on the news that it will provide a cannabinoids for a study on essential tremor (ET), a neurological movement disorder characterized by involuntary and rhythmic shaking. The clinical trial, which will start in 2019, will be conducted at the university's Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR). According to the CMCR, current drugs to treat essential tremor (originally developed for high blood pressure or seizures) are ineffective for many patients.

Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 18 Sep 2018 - Removing marijuana's federal schedule 1 status is a campaign issue in the 16th Congressional District race. SARASOTA -- Candidates for the District 16 congressional race are staking out divergent positions on the question of whether marijuana should be removed from Schedule 1 status to afford military veterans another potentially potent option for dealing with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries, something explored recently by the Herald-Tribune and supported by a growing field of veterans and national veterans organizations in the face of an epidemic of military suicides.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, 17 Sep 2018 - Employees inspect cannabis plants at the CannTrust Holdings Inc. Niagara Perpetual Harvest facility in Pelham, Ontario, Canada. Aurora Cannabis Inc. led pot stocks higher after Coca-Cola Co. said it's eyeing the cannabis drinks market, becoming the latest beverage company to tap into surging demand for marijuana products as traditional sales slow.

Baltimore Sun, 14 Sep 2018 - ATTEMPT TO 'SMEAR' HIM, ATTORNEYS SAY The family of Botham Jean, the unarmed black man who authorities say was fatally shot by a Dallas police officer inside his own apartment, spent Thursday celebrating his life. Hundreds of people filed into the Greenville Avenue Church of Christ in Richardson, Texas, to pay their respects at Jean's funeral service, remembering the 26-year-old businessman as, what his friend Pastor Michael Griffin described him, "the light in a dark room."

The Blade, 13 Sep 2018 - Auditor Dave Yost characterized the Department of Commerce's roll-out of its share of the fledgling program as "sloppy" with dozens of errors and inconsistencies. The program was supposed to be fully operational Sept. 8, but the state is months behind in having legal product on the shelves for purchase. "The department didn't do a very good job launching this program," Mr. Yost said. "It did not exercise due diligence to make sure Ohioans could have complete confidence in the process. The department's work was sloppy. Ohioans deserved better."

Worcester Telegram & Gazette, 09 Sep 2018 - BOSTON - A handful of the marijuana businesses granted provisional licenses have informed the Cannabis Control Commission they are ready to be inspected, one of the final steps before retail sales of marijuana, approved by voters almost two years ago, can begin. CCC Chairman Steven Hoffman said late last week the agency is working to schedule inspections for two or three provisionally licensed businesses. Hoffman said the inspections are expected to take place "over the next week, plus or minus."

Worcester Telegram & Gazette, 10 Sep 2018 - Six days after confirming approval of medical marijuana dispensary bans in Northboro and Bellingham, Attorney General Maura Healey's office reversed its decision. In an Aug. 25 Telegram & Gazette story, a spokesperson for the AG's office confirmed that the office in June approved bylaws passed in the two towns that ban medical marijuana dispensaries. The 2012 Medical Marijuana law originally prohibited any municipality from banning medical marijuana dispensaries. An AG spokeswoman said at the time the approval was based on Section 56 (subsection d) of Chapter 55 Acts of 2017.