Interstate Commerce.
California has a set of bills in the state that would set up the framework for interstate cannabis commerce and a way to streamline the process to seal cannabis convictions and protect insurance companies that provide services to the industry. These bills are already on their way to the governor's desk to be signed into law. The interstate cannabis commerce bill advanced through the Assembly Appropriations Committee on the same week that New Jersey's Senate president filed a bill to allow interstate cannabis commerce under similar circumstances. Then it moved through the full chamber before the Senate concurred with the final version on Thursday in a 28-9 vote. Interstate commerce would drastically change how some companies game plans their growth in California and other surrounding states. www.marijuanamoment.net
DEA Waking up.
In April, The DEA published notice of its intentions to place hallucinogens DOI and DOC in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), which would strictly criminalize the compounds and create significant research barriers for investigators interested in studying their therapeutic potential. Emory University, as well as Panacea Plant Science, challenged this action. On Friday, the DEA announced that it would not move forward with scheduling these two drugs as it would prohibit further research on them. "This is a victory, and I'm just incredibly happy because now it's one less thing that we have to worry about going forward," Panacea Plant Sciences CEO David Heldreth told Marijuana Moment in a phone interview on Friday. "DOI and DOC are incredible tools for research, as well as mental and physical health."
Movement in the Senate?
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), who was a co-signer on the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA) last month, said last week that they probably don't have enough votes to get this bill across the finish line but remains hopeful that Congress will pass "some key reform" on cannabis by the time the new Congress takes session. "A 50-50 [Democratic] majority in the Senate will make passing our bill a difficult feat, but I hope we can at minimum pass some key reforms this Congress," he said. "This is a winning issue that is overwhelmingly backed by the American people, especially young voters, who understand how ridiculous and unfair it is for folks to be locked away for something that most states have legalized and almost everyone thinks should be legal." House Representative Member Earl Blumenauer had this to say about Senator Booker earlier this month, "I think the senator is fully aware of the consequences of this failed policy of prohibition in terms of what it does with the SAFE Banking Act and the threat that is made to the very communities he wants to support," the congressman said in response to a question from Marijuana Moment. "I think he's trying to be able to thread the needle." We are growing increasingly optimistic that something in Washington will happen on the cannabis front by the end of this session, but based on what we have seen by Washington in the last few years, they have crushed our hopes before.
