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First Meeting Held by Experts From the Hawaiian Psychedelic Task Force
The task force will examine Oregon and Colorado’s psychedelic therapy programs for psilocybin and MDMA, and submit a report by the end of the year.
The Hawaii Office of Wellness and Resilience recently announced that the Breakthrough Therapies Task Force held its first meeting on Aug. 29.
The task force consists of 11 individuals whose role is to research and explore the therapeutic potential of MDMA and psilocybin. “It comprises local physicians, psychiatrists, mental health professionals and government partners,” a press release from Hawaii Gov. Josh Green stated. “This first meeting represents a significant milestone in advancing the recognition and understanding of the potential benefits of therapeutic psychedelic access in Hawaii. Members include Hawaii-based mental health professionals, government agency representatives, legislators, physicians, therapists and more.”
The press release explained that “modern science is now catching up” to the benefits of specific psychedelic substances, despite the fact that many indigenous cultures have used those substances for thousands of years. Inspired by states such as Oregon, which passed a therapeutic psilocybin access program in 2020, and Colorado, which passed a similar program in 2022, Hawaii is dedicating an effort to also examine its benefits. “Research has shown that both psilocybin and MDMA have significant and unprecedented efficacy in the clinical treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), addiction, end-of-life anxiety in terminal patients, eating disorders, treatment-resistant depression and more,” the press release continued.
One of the task force members, Sean Munnelly, M.D., is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and addiction specialist with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, who prepared a statement about the importance of the task force. “We are now on the precipice of an exciting movement in health care and consciousness,” said Munnelly. “The FDA designation of MDMA and psilocybin as breakthrough therapies ushers in a potentially paradigm-shifting moment. For this to be done safely, it is crucial to create a multidisciplinary task force of experts. These individuals will be responsible for creating guidelines for safe and responsible practices here in Hawaii.”
The task force is required to submit a report on its findings by the end of 2023, which will include an analysis of both Oregon and Colorado’s currently existing psychedelic therapy programs. The report will also address other crucial questions about psilocybin supply, licensing in relation to both guides as well as integration coaches, administrative requirements, and discuss patient “safety, access, and affordability.”
Four members of the task force are involved in an organization called the Clarity Project, which strives to raise awareness regarding the therapeutic benefits of plant medicine. Through the Clarity Project, a public in-person event called “Breaking Through Trauma: The Case for Psilocybin & MDMA” is set to be held on Sept. 8 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
“In line with Hawaii’s commitment to wellness, resilience and mental health care, the Breakthrough Therapies Task Force underscores the state’s dedication to exploring effective and innovative approaches to mental health treatment,” the press release concluded. “By embracing the potential of breakthrough therapies and creating a regulated psychedelic therapy program, Hawaii aims to provide its residents with comprehensive, compassionate and effective therapeutic care options.”
While the potential of psilocybin is still being researched, the case for cannabis in Hawaii is growing strong. The state began licensing medical cannabis dispensaries back in July 2015, 15 years after former Gov. Ben Cayetano signed the bill to legalize medical cannabis. Since the first dispensary began operating in 2017, a total of 22 dispensaries have opened up across the state (two on Kauai, five on Maui, nine on Oahu, and six on the big island of Hawaii). In 2018, the state implemented a new policy that allows those who hold medical cannabis cards in other states or U.S. territories to obtain a special permit to buy cannabis in Hawaii.
As of July 2019, the state has decriminalized small amounts of cannabis, but legalizing adult-use cannabis is still a work in progress. The Hawaii Senate passed a legalization bill in March 2021 but did not proceed further.
Earlier this year in January, Hawaii Rep. Jeanné Kapela joined with members of Marijuana Policy Project, the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, and ACLU Hawaii to announce new efforts to end cannabis prohibition in the state. “We all know, and Hawaii’s people know, that it is high time to legalize recreational cannabis use for adults in Hawaii. This year we stand on the precipice of history,” Kapela explained. “Following the recommendations of a task force devoted to addressing cannabis policy, we now have a roadmap for legalizing recreational cannabis in our islands,” she said in reference to a December 2022 report published by the Hawaii Department of Health.
In January, a legalization bill called SB669 SD2 was introduced and by March it was overwhelmingly passed in a Hawaii Senate vote. However, it failed to proceed in the House before an important legislative deadline.
If a cannabis legalization bill is able to fully pass in congress, there’s a good chance that adult-use cannabis is in Hawaii’s future. Gov. Green has previously said that he would consider signing legalization into law under certain conditions. “First of all, if marijuana is legalized, it should be very carefully monitored, and only done like cigarettes, or I’ve been very careful to regulate tobacco over the years,” Green said in November 2022. “We should take the $30 to $40 million of taxes we would get from that and invest in the development and recreation of our mental healthcare system for the good of all.”
Source: https://hightimes.com/news/first-meeting-held-by-experts-from-the-hawaiian-psychedelic-task-force/
New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.
The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.
The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.
After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.
In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.
The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.
At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.
Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.
Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.
The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:
- Regulators alleged in August that Albuquerque dispensary Sawmill Sweet Leaf sold out-of-state products and didn’t have a license for extraction.
- Paradise Exotics Distro lost its license in July after regulators alleged the company sold products made in California.
Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/
Four marijuana companies, including a multistate operator, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in which they allege the federal MJ prohibition under the Controlled Substances Act is no longer constitutional.
According to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, retailer Canna Provisions, Treevit delivery service CEO Gyasi Sellers, cultivator Wiseacre Farm and MSO Verano Holdings Corp. are all harmed by “the federal government’s unconstitutional ban on cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing intrastate marijuana.”
Verano is headquartered in Chicago but has operations in Massachusetts; the other three operators are based in Massachusetts.
The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the “Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate cultivation, manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana pursuant to state law.”
The companies want the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
They hired prominent law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to represent them.
The New York-based firm’s principal is David Boies, whose former clients include Microsoft, former presidential candidate Al Gore and Elizabeth Holmes’ disgraced startup Theranos.
Similar challenges to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have failed.
One such challenge led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2005.
In Gonzalez vs. Raich, the highest court in the United States ruled in a 6-3 decision that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to outlaw marijuana federally, even though state laws allow the cultivation and sale of cannabis.
In the 18 years since that ruling, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana and the federal government has allowed a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry to thrive.
Since both Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, currently headed by Garland, have declined to intervene in state-licensed marijuana markets, the key facts that led to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling “no longer apply,” Boies said in a statement Thursday.
“The Supreme Court has since made clear that the federal government lacks the authority to regulate purely intrastate commerce,” Boies said.
“Moreover, the facts on which those precedents are based are no longer true.”
Verano President Darren Weiss said in a statement the company is “prepared to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to align federal law with how Congress has acted for years.”
While the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana would help solve marijuana operators’ federal tax woes, neither rescheduling nor modest Congressional reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act “solve the fundamental issue,” Weiss added.
“The application of the CSA to lawful state-run cannabis business is an unconstitutional overreach on state sovereignty that has led to decades of harm, failed businesses, lost jobs, and unsafe working conditions.”
Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.
The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).
Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.
Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.
That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.
Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.
Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.
A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/
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