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No Cops Getting High, Veterans Want MMJ Access, Mother of Sick Child Pushes Legalization – Global Cannabis News
Thailand’s Cops Banned from Getting High on The Job
Thailand has recently become the first country in Asia to legalize marijuana, and it seems that the cops are benefiting from that too!
General Suwat Chaengyodsuk, from the Royal Thai Police, just released an order prohibiting all cops from consuming weed or hemp in police stations. The Public Health Act will also prosecute anyone who goes to the police station smelling like weed or selling it, and these rules will be applicable to any situation where people come into contact with government officials or the cops as it would distract them from work.
Now, “Do not smoke marijuana or hemp” signs are mandated to be posted in police stations.
Mother of Sick Child Sparks Debate on Legalization of Medical Marijuana in Indonesia
Santi Warastuti, a 43-year old mother, went viral on social media recently after calling on medical marijuana to be legalized while in Jakarta. She took to the streets with her daughter, 13-year old Pika Sasi Kirana, who is suffering from cerebral palsy.
She was unaware that a famous local singer, Andien Aisyah, passed by, took her photo and posted about it on Twitter. “This is beyond my expectation. I went to the car-free day because I demanded a decision from the Constitutional Court on our request to review the material of Narcotics Law,” Santi disclosed to This Week in Asia. “The court’s headquarters is in Jakarta, so I thought I had to go there, to open the hearts of the judges, to show them my daughter, to show that she needs medical marijuana,” she explained. “So that was me demanding the court to announce a decision on my case soon,” she said.”
Santi is one of other mothers who have children struggling with cerebral palsy; together, they filed a request in 2020 for the courts to review the country’s 2009 drug laws that prohibit the use of all kinds of cannabis. The mothers plead for their children who have conditions that medical marijuana can treat though unfortunately the herb is still a type-1 drug in Indonesia.
Germany Continues Moves to Legalize Marijuana
Germany is well on the way to legalizing medical marijuana. According to Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, a drafted law is expected to be ready by year end. The new law is considered “a long-awaited step for many”, he says, also adding that the government will be using a “safety first” approach. “The current, primarily repressive way of dealing with cannabis has failed,” he said.
In the past, Lauterbach was against marijuana legalization, saying that it could have potential risks for health. However, he changed his position on it within the last two years though he says that many key details still need to be ironed out especially when it comes to preventing underage use, taxes, road laws, and more. “Cannabis use is not a small thing for young people, and especially for children, and can destroy a life before it has really begun,” he said.
He also acknowledges the need for the public to access their medicine, saying that it “must be accepted and is a part of a modern society.”
The health minister adds that some 4 million adults in the country already use marijuana.
Veterans in Australia Push to Legalize Marijuana
Currently in Australia, medical doctors can prescribe the use of cannabis for as long as it’s been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration as well as the Territory or State’s Health Department. However, medical marijuana comes at a high price: with costs ranging from $150 to as much as over $3,000 a month, many people simply cannot afford the medicine down under.
Now, an Iraqi war vet started a campaign for medicinal cannabis to be subsidized by the government, saying that those with PTSD are only given financial support if they take antipsychotic medications that make them suicidal. The campaign, named “No More Zombie Veterans” is being led by Derek Pyrah, revolving around a petition to get the attention of Matt Keogh, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and a Minister. According to Pyrah, many vets complain that they simply can’t afford using medicinal cannabis even if it can treat PTSD, reports News.com.au.
At the moment, Veterans have to either save up for the costs of medical marijuana, or end up getting their medications from the black market, which can result in criminal charges. Alternatively, vets may have to do nothing else but take the current antipsychotic medications which Pyrah says “have been scientifically proven to be harmful to human health, are ineffective and can lead to suicidal ideation.” Hopefully, with 25,000 signatures, it will reach Mr. Keogh as well as the DVA.
Switzerland Will Soon Launch MMJ Market
Late last month, the Swiss government announced that the existing ban on medical marijuana will finally be lifted based on amendments made to the Swiss Narcotics Act, which was approved on March 2021 by parliamentary. A report by Agence France Presse says that the move “intends to facilitate access to cannabis for medical use for patients.”
“The decision to use a cannabis-based medicine for therapeutic purposes will rest with the doctor, in consultation with the patient,” said the government. By August 1, medical marijuana patients in Switzerland will no longer need to seek approval from the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) though recreational use will still be illegal. Currently, patients can only access medical marijuana with the approval of a doctor, and it must contain under 1% THC.
In addition, a study by the University of Geneva and consulting firm EBP revealed that since around 56 tons of marijuana is consumed annually in the country, if they regulate recreational cannabis, this has the potential of generating around $582 million Swiss Francs and generate around 4,400 full-time employment jobs.
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/
New Mexico cannabis operator fined, loses license for alleged BioTrack fraud
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