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One of the biggest concerns for people who are considering taking psychedelics for their mental health is what they may have to endure as part of their treatment.

Facilitators or therapists will tell them they may experience ego dissolution, which is a compromised sense of self. They may witness mystical experiences with various frightening apparitions. Psychedelic therapeutics opponents even cite anecdotal reports of adverse effects of psychedelics to warn away anyone considering psychedelic therapy, even though they typically end within 24 hours.

What researchers are discovering is that psychedelics help rewire the brain, and the hallucinogenic aspect of psychedelics effectively disrupts activity within the brain’s neural networks to help develop stronger and more numerous connections between neurons.

Even the scary mystical experiences a patient endures from hallucinations are hypothesized to be instrumental in the lasting positive effects of psychedelics.

Right now, hallucinogenic medicines generally are not considered first-line treatments for mental illnesses, because many patients are reluctant to take them, or they have contraindicated co-morbidities or genetic predispositions, including vision or hearing impairment and learning disabilities.

But in an attempt to broaden the appeal of therapist-assisted psychedelics, a number of companies are engineering out the hallucinogenic aspect of the psychedelic experience.

One company doing that is MindMed (Nasdaq: MNMD) (NEO: MMED), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing psychedelic-based products to treat brain health disorders. MindMed is developing 18-MC, a non-hallucinogenic derivative of ibogaine to treat opioid use disorder.

Delix Therapeutics (Nasdaq: DELIX) and Mindset Pharma (CSE: MSET) (FSE: 9DF) (OTCQB: MSSTF) also are pursuing research and development of non-hallucinogenic psychedelics, categorizing them as next generation psychedelic compounds.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine are working to find psychedelics-derived medications that effectively and rapidly treat depression and anxiety without major side effects such as hallucinations, weight gain, sleepiness, and dry mouth. So far, rapidly acting drugs without potentially disabling side effects for depression, anxiety, and addiction don’t exist, not even as experimental compounds for use in animals, according to researchers.

In June 2020, the UNC researchers received a $26.9 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to do their research.

The UNC team will use new structural biology and computational approaches to create these new medicines.

“Although drugs like ketamine, and potentially psilocybin, have rapid antidepressant actions, their hallucinogenic, addictive, and disorienting side effects make their clinical use limited,” Dr. Bryan Roth, lead researcher on the DARPA-funded project, said in a report on the UNC website. “Our team has developed innovative methods and technologies to overcome these limitations with the goal of creating better medications to treat these neuropsychiatric conditions.”

As the psychedelics industry evolves, with the real possibility of an FDA-approved psychedelics-derived drug available by 2024, the search for a non-hallucinogenic method of using therapeutic psychedelics is heating up.

Researchers also found that psychedelics are potent psychoplastogens, which are molecules capable of rapidly rewiring the adult brain. The advent of non-hallucinogenic psychoplastogens with anti-addictive properties raises the intriguing possibility that hallucinations might not be necessary for all therapeutic effects of psychedelic-based medicines.

One of these non-hallucinogenic psychoplastogens, tabernanthalog, appears to have long-lasting therapeutic effects in preclinical models relevant to alcohol and opioid addiction, according to the study.

Tabernanthalog is a water-soluble, non-hallucinogenic, nontoxic analogue of ibogaine that can be prepared in a single step. Another study found that, in rodents, tabernanthalog promoted structural neural plasticity, reduced alcohol- and heroin-seeking behavior, and produced antidepressant-like effects.

The study reported that researcher’s work demonstrated that, through careful chemical design, it is possible to modify a psychedelic compound to produce a safer, non-hallucinogenic variant that has therapeutic potential.

The work on engineering non-hallucinogenic psychedelics comes down to balancing access for more patients, with a careful risk/benefit analysis.

Rick Doblin, founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), said during a podcast that he thinks MDMA can be a helpful therapeutic for someone suffering schizophrenia when used in a very controlled situation, and that some of the work at places like Johns Hopkins on psilocybin is too exclusionary of patient’s preexisting conditions and therefore too cautious.

But he agreed that psychedelics are not for people who don’t want to take them. “People have to be willing to go through the difficult parts of this (psychedelics therapy). And if they are not willing, then it’s not for them.”

The post Researchers Seek to Remove ‘Trip’ as Popularity of Psychedelic Treatments Grows appeared first on Green Market Report.

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The IRS announced on September 29, 2022 that Hurricane Ian victims throughout Florida now have until Feb. 15, 2023, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

This comes after the IRS announced on September 27, 2022 that victims in parts of Alaska now have until February 15, 2023 to file various individual and business tax returns and make tax payments and after the IRS announced on September 20, 2022 that victims of Hurricane Fiona in all 78 Puerto Rican municipalities now have until February 15, 2023 to file various individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.

IRS Tax Relief Details

The IRS is offering this relief to any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as qualifying for individual assistance. Currently, relief is available to affected taxpayers who live or have a business anywhere in the State of Florida or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; and individuals and households that reside or have a business in the Regional Education Attendance Areas of Bering Strait, Kashunamiut, Lower Kuskokwim and Lower Yukon, in Alaska.   Other areas in Alaska added later will also qualify for this relief.  The current list of eligible localities is always available on the disaster relief page on IRS.gov.  The declaration permits the IRS to postpone certain deadlines for taxpayers who reside or have a business in the disaster area.

For Florida taxpayers, the tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred starting on September 23, 2022. As a result, affected individuals and businesses will have until February 15, 2023 to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period. This includes 2021 individual income tax returns due on October 17, 2022 and any businesses with tax returns that were originally due during this period.

The February 15, 2023, deadline also applies to quarterly estimated income tax payments due on January 17, 2023, and the quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on October 31, 2022 and January 31, 2023. Businesses with an original or extended due date also have the additional time including, among others, calendar-year corporations whose 2021 extensions run out on October 17, 2022. Similarly, tax-exempt organizations also have the additional time, including for 2021 calendar-year returns with extensions due to run out on November 15, 2022.

In addition, for Florida taxpayers, penalties on payroll and excise tax deposits due after September 23, 2022 and before October 10, 2022, will be abated as long as the deposits are made by October 10, 2022.

Tax Planning Tip

Individuals and businesses in a federally declared disaster area who suffered uninsured or unreimbursed disaster-related losses can choose to claim them on either the return for the year the loss occurred (in this instance, the 2022 return normally filed next year), or the return for the prior year (2021).

Be sure to write the FEMA declaration number on any return claiming a loss.

For Puerto Rico: “DR-3583-EM”

For Alaska: “DR-4672-AK”

For Florida: “DR-4673-FL”

Importance To Preserve Records

Keep in mind that the IRS has up to three years to select a tax return for audit. The FTB has up to four years to select a tax return for audit. In some cases this period is extended to six years. When a taxpayer is selected for audit, the taxpayer has the burden of proof to show that expenses claimed are properly deductible. Having the evidence handy and organized makes meeting this burden of proof much easier.

Essential Records to Have for a Tax Audit

If you are getting ready for a tax audit, one of the most important things to do is gather and organize your tax records and receipts. There’s a good chance that you have a large amount of documents and receipts in your possession. No matter how organized you are, it can be a daunting task to collect the right pieces and make sure that you have them organized and handy for the audit conference.

We have seen many tax audits that hinge on whether or not the taxpayer can provide proper documentation for their previous tax filings. A tax lawyer in Orange County or elsewhere can make sure that the documentation is complete and proper.  By submitting this to your tax attorney in advance of the audit, your tax attorney can review your documentation and determine if there are any gaps that need to be addressed before starting the dialogue with the IRS agent.

So what are the most essential tax records to have ahead of your audit? Here are a few must-have items:

• Any W-2 forms from the previous year. This can include documents from full-time and part-time work, large casino and lottery winnings and more.
• Form 1098 records from your bank or lender on mortgage interest paid from the previous year.
• Records of any miscellaneous money you earned and reported to the IRS including work done as an independent contractor or freelancer, interest from savings accounts and stock dividends.
• Written letters from charities confirming your monetary donations from the previous year.
• Receipts for business expenses you claimed.
• Mileage Logs for business use of vehicle.
• Entertainment and Travel Logs for business

Tips On Reconstructing Records

Reconstructing records after a disaster is important for several reasons including insurance reimbursement and taxes. Most importantly, records can help people prove their disaster-related losses. More accurately estimated losses can help people get more recovery assistance like loans or grants.

Whether it’s personal or business property that has been lost or destroyed, here are some steps that can help people reconstruct important records.

Tax records

Get free tax return transcripts immediately using the Get Transcript on IRS.gov or through the IRS2Go app.  Tax return transcripts show line-by-line the entries made on your Federal income tax returns.  The most three recent tax years are available.

Financial statements

People can gather past statements from their credit card company or bank. These records may be available online. People can also contact their bank to get paper copies of these statements.

Property records

• To get documents related to property, homeowners can contact the title company, escrow company or bank that handled the purchase of their home or other property.
• Taxpayers who made home improvements can get in touch with the contractors who did the work and ask for statements to verify the work and cost. They can also get written descriptions from friends and relatives who saw the house before and after any improvements.
• For inherited property, taxpayers can check court records for probate values. If a trust or estate existed, taxpayers can contact the attorney who handled the trust.
• When no other records are available, people should check the county assessor’s office for old records that might address the value of the property.
• Car owners can research the current fair-market value for most vehicles. Resources are available online and at most libraries. These include Kelley’s Blue Book, the National Automobile Dealers Association and Edmunds.

Develop And Implement Your Backup Plan

Do not wait for the next disaster to come for then it may be too late to retrieve your important records for a tax audit or for that matter any legal or business matter. And if you do get selected for audit and do not have all the records to support what was claimed on your tax returns, you should contact an experienced tax attorney who can argue the application of your facts and circumstances to pursue the least possible changes in an audit.

The tax attorneys at the Law Offices Of Jeffrey B. Kahn, P.C. located in Orange County (Irvine), Los Angeles and elsewhere in California are highly skilled in handling tax matters and can effectively represent at all levels with the IRS and State Tax Agencies including criminal tax investigations and attempted prosecutions, undisclosed foreign bank accounts and other foreign assets, and unreported foreign income.  Also if you are involved in cannabis, check out what a cannabis tax attorney can do for you.  And if you are involved in crypto currency, check out what a bitcoin tax attorney can do for you.

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The ongoing federal prohibition of marijuana is getting between consumers and safe products, according to a new study resulting from a year-long investigation into the prevalence of various contaminants in lab-tested cannabis.

Looking at disparities in legal states’ approach to contaminants, as well as robust data from samples collected in California, the team helmed by Dr. Maxwell C.K. Leung at Arizona State University concluded that a lack of consistent federal guidelines around marijuana contaminants puts consumers at greater risk of developing health issues.

Since cannabis remains a Schedule I controlled substance, it is not subject to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations that apply to legal consumer products.

That has left states to try to figure out how best to ensure the safety of marijuana products that are sold within their borders.

The new paper, published this month in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal, argues, first and foremost, that “the scattershot approach of regulations at the state level can confuse cannabis manufacturers and discourage compliance while subjecting cannabis users to a higher level of contaminant exposure in some jurisdictions.” It also cautions that “it is unclear whether the health benefit of cannabis usage outweighs the health risk of exposure to cannabis-borne contaminants” that can be present under the current system.

Very excited to announce our latest study, "Comparison of State-Level Regulations for Cannabis Contaminants and Implications for Public Health", in this month's issue of Environmental Health Perspectives! @EHPonline @ASUResearch @asu_smns https://t.co/BZcNyQfzwM https://t.co/ZCSIXMrqwo

— Maxwell C. K. Leung, Ph.D. (@Leung_Lab) September 14, 2022

The issue is especially concerning because cannabis products are marketed “as alternative options to standard medical treatments” which means that marijuana “can potentially expose susceptible patients to harmful contaminants; however, there is minimal information about the scale of cannabis use in different patient populations.”

“[T]his study demonstrates the urgent need to mitigate the public health risk of cannabis contamination by introducing national-level guidelines…”

In the course of their study, Leung’s team first examined legal states’ regulations and requirements around cannabis contaminants. They discovered that state health agencies employed a wide range of standards to identify relevant contaminants and their “action levels”—the threshold for a contaminant to become hazardous.

“There was more inconsistency in cannabis-borne contaminant regulation as compared with other agricultural commodities,” they wrote.

Leung’s team noted a total of 679 contaminants regulated by at least one of the 36 states with legal cannabis: 551 pesticides, 74 solvents, 12 inorganic compounds, 21 microbes, 5 fungal toxins and 16 other contaminants.

Yet only 23 of those states regulated all four categories of contaminants: pesticides, inorganics, solvents and microbes/mycotoxins and noted the action level for each contaminant. Only eight states regulated contaminants in one, two or three of those categories.

The team subsequently mined the testing results from 5,654 flower and 3,760 extract samples from a single California testing facility to gauge whether products actually adhere to state guidelines.

NEW RESEARCH: Comparison of State-Level Regulations for Cannabis Contaminants and Implications in Public Health. Read the article https://t.co/tJIIryc7xl @asunews @Leung_Lab @ClipLaboratory

— Environmental Health Perspectives (@EHPonline) September 14, 2022

They found that 5.1 percent of all cannabis samples failed testing: 2.3 percent for flower, and a whopping 9.2 percent failure rate for extracts.

Although the paper stops short of offering specific suggestions, it nonetheless highlights “an urgent need for a unified regulatory approach to mitigate the public health risk of cannabis contamination at a national level” and a “national-level guideline on the contaminant regulations of cannabis.”

“In our opinion, this guideline should be based on human health risk assessment methodologies consistent with other agricultural and food commodities,” the authors wrote. “In addition, a more stringent approach is needed to regulate contaminants in medical cannabis to address additional vulnerabilities present in these populations.”

“Given the existing knowledge gaps regarding cannabis contamination toxicity and exposure, this effort would require federal and state support to advance the toxicological and epidemiological research of cannabis-borne contaminants, particularly in susceptible patient populations with medical conditions,” the study concludes.

“With the constraints faced by federal agencies in regulating an illegal Schedule I substance, we think this effort should involve the analytical science community, the medical community, and multi-state trade collaboratives,” it says. “This two-tier approach may provide a science-based solution to mitigate the health hazards of cannabis contaminants in an expanding U.S. cannabis market.”

While marijuana is federally unregulated, agencies have taken steps to mitigate contamination is hemp since the crop was legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill.

For example, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) started the rulemaking process in 2019 to authorize the use of certain pesticides for hemp.

And even though marijuana remains restricted under Schedule I, some parts of the federal government are beginning to take steps to acknowledge the widespread availability of the plant and its products under a growing number of state laws.

A federal government handbook on standards for weights and measures is also getting a new section on cannabis potency measurement, packaging, labeling and other issues related to products derived from the plant.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology separately announced in 2020 that it was launching a cannabis testing program to help ensure that the products people purchase from retailers and dispensaries are accurately labeled.

In 2021, the agency also invited labs to participate in a large-scale study to assess their ability to accurately analyze marijuana and hemp samples for their cannabinoid profile and possible contaminants.

Meanwhile, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) recently posted a request for applications on creating a medical marijuana registry to track everything from how patients are obtaining and consuming cannabis to their health outcomes. It’s part of an overall objective to develop data standardization that could be used to “inform research, policy, and clinical recommendation practices on medicinal cannabis, associated conditions, and outcomes.”

Top Federal Health Agency Wants Input On Marijuana Research Barriers, Including Schedule I And Limited Strain Access

The post Federal Marijuana Prohibition Is Putting Patients At Risk Of Consuming Contaminated Products, Study Finds appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

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Pennsylvanians with low-level marijuana convictions on their records have until the end of Friday to submit applications for expedited pardons under a program launched by the governor last month.

The state Board of Pardons is facilitating the PA Marijuana Pardon Project, and Board Secretary Celeste Trusty told Marijuana Moment on Thursday that they’ve received about 2,500 applications for relief so far. That’s about 300 more applications that have come in since Trusty’s previous public update last Friday.

Now officials are making a final push to get “as many people as possible on their way to a completely clear record before the governor and lieutenant governor leave office,” Trusty said in a phone interview.

Applications can be submitted up through midnight on Friday. People with certain cannabis convictions involving up to 30 grams of marijuana or eight grams of hashish are eligible for the streamlined program.

People shouldn't be held back from living their best lives because they were convicted of having or using a little bit of marijuana.

The deadline to apply for the PA Marijuana Pardon Project is September 30th.https://t.co/x2aiTyZdpu

— PA Board of Pardons (@BoardOfPardons) September 29, 2022

“We hear stories all the time about people who are not allowed to chaperone their children at a field trip, they’re not allowed to coach their kid’s soccer team—we hear about people who are unable to access loans for school aid, for things that people are really trying to just do to advance their careers advance their education—but they’re shut out because of a criminal conviction,” the BOP secretary said.

“This program is going to be able to help these people move ahead because of a past conviction for something that so many people in Pennsylvania don’t even think should be a crime and also something so many people in Pennsylvania do legally,” she said, referring to the state’s medical cannabis program.

Gov. Tom Wolf (D) and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) have been vocal advocates for ending cannabis criminalization in Pennsylvania and replacing the policy with a system of regulated adult-use sales. But with the legislature stalling on cannabis reform, the administration said it would do what it can in the interim.

Fetterman, a reform advocate who chairs the pardons board, previously said that he wants to process cannabis clemency for as many people as possible before leaving office.

Trusty said that anyone who might be on the fence about submitting an application out of concern about the process should know that the “application takes minutes to complete” and the board is available to assist those with questions.

“This is something that, if you’re eligible, you should apply because nobody should be held back from doing something like getting a professional license or being able to advance their career for a minor weed conviction,” she said.

DEADLINE TOMORROW (9/30): the Pennsylvania Marijuana Pardon Project is an accelerated effort intended to help individuals convicted of minor, non-violent marijuana offenses. Applications can be filed online by visiting https://t.co/zbs8EjV1F2. pic.twitter.com/7QN8gOLlUd

— Mike Schlossberg (@RepSchlossberg) September 29, 2022

Fetterman’s vocal advocacy for marijuana reform and clemency “brought a lot of people into the conversation,” she added. “This is just something that makes sense. It’s smart.”

The state already has a separate process through which people can get their marijuana records cleared that the officials have routinely promoted, but the PA Marijuana Pardon Project is a one-time opportunity to expedite clemency for select offenses. People can submit application regardless of when the conviction took place.

While pardons represent full forgiveness for the conviction, the governor’s office stressed that eligible people will still need to separately petition the courts to have their records formally expunged.

“The deadline is September 30, so please get your application in,” Trusty said of those who are eligible. “It is so simple and so easy. And if you don’t qualify for the PA Marijuana Pardon Project, please consider applying for clemency through our traditional processes.”

Trusy, Fetterman and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) separately talked about marijuana reform and the pardon program during the 5th annual Cannabis Opportunities Conference in Pennsylvania last week.

Fetterman, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat, said that “Pennsylvania is a place for a second chances” and the initiative “will help people get pardons quickly for stupid weed convictions” while the legislature stalls on legalization.

A poll released this month found that two in three Pennsylvania voters say they support marijuana legalization, which should be welcome news for Fetterman as his GOP Senate opponent levies attacks over the candidate’s support for drug policy reform.

Earlier this month, President Joe Biden and Fetterman briefly discussed marijuana policy reform during a meeting near Pittsburgh on Labor Day.

Wolf, meanwhile, signed a medical cannabis expansion bill last year, and he’s repeatedly called for legalization and pressured the Republican-controlled legislature to pursue the reform since coming out in favor of the policy in 2019.

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Marijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,500 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.
—

Last year, Wolf pardoned a doctor who was arrested, prosecuted and jailed for growing marijuana that he used to provide relief for his dying wife. That marked his 96th pardon for people with cannabis convictions through an ongoing Expedited Review Program for Non-Violent Marijuana-Related Offenses.

In the Pennsylvania legislature, a Senate committee held the last of three scheduled hearings on marijuana legalization in March, taking testimony meant to help inform a reform bill that the panel’s chairman said he was actively drafting.

Sen. Mike Regan (R), who chairs the committee, circulated a cosponsorship memo last year along with Rep. Amen Brown (D) to build support for the policy change.

Sens. Dan Laughlin (R) and Street separately filed a legalization bill last year, as did Reps. Jake Wheatley (D) and Dan Frankel (D). But neither cleared the legislature by the end of the session.

GOP Senator Blocks Bipartisan Marijuana Research Bill From Expedited Thursday Vote Despite Calling For More Studies

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The post Pennsylvania Officials Promote Marijuana Pardon Program Ahead Of Friday Deadline, With Thousands Applying For Relief So Far appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

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Senate leadership took steps on Thursday to expeditiously pass a House-approved marijuana research bill later in the day—but at least one GOP senator has objected to the process, threatening to delay the vote, Marijuana Moment has learned.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) initiated the process to pass the bipartisan “Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act” under unanimous consent on Thursday.

The process, known as a “hotlining” a bill, involves having both the Senate majority and minority leaders agreeing to advance the legislation without a roll call vote, giving all members a limited amount of time to register objections before moving ahead with a request for unanimous consent for approval on the floor.

But despite having repeatedly talked about the importance of promoting cannabis research, as the bill would accomplish, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) objected on Thursday, his office confirmed to Marijuana Moment.

If there were no objections, the expectation was that the bill would have moved through the Senate, sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk for a final signature. That would mark the first time in history that a standalone cannabis reform measure would be enacted into law.

Cornyn’s office did not provide a reason for the objection.

A source on Capitol Hill told Marijuana Moment that Cornyn intends to block all House bills that are taken up under unanimous consent in the Senate—not just the cannabis reform proposal—because he’s broadly frustrated that the opposite chamber has not advanced more of his own legislation that has been sent over.

Nonetheless, when it comes to the marijuana research bill that’s now caught in the crossfire of his blockade, the senator has advocated for exactly this type of reform in the past, including in his capacity as a co-chair of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control.

After the House approved a marijuana legalization bill in April, Cornyn said he’s opposed to the policy because he feels it’s “premature” and “we need to have some serious studies into the impact on developing children’s brains and pregnant women and alike.”

Democrats ignore science with their new push for marijuana https://t.co/nEqFH4HYLw

— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) July 17, 2021

In 2021, the senator’s caucus released a report that expressed criticism of existing policies that inhibit research into cannabis and placed some blame on the role of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

He separately pressed National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow about the need for studies into the health impacts of cannabis, particularly high potency THC products.

“Do you agree that it’s important before we legalize marijuana at the federal level—should Congress decide to do so that—we get this kind of research performed so we actually know what we’re doing?” Cornyn asked at the time.

The goal of the Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act that the senator has now objected to advancing would help achieve those study objectives. It’s why pro-legalization and prohibitionist lawmakers alike are sponsoring and supporting the bill.

The legislation was filed in July and quickly moved through the House.

Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Andy Harris (R-MD) sponsored the measure in the House, which is substantively identical to a separate Senate bill from Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) that previously cleared that chamber.

Just this week, researchers and other advocates associated with the prohibitionist organization Smart Approaches To Marijuana (SAM) sent a letter to Schumer, imploring him to bring the research measure to a vote.

Under the legislation, the U.S. attorney general would be given a 60-day deadline to either approve a given application or request supplemental information from the marijuana research applicant. It would also create a more efficient pathway for researchers who request larger quantities of cannabis.

Further, the bill would encourage the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to develop cannabis-derived medicines. One way it proposed doing so is by allowing accredited medical and osteopathic schools, practitioners, research institutions, and manufacturers with a Schedule I registration to cultivate their own cannabis for research purposes.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) would get a mandate to approve applications to be manufacturers of marijuana-derived, FDA-approved drugs under the bill. Manufacturers would also be allowed to import cannabis materials to facilitate research into the plant’s therapeutic potential.

Another section would require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to look at the health benefits and risks of marijuana as well as policies that are inhibiting research into cannabis that’s grown in legal states and provide recommendations on overcoming those barriers.

The bill further states that it “shall not be a violation of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) for a State-licensed physician to discuss” the risk and benefits of marijuana and cannabis-derived products with patients.

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Marijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,500 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.
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A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis published late last month found that the proposal would reduce direct spending by less than $500,000 and would have a “negligible net change in the deficit.”

Both the House and Senate passed earlier versions of their separate but similar cannabis research bills in late 2020, but nothing ended up getting to then-President Donald Trump’s desk by the end of the last Congress.

Congressional researchers separately released a report in March that details the challenges posed by ongoing federal prohibition and the options that lawmakers have available to address them.

DEA has taken steps in recent years to approve new cultivators of marijuana to be used in studies, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) recently published a solicitation for applications from those authorized growers as it looks for new contractors to supply the agency with cannabis for research purposes.

Meanwhile, large-scale infrastructure legislation that was signed by Biden in November contains provisions aimed at allowing researchers to study the actual marijuana that consumers are purchasing from state-legal businesses instead of having to use only government-grown cannabis.

NIDA’s Volkow told Marijuana Moment last year that scientists have been unnecessarily limited in the source of cannabis they’re permitted to study—and it makes sense to enact a policy change that expands their access to products available in state-legal markets.

Separately, a bipartisan duo of congressional lawmakers filed a bill in July to set a federal marijuana research agenda and create a designation for universities to carry out cannabis studies with federal grant money.

The legislation from Reps. Scott Peters (D-CA) and Dave Joyce (R-OH) is titled the “Developing and Nationalizing Key Cannabis Research Act.” The bill text doesn’t abbreviate the title, so it’s not clear if the intent was to play into cannabis consumer nomenclature with the introduction of the DANK Cannabis Research Act.

Meanwhile, the now-passed bipartisan, bicameral research bill was introduced on the same day that a long-awaited Senate marijuana legalization bill was finally filed—more than a year after a draft version was first released by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and fellow sponsors.

The prospects of that wide-ranging legislation making it through the Senate with a 60-vote threshold are dubious, however, and so Schumer has been working with bicameral and bipartisan offices to develop a package of incremental cannabis reforms that’s expected to be filed in the lame duck session.

That so-called SAFE Plus bill is expected to contain marijuana banking protections and other modest proposals on expungements, veterans’ medical cannabis access and more.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), the House sponsor of the standalone marijuana banking bill, said he recently spoke with Schumer at an event at the White House and discussed the need to enact the bipartisan reform this session.

Even the incremental marijuana package may face resistance from some lawmakers depending on its final contents. But a cannabis research proposal that’s even being sponsored by a prohibitionist like Harris seems like a comparably simple, albeit incremental, reform that the president is expected to sign into law.

President Joe Biden might be against adult-use legalization, but he campaigned on other incremental reforms like decriminalization, rescheduling and letting states set their own cannabis policies. He’s expressed interest in the medical potential of marijuana and has advocated for more research, so it’s likely that he would sign the bipartisan bill if it’s ultimately sent to his desk.

Colorado And Washington Got More Tax Revenue From Marijuana Than From Alcohol Or Cigarettes In Fiscal Year 2022, Report Finds

Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.

The post GOP Senator Blocks Bipartisan Marijuana Research Bill From Expedited Thursday Vote Despite Calling For More Studies appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

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