#NORML #News Source: @norml @WeedConnection Posted By: norml@weedconnection.com media :: news - Tue, 01 Jan 2019 04:20:21 PST
2020 Year in Review: NORML's Top Ten Events in Marijuana Policy
#1: Advocates Run the Table on Election Day
Voters approved every statewide legalization measure put before them on Election Day. Voters legalized the possession of marijuana by adults in Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and in South Dakota. They additionally approved ballot measures legalizing of medical cannabis access in two states, Mississippi and South Dakota.
Commenting on the Election Day victories, NORML's Executive Director Erik Altieri said: "These results once again illustrate that support for legalization extends across geographic and demographic lines. The success of these initiatives proves definitively that marijuana legalization is not exclusively a 'blue' state issue, but an issue that is supported by a majority of all Americans -- regardless of party politics."
#2: House of Representatives Votes to Repeal Federal Marijuana Prohibition
Members of the United States House of Representatives voted in early December to approve the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act, HR 3884, which removes marijuana from the federal Controlled Substances Act -- thereby eliminating the existing conflict between state and federal marijuana laws and providing states with the authority to establish their own cannabis laws free from undue federal interference. The vote marked the first time in 50 years that a chamber of Congress has revisited the classification of cannabis as a federally controlled and prohibited substance.
Following the historic vote, NORML's Executive Director Erik Altieri said: "By going on the record with this vote, House members have set the stage for a much-needed legislative showdown in 2021 when we will have the Biden administration in office -- one that has publicly expressed an appetite for advancing the restorative justice remedies outlined in the MORE Act. We are primed and ready for this legislative debate and we expect, ultimately, to win it."
#3: Tens of Thousands Have Their Marijuana Records Expunged
Tens of thousands of citizens previously burdened with the stigma of a lifelong marijuana conviction had those convictions expunged in 2020. In California alone, over 100,000 citizens had their records expunged. In several other states - including Colorado, Nevada, Illinois, and Washington - public officials granted pardons to tens of thousands of citizens with cannabis convictions. In addition, lawmakers in various states, like Michigan and Vermont, enacted legislation in 2020 explicitly facilitating the expungement of low-level marijuana records - joining over a dozen other states that have passed similar legislation. According to 2020 polling, 70 percent of Americans now favor expunging the criminal records of those with marijuana-related convictions.
Said NORML's Deputy Director Paul Armentano: "Millions of citizens unduly carry the undue burden and stigmatization of a past conviction for behavior that most Americans no longer believe ought to be a crime, and that in a growing number of states is no longer classify as a crime by statute. Our sense of justice and our principles of fairness demand that officials move swiftly to right the past wrongs of cannabis prohibition and criminalization."
#4: Sales of Retail Cannabis Products Reach Historic Highs
State-licensed marijuana retailers sold an unprecedented volume of cannabis products in 2020, bringing in record levels of tax revenue. Commenting on the historic sales trends, NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said: "The dramatic rise in retail marijuana sales is likely not so much a reflection of increased consumer demand, but of consumers shifting from the illicit market to the above-ground legal marketplace. As these legal markets continues to mature, consumers are going to continue gravitate toward it and away from the underground marketplace."
#5: No Uptick in Youth Marijuana Use Following Legalization
Self-reported marijuana use by young people has either stayed stable or fallen during the time period that numerous states have adopted adult-use cannabis legalization. That's according to findings compiled by the federally-sponsored Monitoring the Future study and others. Data compiled by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention similarly reported that the number of adolescents admitted to drug treatment programs for marijuana-related issues has fallen precipitously in states that have legalized and regulated its adult-use.
Commenting on the results, NORML's Deputy Director Paul Armentano said, "These add to the growing body of scientific literature showing that legalization policies can be implemented in a manner that provides access for adults while simultaneously limiting youth access and misuse. Furthermore, these findings stand in sharp contrast to the sensational claims often made by legalization opponents, claims that thus far have proven to be baseless."
#6: Vermont Lawmakers Legalize Retail Marijuana Access
Vermont lawmakers enacted legislation this fall establishing rules and regulations overseeing the commercial production and retail sale of marijuana to adults. Commenting on the passage of the law, NORML State Policies Coordinator Carly Wolf said, "This is a victory for those who wish to disrupt the illicit marketplace and move forward with an above-ground, regulated cannabis marketplace."
Prior to the passage of the law, Vermont had been the only state to depenalize marijuana possession without providing adults with legal, above-ground access to cannabis and cannabis products via state-licensed retailers.
#7: More Seniors Report Using Cannabis to Improve Their Quality of Life
A growing percentage of seniors are engaging in the use of cannabis to mitigate symptoms of old age and to improve their overall quality of life. "These results are to be expected," NORML's Deputy Director Paul Armentano said. "Many seniors likely experimented first-hand with cannabis during their youth and are now returning to it as a potential therapy to mitigate many of the health-related symptoms associated with older age, including chronic pain. Many seniors are well aware of the litany of serious adverse side-effects associated with available prescription drugs, like opioids, and they perceive medical cannabis to be a viable alternative."
#8: Cannabis Retailers Designated as "Essential Businesses"
In dozens of states this spring, lawmakers and regulators designated marijuana producers and retailers to be "essential services" - explicitly permitting them to remain open during pandemic lockdowns and loosening rules so that they could expand their operations to include services like curbside pick-up and home delivery. Writing in an op-ed, NORML's Deputy Director Paul Armentano said, "Regulators' actions acknowledge that for many Americans, and for chronically ill patients especially, cannabis is not some alternative on-the-fringe therapy option, but rather an essential medicine - one that must be recognized and protected accordingly, particularly during a time of crisis."
#9: Studies Show Off-The-Job Cannabis Use No Threat to Workplace Safety
Adults who consume cannabis in their off-hours are no more likely to suffer injuries at work than are those employees who abstain from the substance, according to the findings of several studies published in 2020 - including those here, here, and here.
Commenting on the findings, NORML's Deputy Director Paul Armentano said: "Suspicionless marijuana testing in the workplace is not now, nor has it ever been, an evidence-based policy. Rather, these discriminatory practices are a holdover from the zeitgeist of the 1980s 'war on drugs.' But times have changed; attitudes have changed, and in many places, the marijuana laws have changed. It is time for workplace policies to adapt to this new reality and to cease punishing employees for activities they engage in during their off-hours that pose no workplace safety threat."
#10: Virginia Ceases Arrests for Marijuana Possession
After years of lobbying and pressure by Virginia NORML and others, lawmakers this year abolished its strict criminal penalties for marijuana possession offenses - replacing them with a $25 fine, no arrest, and no criminal record. "NORML is proud to have worked ... to bring about these needed changes to Virginia law, said NORML development director, Jenn Michelle Pedini, who also serves as the executive director of Virginia NORML. "Virginians have long opposed the criminalization of personal marijuana possession, and the enactment of this legislation turns that public opinion into public policy."
Following this legislative victory, NORML immediately pivoted to push for the enactment of adult-use legalization in Virginia - a push that spurred the state's Governor and Attorney General in November to publicly endorse the policy change.
Congressional Package Repeals Ban on Student Aid to Those with Past Drug Convictions
Washington, DC: Language included in the appropriation package approved by Congress on Monday includes provisions repealing the longstanding federal ban on providing student aid eligibility to those with certain drug convictions.
As first reported by Marijuana Moment, provisions in the nearly 6000-page package amend a 1998 federal law that mandated those applying for student aid to disclose if they ever had a drug-related conviction, and barred hundreds of thousands of applicants from receiving funding. The new law strikes the subsection of the Higher Education Act that established the drug-related eligibility standard.
Rachel Wissner, co-interim executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), told Marijuana Moment: "Over the last two decades, we have been fighting alongside other drug policy reform and education organizations to scale back the penalty. Now that the penalty has fully been repealed, SSDP looks forward to the opportunity to work with Congress and the new administration on broader drug policy reform that ensure those who have been most harmed by the war on drugs are not left behind. We celebrate that Congress has finally accepted that a drug conviction does not mean that someone should be denied access to higher education."
The new law also restores the eligibility of those incarcerated to apply for student aid (Pell grants). Those in prison have been ineligible to receive Pell grants since the passage of an expansive 1994 crime bill.
Commenting on the reforms, Rep. Robert C. Scott (D-VA), Chairman of the House Education Committee, said: "Congress has a responsibility to expand access to quality higher education, which remains the surest path to the middle class. While this is not the comprehensive overhaul of the Higher Education Act, and there is still work to be done, this proposal will help millions of students."
Study: Long-Term Cannabis Use Associated with Reduced Symptoms in Patients with Post-Traumatic Stress
Philadelphia, PA: Post-traumatic stress patients who consume state-licensed cannabis products exhibit reduced symptoms over time as compared to nonusers, according to longitudinal data published in the journal Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research.
A team of investigators affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, John Hopkins University, and the University of Colorado School of Medicine compared PTS symptoms in cannabis-using patients relative to non-users over a one-year period. Cannabis consuming participants primary accessed THC-dominant flowers from state-authorized retailers.
Researchers reported: "Participants who used primarily THC-dominant cannabis reported a greater reduction in PTSD symptom severity over time compared to controls. Cannabis users also showed a greater than two-fold rate of remission from their PTSD diagnosis (defined by no longer meeting criteria for a PTSD diagnosis on the CAPS-5) compared to controls by the 1-year follow-up assessment."
They concluded: "This study provides evidence that the types of cannabis available in recreational and medical cannabis dispensaries might hold promise as an alternative treatment for PTSD. ... This study's primary outcome supports the theory that cannabis should be [tested in clinical trials] as a potential therapeutic for PTSD."
Commenting on the findings, NORML's Deputy Director Paul Armentano said: "Veterans are far more likely to self-report using cannabis than are those in the general population, and many veterans attest that cannabis is effective for the self-management of their PTS symptoms. These findings substantiate their claims."
Earlier this year, a systemic review of randomized controlled trials involving the use of cannabinoids for the treatment of post-traumatic stress reported, "THC, dronabinol [oral synthetic THC] or nabilone [a synthetic cannabinoid that mimics THC] could help with hyperarousal symptoms, insomnia, anxiety, and extinction deficits related to PTSD."
By contrast, observational trials of patients with PTS have yielded more mixed results with respect to whether or not marijuana use improves the condition. For instance, a 2014 study published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs reported that patients perceived significant reductions in post-traumatic stress symptoms during times when they used cannabis as compared to when they did not. By contrast, a study published earlier this year in the journal Psychological Medicine reported, "No evidence of improvement in PTSD-related intrusion symptoms or remission in PTSD diagnosis in association with long-term use of cannabis."
Full text of the study, "Long-Term, prospective, therapeutic impact of cannabis on post-traumatic stress disorder," appears in Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research. Additional information on cannabis and veterans' issues is available from NORML's fact sheet "Marijuana and Veterans Issues" and Emerging Clinical Applications For Cannabis & Cannabinoids.
Study: Cannabis Use Associated with Reduced Risk of Fentanyl Exposure Among Opioid-Dependent Subjects Seeking Treatment
Vancouver, Canada: Subjects engaged in opioid agonist therapy (OAT) who also consume cannabis are less likely than non-users to have any recent exposure to fentanyl, according to data published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
A team of investigators affiliated with the University of British Columbia, Center of Substance Use assessed opioid use patterns in a cohort of 819 subjects engaged in the use of OAT (e.g., methadone and/or naltrexone). Participants in the study were subject to urine drug testing and also completed a series of interviews.
Researchers reported: "[R]ecent use of cannabis was associated with reduced odds of recent exposure to fentanyl. ... This negative association persisted after adjustment for a broad range of covariates, including concurrent use of other illicit substance."
They concluded: "[W]e found that among more than 800 participants on OAT in Vancouver, Canada, use of cannabis was longitudinally associated with a substantially lower risk of being exposed to fentanyl. Given the magnitude of the overdose crisis in the U.S. and Canada and the substantial contributions of fentanyl to the burden of overdose morbidity and mortality, findings from this study support the experimental evaluation of cannabinoids as a potential adjunct therapy to OAT to improve clinical outcomes, particularly to reduce the risk of relapse to illicit opioid use (i.e., fentanyl) and associated risk of overdose and death."
Dozens of studies have previously identified an association between cannabis access and reduced opioid use, while more limited data indicates that cannabinoids may reduce opioid-specific cravings and increase treatment retention rates in opioid-dependent subjects seeking treatment.
Full text of the study, "Cannabis use is associated with reduced risk of exposure to fentanyl among people on opioid agonist therapy during a community-wide overdose crisis," appears in Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Additional information on cannabis and opioid use patterns is available from the NORML fact sheet, "Relationship Between Marijuana and Opioids."
Record Number of Scientific Papers Published in 2020 About Cannabis
Washington, DC: In 2020, researchers worldwide published a record 3,500+ scientific papers on the subject of cannabis, according to data compiled by the National Library of Medicine and PubMed.gov.
Despite claims by some that marijuana has not yet been subjected to adequate scientific scrutiny, scientific interest in cannabis has increased exponentially in recent years. Since 2010, scientists have published over 23,000 peer-reviewed papers specific to cannabis, with the annual number of total papers increasing every year. By comparison, researchers published fewer than 3,000 total papers on cannabis in the years between 1990 and 1999 and fewer than 2,000 total studies during the 1980s.
A 2018 paper assessing trends in cannabis-related publications concluded that much of this uptick in scientific interest is a result of researchers' newfound focus on marijuana's therapeutic activities. Investigators reported that the total number of peer-reviewed publications dedicated to medical cannabis has increased nine-fold since the year 2000.
In all, PubMed.gov now cites over 35,000 scientific papers on marijuana.
Available to the public online since 1996, PubMed is a free resource supporting the search and retrieval of biomedical and life sciences literature.
For more information, see NORML's reviews of hundreds of peer-reviewed papers assessing the safety and efficacy of cannabis in various patient populations.
Study: Cannabis Use Not Associated with Elevated Risk of Secondary Cancer Diagnosis
Hamilton, Canada: Patients with head and neck cancers who possess a history of cannabis use are not at an increased risk of developing a secondary cancer diagnosis, according to data published in the journal Cureus.
A team of researchers affiliated with McMaster University, the University of Toronto, and the University of British Columbia assessed the association between cannabis smoking and the risk of developing a second primary squamous cell carcinoma in patients previously diagnosed with head and neck cancer.
Investigators reported that those who consumed cannabis "showed lower odds of developing SPC" compared to non-users.
"These results suggest that cannabis behaves differently than tobacco smoking," they concluded. "Our results are consistent with the theory that cannabis is not carcinogenic and hence would not follow patterns of field cancerization."
The study's findings are consistent with those of prior papers concluding that cannabis smoke and tobacco smoke are not equally carcinogenic and that marijuana smoke exposure is not associated with many types of tobacco-related diseases, such as lung cancer and COPD.
Full text of the study, "Rate of second primary head and neck cancer with cannabis use," appears in Cureus. Additional information is available from the NORML white paper, "All Smoke Is Not Created Equal."
Literature Review: Cannabinoids "Safe and Well-Tolerated" for Patients with Fibromyalgia
Brisbane, Australia: The use of either plant-derived cannabis or synthetic cannabinoids is typically safe and effective in patients with fibromyalgia (FMS), according to data published in The Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine. Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain syndrome characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue and multiple tender points in the neck, spine, shoulders and hips.
A team of Australian researchers conducted a systematic review of the relevant peer-reviewed literature regarding the use of cannabis products by FMS patients. They identified ten total studies involving 1,136 patients. Studies published prior to the year 2000 were excluded from the review, as were prior meta-analyses. Six of the ten studies involved whole-plant cannabis, while the four other studies assessed the use of synthetic cannabinoids such as dronabinol or nabilone.
Authors reported that cannabinoids typically demonstrated benefits for FMS patients in the mitigation of pain and were "safe and well-tolerated."
They concluded: "The information obtained from this literature review indicates that medicinal cannabis can benefit people with FMS, but many research gaps remain. Future research needs to better describe: the individuals who will most benefit from cannabis use for FMS symptoms; the most effective, tolerable, and acceptable chemovar or product for this population; and the preferred dose and method of administration (oral or inhalation). Despite these gaps, this research provides evidence that oral ingestion of synthetic cannabis may assist with chronic pain management and inhalation of cannabis may assist with rapid-onset pain relief for individuals with FMS."
Full text of the study, "Safety and efficacy of medicinal cannabis in the treatment of fibromyalgia: A systematic review," appears in The Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine. Additional information on the use of cannabis for fibromyalgia is available from NORML.
New Jersey: Lawmakers Send Bills to Governor Enacting Adult-Use Marijuana Legalization
Trenton, NJ: Members of the New Jersey state Assembly and Senate have advanced legislation to the Governor legalizing the possession, production, and retail sale of marijuana to adults. Lawmakers approved the measures weeks after voters decided in favor of Public Question 1 on Election Day - which instructed the legislature to regulate the adult-use cannabis market.
Lawmakers advanced a series of bills to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. Senate Bill 21/Assembly Bill 21 establish rules for licensing commercial cannabis producers and retailers. Under the measure, adults will be able to legally purchase up to one ounce of cannabis from state-licensed retailers. Retail sales will be subject to state sales tax, and 70 percent of sales tax revenue will initially be earmarked toward designated communities. For the first two years, the number of state-licensed cultivators will be capped at 37. Existing state-licensed medical cannabis producers will be among those eligible to provide to the retail market.
Separate legislation, Senate Bill 2535/Assembly Bill 1897, removes criminal and civil penalties for the private possession of up to six ounces of cannabis by those ages 21 and older, as well as the possession of personal use amounts of hashish (up to 170 grams). The measure also restricts police from conducting a search solely on the basis of the odor of cannabis.
Historically, New Jersey police have placed significant emphasis on marijuana law enforcement. An analysis of nationwide arrest data published in 2018 reported that New Jersey was third in the nation in total marijuana arrests and second only to Wyoming in per capita marijuana arrests.
Commenting on the passage of the statewide legalization bills, NORML State Policies Coordinator Carly Wolf said, "Lawmakers should be commended for working quickly to implement the will of the voters, who made their mandate clear at the ballot box. While these measures are not perfect and our work is far from finished, it is a crucial step forward toward repairing the decades of damage done to New Jersey's most vulnerable communities as a result of the enforcement of marijuana prohibition. Going forward, tens of thousands of otherwise law-abiding New Jersey citizens will no longer be subject to arrest, incarceration, and a criminal record for their personal use of marijuana, and that is a reason to celebrate."
