A Texas judge has ruled that the state’s ban on hemp products containing more than 0.3 percent delta-8 THC can remain in effect as a legal challenge moves through the process.
The cannabis company Hometown Hero filed a suit against the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) last week, arguing that it improperly revised its hemp policy this month to specifically prohibit products with more than trace amounts of forms of THC other than delta-9, the most commonly known psychoactive compound in cannabis.
In a new report obtained by Marijuana Moment, the National Institute on Drug Abuse briefed the House and Senate Appropriations Committees about how cannabis’s restrictive Schedule I status can “impede critical research…or prevent scientists from pursuing such work.”
NIDA also told Congress that not letting scientists study the marijuana that consumers actually purchase from dispensaries “may pose barriers to studying the health effects of products that individuals are using in real-world settings.”
The Plant Medicine Coalition announced that it awarded about $50,000 in grants to support a variety of psychedelics projects—including one to address “abuse and predatory behaviors in plant medicine circles.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) tweeted, “We’re working to legalize marijuana in Pennsylvania. In the meantime, we’re pardoning marijuana-related offenses as quickly as we can.” Separately, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro, currently the state attorney general, tweeted, “It’s time to legalize marijuana. To regulate it, and tax it. But let me be clear: We must expunge the records of those who have served time for possessing small amounts of marijuana alongside legalization. That is the path to justice.”
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) tweeted, “We’ve brought four new industries to New Jersey — offshore wind, film and television, marijuana, and sports betting. These industries will bring thousands of good-paying jobs to the Garden State.”
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy released details about a new U.S.-Colombia counternarcotics strategy.
A federal court will decide whether $166,000 in proceeds from medical cannabis sales in Missouri that was seized in transport in Kansas will be returned.
A Virginia judge defended his jailing of a woman who admitted that she smoked marijuana earlier in the day before testifying against her alleged domestic violence abuser.
Oregon’s Department of Agriculture is recruiting volunteers to serve as temporary commissioners on the new Oregon Hemp Commission.
West Virginia regulators will host medical cannabis patient signup events next week.
India’s Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is recommending that drug possession be decriminalized.
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