Today in cannabis news: The state of California announces grants funded by cannabis tax revenue for nonprofits working to reverse the negative effects of the War on Drugs; the governors of the states of Louisiana and Texas both indicate that they will sign the cannabis policy reform measures sent to their respective offices; and in a lawsuit against the DEA, a U.S. federal appeals court hears arguments for cannabis rescheduling.
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** First up: The state of California will distribute $29M in grants to 58 nonprofit groups, financed by cannabis tax earnings, with the goal of redressing the wrongdoings of the War on Drugs. The money is being distributed by the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz).
GO-Biz states: “These grants serve communities disproportionately affected by the War on Drugs. Harsh federal and state drug policies enacted during that period led to the mass incarceration of people of color, decreased access to social services, loss of educational attainment due to diminished federal financial aid eligibility, prohibitions on the use of public housing and other public assistance, and the separation of families.”
Eligible NGOs may receive grants to assist services that provide career counseling, mental health care, drug abuse treatment, and legal assistance to underserved populations.
** Next up: Both the Louisiana and Texas state governors have stated that they will approve cannabis legalization measures that have arrived to their offices in recent days. At a press conference, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said they’re “interested in signing the bill that would lessen the penalty for possessing small amounts of marijuana.”
According to Gov. Edwards, many journalists “may be surprised to hear” that they are leaning toward approving the cannabis decriminalization bill, pointing to their longstanding resistance to comprehensive cannabis legalization. Conversely, the latest remarks Edwards has voiced simultaneously suggests that if broader measures to eliminate cannabis prohibition are delivered to their office, they might be more receptive to them.
Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) offered little doubt about how they would rule on the medicinal cannabis extension bill submitted to their office.
“Veterans could qualify for medical marijuana under new law,” Gov. Abbott tweeted. “I will sign it.”
** Last up: Lawyers for a number of scientific researchers and military veterans who want the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to officially rethink the stringent federal categorization of cannabis have presented their case before judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
The case, which was filed last year by cannabis scientist Sue Sisley of the Scottsdale Research Institute, the Battlefield Foundation, as well as military vets Lorenzo Sullivan and Gary Hess, focuses on the DEA’s refusal of a single-page cannabis reclassification request submitted in 2020 by another person. The DEA said in its reply that cannabis has no officially recognized medicinal purpose. Judges’ inquiries, on the other hand, centered more on the legal issues it creates than the soundness of the claim.
“This is a really odd case,” Judge William Fletcher remarked at the start of the approximately 30-minute oral arguments. The judge pointed out that though the case is based on the DEA’s refusal of a cannabis reclassification request last year, those who are now suing the agency were not participants in that request.
The judge added: “Your clients filed no petition. You appeal the denial of somebody else’s petition. Somehow that doesn’t strike me as reasonable to allow somebody to come in this way, without themselves having filed a petition. To piggyback on the denial of such an odd, abbreviated petition just doesn’t fit with the way the administrative process is supposed to work.”
