TNMNews Live Broadcast: October 12th, 2018 Cannabis News Week in Review
Hey everyone, Todd Denkin here again to bring you an update on what has been happening around the country and the world with the ever more popular Cannabis sativa plant! It smells good, it tastes good and heck, it’s making people feel better. Why wouldn’t people like it! It is October 12th, it’s Friday, and I know everyone is anxious to get their happy hour started if they have not already. So, I’ll get started.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher Fox Interview
Potentially very significant news today for all of us marijuana legalization advocates here in the US. The republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher out of California, a long time cannabis legalization advocate and sponsor of the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment, an amendment that has kept the justice department’s nose out of state legal medical marijuana programs by stripping their funding, appeared for an interview on Fox News today. In that interview he stated, “The Trump Administration plans to address federal cannabis reforms after the midterm elections. I would expect after the election we will sit down and we’ll start hammering out something that is specific and real.” I don’t know about you, but it makes sense that he would be considering either rescheduling or to completely deschedule marijuana at this point. There are two major things that are happening right now that suggest we may have legal marijuana here at home soon.
World Health Organization to Meet in Geneva to Decide if Marijuana Should be Rescheduled
First, the White House, the FDA, the UN asked for US public opinion about marijuana earlier this year. World leaders will gather next month in Geneva to decide if marijuana should be rescheduled, they asked all industrialized nations to offer their thoughts on the “abuse potential, actual abuse, medical usefulness, trafficking, and impact of scheduling changes on availability for medical use,” and to have submitted in their input this past April 23rd. The UN’s World Health Organization is reviewing the status of a number of different substances all at the same time. All countries that have signed international drug treaties are not supposed to be legalizing controlled substances, yet both Canada and Uruguay have done it anyways. Their moves to legalize marijuana is forcing the international community to reconsider the structure of treaties as they are currently in clear violation of them. We will see soon whether the rest of the world, for all intents and purposes, decides to legalize marijuana. Which is the second major point. TD estimates that Canada will generate $8 billion in revenue after the sale of recreational marijuana begins on Wednesday. The boost marijuana will bring to the Canadian gross domestic product is enormous. Do you really think this president is going to just leave all of that money on the table for Canada to collect. It doesn’t sound like him, does it? We will see what happens.
The CBP Loosens Up on its Statement About Canadian Cannabis Workers Coming to the US
Sticking with Canada and the US. We reported about a month ago that a Customs and Border Protection agent had made a statement that suggested any employee or investor of a cannabis company up in Canada could face a lifetime travel ban to the US. Well, as it turns out the federal agency has decided that was just a little too strong. The most recent clarification reads, “A Canadian citizen working in or facilitating the proliferation of the legal marijuana industry in Canada, coming to the U.S. for reasons unrelated to the marijuana industry will generally be admissible to the U.S.” They seem to have removed the whole lifetime travel ban to the US verbiage from their statement and are making it plain that if a Canadian is coming to the US for reasons other than advancing their marijuana business interests, then they should come on down and feel free to spend their money. The commercial sale of recreational marijuana is set to start on Wednesday up Canada. So, good for them and we wish them great prosperity.
Facebook Lifts Shadowing Banning of Marijuana Related Searches
Moving on to another worldwide story. So, for the last year or so Facebook had been implementing what has commonly been referred to as a shadow ban on marijuana searches. In other words, unless you were following a page let’s say like ours, which is by the way @NationalMJNews, then if you ever searched for marijuana or some cannabis related term on Facebook, you would not get much of a result. But, now that Canada is about to start selling adult-use marijuana and the rest of the world seems to be embracing cannabis as well, they claim to have lifted that ban for any verified cannabis company. They stated that they originally implemented the ban to prevent people from trying to sell illegal marijuana on Facebook. Apparently now marijuana has become acceptable enough in the public eye that Facebook will now accept it as well. Baby steps people, baby steps.
NCBI Publishes Study Showing that CBD can Reduce Cocaine Use
Moving to some recent marijuana research. Scientists in Spain decided to give a bunch of mice a severe cocaine addiction and observe how they ran through a maze. Then they started giving them some CBD, the non-psychoactive cannabinoid found in hemp and marijuana. Their results showed that the mice started consuming less cocaine once CBD was introduced and that it helped to modulate their behavior while going through the maze. This study lends to the research conducted by Yasmin Hurd here in the United States who believes that CBD may be the key to stopping addiction relapses. She has had a difficult time conducting her research here in the US due to its Schedule 1 status. If scientists can discover a way to prevent addiction relapse then that is about as close as we are going to get to finding a cure for addiction. Yet another reason why the federal government needs to allow rigorous research of the marijuana plant. Congress will be voting on the Medical Cannabis Research Act of 2018 later this year.
Dean at the Air Force Special Operations School Fired for Vaping CBD to Treat Prostate Cancer
And finally, the dean of a prestigious military academy has been fired for vaping CBD to treat his prostate cancer. Henry Cobbs is a Vietnam veteran and has served as the dean of the Air Force Special Operations School since 2009. He holds two master’s degrees and a doctorate in administration of higher education, and served his country for 22 years. He received a Notice of Removal that stated someone had witnessed his quote “use of cannabidiol (CBD), a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance” end quote. And that, quote “This action will become a permanent part of your Official Personnel Folder.” Dr. Cobbs is not going quietly into the night though. He is willing to take his case all the way to the Supreme Court, and is citing a Reagan era law that states, “The term ‘illegal drugs’ does not mean the use of a controlled substance pursuant to a valid prescription or other uses authorized by law.” Dr. Cobbs is looking to preserve his legacy and did in-fact receive the recommendation to use CBD to help with his Prostate cancer from his doctor.
That is it for this week everyone. I hope you have a fantastic weekend and to everyone up in Canada, congratulations! Ending the prohibition of marijuana means less social injustice and is making the world a better place. Check us out here on Facebook, also on Twitter and Instagram @NationalMJNews. And, keep your eyes open for our new culture correspondents Charlotte Olivia and Baylie Depp next week. Until next Friday, this is Todd Denkin with The National Marijuana News.
Tags
canada marijuanaCanadian travel banCBDCBD researchCBPMarijuana Newsmilitary veteransrescheduling marijuanashadow banningWorld Health Organization
