The bills would allow VA doctors to recommend medical marijuana prescriptions to patients while another would kickstart veteran-related cannabis research. A pair of key bills that could expand veterans’ access to medical marijuana passed in a House Committee this week. One piece of legislation would allow Veteran Affairs doctors to recommend medical marijuana prescriptions in […]
Organizations & Associations
VA memo reminds staffers they can be fired for marijuana use
Veterans Affairs employees can still be fired for using marijuana even in states where the drug is legal, department officials said in a new message sent out to employees this week. The memo, described as a “self-explanatory, simple reminder” by VA leadership, applies to all department staffers and was signed by VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. It specifies that employment with […]
Moulton legislation would push VA on medical marijuana for veterans
Millions of American military veterans — more than one in five, according to an American Legion survey — use marijuana to treat a medical ailment. But many of those veterans say the Department of Veterans Affairs, which provides health care to former servicemembers, isn’t responsive to their needs. Citing the federal prohibition on cannabis, the VA has […]
Why Advocacy Needs to be a Part of Your Communications Strategy
Heading into the November Midterms, it’s a perfect time to reflect on the myriad ways in which lawmakers and regulators affect our ability to do business in the legal cannabis sector—and how reaching those audiences needs to be an important part of any cannabis company’s overall communications strategy. So for my latest Cannabis Business Executive […]
V.A. Shuns Medical Marijuana, Leaving Vets to Improvise
Some of the local growers along the coast here see it as an act of medical compassion: Donating part of their crop of high-potency medical marijuana to ailing veterans, who line up by the dozens each month in the echoing auditorium of the city’s old veterans’ hall to get a ticket they can exchange for […]
FDA Rejects Petition To Further Restrict Marijuana
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has denied a request from an anti-legalization group to place marijuana and its derivatives on a list of restricted substances that are not “generally recognized as safe and effective.” The move is “not necessary for the protection of public health,” Janet Woodcock, the director of FDA’s Center for Drug […]
Democratic Senator Calls Out Big Pharma For Marijuana Opposition
A prominent Democratic U.S. senator is slamming pharmaceutical companies for opposing marijuana legalization. “To them it’s competition for chronic pain, and that’s outrageous because we don’t have the crisis in people who take marijuana for chronic pain having overdose issues,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York said. “It’s not the same thing. It’s not as […]
Lacking Applicants, Secret Service Eases Restrictions on Marijuana Use for Potential Employees
It has become so difficult for the U.S. Secret Service to find recruits that have never before experimented with marijuana that the agency’s new director, Randolph Alles, has thrown his hands in air on the issue, announcing last week that he has relaxed the drug policy for potential new hires. During a recent press briefing, […]
American Pediatricians Reinforce That Any Kind of Marijuana Is Risky for Kids
CHICAGO — An influential doctors group is beefing up warnings about marijuana’s potential harms for teens amid increasingly lax laws and attitudes on pot use. Many parents use the drug and think it’s OK for their kids, but “we would rather not mess around with the developing brain,” said Dr. Seth Ammerman. The advice comes […]
DEA Reinforces That All Cannabis Extracts, Including CBD Oil, Are Schedule I Substances
The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) made CBD oil a little more federally illegal in a little-noticed bureaucratic maneuver this morning. Today’s Federal Register (Dec. 14, 2016) contains an item (21 CFR Part 1308) that establishes a new drug code for “marihuana extract.” “This code,” wrote DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg, “will allow DEA and […]
