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Report States That Cannabis Legalization Has Not Increased Youth Consumption

Andrew Freedman, cannabis consumption, CPEAR, Greg Walden, John Hickenlooper, News, study, Youth

A policy paper entitled, “Addressing Youth and Cannabis: Solutions to combat and prevent youth misuse through a federal regulatory system” was released by CPEAR on March 16, and reviews data regarding how youth cannabis consumption hasn’t increased since legalization began. The report was also presented during CPEAR’s roundtable event held on March 17, featuring Senator John Hickenlooper, CPEAR Co-Chair Greg Walden and more.

CPEAR Executive Director Andrew Freedman shared in a press release that this report will serve as a guide for community youth prevention and an inspiration for legislators to enact prevention regulations. “Over 100 million Americans live in a state with legalized, adult-use cannabis—but what we should consider is what that means for our nation’s youth,” said Freedman. “This research highlights how preventing youth from using cannabis requires local communities and stakeholders to be at the forefront of this effort. It further outlines the need for congressional action to build a federal cannabis framework rooted in data, correct the current patchwork of cannabis laws, and build preventative measures into place to protect America’s youth from cannabis misuse.”

One of the main topics that the report explores is that youth consumption either “decreases or remains flat in regulated markets.” In reviewing data on consumption of 8th, 10th and 12th graders, the results were fairly steady. “State legalization of cannabis has not, on average impacted the prevalence of cannabis use among adolescents,” the report states. “In other words, states with medical and/or adult use laws are not seeing larger increases in adolescent use relative to states where use remains illegal.” A Monitoring the Future graph shows a dramatic drop in consumption for 12th graders between 1975 and the 1990s (8th and 10th grade data was not collected at that time). All three grades dropped in 2020, most likely due to lack of availability or access to cannabis during the pandemic.

The report also shares that a combination of early prevention methods can continue to see a decrease in youth consumption as well, listing afterschool programs or school prevention programs, counseling opportunities, community initiatives and digital interventions. “The most successful public education campaign to date is the ‘Good to Know’ program that originated in Colorado, which provides evidence-based educational statements about laws and potential health effects of cannabis use in a judgement-free fashion,” the report shared. “A research study found that the campaign not only increased awareness, but significantly increased perceptions of risk associated with CUD, driving under the influence of cannabis, and negative cognitive outcomes associated with cannabis use.” It also proposes that an increase in youth-specific legislation would affect youth consumption rates, especially if more attention was paid to marketing and advertising.

Finally, the report also stated that if illicit cannabis sales were targeted, youth cannabis access would also decrease. “The legal cannabis market increases the availability of high-potency products, which have been associated with an increased risk of psychosis and CUD for some. However, unlike the tobacco and alcohol industries, there remains a pervasive illicit cannabis market that can easily provide youth with access to cannabis,” the report reads. “Cannabis purchased illicitly is more likely to contain contaminants, including other illicit substances relative to products available in a regulated market. Therefore, increased vigilance of legal sales of high-potency products may best balance reducing risks of youth cannabis-related harms.”

CPEAR launched on March 11, 2021 and has acquired member support from tobacco and alcohol companies, such as Altria Client Services, Constellation Brands, Inc., Molson Coors Beverage Company. Many other studies have found the same observations regarding youth cannabis consumption, such as one that was published in the journal Substance Abuse in March 2021 or another published in The American Journal of Public Health in August 2020.

The post Report States That Cannabis Legalization Has Not Increased Youth Consumption appeared first on High Times.

Source: Hightimes

New Jersey Gets More Than 170 Cannabis Dispensary Applications On First Day

Cannabis Regulatory Commission, Dispensaries, new jersey, News, recreational cannabis

New Jersey began accepting applications on Tuesday from individuals hoping to get in on the ground floor of the state’s coming recreational cannabis industry. By day’s end, state regulators had attracted plenty of interest.

NJ.com reported that the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission said that by 4 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, it had received 172 applications from individuals interested in opening a cannabis retail store.

“Today is the day where the CRC (Cannabis Regulatory Commission) portal opens and applicants who wish to apply for a retail license to sell cannabis … are allowed to do so,” said Michael DeLoreto, a director at Gibbons’ Government and Regulatory Affairs Department, as quoted by NJ.com. “This is a day that a lot of businesses have been waiting for.”

New Jersey voters legalized recreational adult-use cannabis in 2020 when they approved a ballot measure (three other states –– Montana, Arizona and South Dakota –– likewise passed legalization proposals at the ballot that year).

In December, the Cannabis Regulatory Commission began accepting applications for recreational cannabis cultivators, manufacturers and testing labs. The commission said that by early afternoon on the first day of the application period, “the application platform was averaging 155 new users per hour.”

Within the first four hours, the commission said that it had received applications from nearly 500 individuals.

“We are happy to reach this milestone,” Jeff Brown, executive director of the Cannabis Regulatory Commission, said at the time. “Applications are coming in, the platform is performing well, and we can officially mark the launch of the state’s recreational cannabis industry. Getting cultivators, manufacturers, and testing labs licensed and operating will set the framework and establish supply for retailers who will start licensing in March 2022.”

Late last month, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, said that he believed adult-use sales would begin “within weeks.”

“If I had to predict, we are within weeks—I would hope in March—you would see implicit movement on the medical dispensaries, some of them being able to sell recreational,” Murphy said at the time. “They’ve got to prove they’ve got the supply for their medical customers. I hope shortly thereafter, the standalone recreational marijuana operators.”

Along those lines, NJ.com reported that Tuesday “also marked the day when the state panel expected to finish reviewing applications from eight of about [a] dozen alternative treatment centers that sell medical marijuana and are looking to the expand to the recreational market.”

The Cannabis Regulatory Commission has said that it is prioritizing applications from “designated target communities, for people with cannabis convictions (expunged or not), and for minorities, women, and disabled veterans.”

The three groups that will receive priority consideration from the commission are “minority-owned, woman-owned, or disabled veteran-owned,” businesses “owned by people who have lived in an Economically Disadvantaged Area of the state, or who have convictions for cannabis-related offenses (expunged or not),” and businesses “located in an Impact Zone, owned by people from an Impact Zone, or employing residents of Impact Zones.”

Expanding access to the cannabis industry for disadvantaged groups has become a common feature of recreational laws across the country. New York announced last week that at least 100 of the first licenses for adult-use cannabis retailers in the state will be designated for individuals convicted of a previous cannabis-related offense, or a family member of someone with a cannabis-related offense.

Tremaine Wright, chair of the Cannabis Control Board in New York, said last month that the state is trying to “build a supportive ecosystem that allows people to participate no matter their economic background and we want everyone to know they have a real opportunity at a license as well as support so that their businesses will be ongoing enterprises that are successful and have the opportunity for growth.”

The post New Jersey Gets More Than 170 Cannabis Dispensary Applications On First Day appeared first on High Times.

Source: Hightimes

Russia Extends Brittney Griner’s Detention by Two Months

Brittney Griner, News, Phoenix Mercury, Prison, Russia, Sports, TASS, Vaoe, WNBA, World

WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner will be held in a Russian prison on charges of possessing cannabis vape cartridges until May, according to information provided by the state media outlet on Thursday. Griner was taken into custody last month at an airport near Moscow after customs officials reportedly found the cannabis oil cartridges in her luggage. The Olympic gold medalist has been detained in Russia since her arrest.

On Thursday, Russian state news agency TASS reported that the Khimki City Court of the Moscow region had ruled to detain Griner for at least two more months as the case is investigated, according to a report from the Daily Mail.

“The court granted the petition of the investigation and extended the term of U.S. citizen Griner’s detention until May 19,” the court ruled.

Griner is a seven-time WNBA All-Star center and has played for the Phoenix Mercury since 2013, including the team’s 2014 league championship squad. She has also won the Olympic gold medal with the U.S. women’s basketball team twice.

Griner has played seven seasons of professional basketball in Russia during the winter, a common practice among WNBA players. She earns about $1 million per season to play in Russia, about four times the salary she earns playing for Phoenix. On January 29, Griner played her most recent game with her team UMMC Ekaterinburg before the Russian league took a two-week break for the FIBA World Cup qualifying tournaments.

WNBA Star Arrested Last Month

The Russian Customs Service reported on March 5 that an American women’s basketball player had been detained after cannabis vape cartridges were discovered in her luggage at the Sheremetyevo airport near Moscow. Griner was not identified by name and the date of the arrest was not specified. The customs service also released a video that appears to depict Griner making her way through an airport security checkpoint.

TASS subsequently reported that the arrested player was Griner. Although the date of Griner’s arrest was not announced, media outlets reported that she has been in custody since February. After news of the arrest broke, the WNBA and the players’ union expressed support for the star player.

“Brittney Griner has the WNBA’s full support, and our main priority is her swift and safe return to the United States,” the league said in a statement after Griner’s arrest was announced by Russian media.

TASS reported on Thursday that Griner is being held in an undisclosed Russian prison pending investigation of the case. The news agency also said that Ekaterina Kalugina of the human rights watchdog group Public Monitoring Commission, a semi-official body with access to Russian prisons, had visited Griner. Kalugina reported that Griner was doing well and being held in humane conditions.

Kalugina further reported that Griner has accepted her detention and was being held in a cell with two other women with no prior convictions who are also being held on drug-related charges. Griner’s only issue, she said, was that the prison’s beds are too small for the 6’9” basketball star.

“The beds in the cell are clearly designed for a shorter person,” Kalugina told TASS.

The human rights worker also said that U.S. authorities have not yet visited Griner in Russia, which invaded its neighbor Ukraine on February 24, plunging the region into a humanitarian and diplomatic crisis.

“In addition, for an unknown reason, the U.S. consul does not come to [see Griner], although the administration of the pre-trial detention center is ready to create all conditions for a visit,” TASS quoted Kalugina as saying.

Griner’s time in custody is being made easier by the women being held with her, the report continued.

“[Griner’s cellmates] also had no previous convictions and are charged with drug-related [offenses],” said Kalugina. “They speak English and help Griner communicate with the prison administration.”

“They helped her order books: she reads F. M. Dostoevsky and [a] biography of the members of the Rolling Stones,” she continued.

Uproar Over Griner’s Arrest

Griner’s arrest has led to an outcry from politicians and celebrities around the globe. Democratic Representative Colin Allred of Texas, the basketball star’s home state, said on March 9 that he was looking into the circumstances of Griner’s arrest.

“My office has been in touch with the State Department, and we’re working with them to see what is the best way forward,” said Allred, as quoted by ESPN. “I know the administration is working hard to try and get access to her and try to be helpful here. But obviously, it’s also happening in the context of really strained relations. I do think that it’s really unusual that we’ve not been granted access to her from our embassy and our consular services.”

American Iranian journalist Jason Rezaian was detained in Tehran by the Iranian government in 2014 and held in a notorious prison for 544 days, finally being released in 2016. He said that he sees similarities in his case and Griner’s.

“It’s the most audacious hostage taking by a state imaginable,” Rezaian told CNN. “I know from my own case that the supposed charges against me were not based in anything like reality, and they were used to perpetuate a narrative about why I was being held.”

The post Russia Extends Brittney Griner’s Detention by Two Months appeared first on High Times.

Source: Hightimes

Montana Supreme Court OKs Temporary Rules For Cannabis Expungement

Greg Gianforte, HEART Fund, House Bill 701, KPAX, Laws, Montana, Montana Supreme Court, News

The Montana Supreme Court on Tuesday issued temporary rules related to expungement procedures for individuals previously convicted for a pot-related offense.

As reported by local television station KPAX, the new adult-use recreational cannabis law in Montana “says anyone convicted of an offense that would now be legal in the state can petition to have their conviction removed from their record, get a lesser sentence for it or reclassify it to a lesser offense.”

On Tuesday, per Montana Public Radio, the high court “approved temporary rules that outline procedures for expunging or revising marijuana-related convictions.”

Those temporary rules “are effective upon approval and adoption by the Montana Supreme Court,” the state said, adding that they will remain in effect until “a marijuana conviction court is created as authorized by the [Montana Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act].”

KPAX, citing a state court administrator, reported that “the biggest clarification [the state] wanted to make was letting people know they could submit their expungement request to the court where they were originally sentenced.”

The administrator said there “had been some confusion because of a separate expungement procedure for misdemeanors that requires all defendants to go through district courts.”

Montana voters passed a legalization initiative in the 2020 election, and the new law took effect last summer when Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 701 to implement the new adult-use cannabis program.

Gianforte said he was particularly impressed with the HEART Fund, which will use revenue from the recreational pot program to fund substance abuse treatment.

“From the start, I’ve been clear that we need to bring more resources to bear to combat the drug epidemic that’s devastating our communities,” Gianforte said after signing the legislation. “Funding a full continuum of substance abuse prevention and treatment programs for communities, the HEART Fund will offer new support to Montanans who want to get clean, sober and healthy.”

Recreational pot sales began in January, and the state raked in $1.5 million in weed sales on its opening weekend. By the end of the opening month, recreational pot sales had generated almost $12.9 million in Montana.

Kristan Barbour, an administrator with the revenue department’s Cannabis Control Division, said in January that the “rollout of the adult-use program went off without any issues from the department’s supported IT systems.”

“We were able to successfully verify with (the) industry that our licensing and seed to sales systems were working on Friday to ensure a successful launch on Saturday, January 1, 2022. The successful launch was a result of staff’s hard work and planning over the past six month to meet the challenges of implementing HB 701,” Barbour told the Independent Record at the time.

But the expungement process has seen a few hiccups since the law began. A report from the Associated Press in January noted that while some lawyers in Montana have said that “expungement cases have sailed through the courts and that the process has been accessible,” others say “expungement petitions are still facing a roadblock: stigma against cannabis that lingers in some of the state’s district courts.”

According to the AP, the new cannabis laws in the state “tell judges hearing expungement petitions that they must presume the case qualifies unless a prosecutor can raise a legitimate issue against it,” and that the “entire proceeding may include a hearing, but state law doesn’t require one to obtain an expungement.”

The post Montana Supreme Court OKs Temporary Rules For Cannabis Expungement appeared first on High Times.

Source: Hightimes