An Arizona church has reached a settlement in a lawsuit against the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal agencies that allows the Indigenous religious organization to use the psychedelic brew ayahuasca for sacramental purposes. Under the agreement, the Church of the Eagle and the Condor (CEC) will be permitted to import, prepare and distribute ayahuasca to its members at religious ceremonies. “The Church of the Eagle and the Condor has reached a settlement to secure its religious freedom and the right to use Ayahuasca as its sacrament,” the church wrote in an announcement of ..read more

In an announcement last week, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the state of New York reached a significant milestone: the grand opening of the state’s 100th Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) brick-and-mortar store.  Big Gas is located in the village of New Paltz, located near Poughkeepsie. The Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) and a handful of state leaders joined Big Gas owners, Kareem Haynesworth and Zymia Lewis for the grand opening of the store for public sales. “Big Gas is proud to be the first licensed cannabis dispensary in the City of New Paltz,” Big Gas Owners ..read more

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education, aka D.A.R.E., has been teaching kids about substance abuse since 1983 with a mission of delivering science and evidence-based curricula. Recently, a D.A.R.E. documentary published by Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan on April 12 spoke with numerous individuals regarding the D.A.R.E. program and discussed the failure of the War on Drugs. Callaghan attended D.A.R.E.’s annual conference, which was held in Las Vegas, Nevada last July. An estimated 500 attendees were present for D.A.R.E. officer training. Part of the conference included presenting awards for 2023 ..read more

More than 440,000. That is the approximate size of the cannabis industry’s labor force in this country, according to newly published research. The data, compiled by Vangst and Whitney Economics, shows that the United States’ legal marijuana industry added almost 23,000 jobs last year, amounting to a 5.4% year-over-over increase. That brings the total number of full-time workers in the industry to 440,445.  The increase in 2023 may be a “sign that the business climate has begun to stabilize somewhat nationally after the turmoil of the past two years,” the report said. More from the jobs re ..read more

The nascent cannabis market in Japan has reportedly seen a massive increase in recent years.  That is according to a newly published report by Euromonitor International, which revealed a “staggering growth in Japan’s cannabis market over the past four years.” The market, according to the report, expanded “approximately sixfold from JPY4 billion (USD26.3 million) in 2019 to JPY24 billion (USD173.8 million) in 2023,” a surge that was “attributed to the rising demand for products offering relaxation, sleep improvement, and stress relief.” Euromonitor International, a market research firm bas ..read more

A new article published in the Federal Register in February, which prefaced a digital Drug Testing Advisory Board (DTAB) meeting that was held on March 5. The topic of the article and the meeting covered the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) drug testing panels and considered adding fentanyl, while also removing MDMA. Section 8105 from the Fighting Opioid Abuse in Transportation Act (which is included in the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act) requires the Secretary to justify whether or not to include fentanyl or other Schedule I or II substances in the Mandatory Guideline ..read more

A Maine man was arrested and held without bail last week for allegedly operating an unlicensed cannabis operation in a rural area about 60 miles north of Bangor, according to law enforcement officials and court records. Police seized 40 pounds of processed marijuana from a house in Passadumkeag, Maine and arrested Xisen Guo, who is accused of drug trafficking and turning the property into a sophisticated cannabis cultivation operation.  Maine legalized recreational marijuana in 2016 with the passage of a ballot measure that also established a regulated market for adult-use cannabis. The M ..read more

It’s a given that Election Season comes with a slew of messages from all sides, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) is throwing its hat in the ring with a new legislative agenda, “a vision for Congress to meet everyday Americans’ urgent needs and rebuild the American dream for the poor, working, and middle class,” according to a recent news release from the group. Specifically, the agenda includes a number of priorities like cannabis legalization and expungements that the caucus argues Democrats “can pass with congressional majorities” should they keep the Senate and take control of ..read more

Although the official city-sanctioned 4/20 celebration on Hippie Hill in San Francisco was canceled this year, it still attracted thousands of people to gather on the holiday. According to a report from SFGate, whose representatives spoke with some of the attendees, the cancellation didn’t hinder anyone’s plans. Jessica Leung told SFGate that she was excited to be there and surprised by the amount of people who still showed up. “4/20 is my favorite holiday,” Leung said. The lower part of the hill was roped off with chains to host a “Peace, Love and Volo Field Day,” free event, inviting people ..read more

States where recreational marijuana has been made legal are seeing upticks in college applications, including from elite students.  That is the takeaway of a study published late last year in the peer-reviewed journal Contemporary Economic Policy.  “Using a two-way fixed effects difference-in-differences model, we investigate the effects of local recreational marijuana (RMJ) policy changes on college applications and find that the three largest state public schools reaped, on average, an almost 54% increase in applications,” the authors of the study said in the abstract.  Recrea ..read more