420 with CNW — Think Tank Asks White House to Resolve DEA, HHS Cannabis Review Feud

Dozens of states may have legalized medical marijuana, but the federal government still classifies cannabis as a Schedule I Controlled Substance with no known medical applications. For years, two federal agencies have clashed over which of them should determine marijuana’s medical potential by running an independent, peer-reviewed study on the potential health benefits of cannabis consumption. With no end to the disagreement in sight, a libertarian think tank has sent a letter to the White House Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) asking it to clear the issue.

As it stands, the scientific literature used to deny petitions to reschedule the controversial plant does not recognize its medical potential. But with more studies finding that cannabis does have some medical potential and more than 30 states allowing their residents to use cannabis for medical purposes, the Competitiveness Enterprise Institute (“CEI”) believes it is time to review the scientific literature — and the group has the law on its side. However, both the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) say conducting this review is the other agency’s responsibility.

HHS provided the DEA with the scientific evidence used to uphold marijuana’s classification in Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act, and according to CEI, this data is flawed. It does not account for the several therapeutic uses that have been approved by states with medical cannabis programs, CEI says.

Independent scientists should be given a chance to go over this data and report whether or not they believe the scientific claims initially made by HHS — that cannabis has no medical potential — is true or not. By conducting a federal peer review of the data, the agencies may find enough evidence to strengthen the push for federal marijuana rescheduling, the group says.

In its letter to the White House, the CEI stated that both the DEA and HHS had failed in their duties. For starters, HHS should have had the scientific evidence peer reviewed before sending it to the Federal Drug Administration as it would have been used as a basis for regulatory action. Additionally, the CEI says, the DEA shouldn’t have published the HHS report without conducting a peer review of the data if the HHS didn’t. For the past five years, the letter argued, cannabis has been prohibited based on incorrect scientific information.

This isn’t the first time the Competitive Enterprise Institute has raised this issue. In June 2019, the CEI argued that HHS should withdraw its scientific evaluation of marijuana’s potential medical benefits and inform the public that the said information was inaccurate and shouldn’t be used for regulatory purposes until the agency conducted a proper peer review.

Once that review is completed, chances are that cannabis could be removed from the most restrictive CSA category and more patients would be willing to use advanced plant medicine devices such as the RYAH Smart Inhaler made by RYAH Group Inc. (CSE: RYAH).

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CNW420 spotlights the latest developments in the rapidly evolving cannabis industry through the release of two informative articles each business day. Our concise, informative content serves as a gateway for investors interested in the legalized cannabis sector and provides updates on how regulatory developments may impact financial markets. Articles are released each business day at 4:20 a.m. and 4:20 p.m. Eastern – our tribute to the time synonymous with cannabis culture. If marijuana and the burgeoning industry surrounding it are on your radar, CNW420 is for you! Check back daily to stay up-to-date on the latest milestones in the fast -changing world of cannabis.

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420 with CNW — CDC Releases Advice to Employers on Cannabis Policy Formulation

The state-legal cannabis industry is in a precarious position. With that in mind, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) has offered guidance on how businesses can develop cannabis policies that adhere to state regulations but reduce the risk of impaired driving.

While federal law still classifies cannabis as a Schedule I substance with no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse, 36 states have legalized medical cannabis and 19 states allow recreational use. On top of that, there is still no accurate way to test for THC. The level of THC in the bloodstream doesn’t always correspond with the level of impairment; tests have found that THC can stay for up to 90 days in the body. For employees who consume marijuana, especially those who operate vehicles for a living, this can have significant consequences

The CDC acknowledged that although driving under the influence of cannabis is inherently risky, different state policies and the absence of an accurate THC impairment testing tool make the issue more nuanced. Cannabis is the second-most-found drug in post-crash tests, the CDC writes in a recent blog, emphasizing that it impairs cognitive abilities and slows motor functions.

Drivers under the influence of THC have slower reaction times and reduced decision making, says the CDC, and studies have shown that accident risk increases with marijuana consumption. However, we still cannot determine the exact correlation between marijuana use and crash risk as THC can be detected in body fluids weeks after being consumed. To walk the fine line between kowtowing to state cannabis policies and preventing accidents due to impaired driving, the CDC advises employers to develop an exhaustive marijuana policy that considers the policies of the states where they operate.

It may not be possible to pass a zero-tolerance policy, the CDC says, but employers can prohibit marijuana use at work and ban their employees from reporting to work while under the influence. The CDC also advises partnering with a lawyer who is familiar with marijuana laws to review marijuana policies and offer legal feedback. In addition, the policy should outline the conditions under which drug testing will happen, the level of THC that constitutes impairment and the repercussions of a positive test.

Employers should also talk to their employees about the implications of mislabeled CBD products, specifically regarding products with higher levels of THC than what is displayed on the label. The CDC also advised employers to grant employees with drug problems access to support, such as in-house programs or referral to other resources.

The step taken by the CDC to provide marijuana policy guidance to employers is one more step to making it easier for patients who need medical marijuana to use it without fear of putting their jobs at risk. In addition, the existence of IoT marijuana-dosing devices, such as those produced by RYAH Group Inc. (CSE: RYAH), eases the task of adhering to the dosage instructions recommended by professionals.

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420 with CNW – New Cannabis Initiative to Push for Federal Legalization Launched

As more states across the United States legalize cannabis for medical and recreational use, the push to federally legalize the herb grows. Thus far, 18 states and Washington, DC, have legalized the recreational adult use of cannabis. Still, cannabis remains illegal to sell, use or possess under federal law, which has in turn made banks refrain from backing the marijuana industry, for fear that it would cause federal issues. Now major marijuana companies are supporting celebrity-infused campaigns to enlist cannabis users to pressure Congress to legalize the plant countrywide.

Earlier last week, the Cannabis in Common initiative was launched to make it easier for supporters to call or email their congressional representatives. State-licensed companies also plan to add more information to their applications, display posters in shops, email their consumers and encourage customers to get involved.

The cofounder of a marijuana firm, Seth Rogen, who is also an actor, stated that legalizing marijuana was long overdue, adding that it would happen if enough noise was made. In addition, prolegalization groups that have mounted federal and state campaigns for a long time now hope that this new initiative will break ground by mobilizing consumers of major players’ products in the marijuana industry.

U.S. Cannabis Council CEO Steve Hawkins stated that the council felt there existed a bigger group of people whose opinion on the matter of legalization would be helpful but was unheard.

More than 10 firms have signed on to the initiative, including publicly traded corporations such as Cronos Group, Curaleaf Holdings,Canopy Growth, and Pax, which is a vaping brand.

However, while most are in support of this move, there are those who criticize it, believing that it goes against all that is right. This includes Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a national marijuana anti-legalization group. Kevin Sabet, who is the CEO of the group and a former official under the Obama administration, stated that the campaign was putting profit over public health.

Additionally, a number of pro legalization not-for-profit groups are also keeping away from this initiative. This includes the Drug Policy Alliance, which believes that the campaign isn’t committed to expunging past cannabis convictions and helping individuals and communities who have been overly affected by cannabis arrests and the war on drugs.

In addition to this, NORML, one of the oldest legalization groups in the country, is also steering clear of this campaign. The group’s political director, Justin Strekal, stated that it was instead focused on certain congressional measures to make cannabis legal on the federal scale.

If these initiatives eventually bear fruit, a lot more people are likely to get comfortable trying medical cannabis, and this would provide an opportunity for helpful platforms such as RYAH MD, which is owned by RYAH Group Inc. (CSE: RYAH), to serve more people.

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420 with CNW — Republican-Sponsored Bill Could Be Ideal Federal Cannabis Policy Reform Law

Democrats have generally been at the helm of cannabis reform, especially at the federal level. The most prominent cannabis bills, ones that would federally decriminalize cannabis and allow for federal cannabis taxes as well as give businesses in the cannabis space access to financial services have been helmed by Democrats. However, stakeholders have said that getting Republicans to pass comprehensive cannabis reform will be almost impossible, especially if it was prepared by the left. A new Republican-led marijuana bill may be the answer to this dilemma.

Led by Rep. Nancy Mae, the legislation titled the States Reform Act may be the compromise between the more modest marijuana reform that Republicans have proposed and the comprehensive cannabis reform Democrats would like to pass. The measure is currently being circulated among industry stakeholders to get feedback, with the final version being officially filed later this month.

If the bill receives enough support from the GOP, we may finally see Congress pass federal cannabis reform. Given that the bill champions the right of states to decide how they want to handle cannabis as well as the business interests of already existing cannabis firms, it is likely that the GOP may support the bill.

Through the States Reform Act, Mae, who was also the only Republican to vote in favor of a marijuana research bill for vets, is looking to deschedule cannabis at the federal level and create a regulatory framework while ensuring the new laws do not burden or undermine already existing state cannabis markets. A 3.75% excise tax would be used to fund grant programs for the Small Business Administration Program, community re-entry, law enforcement and aid for new cannabis businesses. Interstate commerce would be regulated by the Treasury Department’s Alcohol Tax and Trade Bureau (“TTB”) and the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) would have limited regulatory control over recreational cannabis.

Mae’s new 116-page cannabis legislation would cap access to recreational cannabis at 21 years to curb youth drug use as well as place certain limitations on marketing and advertising. Additionally, the bill would allow the expungement of the records of individuals with certain nonviolent federal cannabis convictions, provide protections for veterans who use cannabis and task the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) with authorizing doctors to recommend medical marijuana for veterans. It is not yet clear if any other Republican lawmakers will be involved with the bill once it is officially unveiled.

As the push for federal drug-policy reform gains momentum, a time may come when marijuana is decriminalized and more patients would be able to use the cutting-edge devices designed to ease the use of cannabis medicines, such as the devices manufactured by RYAH Group Inc. (CSE: RYAH).

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CannabisNewsBreaks – RYAH Group Inc. (CSE: RYAH) Receives Additional Order as Its Ecosystem Continues to Power Trials, Pilots and Studies in Plant-Based Medicine

RYAH Group (CSE: RYAH) today announced its receipt of an additional order for future shipments of hundreds of its proprietary RYAH Smart Dry Herb Inhalers and accessories to its United Kingdom-based industry partner, an international clinic undertaking one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive clinical trials in plant-based medicine. The order follows the recently announced initial shipment, and the devices will be used by a growing number of participants of the major U.K.-based clinical trial. Over the next five years, the trial is planned to engage tens of thousands of United Kingdom patients and aims to focus on studying the safety and efficacy of plant-based therapies on chronic pain. “The additional order from the U.K. for the RYAH connected devices further expands our product and data footprint as the RYAH ecosystem continues to power trials, pilots and studies in plant-based medicine therapies worldwide,” said Gregory Wagner, CEO of RYAH Group. “We are anticipating our manufacturing operations to begin additional production runs, as we expect the U.K. study to accelerate orders for RYAH Smart Inhalers over the coming months.”

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About RYAH Group Inc.

RYAH is a connected device and big data and technology company focused on valuable predictive analysis in the global medical plant and nutraceutical intake industry. Its robust artificial intelligence platform aggregates and correlates Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”)-compliant patient data, which is intended to help doctors and patients personalize plant-based treatments to better predict treatment outcomes. The data collection is relevant for clinics, doctors, dispensaries and pharmaceutical companies and licensed processors (“LPs”) to monitor and manage formulation effects on patients and demographics. With a strong intellectual property portfolio, RYAH gathers deep and insightful data on the complete patient session and formulation lifecycle. For more information, visit www.RYAHGroup.com.

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CannabisNewsWire (CNW) is an information service that provides (1) access to our news aggregation and syndication servers, (2) CannabisNewsBreaks that summarize corporate news and information, (3) enhanced press release services, (4) social media distribution and optimization services, and (5) a full array of corporate communication solutions. As a multifaceted financial news and content distribution company with an extensive team of contributing journalists and writers, CNW is uniquely positioned to best serve private and public companies that desire to reach a wide audience of investors, consumers, journalists and the general public. CNW has an ever-growing distribution network of more than 5,000 key syndication outlets across the country. By cutting through the overload of information in today’s market, CNW brings its clients unparalleled visibility, recognition and brand awareness. CNW is where news, content and information converge.

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420 with CNW — Study Finds Cannabis Legalization Has No Link to Increased Suicide, Mental Illness

Legalizing cannabis was always going to be a controversial move. After decades of prohibition and anti-marijuana propaganda, drug reform activists had a difficult task at hand, and opponents to drug reform did not make their jobs any easier.

While cannabis advocates said that decriminalizing cannabis would reduce incarceration rates for nonviolent drug offenses, create plenty of new jobs and generate tax revenue for states, opponents argued that doing so would open a Pandora’s box with untold consequences on society. They said that allowing cannabis sales would increase drug usage among teens, boost criminal activity, lead to an overall decline in mental health and increase suicide rates.

However, now that more than two-thirds of American states have legalized medical marijuana and 18 states allow recreational use, it is becoming more apparent that the fears of opponents were unfounded. As the states began allowing cannabis sales, initial studies found that cannabis reform did not have the detrimental effects that reform challengers feared.

According to a new study conducted by researchers from several institutions, there is no association between cannabis legalization and cases of increased mental illness or suicide. In fact, interestingly, the study found that cannabis legalization laws were associated with a 6.29% decrease in suicide rates among American males aged 40-49. Furthermore, cannabis has shown great promise in treating the symptoms of conditions such as anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, although further evidence is needed to say this conclusively.

This new study involved researchers from Yale Law School, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Reason Foundation, Cato Institute and other institutions. These organizations wanted to evaluate whether the results of a 2013 study that looked at the correlation between cannabis legalization and mental illness were still accurate now that initial cannabis markets are maturing, and more states have launched their own cannabis markets.

To do so, the researchers performed a “state-level longitudinal analysis” using suicide rates provided by the National Center for Health Statistics as well as mental health morbidity rates from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The data used in the study had been collected from 1999–2019 and covered all 50 states and Washington DC. The researchers concluded that aside from the 6.29% reduction in suicide rates among males aged 40–49 years, cannabis legalization did not have any other mental health outcomes. The study is still undergoing peer review and is slated for publication.

Future studies on cannabis compounds could greatly benefit from the data analytics tools and plant medicine devices invented by RYAH Group Inc. (CSE: RYAH) given that those virtual tools aggregate significant research data.

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420 with CNW — New York Cannabis Regulators to Allow Patients to Grow Medical Cannabis

The Cannabis Control Board in the state of New York has voted to allow medical marijuana patients to grow marijuana for personal use. The cannabis regulators plan to file the proposed regulations, which will permit patients who meet the criteria to grow up to six plants, either outdoors or indoors, for their own therapeutic use.

Once the regulations have been published, the public will be afforded a 60-day comment period. After this, the board will review these comments and make any amendments they deem necessary, after which the regulations will be filed officially in order to take effect.

The chair of the Cannabis Control Board, former Assemblywoman Tremaine Wright, stated that the board was proud to present these proposed measures. She explained that allowing patients to cultivate medical marijuana at home would offer them a cost-effective way to acquire marijuana while also allowing them to establish a set of standards that will govern the activities associated with the personal cultivation of marijuana. In its presentation, the board stated that a duty on patients to take reasonable measures to make sure none of their marijuana plants wasn’t readily accessible to individuals who are under the age of 21 would be imposed.

Caregivers for patients who have cognitive or physical impairments that hinder them from growing marijuana or are yet to reach 21 years of age, are also allowed to grow up to six plants on their patients’ behalf. However, the rules also stipulate that landlords have the option of barring tenants from growing cannabis on their properties. Additionally, recreational marijuana consumers are still not allowed to grow their own cannabis until adult-use sales commence.

The Office of Cannabis Management also gave an update on efforts to expunge marijuana records. Thus far, more than 40 expungements for cases associated with cannabis possession have been done. The office notes that about 203,000 cannabis-related charges are also in the process of being expunged or sealed. This number adds to the more than 197,000 sealings accomplished as part of the 2019 expungement measure.

Currently, the Cannabis Control Board oversees the independent Office of Cannabis Management in the New York State Liquor Authority. The state’s liquor authority is also responsible for regulating the hemp and medical cannabis industries in the state of New York.

At the moment, individuals aged 21 and above can possess up to three ounces of marijuana in the state, which is equal to about 24 grams. In addition to this, they can smoke cannabis anywhere tobacco can be smoked.

As more people warm up to medical marijuana, more of them will be exposed to enabling technologies such as the IoT dose-measuring devices made by RYAH Group Inc. (CSE: RYAH), which can bring precision to the use of smokable cannabis products. Such devices could potentially improve patient outcomes.

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420 with CNW — New Measure Will Give Scientists Access to Marijuana Dispensary Products

Last week, a group of federal legislators introduced the Medical Marijuana Research Act, which will eliminate barriers to carrying out research on cannabis. It will include permitting researchers to access marijuana from state-legal dispensaries. The measure was filed by Rep. Andy Harris, a prohibitionist, and Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a pro-legalization lawmaker. The bill will streamline the process for scientists to apply and gain approval to conduct research on marijuana.

In a recent interview, Blumenauer stated that federal legislations were still constraining researchers’ ability to study the various health benefits provided by marijuana, despite the fact that a majority of individuals in America are living in a state that has legalized some form of marijuana.

In late 2020, the House passed a similar version of the marijuana science measure. The Medical Marijuana Research Act, which was filed with support from half a dozen other cosponsors, will also make it easier for researchers to alter their research protocols without seeking federal approval. It would also mandate that the DEA license more cultivators and remove the limit on the number of organizations that can register to grow cannabis for research purposes.

In addition, it would also require that the Department of Health and Human Services present a report that offers an overview of the results of federal marijuana studies to Congress. Furthermore, it would remove additional layers of protocol review, minimize the number of costly security requirements and decrease approval wait times.

In his Congressional Record remarks, Blumenauer stated that the marijuana laws in the United States were broken, including the laws which govern research on marijuana. He explained that since marijuana was still classified as a Schedule I substance, scientists have to comply with strenuous requirements and jump through hoops just to conduct basic research on cannabis’ medical potential.

A Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act refers to drugs that aren’t approved for medical use because they have a high potential for abuse. Blumenauer asserted that expanded research would ensure that Americans had adequate access to transformative treatments and medicines. For about 50 years now, scientists have only been able to conduct research on cannabis grown at the sole federally approved facility located at the University of Mississippi.

In related news, the DEA proposed a significant increase in the amount of cannabis and psychedelics such as mescaline, MDMA, LSD and psilocybin that it wants to be produced in the country for research purposes in 2022. This is after it announced in May that it would soon begin licensing new marijuana growers.

It would be interesting to see how the era of scientists legally using dispensary-sourced cannabis products will pan out when those researchers make use of state-of-the-art dose-measuring devices such as those manufactured by RYAH Group Inc. (CSE: RYAH).

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420 with CNW — New Study Concludes That Crime Reduction Effects of Cannabis Legalization Are Underestimated

For years, drug-reform activists in America argued that the country’s prohibitionist policies were counterproductive; instead of curbing drug abuse and crippling the criminal enterprises behind the drug trade, prohibition has imprisoned countless people of color for minor drug charges, shackling them with criminal records for the rest of their lives, and enriched the drug cartels that supply the black market with drugs.

Decades after former President Richard Nixon declared the war on drugs, the movement has been declared a failure by most pundits. Drug-reform advocates argued that rather than prohibit the sale of cannabis, launching a legal, regulated market would do what the war on drugs sought to do much more effectively.

Now a new study has found that not only does cannabis have a positive effect on crime reduction but that the effect of legalizing the controversial plant on crime numbers has actually been underestimated. Ever since American states began legalizing cannabis for medical and recreational use, several studies have attempted to look at the relationship between crime numbers and cannabis laws.

However, researchers have been severely limited in their research methodology, the study found, as they rely on FBI data collected from local police departments across the country. Since reporting this data to the FBI is entirely voluntary, the result is that the data on crime and cannabis underplays the extent to which medical cannabis laws have affected violent and property crime.

The study involved researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (“USDA”) Economic Research Service and Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. The researchers say that the country’s drug policy presumes that prohibition has a negative effect on crime rates, but unfortunately, insufficient data has made it impossible to test this assumption in medical marijuana states.

To get around the knowledge gap, the researchers developed a novel imputation procedure that allowed them to reduce the measurement error bias and estimate the true extent of medical marijuana laws on violent and property crimes, they write in the final paper titled “Smoke and Fear: The Effects of Marijuana Prohibition on Crime.”

The group’s final estimations revealed that medical marijuana laws would be followed by significant reductions in violent and property crime rates, especially in Mexican border states. This is likey because people are more likely to buy cannabis from legal vendors who have to ensure their products are safe, tested and meet certain standards, especially if they are using it medicinally.

Aside from reducing crime, medical marijuana is having an even bigger impact on the health and well-being of its users, and these positive effects could grow as more people adopt tools such as the RYAH Smart Inhaler manufactured by RYAH Group Inc. (CSE: RYAH) for the purpose of precisely measuring the dose of marijuana flower that medical marijuana users smoke.

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420 with CNW — Senators Pressure US Attorney General on Cannabis Decriminalization

Senators Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren are calling on the attorney general (“AG”) to put an end to federal marijuana prohibition. Last week, the two sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s office; the letter argued that the Justice Department should begin a process to de-schedule marijuana, which would help advance valuable medical research, allow the government to start remedying the harm caused by years of racial disparities in the enforcement of marijuana laws and allow states to regulate the plant as they saw fit.

The senators also explained that decriminalizing marijuana would address the racial inequities faced by people of color when it came to marijuana law enforcement, given that people of color were more likely to be criminalized over cannabis, despite the presence of comparable usage rates among races. In the letter, they wrote that federal marijuana policy had disproportionately impacted the ability of individuals of color in the throughout the United States to not only pursue education but also vote and build intergenerational wealth.

Justin Strekal, political director of the National Organization For The Reform of Marijuana Laws, applauded this action, stating in an interview that it was important to pursue every avenue to end the cruel policy of cannabis prohibition.

There exists a statutory process through which the AG can seek to change cannabis policy under the Controlled Substances Act without involving Congress. The attorney general can begin the process by requesting a scientific review to be done by the Department of Health and Human Services. After this is done, the FDA would be required to evaluate the public health and the medical and scientific implications of cannabis before the review was presented to the Justice Department.

Another avenue would involve having an outside party or the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services file a petition to reschedule cannabis, which would be reviewed by the AG, who has assigned that responsibility to the DEA. The two senators recommend that the attorney general use the former approach, noting that the approach involving the Health and Human Services secretary would produce a recommendation that was not binding.

The letter comes a week after the House Judiciary Committee passed a measure that was introduced by Chairman Jerrold Nadler. The measure’s objective is to promote social equity and federally legalize marijuana. Earlier this week, Eric Holder, the former attorney general, also stated in an interview that the United States was on the path to decriminalizing cannabis at the federal level, as more states advance reform.

The decriminalization of cannabis at the federal level would open the door for more users of medical marijuana to the experience the benefits of combining their plant medicine with cutting-edge devices such as the RYAH Smart Inhaler made by RYAH Group Inc. (CSE: RYAH) as well as other helpful devices or technologies.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to RYAH Group Inc. (CSE: RYAH) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/RYAH

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