On Friday, US senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) introduced legislation to legalize marijuana at the federal level—a bill called SR 420, of course. Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have so far expanded access to weed in some form. But with federal law lagging behind, the states have landed in a tangle of rules that are at times contradictory, self-defeating, and lacking in scientific support.
Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker blamed international treaty obligations for the delayed expansion of federally approved marijuana cultivation facilities for research purposes on Friday.
During an otherwise tense oversight hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) asked Whitaker for a status update on applications to become cultivators of research-grade cannabis. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had pledged to increase the number of such facilities in a notice published in the Federal Register in 2016.
Ten states and Washington, D.C., have legalized recreational marijuana, and medical marijuana is allowed in 33 states. Canada is building a multibillion-dollar recreational market since it legalized pot in October. New Jersey could soon become the next state to legalize the drug.
When Congress cleared the 2018 farm bill Dec. 13, it legalized hemp, or cannabis that contains less than 0.3 percent THC.
Several studies have linked legal marijuana programs to lower rates of opioid overdoses, but most of that research has focused on broad, state-level data. Zoom in closer—to the county level—and the role of dispensaries where people can actually purchase cannabis becomes clear.
According to a recent study by researchers at New York University School of Medicine, and the Center for Drug Use, 9% of the responding adults between fifty and sixty-four reported using marijuana. The rate in seniors sixty-five and over was reported to be about 3%. Since the Census Bureau reports there are over 47.8 million adults in the US, this means close to 1.5 million people over sixty-five used marijuana in 2015-2016.
The political rise of Colorado’s cannabis industry is, in essence, the story of Garrett Hause’s alfalfa farm.
Mr. Hause, a broad-shouldered, 25-year-old horticulturist who tills his family’s land in the shadow of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains, said he was never particularly interested in politics — that is, until voters legalized cannabis in 2012. He started familiarizing himself with the stringent state regulations that govern the industry. He and a friend then created Elation Cannabis Company, which uses a section of the family’s soil to grow hemp.