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ONDCP head calls out cannabis in shift toward “harm reduction.”
“For the first time in history, the federal government is embracing the specific policies of harm reduction,” Rahul Gupta, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, told the Financial Times.
While the conversation was focused on the overdose crisis, this strategy shift includes looking at cannabis decriminalization, he said, pointing to the 19 states that have gone ahead with adult use.
“We’re learning from those states. We’re monitoring the data and trying to see where things go. But one thing is very clear, and the president has been clear about that. The policies that we’ve had around marijuana have not been working,” he said.
AMA adopts new policy calling for expungement after legalization or decrim.
On Tuesday, the American Medical Association adopted new policy at the Annual Meeting of its House of Delegates calling on states to move on expunging cannabis-related records after states legalize or decriminalize.
The new policy aims to “introduce equity and fairness into the fast-changing effort to legalize cannabis,” the AMA noted in an announcement.
“This affects young people aspiring to careers in medicine as well as many others who are denied housing, education, loans and job opportunities. It simply isn’t fair to ruin a life based on actions that result in convictions but are subsequently legalized or decriminalized,” AMA Trustee Scott Ferguson said in a statement.
While the AMA reiterated its opposition to legalization, citing increases in traffic fatalities and accidental exposure to cannabis by kids, AMA “supports mitigating the collateral consequences of cannabis-related offenses when such offenses are no longer illegal in a state.”
Kentucky gets its Medical Cannabis Advisory Committee.
Back in April, following the failure of medical cannabis legislation in the General Assembly, Gov. Andy Beshear announced that he would move forward on the issue in two big ways: asking his general counsel to “begin analyzing options under the law for the Governor to consider regarding executive action on medical cannabis,” and creating a Medical Cannabis Advisory team that would, among other things, “travel around the state and listen to what Kentuckians have to say about medical cannabis.”
On Tuesday, Beshear announced the first 17 members of that Committee.
“Polling suggests 90% of Kentucky adults support legalizing medical cannabis, while at the same time, far too many in our state who could benefit from it are suffering. It is simply time that something more is done,” Beshear said in the announcement. “I want to make sure every voice is heard as I am weighing executive action that could provide access to medical cannabis in the commonwealth.”
