Health Canada gives nearly $1M to Canadian Schizophrenia Society for cannabis resources.
The Schizophrenia Society of Canada announced that it was awarded $978,000 from Health Canada to create and scale cannabis and mental health education resources.
The Society noted in its announcement that Canadians between the ages of 15 and 24 have “one of the highest rates of cannabis use worldwide, with prevalence rates almost double that of adults.”
So, the project aims to “refine and scale” a self-led cannabis and mental health certificate course, a mentor guide, the creation of the a website with resources on cannabis and psychosis, as well as other educational resources rooted in science.
“I am grateful to the Schizophrenia Society of Canada and their community partners for adapting the Cannabis and Mental Health program to reach a wider youth audience,” Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, said in a statement.
“As our government works to improve integrated health care services for all Canadians, this funding will help to empower more young people to protect their mental health and better understand the health impacts around cannabis use.”
House committee is “investigating” FDA on CBD.
Kentucky Rep. James Comer, chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf outlining why the committee is investigating the FDA’s lack of regulation around CBD.
The FDA announced in January that a “new regulatory pathway for CBD is needed” and that it was “prepared to work with Congress.”
“The announcement states that the FDA does not believe its current regulatory framework allows for regulation of cannabidiols (CBD). The mission of the FDA is to advance[e] the public health by helping to ‘speed innovations that make medical products more effective, safer, and more affordable and by helping the public get the accurate, science-based information they need to use medical products and foods to maintain and improve their health.’ We seek documents and information to enable oversight of the FDA’s actions related to this announcement,” Comer said in a statement.
Comer asked for documents by May 1, and the letter reads like a public records request.
It asks for “all documents, communications, and drafts related to the January 26 announcement titled ‘FDA Concludes that Existing Regulatory Frameworks for Foods and Supplements are Not Appropriate for Cannabidiol, Will Work with Congress on a New Way Forward,'” as well as “all documents and communications relating to the FDA’s assessment of the existing regulatory framework at issue regarding CBD,” and “all scientific data, reports, and research in the possession of the FDA relating to the safety of CBD products for consumption.”
Comer added that “FDA’s claim of a lack of a regulatory pathway is not only an insufficient rationale for inaction, but it is directly affecting the welfare of the American public.”
Comer continued, “Without allowing for therapeutic CBD products to be regulated as dietary supplements such as melatonin or fish oils, the good faith actors in the industry are unable to enter the market and provide people with helpful products because they are currently not distinguished under the FDA from the intoxicating products containing Delta-8.”
Dozens of groups, led by DPA, send letter to Biden on descheduling.
This week, 85 local and national advocacy groups, including the ACLU, Center for American Progress, and Human Rights Watch, and led by the Drug Policy Alliance, sent a letter to President Joe Biden calling on him to expand upon his October announcement that he would pardon federal possession convictions.
They wrote: “We share your administration’s sentiment that ‘too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana,’ and are encouraged by these important first steps towards ending and repairing the harms caused by marijuana criminalization and the racist enforcement of marijuana laws.”
“Nonetheless,” they continued, “these actions alone, will neither fully end future harms of marijuana criminalization nor repair past harms. Accordingly, we urge you and your administration to take the steps necessary to deschedule marijuana in conjunction with other administrative actions that center Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities. Additionally, we implore your administration to support comprehensive marijuana reform legislation in Congress, such as the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA), a bill that deschedules marijuana, repairs the past harms of prohibition, and provides a regulatory framework for marijuana markets.”
