In the days of the Armada, a fleet of warships, the scuttlebutt was the rumor or gossip that would spread throughout the ship. Today, Armada Law Corp presents The Scuttlebutt, a daily summery of news articles that people within the cannabis, hemp and plant medicine industries are chatting about along with links to the full articles.
In today’s news:
#psychedelics – “Two Virginia lawmakers have introduced legislation that would allow use of the psychedelic drug psilocybin for medicinal purposes and decrease penalties for possession, citing research on its effectiveness in treating mental health issues.”
#californiacannabis – “Specifically, come Jan. 1, 2024, employers will be prohibited from taking adverse action against a person based on their recreational cannabis use outside of work. Employers will not be permitted to penalize or fail to hire a person – such as through setting employment terms, employment conditions or by termination – if such action or inaction is based on either of the specified cannabis-related categories. Employers are not prohibited, however, from hiring or employment decisions “based on scientifically valid preemployment drug screening” that excludes nonpsychoactive cannabis metabolites, and instead only tests for active cannabis metabolites that could impair the person at the time of the test.”
https://www.natlawreview.com/article/california-will-soon-protect-employees-duty-cannabis-use
#cannabis – “The number of federal marijuana possession offenders has decreased in recent years, but prior state-level convictions for possession still result in higher federal prison sentences, even when those convictions occurred in states that have liberalized their marijuana laws, a new report said.
In a report published Tuesday, the U.S. Sentencing Commission found that the total number of federal offenders for simple possession, or possession without intent to sell, had declined from a high of 2,172 in fiscal year 2014 to only 145 in fiscal year 2021.
However, the report also found that criminal history points, which are used to calculate sentence length, were added to 4,405 federal offenders in fiscal year 2021 stemming from prior marijuana possession sentences.
The report notes that virtually all of those prior marijuana possession sentences derived from state convictions, and that many of those states had changed their laws to either decriminalize or legalize marijuana possession.”
https://www.law360.com/articles/1564734/pot-possession-offenders-still-get-longer-prison-sentences
#cannabisindustry – “OSHA’s interest in occupational exposure to cannabis underscores the need for cannabis businesses to be attuned to workplace health and safety and prepared for government scrutiny of their workplaces. Although OSHA’s current regulatory landscape does not address cannabis explicitly, cannabis employers are subject to the same general requirement imposed on U.S. employers under OSHA’s “general duty clause,” that is, to provide their employees with a place of employment free from recognizable hazards that cause or are likely to cause death or serious harm to their employees. In addition, cannabis employers need to grapple with how current OSHA standards implicate the hazards specific to their industry, including biological and chemical hazards involved in the production process and cannabis itself.”
#californiacannabis – “The Board considered direction to the Cannabis Task Force to prioritize regulations surrounding cannabis retail operations, specifically addressing the allowable distance between dispensaries….
As state cannabis retail regulations change, including the distance necessary between schools and dispensaries, the county is unsure of what changes to accept or decline. During public comment Erin McCarrick, Lake County Cannabis Alliance member, shared, “It might be helpful to give our current dispensaries a lot of guidelines and parameters such as on-site consumption, lounges, things like that so it’s not like we’re creating more regulations without filling in the current gaps.” The board directed the Task Force to prioritize these issues while still upholding their other obligations, namely the Ag Exempt Structure decision and to return in a timely manner.”
https://www.record-bee.com/2023/01/11/bos-returns-considers-cannabis-regulations-housing/
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#cannabispolitics – “The Minnesota Legislature embarked on a path toward legalizing recreational marijuana for adults Wednesday when a legislative committee held the first hearing of the year on a bill that backers say is designed to avoid the pitfalls experienced by states that have already legalized it.
The bill is an updated version of one that passed the Minnesota House in 2021 with some bipartisan support but died in the state Senate, which was then under Republican control. Now that both chambers have Democratic majorities, sponsors say they are confident they can put the bill on the desk of Democratic Gov Tim Walz, who has pledged to sign it.”
https://www.kget.com/national-news/ap-minnesota-lawmakers-start-down-path-to-legalizing-marijuana/