ASA Activist Newsletter
In the February 2021 Issue:
- Cannabis Reforms Developing in Senate and House
- FDA Withdraws Proposed CBD Rules
- Long-time Cannabis Prisoners Pardoned, Licensed Operator Left
Imprisoned
- Idaho Advocates Look to 2022 as Legislature Attempts Block
- Save the Date! ASA 2021 Unity Conference Announced
- PFC Review Board Moving Toward New Accreditation
- New Cannigma Podcasts Available
- ASA Executive Director Featured on Podcast
- ASA Members Policy Meeting
- Activist Profile: Pennsylvania State Rep. Chris Rabb
- ACTION ALERT: Take the No Patient Left Behind Pledge
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Cannabis Reforms Developing in Senate and House
The US Congress is likely to take
substantial action soon on medical cannabis. The Senate, which was a
barrier to House legislation under Republican control, is now the
center of planning and action, with new Senate Leader Chuck Schumer
(D-NY) vowing immediate reforms will be a top priority.
Instead of taking the piecemeal approach of past Congresses, Leader
Schumer has been coordinating on an omnibus bill with Sen. Corey
Booker (D-NJ), who introduced the MORE Act in the last Congress, and
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), who was responsible for several Senate cannabis
bills, including the State Cannabis Commerce Act, the Responsibly
Addressing the Marijuana Policy Gap Act, and the Marijuana Justice
Act.
Leader Schumer has also pressed
Attorney General nominee Judge Merrick Garland to “respect the rights
of states that have legalized marijuana.” Sen. Wyden, now chair of the
Senate Finance Committee, has said he intends to “end the prohibition
and come up with sensible tax and regulatory oversight at the federal
level.”
The Senate has already had four pieces of cannabis reform
legislation introduced. The bipartisan Cannabidiol
and Marihuana Research Expansion Act has been reintroduced by
Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Brian Schatz
(D-HI). This measure, which unanimously passed the Senate last year
after being introduced in each of the last three Congresses, would
make it easier to get medical research approval and allow qualified
researchers to cultivate cannabis for studies. It would also direct
the Department of Health and Human Services to provide reports to
Congress on the therapeutic potential of cannabis and on the federal
barriers to cannabis research.
Other cosponsors of the research bill include Sens. Kevin Cramer
(R-ND), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Amy
Klobuchar (D-MN), and Thom Tillis (R-NC). It has been endorsed by a
host of professional medical groups and advocacy organizations,
including the American Medical Association and ASA.
The US House of Representatives is also taking action on cannabis
reforms. The bipartisan Hemp
and Hemp-Derived CBD Consumer Protection and Market Stabilization
Act would remove confusion over the status of CBD extracted from
hemp by placing it under the rules for the marketing and sale of
dietary supplements. Introduced by Reps. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and
Kurt Schrader (D-OR) with 17 cosponsors, it mirrors a measure they
sponsored in the last Congress.
The first reform bill filed in the 117th Congress was in
the House. H.R.365
is a simple one that would reclassify cannabis from Schedule I to
Schedule III. Introduced by Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL), it is also
identical to a measure from the last Congress that failed to advance.
Rep. Steube also filed H.R.
430, a bill to protect VA benefits for veterans who use medical
cannabis that is similar to one he filed in the last Congress.
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FDA Withdraws Proposed CBD Rules
After the Biden Administration requested
that all pending rules be withdrawn, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) rescinded draft rules for CBD that had been
submitted to the Trump White House. The rules were developed under
mandate from the 2018 Farm Bill that provided a path for the legal
production and sale of hemp and its extracts throughout the U.S.
The new administration’s halt to pending rules did not affect
recent action by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on final
rules for hemp production. A two-year process since the Farm Bill
was enacted in 2019 resulted in the loosening of some restrictions,
such as allowing cannabis with up to 1% THC to be cultivated, instead
of the previous 0.5% threshold. The bill defines hemp as
cannabis with less than 0.3% THC.
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Long-time Cannabis Prisoners Pardoned, Licensed Operator Left
Imprisoned
More than a dozen federal prisoners
serving long sentences for cannabis-related crimes were pardoned or
had their sentences commuted by former-President Trump in his last
days in office.
Several of those released were serving life sentences, including
Craig Cesal, Corvain Cooper, John Knock, James Roman, Ferrell Damon
Scott, Anthony DeJohn and Michael Pelletier, a paraplegic who had
served 14 years. All were non-violent, and several were first-time
offenders.
Advocates had hoped clemency would be granted to Luke Scarmazzo, who is serving 22 years for
operating the California Healthcare Collective, a licensed medical
cannabis dispensary. His business partner and high school football
teammate Ricardo Montes had his federal sentence commuted by
former-President Obama at the end of his term in 2017.
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Idaho Advocates Look to 2022 as Legislature Attempts Block
Medical cannabis advocates are already
at work preparing for the election in 2022. Following pandemic-related
problems gathering signatures, advocates in Idaho have submitted to
the secretary of state a new petition that would qualify a medical
cannabis initiative for the 2022 ballot. The new measure is the same
as last year’s.
The initiative would allow qualifying patients to possess up to
four ounces of cannabis and cultivate six plants.
Meanwhile, the Idaho state legislature is trying to alter the state
Constitution to block the legalization of cannabis. The Idaho Senate
approved a resolution on a party-line vote to make that amendment at
the beginning of February. Passage requires a two-thirds vote in the
state House. If enacted, only FDA-approved substances would ever be
allowed to be sold or possessed in the state.
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Save the Date! ASA 2021 Unity Conference Announced
The dates for ASA's annual National Medical Cannabis Unity Conference and Lobby
Day have been announced. Advocates and experts will gather for
virtual events on April 29-30, 2021. The theme this year is No Patient
Left Behind.
Last year's move to an online format due to the pandemic allowed
ASA to make the conference even more accessible, and this year will
build on that success.
Mark your calendar now and make plans to join ASA online for expert
panels, activist training and networking opportunities, as well as a
chance to lobby your elected representatives on the new cannabis
reform bills in Congress.
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PFC Review Board Moving Toward New Accreditation
The PFC program is making progress on its ISO 17065 accreditation,
an international standard for the competence, consistent operation and
impartiality of product, process and
service certification bodies. That accreditation
will be the subject of PFC’s first Review Board meeting of 2021.
The PFC Review Board is responsible for approving business
certifications along with approving PFC policies and procedures,
including the PFC Standard.
The PFC Review Board welcomes back four returning members -- Steph
Sherer, Don Duncan, Elan Sudberg, and Todd Dalotto – and is adding
four new members -- Holly Johnson, Chris Day, Eric Strong, and Deb
Miran. PFC is looking forward to announcing the pending accreditation
along with the certification of a number of new businesses this
year.
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New Cannigma Podcasts Available
Two new episodes of the Cannabis
Enigma Podcast, co-produced by The
Cannigma and Americans for Safe Access, are now available.
Check out these and ASA’s other podcasts done in partnership
with cannigma.com at https://www.safeaccessnow.org/podcasts or
wherever you listen to podcasts.
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ASA Executive Director Featured on
Podcast
On February 10, ASA Executive Director Debbie Churgai was featured
on the Budding Report podcast with Shanel Lindsay of Ardent. Hosted by
Charles Horton, Melissa Nasits, Dr. Christian Shaw and Chris Perri,
the program will cover some of the latest developments in the
fast-changing world of medical cannabis.
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ASA Members Policy Meeting
ASA held its 2021 Members Only meeting on February 10.
The 2021 Strategic Planning Member Meeting was an
interactive event that provided ASA staff a chance to meet with
members and incorporate their feedback into ASA’s 2021 strategic
planning.
“As a grassroots patient advocacy group, collaborating with our
members by having them take part in setting a course through what
promises to be the most exciting year for federal cannabis policy,”
said ASA Executive Director Debbie Churgai.
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Activist Profile: Pennsylvania State Rep. Chris Rabb
Many elected officials have stepped
forward to champion more sensible laws and policies that respect the
experiences and needs of medical cannabis patients. Very few are
willing to say that those laws and policies apply to
them. Pennsylvania State Representative Christopher M. Rabb is one
of the courageous few, using his experiences and position to advocate
for expanding civil protections for patients in the state.
Elected in 2016 to represent the 200th District
in northwest Philadelphia, Rep. Rabb took office as Pennsylvania was
starting to implement the medical cannabis program the state
legislature had established the previous spring. At that point, he had
gone through high school, college and graduate school without
ever trying cannabis, but he was looking for solutions to the
disturbing effects of PTSD that had taken hold during the
campaign.
On the Sunday afternoon before the
primary, Rep. Rabb had just spoken with Alex Cherry, a young man who
was interested in volunteering for his campaign. As he gave his name
and phone number to one of Rabb’s aides, someone walked up behind him
on the sidewalk and shot him dead. For Rabb, the father of two teenage
sons, sleeping has been a struggle ever since.
“I don’t like taking medications,” says Rep. Rabb, who only tried
alcohol for the first time at 31 and didn’t care for it. “All the
medicines the doctors offered worried me because of the side effects
and dependency, so I looked for other solutions that have been vetted.
The tincture I use doesn’t make me high; it just helps me sleep.”
Speaking publicly about both his PTSD and medicinal cannabis use
has made powerful connections for Rep. Rabb with others who struggle
with the stigma associated with both.
“Some people were surprised when I started talking about, because
not many people who achieve high-status positions like elected office
will admit to something like PTSD, much less cannabis use,” Rep. Rabb
says. “But at the end of the day, I know my mother loves me -- I don’t
need others to validate my life choices.”
A graduate of
Yale College with a master’s
degree from University of Pennsylvania in
organizational dynamics, Rep. Rabb wrote the book Invisible
Capital: How Unseen Forces Shape Entrepreneurial
Opportunity (2010) while a visiting researcher at
Princeton. He is a former adjunct professor who taught at Temple
University’s Fox School of Business, and was
a staffer at the White House Conference on Small Business
during the Clinton administration and for the U.S.
Senate.
Since being elected, Rep. Rabb founded the Pennsylvania House
Democratic Caucus Equity Committee and in his first year introduced
and got enacted a bill that created a trust for educational
scholarships and grants for support services for the poorest
communities in the state, paid for by a 1% surcharge on state
correctional contracts.
That sensitivity to current and
historical equity issues informs his approach to cannabis policy.
“Cannabis policy is deeply connected to economics and racial and
social justice. It’s a Venn diagram of overlapping issues that have
been racially weaponized.” Rep. Rabb says.
“Expunging criminal records for cannabis drug offences is one thing,
but racial justice is also about ensuring access to the enormous
amount of wealth that will be created. If we believe in fairness, then
there needs to be an on-ramp for people who have been disadvantaged to
participate, and an equitable amount from the taxes should go to the
communities most in need.”
Rep. Rabb also recognizes acutely and personally the lack of civil
protections for medical cannabis patients and is working to end
discrimination. Pennsylvania has a “per se” marijuana DUI law that
says detection of even minute levels of THC or metabolites (1ng) is
proof of impairment, even though people can test positive under that
standard days and even weeks after any use. Rep. Rabb is
reintroducing a bill to bring state law in line
with science so people can’t lose their driving privileges simply for
being medical cannabis patients. His efforts are bipartisan, as the
companion bill in the state Senate is sponsored by a conservative
Republican, Sen. Camera Bartolotta.
Rep. Rabb is also introducing a measure to protect tenants, so they
can’t be evicted for being medical cannabis users. He’d like a bill
that applies to public housing, too, but federal law and policy remain
a problem. He also opposes restrictions on medical cannabis patients’
2nd Amendment rights, as federal and state laws have been
interpreted as preventing firearm purchase or ownership by qualified
patients.
“I think we are going to get cannabis DUI reform passed this
session,” Rep. Rabb says. “It is a critical amendment that will a
build support structure. After that, all the others will be
easier.”
Rep. Rabb’s other legislative priorities include enhancing social
justice and equity for all Pennsylvanians, addressing
climate change through renewable energy, and improving police
accountability.
“I just don’t believe in prohibition,” Rep. Rabb says. “Our drug
laws have not been modernized, and police are not been properly
trained. The war on drugs has been the cause of so many negative
things.”
Among the things Rep. Rabb does believe in is what he calls
“grassroots co-governance,” which brings to policy decisions the
voices of those affected. When it comes to medical cannabis, one of
those voices is Rep. Rabb’s himself.
“My approach to medical cannabis is not just to vote the right
way,” Rep. Rabb says. “It’s so right I do it myself.”
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ACTION ALERT: Take the No Patient Left Behind Pledge
As widespread as medical cannabis laws have become in the
US, millions of people who should be able to obtain and use cannabis
for medical purposes are still without access. The first 100 days of
the Biden Administration represent a unique opportunity to make
reforms that will harmonize federal law with state and local medical
cannabis programs and expand access to all who might benefit from it.
To support that, ASA has launched the 100 Days Pledge for advocates.
Find out more and take the pledge today at: https://www.safeaccessnow.org/100days_pledge
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