ASA Activist Newsletter
In the July 2021 Issue:
- Senators Ask for Input on Cannabis Legalization
- ASA Seeks Rule Change after Sprinter Loses Olympic Spot
- ASA Launches New PFC Training Platform
- ASA Partners with Media Platform Cannabis Patient Care
- ASA’s Upcoming In-Person Events
- Activist Profile: Mike Graglia, Palo Alto, California
- Action Alert: Sign the Petition to Stop Cannabis Drug Testing
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Senators Ask for Input on Cannabis Legalization
The long-awaited cannabis legalization
bill is getting closer to introduction in the U.S. Senate. Senate
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has joined with Senators Cory
Booker (D-NJ) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) to draft the Cannabis
Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA).
The bill has not
been introduced, but the trio of senators has released a summary
of what the bill would do and asked for input from the public,
other members of Congress, and stakeholder organizations such as
ASA.
ASA is currently analyzing the 163-page “discussion draft” for its
potential impacts on patient access and will be submitting comments by
the September 1, 2021 deadline. ASA will provide detailed analysis in
the next newsletter. The bill is expected to be formally introduced
later this fall.
The proposal builds on provisions in the 2019 MORE Act, which
passed the House last session but was killed in the Senate. If enacted
as outlined, the CAOA, like the MORE Act, would remove cannabis from
the controlled substances schedule, leaving much of the regulatory
decisions to states. Social justice provisions include expunging
criminal records for low-level cannabis offences and establishing an
equity-focused job training program funded by a retail tax.
The senators’ omnibus approach would also address driving
impairment, establish health and safety standards for cannabis
products, and regulate industry practices. Under the bill, Veterans
Administration physicians would be able to recommend medical cannabis
to veterans.
The Drug Enforcement Administration would no longer have
responsibility for cannabis enforcement, which would instead be
transferred to at least three other agencies. ASA is advocating for a
complete review of cannabis regulation and reassignment to the
Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institute for
Standards and Technology.
In addition to the requested input on the regulatory
responsibilities for various federal agencies, ASA expects to provide
expert comment on how to measure the potency of cannabis products, the
overlap of definitions for hemp and “marijuana” and whether cannabis
products should go through a premarket review before being sold.
“To ensure that no patient is left behind, ASA looks
forward to working with Senate offices and the Biden administration to
improve this draft,” said ASA Executive Director Debbie Churgai. “Stay
tuned for our analysis, suggestions, and updates on the bill.”
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ASA Seeks Rule Change after Sprinter Loses Olympic Spot
ASA is calling for rule
changes after top Olympic medal prospect Sha’Carri Richardson was
dropped from the US track squad after testing positive for cannabis
use. She received a 30
day suspension from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA)
for using cannabis outside of competition.
Richardson had won the 100 meter dash at the U.S. Olympic trials in
Oregon, qualifying her for the Tokyo games, where she would have been
a gold medal favorite. She was also expected to be picked by U.S.
track coaches for the 400 meter relay. Because the 30-day suspension
ended just before the 2020 Olympics began, she was eligible to
compete, but she was left off the team.
According to emergency
physician and member of the American Medical Association’s Task Force
on Cannabis Dr. Larry Bedard, “Cannabis should never have been banned,
as there is no scientific evidence to support the claims that cannabis
possesses any performance-enhancing qualities.”
USADA includes cannabis on its list of banned “substances of
abuse.” A positive test for such a substance mandates a three-month
suspension, but Richardson’s sanction was reduced to 30 days by USADA
because she accepted responsibility and completed a “drug education”
course.
Richardson said she had used cannabis to help manage her mental
health after learning at a press conference two days before the
Olympic trials that her birth mother had died. Anxiety and depression
are among the top three reasons cited for medicinal cannabis use, and
all adult use is legal in the state of Oregon.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) decides which substances are
banned in international competition and sets the rules for USADA and
the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The Anti-Doping Code is
updated every six years, the most recent version having been published
this year. Individual countries are legally bound to these rules
through The International Convention Against Doping in Sport under
rules set by the United Nations.
ASA is among many organizations denouncing the suspension and
calling for revision to athletic drug testing policies. For more, read
ASA’s blog about Richardson’s suspension at www.safeaccessnow.org/wada_blog
and sign the petition at www.safeaccessnow.org/wada.
ASA has also advocated for years that the National Football League
and other professional sports allow the use of cannabis in treating
athletes. Professional sports set their own rules on performance
enhancing drugs and sanctions for violations.
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ASA Launches New PFC Training Platform
Americans for Safe Access has just launched a new
training platform for its PFC
Certification and Training program.
PFC protects cannabis patients and consumers as the only ISO 17065
accredited cannabis compliance program in the country. PFC training
programs help ensure cannabis businesses are implementing best
practices and their employees are ready to meet not only state, but
federal and international standards.
“A well-trained staff is essential to the success of a cannabis
business in an oversaturated market,” said PFC Director Heather
Despres. “Without quality SOPs and a team that knows how and why to
follow them, a business is at constant risk of a recall, a major fine,
or even a complete shutdown.”
For training managers, the new platform delivers an all new
interface with both data at a glance and detailed reporting at
request. Managers no longer need to have employees demonstrate their
completion; all the information is quickly at hand.
For employees completing the trainings, the new platform provides
faster and easier access to courses and learning guides, as well as a
streamlined training interface with shorter tests that are better
distributed across the curriculum. Certificates of completion are also
easier to download and print, and notice of completion is provided to
managers immediately.
“PFC exists to serve patients and other cannabis consumers by
establishing and validating practices that protect them,” said
Despres.
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ASA Partners with Media Platform Cannabis Patient Care
ASA is partnering on content with Cannabis Patient
Care™, a leading multimedia platform dedicated to advancing
medical research, education, and treatment in the cannabis
industry.
ASA will provide educational content and articles focused on
patient and advocate experiences for upcoming issues. Cannabis
Patient Care™ will interview advocates at ASA chapters and
highlight legalization efforts and ASA’s work to improve patient
access.
As part of the new partnership, all ASA members will receive a
complimentary subscription to Cannabis Patient Care™. ASA
members will receive an email with links to the publication. ASA
membership information is available at www.safeaccessnow.org/membership.
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ASA’s Upcoming In-Person Events
In the next
few months, ASA staff will be presenting and tabling at a variety of
events in New York, Washington DC, Baltimore and Las Vegas.
“We are excited to see in-person events starting to open back up!”
said ASA Executive Director Debbie Churgai, who will be in attendance
or presenting. “We look forward to connecting with people across the
country.”
More information and registration options for some of the events
are at the links below:
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Activist Profile: Mike Graglia, Palo Alto, California
The seizures began when Tony
was 3. After an initial diagnosis of epilepsy, Mike
Graglia learned the next year that what his son has is a rare
disease called Syngap that affects about 200 people in the U.S. Named
for the SYNGAP1 gene, the disease affects brain development and
produces epilepsy, autism, intellectual disability and a range of
life-long developmental disabilities.
For Tony, the primary concern was controlling the seizures, so
Tony’s neurologists prescribed Lamictal and then Onfi, a
benzodiazepine. The side effects were “horrendous,” Mike says.
“We got a 40% seizure reduction and a 100% Tony reduction,” Mike
remembers. “I get choked up just thinking about it.”
Discussion with the neurologist ensued. Mike started investigating
hemp-based medicines, starting with Charlotte’s Web, the CBD
extract. Then, Mike and his wife, Ashley Evans, put Tony
on a keto diet, which helps control epilepsy in some patients, but
Tony’s seizures were still not under control.
A few months later, they got the genetic diagnosis, which had the
benefit of connecting them with a community of other SYNGAP1
parents.
“You feel like you’re no longer losing your mind, once you find
people who know what you’re talking about,” Mike recalls. “That
connected me to a new friend with a decade-older son with
SYNGAP1.”
The friend was treating his son successfully using a CBD medicine
called Jayden’s Juice that has a small proportion of THC. He told Mike
to just try it, so Mike drove the 90 miles to Modesto to get a couple
of bottles.
“By
the grace of God, it worked,” says Mike. “That tiny bit of THC was
really game changing.”
The neurologist was supportive, or at least failed to oppose
it. Mike’s wife was reluctant, but when they went back
to the doctor and got another EEG, they could see it was working. From
then on, the 20:1 CBD:THC extract was the medicine they used.
Tony receives his care primarily at Stanford, and when he has been
hospitalized there, Mike and Ashley just had to sign a form for Tony
to receive his CBD.
School in Palo Alto was similar, at least at first. Tony is 7 now
but about a year behind developmentally, so last year was
kindergarten. The district provides great special needs
support, and when they returned to in-person instruction, a note from
Tony’s doctor was all they needed to ensure he got his medicine at
11am every day.
That changed this summer when Tony started summer school at a
different campus. It was the same district, but on the first day of
class, suddenly there was a problem.
“’Oh no, no. This is cannabis,’ they said. ‘This is not allowed.
You can’t give this to us,” Mike recalls. “They told me, ‘you have to
come back every day at 11 and take your son off campus to give it to
him.”
That evening, a Monday, Mike called Jason David, the parent of a
child with seizures who makes Tony’s medicine. He gave Mike the
contact info for Jana Harris Adams, who had won a court ruling that
her northern California school district needed to administer her
kindergarten-age daughter cannabis medicine as needed to control her
seizures. By Wednesday, Mike had the 2018
court ruling and had contacted her attorney, Joe
Rogoway.
“I emailed the school district’s nurse the ruling on Wednesday
saying my lawyer needs to talk to your lawyer and said: ‘Please
confirm, in writing, that for an epileptic child — who is also
autistic and has at times eloped without warning — to get his
medicine, the policy of PAUSD is to remove him for a safe and
supervised environment, walk him to a sidewalk — next to traffic — and
have meds administered there,’” Mike says. “The next day, they wrote
back that it was actually fine -- just bring Tony’s medicine and the
necessary forms.”
The only thing that changed from Monday to Thursday was that a
determined parent pushed back. Fortunately for Tony, his father was
not just determined but experienced as an advocate.
After Tony’s diagnosis, Mike and Ashley founded the SynGAP
Research Fund to advocate for others with this rare disease. After
a career supporting the work of philanthropies and pharma companies,
Mike was well equipped to take on the role of managing
director of this new nonprofit.
“We’re fortunate,” Mike says. “I was able to leave my job to work
on this.”
Mike has devoted himself fulltime to raising awareness and research
funds for the hundreds of children affected by SynGap. He also serves
on the board of COMBINEDbrain, a rare disease collaborative, but he is
not done with the issue of safe access in schools.
“My son is going to be in the school system for at least the next
decade, so I’m suddenly passionate about this,” Mike says. “There is
no clear policy. We need legislation in California that removes this
uncertainty. This shouldn’t depend on risk analysis by a lawyer I’ve
never met who doesn’t know my son.”
As of January 2020, California allows parents to give their
children oral cannabis medicine, after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into
law SB
1127, known as “Jojo's Act.” School nurses administer all other
needed medicines to students in public schools.
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Action Alert: Sign the Petition to Stop Penalizing Cannabis
Consumers
We can no longer stand by while cannabis patients and consumers
continue to get penalized, fired, arrested, outcasted, punished and
denied gold-medal opportunities, simply for using a safe, legal,
natural substance for therapeutic purposes.
Add your name to our petition to urge the White House and Congress
to pass laws that protect medical cannabis users, like Sha'Carri
Richardson, and recommend that the U.S.
Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) work with the World
Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to remove cannabis from their list of
banned substances.
Take action today by signing ASA’s petition at www.safeaccessnow.org/wada.
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