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Former Senator Details Psychedelics Conversations With Two Trump Cabinet Members

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5 months ago

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A former US senator says he has personally spoken with the heads of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) about the therapeutic potential of psychedelics such as ibogaine, and both members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet welcomed reform on the issue.

Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), who was a Democrat for most of her career in Congress before becoming an independent, said there is a great opportunity under the Trump administration to free up access to psychedelics for therapeutic purposes, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. His “close” relationship with the HHS secretary and swinging around alternative political views.

In an interview with Politico, Sinema spoke about the country’s “magical and unique time” for psychedelic reform at a recent event hosted by Americans for Ibogaine, the advocacy organization co-founded by former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R).

“Is there an opportunity to do this in this administration? Hell, yes,” he said, adding that Kennedy “is disruptive and supports psychedelic medicine.”

“The opportunity is ripe in this administration, and we should strike while the iron is hot,” said the former lawmaker, who has publicized the therapeutic use of the psychedelic ibogaine.

In addition to Kennedy, Sinema said he advised VA Secretary Doug Collins about the potential of psychedelics to help veterans with serious mental health issues.

“He hadn’t heard of it. He hadn’t even heard of psychedelic medicine,” she said. “He was skeptical at first. He’s a conservative pastor in Georgia. Then he got together with some veterans and saw the science and as you’ve heard, he’s the most prominent proponent of psychedelic medicine in the administration.”

“Historically, I think you’ve seen psychedelics — not necessarily psychedelic medicine — but psychedelics, left-wing hippies dominated,” he said. say Political “Psychedelic medicine as a treatment for disorders is important to many people on the right. I want to be clear: the reason is not because they are psychedelics, but because nothing else works.”

The former senator said that “in a conservative’s brain, psychedelics are not a drug, they are a medicine.”

“In the old-school left-wing psychedelic movement, they’re seen as a drug. That drug has medicinal properties, but it also has other non-medicinal properties that they celebrate,” he said. “I think what you’re seeing from the mainstream blue community is a concern that if they accept psychedelics they’ll look like left-wing weirdos and hippies. It could also be a commitment to mainstream medicine. Politically speaking, it could also be skepticism if conservatives like it.”

As the Arizona legislature advanced an ibogaine research project earlier this year, the former senator—who also championed psychedelic legislation while serving in Congress—.he gathered support for the reformWhile pledging to personally raise $5 million in philanthropic donations to support psychedelic research, if it ultimately materializes.

Last year, a US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) official, who has since moved into an advisory role, praised Sinema. his “knowledge of psychedelic literature and all related subjects” while praising the agency’s work to advance research into novel therapies.

For his part, Kennedy, the health secretary, he is believed to still use psychedelics, although he is otherwise soberThe following book by a journalist who allegedly had a romantic relationship with her states.

Last month, Kennedy, Vice President JD Vance, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner and other Trump administration officials attended the “Make America Healthy Again” summit. it was a session dedicated to studying psychedelic medicine.

While Sinema noted that Collins was not particularly familiar with psychedelic therapy before joining the Trump administration, the secretary has become one of the most vocal advocates for advancing reform to ease access for veterans.

In July, for example, VA Secretary He proclaimed his mission to promote access to psychedelics for veterans with serious mental health conditions, it was possible to say that it “opened that door wider than most probably thought”.

“I’m the first secretary of the VA—actually, in a cabinet about a month and a half ago— really brought psychedelics to a Cabinet meeting” Collins said at the time. “I think what we need to look at is we need to put the alternatives on the map. The VA will do our job. We will do it within the law and we will do what we have to do.”

The secretary also said in the summer “very open” to expanding access to psychedelic therapy for veterans-he emphasized that he intends to find ways to “cure” people with serious mental illnesses and not just to treat superficial symptoms.

Collins noted that the VA is actively conducting a dozen or so clinical trials either internally or through private partnerships “on a number of different substances where we’re seeing really good results,” among others. One based at VA Bronx Health Care researching MDMA-assisted therapy “Actually, with very good results.”

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In June, Kennedy said that his agency “Fully committed” to expanding research into the benefits of psychedelic therapy. and, along with the head of the FDA, aims to give military veterans legal access to these substances “within 12 months.”

The secretary also said that in April He had a “wonderful experience” with LSD at the age of 15He took it because he thought they would be able to see dinosaurs, as depicted in a comic he was a fan of.

Last October, Kennedy specifically criticized the FDA under the previous administration for the agency’s “eradication of psychedelics” and a laundry list of other issues that he said was a “war on public health” that would end under the Trump administration.

Photo elements courtesy of the user carlosemmaskype and Apollo.

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State hemp license applications end April 30

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6 hours ago

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April 19, 2026

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Those wishing to grow and process hemp this year must apply for a license from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) by April 30. Each license is valid until December 31 of the year it is issued. Graduates must reapply annually to continue in the program. An MDA license is required for individuals and businesses.

So far, about 30 people have applied for the 2026 MDA license, compared to 84 applicants last year.

These licenses are for the cultivation and processing of industrial hemp only. The hemp license application is not for adult use or for growing or selling medical cannabis. The application is also not intended for the sale of hemp-derived cannabinoid products. Information on adult use and medical cannabis is available Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) website.

There are applications of industrial hemp MDA website. Along with the online form, first-time applicants and authorized representatives must submit fingerprints and pass a criminal background check.

There are also several updates for the 2026 season. The extraction of cannabinoids from hemp is now regulated by the OCM, meaning that anyone interested in this type of processing will need a separate licence. The rates have also changed. The base cost of a hemp license is now $400, with an additional $250 per growing or processing location. The previous $250 processor license fee has been removed, but a 5% surcharge now applies to upgrades to MDA’s technology systems.

All authorized representatives listed on an application must pass a background check before being licensed. In addition, each lot of hemp must undergo THC testing before harvest, and each official sample collected by the MDA costs $100.

Source: Minnesota Department of Agriculture










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Colorado Marijuana Officials Announce Crackdown On Sales Of Hemp Products Amid ‘Risks To Public Safety’

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6 hours ago

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April 18, 2026

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These issues “pose serious risks to public safety, market integrity, and the tax revenue framework that supports Colorado’s regulated cannabis industry.”

By Christopher Osher, ProPublica and Evan Wyloge, The Denver Gazette

This story was originally published by ProPublica.

Colorado regulators announced Monday that they plan to crack down on companies that sell cheaper, potentially dangerous, illegal hemp products as marijuana.

The state’s Division of Marijuana Enforcement said it had identified “compliance issues” that threaten to dismantle the marijuana industry in the nation’s first legal retail market.

These problems “pose serious risks to public safety, market integrity and the tax revenue framework that supports Colorado’s regulated cannabis industry,” the agency said in an industry newsletter.

An investigation by the Denver Gazette and ProPublica in January reported that despite Colorado being one of the first states to ban the sale of intoxicating hemp products, the legislature and regulators. he failed adopting many of the rules that other states have used to keep hemp products off the medical marijuana shelves.

Creating evaporative and edible liquid distillate from hemp is much cheaper than using marijuana, giving companies a competitive advantage.

But regulators say they are concerned that manufacturers are relying on toxic and dangerous chemicals to convert the non-toxic CBD compound that is predominant in hemp into THC, the psychoactive compound that makes people feel high. Regulators have banned this chemical synthesis, saying they fear chemical residues could remain in the finished product, putting consumers at risk.

Colorado manufacturers have taken advantage of loopholes in the state’s testing and enforcement system to continue using hemp to make products marketed as marijuana, even though doing so is against state law, according to regulatory studies, previous agency bulletins and testimony and lab results contained in several lawsuits.

In 2024, state investigators found that a popular brand of marijuana sold at dispensaries was not only derived from hemp, but also contaminated with methylene chloride, the chemical often used to convert CBD from hemp into THC. Marijuana is banned by Colorado regulators and banned for most uses by the US Environmental Protection Agency because it can cause liver and lung cancer and damage the nervous, immune and reproductive systems.

Ware House, the company that manufactured these vaporizers, relinquished its marijuana license in response to the investigation. Ware Hause’s owner, Thanh Hau, and the company’s lawyer declined to comment.

Congress passed a law last November that bans nearly all hemp products nationwide starting this fall, but it’s unclear how the government will enforce the ban, and hemp growers are reeling.

In December, President Donald Trump issued an executive order telling his aides to work with Congress to develop rules that could allow certain hemp products.

The Colorado Division of Marijuana Enforcement made the announcement Monday newsletter agency officials stated that they “identified and investigated evidence” that marijuana companies are using illegal practices and prohibited methods to manufacture products, instead of relying on marijuana, which is supposed to be monitored for safety.

The Colorado Hemp Association and the Colorado Hemp Education Association did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Beyond safety concerns, the bulletin also noted that some marijuana manufacturers and growers are avoiding marijuana tax obligations through “a pattern of non-compliance” in sales operations they report to the state’s “seed-to-sale” tracking system, which tracks marijuana from the initial planting to the sale of flower, vapes and other products at dispensaries.

Companies misrepresent marijuana sales at nominal prices, in some cases as low as $1 per pound for unprocessed marijuana material, the newsletter said. Those products typically fetch more than $600 per pound on the market, depending on the category of marijuana, according to industry experts.

That fraudulent reporting has stolen millions of dollars in marijuana taxes from state and local governments, industry experts say, though no official estimate is available.

The agency said it will follow emergency rules to address these issues. The bulletin emphasized that suspicious and abnormal transactions and inventories detected by the state will prompt investigations. Companies caught using hemp or other illegal material passed off as marijuana face “immediate product embargo, license suspension or revocation, significant fines and law enforcement,” regulators warned.

The Denver Gazette and ProPublica have tried to track the anomalous transactions, but the Division of Marijuana Enforcement’s sales transaction records, even those that do not identify the companies, are not public.

Marijuana industry representatives met with the division’s regulators late last month to push for a more aggressive response to the agency’s hemp replacement, even though it could affect some companies in the industry. The representatives argued that bad actors are unfairly driving down prices and shifting the tax burden to manufacturers and growers who are trying to comply with the rules. The newsletter was released a couple of weeks after that meeting.

“The division is also considering additional changes to its testing and screening protocols” to detect illegal products and prohibited methods, and may require additional laboratory tests “if needed for products throughout the supply chain,” the agency’s bulletin said.

This article was produced in partnership with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network Denver Magazine. Sign up for Submissions to receive stories in your inbox every week.

user photo WeedPornDaily.

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Nascent medical cannabis industry aims for growth

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1 day ago

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April 18, 2026

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The medicinal cannabis sector is struggling to take root, and another specialist processing plant is set to close. But with current regulations and a new collective industry in mind, New Zealanders are promising to reduce their reliance on imported medicinals.

There was great excitement when medicinal cannabis was legalized and then regulated in 2020, with the hope of growing the domestic sector and serving patients here and abroad. However, since then, several companies have closed their doors, including Greenfern Industries, Cannasouth and, most recently, Helius Therapeutics.

The latter plans to close the East Tāmaki plant, affecting 65 workers. It is one of the few medicinal cannabis factories in the entire nation that has a specialized processing certificate called “Good Manufacturing Practice” (GMP).

Medical Cannabis Council executive director Sally King said that under current rules, most growers did not have such certification, and could only sell raw ingredients, not processed products such as more profitable cannabis capsules.

Read more at the town










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