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Alaska Government Task Force Recommends Legalizing Psychedelic Therapy Upon FDA Approval

Published

5 months ago

February 9, 2026

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An Alaska psychedelic task force is recommending that the state move forward with plans to provide regulated access to psychedelics if the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows medical use of substances such as psilocybin and MDMA.

According to a law approved in 2024, after working for about a year studying the issue, Alaska Legislative Task Force on Psychedelic Drug Regulation released its findings and recommendations on Thursday.

“Alaska has one of the nation’s highest rates of domestic violence survivors and combat veterans suffering from PTSD, and many Alaskans continue to struggle with traditional treatments,” Sen. Forrest Dunbar (D), the task force’s leader, said in a press release.

“Our approach to these new medical therapies must be properly and independently evaluated so that if the legislature were to make policy changes, we will do so with empirical data in a properly controlled environment,” the senator said.

The panel’s report lists a number of findings based on a review of the scientific literature and expert testimony. This includes findings that some psychedelics do indeed have “potential therapeutic uses” and that “there is a particular focus on the use of these therapies for veterans, survivors of assault and interpersonal violence, and others with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Members emphasized the importance of delivering psychedelic therapies in partnership with “multiple types of providers” to provide comprehensive treatment, rather than leaving it up to the patient.

Among its recommendations, the task force said, “If psychedelic medical therapies are approved by the FDA, the state should take steps to allow them to be used in Alaska, rather than ban their use.”

Alaska regulators should also identify clinical task forces, “whose role is to regularly review up-to-date studies and the evidence base to make recommendations, and rely on those entities to provide ongoing guidance on the use of these therapies,” he said.

“As much as possible, reserve the use of state statute for broad enabling language and essential components of a regulatory structure, and leave most regulatory decisions to the appropriate boards and agencies,” another recommendation reads. “Regulations still require a robust public process to be approved, but they are more predictable and can be updated or changed more easily than statutory amendments that require legislative action.”

“The appropriate parameters for the use of these therapies are likely to change over time as the evidence base matures and FDA approval may be granted for multiple therapies,” he said.

If the FDA continues to approve any psychedelics for medical use, the panel said the Alaska State Board of Medicine should update its guidelines for prescribing controlled substances to include new therapies.

Additionally, if the FDA approves psychedelic drugs and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) federally reschedules substances such as psilocybin, Alaska “should fully reflect federal programming and Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS), without adding duplicative or conflicting state regulations, and follow the rules for determining whether a DEA license is required.” the report he says

“This approach respects federal science and facilitates access for patients and providers,” he continues.

Additionally, as lawmakers and regulators await a federal decision to advance psychedelic therapies, states should consider legislation to “incorporate the recommendations made in this report to encourage statewide implementation action.”

“Legislation on triggers would require addressing various process and regulatory issues, such as the role and involvement of professional licensing boards, state agencies, and the Controlled Substances Advisory Committee,” the task force said.

The report also says that psychedelic reform should include military veterans’ access to FDA-approved therapies, which could involve working with the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to identify opportunities to participate in clinical trials and pilot programs using new drugs.

“The grant should be considered to ensure active efforts by the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop billing codes that will promote sufficient reimbursement for the provision of psychedelic therapy, which are essential to ensure patient access post-FDA approval,” the panel said.

Rep. Justin Ruffridge (R), who also serves as co-chair of the psychedelic panel, said the task force “focused on preparing Alaska for potential federal approval of psychedelic therapies.”

“These recommendations came from months of collaboration and work by medical professionals, advocates and legislators who focused on patient safety, evidence-based care and access, especially for those who have not seen progress through traditional treatments,” he said.

So far two other states have facilitated fully functioning psychedelic programs. Oregon voters legalized the therapeutic psilocybin in 2020and Colorado’s program was approved at the ballot box in 2022, with the state’s governor signing the legislation a year later to create the regulatory framework for the program

Meanwhile, a campaign in Alaska announced in December that it did not get enough signaturesAn initiative to legalize some psychedelics like psilocybin and DMT on the 2026 state ballot.– but the activists have emphasized that “the work is far from over” as they focus on putting the reform measure before the voters in 2028.

“While we won’t be on the ballot in 2026, we’re still on track for 2028, and with the determination, focus and support of our community, we’ll continue to move forward,” Natural Medicine Alaska said in December. “This movement is gaining momentum every day. In fact, 65 percent of Alaskans support this initiative, and that number continues to grow.”

A pre-campaign policy outline explained that the proposal is “under construction”. The Natural Medicine Health Act of 2022 passed by Colorado votersunder last year facilitators administered the state’s first legal dose of psilocybin.

A 2024 poll found that nearly half (49.4 percent) of Alaskan adults would support a ballot measure more broadly. remove criminal penalties for the use of substances such as psilocybin mushrooms.

That support rose significantly—to nearly two-thirds (65 percent)—when participants were told that Alaska has high rates of mental illness that could be treated with psychedelics.

Photo elements courtesy of the user carlosemmaskype and Apollo.

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Cannabis News

Entourage Health, formerly WeedMD, enters creditor protection

Published

19 hours ago

June 30, 2026

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Entourage Health Corp. has entered creditor protection. The company and six related entities filed on June 17 under the Companies’ Creditors’ Arrangement Act owed approximately $240.1 million to the sole affiliate of the LiUNA Pension Fund, its owner, its secured creditor and the lender that is now funding the money (First Report pp. 3-6-9

That affiliate, 2437653 Ontario Inc. No. 1 company, Entourage, secured a 2024 deal that took the former WeedMD private and off the TSX Venture Exchange (December 2024 PR). Shareholders were paid half a Canadian cent per share, or C$0.005, and the board recommended a sale in December 2024 (December 2024 PR).

Jason Alexander, head of the special committee of independent directors, recommended to shareholders. “The transaction ensures that shareholders will receive immediate tangible value while positioning the Company for future growth and flexibility,” Alexander said (December 2024 PR). The company took on $167.6 million in debt in that sale, having already breached the covenant with the same guarantee (December 2024 PR). Eighteen months later that debt was $240.1 million when it was filed, and the growth promised by the sale is a settlement (First Report 6-18 p.

Adult use is off, medical is still running
The leisure business is closing, not saving. Entourage laid off about 53 workers in early June before the order, and 22 remain (First Report p. 6 Adult use inventory is being cleared, finished products are shipped to provincial distributors, and flowers are sold in bulk to the market to other licensed growers (First Report p. 12 Color Cannabis, Dime Bag and Saturday Cannabis are the brands going down with it (First Report p. 5

What remains open is the doctor’s arm as the exclusive supplier of cannabis under the Starseed brand to local residents of the Workers International Union of North America (First Report p. 5 The pension fund that funds the procedure is tied to the same union that the medical brand serves, and the part of Entourage that serves union members is the part that is kept alive while the rest is sold for parts.

At the end of July the money runs out with no new money (First Report p. 11 The money comes again from the pension fund affiliate, a $1.1 million debtor-in-possession facility at 5% per annum, no commitment fee, no exit fee (First Report pp. 10-11). The monitor, Ernst & Young, checked terms against other DIP loans in the cannabis sector from January 2024 and concluded that a third-party lender would not lend on better terms given the state of the business (First Report p. 11 The lender, which already owed $240 million, is the only one willing to advance another million to keep the lights on through the sale.

Health Canada is the largest unsecured creditor, owed $494,505, ahead of all suppliers and competitors on the company’s books (List of Creditors p. 1 Supreme Cannabis is owed $262,133, medical platform HelloMD is owed $169,564, the Town of Aylmer is owed $144,815, the Independent Retail Cannabis Board is owed $137,098 and High Tide is owed $124,583 (List of Creditors p. 1 Unsecured claims total $3,288,333 in more than 100 names, many of which have yet-to-be-determined amounts by medical clinics (List of Creditors 1-5 p. Against $240 million guaranteed, none of them will see much.

In the June 29 return, the lender asks the judge to extend the stay until August 28, approve the DIP facility, and double the Administrative and Directors fees to $500,000 each (First Report 4-8-12. p. The directorship is rising as directors face payroll, holiday pay and excise duties over a longer period of time, and the company’s directors and officers insurance expires at the start of July (First Report p. 12

The sales process starts on the same day, based on a marketing effort that started around May and was presented before the deal that sparked interest but no one could make a deal (First Report p. 13 Insiders and affiliates have until July 6th to say they intend to bid, the bid deadline is July 30th, the successful bid must be received by August 7th, and the outside deadline is August 28th (First Report p. 15 The affiliate of the pension fund has written to the Monitor that it will not make an offer (First Report p. 16), and any other affiliate that does so must be removed from the process (First Report p. 16 The settlement request for non-cannabis equipment and the sale of the Aylmer facility, a 26,000-square-foot extraction and processing facility that has been the company’s production base at 250 Elm St.

the source

For more information:
Neighborhood Health
1.844.933.3636
(email protected)
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DEA And FDA Highlight How Marijuana Is Safer Than Alcohol And Opioids During Rescheduling Hearing’s Opening Day

Published

20 hours ago

June 30, 2026

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Attorneys for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on Monday highlighted testimony about the medical benefits of marijuana and its relative safety compared to other substances such as alcohol and opioids in the opening day of a hearing. The Trump administration’s cannabis rescheduling proposal.

Marijuana Moment spoke with several people in the audience for Monday’s hearing to find out how the testimony is going, despite the proceedings not being broadcast live to the public at the request of one congressman and others.

According to those sources, DEA attorney James J Schwartz stated that the government is the proponent of the proposed rule to formally move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), stating that the hearing is “not about the recreational use of marijuana” and “about regulation, not about legalization.”

“The government has presented no evidence to suggest that marijuana is not dangerous. All controlled substances are dangerous,
he said “However, controlled substances must be evaluated against the risks they pose, balanced against the medical benefits they provide.”

Dominic Chiapperino, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Controlled Drug Evaluation and Research and one of two DEA witnesses, testified about how federal health officials formed their recommendation to reschedule cannabis.

Opponents of the reform have used a new two-part test that they argue is a bad departure from a previous analysis, although a DEA lawyer said the hearing is not about that issue, and Chiapperino said the new test is now considered “every time” a new analysis is done on a drug.

The FDA official said the agency compared marijuana to alcohol, opioids and other substances in its scheduling analysis, and found that marijuana’s daily harms were lower than all or most of those comparators.

Cannabis is associated with fewer overdose deaths than comparable substances, Chiapperino said, and when reports of cases involving deaths mention marijuana, the deaths are often attributed to secondary incidents such as accidents or self-inflicted harm. Marijuana’s potential for overdose deaths is “much lower” than other Schedule I drugs and Schedule II drugs. Rather than opioids, the FDA official said.

As for withdrawal in regular users, Chiapperino testified that cannabis has symptoms similar to tobacco, including irritability, but alcohol has “more of a withdrawal syndrome,” which can include seizure and death.

Also on Monday, the lawyers of some of the parties against the reorganization had the opportunity to cross Chiapperino.

Kevin Sabet, president and CEO of the prohibitionist organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana, who was also invited to attend the hearing, said in a video posted on social media that it is “surreal” to see the government arguing that cannabis’s medical uses and relatively minor harms are “just lying through their teeth.”

The DEA “is in a very awkward position to argue the opposite of what it’s been arguing for the last 50 years, the opposite of what the science says, the opposite of what the evidence is,” he said, “which is, of course, to argue against the government that marijuana is more harmful than we thought, not less harmful.”

In short, the government has so far been repeating the inappropriate comparison of marijuana to alcohol, heroin, and other opioids. And duplicating the unprecedented new two-part test for medical use now accepted, which overturns a century of work in this medical…

— Smart Approaches to Marijuana (@learnaboutsam) June 29, 2026

On Tuesday, opponents of the review will have an opportunity to cross-examine the FDA official, and the government’s second witness, Corey Burchman, a doctor from New Hampshire, will begin his testimony. The DEA announced in a filing last week that it will do so Testify on “How Medical Marijuana Provides Medical Benefit to Pain Patients.”

On Monday, a DEA attorney said Burchman would “describe the real-world impacts of treating pain with marijuana instead of opioids” based on his experience with both and discuss how he has “personally transitioned patients from opioids to marijuana for their pain.”

The witness will also testify about the differences between cannabis and opioids in terms of withdrawal and overdose, he said.

Before the hearing began, marijuana reform activists rallied They held a press conference outside DEA headquarters to highlight how they feel of the process – criticizing the fact that supporters of the reform were not invited to participate and that the proceedings are not reproduced live, despite the “transparency” oath of the officials.

DEA Administrator Terrance Cole only organizations and individuals opposed to marijuana reform have been invited to the hearing as a designated participant – telling followers that they do not meet the definition of “interested person” to participate because they are not “affected or prejudiced by any rule or proposed rule that may be issued.”

last week, Marihuana Moments sent petitions to DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge Derek Julius and DEA Administrator Cole asking for them reverse the decision to ban the public from tuning into the cannabis hearing via live stream. A Congressmen and other journalists later joined that request.

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The opponents who are participating in the hearing submitted statements last week anticipate the anti-marijuana arguments they intend to make during the procedure.

The hearing it will end before July 15.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in April He issued an order that immediately reclassified the state’s licensed medical cannabisas well as marijuana products approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under Schedule I through Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

According to a separate order signed by the acting attorney general, the upcoming hearing will include Class III marijuana.

Preliminary hearing process on the marijuana redistricting process initiated by the Biden administration It was halted last year amid allegations of improper communications and witness selection.

the current The marijuana redistricting process is being challenged in several ways which have been upheld by a federal Court of Appeals. those pieces of State attorneys general have filed lawsuits against cannabis reform, Opponents of marijuana legalization and a a cannabis-based biopharmaceutical corporation.

Meanwhile, the reorganization of state-licensed medical cannabis is already having a major impact.

The Congressional Research Service published a report on the current rescheduling of cannabis Certified patients with medical marijuana from state licensed dispensaries are now eligible for Class III. “The order appears to allow end users to use marijuana medically without a CSA prescription,” he says.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has published a Draft update to a gun purchase form to recognize the legal status of medical marijuana in the reprogramming. The revised section of the question states that only the “recreational use or possession of marijuana” is federally prohibited, omitting the prior form’s mention of medical cannabis.

The US Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said they plan to issued new tax guidelines for the marijuana industry after reprogramming. The reform will benefit state-licensed marijuana businesses by allowing them to take federal tax deductions that are currently prohibited under IRS Code Section III, known as Section 280E.

Even the DEA, which has long opposed cannabis legalization and accused the Biden administration of stalling the initiative in the reorganization process, has done so. It launched a registration process for legal marijuana businesses in the state to take advantage of the federal benefits that come with the reform.

The Department of Transport, on the other hand, issued guidelines stating this use Legal medical cannabis in the state is still no excuse for truck drivers to test positive for drugspilots and other safety-sensitive personnel.

A congressional committee recently Federal officials voted to block further steps to reschedule cannabishowever lawmakers from both parties told Marihuana Moment they don’t think that provision will be enacted become law

user photo Carlos Gracia.

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cbdMD welcomes White House call for fair treatment of hemp-derived products

Published

2 days ago

June 29, 2026

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cbdMD welcomes the Administration’s call for Congress to ensure fair treatment of hemp-derived products under federal law and calls for immediate action to revise hemp regulations to ensure fair treatment of hemp products under federal law.

In a letter to congressional leadership this week, the White House Office of Management and Budget identified hemp reform as a priority strongly supported by the Administration. The petition calls on Congress to ensure fair treatment of hemp-derived products by maintaining access to appropriate full-spectrum CBD products, and by maintaining Congress’ intent to reduce products that pose health risks. The administration also urged Congress to pass a responsible federal framework or at least extend the current implementation period to give lawmakers time to get policy right. The request builds on the president’s previous public statements urging lawmakers to protect access to full-spectrum CBD products that millions of Americans rely on.

“We are encouraged to see the administration so clearly championing the responsible, scientific hemp products that consumers depend on every day,” said Ronan Kennedy, CEO of cbdMD. “cbdMD has always believed that the future of this category is built on quality, transparency, and clear rules that separate them from bad actors. A federal framework that protects consumer access, promotes safety, and provides certainty to companies that provide certainty is what this industry and the people it serves deserve. We applaud the policymakers who are working to achieve this outcome.”

“We believe CbdMD is purpose-built for this next phase of the market,” added Kennedy. “Our focus remains on serving our customers with reliable and effective products, supporting responsible regulation and building long-term value for our shareholders as the category continues to evolve. Along the way, we will continue to evaluate the opportunities this evolving environment holds.”

For more information:
cbdMD
cbdmd.com/