Cannabis News
Schedule 3 for Cannabis – What Lipstick on a Pig Actually Looks Like
Published
1 year agoon
By
admin
Here’s why you shouldn’t celebrate Schedule-III for cannabis. It’s not enough!
Once again, the feds are attempting to placate the cannabis community with empty gestures dressed up as “progress.” The establishment’s favorite tactic is the ol’ bait and switch – dangling superficial reforms to distract us while they fortify prohibition behind the scenes.
The latest insult? Potentially moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the tyrannical Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Don’t fall for the okey-doke, friends. This is a trojan horse meant to fool us into complacency.
Schedule III is just prohibition by another name – lipstick on a pig meant to distract us while Big Pharma, private prisons, and their cartel pals maneuver to dominate the “legal” cannabis industry. It offers an illusion of reform while keeping the core oppressive structures intact.
True liberation means complete descheduling and dismantling the CSA entirely! We must condemn this corrupt document designed to criminalize plants and people. Half-measures like Schedule III are breadcrumbs meant to pacify activists. But we won’t settle for scraps. The only righteous path is full legalization now – no compromises!
In the following article we’re going to explore why you shouldn’t celebrate Schedule-III as a victory
See, the CSA’s scheduling system was designed by suits to monopolize and control markets, not to scientifically classify drugs. The categories are based on politics and corporate interests, not empirical pharmacology. For example, cannabis ending up in Schedule I alongside heroin back in 1970 was a naked business decision to eliminate competition against Big Pharma’s patented synthetics.
Powerful industry lobbies demonized cannabis to block cheaper plant-based alternatives to their profitable pills. And their pals in Washington were all too willing to classify it alongside dangerous narcotics with “no medical value” despite millennia of medical use.
It was drug war propaganda – not science – that banned even researching cannabis while dangerous opioids were pushed as medicine. And now the same politics and greed want to “compromise” by moving cannabis to Schedule III with the arbitrary likes of ketamine and anabolic steroids. How noble of them!
Don’t be fooled, folks. While Schedule III would allow banks to service the industry and bring some tax benefits, it comes with a heavy cost: intense regulation that would likely kill independent growers and homogenize the market under the corporate cannabis conglomerates who lobbied for marijuana prohibition in the first place.
Just look at who is funding the campaigns of politicians pushing for rescheduling. Follow the money and you’ll find Big Pharma, eager to absorb the cannabis industry into its profit-maximizing machine. We have to wake up to the game being played!
The Harms of Schedule III Cannabis Regulations
Make no mistake, Schedule III would bring intense new regulation designed to consolidate corporate control and squeeze out independent cultivators. Suddenly the FDA and DEA have expansive new powers over cannabis under the guise of “public health.” They could impose arbitrary licensing fees, excessive pesticide standards, facility regulations, transportation rules – remember, the goal is always control, not safety.
And you can bet these rules will be designed intentionally to eliminate small growers who built this industry. Some possibilities: Mandatory RFID tracking from seed-to-sale, 100k+ square feet minimum facilities, control handed to existing Big Ag operators. Can’t you just see Marlboro Greens or Pfizer Purps dominating “legal” markets?
Picture sterile fields of robotic cannabis monocrops harvested by machines. Labs synthesizing cannabinoids from yeast. Store shelves lined with overpriced, low-quality pre-roll joints and extract carts pumped out to maximize profits over quality. That’s the dreary future Schedule III cannabis brings – no soul, no community, just plastic corporate weed spam.
They’ll tell us Schedule III enables research – but don’t be fooled. Studies would be tightly constrained to support pharmaceutical formats and identify marketable patents. We’d see more overpriced, addictive cannabis-based pills pushed to cure the side effects caused by other patented pills. But no whole-plant medicines or home grows threatening those sweet Big Pharma bottom lines.
We know from history the pharmaceutical industry has worked aggressively to block studies on natural cannabis in order to peddle their synthetic alternatives.
Back in the 80s, Pfizer shut down studies at UCLA exploring cannabis for migraines when it looked promising. They didn’t want competition for their patented drugs. Likewise, in the 90s Eli Lilly terminated trials on cannabis pain treatment at the University of Georgia when initial results indicated it could replace expensive pain meds.
The pharma giants have always used their influence over policymakers to preserve their research monopoly. Schedule III would just expand this, letting Big Pharma cherry-pick the cannabis science that suits their bottom line. We have to open inquiry to independent researchers not constrained by corporate shareholders.
The Only Solution is Descheduling and True Open Access
Understand, friends: No other natural beneficial plant is scheduled and regulated like a narcotic! Apples aren’t Schedule III. Why should our government treat cannabis differently than any other crop? There is no scientific justification for singling out this healing plant, only corporate machinations to monopolize markets.
Cannabis policy should be based on freedom, compassion, and human rights – not monopolistic controls and arbitrary criminality. Responsible adults can make their own choices about what to consume, grow, and sell. For centuries, people used this plant responsibly as medicine and sacrament without the DEA or FDA’s harmful “help.”
Props to the lawmakers pushing for reform, but Schedule III isn’t enough. All it does is replace overt oppression with subtly tyrannical bureaucracy under a license racket. We must demand full descheduling to protect cannabis as an open-source plant belonging to all people, not captured corporations and regulators.
In truth, the CSA itself is an illegitimate document violating civil liberties. Its very existence created the drug cartels cannabis prohibition supposedly combats! This dangerous policy gave government unlimited discretion to criminalize plants and fungi arbitrarily based on racism and corporate interests.
That unjust authority has been used intentionally to perpetuate civil injustice, fund militarized police, enrich crony politicians and their corporate donors, and demonize safe psychoactive medicines. Drug scheduling is politics pretending to be science. In reality, no institution should have the power to control adults’ access to plants and fungi.
Cannabis must be totally emancipated from this oppressive regime. We have a duty to defend cognitive liberty and plant sovereignty against all tyrannical overreach. Full legalization now is the only righteous path. Half-measures like Schedule III stall progress and let prohibition continue under the guise of regulation. We can’t allow it.
True cannabis liberation means complete descheduling, home cultivation rights, access for medical use, expunging criminal records, and opening research. Anything less perpetuates injustice against this healing plant and its users.
Cannabis legalization means nothing if the product is homogenized and freedom to cultivate is stripped. Schedule III would be a bait-and-switch cementing corporate cannabis. That’s unacceptable. This sacred plant belongs to all people, not government regulated monopolies.
This is something that by now, you should have picked up on by the Biden Administration. I truly fear for American politics in the coming year. You’ve got two lying-psychopaths gunning for control over the nuclear codes and no common sense anywhere to be found. You have to realize by now that the whole system is set up to cater to the corporations, a modern serfdom plastic-wrapped with illusionary-freedom in the form of infinite choices of bullshit.
We the People cannot allow government’s con to continue unchallenged. Cannabis activists must unite against all attempts to keep this plant under bureaucratic control. Total descheduling is the only righteous path. If they don’t want to comply, then screw them. Continue being the stealth stoner and grow, share, and engage with the community.
Don’t settle for half-measures like Schedule III that undermine the legalization movement’s core aims. This is about emancipation and abundance, not taxation and regulation. Cannabis is meant to spread joy and healing, not enrich regulators and pill pushers.
Stay vigilant, friends. The politicians and profiteers want us pacified with scraps. But we must demand the full feast – liberation for all cannabis lovers through ending prohibition entirely. No compromises. No corporate takeover. And no damned drug schedules!
PRESIDENT BIDEN ON LEGALIZATION, READ ON…
PRESIDENT BIDEN OFFERS CLEMENCY TO CANNABIS USERS? TROJAN HORSE?
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California Appeals Court Rejects Marijuana Grow Permit, Citing Federal Illegality
Published
6 hours agoon
November 22, 2024By
admin
In a landmark decision that highlights the tension between state and federal cannabis laws, a California appellate court ruled on October 29th that property owners can refuse to allow the transportation of cannabis across their land via easements, even when the cannabis operation is approved by local authorities.
The Second District Court of Appeal’s unanimous decision draws attention to private property rights in a context where cannabis remains federally illegal, but state law allows licensed cultivation, distribution and sale. Presiding Justice Albert Gilbert stated, “No matter how much California voters and the Legislature might try, cannabis cultivation and transportation are illegal in California as long as it remains illegal under federal law.” JCCrandall LLC v. County of Santa Barbara, Case No. B333201, 2024 WL 4599304, Oct. 29, 2024.
Unless the California Supreme Court grants review – which I would not rule out – the decision empowers private property owners to refuse to contract with cannabis businesses, and restricts local government from approving cannabis operations that implicate the property rights of neighbors who object.
The case at hand
The dispute centered around a cannabis cultivation operation in Santa Barbara County, where JCCrandall LLC challenged a conditional use permit granted by the County to its neighbor, Santa Rita Holdings Inc. The critical issue was that Santa Rita Holdings could only access its 2.5-acre cannabis farm via an unpaved road crossing JCCrandall’s property through a pre-existing easement. JCCrandall grows oats and barley.
JCCrandall’s primary concern? It raised a number of complaints with the Santa Barbara County Supervisors about truck traffic and night operations, which did not gain traction, but in the Court of Appeal JCCrandall focused on what it claimed was potential liability associated with having federally illegal substances transported across its property, even though County regulators found that the Santa Rita operation was fully compliant with state and local laws.
Key legal findings
The appellate court’s decision hinged on several crucial points:
- Property Rights: The court emphasized that “the right to exclude others is the essence of the right of property ownership” and classified it as a fundamental vested right.
- Federal Supremacy: The panel determined that allowing cannabis transportation across private property “defies the Supremacy Clause” of the U.S. Constitution.
- State vs. Federal Law: While cannabis might be legal under California law, the court ruled that federal law’s prohibition takes precedence in this context.
California cannabis industry implications
Legal experts suggest this ruling could have far-reaching consequences for California’s cannabis industry. Section 1550.5(b) of the California Civil Code makes contracts within California involving cannabis lawful and enforceable, and Santa Rita Holdings bet the ranch on that argument. But the Court of Appeal held that the statute could not compel a landowner to allow cannabis to travel across its property on a pre-existing easement. Licensed operators may find it harder to do business because neighbors who have property rights affected by a cannabis business can object, and, under the JCCrandall ruling, local government must yield to those objections.
An example might be a cannabis dispensary that depends on access to its parking lot via an easement or is located in a shopping center where other lessees have rights to object to tenants notwithstanding the approval of the landlord. In cultivation, many cannabis farms depend on vehicular access through easements because they are remote and do not always have direct access to public thoroughfares, or they depend on water sourced from other properties pursuant to agreements made by prior owners who grew traditional crops. These neighbors might not need to show any negative impact on their property, but can argue that they could be found complicit in federally illegal activities.
I think the most problematic language in the JCCrandall ruling is the following, which might draw the attention of the California Supreme Court and cause it to grant review: “For as long as an easement is enjoyed, its mode and manner of use shall remain substantially the same as it was at the time the easement was created. The County argues the easement was used for agricultural purposes. But there is a vast difference between legal and illegal agricultural purposes.” (Emphasis added.) If California has determined that cannabis cultivation is legal – as it has – and state courts routinely enforce contracts involving cannabis, it is a pretty bold step to declare the use of a lawful pre-existing easement illegal simply because the agricultural crop is cannabis and take away easement access from Santa Rita.
Looking ahead
This decision creates new challenges for cannabis businesses in California, and will result in more disputes among neighbors. While the Biden administration has shown signs of easing federal marijuana restrictions, this ruling demonstrates that the federal-state law conflict continues to create significant legal hurdles for the cannabis industry.
California court decisions also can be persuasive authority in other states, so we might see similar litigation (and decisions) elsewhere in the country where cannabis has been legalized.
The case serves as a reminder that despite California’s progressive stance on cannabis, federal prohibition continues to cast a long shadow over the industry’s operations and development. As the cannabis landscape continues to evolve, this ruling may prompt businesses to reassess their property arrangements and local governments will certainly have to reconsider their permitting processes to give more careful consideration to objections by neighbors who claim that their property rights are implicated by cannabis operations.
Note: This post was first published earlier this month on the Alger ADR Blog.
Cannabis News
Autoimmune Conditions Are Rising Fast in American Medicine, Can Cannabis Help?
Published
1 day agoon
November 21, 2024By
admin
Why Are Autoimmune Conditions On The Rise? And How Cannabis Can Help
Autoimmune diseases refer to a group of medical conditions that occur as a result of the immune system attacking your own tissues.
In a normal human body, the immune system is responsible for protecting the body by producing antibodies that prevent toxins, cancer cells, and viruses from harming the body. However, when one is struck by an autoimmune disorder, the immune system is no longer able to distinguish the difference between dangerous cells and healthy cells. As a result, the healthy cells are attacked, too.
Today, we know of around 100 different kinds of autoimmune conditions. Some of the most common examples of autoimmune conditions include rheumatoid arthritis (RA), lupus, inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, Type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis (MS), and the Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) to name a few. Others include Graves’ disease, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, psoriasis, and vasculitis.
According to the National Health Council, around 50 million Americans are affected by autoimmune diseases today. This is a conservative estimate, considering that several autoimmune conditions are tricky to treat and so many people go undiagnosed for long periods of time. It’s worrisome to note that there are more people developing autoimmune diseases these days, many of which have reached levels comparable to epidemics.
But cannabis can help!
How Cannabis Can Help Curb And Manage Autoimmune Diseases
Not one single cause is responsible for the alarming growth of autoimmune diseases, though there are several factors at play. While there isn’t just one cause we can point at, it’s certain the reasons lie in our environment. After all, human genetics haven’t changed significantly yet the chemicals, toxins, and pollutants in our food and everyday items have risen dramatically.
In addition, people are getting less sleep than ever; stress rates are through the roof, and people are constantly worried. There is a clear link between psychological stress and physical health as well as immunity, which is why it isn’t unusual – it’s even common – to see many autoimmune disease cases flare up after people experience severe stress caused by grief, an accident, job loss, or the death of a loved one. These highly stressful and traumatic conditions wreak havoc on the body’s immune response, causing inflammation all over the body.
Conventional treatments prescribed to treat autoimmune conditions are focused on taming inflammation; these usually include steroids but also some non-steroidal drugs. These drugs often come with unwanted side effects, but research has shown that cannabis can work with the endocannabinoid system through THC and CBD, as well as other cannabinoids, to simulate similar results. In one study for example, we can see the clear association of the endocannabinoid system for neurodegenerative and inflammatory processes seen in Multiple Sclerosis and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
There has also been an increasing number of studies proving the efficacy of cannabis for treating several autoimmune conditions.
Cannabis For Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is one of the autoimmune conditions where a growing number of studies have come out supporting the therapeutic benefits of cannabis for. In a 2024 study, patients with multiple sclerosis reported several improvements in quality of life after using cannabis-based medical products (CBMPs). For the study, British investigators analyzed the impact of cannabis based medicinal products made from either oil or extracts in 141 patients who were enrolled in the UK Medical Cannabis Registry.
The researchers then analyzed the changes in patient outcomes after a month, then three and 6 months after. According to the patients themselves, they were able to sustain improvements in their mental and physical health after marijuana therapy.
“This case series demonstrates a potential association between the initiation of CBMPs and improved patient reported outcomes in sleep, anxiety, and general HRQoL [health-related quality of life] measures, over six months,” said the study authors. “Additional measures for HRQoL, including various physical and mental health subdomains, also exhibit improvements up to six months when compared to baseline,” the authors concluded.
In another study from 2023, patients with multiple sclerosis reported significant improvements in symptoms after cannabis use. For the study, researchers from the Dent Neurologic Institute in Buffalo, New York, analyzed the medical records of 141 patients with multiple sclerosis, who were also legally authorized to consume medical marijuana products. They then analyzed data from the patients after one up to 4 follow-up sessions after the initial session of cannabis therapy. Sixty-five percent of patients consumed 1:1 THC:CBD tinctures.
According to the authors: “The results of this study indicate that use of MC [medical cannabis] to alleviate symptoms of MS is largely efficacious, with improvement in pain (72 percent of patients), muscle spasticity (48 percent of patients), and sleep disturbance (40 percent of patients) frequently reported.”
“More than half of opioid users at baseline were able to either discontinue or decrease their opioid use after starting MC. The mean daily MME [morphine milligram equivalents] was significantly reduced from the initial visit (51 mg) to the last follow-up visit (40 mg). This is consistent with previous literature showing that MC legalization is associated with decreased opioid use and that MC use is associated with decreased opioid use in patients with chronic pain. These findings indicate that MC may represent an alternative analgesic to opioids for some patients,” they wrote.
Anecdotal Evidence
While more studies are needed to determine cannabis’ effect on other autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, we can rely on anecdotal evidence. In 2020, data from the medical journal, Rheumatology, revealed that patients who have this condition, along with those who have lupus and fibromyalgia, consume cannabis.
In fact, it was reported that marijuana was extremely common especially for patients with fibromyalgia. “In this meta-analysis, we found that one in six patients suffering from rheumatologic disease actively consumes cannabis, reducing pain reduction… A favorable effect of cannabis on pain in our meta-analysis reinforces the idea that cannabis could be used for analgesic purposes,” the authors concluded.
Conclusion
Cannabis is a safe and natural way to help prevent and treat the symptoms of autoimmune disease. It targets inflammation at its root, and is a proven natural way to help cope with stress, pain, insomnia, and inflammation all while protecting the brain. However, it’s important to ensure you medicate with clean, organic sources of marijuana.
AUTOIMMUNE AND CANNABIS, READ ON…
The U.S. Senate’s version of the Farm Bill finally landed this week. They’re calling it the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act of 2024 (the “Senate bill”). The Senate bill follows on the House’s proposal, called the Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2024 (the “House bill”), offered in May. Neither the Senate bill nor the House bill would preempt state or Indian law regarding hemp or the regulation of hemp products. This means states and tribes will retain a lot of latitude in regulating hemp and hemp-derived products– which gets people fired up.
Aside from giving states some runway, the Senate bill and the House bill differ in key respects regarding hemp. Therefore, these august bodies must confer and reconcile their sundry proposals. That could happen in 2024, but seems more likely in 2025 when the new Congress convenes. As of this week, though, we finally have a framework.
The Senate Bill re-defines “hemp” and defines “industrial hemp”
Section 10016 of the Senate bill (“Hemp Production”) amends the definition of “hemp.” Hemp was defined in the 2018 Farm Bill and removed from the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), taking us on a truly wild ride. See: What Happened to Hemp? (“What Happened”). The Senate bill also gives us a definition for “industrial hemp.” Here are those definitions, with points of emphasis in bold:
(1) Hemp. The term “hemp” means (A) the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, including the seeds thereof and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 total tetrahydrocannabinol concentration (including tetrahydrocannabinolic acid) of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis; and (B) industrial hemp.
(3) Industrial Hemp. The term “industrial hemp” means the plant Cannabis sativa L. if the harvested material (A) is only (i) the stalks of that plant, fiber produced from those stalks, or any other manufactured product, derivative, mixture, or preparation of those stalks (except cannabinoid resin extracted from those stalks); (ii) whole grain, oil, cake, nut, hull, or any other compound, manufactured product, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the seeds of that plant (except cannabinoid resin extracted from the seeds of that plant); or (iii) viable seeds of that plant produced solely for production or manufacture of any material described in clause (i) or (ii); and (B) will not be used in the manufacturing or synthesis of natural or synthetic cannabinoid products.
The new regime
Again, the definitional stuff in bold is what I want to emphasize.
First, the Senate bill keeps the THC threshold at 0.3 percent, which is an arbitrary number we’ve been advocating against for years. The Senate bill mirrors the House bill in this respect, though, so we are stuck with this, unless Ron Paul gets his way.
Second, the Senate bill keeps the 2018 Farm Bill’s total THC standard, including THCA. The House bill does this too. This was fairly predictable: in What Happened, I wrote that we could “expect the total THC standard to remain, which means that actual Delta-9 THC won’t be the only metric for calculating THC content.”
We’ve also explained on this blog that the 2018 Farm Bill and USDA rules mandate total THC testing on pre-harvest hemp batches, but do not mandate such testing on post-harvest hemp or hemp products. The Senate bill doesn’t change this paradigm, which means the “loophole” for gas station weed remains open. This proposal is a big win for opponents of the House bill’s “Miller Amendment,” which would narrow the definition of “hemp” to exclude intoxicating hemp-derived substances.
Third, the Senate bill introduces a new definition and framework for industrial hemp. The House bill does this too, albeit slightly differently. The idea here is to invite farmers to grow hemp for fiber and grain purposes, while freeing them from regulatory burdens with the Department of Agriculture and criminal exposure with the Department of Justice. More specifically, for “industrial hemp” growers, the Senate bill:
- removes background check requirements;
- instates “relaxed regulatory requirements” for sampling and inspection methodologies (which will need to be adopted by rule); and
- develops a certified seed program.
The Senate bill also makes any hemp producer ineligible to grow hemp for five years if that producer, “with a culpable mental state greater than negligence, produces a crop of hemp that is inconsistent with that license.”(Hint: use the seed program.) The proof standard here seems like it could be an issue, and even if anyone has been adjudicated as growing marijuana under the guise of hemp, Farm Bill ineligibility seems like a far-off concern.
Bottom line
The big takeaway for me is that the Senate bill leaves the door open for intoxicating hemp products, whereas the Miller Amendment to the House bill does not. Something’s gotta give. And it needs to happen soon, because we’re already long overdue. As I explained in a webinar last week, the Farm Bill deals with the nation’s entire food supply, not just hemp. Therefore, this is not like with the SAFE Banking Act, where we have a proposed law specific to cannabis that may or may not ever pass. The Farm Bill must pass, and soon.
Stay tuned and we’ll keep you updated on any major happenings. For more on this topic, check out our massive hemp and CBD archive, or these specific, recent posts:
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