Top Ten Equity Must-Haves in Any Legalization Bill

Shaleen Title, writing on LinkedIn:

As promised, I am sharing my top ten equity must-haves for any state cannabis legalization bill. I rewrite these every time I give a speech in another state, because every day I learn more and they evolve.

From homegrows and automatic expungement of previous cannabis convictions to establishing diversity and reinvesting a portion of tax revenue into disproportionately harmed communities, these ten must-haves for any state legalization bill are great. Title includes some excellent advice at the end of her piece, too:

Hope you found this helpful. Feel free to use and share with or without attribution. If you're standing up for equity before the law passes, team up with everyone who doesn't want an industry controlled by a handful of corporations. Don't get boxed into outdated pro vs. anti-pot.

By the way if anyone brings up "constitutional concerns" over benefits for disproportionately harmed communities, they're probably using that an excuse to not have to say they don't like equity. Ask for the specific legal concerns in writing and you likely won't hear back.

Social justice advocates being asked to support legalization bills, being promised that equity will come later: you know it won't. Don't underestimate the power you have. After the law passes you'll never have this much power again. Use it. Future generations are counting on you.

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In Memory of Ralph Metzner

I was saddened to hear the news of Ralph Metzner’s death last week and wanted to write a dedicatory post about it when the news first broke but was out of town and then came down with an illness, so writing this has taken me longer than I would’ve liked.

Metzner and I never met, but from what I know about him, it seems fair to say that the psychedelic community has lost one of its most beloved pioneers. Here’s just a short list of the things that he accomplished during his life:

• Co-led the early 1960s Harvard University psychedelic research with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (later known as Ram Dass)

• Co-authored The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a guide meant to assist psychonauts with the process of ego death

• Wrote several other influential books

• Helped people heal through his psychotherapy practice

• Co-founded the Green Earth Foundation, a non-profit educational organization devoted to healing and harmonizing the relationship between humans and the planet

Metzner died at the age of 82, and the Earth is a better place today because of his life’s work. Ralph, thank you for your life-long contributions and may you rest in peace.

This Week in Psychoactives - 3.15.19

CANNABIS

• Alaska Is Officially The First State To Legalize On-Site Marijuana Consumption (Marijuana Moment)

• Missouri Police Searching for Marijuana in a Stage 4 Cancer Patient's Hospital Room Incites a Viral Video (TIME)

• Vermont Bill To Legalize Marijuana Sales Moves To House (Marijuana Moment)

• House-Passed Legal Marijuana Bill Advances In New Mexico Senate (Marijuana Moment)

• New Hampshire House Passes Bill to Allow Home-Grown Medical Cannabis (High Times)

• Legal Marijuana Sales Don’t Increase Use, But Allowing Possession Does, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• The SAFE Banking Act Reintroduced (NORML)

• Congressional Bill Would Let VA Doctors Recommend Marijuana To Veterans (Marijuana Moment)

• New York marijuana: What to know about cannabis edibles, hospitalizations, poison control (The Journal News)

• Independent Voters Support Marijuana Legalization, Regardless Of Partisan Lean, Poll Shows (Marijuana Moment)

• Where’s the Cheapest Cannabis? A State-by-State Comparison (Leafly)

• Marijuana Tourism From China To Amsterdam: Study Sheds Light On Motivations (Marijuana Moment)

• Florida: State Lawmakers Vote to Restore Patients’ Right To Smoke Medical Cannabis (NORML)

• Bipartisan Bill Shields Federal Workers From Being Fired For Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Missouri House Approves Bill To Expunge Marijuana Records For Medical Patients (Marijuana Moment)

• We Finally Know What’s in New Jersey’s Cannabis Legalization Bill (Leafly)

• Colorado Lawmakers Considering Allowing Marijuana Deliveries (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis Black Market Thriving Despite Legalization (Forbes)

• New York Senate And Assembly Include Marijuana Legalization In Budget Proposals (Marijuana Moment)

• Black Lawmakers to Block Legalized Marijuana in N.Y. if Their Communities Don’t Benefit (The New York Times)

• Where Presidential Candidate Beto O’Rourke Stands On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• New Mexico Bill to Create State-Run Dispensaries Appears Dead (Leafly)

• Minnesota Senate Committee Kills Marijuana Legalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• Aurora Cannabis Just Hit a Dubious Milestone (The Motley Fool)

• CBD sport drug testing (Natural Products Insider)

• Parents warned of ‘hallucinogenic’ fake cereal bar ‘laced with CANNABIS’ being sold to London schoolchildren that makes kids ‘violently ill’ (The Sun)

LSD

• Can American Troops Win Wars by Dropping Acid? (The Daily Beast)

• Stanford U. Employee Pleads Not Guilty to Near-Fatal Stabbing (Patch)

• Sailor from Navy carrier's nuclear department admits to 'wrongfully' bringing LSD aboard (Task and Purpose)

• LSD-Fueled Innovation From Your Friends at Silicon Valley (71 Republic)

• The Acid King, Leonard Pickard, in his own words (Rooster)

MAGIC MUSHROOMS

• Psychedelic Mushrooms Can Help Depression, Anxiety, Addiction (NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth)

• Psychedelic Mushrooms Can Boost Creativity and Empathy for a Week (Futurism)

MDMA

• The environmental impacts of MDMA production warrant consideration (Earth.com)

• Greens candidate who said you should be able to buy packets of MDMA at Woolies says her ‘turn of phrase’ was ‘incorrect’ (news.com.au)

• Highly Accredited Doctor States “MDMA Not Too Dangerous” (EDMTunes)

• Drug testing service finds 'potentially dangerous' MDMA levels in pills at New Zealand festivals (TVNZ)

DMT

• Blindness MIRACLE cure: Experts in huge breakthrough with 'God molecule' psychedelic drug (Daily Star)

• Microdosing Psychedelic Drugs Was Just Found to Reduce Anxiety and Depression (Esquire)

AYAHUASCA

• Ayahuasca Can Help Us Heal Deep Wounds of Global History (Kahpi)

• Ayahuasca in Asia: Amazonian hallucinogenic plant medicine finds following in the East despite shady status (South China Morning Post)

PEYOTE

• Native American Church Works to Conserve, Sustain Peyote (Voice of America)

SYNTHETIC CANNABINOIDS

• Efficacy of Cannabinoids for Agitation, Aggression in Alzheimer Disease Inconclusive (Psychiatry Advisor)

• Assessing Personality Traits of Youth Who Use Synthetic Cannabinoids (Clinical Advisor)

• Scientists Produce Active Ingredients in Marijuana Using Yeast (Haaretz)

• Synthetic Weed: The Furthest Thing from Real Cannabis (Greencamp)

NITROUS OXIDE

• A Brief, 200-Year History of Humanity’s Love for Laughing Gas (VICE)

• Laughing Gas Parties Were A Big Hit With 19th Century Society (Ancient Origins)

KETAMINE

• Is Esketamine the Game-Changer for Depression We Want? (Rolling Stone)

• Louisiana doctor uses FDA-approved ketamine to treat depression (WWLTV)

• NYC club kids divided on using ketamine for depression (Page Six)

OPIATES/OPIOIDS

• “Yellow Peril”—How Blaming China for Fentanyl Continues a Racist Legacy (Filter)

• Deregulating buprenophine prescribing for opioid use disorder will save lives (STAT)

• Trump’s budget proposal does nothing for the opioid epidemic (Vox)

• The Washington Post Blames Obama for Fentanyl Deaths (Reason)

• Va. bills on naloxone in schools, nuisance animal control signed by Gov. Northam (WTOP)

• Indy coffee shop owner saves man’s life just hours after store hosted naloxone training (Fox 59)

• New trend in drug abuse: Youth mix opium with weed (GhanaWeb)

• State health officials encourage people to carry naloxone (WPRI)

COCAINE

• New way of testing for cocaine discovered (Phys.org)

• How Brit cocaine users have blood on their hands and are complicit in the UK’s knife crime epidemic (The Sun)

ALCOHOL

• Agreement reached to increase alcohol limits on beer in Utah (The Washington Post)

• Instacart's Expanded Coverage Is Increasing Competition In The Alcohol Market (Forbes)

• Alcohol marketing awareness linked to 'higher risk' drinking among UK teens (EurekAlert!)

• House bill would require signs: 'Pregnancy and alcohol do not mix' (Detroit Free Press)

• Alcohol may not be as good for the heart as once thought (WILX)

• What Happens When You Give Up Alcohol For A Month? Here's What Happened When I Tried (Bustle)

KRATOM

• Kratom Industry Group Has First Qualifier For Its GMP Standards Exceeding FDA's (HBW Insight)

• Kratom banned in Caledonia (The Dispatch)

• Mixing Ayahuasca And Kratom: What You Ought To Know This Combination (Kratom Guides)

• DEA calls this widely used supplement a ‘drug of concern’ (MDLinx)

• Lowndes County officials to decide on Kratom ban (WVTA)

• Dietary Supplement? Or Drug? The Kratom Regulation Debate (Filter)

• Kratom-Related Poisonings Are Soaring, Study Finds (Get Smart About Drugs)

• Advocates decry Ohio pharmacy board vote to ban kratom (The Columbus Dispatch)

KAVA

• New kava bar finds its roots in downtown Phoenix (The State Press)

KHAT

• The Flower Men of Saudi Arabia (Al Jazeera)

MISCELLANEOUS

• The UN Chief Executives Board unanimously endorses decriminalisation of people who use drugs (Transform)

• Can LSD and magic mushrooms help win wars? This Marine officer says ‘yes’ (Marine Corps Times)

• New Alabama law would require residents to pass drug tests to get food stamps (The Hill)

• Nicotine 101: The Truth About What It Is and What it Does (Filter)

• Stop Funding Southeast Asia’s Brutal Drug War (The New York Times)

• Addressing federal conflicts over supervised drug consumption sites (The Hill)

• How to Become a Psychedelic Therapist (Psychedelic Support)

• Women of Visionary Art: Interview with David Jay Brown and Rebecca Ann Hill (Psychedelic Times)

• Blinded by the White: Addressing Power and Privilege in Psychedelic Medicine (Chacruna)

• Art, Ecological Awareness, and Femininity: Interview with David Jay Brown and Rebecca Ann Hill (Psychedelic Times)

• The mind’s horizon: The coming age of psychedelics, part one (AZ Daily Sun)

• Iowa Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Legalize Psilocybin, MDMA and Ibogaine (Reset.me)

• ‘Suicide’ headaches? Magic mushrooms or LSD could offer relief (Genetic Literacy Project)

Think Wilder is reader-supported. If you enjoyed this week’s update, please consider helping out by becoming a patron, making a one-time donation, or sharing this post with a friend. Thank you for your support.

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychoactives" does not censor or analyze the news links presented here. The purpose of this column is solely to catalogue how psychedelics are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

Image by Psychedelic Astronaut.

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On the Monday following each edition of “This Week in Psychoactives,” I post a “Last Week in Psychoactives” video recap to my YouTube channel. After that is done, I retroactively add the video to the corresponding blog post. Here is this week’s video recap:

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Alaska Is Officially the First State to License On-Site Marijuana Consumption at Cannabis Stores

Chris Roberts, writing for Marijuana Moment:

Adults 21 and over can buy regulated and taxed cannabis from licensed storefront dispensaries in a growing number of U.S. states—but until Alaska Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer (R) signed new regulations into law on Tuesday, no states had been in the business of issuing permits authorizing on-site consumption.

There are some dispensaries in California that allow cannabis users to consume their purchases on-site in accordance with local policy—nearly all of which are in San Francisco, which permitted such use in the medical marijuana era—and businesses in Denver can apply for permits to allow vaporizing.

But other than that, thus far in the legalization era, a safe place (other than one’s own private home) to sit and consume legally purchased cannabis has been elusive. As in every other state where marijuana is legal, outdoor smoking is illegal. Cannabis consumers in certain rental housing risk fines or eviction for using the legal substance.

Now, licensed retail businesses in Alaska will be able to begin applying for a “special onsite use endorsement” from the state beginning April 11.

It remains to be seen when these cannabis consumption spaces will be open for business, but keep your eyes peeled—it’s expected to happen later this year.

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The UN Chief Executives Board Unanimously Endorses Decriminalization

Transform Drug Policy Foundation:

The Chief Executives Board of the UN, representing 31 UN agencies, has adopted a common position on drug policy that endorses decriminalisation of possession and use. This comes just days before a key meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, which will review, the UN’s 10-year Global Drug Strategy, and plan for the next one.

People are always going to use drugs. Criminalizing possession and use does nothing to help users or the wider society, but it does cause a lot of unnecessary harm. This is good news coming out of the UN, but we’ll have to see if this advice is heeded.

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