Politics

This bill could give [the current attorney general] the power to ban kratom

*whole plant Kratom tea The Stop the Importation and Trafficking of Synthetic Analogues Act [SITSA] is aimed at prohibiting analogs of drugs such as fentanyl from entering the US. Fentanyl is an opioid whose many cousins, like carfentanil, dominate overdose deaths. It should be noted, however, that all fentanyl analogs are already banned, even those that don’t currently exist yet.…

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Politics

U.S. Senate votes to legalize hemp after decades-long ban under marijuana prohibition

“Legalizing hemp nationwide ends decades of bad policymaking and opens up untold economic opportunity for farmers in Oregon and across the country,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said upon passage of the Farm Bill on Thursday, June 28th, 2018. Earlier this month, the Senate approved a nonbinding resolution recognizing hemp’s “growing economic potential.” “Our bipartisan legislation…

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Politics

Texas and New Hampshire Democrats add recreational legalization to their official platforms

New Hampshire’s new platform was passed by acclamation, meaning it did not require a vote to pass, while in Texas the entire platform passed by a voice vote. Democrats in both states supported alternative approaches to drug policy which shift the focus away from law enforcement. “We believe that marijuana should be legalized, taxed and regulated,”…

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Politics

FDA ends probe into kratom salmonella link

The Food and Drug Administration has ended its investigation of a small salmonella outbreak linked to kratom …no single source of the outbreak was ever identified, but kratom was considered the “likely source.” There have been several other salmonella outbreaks this year, including infections linked to melons, raw sprouts, dried and shredded coconut, live poultry,…

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Politics

House to vote on ‘dangerous’ bill to escalate drug war, potentially ban kratom

“Simply put, Congress, our elected legislature charged with passing laws and creating the federal criminal code, should not delegate the power to enact new criminal punishments to a federal law enforcement agency,” the coalition writes. “It has been well-documented that federal agencies create laws that lead to overcriminalization; this bill would take us further down…

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Politics

Expanding Jeff Sessions’s power to escalate the war on drugs

The new bill extends the temporary scheduling duration to five years for Schedule A substances and eliminates the requirement for analyzing the drug’s abuse record and its potential risk to public health. ​ The SITSA Act create[s] a new schedule, Schedule A, for substances that are chemically similar to already-regulated drugs. The attorney general [will]…

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Politics

Marijuana banking measure rejected by congressional committee

*US Govt. owns patent on Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants​. Current Assignee US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Original Assignee US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Priority date 1998-04-21 HERE After a lengthy and impassioned debate during which at least 19 lawmakers spoke, it was defeated on a voice vote by the House Appropriations Committee … a number…

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Politics

The House just passed a bill that could make kratom illegal

The SITSA Act, which has not yet been approved by the Senate, would expand the Controlled Substances Act to include one additional category of drugs: Schedule A. [The SITSA Act] which is intended to help fight the growing opioid epidemic in the US. Unfortunately [and unnecessarily], it could also have the side effect of giving the Department of Justice…

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