Blunts: Labor Union Calls For Pot Reform

One of the nation’s largest labor unions is calling on the Biden administration to support cannabis workers and deschedule the drug.

According to Marijuana Moment, the president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) wrote a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra calling for the administration to deschedule cannabis only after regulations are in place to address cannabis worker rights and equity.

“Should Congress or the Biden Administration deschedule cannabis without any health and safety, labor, and equity provisions, we run the risk of creating an industry with the same inequities that persist throughout our economy, while ignoring an opportunity to repair the harms caused by the War on Drugs,” wrote UFCW International President Marc Perrone.

The union said it wants to see labor protections for cannabis workers, the complete removal of the drug from the list of controlled substances, protection of state-based industries to prevent monopolies, damages to people of color from the War on Drugs “thoroughly addressed” and the expungement of state and federal cannabis criminal records.

NCAA May Remove Pot From Banned List
The National Collegiate Athletics Association’s (NCAA) Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports (CSMAS) recently recommended removing cannabis from the organization’s list of banned substances and testing protocols.

The committee was asked by Divisions II and III to consider the issue and discuss whether drug testing should be limited to performance-enhancing substances.
The committee supported removing the drug from the list and said the association should move toward harm reduction policies and a focus on drugs that give their users an unfair advantage in sporting events. It recommended educating student athletes about the health dangers of cannabis should they choose to consume it legally.

In a press release from the association, CSMAS said it supported developing a “comprehensive communication and education campaign that provides guidance to the membership about cannabis.”

The committee said its decision was informed by the December 2022 Summit on Cannabinoids in College Athletics, where the consensus was that cannabis is not a performance-enhancing drug.

Lawmakers File Drug Amendments For NDAA
Congressional lawmakers have been adding drug reform amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The must-pass defense bill has become the home of a number of proposed amendments that relate to cannabis and psychedelics.

One of the most noteworthy among these proposed amendments is a bill that would allow U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) doctor to recommend medical cannabis to veterans living in states that have legalized the drug.
Another would promote research around using MDMA to treat veterans with PTSD.

One committee-approved amendment would require the defense secretary to initiate clinical trials involving psilocybin, MDMA, ibogaine or DMT as treatment for active duty service members struggling with PTSD.