A invoice to reauthorize the drug czar’s workplace has been filed, the Czech Republic is shifting towards marijuana legalization, and extra.
Marijuana Coverage
Senate Committee Approves DOOBIE Act to Stop Businesses from Denying Jobs over Previous Marijuana Use. The Senate Homeland Safety and Governmental Affairs Committee voted Wednesday to approve a invoice that will restrict the flexibility of federal companies to make use of previous marijuana use as a think about employment and safety clearance choices The invoice is the cutely-acronymed Dismantling Outdated Obstacles and Obstacles to Particular person Employment (DOOBIE) Act (S. 4111).
Sponsored by committee chair Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), the invoice is the newest effort to make sure that folks searching for federal employment should not penalized as a result of they used marijuana. It says that the companies coated “might not base a suitability dedication with respect to a person solely on the previous use of marijuana by the person.”
“The federal authorities should adapt its hiring practices to mirror the evolving authorized and social panorama of our nation,” Peters stated. “My invoice takes a vital step by aligning federal coverage with present company steering, making certain that previous marijuana use alone would not routinely disqualify proficient people from public service. This strategy will broaden our expertise pool and create a fairer, extra inclusive hiring course of.”
The invoice would additionally require related insurance policies on the White Home Workplace of Personnel Administration and from the Director of Nationwide Intelligence. It now awaits a Senate flooring vote.
Medical Marijuana
Arkansas Ballot Has Medical Marijuana Enlargement Initiative Profitable. A brand new ballot from Discuss Enterprise & Politics-Hendrix School has the Challenge 3 medical marijuana modification profitable on Election Day. The ballot has the initiative profitable with 54 p.c of the vote, in comparison with 35.5 p.c opposed, and 10.5 undecided — suggesting that even when all the present undecideds ended up voting towards no, it could nonetheless win.
The modification would broaden the state’s present medical marijuana program by permitting sufferers to develop their very own vegetation at residence and permit docs to suggest it for any medical situation they assume it may benefit. It could additionally permit for reciprocity with different medical marijuana states.
The ballot comes about two weeks after Arkansans for Affected person Entry turned in a last batch of signatures after developing quick within the preliminary spherical of petitioning. That allowed them to qualify for the November poll.
Challenge 3 “is one thing of a referendum on the overall idea of medical marijuana in place since a 2016 vote by the folks,” stated Jay Barth, emeritus professor of politics at Hendrix School. “A majority of the respondents in our survey do specific help for Challenge 3, suggesting a well-funded marketing campaign might be obligatory to vary the result,” he stated. “Medical marijuana growth is especially widespread among the many state’s youthful voters, amongst these with school levels, amongst voters of coloration, and amongst voters who stay in city/suburban areas. Ratification of Challenge 3 would, it appears, transfer Arkansas voters one step nearer to full legalization of leisure marijuana within the state,” he stated.
Drug Coverage
Comer and Raskin Introduce Bipartisan Invoice to Reauthorize the Workplace of Nationwide Drug Management Coverage. Home Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and Rating Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) launched the Workplace of Nationwide Drug Management Coverage (ONDCP) Reauthorization Act of 2024 (HR 9598) “to reauthorize the ONDCP and associated packages and guarantee federal companies are correctly resourced to carry accountable those that are trafficking medication into america on the southwest border,” they stated in a press launch Wednesday.
“The Workplace of Nationwide Drug Management Coverage is a key participant within the struggle towards the fentanyl and drug disaster ravaging communities throughout america. This bipartisan invoice will hand the ONDCP the required instruments to fight the drug epidemic and assist guarantee federal companies tasked with securing the border and prosecuting drug trafficking are utilizing their assets successfully to stop illicit medication from pouring throughout the southwest border,” stated Comer.
“This bipartisan invoice authorizes crucial funding to the federal companies which are working to finish the opioid epidemic. From offering help to federal, state, native, and tribal regulation enforcement companies to bettering the instruments out there for opioid remedy and restoration, Congress is stepping up in our efforts to get federal {dollars} to the American folks,” stated Raskin.
The invoice reauthorizes the Reauthorizes the Excessive Depth Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program and the Drug-Free Communities (DFC) program at FY 2024 enacted funding ranges by way of FY 2031 and equally reauthorizes associated ONDCP packages together with the Drug Court docket Coaching and Technical Help program, the Mannequin Acts Program, the Group-Primarily based Coalition Enhancement Grants program, and the Nationwide Group Anti-Drug Coalition Institute.
It additionally “codifies the Caribbean Counter Narcotics Technique” to handle drug trafficking within the Caribbean, and requires the director of ONDCP to conduct a examine on life-saving opioid overdose reversals.
Worldwide
Czech Republic Ponders Marijuana Legalization Fashions. The legislature is contemplating shifting from marijuana decriminalization to some type of legalization, and former drug coverage coordinator Jindrich Voboril has proposed two fashions: considered one of full business legalization and one echoing Germany’s strategy of residence cultivation and hashish co-ops with out retail gross sales.
The College of Economics in Prague has examined 4 fashions of marijuana regulation: sustaining the decriminalization establishment, legalizing residence cultivation solely, legalizing residence cultivation and hashish golf equipment, and full business legalization.
The college discovered that the black market would proceed to be a significant issue beneath the primary three fashions. Beneath business legalization, although, marijuana might generate revenues of $41 billion a yr whereas diminishing the black market. The push for legalization is being led by the Rational Regulation Affiliation, which has been working an “It is OK” marketing campaign to teach the general public and lawmakers about legalization and help folks struggling beneath restrictive drug legal guidelines.
