ASA in the News

By Johnny Green for WeedNews

“After years of inexcusable delay, the DEA has finally taken a small step forward in the potential licensing of new cannabis cultivation facilities for scientific research. ASA has urged reform in this area for over a decade, and we hope that the DEA will move expeditiously now that the framework of a plan for license application review has finally been made public.” - Steph Sherer

By Jenni Jacobsen for Times of CBD

Americans for Safe Access (ASA) released a guide for patients taking medical cannabis. The guide relates to travel, so that patients can be aware of the laws concerning cannabis access.

There is a great deal of information in the guide, but one of the first section deals with things that medical cannabis patients should know before they travel. According to the guide, it is “important for patients to review the most up-to-date information for the jurisdiction(s) that they will be visiting, as laws and regulations are subject to change.” Another important point is that “it is important to remember that cannabis products cannot be taken out of the jurisdiction in which they were purchased.”

By Janel Miller for Healio Primary Care

Americans for Safe Access recently issued the Patient’s Guide to CBD to provide background on cannabidiol and recommendations regarding its dosing and handling.

The Americans for Safe Access is an organization consisting of medical professionals, scientists, patients and others who promote safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic uses and research, according to the guide. Researchers used data gleaned from nearly 100 journal articles, committee opinions and websites to come up with the guide’s contents.

By David Downs for Leafly

Sorry, Texas.

The world’s leading medical cannabis patient advocacy group, Americans for Safe Access (ASA), reports that residents of the Pacific island territory of Guam have better options to treat chronic pain and other ailments than their fellow Americans in Texas and the Southeast. That’s according to ASA’s 2019 State of the States Report, an annual evaluation published recently.

ASA aims the report at lawmakers each year, prodding them to make progress relative to their neighbors. Each US state and territory gets a grade, yielding an annual map of unequal protection for 126 million Americans with chronic pain, which is cannabis’ number one qualifying condition.

On the positive side, we’re seeing medical cannabis deployed against the opioid epidemic in Illinois (A-), New York (B-), and California (B+). Oklahoma, Ohio, and Florida all made heartening progress—two Bs and a C (up from Fs in 2015).

That contrasts with the frustrating stasis happening in Texas and throughout the Southeast—all of which got Fs. Guam got a C, by the way.

By Juliet Bennet Rylah for Weedmaps News

According to American Medical Refugees board member Sebastien Cotte, the organization helped about 400 families in some way midway through 2018, up from about 150 two years earlier, according to media reports. These families had moved to Colorado from more than 35 states and three countries. 

Cotte and his wife Annett know well what these families face. Their son, Jagger, has Leigh syndrome, a neurometabolic disorder that manifests in seizures, muscle pain, difficulty breathing, and other symptoms. Cotte became interested in cannabis as a possible treatment for his son in 2013, after seeing “Weed,” Dr. Sanjay Gupta's documentary about medical cannabis, on CNN. He connected with other parents in Georgia through medical cannabis advocacy organization Americans for Safe Access, but their initial attempts to pass a bill legalizing medical marijuana in Georgia failed. In 2014, Cotte's family decided to move to Colorado. They were one of 17 families to leave Georgia at that time, many of them receiving financial aid from Republican state Rep. Allen Peake.

By Dan Kingston for Arizona Marijuana News

Every year, Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a national nonprofit promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research, produces a report that grades the legislative and regulatory aspects of state-legalized medical marijuana programs across the country.

The comprehensive report illustrates a detailed analysis of state medical marijuana programs in 47 states, the District of Columbia, and four territories on an ‘A’ to ‘F’ scale.

The ASA’s 2019 report graded Arizona’s medical marijuana program as a C-.  Arizona was previously graded as a C- in 2018, a C+ in 2017, a B- in 2016 and a C+ in 2015.

By Thomas Mitchell for Westword

Despite new laws allowing easier access to medical marijuana, Colorado couldn't improve its B grade in an annual report card from a national cannabis advocacy organization.

Each year since 2015, Americans for Safe Access has issued a lengthy report card for every U.S. state and territory's medical marijuana programs, or lack thereof. While the seventeen states that haven't legalized medical marijuana or severely limit its access got automatic Fs in this year's edition; As were hard to attain, with just Illinois and Oregon making the grade.

Colorado found itself in the middle with the Cs and Bs, trailing states such as Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts and Oklahoma, among others. The state's 82.8/100 score was just two points higher than 2018's report card, despite passing new laws adding conditions eligible for medical marijuana (autism and any condition for which opioids are prescribed), and permitting dentists, psychiatrists, registered nurse practitioners and other healthcare professionals to recommend medical marijuana. Another law passed allowing parents of child patients to purchase medication more easily on their child's behalf, as well.

By Rick Thompson for Weed News

Americans for Safe Access (ASA) has issued its 2018-2019 State of the States report card for cannabis programs in the United States and Michigan’s ranking remains steady with a B+ grade.

The group issues the reports most years. In 2015 Michigan received a C+ and has been awarded the B+ in each report since, in 2016, 2017 and the current issue.

By Jonathan D. Salant for NJ.com

New Jersey, about to embark on an expansion of medical marijuana, received higher marks this year than in the past from a group that supports access to cannabis for medical use.

Americans for Safe Access gave the Garden State a B, up from C the past three years, in its annual report card. The report was released Tuesday as the National Conference of State Legislatures gathered in Nashville for its annual meeting.