Press Advisory: Medical Cannabis Stakeholders Call on States for a Compassionate Response to Hemp Laws
Washington, D.C.- On Tuesday, January 20th, Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is convening medical cannabis stakeholders to discuss the impacts of new federal hemp laws and ASA's policy briefing for State Policymakers, Governors, and Regulators, "Protecting Patient Access: A Compassionate Response to Changing Federal Hemp Laws." Watch Webinar Here.
“Americans for Safe Access (ASA) has prepared this briefing to help state leaders navigate this moment with clarity, accuracy, and compassion... Effective responses must account not only for patients currently dependent on the unregulated hemp marketplace, but also for the conditions that made it their only viable option. Barriers such as cost, access deserts, and limited product availability, driven by competition for shelf space in adult-use markets, left patients with few options.” -Steph Sherer, Founder & Executive Director
For more than thirty years, states served as laboratories of democracy for medical cannabis. They built patient registries, safety standards, testing regimes, labeling systems, and clinical pathways—generating the real-world evidence that finally compelled HHS and FDA to recognize cannabis as having “currently accepted medical use.” These state-based experiments proved what federal policy refused to test.
Until Congress takes on the responsibility of this new recognition and integrates cannabis and cannabinoid therapies into U.S. healthcare systems, patient access remains in the states' hands. This means managing federal policy changes while protecting patients and public health. This briefing is designed to equip state leaders with the tools they need to respond compassionately to evolving federal hemp laws and protect current and future patient access.
The briefing includes:
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- A clear explanation of the new hemp provisions and their real-world impact
- Exploration of the limitations of Trump’s Executive Order
- An analysis of why millions of patients depend on the hemp marketplace
- Data on who cannabinoid medicines serve
- Draft emergency legislation and executive actions to preserve access
- States’ role in a national medical cannabis program
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When: Tuesday, January 20, 2026, 11:30 a.m. ET
Watch here: https://youtu.be/OQJbS5pbLG0
Download Protecting Patient Access: A Compassionate Response to Changing Hemp Laws
Who:
Steph Sherer, Founder and Executive Director, Americans for Safe Access
Steph Sherer is a pioneering international leader and expert in medical cannabis patient advocacy. Her personal experience with the therapeutic benefits of cannabis, combined with her background in political organizing, led her to establish ASA in 2002. Under her guidance, ASA has grown into the nation’s largest patient-centered organization dedicated to ensuring access to medical cannabis, bridging gaps in knowledge, policy, and regulation, and promoting its recognition as a legitimate medical therapy.
Codi Peterson, PharmD, Pediatric Pharmacist and Cannabis Science Educator
Dr. Peterson is a clinical pharmacist and educator working to bridge healthcare and cannabis science. He teaches pharmacology at UC Irvine and OCEMT, practices pharmacy in an emergency department, and specializes in evidence-based cannabinoid pharmacology.
Dr. Leigh Vinocur, Emergency Physician and Founder, Ananda Medical Practice and Consulting
A board-certified emergency physician, Dr. Vinocur is a leading expert in medical cannabis science and education. She chairs the Subcommittee on Medical Cannabis Science Training for Healthcare Providers on Maryland’s Cannabis Public Health Advisory Council and serves as a national spokesperson for the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP).
Shanetha Marable-Lewis, Executive Director, Veterans Initiative 22
Shanetha is a decorated Army combat veteran who proudly served in both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Veterans Initiative 22 is a non-profit organization whose mission is veteran suicide prevention with a focus on affordable access to medical cannabis for the veteran community.
Sasha Kalcheff-Korn, Executive Director, Realm of Caring
Having dedicated 13 years to nonprofit work, Sasha Kalcheff-Korn has focused her career on improving the well-being of others through education, advocacy, and research. As the Executive Director of Realm of Caring, she leads efforts to advance cannabis research, break stigmas through education, and empower individuals and families to take control of their health.
Americans for Safe Access is the largest national organization of medical cannabis, wellness, and healthcare stakeholders addressing knowledge, policy, and regulatory gaps to ensure access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research, with over 150,000 supporters in all 50 states.
Background:
On November 12, 2025, Congress amended hemp laws in H.R. 5371—the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026 by establishing statutory definitions for “industrial hemp” and “hemp-derived cannabinoid products” and imposing a new “total THC” standard. Together, when they go into effect on November 11, 2026, these clarifications will close the “loophole” that allowed unregulated intoxicating products to proliferate—but they will also remove most full-spectrum cannabinoid products from lawful commerce, cutting off access for millions of patients who rely on these products as their medicine.
Across the country, seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, cancer patients, children with rare diseases, and people living with chronic pain rely on full-spectrum cannabinoid products purchased from the hemp market. These are not casual consumers. They are patients who turned to hemp because state medical cannabis programs were unavailable, unaffordable, geographically inaccessible, or stripped of the products they need. In many states. adult-use product demand crowded out high-CBD and non-intoxicating formulations. For millions of patients, products from the hemp market filled a gap, even if by default.
President Trump’s December 2025 Executive Order Increasing Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research,” will not prevent the pending disruption. While the Order acknowledged the issue H.R. 5371 creates for patients, executive actions cannot override statutory limits. Despite popular commentary, when cannabis is rescheduled, that action alone will not legalize medical cannabis, restore patient rights, or integrate access into federal systems. Patients remain legally vulnerable, excluded from federal healthcare programs, housing protections, and employment safeguards. Millions of patients still face losing access to a source of cannabinoid medicines this year.
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