Washington D.C. -- This morning, the Senate Committee on Appropriations voted 24-7 to include an amendment introduced by Senators Steve Daines (R-MT) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) in the FY2018 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill. The amendment allows military veterans to participate in state medical cannabis programs without fear of losing their military benefits or services and enables Department of Veterans Affairs health care providers to recommend medical cannabis in compliance with state medical cannabis laws.
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Washington D.C. — A meeting scheduled by the President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis for this afternoon has been postponed until July 31, 2017. This is the second time the Commission has moved a meeting or call about the opioid crisis. The Commission was also scheduled to issue an interim report on June 27, but this deadline came and went without any announcement from the Commission.
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Free medical cannabis laboratory assessments offered in an effort to help decrease opioid use and associated fatalities.
Washington, DC – Across the nation, opioid-related deaths and fatalities are decreasing in states that have medical cannabis programs, but the benefits are limited due to a lack of accurately labeled and tested cannabis products. Patient Focused Certification (PFC), a project of Americans for Safe Access, announced today that it will begin offering free assessments and certification services for cannabis testing laboratories to help increase the number of safe and standardized medical products, in an effort to help combat the opioid epidemic.
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Americans for Safe Access Submits Comments at Trump’s first official meeting to address drug addiction, opioid abuse
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, June 16th, Governor Chris Christie (NJ) will chair the first meeting of the President’s commision on Drug Addiction and Combating Opioid abuse. Christie is joined on the Commission by Gov Charlie Baker (MA), Gov. Roy Cooper (NC), Rep. Patrick Kennedy and Professor Bertha Madras, Ph.D.
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Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect the States Bipartisan (CARERS) Act Introduced with Senators Booker, Lee, Paul, Murkowski, Gillibrand, and Franken
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), Senator Al Franken (D-MN), and Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced the most comprehensive medical cannabis bill in the United States Senate to date. Several elected officials argue that CARERS, which has already garnered bipartisan support in the House and Senate, could be a solution to the nation’s opioid epidemic. The bill would also protect users of medical cannabis who comply with state laws from unwarranted federal prosecution and expand the opportunity for medical and scientific research on the uses and effects of medical cannabis.
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Americans for Safe Access’s Patient Focused Certification standards for medical marijuana accepted as foundational recommendations
Last week, global standards organization ASTM International and the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) announced that they will develop standards for the cannabis industry. Under the agreement, ASTM International will coordinate standards development activities for the cannabis industry, while AHPA will gain recognition for its technical contributions and regulatory recommendations. The AHPA standards are the basis of the Patient Focused Certification (PFC) program that is used internationally to assess regulatory compliance at medical cannabis operations, and to educate the medical cannabis industry and program administrators.
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Baltimore, MD — On Friday, June 2nd, physicians, cannabis industry professionals, and members of Americans for Safe Access will rally to protect patient access to medical cannabis throughout Maryland State. After more than four years since its legalization, medical cannabis patients are now months away from accessing prescribed medicinal cannabis in Maryland, unless Baltimore City Circuit Court decides to halt licensing of medical cannabis growers.
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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE -- Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the nation’s largest patient-focused medical cannabis advocacy organization, is pleased to announce new membership opportunities for medical cannabis patient advocates in Tennessee.
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Last week, Maryland regulators issued the first license to grow medical cannabis in Maryland to ForwardGro, a company with a 1-acre greenhouse located in Anne Arundel County. This decision comes more than four years after Maryland first approved a medical cannabis program.
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WASHINGTON DC -- Earlier today, Attorney General Jeff Sessions told reporters that “I think medical marijuana has been hyped, maybe too much.”
In reaction to Sessions’ comments, Steph Sherer, executive director of Americans for Safe Access, a national nonprofit dedicated to ensuring safe and legal access to medical cannabis for therapeutic use and research, issued the following statement:
More than 85% of the U.S. population live in states with medical cannabis laws, and over 2 million Americans are benefiting from its use. These laws address the healthcare needs of patients who benefit from cannabis-based treatments, often where conventional medications have failed. Patient populations include people living with or treating cancer, HIV/AIDS, Multiple Sclerosis, Crohn’s Disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), epilepsy, severe childhood epilepsy disorders such as Dravet Syndrome, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), chronic pain, and a myriad of other conditions.
Statements like these from the Attorney General are factually inaccurate - in January, the National Academies of Sciences, Medicine, and Engineering released a report that reviewed over 10,000 research articles, which states there is conclusive, moderate, and substantial evidence for benefits of cannabis in several conditions. Sessions needs to stop spreading unfounded, unscientific theories about medical marijuana and take the time to actually meet the millions of Americans that are benefitting from its use before making comments about it being over-hyped.
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