Weekly Stories, Studies, Surveys, Poll Results, Laws, etc.
Trump Says Cannabis Rescheduling Decision Is Forthcoming
Washington, DC: President Donald Trump affirmed at a news conference Monday that his administration is “looking” at federally reclassifying cannabis and that it would “make a determination over the next few weeks.”
He said that the subject is “complicated.” While he acknowledged hearing “great things” about cannabis’ medical utility, he also said that he’s heard “bad things having to do with just about everything else [about marijuana].”
The President’s remarks were in response to a question from a news reporter. They are his first public statements about cannabis policy since winning the election.
The Biden Administration initiated the regulatory process to review cannabis’ federal classification in late 2022 — marking the fifth time that an administrative petition to remove cannabis from Schedule I had been filed, but the first time that the White House had ever led such an effort.
The following year, the US Department of Health and Human Services recommended that the Drug Enforcement Administration reclassify cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act. The DEA called for hearings on the matter, which were scheduled to begin earlier this year. Those hearings were stayed following allegations that the DEA had engaged in inappropriate and biased acts that warranted their disqualification from the proceedings.
There has been no further movement on the matter since January.
In a Truth Social post in September, Trump wrote, “As President, we will continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug, and work with Congress to pass common sense laws, including SAFE banking for state authorized companies, and supporting states’ rights to pass marijuana laws.”
Analysis: Cannabis Dispensary Openings Associated With Fewer Opioid Deaths
Atlanta, GA: Counties with licensed cannabis dispensaries experience a reduction in opioid-related fatalities as compared to those without regulated marijuana access, according to an analysis of federal data published in The Washington Post.
The analysis measured county-level dispensary openings and trends in opioid-related deaths. The author reported: “When a county opens its first dispensary — giving residents easy access to marijuana – opioid death rates go down relative to counties that don’t yet have any dispensaries. The effects aren’t small, either. Ten years after that first dispensary opens, death rates in cannabis counties are, on average, about 30 percent lower than death rates in counties without a dispensary.”
He added, “The fact that the drop in deaths shows up right after the first dispensary opens – and not before – strongly suggests that opioid users do shift to marijuana, at least enough to stop overdosing.”
The findings are consistent with those of other studies reporting that increases in the volume of medical and recreational storefront dispensaries are associated with reduced opioid-related mortality rates.
Studies also report that opioid-dependent subjects acknowledge using cannabis to reduce drug cravings and mitigate withdrawal symptoms.
The analysis, “Data shows a new remedy for the opioid crisis,” is available from The Washington Post.
Canada: Nearly Eight in Ten Consumers Say They Obtain Cannabis Exclusively From Legal Markets
Waterloo, Canada: Most Canadian cannabis consumers have transitioned to the legal marketplace following nationwide legalization, according to survey data published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review.
An international team of investigators from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom assessed trends in marijuana-related purchases among 2,686 current cannabis consumers.
Seventy-eight percent of respondents said that “all their cannabis came from legal sources in the past year.”
The data is consistent with prior studies finding that most Canadian consumers have transitioned from the unregulated market to the legal adult-use marketplace following legalization.
Researchers attribute consumers’ transition to falling prices. “Prices of legal cannabis products have decreased substantially over the first 5 years after federal legalization in Canada, with a narrowing differential between the cost of legal and illegal products,” they reported.
The study’s authors concluded: “These findings demonstrate a consistent and substantial transition to legal retail sources in Canada over the first 5 years of legalization, … reflecting considerable progress towards Canada’s objective of displacing illegal sources through the creation of a legal cannabis market.”
Data compiled in the United States similarly reports that a growing percentage of consumers are switching to the legal marketplace. According to a 2023 survey, 52 percent of consumers residing in legal states said that they primarily sourced their cannabis products from brick-and-mortar establishments.
A separate US economic study reports that consumers are most likely to transition to the legal marketplace in jurisdictions where state-licensed retailers are widely available. According to the study’s findings, “States with roughly 20 to 40 legal regulated stores per 100,000 residents, in general, have captured 80 percent to 90 percent of all cannabis sales in the legal market.”
Full text of the study, “Self-reported cannabis prices and expenditures from legal and illegal sources five years after legalization of non-medical cannabis in Canada,” appears in Drug and Alcohol Review.
Preclinical Study: CBD Dosing Mitigates Cravings for Alcohol
San Diego, CA: CBD administration reduces alcohol intake and alcohol-associated withdrawal symptoms in rodents, according to preclinical data published in the journal Nature: Neuropsychopharmacology.
Investigators affiliated with the University of California at San Diego assessed the effects of CBD dosing on alcohol-dependent rats. They reported that CBD mitigated alcohol intake, prevented alcohol-induced damage to the brain, and attenuated relapse-like behaviors.
“The present study demonstrates that chronic administration of cannabidiol attenuates both behavioral and neurobiological manifestations of alcohol dependence in rodent models,” authors concluded. “Specifically, CBD reduced alcohol intake and withdrawal symptoms, lowered relapse-like behaviors, normalized neuronal excitability in the basolateral amygdala (BLA), and prevented alcohol-induced neurodegeneration in striatal regions associated with reward and habit formation. … These results underscore CBD’s potential therapeutic utility for alcohol use disorder (AUD) and provide mechanistic insights into its actions.”
Placebo-controlled clinical data published earlier this year concluded that the oral administration of 800 mg of synthetic CBD significantly reduces subjects’ cravings for alcohol. A 2021 observational study determined that the consumption of CBD-dominant cannabis is associated with reductions in subjects’ alcohol intake. The authors of that study reported that participants who ingested CBD-dominant cannabis during the trial period “drank fewer drinks per drinking day, had fewer alcohol use days, and fewer alcohol and cannabis co-use days” compared with those who did not.
According to 2024 survey data, 60 percent of cannabis consumers say that using cannabis leads to less alcohol consumption.
Full text of the study, “Cannabidiol mitigates alcohol dependence and withdrawal with neuroprotective effects in the basolateral amygdala and striatum,” appears in Nature:Neuropsychopharmacology.
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