Palm Beach, FL: Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump has declared that low-level marijuana arrests are a “waste [of] taxpayers’ dollars,” and he is predicting that Florida voters will approve an initiative this fall legalizing cannabis sales.
In a social media post, Trump stated: “[P]ersonal amounts of marijuana will be legalized for adults with Amendment 3. ... We do not need to ruin lives and waste taxpayers’ dollars arresting adults with personal amounts of it on them.”
Trump’s post also implied that he would prefer a legal marijuana market over an unregulated one.
His post did not explicitly state whether he would be voting in favor of the Amendment 3 initiative, which permits existing medical cannabis facilities to engage in adult-use marijuana sales. Because the ballot proposal is in the form of a constitutional amendment, it requires approval from a super-majority of Florida voters (60 percent) to become law.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis strongly opposes passage of Amendment 3.
In follow-up comments, Trump added that the Amendment’s success would be “very good” for Florida. He also lauded the use of medical marijuana, saying, “I’ve had ... doctors telling me that it’s been absolutely amazing.”
While Trump has previously expressed support for the use of cannabis for medical purposes, he has also been critical of states’ decisions to legalize the adult-use of marijuana – opining that, in some instances, legalization has led to “big problems.”
Late last month, Trump added former independent Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy, Jr. and former Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard to his transition team. Both have long been outspoken advocates of legalizing marijuana.
Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has repeatedly said that “nobody should have to go to jail” for possessing marijuana. As a US Senator, she sponsored legislation to end the federal prohibition of cannabis. In March, Harris led a round-table discussion with marijuana pardon recipients. Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, signed adult-use legalization legislation into law in 2023, stating: “We’ve known for too long that prohibiting the use of cannabis hasn’t worked. By legalizing adult-use cannabis, we’re expanding our economy, creating jobs, and regulating the industry to keep Minnesotans safe.”
Clinical Trial: CBD Dosing Reduces Daytime Fatigue Compared to Placebo
Split, Croatia: CBD administration is associated with decreased daytime fatigue and improved psychological well-being, according to randomized placebo-controlled data published in the journal Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research.
A team of Croatian researchers assessed the use of CBD versus placebo on participants’ quality of life. Subjects consumed either CBD or placebo for five-week intervals.
“Five-week administration of CBD, but not of placebo, resulted in improvement of ESS [Epworth sleepiness scale] score as well as fatigue/vitality and psychological well-being,” investigators concluded. Although subjects reported reduced incidents of daytime sleepiness, they did not similarly report improvements in their overall sleep quality.
Prior studies have reported that CBD dosing before bedtime is associated with improved sleep quality in patients with a history of sleep disturbances.
Full text of the study, “Chronic cannabidiol administration mitigates excessive daytime sleepiness and fatigue in patients with primary hypertension: insights from a randomized crossover trial,” appears in Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research.
Study: Endometriosis Patients Report Quality of Life Improvements Following Cannabis Use
Berlin, Germany: Nearly one in five patients with endometriosis report using cannabis to effectively manage their pain or other related symptoms, according to survey data published in the journal Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics.
German investigators surveyed over 900 patients with endometriosis. Consistent with prior analyses, a significant percentage of respondents acknowledged using cannabis products and most said that they were highly effective at mitigating their symptoms.
“Seventeen percent of the respondents used cannabis or cannabis-related products as a self-management method,” they determined. “Cannabis was rated as the most effective self-management strategy to reduce symptom intensity (self-rated efficacy 7.6 out of 10). Additionally, ~ 90 percent of the participants were able to decrease their pain medication intake. The greatest improvement was observed in sleep (91 percent), menstrual pain (90 percent), and non-cyclic pain (80 percent). Apart from increased fatigue (17 percent), side effects were infrequent (≤ 5 percent).”
The study’s authors concluded: “The use of cannabis [has] a significant impact on the overall well-being and quality of life of women with endometriosis. ... The study indicates that there is a significant interest and demand for additional therapeutic options, and cannabis can potentially become an important part of a multimodal therapy approach for treating endometriosis.”
The study’s findings are consistent with those from Canada and Australia, which have similarly reported that cannabis relieves endometriosis-related pain and other symptoms. According to a recent scientific review, “The use of cannabis for endometriosis-related pain holds promise for addressing the often-debilitating discomfort experienced by those with this condition.”
Full text of the study, “Cannabis use in endometriosis: the patients have their say – An online survey for German-speaking countries,” appears in Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics.
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