The House of Representatives has approved legislation allowing for more research into marijuana and also directing states to educate people about the dangers of impaired driving from cannabis. Tucked into a massive infrastructure bill, the marijuana provisions acknowledge the need for more research into the impact of the drug as the push to legalize pot ramps up in the post-pandemic period. The bill allows researchers access to samples and strains of marijuana being offered to consumers—in other words, at dispensaries in legal states—instead of only from limited, government-grown sources under the current law.
Equally important, the bill authorizes states to conduct research into impaired driving from cannabis and to create a national clearinghouse to study marijuana’s impact on driving. Together, the measures would begin to fill in the gaps of scientific knowledge and evidence about the ways marijuana can change behavior, cognition and capabilities.
Meanwhile, the renowned Harvard psychiatry professor and advocate for marijuana decriminalization and legalization, Lester Grinspoon, has died at 92. Dr. Grinspoon was at first skeptical about marijuana and considered it a dangerous drug. But he later changed his opinion, calling it a relatively safe intoxicant that should be regulated like alcohol. Dr. Grinspoon also carried out thoughtful research on the damage that marijuana laws —and the criminal justice system—inflicted on poor and troubled youth, which has particular resonance today as the movement for criminal justice reform addresses many of these issues.
And finally, regulators in Oklahoma say slushie machines dispensing drinks infused with marijuana component THC are not in compliance with state regulatory guidelines. The drink machines have been popping up at medical dispensaries in the state, but they don’t meet the requirement that pot products be packaged in child-resistant containers.