With overdose deaths spiking 38 percent last year in Vermont, Gov. Phil Scott has signed into law a bill to decriminalize the addiction withdrawal medication buprenorphine, in a move to make the drug more widely available to those in need. It is often used to treat opioid use disorder to diminish the effects of opioid dependence, such as cravings and withdrawal symptoms. On a national level, President Biden recently changed regulations to make it easier for physicians and other medical professionals to prescribe buprenorphine, which is known to be highly effective as part of medication-assisted treatment. Meanwhile, delivery companies including DoorDash, Drizly and UberEats that boomed during the pandemic lockdown are now considering getting into the cannabis home delivery services. They see an opportunity to grow as more and more states legalize marijuana. Still, they face a raft of legal and logistical challenges, including federal-level marijuana prohibition and states laws banning the delivery of cannabis alongside food and alcohol.
And finally, a bipartisan effort by lawmakers in Colorado to impose limits on the sale of high-potency marijuana products—including tracking purchases by teenagers—is meeting resistance from critics who say it may violate privacy rights. Supporters of the measure argue, however, that monitoring sales of cannabis concentrate is essential to enforcing regulations and preventing people, especially teenagers, from visiting multiple shops a day ground around the daily limits. The initiative would limit the size of packages and reduce the about of medical marijuana that young people are allowed to purchase.