Tag: legalization efforts

The Wall Street Journal and CNN reported August 8 that President Donald Trump said privately at a fundraiser that he was open to reclassifying cannabis under federal law, a move that could have far-reaching implications for the legal industry, the illicit market, national drug policy, and electoral politics in the 2026 cycle. ...

The Texas Senate on August 1 passed a bill that would ban all intoxicating hemp-derived THC products, reviving legislation that Governor Greg Abbott vetoed earlier this summer. The move adds pressure to the Texas House and raises new questions about the future of the state’s fast-expanding and largely unregulated hemp market....

When President Richard Nixon told the nation on June 17, 1971, that drug abuse was “public enemy number one,” he formally launched the War on Drugs and cemented cannabis in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. ...

As cannabis use became more common in the late 1970s, the backlash grew even stronger. A political and religious conservative resurgence was underway after years of liberal ascendancy. That wave would soon bring former California Governor Ronald Reagan to the White House....

In the years that followed President Richard Nixon’s crackdown on pot and eventual resignation, state and local governments began to push the envelope to reform cannabis laws....

Mike Tyson, the former heavyweight boxing champion known as “Iron Mike,” is calling on President Donald Trump to make good on a campaign promise to reclassify cannabis under federal law....

This seven-part series chronicles the milestones, backlash, and unintended consequences that have shaped the war on cannabis from the 1960s to the present day....

For much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, American physicians freely prescribed cannabis to treat a wide range of ailments. But by the mid-twentieth century, federal officials were laying the groundwork for a sweeping criminal crackdown. Cannabis would ultimately be classified as a Schedule I substance, placed alongside heroin and LSD, and transformed into a political weapon that shaped American policy for the next six decades....

In a late-session vote last week, House Republicans advanced a sweeping change to federal hemp policy that could outlaw a wide range of intoxicating hemp products, sometimes referred to as “gas station weed,” as the hemp Farm Bill loopholes become a major policy issue in many states, including California, Tennessee and Texas....

A sweeping bill to ban hemp-derived THC products in Texas is now headed to Governor Greg Abbott’s desk after final legislative approval. On May 26, the Texas Senate voted 25–6 to concur with House amendments to Senate Bill 3 (SB3), clearing the last procedural hurdle for the legislation....