Baked Goods: Just Say No, Nationwide Cbd Recall, More Companies Join Suit Against Doh

Dems Fail To Support Cannabis Legalization

\ Jul 30, 2020

5 min read

Joe Biden is well on his way to turning the Democratic Party into “Republican-lite.” Just look at exhibit A: The purportedly leaked draft of the Democratic National Committee’s official 2020 platform—which does not include marijuana legalization.

We’ve been watching Biden closely these recent weeks, and his tendency to appear like a time traveler from the distant past who can’t keep his words straight is the least of our concerns. As I mentioned here recently, his history with cannabis legalization is just awful. Biden has been a proponent of the Drug War since day one. Although he was blocked at every turn, he tried on multiple occasions to expand drug laws and increase the penalties associated with it while extending the reach of federal authority over offenders.

Back in the ’90s, the former vice president and scourge of lying dog-faced pony soldiers everywhere tried to introduce “military-style boot camp prisons” that could serve as an alternative sentencing option for drug offenders—an option that doesn’t seem to fall in line with current party-line attitudes toward not only weed, but also the incarceration of non-violent offenders.

That’s what I thought anyway. The leaked draft appears to prove once again that the DNC doesn’t give one tittle about what the voters want, or they’d care about the 78 percent of Dems who want cannabis legalized at the federal level according to a Gallup poll. It also proves that the DNC is more in line with Biden than many thought.

It should be kept in mind that this was a draft of the party platform and not a finalized document, however. It also wasn’t supposed to be seen by the public yet (ahem—supposedly). And cannabis reform is mentioned directly.

“Democrats will decriminalize marijuana use and reschedule it through executive action on the federal level,” the document says. “We will support legalization of medical marijuana, and believe states should be able to make their own decisions about recreational use.” The party also says it wants to automatically expunge “all past criminal convictions for cannabis use.” Of course it also said it would close Guantanamo Bay way back in 2012, and we all saw how that went.

Hopefully that doesn’t mean New Mexico’s Dems are planning to jump ship too. In 2018 the N.M. Democratic party pledged to legalize cannabis statewide. Washington may have forgotten us, but I’d like to see our local leaders keep their promises.

Nationwide CBD Recall

A CBD company is recalling dozens of pet and human hemp products after the Florida Health Department notified it of lead contamination.

Marijuana Moment reports that the recall was initially announced last month by MHR Brands, a Florida-based hemp company. Dozens of CBD tinctures made by the company and its subsidiary InHe Manufacturing were said to be contaminated with lead. An independent analysis reportedly showed that the oil wasn’t the actual issue, though—it was lead-contaminated droppers that were produced by a third-party manufacturer.

The Food and Drug Administration is helping to amplify the recall announcement in the hopes of preventing any adverse health effects. So far the agency has not reported any complaints of health complications resulting from the use of the tinctures, but it’s advising anyone who purchased the products to dispose of them and monitor their health.

“Exposure to lead could present physical signs and symptoms including pain, paresthesia/muscle weakness, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, poor appetite, weight loss, symptoms associated with encephalitis, metallic taste in the mouth, shock, hemolysis or kidney damage,” FDA said in a notice published last week.

Consumers are advised to destroy any bottles of Tasty Drops, Purfurred, Made by Hemp, Herbal Renewals, Barkley Bistro, A Clean Choice, BC Hemp, Boost IV Hydration and Acadia Farms branded CBD oils purchased since June.

The FDA made a point of confirming that it did not endorse the products being recalled.

More Companies Join Suit Against DOH

Two cannabis producers, a cannabis manufacturer, a testing laboratory and a cannabis patient filed petitions against the New Mexico Department of Health’s new set of rules—following on the tails of two other petitions that were filed last week. What a mouthful.

Earlier this month Ultra Health filed a petition claiming that the new set of medical cannabis regulations released by the DOH had been copied from other state plans with little to no consideration of New Mexico’s particular needs. Ultra Health CEO and President Duke Rodriguez told reporters, “They need to go back, listen to stakeholders and start the entire process over.”

Last week Scepter Lab, cannabis manufacturer Vitality Extracts and cannabis producer G&G Genetics joined in the fun with their own petitions. Medical cannabis patient and licensed cannabis grower Heath Grider also filed a petition.

As NM Political Report’s Andy Lyman points out, the plaintiffs’ lawyers are a telling group. New Mexico Speaker of the House Brian Egolf is representing Ultra Health, former N.M Public Regulations Commissioner Jason Marks is representing Scepter Lab and Vitality Extracts, State Senator Jacob Candelaria is representing G&G Genetics and former Libertarian attorney general candidate Blair Dunn and First Congressional District candidate Jared Vander Dussen are representing Grider.

All of the petitioners are claiming that the new rules were arrived at arbitrarily and demand that they be reconsidered.