Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Nebraska Allows Medical Marijuana; Colorado Springs Likely To Ban Recreational Pot
Medical marijuana is now legal in the state of Nebraska, approved by voters on Tuesday. Two ballot measures dealing with medical marijuana were on the Nebraska ballot. Initiative Measure 437 establishes a new statute that will allow the use, possession and acquisition of up to 5 ounces of cannabis for medical purposes by a qualified patient with a written recommendation from a health care practitioner. The statue will also allow for a caregiver to assist a qualified patient with these activities. Initiative Measure 438 establishes a new statute that makes penalties inapplicable under state law for the possession, manufacture, distribution, delivery and dispensing of cannabis for medical purposes by registered private entities. The statute will also establish a Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission to regulate such activities. (Cross, 11/6)
A charter ban on recreational marijuana establishments in Colorado Springs was likely to take precedence over a competing ballot question that would have approved retail cannabis sales in city limits, unofficial returns show Tuesday night. (Jent, 11/6)
The movement to legalize recreational marijuana has run into a wall of resistance, failing in all three states where it was on the ballot this year and leading proponents to weigh a tactical shift focused more on state legislatures and the federal government. It鈥檚 鈥済oing to be a potentially tougher hill to climb going forward to enact legalization in the other 26 states,鈥 Paul Armentano, deputy director of the marijuana advocacy organization NORML, said Wednesday. (Lieb, 11/6)
Also 鈥
In January, country singer Jason DeFord, better known as Jelly Roll, testified before Congress about the dangers of fentanyl. 鈥淚 have firsthand witnessed this in a way most people have not,鈥 he said, referring to his past as a convicted drug dealer and addict and to the impact addiction has had on his family鈥檚 life. Today, Jelly Roll is sober. Sort of. Jelly Roll 鈥 who declined through a representative to participate in this story 鈥 abstains from cocaine and opiates, which wreaked havoc on his life and landed him in prison. But he smokes weed. 鈥淢arijuana has kept me sober,鈥 he said in an interview with the website Taste of Country. (O'Neill, 11/6)