Governor Jared Polis, a vocal cannabis advocate who campaigned on supporting the marijuana industry, has made big changes to cannabis regulations in Colorado since he was sworn in back in January.

In May, Polis signed several cannabis bills into law: autism spectrum disorder was added to the state’s list of qualifying MMJ conditions, cannabis delivery to private residences was given the green light, and tokers will finally have a place for social consumption in hospitality establishments.

Polis also signed a bill that will allow doctors to prescribe cannabis instead of opioids for acute medical conditions, as well as allowing more medical professionals to prescribe medical marijuana. So, for instance, if you have your wisdom teeth removed, your dentists could recommend medical cannabis instead of addictive opioid pain medication.

Adding a condition for which a physician could recommend medical marijuana instead of an opioid is a safer pain management tool that will be useful for both our doctors and patients,” said Ashley Weber, executive director of Colorado NORML.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) has been resistant to adding new medical conditions to the MMJ program, but the new law circumvents the CDPHE board. The board met on July 17 for an emergency rulemaking session ahead of the law’s implementation. One of the rules up for debate was whether short-term medical marijuana cards should be valid for 30 or 60 days.

According to Westword, at least one board member thought sixty days for a short-term MMJ card was too long, especially in cases where an opioid would only be prescribed for seven days. Anna Weaver-Hayes, who testified at the meeting on behalf of the Colorado Psychiatric Society and Children’s Hospital Colorado, also recommended a shorter prescription window of thirty days.

Cannabis Clinicians Colorado director Martha Montemayor argued for a sixty-day short-term MMJ prescription, explaining that patients on the Western Slope often have to apply for their cards by mail and that “By the time they get their approval back in the mail, more than half of their recommendation could be done already,” she said. “We can’t forget those people.”

The board unanimously voted to approve a sixty-day minimum for short-term MMJ cards. Final rules will be decided by the board in September.

 

In a newly released memo, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that cannabidiol (CBD) should be removed from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA); however, international drug treaties require the regulation of cannabis, including CBD.

The 27-page memo was written to advise the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) that CBD has “negligible potential for abuse,” “currently accepted medical use in treatment,” and that any abuse “may lead to limited physical dependence.”

Based on the FDA’s recommendation, the DEA rescheduled CBD under its least restrictive category, Schedule 5. Drugs in this category are considered to have a low potential for abuse and include over-the-counter medications like cough syrup containing codeine.

The FDA considered eight factors when making its scheduling recommendation and concluded that CBD “could be removed from control.”

“We reach this conclusion because we find that CBD does not meet the criteria for placement in any of Schedules II, III, IV, or V under the CSA.”

Although CBD doesn’t meet the criteria for even a Schedule 5 substance, the FDA ultimately recommended categorizing it as Schedule 5 because of a letter from Robert W. Patterson, the Acting Administrator of the DEA, “asserted that the United States would not be able to keep obligations under the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs if CBD were decontrolled under the CSA.”

However, in the memo, the FDA notes that “if treaty obligations do not require control of CBD, or if the international controls on CBD change in the future, this recommendation will need to be promptly revisited.”

The DEA announced last Friday that FDA-approved cannabis drugs with no more than 0.1 THC would be considered Schedule 5. Currently, that only includes the recently approved epilepsy medication Epidiolex.

Canada, who is also a signatory to the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, will officially legalize marijuana on October 17. The International Narcotics Board, “an independent, quasi-judicial expert body” established during the 1961 treaty agreement has expressed “deep concern” over cannabis legalization. It’s not clear if Canada will withdraw from the treaty.