Australia’s medical regulator on Wednesday rejected a bid to approve psychedelics for therapeutic use, saying the risks of the drugs outweigh the potential mental health benefits. In a final decision from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the agency declined to approve an application to amend Australia’s poison standards by... Read more
The top official overseeing Illinois’ cannabis policy is leaving the public sector to join the weed lobby. Toi Hutchinson, who has served as a senior adviser to Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker for cannabis control, announced this week that she will be taking a job with the Marijuana Policy Project... Read more
Big pharma’s moment of reckoning for roles in the opioid crisis began to unravel recently. On November 24, 2020, opioid maker Purdue Pharma LP pleaded guilty to fraud and kickback conspiracies amid a flurry of litigation over its role in the opioid epidemic. Purdue Pharma pitched a massive bankruptcy... Read more
Most financial leaders in cannabis don’t trust the Biden administration, new data suggests. On December 14, GreenGrowth CPAs announced the cannabis industry’s first 2021 Cannabis CFO Survey—a 22-page analysis containing business and market outlook data from over 75 cannabis industry CFOs, CEOs, founders, controllers and other financial roles in... Read more
Lawmakers in Ohio on Wednesday passed a bill that would result in the first significant change to the state’s medical cannabis program since it launched in 2016, effectively empowering doctors to recommend cannabis for just about any condition. Senate Bill 261 passed out of the chamber, and will now... Read more
Pfizer Inc., one of the trifecta pharmaceutical companies manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines, is acquiring another large pharma company that is conduction clinical trials on a variety of drugs, including one that is examining the efficacy of cannabinoids. Pfizer Inc. announced the planned acquisition of Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. on December 13.... Read more
Japanese video game powerhouse Capcom revealed last week that it is lending its hit character Ace Attorney to a campaign designed to prevent cannabis use by young people. The company announced on Thursday that characters from the popular video game series will be enlisted to fight youth cannabis use... Read more
In a sign that things are absolutely at a tipping point in Europe, the Mediterranean island of Malta became the first country in both Europe and the European Union (EU) to legalize recreational cannabis cultivation, possession and use. Luxembourg announced similar plans (and a similar model) about a month... Read more
