CA Bill to Make Growing 7 Pot Plants a Felony Is Pulled, Biden Signs Meth Emergency Bill, More… (3/15/22)

Mexico is sending more trips to fight cartel violence in the state of Jalisco, the head of the WHO speaks out about unneccessary suffering due to lack of access to pain medication around the world, and more.

Marijuana Policy

California Bill to Make Growing Seven Pot Plants a Felony is Pulled. A bill that would have re-felonized the cultivation of more than six marijuana plants, Assembly Bill 1725, is dead for the year. Bill sponsor Assemblyman Thurston Smith (R-Apple Valley) pulled the bill from consideration by the Assembly Public Safety Committee on Tuesday, signaling a lack of support in the committee.

Methamphetamine

President Biden Signs Bill Declaring Methamphetamine an Emerging Drug Threat.  President Biden on Monday signed into law S. 854, the Methamphetamine Response Act of 2021, which designates methamphetamine as an emerging drug threat and requires the Office of National Drug Control Policy to develop, implement, and make public a national response plan that is specific to methamphetamine. The Senate version of the bill was sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Charles Grassley (R-IA), while the House version was sponsored by Reps. Scott Peters (D-CA), John Curtis (R-UT), Diana Harshbarger (R-TN), Cindy Axne (D-IA), and Josh Harder (D-CA).

International

World Health Organization Director General Uses Commission on Narcotic Drugs Vienna Meeting to Raise Alarm on Global Lack of Access to Pain Medications. At the 65th meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus raised the alarm on the global lack of access to pain medications. In his speech, entitled "Ensuring access to medicines for patients – a global concern," Ghebreyeus said, "Around the world, millions of people rely on medicines based on controlled substances. They rely on them either to manage life, or to manage the end of life. These controlled medicines are critical for treating patients with severe COVID-19 disease. They are also essential for pain management in cancer, surgical care and palliative care, and for the management of drug use, neurological and mental health disorders. And yet millions of other people suffer needlessly, because for them, these essential medicines are out of reach." 

Ghebreysus pointed out that in low- and middle-income countries, "97% of the need for immediate-release morphine, an essential medicine for the management of pain and palliative care, is unmet." He cited several factors for the "appalling lack of access" to pain medications, including "a lack of national policies that facilitate access to controlled medicines, unstable supply chains, and limited production and regulatory capacity." He also cited supply chain breakdowns.

He did not address the role of the global drug prohibition regime in leading to restricted access to such drugs, but he did say that "WHO is proud to join the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and the International Narcotics Control Board to call for international cooperation to increase access to controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes."

Mexico Sends Another 500 Troops to Jalisco Amidst Cartel Violence. The Secretariat of National Defense has ordered 500 more troops to the Guadalajara metropolitan area to combat rising violence as rival drug trafficking organizations battle for control in Jalisco and neighboring Michoacan. The soldiers are part of the Joint Task Force Mexico, which can quickly be deployed anywhere in the country. There were already nearly 12,000 soldiers and National Guard members deployed to Jalisco, where the Jalisco New Generation Cartel is clashing with local cartelitos, such as Los Viagras. Local residents in Jalisco and Michoacan blame the Jalisco cartel for much of the violence. Last month, troops deployed for the first time in months in a township dominated by the Jalisco cartel, breaking up a civilian blockade of an army base in Aguilla that had endured for months. The military accuses the locals of supporting the cartel, but the locals say they were blockading the army base because the soldiers refused to come out and confront the cartels.