Chronicle AM: Senate Votes for Legal Hemp, State Dept. Supports Coca Aerial Eradication, More… (6/29/18)

The US Senate votes to legalize hemp, the State Department gets behind Colombia's plan to reintroduce aerial fumigation of coca crops, an Arizona court rules that hash isn't medical marijuana, and more.

Medical Marijuana 

Arizona Appeals Court Rules Patients Face Can Be Arrest For Hashish. The state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that medical marijuana patients can still be arrested for possessing hashish because it wasn't included by name in the voter-approved medical marijuana initiative in 2010. The ruling came in the case of card-carrying patient Rodney Jones, who was caught with 0.05 ounces of hash. After spending more than a year in jail, he waived his right to a jury trial, but not his right to appeal. "If the drafters wanted to immunize the possession of hashish they should have said so," the ruling said. "We cannot conclude that Arizona voters intended to do so." Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice, which is supporting Jones, said the ruling will be appealed to the state Supreme Court. 

Oklahoma Sees First Medical Marijuana Clinic. That didn't take long. Just hours after the polls closed Tuesday and voters approved a medical marijuana initiative, the Tulsa Higher Care Clinic opened for business. The clinic provides doctors who will write medical marijuana recommendations, but it isn't selling any product…yet. 

Hemp 

US Senate Votes to Legalize Hemp. The Senate passed the omnibus Farm Bill Thursday, and that bill includes an amendment from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) that legalizes the cultivation, processing, and sale of hemp. For years, the DEA has refused to recognize hemp as distinct from marijuana, but that distinction will be enshrined in law if the bill is signed into law."Consumers across America buy hundreds of millions in retail products every year that contain hemp," McConnell said in a floor speech on Thursday. "But due to outdated federal regulations that do not sufficiently distinguish this industrial crop from its illicit cousin, American farmers have been mostly unable to meet that demand themselves. It's left consumers with little choice but to buy imported hemp products from foreign-produced hemp."

Asset Forfeiture

Idaho Civil Asset Forfeiture Reforms Go into Effect on Sunday. Reforms passed by the legislature and signed into law earlier this year go into effect on Sunday. The new law doesn't end civil asset forfeiture but does ban the seizure of vehicles for simple drug possession, requires that a connection is shown between seized property and a crime, and states that simple possession of a large amount of cash isn’t grounds for it to be seized. The bill also requires for the first time statewide reporting of civil forfeitures and includes a provision allowing people accused of crimes to retain their property until found guilty.

Foreign Policy

State Department Supports Resumption of Aerial Coca Eradication in Colombia. The US State Department Thursday expressed its support for resuming aerial coca spraying in Colombia. "The United States believes that all tools must be used to reverse the sharp increase in cocaine production," a department spokesperson said. Aerial fumigation was banned in 2015 because of environmental damage and health concerns for residents of areas being sprayed. Colombia produced a record amount of cocaine last year.