Trump Adviser Favors Marijuana to Treat PTSD; Mexico’s President Hints at Legalization; Hemp Has Senate Leaders’ Support

President Donald Trump’s advisers for the U.S. Veterans Administration suggest studying medicinal cannabis as treatment for treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the “right thing to do.” Mexico’s next president vows to reshape drug policy, and the US Senate’s top representatives took time out of their busy schedules to check up on the next big industry for their home states – industrial hemp.

Ending the week of July 7, 2018, on a proverbial high note, New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo encouraged banks to work with legal cannabis businesses in the Big Apple; North Dakota’s voters began to scrutinize legalizing recreational marijuana; and Oklahoma’s Green the Vote begins collecting signatures to legalize recreational marijuana.

Trump Advisor on VA Urges Medical Marijuana Study

It’s no secret — US Attorney General Jeff Sessions loathes all things marijuana, including medical cannabis. But while Sessions and the Department of Justice have routinely made life unnecessarily difficult for America’s veterans, some “high-ranking Trump administration officials discussed pressing the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs  to study the benefits of medical marijuana,” according to Tom Angell.

Gathered under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by journalist Jasper Craven, an email from senior White House adviser for the VA, Jake Leinenkugel, suggests “bold action” is needed to sway the “A.G.’s opinion of medical marijuana.”

The use of medicinal cannabis by America’s vets to diminish symptoms of PTSD is supported by the American Legion and Disabled American Veterans. Calling on Congress and the White House “to propose legislation to studying the effects of cannabis on 100 percent disabled volunteer PTSD Veterans,” Leinenkugel concluded that studying cannabis is the “right thing to do.”

Will Drugs Be Legalized In Mexico Under President AMLO?

South of the US-Mexico border, it’s not drugs that kill the innocent, but rather drug cartels – and that’s something Mexico’s next president seeks to change. Elected as president on Sunday, July 1, 2018, Andrés Manuel López Obrador won thanks to his commitment to reducing the country’s historic murder rate and restructuring the country’s flawed drug laws.

The president, who is colloquially known as AMLO, received more than 53 percent of the Mexican vote. He spoke in vague terms of combating the country’s “failed” drug policies during a Sunday night victory speech.

The ex-mayor of Mexico City, López Obrador “supported a public consultation on the possibility of regulating opium and decriminalizing marijuana,” according to Reuters.

Hemp Facilities Get Visit From Senate Leaders

While Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer can’t typically agree on much, they do agree on one topic: The federal government was wrong when they classified hemp within the Controlled Substances Act.

“Labeling hemp as a controlled substance is preventing industrial hemp from being a real game-changer for counties from Columbia County to Louisville, Kentucky.  Which is exactly why I am proud to support this bill and bring hemp into the forefront as an agricultural commodity,” said Schumer in a press release. “I will work in lockstep with Senators McConnell and Wyden to make sure this bill passes the Senate and becomes law.”

And driving that point home over the Fourth of July holiday, Senators Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer toured hemp facilities in their respective states.

The senior senator from New York noted in his July 3 press release, “the Capital Region and communities across Upstate New York are on the verge of a hemp explosion.” With farmers already authorized to plant hundreds of acres of hemp “for research purposes.”

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