Missourians Undecided On Cannabis, Australia's Unapproved Medical Marijuana Products & More Updates

Nearly Half Of Missouri Voters Back Marijuana Legalization, Lots Undecided

Just under half (48%) of Missouri voters are in favor of the cannabis legalization initiative scheduled for the November ballot, according to a new poll from Emerson College Polling and The Hill reported Marijuana Moment.

While the survey shows that less than a majority of Missourians back legalization, it is important to mention that only 35% are against it, and 17% remain undecided.

The widest support was seen among Democrats (70%), Biden voters (69%), younger people aged 35-49 (65%), 18-34 (63%), and Black voters (57%).

It is interesting to note that pro-legalization activists against this initiative are critical of it due to its lack of social equity propositions though Blacks are the only demographic with majority support in this survey.

Results of the poll came in a few days after Amendment 3, a measure to legalize the cultivation, processing and sales to adults 21 and older was attacked once again. State prosecutors called the measure "nothing more than thirty pages of mischief."

The Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys criticized the proposed constitutional amendment, backed by Legal Missouri 2022, on several accounts in a position paper published on Thursday. Among the raised concerns was the issue of impaired driving, with the association claiming that the measure doesn't allow courts to stop drivers' use of marijuana in case of those charged or convicted of killing someone while driving under the influence of cannabis.

Amsterdam’s Mayor Wants To Ban ‘Cannabis Tourists’ From Coffee Shops 

Mayor Femke Halsema is pushing for a temporary ban on non-residents in coffee shops through the enforcement of a national residents-only rule, also known as the i-criterium, reported The Guardian.

It is expected that the ban wouldn’t be supported by most of the councilors on Wednesday, but Halsema is still confident of finding a way to limit the soft drug sector and address the tourist nuisance and various related criminal activities.

During the council meeting on Thursday, Halsema said “My good friends, we will let the i-criterium simmer in your heads.”

According to a recent survey, 100 of Amsterdam's 166 coffee shops mostly serve tourists.

Unapproved Medical Marijuana Products In Australia On The Rise Due To Chronic Pain

The number of prescriptions for unapproved medical marijuana products in Australia has increased fourfold over the past three years, reported The Guardian. According to researchers, most of the prescriptions for medical cannabis are for products that haven’t been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration for legal supply.

Physicians first must apply to the TGA via the Special Access Scheme to obtain approval to prescribe cannabis products and disclose why existing approved products are not efficient.

Since the beginning of the year, the TGA has authorized more than 200,000 medical marijuana prescriptions via this scheme for patients who don’t suffer from severe conditions, but who can’t get help from any evidence-based treatments for their disease. In 2021, the administration approved 122,486 such prescriptions, which compares to 57,714 in the year before, and 25,516 in 2019.

It is important to note that physicians who take care of terminally ill patients or those likely to die prematurely apply via a different scheme.

Karen Price, president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, said medical marijaua products should be the “last-resort medication for specific illness...Most of the research on medicinal cannabis products is on five clinical conditions: multiple sclerosis, palliative care, epilepsy, nausea and vomiting, and chronic non-cancer pain.”

The report noted that the most common condition for medical marijuana prescriptions was chronic pain (60%), and nearly one in four were for anxiety, even though there’s little evidence marijuana can help with anxiety long term.

A Majority Of Singaporeans Support Medical Marijuana Legalization

A new survey of 1,000 residents revealed that a majority of Singaporeans support medical marijuana legalization. More precisely, 53% said that cannabis for medical purposes only should be legal, writes The Star.

Around 35% said no to any form of legalization, while the remaining 12% said yes to both medical and recreational marijuana legalization.

Currently, medical marijuana use is rare in the country.

During a Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association conference on Thursday, Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam explained that the country formed its policies on scientific research, which currently shows that marijuana use is harmful. Sinagpore allows marijuana-derived therapies in a controlled environment, but only for patients who exhausted all other treatments.

“If a doctor tells me, and doctors do say in Singapore, they need to use cannabis, we allow. If doctors prescribe it under certain conditions for a patient, we will approve ... But that should be a choice of doctors, not pharma companies selling through shops,” he said.

Photo: Courtesy of Ramdlon, ganjaspliffstoreuk by Pixabay