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Did Orange man make Cannabis legal at the Federal level in 2018?

Mitakuye Oyasin

Mitakuye Oyasin

Established member
In 2018 Orange man signed the Farm Bill into law in the USA. Did this bill, and a THCa loophole within the bill, legally make most Cannabis legal at the Federal level within the United States of America? I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV. This is an interesting video by a Cannabis industry lawyer that claims that the THCa loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill changed the Federal definition of what Marijuana is and what Hemp is, and he claims that it changed it in our favor as fellow Cannabis users! I'd love to hear what other legal minds and Cannabis users think of this concept and this Farm Bill and if this was a stealth trojan horse (quite possible accidental) to dismantle the unfair and unnatural Gov prohibition on the natural medicine known as Cannabis or Marijuana.


PS this is not intended as a political post, but a legal one. Please do not make this about politics, just the law and its interpretation. Thanks and happy 420 in advance.
 
Mitakuye Oyasin said:
Who is?
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The guvment. Let's stay on not worrying about who was President. Don't think it matters much in either case.
They were legislating about CBD, they didn't foresee the loopholes, and they want to close them.
I haven't followed it for a while, but last I heard they were going to increase the amount of THC allowed to 1% but make that apply to "all isomers" of THC. It would still allow the edibles since the loophole there is that you can get high on something which is .3% THC eating it. You can fit 10mg of THC in a gummy which is .3% THC. However, it would end the THCA bud and other smokeables.
 
I have noticed that several USA suppliers of CBD are now selling either THC-A crystals (diamonds) and/or Cannabis flowers (Buds) with high THC-A across state lines into various states. This seems to back up the claim that THC-A was made Federally legal via the 2018 Farm Bill. I hope this grows and continues instead of getting shut down.
 
A quick search showed me that Biden signed an extension of the 2018 Farm Bill extending it through September 2024. I didn't find anything on the status of the THCA (etc.) loophole, although I didn't look super hard.
My state just legalized and is talking about making all the legal THC stuff illegal. THCA, D8, HHC, etc., etc.. That is often the case when states legalize since they don't want the profit margin cut. :)
Yeah, it was neat to walk into a smoke shop and buy THCA buds, although they were more expensive than street pot. I did it a few times just because. Tried most of the other legal cannabinoids as well. THCA buds were the real deal.
There are places online where you can buy THCA distillate surprisingly cheaply. It's weird by itself, a nice high but something seems missing until you add a little CBD. I imagine adding an alphabet soup of other cannabinoids (CBG, CBN, CBC, yadda) would help even more.
 
It would seem that the original Bill changed the Federal legal definition of "Marijuana" and "Hemp". MJ has over .3% Delta9 THC, while all other Cannabis products with less than .3% Delta9 THC are legally now considered HEMP products. Sorta brilliant from a legal standpoint. Now your sticky buds that were considered Marijuana are legally Hemp now as they contain THC-A and not Delta9 THC. As you stated before it looks like CongressCritters are trying to write a new Farm Bill or amend it. Since they could not come to any agreement on the Bill, Biden extended the Bill and funding for it through Sept of 2024. Sure hope these new legal definitions stay and allow Cannabis to be legal at the Federal level for all 50 states. Free the Medicine!
 
Also agree with you that THC-A isolate as well as D8 isolate seem to be very dull, one-dimensional and monotone without much depth to them, unlike good buds that have the full spectrum of Cannabinoids.
 
And, most regular old bud is mostly THCA anyway. THCA is what the plant produces and it turns to THC upon heating or drying. All they do is find bud which is higher in THCA and sell that. It's often the same as dispensary bud. In a local smoke shop, I knew the shady owner and he was putting dispensary bud in his THCA bud jars when he ran out and was waiting on his new supply.

Even the bud sold as THCA bud will likely end up more than .3% THC through time and drying. Thing is, the cops don't have the means to test for such things and Marijuana is low priority for them now even in illegal states. Those that care are pushing to make all smoke shop cannabinoids illegal. Then it will be easy for them.

Realize it will happen. It always does. Even Kratom with a huge and organized movement to prevent illegalization is slowly losing ground. There are scares to be had to further carreers. I also hope it takes quite a while.

I got to try ∆9 THC-O-acetate while it was available legally for a while (the DEA moved to squelch that). It did take 1/2 hour to fully hit smoked and lasted a while. Eating it, it came on over a few hours and kept you stoned to the bone forever. Raised your tolerance uber quickly though, and I didn't buy any more. Buds are indeed much better than any of those made from CBD cannabiniods.
 
Orange man is now openly talking about legalizing Cannabis. So here’s the rabbit hole on how outlawing alcohol 100 years ago spawned global networks of organized crime and empowered criminals for a 100 years and more. History is so much more complicated and fascinating than you’re taught in school. Video is researcher/podcaster Ian Carroll.

View attachment IanCarrollTrumpLegalizeCannabis.mp4
 
Mitakuye Oyasin said:
Orange man is now openly talking about legalizing Cannabis. So here’s the rabbit hole on how outlawing alcohol 100 years ago spawned global networks of organized crime and empowered criminals for a 100 years and more. History is so much more complicated and fascinating than you’re taught in school. Video is researcher/podcaster Ian Carroll.

View attachment 99964
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He's talking about legalizing it in Florida. Gaetz has been for a while, and he's pretty evil. Trump also is talking about paying for IVF for everyone. He's pretty much off the rails.
Harris has talked about national legalization for a while and Biden has us near rescheduling right now.
 
Mitakuye Oyasin said:
Did you watch the video?
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I just now did. Good video, but I didn't see anything I didn't know. I think that states are legalizing because the indoor growing revolution took pot out of the hands of organized crime (which includes the government). So, they had to get that cash flow back.

Anyway, I just saying that Trump's been all over on this subject and I haven't seen much good come out of him. They just legalized in my state and I passed out literature at the polls in the weeks of early voting. I did it in the Dem area and they had signs up supporting.

This is getting to be politics, though. I might stop back and delete this.
 
Thanks. Yes I want to be respectful to the no politics rule as well. I think the 2018 Farm Bill that legalized THC-A was the first wave, a test, to see if there were any problems that might arise that they did not anticipate on the road to legalization at the Federal level for Cannabis. No such problems have appeared as far as I can tell and Cannabis is flowing through the mail from state to state with no problems from online vendors. The next step, the one talked about in the video, is to change the classification or "schedule" of Cannabis at the Federal level. The goal appears to be getting organized crime out of the Cannabis industry. RFK, Jr has been talking about this as well and goes into more detail about the how and why to do something like this. We all know the current "no medical value" schedule of Cannabis is complete BS. Cannabis has always been medicinal, from ancient times right up through the present. ANY medicine has the potential to be abused, but that does not negate its medical benefits. Time will tell, will be interesting to see how this all unfolds.
 
Mitakuye Oyasin said:
Thanks. Yes I want to be respectful to the no politics rule as well. I think the 2018 Farm Bill that legalized THC-A was the first wave, a test, to see if there were any problems that might arise that they did not anticipate on the road to legalization at the Federal level for Cannabis. No such problems have appeared as far as I can tell and Cannabis is flowing through the mail from state to state with no problems from online vendors. The next step, the one talked about in the video, is to change the classification or "schedule" of Cannabis at the Federal level. The goal appears to be getting organized crime out of the Cannabis industry. RFK, Jr has been talking about this as well and goes into more detail about the how and why to do something like this. We all know the current "no medical value" schedule of Cannabis is complete BS. Cannabis has always been medicinal, from ancient times right up through the present. ANY medicine has the potential to be abused, but that does not negate its medical benefits. Time will tell, will be interesting to see how this all unfolds.
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They just legalized in my state and prices are ridiculously high. There have been signs around town selling THCA bud since the bill went through but before legal sales got into place.
Now that there is actually legal sale, the THCA vendors are still selling theirs cheaper. So, the state is moving to make all such things illegal.

Your video did emphasize money and profit and it was certainly spot on. At the root of it, this will always be about money.
 
Anyone made the connection with the UN/WHO joint declaration of December 2017?

Anyway a "loophole" ain't about honesty & respect, while decent consumers find themselves in a void between bigotry and mer¢antili$m driven by lawyers on both sides, among a few...
 
"Anyone made the connection with the UN/WHO joint declaration of December 2017?"

You would need to be more specific.
 
A fuller review of extracts or preparations containing almost exclusively CBD will take place in June 2018, when the WHO expert committee will undertake a comprehensive review of cannabis and cannabis related substances.
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Here's a link to a pdf of the review referred to in the above excerpt from the Dec 2017 WHO newsroom comment on CBD:

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cdn.who.int
And here's the press release re the Jun 2018 (pre-)review:

WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence review of cannabis

www.who.int www.who.int
The Committee made two main decisions:

  1. There was sufficient evidence to proceed to a critical review of cannabis and related substances at the next ECDD meeting in November 2018.
  2. The ECDD recommended that preparations considered to be pure cannabidiol (CBD) not be placed under international drug control as the substance was not found to have psychoactive properties, and presents no potential for abuse or dependence.
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This 2020 document (links to pdf) details in full the scheduling decision arrived at through the critical (evidence-based) review of November 2018:

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www.unodc.org
(d) To delete extracts and tinctures of cannabis from Schedule I of the 1961 Convention;
(e) To add a footnote to the entry for cannabis and cannabis resin in Schedule I of the 1961 Convention to read “Preparations containing predominantly cannabidiol and not more than 0.2 per cent of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol are not under international control”;
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15. The Commission is expected to vote on the WHO scheduling recommendations
on cannabis and cannabis-related substances during its reconvened sixty-third session.
The voting is scheduled for 2 December 2020.
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So, the result of the vote?

UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs reclassifies cannabis to recognize its therapeutic uses

On 2nd December 2020, the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), the drug policy making body of the UN re-classified cannabis and cannabis resin under an international listing that recognizes its medical value.
www.who.int www.who.int
news.un.org

UN commission reclassifies cannabis, yet still considered harmful

In reviewing a series of World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations on cannabis and its derivatives, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) zeroed-in on the decision to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs — where it was listed alongside specific...
news.un.org news.un.org
Statements on the vote from the various member countries here (pdf):

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www.unodc.org
[Turkey seemed particularly upset that they were on the side outvoted by 27:25, but there appears to be a different interpretation of democracy in the then as now present Turkish regime compared with many European countries.]
Summary news article here:
www.ungeneva.org

UN commission reclassifies cannabis, no longer considered risky narcotic | The United Nations Office at Geneva

www.ungeneva.org www.ungeneva.org

We're over 3¹/₂ years on from this decision, the German state* has done its best to obfuscate and hinder the supposed "legalisation" process behind a mountain of (surprise-surprise!) bureaucracy and postponed decisions. Ho-hum.
(*As a federal state the individual states have played a considerable role in the varying degrees of hindrance across the country as a whole).

How's it looking in other parts of the world? Is the ongoing liberalisation in the USA a consequence of the UN decision, or was it as much a forerunner?
 
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