Pennsylvania
Investigation: Medical marijuana is an area of law that appears to be constantly changing
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Marijuana legal guidelines are evolving and range from state to state, particularly in relation to DUI enforcement.
In Pennsylvania and Delaware, the DUI legal guidelines are referred to as “zero tolerance,” that means you could possibly get charged with DUI with any quantity of hashish in your system whether or not impaired or not.
Critics, together with Pennsylvania State Consultant Chris Rabb, consider that is unfair.
Rabb presently has a invoice that will change the regulation right here in Pennsylvania and require proof of impairment for DUI and hashish.
In mid-February, Consultant Rabb agreed to take a drug check to show his level.
“I really feel nice to do something as a result of I am not impaired,” stated Rabb, who takes hashish tinctures at evening to assist with sleep.
Tinctures are a liquid infused with hashish.
“I take a 3rd of dropper below my tongue and swallow it,” he stated.
It has been greater than 12 hours since he took his medical marijuana.
“I get up feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with no signs,” he added.
Rabb is amongst almost a half million Pennsylvanians who’ve a medical marijuana card.
He stated he takes the tinctures after struggling Submit Traumatic Stress Dysfunction (PTSD) after he witnessed a brutal homicide in a nook retailer in 2016.
“These of us who have been there on the scene feared that he would kill us all,” he stated.
Dr. Brooke Worster is a professor of Medical Hashish Science and Medication at Thomas Jefferson College.
“Do you assume states like Pennsylvania and Delaware ought to transfer away from no tolerance and have proof of impairment?” requested Chad Pradelli.
“I do,” stated Worster.
Her opinion is the prevalence of THC within the bloodstream does not essentially equate to impairment.
“So that you’re left with a whole lot of guesswork, and particularly for individuals within the subject, when it comes to what’s secure and what is not, it is an actual problem,” she stated.
States together with New Jersey require proof of impairment to be charged with DUI for hashish.
At present, there isn’t a roadside check or know-how to find out ranges of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that will get you excessive and show impairment.
However like different states, Pennsylvania State Police has seen a surge in drug DUIs that features marijuana.
“If they’ve taken it inside 24 hours, they’re nonetheless impaired,” stated Corporal John Witkowski.
Witkowski runs the state police DUI and Drug Recognition Company chargeable for recognizing drivers impaired on medicine together with marijuana.
He stated there is a false impression that marijuana and driving will not be a harmful mixture.
“They assume they’re secure to drive as a result of it has that phrase medical hooked up to it,” stated Witkowski.
Rabb stated he isn’t selling unsafe driving, however since THC ranges may seem in your system days after, utilizing the present regulation does not make sense.
“When you drive impaired, there must be penalties,” he stated. “I do not care what’s in your system.”
However Consultant Rabb stated the outcomes of his drug check outcomes additionally show his level.
“Mentioned I used to be stuffed with hashish. And I have been instructed I’m stuffed with a whole lot of issues (laughs), however I by no means noticed a check that stated I had hashish.”
He stated he took a severe danger taking a drug check for our story, exposing him to potential DUI, regardless of saying he by no means drives impaired.
“I am not a danger taker by nature, however I believe there’s so few individuals who can be snug speaking about this on-air with out severe repercussions,” he added.
Rabb presently has a invoice that will change the regulation right here in Pennsylvania to resemble New Jersey, and require proof of impairment for DUI and hashish.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey stands by Biden, says voters will decide on issues, not bad debate
PENNSYLVANIA – Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey said Monday that President Joe Biden is able to run a strong race and serve a second term in the Oval Office, standing by his close ally in the critical battleground state following a disastrous debate performance that’s prompting some national Democrats to question his candidacy.
Casey had stayed quiet about Biden’s performance before making his first public appearances since Thursday night’s debate, including a campaign stop in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the blue-collar hometown that he shares with Biden and that the president name-checked in the debate.
Casey, who is also seeking reelection in November, acknowledged that Biden had a bad debate, but also suggested that voters have bigger concerns.
“He had a bad night and debate, but I think people know what’s at stake,” Casey told reporters, arguing that voters are more concerned about issues like abortion, labor and voting rights and the fate of democracy.
“I’ve been at this a while, and I know his work,” Casey said. “And I also know that the American people and the people of Pennsylvania are going to focus on these races in the way that I just outlined.”
Casey would not elaborate on why he thinks Biden is fit and said he doesn’t worry that Biden’s debate performance would affect his own race for Senate.
They lead the ticket together in a battleground state that is critical to the Democrats’ fortunes in holding the White House and Senate. No Democrat has won the White House without Pennsylvania’s support since Harry S. Truman in 1948.
Casey’s opponent, former hedge fund executive David McCormick — like other down-ballot Republicans — has seized on Biden’s performance, accusing Casey of lying about Biden’s fitness to be president and suggesting that Biden’s Cabinet should consider forcing him out of office, using the 25th Amendment.
The president’s debate performance last week left many donors, party strategists and rank-and-file DNC members publicly and privately saying they want the 81-year-old Biden to step aside to allow the party to select a younger replacement at the Democratic National Convention in August.
Biden spent the weekend trying to stabilize his campaign, then gathering with family as previously planned at Camp David, where they discussed the path forward.
The president and his team characterized his debate performance as an outlier, arguing one bad night shouldn’t define him or jeopardize the election.
Biden told a Saturday fundraiser on Long Island that he didn’t have a “great night” at the debate, but that former President Donald Trump’s falsehoods and reminders about the January 6, 2021, insurrection had resonated more with undecided voters.
McCormick, for his part, hasn’t commented on a blatant falsehood Trump told during the debate about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters. Trump falsely claimed the attackers were “a relatively small number of people that went to the Capitol and in many cases were ushered in by the police.”
Pennsylvania
Cheyney University of Pennsylvania no longer on probation, school says
CHEYNEY, Pa. – Cheyney University, the oldest historically Black college in the United States (HBCU) is no longer on probation.
According to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the university has had its accreditation reaffirmed after the commission placed the school on probation last November due to alleged “insufficient evidence” that it was in compliance with multiple university standards.
The HBCU released the following statement Monday:
“Cheyney University appreciates Middle States Commission on Higher Education’s (MSCHE) review of our accreditation and its decision to remove our probationary status as of June 27, 2024. This reaffirmation of accreditation by MSCHE validates our unwavering commitment to academic and operational excellence. It also reinforces our view that an accreditation process must be fair and transparent for all institutions of higher education, including HBCUs.
While we agree with this decision, we remain disappointed by the process to arrive at this long-overdue outcome and will continue to advocate for equity and transparency. This current Commission decision is consistent with the assessment of three separate MSCHE-appointed peer evaluator teams that visited Cheyney’s campus between February 2023 and April 2024 and formally reported that Cheyney appears to meet the Commission’s Standards of Accreditation and Requirements of Affiliation. Middle States’ decision reflects the undeniable progress Cheyney University of Pennsylvania has achieved under the stewardship of our administration, the dedication of faculty and staff, and the relentless support of our countless advocates who have stood by Cheyney throughout this entire process so we can serve our students and continue to uphold the legacy of our institution.”
The university says MSCHE has requested that the school submit a customary monitoring report, due March 1, 2025 as a part of its accreditation action.
“Our next evaluation visit by Middle States is scheduled for 2030-2031, part of our eight-year accreditation cycle,” the statement concluded.
“As a part of its accreditation action, MSCHE, has requested that the university submit a monitoring report, which is customary, due March 1, 2025.
Pennsylvania
Lawsuit reveals hidden mail-in ballots in Washington County
A western Pennsylvania county’s elected commissioners were sued Monday over a policy adopted for this year’s primary in which people whose mail-in ballots were disqualified for technical violations say they were purposely not informed in time to fix errors.
Seven disqualified primary voters, the local NAACP branch and the Center for Coalfield Justice sued Washington County’s election board over what they called “systematic and deliberate efforts” to conceal the policy by directing elections office staff not to tell voters who called that they had made errors that prevented their votes from being counted.
The lawsuit filed in county common pleas court said the policy resulted in 259 voters being disenfranchised and many of those voters still do not realize it. The seven voters who are suing, ages 45 to 85, all had their mail-in ballots invalidated because of incomplete or missing dates, the lawsuit stated. One also failed to sign the exterior envelope and another signed in the wrong place.
The lawsuit says no other county in Pennsylvania “actively conceals the insufficiency of a voter’s mail-in ballot submission, especially when a voter calls their county elections’ office to inquire whether their mail-in ballot meets the requirements and will be counted.”
“Because of the board’s actions, voters had no way of learning that their ballot would not be counted, and were deprived of the opportunity to protect their right to vote by taking advantage of an existing statutory process: voting by provisional ballot,” the lawsuit claimed.
The lawsuit seeks to have Washington County’s current policy declared unconstitutional as a violation of due process rights and to prevent the elections board from concealing information from voters and misleading them. It was filed by lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, Public Interest Law Center and the Philadelphia-based law firm Dechert.
Washington County had notified voters their ballots were filled out incorrectly and gave those voters a chance to fix them until this year’s April 23 primary. For this year’s primary, the Washington commissioners voted 2-1 to not allow voters to cure improper ballots and had staff mark them in the statewide elections software as “received,” a status that does not tell voters their ballots won’t be counted. The two Republican commissioners were in favor, the Democrat opposed.
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