A newly formed cannabis organization is pledging to provide a fresh avenue to promote industry standards in a way that it hopes will align advocates, stakeholders, regulators and government bodies behind reform.<\/p>\n
The nonprofit S3 Collective is co-founded by David Vaillencourt, who\u2019s served as vice chair of a cannabis-focused committee of the standards organization ASTM International. S3, accordingly, stands for Standards, Science and Safety.<\/p>\n
While there\u2019s no deficit of marijuana advocacy and trade groups working on reform issues, the mission behind S3 is to fill a \u201cmajor gap\u201d that still exists by collecting and disseminating the \u201cobjective, trusted data and solutions\u201d that advocates can then \u201cuse to their advantage to help push a harmonized framework\u201d and advance their own efforts, Vaillencourt told Marijuana Moment.<\/p>\n
Having science-based, unified industry standards would also help align the marijuana market with the vast majority of other industries that operate under shared sets of principles, he said.<\/p>\n
Case in point: advocates are working to bring on more state regulators to adopt a universal marijuana packaging symbol<\/a>, spearheaded by Doctors for Drug Policy Reform (DDPR) and ASTM International, so that there\u2019s consistency in marijuana product labeling across state markets, instead of the existing patchwork.<\/p>\n The symbol is a \u201cperfect example of one basic standard that\u2019s market relevant and allows consumers to know what\u2019s in their products, and it allows industry to be standardized,\u201d Vaillencourt said.<\/p>\n This kind of work builds on what he\u2019s helped to achieve with ASTM, getting the National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM) to adopt national standards for cannabis packaging, labeling and storage<\/a> that are being incorporated into a federal handbook.<\/p>\n Beyond helping to identify and establish those standards, S3 sees itself as uniquely positioned as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that does not lobby and can provide unbiased information to government entities that are dealing with reform issues like the ongoing administrative scheduling review into marijuana\u2019s status under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).<\/p>\n The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has already carried out its own scientific assessment and advised the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III<\/a>.<\/p>\n Once DEA makes its determination and opens the issue up to public comment, however, there\u2019s expected to be a groundswell of input from a multitudes of sources. Advocacy and industry groups will no doubt contribute\u2014but S3 says it plans to provide a much-needed scientific perspective, without having a direct financial incentive in the scheduling outcome.<\/p>\n With a team of scientists and technical experts based at universities and in private practice, the aim is to have S3 \u201ccontribute to creating a comprehensive scientific response [to DEA] that will support the findings of the FDA.\u201d<\/p>\n Being able to \u201ccorrect any misinformation\u201d that comes out of the public comment period\u2014for example, from prohibitionist groups that have already started pushing DEA to reject the HHS rescheduling recommendation\u2014will \u201cdemonstrate why this is so critical,\u201d Vaillencourt said.<\/p>\n Another aspect of the S3 Collective\u2019s<\/a> mission is to find mutual partners in the advocacy and trade spaces, including a number of major groups that have signed on to a new pledge letter which lays out shared ideological principles.<\/p>\n The signatories include American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp (ATACH), DDPR, NORML, National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education, and Regulation (CPEAR) and more.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the dynamic landscape of the cannabis industry, the undersigned associations collectively recognize the imperative need for a functional, safe, and reliable marketplace for cannabis and cannabinoid products,\u201d the letter says. \u201cThis can only be realized through unity, collaboration, and a deep commitment to ethical, scientific, and sustainable principles.\u201d<\/p>\n Vaillencourt said that the idea behind the letter is meant to show that while the groups \u201cdon\u2019t have to agree\u201d about every facet of cannabis reform, they\u2019re \u201cagreeing to have a conversation\u201d about the broader stakes.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil you\u2019re willing to have a conversation at the table, we can\u2019t understand and work to align and harmonize together,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s critical. Philosophically, all of these entities agree on the principles. That means we actually have agreement and you start there.\u201d<\/p>\n Ohio Republican Lawmaker Files Bill To Allow Cities To Ban Marijuana Use And Home Grow One Week Before Legalization Takes Effect<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post New Cannabis Nonprofit Aims To Promote Industry Standards In Support Of Advocacy Efforts<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A newly formed cannabis organization is pledging to provide a fresh avenue to promote industry standards in a way that it hopes will align advocates, stakeholders, regulators and government bodies behind reform. The nonprofit S3 Collective is co-founded by David Vaillencourt, who\u2019s served as vice chair of a cannabis-focused committeeContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70557"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70557"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70558,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70557\/revisions\/70558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: New Cannabis Nonprofit Aims To Promote Industry Standards In Support Of Advocacy Efforts<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"