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Three Senate Democrats drafted a plan to end the federal ban on marijuana. While the US reached its highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded, a federal court says banning handgun sales to under 21-year-olds is unconstitutional. Western heat threatens to wipe out endangered salmon.
The top three Democrats in the Senate have drafted a plan to end the federal ban on marijuana while implementing a series of programs to help communities harmed by the war on drugs. The plan was drafted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Corey Booker (D-NJ), CBS reported.
Under the plan, marijuana would be removed from the federal list of controlled substances, and states will write their laws regarding cannabis. In addition, the regulatory jurisdiction of marijuana would be shifted away from the Drug Enforcement Agency and given to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Deaths in the United States from drug overdoses reached a staggering 93,000 last year, a number that rose by 29 percent over the previous year, and 21,000 deaths higher than the most ever recorded in America, the AP and Stat News reported. Experts quickly attributed the increase in overdose deaths to lockdown and other pandemic restrictions, adjoining these factors as isolating those with drug addictions and faulted increased difficulty for people to get treatment.
A three-judge panel of the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals has deemed that a federal regulation that sets a minimum age of 21 years for purchasing handguns from licensed dealers violates the second amendment and, therefore, unconstitutional, CNN reported.
“Looking through this historical lens to the text and structure of the Constitution reveals that 18- to 20-year-olds have Second Amendment rights,” Judge Julius N. Richardson, writing the majority opinion. “Virtually every other constitutional right applies whatever the age. And the Second Amendment is no different.”
Nearly all juvenile Chinook salmon, an endangered species, could die due to abnormally hot underwater conditions in the Sacramento River. As the West continues to cook under relentless heat waves, California officials are warning, CNN reported. The region has experienced numerous extended days where temperatures exceeded 100 degrees, resulting in overheating the river. According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) statement, the high water temperature makes it uninhabitable for the fish to grow beyond their egg stage.
