Abraham Aiyash

Office: State Senate District 1

Party: Democrat

Questionnaire Responses

1. Question: Medical patients and consumers should always be the priority when it comes to cannabis. These questions get to the heart of patient and consumer safety issues of the day. Patient and Consumer Safety What does remediation of cannabis products mean?

a. Response: Remediation refers to the process of treating cannabis products that have failed safety testing, typically for contaminants like mold, pesticides, or microbial impurities, in order to bring them into compliance with safety standards rather than destroying them. Common remediation methods include irradiation, which uses radiation to kill contaminants, and reprocessing into extracted or manufactured products where the original contaminants may be reduced to acceptable levels.

2. Question: Patient and Consumer Safety Do you support or oppose requiring the Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA) to mandate that all cannabis products display a clear expiration date and explicitly state on the label whether the product has undergone remediation (e.g., sterilization or decontamination)?

a. Response: Strongly Support

3. Question: Patient and Consumer Safety How many cannabis consumers have died from cannabis consumption in the past 10 years? 20 years? 50 years?

a. Response: To my knowledge, there are no documented deaths attributable solely to cannabis consumption from toxicity or overdose in the recorded public health literature.

4. Question: Patient and Consumer Safety Are you aware of the number of registered and doctor reviewed medical cannabis patients in the US? In Michigan?

a. Response: Michigan has had hundreds of thousands of registered medical cannabis patients, withnumbers shifting after adult-use legalization in 2019 as some patients transitioned to the recreational market. Nationally, registered medical patients across all state programs number in the millions, though exact figures vary by how states track registration. I would work closely with the CRA and patient advocates to ensure my legislative approach reflects the most current data, because decisions affecting medical patients' access to safe and affordable medicine demand precision.

5. Question: Patient and Consumer Safety Non-Smokable Medicine and School Administration: Do you feel that legislation should be passed to allow pediatric patients to receive their non-smokable cannabis medicine (such as tinctures, oils, or edibles) while at school, administered similarly to a prescription pharmaceutical by a designated staff member or school nurse? Would you support or oppose such legislation?

a. Response: I would support legislation allowing this because denying pediatric patients access to their medicine during the school day is a patient safety issue, not a drug policy issue, and it should be treated accordingly.

6. Question: How should the Governor use their authority to ensure the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA) creates a favorable climate for increasing the cannabis usage footprint within the state?

a. Response: Increase enforcement of existing rules to eliminate inversion and diversion within the licensed industry.

7. Question: Michigan's cannabis excise tax revenues are currently distributed to local governments, K-12 education, and the Michigan Transportation Fund. What change, if any, to the distribution formula do you support?

a. Response: Dedicate a percentage of tax revenue specifically to the state cannabis social equity fund and related programs

8. Question: Do you support rescheduling cannabis? If you support rescheduling cannabis, are you aware of the potential of a new schedule for cannabis and other botanicals called Schedule VI?

a. Response: Yes, I support rescheduling cannabis at the federal level because its current Schedule I classification, which places it alongside heroin and above cocaine in terms of alleged danger and lack of accepted medical use, is scientifically indefensible and has served primarily as a justification for disproportionate enforcement against communities of color rather than as a legitimate public health standard.

9. Question: What is the most effective way for the State of Michigan to enhance genuine social equity participation and ownership within the cannabis industry?

a. Response: Fund low-interest loans, grants, and business mentorship specifically for social equity applicants

10. Question: Do you support state-level initiatives, like tax incentives or grants, to encourage Michigan's auto and manufacturing sectors to actively incorporate industrial hemp-based materials into their supply chain?

a. Response: Support

11. Question: Do you support economic development to help build the fiber and grain infrastructure for processing in Michigan?

a. Response: Yes

12. Question: What is the biggest issue pertaining to cannabis policy that is currently facing the state of Michigan?

a. Response: The biggest issue is that legalization has not delivered on its promise to the communities most harmed by prohibition. Black and low-income Michiganders bore the heaviest burden of cannabis enforcement and incarceration for decades, and the legal market has largely been captured by well-capitalized operators while equity applicants face capital barriers, licensing delays, a collapsed price environment, and criminal records that disqualify too many people before they ever reach the starting line. Legalization was supposed to begin correcting that history, and Michigan has fallen far short of that obligation.

13. Question: Do you support local municipal control in determining whether cannabis businesses should be allowed in communities throughout Michigan?

a. Response: Yes

14. Question: Will you ensure that your district offices will no longer require drug testing for cannabis as a requirement for hiring and ongoing employment as cannabis is now recreationally legal within Michigan?

a. Response: Yes

15. Question: How will you support MIOSHA in continuing to educate and enforce worker safety laws for cannabis employers?

a. Response: I will work to ensure MIOSHA has the staffing, resources, and enforcement authority necessary to hold cannabis employers to the same worker safety standards as every other industry, because the rapid growth of the cannabis sector has outpaced the regulatory infrastructure designed to protect the workers inside it.

16. Question: How will your office work to engage with and support the cannabis community?a. Response: My office will always have an open door for the cannabis community, including patients, consumers, equity licensees, workers, and industry stakeholders, and I will treat them as genuine governing partners. That means regular, structured engagement with cannabis patient advocates, social equity operators, and worker organizations throughout the legislative session, not only when cannabis-specific bills are moving.

17. Question: Are you aware that cannabis workers have unions in Michigan? Do you support them?

a. Response: Yes.

18. Question: Are you aware of the number of cannabis workers that have been killed or injured in the US? In Michigan?

a. Response: No

19. Question: Do you believe it is a right under the law for caregivers to provide cannabis to qualified patients?

a. Response: Yes

20. Question: Do you believe that the courts ought to have the ability to deny access to medical marijuana to probationers, parolees or other individuals under sanction by the criminal justice system?

a. Response: No

21. Question: Do you support or oppose the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act of 2008?

a. Response: Support

22. Question: Voter Will vs. Regulatory Overreach: The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act(MMMA) and the Michigan Regulated and Taxation of Marihuana Act(MRTA) were passed by voters. Do you believe it is acceptable for state regulatory agencies or the legislature to pass rules or laws that are perceived to contradict the will of the voters and nullify the rights established under the MMMA or the MRTA? If not, how will you prevent this?

a. Response: No, it is unacceptable. I will prevent this by opposing any legislation or CRA rule-making that contradicts the plain intent of the MMMA or MRTA, demanding transparency in the rule-making process so that voters and advocates can identify and challenge overreach before it takes effect, and using my platform to hold the CRA and my legislative colleagues accountable when regulatory decisions drift from what Michigan voters actually approved.

23. Question: What is the difference between THCa and d9-THC?

a. Response: THCa is the raw, non-psychoactive form of THC found in the living cannabis plant. When heat is applied through smoking, vaping, or cooking, a process called decarboxylation converts THCa into d9-THC, which is the psychoactive compound that produces intoxicating effects.

24. Question: How are active cannabinoids decarboxylated?

a. Response: Cannabinoids are decarboxylated through the application of heat, which removes a carboxyl group from the acidic cannabinoid molecule and converts it into its active form. This happens through smoking, vaping, baking, or any other process that exposes the plant material to sufficient temperature over time. The rate and completeness of decarboxylation depends on temperature and duration, with higher temperatures producing faster conversion but also risking degradation of the cannabinoids if overheated.

25. Question: Should cannabis have safety standards for heavy metals, pesticides, residual solvents, and microorganisms?

a. Response: ALL of the Above

26. Question: Is there science to show us the minimum amount of D9-THC to cause intoxication or driving impairment?

a. Response: No

27. Question: Do you think we need more research to understand the safety of cannabis? If yes, how much more research do we need and will you help fund that research?

a. Response: Yes, more research is needed, and federal Schedule I classification has been the single biggest barrier to conducting it, restricting the quality, quantity, and independence of cannabis science for decades while policy has raced ahead of the evidence base. I will support state-level funding for cannabis research through Michigan universities and public health institutions, and I will advocate for rescheduling at the federal level because it would unlock NIH funding and research infrastructure that would accelerate the science faster.

28. Question: Do you support hemp derived cannabinoids in cosmetics?

a. Response: Yes

29. Question: Do you support hemp derived cannabinoids in food?

a. Response: Yes

30. Question: Do you support hemp derived cannabinoids in intoxicating beverages?

a. Response: Yes

31. Question: Do you support additional regulation for hemp derived products in the US? In Michigan?

a. Response: Yes

32. Question: What is your opinion of hemp derived products being controlled by Liquor Control Board instead of by the Cannabis Regulatory Agency?

a. Response: They should be regulated by the Cannabis Regulatory Agency, not the Liquor Control Board. The CRA was built with the expertise, infrastructure, and mandate to oversee cannabinoid products; placing hemp-derived products under the LCB creates regulatory confusion, undermines the integrity of Michigan's cannabis framework, and does a disservice to both consumers and the licensed industry that has invested in doing things the right way.Write your text here...