Colorado officials announced on Monday that the state has achieved a “wildly important goal” of increasing diversity in the legal marijuana industry—but the data shows there’s still a way to go before cannabis business ownership is on par with the state’s population demographics.

Nearly 17 percent of the state’s cannabis businesses are now minority-owned as of January 1, the Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) reported. Colorado had set a goal of at least 16.8 percent minority ownership in the cannabis sector by June 30, 2022, and that’s already been narrowly exceeded by the beginning of the year.

When data on licensee demographics started to be collected in July 2021, there was 15.2 percent minority ownership in the marijuana market. Now it’s up to 16.8 percent.

As of January 1, the state has also approved 50 social equity licenses for communities disproportionately impacted by prohibition.

Via Colorado DOR.

As one of the first states to legalize marijuana for adult use, there’s been significant pressure on Colorado to ensure that the industry is equitable, benefitting those who have been most impacted under criminalization.

“Colorado is demonstrating that intentionally revising state marijuana laws to be more equitable gets results,” Shaleen Title, a former Massachusetts cannabis regulator and current CEO of the Parabola Center, told Marijuana Moment.

“If one of the most mature markets can make clear progress, it’s not too late for any market. And although there’s always more to go—we should all be aiming for proportional representation in ownership at the very least—Colorado is setting and reaching reasonable goals,” she said. “It’s good for transparency and it’s good for morale, and having more data on what’s working at the state level is valuable to inform federal policy.”

(Disclosure: Title supports Marijuana Moment’s work via a monthly pledge on Patreon.)

As part of Colorado’s commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion, Social Equity Licenses are one of the many ways our Marijuana Enforcement Division is supporting diversity initiatives in the cannabis industry. To learn more, visit https://t.co/ye7c6WQJOZ @ColoradoEcoDevo pic.twitter.com/NljRlGtcuU

— CO Dept. of Revenue (@CO_Revenue) January 21, 2022

A demographic breakdown of the new data shows that while there’s been an increase in minority ownership, the percentage of black people who own a majority stake in a cannabis business (2.9 percent) is still lower than the percentage of black people who live in the state (4.6 percent).

There’s also a significant disparity when it comes to gender and marijuana licensing. MED’s report says that there are 1,535 men who own a marijuana business, compared to just 350 women.

And with respect to license type, white people have a notably more expansive portfolio compared to other races.

Via MED.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) is also working to right the wrongs of prohibition outside of licensing. For example, last month he granted 1,351 pardons for convictions of possession of two ounces or less of marijuana.

That move focused on people who were made eligible for relief under a new law that increased the legal cannabis possession limit for adults in the state, which Polis signed in May. At the time, he directed state law enforcement to identify people with prior convictions for amounts under the new, two-ounce limit.

Polis signed an executive order in 2020 that granted clemency to almost 3,000 people convicted of possessing one ounce or less of marijuana. And while earlier legislation that enabled him to do that in an expedited way applied to possession cases involving up to two ounces, his office declined to pardon those with more than one ounce on their records because that amount violated the existing state law.

As the state works to increase diversity in the marijuana industry, it’s also collecting significant tax revenue from cannabis sales.

Last year alone, Colorado generated $423 million in tax revenue from cannabis, the state’s Department of Revenue reported last week.

Nearly $500 million of cannabis tax revenue in Colorado has supported the state’s public school system so far, according to a report from the Marijuana Policy Project.

Massachusetts Marijuana Tax Revenue Now Exceeds Alcohol By Millions

The post Colorado Meets Marijuana Industry Diversity Goal Ahead Of Schedule appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

Massachusetts is officially collecting more tax revenue from marijuana than alcohol, state data shows.

As of December 2021, the state took in $51.3 million from alcohol taxes and $74.2 million from cannabis at the halfway point of the fiscal year.

Overall, Massachusetts has seen $2.54 billion in adult-use marijuana purchases since the market came online in November 2018. Regulators first reported that the state achieved the $2 billion sales milestone in September.

The news about cannabis overtaking alcohol in terms of tax revenue, which WCVB-TV first reported, is a welcome development for advocates who have been arguing that the plant is less harmful than liquor and could be used as a substitute.

Illinois also saw cannabis taxes beat out booze for the first time last year, with the state collecting about $100 million more from adult-use marijuana than alcohol during 2021.

States that have legalized marijuana have collectively garnered more than $10 billion in cannabis tax revenue since the first licensed sales started in 2014, according to a report released by the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) earlier this month.

And in those adult-use states, regulators are doing what they can to ensure that the tax dollars are effectively invested.

For example, Illinois is dedicating portions of tax revenue to mental health services, as well as local organizations “developing programs that benefit disadvantaged communities.” In July, state officials put $3.5 million in cannabis-generated funds toward efforts to reduce violence through street intervention programs.

California officials announced in June that they were awarding about $29 million in grants funded by marijuana tax revenue to 58 nonprofit organizations, with the intent of righting the wrongs of the war on drugs. The state collected about $817 million in adult-use marijuana tax revenue during the 2020-2021 fiscal year, state officials estimated last summer. That’s 55 percent more cannabis earnings for state coffers than was generated in the prior fiscal year.

Nearly $500 million of cannabis tax revenue in Colorado has supported the state’s public school system. That state brought in a record $423 million in marijuana tax dollars last year.

Governors Across The U.S. Tout Marijuana Reform Progress In State Of The State Speeches And Budgets

The post Massachusetts Marijuana Tax Revenue Now Exceeds Alcohol By Millions appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

Governors across the U.S. have been taking the opportunity to tout marijuana reform accomplishments as part of their annual State of the State speeches and budget requests this month.

From New York to South Dakota, the comments and proposals from state executives demonstrate how cannabis has become more mainstream and is being talked about in high profile venues alongside more traditional fare such as taxes, education and infrastructure.

It’s also part of a growing theme, as governors have increasingly brought up marijuana policy in State of the State addresses each year to kick off the new year as the legalization movement spreads.

Here’s a look at what governors are saying about marijuana policy in 2022: 

New Jersey

While adult-use marijuana retail sales have yet to launch in New Jersey after voters approved a 2020 legalization referendum, the state’s top executive said in his State of the State address that he’s expecting an economic boon.

“Many jobs await in the cannabis industry ready to take off,” Gov. Phil Murphy (R) said.

The governor also said separately in his second inaugural address this month that “businesses in the new cannabis industry that we are setting up in the name of social justice” are part of efforts to “continue growing the innovation economy that will power our future and make us a model for the nation and the world.”

Businesses on the cutting edge of new technologies that will revolutionize our grasp of the possible.

Businesses in the new cannabis industry that we are setting up in the name of social justice.

In online gaming and sports betting, which we now dominate.

— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) January 18, 2022

As the state prepares to implement legal cannabis sales, Murphy said late last year that he’s open to giving adults the right to cultivate marijuana for personal use even though it’s not currently written into the law.

New Mexico

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) talked in here State of the State speech about the economic potential of the marijuana industry under the legalization law she signed last year.

“We’re expanding our economic footprint into every single community,” the governor said in her State of the State address. “Legal cannabis is going to create thousands of jobs and serious tax revenue for local governments to support local services in every corner of our state.”

Legal cannabis is going to create thousands of jobs & serious tax revenue to support local services.

Clean hydrogen will support thousands of jobs, especially in rural New Mexico, while helping us sprint toward our net-zero carbon deadlines and decarbonize transportation.

— Michelle Lujan Grisham (@GovMLG) January 18, 2022

New York

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) released a State of the State book earlier this month that called for the creation of a $200 million public-private fund to specifically help promote social equity in the state’s burgeoning marijuana market.

The governor said that while cannabis business licenses have yet to be approved since legalization was signed into law last year, the market stands to generate billions of dollars, and it’s important to “create opportunities for all New Yorkers, particularly those from historically marginalized communities.”

That proposal was also cited in Hochul’s executive budget, which was released last week. The budget also estimated that New York stands to generate more than $1.25 billion in marijuana tax revenue over the next six years.

The briefing book for the executive budget touts how Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) has “prioritized getting New York’s cannabis industry up and running” since marijuana was legalized under her predecessor last year. That includes appointing key regulators who’ve been “creating and implementing a comprehensive regulatory framework.”

Rhode Island

The governor of Rhode Island included a proposal to legalize marijuana as part of his annual budget plan—the second time he’s done so. And time around, he also added new language to provide for automatic cannabis expungements in the state.

Gov. Dan McKee (D) released his request for the 2023 fiscal year on Thursday, calling for adult-use legalization as lawmakers say they’re separately nearing a deal on enacting the reform. It appears that an outstanding disagreement between the governor and legislators concerning what body should regulate the program remains unresolved based on the new budget proposal, however.

In general, McKee’s plan would allow adults 21 and older to purchase and possess up to one ounce of cannabis, though it would not provide a home grow option. Adults could also store up to five ounces of marijuana in secured storage in their primary residence.

“The governor recommends creating a strictly regulated legal market for adult-use cannabis in the state,” an executive summary states. “This proposal would create a weight-based excise tax on marijuana cultivation, an additional retail excise tax of 10 percent, and also apply sales tax to cannabis transactions.”

South Dakota

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) isn’t a fan of adult-use legalization, going so far as to fund a lawsuit against a voter-approved 2020 reform initiative that ultimately led to a court ruling voiding the law. Her office has even suggested that activists behind the successful legalization campaign should front the legal bills for the case.

However, she seems to recognize the popularity of the issue and has recently attempted to associate herself with the implementation of the separate medical cannabis legalization law that voters also approved, as she did in her State of the State address this month.

“I take our citizens’ health seriously. I don’t make these decisions lightly. And when we create new policy, we’re going to do everything we can to get it right from day one,” Noem said. “Our state’s medical cannabis program is one example.”

“It was launched on schedule according to the timeline passed by South Dakota voters,” she said. “I know there will be some debate about that program this session. My focus is on making sure South Dakota has the safest, most responsible, and well-run medical cannabis program in the country.”

Noem tried to get the legislature to approve a bill to delay implementation of the medical cannabis program for an additional year, but while it cleared the House, negotiators were unable to reach an agreement with the Senate in conference, delivering a defeat to the governor.

In response, her office started exploring a compromise last year, with one proposal that came out of her administration to decriminalize possession of up to one ounce of cannabis, limit the number of plants that patients could cultivate to three and prohibit people under 21 from qualifying for medical marijuana.

Advocates weren’t enthused with the proposal, and now they’re taking a two-track approach to enacting broader legalization legislatively and through the ballot.

Virginia

In his final State of the Commonwealth address this month, now former-Gov. Ralph Northam (D) talked about the criminal justice implications of his state’s move to legalize marijuana last year.

“We also worked closely with you to make sure our criminal justice system reflects the Virginia that we are today. Too often, our modern-day punishments and practices have their roots in a more discriminatory and unfair past,” he said. “That’s why we’ve made marijuana use legal.”

Too often, our modern-day punishments and practices have their roots in a more discriminatory and unfair past.

That’s why we’ve made marijuana use legal. That’s also why we have ended use of the death penalty in Virginia—the first southern state to do so. #VASOTC

— Governor Ralph Northam (@VAGovernor73) January 13, 2022

He also thanked the legislators who championed the reform “for their work on this policy, which is complicated, but important.”

Meanwhile, the new governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, said recently that while he’s not interested in re-criminalizing marijuana possession, which became legal in the state last summer, but he feels there’s “still work to be done” before he gets behind creating a market for commercial sales and production.

Bipartisan Pennsylvania Senators File Bill To Let Medical Marijuana Patients Grow Their Own Plants

Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.

The post Governors Across The U.S. Tout Marijuana Reform Progress In State Of The State Speeches And Budgets appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

“There will be a bill. There may be multiple bills. But something is going to come out of this chamber.”

By Ned Oliver, Virginia Mercury

GOP lawmakers in the Virginia House of Delegates are taking their first stab at legislation to open the retail marijuana market, introducing bills that would lower the tax rate on sales and redirect proposed social equity funding to school infrastructure.

But leadership in the chamber stressed that the effort remains very much a work in progress and that they expect plenty of changes as the legislation makes its way through the committee system.

“We’ll come up with something,” said Garren Shipley, a spokesman for House Speaker Todd Gilbert, said last week. “There will be a bill. There may be multiple bills. But something is going to come out of this chamber.”

Republicans unanimously opposed legalization when Democrats voted last year to allow people to grow and possess small amounts of marijuana. But Democratic lawmakers’ decision to leave it until this year to finalize the particulars of how a legal retail market would work—combined with the loss of their House majority in November—has left the once-reluctant GOP with a key role in deciding how to proceed.

Gilbert said that while his caucus opposed legalization, he views it as imperative to come up with a mechanism for legal sales, complaining that the legal framework left in place by Democrats has only empowered the black market.

The party has so-far left the heavy lifting on that front to Del. Michael Webert, R-Fauquier, who was among a handful of GOP lawmakers to support reducing penalties for marijuana possession two years ago and is the only member of the party to introduce a comprehensive bill governing retail sales.

Taxes

While his bill largely tracks with legislation introduced by Democrats in the House and Senate, it diverges in a few key areas.

First, it halves the proposed tax rate on retail sales from 21 percent to 10 percent, which would be the lowest in the country. Webert called the step important to compete with the black market, citing the experience of California, where the combined tax rate on sales is just over 36 percent.

“They have an ungodly huge black market,” Webert said. “So we don’t want the taxes so high that we drive things to the black market.”

His bill also changes how the money would be spent.

Social equity and schools

Democrats centered their legalization effort around social equity provisions aimed at making amends for disproportionate enforcement of marijuana laws in Black communities. To that end, they proposed that 35 percent of tax revenue from marijuana sales be dedicated to a Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund, which the law proposed be dedicated to providing scholarships, community programs and business loans to people and communities “historically and disproportionately targeted and affected by drug enforcement.”

Webert’s bill eliminates that fund, instead proposing the revenue for a new grant program to help local governments pay for the cost of repairing or replacing roofs.

Finding more state funds to fix decrepit school buildings has been a focus for some Republicans recently and Webert said his approach would benefit both rural and urban areas that have struggled with the issue.

Webert also proposes tweaking—but not eliminating—a program devised by Democrats to give people negatively impacted by prohibition priority access to marijuana business licenses.

His legislation strikes criteria that would have extended preference to people convicted of marijuana crimes in the past — something that GOP lawmakers vocally opposed last year. But it maintains language that would allow priority access for people who live in areas that were subject to higher than average enforcement or are economically disadvantaged. It also maintains eligibility for people who attended a Virginia historically black college or university.

Referendums, unions and resentencing

The bill also includes subtler departures from the approach proposed by Democrats. For instance both bills allow localities to hold referendums to opt out of marijuana sales, but the GOP bill would bind towns to the decision of their surrounding county while the Democratic bill treats them as independent jurisdictions. (Legislation from two GOP delegates goes further, barring any retail marijuana stores unless sales are specifically approved by a local referendum.)

The GOP bill also drops languages that would block local governments from passing new zoning rules that apply only to marijuana businesses.

And it strikes language that was aimed at promoting unionization in the new industry by refusing to license business owners who oppose unionization efforts by employees or rely heavily on independent contractors.

For now, Republicans and Democrats have proposed similar stances on resentencing for people currently imprisoned on marijuana charges, allowing them to petition a judge to reconsider their sentence, though the GOP bill excludes people convicted of distributing the drug to minors.

A bill authored by Del. Carrie Coyner, R-Chesterfield, goes further, proposing automatic resentencing hearings.

Retail sales

Both chambers have also introduced separate legislation to move the date retail sales can begin from 2024 to 2023—a key recommendation from lawmakers tasked with studying the issue over the summer.

The chambers differ, however, on whether to include large hemp processors in the stop-gap program. The House version limits early sales to existing medical producers. The Senate version allows large industrial hemp processors to also enter the market early.

So far, none of the bills have been docketed in the House of Delegates and it remains unclear when debate on the measures will begin in earnest.

This story was first published by Virginia Mercury.

Minnesota Democratic Leaders Preview Marijuana Legalization Plan For 2022

The post Virginia GOP Lawmakers Begin Forming Plans For Marijuana Sales Launch appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

MN Dem leaders talk legal marijuana plan for 2022; PA medical cannabis homegrow bill; Study: Legalization states see increased banking activity

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/ TOP THINGS TO KNOW

A Nebraska Republican senator filed a limited medical marijuana bill that’s backed by legalization opponents, but activists say it has poison pill provisions meant to undermine more far-reaching ballot measures to provide patients with access.

Minnesota Democratic legislative leaders discussed marijuana legalization plans for 2022—including reworking a bill that cleared the House last year and the uphill climb to advance it in the GOP-controlled Senate.

A bipartisan group of Pennsylvania senators filed a new bill to allow medical cannabis patients to grow their own medicine.

A study found that despite concerns about financial services access by the marijuana industry, banking activity actually increases in states that enact legalization.

/ FEDERAL

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is being asked by the Hemp Industries Association to reconsider the Drug Enforcement Administration’s authority to act against processors that handle hemp in excess of the legal THC limit.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is under a “fantasy” that he has enough votes for a comprehensive marijuana legalization bill.

Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH) tweeted, “Opportunities to enact effective #cannabis reform keep getting derailed. That’s why I introduced the #HOPEAct with @RepAOC. Conservative in approach but progressive in scope, our bipartisan bill can reestablish a path forward. Leadership needs to put it up for a vote.”

Louisiana Democratic Senate candidate Gary Chambers spoke out how his campaign ad showing him smoking marijuana is part of an effort to “cut through the noise” and get his message out. He also tweeted, “Recreational cannabis use is legal in 19 states. Our campaign took one of the boldest stances on cannabis. Proud to do so. So who wants to host a fundraiser in a legal state? Let’s roll up & kick these facts about change. Email the team at fundraising@chambersforlouisiana.com.”

The House bill to deschedule marijuana and fund programs to repair drug war harms got two new cosponsors for a total of 105.

/ STATES

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) authorized lawmakers to include changes to the state’s marijuana legalization law to the legislative agenda.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) said it’s more important to get marijuana legalization implemented right than to roll it out quickly. (About 20 minutes into the video.)

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) tweeted, “OTD 3 years ago, @FettermanLt  launched a statewide listening tour on recreational marijuana. Here’s what you told him you wanted to see: Legalization Cannabis grown on PA farms Decriminalization of nonviolent marijuana offenses. Legislators: Let’s make this a reality.”

Alabama Republican gubernatorial candidate Dave Thomas, currently mayor of Springville, spoke about his support for legalizing marijuana.

The South Carolina Senate put a medical cannabis bill on special order status for this week, but a spokesperson for the House speaker disputed the sponsor’s claim that he has pledged to allow it to move through his chamber’s committee process.

The South Dakota House State Affairs Committee voted to ban medical cannabis home cultivation. Meanwhile, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee advanced several other medical marijuana bills.

The Vermont House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on a drug decriminalization bill.

A Virginia House Courts of Justice subcommittee tabled a bill to defelonize drug possession.

Idaho lawmakers filed legislation to allow access to the cannabis-derived medical spray nabiximols.

A Delaware representative spoke about changes he made to his marijuana legalization bill to build support.

The New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that people cannot be fired for off-the-job medical cannabis use.

Massachusetts marijuana regulators voted to approve a statement on pending impaired driving legislation that doesn’t endorse or oppose it, reflecting a divide on the issue among members. Separately, the state’s top cannabis regulator expressed concerns about “predatory financing deals” in the industry.

Florida regulators sent a bulletin about new medical cannabis purchase limits.

Oregon regulators sent a bulletin about new potency limits for marijuana edibles.

New York regulators plan to hold a series of community outreach events this month and next month.

Colorado Department of Revenue tweeted, “As part of Colorado’s commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion, Social Equity Licenses are one of the many ways our Marijuana Enforcement Division is supporting diversity initiatives in the cannabis industry.”

Utah regulators sent an update on the medical cannabis program.

Arizona regulators posted a list of certified medical cannabis testing labs.

Nevada regulators will hold a public hearing on proposed changes to marijuana business rules on Tuesday.

—
Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,000 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.
—

/ LOCAL

The Marathon County, Wisconsin Criminal Justice Collaborating Council discussed a proposal to lower the fine for marijuana possession.

A DeKalb County, Georgia commissioner spoke about his proposal to scale back drug testing for marijuana for county employees.

/ INTERNATIONAL

Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado is preparing a counterproposal to a medical cannabis and hemp bill that lawmakers sent him.

Colombia’s Constitutional Court blocked President Iván Duque’s plan to resume aerial fumigations of drug crops.

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox spoke about plans for Paradise, a cannabis company he owns part of, to reach a total of 200 stores across 32 U.S. states by the end of this year.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Science & Technology tweeted about a Canadian company making a plane out of hemp.

The Alberta, Canada Association of Chiefs of Police said the province is “not ready” to decriminalize drugs.

/ SCIENCE & HEALTH

A study of mice found that CBD “inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication” and highlights the substance as “potential preventative agent for early-stage SARS-CoV-2 infection.”

A study concluded that “despite state-based advertising restrictions, recreational cannabis business pages use messages with youth appeal” and that “required safety message adherence is not typical on social media business pages.”

/ ADVOCACY, OPINION & ANALYSIS

The Indiana Democratic Party tweeted, “@INDems have called on the state to legalize cannabis because it’s a win-win for Indiana and Hoosiers. More than 80% of voters want some form of legal marijuana, and Democrats will hit the road to discuss this common-sense issue very soon.”

The Mississippi Municipal League opposes recent changes to a medical cannabis bill.

/ BUSINESS

Dama Financial is acquiring GrowFlow Corp.

Numinus Wellness Inc. reported quarterly revenue of $0.8 million and loss of $5.4 million.

MedMen asked a California judge to order the company’s former chief financial officer to repay more than $612,000 in legal fees.

Columbia Care Inc. received consent from noteholders to increase borrowing capacity to support growth initiatives.

Metro Bank is reportedly closing accounts for CBD businesses.

Snapchat is using automated systems to identify drug-related content.

Make sure to subscribe to get Marijuana Moment’s daily dispatch in your inbox.

Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.

The post NE medical cannabis ‘poison pill’ bill filed (Newsletter: January 24, 2022) appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

A bipartisan group of Pennsylvania senators introduced a bill on Thursday that would allow medical marijuana patients to cultivate their own plants for personal use.

Sens. Dan Laughlin (R) and Sharif Street (D) first announced their intent to file the legislation in November, arguing that it is a necessary reform to ensure patient access by giving people a less costly alternative to buying from dispensaries.

Registered patients who are 21 and older, and who have been residents of the state for at least 30 days, could grow up to six plants in an “enclosed and locked space” at their residence, according to the text of the bill. They would be allowed to buy cannabis seeds from licensed dispensaries

SB1024 – Senator Sharif Street and I worked diligently to get our Medical Marijuana Home Cultivation Bill introduced.

Read More: https://t.co/CeZ8i1NUGA pic.twitter.com/z3BUUivqI5

— Senator Dan Laughlin (@senatorlaughlin) January 21, 2022

In an earlier cosponsorship memo for the new home grow bill, the lawmakers said that letting patients cultivate their own medicine would “help ease the cost and accessibility burdens for this important medicine.”

The new legislation has three other initial cosponsors in addition to Street and Laughlin.

Street had attempted to get the reform enacted as an amendment to an omnibus bill this summer, but it did not advance.

The senators argue that patients in particular are deserving of a home grow option, as some must currently travel hours to visit a licensed dispensary and there are financial burdens that could be alleviated if patients could grow their own plants for medicine.

Late last year, Laughlin and Street also unveiled a separate adult-use legalization proposal that faces significant challenges in the GOP-controlled legislature. And Street is behind another recent cannabis measure to provide state-level protections to banks and insurers that work with cannabis businesses.

—
Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,000 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.
—

In the interim, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), who is running for U.S. Senate this year, said one of his key goals in his final year in office is to ensure that as many eligible people as possible submit applications to have the courts remove their cannabis records and restore opportunities to things like housing, student financial aid and employment through an expedited petition program.

Pennsylvania lawmakers could also take up more modest marijuana reform proposals like a bill filed late last year to expand the number of medical marijuana cultivators in the state, prioritizing small farms to break up what she characterized as a monopoly or large corporations that’s created supply problems.

Rep. Amen Brown (D) separately announced his intent to file a legalization bill that he’ll be working on with Sen. Mike Regan (R), who expressed his support for the policy change a day earlier.

Additionally, another pair of state lawmakers—Reps. Jake Wheatley (D) and Dan Frankel (D)—formally unveiled a legalization bill they’re proposing last year.

Philadelphia voters also approved a referendum on marijuana legalization in November that adds a section to the city charter saying that “the citizens of Philadelphia call upon the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the Governor to pass legislation that will decriminalize, regulate, and tax the use, and sale to adults aged 21 years or older, of cannabis for non-medical purposes.”

Gov. Tom Wolf (D) said last year that marijuana legalization was a priority as he negotiated the annual budget with lawmakers. However, his formal spending request didn’t contain legislative language to actually accomplish the cannabis policy change.

The governor, who signed a medical cannabis expansion bill in June, has repeatedly called for legalization and pressured the Republican-controlled legislature to pursue the reform since coming out in favor of the policy in 2019. Shortly after he did that, a lawmaker filed a separate bill to legalize marijuana through a state-run model.

A survey from Franklin & Marshall College released last year found that 60 percent of Pennsylvania voters back adult-use legalization. That’s the highest level of support for the issue since the firm started polling people about it in 2006.

An attempt to provide protections for Pennsylvania medical marijuana patients from being charged with driving under the influence was derailed in the legislature last year, apparently due to pushback by the state police association.

Nebraska Activists Say New GOP Medical Marijuana Bill Is A ‘Poison Pill’ Meant To Detract From Ballot Efforts

Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.

The post Bipartisan Pennsylvania Senators File Bill To Let Medical Marijuana Patients Grow Their Own Plants appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

Minnesota Democratic leaders are preparing for another push to legalize marijuana this session, with the sponsor of the House-passed reform bill saying he will be reworking the legislation in an effort to build further support—though it continues to face an uphill climb in the GOP-controlled Senate.

House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (D) and Senate Minority Leader Melisa Franzen (D) discussed the legislative strategy during a roundtable event hosted by the Minnesota Hemp Growers Cooperative on Wednesday.

Winkler said that his bill, which moved through 12 committees before being approved on the House floor last year, is the “product of hundreds of hours of work involving thousands of people’s input, countless hearings and public listening sessions—but it is not a perfect bill.”

Minnesota House Majority Leader @_RyanWinkler recently presented this overview of his legislative strategy on adult use cannabis and hemp. #LegalizeMN #mnleg https://t.co/Z32GLSwQhS

— RAMP Minnesota (@ramp_mn) January 21, 2022

“As we look ahead to this session…our goal is to go back and reexamine provisions of the bill,” he said. Licensing structures, public safety and substance misuse concerns are among the issues that lawmakers will be looking at to improve upon the legislation.

“We will be working with our colleagues in the Minnesota Senate,” Winkler added. “We’re interested in pursuing legalization to make sure that the bill represents senators’ priorities for legalization as well.”

The leader said that “any effort this year that would be successful would require Republican support as well.”

But while advocates are encouraged to hear that the House may again vote to pass the legalization legislation, the Senate minority leader tempered expectations about the bill’s prospects in her Republican-run chamber.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s a path to legalization this year in the Minnesota Senate,” Franzen said. “It’s controlled by the Republican party, and they have there’s a few members who are really adamantly opposed to legalization.”

Gov. Tim Walz (D) is supportive of cannabis legalization, and while the broad reform didn’t advance last session, he did sign a bill to expand the state’s medical marijuana program, in part by allowing patients to access smokable cannabis products.

Winkler said on Wednesday that “it was because of the work done” by advocates on legalization that put pressure on Senate Republicans to advance that legislation.

Another cannabis issue playing out in Minnesota concerns CBD. The state agriculture department and pharmacy board have increased enforcement against the sale of the non-intoxicating cannabinoid in recent months, prompting calls for legislative reform.

Winkler said that the political dynamics around legalization that led to the expansion of the state’s medical cannabis program will be “a template for how we will address challenges with CBD this year.”

“My staff is working very closely with advocates, working with senators, working with other House members to get in a repair for the CBD industry, and I have every confidence that we will be able to do that with your help,” he said.

A poll conducted by Minnesota lawmakers that was released last year found that 58 percent of residents are in favor of legalization. That’s a modest increase compared to the chamber’s 2019 survey, which showed 56 percent support.

Winkler said in 2020 that if Senate Republicans don’t go along with the policy change legislatively, he hopes they will at least let voters decide on cannabis as a 2022 ballot measure.

Rhode Island Governor Includes Marijuana Legalization And Expungements In Budget Request

Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.

The post Minnesota Democratic Leaders Preview Marijuana Legalization Plan For 2022 appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

A Republican Nebraska senator introduced a bill on Thursday that ostensibly seeks to legalize medical marijuana in the state—but activists have raised concerns that the restrictive measure may be an attempt to subvert an effort to pass even broader patient protections on the 2022 ballot.

Sen. Mike Groene (R) filed the legislation, which would allow certain patients to buy and possess cannabis oils, pills and up to two and a half ounces of flower at a limited number of dispensaries. Smoking or inhaling marijuana would be banned, however, as would making edibles—so it’s not clear how patients would consume the flower they could possess.

But the main problem is, the bill would maintain that cultivating marijuana in Nebraska for commercial or personal use is illegal, meaning dispensaries wouldn’t even have a legal means of obtaining cannabis products for patients.

The bill is also severely restrictive in terms of who would qualify for cannabis. It would only permit access to people with stage IV cancer, uncontrolled seizures, severe muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis or muscular dystrophy or a terminal illness with less than a one year probable life expectancy.

It’s being backed by the Nebraska chapter of the prohibitionist group Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), leading some advocates to suspect that the lack of cultivation provisions is designed to be a “poison pill” while misleading voters into thinking that there is a good faith effort to legalize medical cannabis legislatively.

“This appears to be a political stunt,” Jared Moffat, state campaigns manager at the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a press release. “Opponents of medical cannabis know there is a viable campaign to put medical cannabis on the ballot, and they know Nebraskans will overwhelmingly support that effort.”

“This is an attempt to take our focus away from that,” he said. “But it won’t succeed because it’s clear that this proposal is not a good faith effort to find some middle ground on the issue.”

The bill comes as Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana (NMM) continues to work to collect signatures for a pair of medical cannabis legalization initiatives that advocates hope to place on the November ballot. They have until July to collect 87,000 valid signatures to qualify each of their complementary measures.

Activists with the group collected enough signatures to qualify a medical marijuana legalization measure for the 2020 ballot, but the state Supreme Court invalidated it, finding that the proposal violated the single-subject rule for citizen initiatives.

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Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,000 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.

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Now this legislation from Groene is entering the mix for the 2022 session. And SAM Nebraska co-chair John Kuehn told The Lincoln Journal-Star that it’s “a good faith effort and we are willing to look at this as an acceptable alternative to creating a marijuana industry in the state of Nebraska.”

While advocates aren’t necessarily buying that argument given that it would authorize dispensaries without providing the ability to cultivate marijuana products, some like NMM co-chair Sen. Anna Wishart (D) are willing to work with the senator to get the bill into a more acceptable shape for patients.

I am glad to see that Senator Groene and Smart Approaches to Marijauana, once opponents of medical cannabis, now recognize the benefits of this plant-based medicine. I am willing to work with them, but it has to be towards a bill that works for Nebraskans. https://t.co/UGXmS5qRdR

— Senator Anna Wishart (@NebraskaAnna) January 21, 2022

“It would be the status quo,” Wishart said. “I want a safe system, but there are practical realities patients are living with every day. No one wants a system that doesn’t work.”

Access for sick Nebraskans to medical cannabis is not something I am willing to settle on. I will continue to have their back.

— Senator Anna Wishart (@NebraskaAnna) January 21, 2022

Notably, Groene did support a procedural motion to advance Wishart’s more expansive medical cannabis bill last session.

Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democrats, pounced on the restrictive nature of Groene’s bill and said it makes it “not easy or feasible for most” to obtain a medical cannabis recommendation from a doctor.

Further, the petitions that the GOP are so terrified of (and hence Groene bill) are for medical, not recreational. Some press stories have that fact wrong. Press should interview Nebraska Families for Medical Cannabis who've lead on this: https://t.co/bdUWXbeeH2

— Jane Fleming Kleeb (@janekleeb) January 20, 2022

Shari Lawlor, a member of Nebraska Families for Medical Cannabis, said that the group is “grateful that Sen. Groene recognizes the importance of medical cannabis,” but as drafted, “this is a medical cannabis bill with no cannabis.”

“It envisions a system with dispensaries but no farmers or cultivators who actually produce the medical cannabis that patients need,” she said. “And since patients are not allowed to cultivate medical cannabis themselves under this proposal, there is effectively no way for patients to get the relief they need.”

Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) is no fan of legalization. He partnered with SAM Nebraska on a recent ad urging residents to oppose cannabis reform in the state. Given the organization’s support for this new GOP proposal, there’s some suspicion that he might back it to give the appearance that the administration isn’t deaf to calls for reform by voters.

Advocates aren’t going to be deterred by the bill’s introduction. They will be moving forward with the complementary medical cannabis initiatives in hopes to getting the issue to voters.

The campaign deliberately chose to take a bifurcated approach because of the state Supreme Court invalidation over the single-subject rule.

One of the statutory initiatives would establish legal protections for patients and doctors around cannabis, while the other would allow private companies to produce and sell medical marijuana products.

Lawmakers attempted to advance medical cannabis reform legislatively last year, but while the unicameral legislature debated a bill to legalize medical marijuana in May, it failed to advance past a filibuster because the body didn’t have enough votes to overcome it.

Wishart and NMM co-chair Sen. Adam Morfeld (D) announced in late 2020 that they would also work to put the question of legalizing marijuana for adult use before voters in 2022. But for now their focus appears to be on the medical cannabis effort.

For what it’s worth, Nebraska’s attorney general argued in an opinion in 2019 that efforts to legalize medical marijuana legislatively in the state would be preempted by federal law and “would be, therefore, unconstitutional.”

Rhode Island Governor Includes Marijuana Legalization And Expungements In Budget Request

The post Nebraska Activists Say New GOP Medical Marijuana Bill Is A ‘Poison Pill’ Meant To Detract From Ballot Efforts appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

While marijuana businesses often struggle to find banks that are willing to take them on as clients due to risks caused by the ongoing federal prohibition of cannabis, a new study found that banking activity actually increases in states that legalize marijuana.

The research doesn’t make a direct connection between state-level marijuana reform and the increased activity, but it does strongly imply that there’s a relationship—even if the factors behind the trend aren’t exactly clear.

Researchers set out to investigate banking trends in states that have legalized cannabis, looking at bank regulatory filings with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) from 2011 to 2016. They found evidence that “banking activity (deposits and subsequent loans) increase considerably in legalizing states relative to non-legalizing states.”

That’s in spite of the fact that banks and credit unions run the risk of being penalized by federal regulators for working with businesses that deal with a federally controlled substance.

“While uncertainty can result in overly cautious behavior and hinder economic activity, we do not find evidence of this with cannabis laws and the banking industry,” the authors wrote in the new paper—titled, “THC and the FDIC: Implications of Cannabis Legalization for the Banking System.”

The study analyzed data from “150,566 bank-quarter observations from 6,932 unique banks located in 46 different states.” It found that deposits increased by an average range of 3.14-4.33 percent—and bank lending increased by 6.54-8.62 percent—post-legalization.

“Our results indicate that deposits and loans increased for banks after recreational cannabis legalization.”

Of course, it makes sense that legal states would see increased financial activity in the banking sector after opening a new market, even if only some banks choose to take the risk of working directly with cannabis businesses. The emerging marijuana industry also supports an array of ancillary firms and traditional companies that provide services to dispensaries and grow operations.

As of June 30, there were 706 financial institutions that had filed requisite reports saying they were actively serving cannabis clients. Thats up from 689 in the previous quarter but still down from a peak of 747 in late 2019.

But the question remains: why are some banks deciding to take on marijuana clients while others remain wary of federal repercussions?

The study authors—from the University of Arizona, Drexel University, San Diego State University and Scripps College—put forward two possibilities about why “the risk from regulatory uncertainty did not decrease banks’ willingness to accept deposits or make loans.”

The increase “may suggest that banks were either unconcerned about the potential risk associated with accepting cannabis related deposits or optimistic about the chances that regulations will adapt to the needs of legalizing states,” the paper reasons.

Confidence about working with a federally illegal industry may well have been bolstered in 2014 when the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) under the Obama administration issued guidance to financial institutions on reporting requirements for cannabis-related businesses.

The second option, optimism about federal reform, also seems possible. It was around the time that the bipartisan Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act was first introduced that there was a notable spike in financial institutions reporting that they have marijuana business clients.

In the years since, that legislation has been approved in some form five times in the U.S. House of Representatives, but it’s continued to stall in the Senate. In general, banks reporting marijuana accounts has remained relatively stable since 2019.

“Although many have speculated about the increased legal risks to banks, there is a lack of evidence for instances where banks are criminally prosecuted or lose their federally insured status,” the study states. “If these negative repercussions rarely happen, it makes sense that banks would not respond to the legislative uncertainty.”

“As more state regulators issue statements in support of banks and credit unions serving the cannabis industry, the financial institutions can become more optimistic about the chances that regulations will adapt in their favor with time,” the authors wrote.

Despite optimism for future reform that certain lawmakers have expressed, it doesn’t necessarily take the sting out of the latest failed attempt to secure protections for banks that choose to work with state-legal cannabis businesses as part of a large-scale defense bill.

A pro-reform Republican senator recently slammed Democrats for failing to advance marijuana banking reform despite having a congressional majority and control of the presidency.

For what it’s worth, the secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department recently said that freeing up banks to work with state-legal marijuana businesses would “of course” make the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) job of collecting taxes easier.

With respect to the SAFE Banking Act, a bipartisan coalition of two dozen governors recently implored congressional leaders to finally enact marijuana banking reform through the large-scale defense legislation.

A group of small marijuana business owners also recently made the case that the incremental banking policy change could actually help support social equity efforts.

Rodney Hood, a board member of the National Credit Union Administration, wrote in a recent Marijuana Moment op-ed that legalization is an inevitability—and it makes the most sense for government agencies to get ahead of the policy change to resolve banking complications now.

Rhode Island Governor Includes Marijuana Legalization And Expungements In Budget Request

The post Banking Activity Increases In States That Legalize Marijuana, Study Finds appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

RI gov’s legalization plan; Poll: Americans not optimistic about Biden’s marijuana work; VA psilocybin bill has momentum; MO drug decrim measure

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/ TOP THINGS TO KNOW

One year into President Joe Biden’s administration, his key campaign pledges on marijuana reform remain largely unfulfilled—and he has even taken some overtly hostile actions on the issue, while at the same time overseeing some modest pro-reform developments. Marijuana Moment’s in-depth analysis takes a comprehensive look at what the Biden administration has done—and more importantly not done—on cannabis since taking office one year ago.

A new poll found that a majority of Americans say President Joe Biden has made little to no progress on his marijuana decriminalization campaign pledge—and only 5 percent think he will make a lot of headway on it in 2022.

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee (D) again included marijuana legalization in his annual budget proposal—but this time with new automatic expungements provisions. Lawmakers say they’re close to a legal cannabis deal that could be unveiled soon.

A bill to decriminalize psilocybin got bipartisan support at a Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee hearing—including from the Republican Senate minority leader. Members are planning to advance an amended version of the legislation next week.

A Missouri representative filed a bill to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, psilocybin, LSD, MDMA and cocaine.

/ FEDERAL

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service tweeted, “Thanks to work done in 2021, @usda_nass will have first-time data on hemp production, conservation practices & agroforestry to better inform decisions pertaining to the nation’s agricultural markets.”

The Drug Enforcement Administration museum is seeking new partner venues and cities to host its traveling exhibit, “Drugs: Costs and Consequences.”

Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) said passing marijuana banking legislation “is one of my top priorities, and I am pursuing every possible avenue to get the bill signed into law before the end of the year.”

Louisiana Democratic Senate candidate Gary Chambers tweeted, “If you agree with me that we should legalize cannabis nationwide. Expunge the records of those who have been charged with cannabis convictions & build equity into the business for Black & Brown people.” He also tweeted, “My state is ranked #50 in crime. Policing cannabis isn’t making us safer. I’m going to keep talking about how politicians have been smoking our tax resources to benefit only a few. They’ve left us in ashes because they won’t bring meaningful change on a host of issues.” And he spoke about his decision to show himself smoking marijuana in an ad.

/ STATES

Ohio Democratic congressional candidate John Cranley, currently Cincinnati’s mayor, tweeted, “We need big, bold ideas and strategic plans to turn around Ohio. Not vague platitudes. That’s why I have plans to create an energy dividend, legalize marijuana, and create over 30k new, middle-class jobs a year for Ohioans.”

Mississippi’s agriculture and commerce commissioner thanked lawmakers for removing his department from any role in a medical cannabis program with new amendments to pending legislation.

Texas’s agriculture commissioner cut ties with a political consultant who was indicted in an alleged hemp licensing bribery scheme.

The Utah Senate approved a bill to force cities to recognize legal, medical cannabis cards held by government employees. Separately, the Department of Food and Agriculture created a Medical Cannabis and Industrial Hemp Division.

The Wisconsin Assembly approved a bill to increase penalties for the manufacturing of resin from marijuana plants using butane extraction.

The Vermont House Judiciary Committee discussed a bill to decriminalize drugs and will take testimony on the measure on Friday.

The Maine legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee held a hearing on a marijuana delivery bill and other cannabis legislation.

A New Jersey senator said he will “push like hell” to pass a bill legalizing marijuana home cultivation.

A North Carolina senator tweeted about how his dad’s experience with cancer informs his support for medical cannabis.

South Dakota regulators issued the first medical cannabis dispensary licenses.

Hearings in a lawsuit against Georgia regulators’ medical cannabis business licensing process will begin on Friday.

Oregon regulators are inviting questions about new marijuana and hemp rules.

The Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development tweeted, “ Clothes

Biofuel Drywall Vinyl siding Beauty products — More than 25K products are currently made from #hemp. Take a look at how this budding industry has impacted #Pennsylvania and created a new business sector for our PA farmers.”

Washington State regulators sent a newsletter with updates on cannabis issues.

New York regulators will discuss a marijuana social and economic equity fund and other issues on Tuesday.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture will host a hemp forum on February 9.

/ INTERNATIONAL

The Thai Public Health Ministry’s Food and Drug Administration proposed removing cannabis from its status as a prohibited substance.

Malta’s new top marijuana regulator spoke about plans to implement legalization after having opposed the policy change.

/ SCIENCE & HEALTH

A series of case reports of people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder suggested that “that cannabis played a complimentary role in the therapeutic regimen.”

A study concluded that “medical cannabis companies regularly use associations with academia and academic research to imply that their products are safe and effective before these claims are causally confirmed” and that “this practice may mislead patients, policymakers, and the public into believing unconfirmed claims about the safety and efficacy of cannabis and cannabis-derived products.”

/ ADVOCACY, OPINION & ANALYSIS

A poll of Americans who suffer from anxiety, depression or PTSD found that 65 percent believe psychedelic medicine should be made available to patients with treatment-resistant forms of those conditions.

The Tennessee Democratic Party’s chairman tweeted, “@POTUS  could cancel student debt and order the HHS and DEA to begin the process of rescheduling marijuana, while offering a blanket pardon to those with non-violent marijuana possession charges. With the stroke of a pen, this can be done without fear of Manchin and Sinema blocking.”

The South Carolina Sheriffs Association is speaking out against a pending medical cannabis bill.

A founding partner of RightForge criticized Democrats’ marijuana legalization efforts.

/ BUSINESS

Eleusis is going public through a merger with Silver Spike Acquisition Corp. II.

PharmaCann Inc. completed an additional issuance of Senior Secured Notes worth approximately $39.5 million.

Curaleaf is facing a consumer complaint about inconsistent cannabis product prices across states.

Make sure to subscribe to get Marijuana Moment’s daily dispatch in your inbox.

Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.

The post Biden’s cannabis record after a year in office (Newsletter: January 21, 2022) appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

The governor of Rhode Island has again included a proposal to legalize marijuana as part of his annual budget plan—and this time he also added new language to provide for automatic cannabis expungements in the state.

Gov. Dan McKee (D) released his request for the 2023 fiscal year on Thursday, calling for adult-use legalization as lawmakers say they’re separately nearing a deal on enacting the reform. It appears that an outstanding disagreement between the governor and legislators concerning what body should regulate the program remains unresolved based on the new budget proposal, however.

In general, McKee’s plan would allow adults 21 and older to purchase and possess up to one ounce of cannabis, though it would not provide a home grow option. Adults could also store up to five ounces of marijuana in secured storage in their primary residence.

“The governor recommends creating a strictly regulated legal market for adult-use cannabis in the state,” an executive summary states. “This proposal would create a weight-based excise tax on marijuana cultivation, an additional retail excise tax of 10 percent, and also apply sales tax to cannabis transactions.”

Legislators have been in talks for months to reconcile competing legalization proposals that have been brought forward by the House, Senate and governor’s office previously. Now McKee is giving fresh details about what he hopes to see out of a potential policy change.

Under his plan, 25 percent of marijuana tax revenue and licensing fees would go to the “regulatory, public health, and public safety costs associated with adult-use cannabis.” Fifteen percent would go to local governments and 60 percent would go to the state general fund.

The executive summary says that the state’s sales tax revenue would be “boosted by the proposed introduction of adult-use cannabis tax revenue in FY 2023.” The state is estimating that it will collect $1.2 million in general revenue for the 2023 fiscal year and $16.9 “with a full year of sales in FY 2024.”

The revenue projections and provisions largely reflect what the governor proposed in his last budget request, with the exception of the new expungements language. Funding a process for expedited expungements is expected to cost the state about $400,000 for fiscal year 2023, the summary says.

“Prohibiting the possession, cultivation, and sale of cannabis to adults has proven to be an ineffective policy for the State of Rhode Island,” the findings section of the legislation itself says. “In the absence of a legal, tightly regulated market, an illicit cannabis industry has thrived, undermining the public health, safety and welfare of Rhode Islanders.”

“Regional and national shifts in cannabis policy have increased access to legal cannabis and marijuana products for Rhode Islanders in other states, the sale of which benefits the residents of the providing state while providing no funds to the State of Rhode Island to address the public health, safety and welfare externalities that come with increased access to cannabis, including marijuana.”

The effective date for the proposed bill would be April 1, 2023.

Not only does the governor’s plan not allow for home grow, it also sets out a series of fines and penalties for personal cultivation of any number of plants. For example, a person who unlawfully grows one to five plants would face a penalty of $2,000 per plant and an “order requiring forfeiture and/or destruction of said plants,” according to the text of the proposed legislation.

The bill also includes language to create a Cannabis Reinvestment Task Force that would be required to study and issue recommendations on using marijuana tax revenue for “job training, small business access to capital, affordable housing, health equity, and neighborhood and community development.”

—
Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,000 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.
—

The proposal calls for 25 marijuana retailers to be licensed each year for the first three years of implementation. Those would be awarded on a lottery basis, but at least five would be specifically given to minority-owned businesses, a category. Additional licenses would be issued in the future based on market demand.

During negotiations over recent months, a key question that’s needed to be resolved is who should be in charge of regulating the adult-use marijuana program—an existing agency or a newly created body.

McKee has again proposed having the state Department of Business Regulation (DBR) regulate the cannabis industry.

Earlier this month, lawmakers signaled that the best route to satisfy both sides would be to create a compromise approach where a state agency like DBR and a new independent cannabis commission would each play a role. The governor did not incorporate that hybrid regulatory model into his latest proposal.

House Speaker Joseph Sherkarchi (D) recently said in opening remarks at the start of the 2022 session that lawmakers have “spent months analyzing the complex issue of marijuana legalization.”

“The House and Senate intend to soon have a draft of legislation ready, which will serve as a framework to begin a robust public hearing process,” he said. “We may not be the first state to legalize marijuana, but our goal is to do it in a way that is best for all of Rhode Islanders.”

Sen. Josh Miller (D), sponsor of one legalization proposal that was approved in the Senate last year, recently told Marijuana Moment that he agreed that lawmakers “should have a bill very soon with a structure very close to” what the speaker described. Miller’s legislation had proposed creating a new cannabis commission to oversee the market.

Senate President Dominick Ruggerio (D) said in his session opening remarks this month that the bill the body passed last year “included substantial measures to rectify the wrongs associated with the decades-long policies of prohibition.”

He noted that Senate leaders have been working in recent months with the House on a deal that “maintains the core principles of our proposal.”

“Because of those efforts,” he said, “I anticipate the General Assembly will legalize cannabis this legislative session.”

The speaker previously said that he’d be open to a compromise on regulatory structure and hinted at the possibility of a hybrid model.

Another issue related to how many marijuana business licenses also appears to have gotten closer to resolution amid negotiations. Miller’s bill proposed as many as 150 cannabis shops, whereas McKee’s plan calls for 25 each year for the first three years and then gives regulators discretion to add more depending on market demand. Rep. Scott Slater’s (D) separate legalization measure recommended just 15 retailers in his House bill. Miller said at an event in October that “we’re probably down to more in the 30, 40 range” as part of a deal.

Negotiators also recently reached an agreement to place a temporary moratorium on approving additional cannabis cultivator licenses. Some have protested adding cultivators beyond the existing medical marijuana licensees because they say there’s already a sufficient supply to meet demand in the adult-use market.

Ruggerio, for his part, said in September that lawmakers are “very close” to reaching a deal on a marijuana legalization bill

“We sent legislation—which we think is a very good piece of legislation—over to the House before we left in June,” the senator said, referring to the legalization bill that his chamber approved in June. “They are working on that legislation with some of the House people at this point in time.”

Another thing that remains to be seen is whether the negotiated legalization bill that’s ultimately produced will satisfy advocates and progressive lawmakers, some of whom have rallied behind an agenda for reform that emphasizes the need for bold social equity provisions.

While each of the competing bills contain components meant to address the harms of marijuana criminalization, the coalition led by Reclaim Rhode Island has said they’re insufficient. Advocates and supportive lawmakers have laid out specific items that they want to see incorporated such as setting aside half of cannabis business licenses for communities most impacted by prohibition.

“We can’t reverse the harm of the war on drugs, but we can start to repair it by passing automatic expungement and waiving all related fines, fees and court debt,” Rep. Karen Alzate (D), chair of the Rhode Island Legislative Black and Latino Caucus, said in September. “This bold legalization plan offers us the chance to turn a new leaf for the Ocean State, and it’s time we take it.”

Ruggerio said he does feel that the legalization bill that was approved in the Senate contained “very strong social justice provisions” and the Senate’s expedited expungements provision is “as close to automatic as practical.”

He also said in July that he’s not disappointed the House hasn’t advanced legalization legislation yet and that “what we really wanted to do was send it over and have them take a look at it” when his chamber passed its cannabis reform measure.

A coalition of 10 civil rights and drug policy reform advocacy groups—including the Rhode Island chapters of the ACLU and NAACP—had demanded that lawmakers move ahead with enacting marijuana reform in the state before the end of 2021. But that did not pan out.

Lawmakers have noted that neighboring states like Connecticut and Massachusetts have enacted legalization, and that adds impetus for the legislature to pursue reform in the state.

Shekarchi, meanwhile, said in July that he doesn’t intend to let regional pressure dictate the timeline for when Rhode Island enacts a policy change. Social equity, licensing fees, labor agreements and home grow provisions are among the outstanding matters that need to be addressed, the speaker said.

The House Finance Committee held a hearing on Slater’s legalization measure in June.

The governor previously told reporters that while he backs legalization it is “not like one of my highest priorities,” adding that “we’re not in a race with Connecticut or Massachusetts on this issue.”

“I think we need to get it right,” he said, pointing to ongoing discussions with the House and Senate.

The House Finance Committee discussed the governor’s proposal to end prohibition at an earlier hearing in April.

Both the governor and the leaders’ legalization plans are notably different than the proposal that former Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) had included in her budget in 2020. Prior to leaving office to join the Biden administration as commerce secretary, she called for legalization through a state-run model.

McKee gave initial insights into his perspective on the reform last January, saying that “it’s time that [legalization] happens” and that he’s “more leaning towards an entrepreneurial strategy there to let that roll that way.”

Shekarchi, meanwhile, has said he’s “absolutely” open to the idea of cannabis legalization and also leans toward privatization.

In late 2020, the Senate Finance Committee began preliminary consideration of legalization in preparation for the 2021 session, with lawmakers generally accepting the reform as an inevitability. “I certainly do think we’ll act on the issue, whether it’s more private or more state,” Sen. Ryan Pearson (D), who now serves as the panel’s chairman, said at the time.

Meanwhile, the governor in July signed a historic bill to allow safe consumption sites where people could use illicit drugs under medical supervision and receive resources to enter treatment. Harm reduction advocates say this would prevent overdose deaths and help de-stigmatize substance misuse. Rhode Island is the first state to allow the facilities.

The Senate Judiciary Committee also held a hearing last year on legislation that would end criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of drugs and replace them with a $100 fine.

Read the text of the governor’s marijuana legalization proposal below: 

Virginia Psilocybin Decriminalization Bill Enjoys Bipartisan Support In Senate Committee, But Revisions Are Forthcoming

The post Rhode Island Governor Includes Marijuana Legalization And Expungements In Budget Request appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

A Virginia Senate committee on Wednesday discussed a bill to decriminalize psilocybin, with members on both sides of the aisle expressing general support for the concept—but a vote was delayed until next week to consider feedback on possible revisions to put a more specific focus on authorizing the substance for therapeutic use.

The Senate Judiciary Committee took up the legislation from Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D), hearing testimony from advocates, military veterans and other people who have benefitted from psychedelics therapy. The legislation would make possession of psilocybin and psilocyn by adults 21 and older a civil penalty that carries a $100 fine, instead of a Class 5 felony.

Any dollars collected from psychedelics possession violations would go to the state’s Drug Offender Assessment and Treatment Fund, which supports substance misuse treatment programs and drug courts.

There was some bipartisan support for the proposal, but one Republican member suggested centering the focus on medical use, rather than broadly decriminalize the substances, to make it more passable in the newly GOP-controlled House.

Sen. Mark Peake (R) said that he felt the measure as introduced would stand a solid chance of advancing through the committee and full Senate under Democratic control, but he said, “I bet the House is not ready for that.”

He recommended changing the legislation “to make it where [psilocybin is] medically prescribed,” to follow a similar policy trajectory that the state followed for marijuana.

“The bill the way it is written, where anyone can possess it for any reason, I don’t see how that would get through the House in this session,” the senator said.

Hashmi was amenable to the suggestion and said that “we have an opportunity to continue to work on the bill, put in the safety rails that you are recommending—I think that would be a really good direction.”

In her opening remarks, the senator said that a growing number of studies are “demonstrating that psilocybin has the potential, really, to alleviate a lot of mental health issues, and especially for those folks for whom other medications are simply not working.”

“Preliminary research is showing that it also perhaps helps with substance addiction. We know that substance abuse, substance addiction, is a direct corollary to the rising use of opioid treatment,” she said. “Psilocybin might be an appropriate antidote to providing medical care service for folks with depression and PTSD in ways that are other drugs are not able to do.”

—
Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,000 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.
—

Notably, Senate Minority Leader Thomas Norment (R) also voiced support for the proposal. He said that while in his early career “the mantra was get tough on crime,” public opinion has shifted, as has medical research.

“Sometimes I think we have to rely upon intuition and take a change,” he said. “I listened to the testimonies today—and they’re not testimonies that I’ve heard for the first time. So I’m going to support this because I generally think it’s going to provide some relief and help individuals.”

The committee is expected to vote on an amended version of the bill next Wednesday.

There’s a separate, similar psychedelics reform proposal that’s been filed in the House. It hasn’t gone to committee yet, but it would decriminalize a wider array of substances for adults over 21, including peyote and ibogaine in addition to psilocybin and psilocyn.

At a recent virtual event organized by the reform group Decriminalize Nature Virginia, the sponsors of both bills participated as hosts, sharing their perspectives about the growing body of research indicating that psychedelics could be powerful tools to combat conditions like treatment-resistant depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

If the legislature does approve the legislation, it could face resistance from the state’s incoming Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, who has expressed concerns about implementing a commercial marijuana market in line with what the Democratic legislature and outgoing governor approved last year.

The filing of the psychedelics bills in Virginia is just the latest example of state lawmakers following the tide of local decriminalization efforts that have played out across the country.

For example, a GOP Utah lawmaker introduced a bill on Tuesday that would set up a task force to study and make recommendations on the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs and possible regulations for their lawful use.

In Kansas, A lawmaker also recently filed a bill to legalize the low-level possession and cultivation of psilocybin mushrooms.

A Republican Missouri lawmaker introduced a bill last week to give residents with serious illnesses legal access to a range of psychedelic drugs like psilocybin, ibogaine and LSD  through an expanded version of the state’s existing right-to-try law.

California Sen. Scott Wiener (D) told Marijuana Moment in a recent interview that his bill to legalize psychedelics possession stands a 50/50 chance of reaching the governor’s desk this year. It already cleared the full Senate and two Assembly committees during the first half of the two-year session.

In Michigan, a pair of state senators introduced a bill in September to legalize the possession, cultivation and delivery of various plant- and fungi-derived psychedelics like psilocybin and mescaline.

Washington State lawmakers also introduced legislation this month that would legalize what the bill calls “supported psilocybin experiences” by adults 21 and older.

In Vermont, a broad coalition of lawmakers representing nearly a third of the House introduced a bill to decriminalize drug possession.

New Hampshire lawmakers filed measures to decriminalize psilocybin and all drugs.

Last year, the governor of Connecticut signed legislation that includes language requiring the state to carry out a study into the therapeutic potential of psilocybin mushrooms.

Similar legislation was also enacted in the Texas legislature, requiring the state to study the medical risks and benefits of psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine for military veterans in partnership with Baylor College of Medicine and a military-focused medical center.

Voters in Oregon approved 2020 ballot measures to decriminalize all drugs and legalize psilocybin therapy.

At the congressional level, bipartisan lawmakers sent a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on Tuesday, urging that the agency allow terminally ill patients to use psilocybin as an investigational treatment without the fear of federal prosecution.

Most Americans Predict Biden Won’t Uphold Marijuana Decriminalization Promise In 2022, Poll Finds

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia/Workman.

The post Virginia Psilocybin Decriminalization Bill Enjoys Bipartisan Support In Senate Committee, But Revisions Are Forthcoming appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

A new poll shows that more than half of Americans feel that President Joe Biden has made little to no progress on a key campaign pledge to decriminalize marijuana during his first year in office—and most people also aren’t betting on him doing more to advance the reform in 2022.

The survey from YouGov and The Economist asked Americans to rate the president’s performance on six campaign promises in his first year and separately say how much progress they think he will make in the new year.

Fifty-four percent said Biden has made little to no progress on cannabis decriminalization while 23 percent said they didn’t know. Just 23 percent said that he’s made some or a lot of progress on the issue.

Via YouGov.

Respondents said they felt Biden made somewhat more progress on four of the other issues—student loan forgiveness, clean energy infrastructure, raising the federal minimum wage and COVID-19 response. Only on the issue of securing bipartisan cooperation in Congress for economic relief did Biden get lower scores than for cannabis reform.

Democrats were most likely to give Biden good marks for his progress on several of these issues, but 42 percent said that he’s made little to no progress on decriminalization. In contrast, 73 percent of those who identify as Republicans said he’s done little to advance the reform, even if that cohort is less supportive of the proposal overall.

Asked separately to look ahead for expectations in 2022, pessimism abounds, with 58 percent of respondents saying they anticipate the president will make little to no progress on marijuana decriminalization despite promising it to voters ahead of the 2020 election. Twenty-six percent said they weren’t sure what to expect and only 16 percent said they believe he’ll make some or a lot of progress.

Via YouGov.

The poll also asked respondents how they personally view each of the campaign promises, and 58 percent said they support marijuana decriminalization, compared to 25 percent who are opposed.

After his first year in the White House, Americans have good reason to be skeptical about how committed Biden is to fulfilling his marijuana pledges. Beside decriminalization, he also said on the campaign trail that he’d move to reschedule cannabis and grant clemency to people with federal marijuana convictions—and none of that has happened yet.

The YouGov survey involved interviews with 1,500 Americans from January 15-18. The margin of error is ±3 percentage points.

Most Americans are pessimistic about how much progress Joe Biden will make toward six campaign promises in 2022, including:

-Forgiving student loan debt from public schools
-Decriminalizing marijuana
-Bipartisan support in Congress for economic reliefhttps://t.co/RAAyl8Z7V7 pic.twitter.com/FAIyDmThj6

— YouGov America (@YouGovAmerica) January 20, 2022

While experts say it may not be possible for a president to unilaterally remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, he could encourage agencies like the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Justice Department to initiate the rescheduling process.

And while the poll didn’t ask respondents about clemency for marijuana prisoners, it’s a major unfulfilled promise that’s especially frustrating to advocates considering that he could grant a mass pardon with a stroke of the pen.

Biden has received about a dozen letters from lawmakers, advocates, celebrities and people impacted by criminalization to do something about the people who remain behind federal bars over cannabis. After months of inaction, some members of Congress like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) have even sent follow-up letters demanding a response.

Missouri Lawmaker Files Bill To Decriminalize Low-Level Drug Possession

Photo courtesy of Jurassic Blueberries.

The post Most Americans Predict Biden Won’t Uphold Marijuana Decriminalization Promise In 2022, Poll Finds appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

A Missouri lawmaker on Tuesday filed a bill to decriminalize a range of drugs including marijuana, psilocybin, LSD, MDMA and cocaine.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Peter Merideth (D), would amend state statute by making low-level possession of various drugs punishable by a maximum $100 fine or “participation in a treatment program” if approved by a court, or both.

Currently, possessing any amount of the controlled substances except marijuana is considered a class D felony that carries up to seven years in prison and a maximum $10,000 fine.

The bill lays out the specific possession amounts that would be decriminalized: up to 10 grams of cannabis, one gram of heroin, one gram of MDMA, two grams of methamphetamine, 40 units of LSD, 12 grams of psilocybin, 40 units of methadone, 40 oxycodone pills and two grams of cocaine.

Possessing up to 10 grams of marijuana under current law is a misdemeanor but does not come with the threat of jail time, a policy that advocates often refer to as decriminalization even though it’s technically still a crime. The new legislation would formally reclassify the offense—as well as those for having small amounts of the other drugs—as an infraction.

The proposal also reduces penalties for higher possession levels for those controlled substances. For example, possessing more than one gram but less than three grams of heroin would be considered a class A misdemeanor.

—
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Missouri law currently stipulates that marijuana possession of up to 10 grams is a class D misdemeanor. The new bill further proposes to eliminate language that makes it so a person with a prior drug conviction would face a more serious class A misdemeanor for low-level cannabis possession.

The measure’s introduction comes one week after a Republican Missouri lawmaker filed a separate bill to give residents with serious illnesses legal access to a range of psychedelic drugs like psilocybin, ibogaine and LSD through an expanded version of the state’s existing right-to-try law.

That marked the second time that Rep. Michael Davis (R) has filed the legislation, which he says will align Missouri statute with federal right-to-try law which was “passed by a conservative majority in Congress and signed by President Trump in 2018.”

Also in Missouri, another Republican lawmaker is again making a push to place marijuana legalization on the ballot. But some activists aren’t waiting on the legislature to take action to refer the issue to voters, with one campaign officially launching signature gathering last month for a separate reform initiative.

Rep. Shamed Dogan (R) recently pre-filed his joint resolution to place a constitutional amendment on legalization on the 2022 ballot. He introduced a similar proposal last year, but it did not advance.

Under the lawmaker’s plan, adults 21 and older could purchase, possess and cultivate cannabis for personal use. It does not specify allowable amounts.

Separately, the group New Approach Missouri, which successfully got a medical cannabis initiative passed by voters in 2018, announced last summer its plans to put the reform proposal on the ballot through its new campaign committee Legal Missouri 2022.

The organization tried to place the issue of legalization before voters in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic derailed that effort.

Despite the health crisis, activists managed to collect 80,000 raw signatures within months, though they needed 160,199 valid signatures to qualify.

A separate campaign, Fair Access Missouri, is separately exploring multiple citizen initiatives with the hopes of getting at least one on the ballot next year. Three of the four would create a system of legalized cannabis sales for adults 21 and older, while another would simply amend the state’s existing medical marijuana program.

Mississippi House Approves Medical Marijuana Bill With Amendments

The post Missouri Lawmaker Files Bill To Decriminalize Low-Level Drug Possession appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

Thursday marks the end of President Joe Biden’s first year in office—and, by and large, his campaign promises on marijuana policy have so far gone unfilled. And while certain federal agencies have taken some positive reform steps, the administration managed to stir controversy over some outwardly hostile actions with respect to cannabis policy.

Contrary to Biden’s campaign pledges, cannabis has not been federally decriminalized, people remain in federal prison over non-violent marijuana offenses and the plant has yet to be rescheduled under the Controlled Substances Act. Of the cannabis promises that Biden made while running for president, just one has been met so far: the government has continued to let states implement marijuana reform mostly without federal intervention, though ongoing lack of clarity from the administration has caused continuing complications for the industry and consumers.

In one of the more notable positive developments to come out of the Oval Office, however, Biden did sign an infrastructure bill last year that contains language meant to help promote marijuana research.

While there were numerous successes on the reform front in 2021 those mostly came at the state level, and advocates feel disappointed by the overall White House inaction—especially considering that it was promised to voters ahead of the 2020 election.

It’s not just that there were no meaningful reform actions in Biden’s first year, either. It’s that some of the few actions he did take on marijuana—proposing in his budget to keep blocking Washington, D.C. from legalizing cannabis sales and punishing White House staff who were honest about past marijuana use—were setbacks in the movement.

Biden himself hasn’t made a substantive public comment about cannabis policy since entering the Oval Office, beside making a quick, dismissive comment to a reporter who asked about clemency for current prisoners. Vice President Kamala Harris, for her part, said last year that the Biden administration isn’t focused on following through on its marijuana reform pledges because it’s too overwhelmed with responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

“The Biden Administration’s failure to live up to campaign statements and, in the case of including a rider preventing D.C. from regulating cannabis in his budget proposal, even backsliding on cannabis is extremely disappointing,” Morgan Fox, the newly installed political director of NORML, told Marijuana Moment. “This inaction on modest cannabis policy reforms over the past year is inexcusable and is a betrayal of the people that put the president in office.”

“The president has an opportunity with cannabis to show initiative and leadership on an issue that enjoys broad bipartisan support,” he said. “Continued inaction on this issue will have negative consequences for his party this year and in 2024.”

Here’s a rundown of what has happened with marijuana and broader drug policy under the Biden administration in its first year: 

Promise Made, Promises Not Kept

When he was running for president, Biden frustrated advocates by declining to embrace broad marijuana legalization like most of his Democratic primary opponents did at the time. But they were at least encouraged that he voiced support for more modest reforms like federal decriminalization, legalizing medical cannabis, rescheduling and expungements.

“We should decriminalize marijuana,” he said during a town hall event in October 2020, adding, “I don’t believe anybody should be going to jail for drug use.”

He reiterated the pledge in numerous interviews, debates and tweets, as well as in a campaign ad.

But despite having the authority to unilaterally issue a mass pardon for people with federal cannabis convictions—as advocates and lawmakers have repeatedly pressed him to do—Biden has only ceremonially pardoned turkeys around Thanksgiving since taking office.

Following that ceremony, The New York Post’s Steven Nelson pressed the president on cannabis clemency, asking him if there were plans to pardon “any people in addition to turkeys.” Biden jokingly replied, “you need a pardon?” and didn’t respond to a follow-up question about marijuana prisoners.

The White House has been asked about the issue several times now, but while Press Secretary Jen Psaki recently said that the president has “every intention of using his clemency power” and is “looking at” relief for non-violent drug offenders, no meaningful action has been taken.

While on the campaign trail, Biden also came out in favor of moving marijuana from Schedule I to II under the federal Controlled Substances Act—an incremental move that wouldn’t legalize the plant but could make it easier for researchers to study its risks and benefits.

Psaki said in April that Biden’s clemency promise for people with federal marijuana convictions and said that process would start with modestly rescheduling cannabis. But even if rescheduling could help people with cannabis records (experts say it would not), the administration has so far taken no real steps to accomplish that reform.

While experts say it may not be possible for a president to unilaterally remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, he could encourage agencies like the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Justice Department to initiate the rescheduling process.

The lack of clemency action is especially disappointing to advocates who have been lobbying the White House to do something on this issue.

Biden has received about a dozen letters from lawmakers, advocates, celebrities and people impacted by criminalization to do something about the people who remain behind federal bars over cannabis. After months of inaction, some members of Congress like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) have even sent follow-up letters demanding a response.

A recently published Congressional Research Service (CRS) report affirmed that the president has it within his power to grant mass pardons for cannabis offenses. It also said that the administration can move to federally legalize cannabis without waiting for lawmakers to act.

To his credit, Biden has so far kept his campaign pledge to continue to let states legalize and regulate marijuana without federal intervention. But advocates had hoped that he would at least push for the reinstatement of Obama-era Justice Department guidance to prosecutors that generally urged them not to interfere with state laws but which President Donald Trump’s first attorney general rescinded.

Without that guidance or any other concrete reform steps, banking challenges and risks remain in the cannabis industry, marijuana businesses are unable to receive tax credits like other legal industries and other hardships resulting from the federal-state policy conflict remain intact for consumers and patients. In effect, Biden has maintained the status quo of uncertainty that has been in place during the Trump administration and last half of the Obama administration.

Reform Setbacks

Early in 2021, the Biden administration came under fire after it was reported that it had terminated or otherwise punished dozens of staffers who admitted to prior marijuana use as part of their background check process.

Psaki previously attempted to minimize the fallout, without much success, and her office also stressed that nobody was fired for “marijuana usage from years ago,” nor has anyone been terminated “due to casual or infrequent use during the prior 12 months.”  However, she’s consistently declined to speak to the extent to which staff have been suspended or placed in a remote work program because they were honest about their history with marijuana on the federal background check form.

As part of his fiscal year 2022 budget proposal, Biden included a rider that would continue to block Washington, D.C. from using its own tax dollars to legalize adult-use marijuana sales, declining to recommend that existing language barring such activity be eliminated. Democratic lawmakers have moved forward with removing that rider anyways

After receiving a letter from a congresswoman concerning executive discretion for cannabis consumers, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said it is required to continue denying federally assisted housing to people who use marijuana, even if they’re acting in compliance with state law.

The federal government has generally taken a hands-off approach to marijuana enforcement in states that have chosen to legalize the plant, but it was reported late last year that a federal agency raided a small, home cannabis garden of a medical cannabis patient living on Indian territory in New Mexico. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) raid occurred in September.

Biden’s Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) said last year that it continues to oppose a bill that would require it to conduct clinical trials into the therapeutic potential of marijuana for military veterans. A House committee advanced the legislation in any case. A VA representative told lawmakers that the department is “already dedicating resources and research expertise to study the effects of cannabis on conditions affecting veterans.”

“President Biden has made little progress in supporting drug reform laws at the federal level and in some instances, has even taken us further back,” Maritza Perez, director of national affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance, told Marijuana Moment.

On broader drug issues, she added that the administration backed a broad scheduling policy for fentanyl-related substances that “will have a devastating impact on the criminal legal system and set a horrific precedent for drug scheduling moving forward.”

“Moreover, President Biden has failed to embrace marijuana legalization even though he claims to support decriminalization of the substance,” Perez said. “As long as marijuana remains on the CSA, people will continue to be policed, arrested, and imprisoned for marijuana activity. This is deeply problematic particularly because this president made bold promises around criminal justice reform and racial justice for which he has not delivered.”

Federal Actions On Marijuana

There were some positive developments in drug policy reform that came out of federal agencies and the White House last year.

Biden signed a massive infrastructure bill in November that includes provisions aimed at allowing researchers to study the actual marijuana that consumers are purchasing from state-legal dispensaries instead of having to use only government-grown cannabis. The legislation also encourages states that have enacted legalization laws to educate people about impaired driving.

In his 2022 budget, Biden proposed continuing a spending bill provision that’s been annually renewed by Congress since 2014 to prevent the use of Justice Department funds to interfere in state medical cannabis programs. That was the first time a president has moved to keep that rider.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) under Biden has also moved on several occasions to greatly increase legal production quotas for illegal Schedule I drugs like psilocybin, MDMA and DMT.

And several years after first announcing that it would take steps to break the federal marijuana manufacturing monopoly for research, it has finally issued new licenses outside of the University of Mississippi.

Meanwhile, DEA has given hemp businesses that sell delta-8 THC products a boost, with representatives making comments recently signaling that, at the federal level at least, it’s not a controlled substance at this time.

Employment policies related to marijuana have also been shifting within federal agencies under Biden, despite the controversy of his administration’s cannabis-related firings.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said in a memo distributed to agencies last year that admitting to past marijuana use should not automatically disqualify people from being employed in the federal government.

More recently, the director of national intelligence (DNI) said federal employers shouldn’t outright reject security clearance applicants over past use and should use discretion when it comes to those with cannabis investments in their stock portfolios.

FBI quietly updated its hiring policies last year to make it so candidates are only automatically disqualified from joining the agency if they admit to having used marijuana within one year of applying. However, it later revised the policy again to add a stipulation that applicants are ineligible if they’ve used cannabis more than 24 times after turning 18.

In September, The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) proposed a change to the federal drug scheduling system that it hopes will streamline research into Schedule I controlled substances including marijuana and psychedelics such as psilocybin. DEA and NIDA later said that they supports the plan.

While the Biden administration has yet to take a position on policy proposals to authorize safe consumption facilities and a related court challenge against them that are carried over from the Trump administration, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) put out a pair of requests for applications last month for an effort that will provide funding for efforts to investigate how that and other harm reduction policies could help address the drug crisis.

After requesting permission from the White House to conduct the survey of about 20,000 hemp farmers, The U.S.Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service announced in August that the forms are being finalized to be filled out via mail or online.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), meanwhile, still hasn’t gotten around to issuing regulations for hemp-derived cannabidiol products, but it announced last year that it plans to use Reddit and other “novel” data sources to gain a better understanding of public health issues surrounding use of CBD and other “emerging” cannabis derivatives like delta-8 THC.

Federal, state and local officials convened for a national conference this month where members discussed and advanced proposals to establish standards for marijuana products that could later be formally adopted into a federal handbook overseen by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

While Biden hasn’t granted mass clemency for people with marijuana convictions, his administration did take a first step toward granting presidential relief to hundreds of people on home confinement for federal drug convictions last year, with the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) asking eligible individuals to get the process started by filing out clemency applications.

Biden Nominees On Drug Policy

Several of Biden’s pick to lead key agencies have unique drug policy backgrounds. And some of those choices who’ve since been confirmed have been applauded by advocates.

Activists initially weren’t sure what to make of Attorney General Merrick Garland when he was nominated because of his limited record, but they were relieved during his confirmation proceedings to hear that he wasn’t preparing a crackdown on legal cannabis states.

While he’s yet to reinstitute the Obama era guidance offering some level of protection for states that have legalized, he has said on several occasions that DOJ resources shouldn’t be spent going after people operating in compliance with state cannabis laws.

He also hasn’t acted on calls from lawmakers to use his own authority to swiftly end federal cannabis prohibition.

ONDCP Director Rahul Gupta worked as a consultant to Holistic Industries, a multi-state cannabis operator, for nine months in 2020. Prior to his confirmation, Gupta had already caught the attention of reform advocates given his record overseeing the implementation of West Virginia’s medical marijuana program as state health commissioner and chair of a key advisory board. He’s also publicly recognized both the therapeutic and economic potential of cannabis reform.

It was another relief to advocates that the president didn’t pick former Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), a cofounder of anti-legalization organization Smart Approaches To Marijuana (SAM), for the drug czar job, even after he personally lobbied for the nomination.

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta (no relation to Rahul) was also repeatedly pressed on her drug policy views during her confirmation process, particularly where she stands on broad decriminalization. Advocates expressed frustration that she denied having endorsed decriminalization during the hearings despite having done so in past roles at reform organizations.

Former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra was picked to lead HHS, and it was welcome news for advocates because he has a considerable record supporting cannabis reform and working to protect California’s legal program from federal interference.

For example, Becerra was one of 21 state attorneys general who sent a letter to congressional leaders in 2019 expressing support for a bipartisan bill to protect state-legal cannabis programs against federal intervention.

In October, Becerra also signaled that the administration would not block the establishment safe injection sites where people could use illicit drugs in a medically supervised environment as a means of curtailing the overdose epidemic—but it will ultimately be up to the Justice Department to follow through.

As California’s attorney general, Becerra joined counterparts from other states in signing onto an amicus brief supporting a group’s case to set up a harm reduction center. After making supportive remarks about the facilities as HHS secretary, however, a department spokesperson clarified that “HHS does not have a position on supervised consumption sites.”

Biden’s nominee for FDA commissioner has acknowledged the potential medical benefits of marijuana. Robert Califf, who previously served a short stint as the FDA head under the Obama administration, also said that he actually prescribed a cannabinoid drug as a doctor. He’s yet to be confirmed, however.

Tom Vilsack, Biden’s nominee to run USDA who has since been confirmed, gave final approval to a federal rule laying out regulations for the hemp industry in March 2021. He’s widely considered an ally of the hemp industry.

The head of DEA who Biden selected previously described a New Jersey medical marijuana bill as “workable” while serving at the state’s attorney general. Although the former top state prosecutor, Anne Milgram, doesn’t appear to have publicly detailed her personal views on cannabis reform, the limited comments she made over a decade ago signal that, at the very least, she’s open to allowing states to enact their own marijuana policies despite federal prohibition.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently said that that freeing up banks to work with state-legal marijuana businesses would “of course” make the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) job of collecting taxes easier. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) said this month that he’s confident that Biden would support his cannabis banking bill if it arrived on his desk in part because of the conversations he’s had with Yellen about the issue.

Adewale Adeyemo, who Biden picked for the role of Treasury deputy secretary, said in February 2021 that he would look into the possibility of updating 2014 Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) guidance on marijuana banking.

Isabel Guzman, who was picked and confirmed to lead the federal Small Business Administration (SBA), told senators last year that she would examine marijuana businesses’ inability to receive aid that is available to companies in other industries. She also promised last year to “explore” ways the agency could change its policy on prohibiting people with certain criminal convictions—including over marijuana—from accessing federal business loans and other services.

It’s also worth noting that the head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Nora Volkow, has repeatedly made comments on the need for a drug decriminalization model while Biden has been in office, though her tenure predates this presidency.

What To Expect From Biden In 2022

Advocates aren’t necessarily holding their breath for a 2022 marijuana reform push from the White House, but they certainly plan to continue to put pressure on the Biden administration in the new year and see opportunities for at least incremental reform.

With respect to federal agencies and their various heads, it seems the infrastructure is in place to continue to advance incremental policy changes that are less punitive and more science-centered with respect to cannabis, psychedelics and broader drug reform.

Toi Hutchinson, former senior advisor on cannabis to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) and current CEO and president of the Marijuana Policy Project, told Marijuana Moment that it is unfortunate that states have so far lacked “guidance or participation from the federal government” on the cannabis reform front.

“States are left to develop and impose their own testing, health and safety rules. Banks are afraid of violating criminal law by serving licensed operators,” she said. “Individuals in one state compete for state licenses to produce and sell cannabis on an industrial scale, where they face arrest, prosecution, and jail in a neighboring state to even possess a single gram of the same substance.”

“Democrats, including President Biden when he was on the campaign trail, have been clear in their support for cannabis reform, and voters listened,” she said. “Whether it’s full legalization in 2022, or simply the ability for cannabis businesses to get a bank or get tax relief, we expect to see cannabis reform because that is exactly what we were told.”

New York Will Generate More Than $1.25 Billion In Marijuana Revenue Over Next Six Years, Governor’s Budget Estimates

The post After One Year As President, Biden’s Marijuana Promises Remain Unfulfilled appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

NY legalization revenue; SC medical marijuana bill to floor; PA cannabis banking legislation; UT psychedelics therapy proposal; TX hemp bribery case

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/ TOP THINGS TO KNOW

The Mississippi House of Representatives approved a medical cannabis legalization bill. It now heads back to the Senate, which passed it last week, for a final vote on new amendments.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) new budget plan projects that the state will generate more than $1.25 billion in legal marijuana tax revenue over the next six years.

The South Carolina Republican senator who is sponsoring a medical cannabis bill said it will be on the Senate floor next week for debate on special order, meaning that the body must vote on it before any other legislation is taken up.

The Republican chairman and top Democratic member of the Pennsylvania Senate Banking & Insurance Committee announced they’ll be filing a state-level marijuana banking bill to serve as a companion to the federal SAFE Banking Act.

A Utah Republican representative filed a bill to create a task force to study and make recommendations on the therapeutic uses of psychedelics such as psilocybin for treating mental health disorders.

A political consultant to Texas’s agriculture commissioner was indicted in an alleged hemp license bribery scheme.

/ FEDERAL

The Drug Enforcement Administration is proposing to place five tryptamine hallucinogens in Schedule I.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said licensed hemp businesses are eligible for its Rural Energy Pilot Grants Program.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case about the terms of crack offense resentencing under federal criminal justice reform legislation.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) tweeted, “41 states across America (including OR) have voted to give terminally-ill patients the freedom to choose experimental treatments. But the federal government is blocking doctors from being able to facilitate psilocybin-related therapies. I’m leading the charge to change that.”

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) tweeted about discussing her marijuana legalization bill with a Harvard class.

Former Democratic presidential candidate Marianna]e Williamson tweeted, “Legalizing cannabis is taking on added urgency now, not only because of people unjustly incarcerated but also for medicinal and environmental reasons. Time to scrap what should never have been a prohibition in the first place.”

Louisiana Democratic Senate candidate Gary Chambers spoke about his support for equitable marijuana legalization and his decision to smoke cannabis in a campaign ad.

California Democratic congressional candidate Lourin Hubbard tweeted, “The time has come to end the federal prohibition on Marijuana in this country. 91% of US want this done. Black and brown people are 4x more likely to be arrested for marijuana laws than white people with states spending $3.7 billion enforcing marijuana laws every year.”

The House bill to deschedule marijuana and fund programs to repair drug war harms got one new cosponsor for a total of 103.

/ STATES

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) said in his second inaugural address that “businesses in the new cannabis industry that we are setting up in the name of social justice” are part of efforts to “continue growing the innovation economy that will power our future and make us a model for the nation and the world.”

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) criticized a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate’s ad that shows him smoking marijuana.

A spokesperson for Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) said his opposition to marijuana legalization “hasn’t changed” but that he will review any bills lawmakers send him.

Hawaii’s Progressive Legislative Caucus is backing a marijuana legalization bill.

The South Dakota Senate Health and Human Service Committee voted to limit medical cannabis patients to three homegrown plants and approved other marijuana legislation.

The chairman of the Missouri House Veterans Committee said he would prefer lawmakers to pass marijuana legalization rather than have voters do it via a ballot initiative.

Kentucky lawmakers held a press conference to support marijuana legalization legislation. Separately, the representative sponsoring a medical cannabis bill said he thinks the votes are there to pass it but he must first convince Senate leadership to bring it up.

New Mexico lawmakers are only considering a handful of marijuana bills this session.

A New York assemblyman tweeted, “Since 2001, more than 30,000 veterans have died by suicide. When it comes to suicide prevention, we should have every treatment option on the table, which is why we need to pass medical Psilocybin now!”

Utah regulators launched an effort to expand medical cannabis access.

Ohio regulators suspended the medical cannabis employee license of Ancient Roots’s CEO for allegedly giving out product samples.

Montana regulators are accepting topic submissions for an upcoming roundtable discussion about marijuana.

The Washington State Social Equity in Cannabis Task Force will meet on Monday.

Nevada regulators will consider marijuana business issues on Tuesday.

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/ LOCAL

San Bernardino County, California’s sheriff and federal agencies are being sued by Empyreal Logistics for allegedly unlawfully searching transportation vehicles and seizing money from cannabis clients.

/ INTERNATIONAL

The Canadian Embassy to Belgium and Luxembourg tweeted about discussing cannabis issues with a Belgian lawmaker.

/ SCIENCE & HEALTH

A review concluded that “several preclinical and clinical studies have proposed that CBD may be a reliable agent to inhibit the reinforcing and rewarding impact of drugs” and that it “shows a good safety profile, mild side effects in animal preclinical and clinical research.”

A review examined the “endocannabinoid system as a promising therapeutic target in inflammatory bowel disease.”

/ ADVOCACY, OPINION & ANALYSIS

The Global Alliance for Cannabis Commerce, National Cannabis Industry Association, Minority Cannabis Business Association, United States Cannabis Council and National Cannabis Roundtable sent a letter urging Virginia lawmakers to include sentencing relief for people previously convicted of marijuana offenses in any legalization reenactment legislation considered this year.

The Weldon Project is teaming up with the Black Comics Collective and Burn1 on an NFT of a Snoop Dogg song and artwork to raise money for cannabis reform advocacy.

/ BUSINESS

Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. completed its acquisition of Bloom Dispensaries.

Fire & Flower Holdings Corp. filed a Form 40-F with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in preparation to list on the Nasdaq.

Crecco Labs terminated its acquisition of Blair Wellness, LLC.

Leafly Holdings Inc. and Merida Merger Corp. I adjourned a special meeting to approve their merger to February 1.

HEXO Corp. detailed a cost-cutting plan.

Awakn Life Sciences Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding with the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies to explore a partnership utilizing MDMA-assisted therapy to treat alcohol use disorder in Europe.

/ CULTURE

Martha Stewart’s CBD brand launched a line of topicals.

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The post MS House approves medical cannabis bill (Newsletter: January 20, 2022) appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

The Mississippi House of Representatives passed an amended medical marijuana legalization bill on Wednesday on a 104–14 vote, making changes aimed at addressing concerns raised by Gov. Tate Reeves (R). If the Senate approves the changes and the Reeves indeed signs the bill, a system to regulate and sell cannabis to registered patients could launch later this year.

Mississippi’s full Senate passed a version of the legalization measure last week, rejecting amendments from liberals and conservatives alike. And although the governor has remained skeptical of the bill—threatening a veto of a draft version circulated late last year—he said earlier this week that it’s getting “better” with every revision.

Rep. Lee Yancey (R), who chairs the House Drug Policy Committee, and who’s been working with the bill’s lead sponsor, Sen. Kevin Blackwell (R), said before the the House floor vote that he never imagined he’d be in the position to legalize cannabis. But he said a voter-passed legalization initiative in 2020 showed strong support for compassionate use.

Since then, proponents in the legislature have worked to balance the earlier initiative’s proposals against demands from the governor and other critics for tighter restrictions.

“When I got involved in this bill, I said, ‘How can we build a wall around this program so the people who get it are the people who need it the most, and only the people who need it the most?” Yancey said. “This is not for everybody out on the street. This is not for a bunch of kids. This is for hurting people with debilitating conditions.”

The legislation as passed by the House would allow patients with about two dozen qualifying medical conditions to purchase the equivalent of 3.5 grams of marijuana (or 1 gram of cannabis concentrate) per day, with a maximum monthly limit of 3 ounces. An amendment reduced the maximum monthly amount down from the 3.5-ounce limit passed by the Senate.

Another amendment, attached to the bill by the House Drug Policy Committee earlier on Wednesday, would remove the state Department of Agriculture and Commerce from oversight of the industry, instead handing that role to the Department of Health. Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Andy Gipson (R) said last year that his department should have no role in regulating medical marijuana so long as cannabis remains federally illegal, although he said earlier this week that he was preparing to take on the job if directed by lawmakers.

There would be no limit on the number of licensed businesses under the plan, although local governments could impose zoning restrictions and even opt out of the law entirely within 90 days—a move that voters could later challenge.

Under another House amendment, cannabis cultivators and processors, which under the Senate bill could only be located in areas zoned for agricultural and industrial use, could also locate in commercial-zoned areas.

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Mississippi voters decisively approved a broad legalization initiative in November 2020. The state Supreme Court overturned the measure on procedural grounds last May—simultaneously doing away with the state’s entire initiative process—and lawmakers have spent the last several months navigating what comes next.

The current bill, SB 2095, draws heavily from provisions negotiated by lawmakers in the second half of last year, as legislative leaders prepared a bill for an anticipated special session last summer that the governor never called. Supporters say the lengthy proposal represents a middle ground between the more permissive plan approved by voters and the narrower approach preferred by Reeves and some lawmakers.

Despite the governor’s past opposition to medical marijuana bills, Reeves indicated this week that he’s warming to the current proposal as the result of changes since last fall.

“I heard Sen. Blackwell say the other day on the floor that this is the 46th version,” he said Tuesday on a SuperTalk Mississippi morning radio show. “And the good news is, as each version is written, the bill gets better.”

Specifically, he pointed to provisions in the current bill that reduce purchase limits from past amounts, allow law enforcement to perform background checks on would-be business owners and impose restrictions such as mandatory parental consent for patients under 18 and required recommendations from two healthcare practitioners for patients between 18 and 25.

Reeves said he was still holding out hope that House Speaker Philip Gunn (R) would oversee further changes to the Senate-passed bill, which may account for some the House changes adopted Wednesday.

“I’m hopeful that the leadership in the House will take this bill, recognize that as each version has come out, it’s gotten better—it’s gotten closer to medical marijuana,” the governor said, “and I’m hopeful that the House will take the next step to do just that and send a better bill back to the Senate.”

The bill needs a three-fifths supermajority support in both chambers to make its way to Reeves’s desk.

Qualifying conditions under the bill include cancer, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, muscular dystrophy, glaucoma, spastic quadriplegia, HIV, AIDS, hepatitis, Alzheimer’s, sickle-cell anemia, Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis, neuropathy, spinal cord disease or severe injury as well as chronic medical conditions or treatments that produce severe nausea, cachexia or wasting, seizures, severe or persistent muscle spasms or chronic pain.

Further conditions could be added later by regulators via petition. State-issued patient registration cards would cost $25, though some people could qualify for a lower price.

Registered patients would be subject to purchase limits that would restrict them to no more than one “medical cannabis equivalency unit” per day, which the bill defines as 3.5 grams of cannabis flower, one gram of concentrate or up to 100 milligrams of THC in infused products. While those limits are significantly lower than in most states where cannabis is legal for medical patients, Gov. Reeves said last year the program should allow only half those amounts.

The bill does include slightly lower total monthly limits for patients, reducing what had been four ounces per month in a draft version of the legislation last year down to 3 ounces in the House-passed measure. The Senate version, by comparison, allows a total of 3.5 ounces per month.

Patients or caretakers would be forbidden from growing their own cannabis under the proposal. Products from state-licensed companies, meanwhile, would be limited to 30 percent THC for cannabis flower and 60 percent for concentrates. Medical marijuana would be taxed at a wholesale rate of 5 percent, and purchases would also be subject to state sales tax.

Smoking and vaping cannabis would be illegal for patients in public and in motor vehicles, and it would still be a crime patients to drive under the influence.

The legislation would task the Mississippi Department of Health to oversee the new industry. It would also establish a nine-member advisory committee to advise on issues such as patient access and industry safety.

Licensing of cannabis businesses other than dispensaries—including cultivators, processors, transporters, disposal entities, testing labs and research facilities—would begin 120 days after the bill’s passage, with the first licenses issued about a month after that. The dispensary licensing process would kick off 150 days after passage, with the first licenses coming a month later. That would mean the program could be up and running, at least in limited form, by the end of this year.

Cannabis businesses may have to get seek local approval to operate, and municipalities can adopt zoning and land use restrictions. In general, local governments could not ban medical cannabis businesses outright or “make their operation impracticable,” the bill says, but a separate provision would allow local governments to opt out of the program altogether within 90 days of the bill’s passage. In such cases, citizens could then petition to put the question to a vote.

Among the amendments the House rejected on the floor Wednesday was a proposal by Rep. Robert L. Johnson III (D) to expedited expungements of criminal convictions for cannabis activity no longer criminalized under the bill. Representatives voted the change down on a voice vote after Yancey said it would be better left to separate legislation. Sen. Derrick Simmons (D) raised a similar amendment on the Senate side last week, but it was also rejected.

Rep. Dana Criswell (R) introduced an amendment to specify that excise taxes would be capped at 5 percent, with regulators required to review the taxes after the program’s first fiscal year and recommend whether the rate should be adjusted to effectively cover only the costs of the program.

A rejected amendment from Rep. Dan Eubanks (R), meanwhile, would have extended the bill’s ban on lawmakers having an interest in cannabis businesses to a period of four years. The current legislation bans lawmaker participation until this December. Another amendment from Eubanks voted down by colleagues would have eliminated the excise tax on cannabis in the case of federal legalization.

Rep. Omeria Scott (D) brought a number of amendments that were voted down, including changes that would adjust the composition of the state’s medical marijuana advisory board, allowed outdoor cultivation and mandated that reports about the program be publicly posted.

On the Senate side last week, sponsor Blackwell successfully fought to deny several amendments to the legislation, some of which were again introduced and subsequently shot down on the chamber floor. Those changes also included proposals to allow outdoor cultivation and express the state’s intent to advance the interests of underserved communities.

For much of last year, it appeared lawmakers were set to pass a medical marijuana bill during a special legislative session, but the governor ultimately decided against calling the special session after reaching an impasse with lawmakers. Those who supported legalization said at the time that responsibility for the failure rested with Reeves.

“We have worked long hours on this,” Yancey said in October. “We are ready to have a special session. We have the votes to pass this. An overwhelming number in the House and Senate are ready to pass this, and we have a majority of people in Mississippi who voted for us to pass this… If there is any further delay, that will be squarely on the shoulders of the governor, rather than the Legislature.”

Later that month, Reeves dodged questions from patient advocates about why he’d failed to call the special session. Then in late December, he said on social media that he had “repeatedly told the members of the Legislature that I am willing to sign a bill that is truly medical marijuana,” but stressed that there should be “reasonable restrictions.”

“There is one remaining point in question that is VERY important: how much marijuana any one individual can get in any given day,” he wrote, doing back-of-the-envelope math to argue that the system would lead to “1.2 billion legal joints.”

While Reeves said he would consider rejecting the bill over possession limits, Sen. Brice Wiggins (R), chairman of the Judiciary Committee Division A, said it wouldn’t surprise him if the legislature were to override the governor if he chooses to veto the bill.

“I would hate for Governor Reeves to have any veto overridden because, like I said, I’ve worked with him on many different things,” Wiggins said late last month. “But the reality is is that Initiative 65 passed with close to 70 percent of the vote. And the legislature spent all summer working on this and have listened to the people.”

Senator Jeff Tate of Clark andLauderdale counties was one of several lawmakers to attempt to smell the product pic.twitter.com/iJ9KbJAEm8

— Kobee Vance (@kobeevance) January 13, 2022

Sen. Blackwell tried to make a point to the governor about purchase limits when he brought hemp to Reeves’s office earlier this month to give an idea of the amounts allowed under the bill. “I took samples to show him what an ounce actually looks like—what 3.5 grams actually looks like,” the bill’s sponsor said.

Blackwell repeated the stunt on the Senate floor last week, bringing a joint and plastic bags—one containing the daily limit of 3.5 grams, and another containing a full ounce of hemp. Some colleagues also opened the baggies to smell the samples.

A poll released in June found that a majority of Mississippi voters support legalizing marijuana for both medical and recreational use, with 63 percent saying they want the legislature to pass a bill that mirrors the ballot measure that was nullified by the Supreme Court.

Federal Probe Into Missouri Medical Marijuana Licensing May Be Ongoing, Court Documents Suggest

Photo by Sam Doucette on Unsplash

The post Mississippi House Approves Medical Marijuana Bill With Amendments appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

“We are holding accountable powerful actors who abuse the system and break the law. Our community needs to know that no one is above the law and will face justice.”

By Sneha Dey, The Texas Tribune

Todd Smith, a top political consultant to Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, was indicted Tuesday on felony charges of theft and commercial bribery related to taking money in exchange for state hemp licenses that are doled out through Miller’s office, according to Travis County district attorney José Garza.

Smith was arrested in May, accused of taking $55,000 as part of the scheme, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Smith and others were accused of soliciting up to $150,000 to get an “exclusive” hemp license from the Texas Department of Agriculture. Smith allegedly said $25,000 would be used for a public poll on hemp. A hemp license from the state costs $100, according to the arrest warrant.

“We are holding accountable powerful actors who abuse the system and break the law,” Garza said. “Our community needs to know that no one is above the law and will face justice.”

Smith could not immediately be reached for comment but his attorneys said in a statement that their client has not broken any laws.

“We are disappointed that the Travis County District Attorney has obtained an indictment against Todd Smith, he was not invited to address the grand jury. He is not guilty of these charges and intends to vigorously defend himself against the allegations made by the Travis County District Attorney’s Office,” attorneys Sam Bassett and Perry Minton said in a statement.

The Legislature legalized hemp production, manufacturing and retail in 2019, opening the door for the rise of cannabidiol, or CBD, products. At the time of the alleged solicitations, the Texas Department of Agriculture was developing regulations for the emerging hemp industry.

The indictment comes as Miller seeks a third term as agriculture commissioner. Miller is up against two Republican challengers in the March primary, state Rep. James White, R-Hillister, and Carey Counsil, an economics professor at Blinn College.

Miller’s challengers have already targeted him, attempting to link him to Smith. In an interview with the Houston Chronicle earlier this month, Miller dismissed the allegations against Smith, whom he still employs.

“It happens every election. They know they’re not going to get you on anything, but the process is the penalty. All they need is a headline: Sid Miller’s political consultant under investigation for selling hemp licenses,” Miller told the Chronicle. “Well, they brought him in for questioning. They said OK, this was 8 months ago, they said we’re not filing charges and we’re not indicting you, so end of the story, folks, move on. But they got the headlines, so they bring up that old crap.”

Miller on Tuesday evening declined immediate comment, saying he was just learning the news of the indictment from the Tribune reporter. He later went on conservative radio host Chad Hasty’s show and said he’s gonna review indictment, but he’s “not ready to throw [Smith] under the bus” and is “not surprised,” suggesting it’s politically motivated. Miller says he still doesn’t believe Smith did anything wrong.

Smith has faced scrutiny before over his conduct and ties to the Department of Agriculture. In 2018, the Austin American-Statesman reported that Smith promised a San Antonio businessperson an appointment with the Department of Agriculture in exchange for a $29,000 loan. And in 2016, Miller gave Smith’s wife a newly created assistant commissioner position, one of the highest-paying roles in the department.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune.

South Carolina Medical Marijuana Legalization Bill Will Be On Senate Floor Next Week, Sponsor Says

Photo courtesy of Pixabay.

The post Texas Agriculture Commissioner’s Consultant Indicted In Hemp License Bribery Scandal appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

A bill to legalize medical marijuana in South Carolina will get priority status and be taken up on special order next week, the measure’s sponsor said at a rally in the state Capitol on Wednesday.

Sen. Tom Davis (R) said that he’s spoken to Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey (R) about his bill, the South Carolina Compassionate Care Act, and received a commitment that it would be “one of the very first things we take up” in the chamber this session.

Importantly, he said that there was an agreement to consider the legislation on special order, which means that once it’s taken up, senators will have to vote on it before they move forward with any other piece of legislation.

Davis gave an impassioned speech at the rally alongside patients and advocates. He brought out a large binder that he said contains eight years of research into the issue that he will use to “take on every single argument that has been raised in opposition to this bill, and I’m going to show that they cannot stand in the way of facts and evidence.”

He also said that he’s spoken to House Speaker Jay Lucas (R), who agreed that if the measure advances through the Senate, he will “allow the bill to go to through the House process.”

“I fully expect that, given those commitments, that we’re going to be standing here in three or four months celebrating a bill signing with [Gov. Henry McMaster (R)] to finally make us not one of the 14 states that refuses to acknowledge medicine, but one of the 37 states that has recognized it,” Davis said.

While Davis previously said in May that he was disappointed that the legislation wasn’t considered on the floor before the close of the 2021 session and after clearing the Senate Medical Affairs Committee in March, he’s been encouraged by leadership making commitments to move the bill this year.

The senator has been a strong advocate for his legislation, going so far as to threaten to use his power to block other bills from advancing if his reform proposal was stopped.

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As drafted, the bill would allow patients with qualifying conditions to possess and purchase up to two ounces of cannabis every two weeks.

For the initial rollout, regulators would approve 15 licenses for vertically integrated marijuana businesses that would control production, distribution and sales. More than 100 dispensaries would be licensed to operate under the bill.

The legislation would ban smokable marijuana products and home cultivation.

To that point, Davis pointed out at Wednesday’s rally that this is a very conservative reform proposal that’s even more limited than medical cannabis legislation that advanced out of the Mississippi Senate last week.

Patients and advocates also appeared alongside the lawmaker at the event.

“We are counting on our lawmakers to listen to the many voices of patients who, like my daughter, need a safer, more effective alternative to opioids and other debilitating pharmaceutical drugs and pass the Compassionate Care Act NOW!” Jill Swing, executive director of the S.C. Compassionate Care Alliance, said in a press release.

Candace Carroll, state director at Americans for Prosperity South Carolina, said that Davis’s bill would mean that South Carolina could “ensure more individuals access the most transformative treatments and reduce the harms presented by a robust black market.”

A poll released last year found that South Carolina voters support legalizing medical marijuana by a ratio of five to one. But the state does not have a citizen-led initiative process that has empowered voters in other states to get the policy change enacted.

Support for medical marijuana legalization among South Carolina residents has been notably stable, as a 2018 Benchmark Research poll similarly found 72 percent support for the reform, including nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of Republicans.

Also that year, 82 percent of voters in the state’s Democratic primary election voted in favor of medical cannabis legalization in a nonbinding ballot advisory vote. Lawmakers prefiled four marijuana measures for the 2019 session, but they did not advance.

Davis said last year that if the legislature didn’t advance the reform, he’d propose a bill to put the question of medical marijuana legalization to voters through a referendum.

GOP Utah Lawmaker Files Bill To Require Task Force Study Into Psychedelic Therapy For Mental Health

Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen.

The post South Carolina Medical Marijuana Legalization Bill Will Be On Senate Floor Next Week, Sponsor Says appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

A Republican Utah lawmaker introduced a bill on Tuesday that would set up a task force to study and make recommendations on the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs and possible regulations for their lawful use.

Rep. Brady Brammer (R) filed the legislation. While there’s nothing in the text of the proposal that explicitly references psychedelics, it’s strongly implied—and Brammer separately talked in an interview about the measure as a tool to explore the use of substances like psilocybin.

The bill would create a Mental Illness Psychotherapy Drug Task Force that would be required to “study and make recommendations on drugs that may assist in treating mental illness.” The psychotherapy drugs that the panel would consider are defined as controlled substances that are “not currently available for legal use” and “may be able to treat, manage, or alleviate symptoms from mental illness.”

This is the latest example of psychedelics reform reaching state legislatures, including those that are traditionally conservative, as the local decriminalization movement continues to spread and more people are made aware of research into the therapeutic potential of these substances.

Brammer’s bill outlines who would be appointed to the task force, including a psychiatrist, psychologist, Utah Medical Association representative, a researcher, a person with a civil liberties organization, a patient with experience with psychotherapy drugs and more.

“The task force shall provide evidence-based recommendations on any psychotherapy drug that the task force determines may enhance psychotherapy when treating a mental illness,” the text of the measure states.

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Recommendations should touch on the types of symptoms that a given drug may treat, dosage and administration, training and licensing, how to obtain the substance, safety requirements, data tracking and “proposed regulations the Legislature should consider if the psychotherapy drug is made legal for treating mental illness.”

The task force would need to submit a report with its recommendations to the Health and Human Services Interim Committee by October 31.

“We need effective tools to treat mental illness,” Brammer told KSL. “If psychedelics can be helpful and safely administered, we need them in our toolbox.”

“Utah has some of the finest researchers in the areas of psychiatry and neurosciences at Huntsman Mental Health Institute,” he said. “This bill seeks to leverage that expertise, along with other experts grappling with mental illness, to review the research results, and if appropriate, make recommendations on how to safely administer these therapeutics under the care of qualified physicians.”

Amid a mental health and drug overdose crisis, more lawmakers are expressing interest in taking a new approach to treatment that might involve psychedelics. Others are more generally interested in decriminalizing or legalizing the substances.

On Tuesday, for example, bipartisan congressional lawmakers sent a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), urging that the agency allow terminally ill patients to use psilocybin as an investigational treatment without the fear of federal prosecution.

Virginia legislators introduced bills last week to decriminalize the possession of psychedelics.

A Kansas lawmaker also recently filed a bill to legalize the low-level possession and cultivation of psilocybin mushrooms.

In Missouri, a Republican lawmaker has introduced a bill to give residents with serious illnesses legal access to a range of psychedelic drugs like psilocybin, ibogaine and LSD  through an expanded version of the state’s existing right-to-try law.

California Sen. Scott Wiener (D) told Marijuana Moment in a recent interview that his bill to legalize psychedelics possession stands a 50/50 chance of reaching the governor’s desk this year. It already cleared the full Senate and two Assembly committees during the first half of the two-year session.

In Michigan, a pair of state senators introduced a bill in September to legalize the possession, cultivation and delivery of various plant- and fungi-derived psychedelics like psilocybin and mescaline.

Washington State lawmakers also introduced legislation this month that would legalize what the bill calls “supported psilocybin experiences” by adults 21 and older.

In Vermont, a broad coalition of lawmakers representing nearly a third of the House introduced a bill to decriminalize drug possession.

New Hampshire lawmakers filed measures to decriminalize psilocybin and all drugs.

Last year, the governor of Connecticut signed legislation that includes language requiring the state to carry out a study into the therapeutic potential of psilocybin mushrooms.

Similar legislation was also enacted in the Texas legislature, requiring the state to study the medical risks and benefits of psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine for military veterans in partnership with Baylor College of Medicine and a military-focused medical center.

Voters in Oregon approved 2020 ballot measures to decriminalize all drugs and legalize psilocybin therapy.

Bipartisan Congressional Lawmakers Tell DEA To Allow Psilocybin Treatment For Terminal Patients

Photo elements courtesy of carlosemmaskype and Apollo.

The post GOP Utah Lawmaker Files Bill To Require Task Force Study Into Psychedelic Therapy For Mental Health appeared first on Marijuana Moment.