Politics

A Hawaii Senate committee approved a House-passed bill on Wednesday that would create an advisory council to look into possible regulations to provide access to federal “breakthrough therapies” like psilocybin and MDMA. The psychedelics legislation from Rep. Adrian Tam (D) advanced, with amendments, in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee in a 5-0 vote. Members took testimony from advocates and experts, including a representative of the Department of Health, which voiced support for the proposal. All 20 people and organizations that… Read more.

A Hawaii Senate-passed bill to legalize marijuana has stalled out in the House for the year—but advocates are shifting focus to 2024, hoping to enact the reform in the second half of the two-year legislative session. The legislation from Sen. Joy San Buenaventura (D) cleared the Senate earlier this month, and hopes were high that it’d make it through the House as well. But a hearing wasn’t scheduled before a deadline for bills that have been referred to three or more… Read more.

The Oklahoma Senate on Tuesday passed a measure that would allow the director of the state Medical Marijuana Authority to shut down cannabis operations that are damaging the environment, KOKH reports. Sen. Joe Newhouse (R) authored the legislation and argued that it would help reign in medical cannabis operations in the state that are not following state law.  Oklahoma has one of the nation’s most permissive medical cannabis programs, but it has been rife with controversy. Last year, two Oklahoma attorneys were charged in a “Ghost Owner”… Read more.

A newly-formed political action committee aims to back candidates for office that back the use of psychedelics for therapeutic purposes, NBC News reports. The Psychedelic Medicine PAC also aims to secure federal funding to further education and research efforts for psychedelics but stops short of calling for full legalization or decriminalization of the substances. In an interview with NBC News, Ryan Rodgers, co-founder and executive director of Psychedelic Medicine PAC, said the group has “to convince a historically stubborn audience around psychedelics that it’s… Read more.

Another Minnesota House committee has approved a bill to legalize marijuana, after members adopted a large-scale amendment to overhaul various provisions of the legislation. The House Commerce Finance and Policy Committee passed the measure in a voice vote on Monday. The panel, chaired by bill sponsor Rep. Zack Stephenson (D), first took up the legislation in January, but it was always the plan to have the proposal returned to the committee. Like a recently adopted change to a companion bill… Read more.

A bill to legalize medical marijuana stalled in the Kansas legislature on Thursday—but now the governor is urging the public to contact their representatives to demand they take the legislation back up for action “this session.” Gov. Laura Kelly (D), who has long championed cannabis reform, said on Thursday that she’s “disappointed that some legislators are saying they don’t want to move forward with legalizing medical marijuana this year—effectively turning their backs on our veterans and those with chronic pain and seizure… Read more.

Bipartisan congressional lawmakers have refiled a pair of bills meant to provide a pathway for the regulation of hemp derivatives like CBD as dietary supplements and food and beverage additives. The two measures that were filed on Friday—the Hemp and Hemp-Derived CBD Consumer Protection and Market Stabilization Act and the CBD Product Safety and Standardization Act—are being sponsored by Reps. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and Angie Craig (D-MN). Earlier versions of the bills were filed last Congress and ultimately did not advance,… Read more.

A second Delaware Senate committee approved a House-passed bill on Thursday to create a regulated adult-use marijuana market, sending it to the floor where a complementary measure to legalize possession is also set for action. The proposals are being sponsored by Rep. Ed Osienski (D), and they both advanced through a separate Senate committee on Wednesday after being approved in the full House. Now the Senate Finance Committee has also cleared the regulations-focused bill, which needed a second stop because… Read more.

Kansas senators have shelved a bill to legalize medical marijuana following a hearing that featured multiple opponents, including state law enforcement representatives. Members of the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee voted on Thursday to table the legislation, which the panel itself is sponsoring. Following the action, Chairman Mike Thompson (R) said that lawmakers have “bigger fish to fry,” indicating that he’s not interested in taking the proposal back up before the end of the 2023 session. Officials with the Kansas Sheriffs… Read more.

The New Hampshire House of Representatives has approved another bill to legalize marijuana in the state—except this one contains no regulations or limitations on cannabis. About a month after the House passed a comprehensive legalization, taxation and regulation measure that’s being sponsored by bipartisan leaders, members on Thursday took up the simpler legislation to remove marijuana from the state’s listed of banned substances. The chamber first voted, 210-160, to overrule the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, which had deemed the… Read more.

The Texas House Public Health Committee on Monday heard hearings on a bill that would expand the state’s medical cannabis program, FOX 44 reports. The measure would allow access to products with THC levels as high as 5%. Under current law, patients can only access low-THC products with THC concentrations up to 1%.  The measure is, in part, meant to reign in the proliferation of hemp-derived THC products, such as delta-8, which some medical cannabis consumers are relying on because of the low THC limits in… Read more.

House and Senate committees in Minnesota on Tuesday each altered adult-use cannabis legalization bills being considered by lawmakers, with the House Transportation Finance Committee tacking on an amendment to reduce the amount of cannabis individuals can keep in their homes from 5 pounds to 1.5 pounds, ABC 6 News reports.  The Senate State and Local Government committee adopted a 142-page amendment to create distinctions between the industrial hemp industry and the adult-use cannabis industry.   Ted Galaty, a hemp farmer and owner of Willow’s Keep Farm, told… Read more.

A bipartisan bill introduced in the House last week would allow individuals with drug convictions to obtain a hemp license. The 2018 Farm Bill, which expanded the federal government’s hemp legalization policies, prohibits people with a felony drug conviction within the past 10 years from cultivating hemp. The measure, dubbed the Free to Grow Act, is backed by Republican Reps. Nancy Mace (S.C.) and David Joyce (OH), along with Democratic Reps. David Trone (MD) and Senior House Agriculture Committee Member Chellie Pingree… Read more.

Discreet prescription refills via telehealth visits are already the norm for medications like hair loss and erectile dysfunction medication for men, which is easier to do when it’s not in-person. The same methods could be used to be discreet and quietly get prescriptions for medical cannabis under a new Florida bill. House Bill 387 is sponsored by Spencer Roach (R-North Fort Myers) and would allow practitioners to certify patients for medical cannabis via FaceTime, Skype, etc. visits rather than in-person visits.… Read more.

Bipartisan congressional lawmakers have refiled a bill to combat illicit marijuana grows on federal lands, framing it as a way that the federal government can help protect cannabis consumers’ health from banned pesticides that are often used in unregulated cultivation. While the idea of yet another stepped up federal effort to crack down on illegal cannabis production might seem like an extension of prohibitionist enforcement at a surface level, Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA) said on Thursday that the primary intent of… Read more.

After witnessing a blowout loss in Oklahoma on Tuesday, advocates of adult-use marijuana legalization are turning their attention to brighter prospects in Hawaii and Delaware. Legalization bills are marching through legislatures in both states, with support from the governor in Hawaii and a veto-proof legislative majority in Delaware, where lawmakers in the state House on Thursday advanced an adult-use legalization bill for the first time. However, observers cautioned final passage isn’t assured in either state. The two relatively small states… Read more.

The Maryland House of Delegates has advanced an amended bill to create regulations allowing for adult-use marijuana commerce following voter approval of legalization last year. The legislation, sponsored by Del. C.T. Wilson (D), passed on a second reading on the floor on Wednesday, just days after clearing committee. The House will need to give final third reading approval to the measure before it potentially moves to the Senate, where a companion version is scheduled for consideration in committee on Thursday. The House… Read more.

Oklahoma voters are heading to the polls Tuesday to decide whether to allow adults 21 and over to buy and consume cannabis. If the measure passes, the state will become the 22nd in the U.S. to legalize pot for adult use. The vote on State Question 820 is taking place on an executive order from Gov. Kevin Stitt. With just over 4 million people and 2.2 million registered voters, Oklahoma is the 28th-largest U.S. state by population. Although it’s a… Read more.

Military veterans trying to overcome the horrors of war are increasingly finding themselves in an unlikely position — persuading Republican politicians to legalize the healing power of ancient psychedelic plants. DailyMail.com spoke with former Marines, Navy Seals and others left traumatized by America's brutal campaigns overseas who have turned to psilocybin mushrooms and other natural drugs to help fight their inner demons. Left-leaning Oregon and Colorado have started to let psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient in 'magic' mushrooms, be used in supervised drug journeys to counter depression and… Read more.

Three separate proposals are planned by Pennsylvania lawmakers seeking to legalize recreational marijuana, provide social justice to those with low-level marijuana convictions and reap the tax benefits from a potential billion-dollar industry. Two co-sponsorship memos circulating in the House and Senate propose selling marijuana in state-owned liquor stores, restricting possession and use to adults at least 21 years of age. The memos respectively filed by state Rep. David Delloso, D-Delaware, and state Sen. Marty Flynn, D-Lackawanna/Lehigh, would also permit Pennsylvanians… Read more.

A bill in New Mexico would create two new programs funded by cannabis excise tax revenues, including a community reinvestment grant fund and a substance use disorder prevention and treatment fund, KRQE reports. Currently, all cannabis excise tax revenues are sent into the state’s general fund.  Under the measure, a third of the taxes collected from adult-use sales would be used for those programs. State Rep. Andrea Romero (D), one of the bill’s sponsors, noted that the current version of the bill does not specify that the money would… Read more.

A marijuana legalization bill cleared another Minnesota Senate committee on Wednesday, bringing the total number of panels in the chamber to advance the legislation so far this session to seven. The Human Services Committee passed the measure from Sen. Lindsey Port (D) in a voice vote. “This allows adults to safely and responsibly use cannabis,” Sen. Clare Oumou Verbeten (D), who presented the bill on behalf of Port, told committee members. “It creates a regulated marketplace that’s much safer than… Read more.

A Republican state senator in Pennsylvania is calling on law enforcement to take steps to protect the gun rights of marijuana  consumers, particularly medical cannabis patients—pointing to a federal judge’s recent ruling that the U.S. government’s ban on gun ownership by people who use marijuana is unconstitutional. Sen. Dan Laughlin (R), in a letter to the acting commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, noted that the commonwealth currently prohibits people from obtaining a license to carry firearms if they acknowledge being… Read more.

On March 7, Oklahoma residents will only have one question to answer: Do they support adult-use cannabis legalization? If Oklahomans pass State Question 820 on their ballots, they will follow the national trend toward legalization and become the 22nd state to have ended cannabis prohibition. Of the 29 states where adult-use cannabis is still illegal, 17 of them have introduced legislation to legalize it this year. While most of these proposals are unlikely to be successful in 2023, the trend… Read more.

Two South Dakota medical cannabis firms are suing a former political operative for the Democratic National Committee (DNC), accusing the defendant of defrauding the companies and their investors of about $1.7 million. A former political operative for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is being sued in South Dakota, accused of defrauding two medical cannabis companies and their investors of about $1.7 million, the Star Tribune reports. Dakota Natural Growers, 605 Cannabis, and more than 20 of their investors filed the lawsuit last… Read more.

The Washington Senate has approved a ban on discriminating against cannabis use during the hiring process. The Washington Senate voted 28-21 in favor of a bill on Wednesday that would block employers in the state from refusing to hire someone because they tested positive for cannabis on a drug test, the Seattle Times reports. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Karen Keiser (D), introduced a similar bill last year but the proposal never reached the floor for consideration. The proposal moves next to the… Read more.

Connecticut may establish a Cannabis Ombudsman position for the state’s medical cannabis program, which would be an independent liaison between patients and the state to address concerns about the program. A bill proposed in Connecticut would create the position of Cannabis Ombudsman – an independent person that would serve as a liaison between medical cannabis patients and the state to address concerns, NBC Connecticut reports. The move comes about a month after adult-use cannabis sales commenced in the state which has caused complaints among… Read more.

PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — The people behind the popup sites where practitioners examine patients who want to be in South Dakota’s medical-cannabis program won’t face any additional regulations, at least not this year. A state legislative panel has killed two proposals that sought to limit where the exams could be conducted and restrict their advertising. The Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Wednesday rejected HB1129 and HB1172 on 4-1 votes. Republican Sen. Al Novtrup, the lead Senate sponsor on both, cast the lone votes in their support. Republican… Read more.

The 2024 presidential election cycle is already heating up, with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) announcing that she’s seeking the Republican nomination. So where does she stand on marijuana policy issues? That’s a question that will be asked of all major candidates over the coming months as the circle of prospective nominees inevitably widens. Haley, who also served as United Nations (UN) ambassador under President Donald Trump, doesn’t have an especially extensive cannabis background. But she did sign… Read more.

Adults 21 and over could possess up to 2.5 ounces of pot, including up to 15 grams of cannabis concentrates, under the bill. As Texas continues to lag behind the rest of the country in cannabis reform, a Democrat in the Texas House of Representatives has introduced a bill to let the state's municipalities and counties decide whether to legalize recreational weed. House Bill 1937, filed by State Rep. Jessica González of Dallas, would enable municipalities to make the call whether to green… Read more.

New Mexico lawmakers are considering a bill to ban cannabis edibles that could be appealing to children, and another bill that would train teachers in identifying cannabis products and when students may have consumed them. Two legislative proposals in New Mexico would tweak the state’s cannabis laws, including a ban on edibles that could appeal to children, the creation of educational materials for teachers to identify cannabis products and when students consumed them, and ad campaigns aimed to prevent children… Read more.

A proposal introduced last week in Kentucky would ban delta-8 THC products in the state; the bill is nearly identical to another proposal that passed Kentucky’s Senate last year but died in the House. A bill introduced last week in Kentucky would ban delta-8 THC products in the state, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports. Kentucky Hemp Association President Katie Moyer told the Journal that if the bill is approved it would “probably end Kentucky’s hemp industry as we know it.”  The measure is nearly identical to… Read more.

Virginia’s Republican-controlled House of Delegates has consistently killed Senate-passed marijuana reform bills this session, and the latest legislation to be stopped in its tracks is a modest proposal to let medical cannabis businesses make certain state-level tax deductions. A House Finance subcommittee on Friday rejected the Senate-approved proposal to give the cannabis industry tax relief that they’re barred from receiving at the federal level under the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code known as 280E. This comes days after the chamber separately killed a measure… Read more.

Records show Russian oligarch and former Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the US cannabis industry. One of the biggest backers of the legal US cannabis industry was Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, leaked documents have revealed. Records show Abramovich invested $130 million and provided $194 million in loans to US weed firms between 2016 and 2018, when US states were increasingly shifting from illegal to legal markets. Abramovich was the owner of Chelsea Football… Read more.

DENVER (KDVR) — The City of Denver and the International Church of Cannabis are in a heated dispute over a sculpture in front of the church. The city claims the sculpture is unsafe and hazardous to drivers and has ordered it to be removed, while the church said it’s an expression of their religious beliefs. The sculpture was installed four months ago, and the congregation of “elevationists” believes the sculpture to be holy and part of the church’s practice, where… Read more.

New Hampshire lawmakers working on marijuana legalization legislation met on Tuesday to refine their plan to advance the reform this session, with members of a committee hashing out differences between competing proposals. The intent is to nail down a merged vehicle in a follow-up meeting on Wednesday. The work session of the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Liquor Subcommittee got started with a decent amount of pushback over the chair’s recently proposed amendment to a legalization bill, HB 639, from Majority… Read more.

The White House and key officials are previewing policies and accomplishments of the Biden administration—including marijuana pardons, drug sentencing reform, harm reduction and enhanced drug war enforcement for fentanyl—ahead of the president’s State of the Union address on Tuesday. While it remains to be seen if President Joe Biden will explicitly discuss the cannabis and drug policy issues when he appears before the joint session of Congress, the statements are meant to expand on the basic parameters of the annual… Read more.

As 2023 began, cannabis advocates on Capitol Hill and the industry at large were steeped in frustration and disappointment. In December, despite broad bipartisan support, Senate Republicans abruptly stripped the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Act from must-pass spending legislation, crushing the industry’s expectation that critical banking services at last were within reach. As lawmakers departed for the winter holiday, legal business owners—many of whom are forced to do business in cash—contemplated another year of spiraling operating costs and workplace vulnerability. Nevertheless,… Read more.

A top Republican Wisconsin lawmaker is pushing back against the idea that the conservative legislature is close to making a deal on medical marijuana legalization, and he’s again warning the Democratic governor against calling for adult-use legalization as part of his forthcoming budget request. While Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R) said last week that his caucus is “getting pretty close” on medical cannabis reform, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in a new interview published on… Read more.

Texas activists have turned in more than 37,000 signatures to place a measure on the San Antonio ballot in May to decriminalize marijuana, prevent the enforcement of abortion restriction laws and ban no-knock warrants. A coalition of advocacy groups—including Ground Game Texas, SA Stands and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC)—secured the signatures about three months after launching the local reform campaign. This builds on the activist-led cannabis decriminalization movement that Ground Game has spearheaded in cities across the Lone Star… Read more.

While the Biden administration investigates marijuana's federal scheduling, a bipartisan group of congressional members is urging the president to openly support outright legalization. Recently, a letter which is slated to be addressed to President Joe Biden and key cabinet officials was obtained by Marijuana Moment. The Congressmen stated in the letter that while they applaud the directive of the scheduling review, the administration should embrace the virtues of full descheduling. The letter states that while the congressmen don't always agree on… Read more.

Texas activists have turned in what they say are enough signatures to place a measure on the Harker Heights ballot to reverse a City Council move that repealed a voter-approved marijuana decriminalization initiative. Ground Game Texas, which was behind a number of successful local decriminalization measures that passed this year, is also criticizing an outgoing district attorney’s request that the state attorney general issue an opinion on a separate reform initiative that voters approved overwhelmingly in San Marcos. In Harker… Read more.

As we have always said, weed will be legal in America when Mitch McConnell says it will be. On Tuesday, U.S. cannabis stocks dropped significantly after hopes for cannabis regulatory reform fell through in Congress. Specifically, adopting a cannabis-focused proposal in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is doubtful since a familiar opposition has raised concerns again. Republican leaders have opposed attempts to add a draft of the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act to the must-pass yearly National Defense Authorization… Read more.

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Kentucky residents will be able to import THC-containing products from surrounding states beginning January 1, 2023, under an executive order Gov. Andy Beshear (D) signed Tuesday. The order allows qualified medical patients to possess up to eight ounces of cannabis legally obtained in another state. Until now, only CBD oil was permitted. Beshear also signed a second order regulating the sale of Delta-8 THC, effective November 15, 2022. “Our citizens should not face criminal punishment for treating certain medical conditions with… Read more.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says Congress is getting “very close” to introducing and passing a marijuana bill with provisions covering banking access for legal businesses and expungements of past convictions, citing progress he’s made in discussions with a “bunch of Republican senators.” During a debate with his Republican reelection opponent Joe Pinion on Sunday, Schumer was asked about a separate broader cannabis legalization bill he filed this year and whether he felt it would make more sense to… Read more.

Drug raids in Detroit have fallen 95 percent since a peak in 2012, largely as a result of voters’ decision to legalize recreational marijuana and shifting other police priorities. Detroit police conducted 3,462 drug raids in fiscal year 2012. Nearly every year since then, that number has declined. Last year, police conducted 186 drug raids, according to the city’s annual financial report. The 95 percent decline in drug raids in the city is the result of a combination of factors,… Read more.

California is starting to push businesses out with a slew of progressive laws that infringe on business freedom and give employers more responsibility. The Golden State has led the way in promoting progressive employment proposals that, according to Bloomberg, are scaring businesses away because employers claim they cannot endure more legal uncertainty while they are still recovering from the aftermath of covid-19. Governor Gavin Newsom’s flurry of bill signings includes SB 1162, a rule that catches the attention of businesses. It is… Read more.

As Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) works to enact marijuana reform before the end of Congress, he’s also pushing to promote access to psychedelics that he says hold therapeutic potential. In a video posted to Twitter on Monday, the senator talked about how psychedelics like psilocybin are strictly controlled under federal law as Schedule I drugs, which places “a lot of limitations” on them. “But at the same time, we’re having massive breakthroughs in a lot of the research,” he said,… Read more.

Joe Biden took a step towards marijuana decriminalization last week when he granted a mass pardon to anyone convicted of a federal crime for simple possession of the drug. He also asked governors to take similar steps, and directed his administration to review marijuana’s status as a Schedule I substance alongside hard drugs like heroin. “Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana,” Biden said. “It’s time that we right these wrongs…There are thousands of people who were… Read more.

Just over three-quarters of self-identified Republicans said the government shouldn’t fight state legalization backed by voters, a poll found. Republicans don’t want the federal government to crack down on state-legal weed markets. Just over three-quarters of self-identified Republicans said the government shouldn’t fight state medical or adult-use legalization backed by voters and instead should remove any obstacles facing those markets, according to a new national poll commissioned by the industry group National Cannabis Roundtable. Just 17 percent of respondents disagreed that the… Read more.

California officials announced on Wednesday that the state will be awarding up to $20 million in marijuana tax-funded grants to universities that carry out research into cannabis science and policy—including studies on preventing monopolies in the legal industry and securing the genetics of “legacy” strains. This is the second round of academic marijuana grants from the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC), which said it is soliciting research proposals from public colleges with a focus on five priority study areas. The… Read more.