Author: AggregatedNews
[ad_1] The German government’s plan to liberalize rules on cannabis cleared its final parliamentary hurdle Friday, paving the way for the possession of limited amounts of marijuana to be decriminalized on April 1. In a second step, “cannabis clubs” that will be allowed to grow the substance for members’ personal use will be permitted to start work on July 1. The legislation, a prominent reform project of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government, was approved by parliament’s lower house last month. But its fate in the upper house, which represents Germany’s 16 state governments and where Scholz’s socially liberal coalition lacks a majority, was…
[ad_1] Hailed at the time as a reflection of shifting public sentiment on a substance that’s still federally illegal, 2 in 3 Maryland voters approved legalization in 2022. Now, about 1 in 3 say it has been good for the state. Another 1 in 3 say it has been bad and the remainder say it’s been “neither good nor bad,” the poll found. [ad_2] Source link
[ad_1] U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday she would welcome legislation that would rectify the conflict between federal and state laws on the sale and use of marijuana that is preventing cannabis firms from accessing the banking system. Asked at a U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee hearing about the issue, which forces cannabis businesses to hold large amounts of cash, Yellen said: “I think it’s a real problem and it would be desirable to have legislation that alleviated this problem.” Republican Representative David Joyce said he had raised the same issue with former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin…
[ad_1] After years of supporters failing to legalize cannabis in Wisconsin, Rob Pero is starting to unite tribal leaders in the state for a new lobbying and campaigning effort. “Wisconsin is landlocked with a hypocrisy of prohibition,” he said, referring to surrounding states that have legalized cannabis. Pero founded the Indigenous Cannabis Industry Association in 2022, which recently held its second annual Wisconsin Cannabis Industry and Policy Summit at the Ho-Chunk Casino and Hotel in Baraboo. “The top takeaway from the event was the time to take action is now,” Pero said in a statement. “The welfare of our communities are at…
[ad_1] A bill creating what’s among the most limited medical marijuana programs in the country was introduced in the Kansas Statehouse, after several years of failed attempts at creating a program. Kansas is one of only 10 states that doesn’t have either medical or recreational cannabis. The Kansas House passed a medical marijuana bill in 2021, but the Senate didn’t take up the bill and there hasn’t been movement on the issue since. Senate Bill 555, introduced in the Senate on Monday, would launch a pilot program for people with one of 16 medical conditions. The types of marijuana available,…
[ad_1] It seemed an unlikely spot for a showdown between Chinese gangsters: a marijuana farm on the prairie in Kingfisher County, Oklahoma. On a Sunday evening in late November 2022, a blue Toyota Corolla sped down a dirt-and-gravel road in the twilight, passing hay meadows and columns of giant wind turbines spinning on the horizon. The Corolla braked and turned, headlights sweeping across prairie grass, and entered the driveway of a 10-acre compound filled with circular huts and row after row of greenhouses. Past a ranch house, the sedan stopped outside a large detached garage. The driver, Chen Wu, burst out…
[ad_1] When the state of Minnesota legalized adult-use cannabis last year, legislators made a subtle change to the books: they struck most mentions of “marijuana” and swapped it out for “cannabis.” Amid the slew of changes coming with legalization — expunging criminal records, setting up a licensing, staffing up the Office of Cannabis Management after a botched appointment — the language change is small. But it’s become common practice across the country as more states legalize it. Leili Fatehi is a founder of Blunt Strategies, a consulting agency that helps cannabis businesses get going. Before starting her business, she campaigned for legalization for several…
[ad_1] Recreational marijuana has been legal in Ohio for more than three months, but many public employers are not changing their policies and still prohibit workers from consuming the drug in their free time. Local cities including Dayton, Beavercreek, Centerville, Fairborn, Kettering and Trotwood still forbid their employees from using marijuana when they are off the clock. Other public agencies have the same kind of policies, including the local public transit authority. Public officials and HR groups say some public agencies aren’t changing their cannabis policies because the federal government classifies marijuana as a controlled substance with “no medicinal value…
[ad_1] California’s cannabis has long been known for being notoriously strong, but test results from the state’s legal stores show that weed in the Golden State is getting weaker. Experts say there’s more to the story. Cannabis potency is usually measured by levels of THC, the most common intoxicant in marijuana. State law requires that all cannabis products be tested for THC content, which means there’s ample data on how strong the state’s weed is. The median THC potency for cannabis flower has been dropping for the past six months and fell 7% in the past three months alone, according to…
[ad_1] By Vince Sliwoski, Managing Partner of Harris Sliwoski It looks like a permanent Oregon cannabis license moratorium will finally take effect. I say “looks like” because key contingencies are still in play and, although things look promising, it could also get dicey as of March 31st— or even sooner. In this post, I’ll explain what’s going on with House Bill 4121, which is certainly more than advertised, both in content and in progress. And I’ll explain what it all means for the Oregon cannabis industry. HB 4121 and the cannabis license moratorium On February 6th, 2024, I ran our annual legislative…
[ad_1] Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered a review of the way New York State licenses cannabis businesses after calling the sluggish rollout of legal cannabis a “disaster.” Gov. Kathy Hochul has told New York officials to come up with a fix for the way the state licenses cannabis businesses amid widespread frustration over the plodding pace of the state’s legal cannabis rollout and the explosion of unlicensed dispensaries. The governor has ordered a top-to-bottom review of the state’s licensing bureaucracy, to begin Monday — weeks after she declared the rollout “a disaster” and called off a Cannabis Control Board meeting when…
[ad_1] Morocco’s first legal cannabis harvest was 294 metric tons in 2023, after the country approved its cultivation and export for medicine and industrial uses, the cannabis regulator has said said. The harvest was made by 32 cooperatives that brought together 430 farmers covering 277 hectares in the northern Rif mountain areas of Al Houceima, Taounat and Chefchaouen, ANRAC claimed. The United Nations drugs agency says about 47,000 hectares of the Rif are devoted to cannabis output, roughly a third of the amount in 2003 after government crackdowns. This year, the regulator is examining applications by 1,500 farmers who organised themselves into 130 cooperatives,…