Author: Ben Adlin

[ad_1] Democratic senators in support of legal marijuana sales in Virginia said at a recent event that in light of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) veto of a retail cannabis bill last month, it will likely be 2027 or later before adult-use shops can legally open their doors. “I’m very direct, and sometimes folks don’t like to hear the harsh truth, but it’s the harsh truth,” said Sen. Aaron Rouse (D), who sponsored the retail sales bill in the Senate. “There’s a really big mountain to climb with this governor and his administration. I think he will veto setting up an…

[ad_1] The campaign behind a Florida ballot measure to legalize marijuana is reaching out to veterans in an effort to build voter support for the the reform, which will appear on the state’s ballot this November. In an email to supporters Friday, the campaign, Smart and Safe Florida, said it’s hoping to “grow one of the many coalitions we are building in Florida: Veterans.” “Our goal is to raise awareness among voters about the importance of cannabis as a safer alternative to synthetic opioids for treating PTSD and related conditions among veterans,” wrote the campaign, explaining that organizers are “looking…

[ad_1] After a Kansas legislative committee effectively killed a medical marijuana pilot program proposal last month, lawmakers are slated to take up the issue once again when they return from break later this month under a GOP senator’s new motion to force a vote on a different legalization bill. Last week on the Senate floor, Sen. Robert Olson (R) made a motion that would revive a broader medical marijuana measure and have senators debate and vote on it. That bill, SB 135, was shelved by a legislative panel a year ago after pushback from law enforcement. “We’ve debated this issue…

[ad_1] A new report published by the the American Medical Association (AMA) finds that neither adult-use marijuana legalization nor the opening of retail stores in U.S. states led to increases in youth cannabis use. Rather, the reforms were generally associated with more young people reporting not using marijuana, along with increases in those who say they don’t use alcohol or vape products either. The results of the study, published on Monday in the medical group’s journal JAMA Pediatrics, reinforce previous findings that legalizing and regulating marijuana for adults, typically does not increase youth use of the substance—contrary to what opponents…

[ad_1] A group of physicians who support drug policy reform say in a new position paper on the widespread accessibility of delta-8 THC and certain other cannabinoids derived from federally legal hemp that further regulation of the lesser-known chemicals is crucial in order to protect public health. “Our understanding of these compounds is limited,” says the paper, from the group Doctors for Drug Policy Reform (D4DPR), a nonprofit that generally advocates for the legal regulation of drugs such as marijuana rather than prohibition. “Many have never been observed in nature and their toxicology is unknown.” “Our stance at D4DPR,” it…

[ad_1] Legal sales of marijuana in Michigan tallied a new monthly record in March, according to recently released data from state cannabis regulators, with retailers recording nearly $289 million in purchases during the month. Sales of medical marijuana, however, continued to decline. Adult-use marijuana purchases in Michigan totaled $286.8 million during March 2024, accounting for 99 percent of all receipts for the month. By category, flower made up the bulk of sales, at $131.4 million, followed by vape cartridges ($54.4 million), inhalable concentrates ($33.9 million) and infused edibles ($26.3 million). As of the end of March, the state had 785…

[ad_1] A Vermont Senate panel this week discussed planned changes to a House-passed bill that would, in its current form, create and fund two overdose prevention centers in the state, where people could use currently prohibited substances in a medically supervised environment—part of a pilot program aimed at quelling the ongoing epidemic of drug-related deaths. The Senate Health and Welfare Committee plans to vote next week on an amendment that would make broad adjustments to the proposal, including narrowing the pilot program to a single site in the city of Burlington, where officials have expressed interest in hosting a facility.…

[ad_1] Following the passage of a marijuana legalization bill on Thursday by New Hampshire’s House of Representatives, Gov. Chris Sununu (R) is signaling that he’s against the legislation in its current form but could still ultimately get on board if changes are made in the Senate. The comments from the governor’s office came in response to the House’s 239–136 approval of HB 1633, sponsored by Rep. Erica Layon (R). The measure would legalize and regulate marijuana through state-licensed “agency stores,” but Sununu has said he wants to see a state-run or state-franchised model that would give the government control over…

[ad_1] An amendment to a Nebraska tax bill on Wednesday reduced a proposed tax on hemp and CBD that was initially set at 100 percent. The new rate, 25 percent, is significantly lower but still far greater than sales tax rates that most states impose on the federally legal products. The change to LB 388’s hemp tax rate was approved by the legislature as part of a broader amendment offered by the same lawmaker who first included the 100 percent provision, Sen. Lou Ann Linehan (R). It was adopted on a 28–6 vote. The underlying tax bill as amended did…

[ad_1] New Hampshire’s House of Representatives has approved a bill to legalize and regulate marijuana in the state and set strict limits on advertising and marketing. The legislation, from Rep. Erica Layon (R), next proceeds to the Senate, where many expect it will receive a cold welcome for departing from a state-controlled model supported by Gov. Chris Sununu (R). Layon has spent months workshopping and building support for the plan despite warnings from some in the Senate—most notably Sen. Daryl Abbas (R), who chaired a failed state commission on legalization late last year—that her proposal will be dead on arrival…

[ad_1] A new federal study shows that enrollment in state-legal medical marijuana programs increased significantly across the U.S. in recent years. The researchers—from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the University of Michigan—noted that the uptick comes amid “increasing cultural acceptance of cannabis, recognition of the harm of the ‘war on drugs’ (for example, mass incarceration and related consequences, such as family separation, trauma, and economic loss), and interest in the potential therapeutic properties of cannabis.” Between 2020 and 2022, the number of enrolled medical marijuana patients in the U.S. increased…

[ad_1] The number of full-time marijuana jobs in the U.S. rose by nearly 5 percent during the past year, according to the latest annual industry report on employment in the cannabis sector. That’s a turnaround from the roughly 2 percent decline between 2022 and 2023, but otherwise it marks the slowest year-over-year growth going back to 2017. All told, legal cannabis in the nation supports more than 440,000 full-time equivalent jobs, says the new report from Colorado-based marijuana staffing company Vangst and the analytics firm Whitney Economics. Despite the overall rise in cannabis-related jobs, the report notes that the year’s…