Author: Ben Adlin
[ad_1] Sales of legal marijuana in New Mexico set a new monthly record in March, with combined adult-use and medical marijuana purchases totaling more than $52.5 million. Of that, a record $39.4 million came from adult-use sales, according to the Regulation and Licensing Department’s Cannabis Control Division, while medical marijuana purchases comprised another $13.0 million. The new combined record is more than $2 million more than the state’s previous high-water mark of $50.5 million in combined medical and adult-use sales, which was set last December. The adult-use sales figure, meanwhile, is just under $2 million more than the past monthly…
[ad_1] The effort to pass a marijuana legalization bill in Hawaii this year ended on Tuesday afternoon. In a statement, Rep. Kyle Yamashita (D), who chairs the House Finance Committee announced that his panel would not hear the legalization measure, SB 3335, ahead of a legislative deadline this week. The decision effectively kills bill, which had already passed the full Senate and several House committees this session before only barely advancing in an initial House floor vote earlier this month. “The path to legalizing adult-use cannabis has been a deeply divisive issue,” Yamashita said. “Due to numerous concerns regarding the…
[ad_1] A New Hampshire House panel has approved an amended version of a marijuana legalization bill, sending the measure next to a final floor vote before it heads to the opposite chamber. But some in the Senate, however, have warned that the proposal in its current form will be dead on arrival there. On Tuesday the House Finance Committee voted 19–6 in favor of the bill, HB 1633, from sponsor Rep. Erica Layon (R). If enacted, it would allow 15 adult-use cannabis retailers to open statewide—one of a number of requirements that Gov. Chris Sununu (R) laid out last year—and…
[ad_1] A new scientific review highlights the potential of CBD to treat and manage the symptoms of conditions like epilepsy, pain, cancer, schizophrenia, diabetes and COVID-19, among others. The wide-ranging 11-page review takes up the broad task of trying “to summarize comprehensively the impact of cannabis on human health,” finding that while the field has yet to be thoroughly explored, the plant and its components exhibit “neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic, anti-bacterial, analgesic, and antiepileptic properties.” The study, “Beneficial effects of cannabidiol from Cannabis,” was published last month in the journal Applied Biological Chemistry. In addition to the overview of cannabis on…
[ad_1] A House subcommittee in New Hampshire has moved forward with formally adopting changes to a marijuana legalization bill that members initially approved at a hearing last week, setting up the measure for a full House Finance Committee vote on Tuesday. At a hearing Monday, a finance subcommittee voted 6–3 to integrate two combined sets of amendments to HB 1633, one from the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Erica Layon (R), and one from Rep. Peter Leishman (D), the panel’s chair. The subcommittee then voted 6–3 to report the bill to the full Finance Committee. While the bill’s amended language is not…
[ad_1] Following a close 25–23 vote on the Hawaii House floor last week to keep a marijuana legalization bill alive, lawmakers now face a Thursday deadline to pass a bill out of the chamber’s Finance Committee, where some observers expect the proposal to receive a chilly reception if it’s taken up later this week. Legalization advocates at the group Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) asked supporters in an email on Monday to contact House Speaker Scott Saiki (D) and Rep. Kyle Yamashita (D), who chairs the Finance Committee, and urge them to schedule the bill for consideration and pass it. “With…
[ad_1] Newly released data from a Washington State survey of adolescent and teenage students show declines in both lifetime and past-30-day marijuana use in recent years, with striking drops that held steady through 2023. The results also indicate that perceived ease of access to cannabis among underage students has generally fallen since the state enacted legalization for adults in 2012—contrary to fears repeatedly expressed by opponents of the policy change. About 8.4 percent of Washington 10th graders said in 2023 that they had used marijuana within the past 30 days, according to the new data, up slightly from 7.2 percent…
[ad_1] Colorado lawmakers advanced an amended social media bill on Thursday that, as introduced, would have forced platforms to ban users for talking positively about marijuana online. But while the sponsor says the issue has now been “worked out” with recent changes, critics contend the revised legislation still fails to address concerns around statements regarding other substances, including state-legal psychedelics, certain hemp products and even some over-the-counter cough syrups. The bill, SB24-158—a broad proposal concerning internet age verification and content policies—would require social media platforms to immediately remove any user “who promotes, sells, or advertises an illicit substance.” Initially that…
[ad_1] As a bill to legalize marijuana in Hawaii hangs in the balance in the state legislature, a House committee has amended and advanced separate legislation on Thursday that would expand the state’s current decriminalization of cannabis by increasing amounts of the substance for which people would not face the threat of jail time and reducing certain financial penalties. After adopting a handful amendments to the underlying measure, SB 2487, members of the Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs (JHA) Committee voted 7–2 to recommend that the proposal be passed. In its current form, the bill, sponsored by Sen. Joy San Buenaventura…
[ad_1] Even as marijuana remains federally illegal, two representatives from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are set to present at a webinar next month about the federal agency’s latest guidance and enforcement priorities for “protecting workers within the cannabis industry” in the growing number of state-legal markets. “This presentation will review OSHA’s enforcement and compliance resources and highlight a few recent OSHA inspections within this industry,” according to a description by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP), which organized the event scheduled for April 16. “Research has shown that workers within the cannabis industry are at risk…
[ad_1] House lawmakers in New Hampshire passed a marijuana annulment and resentencing bill on Thursday, on the heels of new comments from Gov. Chris Sununu (R) about a marijuana legalization bill headed for a key vote next week. The annulment legislation, HB 1539 from Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D), passed the House of Representatives in a bipartisan 283-80 vote. If it becomes law, it would create an automatic annulment process for all cannabis possession violations and misdemeanors for which sentences are complete, and people incarcerated for cannabis-related crimes would be automatically resentenced. Annulments for broader cannabis-related offenses, meanwhile, would be available…
[ad_1] After sending messages for months that he had no interest in moving forward with Democratic-led plans to legalize retail marijuana sales in Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) has now formally vetoed legal sales legislation sent to him by lawmakers about a month ago along with a separate bill to provide resentencing relief for people convicted of past cannabis crimes. In a veto message issued on Thursday, the governor wrote that “the proposed legalization of retail marijuana in the Commonwealth endangers Virginians’ health and safety.” “States following this path have seen adverse effects on children’s and adolescent’s health and safety,…