Author: Kyle Jaeger

[ad_1] Vice President Kamala Harris again promoted the administration’s marijuana pardons at a White House event on Thursday, reiterating that she doesn’t believe “people should have to go to jail for smoking weed.” At a roundtable event alongside Kim Kardashian and four people who received presidential pardons for drug-related convictions on Wednesday, Harris said the administration remains committed to exercising its clemency authority, which has included President Joe Biden’s pardon proclamations for federal cannabis offenses. “We have issued—as an administration with President Biden’s leadership—more pardons and commutations than any recent administration at this point in their term,” she said. “For…

[ad_1] Two Pennsylvania legislative panels held a joint hearing to discuss marijuana legalization on Thursday, with multiple lawmakers asking the state’s top liquor regulator about the prospect of having that agency run cannabis shops. Members of the House Health Committee and Liquor Control Committee heard testimony from a series of experts who also discussed issues such as impaired driving, workplace drug policies and the need for product testing in a legal market. Rep. Dan Frankel (D), chair of the Health Committee, has previously raised the possibility of pursuing legalization through a state-run model similar to the one Pennsylvania currently has…

[ad_1] A top Democratic congresswoman says that “now is the time” to pass marijuana banking reform, and she’s “hopeful” lawmakers will “overcome” any potential challenge from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as they work to advance the legislation. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, was asked about possible vehicles for the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday. The congresswoman said she’s been “working very well together” with Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) over the last two years to develop a separate cryptocurrency regulations bill that…

[ad_1] A coalition of 21 congressional lawmakers is telling the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to “promptly remove marijuana from Schedule I,” while recognizing that the agency may be “navigating internal disagreement” on the issue. In a letter led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and John Fetterman (D-PA), as well as Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Barbara Lee (D-CA), members told DEA Administrator Anne Milgram and Attorney General Merrick Garland that it’s been eight months since the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommended that DEA move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act…

[ad_1] Louisiana lawmakers have approved a bill to create a regulatory framework for marijuana legalization, building upon the state’s 2021 decriminalization law. Members of the House Health and Welfare Committee passed the measure from Rep. Edmond Jordan (D), with amendments, in a unanimous 10-0 vote on Wednesday. The proposal wouldn’t legalize cannabis, per se. The plan is to have the broader reform implemented in three parts: passing the regulatory measure this year and then working to advance separate bills to allow adult possession and tax marijuana sales next year. Getting the regulatory measure through the conservative legislature would represent a…

[ad_1] President Joe Biden granted another round of clemency to more than a dozen people with non-violent federal drug convictions, describing the action as an extension of Second Chance Month which the administration has previously used to promote marijuana reform efforts. None of the 16 people who received pardons or commutations on Wednesday were convicted for cannabis-related offenses, however, despite increased calls for broader marijuana clemency. “Many of these individuals received disproportionately longer sentences than they would have under current law, policy, and practice,” Biden said. “The pardon recipients have demonstrated their commitment to improving their lives and positively transforming…

[ad_1] A Delaware Senate committee has passed a House-approved bill that would enact state-level protections for banks that provide services to licensed marijuana businesses. The bill, filed by Rep. Ed Osienski (D) and Sen. Trey Paradee (D), has the endorsement of state Treasurer Colleen Davis (D). It cleared the House of Representatives last month and advanced through the Senate Health & Social Services Committee on Wednesday. The measure is designed to clarify that banks, credit unions, armored car services and accounting services providers are not subject to state-level prosecution simply for working with cannabis businesses. Pardee said during Wednesday’s hearing…

[ad_1] Massachusetts reached a new marijuana sales milestone leading up to 4/20 last week, with the state crossing the $6 billion mark since the adult-use market launched, regulators announced. And the state broke a single-day sales record on the holiday itself, with $8.5 million in sales. As of last Wednesday, Massachusetts logged $6,003,985,070 in recreational cannabis purchases. It was only last September that the state exceeded $5 billion in sales, meaning this is “the shortest it’s taken for Massachusetts businesses to generate another $1 billion dollars in gross sales,” the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) said on Wednesday. “I continue to…

[ad_1] Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has once again included a bipartisan marijuana banking bill in a list of legislative priorities he hopes to advance this year. During a press briefing on Tuesday, Schumer was asked about what’s on the chamber’s agenda after senators passed a foreign aid package this week. He said that “we have a bunch of different bills” that will “all have to work in a bipartisan way, and we’ll do our best to get many of them done.” That includes “trying to deal with” the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act “and cannabis…

[ad_1] The anti-drug group D.A.R.E.’s 2022 officer of the year asserts in a new online documentary that “alcohol is a gateway drug”—though he occasionally drinks it. But marijuana is another story and can’t be safely enjoyed recreationally, he says, despite believing that cannabis has medical value after it helped treat his brother-in-law’s cancer-related pain. D.A.R.E.’s president, meanwhile, acknowledges in the documentary that some of the criticism of the war on drugs might have something to do with earlier scandals within federal agencies, such as the CIA’s implication in a cocaine-smuggling conspiracy that he described as an “unfortunate part of our…

[ad_1] A South Carolina House committee has taken up a GOP-led medical marijuana legalization bill—the first action the legislation has seen in the chamber since being approved by the Senate months ago. Members heard from multiple medical experts and law enforcement officials, including a retired chief of the state sheriffs’ association who gave impassioned testimony in favor of the reform while discussing how cannabis saved his son and could’ve helped his late wife with symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. The legislation from Sen. Tom Davis (R) has been billed as strictly conservative, but it’s stalled in the House since February. Now…

[ad_1] A second California Senate committee has approved a bill to legalize psychedelic service centers where adults 21 and older could access psilocybin, MDMA, mescaline and DMT in a supervised environment with trained facilitators. About a week after an initial panel cleared the legislation, the Senate Public Safety Committee passed the measure from Sen. Scott Wiener (D) in a 3-2 vote on Tuesday. It next heads to the Appropriations Committee. The “Regulated Therapeutic Access to Psychedelics Act” has been drafted in a way that’s meant to be responsive to concerns voiced by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) last year when he vetoed…