Author: Marijuana Moment

[ad_1] “It becomes irresponsible at some point for some of the county officials to propagate these lies.” By Bryan P. Sears, Maryland Matters An effort by some counties to use zoning to limit if not prevent the opening of cannabis dispensaries has drawn the ire of the powerful chair of a House committee in Annapolis. House and Senate panels are considering legislation that would make it tougher for local governments to restrict where cannabis dispensaries can locate. House Economic Matters Committee Chair Del. C.T. Wilson (D-Charles) said counties are trying to countermand the newly legalized cannabis market and the state’s efforts to…

[ad_1] “Will the agency continue to cling to its long-held ‘flat Earth’ position? Or will it finally take steps to move marijuana policy into the 21st century?” By Paul Armentano, NORML Hundreds of pages of recently released documents provided by the Department of Health and Services affirm what the overwhelming majority of the public has known for decades: Marijuana is therapeutically useful. And its harms are not on par with those of heroin—which federal regulations currently consider it akin to—or even alcohol. Those were the explicit conclusions of the nation’s top federal health agency, along with the Food and Drug…

[ad_1] “You never know when there is going to be a year where big decisions are made and you want to be able to talk to these people and express your point of view.” By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current Spencer Blier was expelled from his first college for smoking weed, then spent the next decade as a perpetual University of Rhode Island student while growing marijuana for state medical patients in his on-campus log cabin. Not a promising start, but the 35-year-old Warwick native and cannabis cultivator ended 2023 with the third-highest sales among the state’s 60 licensed growers:…

[ad_1] “You’re going to see, when all this stuff settles, that we have lived up to the promise that we said we were going to do at the very beginning.” By Ben Botkin, Oregon Capital Chronicle Democratic lawmakers said Wednesday they have reached a tentative deal to create a new type of misdemeanor that would give defendants no jail time for drug possession and another chance to enter treatment programs. The charge, hammered out near the mid-point of the 35-day session, will be folded into House Bill 4002, the vehicle lawmakers are using this session to address the fentanyl-fueled drug…

[ad_1] “LD 2204 is unwise, unconstitutional, and unnecessary to enforce existing laws.” By AnnMarie Hilton, Maine Morning Star A bill heard by the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee on Wednesday hopes to address large-scale, illegal cannabis operations that have been found in homes across Maine, but legal experts say there are already laws to do this and critics see the bill as a problematic violation of rights. Sponsored by Rep. John Andrews (R-Paris), LD2204 seeks to create new crimes for racketeering and expand asset seizure to pay for the cost of restoring the houses where these operations take place. The bill…

[ad_1] “It’s a parallel track—one is to close down stores and make sure enforcement is happening, the other is to make sure that new ones are opening.” By Rosalind Adams, THE CITY New York State has levied more than $25 million in fines against unlicensed smoke shops for selling cannabis products since last year, but so far only a minuscule percent of those fines have been collected by both the state Tax Department and the Office of Cannabis Management, THE CITY has learned. The two agencies were granted greater authority last year to enforce the 2021 cannabis law and began…

[ad_1] “I think granting judges some discretion with whether or not parolees and probationers have medical marijuana allows for really individualized health care, compassionate care and consideration of public safety concerns at the same time.” By John Hult, South Dakota Searchlight The state Senate endorsed a bill that would require parolees and probationers to get additional sign-offs from a health care practitioner to get a medical cannabis card. Current law on medical cannabis has no prohibitions on access for people on probation or parole, even as steering clear of drugs and alcohol are often expectations for those serving out a…

[ad_1] “Without some type of enforcement mechanism, they will continue to substitute their own opinions and their own wishes over the law of the state of Utah.” By Alixel Cabrera, Utah News Dispatch Routine annual clean-up legislation on medical cannabis aims to fine-tune a number of issues around the permitted use of marijuana. One of them is treating cannabis as a regular medicine in cases of workplace discrimination. Some Utah municipalities have asked employees to disclose if they are medical cannabis cardholders and then used that information to retaliate against them, said Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City,…

[ad_1] “We are confident that Arkansans will respond positively and ultimately vote for the proposed amendment.” By Hunter Field, Arkansas Advocate Arkansas’s cannabis industry and patient advocates can begin collecting signatures to qualify a constitutional amendment for the November ballot that would make medical marijuana more accessible. Attorney General Tim Griffin (R) late Tuesday approved ballot language for the measure with several revisions. Supporters have until July 5 to gather 90,704 signatures from registered voters to put the amendment to a statewide vote in the November 5 general election. Bill Paschall, executive director of the Arkansas Cannabis Industry Association and…

[ad_1] The sponsor dropped several cannabis puns when he told committee he “smoked out” problems in his last bill and ran changes by his assistant, “Mary Jane.” By Clark Corbin, Idaho Capital Sun Anyone convicted of possessing less than three ounces of marijuana in Idaho would receive a mandatory minimum fine of $420 if a new bill introduced in the Idaho Legislature becomes law. House Bill 606 is Rep. Bruce Skaug’s second attempt to pass a bill creating a mandatory minimum fine for possession of less than three ounces of marijuana, after House Bill 559 was introduced on February 13.…

[ad_1] “The war on drugs has failed. Ironically, the very policies intended to reduce drug use have only made things worse.” By Thomas C. Higdon, Maryland Coalition on Drug Use, Treatment, and Recovery via Maryland Matters As a survivor of substance use disorder, I’ve seen firsthand the devastating consequences of drug use—lives lost, families destroyed, and communities devastated. However, after taking a hard look at the data, it is clear that the harms traditionally associated with drug use (e.g., overdose, crime, poverty) are caused and/or exacerbated by long standing drug prohibition policies. To put it bluntly, the war on drugs…

[ad_1] “Nebraskans are obviously ready to legalize medicinal cannabis.” By Paul Hammel, Nebraska Examiner New polling found that 70 percent of respondents are ready to legalize medical marijuana in Nebraska and that a majority of those responding want to approve a novel alternative to property, sales and income taxes. The poll, conducted for Neilan Strategy Group, mirrors polling done by a group seeking to place the medical cannabis issue on the 2024 ballot. The Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana said their polling in 2022 showed that 80 percent of registered voters were in favor of legalization. “Nebraskans are clearly ready to…