Category: Marijuana

New Bill May Legalize Recreational Weed in Texas
Texas may join several states in legalizing recreational marijuana if a bill is passed in the next legislative session.
If passed, the bill would let adults ages 21 and older possess, use and transport marijuana for personal use, up to 2.5 ounces. Up to ten ounces of marijuana could be possessed legally if stored in a secure location.
It would also require cannabis products to be clearly labeled and have child-resistant packaging, WFAA reports.
State Rep. Jessica Gonzalez filed the bill in November, to be considered during the next legislative session. The next session runs from Jan. 5 to June 2, 2025. If the bill passes, it will go into effect Sept. 1, 2025.
The bill would have limitations. Smoking marijuana in public would remain illegal, as would smoking in a vehicle on a public road.
Texas would join 24 other states in legalizing recreational marijuana. The Lone Star State established a medical marijuana program through the Compassionate Use Program in 2015 and is among the 38 states that allow it for medical use.
However, it’s unlikely that the new bill will be passed as Texas officials continue to tighten regulations on marijuana issues statewide.
December 18, 2024
Nebraska Legalizes Medical Marijuana

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Medical marijuana is now legal in the state of Nebraska after voters approved a measure on Tuesday.
Two medical marijuana ballot measures were on the Nebraska ballot; 70.7% of voters approved Initiative Measure 437, and 66.9% approved Initiative Measure 438, media reports.
Initiative Measure 437 establishes a new statute that will allow the use, possession, and acquisition of up to 5 ounces of cannabis for medical purposes by a qualified patient with a written recommendation from a health care practitioner. The statute will also allow a caregiver to assist a qualified patient with these activities.
Initiative Measure 438 establishes a new statute that makes penalties inapplicable under state law for the possession, manufacture, distribution, delivery, and dispensing of cannabis for medical purposes by registered private entities. The statute will also establish a Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission to regulate such activities.
November 7, 2024
North Carolina Cherokee’s Open Pot Sales to All

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The Great Smoky Cannabis Dispensary opened Saturday for its first recreational marijuana sales for anyone over the age of 21.
It’s another first for the state of North Carolina, where marijuana remains illegal outside of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ (ECBI) territory.
The dispensary first opened on April 20, 2024, for medical cannabis purchases. A referendum was then passed in July to begin recreational sales, following a 2021 ordinance approved by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, which legalized medical cannabis within the Qualla Boundary.
“We’re a sovereign nation, so we set it up to let people come visit, explore our community, visit our people, just come in and help themselves to any cannabis need they need,” Boyd Allen, a Cherokee tribal representative, said Saturday, according to local media.
Despite laws passed by the ECBI, marijuana remains illegal in the rest of the state. The sheriff of Swain County, which borders Cherokee land, said in a June interview that his department would enforce state law.
“They need to educate their people up there that when they come off the boundary, they’re in a different world,” Sheriff Curtis Cochran said. “We’ll educate them if we catch them with it. We’ll charge them for it.”
September 9, 2024
Thailand Proposes to Again Make Marijuana a Crime

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Two years after marijuana was decriminalized in Thailand, nearly a hundred of its advocates marched to the prime minister’s office Monday to protest a possible ban on general use.
A health ministry drug control committee approved Friday a proposal to relist cannabis as a narcotic to be only allowed for medical and research purposes. The proposition is set to be submitted to the Office of the Narcotics Control Board this week and, if agreed on, will take effect on Jan.1, according to the AP.
Cannabis activists and entrepreneurs, some carrying potted marijuana plants, gathered at the United Nations headquarters in central Bangkok Monday as they prepared to head to the Government House, nearly 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) away.
Prasitchai Nunuan, a representative of a pro-cannabis network of individuals, addressed the protesters, saying that marijuana should be separately regulated by the health ministry instead of criminalizing the plant yet again. He accused the government of outlawing the drug to allow only a few interest groups to benefit from its medical uses.
July 8, 2024
Slow Burn: Ohio Cannabis Shops Ready to Open

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More than 100 dispensaries in Ohio are on their way to selling recreational marijuana.
The Division of Cannabis Control has granted 110 dispensaries provisional licenses to sell medical and recreational products once they receive final approval.
Of the 110, Northeast Ohio has 36, Southwest Ohio has 29, and Central Ohio has 18. Franklin County has the most with 12, Cuyahoga has 11, and Hamilton has nine.
Click here to learn which facilities have a provisional license.
License applications must be approved or denied by Sept. 7, but the state and policymakers have continued to say that applications could be granted and recreational sales could happen by mid-June.
The passage of Issue 2 allowed adults 21 years of age and older to smoke, vape and ingest weed. According to media reports, Ohioans can grow up to six plants with up to 12 per household.
Ohio Cannabis Coalition’s Tom Haren is staying positive despite the delayed start date. “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Haren said. “There is a lot of work that needed to get done.”
Consumers haven’t been able to buy weed legally because there is a process that takes place between getting a provisional license and getting a license with a certificate of operation.
The state has a list of requirements that shops need to meet, such as keeping visitor logs, having curbside and drive-through pickup and utilizing surveillance systems. Dispensaries will also have to demonstrate they can keep inventory aside to make sure medical patients continue having preferred access. Sellers will also have to do a test sale to a medical patient and a recreational consumer, among dozens of other tasks and evaluations.
July 8, 2024
Biden Pardons Thousands of Marijuana Convictions

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Thousands of people who were convicted of use and simple possession of marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia have been pardoned, the White House said Friday.
President Joe Biden announced that the clemencies are meant to rectify racial disparities in the justice system.
The categorical pardon builds on a similar round issued just before the 2022 midterm elections that pardoned thousands convicted of simple possession on federal lands.
Friday’s action broadens the criminal offenses covered by the pardon.
Biden is also granting clemency to 11 people serving what the White House called “disproportionately long” sentences for nonviolent drug offenses, according to the AP.
Biden, in a statement, said his actions would help make the “promise of equal justice a reality.”
No one was freed from prison under last year’s action, but the pardons were meant to help thousands overcome obstacles to renting a home or finding a job. Similarly, no federal prisoners are eligible for release as a result of Friday’s pardon.
But the order expands the grounds on which pardons are issued. In the last round, people were pardoned for simple possession under only one criminal statute.
Friday’s pardons also apply to several other criminal statutes, including attempted simple possession.
December 22, 2023
Biden Signs First Federal Standalone Marijuana Bill
President Joe Biden officially signed the first piece of standalone federal cannabis reform Friday. The U.S. president signed a marijuana research bill into law that cleared the House in July and the Senate last month.
The act is aimed at providing federal support to facilitate research of cannabis and its potential health benefits. The law gives the U.S. attorney general 60 days to either approve a given application or request supplemental information from the marijuana research applicant.
The Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act also creates a more efficient pathway for researchers who request larger quantities of cannabis.
The act does three things:
Provides a mechanism for the scientific study of cannabidiol and cannabis for medical purposes;
Arranges a pathway for the FDA to approve the commercial production of drugs containing or derived from cannabis; and
Protects doctors who may now discuss the harms and benefits of using cannabis and cannabis derivatives.
The president remains opposed to federal cannabis legalization, but he campaigned on a number of more modest marijuana reforms, including promoting research, decriminalization and rescheduling cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), according to the National Law Review.
Biden also issued a mass pardon for Americans who’ve committed federal marijuana possession cases in October and directed an administrative review into cannabis scheduling. The White House recently listed those actions among the “top accomplishments” for the president.
December 5, 2022
New York Issues First Retail Licenses for Marijuana
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New York regulators last week issued the first 36 marijuana retail licenses for an adult-use market that officials insist will open by year’s end.
That timeline took a positive turn when the state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) announced it would allow qualifying businesses to launch delivery services before opening their retail stores, a significant change from other recreational markets, according to MJBizDaily.
“This will help jumpstart sales and enable these small business owners to generate capital and scale their operations,” the regulatory agency tweeted Monday.
New York adult-use retailers are projected to generate $1 billion-$1.2 billion in sales next year, growing to $2.2 billion-$2.7 billion by 2026, according to the 2022 MJBiz Factbook.
Regulators said 28 of the retail license winners went to individuals with marijuana convictions or family members who’d been arrested for cannabis.
The other eight licenses went to nonprofits.
The first group of Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) license winners include:
Capital District Cannabis & Wellness.
Essential Flowers.
Kush and Kemet.
Gotham CUARD.
NYCCABUDS.
The agency is reviewing 903 CAURD applicants, the state’s version of social equity, to issue the first 150 adult-use licenses, as well as helping them lease and fund operations through a proposed $200 million social equity cannabis fund.
November 26, 2022
New Senate Bill Would Create Marijuana Commission

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For the 10th anniversary of Colorado voters approving marijuana legalization, Sen. John Hickenlooper said that he intends to file a congressional bill to prepare the United States for federal cannabis reform.
Specifically, the Preparing Regulators Effectively for a Post-Prohibition Adult-Use Regulated Environment Act (PREPARE) Act would direct the attorney general to create a commission charged with making recommendations on a regulatory system for marijuana that models what’s currently in place for alcohol, according to Marijuana Moments.
The measure is identical to a House companion bill that Reps. Dave Joyce, Hakeem Jeffries and Brian Mast filed in April. Hickenlooper’s staff told Marijuana Moment that the Senate version will be formally introduced when the chamber returns from recess in mid-November.
The senator sees the commission that would be created by the legislation as similar to a task force he empaneled when he was Colorado’s governor to steer implementation of legalization at the state level.
November 4, 2022
U.S. Senate Introduces Marijuana Legalization Bill
Leaders in the U.S. Thursday Senate introduced sweeping legislation that would end federal prohibitions on marijuana more than 50 years after Congress made the drug illegal.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA) would decriminalize weed on the federal level and allow states to set their own marijuana laws without fear of punishment from Washington, according to media reports.
Just over a year after first unveiling a draft version of the cannabis reform legislation, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden and Sen. Cory Booker formally filed the CAOA. The legislation is expected to shape the conversation around cannabis legalization going forward and portions of it are likely to find their way into other bills that could pass before the end of the year, according to Marijuana Moment.
The legislation includes both Democratic and Republican priorities: It expunges federal cannabis-related records and creates funding for law enforcement departments to fight illegal cannabis cultivation. It also establishes grant programs for small business owners entering the industry who are from communities disproportionately hurt by past drug laws, requires the Department of Transportation to research and develop a nationwide standard for marijuana-impaired driving, and restricts the marketing of cannabis to minors.
While marijuana legalization has spread rapidly across the U.S. over the past decade, Capitol Hill has not transitioned as quickly. Nineteen states now allow anyone at least 21 years old to possess and use the drug, and 37 states have established medical marijuana programs. National polls have consistently shown that roughly two-thirds of Americans back marijuana legalization, and support is even higher among younger voters.
The U.S. House of Representatives has twice passed its own sweeping marijuana legalization package, known as the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement Act. That legislation does not include much of the regulatory structure that’s part of the Senate bill, and also has a different tax rate.
And even if a bill were somehow to pass, it is unclear if President Joe Biden would sign it. He has repeatedly said he does not support federal weed legalization.
July 22, 2022