Category: Marijuana

New Mexico Legalizes Marijuana, Expunges Records
The governor of New Mexico on Monday signed a bill to legalize marijuana in the state, as well as a separate measure to expunge records for people with prior, low-level cannabis convictions.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) gave final approval to the legislation, a key accomplishment for her administration after she listed legalization as a 2021 priority, according to Marijuana Moment. Although lawmakers failed to pass a legalization bill before the regular session’s end last month, the governor convened a special session to ensure they got the job done.
“The legalization of adult-use cannabis paves the way for the creation of a new economic driver in our state with the promise of creating thousands of good paying jobs for years to come,” the governor said in a press release. “We are going to increase consumer safety by creating a bona fide industry. We’re going to start righting past wrongs of this country’s failed war on drugs. And we’re going to break new ground in an industry that may well transform New Mexico’s economic future for the better.”
“As we look to rebound from the economic downturn caused by the pandemic,” she said, “entrepreneurs will benefit from this great opportunity to create lucrative new enterprises, the state and local governments will benefit from the added revenue and, importantly, workers will benefit from the chance to land new types of jobs and build careers.”
Provisions of the legalization bill and expungements legislation were initially included together in the same package that passed the House during the regular session but later stalled on the Senate floor. When the special session started, however, supporters split up the legislation to win favor from Republicans and moderate Democrats who expressed opposition to the scope of the original proposal.
With Lujan Grisham’s action, New Mexico is the third state to formally end cannabis prohibition within the span of days. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed a marijuana legalization bill into law late last month, just hours after lawmakers sent it to his desk. In Virginia, lawmakers last week accepted amendments to a legal cannabis bill that were suggested by Gov. Ralph Northam (D), giving final passage to the bill that they had initially approved in February.
April 13, 2021
Virginia is First Southern State to Legalize Marijuana
Virginia became the 16th U.S. state to legalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana on Wednesday. Under the new law, adults ages 21 and over can possess an ounce or less of marijuana beginning on July 1 this year, rather than Jan. 1, 2024.
Credit: Rex Medlen
Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, proposed moving up the date, arguing it would be a mistake to continue to penalize people for possessing a drug that would soon be legal. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, also a Democrat, broke a 20-20 vote tie in Virginia’s Senate to pass the bill. No Republicans supported the measure.
Democratic House of Delegates Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn hailed the plan, according to NPR. “Today, with the Governor’s amendments, we will have made tremendous progress in ending the targeting of Black and brown Virginians through selective enforcement of marijuana prohibition by this summer,” she said in a statement.
Republicans voiced a number of objections to what they characterized as an unwieldy, nearly 300-page bill. Several criticized measures that would grant licensing preferences to people and groups who’ve been affected by the war on drugs and make it easier for workers in the industry to unionize. Senate Minority Leader Tommy Norment also questioned Northam’s motives.
“We have a governor who wants to contribute to the resurrection of his legacy,” Norment said, referring to the 2019 discovery of a racist photo in Northam’s 1984 medical school yearbook.
The accelerated timeline creates an unusual situation for Virginia cannabis consumers. While it will be legal to grow up to four marijuana plants beginning July 1, it could be several years before the state begins licensing recreational marijuana retailers. And unlike other states, the law won’t allow the commonwealth’s existing medical dispensaries to begin selling to all adults immediately.
Jenn Michelle Pedini, executive director of Virginia NORML, called legalization “an incredible victory” but said the group would continue to push to allow retail sales to begin sooner, according to NPR. “In the interest of public and consumer safety, Virginians 21 and older should be able to purchase retail cannabis products at the already operational dispensaries in 2021, not in 2024,” Pedini said in a statement. “Such a delay will only exacerbate the divide for equity applicants and embolden illicit activity.”
April 8, 2021
New York Poised to Legalize Recreational Marijuana
State lawmakers in New York have agreed to legalize marijuana for recreational use in a late-night session. The move positions the state to join at least 14 other states already allowing residents to buy marijuana for recreational and not just medical use. New York’s past efforts to pass marijuana legalization have failed in recent years.
Credit: Terre di Cannabis
“My goal in carrying this legislation has always been to end the racially disparate enforcement of marijuana prohibition that has taken such a toll on communities of color across our state, and to use the economic windfall of legalization to help heal and repair those same communities,” Sen. Liz Krueger, Senate sponsor of the bill and chair of the Senate’s finance committee, said.
Democrats who now wield a veto-proof majority in the state Legislature that made passing the bill a priority this year, and Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration has estimated legalization could eventually bring the state about $350 million annually, according to a story in the Associated Press. Cuomo has pointed to growing acceptance of legalization in the Northeast, including in Massachusetts, Maine and most recently, New Jersey.
The legislation would allow recreational marijuana sales to adults over the age of 21, and set up a licensing process for the delivery of cannabis products to customers. Individual New Yorkers could grow up to three mature and three immature plants for personal consumption, and local governments could opt out of retail sales. The bill also sets aside revenues to cover the costs of everything from regulating marijuana, to substance abuse prevention, according to the AP.
The legislation would take effect immediately if passed, though sales wouldn’t start until New York sets up rules and a proposed cannabis board, according to the AP. Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes estimated Friday it could take 18 months to two years for sales to start.
New York would set a 9% sales tax on cannabis, plus an additional 4% tax split between the county and local government. It would also impose an additional tax based on the level of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, ranging from 0.5 cents per milligram for flower to 3 cents per milligram for edibles.
New York would eliminate penalties for possession of less than three ounces of cannabis, and automatically expunge records of people with past convictions for marijuana-related offenses that would no longer be criminalized, according to the AP. That’s a step beyond a 2019 law that expunged many past convictions for marijuana possession and reduced the penalty for possessing small amounts.
The bill allows cities, towns and villages to opt out of allowing adult-use cannabis retail dispensaries or on-site consumption licenses by passing a local law by Dec. 31, 2021 or nine months after the effective date of the legislation. They cannot opt out of legalization.
March 28, 2021
Legal THC Vape Pens Enter Missouri Marijuana Market
Eight Missouri medical marijuana dispensaries, including three in the Kansas City area, started selling THC vape pens and cartridges for the first time last week. Store owners say customers have clamored for them for some time, despite varying opinions on their safety.
Credit: Clear Cannabis
The potential dangers of vaping nicotine and black market THC have been studied. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hasn’t updated reports on a lung injury associated with black market THC vaping products since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, but in February 2020 it reported 2,800 hospitalized cases of EVALI and 68 deaths since August of 2019. The CDC has stated that vitamin E acetate in illegal THC vape pens was to blame for the lung disease.
“Vaping products are “by far our No. 1 request,” Greenlight CEO John Mueller said, according to an article in Newsbreak.
Last week, medical marijuana vape pens were delivered to Greenlight’s dispensaries in Kansas City, Independence and Harrisonville. It’s the first time the products have been available in the state because it took time for cultivators to extract trim material down to a distillate form that could be vaporized.
“It’s an exciting day for the industry,” Mueller said, opening the first box.
March 22, 2021
U.S. House to Vote on Legal Marijuana Bill Today
The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on marijuana legalization at the federal level today, the first time either chamber of Congress has voted on the matter.
The bill is likely to pass the chamber, but the U.S. Senate is unlikely to take up the legislation in the last two weeks Congress is in session this year, according to an article in USA Today.
Credit: Richard T. Yovh
The measure, sponsored by Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., would remove marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances and expunge some marijuana-related criminal records. It would still be up to states to pass their own regulations on the sale of marijuana.
Nadler told USA TODAY in September the vote on the bill would be a “historic vote” as the federal government put an end to its “40-year, very misguided crusade” against marijuana.
He highlighted provisions in the MORE Act that fund community programs to benefit people previously convicted of marijuana-related offenses. He said the provisions were about “making people whole from harms suffered directly as a result of the marijuana ban,” which he said disproportionately affected racial minorities.
Advocates see the vote as a part of a move toward “justice.”
“With this vote, Congress is recognizing the disproportionate impact enforcement has had on our communities and calling for the unjust status quo to be disrupted,” said Maritza Perez, director of the office of national affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance, a group advocating for the decriminalization of drugs.
December 4, 2020
Vaping CBD, THC May Cause ‘Modest’ Driving Impairment
Drivers that have vaped a combination of THC and CBD or THC alone show signs of “modest” impairment up to four hours later, a study published Tuesday by JAMA found.
Credit Eugenio Cuppone
The impairment from vaping compounds containing the main ingredients of marijuana is equivalent to that seen in drivers with blood alcohol concentrations of 0.05 percent, or roughly half the legal limit for driving under the influence in most states, the researchers said.
“[Our] study shows that cannabis-induced driving impairment varies with cannabis strains,” said study co-author Dr. Johannes Ramaekers in an interview with United Press International news wire service. “The implication for the general public is that the cannabis-induced driving impairment should be acknowledged as a public health risk while taking into account that impairment may differ between cannabis strains and depends on time after use.”
Compounds containing higher amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, “are typically used for intoxication,” while those with cannabidiol, or CBD, which are not intoxicating, are prescribed for the treatment of epilepsy, anxiety, psychosis and neurological disorders, they said.
December 3, 2020
Arizona Recreational Marijuana Law Goes Into Effect Today
Recreational marijuana is legal in the U.S. state of Arizona as of today. Proposition 207, also called the Smart and Safe Arizona Act, was approved by Arizona voters and will legalize marijuana possession and use by adults 21 and older.
Credit: Alex Person
The new takes effect today, Nov. 30, and also allows for the creation of establishments to sell recreational marijuana. However, not all of Arizona’s cities are excited about the new rules. Scottsdale could be the latest Arizona municipality to ban most recreational marijuana sales and cultivation within city limits before Prop 207 goes into effect.
Scottsdale’s City Council will consider a new ordinance to heavily restrict recreational marijuana sales in the city and ban its use on public property. The proposed ordinance would prohibit the sale and transportation of recreational marijuana except by a licensed medical marijuana dispensary.
Scottsdale would also ban marijuana testing facilities except for independent third-party labs that are certified and already authorized by the state. Prop 207 allows medical marijuana dispensaries to apply for state permission to sell recreational weed.
Cities must allow existing dispensaries to “to operate a nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary and a marijuana establishment cooperatively at shared locations,” the new law states. Scottsdale’s proposed ordinance would also ban the use of marijuana in public spaces, including bars, common areas at apartment buildings, entertainment venues, hotels, restaurants and stores.
Council’s approval of the ordinance would put Scottsdale among a small but growing list of Arizona cities and towns choosing to impose similar bans. Both Gilbert and Sahuarita approved their own bans in October before voters even approved Prop 207.
Payson Town Council also passed its own ordinance in October allowing existing medicinal dispensaries to sell recreational pot and giving the Council strict oversight over new recreational outlets, according to the Payson Roundup.
The proposed Scottsdale ordinance appears positioned to pass when it goes before Scottsdale Council on Monday. The ordinance was placed on its consent agenda, which is typically reserved for non-controversial items that require no discussion.
Councilwoman Kathy Littlefield indicated she would support the measure. “I believe limiting recreational marijuana sales to existing medical dispensaries is reasonable and within the context of the law,” she said.
Even if Council approves the ordinance, the city could amend it at a later date to allow recreational marijuana operations. According to a City Council report, the quick implementation of Prop 207 necessitates the adoption of strict restrictions at the local level.
City staff is recommending the proposed ordinance as a stopgap until it can further study the impact of expanded use on the city. “Scottsdale should consider implementing the full prohibitions and regulations Proposition 207 allows now…and come back later to potentially add additional recreational marijuana uses and allowances in the future once the City can better study and analyze how to safely and effectively do so in a way that does not disrupt the public peace, health or safety,” the report states.
The ordinance is already having a trickle- down effect in Scottsdale. On Nov. 18, the applicant behind a proposed medical marijuana dispensary in the city’s Entertainment District asked the city Planning Commission to delay a hearing on the project, citing the pending ordinance.
November 30, 2020
U.S. House to give Marijuana Legalization Full Floor Vote
A bill to federally legalize marijuana will receive a full floor vote in the U.S. House of Representatives this week, a top Democratic leader in the chamber announced on Friday.
Credit: Christina Winter
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said the chamber will take up the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act some time between Wednesday and Friday, according to a story in Marijuana Moment. The floor schedule announcement comes weeks after the leader first confirmed that the House would advance the proposal before the year’s end.
The bill is first expected to go before the House Rules Committee today, which prepares legislation for floor action and decides which amendments can be made in order for consideration by the full body.
Hoyer previously said that the chamber would vote on the legislation in September, but that plan was postponed following pushback from certain centrist Democrats who worried about the optics of advancing cannabis reform before passing another coronavirus relief package. Several moderates ended up losing their reelection races this month on the same day that voters in several red states approved legalization measures, however, raising questions about their strategic thinking on the politics of marijuana.
“I’ve been working on this issue longer than any politician in America and can confidently say that the MORE Act is the most comprehensive federal cannabis reform legislation in U.S. history,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) said in a press release. “Our vote to pass it next week will come after people in five very different states reaffirmed the strong bipartisan support to reform the failed cannabis prohibition. National support for federal cannabis legalization is at an all-time high and almost 99 percent of Americans will soon live in states with some form of legal cannabis.”
“Congress must capitalize on this momentum and do our part to end the failed policy of prohibition that has resulted in a long and shameful period of selective enforcement against communities of color,” he said.
The House approving the bill during the presidential transition could also raise the pressure on President-elect Joe Biden to embrace legalization—a policy he’s declined to adopt despite supermajority support among Democratic voters.
As currently written, the MORE Act, whose lead sponsor is Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), would federally deschedule cannabis, expunge the records of those with prior marijuana convictions and impose a federal five percent tax on sales, revenue from which would be reinvested in communities most impacted by the drug war.
The legislation would also create a pathway for resentencing for those incarcerated for marijuana offenses, as well as protect immigrants from being denied citizenship over cannabis and prevent federal agencies from denying public benefits or security clearances due to its use.
All of those provisions are subject to change through amendments over the coming week. Earlier this year, the House voted to protect states with legal marijuana.
November 30, 2020
Mexico Paves Path to Largest Legalized Cannabis Market
Lawmakers in Mexico have paved the path for the creation of the world’s largest legal marijuana market. Mexico’s Senate approved a landmark cannabis legalization bill in a landslide vote on Thursday. The bill’s next hurdle is the lower house of Congress.
Credit: Sharon McCutcheon
Lawmakers are rushing to secure final approval before the end of the current congressional session in December, according to Reuters. If enacted, the reform would mark a major shift in a country where drug cartel violence in recent years has claimed over 100,000 lives.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that recreational marijuana should be permitted, just one year after lawmakers legalized it for medicinal use. Socially conservative President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has shied away from publicly backing the legalization push, but neither has he opposed it, and senior cabinet members like Interior Minister Olga Sanchez have openly called for a shift to legalization and regulation.
Lopez Obrador’s left-of-center Morena party, which backed the initiative, holds a majority in both chambers of Congress with its allies, according to the article. The bill’s text claims its goal is to “improve living conditions” and “contribute to the reduction of crime linked to drug trafficking.”
November 22, 2020
New Zealand Voters Reject Recreational Marijuana

Voters in New Zealand narrowly rejected an effort to legalize recreational marijuana, according to official referendum results released on Friday. Only 48.4 percent the country voted in favor of legalization, the New Zealand Electoral Commission said.
The figure for those opposed to recreational pot narrowed from the 53.1 percent recorded in preliminary data released last week, but still maintained a slim majority, according to an article in the Daily Mail.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who voted in favor of the proposal, has vowed to honor the results of the vote, meaning the cannabis issue is unlikely to be revisited in her current term of office.
However, the closeness of the vote will encourage reform advocates, who argue that disadvantaged groups such as the Maori community are disproportionately targeted under current laws.
The dual referendums were held on October 17, alongside the general election that returned Ardern to power with a landslide majority. Earlier this year, New Zealand banned flavored vapor products.
Ardern did not disclose her position on the recreational cannabis debate during the election campaign, although the 40-year-old did admit to smoking marijuana “a long time ago”.
Advocates of the bid to legalize cannabis expressed disappointment that the Kiwi premier did not reveal her support for the bill until after the vote.
November 8, 2020