The Delaware House Revenue and Finance Committee approved (9-2) a bill May 10 to make marijuana legal for adults and regulate it similarly to alcohol. The legislation, HB 110, also known as the Delaware Marijuana Control Act, will now be considered by the full House of Representatives. The bill to make marijuana legal for adults Read More »
People with prior felonies in California now have an opportunity to clean up their records, following the passage of Proposition 64, last November, which created a retroactive legalization and penalty downgrading for many marijuana offenses. One of California’s more prominent marijuana criminal defense attorneys thinks that the re-sentencing provisions may have even greater benefits than Read More »
When politicians stop punishing cannabis users for choosing a safer high than alcohol, the overall job landscape improves for everyone. Even decriminalizing helps. This is according to a recent study showing that reduced criminal penalties for marijuana offenses are associated with greater overall employment and higher wages, according to data compiled by economists at the Read More »
A California bill supported by the Drug Policy Alliance, AB 186 (Eggman), made history as the first ever state bill on supervised consumption services (SCS) to win legislative votes in the US. It has now passed both the Assembly Public Safety Committee and the Assembly Health Committee, gaining support on health and pubic order grounds. Read More »
As theLeafOnline readers may recall, the federal DEA included a section (21 CFR Part 1308) in the December 14, 2016 Federal Register, changing the language in its current drug code regarding non-psychotropic cannabinoid compounds, including cannabidiol (CBD), widely used for treatment of children with compulsive seizure disorders. While parents, physicians and parts of the CBD market panicked, Read More »
The National District Attorneys Association is calling for the federal government to strictly enforce anti-cannabis laws in states that have regulated its production and distribution for either medical or recreational purposes. Judge Francis Young ruled as long ago as 1988 that the DEA has wrongly failed to remove marijuana... Read More »
It’s been nearly a century in the making, but this May will bring with it the first legal planting of the versatile, valuable industrial hemp oilseed and fiber crop in Washington State in approximately 90 years. To mark the occasion, the state chapter of the Hemp Industries Association (HIA)... Read More »
The Vermont state House of Representatives approved a bill 74-68 on its second reading May 5 to make personal possession and cultivation of small amounts of marijuana legal for adults 21 and older. If the bipartisan measure is approved at a third reading, as expected later this week, it... Read More »
The Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee approved a bill to ban smoking and vaping of tobacco, cannabis and other medicinal herbs in public housing. The bill, AB 62 by Assemblymember Jim Wood, passed by a unanimous vote and now proceeds to the full Assembly. Cannabis reformers are asking... Read More »
A critical phase of the cannabis legalization process has begun since the Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation (BMCR) announced that its proposed licensing regulations for medical cannabis were posted April 28, and the 45-day public comment period is now underway. Among its controversial provisions is a requirement that retailers... Read More »
Five months after Mexico’s Senate voted to accept legislation to allow cannabis for medical marijuana, the national Chamber of Deputies passed the bill April 29 by a 374-7 vote. The new law will move to President Enrique Pena Nieto for signature, and since it was Pena Nieto who originally... Read More »
While the Trump administration continues to appoint supporters of the failed Drug War to positions within his cabinet, Congress took steps to protect patients. The new funding bill that averted a government shut down through September also extended protections to 44 states that have legalized medical marijuana in its... Read More »
Here’s something we haven’t heard from Trump’s camp in its promise to replace Obama Care with “something much better.” How about legal medical cannabis for all Americans? Legalizing medical marijuana federally could save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in medical expenses on the one hand, and a billion... Read More »
An industry watchdog survey has released its final estimates of the size of the 2016 U.S. retail market for hemp products, and it’s good news for domestic hemp producers. A surge in CBD-containing products is leading the charge. The continuing rise in sales also bodes well for hemp farmers... Read More »