The Idaho House has voted 44-26 in favor of HB 126, to legalize the production of industrial hemp in Idaho. "Idaho is the only state that has not legalized the production of industrial hemp in any form," Rep. Clark Kauffman, R-Filer, told the House. "We've been considering this for the last several years. ... Though it may be seen as a bit constricting, it's a lot less constriction than what we have now, which is no production." Rep. Dorothy Moon, R-Stanley, spoke against the bill, saying it didn't go far enough because it didn't also legalize CBD oil with less than 0.3% of THC. "We need to remove hemp from Schedule I as all the other states have," Moon said. Rep. Laurie Lickley, R-Jerome, said, "We're really ready to give our farmers and our processors the ability to have an option. We have a company in the Magic Valley that is ready. ... Their production lines are ready to roll the minute this bill is signed by the governor." She said, "Let's give our farmers an alternate crop." Rep. Caroline Nilsson Troy, R-Genesee, said, "My daughter and her son are going to be able to grow hemp because they lease land from the Nez Perce Tribe. But my ground that's very close to their ground is not going to be able to produce any hemp, a legal commodity in the United States of America that this body is denying our farmers the right to grow. It's time to allow our farmers, all of our farmers, the right to grow this legal crop."
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March 8, 2021
Biden’s USDA Secretary Gives Final Approval To Hemp Rules Despite Ongoing Industry Concerns
The newly confirmed head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has given final approval to a federal rule laying out regulations for the hemp industry, despite outstanding concerns from advocates about certain provisions. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who is widely considered an ally of the hemp industry, signed off on the rule following a departmental review that began during the presidential transition. It will take effect on March 22, as originally planned.
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March 7, 2021
Minnesota Senate committee passes bill that would legalize marijuana flower for medical use
For the first time in a decade, a proposed bill legalizing the use of marijuana flower for medicinal purposes has passed a Minnesota Senate committee. Advocates for the bill think it will eventually gain full approval from the Senate. Patrick McClellan told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS he was surprised the bill passed on a unanimous vote in the Senate's Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee on March 1. "I could never have imagined that it would pass with a unanimous vote," McClellan said. "I believe this is a historic moment in the Minnesota medical cannabis program, and it moves us one step closer to actually fixing what has been broken for years." Right now, medical cannabis, or marijuana, is only allowed in pill or liquid form. Use of the plant's flower, or leaf, is illegal. McClellan said allowing the use of the plant's flower will make it cheaper to manufacture and easier for "thousands of Minnesotans to afford and enter the program." "I have to take nine additional medications, in addition to the medical marijuana pill, and it is very expensive and can be cost-prohibitive for many people," McClellan said. "The flower will really open things up, and it will allow someone like me to get rid of the nine other pills I have to take." Senator Matt Klein, DFL- Mendota Heights, is a physician who also sits on the Senate's Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee. He voiced support for the flower bill, but did so with a word of caution. "I do hear from my addiction medicine friends that there is no evidence to support this in the medical literature, so it is not an evidence-based approach," Klein said. "On the other hand, the testimony does have a point that the margin of toxicity in cannabis is extremely low and our burden of illness with opioid addiction is extremely high and very dangerous."
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Mexico is inching closer to becoming the world's largest legal cannabis market as lawmakers prepare to debate a proposal to legalize recreational marijuana. The Chamber of Deputies, Congress' lower house similar to the U.S. House of Representatives, will take up the issue early next week, Martha Tagle Martínez, a member of the chamber's health committee, said in a series of tweets. The Senate approved the legalization of medical marijuana almost four months ago, and two months later, the Health Ministry published rules to regulate the use of medicinal cannabis. Former President Vicente Fox, who is on the board of global medical marijuana company Khiron Life Sciences Corp., said he sees the potential for Mexico to cash in on much-needed job creation, economic investment and medical advancements. A regulated market could also help to lessen the cartel violence that has become synonymous with the country. "Many great things will happen," he said. "We're taking away this beautiful plant from criminals and putting in the hands of retailers and farmers."
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March 5, 2021
Michigan cannabis jobs doubled in 2020, report details
Cannabis website Leafly released its 2021 jobs report this week, noting the United States added about 77,000 full-time jobs in the cannabis industry. Legal cannabis now supports 321,000 full-time jobs in America. Leafly offered this perspective on how many jobs that is: “In the United States there are more legal cannabis workers than electrical engineers. There are more legal cannabis workers than EMTs and paramedics. There are more than twice as many legal cannabis workers as dentists.” Leafly says it creates these reports in partnership with labor economists at Whitney Economics, using publicly available sales data compiled by state cannabis regulatory agencies, as well as cannabis employee license data, median state salary statistics, and cannabis job salary surveys.
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March 5, 2021
Marijuana manufacturers in Virginia preparing to increase production following legalization approval
Some Virginia companies are racing to sell marijuana for recreational use - just as soon as they get the green light. Virginia lawmakers decided sales can begin in three years. “Everything we do in Virginia, takes place in Virginia,” said Adam Goers of Columbia Care. The medical marijuana manufacturer has a location in Portsmouth, where they craft a variety of products. “It’s tested and it’s trusted. We go through a pharmaceutical quality process to cultivate the cannabis [and] grow it,” he explained. They then create products for people in Virginia who have a valid prescription. When the year 2024 comes, the company will be able to sell its products to anyone 21 and over, with or without a prescription. “I’m hopeful and I’m pleased Virginia has now chosen to be the 16th state in which to legalize marijuana,” Gov. Ralph Northam said Thursday. He supports the idea that lawmakers just passed. He says, though, there’s some work to do before the rollout.
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March 5, 2021
S.D. senators back low-THC hemp changes
For the third year in a row, South Dakota lawmakers have decided to go farther on industrial hemp than the governor wants. State senators voted 27-6 Thursday to change state laws on growing and processing the low-THC plants. Governor Kristi Noem had people from her administration testify against HB 1228 at a Senate hearing. The legislation now returns to the House for a decision whether to agree with minor changes made by the Senate committee. The House had approved its version 58-11. Overriding a governor’s veto requires 2/3 majorities of 47 in the House and 24 in the Senate. Caleb Finck wants to allow outdoor plots as small as a half-acre. The law currently sets the minimum at 5 acres. He also wants to allow greenhouses that are at least 2,880 square feet. Indoor growing isn’t allowed now. Some licensing requirements also would change. And the measure makes adjustments the U.S. Department of Agriculture suggested during its review and approval of South Dakota’s state plan. Decades have passed since industrial hemp was last grown legally in South Dakota. “There will be a growing season for hemp in 2021,” Brock Greenfield said Thursday. “Not passing this bill hinders our farmers, processors and seed salesmen.” Helene Duhamel opposed the bill. One reason was that marijuana could be hidden when hemp is transported. “Enforcement of hemp is critical to its success in South Dakota,” she said. Casey Crabtree said a yes vote was “a vote for economic development” in South Dakota. Greenfield said senators shouldn’t buy into the argument that was made against it. “I just ask us to keep our eye on the ball,” he said. “It didn’t come from the bureaucracy. It’s coming from the legislators.”
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THC, a molecule that affects the human mind and body, is not “the” active ingredient in marijuana (there are hundreds). But since THC is the best known cannabis compound—and since THC helps get you completely ripped—THC is the most important ingredient in weed for state and federal lawmakers skeptical of legalization. That would be why pushes to limit the amount of THC allowed in legal cannabis products are gaining momentum in the states, and why future federal legalization proposals are likely to include some kind of THC cap. As The Daytona Beach News Journal reported this week, state legislators in Florida have proposed a 10 percent THC limit on smokeable cannabis flower and a 16 percent THC limit on edibles sold in the state’s medical-marijuana marketplace. And the idea of limiting THC in (legal) cannabis is catching on in Congress. On Wednesday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who jointly chair the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, released a report in which they proposed various regulations on legal cannabis to protect “public heath and safety.”
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Illinois pot shops unloaded nearly $2.9 million worth of recreational weed each day in February, outpacing a record set just a month earlier. Average daily sales in February hit a new high of roughly $2.88 million, up from the $2.86 million a month earlier, according to figures released this week by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. All told, dispensaries sold more than $80 million in recreational pot products last month. That marked a drop from the record $88 million in sales recorded in January, when there were three more days of sales. In the first full year of legalization, recreational pot sales reached nearly $670 million. Based on this year’s first two months, total sales in 2021 are on pace to eclipse $1 billion. The sales figures are reported separately from medical marijuana tallies, which are reported later in the month. Despite the eye-popping numbers, cannabis consultant Andy Seeger said sales might start to level off. Without more cultivation space, more stores or new, pricier products, there’s only so much the industry will be able to grow. Meanwhile, the state’s outstanding cannabis licenses — including 40 craft cultivation permits and 75 new dispensary licenses — have all been delayed indefinitely amid an ongoing controversy. Still, Seeger acknowledged that shops have been able to streamline operations over the past 14 months and adapt their processes in the wake of the pandemic. “The average dispensary can only handle so many customers each day, especially with current health conditions. There aren’t exactly lines but sales are going to be relatively steady with seasonal and weekly trends,” said Seeger, noting that shops in Colorado typically do better business in the summer months and most places have lower sales numbers on Mondays.
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March 1, 2021
Did Kamala Harris Flip-Flop On Marijuana Again To Adopt Biden’s Anti-Legalization Position?
Does Vice President Kamala Harris still support legalizing marijuana? According to a short passage buried in a new Bloomberg report about efforts to appoint a new top White House drug policy official, the answer seems to be no. Harris, who sponsored a comprehensive Senate bill to end federal cannabis prohibition in 2019, has now reportedly adopted the same position as President Joe Biden, who opposes legalization, the outlet reported on Monday. There have been signs that might be the case, as Harris has stepped back her calls for broad reform in recent months, opting instead to push for cannabis decriminalization and expungements in line with the president’s agenda. She spent significant time during her own presidential campaign making the case for federally legalizing marijuana, but that specific narrative has been largely abandoned since she joined Biden’s presidential ticket in August. Decriminalization and expungements is the favored policy of Biden, who also backs medical cannabis legalization, modestly rescheduling the plant under federal law and letting states set their own policies on the issue. Bloomberg reported that an aide Harris’s team said her “positions are now the same as Biden’s,” though the source asked not to be named because the vice president hasn’t announced the policy shift. Marijuana Moment reached out to three press staffers in the vice president’s office for clarification, but they did not respond by the time of publication. The lack of specificity leaves rooms for the possibility that the staffer was referring to Biden changing his position and embracing legalization as Harris has. But considering that the vice president’s rhetoric on the issue has shifted—with her reaffirming an administration commitment to simply “decriminalizing marijuana” and expunging records, rather than legalize the plant—it appears more likely that it’s Harris whose views have changed.
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