November 11, 2020
House will vote on cannabis legalization bill in December
A bill to remove federal penalties on marijuana and scrap some cannabis-related records will receive a vote on the House floor in December, according to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. In a letter to colleagues Monday, Hoyer outlined the legislative schedule for the lame-duck session in November and December. "The House will vote on the MORE Act to decriminalize cannabis and expunge convictions for non-violent cannabis offenses that have prevented many Americans from getting jobs, applying for credit and loans, and accessing opportunities that make it possible to get ahead in our economy," the letter read. Hoyer's letter did not specify which week the vote will come up, but the House is scheduled to be in session Dec. 1-4 and Dec. 7-10. What's the background? The House was scheduled to vote on the bill in September, but some Democrats in tight races worried that voters would not look kindly on a marijuana legalization vote when a deal on coronavirus aid remained elusive. At the time, Hoyer promised the bill would still come up for a vote after the election. Momentum is growing on marijuana policy. More than a third of Americans now live in states with full legalization, and a record 68 percent support federal cannabis legalization, according to Gallup. This past Election Day, five states passed medical or recreational legalization referendums — including staunchly conservative states such as Montana and South Dakota — bringing the total number of legal states up to 15. On Monday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted that it‘s “past time to end the federal prohibition on marijuana.“ “With the success of all the cannabis ballot measures across the country last week, it’s more important than ever for Congress to catch up," said Cannabis Caucus Co-chair Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), after Hoyer's office announced the vote. "We’re going to continue building momentum so that Congress takes action to end the failed prohibition of cannabis before the year is out. Too much is at stake for communities of color.”
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The prosecutor in Arizona's largest county is dropping all pending charges for recreational marijuana use by adults after Arizona voters legalized it in the November election. "Instead of continuing to spend resources on these cases, this office will begin implementing the will of the voters immediately," the Maricopa County Attorney's Office said in a written statement Monday. Proposition 207 passed last week with 60% of the vote. In addition to decriminalizing most recreational use, it allows past marijuana convictions to be expunged.
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November 9, 2020
NJ Gets Ball Rolling On Marijuana Legalization After Election
It isn't legal to smoke a joint just yet, but the ball is officially rolling on marijuana legalization in New Jersey after Tuesday's election. During a Friday news conference in Trenton, Gov. Phil Murphy announced his appointments to the Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC), the agency that will help shape the future of legal weed in New Jersey. Dianna Houenou, a senior policy advisor in Murphy's office and former ACLU-NJ counsel, was appointed as chair of the CRC. Jeff Brown, who currently serves as assistant commissioner of health in charge of the state's division of medicinal marijuana, was appointed as executive director. The governor will also appoint Krista Nash as a member of the commission, upon the recommendation of Senate President Steve Sweeney. As part of the general election, voters chose to legalize recreational cannabis in the Garden State. The amendment will take effect on Jan. 1, 2021. But state lawmakers and the CRC will still need to hammer out the legal framework for some key issues, including criminal justice, how much marijuana people will be allowed to legally possess, and whether people will be allowed to grow cannabis at home. The CRC was created as part of the Jake Honig Compassionate Use Act, which greatly expanded the state's medical marijuana program. It will take over the reins from the Department of Health, and oversee both the medical and recreational cannabis programs in New Jersey. The commission will be made up of five members appointed by the governor, with one each recommended by the state Senate president and Assembly speaker. During his news conference, Murphy said that he voted in favor of legalization himself, making him one of the many residents who "overwhelmingly" approved to end decades of cannabis prohibition. According to Murphy, marijuana legalization in New Jersey passed with a greater margin than in any other state where it's appeared on the ballot.
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November 9, 2020
Legal weed now approved, Murphy names picks for commission to oversee N.J. marijuana industry
Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday named two appointees to a commission that will oversee the new legal marijuana industry in New Jersey. The chair of the commission will be Dianna Houenou, associate counsel and senior policy adviser to the governor. She previously served as policy counsel for the ACLU-NJ. And Jeff Brown, the current assistant commissioner of the Department of Health who oversees the medical marijuana program, will serve as the executive director of the commission. “The legalization of adult use marijuana is a matter of social justice, economic justice and racial justice," Murphy said Friday during the announcement, noting he and his family had voted in favor of the question. “It is a matter of criminal justice reform. It is a matter of common sense.” “But now that this event has passed, the work begins to ensure that it is implemented fairly, justly and swiftly," he said. Voters approved a referendum Tuesday to amend the state constitution and legalize marijuana. But the election night victory didn’t automatically usher in change. Lawmakers must still pass a bill to implement the question and regulate the marijuana industry, and another to decriminalize possession. That implementing legislation come Friday, too. Sen. Nick Scutari, D-Union, who sponsored a previous bill seeking to legalize marijuana, said he planned to introduce a tweaked version as soon as Thursday. It could be up for hearings next week, and voted on by both chambers as soon as Nov. 16. But the commission will need to be seated and ready before dispensaries can begin to open, too. The naming of members to the commission was expected earlier this year. The 2019 Jake Honig Compassionate Use Act revamped the medical marijuana program and established the commission to oversee the program and remove it from the state Department of Health. It required Murphy to appoint three members and gave one each to Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin. The law set a deadline of January 2020 for the commission to create its new rules and regulations. But by February, only Sweeney had his appointment, choosing Krista Nash, a social worker from South Jersey. When pushed on the delay, Murphy said he did not make appointments sooner because he wanted to wait for legalization and put the administration’s energy there until after the election.
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November 6, 2020
This Election, a Divided America Stands United on One Topic
It can take a while to determine the victor in a presidential election. But one winner was abundantly clear on Election Day. Drugs, once thought to be the scourge of a healthy society, are getting public recognition as a part of American life. Where drugs were on the ballot on Tuesday, they won handily. New Jersey, South Dakota, Montana and Arizona joined 11 other states that had already legalized recreational marijuana. Mississippi and South Dakota made medical marijuana legal, bringing the total to 35. The citizens of Washington, D.C., voted to decriminalize psilocybin, the organic compound active in psychedelic mushrooms. Oregon voters approved two drug-related initiatives. One decriminalized possession of small amounts of illegal drugs including heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines. (It did not make it legal to sell the drugs.) Another measure authorized the creation of a state program to license providers of psilocybin. Election night represented a significant victory for three forces pushing for drug reform for different but interlocking reasons. There is the increasingly powerful cannabis industry. There are state governments struggling with budget shortfalls, hungry to fill coffers in the midst of a pandemic. And then there are the reform advocates, who for decades have been saying that imprisonment, federal mandatory minimum sentences and prohibitive cash bail for drug charges ruin lives and communities, particularly those of Black Americans. Decriminalization is popular, in part, because Americans believe that too many people are in jails and prisons, and also because Americans personally affected by the country’s continuing opioid crisis have been persuaded to see drugs as a public health issue.
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November 6, 2020
There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana
Voters in various states across the country approved a series of statewide ballot proposals on Election Day legalizing the use and distribution of marijuana for either medical or adult-use purposes. Their voices were unmistakable and emphatic. Majorities of Americans decided in favor of every marijuana-related proposition placed before them — a clean sweep. Specifically, voters legalized the possession of marijuana by adults in Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota. The measures in Arizona, Montana, and South Dakota each permit adults to possess and cultivate marijuana for personal use and establish a regulated retail market. In New Jersey, voters decided on a public ballot question. Garden State lawmakers must now enact enabling legislation in order to amend state law to comport it with the voters’ decision. Additionally, voters approved the legalization of medical cannabis access in two states, Mississippi and South Dakota. In Mississippi, voters chose between two dueling initiatives — favoring a measure placed on the ballot by patient advocates and rejecting a more restrictive alternative measure placed on the ballot by state lawmakers. Voters’ actions last evening were an unequivocal rebuke to the longstanding policy of federal marijuana prohibition, and is an indication that marijuana legalization is far from a fringe issue, but rather one that is now embraced by mainstream America, As was the case in 2016, when voters in deep red states like Arkansas and North Dakota joined voters in deep blue states like California to reform their cannabis laws, last night’s results once again affirm that marijuana legalization is a uniquely popular issue with voters of all political persuasions — with majorities of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans consistently endorsing legalization in national polls. The results also continue a multi-decade long trend of marijuana legalization advocates achieving success at the ballot box. Prior to this election, voters had decided affirmatively on 28 separate ballot measures legalizing cannabis (18 measures legalizing medical marijuana, 10 measures legalizing adult use).
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November 6, 2020
Here's what we know about marijuana legalization in Montana
Montana voters passed two ballot initiatives Tuesday, paving the way for the state to legalize recreational marijuana use. Both ballot measures were required to pass in order for recreational marijuana use to be permitted in the state. Just because the measures passed, though, doesn't mean you can go out and buy it just yet. The state will still need to set up rules, regulations and begin the process for applications for dispensaries. As of the measures passing, here's what we know about recreational marijuana in Montana. The passage of complementary ballot initiatives I-90 and CI-118 has legalized the recreational use of marijuana for adults in the state over the age of 21. I-90 creates rules for marijuana use, as well as a 20% tax on sales of recreational marijuana by licensed vendors. It also allows the option for individual counties to prohibit dispensaries through a public vote.
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November 5, 2020
Live results for 2020’s marijuana legalization ballot measures
Between the presidential election, governor races, and down-ballot contests, this year’s election features a lot of important choices. Among those, voters in five states will have a chance to legalize marijuana for recreational or medical uses. In Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota, voters could legalize marijuana for recreational purposes. In Mississippi and South Dakota (in a ballot initiative separate from the full legalization measure), voters could also legalize medical marijuana. If all these measures are approved, the United States would go from having 11 states in which marijuana is legal to 15. Counting by population, that would mean more than one-third of Americans would live in a state with legalized marijuana, up from more than a quarter today. The ballot initiatives represent a massive shift in drug policy. A decade ago, zero states had legalized marijuana. Then, in 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first two states to legalize cannabis for recreational use and sales — and many others followed. Despite the success of state measures, marijuana remains illegal at the federal level. But since the Obama administration, the federal government has generally taken a hands-off approach to states’ marijuana initiatives. There are still hurdles — banking is a challenge for marijuana businesses under federal prohibition — but for the most part the federal government has not interfered in states’ laws since 2013. That policy may reflect a change in public opinion: As it stands, public opinion surveys show that even a majority of Republicans, who tend to take more anti-marijuana views than their Democratic and independent peers, support legalization. In that context, legalization advocates are optimistic about their prospects this year, even in historically red states like Arizona, Montana, and South Dakota. If all these measures are successful, the US will have taken a major step forward both in undoing its drug war, and in undoing some of the damage it has done to communities of color.
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November 5, 2020
New Jersey poised to legalize marijuana on Election Day
The Garden State could turn green on Election Day. New Jersey residents are voting Tuesday on a constitutional amendment to allow legal recreational pot sales. The measure would legalize the possession and use of marijuana for people age 21 and older, as well as legalize the cultivation, processing and sale of retail marijuana. If approved, New Jersey would become the 12th state to legalize pot. The issue seems poised to pass — voters supported the move two-to-one in a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll last month. It found that 61 percent of likely voters intended to vote, or have already voted, yes, compared to 29 percent who will vote or have voted no. Marijuana legalization enjoyed the most support from Democrats (71 percent), men (66 percent) and 18- to 34-year-olds (77 percent). Cannabis purchases would be subject to 6.625 percent sales tax and likely an extra 2 percent tax levied by municipalities where it’s sold, NorthJersey.com reported. The state previously estimated that legalization would spur nearly $1.8 billion in annual sales — and just over $210 million in state taxes. People outside of New Jersey could also buy weed in the state — though federal laws technically prevent them from crossing state lines with a legally obtained stash. If the referendum does pass, there are still finer details New Jersey would have to hammer out, including how much weed a person could buy and who would be allowed to sell it. In Colorado, for example, people 21 years or older can legally possess 1 ounce of marijuana, while medical patients can have up to 2 ounces. The rule is the same in Illinois, the most recent state to legalize pot, where those 21 and older can legally possess 30 grams. It’s also unclear where people would be permitted to smoke marijuana, though other states where it’s legal limit consumption to private property. Some states have also opened cannabis lounges for on-site consumption. That means it could be months or even years before legal sales begin taking shape. The Cannabis Regulatory Commission would likely license new operators, according to NJ.com, which noted that the commission is slated to take over the state’s booming medical marijuana program from the Health Department.
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November 5, 2020
Cannabis Legalization Is on the Ballot in These 5 States
The presidential election isn't the only big race on the ballots this year—five states are voting on major marijuana (cannabis) legalization initiatives. Cannabis is currently regulated at the federal level as a Schedule I drug, which is the most restrictive classification. Not only does that make the use and possession of cannabis illegal according to federal law, but it also makes it difficult for researchers to study the drug. However, at the state level, cannabis is legal for medical use in 33 states and for adult use in 11 states. The research we have now suggests that cannabis can be useful in managing certain conditions, particularly chronic pain, chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting, and multiple sclerosis–related muscle spasms. So legalizing cannabis use can directly affect people's health and well-being. Additionally, we know that the legal and criminal aspects of cannabis regulation disproportionally affect communities of color, particularly Black and Latinx people. That has lead to mass incarceration and police violence over the past several decades. Legalizing cannabis—and, ideally, expunging criminal records and implementing other equity measures—can help repair some of the harms of the war on drugs for those most affected by it. During the 2016 campaign, it seemed like Donald Trump would be open to the idea of letting states decide how they wanted to handle cannabis legalization. But since then it's clear that President Trump has become a staunch opponent of the concept. In February one of his top spokespeople explicitly stated that cannabis and other illegal drugs “need to stay illegal.” Although former Vice President Joe Biden hasn't spoken publicly too often about his views on cannabis legalization, it appears his opinion on the issue has evolved considerably recently. And with Senator Kamala Harris as his V.P. pick, it's safe to say a Biden administration would be much friendlier to the idea of legalization than Trump's. Harris is a vocal supporter of the MORE Act, which would decriminalize cannabis at the federal level by removing it from the federal scheduling system.
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