February 27, 2020
Idaho Senate backs legalization of industrial hemp
Idaho farmers could legally grow and process industrial hemp and truckers with permits hauling the legal product across the state wouldn’t be subject to arrest, under legislation that cleared the Idaho Senate Thursday on a 27-5 vote. If the bill, SB 1352, becomes law – which still would take House passage and the governor’s signature – Idaho would end its distinction as one of the last states to legalize the non-psychoactive product, which Congress legalized in the 2018 Farm Bill. Current Idaho law treats hemp just like its more potent cousin, marijuana, and several out-of-state truckers have faced drug trafficking charges with mandatory minimum prison terms as a result, though the charges eventually were reduced. “Last year, we tried a couple of different ways and we went home with nothing,” Sen. Abby Lee, R-Fruitland, told the Senate. “And those who want CBD instead of industrial hemp will not like this bill, because this is an agriculture bill.” Last year, a dispute between the House, which favored legislation that would have removed hemp and derivatives, such as CBD oil, with 0.3% or less THC content from Idaho’s Schedule 1 list of dangerous drugs, and the Senate, which didn’t, resulted in no hemp legalization legislation passing. In the meantime, Gov. Brad Little has issued an executive order to authorize interstate transportation of legal hemp from out of state across Idaho, but its provisions have proven confusing, Lee said, causing firms to plan routes that bypass the state. The new bill merely allows the production, processing and transportation of industrial hemp under a permitting and regulatory system, Lee said, with the industry paying fees to help fund it. Its provisions authorize industrial hemp in Idaho that’s 0.3% or less THC “notwithstanding” the Schedule 1 provisions listed elsewhere in Idaho law, which make any amount of THC illegal. “This is not a perfect bill,” Lee said. “This is a first step. … It keeps the ball in play.”
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What if lawmakers writing one of the most consequential laws to come out of last year’s legislative session, legalizing hemp in Texas, forgot to include a small, but crucial detail that could get your marijuana possession charges dropped? That’s what happened last week, after a Brazos County court judge concluded the new law omitted a date typically included in state crime legislation. As a result, misdemeanor charges against a Texas A&M University student arrested on the day of his 2018 college graduation were summarily tossed.
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A surprising side effect of the CBD oil craze has left farmers who grow the oil-producing plant in Baltimore County, MD feuding with their neighbors. "Hemp fields stink like dead skunks!" claimed one neighbor of a farm that grew hemp outside Baltimore during the summer and fall of 2019. "Many of my neighbors complained of allergic reactions, eye irritation, headaches and nausea," the woman said to WJZ in Baltimore. "We need to change Maryland law to stop this nightmare." As a result, Maryland's legislature is now debating a proposed ban on growing industrial hemp -- used in the production of CBD oil -- within two miles of homes. Hemp is a cousin to marijuana, but the plant does not contain enough of the psychoactive substance THC to make a person intoxicated. However, hemp does have a strong odor similar to marijuana. State Senator Shelly Hettleman (D- Baltimore County) proposed the two-mile ban. "If we go down the road of legalizing marijuana, which also gives off a powerful smell when grown, then its really important for policymakers to take into effect these policies on residents," Hettleman told WJZ. At least 20 farms in Maryland grow industrial hemp under a 2018 Maryland law allowing the crop as a pilot program, according to biological science professor Mark Holland of Salisbury University. The law requires hemp operations to be partnered with a research university. Other hemp farms are operating in Howard and Anne Arundel County, according to state regulators. At hearings in Annapolis this week, farmers said a two-mile buffer requirement from homes would kill the business in Maryland.
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It turns out legalizing recreational cannabis in Canada was easier said than done. Trying to convert a market from illicit to regulated was done in the name of health and public safety with the added benefit of tax revenue. The conversion has introduced new challenges. Having spent my career in law enforcement, drug policy, and trade, I recognize it must be a journey where all stakeholders contribute.
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February 26, 2020
Mexican President Wants Focus On Medical Marijuana As Senators Consider Broader Legalization
As members of Mexican Senate committees convene to finalize the provisions of marijuana legalization legislation, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Wednesday that his focus is on allowing medical cannabis, rather than recreational use. Medical marijuana is just one component of a broad bill that is under consideration by lawmakers. It also addresses legalization for adult use and industrial purposes. But when asked about the issue at a press conference, López Obrador said it remains to be seen and that “we are not thinking about this now.” His vision of reform is centered on “medical purposes only, only for health purposes,” he said. He also dedicated a signification portion of the event to talking about drugs more generally. López Obrador said “we need to stop the increase in consumption because, if we do not achieve this, it will be difficult or it will be more complicated to guarantee peace and tranquility.” Further, he argued that drugs are a source of violence and that involvement in the illicit market is not as glamorous as it’s made out to be in the media. People who use illegal drugs are “being destroyed” and contributing to the “suffering for others who are victims of drug use” such as the families of individuals who are suffer from addiction or are incarcerated over drug convictions, he said. “Let’s start with a direct campaign about what this underworld of sacrifices really means—of pain, this bitter reality,” López Obrador said, adding that he’s “confident that we will calm down the country and put order, and we will move forward in the fight against drugs.” However, that approach will not simply center on criminalization, he said. It will involve looking at the root causes of substance misuse. He also said that the government “will present a report of everything that is being done on this matter” next week. The president’s comments about limiting reform to medical cannabis may come as a surprise to legislators who have been working on a comprehensive legalization bill for months since the Supreme Court deemed the country’s prohibition on possession and cultivation for personal use unconstitutional in 2018. A committee-approved legalization bill came close to receiving a Senate vote last year ahead of the court’s deadline to end prohibition, but last-minute concerns prompted lawmakers to request an extension, which was granted. Congress now has until April to change the policy. To that end, members of the Justice, Health, Legislative Studies and Public Safety Committees are meeting on Wednesday to go over the details of a legalization proposal.
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California’s largest marijuana association is in a bind after powerful labor unions accused the organization of distributing an anti-union document and asked Democratic politicians to “refrain from engaging with” the group in a display of organized labor’s immense political muscle at the state Capitol. The call to cut off the California Cannabis Industry Assn.'s access to decision makers marks a major blow to the state’s most influential marijuana lobbying group and comes at a precarious time for its more than 500 member companies, which operate in a legal industry struggling to compete with the illicit market, laying off workers and hovering near insolvency. The association, which represents companies working across the marijuana supply chain, went into 2020 hoping to push legislation this year to cut taxes, open more cities to pot shops and create a banking system for the industry. Now some are concerned those efforts could be stymied by the tussle with the unions. “The obstacles are so high and so challenging that in my view they can only be overcome if the industry and organized labor work together,” said Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Alameda). “When I saw this white paper from CCIA, I was very disappointed and frankly worried about what the future holds.” Californians voted in 2016 to approve Proposition 64, legalizing growing and selling marijuana for recreational use. But so far only about 1,070 retailers and delivery firms have been licensed, a fraction of the 1,800 dispensaries that were selling marijuana for medical purposes before the initiative and the 6,000 sellers that were originally anticipated by state officials. Industry leaders say legal cannabis firms have experienced numerous impediments, including state and local taxes that can add 45% to the cost of legal marijuana, and a provision of the law that has allowed three-quarters of California cities to ban pot shops. State law requires applicants for cannabis licenses with 20 or more employees to enter into a labor peace agreement, a sort of neutrality accord in which the employer promises not to disrupt a union’s attempts to organize employees and the union agrees not to picket, boycott or otherwise interfere with the employer’s business. The United Food and Commercial Workers, which advocated for pot legalization, originally championed the provision in a law regulating medical marijuana in 2015 and again when guidelines for medical and recreational sales were merged in 2018. But UFCW, the California Labor Federation and International Brotherhood of Teamsters in California alleged earlier this month that a document the association distributed to its members is evidence of an attempt to weaken the law. The unions sent a letter to the Democratic caucuses in the Senate and Assembly that included a copy of the paper, which offered guidance for pot businesses that are negotiating labor peace agreements.
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The marijuana tax and regulate bill is finally headed to a floor vote in the House after two years of tinkering in Democrat-led committees facing resistance from Gov. Phil Scott, who hasn’t made a commitment to support the initiative. Scott’s not the only skeptic. Critics have two main objections to S.54. Small growers say the proposal presents too many barriers to the legal market. And the group Justice for All says the legislation does not rectify decades of marijuana criminalization that has disproportionately impacted people of color. Lawmakers say they have included adequate protections for small businesses, and a separate bill addresses the criminalization issue. The House Appropriations Committee passed the measure in a 6–5 vote Monday, and the full House is expected to vote on S.54 as soon as Wednesday. Scott’s opposition to the bill has narrowed to a provision on saliva testing for suspected intoxicated drivers. He doesn’t think police should need court warrants to conduct the test; the current bill would require warrants. That’s been a particular sticking point in the Senate, which still needs to sign off on a negotiated version of the bill before it heads to the governor. A number of House Republicans have changed their position on the legislation, which sets the stage for a cannabis market. GOP supporters say a full legal market makes sense now that limited possession is legal. The House bill places a 14% excise tax and a 6% sales tax on cannabis sales. According to a mid-range estimate from the Joint Fiscal Office, the state could expect to see about $13 million in tax revenue about four years after dispensaries start selling to consumers in 2022. Of that amount, $8.9 million would be sent to the general fund, and $3.8 million would go to the education fund. “We’re expecting a boom and bust system with this bill,” said Geoffrey Pizzutillo, executive director of the Vermont Growers Association, who is among the bill’s critics. While larger dispensaries may thrive, he predicts that small independent growers will remain hidden in the black market. Pizzutillo takes particular issue with a provision in the bill that instructs the Cannabis Control Board, which would oversee market regulations, to give license priorities to existing medical marijuana dispensaries. Out of the five dispensaries in the state, all but two are funded by out-of-state entities.
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February 26, 2020
POLITICO New York Health Care
POLITICO’s Shannon Young: Marijuana legalization opponents from Colorado, Illinois, California and Massachusetts are calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to meet with them as he travels to their states to learn more about recreational cannabis policies in the coming weeks. A coalition of doctors, parents, health professionals — organized by Smart Approaches to Marijuana — signed onto a Wednesday letter to Cuomo asking that he meet with them as part of his upcoming visits to the states that have already legalized marijuana for adult use...LONG ISLAND FACTOR — Smart Approaches to Marijuana New York has released the results of an Emerson College poll it commissioned to examine support for adult use cannabis in the six New York state Senate districts of Long Island.
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February 25, 2020
State lawmaker demands answers on how marijuana taxes were spent
A state lawmaker has asked Governor Charlie Baker’s administration to show how the state spent marijuana taxes so far, saying she hopes the money funded new initiatives, not just existing ones. The questions raised by Representative Hannah Kane, a Shrewsbury Republican, coincide with a Boston Globe report this month detailing that since July 2018, none of the $67 million in marijuana excise taxes and fees left over after paying for the cost of regulators has funded any new initiatives or supported many purposes prescribed in state law. Those purposes include public safety and aid for communities hardest hit by the war on drugs. “My hope is that the funding goes to new programming/ initiatives directly tied to the categories we outlined in the law,” Kane said in an email to the Globe on Monday. She said she especially hoped the money would bolster efforts to address impaired driving and marijuana consumption among teenagers. State law says the Marijuana Regulation Fund, which consists of the 10.75-percent excise tax on pot plus cannabis fines and fees, must first cover the budget of cannabis regulators. The law says the remainder “shall” be spent on five causes: public health, public safety, municipal police training, illness prevention, and assistance for communities with high marijuana arrest rates. But none of those causes besides public health has received any marijuana money — and aren’t slated to receive any this year or next year. Most of the excess funds collected through early January — $45.6 million — were directed to the state’s Bureau of Substance Addiction Services, records show. A bureau spokeswoman said the money has not funded new programs but rather supported existing ones such as treatment for the uninsured, criminal defendants, and impaired-driving offenders. The pot money has allowed the state to cut in half its general fund allocation to the bureau. The Baker administration believes that use of the money complies with the law, as the bureau falls under public health. In a Feb. 18 letter viewed by the Globe, Kane asked Baker’s top budget official for a detailed overview of how the fund has been spent and how the expenditures complied with the law’s intentions. It appears that the money “has simply been used as an offset for existing uses in the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services,” Kane wrote, “and no new programming has been funded.” Baker’s administration said it would respond to Kane directly.
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February 25, 2020
Bill to legalize marijuana sales heads to Vermont House floor following key committee vote
Another Vermont House committee approved a bill to legalize the sale of marijuana Monday, with a vote by the full chamber expected in the coming days. The Appropriations Committee advanced the legislation with a tally of 6-5, clearing its path for floor action — likely on Wednesday and Thursday. The Vermont Legislature legalized possession and home cultivation of cannabis for adult use in 2018, but there is currently no way for consumers to legally purchase marijuana. The bill moving through the Legislature would establish a commercial cannabis market in the state, create various categories of business licenses, establish a government agency to oversee the new industry, and set tax rates on legal sales. It would also set limits on product potency, capping THC in cannabis flower at 30 percent THC and limiting concentrates to 60 percent THC. Before voting to send the bill to the floor, the Appropriations Committee amended the legislation to reduce the number of members of the proposed Cannabis Control Board from five to three, slightly increase its funding, and set it to be dissolved by July 1, 2024. Lawmakers also approved changes to allocate 30 percent of marijuana excise tax revenues to substance misuse prevention efforts, with additional funds going toward after-school and summer learning programs. Regulators would also set fees to charge for mandatory reviews of advertisements by cannabis businesses under the amendment. Two other House panels — the Government Operations and Ways and Means Committees — have already approved the legislation this year. The full Senate voted in favor of the bill last year during the first half of the two-year legislative session. “After years of consideration, the House finally appears poised to agree with the Senate that cannabis sales should be regulated in Vermont,” said Matt Simon, New England political director for the Marijuana Policy Project. “Cannabis is already legal in Vermont, so it makes no sense that consumers should have to either grow it themselves or buy it from stores in Massachusetts.” During the Ways and Means hearing earlier this month, lawmakers adopted amendments that changed the bill’s planned tax rate, increasing it from a proposed 16 percent sales tax to a 20 percent combined rate that consists of 14 percent excise tax and 6 percent sales tax. Medical cannabis patients would be exempt from state taxes under the bill, and local governments would be prohibited from adding their own new local taxes on marijuana. Since the Senate passed an earlier version of the bill prior to House committees making amendments, the chambers would have to resolve differences before the final measure is sent to the governor’s desk — most likely through a bicameral conference committee. Governor Phil Scott, who reluctantly signed the noncommercial legalization bill into law in 2018, has previously voiced opposition to allowing retail marijuana sales, but top lawmakers have said that he’s come around on the issue and has been involved in discussions about this legislation. An official in his administration indicated last month that the governor is interested in using some tax revenue from cannabis sales to fund an after-school program he’s backing.
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