September 4, 2020
House will vote to remove cannabis from the federal list of controlled substance during September work period
A chamber of Congress will vote to remove cannabis from the federal list of controlled substance for the first time in the nation’s history. The U.S. House of Representative confirmed its historic vote will occur during September work period and would effectively decriminalize cannabis nationwide. The legislation in question, known as the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement Act (MORE Act), would not legalize marijuana at the federal level.
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September 4, 2020
Legalized marijuana would raise hundreds of millions of dollars for Pa., Wolf and Fetterman say
Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday renewed his push for the legalization of marijuana for recreational use by adults, making an appeal for the economic windfall and the criminal justice reforms that would result were the Commonwealth to join the ranks of states that have decriminalized cannabis. “I am renewing that call,” said Wolf, who was joined by Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and state Sen. Sharif Street of Philadelphia.
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September 4, 2020
USDA Approves Hemp Plans For Maine, Missouri And Another Indian Tribe
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved hemp regulatory plans for Maine, Missouri and the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians on Wednesday. The total number of federally approved hemp plans across states, territories and tribes now stands at 58.
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September 4, 2020
House will vote to remove cannabis from the federal list of controlled substance during September work period
A chamber of Congress will vote to remove cannabis from the federal list of controlled substance for the first time in the nation’s history. The U.S. House of Representative confirmed its historic vote will occur during September work period and would effectively decriminalize cannabis nationwide. The legislation in question, known as the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement Act (MORE Act), would not legalize marijuana at the federal level. Instead it would remove cannabis from its Schedule I drug classification, which the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) defines as “drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” Once removed, states could then decide whether to legalize cannabis for medical or recreational use. The bill would also expunge cannabis records for some and create a fund to support individuals impacted by the enforcement of marijuana laws. "Passage of the MORE Act is essential in order to truly right the wrongs of federal marijuana criminalization, and to once and for all allow the majority of states that have legalized cannabis for either medical or adult-use to embrace these policies free from the threat of undue federal prosecution or interference," said NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano. It’s unknown whether the MORE Act will have enough votes to carry the Democrat-controlled House. Even if it does, the Senate is not expected to vote on the bill considering the long-held opposition by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Republicans, who control the Senate, have not show support for ending cannabis prohibition in recent weeks. The head of the Republican National Committee would not answer whether medical marijuana supporters had a place in the GOP in a recent interview. And President Donald Trump told a Republican crowd earlier this month not to allow cannabis legalization ballot if they want to win.
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September 4, 2020
Legalized marijuana would raise hundreds of millions of dollars for Pa., Wolf and Fetterman say
Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday renewed his push for the legalization of marijuana for recreational use by adults, making an appeal for the economic windfall and the criminal justice reforms that would result were the Commonwealth to join the ranks of states that have decriminalized cannabis. “I am renewing that call,” said Wolf, who was joined by Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and state Sen. Sharif Street of Philadelphia. “Now more than ever, specially right in the middle of a pandemic, we have a desperate need for the economic boost that the legalization of cannabis could provide.” The governor noted Washington and Colorado, which in 2018 generated hundreds of millions of dollars in state revenue as a result of legalized recreational marijuana. Washington added $319 million to its treasury; Colorado $266 million. Both states are much smaller than Pennsylvania, the governor noted, and the figures do not factor in the secondary economic impact of jobs creation and additional money circulating throughout the economies. Wolf called for the revenue from such a program to be earmarked to benefit historically disadvantaged businesses and restorative justice programs, in particular giving priority to repairing the impact the criminalization of marijuana has had on hundreds of thousands of individuals and the justice system. Fetterman noted that according to state police data, on average over the last few decades, roughly 20,000 state residents are arrested each year for marijuana related offenses. “If you go over the span of decades we are talking nearly a quarter of a million Pennsylvanians that now have some affiliation with the criminal justice system for nothing more than consuming a plant that’s actually legal in 12 jurisdictions across this country,” Fetterman said. “That’s counter productive.” Fetterman pointed out the uneven racial enforcement of marijuana laws, with Blacks and Latinos disproportionately arrested or imprisoned. The lieutenant governor also stressed the economic impact of such a proposal. “I would pitch this as a jobs bill as much as anything,” he said. “Legalizing marijuana would create tens of thousands of jobs that require no subsidy. No kind of guidance other than to rewrite the law and allow this business to flourish in Pennsylvania. It’s a turnkey solution and I would challenge anyone, my most intensely opposed critics to name one other policy decision that could have so much immediate impact and so much unambiguous benefits both in terms to our treasury, to our employment statewide. To our social justice concerns.”
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September 3, 2020
Virginia, just legalize marijuana already
Virginia Democrats are making headway in the efforts to reform the commonwealth’s criminal justice system, even if, on issues such as qualified immunity for police officers, it takes a couple of tries to get moving in the right direction. But they are still not ready to fully embrace one issue: marijuana legalization. Virginia did enact marijuana decriminalization. While possession and consumption remain illegal, getting caught now merits a $25 civil fine. Not everyone was pleased with the move. The Virginia ACLU led a coalition opposed to decriminalization. In a letter to Gov. Ralph Northam (D), the groups said decriminalization “does nothing to end racist pretextual stops by police.” Instead, the coalition urged an end to marijuana prohibition. The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus put legalizing marijuana on its list of priorities for the special session. And there’s even a bill to achieve part of that goal. Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy (D-Prince William), who is running for governor, is the chief patron of HB 5141, a measure that would legalize “simple possession of marijuana.” While it does away with the civil penalty, prevents law enforcement from using the hint or suspicion of marijuana use to conduct searches and seizures and more, it doesn’t end prohibition. That step would allow adults to buy and consume the product legally and companies to grow and process it. Full legalization would also require governments to regulate and tax marijuana. Eleven states have legalized recreational marijuana use. Twenty-two have legalized it for medical use. More states will decide the issue this November. Carroll Foy’s bill won’t add Virginia to those lists. Instead, it’s a bow to political reality: Prohibition may be bad, but Virginia just isn’t ready to give in that sort of sin and debauchery. Never mind the state-sanctioned gambling and lottery. Or the state-owned liquor monopoly. Or centuries of tobacco farming. In its letter to Northam, the ACLU and others said, “study is needed before Virginia can consider or implement an equitable system to regulate the legal sale of marijuana.” If we do a little homework, we quickly discover legalization is no panacea. Yes, the tax revenue can be very good — but it takes time to reach scale. Then there are the health issues. As the New York Times’s Jack Healy reported on Colorado’s experience, “More people here are visiting emergency rooms for marijuana-related problems.” At the same time, “state surveys do not show an increase in young people smoking pot.” A Washington State University study showed officers surveyed did not want to recriminalize marijuana. But they said states considering the idea should first conduct “broad public educational programs, emphasizing juveniles and drivers, and how the law affects them,” and, “expanded officer training, especially on the regulatory rules governing growing cannabis.”
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September 3, 2020
GOP Congressman Will Vote Yes On Marijuana Legalization Bill Despite ‘Reparations’ Concerns
A Republican congressman says he will be a “yes” vote on a bill to federally legalize marijuana that the House of Representatives is set to take up this month. But he also argued that certain social equity provisions—which he described as “reparations”—go too far and will make the legislation unpalatable to the GOP-controlled Senate. Advocates celebrated the recent announcement from House leadership that the chamber will vote on the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is the sole GOP cosponsor on the bill, and he said in a podcast released on Tuesday that while he supports the proposal in principle, a component that would distribute a portion of cannabis tax revenue to communities most impacted by the war on drugs amounts to “reparations,” and he views that as untenable. “I believe in cannabis reform in this country. The federal government has lied to the American people for a generation about cannabis,” the congressman said on the latest episode of the “Hot Takes with Matt Gaetz” podcast. “What are we going to do about it? The MORE Act.” Gaetz applauded the main provisions of the bill, namely removing marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and ending federal prohibition. He said he’s also in support of a proposal to provide expungements for prior cannabis convictions, recognizing racial disparities in marijuana-related arrests. “I think the war on drugs was uniquely harmful to urban communities, to communities of color, and I think that some restorative justice for people that saw just extended convictions or that are currently serving extended time in prison ought to be visited through legislation, so I support that,” the congressman said.
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September 3, 2020
Opinion: Opportunities lost amid OLCC’s cannabis license backlog
When Oregon voters legalized recreational cannabis in 2014, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission was given the responsibility for the licensing and regulation of cannabis businesses. Unlike other states, Oregon was meant to have a non-competitive licensing system with no limit on the total number of licenses issued. This approach was intended to encourage existing medical cannabis growers and dispensaries to enter into the regulated market and allow women, minorities and other entrepreneurs the opportunity to participate in the new cannabis economy. While the licensing system initially worked well, the system has essentially ground to a halt. According to the OLCC’s website, the agency is just now processing applications to grow recreational cannabis that were filed in February 2018. It’s not much better for those seeking licenses to process, sell or distribute cannabis. The agency is just now getting to applications filed in June 2018. That means the OLCC is more than two years behind in issuing licenses and there is no point in filing a new application for eligible business types. As a lawyer in this space since before legalization, I know that those waiting for licenses include small businesses that have been stretched thin by the delays. They have built out facilities to comply with regulations, paid rent each month, accepted money from investors and now have little hope that they will ever be able to operate. One client, Adam Dunn, filed for a processor’s license two years ago, spent $300,000 on security and construction and has been paying rent since 2018. With the current backlog, he will likely still wait years to receive approval. This is the same story I hear over and over as desperate applicants find themselves in permanent limbo. The OLCC is not even able to provide any timeline to applicants, denying them the ability to make informed decisions about crucial issues such as whether to keep a lease or buy equipment. As the agency communicated to me in a recent email, “We do not have a way of giving any sort of accurate estimate as to when a certain new application may receive an assessment of its readiness to be assigned.” At the same time, the OLCC has prioritized change-of-ownership applications, which favor large businesses that can afford to buy an established operation – and its license. This prioritization has created a secondary market for licenses ensuring that large, and often multi-state operators can grow their companies while others lose months, years, and in some cases, everything they have while they wait. In contrast to the backlog on new licenses, the OLCC is working on change of ownership applications submitted in 2020 with the average wait time being 157 days, according to a public records request. It is time for the OLCC to turn all its attention and resources to addressing this crisis. The agency does not have the statutory authority to unilaterally stop issuing new licenses that were lawfully applied for. If the OLCC cannot or will not turn their attention to this enormous and years long backlog, the governor’s office should immediately intervene. The Legislature also should mandate strict timelines for the issuance of licenses as well as make sure that the commission is sufficiently funded to provide rapid licensing services for all applicants.
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September 3, 2020
DEA: Someone Smuggled Marijuana ‘Crude Oil’ From Mexico Into California—Judge Orders State To Tell Feds Who
A federal judge on Monday ordered California state cannabis regulators to turn over to to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) records related to an alleged international marijuana-oil trafficking scheme, according to court records. Since August 2019, the DEA has been hounding the state Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) for records related to three individuals and three businesses that hold BCC licenses, which are required to sell recreational cannabis products in the state.After first requesting the records via email—a request that was refused—the DEA issued the BCC a subpoena in January, which up until now the state has fought in court. According to the DEA’s filing, the BCC has records related to “possible importation/transportation of a controlled substance (marijuana ‘crude oil;) from Mexico” by three state-licensed cannabis companies and three individuals who owned or worked for these companies.News of the subpoena first became widespread in July, after the DEA asked a judge to force the BCC to comply. And on Monday, after some back-and-forth in court, federal judge Linda Lopez did just that and issued a order that the BCC must comply with the subpoena, as legal newspaper The Recorder first reported. Whether the BCC will cough up the records remains to be seen. Alex Traverso, a spokesman for the agency, said the BCC would have no comment. But at this point, the BCC has only two options: appeal the decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal (and, eventually, the Supreme Court), or continue to defy the DEA and risk serious consequences.
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