A marijuana decriminalization policy is officially in effect in Virginia as of Wednesday. One month after Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signed the bill—which will make possession of up to one ounce of cannabis punishable by a $25 fine with no threat of jail time and no criminal record—the commonwealth has become the 27th state to enact the policy change. Lawmakers initially passed the bill in March, but the governor recommended a series of amendments and sent the legislation back to the Senate and House of Delegates for consideration. While they adopted 15 of the Northam’s amendments, they rejected two, including one that proposed to delay a required study into the impact of broader cannabis legalization. The enactment of the legislation—HB 972 and SB 2—fulfills a campaign promise Northam made back in 2017. As governor, he has repeatedly stressed the need for reform, including in his State of the Commonwealth addresses. Prior Virginia law made simple possession punishable by a maximum $500 fine, up to 30 days in jail and a criminal record. Jenn Michelle Pedini, executive director of Virginia NORML, said that “Virginians have long opposed the criminalization of personal marijuana possession, and the enactment of this legislation turns that public opinion into public policy.” “Twenty-seven states have now decriminalized cannabis, and Virginia’s decriminalization law is the strongest among them,” Olivia Naugle, legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), said in a press release. The law “will prevent Virginians from being criminalized and having their lives derailed for simple cannabis possession.” State Attorney General Mark Herring (D) also praised the reform. “Virginia’s approach to cannabis hasn’t been working for far too long, needlessly saddling Virginians, especially Black Virginians and people of color, with criminal records. Those days are now behind us,” he said in a press release. “With this historic legislation, we are making Virginia a more just, fair, equal and progressive place.” But Herring, who is running to replace the term-limited governor in 2021, wants the state to go even further. “While decriminalization is an important first step on Virginia’s path, we cannot stop until we have full legalization in the Commonwealth,” he said. Advocates also stressed that further reforms are needed. Pedini said that “it’s critical the legislature work swiftly to legalize and regulate the responsible use of cannabis by adults.” “For too long, young people, poor people, and people of color have disproportionately been impacted by cannabis criminalization, and lawmakers must take immediate steps to right these past wrongs and to undo the damage that prohibition has waged upon hundreds of thousands of Virginians,” the NORML activist said. Steve Hawkins, executive director of MPP said that “Virginia lawmakers should continue to work towards broader cannabis policy reform.” He cited a recent statement from the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, which is pushing legislators to take up legalization during a special session this summer, as the right next step. “As the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus has recognized, full legalization is needed,” he said. “While decriminalization is long overdue, legalization is necessary to dramatically reduce police-civilian interactions and remove the pretext for countless police stops.” The Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus recently proposed a more modest reform that they want taken up during the August session: ending law enforcement searches of people or vehicles based solely on the odor of cannabis. The caucus also highlighted legislation the body passed last session but that didn’t make it to the governor’s desk that would have expunged certain prior marijuana charges and convictions.
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The most populous city in the most populous state in the country has for months fumbled its efforts to create an equitable cannabis industry. But that is poised to change. On Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council voted in favor of sweeping changes to the cannabis industry, the most significant of which could allow the city to get back on track when it comes to equity efforts.
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July 1, 2020
Authorities Grapple With New Hemp Law Enforcement
Last September, I spoke on the importance of a whole-plant approach at the 2nd annual Southern Hemp Expo in Nashville, TN. But it’s not the whole-plant message I recall, rather it was the smokable hemp pre-rolls being handed out to attendees. This was the same in Las Vegas in December, and numerous other pre-COVID events around the country. Hemp biomass, whether that be hemp flowers, ground plant material, or so-called “marshmallows” (harvested hemp wrapped in plastic bales), looks, smells, and seems the same as marijuana, especially to law enforcement. Since the enactment of the 2014 Farm Bill, which defined “industrial hemp” and legalized domestic hemp production in the U.S. for the first time since the 1940s, it’s been incumbent upon law enforcement to recalibrate to say the least. Police departments, at all levels, and all across the country were unaware of the federal legalization of industrial hemp as the word simply did not get out. For some, this seems to still be the case. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) confounded matters further by taking steps directly in contravention of the 2014 Farm Bill by maintaining rhetoric that all cannabis, including industrial hemp, remained prohibited under federal law. This led to a lawsuit filed against the DEA by the Hemp Industries Association (HIA v. DEA III) for which I served as lead counsel. Simply put, there was no guidance to law enforcement on the heels of the 2014 Farm Bill, and the hemp plant continues to exist in a state of confusion at all levels across the country. This has impacted interstate transportation of lawfully grown hemp, the functioning of lawful hemp processing facilities, caused improper seizures of hemp materials and derivatives, and has stymied the development of the industrial hemp industry in the United States. In 2018, a district attorney in Tennessee and local Sheriff officials gave the green light to “Operation Candy Crush.” The sting ended with orders for 23 businesses to close their doors after officials claimed products with CBD contained illegal ingredients. A total of 17 store owners were also arrested. Following this enforcement action, these law enforcement officials held a press conference announcing their actions with pride. They were entirely unaware that the hemp materials - the products and derivatives - were wholly lawful under both federal and state law. Nonetheless, it was treated as though it was marijuana.
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June 30, 2020
This Cannabis Entrepreneur’s Message To New York On The Question Of Legalization Is, ‘What Are You Waiting For?’
Andrew Cuomo shored up a lot of political capital for his strong leadership during the worst of New York State’s Covid-19 crisis. Indeed, fully 87 percent of New Yorkers approved of Cuomo’s response, according to a Siena College Research Institute survey. So, how is Cuomo is going to take advantage of all those warm and fuzzy feelings among his constituents? Cannabis tech entrepreneur Howard Lee thinks now is the time to press for legalization. “My advice is, what are you waiting for?” Lee said during a free-ranging interview this week. “Many states have proven that they can do it legally, do it safely and provide a better product o their consumers. “How many times can you generate $300 million in tax revenue on a recurring basis now that’s still growing – in less than three or four years? What is New York waiting for?” In fact, New York needs the tax revenue badly due to its Covid losses –20,000-plus deaths and untold economic losses. So now’s the time to join the states that are legal (for both recreational and medical cannabis), which in FY 2019, according to a recent Tax Foundation report, chalked up impressive excise tax revenues. Examples: Washington State’s revenue gain was $390 million; California’s was $390 million; and Colorado’s was $251.8 million. The thing is to institute legalization correctly, and that means knocking out the illegal sellers, says Lee, who draws on his expertise as a former senior vice president at The Disney Company and now CEO of Seattle-based S?RSE Technology. S?RSE works with legal markets to implement its software, which helps companies to transform cannabis oil into a water-soluble emulsion for a consistent psychoactive effect and good taste in CBD- and THC-infused beverages and other edibles.Drawing on his experience working with legal markets in multiple states, Lee shares some definitive ideas on what future legal states should be doing (and here he focuses on New York because of the hard hit it took from the virus):
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June 30, 2020
How marijuana laws complicate scientists' search for crucial answers about cannabis, hemp
In the humid rooms of industrial-sized greenhouses on the outskirts of Geneva live hundreds of hemp plants of more than 60 varieties, a large part of Cornell University’s hemp breeding and genetics program. At Surge Laboratory, a short walk from the greenhouses, doctoral student Jacob Toth preps several test tubes for analysis. Their orange-hued broth contains genes responsible for making cannabinoids, the 100-plus chemicals found in the cannabis plant. In one particular test tube, Toth has an enzyme that usually makes CBC (cannabichromene) but that he thinks is mutated to now make the psychoactive cannabinoid THC. Through these genetic tests, Toth hopes to learn more about that small percentage of difference between the enzymes that make THC, CBD, and CBC, and what might be done to convert one into the other. Toth’s tests are just one part of the Cornell Hemp program, which was backed by $4 million from New York after the crop was legalized for research in 2014. Cornell Hemp’s team of 30 researchers face pressure to develop hemp varieties that will advance New York in the crop’s budding national market, which began three years ago under the 2018 Farm Bill. But Cornell’s researchers walk a thin line of legality and are restricted in scope by federal regulations governing the psychoactive chemical THC. Start with the wrong seeds or harvest at the wrong time and Cornell Hemp and the farmers it supports would be in trouble with the federal government for growing illegal marijuana. That’s because the difference between hemp and marijuana is not botanical, but regulatory. Federal law defines hemp as cannabis with less than 0.3% THC, while plants with more than 0.3% THC are considered marijuana and must be destroyed.
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Federal financial regulators on Monday released updated guidance for banks and credit unions that service hemp businesses. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which is part of the Treasury Department, said that the update is meant to expand on earlier guidance the agency provided following the federal legalization of hemp under the 2018 Farm Bill. The new memo explains changes in reporting requirements and emphasizes that because the crop is no longer a controlled substance, financial institutions don’t have to automatically flag transactions that are from hemp business accounts. “This guidance explains how financial institutions can conduct due diligence for hemp-related businesses, and identifies the type of information and documentation financial institutions can collect from hemp-related businesses to comply with [Bank Secrecy Act] regulatory requirements,” FinCEN wrote. “This clarification is intended to enhance the availability of financial services for, and the financial transparency of, hemp-related businesses in compliance with federal law.” They also emphasized that the notice does not “replace or supersede FinCEN’s previous guidance” on banking for marijuana businesses that was implemented under the Obama administration in 2014. Unlike for marijuana companies, banks and credit unions do not have to automatically file suspicious activity reports, or SARs, solely because a business client is involved in the hemp market. They must still be filed for marijuana-related businesses, however...The regulatory agency also provided clarification on requirements for businesses that are involved in marketing both hemp and marijuana. FinCEN said that “if the proceeds of the businesses are kept separate, or the customer and its financial institution are able to identify which proceeds are marijuana-related and which are hemp-related, then the 2014 Marijuana Guidance, including specific SAR filing, applies only to the marijuana-related part of the business.”
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June 29, 2020
Biden-Sanders Task Force Discusses Marijuana Legalization Recommendation For Former VP
Members of a criminal justice task force created to inform presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign have been discussing marijuana legalization—a policy the former vice president continues to oppose. Most of the group—which consists of advisors appointed by both Biden and former primary rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)—support ending cannabis prohibition, and advocates have held out hope that they would recommend that Biden adopt the policy platform in the run-up to the November election. While some members have publicly talked about the issue since joining the task force, including Linn County, Iowa Supervisor Stacey Walker, who recently commented on the need for reform in light of racial disparities in marijuana criminalization, a new report from Politico appears to be the first confirmation that the group itself is actively considering a formal recommendation on the policy change. “Multiple people said marijuana policy has been discussed on the criminal justice panel, one of the policy groups of the unity task force,” the outlet reported. “Sanders appointees have advocated for legalization. Some Biden appointees personally support legalizing pot and have debated putting the policy in the panel’s recommendations to the former vice president, according to two people familiar with its deliberations.” A majority of panel members appointed from both camps have previously gone on record in favor of legalization. That includes Tennessee Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D), former federal prosecutor Chiraag Bains, former Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, former Attorney General Eric Holder, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Walker. “There’s an opportunity to advance a really bold agenda on criminal justice,” Bains, a Sanders-appointee to the task force, said. “This is part of envisioning a completely different future, not returning to a pre-Trump era. I say that as someone who served proudly in the Obama administration. We just have to be much more aggressive about rooting out systemic racism and injustice in the legal system.”
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Legislation passed this spring decriminalizing marijuana possession offenses and sealing the records of past convictions from public view takes effect on Wed., July 1. “NORML is proud to have worked alongside Senator Ebbin and Delegate Herring, both longtime champions of evidence-based cannabis policy, to bring about these needed changes to Virginia law,” said NORML development director, Jenn Michelle Pedini, who also serves as the executive director of the state affiliate, Virginia NORML. “Virginians have long opposed the criminalization of personal marijuana possession, and the enactment of this legislation turns that public opinion into public policy.” However, Pedini added that additional legislative reforms will continue to be necessary. “While we applaud Governor Northam, his administration, and the legislature for taking this important first step, it’s critical the legislature work swiftly to legalize and regulate the responsible use of cannabis by adults. For too long, young people, poor people, and people of color have disproportionately been impacted by cannabis criminalization, and lawmakers must take immediate steps to right these past wrongs and to undo the damage that prohibition has waged upon hundreds of thousands of Virginians.” Under the new law, activities involving the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana are classified as a civil, not criminal offense – punishable by a $25 fine, no arrest, and no criminal record. Such activities had previously been classified as criminal misdemeanors, punishable by up to 30 days in jail, a criminal record, and the possible loss of driving privileges. In 2018, police made nearly 30,000 marijuana-related arrests in Virginia. The new law also explicitly seals the criminal records related to misdemeanor marijuana possession from employers and school administrators, and defines substances previously considered hashish as marijuana. Twenty-six states additional states and the District of Columbia have either legalized or decriminalized the adult possession and use.
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June 29, 2020
A NY man's journey from busted for growing illegal pot to hosting hemp harvest festival
George Knarich can easily recall the time police officers busted him for growing illegal pot in his backyard. Fast forward four years, and Knarich now has the government’s blessing to grow as much hemp as he can plant on his 20-acre farm in Mount Vision, which is near Oneonta in central New York. The Knarich Family Farm is among more than 400 hemp producers in New York authorized to grow low-THC cannabis crops because of the federal 2018 Farm Bill. The farm played host last October to the 22nd annual New York Harvest Festival and Freedom Fair. Led by festival director and 30-year marijuana activist Rob Robinson, dozens of attendees paraded up the road to Knarich’s hemp field and hand harvested the crop at “high noon” on the festival’s second day. For many among the estimated 1,200 in attendance, gathering on a legal hemp farm for the first time in the festival’s two decades represented progress in the movement to destigmatize cannabis. “We’re getting high in New York,” Robinson told the enthusiastic crowd when announcing a 4:20 p.m. cannabis cup for the next day, during which judges would choose the top cannabis products. Robinson said there was a time he wouldn’t openly advertise the recreational marijuana competition, but now he wasn’t scared. “The government and the media used to call us the counter culture,” he said. “There’s nothing counter of this culture. “This culture is the American culture – as American as apple pie.”
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June 29, 2020
A Bill That Would Impose an Excise Tax on Vapor Products
Would impose an excise tax on vapor products at a rate of 5 cents per fluid milliliter for closed system products; and 7% of the wholesale cost price for open system products. Would provide for the administration of the excise tax on vapor products. Would require that vapor product distributors obtain a license. Would raise the minimum sales age for tobacco products and vapor products from 18 to 21. Would be effective upon approval with the vapor product excise tax effective January 1, 2021.
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