A key committee in the New Jersey Senate has given approval to legislation to legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin mushrooms.

Dried psilocybin mushrooms.

The Senate Health, Human Services, and Senior Citizens Committee voted 6 to 2 today to pass Senate Bill 2283, sponsored by Senate President Nick Scutari (D).

Originally, the bill would have allowed individuals 21 and older to “possess, store, use, ingest, inhale, process, transport, deliver without consideration, or distribute without consideration, four grams or less of psilocybin.” However, it was amended before passage to focus on the medical use of psilocybin.
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A nonprofit organization seeking to put a medical marijuana legalization initiative on the November ballot in Nebraska has collected 75% of the required signatures.

Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana says they’ve collected 65,000 signatures for their initiative to legalize medical marijuana and their companion initiative to protect physicians who recommend marijuana. This is 75% of the 87,000 signatures needed for the proposals to be voted on in November. However, the group aims to collect at least 30,000 more signatures by the July 3rd deadline to ensure enough valid signatures (as any signatures not from registered Nebraska voters and any duplicates are discarded).

Last month, the group announced they had reached an important milestone by collecting the minimum required signatures across at least 38 of the state’s 93 counties for both initiatives, a legal requirement for making the November ballot.
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In Missouri, legal marijuana sales topped $120 million for the third time.

In May, $123.7 million worth of marijuana and marijuana products were sold legally in Missouri, just shy of the record $124.7 million sold in March.

Of the total sales in May, $108.2 million came from recreational consumers, while $15.5 million was purchased by medical marijuana patients.
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A bicameral conference committee in the New Hampshire Legislature has reached an agreement on the text of a bill to legalize recreational marijuana, with the governor saying he’ll sign it into law.

In March, the House of Representatives passed House Bill 1633 with a vote of 239 to 136. In May, the Senate amended the measure and passed it by a vote of 14 to 10. The House then rejected these changes, leading to the establishment of a conference committee consisting of members from both chambers.

Today, the committee decided to merge the two versions of the bill. The measure will now undergo one final vote in both the House and Senate before being sent to Governor Chris Sununu, who has expressed his intention to sign it into law.
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Legislation that would deschedule marijuana and allow for the expungement of past marijuana offenses now has a combined 107 sponsors in the United States House of Representatives and Senate.

The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, filed in April 2023, now has 89 sponsors. The measure aims to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act, while expunging the records of individuals with prior marijuana convictions. Additionally, the MORE Act would establish a federal excise tax on legal marijuana sales. In the House, the SAFE Banking Act is the only marijuana-related bill with more sponsors than the MORE Act.
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The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (ECBI) has officially voted to legalize recreational marijuana sales, allowing their marijuana superstore to open soon to everyone 21 and older regardless of if they’re a tribal member.

(Photo credit: Will Hofmann/Ashebille Citizen Times).

In September members of the EBCI voted overwhelmingly in favor of a referendum that asked “Do you support legalizing the possession and use of cannabis for persons who are at least twenty-one (21) years old, and require the EBCI Tribal Council to develop legislation to regulate the market?”

Now, the council has officially passed a law adopting the referendum into law, allowing recreational marijuana sales to begin by August. The vote was 8 to 2.
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There are currently 644 different marijuana strains being sold legally throughout Massachusetts.

According to data compiled and released by the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission (CCC), there were 644 active marijuana strains as of May 2024. This is nearly double the number of strains reported in June 2022 (330) and significantly more than the total for June 2023 (487).

The CCC also reported that the average price per gram of legal marijuana is $5.36, slightly higher than the $5.32 low set in February of this year, but drastically lower than the $14.68 average in 2020. The average cost per ounce is currently $151.94, marking an over 60% drop from the $416 average in 2020.

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Frederick County, Maryland, has removed pre-employment drug screening requirements for most public employees.

(Photo credit: Emily Koonce)

This change, announced by Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater, affects the county’s workforce of approximately 3,400 people, except for those in specific “safety-sensitive” roles like law enforcement, who will still be subject to testing.

This policy shift follows the state’s legalization of cannabis production, sale, and use last year. However, the legislation did not include explicit workplace protections for employees who use cannabis off-duty. A separate bill introduced this year aimed at limiting employers’ ability to penalize workers for past cannabis use did not advance.
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There was roughly $11 million in legal marijuana and marijuana products sold in Vermont in March.

According to the Vermont Department of Taxes, there was $10.98 million in legal marijuana sales in March, bringing the yearly total to $32 million. Marijuana sales brought in $1.54 million in tax revenue for March, and around $4.5 million for the year.

The only month in Vermont with more legal marijuana sales is December 2023, with $11.10 million, with $1.55 million in taxes garnered.
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