May 10 2023

Florida: Enough Signatures Collected to Put Marijuana Legalization to a Vote in 2024

An initiative campaign to put marijuana legalization on the November, 2024 ballot in Florida has collected more than the 891,523 valid signatured required to do so.

As of the end of April the Smart & Safe Florida campaign had submitted 841,130 valid signatures, just 50k signatures short of the 891,523 required to put their proposal on the 2024 general election ballot. However, the group has now collected over 900,000 signatures, and will soon be submitting them to the state. If enough of these are valid (from registered Florida voters), as is expected, this will give Floridians the opportunity to legalize recreational marijuana eight years after they legalized medical marijuana.

The initiative would allow those 21 and older “to possess, purchase, or use marijuana products and marijuana accessories for non-medical personal consumption by smoking, ingestion, or otherwise.” Licensed marijuana retail outlets would be allowed to distribute the plant, with any of the state’s licensed medical-marijuana dispensaries allowed to “acquire, cultivate, process, manufacture, sell and distribute such products and accessories.”
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May 10 2023

North Carolina Tribe Plans to Open $50 Million+ Medical Marijuana Superstore This Year

A tribe in North Carolina plans to open a medical marijuana superstore later this year, in what would be the first marijuana dispensary in the state.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians legalized medical marijuana on their tribal land in 2021, and now they plan to open the state’s first dispensary, although there are disputes over the proposed costs.

Currently the tribe is converting a giant bingo hall into a medical marijuana superstore that will serve anyone with a physician recommendation to use the plant for medical purposes. The store will be a roughly three-hour drive from Charlotte.
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May 10 2023

Colombia Chamber of Representatives Passes Marijuana Legalization Bill

Legislation that would make legal marijuana a constitutional right in Colombia has been passed by the nation’s Chamber of Representatives.

The Chamber voted 98 to 57 to pass the measure to the Senate. The Senate voted in December 56 to 3 to legalize marijuana, but the proposed law received amendments since then and thus the Senate will need to vote on the measure again before it can be sent to Governor Gustavo Petro for consideration.

“This is the constitutional reform that seeks to authorize the creation of a legal cannabis market for adult use in Colombia”, Representative Juan Carlos Losada said in a translated op-ed. “The regulation of cannabis for adult use in Colombia is the gateway for a new drug policy that abandons the failed paradigm of prohibition and opens the field to a policy guided by public health guidelines, the prevention of consumption and the guarantee of attention of consumer users.”
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May 09 2023

Rhode Island House Unanimously Passes Bill to Allow Marijuana Businesses to Advertise

The Rhode Island House of Representatives voted today to pass legislation that would allow local marijuana retail outlets to advertise their products, something that is currently prohibited.

The House voted unanimously, 66 to 0, to pass the measure on its final reading. This sends it to the Senate for consideration. Passage in the Senate would send it to Governor Daniel McKee. House Bill 5829 was filed by State Representative Scott A. Slater.

As noted by The Boston Globe, Massachusetts marijuana businesses are currently advertising on billboards along highways in Rhode Island, despite the fact that Rhode Island law prohibits local marijuana stores and dispensaries from placing such ads. The bill approved by the House would change that, giving local marijuana businesses explicit permission to advertise.
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May 09 2023

Over $25 Million in Legal Marijuana Sold in Montana in April, $405 Million Since January, 2022

There was $25,817,355 worth of legal marijuana and marijuana products sold in Montana in April.


Data from the Montana Cannabis Control Division shows that there was $5,443,376 in medical marijuana sold in April, in addition to $20,373,979 worth of recreational marijuana sales. The year-to-date total for 2023 is now $102 million, and the January, 2022-to-date total is $405,956,512.

The $25.8 million sold in April is a modest 4.4% decrease from the $27 million sold in March, a monthly record. The previous record was August, 2022 with $26.8 million. The slowest month since the start of recreational marijuana sales was February, 2022 with $22.9 million in total sales.
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May 09 2023

Colorado Made $25 Million in Marijuana Taxes in April, Almost 10% Increase From March

Colorado made $25 million in marijuana taxes in April according to data released today by the Colorado Department of Revenue.

In total Colorado garnered $25,128,221 in tax revenue from the legal marijuana industry in April, an 8.6% increase from the $23.1 million sold in March. The taxes made in April are the most made so far this year. In January the state made $22.3 million, followed by $24.7 million in February.

Colorado’s year-to-date marijuana tax total is $95,333,989. The total since the start of legal sales in 2014 now stands at $2,439,370,678.
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May 09 2023

WA Governor Signs Bill Protecting Marijuana Users When Job Hunting

Legislation that will provide protections to marijuana users who are seeking employment has been signed into law by Washington Governor Jay Inslee.

Senate Bill 5123 was signed today by Governor Inslee, less than a month after it was passed by the state’s legislature. The law prohibits employers from refusing employment based solely on someone’s off-the-job recreational marijuana use. The measure passed the House in March, 63 to 32, and passed the Senate in April, 37 to 12. After concurrence the measure was signed by the House Speaker on April 14, signed by the president of the Senate on April 18.

“The legislature finds that the legalization of recreational cannabis in Washington state in 2012 created a disconnect between prospective employees’ legal activities and employers’ hiring practices”, states the preamble to the bill, introduced by Senator Karen Keiser along with nine cosponsors. “Many tests for cannabis show only the presence of nonpsychoactive cannabis metabolites from past cannabis use, including up to 30 days in the past, that have no correlation to an applicant’s future job performance.”
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May 09 2023

CDC Report Finds Marijuana Use by Teens Continues Decade-Long Decline Despite States Legalizing

According to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, the percentage of high school students who have used marijuana in the past, or who say that they are current consumers, has fallen significantly since 2011. The first state to legalize marijuana did so in 2012.

The report found that the percentage of high schoolers who have ever tried marijuana fell 30% between 2011 and 2021. In addition, the percentage of students who self-identify as current marijuana consumers decreased by a similar percentage during the same time period.

“This report documents that substance use prevalence among U.S. high school students had been declining for a decade before the COVID-19 pandemic”, states the report’s authors. “For the majority of substance use outcomes, prevalence further declined from 2019 to 2021, including for current alcohol use, marijuana use, and binge drinking and for lifetime alcohol use, marijuana use, cocaine use, and prescription opioid misuse.”
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May 09 2023

Study: Medical Marijuana Improves Health-Related Quality of Life That’s Sustained Over Time

According to a newly published study patients using medical marijuana “reported improvements in health-related quality of life, which were mostly sustained over time”.

The study was published today by the journal JAMA Open Network, which is operated by the American Medical Association. It was conducted by researchers at the Swinburne University of Technology, Austin Hospital and the University of Western Australia.

The objective of the study was to “assess whether patients using medical cannabis report improvements in health-related quality of life over time.”
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May 09 2023

Maine: $16.2 Million in Legal Marijuana Sold in April, Over 1 Million Transactions Year-to-Date

Legal marijuana retail outlets sold over $16 million in marijuana and marijuana products in April.

Data released by Maine’s Office of Cannabis Policy shows that there was $16,289,077 in legal marijuana sold in April throughout Maine. This is a very slight decrease from the $16,622,537 in legal marijuana sales in March. Over the past 12 months only August saw more sales with $17,042,278.

The sales total for April brings the yearly total to $61,618,855, and the total since the start of legal sales in late 2020 to $306 million.
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