Mar 16 2023

Second Senate Committee in Delaware Approves Bill to Create Legal Marijuana Industry

A legislative proposal to establish a licensed and regulated system of marijuana stores has been passed by a second Senate committee.

The Senate Finance Committee gave approval today to House Bill 2 to legalize marijuana sales. Three members voted favorable, one voted “on its merits”, and none voted unfavorable. The measure will now be sent to the full Senate. Given the measure has already passed the full House in a strong 27 to 13 vote, Senate passage would put it before Governor John Carney.

Although it’s uncertain if Governor Carney will sign the measure, allow it to become law without his signature or veto it, the lead sponsor of House Bill 2 – State Representative Ed Osienksi – says he’s “optimistic” that the legislature has enough support to override any potential veto (this can be done with a 2/3rds majority vote).
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Mar 16 2023

New Hampshire House Votes 210 to 160 to Fully Repeal Marijuana Prohibition

New Hampshire’s full House of Representatives has given approval to legislation that would legalize marijuana without regulations or restrictions by fully repealing marijuana prohibition.

The House voted 210 to 160 to pass House Bill 360, which was filed by Representative Kevin Nerville. The vote in the House came a s surprise to many proponents and opponents of the measure as the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee last month ruled the measure to be “inexpedient to legislate”, which typically ends discussion on the bill. However, the House overruled the committee before passing the measure in a voice vote.

House Bill 360 now heads to the Senate,  where passage would send it to the desk of Governor Chris Sununu. Just last month the House voted 234 to 127 to pass a more restrictive marijuana legalization bill that’s sponsored by Majority Leader Jason Osborne and Minority Leader Matthew Wilhelm.
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Mar 16 2023

South Dakota Legislature Approves Bill to Expand List of Qualifying Medical Marijuana Conditions

A bill to greatly expand the list of conditions that qualify an individual to become a medical marijuana patient has been passed by South Dakota’s full legislature.

Senate Bill 1 was passed by the House in a close 36 to 32 vote earlier this month. The Senate quickly approved the finalized version of the bill themselves by a vote of 19 to 15. Passage in both chambers puts the measure before Governor Kristi Noem who now has the option of signing it into law, allowing it to become law without a signature, or vetoing it.

The proposed law, filed by Senator Ernie Otten, would expands the number of eligible patients by explicitly allowing medical marijuana for those diagnosed with:
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Mar 16 2023

Study: U.S. Veterans Reported “Positive Outcomes for Pain, Sleep, and Emotional Problems Because of Cannabis”

In a new study published by the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs the vast majority of U.S. veterans “reported positive outcomes for pain, sleep, and emotional problems because of cannabis use in two survey periods.”

U.S. Veterans cannabis

Photo credit: Getty Images

“Medical cannabis use among U.S. Veterans has continued to rise”, notes the abstract of the study, which was conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Texas State University and the University of Illinois at Chicago. “However, data on cannabis use by older Veterans is generally less available.”

With that in mind, the study aimed “to understand the characteristics of older Veterans who enrolled in the Medical Cannabis Patient Program in Illinois and analyze their health outcomes and co-use of cannabis and opioids using longitudinal survey data.”
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Mar 15 2023

Washington D.C. Automatic Marijuana Expungement Bill Becomes Law

In January D.C. lawmakers approved a criminal justice reform bill that included a provision for the automatic expungement of marijuana possession charges, and the measure has now become law.

The Second Chance Amendment Act was passed by the council by a vote of 13 to 0, and was subsequently signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser. This put the proposal before the U.S. Congress, who has officially declined to overturn it. This allowed the act to take effect on March 10th.

The proposed law initially stated that a criminal charge for the simple possession of up to two ounces of marijuana would be automatically expunged by the court from people’s records. However, before passing the measure the council approved an amendment by Councilmember Christina Henderson to change the two ounce limit to include “any quantity of marijuana”.
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Mar 15 2023

Delaware Senate Committee Approves Bills to Legalize Marijuana Including Retail Outlets

Two bills that would legalize marijuana possession and establish a regulated system of licensed retail outlets has been approved by a key Senate committee.

The Senate Health & Social Services Committee gave approval today to House Bill 1 and House Bill 2, both filed by State Representative Ed Osienksi in the House and sponsored by Senator Trey Paradee in the Senate. The measure now moves closer to a vote by the full Senate, where passage would put it before Governor John Carney. Representative Osienski says he’s “optimistic” that even if the governor were to veto the bills, the legislature would override the veto which it can do with a 2/3rds majority.

House Bill 2 passed the full House earlier this month by a vote of 27 to 13, which was almost identical to the 28 to 13 vote on House Bill 1.
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Mar 15 2023

Arkansas: $22.4 Million in Medical Marijuana Sold in February

In Arkansas there was over $22 million dollars worth of marijuana and marijuana products purchased by authorized medical marijuana patients in February.

According to data released by the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, there was $22.4 million worth of medical marijuana products purchased in February, a slight decrease from the month prior (of course February had less days than January). In January there was $23.1 million in medical marijuana sold.

In total so far in 2023 Arkansas medical marijuana patients have purchased $45.5 million worth of the medicine, a 9.6% increase from the same period in 2022.
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Mar 14 2023

Study Finds Cannabigerol (CBG) “Promising for Developing a Transdermal Dosage for Pain Management”

The cannabis compound cannabigerol (CBG) may be useful in combatting pain, according to new research published in the recent issue of the journal Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy

As noted by the study’s abstract, the antinociceptive activity of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or cannabidiol (CBD) has been widely studied. However, “the antinociceptive effects of other cannabis components, such as cannabichromene (CBC) and cannabigerol (CBG), have rarely been revealed.”

With this in mind, researchers “investigated the antinociceptive effect of CBG on different pain models, and explored the mechanism of action of CBG to exert antinociceptive effects.”
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Mar 14 2023

$18 Million in Marijuana Sold During First Month of Legal Sales in Connecticut

February marked the first full month of legal recreational marijuana sales in Connecticut.

According to data released by the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, licensed marijuana and medical marijuana retail outlets sold $18.4 million in marijuana and marijuana products to consumers in the month of February. Legal sales officially began on January 10, seven months after the state legalized marijuana.

In total the state sold $7.02 million in recreational marijuana from February 1 through February 28, while medical marijuana sales reached $11.4 million. In January sales for recreational marijuana were $5.1 billion, and $8 billion for medical marijuana.
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Mar 14 2023

Kentucky Senate Committee Approves Bill to Legalize Medical Marijuana

For the first time ever a Senate committee in Kentucky has passed legislation that would legalize medical marijuana

The Senate Licensing & Occupations Committee voted 8 to 3 today to pass Senate Bill 47, filed by Senator Steve West with a bipartisan coalition of 13 cosponsors. The measure will now be sent to the full Senate, where passage would put it before the House which passed similar measures in 2020 and 2022 that stalled in the Senate.

In past years Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer has stood in the way of medical marijuana bills advancing in the Senate, but he now says that if the bill has enough votes to pass he won’t prevent it from advancing to the House.
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