For the first time in history a President of the United States has promoted marijuana reform at a State of the Union address.

During tonight’s address President Biden mentioned “directing my Cabinet to review the federal classification of marijuana, and expunging thousands of convictions for mere possession, because no one should be jailed for using or possessing marijuana.”

President Biden was referring to a 2022 executive order that issued marijuana pardons to those federally charged with possessing marijuana. The order also directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to conduct a review of marijuana’s Schedule I status.
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A provision to have federal agencies study state marijuana laws while preparing for federal legalization has been included in a set of spending packages passed by the full United States House of Representatives.

The provision directs the Department of the Treasury, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to work with experts to assess state marijuana regulatory frameworks. The proposal was previously filed as a standalone bill titled the Preparing Regulators Effectively for a Post-Prohibition Adult-Use Regulated Environment Act (PREPARE) Act, sponsored by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D) and Congressmember Dave Joyce (R).

The provision “urges the Department, in coordination with the Department of the Treasury, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, and other agencies which may have relevant regulatory expertise, to coordinate an assessment of the adequacy of State marijuana regulatory frameworks, including commonalities and novel approaches to enforcement and oversight.”
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Based on recent comments from the bill’s sponsor and the state’s governor, a Virginia bill to legalize marijuana sales is likely to receive a veto.

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (photo credit: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images).

Late last month Virginia’s Legislature passed legislation to allow licensed marijuana sales to begin on May 1, 2025, with marijuana taxed at 11.6%. Those 21 and older would be authorized to purchase up to 2.5 ounces of dried marijuana per transaction, or up to 100mg of THC in edible form. Passage of the bill comes nearly three years after the state legalized marijuana possession, but not sales.

Under the proposed law, licensing and regulations for the marijuana industry would be overseen by the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority. Localities would be allowed to ban marijuana stores, but only if approved by voters. Adults would be allowed to share up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana without being paid for it, but they would not be allowed to sell it.
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Legislation to allow marijuana banking has 140 sponsors in the United States Senate and House of Representatives.

The SAFE Banking Act in the House now has 104 sponsors, with the updated SAFER Banking Act in the Senate having 36. This brings the combined total to 140, representing 26% of the entire US Congress.

Although they differ slightly, both bills would allow banks and other financial institutions such as credit unions to provide banking services to state-legal marijuana businesses. For example, this would allow banks to prove debit card processing to marijuana stores, allowing them to no longer operate under a risky cash-only model. It would also allow financial institutions to offer bank loans to marijuana businesses.
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In Maine, February marijuana sales topped $18 million.

There was $18,014,488 worth of marijuana sold legally in February according to the Maine Office of Cannabis Policy. This is roughly half a million dollars more than the total sales for January, but around $1 million lower then December. Sales were distributed across 326,888 different transactions in the state, roughly 6,000 more than the previous month.

The average price per gram of dried marijuana in February was $7.30, just $0.01 more than the all-time low of $7.29 in January.
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The United States Food and Drug Administration has granted “breakthrough therapy” designation to LSD after a clinical trial found it to be beneficial in treating generalized anxiety disorder.

Someone using a tweezer to grab a microdose of LSD (photo credit: Microgen/Shutterstock).

The clinical trials found that LSD “exhibited rapid and robust efficacy” in combatting anxiety, which was “solidly sustained for 12 weeks after a single dose.”

Daniel Karlin, a psychiatrisy at Tufts University School of Medicine, says “A breakthrough designation is a recognition that a drug has demonstrated evidence of clinical efficacy in meeting an unmet medical need with morbidity and mortality associated with it.”
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On February 9 Kamala Harris said “We changed federal marijuana policy”, in a video posted on the social media platform X. Despite that not being true, the video has been shared thousands of times and remains live.

In less than a month, the video has been viewed nearly half a million times, it’s been shared over 2,200 times, and it has nearly 3,000 comments. The video has clearly driven engagement, as was undoubtably its goal, but it does so while claiming provable falsehoods.

“We changed federal marijuana policy, because nobody should have to go to jail just for smoking weed”, said Vice President Harris in the video, which was designed to appeal to young voters and drive their enthusiasm and voter turnout.

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Legislation banning delta-8 THC has been approved by the Florida Legislature and sent to Governor Ron DeSantis.

Hemp, which is used to extract delta-8 THC.

Florida’s Senate gave final approval to Senate Bill 1698 yesterday in a unanimous 39 to 0 vote. The vote came soon after the House of Representatives passed the bill in a much more contentious vote, 64 to 48.

If signed into law by Governor DeSantis or allowed to become law without his signature, the bill would completely ban the sale of delta-8 THC, which is derived from hemp. Hemp was legalized under the 2018 farm bill.
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According to a recent analysis, over half of all hemp grown legally in the United States is grown in California.

According to an MJBizDaily analysis of the recent Census of Agriculture report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, California produced 56% of all U.S. hemp flower throughout 2022, which is used for a variety of purposes including to extract CBD and other cannabinoids.

In a distant second was Kentucky, which grows around 16% of all hemp grown in the US, followed by Oregon with 6% and Colorado with 4%.
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