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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Mar 13 2023

For First Time a Bill to Legalize Medical Marijuana Will Receive a Hearing in the Kentucky Senate

Legislation to make Kentucky the 40th state to legalize medical marijuana will receive a hearing in its first Senate committee on Thursday.

Senate Bill 47, filed by Senator Steve West with a bipartisan coalition of 13 cosponsors, will receive a hearing Thursday in the Senate Licensing & Occupations Committee. This marks the first time that any Senate committee has held an official hearing on a bill that would make medical marijuana legal. This is despite the fact that the House of Representatives passed a similar measure in 2020 and 2022.

“I believe we have enough votes to get this passed”  Senator Steve West told us. “It’s a big deal that we’re even having a hearing.”
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Mar 13 2023

Washington State Collected Over $500 Million in Marijuana Taxes in 2022, Nearly Double Liquor Taxes

Washington State collected a total of $511.1 million in taxes from the legal marijuana industry in fiscal year 2022.

washington state Marijuana TaxesThis is according to the Liquor and Cannabis Control Board’s FY 2022 Annual Report. The report shows that the taxes garnered from marijuana sales were $251.2 million more than that of liquor sales. The marijuana tax revenue for fiscal year 2022 was nearly $50 million more than the previous fiscal year. The state made an additional $4.1 million in 2022 from marijuana licensing fees.

Revenues collected by the Liquor and Cannabis Board from legal cannabis taxes, license fees, and penalties are distributed as follow, according to the report:
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