President Trump’s budget proposal for the fiscal year 2021 would remove a rider containing protections for state-legal medical cannabis programs; congressional lawmakers, however, are expected to override the move. The proposal also includes restrictions to block Washington D.C., where cannabis possession and personal cultivation are legal, from establishing an adult-use marketplace. See the original article […]
During federal budget negotiations the Republican-controlled Senate removed several riders from the omnibus package meant to protect the legal cannabis industry. The Senate also rejected a measure that would have given legal cannabis businesses banking protections – similar to the protections allowed in the House-approved SAFE Banking Act. See the original article at Ganjapreneur
Politicians have been taking action to get ahead of the problem, with most relying on some form of vape ban. A handful of governors and President Trump have proposed banning all flavored vape cartridges If policy makers truly want to reduce or eliminate vaping-related illnesses, the most responsible solution would be to fully legalize marijuana nationwide, and ensure robust […]
The federal legalization of cannabis could help reduce America’s staggering debt while also creating millions of jobs, according to a new report. In their new report, Cannabis in the US Economy: Jobs, Growth and Tax Revenue, 2019 Edition, New Frontier’s analysts predict that a flat 15 percent federal sales tax on all legal weed sales could bring in $73.7 […]
A former federal agent in North Texas now regrets taking CBD oil, just a dropper full, because he said it wrecked his career in law enforcement. And he’s not the only federal worker who has gotten into trouble after taking CBD, even though it’s now legal. “You know, I served the public. I served my […]
Since 2008, Ferrell Scott has been serving a life sentence in federal prison for selling large quantities of marijuana. Ferrell Scott and hundreds of other people of color have been living behind bars, watching businessmen like Kevin Murphy, the CEO of one of the nation’s most lucrative marijuana companies, get rich. See the original article at USA Today
A section of the 2018 Farm Bill stipulates that anyone wanting to grow industrial hemp in the U.S. must provide the GPS coordinates to their farms during the application process. There are industry representatives who believe that while hemp farmers are entitled to just as much privacy as any other farmer, a list of licensed participants should […]
The Clarifying Law Around Insurance of Marijuana (CLAIM) Act would extend insurance protections to the cannabis industry, allowing state-legal cannabis companies to obtain insurance coverage just like any other legal business. Nearly two million acres of the state went up in flames in 2018, killing more than a hundred people and destroying about 18,000 structures. […]
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler and Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris are introducing legislation to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level and repair “the damage done by the war on drugs” as cannabis reform gains steam in Congress. The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, or the MORE Act, would remove marijuana from […]
The U.S. government is growing the largest crop of research marijuana in five years, responding to interest in varieties with high levels of THC and CBD. Scientists have asked for weed that more closely matches what’s sold in states that have legalized medical or recreational marijuana, the National Institute on Drug Abuse said in an […]
Nearly three years after the Drug Enforcement Agency announced it would end a monopoly on who can grow cannabis for legally sanctioned research, there’s still only one federally authorized cannabis cultivator in the United States. The limited supply of research cannabis is hampering the speed, quality and range of studies that scientists can conduct on […]
The chair of a critical House committee said on Wednesday that his panel and the larger body will take up legislation to protect states with legal marijuana from federal intervention “in a relatively short time, within the next several weeks, and I think we will have a very strong vote.” “We will guide it to […]
As Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA) takes over as chair, the House Rules Committee may no longer be the place cannabis reform goes to die. McGovern says he understands full cannabis reform on a federal level would be challenging, but he is committing himself providing protections from federal interference for individual states that do decide to […]
The next United States Congress is likely to pass cannabis legislation, said two congressmen ring a conference Friday, even if Republicans retain control of Congress in November’s election. The lawmakers spoke specifically about the STATES (Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States) Act. Introduced in June, the bill would exempt states with legal cannabis laws […]
A bipartisan bill in the U.S. House of Representatives would, if passed, prevent the federal government from terminating employees who use cannabis within the laws of the state in which they reside. The bill would protect all civilian federal employees in all federal departments and agencies using cannabis legally within the laws of their state, […]
Charlotte’s Web Medical Hemp Act of 2014, a bill just introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, would amend the Controlled Substances Act, the federal law that criminalizes marijuana, to exempt plants with an extremely low percentage of THC, the chemical that makes users high. If passed, it would be the first time that federal […]
In a historic vote, the U.S. House passed a bipartisan amendment preventing the Treasury Department from spending any funding to penalize financial institutions that provide services to marijuana businesses that are legal under state law. The amendment passed 231 to 192. In May, the House passed an amendment prohibiting the DEA from undermining state medical […]
U.S. regulators are studying whether restrictions on marijuana should be eased, a step toward decriminalizing the drug at the federal level. The Food and Drug Administration is conducting an analysis at the Drug Enforcement Administration’s request on whether the U.S. should downgrade the classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, said Douglas Throckmorton, Deputy […]
House Republicans on Wednesday blocked funding for a new D.C. law that would eliminate the threat of jail time for pot possession, leaving the fate of one of the country’s most liberal decriminalization efforts unclear. The D.C. law, which is to take effect next month, makes possession in the nation’s capital punishable by a fine […]
Colorado legislators have proposed the creation of local nonprofit financial-service cooperatives—the business equivalent of a credit union—for legal marijuana shops as a way to force federal authorities to finally decide whether the cannabis industry can access critical banking services. While the bill allows the creation of co-ops similar to a credit union, their access to the nation’s […]