Author: News Room

Fully half of Americans have tried marijuana, according to a new Gallup poll—and more people now actively smoke cannabis than tobacco cigarettes. Additionally, a majority say they are not especially concerned about the effects of adults regularly using marijuana The survey, published on Thursday, found that about one in six U.S. adults (17 percent) say that they currently smoke cannabis, while separate recent Gallup polling shows that just 11 percent say they smoke cigarettes. Further, the marijuana question—which asked specifically about whether people “smoke” the substance—likely does not reflect overall current cannabis use given the range of non-smokable products that…

After fits and starts, it appears Ghana finally has legislation that will open up the market for industrial hemp and medical cannabis. The country’s Parliament recently passed the Narcotics Control Commission Amendment Bill 2023, setting the THC limit for hemp at 0.3% on a dry weight basis. CBD will presumably not be legal over the counter, but could be available as a medicine. Past efforts Ghana’s Parliament in 2020 passed a law that legalized the use of cannabis for medical and industrial purposes, giving oversight to the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), a part of the Ministry of Interior. That law…

As Ohio marijuana reform advocates await final certification of signatures for a legalization initiative they hope to place on the November ballot, an unrelated vote during the state’s special election on Tuesday is being viewed as a bellwether for the cannabis proposal’s passage. Voters turned out in impressive numbers to defeat Issue 1 on Tuesday. The GOP-backed measure would have raised the threshold to approve constitutional amendments at the ballot from a simple majority to 60 percent—a change that could have undermined an abortion rights measure that voters will decide on in November, possibly alongside the marijuana legalization proposal. The…

New York’s first marijuana farmers market will open on Thursday in the Hudson Valley, state regulators announced. About one month after the Cannabis Control Board (CCB) started accepting applications for the new Cannabis Growers Showcases (CGS) program, regulators said in a press release on Wednesday that High Falls Canna has been cleared to launch this week and start serving adult consumers at an open market in New Paltz. Licensed growers Queen Farms and Empire Farm 1830, as well as the retailer Legacy Dispensers, will also be on-site to sell their cannabis products. The farmers market will be open in the…

Marijuana sales are booming in the Northeast, with three states in the region—Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island—all hitting new records in July. Maine retailers sold $20.8 million in cannabis in July, which is the third month of record-setting totals in a row. So far in the first half of the year, the state has seen more than $118 million in marijuana sales, setting the stage for a new yearly high compared to the 2022 total of about $159 million. Via Maine Office of Cannabis Policy. In Massachusetts—the most mature market of the three states—adult-use cannabis sales reached a record $136…

The governor of Minnesota says that Republican lawmakers are spreading “misinformation” about the state’s newly enacted marijuana legalization law—and while he believes the policy will continue to be tweaked over time, he will not be convening an urgent special session as GOP members have requested. During a press briefing on Tuesday, Gov. Tim Walz (D) was asked about concerns with the cannabis law that Republicans have laid out in a pair of letters that they sent to him and Democratic leadership over the last couple weeks. Specifically, the lawmakers have focused on rules for underage possession of marijuana. “My feelings…

A top German official says he expects the federal cabinet to approve the first part of the government’s marijuana legalization plan “next week,” and he emphasized that the reform will be coupled with a “major campaign” to educate the public about the risks of using cannabis. In an interview with Rheinische Post that was published on Wednesday, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach was asked about the status of the legalization proposal that was unveiled last month. “I expect the cannabis approval to come into the cabinet next week. There will be small changes,” he said, according to a translation. “But I…

Voting is officially open for the 2024 South by Southwest (SXSW) festival—and this time, there are more than 100 marijuana and psychedelics panels that are up for consideration. Drug policy reform issues have been regularly featured at the Austin-based event over the past several years as the cannabis legalization movement has spread and interest in psychedelics reform has boomed at the local, state and federal levels. Psychedelics-related panels have especially boomed during recent SXSW festivals, reflecting the rapid pace of the reform movement and research around substances like psilocybin, MDMA and ayahuasca. This year, there’s a panel track designated for…

Republican support for marijuana legalization has reached a record high nationally, according to new survey data from Gallup. But while a majority of voters in both major parties back the reform, a partisan divide has widened over the past two decades as Democrats have been even quicker to embrace the issue. A majority of Democrats (83 percent) and Republicans (55 percent) both back ending cannabis prohibition, the poll shows. That’s two percentage points higher for Democrats and four percentage points higher for Republicans compared to Gallup’s 2022 survey, reflecting a more rapid uptick among GOP respondents in the past year…

Minnesota Republican lawmakers say they are “disappointed” with the governor and Democratic leadership for their “unwillingness to address glaring defects” in the state’s newly implemented marijuana legalization law, pointing to what they describe as “loopholes” related to policies affecting youth. The letter, led by Rep. Peggy Scott (R), says that Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Democrats have so far ignored their request last month to convene a special session to address the problems that they’ve raised, including their concerns with minimal penalties for underage possession. “In the days since our initial letter, it has become clearer that Minnesota Democrats still…