Author: News Room

After a negotiations by stakeholders early Thursday morning, a Virginia House panel approved a revised, “compromise” version of legislation to legalize and regulate retail marijuana sales in the commonwealth. Supporters now hope to push the bill through both chambers of the legislature and deliver it to Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), though he has said he is not interested in signing cannabis commerce legislation. The House General Laws Committee passed the amended bill, SB 448, on a 12–10 vote. Members first adopted substitute language that attempted to bridge remaining gaps between the bill, originally introduced by Sen. Aaron Rouse (D), and…

New Jersey’s top marijuana regulator says the state has officially surpassed $2 billion in medical and recreational marijuana sales since 2018, and he also encouraged lawmakers to explore the possibility of giving medical cannabis patients a home grow option. Jeff Brown, executive director of the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJ-CRC), made the comments during a marijuana-focused hearing before the Assembly Oversight, Reform and Federal Relations Committee on Thursday. “Today I’m also proud to announce another milestone. Since we started this work in 2018, cumulative sales of both medicinal cannabis and recreational cannabis have eclipsed $2 billion,” Brown said, adding…

“It’s a parallel track—one is to close down stores and make sure enforcement is happening, the other is to make sure that new ones are opening.” By Rosalind Adams, THE CITY New York State has levied more than $25 million in fines against unlicensed smoke shops for selling cannabis products since last year, but so far only a minuscule percent of those fines have been collected by both the state Tax Department and the Office of Cannabis Management, THE CITY has learned. The two agencies were granted greater authority last year to enforce the 2021 cannabis law and began joint…

The Biden administration is being pressed to reschedule marijuana by two coalitions representing military veterans and law enforcement—including a group that counts Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram among its members. In a pair of recent letters sent to DEA and President Joe Biden, Law Enforcement Leaders To Reduce Crime & Incarceration (LEL) and a group of veterans service organizations separately pushed for the reclassification of cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), as recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The law enforcement group, comprised of current and…

A Republican congressman has introduced a bill to direct the head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to notify lawmakers if the agency adds a psychedelic drug to its formulary of covered prescription medicines. The legislation, filed by Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) last week, states that VA must report to Congress on the addition of any psychedelic medicines to its formulary within 180 days of their federal approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The report would need to include “the determination of the Secretary whether to include such drug in the formulary of the Department,”…

The New Hampshire House of Representatives has passed a bill that would legalize and regulate adult-use marijuana. While the body has approved cannabis legalization legislation a number of times in recent sessions that has gone on to die in the Senate, supporters are hopeful that the latest measure can finally pass the opposite chamber and curry favor with Gov. Chris Sununu (R). House lawmakers approved HB 1633, sponsored by Rep. Erica Layon (R), on a 239–141 vote Thursday. In its current form, it would allow adults 21 and older to buy marijuana from one of up to 15 licensed stores…

“Without some type of enforcement mechanism, they will continue to substitute their own opinions and their own wishes over the law of the state of Utah.” By Alixel Cabrera, Utah News Dispatch Routine annual clean-up legislation on medical cannabis aims to fine-tune a number of issues around the permitted use of marijuana. One of them is treating cannabis as a regular medicine in cases of workplace discrimination. Some Utah municipalities have asked employees to disclose if they are medical cannabis cardholders and then used that information to retaliate against them, said Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, who…

High Times has learned that Paul Tokin, an early online cannabis vlogger behind the YouTube channel Tokin Daily, passed away in December 2023. In an interview before his passing Paul explains that his YouTube channel, which began in 2006, started with videos that showed processes around growing cannabis.  “Prior to doing Tokin Daily I started uploading content on the internet, just pictures and stuff on web forums in the early 2000s, and YouTube came along so I started uploading YouTube videos in 2006,” he says in the interview. “For a long time it was just kinda every now and then…

Minnesota’s top cannabis regulator gave a committee of lawmakers an update on implementation of the state’s adult-use marijuana law on Tuesday, touching on matters such as staffing up the new office and the forthcoming launch of a new business license application portal. But issues such as who would qualify for equity advantages under the plan drew ire from some Republicans on the panel. Sen. Jordan Rasmusson (R), for example, questioned why proposed equity rules would allow people with past criminal convictions for selling marijuana to not only operate retail outlets but also receive social equity status in licensing. “You’d think…

The sponsor dropped several cannabis puns when he told committee he “smoked out” problems in his last bill and ran changes by his assistant, “Mary Jane.” By Clark Corbin, Idaho Capital Sun Anyone convicted of possessing less than three ounces of marijuana in Idaho would receive a mandatory minimum fine of $420 if a new bill introduced in the Idaho Legislature becomes law. House Bill 606 is Rep. Bruce Skaug’s second attempt to pass a bill creating a mandatory minimum fine for possession of less than three ounces of marijuana, after House Bill 559 was introduced on February 13. On…