Author: News Room

The governor of Pennsylvania is proposing to legalize and tax adult-use marijuana as part of his 2023-2024 budget request, estimating $188 million in annual revenue from cannabis by 2028. As several lawmakers are circulating cosponsorship memos about plans to introduce legalization legislation this session, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) is making the administrative push for the reform. The executive budget that he released on Tuesday proposes to impose a 20 percent tax “on the wholesale price of [marijuana] products sold through the regulated framework of the production and sales system, once legalized.” Assuming that sales begin on January 1, 2025, the…

A top U.S. intelligence official reaffirmed on Wednesday that it is not the federal government’s current policy to deny people security clearances based on past marijuana use alone, stating that it is counterproductive to recruitment efforts, especially amid the growing legalization movement. At a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) took the opportunity to ask Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines to explain the rationale behind the discretionary policy on prior cannabis use. “We recognize, frankly, that many states have legalized or decriminalized marijuana use and wanted to be sure that we’re not disqualifying people solely for that…

A Texas legislative panel has unanimously approved a bill to decriminalize marijuana possession. The House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee voted 9-0 on Tuesday to advance Rep. Joe Moody’s (D) legislation, which would remove the risk of arrest or jail time for low-level possession of cannabis and allow people to eventually erase cannabis issues from their criminal records. The action comes about a week after the panel heard testimony on the measure at a hearing. “Basically, the person is given a ticket goes to court, they’re assessed a fine, then the court tells them, ‘You’ve got six months to pay and you…

March 8, 2023, is International Women’s Day, but you can celebrate women every day of the year with these activities. International Women’s Day — a worldwide holiday celebrating women’s political, economic, social, and cultural accomplishments — was officially acknowledged by the United Nations in 1977, but the first Women’s Day was celebrated in the United States in 1909. What is International Women’s Day? International Women’s Day is a particularly special day for those who identify as women, although people of all genders are welcome and encouraged to celebrate it. Women’s Day was created in memory of the garment workers’ strikes that…

Yes, you can legally smoke in New York’s streets and roll your weed on the subway. But should you? Here are Leafly’s tips for toking in the city.New York, which initially legalized adult-use weed in 2021 and rolled out legal sales at the end of 2022, allows cannabis smoking anywhere cigarette smoking is permitted. It also allows the possession of up to three ounces of flower, which could have landed you in prison under drug laws of the recent past. But just because you can, doesn’t always mean you should.Whether you are rolling up on the train, lighting up on…

Voters across Oklahoma today delivered a decisive defeat to cannabis legalization advocates, rejecting Special Question 820 (SQ 820) by roughly a 62% to 38% margin. The Associated Press called the race for the “no” vote a little more than an hour after polls closed at 7 p.m. local time. With most of the rural counties reporting, and the big cities about 50% done counting, SQ 820 was losing, 63% to 37%. Early returns showed the measure winning in the state’s two biggest cities while losing in all rural areas. But by the end of the night SQ 820 had lost…

Oklahoma voters have rejected a ballot initiative that would have legalized marijuana for adult use in the state on Tuesday. For most counties across the state, the cannabis reform measure—State Question 820—was the only proposal on the ballot, a unique scenario in the history of the legalization movement.  Advocates tried to put the reform on the November 2022 ballot, but delays in signature verification by officials and the state Supreme Court’s subsequent decision in litigation meant that it missed the window to qualify for that cycle. In October, Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) called a special election for the cannabis measure…

Bipartisan and bicameral congressional lawmakers have filed an updated version of a bill to streamline the federal rescheduling of “breakthrough therapies” like psilocybin and MDMA in order to promote research and drug development. Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rand Paul (R-KY)—along with Reps. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) and Nancy Mace (R-SC)—announced on Thursday the introduction of the “Breakthrough Therapies Act.” The legislation proposes to amend the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), in part by creating a procedure through which current Schedule I drugs that are deemed breakthrough therapies by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), or qualify for a waiver under…

The Hawaii Senate has approved a bill to legalize marijuana, and two psychedelics research measures, ahead of a key legislative deadline. And the House separately passed a companion to one of those psychedelics proposals. The Senate cannabis legalization bill, sponsored by Sen. Joy San Buenaventura (D), cleared the chamber in a 22-3 vote on Tuesday. Advocates are encouraged by the development, especially after a number of amendments were adopted in committee last week that tackled certain equity concerns with the bill as introduced. Sen. Joy San Buenaventura (D), the bill’s sponsor, said on the floor that the measure “allows us…

The Delaware House of Representatives has approved a bill to legalize marijuana possession, with a complementary measure to establish basic regulations for a commercial adult-use market also advancing. The full chamber passed the legalization legislation from Rep. Ed Osienski (D) on Tuesday in a 28-13 vote, sending it to the Senate for consideration. Osienski is also sponsoring the regulatory bill that moved through a committee in January but has one additional panel stop on its way to the floor. “It is time for us to listen to our constituents and make Delaware the 22nd state to legalize adult-use, recreational marijuana,”…