Author: News Room

A Minnesota Senate committee held a first hearing on a bill to legalize marijuana on Wednesday as companion legislation continues to advance through the House. The Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee took up the bill from Sen. Lindsey Port (D) and advanced it without a recommendation in a voice vote, marking the first time that a legalization proposal has ever moved in the chamber. The chair of the committee said at the beginning of the hearing that he and the sponsor have agreed for the bill to return to the panel at a later date before it potentially moves…

Delaware lawmakers approved a bill to legalize marijuana on Wednesday, advancing the reform in committee just one day after a complementary measure to establish basic regulations for an adult-use market cleared a different panel. The House Health & Human Development Committee passed the simple legalization bill, which was introduced earlier this month, in a 11-4 vote. Meanwhile, the companion regulatory proposal moved through the House Revenue & Finance Committee on Tuesday. Rep. Ed Osienski (D) is sponsoring both pieces of legislation. He took a similar, bifurcated approach for the reform last session and saw the legislature pass the basic legalization…

The governor of Kansas came out strongly against the state’s ongoing criminalization of medical marijuana on Tuesday, blasting the “ridiculous” laws that criminalize patients. And following the speech, a top GOP senator whose been skeptical about reform committed to at least holding hearings on the issue this session. In her annual State of the State address, Gov. Laura Kelly (D) said that there’s a “commonsense way to improve health care here in Kansas—and that’s to finally legalize medical marijuana.” Because we haven’t yet legalized medical marijuana, every day, thousands of Kansans are forced to choose between breaking the law and…

Lawmakers in Massachusetts and New York have filed bills to broadly decriminalize currently illicit drugs in the interest of treating substance misuse as a public health, rather than criminal justice, matter. There’s been significant interest in drug policy reform in state legislatures across the country this session, with a slew of marijuana and psychedelics measures introduced in the first weeks of 2023, for example. Now, legislators are seeking to stop criminalizing people over drugs altogether. In addition to the new Massachusetts and New York bills, Washing State lawmakers have also signaled that they will be taking up the issue of…

Washington, D.C. lawmakers have filed a revised bill to create a regulated adult-use marijuana market, despite an ongoing congressional ban that blocks the District from enacting the reform. The legislation, introduced by District Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) and six other councilmembers, is largely consistent with an earlier version that received a hearing last year but was not ultimately enacted—though it includes a new reparations provision to provide direct payments to people who have been harmed by cannabis criminalization. While D.C. voters legalized low-level cannabis possession, home cultivation and gifting through a ballot initiative in 2014, there’s currently no system…

During a California court appearance Monday, when questioned about a 420 tweet, Elon Musk suddenly forgot the significance of the number in pot culture. The tech billionaire responded after being cornered by a prosecutor representing Tesla employees for a class action lawsuit alleging he tweeted and misled shareholders about the price of Tesla shares. The fiasco began several years ago. In 2018, Musk rounded up Tesla shares from $419 to $420, announcing his plan to go private in a tweet. “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420,” Musk tweeted on Aug. 7, 2018. “Funding secured.”—sending officials from The Securities and…

A third Minnesota House committee has approved a recently filed bill to legalize marijuana in the state, with another panel already set to take it up on Thursday. The House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee passed the legislation from Rep. Zack Stephenson (D) in a voice vote on Tuesday. It still has several more committee stops before potentially advancing to the floor. Members of the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee approved the measure last week, which followed its initial advancement through the House Commerce Finance and Policy Committee. On the Senate side, companion legislation being sponsored…

The North Dakota House of Representatives approved a resolution on Monday that encourages residents to buy U.S. flags that are made out of hemp and manufactured in the state. The concurrent resolution, which is being sponsored by five House members and three senators, cleared the full chamber in a voice vote. This comes days after the House Agriculture Committee advanced the measure. “House Concurrent Resolution 3004 was, with all respect, run up the flagpole” in committee, Rep. Bill Tveit (R) punned on the floor before reading through the text. The “whereas” section of the legislation, which now heads to the…

The governor of Minnesota unveiled a budget proposal on Tuesday that includes funding for various state agencies to implement marijuana legalization and projections for cannabis revenue as lawmakers work to advance reform. Gov. Tim Walz (D) released his budget request for the 2024-2025 biennium, just hours before a House committee was scheduled to hold a hearing on a legalization bill that’s moved through several panels in recent weeks. During a press briefing, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (D) said that “it is past time to safely legalize adult cannabis use” and that “prohibition doesn’t work.” “Legalizing adult-use cannabis is about our…

A Delaware House committee has approved the first of a pair of bills to legalize marijuana in the state, this one focusing on regulations for an adult-use program that’d be created if the complementary, simple legalization legislation is also enacted. The House Revenue & Finance Committee passed the bill, HB 2 from Rep. Ed Osienski (D), in a 7-2 vote on Tuesday. It deals with issues like taxing cannabis products and promulgating rules for the market. The other measure from the same sponsor, HB 1, is set to be taken up in a separate committee on Wednesday. These developments come…