Newsletter
Cannabis banking backers float GOP-friendly amendments (Newsletter: June 4, 2019)
House reports address impaired driving, CBD & hemp; RI floats blockchain to track marijuana; Lawmakers push VA on home loan denial to cannabis workers
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There are now 1,119 cannabis-related bills moving through state legislatures and Congress for 2019 sessions.
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- Charlie Howe: “The insanity that is federal and state cannabis prohibition has and is destroying our country. The cost to taxpayers, the lives of people and families destroyed, because of a personal choice. It must end now!”
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/ TOP THINGS TO KNOW
In addition to backing a new appropriations rider on marijuana business banking access, supporters are looking at amending a bipartisan standalone bill to add hemp- and gun-related provisions aimed at garnering stronger Republican support.
Two new reports issued by the House Appropriations Committee address marijuana-impaired driving, CBD regulations and the legalization of hemp.
A group of 21 members of Congress sent a letter criticizing a Department of Veterans Affairs policy that denies home loans to military veterans who work in the marijuana industry.
The Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation wants blockchain companies to submit proposals on how their technology can help the state track medical cannabis, among other things.
/ FEDERAL
President Trump tweeted, “As a sign of good faith, Mexico should immediately stop the flow of people and drugs through their country and to our Southern Border. They can do it if they want!”
The House of Representatives approved a Senate-passed disaster aid funding bill that includes provisions to ensure that hemp farmers are eligible for crop insurance.
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government gave initial approval to a spending bill containing protections for marijuana banking and removing a longstanding rider blocking Washington, D.C. from using its own money to legalize cannabis sales.
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), a presidential candidate, spoke about his past marijuana use in the context of racial disparities in the criminal justice system. He also said that people currently incarcerated for cannabis should be released and that their records should be expunged.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), a presidential candidate, voiced support for decriminalizing marijuana and expunging cannabis convictions.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D), a presidential candidate, met with state legislative leaders to press for the passage of marijuana legalization this session but said that he wants “to see it done in a way that doesn’t create a new monster corporate class.” He also tweeted a video of himself talking about the issue.
Former Sen. Mike Gravel (D), a presidential candidate, tweeted, “Our punitive, militaristic approach to drugs has destabilized Latin America, criminalized our own neighborhoods, and enabled the police to grossly abuse their power. It has done nothing but harm to our communities. The War on Drugs must end immediately.”
Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) spoke about states’ rights as it relates to hemp and marijuana.
Rep. Blaine Luetkeyemer (R-MO) expressed concerns about allowing marijuana businesses to access banks prior to cannabis being descheduled.
Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) tweeted, “Now that IL has legalized recreational #marijuana, it’s time for Congress to pass the #SAFEBankingAct to ensure that cannabis businesses have the same access to banking as any other legitimate business.”
Former Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) tweeted a video of a recent talk he gave at a cannabis conference.
/ STATES
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said he doesn’t think the state Senate has the votes to pass a marijuana legalization bill and suggested that he is not planning to push hard on the issue.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) announced that regulators are moving to license up to 108 new medical cannabis businesses. The Senate president and Assembly speaker criticized the move.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) said that her personal struggles with alcohol factored into her decision to veto a bill to expand the state’s limited CBD medical cannabis program.
Wisconsin’s lieutenant governor spoke in support of legalizing marijuana and joked that it would make Thanksgiving dinners more enjoyable.
Oregon lawmakers sent Gov. Kate Brown (D) a bill to bar landlords from denying housing to prospective tenants for medical cannabis use or past low-level marijuana convictions.
Louisiana lawmakers sent Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) a bill to legalize hemp and provide a regulatory framework for CBD products. Separately, the Senate approved a bill to let patients inhale medical cannabis that it had initially rejected over the weekend.
Nevada lawmakers sent Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) a bill to create a Cannabis Compliance Board.
The Florida House of Representatives is seeking to intervene in a lawsuit challenging the state’s medical cannabis regulations.
The California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Tuesday in a case examining whether local zoning ordinances allowing medical cannabis dispensaries to operate could cause reasonably foreseeable indirect environmental changes.
The Pennsylvania House Health and Judiciary Committees held a joint hearing on marijuana use and gun rights.
A Washington, D.C. councilmember said he will move emergency legislation on Tuesday to protect employment rights for medical cannabis patients who work for city agencies.
Missouri regulators will make medical cannabis patient applications available on Tuesday.
Washington State regulators proposed marijuana packaging and labeling rules. They also sent a bulletin on required warnings on text message advertising. Meanwhile, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy published an analysis on how to more effectively measure youth cannabis use.
Massachusetts regulators held a training session for marijuana social equity program participants.
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/ LOCAL
Chicago, Illinois’s mayor cheered the passage of a bill to legalize marijuana in the state.
A Sullivan County, New York undersheriff said that follow-up testing undercuts his department’s previous claims of seizing fentanyl-laced marijuana.
/ INTERNATIONAL
Paraguay’s government is moving to phase in marijuana legalization.
Ireland’s Cabinet is set to consider potentially far-reaching drug policy reform measures.
/ ADVOCACY
The incoming chairman of the New York Republican Party said he doesn’t “have the same hostility toward the legalization of marijuana as maybe my predecessors did.”
A Tax Foundation executive vice president said he thinks federal marijuana legalization is not far off.
/ SCIENCE & HEALTH
A study laid “groundwork for developing a better understanding of the complex chemistry and biochemistry underlying resin accumulation across commercial cannabis strains.”
A survey found that people who are intimidated by the life insurance application process are three times more likely to use cannabis on a daily basis than those who aren’t.
/ OPINION & ANALYSIS
A poll of Connecticut residents found that 59% support legalizing marijuana, 69% back expunging low-level cannabis records and 57% favor directing the majority of legalization revenue to areas that have been disproportionately affected by the war on drugs.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board cheered Illinois’s approach to legalizing marijuana.
/ BUSINESS
KushCo Holdings Inc.’s directors and officers are being accused in a lawsuit of misleading investors about accounting errors.
The CEO of Brinks said that the marijuana market is a “beautiful opportunity.”
/ CULTURE
Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell said that the first time they ever smelled marijuana was when Coolio smoked it backstage at at “All That.”
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