A top federal drug official on Wednesday offered some advice to Maryland lawmakers who are exploring marijuana legalization in anticipation of placing a referendum on the issue before voters next year.

At a meeting of the House Cannabis Referendum and Legalization Workgroup, which held its first meeting last month, Susan Weiss of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) discussed recent data on cannabis use trends, acknowledging that underage consumption rates have remained stable amid the success of the state-level legalization movement, but also offering words of caution about the risks of cannabis commercialization.

Importantly, however, she seemed to acknowledge the inevitability of legalization in Maryland in a growing number of states by taking the time to advise lawmakers on key policy areas they can consider as they craft legalization legislation.

Weiss said that it’s “really important to keep the medical side of this different [from recreational legalization] and to be paying attention to the products that people are using and how they’re using it.”

She told lawmakers that there are some concerns about increased frequency of use among young adults, rising THC potency in cannabis products available in state markets and prenatal exposure to marijuana. NIDA Director Nora Volkow similarly said she was worried about those trends in a recent interview with Marijuana Moment.

“Because of the way this [reform movement] has been evolving—because the federal because it’s still federally illegal—the states vary a lot in terms of how they are enacting new policies,” Weiss, who is director of NIDA’s extramural research division, said.

Notably, Weiss acknowledged that social equity is an “incredibly important issue” and pointed out that criminal records for cannabis “can really drastically affect…opportunities in life.”

But the NIDA official has concerns with legalization, telling members of the panel that state officials considering enacting the policy should recognize that “there is a lot of flexibility in regulations in terms of how [reform is] implemented.” For one thing, she said lawmakers should think about non-commercial forms of legalization to avoid creating a profit-driven industry that is motivated to increase use.

“There are other regulatory schemes besides full commercialization, although most states are doing full commercialization,” she said. “Profits come mainly from heavy users and users who are addicted to the substance—users who start young are more vulnerable to becoming addicted to substance, so there’s incentive there to appeal to youth.”

Again, federal data has shown repeatedly that rates of underage consumption have remained stable despite the growing commercialization of cannabis for adults in a growing number of states.

Nonetheless, Weiss told lawmakers at the hearing that states should consider a series of policies to mitigate the risk of youth access to cannabis and other concerns, including serving size and potency limitations, labeling requirements, product testing mandates, marketing restrictions and steering tax revenue to health efforts.

A slide from Weiss’s presentation:

She also said that, with respect to public consumption, laws governing cannabis “shouldn’t be any different than they are for tobacco because there’s no indication that cannabis smoke is any different than tobacco smoke.” The official also referenced social consumption sites as a licensing option available to regulators.

Weiss described the need to allow areas where people can legally consume cannabis as an equity issue. Without a public consumption option for marijuana consumers, she said, “there is an inherent bias” that limits access to people with homes or certain apartments whose landlords accept usage at their properties while others who live in public housing, for example, risk eviction. “So there’s a social equity issue there,” she said.

Still, she reiterated her view that marijuana use is not something policymakers should take lightly.

“The bottom line to me at this point is that the risks [of marijuana] to some are very serious—not to all, but to some,” she said. And when it comes to developing regulations for a state cannabis market, she argued that it’s important to lean heavily on the advice of health professionals, rather than industry stakeholders.

Happening now: The House Cannabis Legalization Workgroup is meeting and hearing about the actual science of cannabis. Because drug policy should be made based on reality and not rhetoric. pic.twitter.com/NlQgDm7zwY

— Delegate Eric Luedtke (@EricLuedtke) October 13, 2021

“Regulations matter, and they can help mitigate some of the potential harms,” Weiss said. “I think it’s important that if adult-use legalization goes into effect that there are also strong public health campaigns that are in place when laws change, and baseline data should be collected now before changes in the laws go into effect.”

Weiss also said lawmakers should not allow marijuana business operatives to be involved in setting or overseeing the implementation of regulations on the industry. On a similar note, she expressed concern that federal legalization could lead to large alcohol and tobacco companies becoming more involved in the cannabis sector.

The official separately said that she didn’t “want to get into gateway issues” of cannabis consumption leading people to seek out other drugs, but she does think there’s “an association” between use of marijuana and other drugs.

The NIDA official’s testimony was heard by a 10-member group, which was appointed by House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D) earlier this year. The panel will be looking at the issue of legalization from a variety of perspectives as lawmakers continue to pursue reform in the Free State.

Current situation: The House Cannabis Legalization Workgroup meeting.

Briefing on Health Determinants related to Cannabis Legalization. #education pic.twitter.com/U6rQEQ0jQj

— Del. J. Peña-Melnyk (@JPenaMelnyk) October 13, 2021

The speaker formed the working group in conjunction with an announcement that she plans to pass legislation “early” in 2022 to put the question of legalization directly to voters as a referendum question.

Senate President Bill Ferguson (D), meanwhile, said in July that the reform is “beyond past due” in the state— but he seemed reluctant to embrace a referendum process and instead wants to pass a bill to end cannabis prohibition sooner than next November.

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The top Senate lawmaker also pointed out that he co-chaired an earlier workgroup on marijuana policy in 2019, and that panel had already “identified the key decision points and models for legalization in Maryland.”

Legalization legislation did start to advance through the legislature during the 2021 session, but no votes were ultimately held.

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing in March on a legalization bill sponsored by Ferguson, the majority leader and key committee chairs. That followed a House Judiciary Committee hearing on a separate cannabis proposal in February.

Lawmakers had worked to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate proposals in the hopes of getting something to the desk of Gov. Larry Hogan (R), who has not endorsed legalization but has signaled he may be open to considering the idea.

As Maryland lawmakers considered the two marijuana legalization bills this past session, a poll found that the state’s residents are on board with the policy change. Two-thirds (67 percent) of Marylanders now back legalizing cannabis, according to a Goucher College survey. Just 28 percent are opposed.

Pressure to enact the reform is also building regionally. Marijuana legalization took effect in Virginia in July, for example.

In Maryland, Democratic gubernatorial candidates—former state Attorney General Doug Gansler and former U.S. Secretary of Education John King—have also voiced support for legalization in recent weeks.

Maryland legalized medical marijuana through an act of the legislature in 2012. Two years later, a decriminalization law took effect that replaced criminal penalties for possession of less than 10 grams with a civil fine of $100 to $500. Since then, however, a number of efforts to further marijuana reform have fallen short.

A bill last year to expand the decriminalization possession threshold to an ounce passed the House last year but was never taken up in the Senate.

Also last year, the governor vetoed a bill that would have shielded people with low-level cannabis convictions from having their records publicized on a state database. In a veto statement, he said it was because lawmakers failed to pass a separate, non-cannabis measure aimed at addressing violent crime.

In 2017, Hogan declined to respond to a question about whether voters should be able to decide the issue, but by mid-2018 he had signed a bill to expand the state’s medical marijuana system and said full legalization was worth considering: “At this point, I think it’s worth taking a look at,” he said at the time.

As for Maryland lawmakers, a House committee in 2019 held hearings on two bills that would have legalized marijuana. While those proposals didn’t pass, they encouraged many hesitant lawmakers to begin seriously considering the change.

VA Under Biden Remains Opposed To Marijuana Research Bill For Veterans, Official Tells House Committee

Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.

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The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) under the Biden administration says it continues to oppose a bill that would require it to conduct clinical trials into the therapeutic potential of marijuana for military veterans.

That’s despite the fact that multiple veterans service organizations such as the American Legion and Disabled American Veterans are voicing support for the proposal.

At a hearing before the House Veterans’ Affairs Health Subcommittee on Wednesday, a VA representative discussed numerous pieces of veterans-related legislation that members were considering. Rep. Lou Correa’s (D-CA) VA Cannabis Research Act was among those that the department said it does not support.

The bill, earlier versions of which cleared the full House Veterans’ Affairs Committee in 2020 and 2018, would mandate that VA launch a series of clinical trials on using medical marijuana to treat PTSD and chronic pain.

Correa told colleagues in his testimony that he has worked closely with veterans since the time he served as a state lawmaker.

“In my role, I met and worked with veterans struggling with their invisible wounds of war,” he said. “They explained to me that they didn’t like being prescribed opioids and other medications. They wanted to be able to access cannabis to ease their pain without the same side effects or addictive properties of opioids. When I came to Congress, I wanted to continue my work to provide our veterans with the treatments they want.”

He said that his proposal is “a pragmatic and bipartisan piece of legislation that would advance our understanding of the impacts of medicinal cannabis usage and could improve the lives of veterans and other Americans.”

Opioids shouldn't be the only pain treatment option for veterans struggling with PTSD and chronic pain. We need to pass the VA Medicinal Cannabis Research Act to explore how #cannabis can provide a safe, effective alternative.

— Rep. Lou Correa (@RepLouCorrea) October 13, 2021

In its own testimony, however, VA said that while it isn’t ideologically opposed to the measure, it views it as “redundant” and excessively prescriptive.

“The proposed legislation is not consistent with VA’s practice of ensuring scientific merit as the basis for a randomized clinical trial,” VA’s David Carroll said in testimony before the subcommittee.

The VA official argued that any clinical trials involving human subjects that carriers potential risks must use the “smallest number of participants needed to avoid unnecessarily putting subjects at risk.” And as far as marijuana is concerned, some effects “are not known, thus a circumscribed approach to determine dose, administration modality and best outcome measure must be shown in a proof-of-concept approach to ensure the validity of the research.”

Additionally, Carroll said certain requirements stipulated in the bill such as studying seven different cannabis varieties is “not consistent with the current state of scientific evidence, which suggests that smaller, early phase, controlled clinical trials with a focused set of specific aims are optimal to determine proof of concept for using cannabis to treat specific conditions.”

He argued that there would need to be a “specific rationale” for studying each variety, saying that “progress in cannabis research must start with a scientific query of what is already known for specific diagnostic categories of interest, then moving to next level clinical investigation.”

And what’s more, VA is “already dedicating resources and research expertise to study the effects of cannabis on conditions affecting veterans,” Carroll said—though advocates and key lawmakers don’t view those ongoing studies as sufficient.

Subcommittee Chairwoman Julia Brownley (D-CA) said in her opening remarks at the hearing that the bill would at “long last” direct VA to conduct “rigorous” research on the role of cannabis in “easing veterans’ suffering.”

Later, she pressed Carroll, saying, “If the VA is not going to do the research on the veteran population, then, really, who is? I feel like the buck sort of stops with us.”

The official replied by saying that the the department “strongly supports” research but reiterated that it has concerns with the prescriptive nature of Correa’s legislation on full-scale clinical trials.

“We don’t want to do anything other than the best science and we don’t want to put any veterans at risk,” Carroll said.

The department’s response to the bill is consistent with its past testimony—but it still comes as a disappointment to advocates who had hoped VA under Biden would ultimately embrace the modest reform.

Hopes were raised even higher after the bill sponsor, Correa, recently informed a separate House panel that he’d had a conversation with VA Secretary Denis McDonough about the very issue of marijuana and veterans.

Groups that represent military veterans, meanwhile, backed the legislation in their testimony.

Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States said, for example, that its members “tell us that medicinal cannabis has helped them cope with chronic pain and other service-connected health conditions.”

“They cannot receive this service at VA because of VA’s bureaucratic hurdles,” the group said. “While VA has testified that it has the authority to study Schedule 1 drugs, it has failed to do so, and veterans are tired of waiting,” it continued. “This bill would prevent VA from further delaying needed research.”

American Legion said the bill “will help alleviate…stringent guidelines” on studies and “ensures there is adequate and appropriate research done on the impacts of medicinal cannabis.”

“It is imperative that Department of Veterans Affairs continue to explore alternative treatments to ensure those suffering from PTSD and chronic pain are provided the best possible care,” the group said.

Disabled American Veterans also backs the bill, saying “we support more comprehensive and scientifically rigorous research by the VA into the therapeutic benefits and risks of cannabis and cannabis-derived products as a possible treatment for service-connected disabled veterans.”

Paralyzed Veterans of America pointed to the “growing body of evidence that cannabinoids are effective for treating conditions like chronic pain, chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting, sleep disturbances related to obstructive sleep apnea, multiple sclerosis spasticity symptoms, and fibromyalgia.”

“A series of clinical trials on the use of medicinal cannabis would help to determine if it could provide any medical benefits for veterans,” it said.

The Association of VA Psychologist Leaders said that “to keep our veterans safe from the possible risks and to better understand some of the possible benefits of medicinal cannabis, VA must conduct a more comprehensive study than those already underway.”

In addition to his standalone bill that was before the committee on Wednesday, Correa separately proposed requiring the VA cannabis studies as an amendment to a defense spending bill that passed the House late last month. But he withdrew it prior to a House Rules Committee hearing.

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A Senate committee in June held a hearing on a bill to similarly require the department to conduct clinical trials into the therapeutic potential of marijuana for military veterans with PTSD and chronic pain—but a VA representative said that the Biden administration is opposed to the reform.

Responding to that earlier testimony on Wednesday, Correa pointed out that some of the existing studies the department is touting exclude THC. “There is more work to be done to ensure that we have all of the facts for our veterans,” he said.

Meanwhile, Subcommittee Ranking Member Jack Bergman (R-MI) expressed disappointment that a separate Republican-led medical cannabis bill was not on the panel’s agenda, saying it is “less prescriptive” than the Correa proposal being heard. The legislation is “much more likely to produce actionable results about the effects of medicinal marijuana on veterans with PTSD, chronic pain and more,” he argued.

The sponsor of that bill, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), asked VA’s Carroll if he supported her bill at the hearing, but the official replied that he wasn’t prepared to discuss it.

During the last Congress, in 2019, the VA under President Donald Trump came out against a series of bills that were designed to protect benefits for veterans who use marijuana, allow the department’s doctors to recommend medical cannabis and expand research into the plant’s therapeutic potential.

In 2018, the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee was the first congressional panel to approve a marijuana reform bill by passing an earlier version of legislation to encourage VA to conduct research on the medical benefits of cannabis.

Despite VA’s stated opposition to a variety of marijuana reform proposals in the past, an official with the department did say recently that it is “very closely” following research into the potential therapeutic benefits of psychedelics like MDMA for military veterans.

Earlier this year, a bipartisan coalition of congressional lawmakers reintroduced bills that would federally legalize medical cannabis for military veterans.

Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) in January introduced a proposal aimed at ensuring that military veterans aren’t penalized for using medical cannabis in compliance with state law. It would also codify that VA doctors are allowed to discuss the risks and benefits of marijuana with their patients.

VA doctors are currently permitted to discuss cannabis with patients and document their usage in medical records, and those veteran patients are already shielded by agency policy from losing their benefits for marijuana use—but the bill would enshrine those policies into federal statute so they could not be administratively changed in the future.

A U.S. military veteran who was deported to Jamaica over a marijuana conviction was recently allowed to return to the country following a concerted push for relief by members of Congress.

Sens. Alex Padilla (D-CA), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Mark Warner (D-VA) sent a letter to the head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in July requesting that he reopen the case.

Thirty members of the Congressional Black Caucus separately urged the Biden administration to reopen certain deportation cases, including those involving cannabis such as Bailey’s.

Meanwhile, congressional leaders are working to end federal marijuana prohibition altogether.

The House Judiciary Committee last month approved a bill sponsored by its chairman to federally legalize marijuana and promote social equity.

Separately, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (R-OR) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) are also leading the charge on a legalization bill in their chamber. But weeks after a public comment period on a draft version of the proposal closed, finalized text has yet to be formally filed—and it’s far from certain that Schumer will be able to find enough votes to advance the comprehensive reform through his chamber.

Voters Across The U.S. Will Decide On Marijuana And Psychedelics Ballot Measures Next Month

Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen.

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Marijuana and psychedelics are on the ballot at the local and state level across the U.S. next month.

It might be an off-year election, but advocates and lawmakers have been hard at work pushing to get everything from local cannabis decriminalization to psychedelics reform on their ballots this cycle. That’s not to say that legalization activists necessarily support all the measures that will go before voters on November 2.

As congressional lawmakers fight to end federal marijuana prohibition and advocates continue to build support for psychedelics reform, there are numerous proposals that voters in states like Colorado, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania will decide on next month. And in Virginia, although cannabis technically isn’t on the ballot, the fate of the recently enacted legalization law is.

Here’s a rundown of the drug policy measures and relevant elections that will appear on the November ballot: 

Colorado

The state was among the first to enact adult-use marijuana legalization. And while officials have consistently touted how cannabis tax revenue is supporting schools and other programs, some education advocates see additional opportunities.

The Learning Enrichment and Academic Progress (LEAP) program initiative, would raise cannabis taxes to fund programs that are designed to reduce the education gap for low-income students. The proposal, if approved, would give low- and middle-income families a $1,500 stipend to have school-aged children participate in after-school programs, tutoring and summer learning activities.

To pay for it, the state excise tax on sales adult-use cannabis products would be increased from 15 percent to 20 percent.

Supporters say this policy is especially needed as a response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has exacerbated income-related learning gaps for students.

But some marijuana industry stakeholders—and even the state’s largest teachers union—have expressed concerns about the proposal. Some cannabis advocates have have argued that the hike in marijuana taxes would detract from social equity efforts.

Meanwhile, Denver voters will decide on a local proposal to increase the city’s marijuana tax by 1.5 percent to fund pandemic-related research.

The extra local funds raised by the Denver measure would be used for research into “advanced technologies to protect the public from the spread of pandemic pathogens, including at schools, businesses, and hospitals.” The studies will also look into “pandemic preparedness and recovery, including urban, economic, and school planning.”

Detroit, Michigan

Cities across the U.S. have enacted policies to deprioritize enforcement of laws against certain psychedelics like psilocybin and ayahuasca. Detroit could be one of the next to follow suit.

Detroit activists successfully placed a measure on next month’s local ballot that would similarly decriminalize psychedelics.

At the same time that local advocates are pursuing reform, a pair of state senators introduced a bill last month to legalize the possession, cultivation and delivery of an array of plant- and fungus-derived psychedelics like psilocybin and mescaline. If voters in the state’s most populous city approve the local measure, it could make state lawmakers take a more serious look at broader reform.

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Ohio Municipalities

In Ohio, voters in more than a dozen municipalities will decide on local ballot measures to decriminalize marijuana next month.

The initiatives will go before voters in Brookside, Dillonvale, Laurelville, Martins Ferry, McArthur, Morristown, Mount Pleasant, Murray City, New Lexington, New Straitsville, Powhatan Point, Rayland, Tiltonsville and Yorkville.

As it stands, 22 jurisdictions across the state have already adopted local statues effectively decriminalizing cannabis possession, some of which have been passed by voter initiatives while others were adopted by city councils.

Now, activists have succeeded in collecting enough signatures to qualify cannabis proposals for the November ballot to reduce the local punishment for low-level marijuana possession to the “lowest penalty allowed by state law,” which is zero days in jail and a fine of zero dollars.

In McArthur, which will vote on cannabis decriminalization next month, the police department seems less than enthused about the reform, posting and then deleting a press release that warned of a societal “downhill tumble” that could come if voters approve the measure.

Separately, Ohio activists have also recently been cleared to begin signature gathering for a 2022 statewide ballot initiative to legalize cannabis. Meanwhile, a pair of Republican lawmakers announced a new bill to legalize marijuana this week. Advocates hope that as voters make their voices heard by passing reform measures in a growing number of local jurisdictions, pressure will build for statewide legalization.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Philadelphia City Council has placed a referendum on the local November ballot urging the state to enact legalization. The hope is that the local vote could further motivate the legislature to move ahead with legalization.

The measure stipulates that “the citizens of Philadelphia call upon the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the Governor to pass legislation that will decriminalize, regulate, and tax the use, and sale to adults aged 21 years or older, of cannabis for non-medical purposes.”

The local push comes amid a whirlwind of reform efforts taking place statewide in the legislature.

A much-anticipated bipartisan Senate bill to legalize marijuana in the state that has been months in the making was formally introduced last week, for example. Separately last week, a Democratic representative announced his intent to file a reform bill that he’ll be working on with a Republican senator who expressed his support for the policy change a day earlier. A third pair of state lawmakers also recently unveiled a legalization bill they’re proposing.

While the Philadelphia referendum would not make any immediate changes to the law if approved by voters in the state’s most populous city, it would add pressure on state legislators to act on the growing number of bills that are being filed.

Virginia

Virginia advocates are closely following next month’s election, in which voters will decide who becomes the next governor and which part controls the state House of Delegates. While the legislature legalized adult-use cannabis earlier this year—and possession and limited home cultivation were made legal immediately in July—the incoming governor and state legislators will play a key role in implementing the commercial cannabis market in the months to come.

Under the final deal agreed to by lawmakers last session, nearly all of the legal cannabis sales provisions of the law are subject to reenactment by the legislature in the 2022 session. Depending on who voters choose as governor, and which party ends up controlling the legislature during the election, the new government could drastically roll back planned reforms or undo them completely.

As such, advocates are urging voters to get to the polls next month to elect politicians who will effectively support the cannabis legalization policy.

While marijuana isn’t technically on the ballot—at one point the state Senate included language in a legalization bill that would have allowed voters to directly weigh in on the policy change with a referendum, though that didn’t make it into the final legislation—legalization’s fate is very much at stake, advocates say.

The most consequential race on the marijuana front is the contest for governor. NORML has given the race’s Democratic candidate, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, an A grade, noting his public statements calling for legalization. The Republican candidate, Glenn Youngkin, a private equity executive, has a D grade from the group, which notes Youngkin supports only limited cannabis decriminalization—though his campaign has stressed that he doesn’t plan to overturn legalization if elected.

The incoming governor would have the opportunity to veto or make amendments to any marijuana bills that reach his desk. A hostile governor could torpedo legalization completely, and it’s unlikely Democrats, even if they do maintain their current slim legislative majority, could muster the supermajority of votes needed to override any veto from Youngkin.

Other races on Virginia’s ballot next month could also be consequential, and the question of legalization has become a wedge issue between Democratic and Republican candidates despite bipartisan support among voters.

Other Jurisdictions

As is the case in almost every election now, voters in a number of municipalities within states that have legalized recreational or medical marijuana will decide on local measures concerning whether and how to allow or tax cannabis businesses.

Officials in several New York municipalities, for example, have moved to opt out of allowing recreational marijuana dispensaries and/or on-site consumption areas by the December 31 deadline laid out in the state’s legalization law that was enacted earlier this year. Voters in at least nine cities, towns and villages will have the opportunity to weigh in directly on the issue next month, according to a tracker compiled by Cannasigliere, LLC.

Looking ahead to 2022, activists are also hard at work trying to get drug policy reform on the ballot.

South Dakota’s secretary of state on Tuesday gave activists approval to launch a signature gathering drive to put a marijuana legalization initiative on the state’s 2022 ballot.

Last week, Oklahoma activists filed a pair of 2022 ballot initiatives to legalize adult-use marijuana and remodel the state’s existing medical cannabis program.

Nebraska marijuana activists have begun petitioning for a pair of complementary initiatives to legalize medical cannabis that they hope to place on the state’s 2022 ballot.

Ohio activists have cleared a final hurdle to begin collecting signatures for a 2022 ballot initiative to legalize marijuana in the state.

Florida activists recently filed a ballot measure to legalize marijuana for adult use.

New Hampshire lawmakers are pursuing a new strategy to legalize marijuana in the state that involves putting a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot for voters to decide on in 2022.

Lawmakers in Maryland are also crafting legislation to place a marijuana legalization referendum on the 2022 ballot after the House speaker called for the move.

Missouri voters may see a multiple marijuana initiatives on the state’s ballot next year, with a new group filing an adult-use legalization proposal that could compete with separate reform measures that are already in the works.

Arkansas advocates are collecting signatures to place adult-use marijuana legalization on the ballot.

Activists in Idaho are working to advance separate measures to legalize possession of recreational marijuana and to create a system of legal medical cannabis sales. State officials recently cleared activists to begin collecting signatures for a revised initiative to legalize possession of marijuana that they hope to place before voters on the 2022 ballot. Meanwhile, a separate campaign to legalize medical cannabis in the state is also underway, with advocates actively collecting signatures to qualify that measure for next year’s ballot.

After a House-passed bill to legalize marijuana in North Dakota was rejected by the Senate in March, some senators hatched a plan to advance the issue by referring it to voters on the 2022 ballot. While their resolution advanced through a key committee, the full Senate blocked it. However, activists with the group North Dakota Cannabis Caucus are collecting signatures to qualify a constitutional amendment to legalize cannabis for the 2022 ballot.

Wyoming’s attorney general recently issued ballot summaries for proposed initiatives to legalize medical marijuana and decriminalize cannabis possession, freeing up activists to collect signatures to qualify for the 2022 ballot.

And it’s not just marijuana measures that reform activists are seeking to qualify for state ballots next year. A California campaign was recently cleared to begin collecting signatures for an initiative to legalize psilocybin. And advocates in Washington State have announced plans to put a proposal to decriminalize all drug before voters.

Republican Ohio Lawmakers Announce Marijuana Legalization Bill, Reflecting Recent Bipartisan Shift On Issue

Photo courtesy of Max Pixel.

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