Politics
Mississippi Governor Dodges Questions About Medical Marijuana Special Session When Confronted By Patient Advocates
The governor of Mississippi evaded questions from patient advocates who confronted him this week to ask when he will make good on his pledge to call a special session to pass a medical marijuana bill.
Gov. Tate Reeves (R) had previously said he’d convene a special session if lawmakers reached a deal on medical cannabis legislation. House and Senate leaders announced that they came to such an agreement last month, yet the governor came back with several objections, forcing legislators to go back and make some compromises. Even after they did that, however, Reeves has held firm on what leadership says are “unreasonable demands.”
He didn’t seem too keen on addressing the possibility of a special session at a meet-and-greet event on Wednesday or at a separate event on Thursday where he was pressed on the issue.
Advocates approached Reeves at a restaurant, with one person pushing a boy in a wheelchair and handing him a photo of the child with a black eye that he got after having a seizure. “We need his medicine and we need it soon,” she said.
“He said that, ‘We’re working on it,’” the woman later told a reporter from Mississippi Today. “He ran away from us in the restaurant as I tried to push Brian around in his wheelchair… We handed him a photo of Brian with a black eye from his seizures, and he tried not to take it but I forced his hand and he just kept saying, ‘thank you, thank you’ and tried to walk off.”
“He wouldn’t give me an answer,” she continued. “We told him we know that both sides have agreed to something, and they’re waiting on him to call a session. He would not answer us as to when the session would be. Pretty much, he treated Brian like he had the plague, barely even looked at him.”
When reporters asked the governor about a special session, chasing him down after an event on Thursday, he simply said that it’s “definitely a realistic possibility” and he and lawmakers are “continuing to talk about it.”
As far as legislative leaders are concerned, however, it’s time to pull the trigger and get the bill passed.
“We’re ready to go,” House Speaker Philip Gunn (R) said on Thursday. “The last communication I had with [Reeves] was about two weeks ago—or, I guess about three weeks ago now. We called him and said, ‘Hey, we’re ready to go on this.’ He said he’d think about it. That’s all I’ve heard.”
There are plenty of reasons for urgency on the issue. Beyond the obvious that patients are sick and may benefit from cannabis, there’s the fact that legislators worked on the reform because the state Supreme Court shot down a medical marijuana legalization ballot initiative that voters overwhelmingly passed last year on a constitutional technicality.
But what’s more, lawmakers say that giving them the chance to pass legalization during a special session before the end of the year would help them address large issues like appropriating coronavirus funds when the legislature comes back into session in 2022.
One additional complication that legislators have faced is that Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Andy Gipson strongly insisted that his department not be responsible for licensing marijuana businesses. He sent letters to lawmakers and the state attorney general in recent weeks to express his opposition to regulating the program.
Legislators responded by placing that responsibility with the Health Department, and Gipson expressed gratitude for that on Thursday.
Under one version of the draft proposal that has been circulated, patients could purchase up to an ounce of cannabis per day, with a maximum purchase limit of 14 ounces per month.
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In addition to the conditions that were previously included in the voter-approved initiative that qualify patients for medical marijuana, the new legislation adds hepatitis, Alzheimer’s disease, spastic quadriplegia and chronic pain.
After receiving an initial recommendation for medical cannabis from a licensed practitioner, patients would have to go back to their physician for a reevaluation six months later.
There would be a weight-based excise tax imposed on cannabis sales—$15 per ounce of flower or trim—as well as the state’s general sales tax.
No home cultivation option would be permitted under the measure. Smoking cannabis would be allowed, but not in public spaces.
A poll released in June found that a majority of Mississippi voters support legalizing marijuana for both medical and recreational use, with 63 percent saying they want the legislature to pass a bill that mirrors the ballot measure that was nullified by the court.
A Senate committee held a series of hearings to take testimony on what a medical cannabis legalization bill could look like should lawmakers decide to pass the reform legislatively.
The governor said earlier this summer that “I support the will of the voters,” and “I think we will have a medical marijuana program in Mississippi.” He said it’s “imperative that we get it done, and get it done quickly.”
But despite that stated support, it appears Reeves is willing to delay. He wants the legislation to restrict the amount of cannabis flower a person can possess to 0.7 grams—or about two joints worth. And that’s reportedly one issue at the center of why he’s yet to agree to a special session.
Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.
Politics
Bipartisan Pennsylvania Senators File Bill To Let Medical Marijuana Patients Grow Their Own Plants
A bipartisan group of Pennsylvania senators introduced a bill on Thursday that would allow medical marijuana patients to cultivate their own plants for personal use.
Sens. Dan Laughlin (R) and Sharif Street (D) first announced their intent to file the legislation in November, arguing that it is a necessary reform to ensure patient access by giving people a less costly alternative to buying from dispensaries.
Registered patients who are 21 and older, and who have been residents of the state for at least 30 days, could grow up to six plants in an “enclosed and locked space” at their residence, according to the text of the bill. They would be allowed to buy cannabis seeds from licensed dispensaries
SB1024 – Senator Sharif Street and I worked diligently to get our Medical Marijuana Home Cultivation Bill introduced.
Read More: https://t.co/CeZ8i1NUGA pic.twitter.com/z3BUUivqI5
— Senator Dan Laughlin (@senatorlaughlin) January 21, 2022
In an earlier cosponsorship memo for the new home grow bill, the lawmakers said that letting patients cultivate their own medicine would “help ease the cost and accessibility burdens for this important medicine.”
The new legislation has three other initial cosponsors in addition to Street and Laughlin.
Street had attempted to get the reform enacted as an amendment to an omnibus bill this summer, but it did not advance.
The senators argue that patients in particular are deserving of a home grow option, as some must currently travel hours to visit a licensed dispensary and there are financial burdens that could be alleviated if patients could grow their own plants for medicine.
Late last year, Laughlin and Street also unveiled a separate adult-use legalization proposal that faces significant challenges in the GOP-controlled legislature. And Street is behind another recent cannabis measure to provide state-level protections to banks and insurers that work with cannabis businesses.
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In the interim, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), who is running for U.S. Senate this year, said one of his key goals in his final year in office is to ensure that as many eligible people as possible submit applications to have the courts remove their cannabis records and restore opportunities to things like housing, student financial aid and employment through an expedited petition program.
Pennsylvania lawmakers could also take up more modest marijuana reform proposals like a bill filed late last year to expand the number of medical marijuana cultivators in the state, prioritizing small farms to break up what she characterized as a monopoly or large corporations that’s created supply problems.
Rep. Amen Brown (D) separately announced his intent to file a legalization bill that he’ll be working on with Sen. Mike Regan (R), who expressed his support for the policy change a day earlier.
Additionally, another pair of state lawmakers—Reps. Jake Wheatley (D) and Dan Frankel (D)—formally unveiled a legalization bill they’re proposing last year.
Philadelphia voters also approved a referendum on marijuana legalization in November that adds a section to the city charter saying 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.”
Gov. Tom Wolf (D) said last year that marijuana legalization was a priority as he negotiated the annual budget with lawmakers. However, his formal spending request didn’t contain legislative language to actually accomplish the cannabis policy change.
The governor, who signed a medical cannabis expansion bill in June, has repeatedly called for legalization and pressured the Republican-controlled legislature to pursue the reform since coming out in favor of the policy in 2019. Shortly after he did that, a lawmaker filed a separate bill to legalize marijuana through a state-run model.
A survey from Franklin & Marshall College released last year found that 60 percent of Pennsylvania voters back adult-use legalization. That’s the highest level of support for the issue since the firm started polling people about it in 2006.
An attempt to provide protections for Pennsylvania medical marijuana patients from being charged with driving under the influence was derailed in the legislature last year, apparently due to pushback by the state police association.
Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.
Minnesota Democratic leaders are preparing for another push to legalize marijuana this session, with the sponsor of the House-passed reform bill saying he will be reworking the legislation in an effort to build further support—though it continues to face an uphill climb in the GOP-controlled Senate.
House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (D) and Senate Minority Leader Melisa Franzen (D) discussed the legislative strategy during a roundtable event hosted by the Minnesota Hemp Growers Cooperative on Wednesday.
Winkler said that his bill, which moved through 12 committees before being approved on the House floor last year, is the “product of hundreds of hours of work involving thousands of people’s input, countless hearings and public listening sessions—but it is not a perfect bill.”
Minnesota House Majority Leader @_RyanWinkler recently presented this overview of his legislative strategy on adult use cannabis and hemp. #LegalizeMN #mnleg https://t.co/Z32GLSwQhS
— RAMP Minnesota (@ramp_mn) January 21, 2022
“As we look ahead to this session…our goal is to go back and reexamine provisions of the bill,” he said. Licensing structures, public safety and substance misuse concerns are among the issues that lawmakers will be looking at to improve upon the legislation.
“We will be working with our colleagues in the Minnesota Senate,” Winkler added. “We’re interested in pursuing legalization to make sure that the bill represents senators’ priorities for legalization as well.”
The leader said that “any effort this year that would be successful would require Republican support as well.”
But while advocates are encouraged to hear that the House may again vote to pass the legalization legislation, the Senate minority leader tempered expectations about the bill’s prospects in her Republican-run chamber.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s a path to legalization this year in the Minnesota Senate,” Franzen said. “It’s controlled by the Republican party, and they have there’s a few members who are really adamantly opposed to legalization.”
Gov. Tim Walz (D) is supportive of cannabis legalization, and while the broad reform didn’t advance last session, he did sign a bill to expand the state’s medical marijuana program, in part by allowing patients to access smokable cannabis products.
Winkler said on Wednesday that “it was because of the work done” by advocates on legalization that put pressure on Senate Republicans to advance that legislation.
Another cannabis issue playing out in Minnesota concerns CBD. The state agriculture department and pharmacy board have increased enforcement against the sale of the non-intoxicating cannabinoid in recent months, prompting calls for legislative reform.
Winkler said that the political dynamics around legalization that led to the expansion of the state’s medical cannabis program will be “a template for how we will address challenges with CBD this year.”
“My staff is working very closely with advocates, working with senators, working with other House members to get in a repair for the CBD industry, and I have every confidence that we will be able to do that with your help,” he said.
A poll conducted by Minnesota lawmakers that was released last year found that 58 percent of residents are in favor of legalization. That’s a modest increase compared to the chamber’s 2019 survey, which showed 56 percent support.
Winkler said in 2020 that if Senate Republicans don’t go along with the policy change legislatively, he hopes they will at least let voters decide on cannabis as a 2022 ballot measure.
Rhode Island Governor Includes Marijuana Legalization And Expungements In Budget Request
Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.
Politics
Nebraska Activists Say New GOP Medical Marijuana Bill Is A ‘Poison Pill’ Meant To Detract From Ballot Efforts
A Republican Nebraska senator introduced a bill on Thursday that ostensibly seeks to legalize medical marijuana in the state—but activists have raised concerns that the restrictive measure may be an attempt to subvert an effort to pass even broader patient protections on the 2022 ballot.
Sen. Mike Groene (R) filed the legislation, which would allow certain patients to buy and possess cannabis oils, pills and up to two and a half ounces of flower at a limited number of dispensaries. Smoking or inhaling marijuana would be banned, however, as would making edibles—so it’s not clear how patients would consume the flower they could possess.
But the main problem is, the bill would maintain that cultivating marijuana in Nebraska for commercial or personal use is illegal, meaning dispensaries wouldn’t even have a legal means of obtaining cannabis products for patients.
The bill is also severely restrictive in terms of who would qualify for cannabis. It would only permit access to people with stage IV cancer, uncontrolled seizures, severe muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis or muscular dystrophy or a terminal illness with less than a one year probable life expectancy.
It’s being backed by the Nebraska chapter of the prohibitionist group Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), leading some advocates to suspect that the lack of cultivation provisions is designed to be a “poison pill” while misleading voters into thinking that there is a good faith effort to legalize medical cannabis legislatively.
“This appears to be a political stunt,” Jared Moffat, state campaigns manager at the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a press release. “Opponents of medical cannabis know there is a viable campaign to put medical cannabis on the ballot, and they know Nebraskans will overwhelmingly support that effort.”
“This is an attempt to take our focus away from that,” he said. “But it won’t succeed because it’s clear that this proposal is not a good faith effort to find some middle ground on the issue.”
The bill comes as Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana (NMM) continues to work to collect signatures for a pair of medical cannabis legalization initiatives that advocates hope to place on the November ballot. They have until July to collect 87,000 valid signatures to qualify each of their complementary measures.
Activists with the group collected enough signatures to qualify a medical marijuana legalization measure for the 2020 ballot, but the state Supreme Court invalidated it, finding that the proposal violated the single-subject rule for citizen initiatives.
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Now this legislation from Groene is entering the mix for the 2022 session. And SAM Nebraska co-chair John Kuehn told The Lincoln Journal-Star that it’s “a good faith effort and we are willing to look at this as an acceptable alternative to creating a marijuana industry in the state of Nebraska.”
While advocates aren’t necessarily buying that argument given that it would authorize dispensaries without providing the ability to cultivate marijuana products, some like NMM co-chair Sen. Anna Wishart (D) are willing to work with the senator to get the bill into a more acceptable shape for patients.
I am glad to see that Senator Groene and Smart Approaches to Marijauana, once opponents of medical cannabis, now recognize the benefits of this plant-based medicine. I am willing to work with them, but it has to be towards a bill that works for Nebraskans. https://t.co/UGXmS5qRdR
— Senator Anna Wishart (@NebraskaAnna) January 21, 2022
“It would be the status quo,” Wishart said. “I want a safe system, but there are practical realities patients are living with every day. No one wants a system that doesn’t work.”
Access for sick Nebraskans to medical cannabis is not something I am willing to settle on. I will continue to have their back.
— Senator Anna Wishart (@NebraskaAnna) January 21, 2022
Notably, Groene did support a procedural motion to advance Wishart’s more expansive medical cannabis bill last session.
Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democrats, pounced on the restrictive nature of Groene’s bill and said it makes it “not easy or feasible for most” to obtain a medical cannabis recommendation from a doctor.
Further, the petitions that the GOP are so terrified of (and hence Groene bill) are for medical, not recreational. Some press stories have that fact wrong. Press should interview Nebraska Families for Medical Cannabis who've lead on this: https://t.co/bdUWXbeeH2
— Jane Fleming Kleeb (@janekleeb) January 20, 2022
Shari Lawlor, a member of Nebraska Families for Medical Cannabis, said that the group is “grateful that Sen. Groene recognizes the importance of medical cannabis,” but as drafted, “this is a medical cannabis bill with no cannabis.”
“It envisions a system with dispensaries but no farmers or cultivators who actually produce the medical cannabis that patients need,” she said. “And since patients are not allowed to cultivate medical cannabis themselves under this proposal, there is effectively no way for patients to get the relief they need.”
Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) is no fan of legalization. He partnered with SAM Nebraska on a recent ad urging residents to oppose cannabis reform in the state. Given the organization’s support for this new GOP proposal, there’s some suspicion that he might back it to give the appearance that the administration isn’t deaf to calls for reform by voters.
Advocates aren’t going to be deterred by the bill’s introduction. They will be moving forward with the complementary medical cannabis initiatives in hopes to getting the issue to voters.
The campaign deliberately chose to take a bifurcated approach because of the state Supreme Court invalidation over the single-subject rule.
One of the statutory initiatives would establish legal protections for patients and doctors around cannabis, while the other would allow private companies to produce and sell medical marijuana products.
Lawmakers attempted to advance medical cannabis reform legislatively last year, but while the unicameral legislature debated a bill to legalize medical marijuana in May, it failed to advance past a filibuster because the body didn’t have enough votes to overcome it.
Wishart and NMM co-chair Sen. Adam Morfeld (D) announced in late 2020 that they would also work to put the question of legalizing marijuana for adult use before voters in 2022. But for now their focus appears to be on the medical cannabis effort.
For what it’s worth, Nebraska’s attorney general argued in an opinion in 2019 that efforts to legalize medical marijuana legislatively in the state would be preempted by federal law and “would be, therefore, unconstitutional.”
Rhode Island Governor Includes Marijuana Legalization And Expungements In Budget Request
