Delaware Public Radio Reports New Equity Provisions In Cannabis Legislation May Get It Through The House DPR report.. A new recreational marijuana bill is introduced by state lawmakers. Every year state lawmakers seem to get closer and closer to legalizing recreational marijuana. And a new bill filed last week features changes meant to make the bill’s journey through Leg Hall smoother. Zoë Patchell is the director of the Delaware Cannabis Advocacy Network. Patchell says this is the strongest iteration of the bill she’s seen yet. “So we’re really thankful that this thoughtful piece of legislation not only just legalizes cannabis, but it also begins to address the harms caused by prohibition and right those wrongs,” said Patchell. The bill’s sponsor State Rep. Ed Osienski removed a fund that would help social equity applicants with setting up a business — with it, the votes required would be too difficult to whip up. Instead, a portion of all tax revenue generated by marijuana sales will go towards the Justice Reinvestment Fund, which will work to address cannabis prohibition’s effects on many of Delaware’s communities. Patchell says it’s a great addition.

Cannabis Law Report, 01/18/2022 20:12:00

Open article: https://cannabislaw.report/delaware-public-radio-reports-new-equity-provisions-in-cannabis-legislation-may-get-it-through-the-house/

A House-passed bill to legalize medical marijuana in Kansas seems to be in jeopardy, with GOP Senate leadership moving the legislation out of a committee and into a different panel where it may sit in legislative limbo, resulting in the cancellation of hearings that were scheduled to be held this week. Advocates are concerned about the decision by Senate President Ty Masterson (R), who withdrew the cannabis reform legislation from the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee days before hearings were to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was then re-referred to the Senate Interstate Cooperation Committee, which Masterson chairs and where the bill’s fate is unclear. This doesn’t necessarily mean that medical marijuana legalization is off the table for Kansas in 2022, but it does seem to signal that the reform might need to be enacted through another vehicle, either in the legislature or at the ballot, as top Democratic lawmakers in the state are pursuing.“We certainly hope that this action is just making sure that this bill meets any concerns that Senate leadership may have concerning this historic legislation,” Kevin Caldwell, a legislative manager at Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), told Marijuana Moment. “This bill had widespread bipartisan support in the House last session. We hope Senate President Masterson quickly holds a committee hearing and advances this legislation. When the proposal was being advanced in the House last year during the first half of the two-year session, members amended an unrelated bill that previously cleared the Senate to make it the chamber’s vehicle for the policy change. Because of that, it was ruled “materially changed” last May and sent to the Senate for committee consideration.

Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 01/17/2022 14:03:00

Open article: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/kansas-medical-marijuana-hearings-cancelled-after-senate-gop-leader-reroutes-house-passed-bill/

New York state has been in a strange state of legal limbo since cannabis was legalized there last spring. Criminal penalties for simple possession have been lifted, and those for home cultivation within permitted limits are set to be removed by the end of summer 2022. But as of yet, there is no regulatory structure in place for licensing and oversight of a commercial sector and unregulated cannabis sales are booming. Tremaine Wright, chair of the state’s newly formed Cannabis Control Board last week told local news site Gothamist that the regulations would be issued “this winter or early spring.” Some, however, have not been waiting. Last summer, New York City witnessed an explosion in cottage-industry (or perhaps apartment-industry) mini-businesses—with bud, edibles and other cannabis products being hawked from tables set up in parks and sidewalks. Many of these were actual licensed businesses, but not licensed cannabis businesses, because no such licenses exist yet. Generally, these outfits avoided calling monetary transactions “sales,” saying the cannabis product was being offered in exchange for a “donation,” or as a “promotion” for the purchase of other (very overpriced) merchandise.

Cannabis Now, Cannabis Now, 01/16/2022 08:00:00

Open article: https://cannabisnow.com/wild-west-hits-nyc-unregulated-cannabis-dispensaries-are-booming/