If the governor of Mississippi moves to veto a medical marijuana bill over his concerns about the proposed purchase limit for patients, the legislature may well move to override that decision, a key state senator said on Wednesday. Gov. Tate Reeves (R) said on Tuesday that he wants lawmakers to slash the daily purchase limit for patients in half. The bill that lawmakers spent the summer negotiating calls for 3.5 gram of marijuana per day, and the governor signaled he’d veto the entire reform proposal if they don’t significantly reduce that amount. But Sen. Brice Wiggins (R), chairman of the Judiciary Committee Division A who is also running for a seat in Congress this year, says the people of Mississippi spoke loud and clear when they voted to approve a medical cannabis legalization initiative last year, and lawmakers have a duty to deliver on the reform after the state Supreme Court invalidated it for procedural reasons. He told Y’all Politics that “it wouldn’t surprise me” if the legislature voted to override the governor if he chooses to veto the bill that they’ve been working on for months. “I would hate for Governor Reeves to have any veto overridden because, like I said, I’ve worked with him on many different things,” Wiggins said. “But the reality is is that Initiative 65 passed with close to 70 percent of the vote. And the legislature spent all summer working on this and have listened to the people.” “I understand where he’s coming from, but in the hearings that we had in the Public Health Committee, we heard from legislators from Oklahoma, Michigan, Colorado—and now I have not been a drafter on this bill, obviously, but I trust the committee chairmen that are doing this,” he said. “It would not surprise me that that would be the case if that was to happen,” he said, referring to the possibility of a veto override. Lawmakers have already made several concessions to the governor as they’ve continued negotiations on legislation to replace the voter-approved ballot measure, and advocates hoped everything would be resolved in time for Reeves to convene a special session to pass it this year, as he suggested he’d do. But as the goal post continued to be pushed back, it became clear that legislators would need to tackle the reform in the 2022 session.

Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 12/29/2021 13:11:00

Open article: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/mississippi-lawmakers-positioned-to-override-governor-if-he-vetoes-medical-marijuana-bill-gop-senator-says/

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) says he will soon be announcing a clemency plan for more people with marijuana convictions, focusing on those who are eligible for relief under a new law that increased the cannabis possession limit for adults. The governor, who directed state law enforcement to identify people with prior convictions for the new, two-ounce limit in May, said the plan is in “the final stages of being completed” and he expects it to be announced, “in the next few days.” At that point, “we’ll be able to roll out what we’re doing with regard to any clemency or pardons that we typically do in the Christmas period,” Polis said. A pardon application form for people convicted of marijuana possession over one ounce (the previous limit) but no more than two ounces (the new limit) was recently made available on the Colorado Bureau of Investigation website, Westword reported. Polis signed an executive order last year that granted clemency to almost 3,000 people convicted of possessing one ounce or less of marijuana. And while earlier legislation that enabled him to do that in an expedited way applied to possession cases involving up to two ounces, his office declined to pardon those with more than one ounce on their records because that amount violated the existing state law. There was nothing written into the new law that calls for a proactive review of cases that may qualify for clemency given the possession threshold increase, but Polis said on Wednesday that that will be an area of focus for his clemency announcement. Meanwhile, a separate Colorado law that impacts the state’s medical cannabis program is set to take effect on January 1. Patients will soon be limited to purchasing up to eight grams of concentrate per day. The previous limit was 40 grams of concentrate daily. They will be able to buy more than the daily limit if a doctor certifies that it’s medically necessary and they have a designated primary dispensary to obtain the medicine.

Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 12/30/2021 09:06:00

Open article: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/colorado-governor-says-new-marijuana-clemency-plan-will-be-announced-within-days/

Cannabis reform is sweeping the European continent, as evidenced by the fact that Malta recently passed the continent’s first-ever adult-use legalization measure. A number of other countries have made it public that their current lawmakers have plans to do the same in the somewhat near future. Italy is a European country that has been on the cusp of legalization for a handful of years now. Voters are likely to see a legalization referendum on the ballot next year. Fortunately for the hardworking activists who pushed for the referendum, Italy’s Prime Minister indicated this month that the government has no plans to stand in the way of the referendum moving forward. Earlier this year cannabis activists in Italy turned in roughly 630,000 signatures in an attempt to get limited cannabis legalization in front of voters. The signature drive was originally launched in September 2021 and it only took a handful of weeks in order to get to the 630,000+ mark, thanks largely to new digital signature-gathering provisions in Italy. Activists around the globe were worried Italy’s government would try, at the very least, to slow down the process of the vote. Italy’s Prime Minister indicated otherwise. “The government will not be constituted against the admissibility of referendums,” Prime Minister Mario Draghi said at a recent press conference (translated from Italian to English). “The government could in some cases have created conditions whereby the presentation would be postponed to next year and it has not done so.”

Johnny Green, Cannabis & Tech Today, 12/30/2021 09:00:00

Open article: https://cannatechtoday.com/italys-government-will-not-block-cannabis-legalization-referendum/

Heading into the new year, California cannabis company tax compliance and banking will continue to be challenged. Marijuana retailers, growers, product makers and others in the industry would be wise to work closely with an experienced Los Angeles cannabis business attorney to help them navigate these ongoing difficulties. Recently, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued tips for cannabis compliance. The federal agency noted that while it’s outside of the agency’s power to resolve many of the unique business predicaments that arise from federal prohibition, it wants to help support cannabis companies in becoming tax compliant. Even though marijuana continues to be classified as a Schedule I narcotic by federal authorities, these businesses are still required to shell out federal taxes. In September, the agency released tips for tax compliance for cannabis businesses. Among those: Know your investors. Thousands of people are fighting to get into the industry, but working with investors may have some tax implications and repercussions for cannabis companies. Unregistered and “silent” financing and ownership arrangements, with investors, sometimes being referred to as “beneficial owners,” get the benefits of ownership but avoid having the property title or activity in their name.

Cannabis Law Group’s Medical Marijuana Legal Blog, 12/29/2021 15:25:00

Open article: https://www.marijuanalawyerblog.com/california-cannabis-tax-compliance-banking-continue-to-be-challenges-in-2022/