On the day before Thanksgiving, South Dakota’s Supreme Court issued a ruling for which proponents and opponents of cannabis legalization have waited throughout most of 2021. At this point, the Court’s decision, to strike down an adult-use ballot measure that voters passed in November 2020, amounts to a speed bump. Both advocates and lawmakers have been at work for months crafting separate contingency plans to legalize in the state. Looking ahead to 2022, the question is: which one will prevail? This summer, lawmakers formed the Adult-Use Marijuana Study Subcommittee, which met between June and October. During those months, the subcommittee heard from stakeholders across law enforcement, local government, and the cannabis industry, with a specific focus on lessons learned from Colorado. By the final meeting, a draft bill to legalize and regulate adult-use was ready for the full legislature’s upcoming consideration in January. Rep. Mike Derby, who spearheaded these legislative efforts, told Cannabis Wire that he would prefer legalization through the legislature rather than through another ballot measure.

Nushin Rashidian, Cannabis Wire, 11/28/2021 19:00:00

Open article: https://cannabiswire.com/2021/11/29/south-dakota-supreme-court-strikes-down-voter-approved-legal-cannabis-now-what/

When Lisa Capitani decided to start a small business to educate and guide medical marijuana patients, she knew she’d need some advice. So Capitani, a nurse who lives in Newtown, turned to other nurses across the country who have cannabis-related businesses. And she applied for a mentor through SCORE, a nonprofit that provides free mentorship and advice to people looking to launch businesses. But her application was recently denied because the program is funded through a U.S. Small Business Administration grant, and marijuana use is illegal at the federal level. Capitani’s experience represents just one of many extra hurdles that often hobble cannabis-related businesses before they get started. Cannabis-related businesses often struggle to get start-up loans. They’re denied assistance programs. They can’t take the same tax deductions as other businesses. They can’t even use Quickbooks. These barriers tend to stem from the same issue: State legislation contradicts federal law regarding the legality of cannabis. There are enough challenges with trying to get into this new semi-regulated cluster mess of a business that it would be helpful if the state offered some kind of access, some kind of access to the kinds of services other businesses have access to,” Capitani said.

Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news, 11/29/2021 08:38:00

Open article: https://www.cannabisbusinessexecutive.com/2021/11/federal-law-poses-challenges-to-new-connecticut-cannabis-businesses/

Over six in ten Massachusetts adults believe that legalizing the sale and use of marijuana has been a positive development, according to statewide polling data compiled by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Sixty-one percent of survey respondents affirmed that “the legalization of marijuana in Massachusetts has been positive for the state.” Only 13 percent of respondents categorized legalization as either “somewhat” or “very” negative for the state’s overall health and welfare. Massachusetts voters passed a citizens’ initiative regulating the adult use of marijuana in 2016. The polling results are consistent with those of surveys from other states showing that most people hold “positive perceptions of the legal cannabis market” following legalization. Commenting on the survey’s findings, NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said: “These polling results once again affirm that most voters do not experience ‘buyer’s remorse following the enactment of marijuana legalization. Most Americans believe that these laws are operating in a manner that is consistent with their expectations and that legalization and regulation is preferable to criminalization.”

NORML, 11/28/2021 19:00:00

Open article: https://norml.org/blog/2021/11/29/massachusetts-majority-of-adults-say-marijuana-legalization-has-been-positive-for-the-state/

The federal government has generally taken a hands-off approach to marijuana enforcement in states that have chosen to legalize the plant. So why did a federal agency recently raid a small, home cannabis garden of a medical cannabis patient living on Indian territory in New Mexico? That’s a question that officials with the Pueblo of Picuris are asking following the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) raid in September. And the response from the agency, which falls under the Department of the Interior, has done little to clear things up. “Why is Picuris being discriminated against or picked on?” the governor of the tribe, Craig Quanchello, said in a phone interview with Marijuana Moment on Tuesday. “Why are we having to suffer the consequences of a rogue officer? That’s what we’re trying to get to.” “That’s the story we’re trying to tell, is for them to have some equality across the Indian country for tribes,” he said, adding that the tribe wants to know “what is that secret criterion that is needed by the feds to not bother us that everybody else seems to have except us?” While the 54-year-old patient who had cultivated the nine seized marijuana plants isn’t Native American, he’s married to a tribal member and lives on the territory, which itself is located within a state where medical and recreational cannabis is legal and people can grow plants for personal use. “I was just open with the officer, straightforward,” Charles Farden said of the raid, talking to The Associated Press. “When he asked what I was growing, I said, ‘My vegetables, my medical cannabis.’ And he was like, ‘That can be a problem.’” The Pueblo of Picuris sent a letter to BIA through an attorney the day after the encounter, expressing concern about the lack of notification about the enforcement action.

Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 11/25/2021 07:59:00

Open article: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/indian-tribe-accuses-feds-of-discriminatory-double-standard-after-medical-marijuana-garden-is-raided-in-new-mexico/