Republicans are warming to weed. Nearly half of Republican voters support federally decriminalizing cannabis, and GOP lawmakers are now beginning to reflect their constituents’ view by increasingly supporting broad legalization at the state and federal level. “We need the federal government just to get out of the way,” said Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who introduced the first Republican bill in Congress to decriminalize marijuana, tax and regulate the industry and expunge certain records this past week. She pointed to more than 70 percent of Americans supporting the idea. Stronger Republican involvement could hasten a snowball effect on Capitol Hill, where Democrats lead the charge on decriminalization but lack results. It could also chip away at Democrats’ ability to use cannabis legalization to excite progressives and younger voters as the midterms approach. “When the culture becomes more accepting of something, even the most resistant groups get tugged along,” said Dan Judy, vice president of North Star Opinion Research, which focuses on Republican politics. “I don’t want to directly conflate marijuana legalization with something like gay marriage, but I think there’s a similar dynamic at play.” Earlier this year, North Dakota’s GOP-dominated House passed a marijuana legalization bill introduced by two Republican lawmakers — the first adult-use legalization bill to pass in a Republican-dominated chamber. And Mace’s bill marks the first time a Republican has proposed federal legislation to decriminalize cannabis, expunge certain cannabis convictions and tax and regulate the industry. As Republicans wade into the weed group chat, they are bringing their principles, constituents and special interest groups. When Mace introduced her bill on a freezing day on the House triangle, she was surrounded at the podium not by Drug Policy Alliance and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, but by veterans groups, medical marijuana parents, cannabis industry lobbyists and Koch-backed Americans For Prosperity.

Mmp News Author, Medical Marijuana Program Connection, 11/21/2021 08:07:00

Open article: https://mmpconnect.com/democrats-arent-alone-in-the-cannabis-game-anymore/

A coalition of marijuana organizations is rallying the business community to join them in asking governors from four key states to seek Justice Department guidance on interstate cannabis commerce. The Alliance for Sensible Markets campaign is currently circulating a sign-on letter for those interested in putting pressure on the governors of California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington to make the request. They want the Justice Department to explain what it would do if two or more legal states entered into an agreement to regulate commerce between them. As it stands, each state’s cannabis market is siloed within its own state borders. That means, for example, that marijuana sold and consumed in Massachusetts is also grown there instead of being grown in, say, California, where it might make more environmental sense to conduct outdoor cultivation. In the letter to governors that the groups will be sending, they said the issue would be largely resolved if marijuana is federally legalized. But “while federal legalization feels inevitable, it could still be years away.” In the interim, the Justice Department should weigh in with enforcement guidance, they said.

Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 11/19/2021 10:29:36

Open article: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/marijuana-activists-push-governors-to-request-federal-protections-for-interstate-commerce/