An attempt to provide protections for Pennsylvania medical marijuana patients from being charged with driving under the influence was derailed in the legislature this week, apparently due to pushback by the state police association. Lawmakers have been working to pass standalone legislation on the issue, ensuring that registered patients aren’t penalized for having cannabis metabolites in their system, which can be detected for weeks after a person consumers cannabis. During a floor session in the House on Monday, Rep. Chris Rabb (D) sought to attach the language of the legislation to a broader vehicle-related bill as an amendment. But the amendment was later withdrawn from consideration after the Republican co-prime sponsor, Rep. Todd Polinchock (R), pulled his name from the standalone bill, which Rabb said was “due to concerns expressed to him” by the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association. The association recently circulated a position statement expressing opposition to the proposal, according to the lawmaker. Rabb told Marijuana Moment that he did not see the statement until after he learned that Polinchock removed his name from the legislation.

Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 11/19/2021 08:42:00

Open article: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/dui-protections-for-pennsylvania-medical-marijuana-patients-derailed-following-police-pushback/

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wants to keep the “big boys” out of the marijuana industry in favor of creating opportunities for smaller operators when cannabis is federally legalized, and he says that his upcoming bill would accomplish that.In a conversation between Schumer and New York’s top state cannabis regulator that was hosted on Black Enterprise’s marijuana vertical, the majority leader talked about modeling federal reform legislation after the state’s recently enacted marijuana law, with a particular focus on social equity. “We’re taking a page from New York’s book and trying to do basically what you did nationally,” he told former Democratic Assemblywoman Tremaine Wright, who now chairs the state’s Cannabis Control Board. “What it will do is ensure that Americans in all communities won’t be arrested or barred from receiving services for using cannabis where it’s legal because the state’s making it legal,” Schumer emphasized in the Green Entrepreneur interview that the bill he’s working on alongside Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) is being designed with small businesses in mind. “We don’t want the big boys to come in,” he said. “After all the pain that’s been occurring in communities like the one you represent in Brooklyn, where I’m from—to have the big boys come in and make all the money makes no sense.” He’s made similar remarks in the past, stressing that his reform bill will take specific steps to restrict the ability of large alcohol and tobacco companies to overtake the industry.

Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 11/18/2021 11:27:00

Open article: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/schumer-wants-to-keep-big-boys-out-of-marijuana-industry-and-says-legalization-bill-is-passable/

Party leaders in Germany’s incoming government coalition have reached an agreement to legalize marijuana nationwide. The legalization legislation is expected to be introduced during the upcoming legislative session. It will also provide broader drug harm reduction services and restrict advertising of tobacco and alcohol, along with cannabis. As it stands, personal possession of marijuana is decriminalized in Germany, and there is a medical cannabis program in place. But this forthcoming proposal would seek to establish a regulated market for adult-use marijuana. The governing coalition—comprised of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Free Democratic Party (FDP), and the Greens—said that it will be “introducing the controlled distribution of cannabis to adults for recreational purposes in licensed shops,” according to a translation of a multi-party working group report first noted by Funke Media and circulated by Der Spiegel. The so-called “traffic light coalition” is making the case that regulating marijuana sales will help drive out the illicit market. That will be revisited four years post-implementation, when a review of the social impact of the reform will be required.

420 Intel – Marijuana Industry News, 11/18/2021 19:00:00

Open article: https://420intel.com/articles/2021/11/19/germany-set-legalize-marijuana-nationwide-after-major-parties-reach-agreement

A recent change in governmental policy has the potential to transform both the international medical cannabis industry and a South American country well-poised to supply it. In July, the government of Colombia enacted a new law that authorizes exports of dried cannabis flower as a finished commercial product for medical use, a move expected to further stimulate the country’s ability to supply the legal cannabis marketplace. Previously, the law had only allowed the export of extracts, but the new decree also enables the production of dried cannabis flower and related goods, such as oils, creams, textiles, or food containing non-psychoactive cannabis. Colombia legalized the production of medical cannabis in 2016 and has in recent years taken substantial steps to establish an infrastructure for producing, distributing and exporting cannabis seeds and derivatives. Now, the new directive that authorizes the most popular form of cannabis should take the country’s nascent medicinal cannabis industry to new heights. As evidenced by its longstanding presence as the leading exporter of cut flowers to the U.S., Colombia has a highly developed agricultural ecosystem. With low-cost but highly skilled labor, Colombia should be a prime resource for any organization seeking to expand the production and sale of medicinal cannabis. Plus, an average of 12 hours of sunlight year-round makes Colombia’s climate conducive to as many as four high-yield harvests annually.

Ricardo Pedroza, Cannabis Business Times, 11/19/2021 10:57:00

Open article: http://www.cannabisbusinesstimes.com/article/colombia-position-international-medical-cannabis-market-exports-opinion

Washington, D.C. marijuana activists are proposing an amendment to a legalization bill that the District Council will consider on Friday that would allow small entrepreneurs to sell cannabis at farmers’ markets. District of Columbia Marijuana Justice (DCMJ) announced on Wednesday that members would be presenting the amendment at the upcoming hearing, with the goal of creating a marijuana licensing category that would support craft cultivators and cottage industry entrepreneurs. “Combining criminal justice reforms and economic innovation, the amendment would guarantee D.C. implements a profitable, equitable, affordable, and transparent system of adult-use cannabis sales, testing, and cultivation,” said Nikolas Schiller, author of the amendment and co-author of Initiative 71, a 2014 voter-approved measure that legalized marijuana possession in the District. The proposed measure would create a “Cottage Industry License” that would “authorize the licensee to grow and produce medicinal and/or recreational marijuana within their residence for sale and delivery at wholesale directly to manufacturers, testing facilities, retailers and farmers markets,” the text of the amendment states. Licensees could then apply for a “Farmers Market Endorsement” license that would enable them to “sell the cannabis at Farmers Markets in the District of Columbia.” Microbusiness licensees could also qualify for the endorsement. People who own or work for companies that have cannabis dispensary licenses would not qualify for the farmer’s market permit. The fee for an endorsement would be $250 annually.

Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 11/17/2021 14:51:00

Open article: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/marijuana-could-be-sold-at-d-c-farmers-markets-under-amendment-unveiled-by-local-activists/