The backer of a plan to fully legalize marijuana in Missouri said “I’m pretty sure the bill is dead” on Wednesday as the legislative session moved closer to its final week. Rep. Ron Hicks, R-Defiance, said GOP leadership gauged caucus support, which “came back, light, so I’m being told.” “We’re running out of time as it is,” Hicks said. “I needed that thing done today really, to tell you the truth. Otherwise, I was out of time.” With Hicks doubting his bill’s prospects, and as the chamber refocuses on congressional redistricting, the campaign to fully legalize marijuana through an initiative petition expressed growing confidence Wednesday that its effort would make the November ballot. Legal Missouri 2022 said it had collected 325,000 signatures — nearly twice as many as necessary, if all are deemed valid. The campaign faces a Sunday deadline to turn in signatures. “We’re confident that our historic signature count provides the necessary cushion to qualify for the ballot,” said John Payne, campaign manager for Legal Missouri. “But we’re not taking any chances, and will continue to pound the pavement these next several days to ensure our proposal exceeds the required threshold,” he said.

Jack Suntrup, stltoday.com | the #1 St. Louis website, 05/04/2022 12:20:00

Open article: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/marijuana-legalization-fizzles-in-missouri-house-as-initiative-petition-heads-toward-ballot/article_bdc254e3-8d0a-5605-8e42-74cc663d4f0c.html

It’s déjà vu all over again for the South Dakota cannabis legalization movement. Yesterday, May 3, South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws (SDBML) turned in over 19,000 signatures to put recreational cannabis on the state ballot…again.In a remarkable turn of events, South Dakota will be forced to re-do an entire legalization campaign, thanks to the state’s anti-pot—and anti-democratic—governor, Kristi Noem (R), and the state’s GOP-led Supreme Court. In 2020, South Dakota passed legalization by a vote of 54-46 (and simultaneously passed medical marijuana by a margin of 70-30). But Governor Noem, a staunch prohibitionist, used state funds to facilitate a lawsuit against Amendment A, the legalization ballot measure. The state Supreme Court supported the lawsuit, and killed Amendment A in November on the absurd grounds that it covered several subjects, and not just one (GOP lawmakers and judges have used similar arguments against marijuana voter initiatives in Nebraska, Florida, and Mississippi).“Governor Noem is similar to most other politicians in South Dakota in that she does not think voters are capable of making their own decisions about matters of public policy,” campaign director Matt Schweich told Leafly. “In my opinion, she’s wrong.”

Max Savage Levenson, Leafly, 05/04/2022 14:45:00

Open article: https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/south-dakota-will-vote-again-to-legalize-weed-in-2022

The Connecticut Senate approved legislation on May 4 that takes aim at cannabis advertising, gifting, and zoning, sending the bill to Gov. Ned Lamont. The Senate approved House Bill 5329 in a 22-13 vote, according to a CT News Junkie report. The legislation, which cleared the House in a 98-48 vote last month, includes several tweaks to Connecticut’s adult-use cannabis legalization measure, which Lamont signed into law in June 2021. One provision would prohibit cannabis bazaars, events where attendees can purchase cannabis even though it has not yet become available for regulated, commercial sales, according to CT News Junkie. “It’s closing a loophole in the law that has been exploited by others to be allowed to sell in an unregulated market a regulated product in the state of Connecticut,” Sen. Kevin Witkos, R-Canton, said during the debate, according to the news outlet. “That is a fix that I think should be embraced by everyone.”

Posted Eric Sandy, Cannabis Business Times, 05/05/2022 13:03:00

Open article: http://www.cannabisbusinesstimes.com/article/connecticut-senate-passes-cannabis-bill-sending-it-to-governor

Applicants for Vermont’s adult-use cannabis cultivation, testing, and retail licenses will have to wait a little longer to hear back about the status of their applications after the state’s Cannabis Control Board missed a May 1 deadline to begin issuing the licenses. The state had received more than 400 prequalification applications as of March 29, and Cannabis Control Board Chairman James Pepper told the Brattleboro Reformer that regulators have prequalified roughly 80 applicants from that pool. No actual licenses have been issued yet, however, despite the May 1 deadline laid out in the legislation regarding the rollout of commercial adult-use sales in the state. “This is due to the fact that we don’t have a licensing staff here at the board,” Pepper told the Brattleboro Reformer. “We don’t have our compliance team in place. We thought it would be prudent to have those in place before we start issuing those licenses.” The licenses include those for small cultivators, testing facilities and “integrated licensees,” which would allow Vermont’s medical cannabis dispensaries to enter the adult-use market first, according to the news outlet.

Posted Melissa Schiller, Cannabis Business Times, 05/04/2022 13:54:00

Open article: http://www.cannabisbusinesstimes.com/article/vermont-cannabis-control-board-misses-may-1-deadline-adult-use-licenses