Despite being the first state in the nation to approve adult-use marijuana possession and sales, Coloradoans – including registered patients – still lack any workplace protections. The legislation was filed in Colorado (House Bill 1152) earlier this year to change that. As initially introduced, the measure sought to limit employers’ ability to sanction employees for their off-the-job cannabis use and also sought to allow certain medical patients to be accommodated while on the job. The enactment of this latter provision would have been a first for any state in the nation. However, within weeks of filing the bill, state Rep. Edie Hooton has publicly said that she intends to scrap it. Instead, now she says that she will propose that state officials convene a coalition of employers, medical cannabis users, and prescribers to study the workplace testing issue. Updated text for this legislation is still pending. “I knew it was going to change,” Hooton said. “I don’t want to be in opposition with organized labor or employers, like the Chamber of Commerce or organized business interests.” Several employer groups had opposed Hooton’s initial bill, including the state Chamber of Commerce and the Colorado Mining Association.

NORML, 03/02/2022 19:00:00

Open article: https://norml.org/blog/2022/03/03/cannabis-consumers-continue-to-face-employment-discrimination-in-colorado/

Legislation legalizing recreational marijuana in Maryland on July 1 — a year faster than a leading House measure — attracted significant support Thursday during a state Senate hearing. The bill sponsored by Sen. Jill Carter, a Baltimore Democrat, would create a legal recreational marijuana market without first asking voters to approve a state constitutional amendment in the November general election. Carter’s measure, which would place the legal limit at 4 ounces, aims to ensure that communities heavily policed during the war on drugs can benefit from the burgeoning industry supplying the drug. Her legislation would immediately establish marijuana regulations and raise the limit higher than a measure approved by the House last week. The House measure would take effect in July 2023 if voters approved. An alternative proposal by Sen. Brian Feldman, a Montgomery County Democrat, also would create a regulatory framework — for example, on taxing marijuana sales — while similarly requiring a voter referendum. His bill would legalize 2 ounces per person age 21 or over. The recently passed House bill could allow eligible people to possess up to 1.5 ounces of recreational marijuana after July 1, 2023. Under current law possession of 10 grams (about a third of an ounce) can mean prison and a fine.

Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news, 03/05/2022 09:31:00

Open article: https://www.cannabisbusinessexecutive.com/2022/03/faster-legislation-to-legalize-recreational-marijuana-attracts-maryland-senate-support/

Maryland senators began formal consideration of two bills to legalize marijuana on Thursday, including one that would put the reform on November’s ballot as a referendum. The Senate Finance Committee hearing comes less than a week after the state’s House of Delegates passed its own legalization package that would refer the question to state voters. The House proposals have also been referred to the Senate panel, though they weren’t on the committee’s agenda for Thursday’s hearing along with the chamber’s own legalization bills and a handful of separate medical cannabis reforms. Supporters from both chambers are optimistic Maryland’s legislature will move forward on some sort of legalization plan this session, though it remains to be seen what form the final proposal will take. So far at least five separate adult-use cannabis bills have been introduced, leaving lawmakers to choose between competing provisions to merge into passable legislation. “We have several goals we’re trying to achieve here,” said the panel’s vice chair, Sen. Brian J. Feldman (D), the sponsor of one of the two Senate legalization bills. “

Ben Adlin, Marijuana Moment, 03/03/2022 17:02:00

Open article: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/maryland-senators-begin-considering-marijuana-legalization-bills-days-after-house-approves-referendum/