The South Dakota House on Thursday rejected a bill to legalize marijuana that had been temporarily revived after a committee defeat earlier this week. Now, activists are moving ahead with an effort to put legalization before voters again this November. Meanwhile, the House defeated separate legislation to gut existing protections for medical cannabis patients. It’s been a wild ride for the legalization proposal, SB 3, which had already passed the Senate last week. But then the House State Affairs Committee voted against the proposal on Monday, which typically would have spelled death for the legislation for the session. However, 24 members rose on Tuesday to put give the bill new life on the floor despite the committee action, a legislative maneuverer that is by pure coincidence known as a “smoke out.” But even after the legislative about-face, the House on Thursday ultimately voted 28-40 not to formally calendar the bill, effectively killing it for the session. Just before the vote, Rep. Greg Jamison (R) urged colleagues to give the body a chance to debate the legislation. “All of South Dakota voted on this issue. The entire Senate body voted on this issue,” he said. “Today is our chance to complete the cycle of this issue.”

Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 03/03/2022 15:40:00

Open article: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/south-dakota-house-rejects-marijuana-legalization-bill-that-was-temporarily-revived-in-smoke-out-vote/

As advocates push for congressional action on Democratic-led marijuana legalization bills in the House and Senate, a Republican congresswoman who’s championing an alternative reform measure says she has received assurances that there will be a hearing on her proposal even as a minority member of the chamber. And she also said that recently internal polling she’s done for her reelection campaign shows voters in her district are on her side when it comes to cannabis even as her primary election challenger and her own state party attack her reform efforts. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) spoke about the path forward for her States Reform Act (SRA) during an interview published on Thursday with the Psychoactive podcast hosted by longtime legalization advocate and Drug Policy Alliance founder Ethan Nadelmann. There was earlier reporting about Mace receiving assurances that Democratic leaders would hold a hearing on her bill. But when asked whether that was contingent on a “yes” vote for a separate legalization bill—House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler’s (D-NY) Marijuana Opportunity, Expungement and Reinvestment (MORE) Act—the congresswoman said there was “no quid pro quo.” “Personally, I want to respect the process and MORE is going to come up again and let Democrats do MORE Act. It’ll die in the Senate,” she said. “And so when that’s done, we will do our hearing, and there was nothing done in exchange for it. I just made the ask and we’re making it happen.”

Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 03/03/2022 12:08:00

Open article: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/gop-congresswoman-says-her-marijuana-legalization-bill-will-get-a-hearing-in-democratic-controlled-congress/

The fundamental problem with the marijuana legalization efforts moving forward state by state in the United States today is that the federal government has not ended the federal prohibition on marijuana. This situation has been recently criticized by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who said this past June, “Once comprehensive, the Federal Government’s current approach is a half-in, half-out regime that simultaneously tolerates and forbids local use of marijuana. This contradictory and unstable state of affairs strains basic principles of federalism and conceals traps for the unwary.” Both Missouri and Oklahoma have fallen into such traps, albeit for different reasons.  In Oklahoma, a citizen’s ballot initiative passed the nation’s most free-market medical marijuana program—but because of the lack of regulation and enforcement in the program, criminal gangs and cartels have come to Oklahoma, growing marijuana in nominally licensed operations and then shipping product out of state, primarily to the East Coast. This year in Oklahoma, we estimate a staggering four million pounds of marijuana will be grown—far more than the market demand from Oklahoma citizens.

Marijuana Moment, Marijuana Moment, 03/03/2022 09:20:00

Open article: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/missouri-and-oklahoma-gop-lawmakers-say-states-must-legalize-marijuana-the-right-way-op-ed/

A proposal to revive Georgia’s stalled medical marijuana program cleared its first committee on a unanimous vote Tuesday. The legislation would attempt to break bureaucratic delays by issuing medical marijuana licenses to 22 companies, which would then be authorized to produce and sell cannabis oil to registered patients. Licenses would go to six companies that received tentative approval from a state board last year, along with 16 companies protesting that decision. State Rep. Alan Powell said he wants to fix a “terrible process” that has frustrated patients and businesses. “We passed a bill three years ago to allow for the growing and processing of medical cannabis, and three years later it’s still not come to fruition,” said Powell, a Republican from Hartwell and the sponsor of House Bill 1400. “Sometimes things happen, but that doesn’t make it right.” The start-up of Georgia’s medical marijuana industry has been postponed by protests from businesses that applied for — but didn’t receive — medical marijuana licenses when they were awarded by the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission in July. Since then, their protests have been moving slowly through an administrative process to evaluate complaints of inconsistencies in the competitive bidding process. Even after the protests are resolved by the commission, those companies could file lawsuits that might take three years or more to move through the court system. [Read more at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news, 03/02/2022 09:08:00

Open article: https://www.cannabisbusinessexecutive.com/2022/03/georgia-medical-marijuana-licensing-bill-advances/

A group of more than 20 criminal justice, civil rights, drug policy, labor, and advocacy organizations are urging Congress to vote on marijuana reform legislation. The groups, which included the American Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union, National Urban League, Doctors for Cannabis Regulation, and others, asked in a Tuesday letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) that the House vote on the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act of 2021 this month. The legislation, the organizations said, would end federal marijuana prohibition, address the consequences of federal marijuana criminalization, and take steps to ensure a diverse and inclusive marijuana marketplace. Mass criminalization and over-enforcement of drug law violations have devastated the social and economic fabrics of entire communities while also tearing apart the lives of millions of individuals and families. And while Black, Latino, and Indigenous people have carried the brunt of marijuana criminalization, they have been shut out of the regulated marijuana marketplace due to these very same criminal records in addition to financial barriers to entry,” the groups wrote. “The MORE Act seeks to solve these problems through a comprehensive approach.”

Cannabis Law Report, 03/03/2022 22:33:00

Open article: https://cannabislaw.report/justice-civil-rights-and-labor-groups-call-on-congress-to-pass-marijuana-reform-legislation/