Federal Policy

Toi Hutchinson, who was Illinois’ top cannabis official as senior advisor to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, joined the Marijuana Policy Project last week as the organization’s new president and CEO.

57% of Americans believe cannabis should be made fully legal at the federal level, according to a new poll by YouGov.

Lawmakers have removed language from a national defense bill that would have given state-legal cannabis companies access to banking services.

A bipartisan cannabis bill by Reps. Dave Joyce (R) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) would offer grants to states and local governments to establish and improve cannabis expungement programs.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said lawmakers behind his federal cannabis bill want to ensure smaller businesses have access to the cannabis industry, that states expunge records for nonviolent cannabis crimes, and that funds generated go to restorative justice initiatives.

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) filed a bill with other GOP lawmakers to federally legalize adult-use cannabis this week but some Republicans are less-than-excited by the proposal.

Dr. Robert Califf, President Joe Biden’s pick to head the Food and Drug Administration, has prescribed cannabinoid therapy as a cardiac doctor and actively encourages research into cannabinoid medicine.

In a letter to President Joe Biden this week, several Democrats in the Senate requested the president use his executive authority to pardon all individuals with non-violent federal cannabis convictions.

Today marks the launch of Cannabis in Common, a new cannabis legalization advocacy initiative backed by the Cannabis Voter Project, the U.S. Cannabis Council, and with support from celebrity cannabis advocates Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman.

A Republican-led cannabis legalization effort is aiming to federally deschedule cannabis and expunge some nonviolent cannabis crimes but stops short of social equity considerations.

Cannabis is the fifth most valuable crop in the U.S. according to Leafly’s first-ever Cannabis Harvest Report.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said that he wants tighter limits on the amount of medical cannabis patients can purchase and to limit the amount of THC allowed in medical cannabis products sold in the state.

Beginning November 8, JPMorgan Chase & Co will block its prime brokerage clients from buying certain U.S. cannabis-related securities that are not listed on the Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange, or the Toronto Stock Exchange.

A recent study found no evidence that U.S. Army recruits with a past history of cannabis use were riskier across the board and, in some cases, they are more likely to perform better.

A cannabis cash transport company is seeking the return of $166,000 that was seized by police in partnership with the DEA who said they had detected a “marijuana odor.”

The U.S. Postal Service said that vape devices for products like CBD cannot be shipped through the service saying that a bill passed by Congress last year to prohibit nicotine vape cartridges from the mail applies to vaping devices for hemp.

Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Medicine announced that the National Institutes of Health will provide nearly $4 million to help researchers study how psilocybin can affect tobacco addiction.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to send 20,500 hemp producers across the country their first Hemp Acreage and Production Survey.

U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren have sent a letter urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to decriminalize cannabis by removing it from the federal controlled substances list.

The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement Act which removes cannabis from the federal schedule of controlled substances and expunges federal cannabis convictions.

The Washington, D.C. City Council has scheduled a public hearing next month to consider legislation to allow adult-use cannabis sales in the district.

President Biden received a letter this week signed by more than 150 celebrity entertainers, politicians, law enforcement officials, and advocates requesting clemency for federal cannabis offenders.

Republican Congresswoman Virginia Foxx has made six investments in Marlboro cigarettes’ parent company, Altria Group Inc., which in turn, has invested $1.8 billion into a Canadian cannabis producer.

Wisconsin’s Department of Agriculture announced the state’s industrial hemp program will transfer to federal control next year.