Cannabis Legalization News

Ohio cannabis advocates with the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol say they have collected enough signatures to put a legalization question before voters.

Adult-use cannabis sales took effect in Maryland over the weekend on July 1, about eight months after voters passed the state’s cannabis legalization initiative.

Luxembourg this week became the second European Union member nation to legalize adult-use cannabis. Under the new law, adults can home-grow up to four cannabis plants and publicly possess up to three grams of cannabis flower.

Florida’s attorney general asked the state Supreme Court to disqualify a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize adult-use cannabis in the state, arguing the ballot summary is “misleading to voters.”

Adults aged 21 and older in Connecticut can grow their own cannabis plants for personal use starting Saturday, July 1. Under state law, individuals will be allowed to grow up to three mature and three immature plants with a maximum of 12 plants per household.

A 64% majority of adult Californians remain supportive of the state’s cannabis legalization policy, according to a recent Public Policy Institute of California survey.

Anti-cannabis advocates including the Cannabis Impact Prevention Coalition, the Cannabis Industry Victims Seeking Justice, and eight individuals associated with the groups this week filed a lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court seeking to overturn the state’s cannabis legalization law.

Colombian lawmakers voted 47-43 in favor of federally allowing adult-use cannabis sales but, per Colombia’s constitution, the proposal requires more than a simple majority, and it ultimately failed to pass the chamber.

Antigua and Barbuda has authorized Rastafari to grow and consume cannabis as their faith considers the plant sacred. PM Gaston Browne said the reforms would prevent further religious discrimination.

A Pennsylvania proposal would urge the federal government to remove cannabis from the federal Controlled Substances Act, noting that medical cannabis reforms have been enacted in 38 U.S. states and four territories while 21 states, two territories, and Washington D.C. have passed adult-use laws.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives clarified after Minnesota’s recent legalization of adult-use cannabis that cannabis consumers are considered “unlawful users” of a controlled substance, and are therefore banned from owning or possessing firearms.

The campaign to legalize adult-use cannabis in Florida via a voter initiative has secured enough signatures to put the issue on the state ballot.

The Florida Supreme Court signaled it will review the legal challenge brought against the state’s upcoming adult-use cannabis ballot proposal by state Attorney General Ashley Moody.

New Hampshire lawmakers have dropped their efforts to legalize cannabis via a state-control model that was backed by Gov. Chris Sununu, who generally opposes legalization.

With multiple EU members looking to legalize cannabis at the national level, the influence of Europe’s cannabis social clubs as the region’s earliest legal retailers is more important than ever.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) signed the state’s adult-use legalization bill into law today, making cannabis possession and home cultivation legal starting on August 1 with retail licenses expected sometime next summer.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed a bill last week to implement medical psilocybin legalization and decriminalize the personal use and cultivation of other natural psychedelics; the proposal marks lawmakers’ response to last year’s successful psychedelics legalization voter initiative.

A pair of Ohio state representatives have introduced a bipartisan proposal to legalize the cultivation, purchasing, and possession of cannabis by Ohioans aged 21+. The bill also contains language for the expungement of prior cultivation and possession offenses.

For the first time since states started to pass cannabis legalization reforms, tax revenue from adult-use sales declined slightly in the U.S. from 2021 to 2022 (from $3.867 billion to $3.775 billion).

Minnesota is set to become the next U.S. state to legalize adult-use cannabis after the state Senate passed a House-approved legalization proposal on Saturday, sending the bill to the governor who intends to sign it into law.

Cannabis advocates in Nebraska have filed the paperwork for a petition drive seeking to put a medical cannabis legalization question on the state’s 2024 ballot.

The Minnesota House voted 73-57 this week to legalize adult-use cannabis; the proposal is a compromise between two respective legalization bills already passed by the House and Senate.

The New Hampshire Senate voted to create a commission to study implementing an adult-use cannabis legalization process that would put dispensaries under state control.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has submitted the legalization ballot proposal being circulated by advocates to the state Supreme Court, seemingly to signal she would argue the proposal doesn’t meet legal requirements to appear before voters.