Cannabis Legalization News

New Mexico state senators have pulled the state’s cannabis legalization bill from their agenda just days before the session’s end, citing disagreements over taxation, licensing, and the bill’s criminal justice reform provisions.

South Dakota’s medical cannabis legalization initiative will take effect as planned after state Senators stymied an attempt by House lawmakers to delay implementation for six months.

New Mexico Senate Speaker Brian Egolf said legalization is a top priority for lawmakers this session and he is “cautiously optimistic” the reforms will pass this year.

Mexican lawmakers have approved a bill legalizing the production and sale of cannabis for adults, setting Mexico up to become the world’s largest legal cannabis marketplace.

A Rhode Island Senate legalization proposal would establish an adult-use cannabis marketplace with a 20 percent tax rate.

According to a recent poll, two-thirds of Maryland residents support legalizing adult-use cannabis in the state.

A recent poll found that 60 percent of Texans are ready to legalize cannabis “for any use.”

The NAACP’s New Jersey chapter said the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission breaks the law because it does not meet its own social equity requirements.

Gov. Daniel McKee, Rhode Island’s new governor following the confirmation of Gina Raimondo as President Biden’s Commerce Secretary, reportedly said in January that it’s time to legalize cannabis.

Virginia is set to become the first Southern state to legalize after lawmakers advanced legislation to undo cannabis prohibition starting in 2024.

Lawmakers in New Mexico’s House of Representatives voted to legalize adult-use cannabis last week, setting the state up for another legalization showdown in the Senate after a similar attempt failed there in 2019.

Lawmakers in Morocco are set to legalize the production and use of medical cannabis products as soon as next week.

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal has instructed prosecutors to dismiss any pending cannabis-related charges that would no longer be illegal under the state’s new legalization law.

Maryland’s House Judiciary Committee yesterday considered legislation that would legalize adult-use cannabis, establish sweeping social equity provisions for the industry, and release prisoners currently serving time for cannabis crimes.

Lawmakers in the North Dakota House of Representatives yesterday advanced a bill that would legalize cannabis for adult use.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, months after the state voted to legalize, has finally accepted and signed into law the legislature’s cannabis legalization language.

Montana state Rep. Bill Mercer (R) has proposed delaying the state’s voter-approved cannabis legalization initiative until 2023, saying the voters’ decision, “doesn’t make any sense.”

For the first time ever, a proposal for legalizing adult-use cannabis has passed through a legislative committee in Minnesota.

New Jersey police have issued over 6,000 arrests for simple cannabis possession since voters overwhelmingly approved legalization reforms last November.

Kentucky state Rep. Rachel Roberts has filed a bill that would legalize cannabis use and cultivation and expunge low-level cannabis crimes.

A recent poll found that 54% of North Carolina residents support legalizing cannabis for adult use and 73% support legalizing cannabis for medicinal purposes.

Virginia’s House and Senate have each passed broad cannabis legalization bills that must be reconciled and combined into final legislation, which would have to then pass both chambers again.

As Mississippi awaits a Supreme Court decision on its medical cannabis legalization amendment, state Sen. Kevin Blackwell (R) has proposed a separate bill to legalize the medicinal use of cannabis.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is further impeding the will of voters after calling for delaying implementation of the state’s voter-approved medical cannabis law by one year.