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A new scientific review highlights the potential of CBD to treat and manage the symptoms of conditions like epilepsy, pain, cancer, schizophrenia, diabetes and COVID-19, among others.

The wide-ranging 11-page review takes up the broad task of trying “to summarize comprehensively the impact of cannabis on human health,” finding that while the field has yet to be thoroughly explored, the plant and its components exhibit “neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic, anti-bacterial, analgesic, and antiepileptic properties.”

The study, “Beneficial effects of cannabidiol from Cannabis,” was published last month in the journal Applied Biological Chemistry. In addition to the overview of cannabis on human health, it “delves into recent CBD research advancements, highlighting the compound’s potential medical applications.”

“Our exploration encompasses its pharmacological properties, mechanisms of action, and the accumulating evidence supporting its use in various medical conditions,” authors wrote. “Additionally, we critically assess challenges and controversies surrounding CBD research, including regulatory considerations and potential adverse effects.”

It features sections on cannabinoids as treatment for the form of epilepsy known as Dravet syndrome, as a promising pain relief alternative, as a way to manage the symptoms of schizophrenia and even as a possible inhibitor of COVID-19 infection. It also touches on “the diverse anticancer properties of cannabinoids” that authors said present “promising opportunities for future therapeutic interventions in cancer treatment,” as well as CBD’s apparent effects on diabetes-related biological processes.

“Cannabis exhibits neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic, anti-bacterial, analgesic, and antiepileptic properties.”

The study—from an eight-author team out of South Korea, representing Gachon University, Chung-Ang University, the Gyeongbuk Institute for Bioindustry and the National Product Institute of Science and Technology—also acknowledges industrial applications of CBD and hemp, such as for pharmaceutical drugs, skincare products, fuel, paper, clothing, rope and even massage oil production.

While many of findings of the new review, funded by South Korea’s National Product Institute of Science and Technology, may be familiar to audiences well versed in cannabis research, South Korea’s drug laws remain some of the strictest in the world. Though medical cannabis was partially legalized in 2018, marijuana and CBD are otherwise prohibited.

In the United States, meanwhile, the government has begun wading into hemp research and regulation since the plant and its products became legal through the 2018 Farm Bill.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, for instance, has been attempting to work more closely with hemp growers and breeders. Last year, the department released updated guidance on how to identify, describe and evaluate different varieties of the plant.

Last month, USDA also issued a new “Hemp Research Needs Roadmap” divided into four areas: Breeding and Genetics, Best Practices for Production, Biomanufacturing for End Uses and Transparency and Consistency. The document “reflects stakeholder input in identifying the hemp industry’s greatest research needs,” USDA said in a press release.

While much of it consists of a survey of research goals around hemp, the roadmap also included a proposal to develop a public-private “hemp consortium,” saying that collaboration is “critical to ensuring value along the entire hemp supply chain.”

USDA also last month said a genetically modified version of hemp produced by researchers in Wisconsin “may be safely grown and bred in the United States” and is “unlikely to pose an increased plant pest risk compared to other cultivated plants.”

The hemp variety, dubbed “Badger G,” does not produce THC or CBD but is designed to have higher levels of the cannabinoid CBG. It’s at least the second type of genetically modified hemp to get the OK from the agency’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) after another modified plant, which produces lowered levels of THC and CBC, was approved in October.

Amid state-level legalization of marijuana and the federal government’s legalization of low-THC hemp and its derivative products, interest in research around hemp industry and commerce has ballooned in recent years.

In February, new federally funded research into how to distinguish hemp and marijuana in order to assist crime labs identified two new methods for differentiating the two forms of cannabis.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) also put out a solicitation in 2022, seeking portable marijuana analyzers to quickly identify cannabinoid profiles and help distinguish between marijuana and hemp.

And in 2019, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) separately announced that it was seeking a device to “provide specificity to distinguish between hemp and marijuana” since the former crop was legalized.

USDA has also sent out thousands of surveys to hemp farmers, meant to understand how the industry is growing but also identify challenges in business and regulation. The department launched its first annual survey in 2021, and it updated the questionnaire last year before distributing it to farmers and releasing a report with findings that showed significant declines in the value and production of the crop in 2022.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for its part, is considering a proposal to allow hemp seed meal as livestock for hens.

Meanwhile, USDA has been reportedly revoking hemp licenses for farmers who are simultaneously growing marijuana under state-approved programs, underscoring yet another policy conflict stemming from the ongoing federal prohibition of some forms of the cannabis plant.

Federal hemp rules could be further amended as part of the next iteration of large-scale agriculture legislation. The 2018 Farm Bill that legalized the crop was supposed to be updated last year, but it’s been extended through much of 2024.

Last week, 21 attorneys general urged congressional leaders to take action on intoxicating hemp products that became legal through the 2018 change. Federal lawmakers should amend the definition of hemp, they wrote, and clarify that states can take their own measures to regulate the plant and its derivative products.

“As Congress prepares to embark on a new five-year reauthorization of the Farm Bill, we strongly urge your committees to address the glaring vagueness created in the 2018 Farm Bill that has led to the proliferation of intoxicating hemp products across the nation and challenges to the ability for states and localities to respond to the resulting health and safety crisis,” the top state law enforcement officials wrote. “We urge Congress in the strongest possible terms to address this reckless policy.”

Lawmakers and stakeholders are eyeing a number of other proposals that could be incorporated in the new farm bill, including measures to free up hemp businesses to legally market products like CBD as dietary supplements or in the food supply and to remove restrictions on participation in the industry by people with certain prior drug convictions.

FDA has regulatory jurisdiction over that issue, but at the beginning of last year, the agency said it didn’t have a pathway to make it happen and instead offered to work with Congress on a solution.

In response, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), along with Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), filed legislation last July that would remove regulatory barriers that FDA claims prevents it from allowing CBD marketing.

Congressional researchers cautioned last November that varying policy priorities among industry stakeholders could make the task of updating the federal farm bill more difficult.

The CRS report also referenced several recent hemp bills that federal lawmakers may consider folding in to the broader agricultural legislation.

One bipartisan bill filed last March seeks to end what critics say is a “discriminatory” federal policy that bars people with prior felony drug convictions from owning or leading legal hemp businesses. Another bipartisan measure would reduce regulations on farmers that grow industrial hemp for non-extraction purposes.

For the time being, the hemp industry continues to face unique regulatory hurdles that businesses have blamed for the crop’s value plummeting in the short years since its legalization. Despite the economic conditions, however, a recent report found that the hemp market in 2022 was larger than all state marijuana markets, and it roughly equaled sales for craft beer nationally.

Meanwhile, internally at USDA, food safety workers have been encouraged to exercise caution and avoid cannabis products, including federally legal CBD, as the agency observes an “uptick” in positive THC tests amid “confusion” as more states enact legalization.

21 State Attorneys General Push Congress To Regulate Intoxicating Hemp Products

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A House subcommittee in New Hampshire has moved forward with formally adopting changes to a marijuana legalization bill that members initially approved at a hearing last week, setting up the measure for a full House Finance Committee vote on Tuesday.

At a hearing Monday, a finance subcommittee voted 6–3 to integrate two combined sets of amendments to HB 1633, one from the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Erica Layon (R), and one from Rep. Peter Leishman (D), the panel’s chair. The subcommittee then voted 6–3 to report the bill to the full Finance Committee.

While the bill’s amended language is not yet publicly available, the measure in its current form would allow 15 retailers to open statewide—one of a number of requirements that Gov. Chris Sununu (R) said last year that a legalization bill would need to include in order to win his support.

The bill would also strictly limit advertising of marijuana and would impose a 10 percent state charge on adult-use purchases. Medical marijuana patients would be exempt.

Generally Layon’s bill would allow stores under a so-called agency store model, which she’s described as a system “where the state requires agreement and compliance from private businesses granted limited licenses by the Liquor Commission beyond the traditional health and safety regulatory role of government.”

It’s an effort to let the state impose significant restrictions on businesses without having a state-run industry, which Layon has said could open New Hampshire to significant legal liability.

Among the changes approved at Monday’s hearing was a severability clause between what Layon has called broad “operational” control over agency stores from what she calls more limited “regulatory” control. Her amendment divides those two roles—regulation and broader operational control—and says that they’re severable. That means that if the federal government decides to go after the state for its day-to-day oversight of the industry, as Layon and others have warned could happen, the state could still preserve its regulatory authority over cannabis businesses. The change would also allow lawmakers in future years to shift away from the agency store model toward a more traditional private marketplace.

“At least if we have these clear lines between the operational control and the regulatory control, there’s an opportunity for the state to pivot if we’ve adopted the wrong model,” she explained of the change last week.

Another change reduced the proposed penalty for public consumption of marijuana. Initially a second or subsequent offense could be charged as an undefined misdemeanor, meaning prosecutors could charge the case as a Class A misdemeanor and seek jail time for a defendant. The bill’s adjusted language specifies that repeat offenses would be charged instead as Class B misdemeanors, which carries up to a $1,200 fine but no possibility of jail time.

Yet another adjustment approved Monday clarifies that enforcement of home cannabis cultivation rules would not be within the purview of regulators at the state’s Liquor Commission.

Some senators, most notably Sen. Daryl Abbas (R)—who chaired a failed state commission on legalization late last year—have warned that the legalization bill in its current form would be dead on arrival in their chamber, because it departs from a state-run franchise model that has the support of Sununu. But at last week’s hearing, members of the House subcommittee rejected a sweeping amendment that would have replaced Layon’s plan with a franchise model.

“If the Senate has problems with passing a bill, I don’t see why we have to do their hard work here for them,” Rep. Chuck Grassie (D) said at the time. “I think they need to debate this. They need to make up their mind on a bill, and they need to send something back to us if we want to see cannabis legalization in the state of New Hampshire.”

Grassie applauded Layon for what what he called “a Herculean effort…to get the governor and the Senate on board.”

Layon told Marijuana Moment after Monday’s vote that she’s continued to work to move her bill closer to what Sununu has said he wants any policy change to include.

“I initially intended that this bill sort of be a counterpoint to what the special committee was going to deliver and what Sen. Abbas was going to introduce,” she said. “The fact that he didn’t introduce it and this is the only shot at legalization this year, I just really wanted to work hard in a good faith effort to get to something that I was comfortable with and that match the requirements of the governor as best I understood them.”

While in past months Layon has said she’s been unable to secure a meeting with Sununu’s representatives to discuss the plan, she said that on Monday she spoke briefly with one of his policy staff and looks forward to hearing his feedback.

“If there’s any last efforts needed to close that gap—that are something that are acceptable to me to move forward in the House—that’s something where I would look into doing a floor amendment in order to close those gaps and get it to something the governor can sign,” Layon said.

Meanwhile at an event last week, Sununu said he thinks legalization is “inevitable” in New Hampshire, adding that policymakers have “seen the mistakes other states have made so as not to walk down that path.”

“People just want the accessibility for adults, keeping it away from kids,” the governor said, according to to the Concord Monitor. “If they can meet those rough stipulations, I would sign it, because I think that’s one of the safest systems you’re going to get.”

He added that as a legalization skeptic, he’s better positioned to consider a thoughtful bill.

“There’s no better person to help design a system that could be fraught with problems and risk specifically to kids than the guy that’s most scared of it,” he said.

Last year Sununu said he supported a system of state-run retail stores, but lawmakers on a state study commission last year instead pivoted to the idea of a franchise system, which Sununu has said he’s willing to entertain. Officials at the Liquor Commission have said it would be far less costly for private franchisees to build out a system of retail stores than to ask the Liquor Commission to take on that task itself.

Lawmakers worked extensively on marijuana reform issues last session and attempted to reach a compromise to enact legalization through a multi-tiered system that would include state-controlled shops, dual licensing for existing medical cannabis dispensaries and businesses privately licensed to individuals by state agencies. The legislature ultimately hit an impasse on the complex legislation.

Bicameral lawmakers also convened the state commission tasked with studying legalization and proposing a path forward last year, though the group ultimately failed to arrive at a consensus or propose final legislation.

The Senate defeated a more conventional House-passed legalization bill last year, HB 639, despite its bipartisan support.

Last May, the House separately defeated a different marijuana legalization amendment that was being proposed as part of a Medicaid expansion bill. The Senate also moved to table another piece of legislation that month that would have allowed patients and designated caregivers to cultivate up to three mature plants, three immature plants and 12 seedlings for personal therapeutic use.

After the Senate rejected the reform bills in 2022, the House included legalization language as an amendment to separate criminal justice-related legislation—but that was also struck down in the opposite chamber.

Florida Voters Will Decide On Marijuana Legalization In November As Supreme Court Rejects Attorney General’s Move To Block Ballot Measure

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Newly released data from a Washington State survey of adolescent and teenage students show declines in both lifetime and past-30-day marijuana use in recent years, with striking drops that held steady through 2023. The results also indicate that perceived ease of access to cannabis among underage students has generally fallen since the state enacted legalization for adults in 2012—contrary to fears repeatedly expressed by opponents of the policy change.

About 8.4 percent of Washington 10th graders said in 2023 that they had used marijuana within the past 30 days, according to the new data, up slightly from 7.2 percent in 2021. But both of those numbers were sharply lower than pre-legalization numbers. In 2010, for example, 20.0 percent of 10th graders in the state said they’d used cannabis in the past month.

In King County, by far the state’s most populous, just 5.5 percent of 10th grade respondents reported cannabis use within the past month in 2023. That’s down from 7.3 percent in 2021 and 18.1 percent in 2010.

Similar drops were seen in lifetime marijuana use, as well as among other surveyed grade levels, including 6th, 8th and 12th grades.

The data come from the Healthy Youth Survey, which asks students statewide about a variety of topics around health behaviors, mental health and other areas of well-being.

In a blog post last week, the state Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) noted the findings. “In 2021, survey data showed a 50% decline in youth cannabis and alcohol use in the past 30-days among 10th graders,” wrote Kristen Haley, LCB’s public health education liaison. “The 2023 results show these numbers have remained relatively stable.”

Health officials attribute the precipitous drops between 2018 and 2021 as a sign the pandemic played a role—though youth marijuana use had already been trending downward overall in the years since adult-use legalization was enacted.

“The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it a large decrease, roughly 50%, in most youth substance use,” the state Department of Health said in a release about the survey’s top-level findings. “While the long-term impacts are unknown, in 2023 we see that substance use has remained relatively stable, both in Washington and nationally.”

“Exceptions to this stable trend were increases in misuse of prescription drugs, pain killers, and other illegal drugs compared to 2021,” the department said. “While representing a relatively small proportion of students overall (each under 3%), these findings show more prevention work is needed.”

Perceived access to marijuana also fell significantly, according to the new data. As part of the survey, students were asked, “If you wanted to get some marijuana, how easy would it be for you to get some?”

In 2010, more than half (54.3 percent) of 10th grade respondents said it would be “sort of or very easy” to obtain cannabis. By 2021, that number had fallen to less than a third (31.6 percent) and in 2023 it fell slightly further to 30.8 percent.

The survey also asked about other cannabis-related behaviors and attitudes. Statewide, for example, 10th graders last year were significantly more likely than in prior years to say there was at least some risk in trying marijuana or using it on a regular basis. And far more answered “yes” when asked whether a kid who used marijuana in their communities would be caught by police.

Even among youth peer groups, consumption is less tolerated today as compared to before adult-use legalization took effect. When asked “How wrong do YOU think it is for someone your age to use marijuana, more than three-quarters (76.5 percent) of 10th graders statewide said it was “wrong or very wrong”—up from 71.1 percent in 2021 and 70.0 percent in 2010 prior to legalization.

The new data release comes on the heels of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study earlier this year that also drew on the Healthy Youth Survey and found that current and frequent use of marijuana among teens in King County has fallen significantly since state voters legalized adult-use cannabis by initiative in November 2012.

Between 2008 and 2021, current use fell from highs of 20.4 percent among males (in 2010) and 15.5 percent among females (in 2012) down to 7.7 percent and 9.0 percent, respectively, in 2021.

Researchers in that report said legalization and related regulations and age controls could have have fueled the trend by making marijuana harder for teens to access, though they also said the COVID pandemic may have contributed to more recent declines.

“The legalization of nonmedical cannabis for adults aged ≥21 years in Washington with licensed dispensaries requiring proof of age might have affected availability of cannabis to younger persons as well as their opportunities to engage in its use,” the CDC report says. “This, in turn, might have had an impact on use prevalence.”

In the blog post about the latest youth survey data, LCB said that while ID-check compliance rates among licensed marijuana retailers “continue to be high, we are interested in data related to 10th graders with past-30 day use.” Among that population, the agency noted, “9% indicated they bought cannabis at a store and 2% reported stealing it from a store.”

LCB added that it’s possible those numbers reflect hemp-derived products carried in stores outside of the state’s licensed marijuana system. “Note, these numbers may reflect the hemp-derived cannabis that was available in 2021,” Kristen Haley, the agency’s public health education liasion wrote in the post. “I believe there is always more work we can do to continue preventing youth access to and use of cannabis.”

A separate study late last year also found that Canadian high-school students reported it was more difficult to access marijuana since the government legalized the drug nationwide in 2019. The prevalence of current cannabis use also fell during the study period, from 12.7 percent in 2018–19 to 7.5 percent in 2020–21, even as retail sales of marijuana expanded across the country.

Authors of that report said the declines in perceived availability in marijuana over time “align with evidence from youth in the U.S. showing that perceptions of cannabis being easy to access has been declining (2002–2015).”

In December, meanwhile, a U.S. health official said that teen marijuana use has not increased “even as state legalization has proliferated across the country.”

“There have been no substantial increases at all,” said Marsha Lopez, chief of the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s (NIDA) epidemiological research branch. “In fact, they have not reported an increase in perceived availability either, which is kind of interesting.”

Another earlier analysis from CDC found that rates of current and lifetime cannabis use among high school students have continued to drop amid the legalization movement.

A study of high school students in Massachusetts that was published last November found that youth in that state were no more likely to use marijuana after legalization, though more students perceived their parents as cannabis consumers after the policy change.

A separate NIDA-funded study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in 2022 also found that state-level cannabis legalization was not associated with increased youth use. The study demonstrated that “youth who spent more of their adolescence under legalization were no more or less likely to have used cannabis at age 15 years than adolescents who spent little or no time under legalization.”

Yet another 2022 study from Michigan State University researchers, published in the journal PLOS One, found that “cannabis retail sales might be followed by the increased occurrence of cannabis onsets for older adults” in legal states, “but not for underage persons who cannot buy cannabis products in a retail outlet.”

The trends were observed despite adult use of marijuana and certain psychedelics reaching “historic highs” in 2022, according to separate data released last year.

Justice Department Expects ‘Influx’ Of Marijuana Pardon Certificate Applications, Setting Targets To Quickly Process Requests

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Colorado lawmakers advanced an amended social media bill on Thursday that, as introduced, would have forced platforms to ban users for talking positively about marijuana online. But while the sponsor says the issue has now been “worked out” with recent changes, critics contend the revised legislation still fails to address concerns around statements regarding other substances, including state-legal psychedelics, certain hemp products and even some over-the-counter cough syrups.

The bill, SB24-158—a broad proposal concerning internet age verification and content policies—would require social media platforms to immediately remove any user “who promotes, sells, or advertises an illicit substance.”

Initially that provision would have applied to all controlled substances under state law, but an amendment from the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Chris Hansen (D), includes language saying that “a social media platform may allow a user to promote, sell, or advertise medical marijuana or retail marijuana to users who are at least twenty-one years of age” so long as the content complies with state cannabis laws.

Members of the Senate Committee on Business, Labor and Technology at Thursday’s hearing unanimously approved the amended bill, advancing it to the Appropriations Committee with a favorable report.

“We have worked out adjustment language with the MJ industry,” Hansen told Marijuana Moment in an email about the amendment last week, in response to questions about the potential consequences of the bill. “Those amendments will be distributed later today in preparation for the bill being voted on in committee on Thursday.”

But even before the amendment landed in committee this week, a fellow at the center-right think tank R Street Institute, said the changes leave major issues unaddressed.

“The updated version would still prevent users from from promoting NyQuil or anti-anxiety medications among many others, even though it exempts marijuana,” Shoshana Weismann, who first called out the potential problems in the bill’s drug-related language, told Marijuana Moment in an email. “And if you promote those medications, you will be reported to law enforcement. That is asinine.”

The amended bill also still specifies that its restrictions apply to certain hemp products with more than 1.25 milligrams THC or a CBD-to-THC ratio of less than 20 to 1, as well as most other hemp-containing products intended for human consumption that are not “a dietary supplement, a food, a food additive, or an herb.”

Hansen, the bill’s sponsor, has not responded to separate questions sent by Marijuana Moment last week about whether his legislation intends to ban, for example, a 19-year old medical marijuana patient who posts about medical marijuana to their Instagram story, a user posting to Facebook that the use of a Schedule V over-the-counter cough syrup helped them feel better or even potentially promotion by Gov. Jared Polis (D) of the state’s legal psychedelics industry—as a plain reading of the bill might suggest.

He said more than a week ago that he was “working on answers” to those questions.

Colorado is at the forefront of both research and policy nationally for natural medicine. I am thrilled to welcome the Psychedelics Science Conference to Colorado this year to share and collaborate across disciplines on this promising area of research. https://t.co/X0AXMklfoe pic.twitter.com/1QcybrkIeY

— Governor Jared Polis (@GovofCO) June 22, 2023

Social media companies would be required to update policies and post them publicly on or before July 1, 2025 under the proposal. Updates to social media policies would also need to be posted online within 14 days of implementation.

Companies would also be mandated to submit reports annually to the state attorney general a statement “of whether the current version of the published policies contain definitions and provisions relating to illicit substances,” according to a legislative summary of the bill.

Meanwhile in Colorado, organizers at a Second Amendment advocacy group are poised to begin gathering signatures on a ballot measure that would allow cannabis consumers to obtain concealed carry firearm licenses under state law.

Colorado legalized adult-use cannabis through a ballot initiative in 2012, though cannabis remains prohibited at the federal level. And under federal law, being an “unlawful user” of a controlled substance, including marijuana, means a person cannot legally buy or possess a gun.

Earlier this year, Colorado marijuana regulators also touted industry successes from the past year and promoted their new hospitality rules for the industry, including increased sales limits for cannabis hospitality businesses that allow on-site use.

One of the things they touted is a rule about online sales that took effect last August. Customers must still physically pick up the marijuana products from retailers, but now they can browse and electronically purchase cannabis online ahead of visiting the store.

Polis has praised the state’s reputation on marijuana and even said in January that Colorado is “leading the nation” on psychedelics, just as it did with cannabis.

“Colorado was the first state to legalize recreational use of cannabis, setting a standard for innovation and safety and economic mobility that’s been replicated by states across the nation and countries across the world, who come here to learn what Colorado did right,” Polis said in his latest State of the State address. “Now, thanks to our voters, we’re once again leading the nation on natural medicine, unfreezing 50-plus years of stifled research to learn about the potential benefits for the people of our state and beyond.”

Study Shows Colorado Marijuana Products Are Overstating THC Potency, With Researcher Citing Possible ‘Lab Fraud’

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Even as marijuana remains federally illegal, two representatives from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are set to present at a webinar next month about the federal agency’s latest guidance and enforcement priorities for “protecting workers within the cannabis industry” in the growing number of state-legal markets.

“This presentation will review OSHA’s enforcement and compliance resources and highlight a few recent OSHA inspections within this industry,” according to a description by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP), which organized the event scheduled for April 16.

“Research has shown that workers within the cannabis industry are at risk for developing occupational allergies due to allergens or biotoxins from cannabis plants,” the description says. “These workers may also become exposed to additional biological, chemical and physical workplace hazards associated with producing cannabis.”

In 2022, for example, a 27-year-old marijuana-industry worker in Massachusetts died after collapsing during a shift at a processing facility. The state’s Department of Public Health subsequently sent a bulletin to healthcare providers warning of asthma among cannabis employees.

Next month’s one-hour webinar will feature two OSHA representatives: Yasmine Daniels, an OSHA industrial hygienist, and Virginia Weaver, a doctor and OSHA medical officer.

“Although this is a relatively new industry and OSHA has no standards that are specific to occupational allergies to cannabis plants,” the event description says, “there are current OSHA standards that may help to reduce or prevent these occupational allergies from occurring and also protect workers from other hazards they may face within this industry.”

An OSHA official said last year that the federal government’s ongoing prohibition of marijuana makes the agency’s job “complicated” when it comes to ensuring the safety of workers in the cannabis industry.

Andrew Levinson, director of OSHA’s Directorate of Standards and Guidance, said at a late-May meeting of the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) that “the cannabis industry is a little bit complicated for federal agencies because cannabis is still illegal at the federal level.”

“So there’s kind of state activity going on. We still go out and deal with those issues, but the policy issues there are complicated,” he said, adding at the time that he wasn’t sure if there had been workplace fatalities in the marijuana sector.

As for the Massachusetts cannabis worker who died after collapsing at a facility operated by the multistate operator Trulieve, the company paid OSHA $14,502 to settle the case, also agreeing to conduct a study to “determine whether ground cannabis dust is required to be classified as a ‘hazardous chemical’ in the occupational setting,” according to a press release at the time.

At last year’s NACOSH meeting Levinson acknowledged the Massachusetts death and said that “we still go out when OSHA would normally go out, but from a policy perspective, the way that we develop materials for specific industries is a little bit complicated by the legal issues.”

In June of last year, the leader of one of the country’s largest labor unions is called on President Joe Biden to end federal marijuana prohibition—and he also urged the administration to allow OSHA to “immediately start work on a national workplace safety standard for legal cannabis business, using the regulations set by California as a model.”

Virginia GOP Governor Vetoes Marijuana Sales Legalization Bill, Along With Separate Measure To Resentence Prior Cannabis Convictions

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With both chambers of Maryland’s legislature having recently passed bills to establish a psychedelics task force to study legal access to substances like psilocybin and DMT, committees in the opposite chambers have now received those measures and voted to advance them along in the lawmaking process.

On Wednesday, the House Health and Government Operations Committee approved SB 1009 on a voice vote, with no discussion on the proposal at the hearing. The full Senate approved that psychedelics bill earlier this month in a unanimous 45–0 vote.

The House companion, meanwhile—HB 548, which passed that chamber on a 136–1 vote on March 13—advanced through the Senate’s Finance Committee as part of a voice vote on a package of multiple bills on Tuesday.

The legislation, if it becomes law, would establish a “Task Force on Responsible Use of Natural Psychedelic Substances” that would be overseen by the Maryland Cannabis Administration (MCA). It would be charged specifically with ensuring “broad, equitable and affordable access to psychedelic substances” in the state.

Members of the task force would be required to examine and make recommendations on issues such as “permitting requirements, including requirements regarding education and safety,” “access to treatment and regulated support” and “production of natural psychedelic substances.”

There are also provisions tasking the body with looking into expunging prior convictions for psychedelics and releasing people incarcerated for such offenses, along with a mandate to make recommendations on potential civil penalties for “nonviolent infractions involving the planting, cultivating, purchasing, transporting, distributing, or possessing of or other engagement with natural psychedelic substances.”

The governor, legislative leaders and various state agencies would be responsible for appointing the 17-member task force that would specifically consider policies around psilocybin, psilocin, dimethyltryptamine and mescaline (not derived from peyote). Under a recent amendment, the legislation would also give members discretion to put more psychedelics under review as they see fit.

The body’s recommendations would be due to the governor and legislature by July 31, 2025. The legislation would sunset after two and a half years.

The House version as originally introduced contained more prescriptive requirements to explore and issue recommendations on aspects of psychedelics policy such as “systems to support statewide online sales of natural psychedelic substances with home delivery” and “testing and packaging requirements for products containing natural psychedelic substances with clear and accurate labeling of potency.” That language was taken out in an amendment and also did not appear in the original Senate version as drafted.

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The task force legislation is advancing about two years after a different law took effect creating a state fund to provide “cost-free” access to psychedelics like psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine for military veterans suffering from PTSD and traumatic brain injury.

A growing number of other states are also pursuing psychedelics reform legislation this legislative session, with a focus on research and therapeutic access.

Vermont’s Senate, for example, recently passed a measure that would establish a working group to study whether and how to allow therapeutic access to psychedelics in the state. If the bill is enacted, a report from the working group would be due to the legislature in November with recommendations on how to regulate the substances.

The Indiana governor also recently signed a bill that includes provisions to fund clinical research trials into psilocybin.

Utah’s governor allowed a bill to authorize a pilot program for hospitals to administer psilocybin and MDMA as an alternative treatment option to become law without his signature.

An Arizona House panel also approved a Senate-passed bill to legalize psilocybin service centers where people could receive the psychedelic in a medically supervised setting.

Maine lawmakers are advancing legislation to establish a commission tasked with studying and making recommendations on regulating access to psychedelic services.

A Missouri House committee unanimously approved a bill to legalize the medical use of psilocybin by military veterans and fund studies exploring the therapeutic potential of the psychedelic.

Connecticut lawmakers held a recent hearing on a bill to decriminalize possession of psilocybin.

The governor of New Mexico recently endorsed a newly enacted resolution requesting that state officials research the therapeutic potential of psilocybin and explore the creation of a regulatory framework to provide access to the psychedelic.

An Illinois senator recently introduced a bill to legalize psilocybin and allow regulated access at service centers in the state where adults could use the psychedelic in a supervised setting—with plans to expand the program to include mescaline, ibogaine and DMT.

Lawmakers in Hawaii are also continuing to advance a bill that would provide some legal protections to patients engaging in psilocybin-assisted therapy with a medical professional’s approval.

New York lawmakers also said that a bill to legalize psilocybin-assisted therapy in that state has a “real chance” of passing this year.

Bipartisan California lawmakers also recently introduced a bill to legalize psychedelic service centers where adults 21 and older could access psilocybin, MDMA, mescaline and DMT in a supervised environment with trained facilitators.

A Nevada joint legislative committee held a hearing with expert and public testimony on the therapeutic potential of substances like psilocybin in January. Law enforcement representatives also shared their concerns around legalization—but there was notable acknowledgement that some reforms should be enacted, including possible rescheduling.

The governor of Massachusetts recently promoted the testimony of activists who spoke in favor of her veterans-focused bill that would, in part, create a psychedelics work group to study the therapeutic potential of substances such as psilocybin.

Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura Launches His Own Cannabis Brand, Fulfilling A ‘Lifelong Dream’

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Vermont’s Senate passed a measure that would establish a working group to study whether and how to allow therapeutic access to psychedelics in the state. If the bill is enacted, a report from the working group would be due to the legislature in November with recommendations on how to regulate the substances.

Senators on Wednesday approved the legislation, S. 114 during third reading on a voice vote. It now advances to the House of Representatives.

Lawmakers did not discuss the measure ahead of the final vote, but sponsor Sen. Martine Larocque Gulick (D) said ahead of the bill’s second reading a day earlier that the legislation “will start the state of Vermont on a journey to explore other possibilities and other options to treating mental illness.”

Under the proposal in its current form, Vermont would establish an eight-member Psychedelic Therapy Advisory Working Group that would “examine the use of psychedelics to improve physical and mental health and to make findings and recommendations regarding the advisability of the establishment of a State program similar to other jurisdictions to permit health care providers to administer psychedelics in a therapeutic setting and the impact on public health of allowing individuals to legally access psychedelics under state law.”

Many people believe psychedelics “never should have been designated as class one drugs to begin with,” Gulick said, “because their power to heal far outweighs their ability to harm, especially when taken therapeutically with a doctor or healthcare practitioner.”

As originally introduced, Gulick’s bill would have also legalized use and possession of psilocybin, but lawmakers on the Senate Health and Welfare Committee nixed that section last week to focus instead on the working group.

“It could be that decriminalization is going to get in the way of therapeutic use,” Sen. Ginny Lyons (D), who chairs that committee, said at the time. “What we’re looking for is the value of therapeutic use.”

The proposed group would review research and scientific literature as well as laws and programs in other jurisdictions. They would also be directed to provide an opportunity “for individuals with lived experience to provide testimony” as well as provide “potential timelines for universal and equitable access to psychedelic assisted treatments.

Under language of the bill now approved by the Senate, membership would consist of:

• A representative of the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, who would be appointed by the school’s dean
• A representative of the Brattleboro Retreat, a psychiatric and addiction hospital, who would be appointed by the president and CEO
• A member of the Vermont Psychological Association, appointed by the president
• A member of the Vermont Psychiatric Association, appointed by the president
• The executive director of the Vermont Board of Medical Practice or a designee
• The director of the Vermont Office of Professional Regulation or a designee
• The Vermont Commissioner of Health or a designee
• A co-founder of the Psychedelic Society of Vermont

In other drug-related actions this session, Vermont’s House also recently passed a bill to legalize and fund safe consumption sites, part of a pilot program aimed at quelling the ongoing epidemic of drug-related deaths. It’s another attempt by lawmakers to allow the facilities following Gov. Phil Scott’s (R) veto of a 2022 measure that would have established a task force to create a plan to open the sites.

A growing number of other states are also pursuing psychedelics reform legislation this legislative session, with a focus on research and therapeutic access.

For example, the Indiana governor recently signed a bill that includes provisions to fund clinical research trials into psilocybin.

Utah’s governor allowed a bill to authorize a pilot program for hospitals to administer psilocybin and MDMA as an alternative treatment option to become law without his signature.

Meanwhile, the Maryland Senate and House of Delegates both passed legislation to create a psychedelics task force responsible for studying possible regulatory frameworks for therapeutic access to substances such as psilocybin, mescaline and DMT. It would be charged specifically with ensuring “broad, equitable and affordable access to psychedelic substances” in the state. A companion measure is also advancing in the Senate.

An Arizona House panel also approved a Senate-passed bill to legalize psilocybin service centers where people could receive the psychedelic in a medically supervised setting.

Maine lawmakers are advancing legislation to establish a commission tasked with studying and making recommendations on regulating access to psychedelic services.

A Missouri House committee unanimously approved a bill to legalize the medical use of psilocybin by military veterans and fund studies exploring the therapeutic potential of the psychedelic.

Connecticut lawmakers held a recent hearing on a bill to decriminalize possession of psilocybin.

The governor of New Mexico recently endorsed a newly enacted resolution requesting that state officials research the therapeutic potential of psilocybin and explore the creation of a regulatory framework to provide access to the psychedelic.

An Illinois senator recently introduced a bill to legalize psilocybin and allow regulated access at service centers in the state where adults could use the psychedelic in a supervised setting—with plans to expand the program to include mescaline, ibogaine and DMT.

Lawmakers in Hawaii are also continuing to advance a bill that would provide some legal protections to patients engaging in psilocybin-assisted therapy with a medical professional’s approval.

New York lawmakers also said that a bill to legalize psilocybin-assisted therapy in that state has a “real chance” of passing this year.

Bipartisan California lawmakers also recently introduced a bill to legalize psychedelic service centers where adults 21 and older could access psilocybin, MDMA, mescaline and DMT in a supervised environment with trained facilitators.

A Nevada joint legislative committee held a hearing with expert and public testimony on the therapeutic potential of substances like psilocybin in January. Law enforcement representatives also shared their concerns around legalization—but there was notable acknowledgement that some reforms should be enacted, including possible rescheduling.

The governor of Massachusetts recently promoted the testimony of activists who spoke in favor of her veterans-focused bill that would, in part, create a psychedelics work group to study the therapeutic potential of substances such as psilocybin.

Study Finds Natural Psychedelic Mushrooms Produce ‘Enhanced Effects’ Compared To Synthesized Psilocybin, Suggesting Entourage Effect

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With a bill sitting on his desk that would legalize the retail sale of marijuana in Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) said recently that people “must be smoking something” if they think he’s going to sign it into law.

It’s the latest and clearest comment from the governor on where he stands on the legal sales proposal, which supportive lawmakers have spent months working to craft and pass through the legislature.

The legislation, SB 448 in the Senate and HB 698 in the House, was formally transmitted to Youngkin’s desk on March 11, and he has through April 8 to act it. His options are to sign it into law, veto it, allow it to become law without his signature or return it to lawmakers with suggested amendments.

While Youngkin has not committed to vetoing the bill, he didn’t mince words about the chances of it winning his signature.

“I don’t plan on signing that bill,” he told local CBS affiliate WTKR at an event in Cheseapeake last week. “I had somebody ask me the other day, ‘Are you going to sign the legislation?’ and I’ve been talking about this for 60 days and I said, ‘Anybody who thinks I’m going to sign that legislation must be smoking something.'”

House Speaker Don Scott (D), who supports the legislation, added that the governor “has not signed that bill, and I don’t anticipate he would.”

 

For months, Democrats working to pass legal sales legislation have said they’ve received little or no response from Youngkin’s office despite efforts to reach out and see what the governor might be open to.

Meanwhile, representatives for the governor have been referring to the same comments he made following his State of the Commonwealth speech in January, in which he said he didn’t “have any interest in” signing the Democratic-led bills.

As far back as October, Sen. Adam Ebbin (D), who was then working to draft a legal sales bill, told Marijuana Moment that Youngkin “has been a challenge to deal with because he hasn’t been forthcoming with his views on what he’s willing to support.”

“I’m not sure what the governor will sign, since he’s been kind of cagey and not really supportive in his public statements,” Ebbin said at the time.

Lawmakers in support of the sales bill now believe a veto is likely, though the governor has stopped short of pledging to block the bill outright. If he does, there currently aren’t enough votes in the legislature to overcome a veto.

Asked about the governor’s stance earlier this month, Del. Paul Krizek (D), the legislation’s sponsor in the House, told Marijuana Moment that “it seems pretty clear that he is not a fan of a legally regulated retail market.”

“He even said something to the effect that that he would not want a cannabis store on every street corner,” Krizek added—a hypothetical the lawmaker said was “not at all accurate and the opposite of what our bill would allow.”

And Sen. Creigh Deeds (D) has told local media: “We were advised that the governor wasn’t going to sign the [cannabis market] bill under any circumstance.”

Use, possession and limited cultivation of cannabis by adults is already legal in Virginia, the result of a Democrat-led proposal approved by lawmakers in 2021. But Republicans, after winning control of the House and governor’s office later that year, subsequently blocked the required reenactment of a regulatory framework for retail sales. Since then, illicit stores have sprung up to meet consumer demand.

Though Democrats retook control of both legislative chambers in last November’s elections, the governor is still an obstacle.

Cannabis is “an area that I really don’t have any interest in,” Youngkin said back in January. “What I want us to work on are areas that we can find a meeting of the mind and press forward for the betterment of Virginia.”

Already the governor has vetoed one of the several marijuana-related measures passed by lawmakers this session, standing in the way of a bipartisan measure that would have protected the parental rights of lawful marijuana users.

Though that proposal repeatedly passed the Senate on unanimous or near-unanimous votes, Youngkin’s veto message criticized it for “aiming to address a non-existent problem”—a claim advocates have said is untrue.

At one point earlier this session, it appeared the retail cannabis bill could become part of a grand deal between Youngkin and legislative Democrats. In December, Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas (D) alluded to a compromise involving a sports stadium project the governor supported. But that deal never materialized and Democrats left the governor’s proposed area plan out of budget legislation.

Here’s what the retail sales legislation would do if it becomes law:

• Retail sales could begin as of May 1, 2025.
• Adults would be able to purchase up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana in a single transaction, or up to an equivalent amount of other cannabis products as determined by regulators.
• A state tax of 11.625 percent would apply to the retail sale of any cannabis product. Of that, 8 percent would go to the state, local governments would get 2.5 percent and 1.125 percent would fund schools.
• The Virginia Cannabis Control Authority would oversee licensing and regulation of the new industry. Its board of directors would have the authority to control possession, sale, transportation, distribution, delivery and testing of marijuana.
• Local governments could ban marijuana establishments, but only if voters first approve an opt-out referendum.
• Locations of retail outlets could not be within 1,000 feet of another marijuana retailer.
• Cultivators would be regulated by space devoted to marijuana cultivation, known as canopy size. Both indoor and outdoor marijuana cultivation would be allowed, though only growers in lower tiers—with lower limits on canopy size—could grow plants outside. Larger growers would need to cultivate plants indoors. Secure greenhouses would qualify as indoor cultivation.
• Only direct, face-to-face transactions would be permitted. The legislation would prohibit the use of other avenues, such as vending machines, drive-through windows, internet-based sales platforms and delivery services.
• Existing medical marijuana providers that enter the adult-use market could apply to open up to five additional retail establishments, which would need to be colocated at their existing licensed facilities.
• Serving sizes would be capped at 10 milligrams THC, with no more than 100 mg THC per package.
• No person could be granted or hold an interest in more than five total licenses, not including transporter licenses.
• People with convictions for felonies or crimes involving moral turpitude within the past seven years would be ineligible to apply for licensing, as would employees of police or sheriff’s departments if they’re responsible for enforcement of the penal, traffic or motor vehicle laws of the commonwealth.
• An equity-focused microbusiness program would grant licenses to entities at least two-thirds owned and directly controlled by eligible applicants, which include people with past cannabis misdemeanors, family members of people with past convictions, military veterans, individuals who’ve lived at least three of the past five years in a “historically economically disadvantaged community,” people who’ve attended schools in those areas and individuals who received a federal Pell grant or attended a college or university where at least 30 percent of students are eligible for Pell grants.
• “Historically economically disadvantaged community” is an area that has recorded marijuana possession offenses at or above 150 percent of the statewide average between 2009 and 2019.
• Tax revenue from the program would first cover the costs of administering and enforcing the state’s cannabis system. After that, 60 percent of remaining funds would go toward supporting the state’s Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund, 25 percent would fund substance use disorder treatment and prevention, 10 percent would go to pre-K programs for at-risk children and 5 percent would fund a public health and awareness campaign.
• Adults could also share up to 2.5 ounces with other adults without financial remuneration, though gray-market “gifting” of marijuana as part of another transaction would be punishable as a Class 2 misdemeanor and a Class 1 misdemeanor on second and subsequent offenses.
• A number of other new criminal penalties would be created. Knowingly selling or giving marijuana or marijuana paraphernalia to someone under 21, for example, would be a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a maximum $2,500 fine, as would knowingly selling cannabis to someone reasonably believed to be intoxicated. It would also be a Class 1 misdemeanor to advertise the sale of marijuana paraphernalia to people under 21.
• Knowingly obtaining marijuana on behalf of someone under 21 would be a Class 1 misdemeanor.
• People under 21 who possess or use marijuana, or attempt to obtain it, would be subject to a civil penalty of no more than $25 and ordered to enter a substance use disorder treatment and/or education program.
• Illegal cultivation or manufacture of marijuana, not including legal homegrow, would be a Class 6 felony, punishable by up to five years imprisonment and a $2,500 fine.
• People could process homegrown marijuana into products such as edibles, but butane extraction or the use of other volatile solvents would be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Other cannabis-related bills before the governor include a proposal to resentence people serving time for past cannabis offenses and protect public-sector workers from employment discrimination based on lawful medical marijuana use.

A sales bill did advance through the Democratic-controlled Senate last session, but it stalled in committee in the House, which at the time had a GOP majority.

Bipartisan Majorities Want Congress To Pass Bill Protecting States’ Rights To Legalize Marijuana, Poll Of Voters In Three States Finds

Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.

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Lawmakers in New Hampshire on Tuesday heard public testimony on a newly proposed amendment to a marijuana legalization bill that that would transform the measure into a state-controlled franchise model of commercial sales, a novel framework that has the support of Gov. Chris Sununu (R).

The 38-page striking amendment from Rep. Dan McGuire (R) would replace the current text of HB 1633 from Rep. Erica Layon (R), who has warned that the franchise model—under which the state would oversee day-to-day operations of private licensees—could put New Hampshire at legal risk in the event of lawsuits or federal prosecution. The approach in her original bill would instead adopt a more traditional licensing approach and set strict limits on ads and marketing.

Since introducing the legislation in January, Layon has spent weeks working to build consensus with Senate counterparts and members of a state study commission convened last year to propose legalization legislation of its own—a task the panel failed to complete before a deadline in December. She’s also reached out to Sununu’s office, though she told colleagues at a hearing earlier this month that she had yet to actually speak with the governor.

Sen. Darryl Abbas (R), who led the state study commission last year and previewed the shift to a franchise model at that hearing, has maintained that Layon’s bill won’t fly in the Senate—a criticism he repeated at Tuesday’s hearing.

Lawmakers have also stressed the importance of currying favor from the governor, who issued a set of requirements to the study commission late last year about components that a bill would need to include to win his support, including a 15-store limit on retailers statewide and a ban on all political lobbying by the industry. Some on the commission blamed the last-minute demands for the body’s failure to arrive at a consensus by its deadline, though members were already at odds before the governor’s office sent the memo.

At Tuesday’s hearing on his new amendment, McGuire told members of the House Finance Committee that he spoke with the governor’s office to get a sense of what Sununu would approve.

“I personally met with the governor’s representative,” McGuire said. “He gave me a list of things the governor has said would make such legislation acceptable. Number one on that list is what’s called the franchise model. That’s what this amendment represents.”

He likened the model to how McDonald’s works, with private operators running individual stores that together are overseen by the corporate entity itself. Under his striking amendment, New Hampshire’s Liquor Commission would run the state’s marijuana industry, with private operators responsible for day-to-day operations.

McGuire said the amendment would create 15 stores at first. That’s among the requirements set by Sununu, though McGuire said that “it’s clear that in the long run, there will have to be many, many more stores,” asserting that there are more than 70 retailers in Vermont and hundreds of stores in Maine.

Layon, for her part, for the first time indicated some openness to the franchise proposal, though she said she would introduce separate language ahead of a scheduled Wednesday committee meeting that is meant to divide the state’s handling of marijuana business and regulatory matters.

“We need to have the regulatory portion separate from the business model and liquor,” she told the committee. “I plan to come with language that will have franchise separate and compartmentalized from the whole rest of the implementation, so we can see if the franchise model does in fact work in the state of New Hampshire.”

Lawmakers have until April 4 to pass the measure out of committee.

Abbas, the senator, said at the hearing that he thinks the amendment represents “a fair compromise.”

“I believe it does have the support of the chamber that I sit in, and in meeting and having conversations with a lot of interested parties, this could actually become law,” he said.

A franchise model “really creates a partnership with the individual franchisees, and I think there’s a lot of benefits to that,” he added. “Every franchisee would be working together, putting forward this business model.”

While lawmakers’ top-level concern is around whether or not to adopt a franchise model, advocates worked to draw attention at Tuesday’s hearing to other provisions in the new amendment they say still need work.

Submitted testimony from the advocacy group Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), for example, called out a number of sections in the new amendment as problematic, including franchise fees—effectively a tax—on purchases by medical marijuana patients. Patients were exempt under Layon’s own bill.

“Almost no other adult-use state imposes a ‘sin tax’ on medical cannabis,” wrote Karen O’Keefe, MPP’s director of state policies. “There is no reason patients shouldn’t be able to buy cannabis without the added fee at the location closest to their home.”

O’Keefe also criticized the bill’s punishment for public consumption of marijuana, which could impose jail time for a second offense. She said it’s “a harsher penalty than the status quo” under the state’s existing decriminalization law, under which a second offense for possession or public use carries a $100 civil fine.

“There is no possible jail time now,” she said. “It would be wrong to start jailing cannabis consumers again as part of legalization.”

Some in the state’s existing medical marijuana industry, such as the alternative treatment center (ATC) GraniteLeaf Cannabis, have also criticized the new amendment.

Like MPP, one of GraniteLeaf’s complaints is the tax on medical marijuana. Unlike HB 1633 in its current form, which would exempt medical patients from its 10-percent agency fee surcharge, the amendment would set a 12.5 percent franchise fee that would also apply to patients.

Another complaint lodged by GraniteLeaf is the amendment’s lack of integration of the state’s therapeutic cannabis program (TCP) into an adult-use program.

“HB 1633 would create a path forward for the TCP by requiring that the Department of Health and Human Services and the Liquor Commission develop a plan and propose it to the legislature later this year,” the ATC said in a post about the proposed changes. “The proposed amendment does not attempt to align or integrate the TCP n any way. Instead, it would create a new system of franchise retail stores and put them into direct competition with the TCP.

Matt Simon, director of public and government relations at GraniteLeaf, told the panel the company can’t support the amendment as written.

“To be clear, we would be willing to go along with all of the requirements that have been clearly stated by the governor on this issue. Some of them we don’t necessarily agree with, but we’re willing to live with them,” he said.

(Disclosure: Simon supports Marijuana Moment’s work with a monthly Patreon pledge.)

Currently only seven ATCs exist across the state at which patients can obtain medical marijuana, Simon explained. “The vision for the franchise model, as I understand it, is that patients could buy cannabis at the franchise stores, which I think would be great,” he said. “Unfortunately, the amendment is completely silent on how those sales are supposed to take place, how they’re supposed to be regulated. There needs to be an integration with the current program for that to work at all.”

McGuire has said the amendment will likely receive further changes ahead of committee action on the bill.

Sununu, for his part, has said that while he believes legalization in the Granite State is “inevitable,” he’s also “not a huge believer” in the idea.

Last year the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee, led by Rep. John Hunt (R), worked extensively on marijuana reform issues during the session and attempted to reach a compromise to enact legalization through a multi-tiered system that would include state-controlled shops, dual licensing for existing medical cannabis dispensaries and businesses privately licensed to individuals by state agencies. But lawmakers reached an impasse on the complex legislation, which was being considered following Sununu’s surprise announcement that he backed state-run legalization.

Meanwhile the Senate defeated a more conventional legalization bill, HB 639, despite its bipartisan support.

In May, the House separately defeated a different marijuana legalization amendment that was being proposed as part of a Medicaid expansion bill.

After the Senate rejected reform bills in 2022, the House included legalization language as an amendment to separate criminal justice-related legislation—but that was also struck down in the opposite chamber.

Bipartisan Majorities Want Congress To Pass Bill Protecting States’ Rights To Legalize Marijuana, Poll Of Voters In Three States Finds

Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.

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