We have known for years that marijuana prohibition laws disproportionately harm communities of color. A 2013 ACLU report analyzing FBI arrest data found that black Rhode Islanders were nearly three times more likely to be arrested than whites for marijuana possession from 2001 to 2010.

State Representatives Anastasia Williams and Marcia Ranglin-Vassell have introduced legislation (H 5795, H 6069, H 6070, and H 6073) to address the disparate impacts of marijuana prohibition, and tomorrow afternoon, the House Finance Committee will hold a hearing to discuss their proposals. Collectively, the bills would direct regulators to study the disproportionate harms of marijuana arrests, establish programs to assist business applicants who have been affected, create an economic opportunity fund for reinvestment in communities most harmed by prohibition, and require marijuana business licenses to be distributed more equitably.

You can find details about the hearing and links to each of the bills here. If you are able to attend, please consider testifying in support of cannabis equity in front of the committee. The committee will meet at roughly 4:30 p.m. tomorrow (Wednesday, May 29) in Room 35 of the State House (82 Smith Street, Providence).

Thank you.

If you live in Illinois, ask your lawmakers to end prohibition in the Land of Lincoln.

With only three days left until the legislature adjourns, the Illinois House and Senate could vote on legalizing marijuana any day. This would be the first time ever that a state legislature (as opposed to voters) legalized adult-use marijuana sales.

Make sure your legislators are on the right side of history. Write them today!

State lawmakers really do listen to voters, and just a handful of calls and emails per district can make all the difference. The vote is expected to be close.

Not only would Senate Bill 7 legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older, it would create the best legalization law so far in terms of addressing the harms inflicted by cannabis prohibition. Senate Bill 7:

• Includes robust expungement provisions to stop derailing dreams of those with past cannabis convictions;
• Directs a significant amount of the tax revenue to communities that have been hard-hit by the drug war; and
• Includes groundbreaking measures to ensure an inclusive, equitable industry. Equity applicants — those directly harmed by cannabis prohibition or from communities most harmed by it — will pay lower fees, be eligible for low-interest loans, and will get points on their applications.

Although the votes weren’t there to allow home cultivation for all adults, the bill also includes home cultivation for medical cannabis patients. Patients would also be exempt from all adult-use taxes.

In New Jersey, hopes of legalizing marijuana in 2018 or 2019 were dashed when the vote count came up a few votes shy. Don’t let this chance to end prohibition in Illinois slip away: Write your lawmakers today. Then, rally your friends to do the same: Share this on social media or by email.

Please join me and other members of the Regulate Rhode Island Coalition today at 3 p.m. in the State House (82 Smith Street, Providence) as we urge legislators to enact sensible and just cannabis laws. Prior to the floor session (which usually begins a little after 4 p.m.) is a great time to have one-on-one conversations with lawmakers, and we will be talking with them about the importance of legislating responsibly and legalizing marijuana the right way.

If you are unable to make it, you can still help move sensible policy reform forward: Send a message to your state representative and senator using our email action tool.

Parking is available across the street from the capitol building at the Department of Health and in the Providence Place Mall garage. After you enter the State House and proceed through the metal detector, you will find a Regulate Rhode Island volunteer coordinator immediately to your left next to the Civil War-era cannon display. The coordinator will provide you copies of our talking points document, which you can view here.

We need all of you to be part of this effort to end prohibition, protect cannabis patients, and promote social equity for victims of the war on marijuana. Cannabis laws won’t change themselves. Let’s continue to raise our voices and call for action.

It’s crunch time for the legalization bill — contact your representatives and senators today!

Our coalition has made great progress on cannabis policy in Connecticut this year, but now we are up against the clock. The legislative session is scheduled to end on June 5, and it remains unclear whether there will be enough support in the legislature to pass a bill to legalize, regulate, and tax cannabis before the session concludes.

Many representatives and senators are saying they are still undecided, so it is critically important that you contact them today. Please email your state representatives and senators right now and urge them to support ending marijuana prohibition!

Three companion bills to legalize, regulate, and tax cannabis have already been approved by legislative committees, and legislators are in the process of combining those bills into one final package. The details remain a work in progress, but you can read summaries of the bills that are currently being considered.

We’re within a few votes of seeing Connecticut become the first state to legalize and regulate cannabis by legislation rather than by voter initiative, but we really need your help to get across the finish line. After you write your legislators, please “like” our coalition on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and share this message with your family and friends!

With just over a month remaining in this year’s legislative session, supporters of sensible and just cannabis policies must make their voices heard. Article 20 of Gov. Raimondo’s proposed budget is still in play, but the legislation needs important amendments around home cultivation, social equity, and other important issues.

We need your help to urge our lawmakers to end prohibition, protect patients, and legalize with equity. Please join us in calling for sensible cannabis policy reform:

When: Thursday, May 23 at 3:00 p.m.

Where: The Rhode Island State House (82 Smith Street, Providence)

Parking is available across the street from the capitol building at the Department of Health and in the Providence Place Mall garage. After you enter the State House and proceed through the metal detector, you will find a Regulate Rhode Island volunteer coordinator immediately to your left next to the Civil War-era cannon display. The coordinator will provide you copies of our talking points document, which you can view here.

Please RSVP and help us spread the word by sharing our Facebook event.

For far too long, legislative leaders have kicked the can down the road on marijuana policy reform. The best way to show our lawmakers the importance of this issue is to show up and speak with them directly.

See you there!

If you live in Minnesota, ask Senators Michelle Benson and Jim Abeler to improve Minnesota’s medical cannabis law.

A conference committee is winding down its work on possible revisions to Minnesota’s medical cannabis law, and we need your help to convince lawmakers to side with compassion.

Please call Senator Michelle Benson at 651-296-3219 Senator and Jim Abeler at 651-296-3733 TODAY to politely ask them to stand up for patients by including flower (whole plant cannabis) in the Health and Human Services Omnibus Bill.

Currently, only costly extracts are allowed, and many patients cannot continue to access their medicine because they cannot afford it. Allowing non-smoked flower will provide relief to more patients.

The conference committee is made up of five members from the House and five members from the Senate. Our allies have secured the House-side votes, but we need help getting two more senators to vote in favor of the compassionate provisions.

That's where you come in! Please call Senators Benson and Abeler and then share this message with members of your community, so that they, too, can speak out for compassion.

If you live in Delaware, contact your lawmakers today and ask them to support HB 110.

Yesterday, Representative Ed Osienski introduced a bill to legalize, tax, and regulate cannabis for adults 21 and older in the First State.

Email your state legislators today and urge them to legalize, tax, and regulate cannabis for adults 21 and older!

Last year, the legalization bill fell short of the needed supermajority (25 votes) in the House of Representatives to pass — though it did garner majority support. However, several new lawmakers were elected in the 2018 general election.

Now, it is time for Delawareans to pressure the General Assembly this legislative session to end cannabis prohibition. Regulation works. Ending prohibition would displace the illicit market, reduce the number of cannabis-related arrests, and generate new tax revenue for the state.

It is important for lawmakers to hear from as many constituents as possible. Please help spread the word by forwarding this message to your friends and family in Delaware. Together, we can end prohibition!

HB 481 won’t receive a committee vote until December, but we’re still working to pass bills to allow home cultivation and enable annulments for past convictions — contact your senator about the annulment bill today!

On Tuesday, New Hampshire’s Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously decided to postpone action on the legalization bill until later this year. Three of the five senators on the committee said they wanted to spend more time working on HB 481 and understanding the details before bringing it to a vote in the full Senate, so it’s clear that this is only a temporary setback. The committee will vote on the bill before the end of 2019, and it will come before the Senate in January 2020.

We are now turning our attention to two critical bills that need our help to get across the finish line. One very important bill, HB 399, would allow people who received misdemeanor possession convictions prior to decriminalization to apply to have their records annulled. It has already passed the House in a voice vote, and it passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. However, the committee vote was only 3-2 (Senators Shannon Chandley and Sharon Carson voted no), so victory remains far from certain.

No Granite Stater should have to be burdened with a criminal record for having possessed small amounts of cannabis prior to decriminalization. Please email your state senator today!

Meanwhile, the medical cannabis home cultivation bill will receive a final vote in the House on May 23, and we expect it to pass by an overwhelming margin. After that, it will proceed to Gov. Chris Sununu’s desk. Call Gov. Sununu’s office today and urge him to support HB 364!

Please share these important updates with your friends and family!

Maine’s Office of Marijuana Policy has released a second draft of their proposed rules regarding the state’s adult-use marijuana regulatory framework. The updated draft can be found here.

On Thursday, May 23, a public hearing will be held in Portland on these rules. This is your opportunity to have your voice heard. Here are the details:

What: Public hearing on adult-use marijuana rules
Where: Holiday Inn by the Bay, 88 Spring Street, Portland, Maine 04101
When: Thursday, May 23 at 8:00 a.m.

If you cannot make it to Portland, public comment will still be accepted until 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 2. You can submit your online public comment here.

I hope to see you next week and look forward to getting our adult-use program finally up and running.

Last week, legislation (LB 110) to establish a compassionate medical marijuana program in Nebraska advanced out of a key committee. Tomorrow, the bill is scheduled for a floor debate among all the state senators.

If you live in or near Lincoln, please join patients and allies tomorrow evening at 6:30 p.m. in the Nebraska State Capitol building (1445 K Street, Lincoln, NE 68508) to show lawmakers your support for a compassionate medical marijuana law. Unable to attend in person? You can watch the the debate live online at NET Nebraska.

And, if you haven’t contacted your state senator asking them to back LB 110 yet, please do so right now.

State political leaders have so far ignored the pleas of patients and their families. But the tide is turning, and our efforts to establish safe access to medical marijuana have never been stronger. Tomorrow, we’ll be watching.