At long last, Minnesota plans to include chronic pain in its medical cannabis program. Unless the legislature overturns the Department of Health’s recent decision, chronic pain will be a qualifying condition for medical cannabis beginning in August 2020. The department also approved adding macular degeneration, effective next August. Qualifying patients must register with the state and submit a medical professional’s certification to access the program.

While “intractable pain” has been included in Minnesota’s program since August 2016, the restrictive definition leaves many pain patients behind. Finally, chronic pain patients will not be left to needlessly suffer or be steered to far more dangerous treatments. We’re grateful to our allies at Sensible Minnesota for spearheading this and other petitions to expand Minnesota’s medical cannabis program. MPP contributed a letter in support.

Upcoming “Be Heard on Cannabis” Community Conversations

In other news, House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler’s “Be Heard on Cannabis” listening tour is continuing.

Maple Grove "Be Heard on Cannabis" Community Conversation
When: TOMORROW, Thursday, December 5, 6:00 p.m.
Where: Maple Grove Government Center, 12800 Arbor Lakes Pkwy N, Maple Grove, MN 55369

Austin "Be Heard on Cannabis" Community Conversation
When: Saturday, December 7, 11:00 a.m.
Where: Austin City Council Room, 500 4th Ave NE, Austin, MN 55912

Rochester "Be Heard on Cannabis" Community Conversation
When: Saturday, December 7, 3:00 p.m.
Where: Heintz Center at the Rochester Community and Technical College, 1926 Collegeview Rd E, Rochester, MN 55904

South Minneapolis "Be Heard on Cannabis" Community Conversation
When: Wednesday, December 18, 7:00 p.m.
Where: East Phillips Park Cultural & Community Center, 2307 17th Ave S., Minneapolis, MN 55404

Shakopee "Be Heard on Cannabis" Community Conversation
When: Wednesday, January 29, 6:00 p.m.
Where: Shakopee VFW, 1201 3rd Ave E Shakopee, MN 55379

For a list of the hosts and panelists who will lead each community conversation, along with other cities "Be Heard on Cannabis" will visit, check out Rep. Winkler’s "Be Heard on Cannabis" webpage. And stay tuned for updates to the list.

In reality, cannabis legalization is more popular than any N.H. politician — email your elected officials and ask for their support!

Yesterday, New Hampshire’s Senate Judiciary Committee voted to send HB 481, the legalization and regulation bill, to “interim study.” This unfortunate outcome has been expected for several months, and advocates have already turned their attention to new legislation that will be considered in 2020.

Sadly, two members of the committee were quoted in The Union Leader saying that New Hampshire “isn’t ready” for legalization. This inaccurate perception persists in the Senate, despite polls showing that legalization is more popular than any politician in New Hampshire.

Please email your elected officials today and encourage them to support the 2020 bill to end cannabis prohibition in New Hampshire! Then, please share this message with your family and friends and urge them to do so as well.

Mark your calendar for a panel discussion December 5 and a state house advocacy day on January 9 — then write your representatives and tell them Vermont urgently needs to begin regulating cannabis in early 2020!

The Vermont House of Representatives missed an important opportunity when it adjourned in May without taking action on S. 54, the bill that would legalize and regulate cannabis sales in Vermont. Fortunately, House leaders have said the bill — which has already passed the Senate 23-5 — will be “a top priority” when the legislature reconvenes in January.

Gov. Phil Scott still has not pledged his support for S. 54, so advocates are not taking success in 2020 for granted. To keep the discussion going, Attorney General T.J. Donovan’s office will be hosting a public forum on the issue on Thursday, December 5. Here are the details:

WHAT: Conversation about Cannabis: Lessons from our Neighbors

WHERE: Contois Auditorium, 149 Church Street, Burlington

WHEN: Thursday, December 5, 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. 

WHO: Erik Gunderson, Maine Office of Marijuana Policy
Kevin Conroy, Foley Hoag
Charlotte Hanna, Community Growth Partners
Laura Subin, Vermont Coalition to Regulate Marijuana
Joe Bergeron, Association of Vermont Credit Unions
David Mickenberg, Mickenberg, Dunn, and Smith, PLC

You can read a summary of S. 54, as approved by the House Government Operations Committee, here.

Please also mark your calendars for January 9, 2020. We will be kicking off the legislative session with a lobby day at the State House starting at 8:00 a.m., joined by our allies at Heady Vermont and other key coalition members, and we would love to have you join us. You can RSVP here.

Finally, please contact your representatives now and urge them to support passage of S. 54. Then, share this message with your family and friends!

Cannabis legalization is more popular than any N.H. politician — urge elected officials to support our efforts today!

Last week, along with our allies at ACLU-NH and Americans for Prosperity New Hampshire, we launched the Manchester Cannabis Reform Coalition. As the Union Leader reported, the new coalition’s efforts will be focused on convincing Manchester’s three state senators to support legalization.

This important effort needs to be amplified and duplicated by advocates throughout the state. For starters, please email your state legislators today and encourage them to support the upcoming bill to end cannabis prohibition in New Hampshire!

Elected officials need to understand that legalization is more popular than any politician in New Hampshire. Granite Staters know that cannabis is less harmful than alcohol, and we are more than ready to see it treated that way in the “Live Free or Die” state!

If you agree with us that New Hampshire should not be an island of prohibition in a sea of freedom, please support our efforts with a donation. Then, please share this message with your family and friends.

Andy Beshear voiced strong support for reform throughout his campaign — contact your legislators today and urge them to work with the new governor to pass a medical cannabis law!

After years of frustration, advocates for medical cannabis may finally have their best chance to succeed in the 2020 legislative session. Newly elected Governor Andy Beshear has indicated that he strongly supports medical cannabis, so the challenge will be getting a bill through the legislature and to the governor’s desk.

Rep. Jason Nemes has already pre-filed a medical cannabis bill in advance of the legislative session, which begins January 7. Last year, the House Judiciary Committee overwhelmingly approved a medical cannabis bill, but time ran out, and it never received a floor vote. Please write your legislators today and urge them to legalize medical cannabis in 2020!

After you write your legislators, please share this message with your friends and family.

In a recent appearance on WPRI’s Newsmakers, Gov. Raimondo indicated that she will reintroduce a plan to legalize marijuana for adults in her budget proposal for the upcoming legislative session, which begins in early January.

Pointing to the General Assembly’s recent decision to add six new compassion centers, she said, “Last year we made a step forward with more medical [marijuana], and I think the next logical step is adult use.” She also referenced recent conversations with the governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut, indicating that pressure from neighboring states makes legalization more likely in Rhode Island.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts saw nearly half a billion dollars in retail sales at legal marijuana businesses over the past year, which equates to roughly $67 million in new tax revenue for the state. This figure exceeds previous projections from officials.

In other news, the Department of Business Regulation recently proposed new regulations for the state’s medical marijuana program, including a plan to implement a lottery system for awarding new compassion center licenses to qualified applicants. The public comment period for these rules will extend until December 21, and the department will hold a hearing on December 6. More details can be found here.

Though it is difficult to predict whether Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio will have the appetite for legalization in 2020, the pressure to act continues to mount.

Stay tuned for more updates and calls to action soon.

If you have been negatively affected by the ban, please testify in person or submit written testimony.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is holding a public hearing tomorrow on the vape ban, and your opinion matters. Testing has shown that tainted vape products are being sold by underground sources, so it is critical for regulators to understand the need for regulated products that have been tested and shown to be free of contaminants.

If you have been negatively affected by the ban, this is a great opportunity to share your perspective with policymakers in person or in writing. Here are the details:

WHAT: Public hearing on regulation of vaping products

WHERE: Public Health Council Room, second floor of the Department of Public Health Building, 250 Washington Street, Boston

WHEN: 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

To submit written testimony, which will accepted until 5 p.m., send email to Reg.Testimony@state.ma.us. “Vaping products regulation” should be in the subject line, and department officials ask that all submissions include the sender’s full name and address.

In other news, it has now been one full year since the advent of retail sales to adults. As the Boston Globe has reported, there are now 33 stores open, and the state has logged $393.7 million in sales, suggesting that the program — despite its slow start — has produced nearly $67 million in state revenue and up to $11.8 in revenue for municipalities.

Please share this important news with your family and friends!

Ask your lawmakers to stand up for equitable legalization.

On Monday, New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney announced the Senate lacked the votes needed to legalize marijuana. Instead, twin resolutions have been introduced in the Assembly and Senate that would allow voters to decide the question themselves in November 2020. Some senators who are wary of legalization support kicking the decision to voters.

To place the measure on the ballot, the Senate and Assembly must either pass the resolution in both 2019 and 2020 with a simple majority, or they must pass it a single time with a three-fifths supermajority. While we strongly preferred the 147-page bill, which included important provisions for equity and would have taken effect sooner, a voter referral now appears to be the only path to legalize cannabis in New Jersey. We can’t let this opportunity to end the devastating war on cannabis slip away. But it is also crucial that social equity provisions don’t fall by the wayside.

Please urge your legislators to support the legalization voter referral and to also work to enact decriminalization and expungement in the meantime.

On Monday, Assemblyman Jamel Holley and advocates launched a “94 No More” campaign, highlighting the outrageous fact that 94 people — disproportionately African American and Latino — are arrested in New Jersey every day for marijuana. Urge your legislators to stop possession arrests and to wipe clean the scarlet letters that destroy opportunities for people with marijuana convictions. Then, spread the word to other New Jerseyans who support humane marijuana policies.

Urge your U.S. Representative to support the MORE Act on the House floor!

Just moments ago, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee passed the most far-reaching cannabis legalization bill that has ever received a committee vote in Congress. The bill will now be sent to the full House of Representatives. This is a historic moment in our decades-long campaign to end cannabis prohibition at the federal level.

Sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY), the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act is a comprehensive approach to fixing our nation’s broken cannabis laws. In addition to federally decriminalizing and descheduling cannabis (thus allowing states to set their own policies), the MORE Act contains strong social equity provisions with an emphasis on restorative justice for communities most impacted by cannabis prohibition. Here are a few things the legislation would do:

• remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act;
• require federal courts to expunge prior cannabis-related convictions and provide for resentencing;
• provide grants and funding to communities most harmed by the war on cannabis — including by assessing a five percent federal tax on cannabis sales, with revenue used to fund programs such as job training, legal aid for those affected by prohibition, and small business loans for socially and economically disadvantaged individuals;
• lift barriers to licensing and employment in the cannabis industry;
• block federal agencies from denying public benefits or security clearances due to cannabis use;
• protect immigrants from being denied citizenship over cannabis; and
• allow VA physicians to recommend medical cannabis to veterans.

We have two requests:

1. Contact your representative in support of the MORE Act — help build support for this legislation.
2. Donate to MPP — provide us with the resources to maintain pressure on Congress to enact landmark federal cannabis reform.

Let’s put an end to cannabis prohibition — with justice for all.

Click here to send a message to your state senator.

Earlier this month, the Michigan House of Representatives passed legislation to create a simple process for people to expunge marijuana convictions from their records. A package of bills that includes marijuana expungement is expected to receive a vote in the Senate during the first week of December.

Please send a message to your state senator urging them to vote in favor of allowing expungement for past marijuana convictions.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has expressed strong support for the idea and will likely sign the proposal into law if it reaches her desk. 

The legislation could impact an estimated 235,000 residents in Michigan who have been convicted of an offense that is now legal under the state’s voter-approved marijuana legalization law. These convictions unfairly hold people back and make it much more difficult to secure a job.

Last year, the voters of Michigan decided adults shouldn’t be treated as lawbreakers for using marijuana. But those who were harmed by the war on marijuana are still being punished. Please ask your state senator to support expungement and end this injustice.

Thank you.