Urge your senator to support HB 1648!

Last Thursday, the New Hampshire House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted in favor of HB 1648, the bill that would legalize possession and limited cultivation of cannabis for adults 21 and older in New Hampshire. The bill passed with a veto-proof 236-112 majority. Next, it will be scheduled for a public hearing by the Senate, which has rejected previous cannabis legalization bills.

Please email and call your senator’s office and tell them New Hampshire should not be an island of prohibition!

Since Gov. Chris Sununu opposes legalization, it will be difficult to pass this bill in 2020. However, if 16 of the state’s 24 senators can be convinced to support the bill, it will be possible to override a potential veto. Gov. Sununu and all 24 senators will face re-election in November, so it’s important for them to understand that cannabis legalization is more popular than the legislature or any of the state’s best-known elected officials.

A summary of HB 1648 is available here.

After you contact your senator, please share this message with your family and friends.

Read more

Patients have already been waiting far too long — urge your senator to support HB 136!

Yesterday, in a huge victory for patients, the Kentucky House voted 65-30 to pass HB 136, a bill that would legalize cannabis for medical use. The bill will now proceed to the Senate for further consideration. You can read a summary of the bill here.

Please contact your senator today and urge him or her to pass this compassionate legislation!

Gov. Andy Beshear has indicated that he strongly supports medical cannabis. However, some Senate leaders remain opposed, so we know that it will be a challenge to get this bill to the governor’s desk.

It’s critical that legislators hear from their constituents who support medical cannabis. After you contact your senator, please share this message with your friends and family.

Read more

Please reach out to your lawmakers in support of legalizing, taxing, and regulating marijuana for adults!

The effort to legalize cannabis for adult use in the Land of Enchantment will now shift to 2021.

Unfortunately, the legislature wrapped up its 2020 legislative session yesterday without advancing SB 115 — a bill that would have legalized, taxed, and regulated cannabis for adults and provided automatic expungements of past cannabis convictions.

Keep up the pressure by taking a moment to let your lawmakers know you want them to support ending marijuana prohibition and replacing it with sensible regulation!

This year’s effort fell short when the Senate Judiciary Committee decided (6-4) to table SB 115. The bill was approved (4-3) by the Senate Public Affairs Committee, and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) — who made legalization one of her 2020 legislative priorities — supported the bill.

Poll after poll has shown that the majority of New Mexicans support legalizing, taxing, and regulating cannabis for adults, and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham again voiced her support for getting it done.

Urge your lawmakers to support legalizing, taxing, and regulating cannabis for adult use. Then, forward this message to your friends and family in New Mexico and encourage them to do the same.

Read more

Tell your elected officials to support reforming West Virginia’s outdated cannabis policies!

West Virginia’s 2020 legislative session is underway, and several cannabis-related bills have been introduced, including bills to improve the medical cannabis law, to decriminalize possession, and to legalize, regulate, and tax cannabis for adults’ use.

It is unlikely that a legalization bill will be seriously considered in 2020, but there appears to be a much better chance that legislators will support improving the medical cannabis program. West Virginians have been waiting far too long for safe, legal access to medical cannabis, so it’s encouraging to see that bipartisan leaders in the Senate — Majority Leader Tom Takubo (R-Charleston) and Senator Ron Stollings (D-Madison) — have introduced SB 752, a bill that would allow patients to grow their own cannabis until an adequate supply can be established through the dispensaries.

Please contact your elected officials and urge them to support SB 752!

SB 752 would allow patients and caregivers to apply for “compassion certificates,” which would temporarily authorize them to possess up to 12 mature plants and 12 seedlings per patient. The bill would also make other beneficial changes, such as eliminating the restriction on selling cannabis flower at dispensaries and permitting regulators to enter reciprocity agreements with other states.

After you write your legislators and follow up with a phone call, please forward this message to your family and friends!

Read more

Email your lawmakers in support of decriminalization today!

Virginia is very close to becoming the 27th state to decriminalize marijuana!

This week, both chambers of the General Assembly passed similar decriminalization bills. Now, the legislature will have to reconcile the differences in the two bills before a final bill heads to Gov. Ralph Northam's desk. Gov. Northam — who has made decriminalization a top priority in 2020 — is likely to sign the bill into law.

Make sure you let your lawmakers know you want 2020 to be the year Virginia stops criminalizing residents for simple marijuana possession!

The Senate decriminalization bill, SB 2, cleared the Senate yesterday (27-13). The bill would make possession of up to an ounce of marijuana punishable by a $50 civil fine and increase the threshold for charges for sales and possession with intent to distribute from half an ounce to one ounce.

Meanwhile, the House version, which was approved by the House (64-34), would make simple possession a civil penalty punishable by a $25 fine and allow criminal records for marijuana possession to be sealed.

The move to decriminalize marijuana in Virginia is long overdue. Under current law, marijuana possession is a criminal offense punishable by up to 30 days in jail and/or up to a $500 fine.

Help seal the fate of decriminalization in 2020 by contacting your lawmakers today. Then, share this message with your friends and family in Virginia and encourage them to do the same.

Read more

Ask your state lawmakers to support SB 115 to legalize cannabis for adult use!

With just eight days left in 2020’s short legislative session, the New Mexico Legislature is considering SB 115, which would legalize, tax, and regulate cannabis for adults.

Last year, the House approved a legalization bill, but it was defeated in the Senate Finance Committee. Make sure SB 115 doesn’t meet a similar fate: Please take a moment to email your state senator and representative and ask them to support SB 115!

The Senate Public Affairs Committee approved the bill (4-3), and it must now clear both the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Finance Committee before heading to the Senate floor.

SB 115 would allow adults 21 and older to possess up to two ounces of cannabis flower and purchase cannabis products from licensed retailers. The bill also provides for automatic expungements of past cannabis convictions.

Although Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) supports legalization and has included it in her 2020 legislative agenda, SB 115 must clear the legislature to make it to her desk. Keep the pressure up by contacting your lawmakers and asking them to support SB 115!

It is past time the Land of Enchantment end cannabis prohibition and replace it with sensible regulation. A poll commissioned by the governor-appointed marijuana working group found that three out of four voters in the state support legalizing cannabis for adult use.

After you email your legislators, please forward this message to your friends and family in New Mexico and encourage them to do the same.

Read more

Write your legislators and sign up for MRMR’s February 18 lobby day!

Lawmakers convened in Saint Paul today for the first day of their 2020 legislative session. It’s the perfect time to let your legislators know you want them to help end the disastrous war on marijuana.

Help create a groundswell of support:

1. Write your lawmakers. You can use our free software to email your legislators in support of replacing marijuana prohibition with legalization and regulation for adults 21 and older.

2. Join our allies’ lobby day. Register here to join Minnesotans for Responsible Marijuana Regulation’s lobby day. It’s next Tuesday, February 18 from 12:30 - 4:00 p.m.

3. Spread the word. Forward this email or share the links on social media.

In nine of the 11 states that legalized marijuana, voters did so directly. But Minnesota doesn’t have a citizen initiative process. In The Land of Ten Thousand Lakes, only the legislature can change state law — or place a measure on the ballot to do so.

House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (D) recently outlined principles for his cannabis legalization bill, which he aims to shepherd through the House this year. While his leadership and “Be Heard on Cannabis” tour gives the issue’s prospects a boost, Minnesota has long, arduous committee process. It’ll take all hands on deck to make sure the bill makes it through the House.

So, please, let your legislators know voters want them to end the failed war on marijuana and replace it with thoughtful regulation. Then, sign up for MRMR’s lobby day and spread the word.

Read more

With the majority of Americans now supporting marijuana legalization, and with legalization being a key component of broader criminal justice reform — a top issue among voters — primary constituents want to hear where candidates stand on our issue.

As MPP’s director of federal policies, I am currently on the ground for primary week in New Hampshire, attending campaign events and town halls all over the state and relentlessly pursuing the Democratic presidential hopefuls concerning their positions on cannabis.

From Claremont to Nashua, I am engaging with the candidates and working to raise the profile of marijuana policy reform in the presidential election. It’s important that we hold candidates accountable for their positions, and last week, I recorded a short conversation with Joe Biden in which the former vice president appeared to shift from his typical opposition to fully legalizing marijuana.

"I think it is at the point where it has to be, basically, legalized," Biden said in the recording, though it’s unclear whether the former vice president’s position on marijuana legalization has officially changed. You can hear the whole exchange, featured on Politico, here.

Although it sounded like Biden was on the verge of endorsing legalization (as all the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have, Bloomberg excepted), he failed to clarify his position and ultimately, only made it more unclear. As I told Marijuana Moment, “it turned out to be a big nothing.”

At the conclusion of our taped dialogue, however, I urged Biden to raise the issue with the American electorate, discuss it on the debate stage, and address the conflict between state and federal marijuana laws.

These on-the-ground efforts are just one of the ways MPP is working to drive the conversation on federal marijuana policy, both nationally and locally. Help us continue these kinds of exchanges and keep injecting marijuana policy reform into the discussion by making a donation today.

— Don Murphy, Director of Federal Policies

Read more

Urge your representatives to support S. 54!

The Vermont Ways and Means Committee approved S. 54 this week in an 8-3 vote. The bill to legalize, regulate, and tax cannabis sales appears likely to receive a vote in the full House within the next couple of weeks.

Please contact your representatives now and ask for their support!

The House has amended the bill, including by changing the tax rate to a flat 20% (in the Senate’s version, it’s 16% plus a 2% local option tax), but none of the changes are final. Assuming the bill passes the House, it will proceed to a conference committee, where members of the House and Senate will work to resolve their differences and agree on a single version of the bill to send to Gov. Phil Scott’s desk.

You can read an updated summary of the bill here.

Vermonters have already waited far too long for legal, regulated sales of cannabis. After you contact your representatives, please share this message with your family and friends!

Read more

Focus returns to the House legalization bill and Gov. Chris Sununu — Email your legislators and call the governor!

Yesterday morning, the medical cannabis home cultivation bill (SB 420) passed the Senate in a voice vote. Next, it will proceed to the House, which has passed similar bills by overwhelming margins. Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed a similar bill in 2019, and the Senate was three votes short of overriding his veto, so either the governor or three senators will need to change their positions if the bill is to become law this year.

While we wait for the House to schedule a hearing on SB 420, we will resume focus on HB 1648, the adult-use legalization bill that is pending in the House. Yesterday’s House session was cancelled because of snow, so the vote is currently expected on February 19 or 20.

Please email your elected officials and call Gov. Sununu today!

We are running a Facebook ad to promote the bill to the general public.

Please donate to help us reach more Granite Staters with our message of support for HB 1648!

Read more