Contact your lawmakers today and ask them to support HB 32.

On Tuesday, February 16, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Del. Jazz Lewis’ HB 32 to legalize and regulate cannabis equitably in Maryland.

You can check out the hearing here if you missed it. Del. Lewis also offered several amendments to the bill in committee. You can check out our full summary of the bill as amended here.

Now is the time to make sure your lawmakers hear from you! Please email them today and ask them to support HB 32.

Maryland’s neighbor, Virginia, is getting closer to legalizing cannabis this year. Both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly approved legalization bills earlier this month.

Let your lawmakers know that Maryland should follow suit by passing HB 32 this session! The longer the legislature waits, the more Marylanders will be needlessly arrested and cited for cannabis offenses. And as long as the state delays, consumers will only have access to the unregulated and dangerous illicit market, and the state will miss out on generating millions of dollars in tax revenue.

After you email your lawmakers, please share this action on social media and encourage your friends and family in Maryland to do the same.

Together, we can end prohibition in the Free State!

Ask your state lawmakers to legalize cannabis this year.

Good news! Last week, Gov. Lamont released his 2021 adult-use legalization bill. As you may recall, last year Gov. Lamont drafted a legalization bill but the effort was upended when the legislative session was suspended due to the onset of the coronavirus.

Gov. Lamont’s 2021 proposal — S.B. 888 — would legalize possession of up to one and a half ounces for persons over 21, with legal sales beginning on May 2, 2022.

An Equity Commission would issue recommendations by November 15, 2021 on a number of issues, including qualifications for equity applicants and distribution of a portion of tax revenues to support residents in communities disproportionately harmed by cannabis prohibition.

Additionally, the bill would decriminalize possession of up to two and a half ounces. Persons with convictions for cannabis possession under four ounces prior to October 1, 2015 would have their records automatically expunged. Persons with possession convictions for less than four ounces after October 1, 2015 would be allowed to petition the court for expungement at no cost. Gov. Lamont’s bill also provides important public health and safety protections, such as labeling standards and preventing advertising to minors.

Lastly, the bill would levy a wholesale tax of $1.25 per dry weight gram of cannabis flower, $.50 per dry weight gram of cannabis trim, and $.28 per wet weight gram of cannabis, in addition to the state sales tax of 6.25%. Municipalities could also levy up to a 3% point of sale tax. To learn more, you can check out our bill summary here.

The bill now heads to the Judiciary Committee for a hearing. We will urge the committee to advance the bill but to first make some revisions to make it stronger and more explicit on equity. We’ll be sure to keep you updated on how to offer testimony on the proposal. In the meantime, please urge your legislators to support the legislation to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis to adults in the 2021 session.

Ask your member of Congress to sign on to the Blumenauer-Lee clemency letter.

Yesterday, in a Presidents Day push, Congressional Cannabis Caucus co-chairs, Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Barbara Lee, announced they are sending a formal letter to the Biden administration requesting mass clemency for people with non-violent federal cannabis convictions. You can read the full letter here.

Joining the lawmakers in the call for mass clemency are several cannabis advocacy organizations and industry associations, including MPP, the newly formed U.S. Cannabis Council, the Minority Cannabis Business Association, NORML, and the National Cannabis Industry Association, among others.

On the campaign trail, Biden pledged to prioritize criminal justice reform and committed that he would automatically expunge all past marijuana convictions for use and possession. Now it’s time for President Biden to make good on his campaign promises.

Ask your member of Congress to sign on to the letter urging President Biden to grant cannabis clemency!

A cannabis conviction comes with a host of collateral consequences that can hamper a person’s ability to obtain housing, jobs, and educational opportunities. On top of that, because of unequal enforcement, a disproportionate number of people who enter the criminal justice system due to cannabis-related activity are people of color. A general pardon of all non-violent federal cannabis offenders would be the kind of action that would signal to historically marginalized communities that their suffering is seen — and that the administration seeks to meaningfully address their plight.

By issuing this general cannabis pardon, President Biden could be a leader on criminal justice reform, while providing immediate relief to thousands of Americans.

Again, please ask your Congressional representative to sign on to the clemency letter today, and share this with your social networks.

MPP proudly commemorates Black History Month. As we honor the history and achievements of Black Americans, we must also seek to advance policies that address systemic racism and reform our criminal justice system. That includes ending cannabis prohibition.

For decades, cannabis prohibition and its disparate enforcement have had a devastating impact on communities of color. Cannabis prohibition has been used to target and criminalize Black and brown folks, waste taxpayer money, and fuel the mass incarceration crisis. Even though Black and white Americans use cannabis at the same rates, Black Americans are much more likely to be criminalized for simple possession.

MPP is committed to ending the racist policies of prohibition and to legalizing cannabis equitably. We encourage you to support Black-owned businesses and engage with racial and social justice-minded organizations in the cannabis sphere. Let's honor Black History Month by learning from the past and investing in a fairer, more equitable future for Black Americans. 

History of Racism in Cannabis Prohibition

Some resources that detail the history of racism in our cannabis laws. 

• ACLU Report: A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform
• VIDEO from Business Insider: The Racist Origins of Marijuana Prohibition
• Reefer Madness: The Racist Origins of Marijuana Prohibition, Natalie Papillion
• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander

Black-owned Businesses in the Cannabis Industry

Be a conscious cannabis consumer — support Black and Brown entrepreneurs and communities!

In partnership with ALMOSTCONSULTING, Cannaclusive has developed InclusiveBase — a comprehensive list of Black- and minority-owned cannabis businesses across the United States. InclusiveBase is a great resource that amplifies people of color who are leading the way in the cannabis renaissance.

Check out InclusiveBase here.

Black History in the Making

A spotlight on 10 Black advocates and entrepreneurs making history in the cannabis movement.

Major Neill Franklin, Ret.

A 34-year law enforcement veteran and former executive director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), Major Franklin witnessed firsthand the counterproductive nature of the war on drugs. Franklin’s experiences as a police commander revealed the futility of addressing drugs and drug use through a criminal justice framework, leading him to become a top advocate for criminal justice and drug policy reform.

Hope Wiseman

As the founder of Mary & Main, Wiseman is the youngest Black woman dispensary owner in the United States. She also established Maryland Grown Medicine, a 100-percent minority-owned business, through which she hopes to bring jobs to communities negatively affected by the war on drugs.

Toi Hutchinson

Hutchinson is a former state senator who was a leader in passing the bill that legalized cannabis in Illinois — with an unprecedented focus on equity and criminal justice reform. Hutchinson was then named Illinois’ cannabis czar to oversee the state’s adult-use program, and she now acts as Gov. J.B. Pritzker's senior marijuana adviser.

Kareem Kenyatta

Kenyatta is a co-founder of the Majority Minority Group, a values-driven company with the mission to leverage the opportunity in cannabis to create more minority-owned businesses. While lobbying on behalf of adult-use cannabis in Illinois, Kareem and his partner realized that cannabis legalization is not just an issue of racial and social justice but also a business imperative that people of color should and must participate in.

Al Harrigton

Former NBA forward turned CEO of cannabis company Viola Brands, Harrington is on a mission to turn 100 Black individuals into millionaires using the cannabis sector.

Amber E. Senter

Senter is founder and CEO of Breeze Distro, a distributor of high quality cannabis products, and founder of Supernova Women, an advocacy group that provides spaces and resources to women of color in the cannabis industry.

Dr. Rachel Knox, MD, MBA

Dr. Knox is an Endocannabinologist and certified Cannabinoid Medicine Specialist who received her medical and business degrees from Tufts University after completing her undergraduate studies at Duke. Dr. Knox sits on the board of Doctors for Cannabis Regulation, where she advances cannabis policy reform particularly as it relates to achieving health equity for our most vulnerable populations.

Sen. Cory Booker

As a sponsor of the Marijuana Justice Act and the MORE Act, Booker is a champion of equitable cannabis policy in Congress. Along with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Ron Wyden, Sen. Booker plans to advance comprehensive cannabis reform legislation in the current Congress. For Booker, that means connecting cannabis reform to criminal justice reform and racial justice and enacting measures that will lift up people who were unfairly targeted in the war on drugs.

Del. Jazz Lewis

Maryland State Delegate for District 24 (Prince George’s County), Del. Lewis is a champion for equitable cannabis legalization policies. He’s the sponsor of Maryland’s legalization bill, HB 32, which proposes a robust framework for expanding economic opportunities for Black and brown residents and for repairing some of the damage that has been done to minority communities "disproportionately affected" by marijuana criminalization.

Jeanette Ward Horton

As the executive director and co-founder of the NuLeaf Project, Jeanette Ward Horton is working to build intergenerational wealth and success for Black and Brown people through the legal cannabis industry. She’s also fighting to pass the Cannabis Equity Act in Oregon to invest $100 million of the state’s cannabis tax revenue in social equity opportunities and reparative justice.

Groups Fighting for Racial Justice in Cannabis

Organizations putting in the hard work for racial and social justice in the cannabis space and beyond. Show them your support!

• National Expungement Week (N.E.W.): Provides expungement relief and wrap-around services to communities affected by the war on drugs.
• The Hood Incubator: A movement to leverage the cannabis industry as a pathway for healing, hope, and opportunity for Black communities.
• Cannabis Cultural Association: A nonprofit based in New York that helps marginalized and underrepresented communities engage in the legal cannabis industry, emphasizing criminal justice reform, access to medical cannabis, and adult-use legalization.
• Minority Cannabis Business Association (MCBA): A nonprofit whose mission is to create equal access for cannabis businesses and promote economic empowerment for communities of color by creating policy considerations, social programming, and outreach initiatives to achieve equity for the communities most affected by the war on drugs.
• The Equity Organization: A criminal justice reform organization working to advance a just, equitable, and effective approach to American drug policy.
• Cage-Free Cannabis: An organization that helps the cannabis industry and its consumers repair harms of the war on drugs through reparative, economic, and environmental justice. 
• Supernova Women: A women of color-led nonprofit organization with a mission to empower people of color to become self-sufficient shareholders in the cannabis industry through education, advocacy, and network building. 
• Last Prisoner Project (LPP): A nonprofit organization dedicated to cannabis criminal justice reform. They believe that anyone profiting from or freely engaging in the legal cannabis industry has a moral imperative to work towards restorative justice. No one should remain incarcerated or continue to suffer the collateral consequences of prohibition and the war on drugs which has and continues to disproportionately impact communities of color.
• Marijuana Matters: Through advocacy, entrepreneurship, and education, Marijuana Matters identifies and eliminates barriers to economic opportunity in regulated cannabis markets for those disadvantaged by marijuana’s criminalization.
• Minorities for Medical Marijuana (M4MM):A nonprofit organization focused on providing advocacy, outreach, research, and training as it relates to the business, social reform, public policy, and health/wellness in the cannabis industry.
• NuLeaf Project (NLP): An organization that helps build intergenerational wealth via the legal cannabis industry for the communities disproportionately harmed by cannabis criminalization — Black, Indigenous, and Latina/o/x communities. NLP’s programs are designed to increase success outcomes for people of color in the cannabis industry either as business owners or professionals.

It's time to act.

Politicians in Pierre are attempting to thwart the will of the voters and gut key parts of Measure 26. We need you to join in the fight with us right now. Here's how you can help:

1. Contact your state legislators. The first order of business is defeating House Bill 1100, which would severely delay implementation of the medical marijuana program. Click here to email and call your state senator and representative.
    
2. Meet with your legislators TOMORROW at constituent meetings happening around the state. Lawmakers are holding Legislative Coffees & Cracker Barrels tomorrow (Saturday, Feb. 13). This is an opportunity to make your voice heard and let your legislators know that you want both voter initiatives implemented without delay or interference. Click here for details about the events tomorrow.
    
3. Sign the petition to Gov. Noem. The governor and her friends in the state legislature believe they can gut key provisions of Measure 26 because "the voters don't understand what they voted on." This is an insult to the 70% of South Dakotans who voted for Measure 26. Click here to let Gov. Noem know that you expect the will of the people to be respected.

We won't sit back while politicians attempt to trample on policies enacted by the people of South Dakota. This is where the rubber meets the road, and it's crucial that we hold the line.

Please take action now and share the details with your network by word-of-mouth and through social media.

Thank you.

Sadly, another committee is obstructing progress on adult-use legalization — write your representatives today and tell them this is unacceptable!

First, the good news: HB 350, the medical cannabis home cultivation bill, passed the House Health, Human Services, and Elderly Affairs Committee in an overwhelming 20-1 vote. Thanks to all who testified or signed in at the public hearing!

After the bill passes the full House, which it is expected to do by a wide margin, it will be referred to the Senate Health Committee for a hearing. This will likely be a much more difficult challenge, since some committee members have opposed home cultivation bills in the past. If you’d like to go ahead and start reaching out to the members of this committee and to Gov. Chris Sununu (who vetoed a similar bill in 2019), click here for more details.

Sadly, despite overwhelming testimony from New Hampshire residents in favor of cannabis legalization, the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee voted 14-7 to “retain” both legalization bills. If the House doesn’t overturn this decision and pass at least one of the two bills, adults who consume cannabis will continue to be fined and arrested for at least another year.

I described the committee’s unacceptable actions in this detailed commentary. If you’re as outraged as I am by the committee’s decision to avoid a vote on these bills, please write your representatives and urge them to make legalization a top priority!

After you write your representatives, please share this important message with your friends and family!

Click here to tell your state senator to vote NO on SB 2765.

We need your help to protect medical marijuana in Mississippi.

Last year, Mississippi voters approved Initiative 65 by a huge margin to put the state on track to establish a compassionate medical marijuana program for patients with serious health conditions.

But some state lawmakers are now trying to pull the wool over voters’ eyes by passing SB 2765, which would set up an entirely unnecessary “parallel” medical marijuana program alongside the one created by Initiative 65. In truth, this is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to severely restrict who can participate in Mississippi’s medical marijuana industry.

The Mississippi State Senate could vote on SB 2765 as soon as tomorrow. Please take action right now by asking your state senator to vote NO.

Click here to contact your state senator right now.

Though backers of SB 2765 claim that they are protecting the will of the voters, this legislation differs significantly from the voter-approved initiative. For example, SB 2765 would establish a whopping $200,000 application fee for cultivation businesses, create arbitrary limits on the number of operators in the market, and ultimately undermine patients’ access to medical marijuana.

Please take action now and urge your state senator to vote against this attempt to undermine patient access to medical marijuana in Mississippi.

Write your elected officials, then call your senator’s office and urge them to support the legislation!

Support for medical cannabis in Kentucky is stronger than ever. Twenty-five representatives have signed on as sponsors of a medical cannabis bill in the House, HB 136, and 10 senators are sponsoring a similar Senate bill, SB 92.

Now would be a great time to write your state legislators in support of medical cannabis. After you do so, please call your senator’s office and urge them to support the bill!

Last year, the Kentucky House voted 65-30 to pass the medical cannabis bill, but Senate leaders refused to give it a vote. Please take a moment to call Senate President Robert Stivers’ office and tell him this legislation is urgently needed for Kentuckians who are battling serious medical conditions.

After you write your state legislators, call your senator’s office, and call Senate President Robert Stivers’ office, please share this message with your friends and family.

Today, the Marijuana Policy Project, along with other top cannabis businesses, associations, and advocacy organizations in the United States, launched the U.S. Cannabis Council (USCC), a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization that strategically aligns and unifies its members’ collective voices to advance cannabis reform.

MPP is proud to be a founding member of the U.S. Cannabis Council, a first-of-its-kind strategic coalition of businesses, associations, and advocacy organizations. The purpose of the USCC is to act as one unified voice advocating for the descheduling and legalization of cannabis. MPP Executive Director Steven Hawkins will serve as the Interim CEO of the USCC, which will focus on securing federal reforms that advance social equity and promote fair, safe and well-regulated markets nationwide as states continue legalizing cannabis at a rapid rate.

“USCC is a unified voice advocating for the descheduling and legalization of cannabis,” said Hawkins, a leader in civil and human rights. “Legalization at both the state and federal levels must include provisions ensuring social equity and redress for harms caused to communities impacted by cannabis prohibition.”

The alliance aims to raise ethical standards within the industry; achieve restorative justice for communities that have been disproportionately impacted by misguided state and federal cannabis policies; and create a healthy, inclusive, and well-regulated cannabis industry with social, financial and environmental benefits shared by all. It aspires to become a leading resource for cannabis policy in the U.S., impacting policy changes on both the federal and state levels.

The founding members of the USCC represent some of the most influential policy and business organizations in the modern cannabis industry from throughout North America including: Acreage Holdings; Akerna Corp.; American Trade Association of Cannabis and Hemp; Association for Cannabis Health Equity and Medicine; BellRock Brands; Buckeye Relief; Cannabis Trade Federation; Canopy Growth Corporation; Columbia Care Inc.; Cresco Labs Inc.; Cronos Group; Culta; Curaleaf; DNA Genetics; Eaze; Flowhub; Global Alliance for Cannabis Commerce; Good Chemistry; The Grove Cannabis Dispensary; Headcount’s Cannabis Voter Project; Husch Blackwell; iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc.; Jushi; Keef Brands; Lightshade; LivWell Enlightened Health; Marijuana Policy Project; Medicine Man; MedMen; Native Roots Cannabis Co.; 1906 New Highs; PAX Labs; PharmaCann; ProKure; Raw Garden; Schwazze; Scotts Miracle-Gro Company; Urbn Leaf; Veterans Cannabis Project; Vicente Sederberg LLP; Vireo; and Wana.

Speaking with Politico’s Natalie Fertig, Hawkins described a current “too many cooks in the kitchen” landscape, where so many voices trying to influence cannabis policy make it difficult to get anything done. He hopes USCC can alleviate that problem so the movement can proceed forward with a unified message. “We are expecting that there will be significant cannabis reform this session — hopefully this year,” said Hawkins. “This is the moment and that's why it's so important to be unified right now.”

To learn more about the United States Cannabis Council, visit http://www.uscannabiscouncil.org.   

Very exciting news: Today, the Virginia Legislature voted to advance legislation that would legalize cannabis for adults 21 and older in the commonwealth!

HB 2312, sponsored by Majority Leader Charniele Herring, passed the House in a 55-42 vote, while SB 1406, sponsored by Senators Adam Ebbin and Louise Lucas, passed the Senate 23-15.

But even though this is great news, it’s not a done deal yet. Because the bills were amended and are no longer identical, the legislature will likely set up a conference committee to reconcile differences. If the legislature approves a final bill, it will then head to Gov. Ralph Northam, who has signaled strong support.

Under the proposed bills, adults 21+ could possess up to an ounce of cannabis, cultivate up to two mature and two immature plants at their residence, and purchase cannabis and cannabis products from regulated dispensaries.

You can read a summary of HB 2312 here and a summary of SB 1406 here.

In the coming weeks, MPP will be pushing to ensure Virginia lawmakers fix some issues with the legislation — such as increased penalties for certain low-level offenses — and to get help it past the finish line. Please consider making a donation today so we can help fix the bill, get it passed, and legalize in several other states this year!

Let’s make Virginia the first state in South to end cannabis prohibition.