Late last week, the D.C. Council Committee on the Judiciary met to consider B21-0107, which would make permanent an expansion of what is considered “open to the public” for purposes of banning marijuana consumption. This legislation is excessively broad and unnecessary.

Should B21-0107 fail, owners and operators of private clubs and event spaces will be allowed to decide for themselves if they want to allow marijuana consumption by adults 21 and older. Currently, District residents are legally allowed to consume marijuana only in private residences. Because of restrictions on public housing and by some landlords, this leaves some District residents with nowhere they can consume cannabis.

District code already prevents marijuana consumption “any place to which the public is invited,” so marijuana could still not be consumed in bars or restaurants if B21-0107 is defeated.

Congress has prevented the Council from taking further action to treat marijuana like alcohol, but that does not mean they have to adopt excessively broad legislation such as B21-0107. If you are a District resident, ask your council members to oppose advancement of B21-0107 thereby allowing social marijuana use in limited, non-residential, private spaces. Marijuana is safer than alcohol; help us continue to shape policy to recognize this.

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Flanked by leaders in the faith community, Illinois Rep. Kelly Cassidy today announced a new decriminalization bill last week for the 2016 session, HB 4357. Rep. Cassidy has long worked to establish a more just approach to marijuana possession in Illinois, and this new bill gives lawmakers and the governor a chance to quickly pass a bill they both agree would improve the lives of thousands of Illinoisans.

[caption id="attachment_9407" align="alignright" width="200"] Rep. Kelly Cassidy[/caption]

While both Gov. Bruce Rauner and the legislature agreed that arrest and jail should be replaced with civil penalties, Gov. Rauner wanted some changes to the legislation approved by the General Assembly. After he issued an amendatory veto, attention turned to the state budget during the latter half of the year. HB 4357 picks up where the previous bill left off.

Currently, possession laws in Illinois are harsh and unfair. Not only can a person be arrested, jailed, and fined large amounts of money for simple possession, people of color are also far, far more likely to be arrested than their white counterparts. It’s past time for state law to change and apply equally to all residents.

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Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Ed Ehlinger gave patients reason to cheer earlier this month when he approved intractable pain as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana. Unfortunately, though, proposed revisions to Minnesota’s medical marijuana regulations could result in an excruciatingly long delay for reviewing future petitions. Under the proposed changes, there could be a delay of more than two years from the time a petition to add a new qualifying condition or delivery method is made to when it takes effect!

If you are a Minnesota resident, please write to Commissioner Ed Ehlinger at the Minnesota Department of Health and urge him to once again show compassion to patients by changing the timeline for adding new conditions. Members of the public may comment on the proposed rules until Wednesday, December 16.

A vast majority of medical marijuana states allow individuals to use and access any number of preparations of medical marijuana to treat a variety of conditions. Minnesota is one of the few that exclude conditions like severe nausea and that strictly limits the modes of delivery — including by excluding whole plant.

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On December 2, the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services issued a request for proposals for two new medical marijuana compassion centers, one in Sussex and another in Kent County. The announcement comes six months after the state’s first center opened in Wilmington in June. The new dispensaries are scheduled to open in the fall of 2016.

The addition of two centers will help to better meet the needs of Delaware patients and will reduce the distances they have to travel. Currently, one dispensary serves the more than 700 patients and caregivers who have registered in the state since the program began. Under existing restrictions, a compassion center can only have up to 2,000 ounces of usable inventory at a time. Unfortunately, patients and caregivers are not allowed to cultivate their own medicine, so increasing the number of dispensaries is vital to ensuring safe, reliable access.

Proposals will be accepted until 11:00 a.m. on March 30, 2016.

A mandatory pre-bid meeting will be held on February 1 at the Delaware Division of Public Health, Jesse Cooper Building, Third Floor Conference Room in Dover. Applicants must preregister at (302) 744-4862.

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A poll released Monday shows that the vast majority of likely Georgia voters support expanding the extremely limited medical marijuana law.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

The poll conducted on behalf of the newly formed Georgians for Freedom in Healthcare is part of that effort to show Georgians are comfortable with expanding the program — even if the governor isn’t.

The poll, conducted Nov. 29-30 by Atlanta-based Opinion Savvy, found 84.5 percent of likely 2016 Georgia primary voters somewhat to strongly supported allowing production and distribution of cannabis oil in Georgia.

Another 72.7 percent of respondents said they are somewhat to very confident law enforcement agencies could effectively police the law’s expansion — something law enforcement officials in Georgia have said they are still skeptical about.

Among other findings, 81.8 percent of respondents said they support expanding the list of illnesses now included in the program for the oil’s use. Another 61.5 percent said they somewhat to strongly support allowing the smoking of medical marijuana as a form of treatment. And 49.4 percent said they would at least somewhat support recreational use of marijuana in Georgia, although state lawmakers have said they have no appetite for allowing recreational use here.

Under the current law, there is no in-state production of medical marijuana, and what few patients are able to qualify for the program must risk arrest by obtaining their medicine in other states. Hopefully, the Governor and legislature will listen to the will of the people and not stand in the way of improving the law!

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Recently, the government of Mississippi announced that MPP will not be able to raise any funds within the state, which could hamper efforts at reform there and throughout the South.

MPP's Executive Director Rob Kampia writes:

The Mississippi government is saying that MPP is prohibited from raising money in that state because I'm a convicted felon.

After I was convicted for growing my own marijuana while in college, I co-founded MPP in order to repeal marijuana prohibition in all 50 states — something we can no longer do in Mississippi. 

Worse yet, we're not even allowed to raise money in Mississippi to challenge the state’s stupid fundraising law.

This isn’t the first time MPP has been discriminated against.

For example, (1) MPP almost lost our employees' retirement plan until a member of Congress intervened, (2) the bank where we've been doing business for 20 years won't give us a line of credit because they don't like our "mission," (3) we had trouble opening a brokerage account, (4) we had trouble getting credit card processing for our five ballot initiative committees, (5) numerous landlords wouldn't lease office space to us or our campaigns, and (6) the IRS has audited us twice.

And now we can't raise any money in the entire state of Mississippi because of a marijuana conviction 26 years ago?

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Today, Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Ed Ehlinger announced that intractable pain will be added to Minnesota’s medical marijuana program!

[caption id="attachment_9386" align="alignright" width="200"] Dr. Ed Ehlinger[/caption]

Unless the legislature passes a measure to override his compassionate decision, patients with intractable pain can be certified under the program beginning July 1, 2016. Once certified, they can receive medical marijuana beginning August 1, 2016.

A vast majority of medical marijuana states allow individuals to use and access medical marijuana to treat severe pain, and Minnesota does well to follow suit. Cannabis is far safer than opioids and prescription painkillers, and patients deserve this option.

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Yesterday, the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Massachusetts submitted more than 100,000 signatures to the secretary of state. Only 64,750 signatures are needed, and supporters are confident that the measure will qualify for the 2016 ballot!

Associated Press reports:

The proposal would allow Massachusetts residents 21 or older to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana. It would also create a 3.75 percent state excise tax on retail marijuana sales that would be assessed on top of the state's 6.25 percent sales tax.

"You don't want the tax to be too high because then it's difficult to undercut the black market, and you want the tax to be high enough so you can finance the regulation and have some money left over," said Will Luzier, campaign director for the group, as he emptied pages of signatures from two Christmas shopping bags at the state elections office.

The Legislature now has until the first week in May to vote on the proposal, but it's unlikely to win approval from lawmakers given opposition to legalized marijuana from key state officials including Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat.

Senate President Stan Rosenberg said last week he expected voters would ultimately decide the issue. Assuming no action by lawmakers, organizers would need to collect at least 10,792 additional signatures to place the question on the November 2016 ballot.

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New Hampshire patients who have been desperately waiting for the state to begin issuing ID cards can finally breathe a sigh of relief. This afternoon, Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Robert McNamara ruled in favor of Linda Horan, a terminal lung cancer patient who wishes to obtain medical marijuana legally from a dispensary in Maine. The state will now have to issue Linda an ID card without delay (you can read the full court order here). The card will protect Linda from arrest in New Hampshire and allow her to comply with the terms of Maine’s law, which allows dispensaries to serve visiting patients if they possess ID cards from their home states.

[caption id="attachment_9374" align="alignright" width="250"] Paul Twomey, Linda Horan, and Rep. Cushing (PHOTO: InDepthNH)[/caption]

This lawsuit was needed because although New Hampshire passed its medical marijuana law in 2013, the attorney general’s office blocked the issuance of ID cards, advising that the state must wait until the first dispensary was ready to open (which is not expected until 2016). Congratulations and many thanks to Linda, her attorney, Paul Twomey, and state Rep. Renny Cushing for their courageous leadership!

Twomey summed the case up perfectly with the following quote: “Linda is a hero. Facing death, she has chosen to fight for the rights of all the critically ill patients in New Hampshire, who should not have to fear arrest because they are sick. She may be dying, but we all owe her our thanks for showing us how to live.”

If you are a patient, you can learn more about the registration process and download the relevant forms by visiting the program’s website here.

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The Alaska Marijuana Control Board voted on Friday to create a class of retail marijuana license that will allow onsite consumption. This is an important decision that benefits adult consumers, those who will be licensed to provide to them, and the communities that want to regulate use.

Despite clear language contained in Measure 2, some state staff members had advised the board that it could not authorize retail licenses to allow onsite consumption. Many of those who supported Measure 2 were concerned that the issue would be confused and needlessly delayed as the board deferred to lawmakers rather than exercise its own authority. Public comments submitted to the board overwhelmingly supported this change, and we applaud the board for taking this important step.

While the definition of “public,” adopted by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board in February, did improve with this change, it unfortunately still falls short of acknowledging the rights private business owners have under the law. Nonetheless, this decision marks an important moment in the rule-making process and a victory for those who worked so hard to make Alaska’s regulations successful.

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