In response to COVID-19, Gov. Carney has issued a state of emergency and temporary closure of non-essential businesses.

Fortunately, medical cannabis businesses remain open, and the program has implemented measures to ensure patients can safely access their medicine in a way that is consistent with public health guidelines on preventing the spread of coronavirus.

For the first time, patients have the option of home delivery!

Columbia Care, which has locations in Wilmington, Smyrna, and Rehoboth Beach, is the first company to launch a delivery service. Additional dispensaries may offer delivery, but have not yet.

Compassion centers are also currently providing online ordering and curbside pickup for patients. If you are able utilize these services safely, please continue to do so to ensure patients who need delivery the most have access as the program begins.

You can find a list of compassion centers in Delaware here.

Regulators intend to allow delivery to continue even after the COVID-19 crisis has abated, so stay tuned for updates.

We wish you and your loved ones well.

Urge Gov. Reynolds to allow home delivery of cannabidiol.

Gov. Kim Reynolds’ administration has taken some steps to preserve safe access to medical cannabidiol during this time of social distancing: Iowa’s medical cannabidiol program is allowing curbside pickup during the pandemic and is encouraging telemedicine consultations. However, we are disappointed the governor has not taken other steps, including allowing home delivery.

Please take a moment to urge the governor to allow home delivery during the crisis.

Meanwhile, the medical cannabidiol program is facing a structural problem. Iowa only allows cannabis extracts with no more than 3% THC content. This leaves behind patients whose conditions benefit from greater concentrations of THC, and it has created a program so restrictive that businesses are not economically viable. Two of the state’s five dispensaries recently shuttered their doors as a result.

Last year, Gov. Reynolds vetoed a bill to replace the 3% THC cap with a per-person limit of 25 grams every 90 days. Then, before the legislature convened this year, the Medical Cannabidiol Board recommended the legislature remove the THC potency cap and replace it with a purchasing limit of 4.5 grams of THC over 90 days.

Although bills were introduced to upgrade the limited medical marijuana program, to decriminalize marijuana, and to legalize and regulate cannabis for adults, none have passed. The legislature was scheduled to adjourn on April 21, but it has suspended its session due to COVID-19 until April 30.

While there does not appear to be any real prospect of marijuana policy reform legislation passing this year, you can still make a difference. Please write Gov. Reynolds in support of home delivery. You can go the extra mile by spreading the word to others, calling her office at (515) 281-5211, or making an appeal on Twitter.

We wish you and your loved ones well during these difficult times.

Urge the governor to allow home delivery of cannabis.

Gov. Tim Walz (D) has taken important steps to preserve safe access to medical cannabis during this time of social distancing. Medical cannabis businesses have been allowed to remain open during the stay-at-home order. By executive order, the governor is permitting curbside pickup and telemedicine, and he has pushed back expiration dates on patient certifications and is allowing temporary caregivers.

While we commend the governor for these important measures, we are disappointed he has not allowed home delivery during the crisis. Please take a moment to thank the governor for what he’s already done, while urging him to allow delivery.

In the face of the pandemic, we are advised to stay at home and — when it’s necessary to go out — to maintain at least six feet of distance from others. During these difficult times, the safest way to obtain medical cannabis is contactless delivery. Medical cannabis patients shouldn’t have to put themselves in danger to access the medicine they depend on.

After you write the governor, you can go the extra mile by spreading the word to others, calling his office at 651-201-3400, or making an appeal on Twitter.

Legalization Appears Stalled Due to the Virus

When this year’s legislative session convened in February, there were high hopes that the House of Representatives would approve legalization this year. House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (D) was expected to introduce a comprehensive legalization proposal based on principles he outlined that reflected stakeholder input, including from his "Be Heard on Cannabis" tour over the fall and winter.

Since then, life changed dramatically. Efforts to prevent transmission of novel coronavirus stalled legislative action. The legislature convened briefly in late March for a coronavirus relief bill, but it has otherwise recessed until mid-April. It appears we’ll need to shift our focus to passing in 2021.

Unfortunately, leadership in the Senate is behind the times. Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-Nisswa) has said the Republican caucus is strongly opposed. However, the entire legislature will be on the ballot in November, so there’s an opportunity to elect more lawmakers that recognize the folly of prohibition.

Stay tuned for a voter guide and opportunities to get engaged.

Let your legislators know Connecticut cannot wait another year.

Just a few weeks ago, before life changed dramatically, S.B. 16 – An Act Concerning Adult Use of Cannabis – was primed for action.

In February, Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney (D) and House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz (D) introduced the Governor’s Bill, which would allow adults 21 and older to possess and purchase up to one-and-a-half ounces of cannabis from licensed retailers. A summary of the bill can be found here.

On March 2, the Judiciary Committee held a public hearing on Gov. Ned Lamont’s bill to end prohibition and regulate marijuana for adult use in Connecticut. Prior to the hearing, the Connecticut Coalition to Regulate Marijuana joined together with other stakeholders to voice support for action on the bill and stayed to testify at the public hearing. MPP's testimony can be found here.

Later in March, legislative leaders ordered the Capitol and Legislative Office Building closed until April 13. Legislative leaders and committee chairs continue to prioritize and analyze bills in anticipation of session resuming. The deadline for moving the bill out of committee is March 30, but that is expected to be extended in light of the pause in the legislative session.

The Connecticut Coalition to Regulate Marijuana and MPP will continue to encourage the legislature to pass legalization and regulation this year. The coronavirus makes it all the more apparent that incarcerating individuals for cannabis is wrong. Meanwhile, shifting marijuana to the legal market can create jobs, generate tax revenue, and help the state’s economic recovery.

To help keep this issue on lawmakers’ radar, please consider signing up to make calls to legislators by contacting me directly. You can also send a message to your legislators here.

We wish you and your loved ones well during these difficult times.

Email the mayor today and urge her to further ensure patient access during COVID-19.

In response to COVID-19, Mayor Bowser has issued a stay-at-home order for D.C. residents and a temporary closure of non-essential businesses.

Fortunately, medical cannabis businesses have been deemed “essential” under the order and remain open to patients across the District.

Still, there are additional actions that could be taken to ensure patients can safely access their medicine in a way that is consistent with public health guidelines on preventing the spread of coronavirus:

• Allowing and encouraging cannabis delivery, including allowing for it to be contactless. (This is particularly important for patients who are immunocompromised, elderly, or otherwise particularly at-risk.)
• Allowing and encouraging online ordering and curbside pickup from dispensaries
• Extending the expiration date of medical cannabis cards until after the crisis has abated

A number of states with medical cannabis programs have already implemented these measures in response to coronavirus.

Click here to email Mayor Bowser to thank her for declaring medical cannabis businesses essential and to urge her to pursue further steps to safeguard access while promoting social distancing.

You can also sign our petition for safe access in times of coronavirus here.

Thank you for your compassion. We wish you and your loved ones well.

Contact Gov. Baker and tell him Massachusetts residents should have sensible and safe access to cannabis during the crisis.

Yesterday, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker refused to reverse his earlier decision to halt adult cannabis sales. Once again, he said it was because he worries allowing sales will attract visitors from other states.

But a more rational solution exists: limit adult-use cannabis sales to Massachusetts residents only during the ongoing health crisis. If you support this idea, please take a moment to send an email message to Gov. Baker right now, letting him know that Massachusetts cannabis consumers need and deserve safe access to regulated products.

More than 30 Massachusetts cannabis companies published an open letter to state officials this week, expressing support for temporarily restricting adult sales to state residents and committing to taking the same steps as other “essential” businesses to protect public health. When asked about adopting such an approach, Gov. Baker questioned the legality of treating residents and non-residents differently. But as the Boston Globe reported, cannabis policy experts have circulated a memo explaining why the state would be on strong legal ground.

In these challenging times, residents of the Commonwealth deserve safe access to regulated cannabis. Click here to send a message to Gov. Baker, letting him know you support limiting sales to state residents.

Just a few weeks ago, before life changed dramatically, the South Carolina Compassionate Care Act (H. 3660/S. 366) was primed for action.

In January and February, the House 3M subcommittee heard testimony on H. 3660. Another committee meeting on the bill was scheduled for March 25, and we were optimistic H. 3660 would advance. Meanwhile, the Senate Medical Affairs Committee scheduled a March 19 hearing on S. 366.

Unfortunately, both hearings were cancelled as the legislature began to furlough to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. It remains to be seen if any legislation other than COVID-related issues will be taken up this year or if we’ll have to refocus efforts to 2021.

Stay tuned for updates and opportunities to move the issue forward, including a voter guide on state legislative candidates.

We wish you and your loved ones well during these difficult times.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Marijuana Policy Project is continuing to fight for safe access to cannabis and policies to roll back the devastating war on marijuana.

Today, MPP — along with the Last Prisoner Project, Law Enforcement Action Partnership, Clergy for a New Drug Policy, Doctors for Cannabis Regulation, National Cannabis Industry Association, Students for Sensible Drug Policy, and National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) — sent a letter urging law enforcement officials to dramatically curtail arrests for non-violent crimes, including ceasing arrests for cannabis offenses. In addition to curtailing arrests, we are also calling for officials to release or grant clemency to those incarcerated for cannabis offenses along with dramatically reducing the number of incarcerated non-violent prisoners, whether sentenced or un-sentenced.

Public health experts have warned that the coronavirus poses an extreme threat not only to inmates, but also to the staff that serve them, along with their families and communities. Conditions in prisons and jails are known to cause disease and infection to run rampant, and these institutions are already seeing a spike in confirmed COVID-19 cases. As a result, several localities have already begun to release inmates incarcerated for nonviolent, drug-related offenses.

Likewise, since asymptomatic individuals can spread the virus, any law enforcement-civilian interaction includes a risk of transmitting coronavirus to either party. Thus, arrests for nonviolent offenses should be curtailed until the country is better able to prevent the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, last week, MPP and allied organizations sent letters urging governors and legislative leaders in states with medical cannabis and adult-use programs to take necessary actions to ensure continued safe access to cannabis in a way that is consistent with public health. We’re also tracking state-level measures being taken to preserve safe access as states rapidly respond to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

Sign our petition urging governors to ensure safe access to cannabis during the pandemic.

MPP will continue fighting for safe and sensible criminal justice and cannabis-related policies, both during and after the critical COVID-19 situation. There is no justification for arresting and jailiing individuals for marijuana offenses during this crisis, and our primary priority must now be reducing opportunities for transmission of the virus in order to save lives.

Sending best wishes for your health and safety.

On Tuesday, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice signed SB 339, a bill that authorizes rulemaking by the Department of Health and Human Resources. The final version of the bill included an amendment adding “dry leaf or plant form” to the list of acceptable forms of medical cannabis. As a result, it appears that when dispensaries open, they will be able to sell cannabis flower to patients!

Thanks to all who contacted their legislators and helped secure this important victory. The legislature is no longer in session, so further progress on cannabis policy will have to wait until 2021. Fortunately, 2020 is an election year, so there will likely be many opportunities to replace elected officials who have opposed sensible cannabis policies with candidates who are supportive of reforms.

We will send more information on candidates’ positions in advance of the primary election, which is scheduled for May 12. Until then, please stay safe, and be sure to forward this good news to any patients you know who are waiting for legal access to medical cannabis.

Contact Gov. Baker and your state legislators and tell them cannabis businesses must be designated as essential!

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has ordered that all nonessential businesses cease operations until April 7. Medical cannabis dispensaries and package beverage stores have been designated as essential services, but adult-use cannabis businesses have not.

Please join with us in asking Gov. Baker to ensure that cannabis businesses are allowed to continue operating during the crisis. Click here to send a message to the governor to ask him to reconsider.

Please also send a message to your state legislators and urge them to push for adult-use cannabis businesses to be designated as essential services.

Every other legalization state where regulated sales have begun — Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington — is allowing adult-use cannabis businesses to continue operating, even as other businesses are closed under stay-at-home orders.

Many adults in Massachusetts rely on cannabis for their well being. Some are patients who are not registered for the medical cannabis program, and others depend on cannabis as an alternative to alcohol or other more dangerous substances. Shutting down adult-use cannabis businesses will also be crippling for businesses, especially economic empowerment applicants, and it will deprive state and local governments of tax revenue that could be used to mitigate the COVID-19 crisis.

After you send a message to Gov. Baker and email your state legislators, please share this message with your family and friends.