[caption id="attachment_9326" align="alignright" width="300"] Sen. Bernie Sanders[/caption] Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) introduced a bill Wednesday that would repeal all federal penalties for possessing and growing marijuana, allowing states to establish their own marijuana laws. The bill is available online at https://www.mpp.org/sandersbill. The “Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2015” strikes all references to marijuana in the Controlled Substances Act, but retains penalties for transporting…

[caption id="attachment_9333" align="alignright" width="215"] Matt Bevin[/caption] On Tuesday, Kentucky voters took to the polls and elected Matt Bevin governor. Bevin, a Republican and Tea Party favorite, has acknowledged what the vast majority of voters know: “There is unequivocal medical evidence” that medical marijuana is beneficial for certain conditions. He defeated prohibitionist Jack Conway (D) 52.5% to 43.8%. With House Speaker Greg Stumbo (D) sponsoring medical marijuana legislation, next…

We’re excited to announce the Pledge 4 Growth campaign to benefit the work of the Marijuana Policy Project. The concept is simple: industry business owners can donate 0.420% of their gross revenue to MPP on a quarterly basis to help end marijuana prohibition in the U.S. We want to make it easy for you to change laws and change history! MedMen, a marijuana consulting and management firm, is a founding partner and donor to Pledge 4 Growth. The legal marijuana industry exists today because of the hard…

California voters are ready to end marijuana prohibition in 2016 and replace it with a more sensible system. That is exactly what the Adult Use of Marijuana Act will do, and that is why MPP is proud to support it. We look forward to working with the initiative proponents and doing whatever we can to help pass this measure and make history in California next year. Under the proposed initiative, marijuana will be regulated, taxed, and treated similarly to alcohol. Adults will no longer be punished…

Last night, a controversial Ohio ballot initiative that would have regulated marijuana for adults was voted down by a relatively wide margin, marking the first time that a major state referendum to make marijuana legal for adults has failed since 2010. However, the defeat of a marijuana-related ballot initiative in the Buckeye State will have no bearing on the outcomes of several marijuana-related initiatives expected to appear on state ballots next year. A proposal to make marijuana legal for adults…

New Approach South Dakota (NASD) is collecting signatures for a proposal to make medical marijuana legal! This ballot initiative will appear on the 2016 ballot if supporters can collect enough signatures by November 9. That’s only a week away! To help get the measure past the finish line, contact NASD’s Melissa Mentele at [email protected]. If the proposal appears on the 2016 ballot and is approved by the voters, it would: -- Legalize the medical use of marijuana for patients with a medical practitioner’s…

Today, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services announced the opening of a pre-registration process for the therapeutic use of cannabis program. The announcement, which appears on the department’s website, explains that patients and their designated caregivers may now submit their applications and that dispensaries are expected to open in the first quarter of 2016. The application forms are now available online. Unfortunately, the department still says it will not begin issuing ID…

Over the weekend, the November 2015 issue of the Delaware Register of Regulations was published, expanding the legal protections of the state’s medical marijuana act to reach more individuals. The published regulations officially added "autism with self-injurious or aggressive behavior" to the list of conditions, giving doctors one more treatment option should they think it would benefit their patients. The condition was added after a petition to do so was submitted to the Department of Health and…

Medical marijuana unexpectedly dominated much of the news coverage following a recent debate between the major party candidates for Kentucky governor, Republican Matt Bevin and Democrat Jack Conway. Conway, Kentucky's former Attorney General, tried to dismiss the issue from serious consideration. “I don’t want to hear from some hipsters out in Hawaii saying Kentucky needs medical marijuana,” he reportedly said. Bevin, on the other hand, acknowledged “there is unequivocal medical evidence” that medical…

MPP has upgraded Mike Huckabee, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders in its report card-style voter guide to the 2016 major party presidential candidates. The voter guide can be viewed online at http:// mpp.org/president. More changes could follow the Republican candidate debate scheduled to take place Wednesday in Boulder, Colorado, where the candidates are likely to discuss the state’s laws that regulate marijuana for adult and medical use. From The Hill: [caption id="attachment_9295" align="alignright"…