Great news! Last week, the Senate Finance Committee advanced a bill that would allow patients to use and safely access medical cannabis if they have a qualifying debilitating medical condition. The committee first adopted an amendment to direct medical cannabis sales tax revenue to fund the medical cannabis supply system and a cannabis research program at the University of North Carolina.

Great news! Louisiana’s medical cannabis patients will be allowed to use cannabis in flower form instead of being limited to extracts and other more costly preparations. Yesterday, Gov. John Bel Edwards signed HB 391 into law, making it Act 424.

Great news! The Alabama House of Representatives just passed medical cannabis in a 68-34-1 vote. The bill already passed the Senate (20-10), but because it was amended in the House, the two versions need to be reconciled before it can head to Gov. Ivey.

Since April 19, 2017, when Gov. Jim Justice signed West Virginia’s medical cannabis bill into law, patients have been waiting for the program to become operational. Fortunately, the wait finally appears to be nearing an end. The state’s Office of Medical Cannabis announced last week that permits have been granted for 100 dispensaries across the state, and today they opened the process for patients to begin registering for the program.

Last year, the Alabama Senate overwhelmingly approved the Compassion Act — which would have legalized medical cannabis — but it stalled in the House when the coronavirus derailed the legislative session. This year, Sen. Tim Melson, MD, has already filed the 2021 version of the bill, SB 46.

Proposed rules were published yesterday governing both dispensaries and physicians operating in the emerging medical marijuana program in Ohio. Both sets of proposed rules are available online. Members of the public are invited to review and comment on them before January 13, 2017. Most of the proposed rules are sensible, but there is room for improvement. One area of concern is the state’s initial proposal to limit the total number of dispensaries to 40. Given the state’s population and the likely…

On July 29, D.C. Mayor Vince Gray signed the Medical Marijuana Expansion Emergency Amendment Act of 2014. The ordinance takes effect immediately, but it is only temporary, so another measure and Congressional approval are needed to make the compassionate changes permanent. This temporary law allows physicians to recommend marijuana for any debilitating condition they think would respond favorably to the therapeutic use of marijuana and increases the number of plants D.C.’s licensed cultivators may…

The New York Legislature adjourned its regular session early Saturday morning without passing two important marijuana policy reform bills. Both bills passed the Assembly, but ultimately stalled in the Senate: a bill legalizing medical marijuana for seriously ill patients and a bill that would have fixed the "public view" loophole in New York's decriminalization law. Although the Senate failed to take up the medical marijuana bill once again, there is still reason for hope. Over 600 New York physicians…

On Tuesday, a group of doctors held a news conference to announce the support of nearly 250 Illinois physicians for allowing patients with serious illnesses to obtain and use medical marijuana if their doctors recommend it. Specifically, the doctors signed on to the following statement: Licensed medical practitioners should not be punished for recommending the medical use of marijuana to seriously ill people, and seriously ill people should not be subject to criminal sanctions for using marijuana…