The Maryland General Assembly kicked off its 2021 legislative session today! This could be the year that Maryland ends cannabis prohibition and joins the 15 states and D.C that have legalized cannabis for adults.

There is increasing momentum for Delaware to move forward with legalization this year. Several seats were flipped in the General Assembly last November, and there are now 15 states — including Delaware’s neighbor, New Jersey — that have legalized cannabis for adults. Rep. Ed Osienski, sponsor of the 2020 legalization bill, plans to introduce a bill again this session.

Please reach out to your representative to ask them to support the bill to reduce police-civilian contact over the supposed smell of cannabis. The Virginia General Assembly has begun meeting — in unprecedented circumstances — for a special session. Lawmakers have already filed over 200 bills aimed at budgeting, criminal justice, and police reform. Several cannabis reform bills have been proposed, and the Senate has already approved two modest but important reforms: SB 5029, which would prevent…

Great news! Earlier today, the Montana Secretary of State announced that CI-118 and I-190, the two initiatives supported by New Approach Montana to legalize marijuana for adults, received enough signatures to appear on the ballot this fall.   When the pandemic hit earlier this year, some feared it would mean the end of this campaign. But the team persevered and overcame tremendous obstacles. Voters will now have the opportunity to enact a marijuana legalization policy that will create jobs, generate…

Ask your lawmakers to support legalizing and regulating marijuana for adults. I have some encouraging news to share with you. Last week, a majority of Senate Democrats authored a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf arguing that adult-use marijuana legalization should be immediately pursued to make up revenue losses from the coronavirus pandemic. The letter, which was signed by 18 Senate Democrats in total, argues that legalizing adult-use cannabis can protect Pennsylvanians from harmful tax hikes and spending…

Sen. Joshua Miller (D - Cranston) is once again submitting a bill to legalize and regulate marijuana in Rhode Island. As marijuana businesses are poised to open their doors in Massachusetts this summer, Sen. Miller hopes his colleagues will understand the wisdom in acting now. “Legal marijuana sales will be available to Rhode Islanders as soon as Massachusetts retailers start offering it in July,” Sen. Miller said. “But Massachusetts will keep the revenue from the purchases when Rhode Islanders cross…

The Colorado Department of Revenue’s announcement that $1.3 billion in regulated marijuana sales took place in calendar year 2016, generating nearly $200 million in state tax revenue. These figures do not include millions of dollars in revenue generated by local taxes on marijuana. The Cannabist reports: To put the state’s third year of regulated recreational marijuana sales in perspective, Year One totaled $699.2 million (combined with medical sales) and Year Two jumped up to $996.2 million. The…

Legal marijuana businesses in Colorado made more than a billion dollars in sales during the first 10 months of 2016, exceeding sales numbers from last year. The Cannabist reports: Recreational and medical cannabis shops in America’s first 420-legal state have sold nearly $1.1 billion of marijuana and related products in 2016, according to the new October data from the state’s Department of Revenue. When 2015’s year-end marijuana tax data was finally released in February, Cannabist calculations showed…

After a court ruling rejected a challenge from prohibitionists to keep the initiative to legalize marijuana in Arizona off the ballot, opponents of the measure made a last-ditch effort to deprive voters of their right to choose by alleging that the ballot language summary was misleading and the initiative should be invalidated. On August 31, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the initiative summary was accurate and comprehensive enough to comply with state law, allowing it to proceed. Unfortunately,…

UPDATE: The Grand Canyon Institute, an independent Arizona-based think tank, has released a report that concludes the proposed initiative to regulate and tax marijuana like alcohol in Arizona would likely raise more money for schools than backers of the initiative estimated last month. According to a press release issued by the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol: According to the Grand Canyon Institute, a “centrist think-thank led by a bipartisan group of former state lawmakers, economists,…