Political

Marijuana is illegal in South Dakota. However, the state decided to make both recreational and medical marijuana legal this year. South Dakota started its marijuana campaigns to put legalization proposals on the November 2020 ballot. Campaigns have to collect signatures to qualify for the ballot. However, the coronavirus pandemic will probably make it difficult. Now, South Dakota will plan on how to make sure marijuana legalization initiatives pass through in case the pandemic gets worse or isn’t resolved by November.

Albany lawmakers still disagree with Cuomo on how to use tax revenues from pot sales.

As the coronavirus crisis continues to rage in New York, state lawmakers have returned to Abany intent on passing a budget, which is due April 1. Given the pandemic, many lawmakers are hoping to reach a deal sooner rather than later. But despite calls from numerous sources that the state pass a bare-bones budget – devoid of the usual big-ticket legislative items that find their way into the spending bill – Gov.

Between city and state taxes, customers at cannabis retailers aren’t always the happiest when they see the final price at the counter. But Jay Handal of Erba Markets, a cannabis retailer in Los Angeles, says there’s not much he can do.

“I do have to deflect a lot of anger because it’s really geared at us. People thinking we’re price-gouging them when, in fact, we’re just charging the taxes that the government level tells us we have to charge,” Handal said.

A marijuana legalization initiative in Ohio is moving forward. However, the state might still face hurdles because of the coronavirus outbreak. In US states, marijuana legalization initiatives have been increasing despite the vaping crisis and the FDA’s hesitation on CBD products. In Ohio, marijuana reform advocates even put a marijuana legalization measure on the November 2020 ballot.

A bill addressing hemp farming has turned into a round of end-of-session horse trading, where the legislative chambers have gone back and forth about whose version of a bill should come out on top.

In this fight, it all has to do with seeds.

Following the passage of the 2014 federal farm bill, hemp growing became allowed under certain circumstances by research institutions and state departments of agriculture..

Marijuana legalization initiatives are still taking place in US states despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The coronavirus outbreak has taken a toll on the global markets and the economy. Countries and the World Health Organization are trying to contain the virus. Meanwhile, legalization efforts continue in US states. Mississippi has been trying to put a legalization initiative on the November ballot. However, lawmakers have a new strategy to make marijuana legalization difficult in the state.

On Thursday, WBRC reported that the Alabama Senate cleared Senate Bill 165. The bill will create the Compassion Act, which legalizes medical marijuana. The bill has listed several qualifying medical conditions and symptoms. Patients suffering from these medical conditions can access medical marijuana products after receiving approval from qualified doctors. A doctor can only prescribe marijuana products after all the other methods have been exhausted.

The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Thursday advanced two bills related to medical marijuana use for veterans.

The first measure, sponsored by Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.), would require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to research the effects of medical-grade marijuana on the health outcomes of veterans with conditions like chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Draft law, headed for final parliamentary vote, could boost Lebanon's crippled economy and curb illicit production.

Lebanon's parliament is set to vote on a law that would legalise the cultivation of cannabis for medical and industrial use in an effort to boost its crippled economy and curb illicit production of the psychoactive plant.

The draft law, which has been endorsed by parliamentary committees and is now headed for a final vote, would only affect cannabis that contains less than one percent of the psychoactive compound tetrahydrocannabidinol, or THC.

Advocates for equity in the cannabis industry hope to see more diversity among licensees if a bill approved by the Legislature gets the governor’s signature. 

The legislation, which passed through the House 57-40 Tuesday, creates a task force that will help create the Marijuana Social Equity Program. It would allow the Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) to issue forfeited, canceled and revoked retail licenses to applicants in communities disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. The program would last for eight years.