Political

One thing we know for sure about Kamala Harris is that cannabis makes her laugh.

Not necessarily when she smokes it, as the California senator and top-tier candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination says she hasn’t gotten high since college. But definitely when she’s asked about it. And her laughter has evolved from nervous to knowing right along with her position on legalization, which has gone from clear opposition in 2010 to full-throated support today.

Arizona’s ballot initiative to legalize adult-use cannabis has survived a legal challenge by opponents and is expected to move forward to the official signature verification stage.

Cannabis legalization should be a no-brainer for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith has proposed a federal legalization bill that would remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and grant regulatory authority of the plant to the Food and Drug Administration.

At the turn of the century, if you had told somebody that recreational marijuana would be legal across many states in this country, they probably would have laughed. Nobody is laughing now as the industry continues to grow at a breathtaking pace. Currently, the District of Columbia and 11 states (Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington) have adopted the most expansive laws legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

The House of Representatives on Thursday added an amendment to a spending package that would protect state-legal marijuana businesses from the Department of Justice.

The amendment, according to its description, would “prohibit the Department of Justice from interfering with state and tribal cannabis programs.” Congressional Cannabis Caucus founder Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., sponsored the amendment, which passed 254-163, including 31 Republicans who voted in favor of it.

Heartland voters may get the chance to decide on medical marijuana after an organization gathered more signatures than needed to put legalization on the ballot.

Legal cannabis supporters in Nebraska faced a pandemic and the task of collecting at least 122,000 signatures in a state not known for cutting-edge legislation on marijuana. But in the end, they did what they needed to do to get medical marijuana on the November ballot.

About two-thirds of New Jersey voters are likely to vote yes on a ballot question seeking to legalize marijuana use for those over 21 this November, according to a new poll.

The survey, conducted by DKC Analytics and released Tuesday by Brach Eichler, a Roseland-based law firm with a cannabis practice, found about 68% of 500 New Jersey registered voters said they strongly support or somewhat support legalization via the ballot in the Garden State. Favorability ranked higher among Democrats than Republicans, with Independents falling in the middle.

Legalization at the federal level could come as soon as 2021 if Joe Biden wins the election and Democrats take control of the Senate

The U.S. could legalize marijuana at the federal level as soon as 2021 if Joe Biden is able to win the presidential election and Democrats take control of the Senate.

It’s a dramatic change in expectations from three months ago when it appeared Donald Trump would most likely win re-election, and CIBC analysts had put the odds of meaningful reform at “near-zero” for 2020 and “unlikely” for 2021.

Despite the chaos, 2020 could be a banner year for state-level cannabis legalization.

Despite it being a crazy year, Americans can't lose sight of the fact that Election Day is a little over three months away. At stake are 435 seats in the House of Representatives, roughly a third of all seats in the Senate, and, of course, the Oval Office.