A judge ruled last week to reopen Montana’s medical marijuana dispensaries.
In November, voters struck down the Montana Marijuana Act, passed in 2011, renaming it the Montana Medical Marijuana Act. The renaming brought certain changes, one of which forced a three-patient limit on providers — a decision that closed medical dispensaries across the state, leaving thousands of registered medical patients without providers.
On the surface, Arizona’s rejection of Proposition 205, the Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act, seemed like a clear victory for the various anti-legalization organizations throughout the state. However, a look at the opposition and the contents of the proposition itself show a more complex political situation.
Arizona passed Prop 200 and legalized marijuana for medical use in 1996 — before Colorado did. Even so, Arizona was the only state out of nine with marijuana questions on the ballot to reject a marijuana measure this round. Over one million voters, constituting 52 percent of the result, voted against Prop 205. This despite the fact that Arizona has over 130 medical dispensaries in operation and Prop 205 was polling at 50 percent in October. So what happened?
Among other things, they are preparing safety guides for “trimmigrants”
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Reveal follows up on its investigation of sex abuse of trimmigrants in California’s Emerald Triangle, with an update on how communities in the region have responded.
Massachusetts became the first state on the east coast to legalize REC, despite opposition from the state’s most prominent politicians, both Democrats and Republicans. Dispensaries could open as soon as January 2018.
All four states voting on MED approved it. In Florida, voters legalized MED with 71% in favor. In Arkansas, a MED initiative has a comfortable lead with most precincts reporting. North Dakota’s MED initiative passed with about 64% of the vote and Montana’s Initiative to expand MED access also passed comfortably.
Each of the MED states also voted for Donald Trump, who is now president-elect.
It looks like the proposed REC business bans in Pueblo, the Colorado industry’s secondary hub, failed. I wrote about the situation for the L.A. Times.
There were numerous local votes in Oregon on the industry’s status in communities. See the results here.
The Eureka Times-Standard explains your rights in California post Proposition 64. Public consumption will not be allowed except in licensed businesses, which will open in 2018 at the earliest.
Stocks in private prison companies jumped following Donald Trump’s victory. Racial disparities in criminal enforcement remain a concern.
The Nation profiles Bill Montgomery (R), the anti-pot Phoenix prosecutor who won re-election.
An odor problem has earned a Boulder grow $14,000 in fines.
The NFL Player’s Association said it would explore MED as a pain management tool. The league isn’t budging, for now.
Playboy calls legalization one of the election’s “ silver linings.”
Colorado Harvest Company and O.pen vape were among the major donors to Levitt Pavilion amphitheater, a new venue for free concerts in Denver.
The president-elect may not be a hardliner, but he’s surrounded himself with them.
Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek.
The all-but-final Election Day tally is California, Massachusetts, Nevada and Maine legalized REC, whileFlorida, Arkansas, and North Dakota legalized MED.
Arizona rejected a REC measure. Montanans voted to allow a MED industry, though it remains contentious.
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (R), a legalization opponent and former DEA chief, said the process requires federal input. “It’s an example of the states innovating in a risky area, and certainly the states are leading on this, but we’re to a point that the federal government is going to have to readdress this,” he said. “This does not call for a state-by-state solution, it calls for … a national solution.”
This is an early indication that the cannabis industry will be harder for the Donald Trump administration to ignore than it was for the Obama administration.
Vice president elect Mike Pence (R) has replaced New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as head of Trump’s transition team. Both are known for their hardline stances against legalization, as is former New York City Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, a possible attorney general in the administration.
Several pieces speculate on what a Trump presidency means for legalization. Here are three: The Cannabist, MJBiz, Reveal (Center for Investigative Reporting).
Drug Policy Alliance head Ethan Nadelmann said, “the federal government retains the power to hobble much of what we’ve accomplished…The progress we’ve made … will be very much at risk when Donald Trump enters the White House.”
Vivian Azer, a stock analyst with Cowen, predicts cannabis will be a low priority for Trump.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D.-Ore.), probably pot’s best friend in Congress, said he thinks the industry’s priorities for banking and tax reform could both pass a Republican Congress under President Trump.
It received the British equivalent of bipartisan support.
Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Download WeedWeek’s free 2016 election guide here.
In the U.K., a group representing MPs and Peers from concluded that banning MED is “ irrational.” It is being touted as a major step towards legalization.
Cannabis is an issue in Berlin’s upcoming election.
Vermont’s legislature is revisiting REC after failing to pass it last year. Arkansas Gov. and former DEA chief Asa Hutchinson (R) criticized supporters of the state’s upcoming MED votes for misleading the public about the plant’s medical benefits.
Potentially a model for the country as well.
Here’s your daily round up of pot news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek.
Politico explains how California’s REC initiative, if passed, will disrupt the existing supply chain and provide a windfall to distributors. No other state has a similar model.
A majority of California Latinos oppose legalization, though it’s somewhat more popular among younger voters.
At SFWeekly, I argued that the 2016 Presidential candidates have dodged their responsibility to discuss legalization.
Ohio is looking for an experienced pot grower to help write the state’s MED rules. The successful applicant will likely have to pass a drug test.
The National Conference of State Legislatures endorsed rescheduling.
North Dakota will vote on MED in November. Arizona will vote on REC. Supporters of the Oklahoma MED initiative are “ cautiously optimistic” that they gathered enough signatures to make the ballot.
Two MED initiatives could qualify for the Arkansas ballot. The question of which one voters get to decide may end up in court. The Arkansas Farm Bureau and the state’s Chamber of Commerce oppose both.
Denver’s limited public use initiative collected more than double the number of signatures needed to qualify for a vote in November.
Nashville may decriminalize. The Chicago Tribune visits a grow house, and catches up on the Illinois industry.
High Times lists its “ hateful-eight,” the country’s most influential legalization opponents.
Illegal drug sales on the so-called dark web have tripled since the 2013 closure of the site Silk Road.
Watch out for knock-off vaporizers.
In Oregon, some Craigslist sellers ask for payment in cash or cannabis. Minnesota’s two MED producers are both losing money.
There wasn’t much talk of marijuana inside the arena at this year’s Democratic National Convention.
The industry was all over Philly.
The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.
Marijuana wasn’t often mentioned in the Democratic National Convention’s official program.
Unofficially, it was the “star.” A trade association had a party. MPP had a fundraiser. Marchers carried a 51-foot joint.
At Marijuana.com, Tom Angell (@TomAngell) unearthed the Tim Kaine quote, “I actually kind of like this option of the states as labs and they can experiment [with legalizing]and we can see what happens.” NORML revised its rating on the vice presidential candidate from F to C. (Last week, I referred to MPP ratings for presidential candidates as NORML ratings. I regret the error.)
Marijuana Business Daily interviews former U.S. deputy attorney general James Cole, whose eight-point 2013 memo gave the industry confidence that it could grow without federal prosecution. “It wasn’t really intended to be a huge policy shift as much as reacting to the situation and trying to use some common sense,” he said.
California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) wants more lawmakers to support legalization.
Former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank (D) said heroin and crystal meth should be legalized. “We should outlaw a drug if it is likely to make you mistreat others. People don’t hit other people in the head because they’re on heroin; they hit other people in the head because they need to get money to buy heroin.”
The New Yorker profiles Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate and a legalization supporter. He said he would not use cannabis as president.
Quartz introduces us to Tick Segerblom (D), a dogged cannabis supporter in the Nevada State Senate.
The U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeals Board said cannabis sellers can’t receive federal trademark protection.
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) decriminalized possession, making the state the third largest after New York and California to do so.
About half of the 100 Oregon communities that don’t allow REC businesses will vote on whether to lift their bans in November.
Ohio legislators knew that the provision in the state’s MED law to guarantee 15% of business licenses might be unconstitutional but they kept it in to win votes, the AP reports.
Florida billionaire Carol Jenkins Barnett, a Publix supermarket heir, donated $800,000 to oppose the state’s MED initiative.
A Los Angeles county ballot initiative that proposed a pot tax to benefit the homeless has been shelved. Canna Law Blog dives into the business climate in L.A, one of the world’s largest cannabis markets.
The DEA compared home grows to “meth houses.”
Italian lawmakers are beginning to debate legalization. Opponents include Pope Francis. The Italian military grows MED for the country.
| Keith Bacongo-Flickr edited by Toke of the Town. |
Ohioans looking to legally use medical cannabis will have to wait at least another year (or move) as activists collecting signatures for the November ballot failed to reach their goal.
While Ohio Rights Group managed to collect around 100,000 signatures – a commendable figure – they failed to get the necessary 385,000 signatures.
The biggest obstacle: money. The reality of today’s political landscape is that you need paid signature gatherers or it is hard to get anything on the ballot today. John Pardee, ORG President said their campaign never had the funding to accomplish that.
The state of Florida continues to edge closer to passing some sort of reasonable medical marijuana legislation, but not everyone in the state is happy about it. We have been reporting on the totally predictable knee-jerk opposition from the state sheriff’s association, but as the Florida state legislature is beginning to make moves to legitimize the plant for medical needs, anti-cannabis groups have decided to enter the political arena as well.
Drug Free Florida is an anti-marijuana group whose sole purpose is to oppose, and eventually defeat, the amendment scheduled for a vote this November to legalize medical marijuana in the state. Funded by a 6-digit donation from Mel Sembler (a local land developer, former U.S. Ambassador to Italy and Australia, and long-time money bundler for the Republican Party), the group’s ties to the GOP do not end there.