North Carolina state Rep. Kelly Alexander is sick of lawmakers in his state refusing to even debate the issue of medical marijuana. He’s attempted several pieces of legislation over the last few years – all shot down in committee – and says the time is right for voters to speak their minds on medical marijuana in the polls.
But other lawmakers hoping to pass a very strict CBD-only medical marijuana bill for children say Alexander’s proposal might sink their ship.

Illinois already has medical marijuana laws on the books, but the program has been slow to roll out and it does not cover one of the fastest growing patient populations: epileptic children.
So it is with great relief that a bill adding epilepsy and severe seizure disorders to the list of state-approved qualifying conditions for medical cannabis patients has made it through both the House and Senate with few changes and seems likely to be passed into law.

A bill that would legalize medical cannabis for certain qualifying conditions in New York faces its first obstacle today in the state Senate Health Committee. The seventeen-member panel will decide whether state Sen. Diane Savino’s bill will move forward to the full Senate for consideration.
But that might be tough going.

The Minnesota House approved medical marijuana legislation Friday with overwhelming support that cut across party lines.
It’s passage, with a 86-39 vote, leaves Minnesota poised to become the 22nd state with a medical marijuana program. What that program will look like is still up in the air. A conference committee is now tasked with hashing out two very different bills before dropping the final decision on Gov. Mark Dayton.

The Minnesota Senate approved a bill yesterday afternoon that legalizes marijuana for medical use but limits ingestion to pills, oil, and vaporizing. It made it across the finish line with enough votes to overcome a veto by Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton — 48 to 18 — following a five-hour debate that produced some of the most bizarre statements uttered this session.
The biggest pushback came from Sen. Bill “I’m so against this bill” Igebrigtsen (R-Alexandria), who opened up his remarks by saying the state should be more concerned with pot holes than pot. What followed was a series of statements, similar to those he laid out in a recent letter, about how medical marijuana was a grave step towards all-out blazing in the streets.

Yesterday, Minneapolis state Sen. Scott Dibble’s medical marijuana bill passed its final committee hurdle in the Senate, paving the way for a floor vote in that chamber.
Dibble’s bill, which allows patients to vaporize marijuana but not smoke it, is still more liberal than the medical marijuana bill making its way through the House. In fact, Heather Azzi, political director of Minnesotans for Compassionate Care, tells us the House version is fundamentally unworkable because it would implicate both state employees and doctors in federal offenses.