WeedLife News Network
Hot off the press cannabis, marijuana, cbd and hemp news from around the world on the WeedLife Social Network.
Legal weed’s first year in Chicago: High arrest rates for Black people, a boutique experience for others
Marijuana legalization has been a boyhood dream come true for Keith Fort, a recently retired stage manager for live events who said he’s glad Chicago finally joined the ranks of other weed-friendly cities he’s visited. “Fifty years I’ve waited for legalization. I’m 66 years old,” he said. Fort, a veteran of scores of music concerts and festivals, s
Mexico Likely to Miss Cannabis Legalization Deadline
The road to legalizing cannabis in Mexico has been full of twists, turns, and in some cases dead ends as the deadline approaches soon. Near the end of 2018, Mexico’s Supreme Court issued a ruling in which cannabis prohibition was deemed to be unconstitutional. As part of the ruling, the Court set a one-year deadline for lawmakers to pass a legaliza
Idaho Republicans tried to block any future marijuana legalization. How’d it turn out?
An attempt by Idaho Republican leaders to make it impossible to legalize drugs in the state through a ballot initiative failed on Thursday, missing the supermajority support it needed in the House. The proposed constitutional amendment would have required two-thirds of the House and Senate to approve the removal of a drug from Schedule I or Schedul
The Mississippi Supreme Court heard arguments this week challenging the state’s overwhelming vote in support of medical cannabis last November but advocates still have their high hopes. The Mississippi Cannabis Trade Association released a statement following Thursday’s oral arguments that would determine the industry’s fate. If the challenge is s
Cannabis is now legal in Michigan, but there are some hazy aspects of the new law. Let's clear the air and define what has become legal in the state and what was outlawed in 2020. Both recreational and medical cannabis are legal in Michigan. The products for therapeutic purposes were legalized in 2008, making Michigan the 13th state that allows it
On Monday, New Mexico became the latest state to legalize adult-use cannabis, after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the Cannabis Regulation Act. Sales are expected to begin before April 2022. Following a legalization wave led by New York and Virginia, this approval now puts more than 43 percent of Americans living in legal cannabis jurisdictions
State marijuana regulators are reconsidering how they will now run a lottery to decide who wins licenses to operate six additional medical marijuana dispensaries after no business answered a bid solicitation to develop the process. "Unfortunately, the state did not receive any responses," Brian Hodge, a spokesman for the Department of Business Reg
The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) has extended the licensure deadline for hemp farms from April 9 to May 28. The department received multiple requests from hemp farmers over the last few weeks to extend the deadline. Many existing and prospective hemp farmers expressed that they are still experiencing delays in obtaining the necessary land a
The change in the presidential administration has focused cannabis businesses on the potential for legalization nationwide. Running parallel to full federal legalization will be a corresponding regulatory and taxation scheme replacing the current regime of IRC §280E which prohibits anything but the cost of goods sold being deducted from a state lic
Despite all of the resistance, the fact is that cannabis legalization is happening right now. State by state, country by country, it’s going global. When the Biden Administration took the White House, the headlines all clamored that it will be a “good time for cannabis”. Stocks seemed to echo the sentiment. Yet, since the administration took office
More than two years after Michigan voters approved marijuana for adult use, residents convicted of many pot-related crimes that have now been legalized have an opportunity to expunge them from their records. Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a sweeping "clean slate" package of bills in October that will automatically expunge some criminal records
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation Monday legalizing recreational marijuana use within months and kicking off sales next year, making it the seventh state since November to put an end to pot prohibition. The governor, a Democrat, has supported marijuana reform as a way to create jobs and shore up state revenue. On Monday, she
Prohibiting marijuana hurts the legitimacy and credibility of the criminal justice system. Such prohibitions are undemocratic, racially discriminative, costly, ineffective and a blatant waste of resources. Cannabis users and enthusiasts always want to focus solely on the medicinal and recreational benefits of the plant, which is excellent, but ther
Three bills revising marijuana laws passed their final reading in the Montana House Thursday afternoon. House Bills 701, 707 and 670 are all measures generally revising laws relating to the taxation and regulation of recreational and medical marijuana. HB 701 would give licensing, cultivation and sales authority of medical marijuana to the Departme
The Senate voted 30-5 in favor of the industrial hemp legalization bill. HB 126 has already passed the House. It will now go to the governor’s office. The law would change Idaho Code to differentiate industrial hemp from marijuana. It would do so by amending “Idaho’s list of controlled substances to differentiate between hemp, which has no more tha
As many states are doing, New York fully embraced the concept of social and economic equity by setting a target goal of 50% of licenses issued to social and economic equity applicants. After years of fits and starts, New York finally legalized adult-use cannabis and expanded its previously restrictive medical cannabis program. As the nation’s third
New York’s cannabis legalization law contains a provision to expunge certain convictions for marijuana-related offenses, and the state Office of Court Administration said the measure is expected to wipe out criminal records for potentially tens of thousands of people — including 19 individuals who are currently serving state prison terms. The deadl
If Washington wants to be as competitive as possible, it has to drop the cottage cloak around ownership at some point — and eliminating it for financiers just isn’t enough. I absolutely loved Washington State when I lived there. I lived in Seattle for seven years and was one of the first attorneys in the state to take on medical cannabis business c
With Montana set to become the next state to legalize marijuana, lawmakers in Big Sky Country will have some options on how to go about implementing the policy. Local TV outlet KPAX reported this week that legislators there in the state House have “advanced three bills that provide different visions for how to implement recreational marijuana in th
