Medical Marijuana Update

Arkansas and Florida continue grappling with implementing the will of the voters, a Colorado bill to limit personal grows advances, Kansas legislators advance a CBD bill despites the wishes of medical marijuana activists, and more. 

On Monday, the Senate agbain rejected a ban on smoked medical marijuana. For the second time in a week, the Senate has rejected Senate Bill 357, which would have banned smoking of medical marijuana. The Senate rejected the bill on a 15-11 vote and slapped down a later motion to allow it come back for yet another vote by a margin of 11-0.

Colorado

Last Friday, Cthe House gave preliminary approval to cutting home cultivation plant limits. The House voted to give preliminary approval to House Bill 17-1220, which would limit medical marijuana home grows to 16 plants per residence. The current limit is 99 plants. Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) and law enforcement support the bill as a means of reducing diversion. The House must vote on the bill again this week before sending it to the Senate.

Florida

As of Sunday, state lawmakers had six competing medical marijuana plans to choose from. Voters approved medical marijuana at the ballot box last November. Now, the legislature is trying to figure out how to implement it. Here's an overview of the six competing plans.

Kansas

Last Thursday, a Senate committee approved a CBD bill, but activists were not happy. The Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee approved a CBD cannabis oil bill, but only after gutting the original bill, Senate Bill 155, and replacing it with Senate Bill 151, which would only allow doctors to recommend "non-intoxicating" cannabinoid medications. "This is not the scope of what those who want to see prescriptive authority for medical marijuana want," said Sen. David Haley (D-Kansas City), who sponsored the original bill. Haley said he would attempt to restore the original bill this week.

West Virginia

Last Thursday, the House killed a surprise bid to reschedule marijuana. Seeing that medical marijuana legislation was going nowhere in Charleston, Delegate Shawn Fluharty (D-Ohio) attempted to inset an amendment into a routine drug scheduling bill that would have moved marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule IV. The amendment excited several hours of debate, but was ultimately killed on a 35-64 vote. "Why are we so scared of helping people?" Fluharty argued in closing floor debate. "That's exactly what this does."

[For extensive information about the medical marijuana debate, presented in a neutral format, visit MedicalMarijuana.ProCon.org.]