Medical Marijuana Update

Medical marijuana will not be on the ballot in Idaho this year, Kentucky's governor is looking into going around a recalcitrant legislature on medical marijuana, and more.

SAMSHA Cuts No Slack for Medical Marijuana, Accidental Exposures in Updated Federal Drug Testing Rules. In a pair of notices published in the Federal Register earlier this month, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) published a pair of notices about proposed changes to drug testing policies. One new notice clarifies that having a doctor's recommendation for medical marijuana is not a valid excuse for a positive drug test. The second new notice states that passive exposure to secondhand marijuana smoke or accidental ingestion of foods containing marijuana are not a legitimate medical explanation for a positive drug test. These are proposed rules, and there is a 60-day public comment period on the proposals is open until June 6.

Idaho

Idaho Medical Marijuana Initiative Campaign Comes Up Short. Kind Idaho, the group behind an effort to get a medical marijuana initiative on the November ballot, says it is not going to make it. "We aren't going to meet numbers," the campaign's treasurer said. The campaign needs 70,000 valid voter signatures to make the ballot but has only come up with a tenth of them, and the deadline is one week from today. "We ran into some issues along the way with basically starting up a grassroots organization without any sort of financial backing or assistance," he said.

Kentucky Governor Announces Plan to Allow Medical Marijuana. In the wake of the legislature's failure to pass a marijuana bill (again), Gov. Andy Beshear (D) announced last Thursday a process that could lead to executive actions to allow medical marijuana in the state. "Most of these steps are about hearing from you, the public, so that your voice is heard by the executive branch -- even if it's ignored by the legislative branch," Beshear said. Without naming names, Beshear went after Republican senators who blocked the bill, saying that "it's time that a couple of individuals that are out of touch with the vast majority of Kentuckians on this issue stop obstructing it and we're able to move forward."

North Carolina

North Carolina Poll Has Supermajority for Medical Marijuana, Majority for Legalization. A poll from WRAL News shows that 72 percent of state voters want medical marijuana legalized and 57 percent want full adult legalization. Those supermajorities for medical marijuana include 73 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of Republicans, while 63 percent of Democrats and only 45 percent of Republicans want full adult legalization. The poll comes as a medical marijuana bill, the North Carolina Compassionate Care Act (Senate Bill 711) is before the Senate, where it went through several committees last yar and is now back before the Senate Committee on Rules and Operations.