Mississippi becomes the latest state to see legal medical marijuana sales, the North Dakota House kills bills aimed at allowing patients to use edibles, and more.
Mississippi
Medical Marijuana Sales Have Begun in Mississippi. Nearly a year after medical marijuana was legalized in the state, the first legal sales have taken place. The first sales occurred lastWednesday at The Cannabis Company in Brookhaven and at two Oxford dispensaries, Hybrid Relief and Star Buds. More than 1,700 patients are currently enrolled in the state's medical marijuana program. Voters approved a medical marijuana initiative in 2020, only to have it invalidated by the state Supreme Court. The legislature then passed a bill authorizing it.
North Carolina
North Carolina GOP Senators File Medical Marijuana Bill. On the first day bills could be filed in the new General Assembly session, Senators Michael Lee (R-New Hanover) and Bill Rabon (R-Brunswick) filed Senate Bill 3, which would legalize medical marijuana in the state. Known as the North Carolina Compassionate Care Act, the bill allows the use of medical marijuana for a specified list of debilitating conditions, including cancer, epilepsy, Crohn’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The pair filed a similar bill last year that passed the Senate but never got any traction in the House.
North Dakota
North Dakota House Kills Bill to Allow Edibles. The House on Tuesday killed a pair of bills that would have made medical marijuana edibles legally available to patients. The House Human Services Committee had amended elements of House Bill 1202 and House Bill 1164 into HB 1202, but the full House killed HB 1202 on a 55-37 vote (it needed two-thirds to pass) and killed HB 1164 on a 20-72 vote. Under the initiative approved by voters in 2016, patients are limited to using dried buds or THC products such as concentrates and tinctures—not edibles. Bill supporters said edibles are a healthier and more accurate means of dosing medical marijuana, but the legislature wasn't listening.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Bill Would Allow Medical Marijuana for Any Condition Doctor Approves. Sen. Mike Regan (R-Cumberland) and Sen. James Brewster (D-Allegheny) are preparing to file a bill that would strip the state's Medical Marijuana Advisory Board of its function of determining which medical conditions allow patients to use medical marijuana and instead allow its use for any condition for which a doctor approves it. "Elected officials and bureaucratic staffers should not be deciding what ailment qualifies an individual to use medical marijuana," they said in a cosponsor memo they are circulating. The two senators are chairmen of the Senate Law and Justice Committee.
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