Marijuana legalization bills advance in Hawaii and Minnesota, a Virginia psilocybin reform bill dies, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Twitter Becomes First Social Media Platform to Allow Marijuana Ads. As of Wednesday, Twitter is allowing marijuana companies to market their brands and products in the United States. It is the first social media platform to take that step. Previously, Twitter had only allowed ads for hemp-derived CBD prices. Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok continue to follow a "no cannabis advertising policy" based on the fact that marijuana remains illegal on the federal level. Twitter announced restrictions on marijuana advertising: Companies must be properly licensed, not target people under 21, and only target states where they are licensed to operate.  

Hawaii Marijuana Legalization Bill Wins Committee Votes. A marijuana legalization bill, Senate Bill 375, was approved by Senate Human Services Committee and the Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee on Wednesday. The bill is supported by some of the industry's major operators, but small-scale growers and groups supporting them oppose the bill and instead support Senate Bill 669, which has a simpler regulatory scheme. The Senate voted to approve marijuana legalization in 2021, only to see the measure defeated in the House. The Senate is expected to pass some form of marijuana legalization this year as well.

Minnesota Marijuana Legalization Bill Advances Yet Again. The marijuana legalization bill,  House File 100, has won its ninth House committee vote, with the House Education Finance Committee approving it Thursday. The Senate companion bill also cleared its sixth panel this week. With an expected 18 committee votes needed before heading for floor votes, the measure is now most of the way there.

Medical Marijuana

Colorado Legislative Committee Kills Medical Marijuana Expansion. A bill to expand access to medical marijuana was shot down by the first committee to consider it on Thursday. The measure, Senate Bill 81, sought to increase the amount of medical marijuana concentrate a patient can buy per day and allow doctors to recommend medical marijuana via virtual telehealth appointments for some patients, among other changes. The Senate Health and Human Services Committee killed the bill at the request of bill sponsor Sen. Kevin Van Winkle (R), who said he was not able to reach agreement with opponents to move the measure forward. Van Winkle said he would be back to try again.

Psychedelics

Virginia Bill to Reduce Psilocybin Penalties Dies in House. A bill to lower penalties for possessing psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms, as well as psilocybin advisory board to move toward therapeutic access, Senate Bill 932, has died in the House after being approved in the Senate. It was killed in the House Rules Committee on a 13-5 vote, joining two other psilocybin reform bills in the ash heap of history. A 2022 psilocybin decriminalization bill failed, as did a bill earlier this year that would have ended felony possession charges for people 21 and over.

Harm Reduction

 

. The city of Denver passed a resolution four years ago to allow safe injection sites but has been stymied because they remain illegal under state law. Now, lawmakers hoping to rectify that contradiction have filed a bill, House Bill 23-1202, that would allow the city to move forward with an "overdose prevention center." So far every lawmaker in support of the bill is a Democrat. In addition to allowing drug users to inject under medical supervision, the bill would provide access to sterile equipment, fentanyl testing, counseling, and referrals to treatment. It is now before the Public and Behavioral Health and Human Services Committee. Safe injection sites currently operate in only two states, New York and Rhode Island.

Elections have consequences, as Virginia voters are finding out.

Two years ago, a Democratically-controlled Senate and House  passed legislation legalizing marijuana, and the Democratic governor signed it into law. That law mandated that legal adult use sales commence by January 1, 2004, and left it to state lawmakers to figure out the regulatory details so that goal could be met.

But Republicans won the governorship and control of the House last November, and now they are refusing to move forward on getting the retail market going. Last week, the still Democratically-led Senate approved a regulation bill, Senate Bill 1133, on a 24-16 vote, but this week, the House General Laws Subcommittee killed it on a party line 5-3 vote.

The vote "was entirely expected, but is still disappointing, and it spotlights House Republicans’ continued failure of leadership on cannabis policy," NORML Development Director and Virginia NORML Executive Director JM Pedini said in a statement.

Not only did the House kill the Senate bill, Pedini noted, also failed to advance multiple marijuana retail sales bills out of its own chamber. Republican backbones were stiffened by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's opposition to the implementation bills. He said he was instead focused on regulating products containing intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids such as delta-8 THC.

Virginians now find themselves in the odd position of being able to legally possess up to an ounce of marijuana and grow up to four plants but not legally buy it—for now and the foreseeable future.

"Without access to a regulated marketplace, consumers won’t know whether they’re getting a safe, tested product or one contaminated with potentially dangerous adulterants,"Pedini added.

Sponsored by Sen. Adam Ebbin (D), the bill just killed in the House would have allowed sales to begin on January 1, 2024 and take place at existing medical marijuana dispensaries as well as new enterprises operated by people from "historically economically disadvantaged communities." It also included a provision for resentencing people currently serving time for marijuana convictions.

The bill foresaw a 21 percent excise tax on retail transactions, with localities being able to impose an additional three percent local tax. Tax revenues would have been earmarked for historically economically disadvantaged communities, pre-k education for at-risk youth, and addiction prevention services. An independent Cannabis Control Authority would have regulated the industry.

The bill also would have established regulations for hemp-derived cannabinoid products such as delta-8 THC, which Gov. Youngkin claims to be worried about. It would have established testing and labeling requirements for such products.

"This bill fixes a major public health, consumer safety and public safety issue—and it does what more than 60 percent of Virginia voters want us to do: Regulate these products, ensure they’re safe for consumers and also generates hundreds of millions of dollars from revenue for the Commonwealth," Ebbin told his fellow senators ahead of their vote to approve it last week.

But Republicans in a House committee dashed that dream this week, just as earlier this month, they killed a meek and modest proposal to have the Cannabis Control Authority—which already exists and is funded—begin to draft regulations for legal sales. That bill, House Bill 1464, was also killed by Republicans in a subcommittee.

"All this bill does is says the [Cannabis Control Authority], that y'all have propped up and funded, should do its job of advising you guys of what a market could look like next year," said Greg Habeeb, a former legislator turned lobbyist who represents the Virginia Cannabis Association.

But even that was too much for legislative Republicans, who have made abundantly clear that they are not in the least interested in allowing legal retail marijuana sales to get going. It may take another election for any progress to occur. 

Four federal legislators file a bill to strengthen the drug war in the Caribbean, a Hawaii bill to ease the way toward the therapeutic use of psilocybin and MDMA passes the Senate, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Minnesota Marijuana Legalization Bill Wins More Committee Votes. The effort to legalize marijuana continued to bear fruit this week, with the House version of the bill, House File 100 being approved Monday by the House Human Services Policy Committee and the companion Senate bill being approved that sa me day by the Senate Transportation Committee. The actions mark the eighth approval by a House committee and the sixth by a Senate committee. With majorities in the House and Senate, as well as control of the governorship, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party is confident the bill will become law this year. It looks like there are only four committee votes to go before the bill heads for floor votes in the two chambers.

Opiates and Opioids

Idaho Bill Would Lower Heroin Penalties, Create Mandatory Minimums for Dealing Fentanyl. A bill before the legislature, House Bill 67, would raise quantity thresholds and reduce sentences for heroin dealing while creating a mandatory minimum sentence for fentanyl dealing. The amount of heroin required for a trafficking charge would jump from two grams to seven in the bottom tier and from 10 to 14 grams in the middle tier. Sentences for the top tier of heroin trafficking offenses would drop from 15 years to 10 and sentences for the middle tier would drop from 10 years to five. The bill would also make possession of more than seven grams of fentanyl a felony chargeable as "trafficking." Those caught with more than seven grams would face a three-year mandatory minimum, while those caught with more than 14 grams would face a five-year mandatory minimum, and those caught with more than 28 grams would face a 10-year mandatory minimum. The Idaho Chiefs of Police, Idaho Sheriffs Association and the Idaho Prosecuting Attorneys Association are all in favor of House Bill 67.

Psychedelics

Hawaii Psilocybin and MDMA Research Bill Wins Committee Vote. The Senate Health and Human Services Committee has approved Senate Bill 1531, which is aimed at promoting research into the therapeutic uses of MDMA, psilocybin, and other alternative mental health treatments. The bill would create a Beneficial Treatments Advisory Council that would review the scientific literature on using such substances for mental health treatment as well as exploring state and federal regulations on them. The council would be required to develop a "long-term strategic plan to ensure the availability of therapeutic psilocybin, psilocybin-based products, and [MDMA] that are safe, accessible, and affordable for adults twenty—one years of age or older." A companion bill in the House has yet to move.

Drug Policy

Old School Prohibitionist Bill to Fight Caribbean Drug Trafficking Filed in Congress. On Monday, three Republicans and one Democrat, Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Reps. Jenniffer González-Colon (R-PR) and Stacey Plaskett (R-VI) introduced the Caribbean Border Counternarcotics Strategy Act , which aims "to stop the illegal trafficking of deadly drugs in the Caribbean, specifically between Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Florida." The bill would "ensure the Federal government has a strategy in place to prevent the flow of illicit drugs through the Caribbean region and into the United States by codifying in statute the requirement for ONDCP to issue a Caribbean Border Counternarcotics Strategy—just as Congress has codified the requirement for the Southwest Border and the Northern Border Counternarcotics Strategies." It would also clarify that US territories are included in the definition of "state" and "United States." 

International

Colombian Government in Peace Talks with Leftist Rebels Who Demand "Alternative Drug Policies." The government of President Gustavo Petro and the country's largest remaining rebel group met in Mexico City to restart peace talks aimed at resolving a conflict dating back to the 1960s. The communist-inspired National Liberation Army (ELN) is calling for a "temporary, nationwide cease-fire" and that any agreement should include "an alternative anti-drug policy that is no longer based on repression and war." The ELN has a presence in some 200 Colombian township, mostly in areas of widespread coca cultivation and cocaine production. Like the larger FARC, which signed a peace agreement with the state in 2016, the ELN is involved in the drug trade and has replaced the FARC in many areas. But even though it is involved in the drug traffic, the ELN is adamant that it should not be treated like a drug trafficking organization but as a political force. This is the second round of talks since Petro took office last year. The first round did not achieve much. 

That Minnesota marijuana legalization bill continues to advance, the city of Amsterdam is banning outdoor pot smoking in its red light district, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Minnesota Marijuana Legalization Wins Yet Another Committee Vote. The effort to legalize marijuana continued its long march through the legislative committee process Thursday with the Senate Environment, Climate and Legacy Committee approving the Senate version of the bill, Senate File 73. That is the fifth Senate committee to advance the bill. The House version of the bill is also moving, having passed through seven committees already. This means the bill is roughly two-thirds of the way through committee votes, with a total of 18 anticipated before it heads for floor votes.

Asset Forfeiture

Texas Bill Would Reform State Asset Forfeiture Process and Take Step to Opt Out of Federal Program. Rep. Terry Canales (D) has introduced a modest reform of the state's civil asset forfeiture laws, House Bil1714. The bill does not abolish civil asset forfeiture, but raises the burden of proof on prosecutors from "a preponderance of the evidence" to "clear and convincing evidence." Passage of the bill would also take a big step toward opting Texas out of a federal program that allows state and local police to get around more strict state asset forfeiture laws. The bill says: "A law enforcement agency or attorney representing the state may not directly or indirectly transfer seized property to any federal law enforcement authority or other federal agency and may not coordinate with the authority or agency regarding seized property unless" the value of the seized property exceeds $50,000 and the crime committed is "interstate in nature." The bill has yet to be referred to a committee.

Drug Policy

American Society of Addiction Medicine Calls for Drug Decriminalization. The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), which has historically aligned itself with prohibitionists and resisted modest marijuana reforms, is now calling for drug decriminalization. Citing "structural racism and stigma that are entrenched in US drug policy," ASAM issued a policy statement Thursday that said the group "supports shifting the nation’s response to personal substance use away from assumptions of criminality towards health and wellness. Policymakers should eliminate criminal and onerous civil penalties for drug and drug paraphernalia possession for personal use as part of a larger set of related public health and legal reforms designed to improve carefully selected outcomes. In the interest of harm reduction, policymakers should also eliminate criminal penalties for the manufacture and delivery of drug paraphernalia."

International

Amsterdam to Ban Pot Smoking on the Street in Red Light District. As part of a package of rules aimed at cracking down on noisy tourists who have drawn repeated complaints by residents, the city will ban pot smoking on the streets of its red light district beginning in May. "This should reduce the nuisance caused by drug use in public spaces, particularly by tourists," Mayor Femke Halsema said. The mayor said residents had been "excessively bothered" by crowds and nuisances related to mass tourism in the district. The new rules also mandate that brothels close by 3 a.m. and that bars close by 2 a.m. People will still be able to smoke pot outside on the patios of the city's famous coffeeshops.