A new advocacy group with ties to billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch has joined the fight to legalize cannabis. Announced Tuesday, the Cannabis Freedom Alliance (CFA) has a stated goal of ending the “prohibition and criminalization of cannabis in the United States.”
Hours after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an adult-use cannabis bill into law, lawmakers in New Mexico passed a bill that will legalize, regulate and tax marijuana for adults 21 and over. A separate bill which expunges arrest and conviction records for certain cannabis offenses also passed the New Mexico House and Senate on Wednesday. Both are headed to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s desk.
Start passing the joints. New York legalized cannabis today. Hours after the New York state legislature approved an amended version of the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA), Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law, paving the way for adult-use sales to begin sometime in 2022.
New York is on the verge of joining 15 other U.S. states that have legalized the sale of recreational cannabis for adults 21 and older. After months of negotiation, legislation that would legalize, tax and regulate adult-use cannabis was finally introduced into the Senate on Saturday by lead sponsor Sen. Liz Krueger.
Less than a week after a bipartisan group of lawmakers reintroduced the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act into the House, the Senate has followed suit with its version. Refiled by Sens. Jeff Merkely (D-OR) and Steve Daines (R-MT) on Tuesday, the bill currently has 30 co-sponsors.
The Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act was officially reintroduced into the US House of Representatives on Thursday, giving American cannabis firms renewed hope for federally protected access to major banks and credit unions. The bipartisan bill was authored by Rep. Ed. Perlmutter (D-CO) and sponsored by Reps. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Steve Stivers (R-OH) and Warren Davidson (R-OH).
A new nonprofit organization that “aims to advance social equity and racial justice and end federal cannabis prohibition" has been formed. Announced Monday, the U.S. Cannabis Council brings several North American cannabis industry stakeholders together in hopes of convincing policymakers in Washington D.C. to legalize marijuana.
Adult-use cannabis will soon be legal in Virginia. Both chambers of Virginia’s legislature passed separate bills on Friday that would legalize, regulate and tax cannabis for adults over the age of 21.
Three top Senate Democrats plan to pursue “comprehensive cannabis reform legislation” during the 117th session of Congress. In a joint statement issued Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), said they would prioritize ending cannabis prohibition and work together to introduce new cannabis reform legislation in the coming weeks.
Andrew Kline, who served for two years as the director of public policy at the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), has departed the Denver-based trade group for a role with multinational law firm Perkins Coie.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday announced a renewed push to legalize adult-use cannabis in the Empire State. This is the third straight year that Cuomo has called for establishing a regulated recreational marijuana market and it comes at a time when the state is facing an estimated $63 billion budget shortfall over the next four years as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Lori Ajax, the outgoing chief of California’s Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC), has been named the new executive director of the California Craft Brewers Association (CCBA). The Dec. 4 announcement comes about two weeks after Marijuana Business Daily confirmed that Ajax would step down from the BCC on Dec. 2, 2020.
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