Welcome back to the Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana.
We’ll start our news coverage in Louisiana, where medical marijuana has cleared the final hurdle and is shipping out to dispensaries. It’s been a bumpy ride to the sales counter, so any optimism about the success of the program is cautious.
Meanwhile, in Utah, there are two different issues with the state’s medical marijuana program. Several companies denied licenses to grow for the program filed appeals, saying the process was flawed. Those appeals were recently dismissed. And the state Supreme Court ruled that the governor and legislature had the right to change the voter-approved medical cannabis law.
Colorado physicians can now prescribe medical marijuana in lieu of opioids. The state joins New York and Illinois in allowing this practice.
In Florida, state Rep. Shevrin Jones recently introduced a decriminalization bill. The legislature will take it up in the session starting January 2020, but the bill is viewed as a long shot. In other Florida legalization news, a petition to put marijuana on the 2020 ballot has garnered enough signatures to prompt Supreme Court review.
Not every state is moving forward with marijuana, however. Nebraska’s Attorney General said last week that a medical marijuana bill currently under consideration in the Nebraska Legislature is unconstitutional. And New Hampshire governor Sununu vetoed a bill that would have allowed medical marijuana patients to grow cannabis at home.
Turning our attention to international news, the government of St. Kitts and Nevis has introduced a bill to decriminalize marijuana, and Luxembourg is planning to legalize cannabis within the next two years.
And finally, makers of snack foods might want to consider putting their support behind legalization efforts. A recent study has confirmed what everyone already knew: sales of snack foods increased in areas where marijuana is legal.
See you next week!
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