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“There is a standard process for review of regulations which will be followed.” By Zach Wendling, Nebraska Examiner The Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission unanimously signed off on formal regulations over the budding supply chain Monday, nearly a year after issuing the first regulations. Guidelines have ebbed through temporary 90-day periods since just before July 1. The rules have been extended multiple times and largely define restrictions on medical cannabis establishments, including licenses that can be issued, security requirements, types of products that can be sold to patients and which doctors can recommend the medicine. Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers (R) has a legal duty to review the formal regulations for legal and constitutional compliance. Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (R) then has the final say. Hilgers has been openly critical of the voter-approved laws and some bills in the Legislature. He and Pillen questioned the legality when the laws took effect December 12, 2024, following overwhelming voter approval the month before—71 percent for legalization, 67 percent for regulations. “Both the governor and the attorney general believe that serious issues remain regarding the validity of these [ballot measure] petitions under federal law and the Nebraska Constitution,” Pillen and Hilgers said at the time. “The federal government has designated marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance. Under federal law, it is unlawful to either possess or sell Schedule I controlled substances.” Nebraska also finds itself in a precarious, one-of-a-kind situation: it has no congressional protections for a state medical cannabis program from federal interference. It’s unclear why Nebraska was left off the latest update in January. Today, 47 states are protected. ‘Standard process for review’ Pillen, at times, has tried to strike a different tone than Hilgers, offering administrative support and setting aside more than $2 million in the latest round of state budget adjustments for the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission, which houses the Medical Cannabis Commission, as decided by voters. The state’s three liquor commissioners serve on both commissions. The governor also signed off on the temporary regulations just before the voter-imposed July 1 deadline. He supports access to the medicine in part to prevent recreational marijuana. This time, Pillen’s signature on the regulations would give a more permanent force of law. Asked for comment Monday, Hilgers spokesperson Suzanne Gage said: “There is a standard process for review of regulations which will be followed.” Gage did not respond to a follow-up question about whether Hilgers’s questioning about the constitutionality and validity of the 2024 laws would impact his review. President Donald Trump has sought to expedite a move started under President Joe Biden to federally downgrade marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug. Schedule I drugs, such as heroin, LSD, ecstasy and peyote, are drugs the federal government has classified with a high likelihood of abuse and no currently accepted medical value. Schedule III drugs are defined as those with moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence, such as Tylenol with codeine, ketamine and testosterone. Hilgers and Pillen have spoken against the rescheduling effort. Trump has endorsed both for reelection this year. Legal protections for providers At Monday’s commission meeting, some advocates told the four commissioners they question whether the program will be functional after the derailing of legislation last week that would have given legal protection to health care providers who recommend medical cannabis. Under current law, Nebraskans with a health care practitioner’s recommendation can legally possess up to 5 ounces of medical cannabis. The recommendation does not have to come from an in-state doctor. The commission has decided to restrict access to commission-licensed dispensaries—the only route for legal sales in the Cornhusker State—to patients with in-state recommendations. Since the laws took effect, advocates and lawmakers say no Nebraska physicians have issued recommendations, in part due to fear of retaliation, including from Hilgers. Some patients have turned to other states for recommendations or to buy the medicine in the meantime. Bill Hawkins of the Nebraska Hemp Company said the defeat of the 2026 bill might mean no in-state doctors sign up through the commission, making access to commission-licensed dispensaries impossible. Physicians would also need to complete annual education to qualify. Commissioners, responding to public comments on the regulations, said they want to limit it to Nebraska providers, “but might consider a waiver process in the future.” Last year, Hilgers spoke against such protections in a larger regulatory bill. He said all health care licenses are subject to review, unless these protections have passed. The AG’s Office told KETV last week that it is “responsible for ensuring the safety of patients.” “[The Attorney General] is charged with reviewing complaints as to medical professionals who violate the terms of their licenses,” the AG’s Office told KETV. “We take that obligation very seriously, and the office will look at any medical professional who has been alleged to have violated the conditions of their license.” ‘Games with people’s lives’ State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha, who sought the legal protections this year, pulled his bill last week. He said it was “hijacked” by a handful of “hostile” amendments that imperiled the “goal of making a functioning medical cannabis program available to sick Nebraskans.” Among the amendments were requirements that protections only be allowed if the recommendation was “based upon a preponderance of the current scientific evidence.” And only in-state providers could be protected if they followed current or future state regulations. Crista Eggers of Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, the group that led the 2024 petition drive, said the defeat of Cavanaugh’s bill was “one of the most disgraceful displays” she had seen in the Legislature. She said politicians played “games with people’s lives.” “I hope they will remember who ignored their vote and dismissed their suffering, because I know I will,” Eggers said. “I will remember who forced me to go home and tell my son we failed him again.” Eggers, whose pre-teen son, Colton, has severe epileptic seizures, told the commission Monday it must work harder and faster and answer questions about when the program will be accessible. Next steps for the commission One of the commission’s four licensed cultivators asked for a slight variance in its grow plan so it will be ready for harvest by October 1. The cultivator’s representative, Michael Johnson, said refusal would delay planting until 2027. The commission granted the change 4-0. Also Monday, the commission decided to move forward with hiring its own legal counsel rather than working with an attorney from Hilgers’ soffice. Some commissioners said it was about optics and the appearance of “impropriety,” not a judgment on the legal help so far. The commission will also seek to hire an executive director and day-to-day staff. The passage of another, much smaller medical cannabis bill this year, the first in state history, gave the commission the authority to set fees. That requires new regulations, which will have to wait for Hilgers and Pillen to sign off on the latest set of rules. Any delay in approving the latest regulations could delay licensing of manufacturers, transporters and dispensaries and bottleneck the supply chain this fall. Patients urge action Tiffany Tex Gustafson, a double above-the-knee amputee who is paralyzed from the chest down, told the commissioners she is one patient waiting. She lives with one kidney, diabetes, gastroparesis and she is blind in one eye, which she said is the result of pharmaceuticals. Gustafson said when voters spoke, she “finally felt hope,” that her suffering mattered, and she would no longer be a “criminal to survive day to day.” But she said hope is “slipping away.” “I don’t have the luxury of waiting for political comfort. My pain doesn’t wait,” Gustafson testified. She continued: “I’m not asking for special treatment. I’m just asking for dignity. My pain is real. The question is, is your empathy real? Do you even care?” The next scheduled Medical Cannabis Commission meeting is 1 p.m. May 11. This story was first published by Nebraska Examiner. The post Nebraska Officials Approve Medical Marijuana Rules, Sending Them To Attorney General And Governor appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

Federal transportation officials are rolling out a public education campaign aimed at encouraging people not to drive under the influence of marijuana on or around the upcoming unofficial cannabis holiday known as 4/20. “Relevant, timely messaging is an important addition to any communication plan, as it creates an opportunity for engagement with the community,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said of its new campaign pegged to Monday’s stoner holiday. “On the 20th of April, also known as 420—a number associated with marijuana use—marijuana users might observe a day of increased marijuana use,” the agency said. “We have themed material that reminds drivers: If You Feel Different, You Drive Different and that it’s dangerous and illegal to drive impaired.” The campaign includes graphics and sample press releases that state and local agencies can use to encourage people in their areas not to operate motor vehicles while impaired. One ad depicts a video game arcade cabinet that says “Game Over” and “If You’re High, Get A Ride.” The screen shows a bong with smoke coming out, a cannabis leaf and a car. NHTSA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, also provides talking points about the issue, including suggestions that people “designate a sober driver who won’t be using any drugs or call a ridesharing service or taxi.” It also reminds consumers that in every U.S. state and territory—including those that have legalized cannabis use and sales—it remains illegal to drive under the influence. “Whether the drug is legally obtained or not, drug-impaired driving poses a threat to everyone on the road,” it says. “If you think driving while high from marijuana won’t affect you, you are wrong: It has been shown that marijuana can slow reaction times, impair cognitive performance, and make it more difficult for drivers to keep a steady position in their lane.” Another ad in NHTSA’s 4/20 campaign shows a man separately appearing to be intoxicated from alcohol and high on marijuana and says, “You wouldn’t drive drunk. Don’t drive high.” The agency is also providing suggested text for electronic highway message boards: DRIVING HIGH RISKS LIVES DRIVE SOBER AVOID THE HAZE DRIVE SOBER ON 420 AND 24 7 A SOBER RIDE KEEPS EVERYONE ALIVE ON 420 DONT DRIVE HIGH SECURE A SOBER RIDE ON 420 The 420-themed campaign is just one of several “special activations” under NHTSA’s broader If You Feel Different, You Drive Different campaign. Others are pegged to Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving and winter holidays. NHTSA recently partnered with the Ad Council on a separate campaign to “challenge the dangerous belief that it’s safe to drive after consuming marijuana,” with a disturbing ad that they said depicts a real-life story of a child killed by a driver who was under the influence of cannabis. That campaign represented a departure from recent cannabis-related NHTSA ads, which have taken a less “Just Say No” approach to marijuana use risk messaging and, at times, leaned into to cannabis culture to promote education around the potential consequences of driving while high. What stood out about the messages and graphics was the lack of fear-mongering and negative depictions of cannabis consumers that’s long been a hallmark of federal marijuana PSAs, such as those funded by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in the 1990s and 2000s that perpetuated stigmas about laziness or forgetfulness. Instead, NHTSA seemed to be leveraging cannabis culture, with warnings against impaired driving that are coupled with images meant to appeal to marijuana consumers. It’s unclear if the more recent shift to alarmist messaging is directly or indirectly responsive to language in a spending bill approved by the House last year that would block the federal traffic safety agency from supporting ads to “encourage illegal drug or alcohol use.” Prohibitionists have celebrated the inclusion of those provisions. NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison said in August that he was prepared to “double down” on increasing awareness about the risk of marijuana-impaired driving in partnership with the White House. In 2021, meanwhile, NHTSA tried to get the word out about the dangers of impaired driving through an ad featuring a computer-generated cheetah smoking a joint and driving a convertible. Critics noted that the world’s fastest land animal hardly fits the stereotype of a cannabis consumer that the government has historically played into, while other commenters pointed out at the time that the ad made the cheetah look confusingly cool as he’s broke the law. The agency also played on horror-movie tropes in a 2020 ad featuring two men running for their lives from an axe murderer. The pair ultimately find a vehicle to escape the scene, but the driver pauses before he turns the key in the ignition. “Wait wait wait,” he says. “I can’t drive. I’m high.” While it’s widely understood that driving under the influence of cannabis is dangerous, the relationship between consumption and impairment is a messy one. In 2024, for example, a scientific review of available evidence on the relationship between cannabis and driving found that most research “reported no significant linear correlations between blood THC and measures of driving,” although there was an observed relationship between levels of the cannabinoid and reduced performance in some more complex driving situations. “The consensus is that there is no linear relationship of blood THC to driving,” the paper concluded. “This is surprising given that blood THC is used to detect cannabis-impaired driving.” Meanwhile, the Department of Justice recently announced a new breakthrough in the development of a marijuana breathalyzer, with a study partly funded by the federal government showing a potential pathway for a “portable, low cost” device that looks like an inhaler for asthma, built with 3-D printed material that can detect delta-9 THC without secondary lab analysis. Federal agencies outside of DOJ have also recognized the need for the THC detection technology. For example, last year the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under the U.S. Department of Commerce planned a workshop aimed at facilitating “an open and candid discussion” about the development and implementation of device to test a person’s breath for marijuana impairment. In 2023, a federally funded report by researchers at NIST and the University of Colorado Boulder concluded that evidence does “not support the idea that detecting THC in breath as a single measurement could reliably indicate recent cannabis use.” A DOJ researcher in 2024, meanwhile, cast doubt on whether a person’s THC levels are even a reliable indicator of impairment, saying states may need to “get away from that idea.” That issue was also examined in a federally funded study in 2024 that identified two different methods of more accurately testing for recent THC use that accounts for the fact that metabolites of the cannabinoid can stay present in a person’s system for weeks or months after consumption. Also that year, researchers behind a federally funded study said they’d developed new procedures to enhance the selectivity of a popular forensic testing method, allowing better detection of delta-9 THC and its metabolites in blood. A study published in 2019 concluded that those who drive at the legal THC limit—which is typically between two to five nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood—were not statistically more likely to be involved in an accident compared to people who haven’t used marijuana. Separately, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) in 2019 determined that while “marijuana consumption can affect a person’s response times and motor performance … studies of the impact of marijuana consumption on a driver’s risk of being involved in a crash have produced conflicting results, with some studies finding little or no increased risk of a crash from marijuana usage.” In a report in 2024, NHTSA said there’s “relatively little research” backing the idea that THC concentration in the blood can be used to determine impairment, again calling into question laws in several states that set “per se” limits for cannabinoid metabolites. “Several states have determined legal per se definitions of cannabis impairment, but relatively little research supports their relationship to crash risk,” that report said. “Unlike the research consensus that establishes a clear correlation between [blood alcohol content] and crash risk, drug concentration in blood does not correlate to driving impairment.” The post Feds Launch Campaign Warning Against Marijuana-Impaired Driving Ahead Of 4/20 appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

Tennessee lawmakers have passed a bill to block an automatic review that could potentially legalize medical marijuana under state law following the federal rescheduling of the drug. Under current Tennessee law, federal reclassification of a substance triggers an automatic review by the state’s commissioner of health and commissioner of mental health and substance abuse services. But under HB1972 and its companion SB1603, which lawmakers voted to send to Gov. Bill Lee (R) on Monday, that would not be the case when it comes to cannabis. “If marijuana is rescheduled or deleted as a controlled substance under federal law, then the commissioner of mental health and substance abuse services shall not reschedule or delete marijuana under [state drug laws] unless the general assembly has established a regulatory framework for marijuana and authorized the commissioner to reschedule or delete marijuana as a controlled substance,” the bill says. Sen. Ferrell Haile (R), the lead sponsor of the senate legislation, said, “We don’t want the Wild West out here. We want the General Assembly deciding how we decide and deal with things.” But Sen. Kerry Roberts (R) argued that it’s unlikely the legislature “will ever do anything” to legalize medical cannabis. “We haven’t done anything for years,” he said, according to The Tennessean. “So if the feds make a decision to reschedule, delete or redesignate, I just don’t have any confidence that we’ll ever do anything.” Last month, however, House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R) said the push to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) could remove roadblocks at the state level. “My biggest objections are being resolved by the federal government right now in rescheduling cannabis and rescheduling specifically marijuana and allowing the doctors to take over and make a determination on how and if these substances could be helpful,” Lamberth said. — Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments. Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access. — Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Tennessee similarly discussed how the federal move to reclassify marijuana could open the door to medical marijuana reform after President Donald Trump issued an executive order in December directing officials to finalize the process. House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) said at the time that rescheduling represents a “first step” to medical cannabis reform in Tennessee, though he noted there are still certain outstanding logistical questions to answer. “There will have to be conversations about who manufactures it, who tests it, who distributes, which medical illness could it be used for, does this require [federal Food and Drug Administration, or FDA] approval and a host of other questions,” Sexton said. Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images. The post Tennessee Lawmakers Vote To Block Potential State Medical Marijuana Legalization After Federal Rescheduling appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

As Pennsylvania lawmakers consider the governor’s proposal to legalize recreational marijuana, separate legislation to allow terminally ill patients to use medical cannabis in hospitals and other healthcare facilities is advancing. The House Health Committee approved the bill from Rep. Dan Frankel (D), who chairs the panel, in a 23-3 vote on Tuesday. If enacted into law, HB 2254 would require hospitals, long-term care nursing facilities, assisted living residences and personal care homes to allow terminally ill patients to use medical cannabis on the premises, provided that doing so does not interfere with their broader treatment plan and that marijuana isn’t vaporized in a way that “could impact care to other patients.” Smoking cannabis is not allowed under Pennsylvania’s broader medical marijuana law. Within 180 days of the bill being enacted, covered healthcare facilities would have to “develop and disseminate written guidelines for the use or administration of medical marijuana.” That would need to include requirements that cannabis be stored in locked containers, safety measures to protect other patients and staff, specificity on the forms of marijuana that are allowed and procedures for documenting use. The legislation says that facilities are not required to administer medical cannabis to patients to to allow its use in emergency departments, but it also says that those that facilities violate the broader policy on allowing use can be assessed a civil penalty of up to $500 for each violation for each day a violation continues. The measure also provides that if the Department of Justice, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or another federal agency takes action against a healthcare facility over the use of medical cannabis, facilities should suspend compliance with the law. Finally, the bill would require the state Department of Human Services to prepare a sample medical marijuana plan for healthcare facilities and to host at least five educational sessions about the issue. “The needs of terminally ill patients were a key consideration when Pennsylvania enacted the Medical Marijuana Act. The law includes provisions allowing patients in care facilities to access medical marijuana by designating a caregiver to administer and even permits facility staff to serve in that role,” Frankel wrote in a cosponsorship memo for the legislation. “While some facilities in Pennsylvania have chosen to permit the use of medical marijuana, adoption remains inconsistent across the state. As a result, many terminally ill patients continue to face barriers to accessing medical cannabis during inpatient or end-of-life care.” “This measure will ensure patients have access to effective symptom relief while maintaining safety and compliance within care settings,” he said. Prior to approving the bill, the panel on Tuesday adopted an amendment that Frankel said “makes explicit the liability protections for facilities that are required to allow medical marijuana use” and “clarifies timeliness so that the requirement to allow use only begins once guidelines are in place.” The amendment also “exempts psychiatric facilities in settings where people may be dealing with cannabis use disorder,” he said. The medical cannabis bill’s advancement comes as a new poll shows that seven out of ten Pennsylvania likely voters support legalizing adult-use marijuana—including majority backing for the reform across party lines. When asked whether they “support or oppose the regulation and taxation of legal cannabis for use by adults 21 and older in Pennsylvania,” 69 percent of respondents said yes. Support was strongest from Democrats, at 72 percent, but also includes 67 percent of Republicans and 64 percent of independents. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania’s governor is increasing pressure on lawmakers to send him a bill to legalize marijuana in the state, saying that doing so would generate new revenue that could be invested in key programs. “While some in Harrisburg claim we can’t afford to make bigger investments in our kids, public safety, and our economy, know this: If we legalized and regulated adult-use cannabis, we’d bring in $1.3 BILLION in revenue for our Commonwealth over the first five years,” Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said in a social media post last week. “Those are dollars that can be invested back into our people and our communities,” he said. “Stop with the excuses. Let’s get this done.” Earlier this year, the governor again included marijuana legalization in his budget request to lawmakers, but so far the legislature has not enacted the reform. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives last year passed a bill to legalize marijuana and put sales in state-owned dispensaries, but the Republican Senate majority has criticized that plan while also not advancing a cannabis legalization model of its own. The state’s Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) reported in February that legalizing cannabis in Pennsylvania would generate nearly half a billion dollars in annual revenue by 2028, an estimate that is a significantly larger cash windfall compared to projections from Shapiro’s own office. With a proposed 20 percent wholesale cannabis excise tax, 6 percent state sales tax for retail and licensing fees, IFO said the governor’s legalization plan would generate $140 million in tax revenue in the first year of implementation from 2027-2028 and increase to $432 million by 2030-2031. That’s a much higher revenue estimate than what the governor’s office put forward in the latest executive budget. According to his office’s analysis, legalization would generate about $36.9 million in tax dollars in its first year from a 20 percent wholesale tax on marijuana—rising gradually to $223.8 million by 2030-2031. In February, a coalition of drug policy and civil liberties organizations urged Shapiro to play a leadership role in convening legislative leaders to get the job done on cannabis legalization this session. Last month, the Senate Law and Justice Committee amended and approved a bill to create a Cannabis Control Board (CCB) to oversee the state’s medical marijuana program and intoxicating hemp products and that could eventually regulate adult-use cannabis if it is legalized in the state. The post Pennsylvania Lawmakers Approve Bill To Allow Medical Marijuana Use In Hospitals For Terminally Ill Patients appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

Vaporizing marijuana releases far fewer harmful chemicals than smoking joints does, according to a new study. “These results demonstrate that combustion—not cannabis itself—is the primary driver of harmful inhalation byproducts, and that controlled vaporization can significantly reduce exposure to these compounds,” the study conducted and self-published by the vape device company PAX found. Lighting marijuana on fire through smoking releases a number of harmful or potentially harmful compounds (HPHCs)—including benzene, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. Vaporization, in contrast, heats cannabis to below the point of combustion while still releasing cannabinoids and terpenes. The research—conducted by Richard Rucker, who serves as PAX’s director of product integrity, and Derek Shiokari, a senior chemist and data scientist at the company—compared aerosol generated by PAX’s dry herb vaporization device (FLOW) and its oil vaporization device (TRIP) with smoke from combusted marijuana joints. The team compared levels of 16 HPHCs between the methods of consumption, all using the same batch of ground Lemon Cake Batter cannabis from Humboldt Farms. “Across all measured analytes, vaporization reduced harmful byproducts by up to 99% compared to joint smoke,” they concluded. Via PAX. “Combustion produces harmful byproducts—whether it’s tobacco, wood or cannabis,” Rucker said in a press release. “By heating cannabis without burning it, vaporization significantly reduces the formation of these toxic compounds. It’s the same plant, but completely different exposure. This research helps quantify the difference, giving consumers clearer information about how their choices impact exposure.” When cannabis is lit on fire via smoking, its components like cannabinoids, terpenes, lipids, proteins and carbohydrates experience thermal degradation and oxidation. That leads to the formation of particulate matter and generates additional compounds such as volatile organic compounds, aromatic hydrocarbons and nitrogen-containing compounds, among others, the study said. “Combustion of cannabis plant material produces a complex aerosol containing numerous harmful byproducts generated through pyrolysis and oxidation. Under matched puffing conditions, vaporization of cannabis flower reduced exposure to these harmful compounds by up to 99% compared with joint smoke. These findings demonstrate that combustion is the primary source of toxic chemical exposure during cannabis smoking, and that vaporization technologies can substantially reduce formation of these byproducts.” “Across the sixteen quantified HPHCs, vapor aerosol contained up to 99% lower concentrations compared with joint smoke,” the paper concluded. “These results demonstrate dramatic reductions in key combustion markers including aromatic hydrocarbons and aldehydes.” Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer. The post Vaporizing Marijuana Reduces Harmful Inhaled Byproducts By 99% Compared To Joint Smoking, New Study Shows appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

Maryland lawmakers have sent the governor a bill to protect firefighters and rescue workers from being penalized over their lawful use of medical marijuana off the job. The House of Delegates approved the Senate-passed legislation, SB 439 from Sen. Carl Jackson (D) in a 108-23 vote on Monday, about two weeks after passing a companion measure, HB 797 from Del. Adrian Boafo (D). The Senate bill, now having cleared both chambers in identical form, heads next to the desk of Gov. Wes Moore (D), who can sign or veto it, or allow it to become law without his signature. The identical House bill cleared a committee in the opposite chamber but did not receive floor action there by the time lawmakers adjourned for the session on Monday night. The passage of the legislation comes after years of attempts over recent sessions to enact the reform aimed at giving emergency service professionals the option to use cannabis as an alternative treatment for health conditions that commonly afflict the first responder community. The change is “so critically important to our firefighters” and other rescue professionals who “work long shifts in tense emergencies and high-stress situations every day,” Boafo said at a committee hearing this session. “Many experience chronic pain, injuries and anxiety as a direct result of serving our communities,” the lawmaker said. “Medical cannabis, when prescribed and used off duty, can help manage those conditions. But under current policies, firefighters who use medically prescribed cannabis can face retaliation or discipline from their employers, even when they’re following the law.” “That leaves many of these public servants with a difficult choice: Either continue doing their jobs in pain, or turn to stronger prescription drug drugs, often opiates, just to get through the day,” Boafo said, while emphasizing that “nothing in this bill allows for impairment on the job” and that those who come to work impaired “will still face serious consequences and will be reported” to state emergency medical services regulators. “Public safety remains a top priority here in Maryland, but our state must modernize its laws to protect employees who use medically certified cannabis responsibly and outside of the workplace,” he said. “Our firefighters and rescue professionals dedicate their lives to protecting us. They should not be punished for seeking legal, medically prescribed relief for the physical toll of that work.” SB 439 and HB 797 would amend the state’s medical marijuana law by stipulating that firefighters, emergency medical technicians, cardiac rescue technicians and paramedics employed by the state or local governments could not face employment discrimination or retaliation for testing positive for cannabis metabolites if they’re a registered medical marijuana patient. Specifically, employers could not “discipline, discharge, or otherwise discriminate against the fire and rescue public safety employee with respect to the employee’s compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment” if they test positive while holding a medical cannabis registration. Further, employers could not “limit, segregate, or classify its employees in any way that would deprive or tend to deprive the fire and rescue public safety employee of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect the fire and rescue public safety employee’s status as an employee.” Nothing in the legislation would prohibit employers from taking action against an employee for showing up to work while under the influence of cannabis, and any instances where a public safety worker is found to be impaired while on duty would be reported to the State Emergency Medical Services Board. The advancement of the House and Senate cannabis bills comes a year after officials in Maryland’s most populous county said they were moving to loosen marijuana policies for would-be police officers in an effort to boost recruitment amid a staffing shortage. — Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments. Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access. — Meanwhile in Maryland, lawmakers also recently sent the governor legislation to provide legal protections for veterinarians who recommend medical cannabis for animals. Another proposal that has passed the legislature and awaits the governor’s action would extend a psychedelics task force through the end of 2027 to develop updated recommendations on expanding therapeutic access to the novel drugs and potentially creating a regulatory framework for broader legalization. Legislators also took up a bill this session to protect the gun rights of medical marijuana patients in the state, but it did not pass. The post Maryland Firefighters And Rescue Workers Could Use Medical Marijuana Off Duty Under Bill Heading To Governor’s Desk appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

Feds want anti-marijuana groups’ lawsuit dismissed; PA legalization poll; Target adds new hemp THC drink licenses; NORML consumer freedom survey Subscribe to receive Marijuana Moment’s newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning. It’s the best way to make sure you know which cannabis stories are shaping the day. Get our daily newsletter. Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human: Your support makes Marijuana Moment possible… Hold on, just one second before you read today’s news. Have you thought about giving some financial support to Marijuana Moment? If so, today would be a great day to contribute. We’re planning our reporting for the coming months and it would really help to know what kind of support we can count on. Check us out on Patreon and sign up to give $25/month today: https://www.patreon.com/marijuanamoment / TOP THINGS TO KNOW Health and Humans Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Director Mehmet Oz filed a brief moving to dismiss a lawsuit from anti-marijuana groups that are suing to block a plan to cover hemp products for eligible patients. Notably, the government’s motion to dismiss was prepared in part by Matthew Zorn, a lawyer for HHS who before taking on the federal job led numerous cases suing government agencies on behalf of plaintiffs seeking marijuana and drug policy reform. Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) is asking lawmakers to amend a recreational marijuana sales legalization bill—including by pushing back the launch date for the market by six months. She also signed bills to protect marijuana consumers’ parental rights and allow medical use in hospitals, while additionally suggesting amendments to legislation to provide resentencing relief for prior cannabis convictions. A new poll of Pennsylvania likely voters shows that 69 percent support legalizing marijuana—with majority backing among Republicans, Democrats and independents, and from every age, racial and geographic demographic. Target is significantly expanding its entry into the hemp-derived THC drinks market by obtaining 72 new lower-potency hemp edible licenses from the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management—one for each of its stores in the state and making it the largest holder of such licenses. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws is conducting a survey ahead of 4/20 to find out what cannabis consumers think about freedoms in the jurisdictions where they live. John Grady of the Slaphappy Hemp Company argues in a new Marijuana Moment op-ed that the hemp industry didn’t kill itself as was claimed in another recent piece but is being targeted by a campaign of “market consolidation dressed as consumer protection.” “Something real—something built with care—is being dismantled by people who never had to love it to profit from it.” A Nebraska senator is pushing back against regulators’ restrictive proposed hemp rules that will classify many products as “adulterated” under the state’s Pure Food Act and block their sales. / FEDERAL A U.S. Army spokesperson addressed the case of a reserve officer who is being disciplined for owning a licensed New York cannabis business by saying that any member “who wrongfully uses, manufactures, and/or distributes marijuana could face action.” / STATES Oklahoma’s attorney general tweeted, “For all the illegal marijuana growers and other operators of organized crime considering a future in Oklahoma. Don’t. We will find you. We will arrest you. And we will continue to send a message that Oklahoma does not tolerate these illegal acts in our state.” A Missouri regulator discussed proposed rules to license marijuana research facilities. New York regulators are accepting applications to serve on the Medical Cannabis Advisory Council. Ohio officials sent an alert about preventing cannabis- and alcohol-related incidents during high school prom and graduation season. U.S. Virgin Islands regulators sent a reminder about cannabis consumption permits for events ahead of 4/20. New Jersey regulators will begin accepting applications for a cannabis business loan program on Monday. The Alaska Marijuana Control Board will meet on Wednesday and Thursday. The Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board will meet on Thursday. — Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments. Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access. — / INTERNATIONAL German lawmakers are pushing officials to more quickly approve cannabis clubs throughout the country. / SCIENCE & HEALTH A study confirmed “the sensitivity of glioma, neuroblastoma, and hippocampal neuronal cultures to CBD.” A study of “intranasal 5-MeO-DMT administered adjunctively to SSRIs demonstrated acceptable safety and tolerability with promising improvements in depressive symptoms.” / ADVOCACY, OPINION & ANALYSIS Prohibitionist organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana launched a new podcast. / BUSINESS Vireo Growth Inc. and Glass House Brands Inc. announced a joint venture through which each company will contribute its California dispensary operations to the joint entity in exchange for a 50 percent ownership interest. AYR Wellness Inc. announced the initial closing of the transfer of its Virginia operations into Arboretum Virginia LLC and the closing and initial funding of its new money exit facility with Arboretum. / CULTURE CNN’s Sanjay Gupta will debut a new installment in his ongoing “Weed” series on Sunday. Make sure to subscribe to get Marijuana Moment’s daily dispatch in your inbox. Get our daily newsletter. Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human: The post Virginia governor wants cannabis bill changes (Newsletter: April 14, 2026) appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

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Virginia’s governor is requesting that legislators make amendments to a bill to legalize recreational marijuana sales that they sent to her desk last month. On Monday, Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) returned the legislation with suggested changes—including pushing back the launch date for sales to begin by six months, from January 1, 2027 to July 1, 2027. The move will “allow for additional time to implement a legal market safely and curb the illicit market,” a press release from the governor’s office says. “Five years ago, the Commonwealth took the first steps to legalize marijuana—and for five years, the work sat unfinished,” Spanberger said. “We are working to set up a marketplace that is controlled, regulated, and responsible—because legal markets only succeed when there are clear guardrails and enforcement to back it up.” “To keep our next generation safe, we must also ensure real consequences for vape shops that have spent years targeting Virginia’s kids,” she said. “We need to rein in these shady businesses and make sure a legal marijuana market does not make the problem worse.” The governor’s proposal will also “strengthen the enforcement provisions” in concert with a related bill lawmakers sent her on the issue “to put a greater focus on consumer and product safety,” her office’s press release said. Lawmakers are set to reconvene to address the governor’s proposal on April 22. Meanwhile, Spanberger acted on several other cannabis bills on Monday—including measures to protect the parental rights of consumers and allow patients to access medical marijuana in hospitals. She also proposed amendments to legislation to provide resentencing relief for people with past convictions. Personal marijuana possession and home cultivation of marijuana has been legal in Virginia since 2021, but former Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) twice vetoed bills to provide consumers with a way to legally purchase regulated adult-use cannabis. The marijuana sales bills that Spanberger wants amendments to are SB 542 from Sen. Lashrecse Aird (D) and HB 642 from Del. Paul Krizek (D). Here are the other key details of the cannabis bills as initially sent to the governor’s desk by lawmakers: Adults would be able to purchase up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana in a single transaction, or up to an equivalent amount of other cannabis products as determined by regulators. Legal sales could begin on January 1, 2027. There would be an excise tax of 6 percent on cannabis sales as well as a 5.3 percent retail sales and use tax, and municipalities could set an additional local tax of up to 3.5 percent. The Virginia Cannabis Control Authority would oversee licensing and regulation of the new industry, and would also take on oversight of hemp, which is currently under the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Revenue would be distributed to the Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund (30 percent), early childhood education (40 percent), the Department of Behavioral & Developmental Health Services (25 percent) and public health initiatives (5 percent). Local governments could not opt out of allowing marijuana businesses to operate in their area. Delivery services would be allowed. Serving sizes would be capped at 10 milligrams THC, with no more than 100 mg THC per package. Existing medical cannabis operators could enter the adult-use market if they pay a licensing conversion fee that is set at $10 million. Cannabis businesses would have to establish labor peace agreements with workers. A legislative commission would be directed to study adding on-site consumption licenses and microbusiness cannabis event permits that would allow licensees to conduct sales at venues like farmers markets or pop-up locations. It would also investigate the possibility of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority becoming involved in marijuana regulations and enforcement. JM Pedini, development director for the advocacy group NORML and executive director for Virginia NORML, criticized the governor’s move to delay the launch of legal sales. “After years of deliberation, work groups, studies and commission reports, the legislature delivered a pragmatic bipartisan path to retail adult-use cannabis sales,” Pedini said. “Further delaying legal retail sales is just another page from the prohibitionist playbook, the kind of policy failure Virginians saw under Glenn Youngkin, not what they expect from Abigail Spanberger. Let’s be clear about what July 1, 2027 means for Virginia: another entire year of driving Virginians to the illicit market, endangering communities, undermining public safety and not keeping marijuana out of the hands of youth.” Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan. The post Virginia Governor Wants Amendments To Marijuana Sales Legalization Bill, Including Delayed Market Launch appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

Virginia’s governor has signed bills to allow patients to use medical marijuana in hospitals and protect the parental rights of cannabis consumers. Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) on Monday also also recommended that lawmakers adopt amendments to legislation that is aimed at providing resentencing relief to people with prior marijuana convictions. Meanwhile, the governor also suggested changes to bills to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana sales in the state. Here’s a look at the cannabis legislation that Spanberger has already acted on: Protect Marijuana Consumers’ Parental Rights The governor signed a bill to protect the rights of parents who use marijuana in compliance with state law. HB 942 from De; Nadarius E. Clark (D) states that a “person’s legal possession or consumption of substances…alone shall not serve as a basis to restrict custody or visitation unless other facts establish that such possession or consumption is not in the best interest of the child.” The new law also specifies that a parent or legal guardian can’t be construed to have failed a drug test over legal substances such as cannabis. The legislation is consistent with a measure Clark sponsored last session that advanced through the legislature, only to be vetoed by then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R). “This is a significant victory for Virginia parents who consume cannabis responsibly,” JM Pedini, development director for the advocacy group NORML and executive director for Virginia NORML, told Marijuana Moment. “It’s taken seven legislative sessions to secure these most basic protections and prevent courts from needlessly separating children from their families.” Allow Patients To Use Medical Cannabis In Hospitals Spanberger additionally signed legislation to let patients use medical marijuana in hospitals. SB 332 from Sen. Barbara Favola (D) and HB 75 from Del. Karen Keys-Gamarra (D) build upon existing state law protecting health professionals at hospices, nursing homes and assisted living facilities that aid terminally ill patients in utilizing medical cannabis treatment from punishment by adding hospitals to the statute. The new law also creates a working group under the Department of Health to “discuss the implementation process for providing cannabis products to patients within medical care facilities.” “The work group shall assess any available federal guidance or proposed regulations on the use of cannabis products or changes to the schedule for cannabis products under the federal Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. § 801 et seq.) as well as interaction with applicable state laws,” the legislation says. Its members will include representatives of the Virginia Hospital & Health Care Association and the Virginia Health Care Association, as well as health care providers and palliative, hospice, and hospital volunteers familiar with issues associated with providing care to individuals experiencing chronic illness. The measure directs the working group to submit a report to key legislative committees including “written guidelines for the use of medical cannabis within medical care facilities and the safe operations of medical care facilities” by November 1. Meanwhile, the governor also proposed that lawmakers amend legislation to provide resentencing relief for prior cannabis convictions: Provide Resentencing Relief For Prior Cannabis Convictions Lawmakers sent Spanberger bills to allow people who have certain marijuana convictions on their records to receive resentencing relief, but she wants them to make changes. As approved by lawmakers, SB 62 from Senate President Pro Tem Louise Lucas (D) and HB 26 from Rozia Henson, Jr. (D) would create a process by which people who are incarcerated or on community supervision for certain felony offenses involving the possession, manufacture, selling or distribution of marijuana could receive an automatic hearing to consider modification of their sentences. The relief would apply to people whose convictions or adjudications are for conduct that occurred prior to July 1, 2021, when a state law legalizing personal possession and home cultivation of marijuana went into effect. Under the governor’s proposed amendments, affected persons would have to proactively file petitions to get the relief instead of having the courts proceeding automatically. Spanberger’s suggestion also removes deadlines for court hearings on resentencing relief. Similar legislation was approved by lawmakers last session but it was vetoed by Youngkin, the former governor. Lawmakers are set to reconvene to address the governor’s proposals on this and other bills on April 22. The post Virginia Governor Signs Bills To Protect Marijuana Users’ Parental Rights And Allow Medical Use In Hospitals appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

Ahead of the upcoming unofficial cannabis holiday on 4/20, a top marijuana reform group is asking consumers to take a poll about the freedoms (or lack thereof) that they experience where they live. The new 2026 Cannabis Freedom Survey from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) includes questions like “Where you live, how free are adults to legally possess and access cannabis?” and “Where you live, how concerned are you about legal consequences for cannabis consumers?” The survey is “designed to capture real-time sentiment from cannabis consumers across the United States and beyond, offering a snapshot of how individuals experience cannabis policy in their daily lives,” NORML said. The poll also includes a question asking people to choose “the most important step that would increase cannabis freedom where you live.” Options include: end marijuana arrests, legalize marijuana for adults, let adults grow their own cannabis, allow legal cannabis sales, make legal cannabis more affordable, clear records and fix past convictions, change federal cannabis laws and protect consumer rights (parental, workplace, housing, healthcare). It additionally asks whether respondents view marijuana policy at the national level as fully respecting consumer freedom, moving in the right direction, stuck with no meaningful progress or moving backwards. Cannabis freedom depends on where you live. With 4/20 approaching, NORML is asking: Where you live, how free do you feel to consume cannabis? Take the 2-minute Cannabis Freedom Survey >> https://t.co/lhp0uK4NyJ — NORML (@NORML) April 7, 2026 “In some jurisdictions, cannabis comes with real freedom. In others, it still comes with real consequences,” NORML Development Director JM Pedini said in a press release. “This survey is about capturing that gap—not just what the laws say, but how people actually experience them.” Pedini told Marijuana Moment that the organization will likely compile the results and publish them a few days ahead of 4/20. The post Marijuana Reform Group Polls Consumers About Freedoms Where They Live Ahead Of 4/20 appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

“The governor, the attorney general, and now, apparently, the Department of Agriculture are going around the law to try to ban this product that is legal in Nebraska.” By Phillip Smith, The American Hemp Monitor Nebraska hemp businesses generate an estimated $10 million in sales tax revenue each year and employ around 2,000 Nebraskans, but the state is adopting a novel approach to cracking down on hemp-derived cannabinoid products, in a move is drawing a backlash from the hemp industry and local politicians. Following up on a January executive order from Gov. Jim Pillen (R), “Protecting Nebraskans from Intoxicating Synthetic Cannabinoid Products,” the state Department of Agriculture has posted new proposed regulations that would restrict the sale of many hemp-derived products by classifying them as “adulterated” under the Nebraska Pure Food Act. Such a designation would effectively bar stores from selling the products. That’s the idea, Pillen said as he released his executive order. “We must be able to protect our kids from these products. They’re marketed like something they are not and the hemp industry is taking advantage of that fact, said Pillen. But Joseph Fraas of the Nebraska Healthy Alternatives Association said the proposal was nothing more than an effort to wipe out the industry. “This is kind of the old guard’s dying attempt to ban this,” Fraas said. “It would make anyone that sells it liable, civilly liable, and would basically destroy your business if you were caught selling it. It’s another version of them going around the legislature, going around the will of the people,” Fraas said. The move is also getting push-back from state Sen. John Cavanaugh (D), who argues that the executive branch is exceeding its authority by imposing such restrictions and that the 2018 federal Farm Bill protects hemp-derived products (at least until November). “The governor, the attorney general, and now, apparently, the Department of Agriculture are going around the law to try to ban this product that is legal in Nebraska,” Cavanaugh said. “The agencies are granted authority by statute. And the point of my letter is that they do not have authority to regulate this.” Cavanaugh is calling on the Agriculture Department to pause its rulemaking process and let an interim legislative study committee parse the issue instead. But Pillen is undeterred and in fact doubled down on his broader opposition to cannabis reforms. He and the state’s Republican establishment fought bitterly to fend off medical marijuana legalization only to be defeated by the state’s voters in 2024. “Come to the Pardons Board and listen to 40 families’ stories to see how off-track in the ravine they dug,” Pillen said. “And most of it all starts with marijuana. The ballot initiative was medical cannabis. It wasn’t for THC everywhere, and it wasn’t for over-the-counter. And it wasn’t for recreational marijuana. I’m fighting that.” A hearing for the proposed regulations is set for the Department of Agriculture’s office in Lincoln on April 21. This story was first published by The American Hemp Monitor. The post Nebraska Senator Pushes Back Against Restrictive Hemp Rules Proposed By State Regulators appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

“Something real—something built with care—is being dismantled by people who never had to love it to profit from it.” By John Grady, Slaphappy Hemp Company A recent Marijuana Moment op-ed authored by Max Jackson of Cannabis Wise Guys argues that the hemp industry killed itself and that no one—except the bad actors in the sector itself—is to blame for the result. The bad actors the piece describes are real, and some of the failures it documents are accurate. But the conclusion—that state legislatures are fairly responding to industry abuse—lacks strength. What’s actually moving through those capitols is market consolidation dressed as consumer protection. The bad actors provided the pretext. The legislation is doing the work. This was never a hemp problem or a marijuana problem. It was always a one plant problem—and it demands a one plant solution. As a hemp farmer, I have stood in my field from dusk to dawn and watched my plants breathe—leaves turning down through the night, rising again to reach for the sun by morning. I have spent hours studying them, the way the light moves through the canopy at different times of day, the way a cola catches the last hour of light and holds it. I know this plant. I love this plant. That is what you should know before you read another word. The Pretext Is Real. The Response Is Not Proportionate Yes, the 500 mg THC hemp gummy jars that Jackson’s op-ed points to are real. Yes, some hemp retailers sold products without age verification. Yes, bad actors exploited the regulatory gap. None of that is in dispute. But consider the math. A gram of state-regulated marijuana flower at 23 percent THC—a common potency in licensed dispensaries—contains 230 mg of THC. A standard eighth at 3.5 grams contains over 800 mg. The 500 mg gummy jar that Jackson says triggered this national legislative campaign contains less THC than a single eighth of flower sold legally at dispensaries every day, but nobody in the cannabis space is proposing to ban dispensary flower. States aren’t responding to high-dose hemp products by capping dosage. They are eliminating the independent hemp retail channel entirely and routing all sales through licensed marijuana dispensaries. That is not a proportionate response. That is an opportunity the 500 mg jar created. The hemp industry wasn’t ignoring the problem. In Missouri alone, multiple regulatory bills were introduced to enact age verification, independent testing, labeling requirements and licensing fees proportionate to small business scale. Michigan had similar legislation moving through its Senate. Minnesota’s model—licensing, age-gating, labeling, per-serving THC limits—is now being cited by federal legislators as proof that state regulation can address public safety without blanket prohibition. The framework existed, but the will to use it fairly did not. I Watched It Happen On March 31, I stood in the Missouri Capitol when the Senate passed HB 2641, which if enacted into law will remove many currently legal hemp products from the market. The Senate Fiscal Oversight Committee asked the bill’s sponsor to meet with the hemp industry, but he declined. The follow-up happened at 10 p.m. without public notice and without a single hemp industry voice in the room. The bill then sped through the legislature and is now on Gov. Mike Kehoe’s (R) desk. Texas tells a similar story. The legislature there tried to ban hemp, but Gov. Greg Abbott (R) vetoed it. Subsequent efforts to pass a ban in two special sessions failed. Regulators then accomplished through administrative workarounds what lawmakers couldn’t do through legislation—until a Travis County judge paused the rules as an illegal separation of powers violation. When the democratic process doesn’t deliver the desired outcome, the regulatory process is being used to finish the job. This is not an industry collapsing under the weight of its own failures. This is an industry being eliminated through coordinated legislative, regulatory and legal pressure. The Science Being Cited Doesn’t Support The Conclusion Jackson’s op-ed on the alleged failures of the hemp industry cites a peer-reviewed study showing 62.5 percent of CBD websites and 30 percent of Delta-8 websites required no age verification, and that and not one product out of twenty required verification at delivery. This analysis of the behavior of just 20 retailers is now being used to indict a $70 billion industry generating $13 billion in wages. While peer review confirms the methodology was sound, it does not validate the sample. Every age-restricted product sold online—alcohol, tobacco and firearms—faces the same self-reported confirmation challenge. Presenting it as a hemp-specific failure while the study’s own authors acknowledge it applies universally is not science informing policy. Who Built This Framework And Who Benefits The marijuana industry spent years lobbying for its complex, expensive regulatory framework. They wrote those rules. Now the argument is that hemp must be forced through that same framework—the one they built, the one they profit from. Sierra Nevada didn’t put Budweiser out of business. Craft brewers expanded the culture and the big guys survived. Nobody routed craft beer through Anheuser-Busch distribution networks to protect the legacy industry. Age verification, testing and labeling enforced equally—without routing every transaction through a specially licensed channel—is the model. If the marijuana industry believes its own standards are too burdensome, the argument should be for reform—not for imposing them on a competitor as a market entry barrier. What We Built Across the hemp industry there are people who spend nights getting it right. The right name. The right scent. The right formula. Hours of research and iteration and failure and trying again—driven not by a licensing requirement but by a genuine obsession with what this plant can do for people. Farmers and small operators who looked at each other one evening and said, “Look at us—doing this better and still cheaper.” And the feedback came. Real people. Real relief. Veterans. Cancer patients. People who had tried everything else and found something that worked. For years the hemp industry lobbied for exactly this kind of regulatory framework. Age verification. Testing standards. Labeling requirements. What industry fights for its own regulation? One that believes in what it is selling. The argument is always the same. Unregulated must equate to untested and sold to children. Nothing about this feels unintended. Something real—something built with care—is being dismantled by people who never had to love it to profit from it. And nobody in power seems to be asking what is actually being lost before it’s gone. What Actually Needs to Happen One standard should apply to all intoxicating cannabinoid products regardless of label. Steve DeAngelo—co-founder of Harborside, one of the first six licensed dispensaries in the U.S.—helped establish the One Plant Alliance last November on exactly that principle: age verification, testing and labeling applied equally across every sector of the plant. No mandatory dispensary routing. Three science-based standards. A level playing field. Congress is moving the same direction. Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced the Cannabinoid Safety and Regulation Act with provisions for age verification, testing, labeling, Food and Drug Administration oversight and no blanket ban. The separate bipartisan Hemp Planting Predictability Act would delay the November 2026 federal deadline to give Congress time to build a permanent framework. States racing to eliminate this industry before that process concludes may find they have done the consolidators’ work for them—and left their own farmers and patients with nothing to show for it. One Plant My wife Kara and I built the Hemporium in Rosebud, Missouri. People joke it’s the Cracker Barrel of weed. Walk in and you’ll find rope and hemp seed oil alongside flower and tinctures and beverages. People who never expected to walk into a place like this walk out knowing more than they came in with. Not a loophole, but a relationship with a plant and with each other. A market built by activists, patients, farmers and small operators—people who fought for access long before recreational marijuana became a multi-billion dollar industry state by state—is being restructured to benefit a consolidating group of national and multinational operators. Legal recreational marijuana arrived and the lines got redrawn. We all argued for this plant to be treated like tomatoes. What happened? Cypress Hill said it plainly: “The marijuana plant is the hemp plant.” Willie Nelson straddles both markets without apology. His footprint is everywhere because he chose partnership over war. The multi-state operator marijuana businesses could do the same. Their brands could be in every Hemporium in America—in every community that built a relationship with this plant before the lawyers arrived. The One Plant Alliance built the framework. Congress is building the bridge. The only thing missing is the will to stop the war. John Grady is a hemp farmer and co-founder of Slaphappy Hemp Company and the Hemporium in Rosebud, Missouri. The post The Hemp Industry Is Being Killed By Market Consolidation Disguised As Consumer Protection (Op-Ed) appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

Seven out of ten Pennsylvania likely voters support legalizing marijuana, according to a new poll. That includes majority backing for the reform across party lines. When asked whether they “support or oppose the regulation and taxation of legal cannabis for use by adults 21 and older in Pennsylvania,” 69 percent of respondents said yes. Support was strongest from Democrats, at 72 percent, but also includes 67 percent of Republicans and 64 percent of independents. The survey, which was commissioned by the Pennsylvania Cannabis Coalition (PCC) and conducted by Susquehanna Polling & Research, also found majority support for legalizing marijuana across every age and racial demographic, as well as each geographic area across the state. Support for ending cannabis prohibition increased even further when respondents were asked about legalization legislation including provisions for “strict consumer safety standards, product testing requirements and strong protections to prevent youth access.” In that case, a total of 72 percent of voters said they would be more likely to back the reform. The poll also asked about hemp, with 89 percent of respondents saying they would support legislation that “restricts sales of intoxicating THC products to licensed, state-regulated businesses and removes these unregulated products from gas stations and convenience stores.” “Pennsylvanians are sending a clear message: they want a system that is safe, regulated, and responsible,” Meredith Buettner Schneider, executive director of PCC, said in a press release on Monday. “Right now, intoxicating THC products are being sold with little oversight, often in places that lack proper safeguards. That is unacceptable.” The survey involved interviews with 705 likely Pennsylvania voters from March 7–19, 2026, and has a margin of error is ±3.7% at a 95% confidence level. The results come as Pennsylvania’s governor is increasing pressure on lawmakers to send him a bill to legalize marijuana in the state, saying that doing so would generate new revenue that could be invested in key programs. “While some in Harrisburg claim we can’t afford to make bigger investments in our kids, public safety, and our economy, know this: If we legalized and regulated adult-use cannabis, we’d bring in $1.3 BILLION in revenue for our Commonwealth over the first five years,” Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said in a social media post last week. “Those are dollars that can be invested back into our people and our communities,” he said. “Stop with the excuses. Let’s get this done.” Earlier this year, the governor again included marijuana legalization in his budget request to lawmakers, but so far the legislature has not enacted the reform. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives last year passed a bill to legalize marijuana and put sales in state-owned dispensaries, but the Republican Senate majority has criticized that plan while also not advancing a cannabis legalization model of its own. The state’s Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) reported in February that legalizing cannabis in Pennsylvania would generate nearly half a billion dollars in annual revenue by 2028, an estimate that is a significantly larger cash windfall compared to projections from Shapiro’s own office. With a proposed 20 percent wholesale cannabis excise tax, 6 percent state sales tax for retail and licensing fees, IFO said the governor’s legalization plan would generate $140 million in tax revenue in the first year of implementation from 2027-2028 and increase to $432 million by 2030-2031. That’s a much higher revenue estimate than what the governor’s office put forward in the latest executive budget. According to his office’s analysis, legalization would generate about $36.9 million in tax dollars in its first year from a 20 percent wholesale tax on marijuana—rising gradually to $223.8 million by 2030-2031. A recent Quinnipiac University Poll also found that a majority of Pennsylvania voters say they’re ready for the state to legalize adult-use marijuana. In February, a coalition of drug policy and civil liberties organizations urged Shapiro to play a leadership role in convening legislative leaders to get the job done on cannabis legalization this session. Last month, the Senate Law and Justice Committee amended and approved a bill to create a Cannabis Control Board (CCB) to oversee the state’s medical marijuana program and intoxicating hemp products and that could eventually regulate adult-use cannabis if it is legalized in the state. “This polling shows strong support for policies like SB 49 that would eliminate the unregulated hemp intoxicant market and provide much needed consumer protections,” Buettner Schneider said of the new survey results on Monday. The post Pennsylvania Voters Support Marijuana Legalization Across Party Lines, New Poll Shows appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

Major retailer Target is expanding its participation in the hemp-derived THC beverage market, even as a federal law is set to ban the products later this year. Last year, the company began a pilot program involving sales of cannabis drinks at 10 select stores in Minnesota. That apparently went well, and now the company has obtained licenses from Minnesota regulators to sell lower-potency hemp edible products—including THC drinks—at all 72 of its stores in the state. According to a review of Office of Cannabis Management data, Target, which is headquartered in Minnesota, now holds more lower-potency hemp edible licenses in the state than any other company. The new licenses were obtained on April 1 and will last for a year. The move comes months after Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed legislation that will recriminalize hemp-derived products containing more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per container. Bipartisan lawmakers in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have pushed for a delay in the scheduled ban, which is set to take effect in November, but those efforts have not gained traction with congressional leadership. Under Minnesota law, holders of lower-potency hemp edible licenses can sell products containing up to 5 milligrams of THC per serving, with a maximum of 50 milligrams of THC per package. Beverages can have a maximum of up to 10 milligrams of THC per container. THC drink brands that were included in Target’s initial launch included Birdie, Cann, Find Wunder, Gigli, Hi Seltzer, Indeed, Señorita, Stigma, Surly, Trail Magic, Wyld and Wynk. It’s not clear whether Target’s involvement in the hemp market at a greater number of its stores with the new licenses will stay focused on the beverage category or if it will involve other kinds of products, and representatives for the company did not immediately respond to Marijuana Moment’s request for comment. A poll from the cannabis telehealth platform NuggMD last year found that marijuana consumers were encouraged by Target’s decision to start selling THC beverages—with a majority saying the marketing move makes them more likely to shop at the retail giant’s stores. Respondents were asked: “Does knowing this make you more likely to shop at Target in the future?” A total of 50.5 percent said they would be more likely—though that notably includes 34.4 percent who said they’d only be more inclined to patronize Target if their local store carried the THC beverages. Another 16.1 percent said “yes” because they “want to support the retailer more now regardless of which locations sell the products.” About half of respondents (49.5 percent) said Target’s embrace of a THC drink pilot program wouldn’t affect where they shop. Here’s a full list of Target’s new hemp licenses in Minnesota: License Number License Type Legal Business Name Retail Site Address License Issued License Expiration LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 1001 S 13th Street, Virginia, MN 55792 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 111 Pioneer Trail, Chaska, MN 55318 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 11990 N Business Park Boulevard, Champlin, MN 55316 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 125 SE Lincoln Avenue, Saint Cloud, MN 56304 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 1300 NE MN-55 Highway, Buffalo, MN 55313 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 1300 W University Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55104 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 13201 Ridgedale Drive, Minnetonka, MN 55305 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 1329 SE 5th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55414 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 1370 S MN-15, Hutchinson, MN 55350 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 14333 MN-13, Savage, MN 55378 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 1447 E 7th Street, Monticello, MN 55362 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 14546 N Dellwood Drive, Baxter, MN 56425 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 1500 NE 109th Avenue, Blaine, MN 55449 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 151 Tyler Road, Red Wing, MN 55066 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 1515 W County Road B, Roseville, MN 55113 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 15150 Cedar Avenue, Apple Valley, MN 55124 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 15300 N Grove Circle, Maple Grove, MN 55369 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 15560 Pilot Knob Road, Apple Valley, MN 55124 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 15800 NE 87th Street, Otsego, MN 55330 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 1650 New Brighton Boulevard, Minneapolis, MN 55413 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 1685 E 17th Avenue, Shakopee, MN 55379 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 1744 Suburban Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55106 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 1750 S Robert Street, West St. Paul, MN 55117 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 18275 Kenrick Avenue, Lakeville, MN 55044 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 1850 Adams Street, Mankato, MN 56001 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 1902 Miller Trunk Highway, Duluth, MN 55811 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 2000 Cliff Lake Road, Eagan, MN 55122 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 2000 NW Bunker Lake Boulevard, Andover, MN 55304 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 2021 Market Drive, Stillwater, MN 55082 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 2080 Ford Parkway, Saint Paul, MN 55116 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 2100 NW Paul Bunyan Drive, Bemidji, MN 56601 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 215 N Balsam Street, Cambridge, MN 55008 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 21615 S Diamond Lake Road, Rogers, MN 55374 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 2199 E MN-36, North Saint Paul, MN 55109 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 2323 S MN-3, Northfield, MN 55057 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 2410 S Pokegama Avenue, Grand Rapids, MN 55744 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 2500 E Lake Street, Minneapolis, MN 55406 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 2505 S 1st Street Willmar, MN 56201 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 2555 W 79th Street, Bloomington, MN 55431 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 300 Clydesdale Trail, Medina, MN 55340 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 301 Park Drive, Owatonna, MN 55060 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 3300 NW 124th Avenue, Coon Rapids, MN 55433 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 3301 E US-10 Highway, Moorhead, MN 56560 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 356 SW 12th Street, Forest Lake, MN 55025 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 3601 MN-100, Minneapolis, MN 55416 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 3800 N Lexington Avenue, Shoreview, MN 55126 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 3827 NW Marketplace Drive, Rochester, MN 55901 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 4175 N Vinewood Lane, Plymouth, MN 55442 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 4201 W Division Street, Saint Cloud, MN 56301 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 4404 S MN-29 Highway, Alexandria, MN 56308 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 449 Commerce Drive, Woodbury, MN 55125 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 4611 SE Maine Avenue, Rochester, MN 55904 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 4848 County Road 101, Minnetonka, MN 55345 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 5537 W Broadway Avenue, Crystal, MN 55428 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 6445 Richfield Parkway, Richfield, MN 55423 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 7000 S York Avenue, Edina, MN 55435 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 7200 Valley Creek Plaza, Woodbury, MN 55125 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 749 Apollo Drive, Lino Lakes, MN 55014 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 7535 W Broadway Avenue, Brooklyn Park, MN 55428 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 755 NE 53rd Avenue, Fridley, MN 55421 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 7841 Amana Trail, Inver Grove Heights, MN 55077 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 7900 N 32nd Street, Oakdale, MN 55128 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 810 W County Road 42, Burnsville, MN 55337 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 8225 Flying Cloud Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55344 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 851 W 78th Street, Chanhassen, MN 55317 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 860 Mankato Avenue, Winona, MN 55987 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 8600 NW Springbrook Drive, Coon Rapids, MN 55433 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 8655 E Point Douglas Road S, Cottage Grove, MN 55016 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 875 E Main Street, Waconia, MN 55387 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 8900 MN-7, St. Louis Park, MN 55426 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 900 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55403 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 LPDIS-L25-000423 LPHE Retailer Target Corporation 975 County Road E, Vadnais Heights, MN 55127 4/1/2026 4/1/2027 Target’s new license expansion was first reported by Brewbound. In Minnesota in particular, hemp beverages have been a mainstay even before the state moved to legalize marijuana for adult use. Gov. Tim Walz (D) signed legislation in 2022 making it so all hemp-derived cannabinoids including CBD could be legally sold in food items, beverages, topicals and more—as long as the products contain less than the federal limit of 0.3 percent THC. Edible and beverage products are limited to a total of 5 mg THC per serving and 50 mg per package. About a year later, former Minnesota House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (DFL), who championed the state’s legalization law over multiple sessions, announced plans to launch his own hemp beverage company. The mainstreaming of cannabis beverages comes as recent poll shows that a majority of Americans believe marijuana represents a “healthier option” than alcohol—and that most also expect cannabis to be legal in all 50 states within the next five years. Another survey found that four in five adults who drink cannabis-infused beverages say they’ve reduced their alcohol intake—and more than a fifth have quit drinking alcohol altogether. Target isn’t alone in joining the cannabis train as state laws continue to evolve. Home Depot, one of the largest employers in the United States, last year shifted its employee drug testing policies to remove cannabis from screening panels entirely and stop pre-employment drug testing of most of its workers, according to a document obtained by Marijuana Moment. In 2022, Amazon, the second largest private employer in the U.S., also backed a Republican-led bill to federally legalize, tax and regulate marijuana. It previously expressed support for a separate, Democratic-led legalization bill. Amazon has also worked to adapt to changing marijuana policies internally as it’s backed congressional reform, enacting an employment policy change in 2021 to end drug testing for cannabis for most workers, for example. Meanwhile, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) of the United States recently entered a first-of-its-kind partnership with a hemp THC beverage company, with a licensing branding deal that will support a variety of veterans services and promote cannabis drinks as a potential alcohol alternative with the drinks being available at VFW posts across the country. Separately, while Target is apparently moving into the THC drink space, the airline Virgin Atlantic denied satirical and false claims earlier this year from a cannabis beverage company about a deal to sell its THC-infused beverages on flights. The post Target Expands Involvement In Hemp THC Drinks Market With 72 New Licenses In Minnesota appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

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Federal health officials are asking a court to dismiss marijuana legalization opponents’ lawsuit challenging a new Trump administration initiative to cover up to $500 worth of hemp-derived products each year for eligible Medicare patients. The program being implemented by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) focuses largely on CBD but also allows a certain amount of THC in products. Lawyers for Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Director Mehmet Oz filed a brief on Thursday saying that the anti-cannabis organizations that filed the suit against the Medicare hemp coverage policy do not have standing to bring the case. The prohibitionist groups, led by Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), are “are unregulated parties in every sense” and CMS has “not required them to do or refrain from doing anything,” the government brief says, arguing that the plaintiffs have not actually been harmed by the policy. Beyond the advocacy organizations, the case’s sole individual plaintiff is anti-marijuana lawyer David Evans, who claims he has standing to challenge the new Substance Access Beneficiary Engagement Incentive (BEI) as a Medicare recipient—but the federal agencies reject that argument. “Mr. Evans opposes hemp products and will not use them. He says so himself,” the brief says. “No one will force Mr. Evans to consume a hemp product. No one will force his provider to offer him one. His alleged injury is thus not that the [Medicare hemp program] will cause him any physical, monetary, or regulatory harm. His alleged injury is that he might be offered a product he will decline. That is not an Article III injury. It is an offense to his sensibilities.” “Plaintiffs are anti-cannabis advocacy organizations and one Medicare beneficiary. None participates in any Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) Innovation Center, also known as the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (“CMMI”), model. None administers the program they challenge. None faces any regulatory obligation from CMS. Their complaint is that CMS announced a voluntary component of existing models allowing willing providers to consult with consenting beneficiaries about eligible hemp products—and they object to it. Under [Supreme Court precedent], objection is not injury. The individual Plaintiff, David Evans, receives care from an ACO REACH participant. He opposes hemp products and says he would never use them. His claimed injury is that his provider might someday elect a voluntary program, might someday offer him a product, and he might be upset. That chain of contingencies is not Article III standing. It is speculation about the independent choices of third parties who are not before this Court.” The government also rejects the groups’ claims that they have standing to sue because are being forced to waste resources opposing the Medicare hemp initiative that they would otherwise allocate toward fighting reforms like marijuana legalization and federal rescheduling. “Every organizational Plaintiff exists to oppose cannabis access. The BEI did not divert these organizations from some unrelated core activity. It gave them exactly the kind of government action they exist to oppose,” the federal brief says. “Their expenditure of resources to oppose it is the execution of their organizational missions, not a diversion from them.” “SAM’s own filings confirm the point. SAM attaches as Exhibit A (ECF No. 4-1) to Plaintiffs’ motion its participation in the ongoing DEA marijuana rescheduling proceedings and alleges in the Complaint that the BEI has ‘rendered essentially moot’ its expenditure of resources opposing rescheduling because the BEI ‘provides marijuana products via a medical source.’ This argument fails twice. For starters, the BEI does not provide marijuana products but concerns hemp products. Hemp is not marijuana. Equally important, even accepting SAM’s mischaracterization, its argument is that a separate government action under separate statutory authority has made SAM’s advocacy in a different proceeding less effective. That is not Article III injury. It is a complaint that law and policy landscape has shifted in a direction SAM dislikes.” Aside from the question of standing, the federal agencies say the anti-marijuana groups’ argument fails on the merits, citing statute that specifiies Medicare test models are not subject to administrative or judicial review. The plaintiffs also err, the government says, by conflating their concerns about illegal marijuana with legal hemp. “Congress drew a bright statutory line between hemp and marijuana in the 2018 Farm Bill. Hemp is not a controlled substance. It is not illegal under federal law,” the brief says. “There is no inconsistency, no reversal, and no unexplained departure. There is a legal distinction that Congress enacted that Plaintiffs fail to acknowledge.” Additionally, the groups’ claim that CMS failed to conduct proper rulemaking and accept public comments before launching the program also fails, the brief says, because it is “not a legislative rule but an optional component of voluntary participation agreements that has been implemented the same way CMMI has implemented every voluntary model for sixteen years.” “CMS has added, modified, and removed model components throughout CMMI’s sixteen-year history,” the government said. “It has never conducted notice-and-comment rulemaking for any voluntary model component.” Judge Trevor N. McFadden late last month rejected the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order to halt the program from launching on April 1. The government’s motion to dismiss the case comes as the groups challenging the Medicare hemp program are seeking to add new plaintiffs to the case: cannabis-focused biopharmaceutical corporation MMJ International Holdings and its two subsidiaries, MMJ BioPharma Labs, Inc. and MMJ BioPharma Cultivation, Inc. While the federal health agencies don’t oppose the expanded plaintiff pool, they do object in a separate filing to the prohibitionist groups’ request to push back scheduled filing dates and a hearing on a motion for a preliminary injunction that is current scheduled for April 20. They also imply that SAM and the other anti-marijuana groups are seeking to add MMJ to the case in a “futile and misleading effort to cure” their own lack of standing to bring the complaint. The government also says that MMJ itself “cannot show irreparable harm” from the Medicare hemp program. “MMJ’s claimed injuries—decreased investor confidence, competitive disadvantage, impaired future earnings—are speculative projections about a market MMJ has not entered (and will not enter for years), based on products MMJ has not developed, contingent on authorizations MMJ has not obtained,” the federal brief says. Notably, the government’s motion to dismiss says it was prepared in part by Matthew Zorn, a lawyer for HHS who before taking on the federal job led numerous cases suing government agencies on behalf of plaintiffs seeking marijuana and drug policy reform. The CMS initiative comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in December calling on the attorney general to finalize a rule federally rescheduling marijuana that also contained components to “improve access” to full-spectrum CBD products. Under the program, inhalable preparations are not allowed, and products can contain no more than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC by dry weight and can have up to 3 milligrams of total THC per serving. The THC limit could potentially change if a law the president signed late last year takes effect as scheduled this November. That policy would strictly limit the types of cannabis products that are currently permitted under the 2018 Farm Bill that Trump signed in his first term, expressly prohibiting hemp derivatives containing more than 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container. The federal agencies note in their new brief that “CMS does not pay for hemp products under the BEI.” “The participating provider furnishes eligible products at its own cost, subject to the $500 annual cap per beneficiary. The BEI operates within the shared-savings framework that defines the underlying models. If a provider’s investment in beneficiary engagement reduces the beneficiary’s total cost of care, the provider and CMS share in the resulting savings. If it does not, the provider absorbs the loss. No new federal appropriation is involved. No new entitlement is created. The BEI is, at its core, a decision by willing providers that a particular intervention can reduce downstream claims.” Meanwhile, the White House Office of Management and Budget recently held a series of meetings about a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) CBD products enforcement policy. FDA also issued guidance making clear that it does not intend to interfere with implementation of the Medicare hemp-derived products coverage plan. CMS separately finalized a rule that will allow coverage of some hemp products as specialized, non-primarily health-related benefits through Medicare Advantage plans. Read recent filings in the Medicare hemp program lawsuit below: The post RFK And Dr. Oz Want Anti-Marijuana Groups’ Lawsuit Challenging Medicare Hemp Coverage Program Dismissed appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

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OR gov signs medical marijuana in hospices bill; HI Senate pushes federal legalization; Poll: Americans support cannabis homegrow; Hemp industry op-ed Subscribe to receive Marijuana Moment’s newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning. It’s the best way to make sure you know which cannabis stories are shaping the day. Get our daily newsletter. Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human: Your support makes Marijuana Moment possible… Your good deed for the day: donate to an independent publisher like Marijuana Moment and ensure that as many voters as possible have access to the most in-depth cannabis reporting out there. Support our work at https://www.patreon.com/marijuanamoment / TOP THINGS TO KNOW A Texas judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing the enforcement of new state rules restricting access to hemp-derived products such as smokable THCA flower. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D) signed a bill to allow patients to use medical cannabis in hospices and other healthcare facilities. The Hawaii Senate passed resolutions calling on Congress to federally legalize marijuana, support state efforts to clear people’s conviction records and take steps to facilitate access to banking services for companies in the cannabis industry. A new poll shows that three out of five Americans support legalizing home cultivation of marijuana amid broad concerns among cannabis consumers about harmful pesticides in the products they consume. Max Jackson of Cannabis Wise Guys argues in a new Marijuana Moment op-ed that “the hemp industry killed itself” by pushing highly potent products via a “loophole” in the law and has no one else to blame for new restrictions being enacted at the federal and state levels. A federal judge blocked the Rhode Island Cannabis Control Commission from proceeding with a lottery to award additional marijuana business licenses amid a legal challenge to residency rules, and a lawmaker said legislation is needed “to remedy this.” An Illinois court held a hearing in the final lawsuit challenging how regulators awarded marijuana social equity business licenses in a lottery, with a company saying its chances were unfairly diluted by the inclusion of ineligible applicants. The Cleveland, Ohio City Council is considering a proposal to allow its members to spend part of the city’s marijuana tax money directly on neighborhood projects in their districts. / FEDERAL The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a bulletin about severe illness associated with eating mushroom-containing chocolate products, saying, “consumers should be aware that microdosing psychedelic products can cause severe illness or death and that recalled products should not be sold, purchased, or eaten.” The House bill to designate psychedelic therapy centers of excellence got one new cosponsor for a total of 26. / STATES Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) spoke about the state’s investment of marijuana revenue in programs to address social inequities. Oklahoma’s attorney general tweeted, “When I took office, more than 9,000 licensed marijuana grow operations were in Oklahoma. Now, fewer than 1,200 remain. Our state is safer thanks to my unwavering commitment to end the stranglehold of Chinese syndicated crime organizations.” A Texas representative criticized recently enacted hemp product restrictions. The Missouri Court of Appeals rejected a request to transfer a marijuana business licensing case to the state Supreme Court. Alabama regulators said they expect the state’s first medical cannabis dispensary to open next month. Ohio’s top cannabis regulator discussed newly implemented restrictions on hemp products. Michigan regulators filed a complaint against a marijuana business over alleged violations. California regulators will hold a hearing on proposed changes to cannabis packaging rules on Tuesday. The Nevada Cannabis Advisory Commission’s Taxation Subcommittee will meet on Tuesday. — Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments. Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access. — / LOCAL The San Diego County, California Planning Commission approved a proposal to allow new cannabis businesses in unincorporated areas. / INTERNATIONAL The Sint Maarten Parliament Committee for Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry held a hearing on cannabis legalization legislation. / SCIENCE & HEALTH A review concluded that “cannabinoids, particularly CBD, showed promising results in managing symptoms such as pain and spasticity,” highlighting “the broad therapeutic potential of cannabinoids in neurology, with promising results in symptom management for conditions like Multiple Sclerosis and Fibromyalgia.” A study found that U.S. law enforcement and military personnel “showed significantly less positive attitudes toward psychedelics and psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy than the general public.” / BUSINESS Green Thumb Industries Inc. published a social impact report. / CULTURE Football player Markquese Bell was arrested for possessing marijuana. Make sure to subscribe to get Marijuana Moment’s daily dispatch in your inbox. Get our daily newsletter. Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human: Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images. The post Texas hemp product ban paused by judge (Newsletter: April 13, 2026) appeared first on Marijuana Moment. View the live link on MarijuanaMoment.net

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“We just want a fair shot. We’re not asking for anything special, no special privileges, but what they promised from the very beginning.” By Hannah Meisel, Capitol News Illinois Nearly seven years after Illinois lawmakers approved recreational cannabis legalization, applicants who lost out on coveted business licenses are still battling the state in court, alleging the law’s rollout undermined its purported equity goals. At the time of its passage in 2019, supporters of Illinois’s landmark law touted it as the most equity-centric legalized cannabis program in the nation. But one of the centerpieces of that legislation—setting aside the majority of cannabis business licenses for “social equity” applicants disproportionately affected by the War on Drugs—proved more complicated than the law’s authors had imagined, setting off years of litigation over the process. The final lawsuit of dozens filed following the first cannabis licensing lottery in 2020 finally got its day in court last week, marking the conclusion of a yearslong legal saga testing the state’s legalization policy. But it’s also the last chance for the plaintiff, Well-Being Holistic Group, to have an opportunity for a dispensary license after all four of its applications lost in three lotteries. “We just want a fair shot,” the Rev. Otis Davis, said after a hearing in the case. “We’re not asking for anything special, no special privileges, but what they promised from the very beginning… So we just saying, ‘Hey, that the system is broken, then they should redo it, and they should give everybody a chance.’” Davis preaches at Repairers of the Breach Ministries in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood and unsuccessfully ran for Chicago City Council in 2019. He was part of the team that applied for dispensary licenses as Well-Being Holistic Group in 2020. Chris Harris, an attorney who’d represented Davis, teamed up with his client along with Harris’ friend and business partner David Roberts to submit the applications. Harris was blunt in his assessment of Davis’s value to the team: “Otis being a veteran, Otis being a practicing minister on the South Side of Chicago coming from a disproportionately impacted area—we had what we thought was a perfect team, and a team that was designed to win this type of license.” In fact, Well-Being Holistic Group’s applications received perfect scores, but still didn’t win a license. While most lawsuits filed against the state after the lottery process were from applicants who disputed their scores for a chance to be included in the lottery, Well-Being’s case argues a different legal theory, which attorney Chris Carmichael of Henderson Parks said is the “most difficult path” of all the lawsuits. Plaintiff alleges lotteries were rigged Well-Being argues that the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which operated the lotteries, improperly allowed roughly 450 ineligible entries into a lottery of 901 applicants for dispensary licenses in the Chicago region. That, Well-Being argues, nearly doubled the size of the pool and reduced others’ chances of winning. Well-Being alleges the entries should have been flagged as ineligible because corporate dispensaries that already had a footprint in Illinois’s medical cannabis market had their fingerprints on applications for social equity dispensary licenses. In one case, Carmichael said a company paid for roughly $500,000 in application fees—something IDFPR and the consultants hired to vet applicants and conduct the lotteries should have caught, as the “remitter” line on those cashier’s checks contained the name of the company. IDFPR maintains it did its due diligence by checking out the individuals named as principal officers on the license applications, which the agency argues would have caught any attempts to flout application limits or hide true ownership of the entity behind an application. But Well-Being argues vetting only individuals missed the forest for the trees, causing IDFPR to overlook dozens of applications having the same corporate sponsorship. Alex Moe, a lawyer from the Illinois Attorney General’s office, told Cook County Judge Patrick Stanton that Well-Being was “missing that consultants were expected” to take part in the application process. There were no rules against those consultants paying for application fees either, he said, unless consultants had undisclosed financial interest in the entity applying for licenses. Further, Moe said Well-Being’s theory of mathematical unfairness in the lotteries is fundamentally incorrect. “Even if Well-Being is correct and half the applicants should not have been in there, it doesn’t change the outcome,” he said. By following the “paper trail” created by the lottery, Moe said IDFPR recalculated what would have happened if the applications Well-Being allege should’ve been marked ineligible weren’t in the pool. Well-Being would have placed 126th out of 450, he said. “That’s something we know with mathematical certainty—that Well-Being would not have received a winning drawing,” Moe said. Corrective lottery? But Carmichael pointed out that since the state has social equity cannabis dispensary licenses going unused, “the only possible meaningful thing to do is to run a corrective lottery.” The state already ran corrective lotteries after initial litigation held up the license awarding process for a year. The first dispensaries owned by social equity license holders didn’t open until November 2022—nearly three years after the application process opened. As of January, only 64 percent of licensed social equity dispensaries were operational, according to an analysis by The Chicago Reporter. Stanton, who pointed out multiple times during the hearing that IDFPR had wide latitude over interpreting state statute, said he understood Well-Being’s claims but seemed skeptical of its arguments that a court should step in and tell a state agency how to do its job. “It sounds to me like…there was some vetting done before the lottery. Maybe not the level of vetting you think should’ve been done,” he told Carmichael. “You’re saying they didn’t do enough. And I feel like, ‘Okay, that’s sort of the decision of the department.’” The judge said he would need more proof that IDFPR “didn’t follow statute” in order for judicial review to be warranted. “They did something,” Stanton said of IDFPR. “Perhaps not enough. Applying the standards they did, it seems to me they caught what they should’ve caught.” The judge is set to rule at a May 21 hearing. This article first appeared on Capitol News Illinois and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. Photo elements courtesy of rawpixel and Philip Steffan. The post Illinois Court Hears Final Lawsuit Challenging Marijuana Social Equity Business Licensing Lottery appeared first on Marijuana Moment. 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