Tag: legalized marijuana

Kansas Governor Frees First-Time Marijuana Offender Sentenced To More Than Seven Years In Prison

A Kansas court said Deshaun Durham was supposed to serve more than seven years in prison for a first-time marijuana offense.

Durham tried to sway the state’s Prison Review Board to recommend clemency, and the board denied his application.

But Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) overruled the board’s decision November 6 and commuted Durham’s sentence. Friday, he walked out of the Hutchinson prison where he had spent the last two-and-a-half years.

Durham, of Manhattan, was arrested as a 20 year old in 2020 for possession of more than two pounds of marijuana with intent to distribute. He had no criminal history and was later sentenced to 92 months. In the roughly two years between his arrest and sentencing, Durham worked as a Chinese food delivery driver and stayed out of trouble.

Prison changed him, he said.

Durham said he saw “things I’m going to carry with me for the rest of my life.”

On the outside, he felt people saw him as just a criminal. Inside prison, he wasn’t criminal enough.

“He said, ‘I’m losing myself,’” recalled his mother, Brandi Davis.

“To me it was like, ‘Wow, this kid has shown he can make the right choices, and they still thought he needed to be imprisoned for eight years,’” Davis said.

While Durham was serving his sentence, Davis spent her days advocating for his release. She joined with the Last Prisoner Project, a nonprofit drug policy reform organization, to pursue clemency.

Barry Grissom, a former U.S. Attorney for the District of Kansas under the Obama administration, represented Durham through his work as legal counsel for the Last Prisoner Project. Durham’s plight isn’t new in Kansas, he said in a news release on the day of Durham’s release.

He said Kansas ought to decriminalize marijuana possession, use and production and craft public policies that regulate and tax it like alcohol.

“To fail to do otherwise means taxpayer dollars are wasted on investigation, interdiction, prosecution and incarceration of individuals, thereby depriving law enforcement from utilizing those funds for more meaningful law enforcement measures to keep us safe in our communities,” Grissom said

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Workers Can’t Sue Employers Who Violate New Jersey’s Marijuana Anti-Discrimination Law, Federal Court Says, Siding With Walmart

A federal appeals court panel sided with Walmart this week, ruling that although New Jersey explicitly forbids employment discrimination against marijuana users, private individuals are unable to sue employers under that law because it failed to create any specific remedies.

“The lack of an express remedy is better understood as a deliberate choice not to provide a remedy rather than an oversight of an intended remedy,” Judge Peter Phipps, a Trump appointee, wrote in the new opinion for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

That interpretation, Phipps continued, “is reinforced by the New Jersey Legislature’s comparative responsiveness in enacting safeguards against other forms of employment discrimination.”

The case stems from a 2022 lawsuit filed by Erick Zanetich, whom Walmart denied a job as a security guard after he tested positive for marijuana. Zanetich asserted that the drug screening policy was unlawful under New Jersey’s anti-discrimination law, which is included in the Cannabis Regulatory Enforcement Assistance and Marketplace Modernization Act (CREAMMA).

CREAMMA was passed by New Jersey lawmakers after citizens voted in 2020 to amend the state constitution to legalize marijuana.

At the district court level, Judge Christine O’Hearn, a Biden appointee, had dismissed Zanetich’s case, ruling that only a state cannabis board can enforce the law and that private individuals don’t have a right of action to sue. Zanetich appealed.

The appeals panel’s 2–1 ruling, handed down on Monday, also denied Zanetich’s request to ask the New Jersey Supreme Court to decide the issue.

Phipps wrote that sending the matter to the state’s high court “is an act of judicial discretion…and here none of the common considerations associated with the exercise of that discretion counsels strongly in favor of the certification.”

As for the importance of the case, he said the issues neither “involve questions of state constitutional law, nor are they particularly transcendental.”

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GOP Leaders Blocked Schumer’s Push To Include Marijuana Banking Reform In Government Funding Bill, Senate Source Says

Republican House and Senate leadership “openly and solely blocked” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) attempt to include bipartisan marijuana banking legislation in a government funding bill, a Senate source familiar with the negotiations tells Marijuana Moment.

As bicameral lawmakers have worked to put together a continuing resolution to keep the government funded, Schumer repeatedly urged colleagues across the aisle to incorporate the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act, to no avail. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) killed that prospective deal, the source said.

“Schumer pushed for SAFER Banking at the negotiation table in the CR multiple times. This week, both Speaker Johnson and Leader McConnell strongly rejected it,” they said. “For years some Republicans have done a dance telling marijuana businesses that they supported SAFER, while Republican leadership has openly and solely blocked it at every turn.”

Marijuana Moment reached out to Johnson’s and McConnell’s offices for comment, but representatives were not immediately available.

The majority leader said following the election that he remained committed to moving the SAFER Banking Act during the lame duck session, and that he was eyeing the must-pass stopgap funding legislation to get that done.

Schumer could in theory still put the cannabis banking bill on the floor for Senate consideration as a standalone measure. But even if it did pass with the steep 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster in the chamber, the thinking is that it wouldn’t be worth the effort considering Johnson’s obstinance and unlikeliness to bring it to a vote in the House, the Senate source said.

Last month, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), the GOP lead sponsor of the SAFER Banking Act, told Politico that he wanted to see the measure “get done before the end of the year.” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) separately said he’s “hoping to get something done” on cannabis banking through the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), but that prospect is similarly in doubt.

Notably, a Republican senator, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), told AskAPol that he considers the SAFER Banking Act a “half-assed” measure that should simply be incorporated into legislation to create a comprehensive federal regulatory framework for marijuana.

Getting the banking reform enacted during the lame duck could be pivotal following last month’s election that put Republicans back in the Senate majority at the same time that they held onto the House. Sen. John Thune (R-SD) was elected by his peers to serve as majority leader, and he’s opposed to the cannabis banking bill, further complicating its pathway to passage under the next Congress.

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Top Ohio Lawmaker Wants To Restrict Marijuana Homegrow Rights And Strengthen THC Potency Caps

Republican lawmakers in Ohio are once again aiming to scale back parts of the state’s voter-approved marijuana legalization law, looking to a proposal from last year that would have decreased allowable THC levels in state-legal cannabis products, reduced the number of plants that adults can grow at home and increased costs for consumers at dispensaries.

Those provisions, backed by Senate President Matt Huffman (R), were added to separate House legislation last year and passed by the Senate. House lawmakers ultimately blocked the Senate changes, however, with some members emphasizing the importance of protecting the will of voters, who passed the legalization law on a 53–47 margin in November 2023.

Come next month, however, Huffman will take over as speaker of the House, having won a seat in last month’s election and subsequently being chosen for the leadership role by colleagues. The move is widely expected to give Huffman new power to push his marijuana proposal forward.

“There were some fundamental flaws in the initiative that was introduced and passed by the voters, which you usually have when there’s not a vetting from all sides,” Huffman told reporters last week about the voter-approved marijuana law. “The bill that the Senate passed last December addresses many of those things.”

Initially, changes backed by Hoffman would have eliminated home cultivation rights entirely for Ohio adults and criminalized all cannabis obtained anywhere other than a state-licensed retailer. Those amendments would have also reduced the marijuana possession limit, raised sales tax on cannabis purchases and diverted funding away from social equity programs and toward law enforcement.

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New York’s Legal Marijuana Market Set To Pass $1 Billion In Sales By End Of 2024

New York’s legal marijuana market is expected to hit a major milestone in the next month as retailers pass $1 billion in products sold since stores opened two years ago.

As of last week, the total sales figure stood at $863.9 million—up from $500 million in August, according to data from the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM). The state is set to surpass the billion-dollar sales mark by the end of December, officials predict.

“These numbers clearly indicate that New York is open for business,” John Kagia, OCM’s policy director, told the New York Post, which first reported the impending $1 billion milestone. “There’s strong momentum behind the market right now.”

After a slow rollout in its first year marked by lawsuits and other delays, legal marijuana sales in New York have picked up significantly in the past several months. Regulators say that’s the result of more licensed businesses opening as well as what they describe as a successful crackdown on unlicensed shops.

This spring, for example, officials in New York City launched Operation Padlock, an enforcement initiative meant to shutter illegal storefronts. Since then, licensed shops that were open before the operation began have since seen sales climb 105 percent, according to an OCM survey.

A spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) told the Post that enforcement actions statewide shut down more than 1,000 illegal dispensaries.

“Her policies have helped transform the industry, increase revenues for local businesses and spur reinvestments in the communities most harmed by historical wrongs—all while building the most equitable cannabis market in the nation,” the spokesperson said.

Hochul argued in June that there’s a direct correlation between the stepped-up enforcement and “dramatically” increased legal sales.

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Colorado Springs Voters Approve Two Contradictory Marijuana Ballot Measures To Both Allow And Ban Recreational Sales

Colorado Springs voters approved two competing ballot measures this week, one that would ban retail marijuana in the city and another that would allow existing medical marijuana stores to also sell recreationally.

As of 6 p.m. on Wednesday night, about 53 percent of voters approved Ballot Issue 2D, a city charter amendment referred by City Council that would prohibit sales within city limits. About the same share of voters also approved Ballot Question 300, an initiated ordinance which would allow the approximately 90 medical marijuana stores in the city to apply for a recreational license.

Mayor Yemi Mobolade said the result creates “a really interesting legal dilemma for us,” according to Westword.

“Although the election is not final until the results are certified, it appears as though both Ballot Question 2D and Ballot Question 300 will have been approved by the voters. If this is the case, Ballot Question 300 must be read, interpreted, and implemented in a manner to be consistent and harmonious with Ballot Question 2D,” city spokesperson Max D’Onofrio wrote in an email.

The city charter takes precedence over ordinances, so provisions of Ballot Question 300 that conflict with Ballot Issue 2D cannot be implemented, which appears to mean recreational marijuana sales would continue to be outlawed. D’Onofrio said the city is currently reviewing the ballot language. City Council next meets on November 12.

At the same time, backers of Ballot Issue 2D are optimistic.

“When all the votes are counted and the will of voters is given effect, responsible regulation will be law and the city council’s cynical ploy will be defeated,” Citizens for Responsible Marijuana Regulation said in a statement. “We know that those in municipal government will defer to the clearly expressed intent of voters to authorize recreational marijuana, and we look forward to working with city leaders over the coming months to create a responsible regulatory framework.”

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‘Outdated’ Marijuana Packaging Rules Make It ‘Impossible’ For Cannabis Industry To Be Environmentally Sustainable, Study Says

A newly published study of product packaging from the commercial marijuana industry concludes that the market shift toward vape pens in recent years has been “a seismic event for cannabis waste,” with packaging from California’s legal market now nearly on par with that of household pharmaceuticals in the state.

But while there’s “a robust infrastructure in place for reverse distribution” of pharmaceuticals, the study notes, “no such infrastructure exists for cannabis waste at large scale.”

The new research, by Oaksterdam University researcher Mitchell Colbert, published this week in the standards organization ATSM International’s Journal of Testing and Evaluation, also highlights how state cannabis regulations contribute to excessive cannabis waste that doesn’t exist for other industries.

The paper describes itself as “a novel attempt to estimate the volume of cannabis consumer packaging waste produced in California each year…and compare it with other household hazardous waste (HHW).”

It notes that while California regulators collected waste data through the state’s track-and-trace program, that information “is not publicly available even with a state Public Records Act request to the [Department of Cannabis Control].” Instead the study looked at a sample of cannabis packaging of 256 California cannabis products from 138 manufacturers, combining those findings with sales data on the number of product units sold.

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Kamala Claims She Will Legalize Recreational Marijuana in Last-Ditch Vote Pandering Scheme After JAILING People for Pot Possession

Kamala Harris took to social media on Sunday, just days before Election Day, with a claim that she will legalize recreational marijuana. Unfortunately for the Democrat presidential hopeful, she made her career on locking up individuals who were in possession of small amounts of weed.

“I will legalize recreational marijuana, break down unjust legal barriers, and create opportunities for all Americans to succeed in this new industry,” Harris said in a social media post on Sunday.

1,560 people were sent to state prison for marijuana-related offenses in California under then-state attorney general Harris.

“Under Harris’s six-year tenure, hundreds were sent to state prisons for marijuana-related offenses, crime records show,” The Washington Free Beacon said in 2019.

On a debate stage in Detroit, Michigan in 2019, Tulsi Gabbard, then a Hawaii representative and rival for the Democratic nomination lambasted Harris over her anti-pot record.

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NYC law used to shutter unlicensed weed bodegas is unconstitutional, judge rules

A Queens judge ruled Tuesday that the local law that let New York City rapidly shut down more than 1,000 businesses accused of selling cannabis without licenses is unconstitutional because it denies shop owners their rights to due process.

The decision calls the legality of the closures into question and has the potential to halt the city’s enforcement effort, known as Operation Padlock to Protect, which Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly hailed as a success.

Liz Garcia, a spokesperson for the mayor, said Tuesday the city will appeal the ruling.

“Illegal smoke shops and their dangerous products endanger young New Yorkers and our quality of life, and we continue to padlock illicit storefronts and protect communities from the health and safety dangers posed by illegal operators,” she said.

The city updated its administrative code earlier this year to make it easier to shut down stores suspected of selling cannabis without licenses. But New York Supreme Court Justice Kevin Kerrigan has ruled that the portions of the city’s law that allow the sheriff to unilaterally decide whether to keep a store closed for up to a year are unconstitutional.

Under the law, the owner of a business that has been padlocked for allegedly selling cannabis without a license is entitled to a hearing with the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, or OATH. After listening to the facts of the case, the hearing officer makes a recommendation as to whether the store should remain closed.

But the ultimate decision is up to the sheriff — and lawyers representing businesses that have been shut down say it’s not uncommon for the sheriff to ignore OATH’s recommendations.

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Legalizing Natural Marijuana Is The Pathway To Protect Public Health, Not Pretending Synthetic THC Products Are Hemp

In a recent op-ed by the Reason Foundation titled “Banning Hemp Products Isn’t The Way to Protect Public Health,” the author correctly makes the case that bans are often ineffective and can push consumers toward more dangerous, unregulated markets. However, the Reason Foundation overlooks a crucial distinction in this case: that most “hemp products” referred to in the piece are in fact synthetic THC products, and they are sold as substitutes for natural—but federally illegal—marijuana.

The change in federal law has led to an explosion of unregulated intoxicating products in the marketplace that masquerade as “hemp” products.

Synthetically converted THC such as delta-8, HHC, THC-O, THC-P etc. are lab-created and do not exist naturally in large enough quantities for mass production. Yet, these molecules are being commercialized at scale in labs and sold outside the purview of regulation as “hemp.”

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