Tag: legalized marijuana

Mastercard moves to ban cannabis purchases on its debit cards

Mastercard (MA.N) has told financial institutions to stop allowing marijuana transactions on its debit cards, dealing a blow to an industry already on the fringes of the financial system in the United States.

Most banks in the country do not service cannabis companies as marijuana remains illegal at the federal level despite several states legalizing its medicinal and recreational use.

“As we were made aware of this matter, we quickly investigated it. In accordance with our policies, we instructed the financial institutions that offer payment services to cannabis merchants and connects them to Mastercard to terminate the activity,” a spokesperson for the company said on Wednesday.

“The federal government considers cannabis sales illegal, so these purchases are not allowed on our systems,” the spokesperson added.

Sunburn Cannabis CEO Brady Cobb said in a statement that “this move is another blow to the state-legal cannabis industry and patients/consumers who want to access this budding category.”

Pot firm Verano’s (VRNO.CD) President, Darren Weiss, said “We will continue to advocate for cannabis reform in Washington through further dialogue with elected officials and stakeholders to advance conversations supporting the growth of safe, legal cannabis across the U.S.”

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Colombian Lawmakers Introduce New Marijuana Legalization Bill One Month After Prior Version Stalled

Colombian lawmakers have reintroduced a bill to legalize marijuana nationwide for the upcoming legislative session.

Just one month after the previous version stalled out in the Senate at the final stage of an eight-step legislative process, Rep. Juan Carlos Losada and Sen. María José Pizarro announced on Monday that they’re trying again to enact the reform.

The legislation was previously approved in the both chambers last year as part of the two-year process that constitutional amendments must undergo. It then passed the Chamber of Deputies again in May and advanced through a Senate committee last month. But while it received a majority of the votes on the floor, it came up short of the 54-vote threshold it needs for passage.

Losada recently told CNN that he faults President Gustavo Petro’s administration for not doing more to advocate for the bill, but “we will come back to it.”

“We have a crucial month ahead of us to understand who we can count on and who can help us achieve our goal,” he said.

In a Twitter post last week, he added that reform supporters “continue the fight to advance in the change of the failed prohibitionist policy against drugs, to advance in a policy guided by the guidelines of public health, the prevention of consumption and the guarantee of consumer care.”

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States With Legal Weed See Drop in Mental Health Treatment

States that have legalized recreational marijuana use for adults have also seen a drop in mental health treatment admissions, according to newly published research.

The findings, which came in a study published last month in the journal Health Economics, were based on data from ten states that have legalized adult-use cannabis. 

“Recreational marijuana laws (RMLs) continue to grow in popularity, but the effects on mental health treatment are unclear,” wrote Alberto Ortega, a professor at O’Neill School of Public Health at Indiana University and the author of the study.

In the abstract, Ortega said that the study “uses an event-study within a difference-in-differences framework to study the short-run impact of state RMLs on admissions into mental health treatment facilities.” 

“The results indicate that shortly after a state adopts an RML, they experience a decrease in the average number of mental health treatment admissions,” Ortega wrote. “The findings are driven by white, Black, and Medicaid-funded admissions and are consistent for both male and female admissions. The results are robust to alternative specifications and sensitivity analysis.”

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New York Republicans want to ban cannabis use in public

Republicans in the state Legislature are calling for a ban on smoking and consuming cannabis in public places in New York as the legal marketplace is taking hold. 

The measure, backed by state Sen. George Borrello and Assemblyman Michael Novakhov, would allow local governments to put local laws in place to ban the public consuming of marijuana. 

“State residents, including children, are now regularly assailed with the pungent odor of marijuana on public sidewalks, in parking lots and other public spaces,” Borrello said. “Many New Yorkers don’t want to be exposed to either the effects of marijuana smoke or its smell and don’t want their children subjected to it.”

New York first legalized cannabis in 2021, though the marketplace for legal retail sales has been slow to build. Lawmakers who supported legalization have framed it around the need to reverse the enforcement of previously harsh marijuana laws that were previously in place. 

State lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this year moved to address the sale of cannabis without a license through civil fines and the potential closure of businesses. 

Regulators are also trying to encourage further legal cannabis sales, including allowing sales at public events.

Republicans want fines of up to $125 for consuming marijuana in a public space. The Clean Air Act, as well as local bans on smoking, already place limits on marijuana smoking in public. 

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New York’s ‘Symbolic’ Failure In Cannabis Regulation

With cannabis legalization sweeping across the United States, state regulatory bodies face pressure and scrutiny in their efforts to build a legal industry from the ground up. When formulating regulations, they balance the needs of public health, public safety and social justice.

Fortunately, industry standards and recommendations from time-tested consensus standard organizations make some of their choices easy. Unfortunately, even when handed a “no-brainer” standard on a silver rolling tray, New York’s Cannabis Control Board (CCB) made an unforced error that will potentially harm children, patients, small business owners and the general public—groups that cannabis regulation is explicitly intended to protect.

CCB has faced extensive criticism for its “bungled rollout” of the adult-use cannabis industry and its failure to deliver on social equity commitments. One founding CCB member recently resigned amidst the controversy.

Regrettably, CCB has now mandated that all regulated cannabis packages bear a perplexing and intricate product symbol, serving as a persistent and highly visible reminder of its unwavering resistance to the unanimous advice of the cannabis policy community.

In March, CCB took less than two minutes to approve a set of labeling regulations, without any mention of a letter from dozens of stakeholder organizations urging them to reject their homemade symbol in favor of a straightforward industry standard. Marijuana Moment and other outlets publicized the letter in advance of the March CCB meeting.

Looking like a parody of “design by committee,” the New York symbol was designed by the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) and features three separate elements enclosed within a black rectangle.

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House And Senate Both Move To Keep Blocking D.C. Marijuana Sales But Protecting State Medical Cannabis Laws

House and Senate appropriators have approved large-scale annual spending bills that once again include language to protect state medical cannabis programs, as well as a controversial rider to block Washington, D.C. from implementing a system of regulated marijuana sales.

The Senate and House Appropriations Committee both held markups of Fiscal Year 2024 spending legislation for Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) on Thursday. And the Senate panel, as well as a House subcommittee, have also advanced their appropriations measures for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS).

Aside from the state medical cannabis and D.C. marijuana sales provisions, House lawmakers rejected a GOP-led amendment to the chamber’s FSGG report that would have called on the federal government to take steps to study other state cannabis regulatory models and develop a national legalization framework.

Lawmakers have consistently attempted to use appropriations measures as vehicles for cannabis reform, with mixed results. Even with Democrats in control of both chambers last session, efforts to expand marijuana protections to all legal states and enact limited cannabis banking reform stalled out following bicameral negotiations.

A rider to protect state medical cannabis programs from federal intervention, meanwhile, has been annually renewed each year since 2014—and appropriators in both chambers agreed again this Congress to keep that language intact in their respective base bills as they advance.

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Chicago suburb starts disbursing $10 million reparations package to black residents

A Chicago suburb has become the first city in the nation to begin disbursing reparations payments to black residents over discrimination and limited access to housing, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Approximately 140 residents in Evanston, Illinois, will receive $25,000 from the city by the end of the year, according to the outlet.

In 2019, the city of roughly 75,000 residents approved a $10 million reparations package to be distributed over 10 years. So far, the city has already disbursed reparations payments to sixteen qualified residents, the Evanston Round Table reported.

Individuals must have been at least 18 years old and resided in the city between 1919 and 1969 to qualify for the payments.

The city is providing reparations in cash or vouchers, which are supposed to come from marijuana and real-estate transfer taxes.

However, the Evanston Round Table noted that the marijuana sales tax revenue slowed after the opening of a second dispensary in the city was delayed. Another location is scheduled to open in September, which will help cover the reparations program.

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Colorado’s marijuana industry calls this year’s 4/20 sales “the worst” in recent years

Colorado’s marijuana industry dubbed weed sales for this year’s 4/20 “the worst” in five years.

The Marijuana Industry Group, a Denver-based trade association, is sounding the alarm bells for the state’s “struggling” industry, as falling sales compound with business closures and layoffs. This year, the market’s entrepreneurs are contending with too much supply, not enough demand, increased competition in other states, dropping prices, a dearth of cannabis tourism, the draw of black market weed and more.

April’s marijuana sales – medical and retail combined – stood at close to $132 million, which counts as the lowest number in five years, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue. In April 2018, the number was about $124 million.

This year, total medical marijuana sales looked especially dismal in April at almost $17 million. That’s the lowest amount ever recorded for that month since sales first started in January 2014.

Meanwhile, total retail marijuana sales in Colorado amounted to almost $115 million in April – the lowest number of sales since April 2020 at $112 million. Comparatively, retail sales jumped in 2021 to close to $167 million before plunging to $132 million that month of the next year.

“Colorado cannabis small business owners count on the weeks leading up to the 4/20 holiday to be some of the strongest sales of the year,” said Truman Bradley, executive director of the Marijuana Industry Group.

His association estimates that “2023 sales are on track to be down even further than 2022.”

In Denver, the number of medical marijuana store licenses has fallen 27% over the past five years, to 144 licenses this year, according to its annual marijuana report. In 2014, that number was 255.

“As medical marijuana sales decline, some medical marijuana businesses have surrendered their licenses or let them expire,” the report said.

The drop in licenses parallels the decline in the number of registered medical marijuana patients since that year.

But some silver linings still persist for Denver’s cannabis industry. In 2023, the number of retail marijuana store licenses has jumped to 188 – a 13% increase over the past five years. That’s a rise from 109 licenses in 2014.

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Immigrants Can’t Naturalize if They Own a Marijuana Dispensary, Court Says

Running a state-legal marijuana dispensary is grounds to deny a legal resident’s application for U.S. citizenship, a federal appellate court ruled earlier this month.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that Maria Elena Reimers’ application for naturalization could be denied because she operates a licensed marijuana business in Washington state. While her business is legal under Washington law, marijuana remains illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

The court affirmed that violating the CSA “categorically precludes her from qualifying for naturalization” since it demonstrates a lack of “good moral character.” The ruling rejected Reimers’ claim that she is treated differently than marijuana business owners who are U.S. citizens. Washington has licensed almost 500 marijuana dispensaries since legalizing recreational sales in 2012.

Reimers has no criminal record, yet in a letter announcing the denial of her naturalization application, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) described her as an “illicit trafficker of a controlled substance.”

“We have a legal business and pay taxes, tons of taxes to the government. And yet they say I’m not morally fit to be a citizen,” Reimers tells Reason.

Reimers immigrated legally to the U.S. from El Salvador in 2004 with her now-husband Rick, who was born in the United States. Rick started Cannarail Station, a recreational dispensary in Ephrata, Washington, in 2014. Reimers submitted her naturalization application in May 2017, fully disclosing her involvement with the business.

After her initial interview in August 2017, Reimers says she passed the naturalization test and was scheduled for an oath ceremony. Then USCIS changed her application to pending. In June 2018, she appeared for a second interview, where immigration officers extensively questioned her about the business. Reimers testified honestly that she was a co-owner and employee of Cannarail Station.

In July 2018, Reimers received a denial letter from USCIS. In May 2019 she had an appeal hearing with USCIS, but a year later they reaffirmed the decision. Reimers filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington in December 2020, which granted summary judgment to USCIS in February 2022 solely on the basis of her marijuana business. She appealed the decision to the 9th Circuit, which heard the case in April 2023.

Her attorney, Alycia Moss, tells Reason, “She’s qualified in every other way. The only denial reason was based on lack of ‘good moral character.'”

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Ron DeSantis Says He Would Not Decriminalize Marijuana If Elected President

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), a 2024 GOP presidential candidate, said he would not federally decriminalize marijuana if elected to the White House—arguing that cannabis use hurts the workforce, inhibits productivity and could even lead to death if contaminated.

At a campaign event in South Carolina on Thursday, a person who said they were representing wounded veterans asked DeSantis if he would “please” decriminalize cannabis as president.

The governor responded directly: “I don’t think we would do that.”

He then talked about Florida’s medical marijuana program that was enacted by voters, saying veterans are “actually allowed access” to cannabis under that model. But he said the issue is “controversial because obviously there’s some people that abuse it and are using it recreationally.”

DeSantis rattled off a number of concerns he has about cannabis use, starting with the potency of marijuana that “they’re putting on the street” and his understanding that illicit products are being laced with other drugs such as fentanyl.

“If you do something with that, it could be goodnight right then and there,” he said. “You could die just by ingesting that, so I think that that’s problematic.”

Experts and advocates have questioned law enforcement claims about the prevalence of fentanyl-tainted cannabis in the illicit market. In any case, DeSantis also didn’t acknowledge that creating a regulatory regime where marijuana is subject to testing before consumers can buy it could mitigate instances of contamination.

“I think that we have we have too many people using using drugs in this country right now. I think it hurts our workforce readiness. I think it hurts people’s ability to prosper in life,” he said, adding that people he knew in high school who used marijuana “suffered.”

“All their activities, all their grades and everything like that—so particularly for the youth, I just think we have to be united,” the candidate said. He also plugged a Florida program overseen by his wife that involves sending athletes to schools to warn students about “the stakes of using some of these drugs nowadays, and this is not something you want to mess around with.”

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