Tag: medical marijuana

South Dakota Governor Signs Bill Requiring Medical Marijuana Patients To Acknowledge Federal Gun Ban

The governor of South Dakota has signed a bill into law that will require patients to check off a box on medical marijuana card applications affirming that they’re aware that federal law prohibits cannabis consumers from buying and possessing firearms.

Gov. Kristi Noem (R) gave final approval to the legislation on Monday—about two weeks after it cleared the legislature. The measure represents a slightly dialed-back version of the original bill from Rep. Kevin Jensen (R), as it previously would have required prospective patients to sign their name on the application to acknowledge the federal gun rule.

Last month, a South Dakota Senate committee rejected a separate, more controversial House-passed bill that would have required medical marijuana dispensaries to post notices at their businesses warning patients about the federal gun ban for cannabis consumers. Those that failed to post the warnings would have faced daily fines.

The House advanced both gun-related cannabis measures last month, but the Senate committee only passed the amended version of the bill to mandate that patients fill out the checkbox for the firearm disclosure on their applications.

“It does nothing but inform the people,” Jensen said of his bill at last month’s committee hearing.

The governor said the gun legislation, as well as four other unrelated public health-centered measures she signed on Monday, “will keep South Dakotans safe and healthy.”

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Survey: Pain Patents Report That Cannabis Is “More Effective” Than Conventional Medications

Patients with chronic pain and other conditions report that cannabis is often more effective than conventional treatments, according to survey data published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine.

German researchers surveyed patients’ experiences with cannabis products. (Plant cannabis and cannabinoid treatments, such as , were legalized by prescription use in Germany in 2017; however, such products are typically only authorized when patients are unresponsive to traditional therapies.) Over 200 patients participated in the survey. Most respondents suffered from chronic pain and over two-thirds of the survey’s participants consumed cannabis flowers or plant-derived extracts.

Consistent with numerous other studies, patients reported reductions in their daily pain following cannabis therapy. Patients also said that they were less likely to be either anxious or depressed while using cannabis. Participants reported “greater satisfaction” with cannabis and said that it was “more effective” than their prior therapies. Ninety-four percent of those surveyed reported holding more positive attitudes toward cannabis following treatment. 

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Legalizing medical marijuana is popular in Kansas, so why hasn’t it happened yet?

Kansas is one of only a few states with no legal medical or recreational marijuana. Some people are optimistic about a medical cannabis deal this year.

Activists at the Statehouse are renewing a push for state lawmakers to legalize medical marijuana in Kansas. While Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and many state legislators from both parties support the concept, lawmakers have yet to take up the issue this session.

The American Civil Liberties Union held an online day of action for marijuana legalization earlier this month. During the event, activists expressed disappointment that Kansas does not have legal medical marijuana, nearly three years after the state House passed a bill that would have provided for it.

“I’m here in open-mouth amazement that we are still discussing passing a medical marijuana bill,” said Cheryl Kumberg, president of the Kansas Cannabis Coalition. “It just is the same excuses all these years. The same rhetoric from opponents and legislators.”

In 2021, the Kansas House passed a medical marijuana bill with bipartisan support, but it was never taken up by the Senate. That bill would have legalized the prescription of smokeless cannabis products for patients with diseases and disorders including cancer, epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease.

At the time, some Republicans opposed the bill because they wanted more details on dosage and distribution, or because they didn’t want to conflict with the federal government, which continues to prohibit marijuana possession.

Some House lawmakers have said they’re optimistic for a discussion on medical marijuana in the coming weeks, but they’re hoping the Senate will take the lead.

“I think it does have some traction. I know folks are talking about it,” said Republican Rep. Nick Hoheisel, who voted in favor of the 2021 medical marijuana bill. “Everybody’s becoming more aware of it, and how popular medical marijuana is in Kansas currently and how well it polls.”

Republican Senate President Ty Masterson is one of the key lawmakers who has opposed medical marijuana in past sessions, but he recently said he’s open to a discussion.

“I’m actually open to true medical marijuana or to palliative care,” he told KCUR in December. “I am open to that. I am not saying no. I’m just saying we don’t have any real studies on dosing and distribution.”

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Wisconsin GOP Medical Marijuana Plan Raises Concerns About Cost, Patient Accessibility And Federal Conflict, Advocates Say

Wisconsin Assembly Republicans’ limited medical marijuana legalization proposal poses several concerns related to cost, accessibility and potential conflicts with the federal government that lawmakers should consider, policy experts told the Wisconsin Examiner.

The proposal by Assembly Republicans would create the Office of Medical Cannabis Regulation in the Department of Health Services. The office would maintain a registry of patients and caregivers who could purchase medical cannabis products from one of five state-run dispensaries. Access would be limited to patients with certain medical conditions, and available products would include oils, edibles and pills but exclude anything smokeable.

The bill has been received critically by Senate Republicans, who have brought up concerns about the state-run dispensaries and expansion of government that would result. Nevertheless, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) has said that the Assembly will move forward with the bill.

“I don’t really want to amend or to change a bill based on what somebody thinks…could happen,” Vos said last week during a press conference. “I’ve tried that before, usually unsuccessfully, which is why I want to get a bill through the Assembly where we can get the votes to be able to show that we support the concept and then let the Senate act as it will.”

Vos said the Assembly will likely vote on the bill in February.

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Pennsylvania District Attorney Sues Federal Government Over Gun Ban For Medical Marijuana Patients

A Pennsylvania district attorney and gun rights advocates have filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to overturn the ban preventing medical marijuana patients from buying and possessing firearms—the latest in a series of legal challenges to the policy.

Warren County, Pennsylvania District Attorney Robert Greene, a registered medical cannabis patient in the state, teamed up with the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) to file suit against the federal government in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

This comes as the question over the constitutionality of the federal gun ban for people who use marijuana is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, which is considering taking up the issue.

The new lawsuit names U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, as well as the heads of the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), as defendants. This represents what the lead attorney for the plaintiffs believes to be the first civil, rather than criminal, challenge to the federal statute.

Greene’s participation in the case is especially notable. The court filing states that the local prosecutor “intends to lawfully purchase, possess, and utilize firearms and ammunition so that he may exercise his constitutional right to keep and bear arms for self-defense and all other lawful purposes.” But he’s barred from doing so under federal statute because of his status as a state-certified medical cannabis patient.

The prosecutor announced late last month that he will not be seeking re-election and will be turning his focus to advocacy on medical cannabis patient rights issues.

Unlike the various previous court cases challenging the constitutionality of the gun ban for plaintiffs who have been criminally prosecuted, with a civl suit like this, “you’re looking at a challenge on behalf of people that are just asserting that this prohibition is unconstitutional, either on its face or as applied—’as applied’ meaning to that individual only,” Adam Kraut, lead attorney for the plaintiff and executive director of SAF, told Marijuana Moment on Tuesday.

“What I’m hoping is not only to win in our lawsuit, but that it sparks the federal Congress to do something and solve this problem because you have millions of Americans who are disenfranchised from their Second Amendment rights, being forced to choose either between treating their symptoms with medical marijuana or exercising their constitutionally guaranteed right,” he said. “That’s not an acceptable.”

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Arkansas Ballot Initiative Would Allow Medical Marijuana Homegrow And Trigger Recreational Legalization After Federal Reform

A marijuana industry group on Friday proposed a constitutional amendment to improve patient access to medical cannabis and legalize the drug for recreational use in Arkansas if it becomes legal under federal law.

Arkansans for Patient Access said it was submitting ballot language to Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin (R) on Friday for the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Amendment of 2024.

The ballot initiative would make it legal for patients to grow their own cannabis at home and make a series of changes to Amendment 98 to the Arkansas Constitution, which Arkansans ratified in 2016 to legalize marijuana for medical use.

The tweaks comprise a wishlist for patients as well as cultivators and dispensaries.

“The goal of this ballot proposal is to reaffirm and build upon Amendment 98 to better serve patients,” Amy Martin, owner of The Greenery dispensary in Fort Smith, said a statement from the ballot question committee. “This amendment reflects a commitment to the principles established by the state’s voters. It reduces barriers and streamlines processes so qualifying patients can access the medicines and treatment options that best serve them.”

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South Dakota Lawmakers Vote To Fine Medical Marijuana Dispensaries That Don’t Warn Patients About Federal Gun Ban

A South Dakota legislative panel advanced two bills on Friday aiming to better inform patients about federal restrictions on firearm ownership for people who use marijuana. One would require that medical cannabis patient applications include a written warning about the gun ban, while the other would mandate that informational signs be posted on-site at dispensaries while instituting daily fines for businesses that don’t comply.

Lawmakers in the state’s House Judiciary Committee approved both proposals, unanimously passing the measure to include a written warning on patient applications and voting 8–4 on requiring dispensary signs.

Both bills were introduced earlier this month, led by Rep. Kevin Jensen (R) in the House and Sen. Jim Stalzer (R) in the Senate, with multiple additional co-sponsors.

Jensen began his comments to colleagues at Friday’s hearing by saying he wanted to make it “perfectly clear that nothing in this bill precludes anyone from getting a medical marijuana card or using the card for whatever purposes.” But he pointed to federal rules prohibiting unlawful users of marijuana from obtaining guns, which he noted stretch back to 1968.

Pointing to a release from a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) official in St. Paul regarding Minnesota’s legalization of adult-use cannabis, Jensen said federal law “does not provide any exception” for state-legal medical or recreational use.

“People are just totally unaware, and they could get caught,” Jensen admonished. “I almost hate to say this, but right now, if under Biden’s administration they wanted to enforce this law universally across the country, they would probably have 40 million people that they could arrest and confiscate all their firearms and ammunition.”

“That law already exists. If they enforced it right now, that could happen,” he added. “But that’s kind of a side note. The main issue with this bill is just a notification.”

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Delaware House Committee Approves Bill To Significantly Expand Medical Marijuana Program Ahead Of Adult-Use Sales Launch

Delaware House lawmakers have approved a bill to significantly expand the state’s medical marijuana program ahead of the launch of adult-use sales that may take another year to implement.

At a meeting of the House Health & Human Development Committee on Wednesday, members took public testimony and then voted to pass the reform legislation from Rep. Ed Osienski (D).

The bill would make a series of changes to Delaware’s medical cannabis program, including removing limitations for patient eligibility based on a specific set of qualifying health conditions. Instead, doctors could issue marijuana recommendations for any condition they see fit.

Osienski, who also sponsored a pair of complementary adult-use legalization and regulation bills that Gov. Jay Carney (D) allowed to become law without his signature last year, said on Wednesday that the medical cannabis legislation will allow the program “to be more successful as the state moves forward with recreational sales, and to make it less expensive and easier for patients to access medical marijuana.”

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Wisconsin Republicans Unveil Plan To Legalize Non-Smokable Medical Marijuana With State-Run Dispensaries

Wisconsin Republicans have unveiled a plan to legalize non-smokable medical marijuana through state-run dispensaries staffed by government-employed pharmacists, with a limited set of conditions that could qualify patients for the program.

At a series of press conferences across the state on Monday, GOP state lawmakers detailed the much-anticipated legislation, which would make Wisconsin the “first state to have state-run dispensaries,” operated by the Department of Health Services (DHS).

As expected, the proposal would create a restrictive system that limits patients to smokeless cannabis options such as oils and gummies. People with qualifying conditions would be eligible to receive a doctor’s recommendation and access the products, which would be sold at five dispensaries across the state.

“We’ve come up with a program I think is going to be very beneficial to a lot of Wisconsinites,” Rep. Jon Plumer (R) said, while acknowledging that the state-controlled dispensaries component is a key area “where our program is different” than other medical marijuana states.

The qualifying conditions include cancer, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), glaucoma, severe chronic pain, muscle spasms, chronic nausea, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, Alzheimer’s disease and terminal illness with less than one year life expectancy.

While the dispensaries would be state-run, growers and processors would be independently operated if they obtain a permit from the state. The pharmacists who dispense the cannabis to patients would be “state employees,” Plumer said.

“We think we have a good program put together. It’s going to be probably modified over the years as we learn about it—as we realize we have changes we should probably make,” he said. “But I think we’re at a really strong starting point here.”

Rep. Tony Kurtz (R) said the proposal underscores how Republicans are “leading to have a great opportunity to introduce a much-needed program with medical cannabis with controls.”

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Kentucky Governor Pushes Lawmakers To Approve More Medical Marijuana Qualifying Conditions While Unveiling First Program Rules

The governor of Kentucky is urging lawmakers to significantly expand the state’s medical marijuana law by adding new qualifying conditions as the administration puts forward a series of initial proposed regulations to begin implementing the program.

At a briefing on Thursday, Gov. Andy Beshear (D) announced that two independent advisory groups he appointed have unanimously voted to recommend that the legislature add more than a dozen new conditions to qualify patients for medical cannabis under a law he signed last year.

“This is a crucial step. While the legislation referenced several qualifying conditions, it left others out,” he said, adding that the expanded list includes “very serious conditions that we believe—but more importantly that these medical groups and advisory groups all unanimously agree—should become a part of the program.”

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