The world of cannabis is changing rapidly and marijuana is entering the conversation in nearly every corner of the United States – especially in politics.
Louisiana Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Gary Chambers released a new campaign ad that focuses on the harms of criminalization and the financial expense of prosecuting individual use. To put it bluntly, Chambers not only smoked in the commercial, but said he’ll back cannabis expungements and banking bills if elected to Congress.
In Indiana:
According to the Indy Star, an Indiana marijuana legalization bill allows a person sentenced for a cannabis offense committed before July 1, 2022 to petition for sentence modification. The bill also makes use or possession by anyone under 21 and delivery of cannabis to a person less than 21 years of age a Class B misdemeanor.
In Missouri:
According to the Riverfront Times here’s still a long way to go before the measure can come before Missouri voters. As with the previous cannabis legalization initiatives, Legal Missouri 2022 is counting on more than 170,000 residents to sign the initiative petition, and those voters will then need to come out on election day in November 2022. Among other items, Legal Missouri’s adult use cannabis initiative would establish:
- A sales tax of six percent on recreational/adult use marijuana, with localities allowed to add their own sales tax of three percent. (Medical patients would continue to be taxed at four percent.)
- An “automatic” expungement system covering people convicted of nonviolent marijuana crimes, with exceptions for those convicted of distribution to minor, using marijuana while driving, or any crime involving violence. The proposed system would also vacate the sentences of all eligible defendants currently incarcerated in jails and prisons.
- A ban on employment discrimination based on a person’s status as a marijuana patient or a positive drug test, with exceptions for instances of work impairment or if marijuana use “affects in any manner a person’s ability to perform job-related responsibilities.”
- A new category for “microbusiness” licenses only available to applicants with at least one qualifying condition, including: having a net worth below $250,000; having a military-connected disability; residing in a zip code with 30 percent population below the poverty level; having been arrested or prosecuted for a non-violent marijuana offense; and graduating from an unaccredited school district.
- An appointed “chief equity officer” who would be responsible for assisting the rollout of the micro business license program and providing “targeted technical assistance” to applicants from communities impacted by historic marijuana criminalization.
The Iowa Department of Human Rights’s Justice Advisory Board noted racial disparities in marijuana enforcement and said it will monitor legalization outcomes in other states.
Pennsylvania regulators have readopted medical cannabis regulations.
The Austin, Texas City Council passed an ordinance referring a marijuana decriminalization proposal to the May ballot. Advocates had wanted lawmakers to adopt the measure on their own, but are confident it’ll be approved by voters.
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