Cannabis Reg. Update: Medical Marijuana License Delay In Oklahoma, CO & IL Govs Streamline Crim Record Expungement & More

Oklahoma Gov. Puts Medical Marijuana Licensing Process On A Hold

Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a measure last month that put the issuing of new medical marijuana grower, dispensary and processor licenses in the state on a two-year hold, reported KFOR.

The moratorium will begin on August 1 of this year and run until August 2024.

The state’s regulatory body, Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, said current licenses will not be impacted.

Sen. James Lankford recently said that medical marijuana makes it too easy to obtain cannabis “no matter what” the patient’s medical condition is. “You could say, ‘My left toe hurts every other Thursday’ and they would say, ‘Great, that’s a medical condition.’”

In 2018, voters approved a statewide ballot initiative allowing the licensed production and retail sale of MMJ to those with a physician’s authorization.

Colorado & Illinois Governors Sign Bills To Streamline Expungement Process 

Those with past cannabis convictions in Illinois and Colorado will more easily have their records expunged as governors in both states recently signed separate bills into law that would streamline the process.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis gave the green light to Senate Bill 99 last month, which expands the automatic record sealing process for certain cannabis-related convictions and other eligible crimes, reported The Gazette.

Under the legislation, first enacted in 2017, people “convicted of misdemeanors for marijuana-related behaviors that are no longer illegal to petition for the sealing of criminal records relating to such convictions.”

The bill is scheduled to go into effect in August.

Under HB 4392, recently signed by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, courts are forbidden to deny petitioners’ requests to have their criminal records expunged solely based on a marijuana drug test failure.

“[T]he court shall not deny a petition to expunge or seal … because the petitioner has submitted a drug test taken within 30 days before the filing … that indicates a positive test for the presence of cannabis within the petitioner’s body,” the legislation sponsored by Rep. Carol Ammons (D) and Sen. Jacqueline Collins (D), stipulates.

“People looking to correct their criminal record should not be stopped from meaningfully participating in society because of a positive drug test for cannabis,” Collins said in a press release. “We have to stop treating its use as grounds for dismissal with respect to jobs and petition filing.”

Cannabis In Indian Country, Senate Committee To Discuss Marijuana Issues With Tribes

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), plans to discuss issues in Indian communities next week, according to a notice of the listening session posted on Friday.

While he hasn't specified details of what the discussion, “Cannabis in Indian Country,” will focus on, Schatz’s communications director told Marijuana Moment that tribes will have the opportunity to share feedback on cannabis issues with Senate staffers.

In the meantime, the Pueblos of Picuris and Pojoaque, two of the 23 tribal nations in New Mexico, which recently launched the recreational marijuana market, inked an intergovernmental agreement with the state government in a step toward setting up their own marijuana enterprises within their communities.