Ban On Legal Weed Sales In D.C. Remains, MMJ In MO & MD, Australians Using Lots Of Medical Cannabis

The new congressional omnibus spending bill released Tuesday not only excluded marijuana banking reform but also maintains a ban on allowing legal recreational cannabis sales, reported Marijuana Moment.

While adult-use cannabis was legalized in Washington D.C. in 2014, a rider contained in all presidential budget proposals since that date has prevented the District from exercising those laws.

As a result, adults over 21 are allowed to grow and possess cannabis, but commercial sales remain halted by the rider, which was also included in President Biden’s last budget for 2022 when it was purposely left out in a spending bill approved by the House and circulated in draft form in the Senate.

In March this year, Drug Policy Alliance, supported by more than 50 criminal justice reform, business, labor and drug policy organizations, sent a letter to key House and Senate appropriators along with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, demanding to keep the removal of the appropriations rider.

This is the provision included in the new omnibus spending package that relates to keeping the ban on adult-use sales:

“SEC. 809. (a) None of the Federal funds contained in this Act may be used to enact or carry out any law, rule, or regulation to legalize or otherwise reduce penalties associated with the possession, use, or distribution of any schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.) or any tetrahydrocannabinols derivative.

(b) No funds available for obligation or expenditure by the District of Columbia government under any authority may be used to enact any law, rule, or regulation to legalize or otherwise reduce penalties associated with the possession, use, or distribution of any schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.) or any tetrahydrocannabinols derivative for recreational purposes.”

Maryland’s Alcohol And Tobacco Commission Will Regulate State’s MMJ Program In 2023

Maryland’s ATC will take over the duties of regulating the state’s medical marijuana program from the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission (MMCC), starting in 2023. MCCC has been in charge of the medical marijuana industry in Free State since before sales started some five years ago.

During the November midterm elections, Marylanders voted to legalize adult-use cannabis by approving Question 4, under which the regulation of medical cannabis is set to transition to Alcohol and Tobacco in 2023, according to an MMCC press release.

While beginning July 2023, adults 21 and over will be allowed to possess up to 1.5 oz of cannabis and 10 grams of cannabis concentrate, a retail market is expected to roll out in 2024 or 2025.

MCCC also reported that its chair Tiffany Randolph will step down from this position on Dec. 31, and its’ current vice chair Dr. C. Obi Onyewu.

The MMCC’s current vice chair, Dr. Onyewu will succeed Randolph and serve as acting chair while the program transitions to the ATC.

More Than Half Of MMJ Licensees In Missouri Apply For Adult-Use Sales

Missouri voters legalized adult-use cannabis in November by approving an initiative known as Amendment 3. Now, the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) is working on allowing dispensaries, growers and producers to expand their offerings.

More than half of licensees have already applied for adult-use sales.

“Well over half of the 370-plus licensees we have operating now have applied,” said Lyndall Fraker, the director of the state’s medical marijuana program, also temporarily overseeing the recreational side, reported Ozarksfirst.

“We’ll be reviewing how they’ve been operating at this point,” Fraker said. “It will be a very simple review, and it’s not going to be as comprehensive as renewing their three licenses.”

In fall 2023, the division is expected to issue 144 new small marijuana business licenses to diversify the industry.

“It will allow people to be able to apply and grow up to 250 plants, similar to a craft brewery type of situation,” Fraker said. “We will issue that first set on Oct. 4, 2023, then we will issue the second wave on June 30, 2024, and the third wave on March 27, 2025, so about nine months apart.”

More Than 2.7% Of The Total Population In Australia Is Using Medical Marijuana

More and more Australians are embracing medical marijuana. New data shows that over the last three years, some 600,000 Australians are using medical cannabis. The National Drug Strategy Household Survey noted that 2.7% of the total population was consuming pot for medical purposes in 2019.

With a significant increase in the number of physicians registering to prescribe MMJ over the last two years and the growth of applications for prescriptions, it is safe to assume that the figure is now much higher. To confirms this, researchers from the Lambert Initiative are launching the latest edition of the Cannabis as Medicine survey (or ‘CAMS22’) this week. 

“There’s been a dramatic increase in the number of prescriptions issued for medicinal cannabis in the past two years,” said professor Iain McGregor, academic director of the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics at the University of Sydney. “But we have good evidence that the number of people using cannabis to treat ailments is substantially higher than this.”

The number of physicians prescribing medical marijuana has notably grown from 144 in 2019 to 1701 today, as per the official data collected by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). Furthermore, since 2020, there have been 295,515 medical marijuana prescriptions issued, which compares to 1,011 issued between 2016 and 2019. 

Professor Nicholas Lintzeris, from the Medicine and Health faculty at the University of Sydney, leads the biannual Cannabis as Medicine Survey. He pointed out that many people are still getting their medical marijuana from illegal sources, which indicates that the figures are even higher.

Madison City In Alabama Rejects Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

Madison City Council in Alabama has decided that it will not allow medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits, reported waff38. At a city council meeting on Monday, two council members voted in favor of the proposal, while Madison city police chief opposed it.  

For councilman Teddy Powel the biggest worry is not being able to track the money the dispensaries would receive, because they have to operate in cash only.

Dispensaries have already been approved in Athens, Decatur, Tuscumbia, and Huntsville.

Photo: Benzinga Edit; Sources: Kindel Media and 12019 by Pixabay