Marijuana banking reform has been excluded from a large-scale spending bill that’s expected to be released as soon as Monday, Senate and House staffers familiar with negotiations told Marijuana Moment. A Republican senator who has been pushing to include the cannabis reform later confirmed the development. It’s not currently known whether the omnibus appropriations legislation […]| Marijuana Moment
“This is the Judgment Day that we all predicted while sharing a conspiratorial joint in the dark days of prohibition. It’s surreal to see our fears manifesting in real time.” By Deb Tharp, NuggMD Politico recently published an extensive Q&A with Howard Sklamberg, a former top Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official who currently works […]| Marijuana Moment
The Oregon Senate passed a landmark bill on Wednesday that would let the governor make agreements with other states to provide for the exportation and importation of marijuana products across state lines—but it will only go into effect if the federal government changes its own policies to allow such activity. Oregon senators approved the legislation […]| Marijuana Moment
For the second consecutive year, a Kentucky legislative committee has voted to approve a bill to legalize medical marijuana. The proposal still faces an uphill battle, but one of the leading opponents of last year’s effort to legalize conceded that there’s “a narrow path” to it becoming law this time around. Supporters at Wednesday’s hearing […]| Marijuana Moment
President-elect Joe Biden is reportedly set to nominate Judge Merrick Garland—who seems to feel that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) should be deferred to when it comes to the science and classification of marijuana—to serve as the next U.S. attorney general. But according to press reports, he’s also selecting two civil rights activists who embrace […]| Marijuana Moment
A GOP-controlled House committee has voted to strip marijuana banking protections from a large-scale spending bill. While the legislation as introduced and approved by a subcommittee included language to prevent certain federal regulators from penalizing financial institutions simply for working with state-legal cannabis businesses, that was removed on Thursday by the full House Appropriations Committee. […]| Marijuana Moment
Republican senators, including the lead GOP sponsor of a bipartisan marijuana banking bill, will soon be introducing new legislation to prevent marijuana from being federally legalized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) without congressional approval. The yet-to-be-released bill is being led by Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Steve Daines (R-MT), who is also sponsoring […]| Marijuana Moment
The Republican governor of Ohio is renewing his call for lawmakers to pass legislation banning public marijuana consumption—because he says Ohioans don’t want to smell cannabis—and also to prohibit the sale of intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids like delta-8 THC. In his State of the State address on Tuesday, Gov. Mike DeWine (R) included the cannabis items […]| Marijuana Moment
A GOP congressman says “I don’t care” whether rolling back the Biden administration’s marijuana rescheduling move under a potential Trump presidency would hurt the Republican party, because he feels more strongly that the modest reform would endanger public health. At the Republican National Committee conference last week, longtime prohibitionist Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) was asked […]| Marijuana Moment