That is why, some 50 years after NORML first began this fight, I am pleased to see the federal government finally acknowledge what we – and millions of Americans – have known all along: That marijuana is a legitimate therapy for many Americans and that it doesn’t belong in Schedule I.
The post A Decision More Than 50 Years in the Making appeared first on NORML.
Please take action at this link to write to your Assemblymember, asking them to contact Asm. Appropriations committee chair Buffy Wicks and Asm. Speaker Robert Rivas asking them to move AB 2555, to extend cannabis compassion programs in California, and to vote for it when (hopefully) it moves to the Assembly Floor.
The high cost of medical cannabis, particularly its taxation, has made it impossible for many patients who are financially challenged to obtain a sufficient and steady supply of their medicine.
SB 34 (Weiner, 2019), exempted cannabis donated to financially challenged patients from taxation. Provisions of that law will expire on March of 2025, and must be renewed, in order to continue to supply needy patients with cannabis. AB 2555 would keep these critical donation programs in place.
Currently AB 2555 (Quirk-Silva) is being held in the Assembly Appropriations committee, with a hearing on May 15 to determine if it will move on from the committee’s suspense file to the Assembly floor. The bill passed the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee by a unanimous vote of 7-0 after veterans groups, patient advocates, and Cal NORML testified in its favor (pictured above with the bill’s author Asm. Quirk-Silva).
Also, please write to your state Senator and ask them to contact Sen. Appropriations committee chair Anna Caballero and Senate President/Pro Tempore Mike McGuire, asking them to move cannabis and to vote for the bill when it goes to the floor.
SB 1059 (Bradford) amends the definition of gross receipts in the Sales and Use Tax Law to exclude the amount of any state cannabis excise tax and sales and use tax imposed on a cannabis retailer, preventing double taxation at the local level.
Cannabis is already heavily overtaxed relative to comparable goods in California. Compounding taxes simply leads to an artificially inflated purchase price and incentivizes consumers to purchase cannabis from the unlicensed, untested, and untaxed market.
Currently SB 1059 is being held in the Senate Appropriations committee, with a hearing on May 16 to determine if it will move on from the committee’s suspense file to the Senate floor.
“Most Americans have tried cannabis and few regret having done so. This is reflected in the public’s consistent support for legalizing and regulating cannabis.”
The post Poll: Majority of Americans Have Tried Marijuana and Say It Should Be Legal appeared first on NORML.
If certified for the ballot, it will be the third time since 2020 that South Dakotans have weighed in on the legalization issue.
The post South Dakota: Activists Turn In Signatures to Place Adult-Use Legalization Measure on November’s Ballot appeared first on NORML.
“When it comes to retail cannabis, the prevailing attitude is ‘Buy American.’”
The post Report: Seizure Data Suggests State-Legal Cannabis Market Has Significantly Curbed Demand for Mexican-Grown Marijuana appeared first on NORML.
Perhaps most tellingly, our political opponents are also touting its significance, pledging to take whatever steps necessary to derail this proposed policy change.
The post Federal Marijuana Rescheduling Announced appeared first on NORML.
“It is significant for these federal agencies, and the DEA and FDA in particular, to acknowledge publicly for the first time what many patients and advocates have known for decades: that cannabis is a safe and effective therapeutic agent for tens of millions of Americans.”
The post DEA Accepts Health Agency’s Recommendation to Reclassify Cannabis appeared first on NORML.
“These findings, and others, refute hypothesized associations between cannabis use and low motivation. It is unfortunate that many of these longstanding stereotypes have historically guided public health messaging about cannabis and have also been used to stigmatize and discriminate against those who consume it responsibly.”
The post Study: Frequent Cannabis Use Not Linked to Motivation Loss appeared first on NORML.
Consistent with prior analyses, researchers determined, “There was no evidence that RML [recreational marijuana laws] were associated with encouraging youth marijuana use.”
The post JAMA Psychiatry: “No Evidence” That Marijuana Legalization Laws Encourage Youth Use appeared first on NORML.
More than 150,000 licensed drivers have left the profession in recent years because of these zero-tolerance workplace drug testing policies.
The post NORML Op-Ed: Feds Must Change ‘Discriminatory’ Marijuana Testing Policies To Address Trucking Industry Labor Shortage appeared first on NORML.