Although the federal government has been shut down for weeks now, state governments are already back at work – and a surprising number of these elected officials are already making cannabis reform a priority in 2019.
Sometime this week, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo is expected to propose a plan to create one of the most tightly-regulated adult use cannabis markets that the country’s ever seen. This weekend, Raimondo announced that her new budget plan for the state will include tax revenue from legal weed sales. The plan will allocate around $3.5 million to get the retail market up and running, and will establish a 17% pot sales tax. This plan is expected to bring the state over a whopping $14 million by the end of 2020.
Governor Raimondo has long opposed any attempt to bring legal weed to the Ocean State, but now that Massachusetts has legalized adult use, and New York and New Jersey are working hard to do the same, she’s realized that there’s no way to stop the wave of legalization.
Raimondo’s plan contains a number of restrictions, however. Rhode Islanders would not be allowed to grow their own weed, and high-potency concentrates and edibles will be banned from the market.
The Northeast isn’t the only region of the country working towards cannabis reform. No less than seven different Republican-dominated states are currently debating legalization bills this year.
Lawmakers in Indiana, Texas and Missouri got a jumpstart and pre-filed bills to legalize full adult use in their respective states.In Virginia, lawmakers have already introduced around a dozen marijuana-related bills so far, including at least one that would legalize full adult use.
Last Wednesday, a Kentucky state senator proposed a bill to legalize full adult pot sales and use. And on that same lovely day, a West Virginia senator filed a bill that would allow adults to consume, possess, and grow pot for personal use, however West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice immediately announced that he’s “adamantly, adamantly, etched-in-stone, adamantly against recreational marijuana”.
And in South Carolina, lawmakers proposed a bill that would greatly expand the state’s extremely limited medical cannabis program.
Fingers crossed that these bills will pass, and the country’s Red states will start seeing green!
In other news, the federal government has decided to chill on prohibition for a moment, and instead will throw down some cash to research some of the lesser-known aspects of cannabis, CBD.
Scientists already know a lot about THC, but relatively little is known about terpenes or cannabinoids like CBG, CBC and CBN. Not for long though!
This year, the National Institute of Health announced that it will be offering $1.5 million in grants to fund research into whether minor cannabinoids and terpenes are effective at treating pain. The National Institute of Health announcement notes that several studies have already shown that cannabis is an effective treatment for pain, but the agency wants to take a closer look at how specific cannabinoids or terpenes may interact with pain receptors in the brain.
