Activists will need to collect 15,582 valid signatures from registered voters to qualify the initiative. By North Dakota Monitor North Dakota Secretary of State Michael Howe (R) on Thursday approved a petition for circulation that seeks to put a measure to legalize cannabis on the election ballot. The proposal, if passed, would make it legal for those ages 21 and older to produce, process, sell and use cannabis. It also would appoint a state body to regulate cannabis-related businesses in North Dakota. In order to make it on a ballot, the petition’s backers will have to collect at least 15,582 ..read more

A New Hampshire marijuana legalization bill already passed by the House of Representatives landed in a Senate committee on Thursday, where opponents of the current version—including Sen. Daryl Abbas (R) and Senate President Jeb Bradley (R)—unveiled amendments that would revise major portions of the proposal. The panel also heard three other cannabis-related measures, including a proposal to double the amount that medical patients can possess as well as a plan to provide legal relief for people with past marijuana convictions. Despite the eagerness of some on the Senate Judiciary Committee ..read more

The Republican governor of Texas says that cities seeking to locally decriminalize marijuana—including one that’s set to vote on the reform next week—don’t have the authority to “override” state law. Three months after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) sued five cities over voter-approved cannabis decriminalization policies, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) addressed the forthcoming vote in Lubbock, where the reform is on the local May 4 ballot. The governor told KAMC that his concern was “bigger” than the question of decriminalization itself and was more a matter of localities superseding state laws ..read more

VP Harris on marijuana; SAFE Banking push; Industry case gets court hearing; HI gov’s cannabis plan; LA legalization vote; PA hearing; MO psilocybin Subscribe to receive Marijuana Moment’s newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning. It’s the best way to make sure you know which cannabis stories are shaping the day. Get our daily newsletter. Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human: Your support makes Marijuana Moment possible… Hold on, just one second before you read today’s news. Have you thought about giving some financial support to Marijuana Moment? If so, today woul ..read more

Vice President Kamala Harris again promoted the administration’s marijuana pardons at a White House event on Thursday, reiterating that she doesn’t believe “people should have to go to jail for smoking weed.” At a roundtable event alongside Kim Kardashian and four people who received presidential pardons for drug-related convictions on Wednesday, Harris said the administration remains committed to exercising its clemency authority, which has included President Joe Biden’s pardon proclamations for federal cannabis offenses. “We have issued—as an administration with President Biden’s leadership ..read more

Two Pennsylvania legislative panels held a joint hearing to discuss marijuana legalization on Thursday, with multiple lawmakers asking the state’s top liquor regulator about the prospect of having that agency run cannabis shops. Members of the House Health Committee and Liquor Control Committee heard testimony from a series of experts who also discussed issues such as impaired driving, workplace drug policies and the need for product testing in a legal market. Rep. Dan Frankel (D), chair of the Health Committee, has previously raised the possibility of pursuing legalization through a state-run ..read more

A federal judge on Thursday agreed to schedule oral arguments in a case from major U.S. marijuana companies that are seeking to shield in-state cannabis activity from federal enforcement. The businesses have said in their lawsuit against the federal government that the prohibition of marijuana has “no rational basis,” pointing to officials’ largely hands-off approach to the recent groundswell of state-level legalization. The new order, from the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts’s Western Division, comes following the companies’ request for oral argument earlier this month ..read more

“Only 73 of the applicants (nearly 500 applicants in all) participated in the survey and these are proposed changes that have not been finalized.” By Carleen Johnson, The Center Square The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) is amending rules for diversity ownership when it comes to pot shops. The idea is to encourage minority ownership and to remove barriers to licensing, including criminal history related to drug use or incarceration. That starts with changing the rubric used to determine scoring for social equity applicants seeking licenses to own and operate marijuana retail ..read more

A top Democratic congresswoman says that “now is the time” to pass marijuana banking reform, and she’s “hopeful” lawmakers will “overcome” any potential challenge from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as they work to advance the legislation. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, was asked about possible vehicles for the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday. The congresswoman said she’s been “working very well together” with Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) over the last t ..read more

A Missouri Senate committee on Wednesday stripped a proposal from a House-passed budget bill that would have funneled $10 million in state opioid settlement money to research psilocybin. An earlier version of the Republican-led proposal would have instead put the money toward the study of ibogaine as a treatment for opioid use disorder, but a House floor amendment earlier this month switched the focus to psilocybin. After the latest changes in the Senate Appropriations Committee, the budget would allocate no money to psychedelics research of any kind. Separate Missouri legislation that would l ..read more