Cannabis News Update May 7, 2021
Today in cannabis news: A legislator in France brings and displays a joint on the National Assembly floor in protest to cannabis prohibition; an eleventh and second-to-last Minnesota state House committee passed a measure to legalize cannabis; and the Tennessee state legislature sends to the governor a measure that would broaden the state’s minimal CBD program and establish a council to look at medical cannabis legalization.
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** First up: This week, a legislator in France created an uproar by wielding a cannabis joint on the National Assembly floor, condemning cannabis prohibition and pressing for policy reform.
Before displaying a cup with a cannabis leaf on it and taking a joint out of it, Deputy François-Michel Lambert stated prohibition is a “total failure” and that “legalization would make it possible to dry up trafficking, create tax revenues, and create jobs.”
“Other countries have chosen to face the problem rather than the ostrich policy” Lambert said.
The act took place just a day before a multi-party parliamentary study calling for cannabis legalization was issued. The president of the National Assembly, Richard Ferrand, promptly chastised Lambert for showing the joint and posed a point of order, threatening the legislator with a monetary fine.
As per a translation, Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin slammed Lambert’s joint presentation for its “little demagoguery.” They went on to say that they didn’t think drug gangs would switch to the legal industry, because they’d have to pay taxes to sell cannabis.
** Next up: This week, an eleventh Minnesota state House committee passed a measure to legalize cannabis, marking the newest step in the measure’s lengthy journey to a vote in the chamber, projected to occur this month. With a vote of 12-6, the House Taxes Committee approved the bill. Ways and Means is the next and last committee it will visit.
The bill was introduced in February by House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (D), Speaker Melissa Hortman (D), and several legislators. Adults aged 21 years and up would be able to buy and carry up to 1.5 ounces of cannabis, as well as grow up to eight crops.
In opening statements, Winkler said: “Minnesotans across the state have personal experience with health conditions being improved with cannabis. They have seen that the current prohibition model using the criminal justice system is failed to keep cannabis out of the hands of kids. It has failed to stop the use of cannabis in Minnesota—and, in fact, has created more problems than cannabis itself.”
The bill was approved with amendments in the House Taxes Committee. For one, after implementation expenses are met and drug abuse intervention and rehabilitation services are financed, the panel approved an amendment from Rep. Pat Garofolo (R) that transfers additional cannabis revenue to a tax relief account.
** Last up: This week, the Tennessee state legislature issued to the governor a measure that would broaden the state’s minimal CBD program and establish a council to look at medical cannabis legalization on a larger scale.
While activists are frustrated that more extensive medical cannabis legalization bills were defeated in committees previously in the session, the bill reflects a bridge among reformation proponents and adversaries.
A panel will be responsible for reviewing state and federal cannabis statutes and assisting in the preparation of measures to regulate medical cannabis under the bill. The bill specifies that the U.S. Congress must federally reschedule cannabis in order to establish a medical cannabis sector in the state.
The text of the proposal states that the panel would “serve as a resource for the study of federal and state laws regarding medical cannabis and the preparation of legislation to establish an effective, patient-focused medical cannabis program in this state upon the rescheduling or descheduling of marijuana from Schedule I of the federal Controlled Substances Act.”
The bill was passed by the Senate with a vote of 19-12. The House passed it with a 74-17 vote.
An amendment to delete the Senate’s wording on waiting for federal rescheduling prior to creating a medical cannabis system was rejected by the House before its approval.
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/tn-sends-limited-medical-cannabis-bill-to-governor-newsletter-may-6-2021/
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