A new federally funded survey found that youth marijuana use declined dramatically in 2021 even as more states enacted and implemented legalization. While COVID social distancing likely contributed to the drop, the new data provides more evidence that prohibitionists’ fears about skyrocketing teen consumption are unfounded.

The Ohio Senate approved a bill to let doctors recommend medical cannabis for any condition they “reasonably” believe could benefit from it, and to otherwise expand the program with more dispensaries and bigger cultivation operations.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said licensed hemp businesses are eligible for its Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program.

Minnesota’s House majority leader tweeted, “Expunging convictions must be a non-negotiable part of any cannabis legalization bill. Without it, legalization is barely even a criminal justice reform.”

The Massachusetts legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee held a hearing on marijuana expungement bills.

A Florida representative tweeted about a bill she recently filed “to decriminalize the personal possession and use (not sale/production) of marijuana and other drugs to prioritize ‘treatment and safety in an effort to preserve lives rather than discard them through criminalization and incarceration.’”

New Mexico regulators issued the state’s first recreational marijuana business licenses.

New Jersey regulators began accepting applications for recreational marijuana cultivation, manufacturing, and testing business licenses.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government is open to working with provinces that want to decriminalize drugs.

A study found that “among nurses and physicians, having an oncology specialty predicted more positive attitudes toward” medical cannabis and that “physicians had a less positive attitude toward MC compared to nurses.”

source