Lifestyle

Legislation by Delegate Hornbuckle of Cabell, House Bill 3035, to legalize and regulate the adult use, production, and sale of marijuana is before members of the House Health and human Resources Committee.
House Bill 3035, allows adults to possess up to one ounce of cannabis and to cultivate up to six cannabis plants for their own personal use. It also regulates the commercial marijuana market and allows for the production of industrial hemp.
The West Virginia Center for Budget and Policy projects that the state could generate between $45 to $194 million dollars a year in tax revenue by regulating the commercial cannabis market. 
Eight states, encompassing some 20 percent of the US population, have enacted similar adult use regulations. 
Enter your information below to contact your elected officials and urge their support for this important measure. 

Update: SB 704 was read for a second time and referred to committee.
Legislation has been introduced, Senate Bill 704, to provide for hemp cultivation and manufacturing.

The measure excludes industrial hemp from the state’s definition of marijuana and provides for its commercial cultivation and export.

The measure also expands the list of qualifying conditions eligible for CBD treatment under state law. Under this change, patients with chronic pain, post-traumatic stress, and anxiety would be eligible for medicinal cannabis products as long as those formulations are in liquid form and do not exceed 12 percent THC.

Please use the prewritten letter below to urge lawmakers to support this legislation.

Update: Lawmakers have introduced a third hemp research bill, House Bill 530. This bill was passed by the House on March 14 by a vote of 65 to 1, and now awaits senate action.
Update: Governor Martinez has vetoed the second hemp bill on March 12th. 
Governor Susana Martinez has vetoed House Bill 144, which sought to establish a hemp research program in compliance with provisions in the federal Farm Bill explicitly authorizing states to engage in licensed activity involving hemp absent federal reclassification of the plant. The Governor provided no public explanation for the veto. 

The bill has previously passed the House and Senate by votes of 42 to 26 and 30 to 12 respectively.

New Mexico is one of the only states that fails to recognize hemp as an agricultural commodity rather than as a controlled substance.

A similar provision, Senate Bill 6, passed the House and Senate by votes of 58 to 8 and 37 to 2.

Please use the pre-written letter below to urge lawmakers to override the veto on SB 6.

Update: The Governor signed the law on April 27 and it will go into effect July 23, 2017
Update: The Senate passed HB 2064 48-0 on April 12. The bill will now go to the Governor for their signature or veto.
Update: Executive action was taken in the Senate Committee on Law & Justice on March 22 at 8:00 AM. Majority reported that it do pass.
Update: HB 2064 held a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Law & Justice on March 9 at 10:00 AM.
Update: HB 2064 has unanimously passed the House and awaits action in the Senate.

Legislation is before lawmakers, House Bill 2064, to amend state law so that industrial hemp is not longer classified under the state’s uniform controlled substances act. 

If passed, hemp plants will no longer be regulated as a controlled substance.

Please use the prewritten letter below to urge lawmakers to support this legislation.

For more information about this bill and other pending legislation, please contact Washington NORML.

Update: The Missouri legislature is adjourned and the bill will not recieve further consideration this year.
Update: On May 12 HB 1095 was referred to the House Select Committee on Local, State, Federal Relations and Miscellaneous Business.

Legislation has been introduced in the House, HB 1095, to legalize the adult use of marijuana and to regulate the commercial cannabis market.

The measure permits adults to legally possess up to 35 grams (approximately 1 and 1/4 ounces) of marijuana and/or to cultivate up to six marijuana plants. Adults may legally possess the total yield from those plants.

Additional provisions establish a regulated market for the commercial production and retail sale of marijuana and industrial hemp.

Please urge your lawmakers to support this important legislative effort.

For more information about statewide marijuana law reform efforts, please follow Missouri NORML on Facebook here.

Update: Governor Doug Ducey vetoed the measure on May 22. He said that he did so because lawmakers failed to include adequate funding to make the proposed program operational. 

Update: House members approved the measure by a vote of 53 to 2 on May 9.
Update: House members on May 8 gave preliminary approval to a slightly amended version of SB 1337.
Update: Members of the House Standing Committee and the House Appropriations Committee both passed SB 1337 by votes of 7 to 1 and 12 to 1 respectively.
Update: SB 1337 passed in the Senate with a vote of 26-4 and is being transmitted to the House.
Update: Senate Bill 1337 was passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee by a 10 to zero vote, and by the Senate Commerce and Public Safety Committee by a 6 to 1 vote. 
Legislation is pending, SB 1337, to permit for the licensed production of industrial hemp.

The proposal redefines hemp as a legal agricultural product and finds, “[T]he development and use of industrial hemp can improve the economy.”

It adds, “The purpose of the [legislation] is to promote the economy and agriculture in this state by allowing the development and regulation of industrial hemp.”

Arizona is one of the only states that fails to recognize hemp as an agricultural commodity rather than as a controlled substance.

Please use the prewritten letter below to urge lawmakers to support this legislation.

Update: House and Senate lawmakers have signed off on the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017 to fund the federal government through September 30, 2017. The measure reauthorizes and updates the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment, as well as a similarly worded amendment protecting state-sponsored industrial hemp programs. Both amendments will remain in effect until September 30, at which time members of Congress will once again need to either reauthorize the language or let the provisions expire. Non-medical retail marijuana businesses operating in the eight states that regulate adult use sales are not protected by this act and still remain vulnerable to federal interference or prosecution.
Since 2014, members of Congress have passed annual spending bills that have included a provision protecting those who engage in the state-sanctioned use and dispensing of medical cannabis from undue prosecution by the Department of Justice. The amendment, known as the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment, maintains that federal funds can not be used to prevent states from “implementing their own state laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana.” 

Congress re-authorized the amendment as part of a short term spending package. This bill extends federal funding through September 30, 2017, at which time the measure — and the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment — will expire.

According to recently released nationwide survey data, the majority of Americans are on our side. A whopping 94 percent support the medical use of marijuana. Perhaps most importantly, 71 percent of voters — including strong majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents — say that they “oppose the government enforcing federal laws against marijuana in states that have already legalized medical or recreational marijuana.”

Please enter your information below to contact members of the incoming Congress and urge them to include these important patient protections as part of any future, long-term appropriations legislation. 

This amendment is strongly supported by both voters and lawmakers and ensures the safety of millions of patients. Congress must not turn its back on those millions of Americans who rely on these state-authorized programs for their health and wellness.