Medical Marijuana

Update: Governor John Hickenlooper signed SB 17 into law on June 6.

Legislation to make patients with post-traumatic stress eligible for medical cannabis therapy awaits action from Gov. John Hickenlooper.

Members of the House approved the bill by a vote of 39 to 25. Senate members approved it by a vote of 32 to 2.

Senate Bill 17 adds “stress disorders” to the list of debilitating conditions for which a physician may recommend cannabis.

Please use the pre-written letter below to urge the Governor to sign SB 17 into law. 

Update: Governor Inslee signed SB 5131 on May 16.
House and Senate lawmakers have approved legislation, SB 5131, to expand medical cannabis access. The measure now awaits action from Gov. Jay Inslee.

Senate Bill 5131 permits “Qualified medical marijuana patients and designated providers to purchase immature plants, clones, or seeds from a licensed producer. In order to purchase plants or clones the patients and providers must hold a recognition card and be entered in the medical marijuana authorization database.”

The bill also allows non-patients over the age of 21 to legally share cannabis with other adults for no remuneration. 

SB 5131 also calls for a study committee to consider amending state law so that non-patients may cultivate personal quantities of cannabis at home. It states, “Not later than December 1, 2017, the state liquor and cannabis board must provide the appropriate committees of the legislature written findings and recommendations regarding the adoption and implementation of a regulatory and enforcement system for the legalization of marijuana plant possession and cultivation by recreational marijuana users.” Washington is the only adult use marijuana state that does not allow home cultivation. 

Please use the pre-written letter below and urge the Governor to sign SB 5131 into law.

Nebraska Senator Debra Fischer has been claiming to her constituents that she opposes marijuana law reform because she believes that it is “a gateway drug to more harmful illicit narcotics.”
In fact, the available science concludes just the opposite.
Over 60 percent of American adults have tried cannabis, according to data compiled by the US Centers for Disease Control. Statistically, the overwhelming majority of these individuals never go on to try another illicit substance, an empirical reality that persuaded investigators at the RAND Corporation to conclude, ”[M]arijuana has no causal influence over hard drug initiation.”  Moreover, by the time these individuals reach age 30, most of them have significantly decreased their cannabis use  or no longer indulge in the substance at all. 
Help us educate the Senator and her staff to the facts on marijuana. Enter your information below to inform Sen. Fischer that cannabis is not a gateway drug. 

Update: Governor Steve Buillock signed SB 333 into law on May 23.
Update: In a final vote on Tuesday, the House voted 68-31 for Senate Bill 333, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Mary Caferro of Helena. The Senate passed the bill 34-16 last week.
House and Senate lawmakers are in the final stages of reconciling legislation, SB 333, to amend the state’s medical cannabis program. The measure is anticipated to be transmitted to the Governor imminently.

The legislation makes several amendments to I-182, which voters passed in November.

The measure establishes various rules and regulations regarding the operation of cannabis dispensaries, production facilities, and testing labs. It does not amend the expanded list of qualifying conditions enacted by I-182. However, SB 333 does impose new taxes on medical marijuana gross sales. NORML opposes taxes of medical cannabis. It also reduces the number of seedlings qualified patients are permitted to possess at home from 12 to no more than four. It also imposes limits regarding the total harvest of cannabis permitted per patient. 

Update: HR 1824 and S 780 were referred to committees.
Senator Wyden and Representative Blumenauer have introduced legislation in the House and Senate (HR 1824 and S 780) to offer a wide range of legal protections to state-compliant marijuana-related businesses and consumers.

Specifically, these measures will protect consumers in legal marijuana states by ensuring them access to public housing, financial aid, and by prohibiting them from deportation. They will also expand veterans’ access to medical cannabis. These measures will assist businesses by ensuring them access to banking and by protecting them from federally-initiated civil asset forfeiture. They will also permit marijuana-related enterprises to be established on tribal lands free from federal interference.

Enter your information below to urge your lawmakers to support S. 780 and HR 1824. 

As you well know, 30 states plus the District of Columbia allow the use of medical marijuana, and several other states are currently considering similar legislation. It’s time we start to address this issue on the federal level.
We are urging Cory Gardner to become a cosponsor of the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect States Act (CARERS). If passed by Congress, the CARERS Act would allow qualified patients, doctors, and marijuana-related businesses to engage in state-sanctioned behavior involving the production, sale, or use of medical marijuana without fear of federal prosecution and would codify the patchwork of Justice Department memos that currently dictates federal marijuana policy.
Cory Gardner should protect citizens who engage in legal activities in Colorado. Enter your information below to urge him to co-sponsor the CARERS Act.

Update: HB 2200 was left in committee and will recieve no further consideration.
Update: After hearing testimony late Monday 4/24, the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee took no action on HB 2200.
HB 2200, will provide an affirmative defense regarding medical cannabis that would protect patients, caregivers, and doctors.

Affirmative defense establishes a basic set of facts surrounding marijuana possession cases. If someone with a qualifying medical condition is caught possessing marijuana, an affirmative defense for the individual would likely result in a more lenient punishment.

This bill would not legalize medical marijuana nor create safe access but would allow for patients to defend themselves if arrested with their medicine and would allow for doctors to freely discuss cannabis options with their patients without fear of losing their licenses. The bill will be considered by the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on April 24th.

It’s time Texas provided some protection for its citizens suffering from chronic diseases.  

Enter your information below and urge your Representative to vote for HB 2200.

For more information, visit https://www.texasnorml.org/

Update: The Governor signed SB 35 on June 22 and it goes into effect immediately. 
Update: House members amended and passed SB 35 by a vote of 74 to 21 on June 5. Senate members approved the House changes on June 6. The reconciled bill will be transmitted to the Governor imminently.
Update: SB 35 was passed on the floor by a 26 to 10 vote.
SB 35, introduced by Sen. Yvonne Colomb, provides explicit exemptions from arrest and prosecution for persons lawfully in possession of medical marijuana.

Presently, state regulators are finalizing rules and regulations governing its nascent medical cannabis program, which seeks to permit the production, dispensing, and use of non-herbal preparations of cannabis for qualified patients. Passage of SB 36 amends various criminal statutes to assure that those involved in the program are not inadvertently subject to criminal liability.

Specifically, it provides immunity from arrest for those enrolled in the program who engage in activities related to the purchase or transportation of medical marijuana related products or paraphernalia. It provides further legal protections for pharmacies, producers, and testing laboratories engaged in medical cannabis related activities. 

Enter your information below to contact your elected officials in support of this effort.

Governor Scott Walker has signed legislation, Senate Bill 10, amending the state’s CBD exemption law.

The state’s CBD law, first signed in 2014, provided a legal exemption for the use of non-spycoactive CBD products by patients with seizure disorders. The new law exempts the use of non-psychoactive CBD products for any “medical condition” for which a physician recommends it. 

Senate Bill 10 neither provides for an in-state supply source for CBD, nor does it establish a regulated distribution system for CBD-specfic products. 

Update: Tom Marino is no longer being considered for the position of Drug Czar.
The Trump Administration is widely expected to pick Representative Tom Marino for Drug Czar.

The Trump administration promised to eliminate bureaucratic waste. It should start by eliminating the office of the Drug Czar. 

The White House Drug Czar is required, by statute, “to oppose any attempt to legalize the use of a substance that is listed in Schedule I” and to “ensure that no Federal funds … shall be expended for any study or contract relating to the legalization (for a medical use or any other use) of a substance listed in Schedule I.” This narrow-minded, Flat Earth mentality refuses to acknowledge the reality that the majority of the country is now authorized to engage in the use of medical cannabis and it mandates that US drug policy be dictated by rhetoric and ideology rather than by science and evidence.

NORML opposes Marino’s appointment to Drug Czar and we further call for this anti-science position to be abolished entirely.

The Drug Czar’s office is a remnant of a bygone era when US drug policy was framed as a ‘war’ fueled largely by rhetoric and ideology. In 2017 we can do better and we must. The majority of Americans view drug abuse as a public health issue, they favor regulating cannabis as opposed to criminalizing it, and they are demanding policy changes based on facts.

Tell President Trump: There is no place for ‘Czars’ in today’s American government, particularly those who still cling to the outdated and failed drug war policies and misplaced ideologies of the past.