BOOKER is playing politics again
Just another week in D.C. when it comes to rumors about cannabis reform. Yesterday, NJ Senator Cory Booker came out and said that significant changes need to be made to the currently proposed cannabis banking bill before it would pass. Senator Booker has been a huge advocate of the social justice part of cannabis legalization and wants more of that included in this piece of legalization. "We all agree that the path to ensuring true equity within the marijuana industry starts with decriminalizing cannabis at the federal level," Booker said. "Before moving forward, legislation like SAFE Banking requires changes to ensure that the communities most harmed by our broken marijuana policies receive support and small cannabis businesses can have the same access to capital as large multi-state operators." I am still optimistic that SAFE Banking will get done before the next congress takes office but what is included is still up in the air.
A Legal product is a safer product.
A recent study from the National Poison Data System (NPDS) showed that poisonings by synthetic cannabinoids are significantly lower in states that have legalized access to cannabis. From 2016 to 2019, states with "permissive" cannabis policies reported 37% fewer synthetic cannabinoid exposures annually than states where marijuana remains illegal, according to the peer-reviewed paper published on Tuesday in the Journal of Clinical Toxicology. Medically legal cannabis states reported 13% fewer reported poisonings. "This study shows some potential public health benefits to the legalization and regulation of adult use of cannabis," lead author Tracy Klein, a WSU associate professor of nursing, said in a press release. "Based on both past research and this current study, it's evident that users who have a choice to use a less toxic product would potentially do so." marijuanamoment.net
STATES THAT WILL BE VOTING ON CANNABIS REFORM.
This November, Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota, and Oklahoma will all vote to legalize adult-use cannabis in those states during the midterm elections, while Nebraska will vote for medical access to cannabis. I could never understand why a medical drug that doctors must prescribe to patients is up for a vote, but that's just my opinion. Some of these states are fighting some of these movements in their state courts and verifying signatures, so we are not sure we will get a valid vote for all of these states in November at this time. "At this point, I do expect all (that qualify for a ballot) to prevail, but some of them will be competitive," said Matt Schweich, deputy director of the Washington, DC-based Marijuana Policy Project. Currently, 19 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use cannabis, and 39 states have legalized medical cannabis use. Currently, 73% of the country has access to medical use cannabis, and 44% has legal access to adult-use cannabis. Adult-use sales haven't launched in all of these states like in C.T. and N.Y. as of yet, which just shows how much consumer growth this industry could have in the coming years.
