Policy

Restrictions are Killing Minnesota’s MMJ Program

Minnesota has a notoriously restrictive medical marijuana program, where patients face high prices, few qualifying conditions, difficult to reach locations, and limitations on the types of products available to those in need. Given these limitations, some medical marijuana patients are heading back to the black market where medications are cheaper, easier to access, and more […]

Health Canada Takes Action Against Compassion Clubs

Health Canada sent cease-and-desist letters to a number of illegal marijuana dispensaries and compassion clubs last week, saying that police would raid them if they don’t shut down immediately. In the letter, officials demanded that dispensaries stop all activity and submit a written statement confirming the shutdowns by September 21st. This week, it appears that […]

Florida’s CBD Program is Struggling Before Its Launch

Florida’s CBD program will go into effect at the beginning of the year, but just 42 physicians across the entire state have signed up. While doctors have another six months to become approved for the program, many are concerned about the lack of protocol on where drugs will be dispensed, what dosages will be available, […]

Israeli Pain Clinics Risk Lawsuits for Refusing MMJ Options

The Association for Medical Cannabis Treatment in Israel is threatening to sue pain clinics that refuse to offer medical cannabis to patients, according to Marijuana Politics. In order to receive medical marijuana for the treatment of pain, patients must undergo treatment at a registered pain clinic for a year and exhaust all other methods of […]

California Establishes MMJ Regulations after Nearly 20 Years

California lawmakers reached a long-awaited compromise on regulations for the state’s medical marijuana industry for the first time since legalization occurred in 1996, according to LA Times. The regulations will create a new state office that would issue licenses for medical marijuana dispensaries alongside municipalities. While dispensaries would have to follow a number of new […]

Alaska Establishes Recreational Marijuana Rules

The Alaska Marijuana Control Board outlined allowable advertising strategies for retail dispensaries, as well as security protocols in meetings to consider draft regulations for the launch of recreational marijuana sales within the state, according to Alaska Dispatch News. Regulators pushed to limit advertising in order to avoid the problems that Montana faced after legalizing medicinal […]

Health Canada Cracks Down on Dispensaries after MMPR

Health Canada sent out cease-and-desist letters to 13 illegal marijuana dispensaries and compassion clubs across the country, saying that Canadian police could raid them if they don’t shut down immediately, according to Globe and Mail. The letter demanded that dispensaries stop all activity and submit a written statement confirming the shutdowns by September 21st, although […]

New Mexico Narrows Applicant Pool for New Growers

The New Mexico Department of Health’s four-member review committee narrowed the applicant pool for the licensing of new medical cannabis producers from 86 to 17 at the beginning of the month, according to KRWG News. Secretary of Health Retta Ward will begin the review process to determine the number of producers that will receiving licenses […]

Colorado Could Pioneer Public Cannabis Smoking Venues

Cannabis advocates in Colorado have been pushing for a measure on the November 2016 ballot that would permit the public consumption of cannabis in certain bars and restaurants. In particular, the measure would have legalized the drug’s use in certain adult-only businesses like nightclubs or bars, while permitting edible or vaporized marijuana to be consumed […]

Canadians Permitted to Deduct Medical Cannabis Expenses

Canadians that purchase medical cannabis from licensed producers under the MMPR program are eligible to expense their purchases under the Income Tax Act after the Canada Revenue Agency clarified its stance on the matter, according to the Canadian Medical Cannabis Industry Association (“CMCIA”), an association representing the majority of producers currently licensed under Health Canada’s […]

California Works to Fix MMJ Issues Ahead of Recreational Vote

California Governor Jerry Brown’s administration is developing a framework for medical marijuana regulations in California, which could end nearly two decades of misinterpretations and court battles that have plagued the industry, according to The Sacramento Bee. In 1996, Californians voted to decriminalize medical marijuana. The lack of statewide guidelines led to headaches for cities and […]

Canada’s New Democratic Party Pledges to Decriminalize Cannabis

Canada’s New Democratic Party leader Tom Mulcair recently pledged to immediately decriminalize cannabis if and when it forms the country’s next government, according to CBC News. “I want to make sure that everybody understands that the NDP’s position is decriminalization the minute we form government,” Mulcair said during a campaign event in Vancouver. Marijuana policy […]

Connecticut Looks to Expand Approved Conditions for MMJ

Connecticut permits the use of medical marijuana for eleven qualifying health issues, but may be looking to expand that figure to include seven new ailments, including Lou Gehrig’s disease and severe psoriasis among others, according to New Haven Register. The Medical Marijuana Program Board of Physicians has recommended the approval of the seven conditions to […]

Could Florida’s Recreational Amendments Derail Medical Marijuana?

Florida has three proposed constitutional amendments that would legalize marijuana for recreational use if approved by voters in November of 2016, according to Bradenton Herald. The amendments vary in both substance and potential to be passed into law, including one that would legalize recreational use for anyone over 18 years of age and another that […]

Colorado Just Says No to PTSD Patients Seeking MMJ

The Colorado Department of Health and the Environment and the Board of Health voted to deny post-traumatic stress disorder sufferers access to medical marijuana, despite a recommendation from Colorado’s Chief Medical Officer and a panel of physicians, according to the Denver Post. The 6-2 vote drew shouts and boos from the packed house after dozens […]

Britain Strongly Rejects Move to Legalize Cannabis

The British government strongly rejected any notion that it might legalize cannabis after more than 200,000 people signed an official government petition asking for it to change the law, according to the International Business Times. The petition – which had 207,949 signatures at the time this article was written – called for the legal production, […]

Chile Moves to Decriminalize Cannabis

Chile’s Chamber of Deputies passed an initiative designed to decriminalize cannabis in July that passed with a vote of 68-39. Before becoming law, the Health Commission will have time to make adjustments before passing it along to the Senate for a final vote, according to Scoop. The initiative would permit Chileans to possess up to […]

Arcompassion Looks to Ease Arkansas Medical Marijuana Laws

Arkansas is notorious for having some of the harshest marijuana laws in the country – possession of less than four ounces can land you in jail for a year. Arcompassion hopes to change all of that after receiving approval to collect signatures for a 2016 medical marijuana bid. With 65,000 signatures needed to qualify for […]

Oregon Drafts Rules for MMJ Dispensaries to Sell Recreational Pot

Public health officials in Oregon released draft regulations for medical marijuana dispensaries that wish to sell legal recreational marijuana, according to the Associated Press. Under the new regulations, medical marijuana dispensaries will be permitted to begin selling recreational marijuana on October 1st to any consumer over the age of 21. The products can be purchased […]

Canadian Medical Cannabis Users Pay Higher Premiums

Patients enrolled in Canada’s Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (“MMPR”) program pay a higher price due to their prescriptions, because life insurance policies consider them smokers regardless of how they actually consume the drug, according to CBC News. Often times, smokers pay twice as much as non-smokers for life insurance, since smoking correlates with more […]

Ohio to Vote on Recreational Marijuana this November

Ohio could become the first state in the Midwest to legalize recreational marijuana if a ballot measure succeeds in the November 2015 general election. After turning in nearly 700,000 signatures with $2.4 million spent on the signature gathering initiative, election officials determined that 400,000 signatures were false and gave the campaign 10 days to collect […]

Florida Cannabis Advocates Continue Pushing for Change

Florida cannabis advocates are moving forward with a new campaign to legalize medical marijuana after a recent push failed to satisfy voters and state lawmakers, according to the International Business Times. Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, refiled a bill to permit the medical use of marijuana, while supporters of a proposed ballot measure that would permit […]

Delaware Makes Big Moves for a Small State

Delaware has decriminalized small amounts of cannabis, opened its first medical marijuana dispensary, and expanded research on the medicinal benefits of cannabis – all so far in 2015. Rep. Helene Keeley, D-Wilmington, sponsored the marijuana decriminalization bill that was approved in mid-June and signed by Gov. Jack Markell into law, despite opposition from police groups […]

Montana’s MMJ Program Struggles to Survive

Montana legalized medical marijuana back in 2004 and reached 30,000 patients and nearly 5,000 doctors in subsequent years, but since then, opposition to the program has been growing in and a state Supreme Court decision could wipe it out entirely, according to NBCNews. The industry’s problems began a few years after medical marijuana was legalized, […]

Washington DC Cannabis Arrests Persist Despite Legalization

Washington DC legalized recreational marijuana in November of 2014, which made it legal to use up to two ounces of marijuana and possess and cultivate up to three marijuana plants. Despite over 70% of voters approving the measure, Congress has prevented its implementation by blocking funding to enact the measure with a rider in its […]

California Signs Measure to Control Grow-Op Issues

California governor Jerry Brown singed a measure into law that creates steep civil fines for marijuana farms and grow-ops that damage the environment by dumping wastewater and chemicals, removing trees, and killing wild animals, according to LA Times. The measure was introduced following concerns that the number of illegal growing operations in state parklands and […]

Maryland’s First MMJ Clinic Opens for Business

Maryland’s first medical marijuana clinic opened in Annapolis last month and has already seen more than 100 prospective patients, despite the fact that the program isn’t expected to be operational for another year, according to The Frederick News-Post. The clinic, Greenway Consultation, is staffed with three physicians and three consultants, who aren’t registered to recommend […]

Australian Senators Endorse Bill to Legalize Cannabis

A cross-committee group of Australian senators endorsed a bill to legalize medical marijuana, although the Health Department believes that it could create a regulatory nightmare. In particular, some are concerned that the bill will clash with the Therapeutic Goods Act, which could lead to a lack of clarity about the exercise of jurisdiction by agencies […]

Australia Begins Makes Strides in Medical Marijuana Reform

Australia will begin its first medical marijuana clinical trials using both vaporized leaf cannabis and a pharmaceutical this year, while a Senate committee representing all of the country’s major parties is preparing a Regulator of Medicinal Cannabis Bill to legalize medical marijuana. Surveys have shown that over two-thirds of Australians support the idea of medical […]

Coming Soon: Medical Insurance for Canadian Cannabis

The Canadian Supreme Court ruled that medical marijuana patients have a fundamental right to cannabis oils in addition to the already-approved dried marijuana. As a consequence, experts predict that insurance companies may find themselves more willing to foot the bill for prescribed treatments, since a greater number of mainstream doctors are likely to prescribe the […]