In a blog post on Monday, IRS’s De Lon Harris said that the “evolving and complex issue my organization has been focused on is the tax implications for the rapidly growing cannabis/marijuana industry.”
The U.S. Supreme Court is getting more pressure to take up a case on the legality of establishing safe injection sites where people can use illicit drugs in a medically supervised environment, with attorneys general from 10 states and D.C. filing an amicus brief urging the justices to take action.
Representatives from 14 cities and counties, as well as the mayor of Philadelphia, which is at the center of the current case, also filed amici briefs in support of the case in recent days.
The attorneys general of Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia, plus Washington, D.C., told the Supreme Court in the brief last week that safe consumption facilities are “emerging as a promising measure to save lives and to fill a time-sensitive gap in medical care.”
The House bill to federally legalize marijuana and fund programs to repair drug war harms got seven new cosponsors for a total of 73.
Pennsylvania Lawmakers Unveil Marijuana Legalization Bill With Focus On Social Equity
A bill to legalize marijuana in Pennsylvania was formally introduced on Tuesday, and sponsors emphasized that the plan is to enact a policy change the prioritizes social equity for communities most harmed by the war on drugs.
Reps. Jake Wheatley (D) and Dan Frankel (D) rolled out the legislation at a press conference. This comes months after the two circulated a cosponsorship memo urging colleagues to get on board with the cannabis reform.
New Mexico regulators posted draft rules for marijuana manufacturing, retail and courier businesses.
Florida regulators are being accused by a physician of breaking the law to stage a sting operation against his medical cannabis recommendation practices.
A physician who orders medical marijuana for patients is accusing state health officials of breaking the law to create fake records in a sting operation involving an investigator posing as a military veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Joseph Dorn, who has practiced in Florida for nearly three decades, risks losing his medical license after the Department of Health filed a complaint alleging the Tallahassee-based physician violated medical-marijuana laws when ordering cannabis for “Patient O.G. ” and “Patient B.D.,” two undercover investigators with the state agency.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is being sued for allegedly improperly destroying a farmer’s hemp crop.
A federal judge ruled that a lawsuit challenging Miami, Florida’s restrictive medical cannabis business rules can go back to state court.
Miami’s de facto ban on medical marijuana dispensaries took a big hit. Last week, U.S. District Judge Michael K. Moore ruled federal court has no jurisdiction over where medical marijuana dispensaries are located in the city.
As a result, Moore approved a request by a pair of prominent downtown Miami landowners who oppose the ban to send their April 21 lawsuit against the city back to Miami-Dade Circuit Court. Miami had the complaint moved to federal court a month later.
Spanish lawmakers filed a marijuana legalization bill.
Thailand’s Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives is offering loans for community enterprises and agricultural cooperatives to plant cannabis.
Irish lawmakers will get a briefing on medical cannabis on Wednesday.
Recreational Cannabis Legalization Leads to Higher Use in Some Demographics
The U.S. is seeing an increased use of cannabis resulting from its legalization for recreational purposes, according to a study conducted at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The findings showed that passage of the laws led to a rise in the odds of past-year and past-month cannabis use (those that used cannabis at least once in the past year or in the past month) among individuals of Hispanic, Other and non-Hispanic white race/ethnicity compared to the period prior to enacting laws for recreational use. However, most importantly, as of 2017, legalization did not lead to more frequent use or cannabis use disorder among these groups. And no changes in use were observed among non-Hispanic Black people or among individuals aged 12-20 of all racial/ethnic groups, for whom cannabis use remains illegal.
The findings, which focused on states that had already legalized medical cannabis, are published in JAMA Network Open.
