Oregon Senate Votes to Freeze Cultivation Licenses, House Committee Debates Veterans’ Access to Cannabis: Week in Review

This week, the Oregon Senate voted in favor of not issuing new production licenses to marijuana growers for two years in order to freeze marijuana production at current levels. Elsewhere, in Congress, the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health held a legislative hearing to discuss the Veterans Equal Access Act, the Veterans Cannabis Use for Safe Healing Act and the VA Medicinal Cannabis Research Act, three separate bills concerning veterans’ access to cannabis.

Here, we’ve rounded up the 10 headlines you need to know before this week is over.

• Federal: A letter has been issued by a bipartisan group of Congress members demanding protections for educational institutes that want to study marijuana. As it stands, universities and colleges can't work with cannabis in any capacity without fear of losing their federal funding. Read more
• The House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health held a legislative hearing April 30 to discuss three separate bills concerning veterans’ access to cannabis. Because marijuana remains illegal under federal law, veterans currently cannot get a recommendation for medical marijuana through the Department of Veterans Affairs, but these bills aim to change that. Read more
• South Carolina: Senators pushed back a vote on the Compassionate Care Act to legalize medical marijuana until next year. The Senate’s Medical Affairs Committee considered a raft of late-breaking amendments to the legislation, including dropping actual botanical marijuana from the bill; one amendment would only allow derivatives such as oils and creams. Read more
• Missouri: The Missouri Department of Health and Human Services has authorized 60 cultivation facilities, 192 dispensaries and 86 manufacturing facilities as part of the initial roll out of the that state’s medical marijuana law. “After careful due diligence based on broad input and other states’ experiences, we are establishing the number of licenses in this first year to be consistent with what is outlined in the Constitution,” DHSS director Dr. Randall Williams said in a release. Read more
• Iowa: In the final hours of the legislative session on Saturday, the Iowa Senate sent a bill to the governor that would expand the state’s medical marijuana program. The bill removes the 3-percent cap on THC, allowing for more potent medical marijuana products at the state’s five dispensaries. Read more
• Texas: After a brief discussion, the Texas House gave preliminary approval Monday to a bill that would reduce the penalties for low-level possession of marijuana. Now it heads to the Senate, where presiding officer Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has expressed opposition to the idea of loosening marijuana possession penalties. Read more
• Oregon: The Senate voted 18-10 Monday to freeze marijuana production at current levels for the next two years. The state will not issue new production licenses to marijuana growers, but current growers will be able to renew their licenses. Read more
• Illinois: Illinois lawmakers are in the final stages of the drafting process for legislation that would legalize adult-use cannabis in the state. Legalization advocates want to ensure that a bill can get through the legislative process—passing out of both chambers—before the end of the month. Read more
• Massachusetts: The state’s Cannabis Control Commission signaled support for a new rule that would give minority entrepreneurs exclusive access to the state’s cannabis delivery business licenses for a 24-month period. Applicants for the state’s cannabis delivery licenses would need to be either an economic empowerment applicant or an entrepreneur working through the commission’s social equity program. Read more
• Hawaii: A marijuana decriminalization measure passed a final vote by both the state House and Senate and now moves to Gov. David Ige for his signature. House Bill 1383 would replace criminal penalties for possessing three grams or less of marijuana with a $130 fine and allow those charged with possession have their records expunged their records if the charge wasn’t related to other crimes. Read more