As of April 14, two cannabis bills have officially been sent to the desk of Delaware Gov. John Carney. House Bill 1 legalizes small amounts of cannabis for personal use, and House Bill 2 establishes regulations for cultivation and sales. Both combined make up the Delaware Marijuana Control Act.

According to the Delaware State Constitution, the governor has 10 days to make a decision about the bills (which does not include Sundays), or sometime between April 22 for HB-1 and April 26 for HB-2. Carney may either sign the bills, veto them, or make no decision and allow them to become law without his signature.

According to bill sponsor Rep. Ed Osienski, the arrival of HB-1 and HB-2 on Carney’s desk is the result of a lot of work by legislators and advocates. “We have been on a long, multi-year journey with the Marijuana Control Act. We have had countless hearings, debates, stakeholder engagement and deliberations. We have incorporated numerous suggestions and changes from interested parties—including the governor’s office—throughout this process to arrive at what I believe is the best possible plan for legalizing and regulating adult recreational marijuana,” said Osienski. “I am hopeful that the governor will take all of this into account as he considers these bills and that he will acknowledge the desires of an overwhelming majority of Delaware residents.”

Carney’s response to these bills isn’t certain. Most recently, Carney attended a press event for a campaign called “Making Delaware’s Roadways Safer” on March 29. While there, Delaware reporter Tim Furlong asked Carney what he might do with the cannabis legislation bills at the end of March.“No, I’d rather focus on this issue,” Carney said at an event. “Obviously I’m concerned mostly about intended consequences of legalization, including highway safety.”

Carney initially vetoed a bill to legalize cannabis possession in May 2022, stating that he supports medical cannabis and decriminalization, but not recreational cannabis. “That said, I do not believe that promoting or expanding the use of recreational marijuana is in the best interests of the state of Delaware, especially our young people,” Carney said last year. “Questions about the long-term health and economic impacts of recreational marijuana use, as well as serious law enforcement concerns, remain unresolved.”

Following the veto, legislators attempted to have the veto overridden in June 2022, but the effort failed. However, legislators reintroduced recreational cannabis into the legislature in January 2023. The House approved the bill on March 7, followed by the Senate on March 28.

In early March, Osienski shared his hopes that continually revisiting cannabis will eventually lead to a signature from the governor instead of a veto. “My hope is that with continued open dialogue with the governor’s office, that will help alleviate a veto,” Osienski said. “I have more support from my members … for a veto override, but I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that.”

Delaware shares a border with New Jersey and Maryland, which have both passed adult-use cannabis. According to a statement provided to High Times by Brian Vicente of Vicente LLP, Delaware is next up to approve legalization and help bolster cannabis on the east coast. “The impending passage of legalization in Delaware is a historic and important step towards establishing the Atlantic Seaboard as ground for legal adult cannabis regulation,” Vicente said. “For many years, legalization was considered a West Coast phenomenon, but the East Coast is now following suit. While we are still a ways away from having cannabis legal from Florida to Maine, Delaware further cements the East Coast as an area turning its back on marijuana prohibition.”

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You are still free to get high in the “Big Sky.” That is because last week, lawmakers in Montana voted to table a bill that would have effectively dismantled the state’s new adult-use cannabis program.

Republican state Sen. Keith Regier introduced Senate Bill 546 in Montana last month that would have eliminated recreational marijuana dispensaries in Montana.

Almost 60 percent of voters in Montana approved a ballot initiative in November 2020 to legalize weed for adults aged 21 and older, which set up a regulatory framework for a state-sanctioned recreational cannabis market.

Recreational cannabis sales launched last year, ultimately bringing in more than $200 million to the state in 2022.

The Montana Department of Revenue reported in January that sales of adult-use marijuana amounted to $202,947,328 in 2022, while medical cannabis sales came to $93,616,551. (Montana voters legalized medical cannabis in 2004.)

But Regier’s bill never made it out of the Senate Business, Labor and Economic Affairs Committee, which held a hearing on the measure on March 29.

“I just think it’s good not to make voters think that their voice doesn’t count. Then they really turn away from this whole process,” Kate Cholewa, who represents the trade group Montana Cannabis Industry Association, said at last week’s hearing for the bill, as quoted by Montana Free Press.

Per the outlet, Regier addressed that objection during his opening remarks at the hearing, saying that there “have been several examples of the will of the voters being reversed.” (“Two of the three examples he cited involved voter initiatives being overturned by courts, not lawmakers,” Montana Free Press noted.)

Regier’s bill would have also raised “the state tax on medical marijuana from 4% to 20% and puts significant limits on medical marijuana potency and allowable amounts for possession,” Montana Free Press reported last month.

The issue of marijuana potency was raised at last week’s committee hearing.

“There is no need to have 90% potent marijuana products unless you’re trying to addict kids,” 

Said Dr. Kevin Sabet, co-founder and president of the national anti-marijuana organization Safe Approaches to Marijuana, as quoted by Montana Free Press. “That’s simply the only reason to do it. Or addict (sic) people in the workplace and cause crashes on the road.”

But on Thursday, members of Senate Business, Labor and Economic Affairs Committee decided they had heard enough, and voted 6-4 to table the bill.

According to Montana Free Press, “three Republican committee members—Senate President Jason Ellsworth, Committee Chair Jason Small and Sen. Walt Sales—joined with all three Democratic members to oppose the bill,” before the “committee subsequently tabled the bill unanimously.”

It might not be the Montana legislature’s last word on cannabis reform.

Last month, that same committee in the state Senate “heard testimony on two marijuana-related bills,” according to local news station KTVH, including one that “would prohibit marijuana businesses in Montana from promoting their business or brand in print, over TV and radio or using a billboard.”

The other proposal “would revise the required warning labels that marijuana businesses must put on their products, to say that marijuana use during pregnancy could result in ‘congenital anomalies, and inherited cancers developed by a child later in life,’” KTVH reported.

Tax revenue from marijuana sales in Montana are used to support a number of programs in the state, including the HEART Fund, which provides money for substance abuse treatment in Montana.

“Funding a full continuum of substance abuse prevention and treatment programs for communities, the HEART Fund will offer new support to Montanans who want to get clean, sober, and healthy,” the state’s Republican governor, Greg Gianforte, said in 2021.

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Recreational marijuana sales in New Mexico totaled more than $300 million in the first year of regulated adult-use cannabis sales, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced on April 3.

Lujan Grisham signed the Cannabis Regulation Act into law in April 2021, legalizing the use of marijuana for adults and creating a framework for regulated sales of adult-use cannabis. Only one year later, in April 2022, licensed sales of recreational marijuana began at regulated dispensaries in the state. Since then, New Mexico regulators have issued around 2,000 cannabis licenses across New Mexico, including 633 cannabis retailers, 351 producers, 415 micro producers, and 507 manufacturers, the governor’s office reported.

“In just one year, hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity has been generated in communities across the state, the number of businesses continues to increase, and thousands of New Mexicans are employed by this new industry,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement on April 3. “I’m excited to see what the future holds as we continue to develop an innovative and safe adult-use cannabis industry.”

$27 Million In Cannabis Taxes

Monthly sales of recreational cannabis have remained steady in the first year of legalization, with last month showing the highest monthly total at $32.3 million. More than 10 million recreational cannabis sales transactions have been made over the last year, generating more than $27 million in cannabis excise taxes for the state general fund and local communities.

The large cities of Albuquerque, Las Cruces, and Santa Fe saw the strongest recreational cannabis sales, while the smaller communities of Clovis, Farmington and Ruidoso each saw more than $7 million in adult-use sales. Retailers in towns along the border with Texas, where recreational marijuana is still illegal, also recorded strong sales of adult-use cannabis.

“I’m beyond thrilled that the industry has gotten off to such a strong start,” Javier Martínez, a Democratic legislator who advocated for legalization for years, told the Albuquerque Journal. “We [legalized] it the right way.”

Last week, Linda M. Trujillo, the superintendent of the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department, noted the strong growth of New Mexico’s adult-use cannabis industry in the first year of sales, adding that the agency would begin expanding regulatory enforcement in the coming months.

“There’s over 2,500 individuals that have a controlling share in a cannabis business,” said Trujillo, who is currently overseeing the Cannabis Control Division (CCD) after the recent departure of its acting director. “Now, we know that the next step is compliance, and we’ve been building the compliance aspect over the course of the last year.”

Reilly White, an associate professor of finance at the University of New Mexico’s Anderson School of Management, cited several factors that led to a strong first year for the state’s adult-use cannabis industry.

“Strong consumer spending and historically low unemployment in New Mexico…encouraged the growth of recreational marijuana, and cannabis taxes have provided an additional state and municipal revenue source,” White said.

Market analysts believe that New Mexico’s cannabis industry may undergo some correction during the second year, which could lead some dispensaries across the state to cease operations. But many are still confident in the potential for the long-term growth of the state’s industry.

“Cannabis in New Mexico has a clear pathway to grow to more than a half billion dollars per year, especially as we compare the sales to states that legalized years ago,” White said. “But the road will get rocky ahead—many businesses may find their operations unsustainable as market saturation limits their growth. Uncertainty in the economic outlook is also a factor, particularly since it’s not clear how much consumers would cut back on recreational sales during times of economic stress. As the market matures, the industry will consolidate around the most successful companies with the greatest success in New Mexico.”

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Leafly’s annual Doobious Achievement Award winners include The Champ, Thai chickens, chillin’ cows, Circle K, and convention floor chumps.

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The first round of New York dispensary licenses have been awarded. Here are the nonprofit and justice-involved recipients.

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Another questionable study is being used to stoke Reefer Madness 2.0. Here’s what that study really found, and why it’s being used to mislead the public. Earlier this week the Wall Street Journal published a health article titled “Marijuana May Hurt Smokers More Than Cigarettes Alone,” attempting to raise concerns that smoking cannabis may be […]

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Nick Kyrgios stopped his match yesterday to complain about marijuana odors. We want to know: Who had the loud?

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In this episode: Joe Biden has a change of heart, Texas cities make moves to decriminalize weed, and how cannabis impacts sleep.

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In this episode: The total rundown on the Cannabis Administration Opportunity Act and how to beat the heat with weed!

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In this week’s episode: Brittney Griner and how no one should be in prison for weed and strains to smoke according to the universe!

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