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The House Judiciary Committee failed to hold a vote for House Bill 3140, the Put Patients First Act.
This Act would have permitted qualified patients to engage in cannabis therapy and to obtain cannabis from licensed dispensaries.
Although this legislation was pre-filed in December, lawmakers never moved on the bill during the 2015 legislative session.
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws – Advocacy Campaigns
Lawmakers have failed to act on legislation, Senate Joint Resolution 2, which sought to permit the personal cultivation and retail sale of marijuana.
Members of the Senate Rules Committee voted in February to pass the measure. It was then assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which failed to take further action on the measure prior to the legislature’s 2015 adjournment.
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws – Advocacy Campaigns
Illinois lawmakers are considering legislation to permit adults to legally possess and cultivate personal use amounts of marijuana.
Senate Bill 753 amends the criminal code to remove criminal and civil penalties specific to the possession of up to 30 grams of cannabis and/or the cultivation of up to five plants by those age 21 or older.
According to 2010 analysis of marijuana arrest data, Illinois police arrest some 50,000 individuals annually for simple marijuana possession offenses. Illinois ranks #5 in the nation in per capita marijuana possession arrests. Those arrested are disproportionately people of color. For example, in Chicago, some 95 percent of those arrested for marijuana possession are either Black or Hispanic.
For more information on this or other pending legislation, please contact Illinois NORML or follow them on Facebook.
Enter your zip code below to contact your member of the Illinois Senate and urge him/her to support Senate Bill 753. Separate legislation seeking to regulate the commercial production and retail sale of cannabis, HB 4276, is also pending.
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws – Advocacy Campaigns
We have some dire news to share. This morning, President-Elect Trump announced his pick for Attorney General and it couldn’t be much worse for the marijuana law reform movement and our recent legalization victories.
Trump’s pick, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, is a militant prohibitionist. We could go into great detail how Senator Sessions has been an outspoken opponent against reform, but in this case his rhetoric is so off the wall…we’ll let his past statements speak for themselves:
“You have to have leadership from Washington. You can’t have the President of the United States of America talking about marijuana … you are sending a message to young people that there is no danger in this process. It is false that marijuana use doesn’t lead people to more drug use. It is already causing a disturbance in the states that have made it legal.”
“It was the prevention movement that really was so positive, and it led to this decline. The creating of knowledge that this drug is dangerous, it cannot be played with, it is not funny, it’s not something to laugh about, and trying to send that message with clarity, that good people don’t smoke marijuana.”
“Lady Gaga says she’s addicted to [marijuana] and it is not harmless.”
His former colleagues testified Sessions used the n-word and joked about the Ku Klux Klan, saying he thought they were “okay, until he learned that they smoked marijuana.”
SOUNDS CRAZY, RIGHT? DONATE TODAY TO HELP US BE READY TO FIGHT BACK
Senator Sessions is clearly out in the deep end when it comes to issues of marijuana policy and he stands diametrically opposed to the majority of Americans who favor the legalization and regulation of marijuana. This could foreshadow some very bad things for the eight states that have legalized marijuana for adult use and in the 29 states with with medical marijuana programs. With the authority the position of Attorney General provides, Sessions could immediately get to work attempting to block the implementation of the recent ballot initiatives, dismantling a legal industry in Washington, Colorado, Oregon, and Alaska, and begin conducting massive raids on existing medical and recreational retail stores.
We must be ready to fight back. We must be ready to mobilize in defense of all of our hard fought victories. We already have our opponents calling for a recount in Maine and prohibitionists in Massachusetts working to gut core provisions like home cultivation from their state’s initiative. With an assist from a newly minted prohibitionist Attorney General, things might get worse before they get better.
Help us send a message to President-Elect Trump and his Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions that the American people won’t stand for intervention into state marijuana programs and we want to move towards descheduling at the federal level and legalization in all 50 states.
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A bipartisan coalition of nine House lawmakers has introduced legislation, House Resolution 667: The Veterans Equal Access Act, to permit Department of Veterans Affairs health care providers “to provide recommendations and opinions to veterans regarding participation in state marijuana programs.”
Passage of this act would allow VA doctors to recommend cannabis therapy to veterans in states that allow for its therapeutic use.
Under current federal law, VA physicians are not permitted to fill out written documentation forms authorizing their patients to participate in state-sanctioned medical cannabis programs.
The bill presently has 17 co-sponsors and awaits action before the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Subcommittee on Health.
On April 30, a proposed amendment to similarly permit VA doctors to authorize medical cannabis was narrowly defeated by the House by a vote of 210 to 213. One hundred and seventy-five Democrats voted for the measure, while eight voted against it. Thirty-five Republicans voted for the amendment, while 205 voted against it. This vote makes it clear that there exists ample support in Congress for this bill. Please ask your members of Congress to sign on as a co-sponsor of this legislation and please demand the Veteran Affairs’ Committee to debate this legislation.
Please enter your zip code below to contact your House members and urge them to support this pending legislation.
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws – Advocacy Campaigns
Legislation has been pre-filed for the 2017 legislative session to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws – Advocacy Campaigns
Marijuana legalization opponents in Maine are formally challenging the results of Question 1: The Marijuana Legalization Act, a statewide ballot initiative that received slightly over 50 percent of the vote on Election Day.
Legal counsel for the No on 1 campaign today turned in petitions to the Secretary of State’s office formally requesting a recount. If the recount goes forward, the process is expected to take approximately 30 days and cost taxpayers nearly $ 500,000.
If the vote is upheld, the measure will become law by January 7, 2017.
The Act permits adults who are not participating in the state’s medical cannabis program to possess personal use quantities of marijuana (up to two and one-half ounces and/or the total harvest produced by six plants). The measure also establishes regulations for the commercial cultivation and retail sale of cannabis to adults. Regulations governing marijuana-related businesses are scheduled to be in place by August 8, 2017.
Lawmakers failed to take action on legislation, H. 1561: The Cannabis Regulation and Taxation Act of 2016, to permit the personal possession, cultivation and retail sale of marijuana to adults. The measure would have also permitted home cultivation of the plant for non-commercial purposes.
A coalition of more than a dozen bipartisan Massachusetts lawmakers introduced the Act which would have regulated the commercial cultivation and retail sale of marijuana to adults over the age of 21. It also sought to permit home cultivation.
Massachusetts is one of a growing number of states where lawmakers are considering regulating cannabis for adults. NORML would like to thank those of you who contacted your state lawmakers in support of this legislation.
For more information please visit MassCann/NORML’s website or Facebook page.
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws – Advocacy Campaigns
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws – Advocacy Campaigns
Senate Bill 80 reduces personal use possession penalties to a civil, non-criminal offense, punishable by not more than a $ 25 fine for first offenses — no arrest, and no criminal record. Second offenses will also be punished by a fine only between $ 25 to $ 50.
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws – Advocacy Campaigns
