Federal Policy

In a letter to President Joe Biden this week, several Democrats in the Senate requested the president use his executive authority to pardon all individuals with non-violent federal cannabis convictions.

Today marks the launch of Cannabis in Common, a new cannabis legalization advocacy initiative backed by the Cannabis Voter Project, the U.S. Cannabis Council, and with support from celebrity cannabis advocates Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman.

A Republican-led cannabis legalization effort is aiming to federally deschedule cannabis and expunge some nonviolent cannabis crimes but stops short of social equity considerations.

Cannabis is the fifth most valuable crop in the U.S. according to Leafly’s first-ever Cannabis Harvest Report.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said that he wants tighter limits on the amount of medical cannabis patients can purchase and to limit the amount of THC allowed in medical cannabis products sold in the state.

Beginning November 8, JPMorgan Chase & Co will block its prime brokerage clients from buying certain U.S. cannabis-related securities that are not listed on the Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange, or the Toronto Stock Exchange.

A recent study found no evidence that U.S. Army recruits with a past history of cannabis use were riskier across the board and, in some cases, they are more likely to perform better.

A cannabis cash transport company is seeking the return of $166,000 that was seized by police in partnership with the DEA who said they had detected a “marijuana odor.”

The U.S. Postal Service said that vape devices for products like CBD cannot be shipped through the service saying that a bill passed by Congress last year to prohibit nicotine vape cartridges from the mail applies to vaping devices for hemp.

Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Medicine announced that the National Institutes of Health will provide nearly $4 million to help researchers study how psilocybin can affect tobacco addiction.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to send 20,500 hemp producers across the country their first Hemp Acreage and Production Survey.

U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren have sent a letter urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to decriminalize cannabis by removing it from the federal controlled substances list.

The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement Act which removes cannabis from the federal schedule of controlled substances and expunges federal cannabis convictions.

The Washington, D.C. City Council has scheduled a public hearing next month to consider legislation to allow adult-use cannabis sales in the district.

President Biden received a letter this week signed by more than 150 celebrity entertainers, politicians, law enforcement officials, and advocates requesting clemency for federal cannabis offenders.

Republican Congresswoman Virginia Foxx has made six investments in Marlboro cigarettes’ parent company, Altria Group Inc., which in turn, has invested $1.8 billion into a Canadian cannabis producer.

Wisconsin’s Department of Agriculture announced the state’s industrial hemp program will transfer to federal control next year.

Mississippi’s Agriculture Commissioner rejected the premise that his agency could facilitate the state’s medical cannabis program due to the plant’s federal Schedule 1 status.

U.S. Navy veteran Howard Bailey, who was deported to Jamaica over a cannabis conviction, has returned home after more than a decade.

Theory Wellness in Massachusetts will pay almost $300,000 in restitution and penalties for violating state wage and hour laws.

The U.S. Department of Energy has invested in Hempitecture, a firm that manufactures a hemp wool insulation product that is highly thermal resistant and has a low carbon footprint.

Included in the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill passed by the Senate on Tuesday are provisions that would let researchers study cannabis from state-licensed dispensaries instead of the low-grade cannabis grown at government facilities.

A key Senate committee approved language that would let VA doctors make medical cannabis recommendations for veterans in states with medical cannabis programs.

Charles Koch plans to use $25 million of his $45 billion fortune to influence cannabis legalization reforms by the end of the year.