Chronicle AM: NM Legal Pot Bill Advances, House Dems Slam Trump Drug Policies, More… (3/11/19)

Another Democratic presidential contender gets behind a federal marijuana legalization bill, pot legalization is moving in New Mexico but faces a ticking clock, the Florida smokable medical marijuana bill advances, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Reps. Tulsi Gabbard, Don Young File Bill to End Federal Pot Prohibition. Democratic presidential contender Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) has partnered with Rep. Don Young (R-AK) to file a bill to remove marijuana from the list of federally controlled substances. The Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act would leave marijuana policy to the states. The bipartisan pair of legislators also filed the Marijuana Data Collection Act, which would evaluate the effects of marijuana legalization in states that have already legalized it. Neither of the bills is yet available on the congressional website.

Hawaii House Approves Decriminalization Bill. The House last Thursday passed HB 1383, which would decriminalize the possession of up to three grams of weed. Under current state law, possession is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail. The bill would also expunge criminal convictions for people caught with less than three grams in the past. It now goes to the Senate.

New Mexico House Approves Legalization Bill. The House voted last Thursday to approve HB 356, which would legalize marijuana for adults and set up a system of taxed and regulated production and sales. The bill now heads to the Senate, where progress is possible but faces a ticking clock. The session ends on Thursday.

New Mexico Senate Committee Approves Legalization Bill. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Saturday approved SB 577, the companion bill to the legalization bill approved by the House. The bill must still get through two more committees and a floor vote by Thursday to pass because the session ends then.

Medical Marijuana

Florida Senate Approves Bill Allowing Smokable Medical Marijuana. The Senate last Thursday overwhelmingly approved SB 182, which would repeal the legislature's ban on smokable medical marijuana. The effort is being pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who has vowed to act if the legislature fails to. The measure now goes to the House, which must approve it by Friday or DeSantis will drop the state's appeal of a lower court ruling ending the ban.

Drug Policy

House Democrats Blast Trump Administration's Lack of National Drug Control Strategy. Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee blasted the Trump administration for failing to release a drug control strategy in either 2017 or 2018, even as the nation battled the opioid crisis. "It is absolutely inexcusable that the administration did not bother to issue a National Drug Control Strategy during the first two years that he was in office," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY). "More than 70,000 Americans have died from drug overdoses in 2017 alone," she said. "As many as 140,000 Americans have died from overdoses in the first two years of the Trump administration."

Drug Testing

Alabama Bill Would Require Drug Testing for Food Stamps. Rep. James Haynes (R-District 23) has filed HB 3, which would require applicants for food stamps to be screened for possible drug use and subjected to pre-approval drug testing if there is a "reasonable suspicion that the person uses or is under the influence of a drug." That reasonable suspicion would include having a drug conviction within the previous five years. A first failed test would result in a warning a re-test. A failed second test would result in temporary ineligibility for food stamps. A third failed drug test would result in permanent ineligibility. The bill is currently before the House Judiciary Committee.

International

Colombia's Rightist President Wants to Return to Aerial Spraying of Coca Crops. President Ivan Duque has asked the country's Constitutional Court to ease restrictions on spraying coca crops with glyphosate, a weed killer that has been linked to cancer. Former President Juan Manuel Santos banned the use of glyphosate to destroy illegal crops after the World Health Organization classified it as a likely carcinogen. But Duque says that expanding coca production has consequences to significant for the country for the government to limit the tools it has available to fight the crop.

(This article was prepared by StoptheDrugWar.org's 501(c)(4) lobbying nonprofit, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also pays the cost of maintaining this website. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)