DE Marijuana Legalization Bill Wins Committee Vote, SD Lawmakers Move to Ban MedMJ Edibles, More… (1/27/22)

Psilocybin is making some news this week in Colorado, Wisconsin Republicans roll out a restrictive medical marijuana bill, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Delaware Marijuana Legalization Bill Wins House Committee Vote. The House Health and Human Development Committee voted Wednesday to approve a marijuana legalization bill, House Bill 150. The bill legalizes possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by people 21 and over but does not allow people to grow their own. Instead, people would have to purchase marijuana from a state-regulated cultivation, manufacturing, and distribution industry. Basically, the same bill has been introduced each year since 2019 but has never gotten as far as a House floor vote. This year, a proposed Social Equity Loan fund was removed because funding measures would require a three-fourths supermajority to pass. Governor Jay Carney (D) remains opposed to the bill despite changes made designed to appease him.

Medical Marijuana

South Dakota House Committee Votes to Ban Edibles. Ignoring the will of the voters, who in 2020 overwhelmingly approved a medical marijuana initiative that included access to marijuana edibles, the House State Affairs Committee on Wednesday voted narrowly to ban them. The committee voted 7-6 to approve House Bill 1058. "The purpose of the bill is about keeping children safe from exposure and accidental ingestion of edibles," claimed sponsor Rep. Fred Deutsch (R-Florence). The bill would make it difficult for medical marijuana retailers to have viable businesses by restricting what are popular items in most medical marijuana states, industry supporters say.

Wisconsin Republicans File Medical Marijuana Bill. State Sen. Mary Felzkowski (R) and Rep. Patrick Snyder (R) have filed a restrictive medical marijuana bill that would bar the use of smoked or vaped marijuana, It would also create a commission to regulate medical marijuana in the state. Physicians would have to be certified by the commission before they could recommend medical marijuana. The bill, which has yet to be posted to the legislative website, faces long odds.in the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R) has said he thinks medical marijuana legalization should be a federal issue.

Psychedelics

Colorado Activists File Revised Psilocybin Legalization and Healing Center Initiatives. Activists behind Denver's historic 2019 vote to decriminalize psilocybin have now filed revised versions of a pair of proposed initiatives, one that would legalize psilocybin and one that would create licensed healing centers where the drug could be used for therapeutic purposes. The original legalization initiative included a wide range of psychedelics including DMT, ibogaine, and mescaline, but the new one merely legalizes psilocybin and regulates it for therapeutic use until 2026. After that, regulators could include other psychedelics. The revised initiatives also do away with specified possession limits and include social justice provisions.

Colorado Lawmakers File Bill to Study Psychedelics and Mental Health Treatment. Reps. Alex Valdez (D-Denver), Edie Hooton (D-Boulder), and Joann Ginal (D-Fort Collins) have filed a bill that would create a panel to study psychedelics and mental health treatment. The measure, House Bill 1116, would have the panel meet for one year to "study the use of plant-based medicines to support mental health, report its findings and make policy recommendations" to the Colorado General Assembly, the governor and other state officials. The panel would consist of 17 members and would include physicians, veterans, natural healers, plant-based medicine advocates, Indigenous communities, criminal defense lawyers and law enforcement, The bill allows for the study of four natural psychedelics: DMT, ibogaine, and psilocybin and psilocin, which are the active ingredients in psychedelic mushrooms.