What states have legal weed? Will Congress OK it? The latest on federal marijuana legalization
But what's going on with the rest of the country?
But what's going on with the rest of the country?
Weed dispensaries remain illegal in Parsippany. But the township will become the site of a three-day conference about the cannabis industry.
The Cannabis Quality Conference & Expo will run from Oct. 17-19 at Hilton Parsippany. Organizers promised hands-on education, networking and business discussions about the evolving weed industry. See prices for registration here.
Ten states that have legalized the use of marijuana for recreational purposes collected almost $2.7 billion in taxes on pot products last year as sales surged and more regulatory structures came online.
A new report from the Marijuana Policy Project, a pro-legalization group, estimates that states have collected a total of $7.9 billion in tax revenue since the first states — Washington and Colorado — began allowing recreational pot sales in 2014.
More than 40 percent of Americans now live in states — 18 in total — that have embraced full legalization. Roughly two-thirds of American back legal weed, according to polls.
The acceptance of legal weed by governors and state lawmakers in 2021 — without the explicit blessing of voters — marks a turning point. Until this year, only two states had legalized recreational marijuana programs through the legislature: Illinois in 2019 and Vermont in 2020.
Adult-use marijuana legalization in Maryland must wait at least a year after bills failed to meet Monday’s “crossover” deadline for passing one legislative chamber and being sent to the other.
“Sponsors (now) are working on amendments to set the stage for legalization in ’22,” Karen O’Keefe, Marijuana Policy Project’s director of state policies, wrote in an email to Marijuana Business Daily.
Experts polled shortly after the November election had considered Maryland as one of the states most likely to approve a recreational marijuana market in 2021.
Officials with the state Association of Chiefs of Police met with New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal on Wednesday to try to resolve questions and issues they have with enforcing new marijuana laws now that adult-use recreational marijuana is legal.
Several MSOs, including Curaleaf, Green Thumb Industries and Trulieve, have spent tens of millions of dollars in the past two years to enter or expand in Connecticut’s MMJ market and position themselves for the possible legalization of recreational cannabis.
In addition, any adult-use market is expected to generate license and ancillary opportunities for a number of Connecticut-based enterprises, including social equity applicants and small businesses.
Voters approved a slew of marijuana legalization initiatives during November’s election—in states around the country and across the political spectrum—but activists aren’t slowing down. They expect that 2021 will see another surge of reform in state legislatures.
As of September 2020, 17 states and Washington, D.C. had passed some form of home growing laws, be they for medical or adult use.
Comparatively, most states have so far failed to pass social equity laws, with just a handful being considered adequate parameters.
Groups like the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) say laws with "reasonable safeguards" have not been challenged by any states so far. The MPP suggests secure grow sites away from the public and cultivation caps as adequate parameters.
Recreational marijuana legalization victories at the ballot box in Arizona and New Jersey this month have set the table for adult-use legalization in a handful of nearby states in 2021 – with more than $6 billion in business opportunities possibly up for grabs within a few years.
“New York, Connecticut, Maryland, New Mexico are ripe for 2021” to legalize recreational use through their legislatures, said Steve Hawkins, executive director of the Washington DC-based Marijuana Policy Project.
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