Following the validation of 132,887 signatures by state officials, lawmakers will have up to four months to consider the legalization measure. If lawmakers fail to act on the proposal, organizers will then need to collect an additional 132,887 signatures to place it before voters on the November 2022 ballot.
Under the newly signed law, the possession of personal use quantities of cannabis by adults will no longer be subject to civil penalties. Furthermore, police may no longer cite the odor of cannabis as justification for engaging in a warrantless search.
Only 23 medical cannabis facilities are currently operating in the state. Under the state’s medical marijuana law, patients are not permitted to home-cultivate cannabis.
“We reviewed letters over 18 months sent to violating companies by the FDA. Cannabidiol-related substances led the spectrum of products with unsubstantiated claims to treat COVID-19 infection.”
Under the plan, patients in the state’s medical access program will be able to purchase marijuana-infused gummies or other similar chewable products beginning on August 1, 2020.
Under the state’s new adult-use legalization law, those with past marijuana convictions may petition for either the expungement of their records or for a re-sentencing of their conviction.
In a letter addressed to Rep. Eleanor Holmes-Norton, the agency says that it will continue to enforce policies that involve the “termination of the tenancy of any household” in instances where a tenant is found to have engaged in the use of a controlled substance while on the premises — “including [the use of] state legalized medical marijuana.”
Today, the majority of US states regulate medical cannabis access and 18 have legalized adult use. Arguably, none of these political and cultural advancements would have been possible without the success of California’s 1996 campaign and the efforts of those activists who worked so hard for the law’s passage a quarter of a century ago.
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves appears to have backed off a pledge to hold a special legislative session this fall to enact medical cannabis legalization. Lawmakers reached consensus on a medical marijuana bill in September, but the Governor has refused to take any further action on it.