Members of the Ohio senate advanced a measure expanding the state’s long-standing decriminalization policies.
Category: LEGISLATION
Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed legislation into law which provides the office with expanded powers to pardon those with past marijuana convictions.
“Just as doctors are entrusted to make decisions regarding the use of opioids, the law should provide doctors with similar flexibility for recommending cannabis therapy to a bona fide patient.”
“Suspicionless marijuana testing never has been an evidence-based policy. Rather, these discriminatory practices are a holdover from the zeitgeist of the 1980s ‘war on drugs.’
The proposed measure expands the discretion of physicians so that they can recommend cannabis therapy for “any condition” that they “consider debilitating…”
The legislation, if enacted, would have shielded an estimated 200,000 low-level marijuana convictions from public view.
Gov Northam has approved legislation to decriminalize marijuana possession offenses and provide explicit legal protection to the state’s medical cannabis program participants. The new laws will take effect July 1, 2020.
Welcome to the latest edition of NORML’s Weekly Legislative Roundup!