bill

A Kentucky congressman proposed a law this week that would classify hemp as a agricultural crop and legalize the its growth by American farmers. The bill was co-sponsored by two Republicans and one Democrats, meaning it has at lease some bipartisan support and the potential to become a reality...

The 8-year-old boy fidgeted with his hands as he stood and approached the microphone before a panel of South Carolina House members in late February. Speaking for a bill that would allow medical marijuana use in the state, he got right to the point. "I would like to talk about my sister,"...

About 500 agriculture producers packed the C.J. Davidson Conference Center at Angelo State University Monday afternoon to share their stories with Congressman Michael Conaway (R) Midland who represents San Angelo. At least two attendees urged the Chairman of the House Agriculture committee...

Sen. Cory Booker is introducing a longshot bill to incentive states to legalize marijuana. Legislation unveiled Tuesday from the New Jersey Democrat, who hasn't ruled out running for president in 2020, would remove cannabis from the federal scheduling system, which currently classifies the...

Gov. Charlie Baker will sign into law a tax hike on retail marijuana sales and new restrictions on marketing and packaging of pot products Friday. The move comes after the Legislature last week reached a deal to overhaul the 2016 ballot law legalizing pot in Massachusetts. The bill...

Diana DiZolgio, a Massachusetts state representative from Methuen, is asking Gov. Charlie Baker to veto the bill rewriting the state's marijuana laws, arguing that the legislation doesn't go far enough in setting aside money for substance abuse issues. Lawmakers sent the bill to his desk last...

At the online store Cafepress.com, you can buy a shirt emblazoned with an American flag and bearing the words: “The United States of Amerijuana ... with Brownies and Doobies For All.” That shirt, crass as it might be, is perfectly legal to sell in California. But a stylishly lettered T-shirt...

U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md.-1, has sponsored the Medical Marijuana Research Act of 2017, intended to remove some of the hurdles to breakthroughs involving the drug. "As a physician who has conducted NIH-sponsored research, I cannot stress enough how critical this legislation is to the...

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed legislation that aims to boost hemp production. Also on last week, the Democratic governor announced $10 million in state funds to boost industrial hemp research and development. While hemp is a variety of cannabis, it does not contain the level of...

Fear that the federal government may crack down on legalized marijuana has forced cannabis stores to rid themselves of any data that could be used to identify customers. Under Senate Bill 863, the state now prohibits pot stores from recording, retaining or transferring any customer...

Voters can decide to ban pot shops in some communities, but that decision will be handed over to local leaders under the final marijuana bill. But some lawmakers question if this compromise is unconstitutional. Voters legalized recreational marijuana last November in a 54-46 vote. But if a...

Retail marijuana shops may be scarce or nonexistent on the Upper Cape next year, based on the latest marijuana legislation and the reaction from a number of elected officials in the local towns. On Monday, July 17, the Massachusetts State Senate and House of Representatives agreed on a...

The Legislature sent its rewrite of the voter-approved legal marijuana bill, with a higher tax rate and less power for voters, to the governor on Thursday, 255 days after about 1.8 million voters put the law on the books. House and Senate negotiators had planned to get a bill to Gov. Charlie...

On July 20, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the Energy and Water Development appropriations bill for fiscal year 2018, authorizing $38.4 billion in spending. Wedged into this bill was the Industrial Hemp Water Rights Act, a piece of bipartisan legislation introduced in part by...

In a case of one hand not knowing what the other is doing, the 2014 Farm Bill authorized the U.S. Department of Agriculture to license farmers to grow industrial hemp. At the same time, however, the federal Bureau of Reclamation prohibits water in lakes and other storage facilities that it...

Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, set to play a key role in the rollout of a legal marijuana industry in Massachusetts, said Tuesday she has "no idea" whether legal pot shops will be open by next July, as envisioned by policymakers. Under the legal marijuana law approved by voters in November, the...

It may be a few weeks later than they planned, but Massachusetts lawmakers appear to have agreed on legislation to implement changes to the voter-approved law legalizing marijuana in the state. The so-called compromise bill was introduced in the state House of Representatives on the Monday...

More than two weeks after blowing their self-imposed deadline to create a marijuana bill, state representatives and senators reached a compromise that would tax pot by as much as 20 percent. A committee of three state reps and three state senators had been working to merge House and Senate...

Medicinal cannabis bill would have seen "cannabis in sweet shops" due to its serious legal flaws, according to a Cork Senator. This week, the Oireachtas Health Committee rejected a bill put forward by People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny Bill in a bid to legalize medical cannabis. The unanimous...

Retired military veteran Mark Montrose and his wife were jubilant when they received the call that after two years of waiting, the couple could pick up their newly-adopted baby girl Mary-Kate. But that joy would not last. A regular four-month checkup led to an emergency trip to the Medical...