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Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) announced on Thursday that he granted 1,351 pardons for convictions of possession of two ounces or less of marijuana. The move focuses on people who are eligible for relief under a new law that increased the legal cannabis possession limit for adults in the state, which Polis signed in May. At the time, he directed state law enforcement to identify people with prior convictions for amounts under the new, two-ounce limit. “Adults can legally possess marijuana in Colorado, just as they can beer or wine,” the governor said in a press release. “It’s unfair that…

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Hundreds of new laws are going into effect in the Tri-State Area on New Year’s Day. The laws will impact everything from recreational marijuana to coffee cups. CBS2’s Natalie Duddridge has a look at what will be new in 2022. New Yorkers won’t be able to walk into a shop and legally purchase marijuana on Jan. 1, but it’s coming. “The most interesting thing right now is by the end of this year, when it comes to cannabis, marijuana, pot, whatever you call it, local municipalities, towns, villages, cities, get to decide if it’s going to…

A budtender at Private Organic Therapy, a non-profit co-operative medical marijuana dispensary in … [+] Los Angeles, displays various types of marijuana available to patients. Marijuana sales in 2021 were significantly lower than in 2020, during the Covid lockdown. Getty Images Cannabis had a blockbuster year in 2020. Sales hit record highs as people confined to their homes during the Covid-19 lockdown took to cannabis to alleviate their stress, anxiety and boredom. With cannabis retailers deemed essential businesses during the lockdown, marijuana sales in California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state surged 39.2% in 2020, according to MJ Biz Daily….

A top federal health agency is seeking to promote studies into the efficacy of a variety of harm reduction policies—including decriminalization and safe consumption sites—as part of a push to combat the overdose epidemic. While the Biden administration has yet to take a position on policy proposals to authorize safe consumption facilities, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) put out a pair of requests for applications (RFAs) on Wednesday for an effort that will provide funding for efforts to investigate how that and other harm reduction policies could help address the drug crisis. Specifically, NIH wants to establish a Harm…

From full cannabis legalization in New York to the launch of a modest medical marijuana program in Alabama, cannabis reform continued to spread across the U.S. in 2021 amid the ongoing backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and other hot-button political issues. And while federal prohibition remains in place, the year saw major movement toward reform on the federal level, including a number of new legalization bills in Congress and slow, steady progress on cannabis banking. In a year marked by partisan divisions, the year also saw more GOP lawmakers than ever take the lead on cannabis, helping craft and introduce…

#1: Five More States Enact Adult-Use Legalization Laws Legislatures in five states — Connecticut, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Virginia — enacted laws in 2021 legalizing adult-use marijuana possession and regulating retail cannabis markets. These legislative victories marked a significant change from past years, when similar laws were enacted almost exclusively via citizens’ initiatives, not by legislative action. In total, 18 states — comprising nearly one-half of the US population — have now adopted laws regulating adult use marijuana production and retail sales. “State lawmakers have learned that advocating for adult-use legalization laws is a winning political issue…

This year saw major strides in the enactment of new marijuana laws with six states set to introduce new measures regarding its usage in 2022. Arkansas will see its medical marijuana rules expanded to allow out-of-state patients access to the state’s program for up to 90 days and will also allow doctors to offer medical marijuana recommendations through telehealth services, effective January 1. Medical marijuana laws will also be expanded in California with the passage of a bill that will allow for “a terminally ill patient’s use of medicinal cannabis within [a] health care facility.” Governor Gavin Newsom signed the…