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Rhode Island’s House speaker says lawmakers are “very close” to introducing a bicameral negotiated marijuana legalization bill, and a top Senate leader saying he’s optimistic that it will pass “overwhelmingly” in both chambers when it comes up for a vote early in 2022. Legislators have been in talks for months to reconcile competing legalization proposals that have been brought forward by the House, Senate and governor’s office. Negotiations have been productive, and draft legislation will be introduced within weeks, “in the month of January,” House Speaker Joseph Sherkarchi (D) told Providence Business News. The bill’s filing “will begin a robust…

There are 17 Hudson Valley towns that have voted to allow marijuana dispensaries in the Hudson Valley. Under legislation passed in New York to legalize recreational marijuana use, local municipalities have the ability to “opt-out” of the law and forbid the sale of pot. Towns, villages, and cities throughout New York have until December 31 to pass legislation that would ban marijuana dispensaries. They can also separately decide whether or not to allow consumption sites, or “pot lounges” within the city limits. Many Hudson Valley towns have already decided to ban the sale of pot, while others have thrown their…

The fight to end the criminalization of psychedelics and give patients access to natural plants and fungi has achieved success in a growing number of cities and states in recent years, and on Thursday the cause got a boost from prominent people in the entertainment and political fields. Musician Melissa Etheridge and criminal justice reform activist Van Jones spoke at an event hosted by the nonprofit group End Well, which focused on how certain psychedelics can help ease in end-of-life anxiety and other mental health conditions. Both Etheridge and Jones spoke about the need to break with the status quo…

When adult-use cannabis stores debut in Connecticut, they will not just be opening their doors to customers, but also unions eager to sign up the industry’s employees. A labor peace agreement provision in the recreational marijuana law passed earlier this year gives unions a chance to make inroads into the industry, legal experts say. These agreements, sometimes referred to as neutrality agreements, lay out how companies and labor organizations can behave during union organizing. To get a retail cannabis license in Connecticut, a company will have to enter into one of these agreements with a labor organization. The agreements aim…

Rand Paul’s festivus marijuana banking slam on Dems; DEA’s drug emoji guide for parents; Robbery preparedness for cannabis dispensaries Subscribe to receive Marijuana Moment’s newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning. It’s the best way to make sure you know which cannabis stories are shaping the day. Your support makes Marijuana Moment possible… Your good deed for the day: donate to an independent publisher like Marijuana Moment and ensure that as many voters as possible have access to the most in-depth cannabis reporting out there.Support our work at https://www.patreon.com/marijuanamoment/ TOP THINGS TO KNOWA top Maryland lawmaker officially filed a bill to…

Expectations were sky high this year that marijuana would be legalized at the federal level. At the very least, the so-called SAFE Banking Act, which would enable billions of dollars of banking money to flow into the pot industry, was going to breeze through Congress and garner the president’s signature. This bill was seen as a necessary precursor to broader federal marijuana legislation, like the MORE Act, sponsored by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and others. But there’s just one thing about these legislative triumphs: they never happened. Once again, the pot industry left town with nothing…