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Nearly 75% f the country has legalized cannabis to some extent – either medical, recreational, or both – which begs the question, how are employers dealing with the rapidly changing laws in their regions?

As of election day, November 3rd, 2020, a total of 36 states, District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Island have approved comprehensive medical cannabis programs. Out of those, 15 states have legalized adult-use marijuana. Recreational is even legal in our nation’s capital, Washington D.C., where you will find a robust legal market.

Despite all of that, marijuana is still federally illegal. This presents many unique challenges for employers who maintain drug testing policies and have concerns about productivity and workplace safety, as well as issues for employees who may be denied employed for cannabis use when they are responsible users who are otherwise, completely qualified.

How are these issues being resolved? Is common ground between employees and employers achievable?

Medical use vs recreational use

When it comes to denying employment based on cannabis use, a very important distinction is whether the patient uses it recreationally or medicinally. Outlined under state laws, marijuana can be prescribed for a variety of preapproved conditions. If someone is using marijuana for panic attacks, for example, this could warrant random, all-day availability and use.

“Employers must understand their rights and duties when it comes to drug testing because state laws are evolving,” said David Reischer, attorney and CEO of LegalAdvice.com. “Marijuana is still federally illegal, and employers generally are allowed to have a drug-free workplace and to enforce zero-tolerance policies.”

Argentina’s government on Thursday legalised the growing of cannabis for medical use by individuals and networks, as well as the sale of creams and oils made from the plant in pharmacies.

The move was made official via the publication of a decree published in the Official Gazette. The new rules are revisions to a law first approved back in March 2017 that authorised the medicinal use of cannabis oils, but maintained an existing prohibition on the cultivation of the plant and the possession of seeds by individuals or groups.

The new decree, signed by President Alberto Fernández, seeks to allow "timely, safe, inclusive and protective access for those who need to use cannabis as a therapeutic tool," according to its text.

"It is urgent to create a regulatory framework that allows timely, safe, inclusive and protective access for those who need to use cannabis as a therapeutic tool," reads Decree 883/2020. 

The new rules state that the sale of cannabis oils and creams in pharmacies and the personal and organised cultivation of the plant is authorised for users, researchers and patients who are registered under the Reprocann programme (“National Cannabis Programme”), a scheme that was created by the 2017 law but is not yet fully operational.

State says recreational marijuana license won't be available for a year

If you thought Montana's approval of recreational marijuana means you can start legally selling pot right away, the state says not so fast.

Voters approved a pair of initiatives on Election Day, a step which most have seen as opening the door to legal and possible legislative challenges which must be resolved first.

And now the Montana Department of Revenue is saying even absent any legal roadblocks, there's a "lot of work to do" before the state will make licenses available to legally sell non-medical marijuana.

Director Gene Walborn said the state is starting the process of setting up that system, but he doesn't expect the first licenses will be issued until October 1st next year.

Even as historically conservative states have embraced legalization, reefer madness is alive and well in Nebraska.

At least with the state’s governor, Pete Ricketts, who on Tuesday once again sounded the alarm on something that a growing majority of the country is cool with.

“Well, we’ve certainly seen in other states like Colorado when you pass legalization of recreational, as well as medicinal, marijuana that you see an increase in traffic fatalities that are caused by marijuana use and an increase in a number of other things such as young people getting a hold of the marijuana,” Ricketts said, as quoted by Omaha-based television station KETV. “The marijuana has the opportunity to create psychosis in people and that could lead to a number of very bad outcomes as well, so those bad health effects happen when you legalize marijuana.”

Ricketts made the comments in response to last week’s election results in the Cornhusker State’s northern neighbor, South Dakota, where voters approved separate measures legalizing medical marijuana and recreational pot. The results mean that Nebraska will soon border two states where cannabis is legal for adults, with Colorado voters paving the way for an end to prohibition back in 2012. 

Consistency in Ricketts’ Comments

For Ricketts, a Republican currently serving his second term as Nebraska’s governor, the comments are hardly a surprise. In August, ahead of his state’s expected vote on a medical marijuana measure, Ricketts was highly dismissive of cannabis as a treatment for patients.

In an interview with WAMC Northeast Public Radio on Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that legalizing recreational marijuana in New York is very possible and could even happen soon.

"I think that this year [recreational legalization] is ripe because the state is going to be in desperate need of revenue."

He added, "I think the pressure is going to be on because we are going to need the money so badly, and you have such a [budget] gap now, I think it's going to be an easier conversation."

Cuomo claims he's been an advocate for full legalization in his state for years. In reality, he's waffled. In April, for example, he described legalization as "not likely" before the end of 2020. Since then, however, the coronavirus pandemic has not abated, badly affecting the global economy and battering New York's in particular.

Cuomo is also facing extra pressure from the legalization of recreational marijuana in New Jersey, New York's neighbor and eternal rival. On Election Day, Garden State voters approved the measure by a two-thirds majority. Two other neighboring states, Vermont and Massachusetts, have been fully legal for some time now.

Devin Crispin began growing hemp in 2019 in hopes of producing CBD oil.

He said the new plan provided by the government allows farmers to have clearer picture of what to expect before they begin the process like when to harvest and how to test their plants’ THC levels.

“We have a pretty good handle on what the new regulations will be. I think the benefit will be having a firm rule in place so that people can make investments and decide what they’re willing to risk without changes coming down that could affect their businesses.”

USDA approves Indiana’s plan for commercial hemp growing 

Prior to 2020 hemp farmers had to have a research license through a university to grow hemp.

Under Indiana’s new plan, farmers can now apply for a license independently to produce commercial hemp.

It was no surprise to Michael Di Croce when New Jersey voters approved a referendum Tuesday allowing anyone 21 and older to smoke marijuana recreationally.

For two years, Di Croce, the mayor of Shamong Township, Burlington County, has been pitching his Pinelands community as a potential marijuana epicenter in anticipation of legalization. His goal was to use the resulting revenue to lower local property taxes and maybe even build a community center with an Olympic size pool.

“I think it’s fantastic,” Di Croce said of the vote. “Farmers … have been struggling for a long time.”

Someone has to grow all that weed, Di Croce knows, and he’d like a lot of it grown in Shamong. Because marijuana is illegal at the federal level, it can’t be transported across state lines. So Di Croce sees the potential.

Yet who will be able to grow cannabis, how and where, is still anyone’s guess since laws need to be crafted to tackle a host of issues surrounding legalization. Added to that are broader questions like whether a community that prides itself on being family friendly will want to offer apple picking next to a pot farm.

State Senator-elect Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio has pre-filed a bill that would legalize cannabis.

The Democrat who ousted Republican Pete Flores in the State Senate District 19 race last week made the legalization of marijuana for medical and adult recreation use one of his campaign platforms.  Gutierrez says  it would result in an estimated $3.2 billion in state revenue and create 30,000 jobs.

“There is going to be a budget shortfall to affect all Texans next legislative session, however, I look forward to working with my colleagues to offer a real solution,” Gutierrez said. “Our state’s economic future is uncertain and in order to best serve our state, we have to look at cannabis legalization as a solution and not keep going back to the taxpayers and raise their taxes.”

He notes that marijuana is legalized, either for medicinal or adult recreational use, in 3 dozen states.

“We’ve interview Texas mothers who are living with their autistic children in Colorado because cannabis helps control seizures,” Gutierrez told KTSA News.

The presidential election is over. While the central concern of the election was to reclaim America from the clutches of Donald Trump, addressing the pandemic that killed more than 230,000 Americans, passing some version of the COVID-19 relief bill that Senate Republicans have been holding hostage, protecting abortion and LGBTQ rights from the now-stacked Republican Supreme Court, as well as a host of other urgent issues, the legal status of marijuana is also at stake. While the Democratic platform calls for the federal descheduling and decriminalization of marijuana, the Republican platform called for more of the same—which means more mass incarcerations and a “tough on crime” stance for petty drug possession charges.

What Joe Biden Promises

During the primary race, the Shepherd Express repeatedly pointed out that Joe Biden was the only Democratic candidate who refused to consider the full legalization of marijuana, a stance that has now been adopted by the entire party since Biden became the nominee. However, despite being one of the more conservative candidates on the roster, Joe Biden made one key promise: “Nobody should be in jail simply for smoking or possessing marijuana.”

During the last presidential debate, President Donald Trump didn’t hesitate to point out Joe Biden’s record as a Senator, accusing him of partially causing America’s mass incarceration problem. Surprisingly, given that it came from the mouth of the president who told a record-breaking 20,000 recorded lies before the end of his first term, this is actually true—somewhat. While Trump simply repeated the words “your Crime Bill” in-between some drivel about being better than any president since Abraham Lincoln, there is a nugget of truth here. Joe Biden is credited with writing the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, commonly known as the 1994 Crime Bill, a core component of the War on Drugs to this day, which led to the incarceration of countless innocent people for possession of recreational drugs.

What matters now, a quarter-century later, is that Joe Biden publicly denounced his own record. “It was a mistake,” he said of his Crime Bill during the debate, on live television in front of 63 million Americans. “We passed 100%. All 100 senators voted for it. It was a mistake. I have been trying to change it since then, particularly the portion on cocaine,” he added. “I’ve been arguing that, in fact, we should not send anyone to jail for a pure drug offense, they should be going into treatment. [...] It was a mistake to pass those laws relating to drugs.”

Beyond recognizing the error of his past actions, which made him the only man to do such a thing on the debate stage, Joe Biden also put forth ideas for a solution: “There should be no minimum mandatory [sentences] in the law. I am offering $20 billion to states to change their state laws to eliminate minimum mandatories and set up drug courts. No one should be going to jail because they have a drug problem. They should be going to rehabilitation, not to jail. We should fundamentally change the system, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

While we were watching other elections, voters in South Dakota legalized marijuana.

What will that mean for Minnesota?

In Rock County, Minn., close to the South Dakota border, bemused officials took in the news.

“It was a shocker,” said Rock County Sheriff Evan Verbrugge. “I think everybody in this area was really surprised that South Dakota voted this way before Minnesota.”

That’s pot politics. Lots of issues split along partisan lines — blue against red, liberal against conservative, us against them — but not marijuana. Never marijuana.

Some analysts predict that legal weed is on its way to becoming a $9 billion market. So, not many states — or the federal government — will be able to ignore the economic benefits too much longer.

While the federal government still considers marijuana to be a dangerous drug, the rest of America isn’t so crass. Five more states just legalized the leaf in Tuesday’s election, making it where one in every three Americans now lives in a state where marijuana is no longer bound by prohibition.

Some believe that such a substantial victory means that cannabis reform is poised for more progress in the coming year. We’re talking about more states with influence putting pot laws on the books and, perhaps, even a situation where Congress is finally forced to take a careful look at the issue. Although there is still a great deal of uncertainty about how this could or will shake out, you can bet there is plenty on the horizon for marijuana legalization in the United States.

One thing you can almost count on is New York finally working toward a fully legal market. Although lawmakers haven’t been able to come to terms on it for the past couple of years, New Jersey’s newfound legal status might pressure them to take another look. Voters in the Garden State overwhelmingly approved a measure on Tuesday that makes the cultivation and sale of cannabis a fully legal industry. If New York doesn’t do the same, the state will be forced to contend with interstate drug trafficking, and ultimately exhaust police resources needed for violent crimes.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo knows this is true. He told public radio station WAMC  earlier this week that he believes legislators are going to have to find the inspiration to approve pot legalization in 2021 or else. More than anything, he said, the state needs the tax revenue from the cannabis industry to help repair the economic downtrodden brought on by the coronavirus.  

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised swift action on legislation to remove cannabis from the nation’s list of controlled substances if Democrats take control of the U.S. Senate in Tuesday’s election, according to a report from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). The Democrat from New York said in comments made last week that lawmakers would move to pass the Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act, a bill that would remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act. The measure also provides support for small businesses and grant funding to support efforts to review and expunge past marijuana convictions at the state level.

“I think we’ll have a good chance to pass that bill,” Schumer said.

“I’m a big fighter for racial justice, and the marijuana laws have been one of the biggest examples of racial injustice, and so to change them makes sense,” he added. “And that fits in with all of the movement now to bring equality in policing, in economics, and in everything else. Our bill is, in a certain sense, at the nexus of racial justice, individual freedom, and states’ rights.”

Schumer made a similar promise to advance cannabis reform legislation in an interview in September.

“My commitment is that if I am leader [of the US Senate], I am going to do everything I can to put the Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act on the floor of the Senate,” he said. “The odds are very high it will pass.”

The Maryland Department of Agriculture has adopted new regulations that will expand the state’s industrial hemp program. The new regulations bring the state’s program into compliance with provisions of the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, and will establish industrial hemp as an agricultural commodity.

“Hemp is an emerging agricultural commodity that presents a new opportunity for farmers looking to diversify their operations,” said Secretary of Agriculture Joe Bartenfelder. “We have seen significant interest in the first two years of the Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program and we are excited to expand the state’s hemp industry with the new Hemp Farming Program.”

What is New Under the New Hemp Program?

Under the new Hemp Farming Program, growers may apply to produce and cultivate hemp for commercial purposes. In previous years, Maryland growers have only been able to produce hemp under the department’s Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program.

In January 2019, the department began accepting applications for its Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program. The pilot program is the result of Maryland House Bill 698, a 2018 state law that required growers to partner with the department or an institution of higher learning to grow industrial hemp for research purposes.

Applications for both programs’ 2021 growing season will be announced and posted on the program’s website in the coming weeks.

CANNABIS use is a hotly contested topic the world over - but what are the rules in the UK?

Here we explain the laws surrounding smoking weed, and if it is ok to do it in your own home...

The pungent, slightly floral smell of someone smoking cannabis is often hard to disguiseCredit: Alamy

Is it legal for people to smoke cannabis if it’s in their own home?

Simply, no.

Cannabis, marijuana or weed is classified as a Class B drug, putting it in the same category as ketamine and amphetamine.

The nation may not know who is president on election day, but the people have spoken when it comes to cannabis legislation. Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota have all legalized marijuana for adults 21 and older, as voters in each state approved their respective ballot initiatives at the ballot box. The Garden State has gone green as the closely watched state of New Jersey approved adult-use cannabis.

New Jersey

“Today, New Jerseyans voted overwhelmingly to legalize cannabis for adult use. This is a vital first step for shifting away from punitive cannabis prohibition and toward a regulated market that prioritizes racial and social justice,” said ACLU-NJ Campaign Strategist, Ami Kachalia, on behalf of New Jersey United for Marijuana Reform (NJUMR). “Now, we call on New Jersey legislators and the Governor to implement the vision of cannabis legalization that voters have pushed forward – one that begins to repair the harms of marijuana prohibition and creates an accessible and inclusive new cannabis industry. In determining the details of implementation, lawmakers must include expungement, community reinvestment, and meaningful opportunities for those most harmed by unjust enforcement of marijuana laws to enter into the industry.”

NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri said: “Garden State voters spoke resoundingly. They are demanding their lawmakers end the failed policy of marijuana criminalization, and instead pursue a more sensible path of regulation and legalization. “Law enforcement in New Jersey arrests more citizens each year for minor marijuana violations than almost any other state in the nation. By moving to end this fiscally wasteful and morally repugnant policy, state officials will now be able to prioritize law enforcement resources toward combating more serious criminal activities, better respect the personal freedom and civil liberties of their citizens, end the racist application of marijuana prohibition laws against communities of color, and direct new tax revenues toward important social programs such as education and infrastructure development.”

South Dakota

South Dakota also passed a medical marijuana initiative and became the first state in American history to enact both policies on the same day. The Marijuana Policy Project was instrumental in the Montana and South Dakota campaigns. “This historic set of victories will place even greater pressure on Congress to address the glaring and untenable conflicts between state and federal laws when it comes to cannabis legalization,” said Steve Hawkins, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project. “A few years ago, nobody would have predicted that South Dakota would legalize marijuana before New York,” said Matthew Schweich, deputy director of the Marijuana Policy Project and one of the leaders of the South Dakota campaign. “But that’s the power of the ballot initiative process.”

“South Dakotans sent an unequivocal message in support of allowing patients the ability to legally access it under the advice of their physician,” stated NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri. “When operational, this program will provide lab-tested medical cannabis products to thousands of South Dakotans who can benefit from them. These patients cannot wait, and voters were right to take action to make this access a reality.”

Arizona was one of four states on Election Day to pass a ballot issue allowing recreational marijuana.

Two states approved medical marijuana.

In Arizona, Proposition 207 has passed by a 60%-40% margin, according to unofficial results. It allows for the use and possession of a small amount of marijuana by residents over the age of 21. It also allows the regulated possession of a limited number of marijuana plants.

It levies a 16% excise tax on the sale of marijuana.

About 57% of Pinal County voters approved the proposition. It carried all precincts in the city of Maricopa.