Cannabis legalization has been a hotly contested topic among citizens and legislators for decades. More recently, efforts to pass legalization laws have made significant headway, with dozens of states adopting medical use, decriminalization, and full-on recreational legalization.
With so much to keep up with, trying to understand where your region fits into the constantly changing landscape can be downright nerve-wracking. So, we’ve put together this useful overview of where state legislation landed in 2020.
In early 2020, Alabama’s senate introduced SB165, which included efforts to legalize medical cannabis use. The State’s Senate judiciary committee passed the measure on February 19th, 2020.
In summary, the bill, brought forward by Republican Sen. Tim Melson, provides for people to be prescribed medical marijuana according to 15 recognized conditions including cancer, anxiety, and chronic pain.
The bill provides for medical marijuana products to take the form of pills, gelatinous cubes, oils, skin patches, gels, and creams, among others. These products will be available for purchase in licensed dispensaries. The language of the bill specifically prohibits products consumed by smoking or vaping.
Two Arkansas cannabis initiatives emerged in early 2020, both of which proposed constitutional amendments to outright legalize adult cannabis use.
Initially, the backers of said legislation considered pumping the brakes on moving forward until 2022 but later scrapped that notion in favor of progressing without delay. As of May, both amendments were cleared to receive electronic signatures and proceed through the legislative process.
One of the two organizations, Arkansas True Grass, has been cleared to collect electronic signatures remotely. While 2020 has been a year wrought with barriers, ATG representative Briana Boling remains optimistic, stating, “We’re going to keep trying for it, and if we fail, we have 2022 as a backup.”
Unfortunately, since the initial momentum had dwindled, both ATG and Arkansans for Cannabis Reform have decided to turn their attention towards 2022, following the trial of Arkansas True Grass having mailed out 350 petition forms to canvassers and receiving four back.
Arkansas voters approved Amendment 98 in 2016, which legalized medical marijuana and made Arkansas one of the first states in the South to legalize medical marijuana.
Arizona led with full legalization of adult cannabis use through the introduction of Proposition 207. The legislation was approved by the Secretary of state in early August. The state would go on to legalize recreational cannabis use during the November 2, 2020, federal election.
In early February, Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney and House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz introduced bills geared towards the legalized adult-use of cannabis. This came just one day after Governor Ned Lamont called for legalization in his State of the State address.
Legislators remain optimistic, with incoming House Speaker Matt Ritter, one of the bills’ biggest supporters, stating “The vote count has been pretty close for a couple of years now, and while I don’t know if we have 76 votes or not right now, it’s only getting closer and closer, so at some point, it is inevitable.” He would go on to state, “If we can’t muster the votes this session, I say we put it to the voters and do a constitutional amendment.”
The state decriminalized possession in 2011 and legalized cannabis for medical purposes in 2012.
Idaho Medical Marijuana Act experienced considerable setbacks in early 2020 due to COVID-19. As a result, sponsors abandoned signature collection activities. Later, in June 2020, a federal court ruling on another case opened up the possibility of remote signature collection.
According to IMMA representative Russ Belville, “After the Governor had declared the lock-down order, that this was a violation of our Idaho constitutional rights to petition. We have an 18-month cycle, and they cut us out of our last 40 or 50 days.” He would go on to add, “We had about 40,000 signatures we had collected, and we felt in that last Spring push, we would be able to get the remainder of the signatures to qualify.”
The IMMA lacked the funds to sue for more time to collect the requisite signatures. This means they may have to wait until the 2022 legislative session to get their issues on the ballot.
Kentucky’s medical cannabis bill, HB136, was pre-filed in November 2019 for the early 2020 legislative session and later passed via a near-unanimous House Judiciary vote of 17-1. Regarding recreational cannabis use, Sen. Cluster Howard sponsored a bill earlier this year to legalize, regulate, and tax cannabis. However, his efforts were met with no support backing the legislation.
Minnesota surprised many with the submission of HF 4632 on May 6th. This bill, introduced by House of Representatives majority leader Ryan Winkler, was 222 pages outlining legalization and regulation of recreational cannabis use for adults. The Cannabis Management Board would be established to oversee regulation. The bill also provided for the expungement of marijuana conviction records. The bill received 33 cosponsors on the day of its introduction.
Unfortunately, the bill was unable to advance before the legislature adjourned on May 18, 2020, due to the coronavirus. Strong opposition was outlined by Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R) who asserted that legalization would not pass the Senate.
Running counter to what many Americans may have in mind when they think of progressive action surrounding marijuana in Mississippi, the state legalized medical marijuana on November 3rd, 2020. The legalization followed a lengthy back and forth between a January 8, 2020, citizen-initiated measure and competing state-sponsored legislation that emerged in early March. Dubbed measure 65 and 65A respectively, these two measures both sought to legalize medical marijuana under different frameworks. The citizen-created measure was seen as the more detailed and comprehensive of the two and would be made law following the November 2nd, 2020 election cycle.
Marijuana was decriminalized in Missouri through legislation passed in 2014. Medical use of marijuana was legalized through a ballot initiative to amend the state constitution in 2018 with the first licensed sales among 192 dispensaries statewide taking place in October 2020.
There is currently no legislation seeking to legalize the full recreational use of cannabis among adults in the state of Missouri.
New Approach Montana submitted Montana I-190 to the Montana Secretary of State in January 2020. The initiative would later be approved for inclusion on the November ballot.
The legislation providing for regulated recreational marijuana would go on to pass and become law. Beginning January 1, 2021, Montana residents age 21 and older will be allowed to possess, use, and grow up to 1 ounce of marijuana.
