This year 26 state legislatures are considering bills about cannabis in some form (it was 27, but Mississippi has already stopped two of its medical marijuana bills). Some states are pushing their current legalization measures forward, and others are pulling back on those that were enacted in November. Just last week, Leafly updated their list of 28 states with pending cannabis bills they will be tracking this year because of one state who won’t be passing anything in 2017: Mississippi.
The hospitality state is showing no good will to Senate Bill 2378, which would have allowed physicians to recommend medical cannabis as a treatment for some conditions, and patients to grow their own herb, had a “pretty slim” chance of passing. Senate Bill 2379 would have removed marijuana and hashish from the state list of Schedule 1 controlled substances list, had a “fairly unlikely” chance of passing. Both died, as predicted, on January 31.
Among the Bills most likely to pass are the following:
- Arizona’s House Bill 2003 to legalize adult use, possession, and sales of up to one ounce of cannabis.
- All three anti-cannabis Bills in Arkansas, including a ban on smoking of medical cannabis (House Bill 1400), a measure to allow cities and towns to ban medical dispensaries and cultivation sites (House Bill 1391), and a ban on the production and sale of medicated edibles (House Bill 1392).
- Senate Bill 175 in California, which aims to protect small cannabis businesses by disallowing the use of a county name for any product not produced in that county.
- Senate Bill 16 of Georgia (which has already passed through the Senate Health and Human Services Committee) aiming to lower the amount of THC in low-THC MMJ from 5% to 3%.
- Senate Bill 548 in Hawaii will probably soon allow cannabis for adult personal use, possession, and sale. And Senate Bill 16 will decriminalize possession of cannabis up to one ounce.
- Senate Bill 798 in Maryland could soon reduce the penalties for the use and possession of fewer than 10 grams of cannabis, with a civil penalty of no more than $100.
