Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what's happening in the world of legalized marijuana.
Possibly the biggest news this week was the first ever Congressional hearing on cannabis banking. From the hearing's webpage, you can watch the hearing, read the committee's memorandum and read the witnesses' prepared statements. The committee memorandum has a great graphic of state marijuana laws – only three states allow no marijuana consumption in any form.
And speaking of state laws, several jurisdictions are moving forward with some form of legalization. A full legalization bill was introduced in the Illinois legislature; a full legalization bill was passed out of a Senate committee in Hawaii; a House committee in New Mexico has passed another such bill, but more committees will need to weigh in before the full chamber votes.
In New York, those in favor of legalization are pushing for changes to Gov. Cuomo's bill introduced last month. And the City of Baltimore has decriminalized marijuana possession, even though recreational cannabis is not legal in the state of Maryland.
Although no bill has yet been introduced, the Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania meanwhile has embarked on a listening tour to gather input on whether that state should legalize.
And the federal bill with the easy-to-remember number has now been introduced in the Senate. S. 420 is a companion bill to H.R. 420 introduced last month.
One of the arguments used in favor of legalization is the amount of sales (and sales tax) generated by legal cannabis. Colorado is looking at $6 billion in sales in 2018, and Oklahoma's medical marijuana program saw over $4 million in January 2019.
Since people are starting to throw their hats in the ring for the 2020 Presidential election, here's the first in what will doubtless become a series: "Where the Candidates Stand on Marijuana." Kamala Harris (D-CA) has indicated that she is in favor of legalization.
And finally, the Massachusetts marijuana industry may be getting some publicity from an unlikely source: billboards in Connecticut.
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