Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what's happening in the world of legalized marijuana. This week, the Pennsylvania legislature takes up an adult-use legalization bill. A new DEA nominee indicates he would turn his attention to re-scheduling. Minnesota has scheduled a cannabis license lottery. And finally, Travis Kelce discusses his pot use.
PENNSYLVANIA
Sometimes, cannabis legislation moves very slowly until it moves at lightning speed. Such is the case in Pennsylvania, where, after years of discussion, a bill to legalize adult-use has gone from introduction to House approval in less than a week. This past Sunday saw the bill introduced; Monday was the day it moved out of committee and Tuesday brought approval from the floor. An additional vote yesterday sealed the deal on the House side, so now it's on to the Senate. If the bill passes, it would implement a state-run model for cannabis, which would be unique among the states where cannabis is legal.
FEDERAL RE-SCHEDULING
The administration's nominee to head the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) testified before Congress last week. Terrance Cole told the Senate Judiciary Committee that one of his top priorities would be to move the re-scheduling process forward. He indicated that he wasn't certain where the process was at the moment (tip: perhaps check out a cannabis news source, like The Week in Weed, to keep up to date), and that he would need to review all the science around re-scheduling.
MINNESOTA
Even after legalizing, the road to a retail market can still be a long one. Minnesota's rollout has been slow so far, although a licensing lottery has been announced for June 5. Cultivation, manufacturing and mezzobusiness licenses will be available. A social equity lottery for recreational cannabis business licenses will also be held on June 5. A lottery for general recreational cannabis business licenses will be held in July.
AND FINALLY
Does Travis Kelce owe his current success to smoking pot in college? We all know him as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs and Taylor Swift's boyfriend (not sure which of those descriptions should come first...). But his sophmore year in college, he was booted from the University of Cincinnati football team for pot use. This caused him to fall in the NFL draft, which is not great. However, this meant he was available for the Chiefs, which has turned out pretty well.
Be well everyone – we'll see you next week.
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