CANNABIS CULTURE – Now that Justin Trudeau and the Liberals are set to legalize cannabis nationally in Canada, those of us south of your border are feeling a twinge of jealousy.
This may shock you, but Colorado and Washington residents don’t use the most weed (if you’re measuring by the percent of state residents who regularly use marijuana.) Rhode Islanders do.
Rhode Island became the 14th state to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana Monday as a law passed last year went into effect. As of now, it is no longer a criminal offense to possess up to an ounce of pot.
State Rep. Edith Ajello (D-Providence), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, announced Wednesday she had introduced a bill to make marijuana legal for adults 21 and over and to establish a system of taxation and regulation for marijuana commerce.
Marijuana Policy Project announces "legislators in at least four states planning on introducing sensible proposals to remove criminal penalties and regulate marijuana."
Adding more weight to the seriousness of the issues involved in the case, the Rhode Island Medical Society (RIMS) has joined as a plaintiff in the ACLU lawsuit filed earlier this week, challenging the state Department of Health (DOH) for making it more difficult for patients with debilitating medical conditions to participate in the state’s medical marijuana program.
The Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union announced Tuesday that it is suing the state’s health department over a decision to no longer accept medical marijuana applications signed by nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants.