Exciting Marijuana Law Changes at the State and Federal Level

There is some exciting stuff going on at the state and federal level concerning marijuana laws.

At the state level, we have the newly-passed House Bill 1325, which legalizes hemp. Hemp is now defined as "Cannabis sativa L. ... with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent." Since marijuana and hemp are the same plant -- cannabis sativa -- this means that lab reports must now show that the leafy substance or concentrate has a greater than 0.3% THC concentration. The labs that currently test controlled substances for DAs around the state do not have the equipment necessary to show a break down of the percent THC in a substance, so that means prosecutors have been dropping cases for lack of being able to prove it's "marijuana" beyond a reasonable doubt -- to the chagrin of legislators.

However, Texas legislators shouldn't take the blame for "accidentally" legalizing marijuana. First of all, that's not a bad scenario in my and other marijuana law reformers' minds. The plant should have been decriminalized long ago. Secondly, the 2018 Farm Bill passed by the US Government legalized hemp under 0.3% THC and required states to follow the federal rules or create their own (similar) rules. So Texas was more so pulled along in this policy rather than leading the charge.

On the federal level, there's more good news. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler and Senator Kamala Harris introduced the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act. The fact that a *Chairman* of the very committee responsible for setting crime and drug policy has introduced this bill is HUGE. It may be the method to get a *floor vote* on cannabis legalization. Shout out to the only Republican to cosponsor the bill thus far, Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida.

As well, the Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on financial services access for marijuana businesses today.

Finally, a new bipartisan Senate bill, The Clarifying Law Around Insurance of Marijuana (CLAIM) Act, would eliminate one of the barriers for marijuana businesses to get insurance coverage.

It's encouraging to see such support around this issue. In the next two years in Texas, let's emphasize to state legislators that de facto decriminalization of marijuana didn't make the sky fall and the only mistake they need to fix is ending marijuana prohibition altogether.