Weednesday, January 6 2021
Happy Hemp Day!
In today's report
New York Governor Unveils Updated Marijuana Legalization Plan For 2021
click here for the link to the video on you tube
The governor of New York unveiled basic details about his proposed #marijuana legalization plan for 2021 on Wednesday.
One day after lawmakers representing nearly one-third of the state Senate prefiled a separate comprehensive cannabis reform bill, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said legalization “should have been passed years ago.”
It was expected that the governor would be putting forward another #legalization proposal, as he’s included the reform in annual fiscal plans over the past two years and often discussed the need to generate tax revenue from marijuana sales to boost the state economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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Top Kentucky Lawmakers Open To Medical Marijuana But Sour On Governor’s Plan To Tax It
Kentucky legislative leaders said in a recent joint interview that they’re open to considering legalizing medical #marijuana during the state’s 30-day lawmaking session that kicked off this week, but legislators from both parties pushed back against a plan by Gov. Andy Beshear (D) that would impose a tax on the drug.
“If you’re taking that approach, that it’s a money generator, then you’re not thinking about the medicinal or therapeutic value,” Senate President Robert Stivers II (R) said. Imposing a tax on marijuana genuinely intended for medical use, he added, would be “treating it differently than any other drug, which in and of itself is wrong.”
Stivers, a longtime skeptic of medical marijuana, said he’s recently been convinced of THC’s therapeutic benefits in certain treatments, although he stopped short of supporting legalization this session. “I’m not opposed to it,” he said, “but I really think the lead—and I hate doing this—needs to come from the federal government.”
“Let’s get the appropriate protocols and have the research and development like we’ve had this past year, with the vaccines for COVID-19,” Stivers added. “Just as we would with the Moderna, or anything else, let’s go through the study, let’s get blind samples, let’s make sure we’re doing it right.”
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Global efforts to reduce plastics pollution could make way for alternatives like hemp
Plastic production and use has been blamed as a major source of carbon emissions, are rarely recyclable and contain harsh toxins that negatively affect human and environmental health, according to a National Geographic study.
Hemp industry members are enthusiastic that plastic and paper alternatives made from hemp can provide a biodegradable, renewable resource to replace fossil fuel-based plastics.
President-Elect Joe Biden has pledged to rejoin the Paris Agreement on Jan. 20, the first day of his presidency, making U.S. hemp industry members hopeful that that hemp will be part of the conversation about climate change.
More than 500 environmental groups banded together last month to ask Biden to take more steps to curb plastics pollution. The wish list included a federal purchasing ban on single-use plastics and suspending or denying permits for new or expanded plastic production facilities.
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