Chronicle AM: FL Solons Reach MedMJ Accord, CO Gov Signs Asset Forfeiture Bill, More... (6/12/17)

Florida lawmakers finally reach agreement on implementing the medical marijuana constitutional amendment, Colorado’s governor signs an asset forfeiture reform bill, and more. 

[image:1 align:left caption:true]Marijuana Policy

House Effort to Help Pot Businesses With Banking Thwarted. Two Florida representatives, Matt Gaetz (R-Fort Walton Beach) and Darren Soto (D-Orlando), filed an amendment to the Financial CHOICE Act of 2017 that would have eased federal restrictions on banking services for marijuana businesses. The bill was approved by the House last Thursday, but not before the House Rules Committee stripped the amendment from the bill.

Colorado Governor Signs Bills Limiting Plant Counts, Caregivers. Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) last Thursday signed into law House Bill 17-1220, which limits personal cultivation to 12 plants per residence unless a local government allows more, and House Bill 17-1221, which says that only caregivers can grow plants for other people and sets up a grant program to fund police efforts to prosecute crimes related to black market weed.

Medical Marijuana

Connecticut Takes Another Step Toward Adding More Qualifying Conditions. Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle Seagull announced last Friday that she would follow a recommendation from the Medical Marijuana Program Board of Physicians to include three new conditions among the list of qualifying conditions for medical marijuana use. They are hydrocephalus with intractable headaches, intractable migraines, and trigeminal neuralgia. Seagull will now draft a new regulation by the end of the month, and after that, there will be a 30-day public comment period, then a review by the office of the attorney general, and then the approval of the Regulation Review Committee of the General Assembly. The whole process could take another year.

Florida Legislature Passes Medical Marijuana Implementation Bill. Lawmakers used a special session to come to an agreement on how to handle medical marijuana last Friday. Under the proposal approved by the legislature, which Gov. Rick Scott (R) says he will sign, the state will gain an additional 10 medical marijuana operators within four month. Each operator can operate up to 25 dispensaries across the state. But the bill also bans the smoking of medical marijuana even though the constitutional amendment approved by voters last November expressly included a provision that allows smoking. That has led Orlando lawyer John Morgan, who largely bankrolled the amendment, to vow to sue the state over the no-smoking provision.

Vermont Governor Signs Medical Marijuana Expansion Bill. Gov. Phil Scott (R) last Thursday signed into law Senate Bill 16, which expands the list of qualifying conditions for medical marijuana. The new conditions added are Parkinson’s disease, Crohn’s disease, and PTSD. The new law also increases the number of dispensaries in the state from four to five.

Asset Forfeiture

Colorado Governor Signs Asset Forfeiture Reform Bill. Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) last Friday signed into law a civil asset forfeiture reform bill, House Bill 17-1313, which blocks state and local law enforcement from handing forfeiture cases off to the feds if the total value of the seized property is less than $50,000. In cases prosecuted by the federal government, the local law enforcement agency receives 80% of the proceeds, while under state law, the proceeds go to a general fund. Under the new law, police must also report all asset forfeitures and how they were used to the state.

International

Facing Mass Protests, Georgian Prime Minister Vows to Soften Harsh Drug Policies. After large crowds gathered in the capital Tbilisi to protest the arrest of two rappers who claim police planted drugs on them, Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili unexpectedly weighed in a vowed to soften the country’s drug laws. “I call on the parliament to accelerate the work [on the issue of softening drug legislation] in order at last to adopt a modified and humane law for the fall session in line with European standards,” said in a statement published on the government website.