Last week in marijuana legislative news, Dallas improved its marijuana possession law, the city of Henderson, Nevada approved five retail stores and Maine signaled a delay in recreational sales. Find out about that more in our weekly marijuana legislative roundup.
Maine:
On Thursday, Governor Paul LePage proposed legislation to delay the start of recreational sales to 2019 in order to give the legislature more time to amend the state’s voter-approved recreational marijuana law. The legislature is planning to convene this week to consider a bill that would increase the sales tax on marijuana from 10 percent to 20 percent, require municipalities to “opt in” to the state’s legal cannabis market, and make a number of changes to the way cannabis is regulated at the state level. The bill came after months of work by a special committee tasked with implementing the legalization measure approved by voters in 2016. LePage’s bill is seen as an effort to scrap the proposed regulatory package. Recreational sales have already been delayed until February 2018 at the earliest.
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Related Story: Setbacks and Delays For Legal Marijuana In Maine
Texas:
On Tuesday, Dallas County commissioners approved a bill to create a “cite and release” program for minor marijuana offenses. The program will allow officers to issue misdemeanor court summons to those found in possession of four ounces or less of marijuana, rather than taking them to jail. The program will take effect on December 1.
Nevada:
On Tuesday, the city of Henderson approved licenses for its first five recreational marijuana dispensaries. Nearly four months after recreational sales began throughout most of the state, city officials approved applications from five medical marijuana dispensaries to begin selling marijuana from recreational use. The large city outside Las Vegas had placed a moratorium on legal cannabis sales in February that lasted through September. The businesses still require state licensing and inspection before they can start selling recreational marijuana.
