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Donald Trump Impeached a Second Time
Ten House Republicans joined with all House Democrats in voting 232–197 to impeach President Donald John Trump for incitement to insurrection at the US Capitol last week during the certification of the election he lost.
It is the second impeachment of Trump but the first to include votes from Republicans. The charges now move to the US Senate, which is adjourned until after the beginning of the Biden Administration.
Under the Constitution the Senate must undertake the impeachment trial before tackling any other business, like funding additional COVID relief and debate on the MORE Act, a bill passed by the House to remove marijuana from the federal Controlled Substances Act.
If convicted by the vote of 67 or more senators, Trump would lose his pension and other perks granted to ex-presidents. Following conviction, the Senate may by majority vote bar Trump from ever holding any elected office or position of trust in the United States.
New Mexico Governor Touts Marijuana Legalization
Marijuana Moment reports that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico called for marijuana legalization as a legislative priority for 2021.
An outline of her proposal states that New Mexico should legalize marijuana “through legislation that protects the state’s medical cannabis program, provides for workplace safety and roadway protections and enforcement and clear labeling of products.”
New Mexico has had a medical cannabis program since 2007. It is bordered to the north by Colorado, a state with legal marijuana since 2012, and last year its western neighbor, Arizona, voted to legalize marijuana.
Via tweet, Lujan Grisham wrote, “My priorities for New Mexico’s upcoming legislative session include delivering additional pandemic relief, fully funding early childhood education, legalizing recreational cannabis, and expanding and improving access to health care and behavioral health resources.”
Colorado Notches First $2 Billion Marijuana Sales Year
With sales of $175.1 million worth of marijuana products in November, marijuana retailers in Colorado pushed the 2020 sales total over $2 billion for the first time.
Only California sells more legal cannabis, with sales topping $3 billion in 2017. Meanwhile, Illinois is the latest state to join Massachusetts, Washington, and Oregon in surpassing $1 billion in annual marijuana sales.
Roy Bingham, co-founder and executive chairman of Boulder data firm BDSA, previously told The Denver Post that the national market grew more than 45% to $18 billion in 2020, outpacing forecasts by about $2 billion.
Texas Senate President Calls Medical Marijuana “A Veil for Legalizing It”
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, President of the Texas Senate, made extensive comments on marijuana reform to KTRK-TV.
Texas’s law allows for CBD oil with no more than 0.5% THC, a potency barely above federally-legal hemp. The program was expanded in 2019 to include terminal cancer, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and Lou Gehrig’s disease, or ALS as qualifying conditions.
Patrick indicated he is not open to expanding Texas’s program much beyond that.
Humboldt County, California, May Permanently Ban Hemp
To protect the outdoor cultivators of cannabis for medical and recreational marijuana, supervisors in Humboldt County, California, may approve a permanent ban on the farming of industrial hemp.
Hempgrower.com reports that last month, the board of supervisors in the Emerald Triangle county famous for its prized buds unanimously stretched that county’s ban on hemp cultivation to May 10, 2021. Then, last week the county’s planning commission held a hearing to make the moratorium permanent. The commission unanimously voted to forward an ordinance that would permanently ban industrial hemp cultivation to the board of supervisors.
Cannabis farmers object to nearby cultivation of industrial hemp for fear of cross-pollination that degrades the value of their crop for psychoactive uses. Hemp is cannabis with less than 0.3% THC, while marijuana is prized for THC values as high as 35%.
