Student advocates from the University of Arizona at the James E. Rogers School of Law in Tucson are personally taking action to help people clear records for low-level cannabis-related convictions. A series of expungement event dates are unfolding, and students say that the initial process to get records cleared is fast.
KGUN 9reports that locals, including one with a charge dating back to 1976, are taking advantage of the school’s expungement program. Cannabis-related charges that old are still impacting employment and other opportunities.
Law school students including Mia Burcham and Rebecca Caro Cohen are helping people expunge their records at expungement clinics on campus. To do this, they look up disposition dates which they said are usually available through public access court records.
“It’s a great feeling when someone walks out with a cleared record. It could be pretty life-changing,” Burcham said.
Burcham also provides expungement training and calls for volunteers for help. The training covers the appropriate forms and process, as well as clinic expectations and tips for client interaction.
The expungement process is relatively fast. According to Burcham and Cohen, people don’t even need an I.D. to get a record expunged. All they need to know is the date when they received the charge or arrest and where.
Some of the oldest charges, however, aren’t on any computer system and take longer to process. When that happens, petitioners seeking expungements must contact the court directly and ask for a records search.
“We really hope when people come in that we’ll be able to get them out the door with a completed petition and so we aren’t able to do that which is frustrating,” Cohen said.
The next round of expungements is scheduled to take place on March 25 at the law school. They said if someone gets denied, they work with the Arizona Marijuana Expungement Coalition to provide free legal help to people.
If someone cannot make it to the University of Arizona clinic in Tuscon, they can visit this website to sign up for an expungement. It typically takes about one to two months total to find out whether someone got their record expunged.
Arizona Cannabis-Related Conviction Expungement Program
Arizona residents with low-level cannabis convictions can have their records wiped clean under a state expungement program launched on July 13, 2021. The expungements for minor cannabis convictions are thanks to Proposition 207, the 2020 ballot initiative to legalize cannabis for adults 21 and older that was approved by 60% of Arizona voters.
Under the program, people with low-level convictions for possessing, transporting, or consuming 2.5 ounces or less of cannabis, of which no more than 12.5 grams can be a cannabis concentrate or extract, are eligible to have their records expunged.
People with convictions for possessing, cultivating, processing, or transporting up to six cannabis plants at their primary residence can also apply to clear their records. Expungements can also be issued for convictions for possessing, using, or transporting paraphernalia related to the consumption, cultivation, and processing of cannabis.
People who are eligible for expungement are required to petition the courts to have their records cleared. Help is also available from other organizations including Minorities for Medical Marijuana (M4MM), which has been offering expungement clinics through its Project Clean Slate initiative.
Arizona’s most populous county took an early lead. The Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County granted 3,643 petitions for expungement of cannabis-related charges since the process started, according to an Aug. 30, 2021 press release.
Law students with the know-how are proving to be helpful in clearing records under Arizona’s expungement program.
Cannabis sales in Arizona exceeded $1 billion dollars in 2022 as the state’s recreational marijuana market experienced strong growth in its second year of sales. Total weed sales came to $1.4 billion last year, according to data from the Arizona Department of Revenue, an amount roughly equal to the cannabis sales recorded in 2021.
Adult-use cannabis sales for 2022 reached $950 million, soaring to 70% of the state’s total marijuana sales for the year. Sales of medical marijuana were down significantly over the previous year, however, dropping to just over $500 million in 2022.
Arizona’s recreational marijuana retailers closed 2022 with the strongest month of the year in December, ringing up about $86.6 in adult-use cannabis sales, up slightly from the $85.8 million recorded the month before. Sales of medical marijuana continued the downward trajectory prompted by the legalization of recreational cannabis, dropping slightly from $31.9 million in November to $31.1 million for the last month of 2022.
Arizona legalized recreational marijuana in 2020 with the passage of Proposition 207. Known as the Smart and Safe Act, the ballot measure was approved by 60% of the state’s voters. Licensed sales of recreational marijuana began in the state on January 21, 2021, less than three months after the ballot measure succeeded at the polls.
A separate ballot measure, Proposition 203, legalized the medicinal use of cannabis in Arizona in 2010 with just over 50% of the vote. The first licensed medical marijuana dispensary in the state began serving patients on December 6, 2012. Combined, the state’s medical marijuana and adult-use cannabis retailers have sold a total of $2.9 billion since recreational marijuana sales began two years ago.
More Reforms Still Needed in Arizona
Cannabis advocates in Arizona say that the state has made significant strides in reforming the state’s marijuana policy. But while sales have been strong the first two years of recreational marijuana sales, continued reform at the state and federal levels will be needed for the cannabis industry to become a major contributor to the state’s economy.
“We don’t see SWAT teams busting in the doors of dispensaries,” Aaron Smith, CEO of the National Cannabis Industry Association, said late last year. “But we do have problems with not being able to take tax deductions like a normal industry, or being able to have interstate commerce, which really creates a barrier to entry for a lot of folks.”
Despite the challenges, Smith says that Arizona is becoming a model for successfully transitioning to a regulated cannabis economy.
“Cannabis is used across demographics, boomers and millennials, and Gen Z, people over 21 are using responsibly and we’re glad to see that,” Smith said. “Arizona law is by and large working well.”
Legal Weed Brings New Tax Revenue
The legalization of cannabis has marked the creation of a new stream of tax revenue for the state’s coffers in Arizona. Tax revenue in December alone totaled nearly $23 million, bringing the total marijuana taxes collected by the state in 2022 to almost $270 million.
The state collects a 16% tax on recreational marijuana sales in addition to approximately 6% in sales tax. Medical marijuana patients pay only sales tax on their cannabis purchases. Local jurisdictions add additional taxes of about 2% to marijuana sales.
About a third of cannabis tax revenue collected in Arizona is reserved for community college and provisional community college districts, while 31% is dedicated to police, fire departments, fire districts and other first responders. A quarter of state marijuana taxes go to the Arizona Highway User Revenue Fund, while 10% is reserved for the justice reinvestment fund, which supports public health services, counseling, job training and other social services for communities that have been adversely affected and disproportionately impacted by decades of marijuana prohibition.
There is a Grand Canyon-sized gulf between medical cannabis and recreational marijuana in Arizona. Sales of medical marijuana continue to decline, while adult-use pot sales are climbing.
The latest figures to be released by the Arizona Department of Revenue found that taxable medical cannabis sales totaled $31.3 million for October, representing the eighth consecutive month of decline.
Adult-use cannabis sales, on the other hand, amounted to $73.8 million in October, a new high for the state’s recreational pot program.
Those totals mark the continuation of a trend for the Grand Canyon State’s dual cannabis markets.
Voters in Arizona legalized medical cannabis in 2010, and sales began two years later. Arizona voters likewise approved a proposal legalizing recreational cannabis in 2020, with sales kicking off in January 2021.
Medical cannabis sales outpaced recreational sales for the first 11 months of 2021.
In December of that year, adult-use marijuana sales totaled $70,317,105, compared with $57,971,859 in sales for medical marijuana that same month.
Recreational pot sales have exceeded medical sales every month since.
As the AZ Mirror noted this week, the “crumbling of the medical program follows a pattern other states have seen with medical markets outpaced by recreational sales in the wake of legalization.”
The outlet has more on the divergent sales trends:
“The state collects 16% excise tax on recreational sales in addition to the standard sales tax; medical patients pay roughly 6% in state sales tax, levied as a Transaction Privilege Tax on cannabis outlets. Local jurisdictions charge an additional 2% or so for all marijuana sales. One-third of recreational taxes collected are dedicated to community college and provisional community college districts; 31% to public safety — police, fire departments, fire districts, first responders — 25% to the Arizona Highway User Revenue Fund, and 10% to the justice reinvestment fund, dedicated to providing public health services, counseling, job training and other social services for communities that have been adversely affected and disproportionately impacted by marijuana arrests and criminalization. The medical market has continued to bleed both sales and participants, following a trend in some states that have legalized adult-use cannabis years after establishing medical cannabis markets.”
Arizona was one of four states in 2020 where voters approved measures legalizing recreational marijuana sales (Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota were the other three).
The measure, Proposition 207, required the state to “promote the ownership and operation of marijuana establishments and marijuana testing facilities by individuals from communities disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of previous marijuana laws,” a mandate that, among other things, designated the first two dozen dispensary licenses to individuals hailing from communities that have been affected by the War on Drugs.
Arizona’s Department of Health Services required those applicants to participate in classes in order “to ensure that social equity applicants are prepared for the application process and the challenges of running a marijuana business.”
Those classes, per the department, were led by veterans of the cannabis industry, and included “two days of content and education focused on a number of aspects of operating an adult-use marijuana business, including legal requirements, business practices, regulatory compliance, and fundraising, as well as marketing and strategic growth.”
For some prospective marijuana dispensary owners in Arizona, class is now in session. Social equity class, that is.
It is a provision included in the ballot measure that voters in the state last year legalized recreational pot use for adults. The measure, Proposition 207, called on the state to “promote the ownership and operation of marijuana establishments and marijuana testing facilities by individuals from communities disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of previous marijuana laws.”
What that means in practice: Arizona’s Department of Health Services will award 26 dispensary licenses to individuals from those communities particularly affected by long standing anti-pot laws.
Per the department: “Social equity license holders will be required to comply with all statutes and rules that govern Adult-Use Marijuana Establishment licenses, including obtaining approval to operate before opening their retail location. Additionally, social equity license holders will be required to develop and implement policies to document how the Marijuana Establishment will provide a benefit to one or more communities disproportionately affected by the enforcement of Arizona’s previous marijuana laws.”
Arizona state regulators awarded cannabis social equity business licenses last week, selecting 26 lucky winners out of a lottery pool of nearly 1,200 applicants. The Arizona Department of Health Services Offices selected the winners at its office on Friday after a judge ended a challenge to the state’s program to award licenses for recreational cannabis dispensaries to applicants negatively impacted by the War on Drugs.
State officials and applicants crowded the health department’s Phoenix office on Friday as the winning applicants were randomly selected using Smartplay International state lottery software. The process was operated and audited by Henry & Horne LLP to ensure the security of the selection lottery. The selected applicants will now begin the process to open licensed adult-use cannabis dispensaries.
Legalization with Equity
Proposition 207, the historic voter initiative to legalize recreational cannabis passed by Arizona voters in 2020, included provisions to “promote the ownership and operation of marijuana establishments and marijuana testing facilities by individuals from communities disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of previous marijuana laws.” Applicant Arianna Munoz told reporters before the lottery that the social equity program has the potential to change her life.
“It would create generational wealth for me and my family. It would give me more opportunities to create other business ventures,” said Munoz, who was not selected in Friday’s lottery. “I’ve always wanted to be a brand owner and dispensary owner and it was the perfect time.”
Arizona’s legalization initiative included provisions to grant recreational cannabis business licenses to the state’s existing medical dispensaries, which began selling cannabis products to adults in January 2021. But social equity retailers will not be able to sell cannabis for medicinal purposes.
“Prop. 207 didn’t amend the Arizona Medical Marijuana act at all, so the reason why the currently established medical licenses can be kind of co-located is because they already existed,” explained Sam Richard, executive director of the Arizona Dispensary Association. “The only new licenses Prop. 207 created were adult-use, recreational licenses.”
Jon Udell, the director of politics for the Arizona branch of the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said that a bill to fix the issue has died in the state legislature.
“Right now there just isn’t really a realistic path forward” for a legislative solution,” Udell said.
ArizonaJudge Denies Legal Challenge
On Wednesday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge James Smith ruled against three social applicants who filed a legal action to delay Friday’s lottery. Paul Conant, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said that the social equity licenses should not be awarded before the health department conducted background checks on the applicants. He argued that the process could lead to the selection of unqualified applicants.
“This is a one-time deal in Arizona,” Conant argued at a hearing on Wednesday. Awarding licenses to unqualified applicants only to revoke them later “would be unfair to all the other people who have submitted applications, paid their $4,000 application fee, and otherwise have gone through the process of trying to qualify.”
But the judge rejected the argument and declined to issue an injunction to block Friday’s lottery.
“The Court finds that the Department properly exercised power that Proposition 207 expressly gave it, used proper procedures, and used its discretion when deciding whether to hold the drawing before or after completing the checks,” Smith wrote in a ruling quoted by the Phoenix New Times.
Other challenges to Arizona’s cannabis social equity program focused on the details of business ownership. Under the regulations, qualified individuals must own 51% of a social equity business, allowing large corporations and multi-state operators an avenue to partner with applicants to operate under the program. Business owners are also permitted to sell their licenses to companies that are not owned by social equity applicants. Critics charge the rules for the program fail to live up to its social equity objectives.
Because Arizona’s recreational cannabis regulations include a cap on the number of adult-use dispensaries that can be licensed by the state, the social equity licenses awarded last week will be the last to be awarded for the foreseeable future. The selected applicants have 18 months to open their dispensaries. A list of the lottery winners is available online.
An Arizona nonprofit and a group of potential investors filed suit against the state’s cannabis social equity program last week, claiming its rules will lead to lucrative marijuana dispensary licenses intended for communities harmed by the War on Drugs being taken over by existing corporations.
The lawsuit brought by the Greater Phoenix Urban League and Acre 41, a group of women investors who hope to apply for a cannabis business license as social equity applicants, claims that the rules written by the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) to govern the program fail to live up to the aims of Proposition 207, the cannabis legalization ballot measure passed by voters last year.
“The final rules promulgated by ADHS create what are functionally 26 ‘lottery tickets’ for qualifying individuals,” the complaint argues, “rather than a regime of continuing social equity ownership and operation.”
The suit names the State of Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey, the Department of Health Services, and the agency’s director, Don Herrington, as defendants in the legal action. The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in Maricopa County Superior Court. The plaintiffs in the case want the court to declare the rules invalid and instruct the ADHS to write new regulations that conform with the intent of Proposition 207.
Proposition 207 requires regulators to encourage “ownership and operation” in the state’s new adult-use cannabis industry by members of communities disproportionately harmed by cannabis prohibition policies. In October, the ADHS issued its rules for the program, which sets aside 26 cannabis dispensary licenses for applicants who fulfill at least three of four criteria specified by the regulations. The health department plans to begin accepting applications later this year and award the licenses through a lottery early next year, although the suit seeks to delay further action until the case is decided by the court.
Arizona Plaintiffs Fear ‘Straw Man’ Applicants
Celestia Rodriguez of Acre 41, one of the plaintiffs in the suit, says that the rules could lead to big, existing cannabis companies using “straw men” applicants to apply for the licenses.
“My true intention is to make sure these 26 licenses stay with true social-equity licensees, as well as reinvest in and revitalize these neighborhoods that have been disproportionately affected,” Rodriguez explained to the Arizona Republic on Thursday.
She added that large cannabis companies have already started recruiting people who may qualify as co-applicants under the social equity program to form partnerships for the licenses, with the existing businesses guiding the complicated process and footing the $4,000 application fee.
“The (multi-state operators) have already been scouting the streets with flyers, mailers, and sending people door to door,” Rodriguez said. “They most definitely have been putting money into a hands-on approach to recruiting social-equity applicants.”
Once the social equity licenses are issued, Rodriquez says the corporate partners will try to take over control of the license.
“These [investors] are coming in, selling them the dream,” Rodriguez told the Phoenix New Times. “They want to buy them out for pennies, and add it to the portfolios that they are building right now.”
“The final rules promulgated by the ADHS permit owners who qualify under the Social Equity Program to enter an agreement to sell or transfer their ownership interest in the licensed entity at any point after the license is allocated, which defeats the purpose of the Social Equity Program,” the complaint filed in the lawsuit maintains.
Julie Gunnigle, attorney and political director at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws of Arizona, says that activists expected large operators to vie for the social equity licenses, despite the intentions of the program.
“It’s just this giant industry grift that we all saw coming,” Gunnigle said.
“But what I didn’t anticipate,” Gunnigle continued, “was just how brazen these folks were going to be.”
The lawsuit cites other concerns the plaintiffs have with the social equity program rules, including only requiring ownership and not operation by a social equity applicant. The plaintiffs also argue that social equity businesses should be required to locate in areas impacted by cannabis prohibition and that applicants who lived in such areas as children but not recently should still qualify under the program.
Jimmy Cool, the lead attorney on the case, said that the social equity rules do not fulfill the intent of Proposition 207.
“What the voters were trying to do was enrich communities that were impacted by the drug war.” Cool said. “From our clients’ perspective, all [the program] does is enrich 26 people.”
To actually say ‘America is cannabis friendly’, has a double meaning. Not only does it refer to the changing legalization policies within the borders of the US, but it also has meaning in terms of the continent of North America, and the inclusion of South America as well. In fact, no matter how the line is read, it’s true on all levels. So, let’s take a look at the new ‘America’, as 2020 comes to a close, and how new cannabis policies have made ‘America’ so cannabis friendly.
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Let’s start with the US prior to elections
In what is one of the biggest turnarounds of the past century, the country that spearheaded the global illegalization of cannabis, is now on the brink of being cannabis legal. Yes, after this past election, America is officially cannabis friendly. So, what were the election results that shifted everything, and what does this now mean for the US of A?
First let’s look at where the US was, going into the elections. Prior to the beginning of November, 12 locations in the US had recreational cannabis policies, and one US territory, Guam. Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Maine and Vermont all have open markets, with Maine and Vermont only passing bills to form regulated markets in October of this year. Then, of course, there’s Washington DC, the 12th location, where cannabis is legal to use and cultivate, but cannot be bought or sold. DC is unlikely to get a more open policy until recreational cannabis is legalized federally, since it’s home to the federal government.
Prior to the election, 35 states (counting Washington DC) had legal medical marijuana policies, although about half limit the use of THC. Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands also have medical marijuana policies. States that already had these policies are: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington DC*, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Election results
As of the November elections, these numbers have changed. Starting with recreational, there are four new additions to the legal recreational states: Arizona, Montana, South Dakota and New Jersey. Arizona passed its recreational cannabis bill through proposition 207 with a vote of approximately 60%-40%. The new law allows use and cultivation at 21 years of age and up, establishes a 15% excise tax (among other point of sale taxes which are likely to be levied), changes criminal penalties for marijuana, and works to expunge previous marijuana offences.
Montana passed its recreational cannabis bill through proposition 190 with a vote of approximately 57%-43%. This bill legalizes small amounts of cannabis for use for adults 21 years of age and older. The bill also introduces a 20% tax on non-medical cannabis, and allows for those in prison on cannabis charges to apply for resentencing or expungement of their sentences. It doesn’t seem like this will be automatic in Montana, although I expect it might change (otherwise people will be sitting in prison for non-crimes, which could end up opening the state to large amounts of litigation).
New Jersey was the third state to legalize recreational cannabis use for adults, a bill that was passed through Public Question 1, with a vote of approximately 67%-33%. The bill allows those 21 years or older to partake, institutes a sales tax (undetermined), and the ability for individual areas to introduce local taxes. The market is to be overseen by the Cannabis Regulatory Commission, which was created prior to this legalization in 2019, originally to oversee the medical cannabis program for the state.
South Dakota passed Amendment A to legalize recreational cannabis with a vote of approximately 54%-46%. This bill amends the South Dakota constitution for legalizing, regulating, and taxing cannabis. The recreational legalization is actually being legally contested currently.
But South Dakota was on double duty for this election, because not only did it legalize recreational, it also legalized medical in the same election. South Dakota passed its medical bill through Measure 26, which had a vote of approximately 70%-30%. The bill allows for patients with debilitating conditions to receive cannabis-based products, including minors. The law covers cultivation, use, manufacture, and delivery for residents of the state. As of right now, the official date for legalization for both recreational and medical, is July 1st, 2021.
Mississippi is the last entry to the list of changes. The state actually had not one, but two competing initiatives for medical legalization on the ballot, Initiative 65, and Initiative 65A. 65 was a citizen-initiated measure which beat its government-initiated counterpart by approximately 74%-26%. The overall vote of whether to legalize medicinally or not came out to approximately 68%-32%. The measures don’t sound too different, but 65 proposed more actual details. It allows patients with debilitating conditions to access cannabis products. These products would only be available by licensed treatment centers.
The current US breakdown
Now, let’s look at what we’ve got. We went into this last election with 11 US states, Washington DC, and Guam already having recreational legalization policies. Now, it’s 15 states with the inclusion of New Jersey, Montana, Arizona, and South Dakota, plus DC, and one territory.
In terms of medical, we went into the election with 34 states, Washington DC, and three territories (Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands), having medical policies. This was increased by two, with Mississippi and South Dakota joining in, to equal 36 states, DC, and three territories.
But there’s one more thing to consider. There are some states that haven’t gone as far as legalization, but have instituted decriminalization policies for cannabis. Some states that instituted these policies went on to legalize fully, others are on the way (like Virginia), or just staying decriminalized for now. The following are decriminalized states for recreational use: Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, Delaware, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Virginia, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Rhode Island. These states all have their own decriminalization policies, some more lax than others, but in all these states it was decided that cannabis was not something that warranted criminal prosecution (or at least, less of it.)
What this means is that in a country with 50 states, one district, and five major territories – US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands – (making for 56 locations total), over 1/3 of these locations allow for recreational adult-use cannabis. 15 out of 50 states, one district out of one district, and one territory out of five. When looking at medical, it becomes 40 locations out of 56 locations with 36 out of 50 states, one district out of one district, and three territories out of five.
Perhaps, the better way of looking at it though is to add all the recreational legalizations, with all the recreational decriminalizations. In that case, subtracting territories, we’re looking at 16 legalized states/locations (including DC) + 16 states with decriminalization policies, and that equals 32. This means that 32 out of 51 locations don’t really want to prosecute you for cannabis (for the most part, and not including anything other than possession and use). This is well over half the states/locations of the country.
Now, what about adding in the states that are legal for medical use, but aren’t legal for recreational use, or decriminalized? Then we’re looking at the addition of Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah, and West Virginia. That’s nine more added on, making a total of 41 states/locations that allow recreational cannabis use, medical cannabis use, some level of recreational cannabis decriminalization, or a combination of the above. That’s 80% of the country. And that certainly backs up the idea that America is cannabis friendly.
The greater ‘America’
Now that we’ve established that America is cannabis friendly in terms of the US, let’s take a step back. ‘America’ does not include just the US, so let’s look at the entire continent of North America. We’ve got Canada, which legalized cannabis for recreational use in 2018, and Mexico , which legalized cannabis for recreational use through its court system in 2018 as well, but which is still waiting on its governmental legislation to go in line with its supreme court rulings. This deadline has been pushed back several times, with the most recent due date of December 15th being pushed off once again until April of 2021. But regardless of that, the country has been legalized, and that means that the US, and its majority of states that are marijuana-friendly, is sandwiched between the two other countries of the continent, both of which are cannabis legal countries. This makes North America as a whole the most cannabis friendly continent in the world.
Taking it back one more step allows the inclusion of Central and South America. While there aren’t too many recreational legalizations in the area, Uruguay is most certainly there, and it’s the very first country to legalize for recreational use in the world. Colombia is there too, and that country is in the process of pushing through a recreational legalization policy as well. Then there is a whole slew of countries that allow for medicinal use, or have personal use laws for recreational use, like: Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Costa Rica, etc. In total, when looking at all the countries that have personal use laws, or medical legalizations, you’re looking at nearly all of South and Central America. And this further backs up the idea that America is cannabis friendly, and in fact, the most cannabis friendly part of the world.
Laws move slowly, and so does setting up regulatory frameworks for new industries. But if you take a look at ‘America’ as a whole, it’s happening, and way faster than in other places. The recent US election highlights how close the US is getting to a federal legalization, but when looking at the continent of North America, or the Americas in general, it really becomes that much more apparent that America is very cannabis friendly. Perhaps the best example is bringing it down to North America, where all three of the countries that form the continent – Canada, the US, and Mexico – are all legal for recreational use, either federally, or partially by state.
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The 2020 US Presidential election took place last night, and the results have yet to be decided. American voters chose a new leader and voted on measures put forward by each state. This election brought a record turnout; thus, US lawmakers got a better idea of what the American people actually want. So, they asked […]
