Colombia’s adult use bill advances.
As Cannabis Wire recently reported, an adult use bill is slowly making its way through Colombia’s Congress. However, as we noted, it needs to pass through each chamber more than once before it can be signed into law. In other words, there is a long road ahead.
Nonetheless, the bill took another big step in that road this week when it cleared the full Senate for the first time.
What’s different this time? Well, a new president for one. But also a new Congress.
“Conservative political forces were the majority in Congress and that prevented any change in drug policy,” Juan Carlos Losada, the liberal lawmaker who introduced the bill, told Cannabis Wire last month. “However, with the new Congress, the progressive forces are in the majority and everything is in place for us to move forward with regulation.”
NIDA to meet on cannabis research supply.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse published a notice in the Federal Register this week regarding a closed meeting next month on the “Production of Cannabis and Related Materials for Research.” The agenda? “To review and evaluate contract proposals.”
The context: As Cannabis Wire reported in September, NIDA is seeking a new supplier (or suppliers) of cannabis for research and, for the first time, there is more than one grower eligible. Why? Because the DEA has started issuing licenses to entities other than Ole Miss, which was the only federally-approved cannabis grower for decades.
Gov. Lamont announces next steps for cannabis record clearing.
Gov. Ned Lamont announced on Tuesday that ~44,000 cannabis possession convictions will be automatically erased in January, a step that was laid out in the state’s adult use law.
However, “significant information technology upgrades” are needed for the full implementation of the state’s “automated erasure system,” which is expected to take place by the end of 2023.
Also, the announcement notes “significant interpretation issues may require clarification by the General Assembly this session, as detailed in a letter delivered to the co-chairs of the Judiciary Committee by the Connecticut Criminal Justice Information System Governing Board.”
