Posted on 05/20/2021 7:54:45 AM PDT by NobleFree
CASPER, Wyo. — Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed a bill into law on Tuesday which will allow the sale of recreational marijuana to begin on Jan. 1, 2022 in the state.
Montana voters passed an initiative during the 2020 General Election which made it legal for adults to possess up to an ounce of marijuana for personal use starting Jan. 1, 2020, according to Montana Free Press. While that initiative allowed residents to cultivate up to four marijuana plants per household, with Gianforte signing House Bill 701, residents will only be able to cultivate two plants per household.
House Bill 701 will allow medical marijuana dispensaries in Montana to start selling to all adults on Jan. 1, 2022. New dispensaries will not be able to apply for a license to sell retail marijuana until Jan. 1, 2023.
Article continues below...
Montana’s path toward marijuana legalization has been driven by voters. Voters approved a medical marijuana initiative in 2004. In Wyoming, it has been a different story.
The Wyoming chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) effort to put a medical marijuana initiative on the ballot in 2016 failed to get enough signatures, according to Ballotpedia.
“The measure would have legalized recreational marijuana for individuals 21 years old and older and medical marijuana for anyone with physician and guardian approval,” Ballotpedia states. “Furthermore, the initiative would have decriminalized public displays of 3 ounces or less of marijuana and provided penalties for possession of 4 ounces or more of marijuana.”
That same initiative failed to make the ballot again in 2018.
Support for legalizing marijuana legalization in Wyoming has grown over the years, according to surveys conducted by the University of Wyoming’s Survey and Analysis Center.
A survey conducted in Oct. 2020 found that 54% of Wyoming residents support allowing adults to legally possess marijuana for personal use. Only 37% supported this in 2014.
85% of Wyoming residents support medical marijuana legalization in the state, according to the 2020 UW survey. 75% support decriminalizing marijuana in the state.
Meanwhile, marijuana remains illegal in Wyoming. Law enforcement agencies carried out a “drug interdiction operation” in Natrona County from March 29-30. The Casper Police Department said that the operation was supported by U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency “cannabis suppression” funds and resulted in the arrests of arrests of 23 people. Some on the Casper City Council have questions about how the operation was handled and whether the Casper Police Department should be accepting DEA funding.
Council member Shawn Johnson during the May 11 work session he has some concerns about grant funding going toward police operations that may violate people’s Fourth Amendment rights, which protects people against unreasonable search and seizure.
When they announced the results of the “drug interdiction operation,” the Casper PD said that officers were able to “more readily” conduct traffic stops in targeted areas of the community when they observed alleged traffic violations: “If the traffic stop interaction between the officer and individual(s) inside the vehicle shows potential evidence of illegal substance use or presence, the officer has additional resources readily available to conduct a further investigation.”
Johnson and fellow Council member Amber Pollock voted against authorizing the Casper PD to accept $35,000 in DEA “cannabis suppression” funding in February. Council member Kyle Gamroth later said he was also opposed to authorizing the acceptance of that funding.
During the May 11 work session, Council member Bruce Knell accused Johnson, Pollock and Gamroth of violating their oath to the Constitution in voting against authorizing the Casper PD to accept the DEA funding. When it was pointed out to him by City Attorney John Henley and others that the Constitution does not require elected officials to accept the funding and that marijuana is illegal under statutory law and not the Constitution, Knell apologized for his accusations.
While Wyoming has not legalized medical or recreational marijuana, the Govenor Mark Gordon signed a bill into law in 2019 allowing for the cultivation of hemp in the state. On Wednesday, the Wyoming State Bar said that a Cheyenne attorney has been censured by the Wyoming Supreme Court over his actions in a case against two hemp farmers and two people working at the farm.
A law enforcement officer provided false testimony during a preliminary hearing in the case and Cheyenne attorney David E. Singleton was aware this testimony was false, according to the Wyoming State Bar.
Singleton had alleged the hemp farmers and the people working at the farm “were engaged in a conspiracy to manufacture, deliver, or possess marijuana; possession of marijuana with intent to deliver a felony; felony possession of marijuana; and cultivation of marijuana, a misdemeanor,” the Wyoming State Bar said on Wednesday.
A judge presiding at the preliminary hearing tossed the charges finding “there was not sufficient evidence of intent on the part of the defendants to possess, distribute, or conspire regarding marijuana.”
There were efforts to legalize recreational marijuana in the Wyoming Legislature during the 2021 General Session. House Bill 209 would have legalized both recreational and medical marijuana in Wyoming and advanced out of the House Judiciary Committee on a vote of 6-3 on March 17. However, leadership never brought the bill up for debate in the full House of Representatives and allowed it to die.
Thank You for posting.
A law enforcement officer provided false testimony during a preliminary hearing......
Went to the link and read the very short article. The ‘law enforcement officer’ committed perjury. Wonder what happened to him/her?
Cartels buy’s another state who knew $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
I would think legalized marijuana would hurt the cartels. I would be grown and sold by domestic producers.
LMAO! Legalization cuts into cartels' sales.
Psychotropic drugs are the religion of the people-
Bizarro Marx
Cartels probably own or eventually take over local producers.
Cartels probably own or eventually take over local producers.
Criminalizing the practice of that "religion" has had the primary effect of enriching violent criminals; it's time we stopped doing that.
"Probably"? "Eventually"? Your evidence-free fantasies are worth every penny I paid for them.
Good.
I see nothing in my copy of the Constitution that gives any governmental entity any authority as to what anyone puts in their body.
Drug warriors have done more damage to this country than all the terrorists, cartels, and crooked politicians combined.
BS no state has ever made the money the cartels make even in the stoner of California street sales out number state store sales they OWN that business.
Look at the number of finds the nab at the border it’s an unlimited business.
Legalization cuts into cartels’ sales.
If you believe that you will believe anything.
Marijuana would hurt the cartels.
Not one bit it comes into the country by the tons the cartels even have massive growing fields in some California forests even the state say they are leaching large amounts of water from streams the is hurting parts of the forests.
Congrats to the state of Montana!!!!
Sez who?
Does MT have a statute that defines what constitutes impaired driving when it comes to pot?
If not, here’s another state putting the cart before the horse.
And pretty soon guess which state will seeing more pot impaired drivers than drunks on the road since driving while stoned is so much easier to get away with than driving drunk...
Bette recheck you data and get it right.
The cartels are going into other drugs like fentanyl. And no one is checking MJ potency (it ain’t your hippy uncle’s weed anymore)
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