March 08, 2022 John,
Since our founding in 1970, we’ve had one primary goal: to LEGALIZE America.
With your support, we have been able to successfully fight back against our nation’s failed policy of marijuana prohibition. Colorado and Washington became the first states to approve marijuana legalization in 2012. Now we now have a total of 18 states (and DC!) that have ended the practice of criminalizing adult marijuana consumers and, instead, have implemented regulated retail sales. In 2021 alone, we added five new states: New Jersey, New York, Virginia, New Mexico, and Connecticut.
At the beginning of this year, we told you that 2022 was going to be a VERY busy one for the marijuana movement. We weren’t kidding. In just the last two months, we’ve seen some great progress towards cannabis justice and there is a lot more that lies ahead of us.
So far this year:
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New York State expanded access to their medical program to include anyone whose doctor believes they would benefit from cannabis.
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Minnesota dropped its long-standing ban on selling cannabis flowers through its medical marijuana system. Patients began buying flower products at their local dispensaries on March 1st.
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After the courts overturned the 2020 ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana in Mississippi, the state legislature passed legislation to implement a similar medical cannabis access program. Mississippi became the 37th medical marijuana state in February.
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Both chambers of Utah’s state legislature have approved legislation this session to protect the employment rights of medical marijuana patients.
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Members of the House of Representatives recently approved the SAFE Banking Act for the sixth time, as an amendment to the COMPETES Act. That legislation is now pending action in the Senate.
We need your help to keep up the momentum!
But that is nothing compared to what is yet to come:
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Retail marijuana sales are set to begin in New Mexico on April 1st (no joke!).
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Legislation to fully legalize marijuana stands a strong chance of legislative success this year in Rhode Island, Delaware, and other states.
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Maryland’s state legislature is set to approve legislation that would place legalization on the ballot before state voters in November. Polls show that over 60 percent of Maryland voters will approve the measure.
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Grassroots efforts are ongoing to place citizens’ initiated legalization measures on the ballots in Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio, and South Dakota.
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It is expected that the US House of Representatives will once again vote (and likely approve) the MORE Act to deschedule marijuana, likely in the spring.
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced he will be rolling out his own legislation to end the War on Marijuana in the coming months.
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With the entirety of the House of Representatives, a few Senate seats, and lots of state legislative offices on the ballot during the 2022 midterms, we have a great chance to keep our strong allies in Congress and statehouses, while sending new legalization supporters to join them and help in the fight.
And that is only just scratching the surface. We will also be working to approve legislation dealing with important issues such as workplace discrimination, record expungement, medical access expansion, and decriminalization in states all over the country.
We only made it this far because we stood together and fought against these unjust laws, and we will only finish the fight if we stay united and have the resources we need to get the job done.
CAN YOU CHIP IN AND SUPPORT NORML’S 2022 VICTORY FUND TODAY?
To show that you are “all in” on legalization from the Atlantic to the Pacific, we will send anyone who donates $10 a free LEGALIZE AMERICA sticker.
Let’s keep fighting to bring true liberty and justice to every person in the United States. Together, we’ll keep winning. Together, we WILL legalize America!
Erik Altieri
NORML Executive Director
