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MARIJUANA MOMENT
WEST VIRGINIA SENATE PRESIDENT SAYS MARIJUANA COULD BE LEGALIZED TO HELP CURB
FENTANYL EPIDEMIC, ‘SOONER THAN LATER’
* Politics
* West Virginia Senate President Says Marijuana Could Be Legalized To Help
Curb Fentanyl Epidemic, ‘Sooner Than Later’
* Florida Senate Bill Would Protect State Workers From Being Fired For
Medical Marijuana Use
* Cleveland Mayor Says He’s Open To Taking Marijuana Gummy, But Argues State
Needs To ‘Get It Together’ To Provide Legal Sales First
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Veterans And First Responders
* Hawaii Attorney General Sends Marijuana Legalization Bill To Lawmakers,
But Says She ‘Does Not Support’ It
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After Receiving Anonymous Call
* New York Posts Dozens Of Sample Marijuana Job Descriptions To Aid
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* Rhode Island Marijuana Retailers Hit $100 Million Milestone During First
Year Of Adult-Use Sales
* Video
* West Virginia Senate President Says Marijuana Could Be Legalized To Help
Curb Fentanyl Epidemic, ‘Sooner Than Later’
* Wisconsin Republicans Unveil Plan To Legalize Non-Smokable Medical
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* DeSantis Says He Would ‘Respect The Decisions That States Make’ On
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* Newsletter
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* CO gov bashes DeSantis’s cannabis stance (Newsletter: January 8, 2024)
* KY gov’s cannabis expansion push (Newsletter: January 5, 2024)
* DEA cannabis rescheduling update (Newsletter: January 4, 2024)
* 2024 cannabis news lookahead (Newsletter: January 3, 2024)
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POLITICS
WEST VIRGINIA SENATE PRESIDENT SAYS MARIJUANA COULD BE LEGALIZED TO HELP CURB
FENTANYL EPIDEMIC, ‘SOONER THAN LATER’
Published
20 mins ago
on
January 9, 2024
By
Ben Adlin
West Virginia’s Republican Senate president says that legalizing marijuana could
help ease the state’s crush of fatal fentanyl overdoses, predicting that the
policy change will come “sooner than later” but probably not in the new
legislative session.
“My gut tells me it might not happen this year,” Senate President Craig Blair
(R) said at a media event last week, according to West Virginia Public
Broadcasting. “But you’re going to see it sooner than later, because that is a
way to combat the issue.”
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that West
Virginia had more fatal fentanyl overdoses per capital in 2022 than any other
state in the nation.
State Governors Urge Biden to Reschedule Marijuana by Year-End for Economic and
Safety Benefits
Governors from six states are urging President Biden to fast-track the
rescheduling of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, a move that could
have far-reaching economic and health implications. The governors of Colorado,
Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York have jointly penned a
letter to President Biden emphasizing economic benefits and aligning federal
policy with public opinion. Veuer’s Maria Mercedes Galuppo has the story.
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The Senate president also noted that he sees a lot of West Virginia license
plates at marijuana dispensaries when he’s visiting other states, according to
West Virginia watch.
Speaking to the fentanyl problem, Blair also claimed at the event that “there is
a problem in the state of West Virginia when marijuana, over 70 percent of it
that gets tested, has fentanyl on it.” He is supporting legislaiton that would
apply the death penalty to people who sell fentanyl.
It’s not clear what data, if any, Blair was referencing with that assertion. The
organization Partnership to End Addiction says there’s “no solid evidence that
marijuana is being laced with fentanyl.”
House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle (D) also discussed his own party’s support
for legalization in West Virginia.
“We’re a believer in adult-use cannabis,” he said, pointing out that policy
change “polls well into the 60s” in terms of percent of voter support.
“That is something that we can have in our toolkit that can help pay for items,”
he told the event’s attendees.
Despite past surveys finding majority support among voters for the policy
change, marijuana legalization efforts have progressed slowly in West Virginia.
In 2022, activists attempted to put decriminalization measures on two municipal
ballots in the state, but neither effort was ultimately successful. Similar
efforts were undertaken in four cities a year earlier, but those efforts also
fell short. In 2019, Salem voters rejected a similar reform proposal at the
ballot box.
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R), for his part, said in 2021 that although
he’s not personally a fan of marijuana legalization, he would support the reform
if the legislature sent a bill to his desk.
Despite Blair’s skepticism that West Virginia will move to legalize marijuana
this session, a number of other states—including Florida, Hawaii, New Hampshire,
Pennsylvania and South Dakota—could join the ranks of legal cannabis states in
2024.
> DeSantis Says He Would ‘Respect The Decisions That States Make’ On Marijuana
> Legalization, Despite Personal Opposition
Marijuana Moment is made possible with support from readers. If you rely on our
cannabis advocacy journalism to stay informed, please consider a monthly Patreon
pledge.
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Ben Adlin
Ben Adlin, a senior editor at Marijuana Moment, has been covering cannabis and
other drug policy issues professionally since 2011. He was previously a senior
news editor at Leafly, an associate editor at the Los Angeles Daily Journal and
a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs. He lives in Washington State.
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