[author: Susan Ryan]

Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana.

The big news on Capitol Hill this week was the Senate’s lack of action on the banking bill.  Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the chairman of the Senate banking committee, opposes legalization and seemed disinclined to move on the issue.

Turning to appropriations, protections for state-legal medical marijuana programs were once again included in the recently passed funding bill.  Protections for recreational programs were not.

On the state level, New Jersey legislators passed a bill to put legalization on the 2020 ballot.  Organizers in Oklahoma filed a petition to put legalization on their ballot; now they need to start collecting signatures.  And a Kentucky legislator is proposing that state legalize as well.

Although cannabis will be legal statewide in Illinois as of January 1, 2020, legalization may not come to the city of Chicago until the summer.  A City Council committee approved a six-month moratorium due to the lack of minority-owned dispensaries, but that proposal must be approved by the Council and signed by the Mayor.

If you’d like to submit comments on the hemp rule, you’ve got some extra time to do so.  The Department of Agriculture has extended the comment period by 30 days to January 29, 2020.

Finally, we here at The Blunt Truth would like to wish all our readers a happy holiday season.  We’ll be back next week with our “Year In Weed” post.