[author: Susan Ryan]

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

Malta is legalizing adult-use cannabis. South Dakota voters are unhappy with the governor’s actions on marijuana. Montana writes rules for its cannabis industry. Lawmakers in Rhode Island work on legalization. A hemp research farm was destroyed in the recent tornados. And finally, we have a report on the world’s largest pot brownie.

MALTA

Cannabis is coming to Malta. The Parliament passed a law formally legalizing the use and growing of marijuana this week. Nonprofit groups will manage sales, and those with prior cannabis convictions can request expungement of their criminal records. Luxembourg decriminalized marijuana in October of this year, and Germany may move on this issue in 2022.

SOUTH DAKOTA

Turning our attention back to the US, we see that South Dakota voters are less than delighted with the way the 2020 ballot initiative to legalize adult-use cannabis has turned out. Mostly, Governor Kristi Noem (R) is popular in the state, but she gets a poor grade in how she has handled marijuana. In a recent poll, over 33 percent of voters said they “strongly disapproved” of her actions. Regular readers will recall that the Governor supported a lawsuit against the initiative that wound up in the state’s Supreme Court. The initiative was struck down earlier this month. Supporters of legalization are hard at work collecting signatures for the 2022 ballot.

MONTANA

Moving west, we see that Montana will have rules in place in time for the January 1 launch of its adult-use sales program. Despite a few stumbles along the way, lawmakers reached an agreement with the state’s Department of Revenue this week. It’s probably not a “Christmas miracle,” but it’s nice for them to have this wrapped up in 2021.

RHODE ISLAND

Will they or won’t they? Rhode Island will have to wait until 2022 for the answer to that question. Legislators are getting closer to an agreement, but they’re not quite there yet. Further bulletins as events warrant.

KENTUCKY

A hemp research farm in Princeton, Kentucky was completely destroyed by the tornado that ripped through the area last weekend. No one suffered injuries at the site. The state’s Agriculture Commission is currently assessing the damage.

AND FINALLY

It’s the time of year when many people head into the kitchen to bake sweet confections. No matter how many cookies you’ve pulled out of your oven, you can’t top the work of the folks at MariMed, Inc. of New Bedford, MA. They’ve created an 850-pound THC brownie. Several weeks worth of effort went into creating this, and now the question is: what to do with it?

Stay safe and be well everyone – we’ll be off next week, but will return on 12/31 with our Year in Weed post. Happy Holidays!