[author: Susan Ryan]
Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana. This week, Louisiana explores a pilot program for adult-use cannabis. Kansas lawmakers introduce bills to legalize both medical and adult-use marijuana. Voters in Massachusetts appear unlikely to repeal legalization. And finally, actor Ethan Hawke received an interesting award.
LOUISIANA
Currently, Louisiana has legal medical marijuana, but adult-use cannabis is still against the law. A bill introduced late last month may change that. House Bill 373, introduced by Rep. Candace Newell (D-99), would set up a pilot program allowing licensed medical marijuana dispensaries to expand to adult-use sales. The program would begin in 2027 and run through 2030. It’s too early to say whether this bill will pass or not, but it’s an intriguing idea: “Try before you buy!” The question then becomes, can you take away legalization after it’s been in place for three years?
KANSAS
Kansas is one of the last holdouts against legal cannabis of any sort. Could that be about to change? Democrats in the state House of Representatives have introduced two bills: HB 2678, which would legalize medical marijuana and HB 2679, which would legalize adult-use marijuana. This seems like a big lift, but proponents of the bills think that by using the funds collected by marijuana sales to fund affordable housing, a decrease in property taxes and childcare, they may gain support among voters. But they admit, they also need a change in the state legislature.
“Honestly what it’s going to take is for our midterm elections to remove some of those in the Republican party and replace those with Democrats who feel differently about cannabis. The Republican party is our hold up. That’s the obstacle,” said Kansas Representative Ford Carr (D).
MASSACHUSETTS
A proposal to recriminalize cannabis will appear on the November ballot in Massachusetts. Is there a backlash against marijuana coming this fall? Not according to recent polling. Although opposition to the measure is strongest among Democrats, 73 percent of whom oppose it, even 42 percent of Republicans say they’ll vote NO. Support for the measure was the lowest of any of the 2026 ballot initiatives. Of course, it’s a long time until November, and the 2020s have taught us that anything can happen, but the industry can probably rest easy.
AND FINALLY
The Oscars are upon us, so our last item involves one of the Best Actor nominees. Ethan Hawke told The Hollywood Reporter that his first acting award was a bong from High Times magazine for “best stoned performance of the year” in the movie Tape.
Be well everyone – we’ll see you next week.
