Latest Cannabis News: January 28, 2025

Stay up to date with the latest legalization and cannabis news with the C.B. Advisors. Every week, we will release a snippet of what’s happening with each state in the cannabis industry. Did you miss last week? No worries – click here for last week’s cannabis news.

Medical

Hawaii: This month, Hawaii Representatives Gene Ward (R) and Kim Iwamoto (D) introduced House Bill 519, which proposes placing a constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana for everyone 21 and older on the November 2025 ballot. The measure would amend Article IX of Hawaii’s constitution, allowing for the possession of marijuana and granting the legislature authority to regulate the distribution, use, and taxation of cannabis.

Source: https://www.newsbreak.com/the-marijuana-herald-2222119/3775970784141-the-five-states-most-likely-to-legalize-cannabis-this-year

Nebraska: Medical marijuana license caps, including no more than 10 vertically integrated businesses statewide, could be coming to Nebraska when the state starts accepting business applications later this year – if legislation introduced this week becomes law.  Legislative Bill 651, LB 677 and LB 705 would create a patient registry program similar to those seen in other states and establish separate MMJ license classes.

Those license classes would be:

• Cultivator.
• Dispensary.
• Manufacturing.
• Testing.
• Vertically integrated, which includes one retail location and one cultivation and manufacturing location per congressional district. There are three districts in the state. LB651 would limit the number of vertically integrated licenses to 10 statewide.

Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/nebraska-marijuana-bills-would-allow-vertical-integration-with-license-caps/

New Hampshire: New Hampshire continues to make strides toward marijuana legalization, with multiple bills under consideration in 2025. Yesterday, January 23, a public hearing was held for House Bill 75, a measure that would legalize recreational marijuana for those 21 and older. The bill includes provisions to remove marijuana from the state’s controlled substances schedule, annul past cannabis-related convictions, and prohibit state and local law enforcement from enforcing federal cannabis laws.

Another legalization proposal, House Bill 186, is scheduled for a public hearing on January 30. This measure would also legalize recreational cannabis.

Source: https://www.newsbreak.com/the-marijuana-herald-2222119/3775970784141-the-five-states-most-likely-to-legalize-cannabis-this-year

South Dakota:
Lawmakers in South Dakota are aiming to repeal the state’s medical marijuana law.

H.B. 1101, introduced Friday, would eliminate all language in the state’s three-year-old law on medical marijuana permissions and guidance.

Source: https://www.businessinsurance.com/south-dakota-could-repeal-medical-marijuana-law/

Recreational

Ohio: Ohio GOP legislative leaders, who were against recreational cannabis legalization in 2023, have said for weeks now that they want to revive a proposal to change the relatively new recreational laws. No bills had been publicly introduced as of Monday afternoon, according to the legislature’s website.

Source: https://www.ideastream.org/2025-01-21/will-ohio-lawmakers-really-change-recreational-marijuana-laws-this-session

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