California makes a historic move toward legal interstate cannabis commerce

David DownsPublished on March 6, 2023

More US smokers could get legal California cannabis under a new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. (Leafly)

California officials see 'little to no risk' in permitting state to state cannabis transfers. (Leafly)

Thousands and thousands of pounds of cannabis already leave California every year thanks to the illicit market. We’re America’s number one plug. But can we move some legally for once?

The regulator for the world’s biggest legal cannabis market thinks the feds won’t mind, and now awaits a potential green light from the state’s attorney general.

Will America drop the charade and engage in free cannabis trade? Will the US Constitution’s Commerce Clause force states’ hands?

Listen to Leafly Senior Editor David Downs breaking it down for National Public Radio affiliate KCRW in Santa Monica, CA. We’ve been doing a three-year-running ‘This Week in Weed’ appearance there. The Interstate section begins at minute 4:00.

Read KCRW’s full post ‘Food and live music could come to cannabis lounges under CA bill.’

California Governor Newsom legalizes interstate commerce in cannabis

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audio California interstate commerce interviews radio

David Downs

Leafly Senior Editor David Downs received a Literary Excellence Award from Oaksterdam University in 2022. On the cannabis beat since 2009, he’s published three books, including the best-selling cannabis crop science book ‘Marijuana Harvest.’ Downs guest lectured at the Loyola Marymount University Law School’s Journalism Law School, UC Berkeley Extension, and contributed to Continuing Education of the Bar’s Marijuana Law Hub, sponsored by University of California and the State Bar of California. Downs’ work has appeared in San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times, Scientific American, Wired, Rolling Stone, The Onion, Columbia Journalism Review, High Times, Billboard, and many more. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from UC Santa Barbara, and was a Fellow at the Medill School of Journalism’s Academy of Alternative Journalism in Chicago.

View David Downs's articles

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