01/24/2026
With the start of the 2026 legislative session we wanted to give patients a rundown of medical cannabis related bills currently on the Hill. If any of these issues affect you your voice matters. Patient experiences help shape better policy. Follow along share and reach out if you want to get involved.
These bills address pharmacy access how the medical cannabis program operates workplace protections and criminal penalties that can still affect patients. Even when bills sound technical they can have real impacts on day to day patient life.
Here is a brief overview of what is being proposed so far and why patients may want to pay attention.
HB 281 – Workers’ Compensation Cannabis Amendments
This bill proposes changes to how cannabis use is considered in workers’ compensation cases after a workplace injury. The bill introduces a blood THC threshold that would create a legal presumption of impairment when determining eligibility for benefits and requires blood testing rather than urine testing for cannabinoids. Because THC blood levels can remain detectable after use and do not consistently reflect real time impairment particularly for medical cannabis patients this approach raises questions about how impairment is defined in law. The bill does allow employees to challenge the presumption with medical evidence. Patients who work and use medical cannabis may want to be aware of this proposal and follow the conversation as it moves forward.
SB 121 – Medical Cannabis Program Amendments
This bill makes multiple operational changes including how remediation methods are approved expanding acceptable IDs including tribal identification expanding guardian cards to include incapacitated adults and extending the medical cannabis governance working group. These changes affect how patients interact with the system.
SB 66 – Medical Cannabis Pharmacy License Amendments
This bill would divide the state into geographic regions for pharmacy licensing. How pharmacies are distributed affects travel distance consistency of access and patient choice depending on where you live.
HB 253 – Ma*****na Use or Possession Penalty Amendments
This bill addresses criminal penalties for small amounts of ma*****na outside the medical program. While not a medical cannabis bill it can still impact patients and families navigating health care and criminal law at the same time.