Latest Cannabis News: August 25, 2020

Stay up to date with the latest legalization and cannabis news with the CB 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. 

CBD:

South Dakota: South Dakota Could Pass Two Marijuana Ballot Measures. The first, Initiated Measure 26, led by New Approach South Dakota, would create a medical marijuana program for patients with doctor-certified specified debilitating medical conditions. The second, Constitutional Amendment A, would legalize up to an ounce for adults 21 and over and set up a system of taxed and regulated cultivation and sales. The amendment would also require the legislature to legalize the sale of hemp and create a state medical marijuana program by April 1, 2022.
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Medical:

Arizona: Now that the Arizona Supreme Court is allowing recreational marijuana to appear on the 2020 ballot, some industry organizations vow to fight the measure. “Passing pot legalization via the ballot box is rife with potentially dangerous consequences,” said Garrick Taylor, senior vice president of government relations for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
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Florida: A Florida medical marijuana company is planning to develop a cultivation facility in the Pittsburgh area as part of a 10-year research pact with the University of Pittsburgh. West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Parallel is collaborating with Pitt to test the company’s cannabis formulations in the treatment of sickle cell disease and other issues. Pitt will receive $3 million as part of the deal in unrestricted grants to investigate the efficacy and safety of medical cannabis.
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New Jersey: New Jersey voters are strongly in favor of a referendum to legalize marijuana that’s on their ballots this November—and most support of setting a tax rate for cannabis that’s higher than the standard sales tax—according to a new survey. The poll, commissioned by Brach Eichler LLC, showed that 66 percent of likely voters back the legalization measure, which was placed before voters by the legislature. That’s about five percentage points higher than when residents were surveyed on the issue in April.
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Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is calling on the legislature to legalize recreational marijuana in an effort to help businesses and individuals hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. During a press conference on COVID-19 recovery, Gov. Wolf called on the legislature to legalize recreational marijuana with the proceeds going to existing small business grant funding.
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Recreational:

Michigan: A Native American tribe in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on Wednesday, August 20, announced plans to create a tribal marijuana market independent of state oversight. It will compete with Michigan’s existing medical and recreational marijuana market that is projected to generate $1.5 billion in sales over the next year. Bay Mills Indian Community, which is comprised of about 2,200 Native Americans from the Ojibwe tribe based in Brimley, where it also operates the Bay Mills Resort and Casinos, intends to break ground on a 10,000-plant indoor grow facility south of Sault Ste. Marie as early as January of next year, Bay Mills Indian Communities Board Chair Bryan T. Newland said.
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