Latest Cannabis News: February 13, 2024
Latest Cannabis News: February 13, 2024
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.
CBD
Indiana: Despite the opinions of regular Hoosiers, the multiple bipartisan bills on legalizing and decriminalizing recreational and medical marijuana in Indiana that lawmakers filed in 2024 are all dead and highly unlikely to return in other bills.
North Carolina: Nearly 8 in 10 North Carolinians support the Legislature revisiting and passing a medical marijuana bill in the short session this year. Known as Senate Bill 3, some lawmakers are hopeful for its return and possibly a floor vote in the lower chamber.
South Carolina: South Carolina’s Senate continued its discussion of a medical marijuana legalization bill on Thursday, with lawmakers clashing over whether the current version of the legislation contains major differences from an earlier iteration that the body passed in 2022 but which later stalled in the House over a procedural hiccup.
The state Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) and Board of Pharmacy would be responsible for promulgating rules and licensing cannabis businesses, including dispensaries that would need to have a pharmacist on-site at all times of operation.
In an effort to prevent excess market consolidation, the bill has been revised to include language requiring regulators to set limits on the number of businesses a person or entity could hold more than five percent interest in, at the state-level and regionally.
Wisconsin: Republican leaders in the Wisconsin State Assembly unveiled a medical marijuana legalization bill at a Jan. 8 press conference. In an interview with WISN, Vos said Wisconsin’s medical marijuana program would be one of the most restrictive in the country, with sales limited to five dispensaries across the state, all operated by the Department of Health Services.
Medical
Hawaii: A bill that would legalize adult-use recreational marijuana in Hawaii on Jan. 1, 2026, will receive a committee hearing this week. Senate Bill 3335 will be heard 9 am today, by a joint session of the Health and Human Services and Judiciary committees. It appears the Senate has the votes again this year to legalize – the real battle is once again expected to be in the House.
Kentucky: The official state website for the Kentucky Medical Cannabis Program, states that purchasing medical marijuana by written certification begins Jan. 1, 2025.
However, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services said to FOCUS:
“Under current law, the cabinet cannot issue licenses until Jan. 1, 2025. The General Assembly can pass legislation to move up that date. If the General Assembly passes legislation moving up the date the cabinet will be ready to start the licensing process this year.”
Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania’s governor says he’s “sick and tired of losing to friggin’ Ohio” on issues such as marijuana legalization, and he’s calling on the legislature to deliver him a cannabis bill so the commonwealth can “catch up” with neighboring states by launching legal adult-use sales that would bring in an estimated $14.8 million in tax revenue in the first year of implementation.
Recreational
Delaware: Delaware Marijuana Commissioner Robert Coupe laid out the updated legalization implementation timeline during a hearing before the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee last week.
He said that the current plan is to finalize rules for the adult-use cannabis program by July 11, start accepting license applications in September and begin approving different license types on a staggered schedule in October. Cultivation licenses could be approved beginning in November, followed by manufacturer licenses in December and retailer and testing licenses in March 2025.
Additionally, regulators plan to post draft rules on their website soon, Coupe said.
The commissioner’s office says it is also contemplating the possibility of allowing current medical cannabis dispensaries to convert to dual licenses where they could serve patients and adult consumers. However, he cautioned that the option is “hypothetical” right now, and the earliest it could be implemented would be this fall.
Coupe said that, ideally, new recreational retailers would open “at the same time” that medical marijuana dispensaries could convert, calling it “good for fairness and the competition.”
Maryland: The General Assembly last year set a goal for the adult-use licensing process to begin on or before Jan. 1. Although the bulk of new licenses have not yet been granted, the Maryland Cannabis Administration did issue one so-called Pigford license to the only eligible applicant who was part of a class-action lawsuit filed against the U.S. Department of Agriculture for systemic discrimination against a dwindling group of Black farmers in the 1980s and ’90s. Another three dispensary licenses were awarded to businesses that secured grower licenses during a diversity round of licensing for Maryland’s medical cannabis industry. The lottery — which will consist of 44 lottery pools for different categories of licenses and micro-licenses for dispensaries, processors and growers in several regions of the state — will be held in March, Tilburg said.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/02/12/maryland-cannabis-equity-applicants/
Ohio: Ohio’s progress on cannabis has come to a temporary halt after House legislators fail to move HB 86 forward. While progress has ceased for now, some legislators are hopeful to see traction when the House resumes action on April 10. Despite any current or future changes, Issue 2 will still proceed as planned though. “Issue 2 puts in place a full regulatory framework … We don’t need the legislature to do anything,” explained Tom Haren, the spokesperson for the group behind Issue 2, Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.
Virginia: The Virginia House of Delegates initially approved legislation Feb. 9 via a voice vote to create the framework necessary for an adult-use cannabis marketplace so that sales can commence on Jan. 1, 2025. The delegates then passed a third and final reading of legislation, House Bill 698, with a 52-48 vote on Feb. 12, sending it over to the Senate. Specifically, H.B. 698 would allow 60 microbusinesses to start cultivating adult-use cannabis on July 1, 2024, in preparation for the sales launch. In order to qualify as a microbusiness license applicant, a company must be 66% owned and controlled by a person who meets the state’s social equity criteria, according to the bill. The existing medical licensees would only be allowed to transition to the adult-use marketplace if they pay a one-time fee of $2.4 million. Six months after the initial sales launch, additional businesses would be allowed to enter the retail market, bill sponsor Del. Paul Krizek, D-Fairfax, explained on the House floor last Friday. While H.B. 698 passed the House, a competing bill in upper chamber, Senate Bill 448, was approved via a 9-5 vote Feb. 8 in the Finance and Appropriations Committee and arrived on the Senate floor Feb. 12 to receive initial approval via a voice vote. A third and final reading of legislation will likely be voted on later this week.
Sponsored by Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, S.B. 448 also aims to establish a commercialized adult-use marketplace that follows the same timeline as H.B. 698 to launch sales. However, the Senate’s version does not provide for microbusinesses nor special license considerations for various companies or individuals, among other differences.
Source: https://www.cannabisbusinesstimes.com/news/virginia-house-passes-marijuana-sales-legalization-bill/
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