Latest Cannabis News: January 26, 2021

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.

Dry:

Idaho: After two hours of public comments, a state Senate committee on Monday delayed a vote on a measure to ban psychoactive drugs that are already illegal in Idaho. The constitutional amendment, introduced by Sen. C. Scott Grow, R-Eagle, would put the prohibition against now-illicit drugs in the state’s Constitution instead of just code — if voters passed it. Putting the ban in the Idaho Constitution would make it more difficult to legalize marijuana and other drugs in the future.
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CBD:

South Carolina: Medical professionals across the state are voicing their support for the legislation known as the Compassionate Care Act with hopes 2021 is the year the bill passes. “I think we’re going to have bipartisan support on this,” Representative Bill Herbkersman, one of the sponsors of the bill, said. The Compassion Care Act would allow physicians to prescribe medical marijuana to patients with debilitating medical conditions like diabetes, cancer and PTSD.
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Medical:

Arkansas: Dispensaries in Mountain Home and Mountain View have sold a combined 3,350 pounds of medical marijuana since opening their doors. In addition, since the state’s first dispensary opened in mid-2019, Arkansans have spent $218 million to obtain 33,189 pounds of medical marijuana. While statewide sales average approximately $665,000 a day, Dec. 31 was a record day as sales surpassed $1.22 million.

In other news, the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission is now accepting applications for two new licenses: processors and transporters. Amendment 98 did not establish a limit on the number of these licenses. The application fee is $5,000 with a $100,000 bond required for licensing.
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Connecticut: The governor of Connecticut is circulating a draft bill to legalize marijuana, soliciting feedback from state agencies as he prepares a push to enact the policy change this year. Gov. Ned Lamont (D) reiterated his support for legalizing marijuana during his annual State of the State address earlier this month, stating that he would be working with the legislature to advance the reform this session.
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Delaware: Delaware could see tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue every year if it moves to legalize marijuana, a top statewide elected official said in a new report released on Monday. The analysis from State Auditor Kathy McGuiness (D) found that Delaware could generate upwards of $43 million annually in revenue from taxing and regulating cannabis. The legal market could also create more than 1,000 new jobs over five years if the policy is enacted, according to the report.
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Florida: A Central Florida lawmaker has introduced legislation aimed at legalizing recreational marijuana in Florida. Orlando Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith and Pinellas County Sen. Jeff Brandes this week introduced HB 343 and SB 710 which would legalize recreational marijuana in Florida. The bills would “establish a robust and free-market regulatory approach to the governance of cultivation, processing, and retail sales of both medical and adult-use marijuana.”
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Hawaii: With the state strapped for cash, some Hawaii lawmakers are considering legalizing recreational marijuana. Despite years of similar measures being shot down, some of the state’s top house leaders have signed on this year. The bill would allow people to have up to an ounce of cannabis. It would also create a process for cultivators to grow and sell marijuana which would then be taxed by the state. Statehouse representative Jeanne Kapela and other lawmakers KITV4 spoke with Friday, believe the move could generate at least $150 million in revenue for the state at a time when the state is in desperate need of money.
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Missouri: Hotels, Airbnbs and other lodging facilities in Missouri would be allowed to let medical marijuana patients consume cannabis on their properties under a recently filed bill. The legislation, titled the “Reduction of Illegal Public Consumption by Allowing for Compassionate Access to Medical Marijuana Act,” would require the state Department of Health and Senior Services to create a new “medical marijuana lodging establishment” license for the facilities. They would have to submit an application and a $50 fee to the agency in order to obtain the new approval.
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New Mexico: New Mexico state lawmakers are pushing, again, to legalize marijuana. The sponsor of this year’s bill says more Republicans are on board than in past years. This bill has been years in the making, having been in discussion for almost five years. Supporters believe this year all of the details have been worked out and the timing is just right.
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New York: New York activists are ready for 2021 to be the year that the state finally legalizes marijuana. But one little-noticed provision of the cannabis reform proposal introduced by the governor in his budget request last week has become a major source of contention. That said, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) second-in-command told Marijuana Moment that the policy at issue—an increase in penalties for certain cannabis-related offenses—could change as the administration and lawmakers negotiate the finer details of the proposal.
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North Dakota: North Dakota’s secretary of state on Friday approved the format of a proposed marijuana initiative, clearing the way for activists to collect signatures to place it on the 2022 ballot. Meanwhile, a Republican lawmaker is pushing a cannabis legalization bill he introduced even though he does not support the underling policy change.
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Oklahoma: After medical marijuana was legalized in Oklahoma in June of 2018, the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority had only 60 days to prop up the entire program, forcing the agency to play catch up over the past two-and-a-half years. But 2021 brings changes to the state’s medical marijuana program, including a new seed-to-sale system and quality assurance lab, and the upcoming legislative session could mean even more. The OMMA awarded a contract to the Florida-based company Metrc in September to implement a seed-to-sale system, which is expected to launch in February.
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Virginia: A Virginia Senate committee on Friday approved a bill to legalize marijuana in the Commonwealth, bringing the proposal one step closer to a full floor vote. Before advancing the legislation to another panel, lawmakers defeated a proposal to remove home cultivation rights for cannabis. The Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee approved the legislation in a 8-7 vote. Members also accepted a series of recommended amendments from a newly formed subcommittee that’s singularly focused on marijuana policy and that held two hearings on the bill earlier this week.
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Recreational:

Arizona: The Arizona Department of Public Health says it has approved licenses for businesses to sell recreational marijuana. According to agency spokesman Steve Elliott, ADHS has given the green light to 86 establishments in nine of the state’s 15 counties since the process opened on Wednesday. With the new license, approved vendors can start selling recreational marijuana “as soon as they are ready to do so.”
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Colorado: Governor Jared Polis wants to see $5 million put in a new state fund intended to advance marijuana industry involvement among communities impacted by the War on Drugs, with the majority of that money going toward small grants and low-interest loans. The proposal for the Cannabis Advance Program (renamed from the Cannabis Opportunity Program, or COP), written by the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade in conjunction with the governor’s office, was created after a bill passed in the Colorado Legislature in 2020 offered an official definition for social equity applicants in the marijuana industry. However, the bill only defined those applicants, and didn’t mandate any specific programs they could apply for, much less their fiscal impacts.
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Illinois: Illinois officials announced on Thursday that the state is distributing $31.5 million in grants funded by marijuana tax revenue to communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. The funds are part of the state’s Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) program, which was established under Illinois’s adult-use cannabis legalization law. It requires 25 percent of marijuana tax dollars to be put in that fund and used to provide disadvantaged people with services such as legal aid, youth development, community reentry and financial support.
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Massachusetts: Facing an exodus of its members, the Commonwealth Dispensary Association is withdrawing its lawsuit against recently approved recreational marijuana delivery rules in Massachusetts. The CDA, a trade group representing the vast majority of medical and adult-use cannabis dispensaries, had sued the state’s Cannabis Control Commission earlier this month, in an attempt to block a new type of delivery license type created by the agency this past fall.
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Nevada: The governor of Nevada said on Tuesday that his budget proposal contains provisions to keep marijuana tax revenue flowing to schools in the state. Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) discussed his fiscal plan during a State of the State address, saying it “ensures marijuana tax dollars will continue to fund education, to ensure districts can meet the needs of students during the pandemic and beyond.”
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