Latest Cannabis News: June 13, 2023

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.

Medical

Alabama: The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission was scheduled to award licenses Monday to the companies that will grow, process, transport, test, and sell medical marijuana products. The AMCC accepted 90 applications during a period that ended in April.

The AMCC met at 9 a.m. Monday and immediately voted to go into an executive session, closed to the public, to consider the applications. Licensed dispensaries will sell the products, which can include pills, capsules, tinctures, gel cubes, creams, patches, suppositories, nebulizers, and liquids or oils for an inhaler. No raw plant materials or products for smoking or eating will be allowed. AMCC Chairman Dr. Steven Stokes said the commission planned to return to open session by 1 p.m.

Source: https://www.al.com/news/2023/06/alabamas-medical-marijuana-companies-await-license-decisions.html

Florida: The Florida Supreme Court has agreed to give the state attorney general two additional weeks to submit a brief detailing her argument that a proposed marijuana legalization initiative should be kept off the 2024 ballot.

The initial briefs were initially due by Monday, but the court approved an uncontested motion to push that deadline back to June 26 because Attorney General Ashley Moody’s (R) office said that it “has multiple pressing deadlines with limited staff assistance” that is preventing the argument from being completed on time.

If approved, the measure would change the state Constitution to allow existing medical cannabis companies in the state like Trulieve to begin selling marijuana to all adults over 21. It contains a provision that would allow—but not require—lawmakers to take steps toward the approval of additional businesses. Home cultivation by consumers would not be allowed under the proposal as drafted.

Source: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/florida-supreme-court-gives-state-attorney-general-two-more-weeks-to-file-briefs-in-marijuana-legalization-ballot-challenge/

Ohio: For the second consecutive year, a marijuana legalization bill has been proposed in the Ohio State Assembly. This year, the bill was introduced by Representatives Casey Weinstein (D- Hudson), and Jamie Callender (R- Concord), showing bipartisan support as they hope for full legalization.

House Bill 168, or the Ohio Adult Use Act, would legalize the possession, purchase and cultivation of marijuana for anyone over 21 years-old. The bill would also help get lower level marijuana possession/trafficking charges expunged, and introduce a 10% sales tax on marijuana and related products. Representative Weinstein said that HB 168 was created using models from other states that have successfully legalized marijuana, including Michigan and Colorado.

Source: https://www.cleveland19.com/2023/06/09/bipartisan-marijuana-bill-proposed-ohio-assembly/

Recreational

Missouri: As the Missouri marijuana industry rakes in millions from recreational weed, state regulators have slowly started to roll out a program intended to help small and minority-owned businesses break into the lucrative market. A smaller micro-license program, overseen by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, is supposed to be geared towards minority groups, lower income individuals and those who have been previously arrested for nonviolent marijuana offenses.

But the program’s rollout has faced intense criticism from groups such as the Missouri NAACP on the grounds that some of the ZIP codes listed for areas with high rates of marijuana incarceration are heavily skewed away from the state’s two most diverse cities in Kansas City and St. Louis and towards rural parts of the state. More conservative and rural parts of the state are less diverse but are also where marijuana crimes are typically pursued more aggressively.

In the face of criticism, the state health department last week made some tweaks to the program, allowing prospective applicants to provide documents to the state showing that, while they may not meet the requirements, they should still qualify for a micro-license. Applicants will need to meet specific requirements, have a proposed building for the business and pay a $1,500 fee to be considered.

Source: https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article276231771.html

Nevada: Nevada lawmakers have sent the governor a large-scale marijuana reform bill that would more than double the personal possession limit, consolidate licensing rules and broaden eligibility for participation in the market by people with prior felony convictions. The measure would make a series of revisions to the state’s existing marijuana laws, in part by increasing the possession and purchase limit for cannabis from one ounce to 2.5 ounces.  The amount of cannabis concentrates that adults can possess is also being doubled from one-eighth of an ounce to one-quarter of an ounce.

Also, it would make it so adult-use marijuana retailers would no longer need to have a separate medical cannabis license to serve patients. Recreational retailers would automatically serve as dual licensees. Regulators would no longer be able to issue or renew medical marijuana licenses after January 1, 2024—unless the applicant is located in a jurisdiction that has opted out of permitting adult-use facilities. Medical cannabis patients would be exempt from the state excise tax at recreational retailers.

Source: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/nevada-lawmakers-send-marijuana-omnibus-bill-to-governor-that-would-increase-possession-limits-and-remove-industry-barriers/

New York: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul last week announced new steps to confront the state’s underground marijuana industry and reign in unlicensed cannabis sales. The new measures, which include raids on unlicensed pot shops and seizures of illicit cannabis products, mark the launch of an interagency initiative to address sales of untested marijuana products by unlicensed storefronts and vending trucks, according to a statement released by the governor’s office last week.

Hochul said that enforcement officers from the New York State Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) and the Department of Taxation and Finance (DTF) have begun conducting inspections at storefront businesses not licensed to sell cannabis. Inspectors have reportedly issued Notices of Violation and Orders to Cease Unlicensed Activity, when appropriate, with the governor’s office promising similar action at unlicensed marijuana retailers across the state.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ajherrington/2023/06/12/new-york-regulators-begin-raids-of-unlicensed-marijuana-shops/?sh=4c8e417934ba

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