Latest Cannabis News: March 2, 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: The Idaho Senate has passed a resolution that bans the production, sale, and possession of cannabis in the state. The decision is in sharp contrast to what lawmakers and voters are doing in other states. If passed by the Idaho House of Representatives by a two-thirds margin, the measure would go in front of voters on the midterm election ballot. If passed by voters, it would effectively prohibit cannabis legalization in the state, even if voters later approved it.
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Kansas: A bill championed by the governor of Kansas to legalize medical marijuana and use the resulting revenue to expand healthcare was officially introduced on Wednesday. The move comes as lawmakers held back-to-back hearings on separate reform legislation this week. Gov. Laura Kelly (D) has pushed for legalizing medical cannabis and using that revenue to support Medicaid expansion, and now Rep. Brandon Woodard (D) has filed a measure to do just that. He introduced it in the House Federal & State Affairs Committee, where members heard testimony on the separate legalization bill on Wednesday and Thursday.
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Nebraska: The debate over medical marijuana will soon go back before Nebraska state senators. It appeared a vote by the people would decide the matter last November, but the Nebraska Supreme Court stepped in. Opponents of medical marijuana fear it will open the door to laws for full-scale use and hurt young people. Supporters offered their own warning that it’s just a matter of time before that happens. The bill to legalize medical cannabis, LB 474, will go before the judiciary committee on March 10.
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CBD:

Alabama: Alabama senators took only about 15 minutes this afternoon to pass a bill to regulate the production, sales and use of medical marijuana. The legislation would still have to pass the House of Representatives to become law. On a 21-8 vote, the Senate passed the bill by Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence. It would allow doctors to recommend medical cannabis products for a broad range of conditions such as anxiety, nausea, chronic pain, and sleep disorders.
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South Carolina: State and local groups supporting the South Carolina Compassionate Care Act say medical marijuana can save veteran lives. Right now the bill is in the hands of the state and some veterans are urging lawmakers to pass it. Senators proposing the bill say medical marijuana would be tightly regulated, if passed, allowing up to 14 days of medicine when prescribed by a doctor. It would also be required to be taken orally by oil and vape or applied topically on the skin.
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South Dakota: Senators approved House Bill 1203 Monday afternoon, which proactively lays groundwork for banks and their subsidiaries to work with any person that acquires an industrial hemp or marijuana license, if leg at the state level. The legislation passed with 33 votes in favor and two opposed. Additionally, the legislation allows marijuana shops and hemp farmers to use more than just cash in their business transactions.
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Texas: Medical marijuana users in Texas can now take cannabis in the form of gummies. Surterra Texas— a Texas-based marijuana company — launched its line of cannabis-infused edibles in the Lone Star state at the end of January to provide patients with increased amounts of THC in a less intimidating form, said Marcus Ruark, the company’s president. Additionally, medical marijuana advocates in Texas are pushing legislators to expand the program to include those who have PTSD.
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Wyoming: Wyoming activists and politicians are preparing to push for medical cannabis to implemented in that state and are looking at Utah’s newly-created medical cannabis program for ideas on what to do — and what not to do. Christine Stenquist, a backer of the original ballot initiative that legalized medical cannabis in Utah, has been traveling to Wyoming to help mobilize advocates and get legislation off the ground.
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Medical:

Arkansas: Arkansas’ circuit judges are responsible for deciding whether people on probation may use marijuana for medical purposes, leaving judges to weigh the potential impacts on public safety and a probationer’s health. Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren has wrestled with the decision a few times in the past year. He recently had to decide whether a woman, who was pleading guilty to a drug crime, would be permitted to use medical marijuana while on probation.
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Florida: After voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment broadly legalizing medical marijuana in 2016, the Republican-controlled Legislature grudgingly laid out a framework for a cannabis industry that has since drawn hundreds of thousands of patients. A pair of new legislative proposals would place a 10 percent THC cap on smokable marijuana and limit THC levels to 16 percent in other medical-marijuana products, excluding edibles. THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the main psychoactive component of marijuana that makes users feel high.
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Iowa: State legislators are looking at lowering the penalty for possessing small amounts of marijuana to a simple misdemeanor on a first offense, but Republicans say legalization is not an option. Under a bill that cleared a Senate Judiciary subcommittee Tuesday on a 3-0 vote, a first-offense possession of 5 grams or less of marijuana in Iowa would become a simple misdemeanor punishable by 30 days in jail and a fine of between $105 and $855. Currently, the offense is a serious misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
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Minnesota: A second Minnesota House committee approved a bill on Tuesday that would legalize marijuana in the state—though several other panels are expected to take up the legislation over the course of the next few weeks before it reaches the floor. House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (D), Speaker Melissa Hortman (D) and other lawmakers filed the measure earlier this month. It would allow adults 21 and older to purchase and possess up to 1.5 ounces of cannabis and cultivate up to eight plants, four of which could be mature.
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Missouri: The majority of Missouri’s medical marijuana businesses recently have been granted extensions after failing to meet a one-year operating deadline, state authorities told the News-Leader this week. That means roughly 260 out of 370 licensed marijuana companies won’t have to be open for business until as late as September, rather than one year from the time they were licensed as required under state regulations, authorities said.
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New Mexico: One day after New Mexico’s House of Representatives passed legislation to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older, a Senate panel held a Saturday hearing to take initial testimony on three competing legalization bills introduced in that chamber. The committee did not vote on any of the measures, instead using the hearing to compare the various Senate proposals to one another as well as to the House-passed legislation, HB 12. “I think we’re just trying to get a feel for these four bills,” said Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee Chairman Benny Shendo Jr. (D), who led the hearing.
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North Dakota: The Republican-controlled House has passed legislation to legalize recreational marijuana in North Dakota. Lawmakers also passed a related bill setting up a tax policy for marijuana. Both bills now go to the Senate. The legislation restricts recreational marijuana to people 21 and older, limits possession to 1 ounce, restricts its use to private property and bans growing it at home. The bill to legalize and restrict recreational marijuana mirrors much of the state’s medical marijuana program, which the 2017 Legislature implemented after voters approved it in 2016.
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Pennsylvania: The next state to legalize marijuana for adults may well be Pennsylvania, where two top state lawmakers introduced a bipartisan legalization bill on Wednesday. It would legalize adult-use cannabis for adults 21 and over, decriminalize a yet-to-be-determined amount of marijuana, and could raise as much as $1 billion in tax revenue for the state, the pair said in a statement. If passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf—who has repeatedly said that legalizing marijuana is a top priority—the bill would also expunge past non-violent marijuana convictions, set aside business licenses for minorities and victims of the drug war, and allow “limited home grow” for medical-marijuana patients.
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Virginia: Virginia lawmakers approved a bill Saturday that would legalize the sale and recreational use of marijuana — but not until 2024. Lawmakers in both the House and Senate passed the bill in a Saturday legislative session in a party line vote of 48 to 43 in the House and 20 to 19 in the Senate. The legislation would legalize the use of cannabis by people over the age of 21 starting in 2024, when retail markets would be established. The law would also allow possession of up to an ounce by anyone over 21 and establishes a state agency to oversee regulation of the cannabis market. Gov. Ralph Northam — who announced his intentions to legalize marijuana use late last year — is expected to sign the measure into law.
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Recreational:

Arizona: Mason Cave, a board member of the Arizona Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, is suing the state of Arizona. Cave said he tried to submit applications to open up dispensaries in some of these rural communities at least eight times in the last 2-3 years. Each time, the Arizona Department of Health Services staff refused to accept his applications telling him they were not accepting any applications at this time. He added that the Arizona state supreme court was very specific in a ruling made during the summer of 2020 stating the state must open up the licensing process under two circumstances. First, if a county had no dispensary at all. Second, if the ratio was below one medical marijuana dispensary for every ten traditional pharmacies in the area.
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California: A new bill introduced in the state legislature seeks to prohibit California workplaces from using evidence of past marijuana use — such as that gathered during a urine or hair test — as a reason to deny someone a job. The effort comes five years after Californians voted to legalize recreational weed. But for many seeking jobs in state government, cannabis use can be an obstacle to getting hired. Job applicants in the private sector who use marijuana on their personal time can also be disqualified.
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Maine: Maine’s marijuana regulators are looking to align the state’s medical marijuana program with state laws. The marijuana policy office has filed a proposed rule with Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and must now conduct a public hearing and written comment period. The public hearing will be March 22 and it will be conducted via Zoom.
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Massachusetts: Massachusetts health-care providers may continue registering new medical cannabis patients via telehealth appointments instead of in-person visits, state regulators announced, citing the risk of exposure to the COVID-19 virus. The state initially allowed expanded telehealth services, including clinical visits for new medical marijuana certifications, last March as a result of the pandemic and will extend the services, according to a bulletin posted Tuesday by the Cannabis Control Commission.
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Michigan: Michigan’s recreational cannabis market will open up to new competition beginning March 1, when applicants for multiple classes of adult-use marijuana licenses will no longer require an active medical MJ permit to be eligible. The state’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) reminded the industry of the licensing eligibility change in a news release issued Friday. The MRA said new license applications and instructions will be updated on its website on Monday, and previous versions of the applications will no longer be accepted.
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Nevada: After years of legislative failures, marijuana consumption lounges soon could take root in Nevada. Assemblyman Steve Yeager, D-Las Vegas, is sponsoring a bill in the Legislature that would legalize cannabis social use venues, a move that would give tourists an avenue to legally consume marijuana. “We just need to provide that kind of venue so people can do it responsibly and do it the right way, if they so choose,” Yeager said.
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Vermont: Retail marijuana will be on the ballot in some 20 Vermont communities this Town Meeting Day, including Burlington, Montpelier, Brattleboro, Winooski, and Waterbury. You won’t be seeing any dispensaries or retail stores pop up by next week, or even the end of this year. “This is literally the first step in the process,” said Gwynn Zakov, policy advocate for the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. “So we won’t even see any applications let alone operations to set up in a brick and mortar setting until 2022.”
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