Latest Cannabis News: March 21, 2023
Latest Cannabis News: March 21, 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.
No Legislation
Kansas: Kansas senators have shelved a bill to legalize medical marijuana following a hearing that featured multiple opponents, including state law enforcement representatives.
Members of the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee voted on Thursday to table the legislation, which the panel itself is sponsoring. Following the action, Chairman Mike Thompson (R) said that lawmakers have “bigger fish to fry,” indicating that he’s not interested in taking the proposal back up before the end of the 2023 session.
CBD
Kentucky: The Kentucky Senate approved a bill on Thursday to legalize medical marijuana in the state—a historic first in the chamber of the conservative legislature.
The Senate passed the legislation from Sen. Stephen West (R) in a 26-11 vote on the last possible day of the session to advance bills to the other chamber. Patients with recommendations from doctors or advanced nurse practitioners could qualify to use cannabis if they have cancer, severe pain, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, muscle spasms or spasticity, chronic nausea or cyclical vomiting, post-traumatic stress disorder or any other medical condition or disease which the Kentucky Center for Cannabis deems to be appropriate.
Smoking marijuana would be prohibited, but patients could still access raw cannabis for vaporization. There would be a 35 percent THC cap on flower marijuana products and a 70 percent cap for concentrates. Edibles could not exceed 10 milligrams per serving.
Source: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/kentucky-senate-passes-medical-marijuana-legalization-bill/
Medical
Delaware: A Delaware Senate committee has approved a pair of House-passed bills to legalize marijuana and create regulations for adult-use sales.Both pieces of legislation from Rep. Ed Osienski (D) cleared the Senate Health & Social Services Committee last Wednesday.
Sen. Trey Paradee (D), who is carrying the bill in the Senate, told members of the panel that the state’s existing law that merely decriminalizes low-level cannabis possession is inadequate. Both the simple legalization bill and the sales regulation measure cleared the House this month with more than enough votes to override any potential veto.
In the Senate, the legal possession measure’s next stop is a floor vote, while the commercial bill heads to the Finance Committee first. HB 1 legalization bill would be revised to legalize the possession, use, sharing and purchasing of up to one ounce of cannabis for adults 21 and older. HB 2 regulatory bill would provide a basic framework to create a regulated system of cannabis commerce for adults in the state.
Minnesota: Another Minnesota House committee has approved a bill to legalize marijuana, after members adopted a large-scale amendment to overhaul various provisions of the legislation.
The House Commerce Finance and Policy Committee passed the measure in a voice vote on Monday. The panel, chaired by bill sponsor Rep. Zack Stephenson (D), first took up the legislation in January, but it was always the plan to have the proposal returned to the committee. The overhaul “eliminates some of the cannabis regulations that don’t make sense in the context of a low dose hemp market,” Stephenson told fellow panel members.
Among other changes, the amendment adds two licensing categories for lower-potency hemp edible manufacturers and midsize cannabis firms classified as mezzobusinesses. It also revises provisions on vertical integration and stipulates that hemp business owners and workers are not subject to criminal background check requirements.
New Hampshire: The New Hampshire House of Representatives has approved another bill to legalize marijuana in the state—except this one contains no regulations or limitations on cannabis.
About a month after the House passed a comprehensive legalization, taxation and regulation measure that’s being sponsored by bipartisan leaders, members on Thursday took up the simpler legislation to remove marijuana from the state’s list of banned substances. The simple legalization bill would remove marijuana from the state’s controlled substances list and strike multiple provisions in statute that refer to criminal penalties for cannabis-related offenses.
Recreational
New Jersey: New Jersey is no longer limiting the number of cannabis cultivation licenses, and entrepreneurs are looking forward to supplying the East Coast marijuana market as production ramps up.
However, up-and-coming growers in New Jersey face significant obstacles, including:
- A majority of municipalities that have opted out of permitting cannabis businesses.
- A competitive market for limited, expensive industrial real estate.
- Challenges raising capital in a tough lending environment.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/with-cannabis-cultivator-cap-lifted-growers-face-new-jersey-challenges/
New York: A coalition that includes some of New York’s medical cannabis companies is asking a judge to compel state regulators to open up licensing for all retail dispensary applicants immediately. The complaint, provided yesterday to NY Cannabis Insider and filed today in Albany County Supreme Court, alleges unconstitutional overreach and policymaking, egregious abdication of duties, and actions that put New Yorkers’ health and safety at risk.
The Coalition for Access to Regulated & Safe Cannabis describes itself as “an unincorporated trade association” composed of registered organizations, parties that planned to pursue a dispensary license when the application window first opened, and physicians whose practices have suffered due to the state’s “neglect” of its medical cannabis program.
Washington: A bill proposed in Washington state would add about 100 retail adult-use cannabis dispensary licenses which would be set aside for social equity applicants, KING 5 reports. The measure is backed by the state Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) which recently reported that 92% of cannabis license holders in the state are White and just 4% of retail cannabis licenses went to Black applicants.
The measure is sponsored by State Sen. Rebecca Saldaña (D) who told KING 5 that the state’s cannabis program “really set it up so that the people that can participate were people that had deep pockets or access to a lot of money” and that officials weren’t going to add any new licenses until they “looked at social equity.”
Under the measure, the licenses could be used in any Washington city or county that allows adult-use cannabis sales. The new licenses could be used for retail sales or retail cultivation.
Source: https://www.ganjapreneur.com/washington-bill-would-create-new-social-equity-cannabis-licenses/
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