Latest Cannabis News: March 29, 2022
Latest Cannabis News: March 29, 2022
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
Georgia: Georgia senators are digging in their heels regarding how the state’s medical marijuana program should be operated. On Tuesday, March 22, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee essentially scrapped legislation the Georgia House of Representatives passed aimed at breaking a logjam that has sidetracked the program. Instead, the panel approved the same version the full Senate passed.
Both bills would throw out the selection process a state commission created to oversee the program used to tentatively award licenses last summer to six companies to grow marijuana and convert the leafy crop to low-THC cannabis oil. The process left 16 losing bidders disgruntled and threatening to tie up the process in litigation.
The House version would require the Georgia Department of Administrative Services (DOAS) to issue a new request for bids that an independent consultant would score by the end of this year. The Senate bill would envision a shorter timetable, requiring a do-over from the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission by the end of May without the involvement of the DOAS.
Kentucky: For the second time in three years, the Kentucky House passed a bill last week to legalize and regulate medical marijuana in the state. In 2020, the bill died in the Senate without even a committee hearing or vote. Unless action is taken fast in the Senate Republican caucus, this year’s bill could suffer the same fate.
With six legislative days remaining in the 2022 session, House Bill 136 from Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, has not yet been assigned to any Senate committee.
Texas: The Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments concerning the state’s ban on manufacturing smokable hemp products—the latest development in a drawn-out legal battle on the policy first proposed and challenged in 2020.
At the state Supreme Court hearing on Tuesday, the primary question from justices was whether officials could prove that there was a “rational basis” for the regulation. There were repeated references to a prior court case, Patel vs. the Department of Licensing & Regulation, which found the state had imposed an undue burden on the cosmetology industry with regulations it enacted for commercial eyebrow threading.
Medical
Delaware: Delaware had been a state to look for in 2022 for most likely legalizing recreational cannabis. “In the past two years, we have listened to the concerns from communities that the prohibition of marijuana has negatively impacted to try to undo some of the harm done,” explained Representative Ed Osienski, D, HB 305’s sponsor, before the House vote.
However, this doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. The Delaware House of Representatives failed to achieve a supermajority vote for HB 305, the recreational cannabis legalization bill.
The House needed a ⅗ supermajority to pass the bill. The final vote was 23-14 in favor. Just two votes shy of passing. HB 305 failed to make it out of the Delaware House. The bill is now dead, and lawmakers will have to wait until 2023 to discuss recreational cannabis legalization once again.
Source: https://www.delta8.co/cannabis-bill-fails-in-delaware-despite-majority-support/
New Hampshire: A New Hampshire House committee approved an amended version of a bill to create a state-run marijuana market for adult consumers, sending it to the full House for a second-floor vote.
The House Ways & Means Committee met for the third time in the span of a week on Monday to discuss the proposal and gave it a “do pass” recommendation in a 12-10 vote. There was a fourth meeting to discuss the measure scheduled for this Wednesday when a vote was initially expected, but members decided to go ahead and take action sooner instead.
This legislation already cleared the chamber this month, but because it involved economic components, it needed to go to the Ways & Means Committee before being taken back up on the floor. If the chamber passes it again as amended, it will be transmitted to the Senate.
Rhode Island: A Rhode Island House Committee on Tuesday discussed a bill to legalize marijuana in the state and the governor’s separate budget proposal that includes provisions to end cannabis criminalization and create a regulated market.
The hearing on the pieces of legislation from Rep. Scott Slater (D) and Gov. Dan McKee took place in the House Finance Committee, one week after a separate Senate panel took testimony on an identical companion version of the Slater bill that’s being sponsored by Sen. Joshua Miller (D).
The lawmaker-driven bill was introduced earlier this month following months of negotiations between legislative leaders. McKee released his budget proposal with the legalization components in January.
South Dakota: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem signed six medical marijuana and hemp bills into law, some of which make the MMJ program more restrictive.
In a news release issued Friday, the Republican governor – who has made clear her opposition to marijuana – said the measures are part of her focus to implement “a safe and responsible medical cannabis program.”
The six bills signed into law were:
- Senate Bill 24 imposes a four-plant home cultivation cap, with two of the plants required to be only at the seedling stage. The original law had no home-grow limits. According to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives wanted to prohibit home cultivation entirely. At the same time, Senate Republicans would have been comfortable with a six-plant cap.
- SB 19 enables healthcare facilities such as treatment centers and mental-health centers to put in place restrictions so they’re not forced to store on behalf of or administer medical cannabis to cardholders.
- SB 21 requires regulators to provide a written notice explaining why they revoked a medical marijuana ID card.
- SB 26 added physicians assistants and nurse practitioners to the list of medical professionals eligible to recommend medical marijuana for patients.
- SB 118 requires medical cannabis products to be tested in 50 pounds or fewer batches.
- SB 201 allows hemp manufacturers to temporarily exceed the 0.3% THC statutory limit during certain phases of CBD production.
Recreational
Colorado: A Colorado House committee on Thursday defeated a bill initially meant to protect workers who use marijuana off the job and allow medical cannabis patients to use their medicine at work—even after significantly scaling the legislation back to remove those protections altogether.
At the hearing before the House Business Affairs & Labor Committee, the legislation sponsored by Rep. Edie Hooton (D) was significantly watered down with an amendment adopted by the panel that replaced all of its language with provisions to merely form a task force to explore marijuana employment challenges.
The committee ultimately rejected the amended bill in a 1-12 vote.
Maine: A third medical marijuana bill was approved unanimously in the legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee last week. Some of the issues addressed in the bills include ensuring patient access to telehealth and allowing caregivers to sell plants. It also provides legislative review before the Office of Marijuana Policy enacts a change in administrative rules protecting patient or caregiver privacy.
Paul McCarrier with the Cannabis Council of Maine says these bills will allow the medical marijuana business in Maine to work in a more efficient manner moving forward.
Source: https://www.wabi.tv/2022/03/21/medical-marijuana-bills-move-full-legislature-vote/
New Jersey: New Jersey regulators said they’re not quite ready to start authorizing medical marijuana dispensaries in the state to begin selling to the recreational market—but the governor urged patience, saying those shops will start serving adult consumers in a “matter of weeks.”
Gov. Phil Murphy (D) responded to the news that the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) declined to approve existing dispensaries to start serving the adult-use market, as stakeholders had hoped would be announced at the body’s meeting on Thursday. CRC did, however, separately give conditional approval to 68 marijuana cultivators and manufacturers.
The governor stressed that “equity is a huge part of our proposition here, and I know that may take longer than folks otherwise would like.”
Virginia: Virginia state officials must appoint three oversight boards before marijuana becomes legal for citizens to possess and consume in July, including an industry panel that will be in charge of licensing businesses to cultivate and sell adult-use cannabis starting as soon as January 2024. The three boards are:
- The Cannabis Control Board to oversee business licensing and enforcement. Gov. Ralph Northam will appoint five members.
- A Public Health Advisory Board to advise lawmakers on the public health impacts of legalization. The board will have 21 members and include representatives from the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth, the Medical Society of Virginia, and the Virginia Pharmacists Association.
- A Cannabis Oversight Commission to oversee the entirety of the legalization rollout. The board will be comprised of 10 state lawmakers.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/virginia-creating-trio-of-cannabis-oversight-boards-for-july-rollout/
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