Latest Cannabis News: March 5, 2024
Latest Cannabis News: March 5, 2024
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 Legalization
Kansas: “There’s a bill being worked on that should be introduced here in the next week or two,” said Masterson, an Andover Republican. “I’m being told it has all these conservative features. We will likely hear it. See what’s in it. And, see where we go from here.”
Masterson said there was an advantage to a pilot program because it was easier to draw to a close than it would be to repeal a statute initiating a medical cannabis industry.
CBD
Indiana: In 2023, House Bill 1297, authored by Rep. Heath VanNatter, R-Kokomo, made history by actually getting a legislative hearing. That bill would have decriminalized possession of two ounces or less of marijuana.
Advocates and legislators who support decriminalization, or legalizing marijuana for recreational or medical uses, held out hope that the legislative momentum would continue in 2024.
That didn’t prove to be the case.
This year, there were 10 marijuana-related bills filed in the Indiana House and Senate.
None made it out of committee.
Medical
Florida: Pointing to a need for education, a handful of the state’s medical marijuana operators have formed a trade association designed to “foster a thriving medical marijuana industry.”
Members of the new Florida Medical Marijuana Trade Association include some of the state’s largest pot companies.
The group’s president is Chris Ferguson, a former director of the state Office of Medical Marijuana Use who now is a vice president of Verano Holdings, which operates in Florida as MuV.
Hawaii: Two legislative committees last week approved a bill to legalize recreational marijuana in Hawaii, leaving the measure one step away from approval in the state Senate. The legislation, Senate Bill 3335, was approved by the Senate Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee on Friday. The next step before final approval of the bill in the Hawaii Senate is a floor vote by the full body, which could come as soon as this week, according to a report from online cannabis news source Marijuana Moment. The legislation is subject to a March 7 deadline to cross over to the House of Representatives, suggesting the Senate floor vote is likely to occur this week.
Kentucky: The medical marijuana trade in Kentucky will officially launch on New Year’s Day of 2025. But before then, there’s still a lot that the state needs to sort out, the Louisville Courier Journal reported. Although an initial set of industry regulations was released in January, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services must still put finishing touches on industry regulations, which are still in the works and may not be done for several more months, an agency spokesman told the Courier Journal. For instance, it’s not yet clear if the state will cap the number of MMJ businesses allowed to operate. The law which created the program doesn’t have a limit on dispensaries, growers, or other business types. The state legislature also needs to approve the rules, and a public comment period is on the calendar for March 25.
Source: https://www.greenmarketreport.com/kentucky-sets-launch-date-for-medical-marijuana-sales/
New Hampshire: With the passage of H.B. 1633, which would legalize, tax, and regulate cannabis, New Hampshire may be on its way to becoming the twenty-fifth state to legalize adult-use cannabis. Under H.B. 1633, adults aged twenty-one and over would be able to purchase and possess up to four ounces of cannabis flower, ten grams of cannabis concentrate, or up to 2,000 milligrams of THC from one of fifteen licensed dispensaries in the state.
While the bill was passed with bipartisan support in the House, it is uncertain whether the New Hampshire Senate will go along. One of those restrictions was to limit the number of dispensaries in the state to fifteen, which H.B. 1633 does.
Source: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/another-brick-in-the-wall-new-hampshire-3379093/
Recreational
Delaware: The Delaware lawmaker behind the state’s marijuana legalization law says he will be introducing cleanup legislation in the coming days to help “get the industry up and running” as regulators continue to propose rules and consider the possibility of letting existing medical cannabis dispensaries start selling to adult consumers sooner. One area the forthcoming cleanup bill will address is residency requirements for marijuana businesses. Currently, the law limits licensees to established Delaware residents, but the commissioner has raised concerns about the possibility of litigation from multi-state operators challenging that requirement, as has played out in other states. In the meantime, the commission has already put forward two rounds of proposed regulations covering the adult-use licensing process, advertising, transportation and more. The plan is to release the complete regulatory proposal for public comment in May and have them finalized by July 11.
As it stands, Coupe has said that retail marijuana sales in the state may not start until March 2025, four months later than initially planned.
Maryland: A new lawsuit filed against The Maryland Cannabis Administration threatens to delay the lottery after another separate lawsuit failed to get an injunction in February.
A previous lawsuit filed by Jeffery Jensen, a lawyer with a history of bringing social equity lawsuits against states, failed to get an injunction last month. Andrew Garrison, chief of the office of policy and government affairs at MCA, testified that the “[a]dministration anticipates that the cannabis license lottery will occur during or near the first week of March 2024.”
Virginia: Virginia lawmakers passed legislation Wednesday that if approved by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin would allow recreational retail sales of marijuana to begin next year. Under the bills, the state would start taking applications on Sept. 1 for cultivating, testing, processing and selling the drug in preparation for the market to open May 1, 2025, with products taxed at a rate of up to 11.625%. The legislation would create the state’s first retail market in a “responsible and thoughtful way,” said Del. Paul Krizek of Fairfax County, who carried the House version. It’s not entirely clear how Youngkin will act on the legislation, which passed both the House of Delegates and Senate on Wednesday after a few last-minute changes. The governor hasn’t explicitly threatened to veto a retail sales bill. But for years he has been vague on the issue, saying his focus was elsewhere or — as he did at the start of this session — that he just isn’t interested. Under the legislation, no group would get a head-start on kicking off retail sales, Krizek said. Krizek said this version contains preferences for certain micro-businesses, a provision intended to encourage participation in the industry by individuals from historically economically disadvantaged communities.
The Cannabis Business Advisors have more than thirty years of combined industry experience, spanning across the U.S. and around the globe. C.B. Advisors offers a comprehensive suite of services, including application and licensing preparation, operational analysis, merger and acquisition support, policy and procedures, exit strategy guidance, and business development planning.
Contact Info@thecannabisbusinessadvisors.com for more information on how to apply for a cannabis business license.
YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN
