Latest Cannabis News: May 18, 2021
Latest Cannabis News: May 18, 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.
CBD
Alabama: Alabama Governor Kay Ivey on Monday signed a medical marijuana bill into law, making it legal for registered patients with qualifying conditions to safely access and use medical cannabis. Alabama is the 37th state in the U.S. to legalize medical marijuana. More than a dozen conditions, including cancer, a terminal illness, depression, epilepsy, panic disorder and chronic pain would allow a person to qualify. The Legislature approved the bill last week.
Source: https://www.wvtm13.com/article/alabama-medical-marijuana-bill-signed-into-law-may-17-2021/36450918#
South Carolina: South Carolina is one of only 14 states that does not allow the medical use of cannabis. Veterans, medical professionals, and other patients and loved ones are pleading with South Carolina lawmakers to put an end to this injustice and pass the S.C. Compassionate Care Act (S. 150 and H. 3361), sponsored by Sen. Tom Davis (R) and Rep. Bill Herbkersman (R). The Senate Medical Affairs Committee advanced S. 150 on March 31, but the bill wasn’t called for a vote before the legislature adjourned on May 13, 2021. However, South Carolina has a two-year legislative session, and the bill sponsor — Sen. Tom Davis (R) — secured a commitment from his colleagues to give the S.C. Compassionate Care Act a Senate floor vote early next year. Meanwhile, Gov. Henry McMaster’s stance on medical cannabis is improving.
Source: https://www.mpp.org/states/south-carolina/
Texas: Texas is a step closer toward expanding its medical marijuana program. The Texas House has passed a bill that would give access to medical marijuana to millions of more people. Records from the Texas Department of Public Safety show 5,413 Texans listed on the state’s Compassionate Use Registry as of May 2021. DPS – which runs the Compassionate Use Program – says 305 physicians are approved to prescribe medical marijuana.
Wyoming: Medical marijuana won’t be allowed on Wyoming’s Wind River Reservation just yet after not enough people were present to vote on the proposal. The Eastern Shoshone General Council lacked a quorum of 75 people to decide the issue Saturday, the Casper Star-Tribune reports. The council plans to reconvene June 12 for another vote on medical marijuana. The reservation’s other tribe, the Northern Arapaho, voted May 8 to decriminalize medical marijuana. The Eastern Shoshone council passed several other resolutions, which are law on the reservation. They include allowing a new medical marijuana commission to regulate tribal-owned cultivation and extraction facilities for cannabis products.
Medical
Arkansas: Arkansans continue to spend almost $900,000 each day on medical marijuana purchases and recently surpassed the $300 million mark in sales, figures released by the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission indicate. Scott Hardin, spokesperson for the Commission, says since the first dispensary opened in mid-2019, Arkansans have spent a total of $303.5 million to purchase 45,286 pounds of medical marijuana. In April, Arkansans spent $18.5 million to purchase 2,517 pounds of cannabis.
Source: https://www.ktlo.com/2021/05/12/arkansas-medical-marijuana-business-breaks-300-million-in-sales/
Louisiana: Louisiana State Representatives have passed a measure that would make possessing 14 grams of marijuana or less a misdemeanor. Taking away the possibility of jail time and reducing the maximum penalty to a $100 fine. A 67-25 vote Tuesday in the Louisiana House marks a momentous step in the state’s effort to loosen restrictions on marijuana use. If approved by the Senate and Governor, jail time could be eliminated for people caught with 14 grams or less of the drug.
Source: https://www.kplctv.com/2021/05/14/louisiana-house-passes-marijuana-decriminalization-bill/
Minnesota: A bill to legalize marijuana in Minnesota that recently passed the House isn’t advancing in the Republican controlled Senate this session—but advocates scored a different kind of victory on Monday when it comes to expanding the state’s medical cannabis program. That includes legalizing smokable forms of marijuana for registered patients. Over the weekend, a bicameral conference committee approved the reform, in addition to several other marijuana-related changes, as part of an omnibus health bill. The House adopted that report on Monday in a 77-57 vote, and the Senate followed suit in a 66-1 vote, sending it to the governor’s desk.
Mississippi: The Mississippi Supreme Court on Friday struck down a medical marijuana initiative that was approved by voters in November — and the ruling is likely to doom other voter initiatives in the state as well. Of the 1.3 million people who cast ballots there in November, more than half — 766,000 — voted to establish a state medical marijuana program. In a 6-3 ruling, the state’s high court held the initiative had to be struck down because of an odd flaw in the state constitution’s voter initiative process.
Missouri: Missouri’s medical marijuana industry is faring well since the first dispensaries opened their doors last October. Today, more than 100,000 patients and caregivers use and purchase medical cannabis in the state. Jack Cardetti, a spokesperson for the Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association, noted that there are already more dispensaries in Missouri than in Illinois. He added that one week in April, the industry generated $3.3 million in sales and that the state is about to reach $40 million cumulatively.
New Hampshire: The New Hampshire Senate ignored the needs of patients, voting 15-9 to “table” the medical cannabis home cultivation bill. This means HB 350 will not be considered unless the Senate votes to remove it from the table (which is extremely unlikely). As a result, home cultivation will remain a felony in New Hampshire, with no exception for registered patients and caregivers. The vote mostly fell along party lines. Seven of the 10 Senate Democrats voted against the hostile motion to table the bill, joined by two of the 14 Senate Republicans. Once again, the three Manchester-area Democratic senators (Kevin Cavanaugh, Lou D’Allesandro, and Donna Soucy) voted against the interests of patients, joining twelve Republicans in support of the motion to table.
Source: https://blog.mpp.org/medical-marijuana/nh-senate-rejects-home-grow-bill-in-15-9-vote/
Ohio: A Medical Board of Ohio panel has added three existing conditions for Ohioans to buy medical marijuana. The panel earlier this year determined that arthritis, chronic migraines and complex regional pain syndrome fall into the existing category of chronic or intractable pain. State residents must obtain a physician recommendation under 22 qualifying conditions and register with the state to become eligible to buy marijuana flower and other products at the state’s 52 dispensaries. The Ohio Board of Pharmacy voted last month to make 73 more dispensary licenses available in a process that is expected to be announced later this year to deal with patient complaints about lack of access and high prices.
Source: https://local12.com/news/local/3-existing-conditions-approved-for-ohio-medical-marijuana
Utah: A state appeals court will not undo a series of marijuana cultivation licenses given out by the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food — despite an audit that recommended it be done over. In a ruling published late Friday, the Utah Court of Appeals declined to disturb a decision not to award JLPR LLC a marijuana cultivation license. The company has been fighting for one since 2019.
West Virginia: The Medical Cannabis Advisory Board in West Virginia is considering a possible recommendation to allow West Virgins to use medical marijuana to grow their own plants. Board members practically met last week to discuss whether patients should be allowed to grow plants, although possible action will be taken at a later date. Governor Jim Justice signed the State Medical Marijuana Act in April 2017 to allow the use of medicinal cannabis plants and products to treat certain medical conditions. Patients have been able to enroll in the program since February.
Recreational
California: California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday his new state budget proposal – called the California Comeback Plan – will include $100 million to alleviate a bureaucratic logjam that has left thousands of marijuana companies with so-called “provisional” business licenses in danger of shuttering at least temporarily. To give marijuana growers, retailers and other companies breathing room, Newsom also plans to introduce a trailer bill to allow regulators to issue provisional cannabis business permits for an added six months, until June 30, 2022. The two moves take aim at a growing problem tied to the provisional licenses, which at some point must be converted to more permanent “annual” licenses.
Colorado: The Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division doesn’t want Delta-8 THC to gain a foothold in dispensaries, and on May 14 notified marijuana business owners that modified or synthetic versions of THC derived from industrial hemp aren’t allowed in this state’s stores.
Michigan: During April, Michigan cannabis sales increased 149% from a year ago to $153.8 million, a 5% increase from March, which had 1 more day, reaching a new all-time high. Michigan generated $985 million in cannabis sales in 2020, and the program should continue to expand this year as supply becomes more available and as distribution expands. So far in 2021, year-to-date combined sales are up 171% to $513.1 million.
Source: https://www.newcannabisventures.com/michigan-cannabis-sales-increase-149-in-april-to-154-million/
New Jersey: Six months after a majority of Lacey voters supported legalizing recreational marijuana for adults, the Township Committee has voted to block all weed businesses — with the exception of medical marijuana firms — from opening within the municipality. The committee passed an ordinance Thursday that blocks cannabis establishments, cultivators, manufacturers, wholesalers, delivery services and other weed businesses from operating in Lacey for up to five years. Medical marijuana businesses will be allowed in certain industrial zones. The prohibition, which could be rescinded sooner, is permitted under New Jersey’s new Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement, Assistance and Marketplace Modernization Act.
New Mexico: New Mexico is officially the 16th state to legalize recreational marijuana, and while it was not the first and most likely won’t be the last to do so, one state official believes New Mexico will “be revolutionary” in the cannabis industry. The legalization came in two pieces of legislation. One law will allow licensed vendors to sell certain amounts of cannabis no later than April 2022. The other law allows for the expungement of records of those convicted of cannabis-related crimes.
Source: https://newmexiconewsport.com/new-mexico-prepares-for-recreational-marijuana/\
New York: New Yorkers can generally count on almost every type of state tax to be among the highest in the country. And many things the state does are often pretty complicated. Take New York’s scheme for taxing recreational marijuana, which became legal month but probably won’t become available for legal sale until some time next year. The state’s proposed marijuana tax is above the average for the 15 or so states that have legalized it so far, many experts say, but it’s not the highest. (Washington state currently takes that honor.) New York, like many states that have legalized marijuana, will combine retail (excise/sales) taxes with some sort of wholesale (production/distribution) tax. The retail marijuana tax will be 13% (that’s down from the 20% initially proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo). But what really sets New York apart is a plan to tie the wholesale tax to the amount of the psychoactive compound THC in the product. Other states have based the wholesale tax on factors like weight or volume.
South Dakota: A South Dakota panel of education standards officials has approved a policy for allowing approved adults to give medical marijuana on school grounds to children whose doctors have prescribed marijuana as a health remedy. Students must be cleared for legal usage under a still-yet-to-be-unveiled Department of Health medical marijuana program and cannot self-administer the medication. A “caregiver,” designated with the school district, must apply a “non-smokable” form. The policy, required by Initiated Measure 26, the medical marijuana push that voters passed last November, was given the greenlight by members of the South Dakota Board of Education Standards at a meeting on Monday, May 17 — just weeks before the medical marijuana law’s effective date of July 1.
Virginia: On March 25, 2021, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed into law new protections for employees related to the medicinal use of cannabis oil. Effective July 1, 2021, the newly enacted § 40.1-27.4 will prohibit employers from disciplining, discharging, or discriminating against an employee for his or her lawful use of cannabis oil so long as the use is pursuant to a valid written certification issued by a health care practitioner for the treatment of the employee’s diagnosed condition or disease. These limited protections for medicinal use of “cannabis oil” should not be confused with broader protections for all forms of “medical marijuana.” Rather, the new law only applies to “cannabis oil,” which has a limited and technical definition under Virginia law: “any formulation of processed Cannabis plant extract, which may include oil from industrial hemp extract acquired by a pharmaceutical processor, or a dilution of the resin of the Cannabis plant that contains at least five milligrams of cannabidiol (CBD) or tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THC-A) and no more than 10 milligrams of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol per dose.
Source: https://www.natlawreview.com/article/virginia-enacts-employment-protections-medical-use-cannabis-oil
No legalization
Idaho: The Idaho Senate on Wednesday passed SB 1150a, legislation designed to prevent those backing an Idaho medical marijuana initiative from collecting signatures in the parking lots of legal pot shops in neighboring states. The bill would require initiative petition signers to be physically present in the state when they sign. Last week, the House passed the bill in a relatively close vote, 35-25, after it was amended to provide narrow exemptions for military members and missionaries. The Senate voted, 25-7, Wednesday to pass the bill, with no debate.
Source: https://idahocann.co/senate-passes-amended-bill-to-ban-signature-gathering-at-pot-shops/
Kansas: Kansas Lawmakers approved medical marijuana legislation in committee, advancing the proposal to the House floor. The Kansas House Federal and State Affairs Committee adopted a series of legislative amendments before advancing the legislation in a vote, 12 to 8 votes in favor. This is the second time the panel has approved the reform proposal for this session. However, in March, the House of Representatives as the Committee of the Whole sent the bill back for further consideration and amendments. According to local media reports, marijuana legalization advocates say that the advancement of House Substitute for Senate Bill 158 would has a greater chance of passing the House floor after discussion.
Nebraska: A proposal to legalize medical cannabis was stopped by a filibuster in the Legislature Wednesday, meaning the issue may be decided by voters next year. The proposal by Sen. Anna Wishart would have legalized cannabis, or marijuana, for a list of medical conditions ranging from cancer to PTSD. Wishart said studies have shown cannabis to help people with those conditions. Sen. Adam Morfeld supported the legislation.
Source: https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/medical-marijuana-bill-stopped-by-filibuster/
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