Latest Cannabis News: September 22, 2020

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. 

Medical:

Arkansas: Despite the pandemic, the medical marijuana business is booming in Arkansas with $143 million in product sold and more Arkansans than projected obtaining a medical certification. “We projected that when the market was fully mature we’d have about 40 to 50,000 [Arkansans with certification cards]. Well, now we’re at 80,000,” said Scott Hardin, communications director at the Department of Finance and Administration. Over the last few months, many of those certifications expired. With some folks wary of doctor visits right now, the state allowed Arkansans with expired certification cards to continue to purchase at dispensaries.
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Connecticut: A study by UConn’s Center for Economic Analysis estimated that in five years of recreational sales Connecticut could collect anywhere from $784 million to $952 million in new taxes, according to the Hartford Courant. Lead study author Fred Carstensen said that in addition to raising taxes, welcoming the recreational marijuana industry to Connecticut would also add 16,000 jobs to the local economy in five years.
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Florida: A California-based cannabis company known for its celebrity partnerships, colorful marketing and crowd-drawing interiors is headed to Florida. COOKIES, headed up by Bay-area rapper Gilbert Anthony Milan Jr., or “Berner,” has acquired one of Florida’s 22 coveted medical marijuana treatment center licenses and plans to begin business in 2021. A COOKIES spokeswoman declined to disclose details of the deal, including the value of the purchase.
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Iowa: A state-licensed medical marijuana dispensary may open in Iowa City, which would be the first in the Corridor. The Iowa Department of Public Health announced Thursday it plans to award two new medical marijuana dispensary licenses — one to the Iowa Cannabis Company East in Iowa City and one to the Cannabis Patient Network in Council Bluffs. The firms have until Friday to accept. Otherwise, the state could choose among five other applications — including two for Cedar Rapids and two others for the Iowa City area — that met the state’s minimum criteria.
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New York: More than 150,000 people’s marijuana possession convictions in New York state were automatically expunged last summer, effectively sealing them from public view. Now, individuals can go a step further by requesting that conviction-related records—including arrest reports, prosecution records and criminal history—be completely destroyed. The New York State Unified Court System announced the new process in a press release on Friday, outlining the steps people must take in order to request their case records be destroyed. Unlike expungements, which required no action from people with past convictions, requesting the destruction of records means filing an official form with the court where the conviction occurred.
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North Dakota: The North Dakota Department of Health Division of Medical Marijuana’s 2020 fiscal year report shows a significant increase in the number of North Dakotans using medical marijuana. According to the newly released report, from June 30, 2019, through June 30, 2020, there’s been about a 350 percent increase in the number of registered qualifying patients from 707 to 3,233.
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Ohio: Sales per week of medical marijuana continued to inch up in Ohio through the summer, according to an analysis of the latest state figures released this week and current through Aug. 17. Through the end of July and mid-August, sales grew to a range of about $4.9 million to $5 million a week. That’s a slow but steady increase from earlier in the year. Weekly sales were in the $2 million-$3 million range from January to March and have been incrementally growing each month since. About $21.4 million of marijuana was sold in July, which set a record for most sales in a month since dispensaries opened in January 2019.
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Oklahoma: Florida-based cannabis traceability company Metrc locked down the contract for Oklahoma’s medical marijuana program, bringing the firm’s total track-and-trace pacts to 14 states and the District of Columbia. All marijuana businesses in Oklahoma will be required to either integrate with or input their information into Metrc. The implementation is expected to take six months for the state’s almost 10,000 licensees. The contract creates a system to track cannabis plants and products from seed to sale as part of the office’s move toward greater accountability and safety.
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Recreational:

California: Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill late last week into law that prohibits the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration from adjusting the cannabis excise tax markup amount until July 1, 2021. The bill also prohibits the cultivation tax rates for the 2021 calendar year from being adjusted for inflation, unless that adjustment would result in an inflation rate less than zero.
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Illinois: Governor JB Pritzker said Illinois is making changes to the recreational marijuana dispensary application process. The process has been criticized for shutting out minority applicants. Now, businesses that scored below a certain level on their application will get a chance to make changes, then file again. Two Black-owned businesses that were passed over sued, saying only “politically-connected insider companies” won lottery spots and alleging scoring inconsistencies.
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Massachusetts: A Massachusetts cannabis company filed suit against the state, alleging that unnecessary delays on one of its business licenses has cost it $1.2 million. The suit alleges that Northeast Alternatives’ application was finalized Feb. 20, when the town of Lakeville notified the commission that the company had completed all local requirements. The commission then, under state law, had 90 days to act on the application.
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Oregon: The sudden wildfires that torched more than 1 million acres across Oregon this month completely destroyed at least seven marijuana businesses and damaged at least dozen more, according to preliminary state survey data. Marijuana has rapidly grown into a major Oregon industry, with sales topping $100 million a month during the pandemic. Oregon sales were up 41% through August and are on track to top $1 billion for the first time.
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Vermont: A bill to legalize marijuana sales in Vermont and another to provide automatic expungements for cannabis convictions are heading to the governor’s desk following a final Senate vote on Tuesday. The legislation, which previously passed both chambers in differing forms, was recently merged into a compromise by a bicameral conference committee and then sent back to both chambers of the legislature for consent. The House of Representatives approved the negotiated legislation last week and the Senate followed suit with a 23-6 vote. After the language undergoes final formatting from legislative counsel, the bill will be formally transmitted to the desk of Gov. Phil Scott (R).
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