August 7, 2020
Cannabis company earns provisional licenses for pot shops
New England Craft Cultivators is one step closer to opening two retail marijuana businesses in two different towns. In a press release issued on Thursday, the company announced it had received provisional licenses from the Cannabis Control Commission to open its first official locations in Pepperell and Dracut. The company wants to open a retail marijuana store at 112-114 Main St., home of the previously-vacant Paugus Plaza in Pepperell and 61 Sylvia Lane in Dracut.
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Marijuana advocates and at least one member of the state's Cannabis Control Commission have been urging the agency to allot more funding for efforts to increase diversity in the industry. Meanwhile, state data shows that the commission has annually handed millions of dollars of unused funding back into state coffers every year since it was founded. Last year, the CCC returned 20% of its budget back to the state. While it's not unusual for an agency to return some unused money back to the state at the end of the fiscal year, in fiscal 2018 and 2019, the commission gave back a higher percentage of its budget than any other state agency, according to a Boston Business Journal analysis of the state's comptroller data.
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August 6, 2020
The Importance Of Compliant Cannabis Banking
Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have legalized the sale or use of cannabis. Yet, the federal government is struggling to keep up, and cannabis legislation has been stagnant. As a result, there is no safe harbor in the cannabis industry, meaning there is no legislation that assures the safety of banking cannabis. So, many who enter the cannabis industry have preferred stealthier ways of banking.
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August 6, 2020
Vermont Will Advance Marijuana Sales Legalization Bill Within Weeks, House Speaker’s Office Says
A bill to legalize marijuana sales in Vermont is set to advance during a special session this month or next, a top lawmaker’s office confirmed to Marijuana Moment on Wednesday. While Vermont legalized cannabis possession of up to one ounce and cultivation of two plants in 2018, there is currently no regulatory system in place that allows for retail sales. A bill to establish that program, S. 54, cleared both the House and Senate in differing forms, but now it must move through a bicameral conference committee charged with reconciling the versions into a single proposal to send to the governor.
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August 6, 2020
New Program To Regulate Texas' Hemp Industry
The Texas Department of State Health Services introduced a program to regulate the consumable hemp industry in the state. Consumable hemp products include foods, drugs, devices or cosmetics that contain industrial hemp or hemp-derived cannabinoids, like CBD. As of Aug. 2, those involved in the manufacturing, processing and distribution of consumable hemp are now required to purchase a license for $258 per facility. Plus, retailers who sell consumable hemp have to register each location where the products are sold.
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August 5, 2020
The Medical Cannabis Industry Is Booming In Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico legalized medical cannabis in the summer of 2017. Two months later Hurricane María tore through the island, leaving it in chaos and without electricity for months on end. Political turmoil and earthquakes followed. And this year, the pandemic has wreaked havoc on the population. However, through it all, the medical cannabis industry has managed to thrive, selling an average of $10 million a month in 2020. To date, sales have reached $51.4 million. Last year, sales reached $128.5 million and produced $14 million in taxes.
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August 5, 2020
Ease Up on Cannabis Restrictions, Heart Group Urges
Cannabis should be removed from Schedule 1 of the U.S. Controlled Substances Act so that it can be better researched, according to a statement by the American Heart Association (AHA). Regulators should also start standardizing concentrations of THC and CBD content in recreational and medicinal marijuana, according to the AHA writing group led by Robert Page II, PharmD, MSPH, of University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Denver.
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August 5, 2020
Planning Commission to consider industrial hemp zoning
As the City of Turlock works behind the scenes to get its four retail cannabis dispensaries opened and operating, it’s also looking to cash in on another form of the crop — hemp. The Planning Commission will decide during their meeting on Thursday whether or not to amend the City’s Zoning Code to allow for a City Hemp Program, which would permit industrial hemp manufacturing businesses to operate in approved areas. While hemp was excluded from the City’s regulation of cannabis businesses, one industrial hemp manufacturer who applied to be a part of the Pilot Cannabis Program — approved by the City Council in June 2019 — helped staff realize the potential for more revenue and new jobs in Turlock.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said marijuana is a “therapy that has proven successful” in response to a question about whether cannabis banking provisions are germane to coronavirus relief legislation. Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) filed a bill to federally legalize marijuana and regulate it like tobacco. U.S. Customs and Border Protection would be tasked with developing rules for cannabis imports and exports, and there would be a federal purchasing age limit of 21. A new Louisiana law allowing doctors to recommend medical cannabis for any debilitating condition they see fit took effect. Other new laws that came into force protect banks from being punished by state regulators for working with marijuana businesses, set hemp and CBD rules and provide legal immunity for physicians and hospitals caring for medical cannabis patients. A new study found that marijuana use is associated with “improved sexual desire, arousal, orgasm, and overall satisfaction” for women.
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August 5, 2020
House bill blocks feds from enforcing marijuana ban in states that legalized recreational, medical weed
Illinois has other cannabis-related laws in the pipeline for 2020, including a law that will allow students who are medical marijuana patients to use cannabis
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