Federal financial regulators on Monday released updated guidance for banks and credit unions that service hemp businesses. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which is part of the Treasury Department, said that the update is meant to expand on earlier guidance the agency provided following the federal legalization of hemp under the 2018 Farm Bill. The new memo explains changes in reporting requirements and emphasizes that because the crop is no longer a controlled substance, financial institutions don’t have to automatically flag transactions that are from hemp business accounts. “This guidance explains how financial institutions can conduct due diligence for hemp-related businesses, and identifies the type of information and documentation financial institutions can collect from hemp-related businesses to comply with [Bank Secrecy Act] regulatory requirements,” FinCEN wrote. “This clarification is intended to enhance the availability of financial services for, and the financial transparency of, hemp-related businesses in compliance with federal law.” They also emphasized that the notice does not “replace or supersede FinCEN’s previous guidance” on banking for marijuana businesses that was implemented under the Obama administration in 2014. Unlike for marijuana companies, banks and credit unions do not have to automatically file suspicious activity reports, or SARs, solely because a business client is involved in the hemp market. They must still be filed for marijuana-related businesses, however...The regulatory agency also provided clarification on requirements for businesses that are involved in marketing both hemp and marijuana. FinCEN said that “if the proceeds of the businesses are kept separate, or the customer and its financial institution are able to identify which proceeds are marijuana-related and which are hemp-related, then the 2014 Marijuana Guidance, including specific SAR filing, applies only to the marijuana-related part of the business.”
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June 29, 2020
Biden-Sanders Task Force Discusses Marijuana Legalization Recommendation For Former VP
Members of a criminal justice task force created to inform presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign have been discussing marijuana legalization—a policy the former vice president continues to oppose. Most of the group—which consists of advisors appointed by both Biden and former primary rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)—support ending cannabis prohibition, and advocates have held out hope that they would recommend that Biden adopt the policy platform in the run-up to the November election. While some members have publicly talked about the issue since joining the task force, including Linn County, Iowa Supervisor Stacey Walker, who recently commented on the need for reform in light of racial disparities in marijuana criminalization, a new report from Politico appears to be the first confirmation that the group itself is actively considering a formal recommendation on the policy change. “Multiple people said marijuana policy has been discussed on the criminal justice panel, one of the policy groups of the unity task force,” the outlet reported. “Sanders appointees have advocated for legalization. Some Biden appointees personally support legalizing pot and have debated putting the policy in the panel’s recommendations to the former vice president, according to two people familiar with its deliberations.” A majority of panel members appointed from both camps have previously gone on record in favor of legalization. That includes Tennessee Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D), former federal prosecutor Chiraag Bains, former Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, former Attorney General Eric Holder, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Walker. “There’s an opportunity to advance a really bold agenda on criminal justice,” Bains, a Sanders-appointee to the task force, said. “This is part of envisioning a completely different future, not returning to a pre-Trump era. I say that as someone who served proudly in the Obama administration. We just have to be much more aggressive about rooting out systemic racism and injustice in the legal system.”
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Legislation passed this spring decriminalizing marijuana possession offenses and sealing the records of past convictions from public view takes effect on Wed., July 1. “NORML is proud to have worked alongside Senator Ebbin and Delegate Herring, both longtime champions of evidence-based cannabis policy, to bring about these needed changes to Virginia law,” said NORML development director, Jenn Michelle Pedini, who also serves as the executive director of the state affiliate, Virginia NORML. “Virginians have long opposed the criminalization of personal marijuana possession, and the enactment of this legislation turns that public opinion into public policy.” However, Pedini added that additional legislative reforms will continue to be necessary. “While we applaud Governor Northam, his administration, and the legislature for taking this important first step, it’s critical the legislature work swiftly to legalize and regulate the responsible use of cannabis by adults. For too long, young people, poor people, and people of color have disproportionately been impacted by cannabis criminalization, and lawmakers must take immediate steps to right these past wrongs and to undo the damage that prohibition has waged upon hundreds of thousands of Virginians.” Under the new law, activities involving the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana are classified as a civil, not criminal offense – punishable by a $25 fine, no arrest, and no criminal record. Such activities had previously been classified as criminal misdemeanors, punishable by up to 30 days in jail, a criminal record, and the possible loss of driving privileges. In 2018, police made nearly 30,000 marijuana-related arrests in Virginia. The new law also explicitly seals the criminal records related to misdemeanor marijuana possession from employers and school administrators, and defines substances previously considered hashish as marijuana. Twenty-six states additional states and the District of Columbia have either legalized or decriminalized the adult possession and use.
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June 29, 2020
A NY man's journey from busted for growing illegal pot to hosting hemp harvest festival
George Knarich can easily recall the time police officers busted him for growing illegal pot in his backyard. Fast forward four years, and Knarich now has the government’s blessing to grow as much hemp as he can plant on his 20-acre farm in Mount Vision, which is near Oneonta in central New York. The Knarich Family Farm is among more than 400 hemp producers in New York authorized to grow low-THC cannabis crops because of the federal 2018 Farm Bill. The farm played host last October to the 22nd annual New York Harvest Festival and Freedom Fair. Led by festival director and 30-year marijuana activist Rob Robinson, dozens of attendees paraded up the road to Knarich’s hemp field and hand harvested the crop at “high noon” on the festival’s second day. For many among the estimated 1,200 in attendance, gathering on a legal hemp farm for the first time in the festival’s two decades represented progress in the movement to destigmatize cannabis. “We’re getting high in New York,” Robinson told the enthusiastic crowd when announcing a 4:20 p.m. cannabis cup for the next day, during which judges would choose the top cannabis products. Robinson said there was a time he wouldn’t openly advertise the recreational marijuana competition, but now he wasn’t scared. “The government and the media used to call us the counter culture,” he said. “There’s nothing counter of this culture. “This culture is the American culture – as American as apple pie.”
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June 28, 2020
Another Australian State Loosens Weed Laws as the Country Inches Towards Decriminalization
Australian Doctors and GPs in the northern state of Queensland can now prescribe medicinal cannabis to any patient with any condition, following new legislation that was passed last week. The state’s Department of Health announced in a statement last Tuesday that “any registered medical practitioner” could write a prescription for a medical cannabis product—be it plant-based or synthetic—“if they believe it is clinically appropriate” to their patient’s condition and have obtained the required Commonwealth approval. Appropriate conditions can include severe muscular spasms, nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy and/or palliative care, some types of chronic pain not associated with cancer, and some types of epilepsy with severe seizures, according to the statement. “You may apply for other conditions,” the Department adds, “however, you will need to supply clinical evidence with your application for this to be considered.” This clinical evidence must support the use of the proposed cannabis product—whether that be tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), or both THC and CBD in combination—as a treatment for the patient’s condition. In Australia, medical cannabis products are currently classified as either Schedule 4 (Prescription Only Medicine) or Schedule 8 (Controlled Drug) substances, the latter of which it is illegal to possess “without authority”. Prior to the new legislation, only a small group of specialist practitioners who were registered with Queensland Health were allowed to prescribe these products—and they had to apply for each script via the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). Now, as per the Department of Health’s statement, “Queensland doctors can prescribe Schedule 4—cannabidiol (CBD) and Schedule 8—tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or tetrahydrocannabinol: cannabidiol (THC:CBD) products without a Queensland approval”. In short, this makes it much easier for people to get their hands on medicinal weed. That weed can come in the form of vapour, capsules, sprays, or tinctures (oil or alcohol that’s been infused with plant cannabis), although the Department stresses that the smoking of cannabis products will not be approved in Queensland. In the scheme of things, this update to the legislation represents just one small change in how Australian jurisdictions regulate the distribution and use of medical cannabis. But it is indicative of the way in which the nation is slowly shifting towards a more liberal approach—and, in turn, getting ever closer to the potential decriminalisation of the drug. The Australian parliament legalised the growing of cannabis for medicinal and scientific purposes in February 2016, before legalising its the usage at the federal level in November of that year.
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Three members of Congress took to the House floor on Thursday to argue that marijuana reform should not be set aside and forgotten as the body approves policing overhaul legislation. Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) each spoke about the issue prior to the law enforcement bill’s passage. Correa said he supports the broad legislation as a means to combat racial injustices fostered by policing practices. However, “I’d hoped that arrest disparities—especially cannabis-related arrests—would have been part of this measure,” he said. “According to the ACLU, black people are more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession, and in some states, up to 10 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession,” he said. “We can’t ask our police officers to enforce flawed cannabis policy. Cannabis use is a social and medical issue, and not a criminal matter. Let’s not ask our police officers to do the impossible. I ask for reform in cannabis policy immediately.” Three members of Congress took to the House floor on Thursday to argue that marijuana reform should not be set aside and forgotten as the body approves policing overhaul legislation. Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) each spoke about the issue prior to the law enforcement bill’s passage. Correa said he supports the broad legislation as a means to combat racial injustices fostered by policing practices. However, “I’d hoped that arrest disparities—especially cannabis-related arrests—would have been part of this measure,” he said. “According to the ACLU, black people are more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession, and in some states, up to 10 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession,” he said. “We can’t ask our police officers to enforce flawed cannabis policy. Cannabis use is a social and medical issue, and not a criminal matter. Let’s not ask our police officers to do the impossible. I ask for reform in cannabis policy immediately.” Watch Correa discuss the need for marijuana reform as part of the policing bill below: The congressman made similar points during a House Judiciary Committee markup of the policing bill last week, stating that while “cannabis reform in terms of its criminalization will not undo the practices that have led to these demonstrations that we’re seeing today, decriminalizing cannabis will be a major step in the right direction.” Although there are similar use rates among people of different races, black people are much more likely to be arrested and convicted for marijuana offenses than white people are. Police often use the alleged smell of cannabis or the presence of other drugs as a pretext to stop and harass people of color. Blumenauer spoke about his work with Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) on marijuana legalization legislation, which he said “would be the next step repealing Nixon’s blatantly racist prohibition of marijuana with its selective enforcement against young black men—which continues to ensnare tens of thousands of young black men every month for something that Americans think should be legal.” “Let’s approve the MORE Act—already passed out of the Judiciary Committee—the next critical step in racial justice reform and protecting young black men from oppression,” he said.
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Canadian cannabis sales soared at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but not enough to bolster a sector in the throes of reorganisation only two years after the drug was legalised. Fearing a shortage of the dried flower, Canadians rushed to cannabis stores and websites to stock up ahead of what would turn out to be a three-month government-ordered lockdown to slow the spread of Covid-19. Sales jumped almost 20% in March from the previous month and continued at a brisk pace through April, according to the government statistical agency. Classified as an essential service, pot stores remained open while online sales exploded. Industry expert Bradley Poulos, who teaches at Ryerson University in Toronto, said the pandemic has had a positive effect in that the legal market has actually seen an uptick in business. "We saw a transfer of some of the illegal (black market) business over to the legal market during this time," he told AFP. But, he added, that hasn't been enough of a boost for an industry in trouble and still struggling to reach profitability. Canada was the second nation, after Uruguay in 2013, to legalise the recreational use of cannabis. Canadian firms -- including Canopy Growth, Aurora and Tilray -- quickly established themselves as industry leaders, expanding into foreign markets in anticipation of legalisation spreading, for recreational or medical use. They raised billions of dollars from investors, listing on the Toronto and New York stock markets. But the buzz quickly faded.
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Indiana is surrounded by legal marijuana. In Michigan and Illinois, you can legally buy it for recreational use. Ohio allows medical use, and lawmakers in Kentucky are looking to do the same. Governor Eric Holcomb has said publicly that he does not support the legalization of marijuana in Indiana. But more than two-thirds of Hoosiers support the idea. Reporter Katlin Connin spoke to state lawmakers about what would need to happen to bring legal weed to the state.
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Oceanside’s City Council voted 4-1 this week to add the commercial cultivation of recreational marijuana to its list of regulated cannabis businesses. All other businesses such as manufacture, testing and distribution will remain for medical uses only for now, but the council agreed to reconsider in six months whether to allow recreational, also called adult-use, marijuana for them. Opponents say the change continues Oceanside’s gradual creep toward the legalization of all types of cannabis businesses, despite the council’s original stated intention of medical only. Proponents say they are just trying to “level the playing field,” increase the city’s tax revenue and give people fewer reasons to buy from illegal sources.
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June 26, 2020
Kearny puts more limits on medical marijuana
Kearny’s town council passed an ordinance restricting where medical marijuana dispensaries can operate, further limiting a future marijuana industry in the municipality. Under the ordinance, medical dispensaries are now limited to a single industrial zone in South Kearny. Dispensaries are also not be allowed to open within a two-mile radius of each other.
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