March 8, 2020
Marijuana legislation rolling along
About one-third of the marijuana-related bills introduced in the state Legislature this year have successfully passed the halfway point before possibly becoming law. Thursday marked the deadline for all bills to cross over into their nonoriginating chamber — that is, for Senate bills to be heard by the House and vice versa. Now, after 21 marijuana-related bills were introduced this year, nine have passed that milestone. None of the surviving bills propose to change anything about marijuana’s current legality in Hawaii. Last year, the state partially decriminalized possession of marijuana, but none of the 2020 bills proposing to fully decriminalize it or recriminalize it have survived. Instead, most of the remaining bills would make minor changes to the existing medical marijuana program, generally making medical cannabis potentially available to more people. For example, one Senate bill allows the Department of Health to allow dispensaries to deliver cannabis products to patients, while another would allow medical marijuana products to be covered by health insurers, and another would prohibit employers from discriminating against medical marijuana patients. Five of the remaining six bills would: allow naturopathic physicians to prescribe medical marijuana, allow primary caregivers and out-of-state patients to access dispensaries, allow dispensaries to distribute cannabis plant cuttings, allow dispensaries to distribute edible products, and require labels on hemp products. The final surviving bill is one of two introduced in the House this year attempting to convert the state’s current industrial hemp pilot program — which has awarded 44 licenses to hemp growers statewide since 2018, including 19 on the Big Island — into a full permanent industry. A similar bill attempting to do the same last year was killed at the last minute by a veto from Gov. David Ige. “I think it will make it through the House and the Senate, but the problem is going to be the governor,” said Rep. Richard Creagan of Kailua-Kona, who co-introduced the failed 2019 hemp bill and the two House hemp bills this year. “This year, we’re going to talk to him about the bill while we can still make changes to it so we can know what his issues with it are.” Creagan’s other hemp bill this year died in committee, but key aspects of its language were transferred into the surviving bill, so it’s failure did not worry him, he said. As currently written, the hemp bill would require the state to set up a statutory framework to monitor and regulate a hemp industry in the state and remove hemp from the state’s prohibitions against marijuana, among other things. Creagan said this year is the last before the current hemp pilot program expires, whereupon the U.S. Department of Agriculture will provide Hawaii a generic hemp program if the state does not devise one itself.
Learn more
Making a milestone as the first marijuana dispensary to open through the Cannabis Control Commission’s economic empowerment program, the owners of Pure Oasis are hoping their business can help create an “energy around entrepreneurship.” Pure Oasis is opening its doors Monday in the Grove Hall neighborhood of Dorchester, not only the first economic empowerment business but also Boston’s first dispensary. Part of a program that was created to give priority to people disproportionately harmed by the war on drugs, the opening of Pure Oasis is a significant step in Massachusetts’ growing marijuana industry. With this milestone, co-owners Kobie Evans and Kevin Hart hope to spark a new energy around the Blue Hill Avenue dispensary. “Not only do we want to come to the neighborhood and create jobs and financial opportunities, we also want to create this energy around entrepreneurship,” Hart said. “So we hope that because we look like the community, people within the community will look at us and sort of take from us what we’ve done and do things similar.” The pair have hired employees from the neighborhood ahead of the 11 a.m. opening on Monday. Pure Oasis currently has 34 employees and plans to hire as many as 50 people. The owners said they encourage people of all backgrounds to apply. “Most of our employees come from our immediate neighborhood," Evans said Friday inside the Pure Oasis dispensary as some of those employees prepped for Monday’s opening. Being able to share the experience of opening a business centered around equity and community is something special for the two. “Being a minority from the neighborhood, I think we both kind of had a dream where we would have the opportunity to work at a business like that,” Evans said. And if the roles were reversed, Evans said he and Hart would want the opportunity to work at a business like there’s, with equity at its core. When marijuana was legalized in 2016, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh had been against the measure. But standing alongside Hart and Evans inside Pure Oasis on Friday, Walsh noted that he’s learned about all the benefits a marijuana business can bring to the city. The opening of a business centered around equity is what Walsh said he believes was at the heart of many voters who approved marijuana legalization. “I’m proud that Boston is now home to the first economic empowerment operator in the state and one of the first in the entire country,” Walsh said. “Like all businesses, Pure Oasis is going to create new jobs. It’s going to bring economic activity into our neighborhoods. It’s going to attract customers."
Learn more
March 6, 2020
Should state finance marijuana businesses?
AS FANTASTICAL as the idea sounds, a bill that would establish a state-backed loan fund to help marijuana businesses was reported favorably out of a legislative policy committee this week. Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, a Boston Democrat and advocate for minority communities who chairs the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy, said the fund could be “a critical and efficient step” in helping communities harmed by the war on drugs, where many entrepreneurs lack financial backing. Small and minority entrepreneurs have so far struggled to gain a foothold in an industry dominated by multi-state medical marijuana companies. “Many talented small businesses and individuals are waiting in the wings, ready to provide value to the market and build wealth in their communities, if they can just get a foot in the door with start-up capital,” Chang-Diaz said. Traditional business loans generally are not available to marijuana entrepreneurs, since banks are subject to federal regulations and marijuana remains illegal federally. Cannabis Control Commission chairman Steve Hoffman, a former Bain and Co. consultant, has long been exploring the idea of some kind of state-backed financing source for marijuana businesses. At one point, Hoffman floated the idea of a state-run bank that marijuana businesses can use, but the Boston Globe reported that Gov. Charlie Baker – who initially opposed marijuana legalization – quickly responded that he had no plans to create one. The legislation envisions a “Cannabis Social Equity Loan Trust Fund” that would make no-interest loans to economic empowerment applicants and social equity program participants – groups of marijuana entrepreneurs who are generally Massachusetts residents from communities disproportionately affected by enforcement of marijuana laws, including racial minorities, people with drug arrests, and people living in areas with high drug arrest rates. The loan fund would get up to 10 percent of the revenue collected by the state’s marijuana excise tax, and that money would have to be matched by private donations. The most obvious source of those donations would be larger marijuana companies who are required by state law to implement social impact plans. The bill would also codify into law the Cannabis Control Commission’s social equity program, which offers technical assistance to equity applicants. The Cannabis Control Commission had requested that lawmakers create such a fund. Commission officials wrote in a letter to legislators that a number of marijuana businesses already have funds in escrow waiting to contribute to such a fund, and others have expressed willingness to donate. Another request made by the CCC – to require municipalities to prioritize social equity applicants – was not included in the bill. The bill is moving forward days before Monday’s opening of the state’s first marijuana store run by an economic empowerment applicant – Pure Oasis, which will also be the first store to open in Boston. Pure Oasis is planning a press conference Friday with Hoffman and Mayor Marty Walsh, another former opponent of marijuana legalization, who has been criticized for the slow pace of the industry’s rollout in Boston.
Learn more
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recently acknowledged in a report that state-level marijuana legalization reduces instances of illegal interstate trafficking. In its performance budget submission to Congress for fiscal year 2021, DEA gave an overview of its enforcement efforts and made predictions about future trends. Buried within the document is a subtle admission that giving consumers legal access to cannabis means that demand for marijuana products sourced from the illegal market decreases. DEA said “after the 2017 legalization of medical marijuana in Florida resulted in retail distribution centers throughout the [area of responsibility], the legalization of low-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (10%) smokeable medical marijuana in March 2019 is anticipated to lead to a growing market for Florida-sourced low-THC marijuana.” “Yet, until high potency marijuana becomes legalized in Florida, we believe the impact will be minimal on the demand for high-THC marijuana from California and other states,” it continued. “Until then, the potential for abusing current law remains a possibility due to the difficulty in detecting THC potency by law enforcement.” The acknowledgement seems to be two-parted. Not only is DEA recognizing the simple fact that people tend to prefer obtaining marijuana through legal channels, thus disrupting the illicit market, but the agency also uses the operative word “until” when discussing the prospects of adult-use legalization in the state. Justin Strekal, political director of NORML, told Marijuana Moment that DEA’s conclusion is “obvious.” “Just as the practice of bootlegging moonshine declined after the legalization of alcohol, so too would the smuggling of illicit market marijuana in a legal, regulated state,” he said. It’s a trend that “we’ve seen in practice for years in states all across the country.” Strekal also observed that the word “until”—rather than “if,” for example—shows that the Justice Department is cognizant of what’s increasingly viewed as the inevitability of legalization. “Their framing clearly indicate that the days of prohibition are nearly over,” he said. “We are living through the death rattles of prohibition.” In Florida, a campaign to put cannabis legalization on the state’s ballot pushed back its timeline over complications related to the signature gathering deadline, and it will now pursue a reform initiative for 2022 rather than this year. Federal data on Border Patrol drug seizures seems to bolster the idea that cannabis legalization at the state level has reduced demand for the product from the illicit market. According to a 2018 report from the Cato Institute, these substantial declines are attributable to state-level cannabis reform efforts, which “has significantly undercut marijuana smuggling.” Additionally, legalization seems to be helping to reduce federal marijuana trafficking prosecutions, with reports showing decreases of such cases year over year since states regulated markets have come online. In his annual report on the judiciary last year, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts also noted reduced federal marijuana prosecutions—another indication that the market for illegally sourced marijuana is drying up as more adults consumers are able to buy the product in legal stores. The head of the labor union that represents U.S. Border Patrol agents also acknowledged last month that states that legalize marijuana are disrupting cartel activity.
Learn more
There’s just 242 days until legal weed finally gets its day at New Jersey’s ballot box, and while many are optimistic the measure will pass, they caution against complacency. “Despite the favorable polling, we are not granted with certainty that it will pass,” said Jackie Cornell, chief of policy and health innovations at 1906. “There is a lot work we, as a community, still need to do to educate voters. Statistically, we know that voters don’t always go down ballot, where the ballot question is.” Cornell, a former principal deputy commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health, is slated to appear alongside Elise Grosso, director of the Cannabis Voter Project, and Sarah Fajardo, policy director of the Garden State branch of the ACLU at the NJ Cannabis Insider Live event March 10 to take part in a panel focused on voter activism. The event, presented by Curaleaf NJ, also counts on 1906 as a supporting sponsor. The state legislature took a few runs at legalizing marijuana over the past year, but ultimately fell short of votes in the Senate. The two houses voted instead late last year to pose the question to voters in the form of a ballot referendum in November. Some two-thirds of voters have said they support legalization, and many expect 2020 will bring a large swath of Democratic voters to the polls. But education and activism will still play a role in pushing legal weed over the finish line, experts say. The ACLU plans to focus on working with lawmakers on a decriminalization bill and enabling legislation that will focus on social and racial justice issues over the next few months, while also making sure they encourage people to turn out and vote. While fewer (and lacking in funds) compared to the legal weed coalition, groups like SMART have vowed to fight against the ballot question. Their efforts Grosso, of the Cannabis Voter Project, said her organization mobilizes people by registering new voters and educating them, chipping away at misinformation and also connecting them to their representatives. HeadCount, a voter registration organization, found the Cannabis Voter division after seeing how legalization could bring first-time voters to the polls. The organization often tables at targeted events, like concerts. When someone says they have never voted, or do not care about an election’s outcome, Grosso said they ask: “What is something you care about that will make you vote?” “We’re really trying to use cannabis as a gateway to democracy, to have people become more involved in the process,” she said. “As there are more states that have legalized cannabis, there is data to support it’s an issue that will bring people to the polls.” Cornell echoed the sentiment. “A lot of people don’t actually know that it’s on the ballot, so there’s a lot of education that needs to be done there. We need to engage with the public to make sure they go to the polls.”
Learn more
A bill passed Thursday clearing up who is allowed to possess hemp following questions created by legislation enacted last year. The state’s 2019 hemp farming law caused an unintended quandary for Georgia prosecutors. Some, including Gwinnett County Solicitor Brian Whiteside, decided to stop prosecuting misdemeanor marijuana cases because the hemp plant and marijuana are virtually identical. House Bill 847 requires people to have farming or processing licenses in order to possess hemp in Georgia, but does not tie criminal consequences to those found with the substance unlicensed. An earlier version of the bill had criminal penalties identical to those for misdemeanor marijuana possession. Because the penalties were removed from the bill, it would not fully resolve the questions some prosecutors have raised, said Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Nelly Miles. The key difference between hemp and marijuana is the level of THC, the chemical that produces the high associated with marijuana. Law enforcement agencies didn’t have technology to test THC levels and the GBI only accepts felony quantities for THC testing. Legally grown hemp can have no more than 0.3% THC.In theory, a defendant charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession could argue they simply had hemp. Because last year’s bill to allow hemp farming didn’t explicitly address the legality of hemp possession by everyday residents, Whiteside and Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said it legalized hemp by default. Without the ability to prove what was hemp and what was marijuana, there wasn’t enough evidence to make convictions, the prosecutors argued.Gwinnett was the first county to halt misdemeanor marijuana prosecution, with counties including Cobb, DeKalb and Richmond following. Police departments in counties including Gwinnett, Cobb and DeKalb stopped making misdemeanor marijuana arrests because they would not be prosecuted. Some officers even gave suspects their marijuana back.This interpretation was not universally adopted, and solicitors in counties including Hall and Cherokee reaffirmed their commitment to prosecuting misdemeanor marijuana cases.HB 847, sponsored by Rep. John Corbett, R-Lake Park, also puts Georgia in compliance with federal hemp regulations and explicitly allows colleges to process and research hemp.The bill passed 157-9 and must be approved by the Senate before reaching the governor’s desk.
Learn more
The Wyoming House of Representatives passed Senate File 55 on third reading during their Friday, March 6 floor session. The legislation aims to establish fees for inspection the ensure hemp produced in Wyoming is not considered marijuana and fees for disposal of the crop or hemp products. The House passed the bill on a vote of 40-18: Since the House have adopted amendments different from the version of the bill passed by the Senate on third reading, the bill will return to the Senate for a concurrence vote. The House amended the bill on second reading. Hemp can legally be produced in Wyoming so long as it does not exceed 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on a dry weight basis. When the plant exceeds that amount of THC, it is considered marijuana, a controlled substance illegal under state and federal rules. In order to ensure that hemp produced in Wyoming does not exceed the 0.3% THC content limit, producers are required to allow the Wyoming Department of Agriculture to test their crops. The proposed bill would establish the following fees related to hemp testing and disposal: $200 per chemical test sample. $200 for Department of Agriculture analysis of production or processing activities. $250 to verify that hemp or hemp products are being “effectively” disposed. When hemp is found to contain THC in excess of the 0.3% limits, corrective action plans would be imposed on producers. “The corrective action plan may include reporting requirements, additional inspections, suspension of a license, steps necessary to restore a license, requirements related to disposal of hemp or hemp products that contain in excess of three?tenths of one percent (0.3%) THC on a dry weight basis,” the bill reads. The Senate amended this section such that the corrective action plan may require producers to provide “notice of the violation to the licensee’s known creditors.” House District 02 Representative Hans Hunt said that this requirement was going too far. He suggested an amendment to repeal that Senate amendment. Hunt said that even when producers don’t intend to allow crops to exceed the 0.3% limits, at times “it almost certainly will exceed.” “I understand that we are dealing with something that has THC in it,” he said. “Just because a crop tests over that limit does not make these growers criminally liable.” But requiring that producers notify creditors that their crops have exceeded the legal limit could create problems with the federal government, Hunt said. He noted that banks are required to inform the federal government if they are lending money to someone who grows crops which are found to exceed the limit. Hunt said he didn’t think it was appropriate that state law include the provision that creditors be notified when a hemp crop in Wyoming tests in excess of the limits. “I just think this is a step too far,” he said. “I think that it insinuates that there is intentional criminal activity when there is not.” He said that such language in the bill could act to deter people from getting involved in the hemp industry. House District 59 Representative Bunky Loucks agreed with Hunt’s amendment, suggesting that other provisions in the corrective action plan are sufficient. He noted a practical problem with the requirement that creditors be notified. “If there is a hot test, and the department acts on that…they don’t know who [hemp producers] borrowed money from,” he said. “The department does not who the lenders are.” He added that it is a banks responsibility to have an understanding of who they are working with. “Banks will know their customers,” he said. House District 06 Representative Aaron Clausen said that he was against the Senate amendment requiring creditors be notified. “This is simply an overreach,” he said. Clausen noted that banks have processes in place to monitor and report suspicious activities and that they could require producers to report their THC test results without the state putting such a requirement in statute. “This could all be done with loan agreements,” he said. House District 14 Representative Dan Furphy disagreed. “The problem is if a bank lends to one of these companies developing hemp, the banking regulations state clearly that the bank regulators will check to see if a bank checked if the hemp produced [exceeds the THC] limits,” he said. “You’re going to make it very difficult for banks to lend to this industry. The banks have to report this to the federal regulators if it exceeds in order to be able to continue to lend to this industry.” House District 41 Representative Bill Henderson said that the requirement to report to creditors should be kept in place. “I’d urge caution on this,” he said. “There is a regulation that we are required to do good diligence. The banks are required to report, this is all part of doing business. It’s not overreach, that’s normal.” Hunt reiterated that he thought the provision was too much. “If we were talking about [state legalized recreational or medical] marijuana, then this would make sense,” he said. “In the case of industrial hemp, this simply goes a step too far.” The House adopted Hunt’s amendment before passing the bill on second reading. If they pass the bill on third reading, the bill would need to move back to the Senate since the House amended the version of the bill they received after the Senate passed the bill on third reading on a vote of 29-1 on Feb. 13.
Learn more
March 5, 2020
Boston’s first pot shop is set to open Monday
Boston’s first recreational marijuana shop is slated to open next week after state cannabis regulators gave the company its final sign-off Thursday. The team at Pure Oasis in Dorchester will welcome their first customers at 11 a.m. on Monday, according to co-owners Kobie Evans and Kevin Hart. In addition to being Boston’s first adult-use dispensary, it will also be the state’s first store run by a member of the economic empowerment program, which was built to help people enter the cannabis industry who have been disproportionately hurt by marijuana prohibition. “It’s surreal to make it to the finish line because this started over a conversation about there not being opportunities for people who look like us,” Hart said. Both Evans and Hart said this week they were racing to finish preparations ahead of the opening. “It’s mixed emotions,” Evans said. “Depending upon where the second hand is on the clock, it’s either we’re excited, or we’re overwhelmed, or we’re anxious.” Pure Oasis was the first economic empowerment applicant to receive a final license from the commission. Eight provisional licenses have been granted to economic empowerment applicants, and an additional five are being considered for licenses by the Cannabis Control Commission on Thursday. Commission Chairman Steven Hoffman told reporters after the agency’s meeting that the opening of Pure Oasis is an “incredibly important milestone.” “It’s great for Boston, but I’m way more interested in the fact that it’s our first economic empowerment applicant that’s made it all the way through the process," Hoffman said. “That being said, I recognize that it’s one store. We’ve got a lot more work to do.” Mayor Martin J. Walsh also congratulated Evans and Hart on Thursday, saying he is proud that the city’s first adult-use store doubles as the state’s first economic empowerment owner-led store.
Learn more
A Louisiana lawmaker wants to let individual cities vote on legalizing and regulating marijuana in their jurisdictions. Rep. Cedric Glover (D) prefiled a joint resolution last week that calls for a constitutional amendment stipulating that “a local governing authority may call an election for the purpose of authorizing the sale, possession, distribution, and use of marijuana within the jurisdiction of the governing authority.” If two-thirds of both chambers of the legislature vote in favor of the measure, it would then appear on November’s statewide ballot for voters to approve or reject. But garnering that support will likely prove to be a daunting task in the Republican-controlled House and Senate. The state has a limited medical cannabis system, but lawmakers have not shown significant interest in pursuing recreational legalization. On the other hand, a majority of Louisiana residents are in favor of the policy change, according to a poll released last year. The constitutional amendment that would go before voters reads: “Do you support an amendment to provide that a local governing authority may call an election to authorize the sale, possession, distribution, and use of marijuana within its jurisdiction?” Letting cities individually legalize cannabis raises a series of logistical questions. Where would residents from non-legal cities consume cannabis, assuming public smoking is prohibited? What authorities would be responsible for licensing? Would the state collect tax revenue from local marijuana sales? None of these questions are addressed in text of the legislation, which has been provisionally referred to Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice. The legislative session in Louisiana begins next Monday. Regardless of the bill’s prospects, its introduction is another example of the widespread interest in reforming state marijuana laws in 2020. Advocates submitted a ballot initiative this week to legalize marijuana in Ohio. A marijuana legalization initiative qualified for South Dakota’s ballot in December, and a separate medical cannabis measure will also go before that state’s voters this year. Mississippi activists collected enough signatures to qualify a medical marijuana legalization initiative for the ballot. New Jersey’s legislature approved a resolution in December that will put the question of full marijuana legalization to voters.
Learn more
March 5, 2020
Cannabis case dropped, for now
With insufficient evidence against him, Jacob Dylan Forrester, 20, of Berlin was free to go after a prosecutor requested a nolle prosequi, or dismissal, of his case, which involved a suspected marijuana growing operation in his home. On Oct. 29, 2019, a property damage call led Ocean City police to Forrester’s 57th Street apartment, where they found roughly five pounds of suspected cannabis. Also discovered were what appeared to be several large cannabis plants, two kitchen-sized trash bags full of the plant material, as well as tools used to weigh and designate sales prices. Forrester was arrested, and charged with possession of more than 10 grams of cannabis, possession with intention to distribute and possession of a gun replica. On Dec. 4, Forrester attended a preliminary hearing at the District Court, where his attorney, Paul Abu-Zaid, questioned whether the plants’ THC concentrations had been tested. The testifying officer responded that it had not. Federal legislation passed in 2018, known as the Farm Bill, allows the possession and sale of hemp-derived CBD (cannabidiol) products, as long as THC levels are lower than 0.3 percent. Above the 0.3 percent threshold, the plant is legally considered to be cannabis. Last year, Maryland passed its own version of the Farm Bill House Bill 1123, further solidifying protections for growers, such as Forrester. The district court found probable cause in Forrester’s case, and he went on to attend a hearing at the Circuit Court for Worcester County in Snow Hill. At his circuit court hearing on Wednesday, March 4, the prosecutor informed the judge that lab results of the plant material came back inconclusive, and must be sent to labs in Pennsylvania for further analysis. With practically no evidence against the defendant, the prosecutor felt it unnecessary to postpone the trial, and Forrester was free to go. The prosecutor told Ocean City Today, however, that requesting a nolle prosequi did not mean a definitive end to Forrester’s case. Once the lab results are available, and if they show THC levels above 0.3 percent, Forrester’s case could be reopened, he said.
Learn more
