September 21, 2020
Medical cannabis companies cleared for London stock market
Medicinal cannabis companies have been cleared by the UK’s financial regulator to float on the London Stock Exchange but firms that sell marijuana to recreational users will still be banned. The Financial Conduct Authority said businesses that grow and sell recreational cannabis, even in countries such as Canada where it is legal, cannot list in London because of the Proceeds of Crime Act. Income from the sale of cannabis and cannabis oil outside the UK could constitute “criminal property” under the act, because it covers conduct abroad that would constitute a crime if it happened in the UK. But the regulator said UK medical cannabis firms could float in London, as could overseas firms, although they would have to satisfy the regulator that they should be allowed to do so because of the more nuanced legal position. The rules for overseas firms are complicated by the UK’s restrictive regulatory environment for medicinal cannabis, legalised in 2018. Cannabis growers require a licence from the Home Office, while any imports of the drug require patients to get a prescription first. The FCA said regulations, which limit the extent to which medicinal cannabis is being used in the UK, meant overseas firms could not automatically be granted the right to list in London, even if they only sold a medical product. While firms might have a licence to sell in other countries, that did not mean they would be able to secure the same permissions from the Home Office, the regulator said. “For medicinal cannabis and cannabis oil companies with overseas activities, the company will need to satisfy us that their activities would be legal if carried out in the UK,” the FCA said. “We will also need to understand the legal basis of the company’s overseas activities, for example the nature of the local licensing and the licences the company holds.” Despite the complex position for overseas producers, the fast-growing cannabis industry is expected to celebrate the clarity from the markets regulator, which will help firms tap funding from new investors. Roby Zomer, co-founder and managing director of the pharmaceuticals firm MGC, said: “MGC started the process of looking to list on the London markets over a year ago. During that time we have struggled with the pace of the process but have continued to push forward, with a view to being one of the first UK-listed medical cannabis companies.
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September 21, 2020
Hemp Farmers Now Eligible For USDA Coronavirus Relief Program
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on Friday that it is expanding its coronavirus relief program for farmers—and this time around, hemp cultivators are eligible for benefits. In May, USDA said it would be making $19 billion available for agriculture producers to assist them amid the pandemic. But it excluded hemp and several other crops, stating that they don’t qualify because they didn’t experience a five percent or greater price decline from January to April.rop’s legalization, highlighted the policy change.
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September 18, 2020
Gov. Tom Wolf, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman make another push for legalizing recreational marijuana in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman are making another push for the legalization of recreational marijuana in the state. The governor said Wednesday that Pennsylvania needs the money that taxing adult-use cannabis would bring in. "I thought last year was the right time to do it. It's still the right time to do it and, if anything, there's even more urgency now because of where we are with the COVID-19 pandemic.
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September 18, 2020
Redwood City welcomes cannabis stores
Retail cannabis businesses are closer to being welcomed within Redwood City limits as planning commissioners approved zoning guidelines permitting storefronts in various areas of the city. After a nearly two-year-process to regulate how walk-in cannabis stores would be allowed to open in Redwood City, the Planning Commission voted to recommend the City Council approve zoning amendments permitting the business to open, by right, in zoning districts where general retail is allowed.
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September 18, 2020
Vermont Bill To Legalize Marijuana Sales One Step Away From Governor’s Desk After House Vote
The Vermont House of Representatives on Thursday approved a finalized version of a bill to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana sales in the state. While both the House and Senate had previously passed the bill, S. 54, a bicameral conference committee had to be convened to resolve differences between their respective versions. And following a series of meetings and compromises, negotiators on the panel reached a deal on Tuesday, sending the final proposal back to the floor of both chambers for final consent. The House approved the compromise legislation in a 92-56 vote.
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September 18, 2020
Hemp industry asks New York to release draft regulations
Cannabis farmers, processors and business leaders urged the Cuomo administration Tuesday to release long-awaited draft regulations that will set quality standards, labeling requirements and other rules for selling hemp products in New York. Key context: With the new hemp regulations set to take effect in January, the New York Cannabis Growers and Processors Association called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state health officials to immediately share the proposed rules.
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September 17, 2020
Proposed Roxbury pot shop stirs debate
WHEN IT COMES to the debate over marijuana legalization in Massachusetts, the horse has left the barn. Voters legalized recreational marijuana sales via a 2016 statewide ballot question, and pot shops are becoming part of the landscape. But just because storefront weederies are legal doesn’t mean they are necessarily desirable. That’s the argument some are putting forward in the debate over a proposed pot store in Nubian Square in Roxbury. There was lots of support for a dispensary in the business district during a virtual community hearing on Tuesday night — but also opposition from a well-known activist who has spent decades working to uplift the neighborhood. The Boston Herald reports that Sadiki Kambon, chairman of the Nubian Square Coalition, spoke strongly against the proposal. “We have many families and students in the immediate area, along with visitors and shoppers, and do not want the visual of individuals standing in line to purchase … marijuana in order to get high,” Kambon said. The proposal needs approval first from a city cannabis review board and then must go to the state Cannabis Control Commission, which licenses marijuana businesses. Legalization proponents have argued that marijuana laws had a particularly devastating effect on black communities, where lots of people got criminal records for pot offenses that held them back from employment and educational opportunities. Indeed, the state cannabis commission’s website says it is “committed to an industry that encourages and enables full participation by people from communities that have previously been disproportionately harmed by marijuana prohibition and enforcement.” That social equity argument was on full display at last night’s hearing, where Brian Keith, one of four co-owners of the company looking to open a store in Nubian Square, spoke about building “generational wealth” through a business “that’s 100% people of color owned and 100% people of color invested.” There may be a generational divide to the issue. Kambon, a veteran of decades of activism, is both a figurative — and now literal — greybeard of the Roxbury community. The only other person the Herald quotes speaking against the proposal is 78-year-old Alvert Owens. Voters “should never have made it legal because people start out with marijuana and then go on to some other drug,” Owens said. “There’s enough of that around here.”
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September 17, 2020
DEA: Hemp rules raises concerns among the CBD industry
In the latest developments between legalized hemp and illegal marijuana, the DEA recently released proposed rules for hemp and CBD just this month. With the agency explaining how it plans to redefine marijuana to exclude hemp, the DEA's new interim final rule has some in the CBD industry questioning the DEA's motives. "The federal government description, legal definition of hemp, is it contains less than 0.3% THC content. Thereby, not making it marijuana," said Dante Sorianello, the assistant special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in the San Antonio district. Ever since hemp has been legalized, CBD has become a popular ingredient lately. Businesses are selling CBD products made into lotions, capsules, gummies so long as its THC concentration is less than 0.3%.Those who use it, claim it can alleviate pain or other conditions such as anxiety, depression and insomnia. But according to the DEA, it's impossible to tell the difference between marijuana and hemp with the naked eye. "If the THC content exceeds that, it is considered marijuana in a controlled substance," said Sorianello. There are 2 species of the cannabis plant, one that produces hemp, the other, marijuana. The difference amounts to how much of the psychoactive compound THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, they contain. "THC is the chemical properties of the marijuana plant that give you the different influence behavioral patterns," said Sorianello. A concern the hemp and CBD industry has is how much the DEA is taking matter into their own hands with their proposed rules. But according to the DEA, the problem is that some are finding new ways to mix weed with legal hemp and selling it for more. "Most of what we're seeing is, it's really not CBD they're disguising it. It's high THC content, edibles, oils and other things that come in from places such as Colorado where I recently was, and it's just absolutely amazing to see the marijuana dispensary, dispensaries on virtually every other corner," said Sorianello. Trying to differentiate between the two, requires testings from a lab and drug traffickers are figuring out, not everything is going to be tested. In your neighborhoods, on the streets, Fox San Antonio and the DEA will keep you informed and safe.
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September 16, 2020
Advocates to drop their legal challenge over Utah’s marijuana initiative
The last major court dispute over Utah’s controversial Proposition 2, legalizing medical marijuana, is over — for now. Patient advocates announced Monday they were ending what remained of a lawsuit filed against the state Legislature’s 2018 move to replace the voter-approved Utah Medical Cannabis Act with its own House Bill 3001. A spokeswoman for Together for Responsible Use and Cannabis Education in Utah confirmed the group, which had brought the legal case along with the Epilepsy Association of Utah, would file in state court to withdraw the matter. TRUCE founder, brain tumor survivor and longtime cannabis activist Christine Stenquist said the case was being pulled due to their inability to keep paying legal costs in their two-year battle. Groups first sued after state lawmakers altered Prop 2 despite its 2018 passage by 53% of state voters. “While this lawsuit is coming to an end, the fight for a real medical cannabis system for the state of Utah, which will meet all patient needs, continues,” Stenquist said. A spokesperson for the Utah Attorney General’s Office declined to comment on the case Monday. Sen. Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City and the sponsor of HB3001, did not respond to an inquiry seeking comment. Stenquist says the case, brought against Gov. Gary Herbert and other state leaders over HB3001, eventually forced Utah legislators to remove key portions of the revamped law — rules that Proposition 2 proponents claimed were designed to curtail marijuana distribution in Utah against the public’s will. “We did get a big win out of that. We absolutely crushed it,” said Stenquist, who noted that legislators later deleted the requirement that state and local health departments serve as cannabis outlets in a hastily convened special session.
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September 16, 2020
For first time, House will vote on bill that would legalize marijuana on federal level
For the first time, a bill to legalize marijuana at the federal level will soon go to the floor of the U.S. House for a vote. “The MORE Act would actually erase past convictions for marijuana offenses, opening the door to opportunities to jobs, housing, education, things that could help people, but it would also make it so people will no longer be denied federal benefits because of marijuana activity,” said Maritza Perez, Director of the Drug Policy Alliance.
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