The number of potential white applicants for cannabis licenses in Michigan far outpaced applicants from communities of color as 79% of those interested in ownership of a cannabis business identified as white while 3.8% were Black and 1.5% were Hispanic or Latino, according to Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) data outlined by the Daily Mining Gazette.
The figures are based on voluntary data collected by the agency as the state does not release demographic statistics of cannabis industry licensees. The MRA’s Racial Equity Advisory Workgroup is formulating recommendations that would create partnerships with large businesses and local municipalities to bring in members from communities disproportionately impacted by prohibition, the report says.
First-year adult-use cannabis sales in Michigan reached $511 million, while medical cannabis sales topped $474 million – a $985 million total that generated more than $100 million in tax revenues, according to the report. Michigan State University researchers estimate that a fully operational and mature cannabis market in Michigan will be worth $3 billion, equaling about $500 million in state tax revenue annually.
The lack of minority participation in the industry – or even lack of interest in industry participation – could be driven, in part, by the lack of business opportunities in Detroit, which still hasn’t issued adult-use licenses and only began accepting applications last month. Motor City licenses at first will only be available to so-called “legacy applicants,” meaning licensees must have “lived in Detroit for 15 of the last 30 years; lived in Detroit for 13 of the last 30 years and are low-income; or lived in Detroit for 10 of the last 30 years and have a past marijuana-related conviction.”
Legacy licenses will be eligible for a 25% discount of fair market value on city property and can access technical assistance and reduced fees. An ordinance by the city council requires half of all of the city’s cannabis licenses to be awarded to legacy applicants.
The MRA workgroup suggested that the agency create a crowdfunding platform on its website that would be a directory of cannabusinesses in communities that struggle to finance new businesses that investors could support, and that the MRA establish a webinar and training sessions for municipalities to learn how to create equitable ordinances for cannabis businesses and share ideas. The workgroup also suggested the MRA operate a social equity tour that would provide a roadmap with bilingual content for applicants to understand the licensing processes and a finds match for social equity applicants.
Pennsylvania last week awarded nearly $19,000 in hemp industry grants aimed at agriculture, with $14,432 given to the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and $4,500 Coexist Build, a private company.
The UPenn School of Veterinary Medicine grant is for the “development of sensitive method for analysis of cannabinoids in bovine serum and hemp seed samples,” while Coexist Build’s award is for “developing marketing strategy for agritourism highlighting regenerative, organic farm featuring hemp-based construction,” according to a press release from the Agriculture Department.
Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said the investments into the state’s agriculture sector “hold the promise and potential to spur the innovation we need to increase productivity; advance human and animal medicine; and support cleaner water, healthier soil and a safer food supply.”
In all, the state awarded $1.287 million in grants to eight organizations for a variety of projects.
Last year, the state awarded a $2 million grant to Pure Penn – which is owned by Florida-based Trulieve – to expand its facility in McKeesport.
In 2019, the Ag Department announced a $460,000 Specialty Crop Black Grant for cultivators or hemp and other niche crops to enhance the market for and competitiveness of such crops, according to a Lancaster Farming report. According to the Department of Agriculture, 6.2% of those grants will be allocated to recipients and projects located in rural municipalities where at least 20% of the population has been below the federal poverty line since 1990 while 3.8% will be allocated to recipients and projects located in urban municipalities where at least 20% of the population has been below the federal poverty line since 1990.
Oregon’s first-in-the-nation drugs decriminalization measure takes effect today, making all low-level possession cases a civil violation and $100 fine, the Register-Guard reports. The fine can be avoided by law violators if they agree to participate in a health assessment.
The Oregon Criminal Justice Commission estimated that the reforms would drop yearly convictions for possession of a controlled substance by 3,679, or 90.7%. The measure also reallocates tens of millions from the Oregon Marijuana Account – which is funded from cannabis taxes – to addiction treatment and harm-reduction efforts, the report says.
Under the measure – which was approved by nearly 60% of Oregonians during November’s General Election – low-level possession is defined as:
Less than 1 gram of heroin
Less than 1 gram, or less than 5 pills, of MDMA
Less than 2 grams of methamphetamine
Less than 40 units of LSD
Less than 12 grams of psilocybin
Less than 40 units of methadone
Less than 40 pills of oxycodone
Less than 2 grams of cocaine
During the 2020 election, voters in the state also approved a measure to legalize psilocybin therapy.
The measure also reduced some felony possession limits for certain drugs, including:
1 to 3 grams of heroin
1 to 4 grams of MDMA
2 to 8 grams of methamphetamine
2 to 8 grams of cocaine
Possession over the limits, manufacturing, and distribution remain criminal violations in the state. The measure also reduces the ability for police to use drug paraphernalia in a vehicle as probable cause, Chris Parosa, senior prosecutor for the Lane County District Attorney’s Office, told the Register-Guard.
“For example when officers walk up (to a car) and immediately notice … a pipe commonly used to smoke some illicit drug from it, ordinarily, if a police officer saw that, they would immediately develop probable cause for a potential felony. Now, if they were to walk up and find a pipe, which we can only assume has a residue quantity of drugs in it, it’s no more than a violation.” – Parosa to the Register-Guard
Devon Downeysmith, a spokesperson for the pro-Measure 110 Oregon Health Justice Recovery Alliance, said in an email to The Register-Guard, said that while “it will take time to see the new law’s full effects on the state as a whole,” the “positive impacts of the new law could be immediate” for individuals “struggling now.”
The proposal to constitutionally ban all psychoactive drugs not currently legal in Idaho on Friday passed the Senate State Affairs Committee while House lawmakers on both sides of the aisle introduced a measure to legalize medical cannabis in the state.
The medical cannabis legalization bill was introduced by Reps. Ilana Rubel (D) and Mike Kingsley (R), who dubbed it the “Sergeant Kitzhaber Medical Cannabis Act” after Sgt. Jeremy Kitzhaber, 50, an Idahoan who served 22 years in the Air Force and is diagnosed with terminal Stage 4 cancer likely caused by his duties in the Air Force, which included handling radioactive materials, the bill’s sponsors wrote in an op-ed in the Idaho Statesman.
In the op-ed, the lawmakers wrote that they were sponsoring the legislation “because pain is not partisan.”
“We can get patients help for pain without stepping on a slippery slope, and this is what most Idahoans want. A 2019 poll from FM3 Research showed 72% of Idahoans were in favor of legalizing cannabis for medical purposes, and that number has likely climbed higher since the poll was taken. There is strong evidence cannabis is a much safer treatment than opioids and would better serve those suffering from a variety of illnesses, like cancer, epilepsy, ALS, and multiple sclerosis.” – Rubel and Kingsley in an Idaho Statesman op-ed
The medical cannabis bill requires cannabis to be dispensed in medical dosage form, including blister-sealed packaging in very limited doses, the lawmakers said, and it does not include home growing or production. Medical cannabis ID cards would be needed for possession and only medical providers who can prescribe opioids could prescribe cannabis. The proposal also includes provisions to revoke medical cannabis access for anyone convicted of using their card to obtain cannabis for another person.
Meanwhile, the bill to add the prohibition of all non-medical psychoactive substances to the Idaho constitution passed the committee 6-2 across party lines, ABC News reports.
Republican Sen. Scott Grow, the sponsor of the amendment to constitutionally ban the legalization of psychoactive drugs, said medical cannabis is “about money … not about caring for people who might have pain or sickness.”
Democratic Sen. Michelle Stennett argued that the bill would “prohibit Idaho doctors and patients from making medical choices” and directly “impact on the ability of Idahoans to do good medical health care.”
The measure also faces opposition from the St. Luke’s Cancer Institute Medical Director Dan Zuckerman, who said that in his experience with cancer patients – more than a decade – he has seen the efficacy of medical cannabis with his own eyes.
“The data is clear that patients benefit from this,” he said during his testimony.
The constitutional amendment proposal moves next to the full Senate. If approved by the Legislature, it would have to be approved by voters before being codified in the state constitution.
In their lawsuit against Missouri, Metrc, a national cannabis traceability system administered by Franwell, has lost its second court battle. In the appellate court ruling first reported by Law 360, Metrc’s request that medical cannabis providers pay for their own tracking tags was denied.
The lawsuit dates back to 2019 when Metrc sued the state, claiming that, in addition to the traceability system’s $5 million price tag, the company had the right to charge extra for the tracking tags. This is the second ruling against the company.
According to the appellate court ruling, “Metrc’s arguments are refuted by the plain language of the [request for proposal] which required Metrc to include in its firm, fixed price all costs Metrc intended to charge for its seed-to-sale tracking solution to function for both internal and external users.”
According to the Metrc website, the company uses Radio Identification tags (RFID tags) to track cannabis from “seed-to-sale.” Each tag is unique, cannot be re-used, and can cost anywhere from $0.25 to $.0.45 each. Additionally, there are two types of tags, “plant” tags and “package” tags.
In an email to Ganjaprenuer, Bronwyn Flores, Metrc spokesperson, shared Metrc’s statement about the court decision.
“Metrc strives to make it easy for state governments and legal cannabis businesses to comply with continuously evolving cannabis policies and regulations. While we are disappointed in this outcome, we are optimistic that we will be able to find a mutually beneficial agreement with the state and industry to support a safe medical cannabis market in Missouri.” — Flores, in a statement
The New Jersey Assembly Community Development and Affairs Committee on Friday approved a revised version of the so-called “clean-up” legislation demanded by Gov. Phil Murphy (D) in order for him to sign the broad adult-use cannabis legalization bill, NJ 101.5 reports.
The new bill sets civil fines for cannabis possession of by individuals aged 18 to 20 at $50 to $100, depending on the amount of cannabis possessed, down from $250 to $500 as outlined in the original cleanup proposal, which was abandoned by lawmakers last month.
The proposal also includes procedures that police are supposed to follow when interacting with juveniles found in possession of cannabis that revolve around point-of-violation warnings, rather than formal court proceedings. Under the bill, the attorney general would be required to issue reports twice a year with statistics on those warnings and other juvenile interventions related to legalization.
Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly (D) said the rules in the law “are very consistent (with) what happens currently with alcohol” in the state and that it doesn’t put charges on the criminal records of youths “that could deter them from college, tuition assistance to housing to opportunities to work in law enforcement or any type of public safety work.”
Ami Kachalia, campaign strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, told NJ 101.5 that, despite voters approving legalization reforms in November, police arrested more than 4,000 in November and December alone for possessing less than 50 grams of cannabis.
“In fact,” she added, “data from Newark show that the city is on track to make more cannabis-related arrests this month than they did last January.”
The new clean-up bill comes as Murphy – who supported the reforms – has until February 8 to act on the Legislature-approved legislation. Murphy has said he prefers to sign the legalization and decriminalization bills simultaneously.
A Pasadena, California vape shop along with Weedmaps are being sued by the mother of a 19-year-old who was fatally shot during a cannabis delivery in June 2019, Law360 reports. A 17-year-old boy was also injured in the incident.
Photon Muur filed the lawsuit in California Superior Court in Los Angeles County on Monday. The lawsuit intends to hold liable the parties she contends are responsible for the death of her son William Benjamin Harris IV, who was allegedly shot by Universal Stop Inc. employee David Christopher Gregorich during a cannabis delivery. Muur’s attorney, Shawn S. Rokni of West Coast Trial Lawyers APLC, told Law360 that Gregorich fired his weapon when he thought Harris was robbing him when he approached the vehicle.
Gregorich has pleaded not guilty to murder, attempted murder, and shooting at an inhabited dwelling, the report says.
The lawsuit claims that Weedmaps and Universal Stop were aware that Gregorich carried weapons during his cannabis deliveries and that the companies “failed to provide adequate supervision and training … regarding the use of weapons in deliveries” and that the companies shouldn’t have even allowed the delivery to happen because Harris was under the legal age to purchase cannabis in California.
The lawsuit contends that because Gregorich had previous felony convictions, Weedmaps and Universal Stop should have kept a closer eye on the driver due to his “aggressive nature and propensity to harm others,” according to court documents.
“Universal Stop and Weedmaps knew, had reason to know or should have known the particular risks of having a poorly supervised, poorly trained, unfit employee like Gregorich, deliver marijuana to teenagers, while armed, in a poorly designated and unsafe environment.” – Muur in a statement to Law360
Other parties named in the lawsuit include Universal Stop owner Movses Movsisyan, and Ghost Management Group LLC, WM Holding Company LLC, and Weedmaps Media LLC – the three companies that own Weedmaps.
The lawsuit seeks damages for claims of negligence, battery, assault, and wrongful death against all of the defendants. Weedmaps and Universal Stop are additionally accused of negligent hiring, retention and supervision, according to the documents.
Muur is seeking both monetary and non-economic compensation for hardships stemming from her son’s death, including funeral and memorial service expenses, loss of financial support, and the loss of her son’s love and companionship, along with punitive damages.
LeafLink’s 2020 Wholesale Cannabis Pricing Guide found an 18% percent price increase in wholesale flower prices nationwide – which averaged $1,940 per pound – but an 11% decrease in edibles and ingestibles, which saw an average nationwide price of $.08 per milligram.
The report includes an analysis of cannabis markets in Alaska, California, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state – which have legalized both recreational and medical cannabis use – along with medical markets in Arizona, Maryland, and Oklahoma.
Arizona voters approved adult-use reforms last year and sales began on January 21, but the report uses the state’s 2020 data during which only medical cannabis was legal.
Nationwide, concentrates saw a 7% price increase year-over-year and pre-roll prices increased 2%. Cartridges saw a modest 1% decrease and made up the industry’s “most stable category,” the report said.
On average last year, vape cartridge prices in the U.S. cost about $22.78 per gram, concentrates averaged $17.02 per gram, while pre-rolls averaged $7.18 per gram, LeafLink found.
Alex Feldman, general manager of LeafLink Insights & Marketing Services, said the guide “empowers businesses to better execute on their 2021 strategic planning by benchmarking pricing on a state and national level.”
“Pricing is an important differentiator among brands in our increasingly competitive industry. Whether it is used to signal a product’s premium status, or serves as a reflection of structural dynamics in a state or category, it is arguably the single most important driver of a company’s profitability.” – Feldman in a statement
LeafLink processes nearly a third of all U.S. wholesale cannabis commerce, to the tune of $3 billion in orders. The pricing guide analyzes 109,000 SKUs including flower, pre-rolls, vape cartridges, concentrates, and edibles/ingestibles – the five most popular categories of cannabis products in the U.S.
LeafLink found flower was the most popular product in four of the 10 states analyzed – California, Maryland, Michigan, and Oregon – while cartridges were the most sought-after product in Alaska, Arizona, and Nevada. Edibles and ingestibles were the most purchased products in Colorado, Oklahoma, and Washington state.
Adult-Use States
Alaska’s cannabis market had the highest prices for four of the five categories: cartridges, concentrates, edibles and ingestibles, and flower while Washington state had the lowest prices for cartridges, concentrates, edibles and ingestibles, and pre-rolls. Alaska saw a per-pound flower price of $3,186 – 164% more than the national average, driven by “high taxes and distribution costs,” the report says.
Concentrates in the state averaged $33 per gram, which is 94% higher the national average, LeafLink found, and up $13 year-over-year.
Washington’s continued trend as the state with the least expensive prices in four of the five categories can be attributed to its market structure, the report says describing it as having an “abundance of cultivators [competing] for shelf space with a small number of retailers.”
The Evergreen State, which saw its first adult-use sale in October 2016, experienced a 15% decrease in flower prices year-over-year.
Oregon had the lowest flower prices among the states analyzed at $1,096.06 per pound – 44% lower than the other nine states analyzed. Its biggest pricing change from 2019 to 2020 was a 21% decrease in edible and ingestibles, which LeafLink identified as its “least competitive category.”
“In every product category, Oregon ranked among the least expensive two markets analyzed,” the report notes.
Nevada, which launched its market in April 2017, had the most product categories nearest the national mean and median, the report found, while experiencing a 25% increase in cartridge prices and 13% increase in pre-roll prices from 2019 to 2020.
Michigan, the most immature adult-use market included in the report having only commenced sales in 2019, had the second most expensive cartridge prices last year at $32 per gram. The products also saw a 44% price increase following the state’s migration from a medical-only to adult use market.
Notably, the state’s cartridge sector was disrupted by a temporary ban on sales in November 2019 due to the rise in the vaping-related pulmonary illness. The following month, regulators recalled five vape cartridge brands after they tested positive for vitamin E acetate, the compound health officials believe are responsible for the disease.
Colorado, the nation’s most mature market along with Washington, experienced a 22% year-over-year flower price increase per pound to $1,495.18. LeafLink found that while edibles and ingestibles were the state’s most popular category, it was also its least competitive with “the fewest number of SKUs available throughout the year.”
Concentrate pricing also increased in Colorado 7% year-over-year to $15 per gram, the report says.
California, which launched the nation’s largest adult-use cannabis market by population in 2017, saw an 8% decrease in flower prices from 2019 to 2020 which narrowed the gap on the prices seen in the more mature Colorado and Oregon markets and pushing the wholesale price-per-pound to $2,031.98.
The report also notes that the season price declines normally experienced in the state from September to December were “more muted…likely due to a disruption in supply by wildfires.”
“Flower prices declined 15% from September to December 2019,” the report notes, “but only fell 10% during the same period in 2020.”
The vast majority of U.S. states now allow for medical cannabis in at least nonintoxicating forms.
Medical Cannabis States
Oklahoma might be the nation’s most prodigious state when it comes to medical cannabis with about 10% of the state’s population – or 360,000 residents – enrolled in the program, according to a Politico analysis. Those figures put the Sooner State’s medical cannabis market as the country’s largest per capita.
Oklahoma – a red state won by former President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 – has more than 9,000 licensed cannabis businesses, including almost 2,000 dispensaries and nearly 6,000 grow operations, Politico reported. Comparatively, Colorado – which legalized cannabis for adults in 2012 and has a population almost 50% larger than Oklahoma – has barely half as many licensed dispensaries and less than 20% of cultivation operations.
In 2020, Oklahoma saw a 5% or more price decline across all five categories as the number of sellers increased between three and five times.
“Pricing was most muted for flower, where a 6-times increase in sellers was offset by 21-times more retailers offering products in this category in 2020 versus 2019,” the report notes.
Prior to the recreational reforms, Arizona experienced a 32% year-over-year increase in flower prices – the largest increase of the states analyzed – pushing the per pound price to $2,212. Despite the spike, it still had the least expensive flower prices among medical-only states with only Washington state, Colorado, and Oregon with lower prices. Interestingly, Arizona had the highest pre-roll prices among the states examined by LeafLink and ranked near the middle of the pack for cartridge and concentrate prices, the report found.
Maryland, which legalized medical cannabis in 2014, saw a 16% increase in the flower price per gram from 2019 to 2020, driving it to $40 per gram for the state’s patients and their wholesale flower prices were $3,181 per pound, just $5 less than Alaska’s highest-in-the-nation cost.
“This is due to a limited number of cultivators, processors, and brands in Maryland,” the report says. “Recently awarded cultivation and processing licenses (October 2020) should bring additional supply online and put downward pressure on prices.”
Overall, the report concludes, pricing nationwide “either increased or remained relatively stable [year-over-year] with the exception of edibles and ingestibles, which saw declines across all states.” And while flower saw a drastic year-over-year increase, those prices were driven mostly by Arizona (32%) and Colorado (22%).
A bill introduced this week in Rhode Island would allow veterinarians to certify pets for medical cannabis access for “any condition suffered by a domestic pet that would be a ‘debilitating medical condition’ if it were suffered by a person.”
The measure was introduced by Democratic Reps. Patricia Serpa, William O’Brien, and Stephen Casey.
Currently, no states with medical cannabis programs allow pets to be considered qualifying patients. Last month, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed legislation allowing veterinarians to discuss the use of cannabis and industrial hemp products with pet owners.
A similar measure was introduced in California in 2019 but was tabled and was not reintroduced during last year’s session as anticipated. Earlier that year, then-Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a bill allowing veterinarians to discuss cannabis therapies with pet owners without risk of losing their license or other putative actions, but that bill stopped short of allowing recommendations.
A 2018 bill introduced in New York to allow the state’s veterinarians to certify pets for medical cannabis access died in the House.
A study published last year in the journal Pain found that CBD treatment for dogs with osteoarthritis was beneficial in nine out of 10 cases. The researchers concluded that the cannabinoid treatment reduced production in both inflammatory molecules and immune cells linked to arthritis.
Last May, national pet supply chain Petsmart started carrying CBD extracts from Mary’s Brands in select markets in Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Oregon, and Tennessee. The company later extended the offerings in their online store and in stores throughout the U.S.
If approved, Rhode Island would be the first state in the nation to allow medical cannabis certification for pets. The measure was referred to the Health, Education and Welfare Committee.
Cannabis data, analytics, and intelligence firm Headset estimates Mexico’s legal cannabis market could be worth $843.7 million with an average item price of $10.22, according to a report release this week.
While the market would be the world’s largest by population – Mexico’s adult population is 76.3 million – the market would fall short of being the world’s most valuable as California would remain tops in the world with a $1.47 billion market, the report says. California’s adult population is about 29 million.
The report notes that Mexico’s push toward legalization was sparked by a 2018 Supreme Court decision rather than broad popular support – as is the case in most U.S. states where legalization is driven by ballot initiatives approved by voters. In Mexico, support for legalization is 40%, the report says.
The first six months of Mexico’s market would be marked by supply constraints, following similar trends in U.S. states that have legalized cannabis and Canada, which passed its legalization reforms in 2018.
Headset estimates that Mexico’s cannabis market would mirror the first year of Canada’s market by not initially allowing edibles and beverages – which the Great White North allowed one year after permitting flower sales.
“As a result, we expect the Mexican market to resemble the Canadian market, which allowed only combustible inhalables, topicals, and ingestible-oils to start. These markets usually begin with a 90% or more market share to flower and pre-rolls as these products are the most familiar and easiest to produce. We usually see a rapid take off of non-combustible inhalables (such as vapor pens and concentrates), in months 4-6 as the products are finally through the manufacturing process.” – Headset, “Projections for Mexico Adult-use Cannabis Sales,” Jan. 2021
While the Mexico Supreme Court has on several occasions set a deadline for lawmakers to approve legalization legislation, it also allowed extensions for the implementation of the reforms, most recently last December – about a month after the Senate approved a legalization measure.
Headset suggests that while new U.S. markets often experience supply constraints, Mexico may have an edge because the nation has long been a “major cannabis producer.” However, the government’s plan to require consumers to register to by cannabis could impact demand through legal channels.
The Grove is a vertically-integrated cannabis company built on crafting products catered to the complex tastes of cannabis consumers. Their cultivation and production facility are state-of-the-art, featuring an eco-friendly indoor grow outfitted with a Fohse LED lighting system. They currently serve customers at their Southern Nevada dispensaries in Las Vegas and Pahrump, selling proprietary products under the brand Kannabis.
Founder, Owner, and CEO Demetri Kouretas said he started The Grove because of the exciting challenges that often come with entering a fledgling industry and the company continues to flourish.
“We decided to give it a shot and applied for licenses in retail, cultivation, and production, which were given out in a ‘lottery/merit-based’ type fashion. Of course, we were one of the last to ‘win’ the licenses, so tensions were high, but we walked out of there with 2 retail licenses, a cultivation, and production license — and thus began our yellow brick road,” Kouretas told Ganjapreneur. “We currently hold 10 licenses in retail, cultivation, production, and distribution in the State of Nevada.”
The Grove’s success can be traced back to a focus on providing the best service and products possible. To craft their Kannabis line, The Grove has dialed in their 24,000 square foot facility to mimic a natural ecosystem where cannabis flowers thrive. Their team uses all-natural soil and purely natural pest and fungus remediations — there are no pesticides or fungicides used in their cultivation processes.
Fohse lighting systems are another essential component of creating the perfect ecosystem for healthy cannabis plants. Their LED lighting setup simulates the full spectrum of natural sunlight, even creating the same spectrum changes at ‘sunrise’ and ‘sunset’. Using LED lighting has cut power usage at The Grove by 40% and lowered A/C consumption by half, which reduced their HVAC costs significantly. The cultivation team has also seen drastic increases in their yield since switching to the Fohse A3i. To duplicate this success, Head Cultivator Mike Howard has dialed in the environment to meet the lights’ capabilities.
“In the last few years, LEDs went from a novelty to a tried and true method for many indoor growers. The biggest mistake I have seen is growers not adapting to their new lights, and running their environmental parameters as if they were with their old system. From my experience you can run LED rooms at 80+, with higher humidity than traditional HID rooms,” said Head Grower Mike Howard.
Operating vertically gives the cultivation team a direct line to the consumer through their retail staff. The team wants to grow what the customers desire, which covers both medical patients and adult-use consumers. Because of their line to the retail team, the cultivation side is able to evolve with the often quickly changing market demand. Howard obtains budtender feedback from each store to see what is most requested and, whether it’s classic Dutch genetics or new exotic flavors, they will work to provide customers with exactly what they’re looking for.
On the retail side of the operation, budtenders are trusted to provide a laid-back but informative visit for every customer. To maintain this environment, budtenders complete a two-week training course on cannabis and product information before ever working on the sales floor. They offer the full line of in-house grown Kannabis products and also third-party products that meet their medically-focused product standards.
With such high standards in place in retail, cultivation, and processing, The Grove has the ability to continue scaling its business and, as the company transitions their cultivation team fully to Fohse lights, their yields grow and facilitate further growth. While the operation started with just 20 team members, The Grove expects to employ more than 130 people by the second quarter of 2021. This year, they will be launching new brands and new products, and may even seek to build vertical operations in new states.
Let’s just call them both “cannabis” beverages. Cannabis and hemp are really just variations of the same plant and only differ in the amount of THC they contain by dry weight. And whether they have THC below a limit making them legal as hemp or contain a significant amount of THC, the methods for making an extract for use in beverages are largely unchanged. Extractors just take out what naturally occurs in the plant.
But simply making a cannabis extract that is suitable for beverages is just the beginning. After more than thirty years in the more traditional beverage market, I’m amazed at the variety of challenges – and opportunities – for a supplier in this new beverage category!
In my previous experience, I could rely on a certain baseline of knowledge from my customers. Whether they were brand owners, suppliers, distributors or retailers, everyone had some relevant experience in the market which made it relatively easy to discuss products and make decisions.
In the cannabis beverage market, though, there are a great number of entrepreneurs who are newbies. They have great ideas – a lot of really innovative projects unseen in other beverage categories – but they don’t necessarily understand everything it takes to get from idea to finished product.
There are lots of questions these beverage pioneers pose to a supplier well beyond “How does your extract work and what is the price?” Other basic questions we hear all the time include:
How do I find a copacker and how does the relationship work?
Where do I find local/organic/exotic flavor ingredients?
What containers should I use or avoid using?
Tell me about preservatives and pasteurization.
Can I mix DSD and Warehouse Distribution?
We at Farmington Research spend a great deal of time with our brand partners doing far more than delivering water-soluble extract. Unlike some of the purveyors of cannabis extract in the market, my partner Cameron Meshell and I have a long history in the beverage business.
Cameron operated a glass bottling facility in California making a variety of beverage products and knows exactly how to source ingredients, batch products, and ensure the end result is a great beverage in the right kind of packaging. After practicing law, I founded and operated two beverage companies – one a branded beverage product (Mountain Valley Spring Water) and the other a container supplier (Veriplas Containers). My decades of experience in the beverage world have helped me build great relationships and learn everything from bottling to distribution to marketing.
Knowing many of our customers don’t have similar experience, we spend a lot of time upfront carefully onboarding customers so we understand their business model and where we can add value beyond selling them a cannabis extract. We are not a consultant – there are no fees for the extra help Farmington provides. It is simply in our best interest to help our customers thrive.
An example of a recent product launch we assisted is Hectare’s, a purveyor of “small batch wellness products,” packaged in a shot drink format. With early attempts at formulation with an extract supplied by another company, they had taste, dosing, and stability issues. In order to solve their issues, Farmington supplied them with a specially formulated water-soluble extract sourced from Kentucky hemp (a marketing requirement). We then worked closely with their flavor company to fine-tune the benchtop samples. Once the benchmark samples were perfected, Farmington went further to work on-site with the contract packer who had no previous cannabis experience to precisely dose the shot containers in large scale production. The end result: Hectare’s reliably delivers to its fast-growing and loyal customer base a great tasting product with a consistent 30 mg of CBD per serving.
We have also worked on beverages as diverse as carbonated beverages with citrus, uncarbonated water without flavors, tea products in glass, and flavored powder sticks. Yes! Our water-soluble extract can be transformed into a powder which can be delivered in a variety of ways from bulk to individual servings. Powder and liquid drop sales have boomed in recent years and attract consumers who want to use the product on the go or to curate their own beverages. The innovation in the powder/drop subsegment of the beverage market has been eye-opening and has attracted major players in recent years such as Kraft with their “liquid enhancer” named “Mio” and Unilever with their purchase of powder brand “Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier.”
Have a question about beverages beyond extract? We stand ready to help you get your idea off the drawing board and into the market.
A survey of 525 chronic pain patients who had used prescription opioid medications continuously for at least three months in addition to medical cannabis found 40.4% of respondents had replaced their opioid-based medications with cannabis.
Another 45.2% reported decreasing their reliance on opioids, with 13.3% reporting no change in their use, and 1.1% saying their opioid use increased.
Nearly half of respondents (48.2%) indicated a 40%-100% pain decrease while using both cannabis and opioids, while 8.6% had no change and 2.6% said their pain was actually worse. Eighty percent of those surveyed reported an improved quality of life while using medical cannabis.
Nearly 63% of respondents said they did not want to continue using opioid-based medications.
“Patients in this study reported that cannabis was a useful adjunct and substitute for prescription opioids in treating their chronic pain and had the added benefit of improving the ability to function and quality of life.” — A Survey on the Effect That Medical Cannabis Has on Prescription Opioid Medication Usage for the Treatment of Chronic Pain at Three Medical Cannabis Practice Sites, Cureus, Dec. 2, 2020
The study used data from surveys conducted through Integr8 Health, three affiliated cannabis medical practices in Maine and Massachusetts. A total of 1181 patients responded to the survey but 656 were excluded for not using medical cannabis in combination with opioids or not meeting the definition of chronic pain. The majority of the respondents were male (55.8%) and nearly one-third were aged 46 to 55, while another quarter were 56- to 65-years-old.
The study was authored by Intigr8 Medical Director Dustin Sulak and Kevin M. Takakuwa, a member of the Society of Cannabis Clinicians. Cureus is a San Francisco, California-based open-access medical journal.
Nevada’s Cannabis Compliance Board on Tuesday accused Cannex Nevada LLC (also known as RSR Analytical Laboratories) of passing tainted cannabis products and inflating THC results for clients, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. The company has previously had its license suspended twice since 2017 for skirting state regulations and was the subject of two health advisories in 2019 and 2020 for passing tainted products, allowing them to reach dispensary shelves.
Regulators asked the board to revoke the company’s license, ban it from the industry for a decade, and impose a $62,500 fine, the report says. According to the complaint outlined by the Review-Journal, Cannex had performed unauthorized retesting for clients “with the intent to pass products that should have failed” microbial and heavy metal tests in addition to inflating THC potency.
In all, regulators say they found 232 instances of this unapproved retesting for THC Nevada, Silver Sage Wellness, ACC Industries, and Prime Cannabis and Integral Associates, the parent company of Essence Dispensaries.
“Rather than protecting consumers through accurate and honest testing, Cannex implemented testing processes that were designed to protect the monetary assets of their clients without regard for consumer safety. … Cannex’s microbial retesting practices resulted in the release of multiple cannabis products for sale to the public when they should have in fact failed testing.” – CCB, in the complaint
During an investigation into Cannex last year, regulators said secondary microbial tests of products passed by the company found high levels of mold and yeast, fungus and other contaminants, according to a Review-Journal report from February 2020. The Department of Taxation said at that time that there was “no reason to believe that the dispensaries or cultivators had any knowledge that the products exceeded allowable limits.” That recall affected 19 products at dozens of dispensaries throughout the state.
A man who filmed himself smoking a joint in the U.S. Capitol during the building’s siege on January 6 by angry supporters of former President Trump has been arrested, ABC News reports.
The man, James Bonet of New York state — who posted a video of his actions on his own Facebook page — was charged on January 25 by the Department of Justice, as per an FBI affidavit.
In the video, shot in the Capitol crypt, Bonet can be overheard saying, “Capitol building smoking with all my people!”
Later, he’d go on to say, “We made it in the building … We’re taking it back!”
The charging papers reveal Bonet was turned in by a co-worker who identified him via his video and then shared it with the FBI. Additionally, the documents say Bonet would often share conspiracies with co-workers, inviting them to join in his conspiratorial conversations.
However, the co-worker says they shared the video because he was not wearing a face mask, making him a potential COVID-19 spreader, ABC News said.
The Illinois Department of Agriculture has sent a round of notices to cannabis industry applicants – including social-equity license hopefuls – detailing specific problems that they can remedy in their applications, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The notices are the latest step toward regulators awarding the next round of licenses, including those long-awaited by social-equity applicants.
However, some applicants were issued disqualification notices because the state claims they were sent deficiency notices last year and didn’t respond to them either in time or accurately. Last September, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation indicated that just 21 of the more than 900 dispensary applicants received a perfect score and made the cut for the lottery.
Debbie Allen, founder of the Illinois Minority Cannabis Council who received a disqualification notice but said she never received a deficiency notice last year, described the regulators’ claim as “ridiculous.”
None of the state’s cannabusinesses are majority-owned by a person of color.
If this is allowed to continue to go forward like it is, it will never be right for minorities or women. Period. We will not get a seat at any table to participate in this industry.” – Allen to the Sun-Times
The state’s licensing processes were put on hold amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Illinois Craft Cannabis Association sued the state in order to resume licensing, but a judge declined to force the state to move forward citing the seriousness of the pandemic.
The applicants that did not receive perfect scores on the application have the opportunity to fix their applications and challenge the score as state officials faced criticism – and lawsuits – that many of the businesses that qualified for the lottery were well-funded, corporate, companies and multi-state operators.
President Joe Biden (D) signed an executive order on Tuesday directing the Department of Justice to end its use of private prisons and ordering the agency to not renew such contracts.
“This is a first step to stop corporations from profiting off of incarceration,” Biden said prior to signing the order.
The move is similar to the policies of the Obama Administration for which Biden served as vice president. According to a CBS News report, more than 14,000 federal inmates are housed at privately-run prisons; in all there are about 152,000 inmates in federal custody.
In a statement to news outlets, a spokesperson for the GEO Group, a private firm that operates federal prisons, said that the industry is already facing economic hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic – which has led to the release of some prisoners due to the risk of exposure to the virus. The spokesperson described the order as “a political statement” which could have a negative impact on jobs and the communities that rely on those jobs.
The GEO Group’s top three contracts are with the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, with 19.3% of its beds, representing 21.7% of its revenue; the Federal Bureau of Prisons (16.9% of beds, 13.9% of revenue), and the U.S Marshals Service (11.4%/11.2%). The company had generated $1.77 billion of revenue through the third quarter of 2020. Last November, the BOP declined to rebid on the group’s Rivers Correctional Facility in North Carolina, according to Million Acres.
David Fathi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project, noted to the Associated Press that the order does not impact private company’s that run immigration detention centers. He called the order “an important first step toward acknowledging the harm that has been caused and taking actions to repair it” but that the president “has an obligation to do more, especially given his history and promises.”
New Mexico Gov. Lujan Grisham (D) signaled her support for adult-use cannabis legalization during her State of the State on Tuesday and later tweeted that legalization would lead to “tens of thousands of jobs” and “hundreds of millions in new revenue” for the state.
“I have no interest in another year of thousands of New Mexicans, eager to get to work and make their future in this industry, being told ‘no,’ just because that’s easier than doing the hard work to get to ‘yes’ when we emerge from this pandemic. We can have the same-old economy with the same-old boom-and-bust future, or we can roar back to life, breaking new ground and fearlessly investing in ourselves, in the limitless potential of New Mexicans. I know which future I prefer.” – Grisham, State of the State, January 26, 2021
In a subsequent tweet, the governor noted that over the last two years the state has issued nearly 700 “brand-new” hemp licenses, which cover 15 million square feet of indoor and almost 10,000 acres of outdoor hemp cultivation. However, in 2020 state officials indicated hemp licensing in the state fell 31% from 2019.
According to a Marijuana Moment report, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth said in an interview last week with podcast Growing Forward – a joint project of NM Political Report and New Mexico PBS – that he was “feeling more confident” about legalization this year.
The report notes that anti-legalization Democrats, including the Senate president pro tem and the Finance Committee chair, were defeated last year by progressive primary challengers.
Washington state lawmakers are considering a proposal to allow cannabis home cultivation, KIRO 7 News reports. The measure (HB.1019) would allow adults 21-and-older to grow up to six plants per household, up to 15 per household.
In 2012, Washington joined Colorado in legalizing cannabis for adults, but the state did not allow for home grow. In all, 10 states that have passed legalization reforms allow for home cultivation.
During a January 15 legislative hearing on the measure, John Kingsbury of Home Grow Washington said the proposal is not “a bold experiment but rather a well-worn path.”
“What I often hear is conflation of large-scale illicit activity with what we are actually advocating for here, which is legalizing six-plant, noncommercial home gardens. … Crime hasn’t exploded in states that allow home growing and tax revenues have not suffered.” – Kingsbury during a Jan. 15 hearing, via Crosscut
During the hearing, the proposal received pushback from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, the Washington Association for Substance Abuse Prevention, and the Prevent Coalition.
The measure prohibits home cultivators from possessing more than 16 ounces of cannabis, 7 grams of concentrates, and 72 ounces of “marijuana-infused products in liquid form,” the bill says. It also includes a new civil infraction for cultivation in public view or for grows that can be “readily smelled” by neighbors or a passerby, which could result in a $50 fine.
Under current state law, qualified medical cannabis patients are allowed to grow up to four plants. For nonpatients, home cultivation is still penalized as a class C felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.
Utah medical cannabis patients can no longer legally cross state lines to purchase their medical cannabis products, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
Since medical cannabis sales launched last year, Utah has experienced difficulty providing its medical cannabis patients with access, especially those living in the more rural parts of the state. Acknowledging the delays, Utah had previously allowed patients to go out-of-state to purchase their medical cannabis products.
Having expected the state’s system to be fully up and running by now, however, the allowances have expired, leaving many patients without, said Utah cannabis activist Desiree Hennessy.
“These patients are without medication. They’re watching the rest of the state move forward and they’re stuck in limbo patiently waiting — or impatiently waiting.” — Hennessy, via the Tribune
Despite numerous fixes over the past year, Utah has struggled to complete its medical cannabis rollout. According to the Tribune, seven of the state’s 14 licensed dispensaries have not opened. The furthest-south dispensary is in Provo, which is still hours away from parts of the state that are closer to Nevada and Colorado — two neighboring states where adult-use cannabis has been legalized. Compounding the issue was a lack of production by Utah producers in 2020, which resulted in high prices and product shortages where cannabis is actually available.
A recent survey found that 60 percent of Utah patients still buy their cannabis from the unregulated market or out-of-state sources, the Tribune reports.
Legislators say they will take on more fixes in the 2021 session, including legislation to force the seven unopened cannabis pharmacies to open or risk losing their licenses.
Unfortunately, such anticipated fixes would do little to help patients like Chelsie Warren, who told the Tribune, “It’s just been so much easier for me to go out of state and purchase so much more for cheaper.”
In their Final Rule for the hemp industry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture raised THC levels that trigger eradication to 1% rather than the previous 0.5%. Industrial hemp standards under U.S. law remain 0.3% but the Agricultural Marketing Service – a division of the USDA – said the “statute [does] not define negligent violation.”
The rules were authored during the Trump Administration and published on January 19.
“AMS is increasing the negligent violation to a 1.0 percent threshold. AMS acknowledges that a lower total THC threshold will result in a higher number of negligent violations. AMS also understands that factors beyond the control of farmers may cause an increase in total THC-levels, such as seed genetic, weather and climate, and may contribute to crops exceeding the negligent violation threshold. AMS believes that the data provided in the comments clearly showed that increasing the negligent violation threshold to 1.0 percent would diminish the risk that producers would incur negligent violations without adding a greater risk of non-compliant material reaching channels of commerce.” – AMS, Establishment of a Domestic Hemp Production Program, Jan. 19, 2021
The new federal rules also give cultivators 30 days instead of 15 to get samples of their crops tested in an effort to prevent testing backlogs. The regulations also increase the options by which a grower can dispose of non-compliant plants without using a Drug Enforcement Administration-registered service or under the supervision of law enforcement.
The order keeps many of the previous rules in place, including requiring laboratories that analyze and test hemp to register with the DEA, the requirement that state and tribal hemp plans are approved by the USDA, and prohibiting individuals with controlled substance-related felonies from the industry for 10 years.
States that do not want to develop their own hemp plans may use USDA guidelines but producers in those states are required to apply for and be issued a license from the agency.
The new rules are set to take effect on March 22; however, they will likely be frozen by the Biden Administration as is standard procedure during a presidential transition for new rules and revisions issued by the outgoing administration.
In early 2020, it was hard to predict what the full impact of COVID-19 would be. Some companies stood at a standstill while others adapted and pivoted quickly. There were, and continue to be, unprecedented behavioral shifts across all categories – and cannabis is no exception. While you don’t need to be in market research to notice that, we’ve tracked the trends with hard data, and put together key insights for the cannabis industry.
SoapBoxSample specializes in emerging and niche markets, and we’ve been gathering data and analysis about the cannabis industry since 2015. We leverage a range of methodologies from online surveys, to focus groups to insight communities. We thought that nothing could be more interesting than observing the development of The Green Rush Revolution, however, things got extra weird in 2020.
We’ve surveyed thousands of cannabis consumers across the U.S. on a variety of cannabis-related topics, ranging from product preferences to gifting occasions, to changes at their local dispensary related to COVID-19 precautions. It’s clear there are opportunities across all categories in the space to deliver the benefits of the plant directly to consumers.
From illegal to essential – COVID and cannabis
COVID changed everything, including cannabis habits. A survey of 1,000 U.S. cannabis consumers conducted in March of 2020 revealed that 42% of cannabis consumers had made changes to their cannabis routines since the start of the pandemic. Not only did they change the amount they consumed, but they also updated the way they purchased it, and the forms of cannabis they chose to consume.
We learned that the people who started consuming more cannabis were driven by emotional and mental health reasons.
60% sought to relieve stress
53% wanted to calm down
57% were looking for relief from anxiety
34% said cannabis helped them with “cabin fever”
34% said it eased their fear and panic
24% were just bored
Among people who reported that they were consuming less, the top reasons included:
36% didn’t want to go out in public to get it
34% were unsure of their future income
31% said it simply wasn’t a priority at the moment
30% were concerned about coughing or respiratory irritants
25% said they were rationing their supply for fear of running out
Almost overnight, the drivers of consumption shifted from being social and having fun to easing anxiety and falling asleep. Some brands took advantage of these changes and positioned their products for specific use cases and occasions. Others launched new product lines to meet their customers’ needs. By understanding the behaviors, preferences and occasions behind the purchases, brands can make smarter, data-driven, customer-centric decisions.
Delivery Decoded
Many consumers turned to delivery services to avoid the lines and crowds at dispensaries, and 17% of cannabis consumers said they used a delivery service for the first time in 2020, and 33% reported that they relied on delivery services more during lockdown. The influx of demand put a strain on some delivery service providers. Customers reported experiencing:
Longer wait times – 40%
Items out of stock – 38%
Higher prices – 36%
To address customers’ pain points and work toward a “frictionless” experience, the first step is to understand the experiences of consumers. Website and app usability testing can be a helpful first step in diagnosing potential issues – before valuable customers are lost.
Professionals and the Growing Acceptance of Cannabis in the “Workplace”
With many offices suddenly shuttered and the abrupt shift to working from home, SoapBoxSample wanted to understand if the habits of cannabis-consuming professionals looked similar to the habits of the wider population of cannabis consumers. We learned that more professionals are making cannabis part of their workday, and a substantial portion are now “out of the closet” about their usage. A whopping 73% said they are comfortable talking about their cannabis usage with co-workers and more than half (58%) are comfortable talking about it with their boss or clients.
Nearly half (46%) said they’ve increased their consumption during lockdown. It was interesting to note that among this group of professionals who have increased their consumption, 61% intend to go back to their pre-pandemic habits and don’t consider this to be a permanent lifestyle change.
We also learned that many professionals turn to cannabis products to help them stay motivated during the workday (35% of those who consumed before work), presenting opportunities for brands with product lines geared toward productivity. It’s rare for any product to be “for everybody.” Understanding subgroups and developing detailed profiles of their customers allows brands to create effective and targeted marketing campaigns that speak directly to their customers’ preferences and lifestyles.
Cannabis Consumers are Thirsty for More
COVID-19 ushered in a renewed emphasis on lung health, allowing non-combustible consumption methods to attract new audiences — fast. From March of 2020 to October of 2020, we saw a 10% increase in consumers saying they preferred an edible delivery method. The cannabis beverage category expanded rapidly within a short time frame. In November of 2020, 32% of cannabis consumers said they tried a cannabis beverage in the last 12 months. By January of 2021, that number had jumped to 49%.
What we learned about this growing segment of beverage consumers:
⦁ 53% consume for anxiety relief
⦁ 46% consume to help them fall asleep
⦁ 40% want to enjoy the flavor (compare this with 10% of edibles consumers who say flavor is a top consideration)
⦁ 20% are replacing alcohol with cannabis beverages
⦁ 40% consume cannabis beverages alongside alcoholic beverages
As more beverage brands enter the market and the cultural norms around drinking cannabis evolve, companies will need to gather fast and continuous data from their customers and potential customers. What we learned during 2020 is that behaviors can change in a very short period of time. Brands that co-create their next generation of products alongside their customers by tapping into ongoing insights will be able to create products that fit naturally into people’s lives.
To learn more, visit SoapBoxSample.com/cannabis, where you can sign up for our weekly CANNAfact Friday newsletter.
The California Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) has ordered the removal of cannabis billboards on interstate highways and within 15 miles of the state border. The policy change is in response to a November ruling by the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court, which found the Bureau’s billboard advertising regulations were invalid. Consequently, no new billboards are allowed on Highways like the 101 and existing billboards on all interstate highways must come down. However, cannabis advertising billboards may remain on highways or roads that do not cross state borders, the BCC said in its notice.
“To comply with the law and regulations, licensees may not place new advertising or marketing on any interstate highway or state highway that crosses the California border. Licensees should also begin the process of removing current advertising and marketing that meets this criteria.” — Excerpt from the BCC notice
According to the San Luis Obispo Tribune, the lawsuit, Farmer v. Bureau of Cannabis Control, was filed by attorneys on behalf of a father who claimed the billboards were “exposing” his children to cannabis products, which they said violated the intent of Proposition 64.
Under Prop. 64 rules, “any advertising or marketing involving direct, individualized communication or dialogue controlled by the licensee shall utilize a method of age affirmation to verify that the recipient is 21 years of age or older.” According to the Cannabis Marketing Association, at least 71.6 percent of a cannabis advertisement’s expected audience must be at least 21.
Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R) has no plans to work toward cannabis legalization during this year’s session, telling Center Square that the reforms aren’t “right for the state.”
“Other states that have legalized marijuana are having issues with public safety, and we are concerned that we haven’t fully seen how this works with employment issues, education outcomes, and mental health. I would be open to expanding medical use or hearing criminal justice reforms, but the ideas need to be fully vetted in a public committee process. There is a wide range of opinions I want to hear from before we move forward with changing the laws on marijuana.” – Gazelka in a statement to Center Square
The House is controlled by the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party and chamber Speaker Melissa Hortman said the state’s continued prohibition is “doing more harm than good” and described Republicans as “the biggest obstacle to progress on this issue.”
“By creating a regulatory framework we can address the harms caused by cannabis and establish a more sensible set of laws to improve our health care and criminal justice systems and ensure better outcomes for communities,” she said in a statement to Center Square.
In 2019, Gov. Tim Walz (DFL) said he had directed relevant state agencies to “put all of the building blocks in place” for legalization that would allow the state to implement the rules and regulations “the minute” the Legislature approved the reforms, according to a Minnesota Public Radio report.
A February 2020 Star Tribune poll found 51% of Minnesotans supported legalization with 37% opposed and 12% unsure. The majority of Republicans polled – 47% to 42% – opposed the reforms, compared to a majority of DFL/Democrats (59%-30%) who supported them. The majority of the state’s independents also supported legalization by a 50% to 37% margin.
A Star Tribune poll from February 2014 found just 30% of Minnesotans supported legalization, with 63% opposed and 7% unsure. At that time, 54% of DFL/Democrats supported legalization – with 38% opposed – along with just 11% of Republicans (86% opposed) and 19% of independents (73% opposed.)
House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler told MinnPost that a legalization bill is being drafted but did not commit to it being voted on in the chamber.
