A Colorado-based cannabis company has canceled its plans to build a production facility in Auburn, New York that was expected to create about 100 jobs, due to delays in the state’s licensing process, The Citizen reports. Peter Marcus, vice president of communications for Terrapin, told The Citizen that the delays have made it “impossible” to move ahead with the facility.
“Terrapin was very hopeful the New York cannabis market would be an exciting opportunity in one of the most dynamic markets in the country. Unfortunately, we have watched implementation of the program crippled by painful delays and lawsuits. Ultimately, cannabis retail has not launched adequately to justify entering the market with a production facility at this time.” — Marcus to The Citizen
The company had announced the plan in October 2021 and the Auburn Industrial Development Authority approved a letter of intent submitted by the company that month. The facility would have been located in the Auburn Technology Park and Terrapin said it would cost between $20 million and $30 million to build.
In an interview with The Citizen, Auburn City Councilor Jimmy Giannettino called Terrapin’s decision “disappointing” and “indicative of the dysfunction in Albany in launching the adult-use market, which was approved by lawmakers more than two years ago.
Editor’s note: This article was contributed by Johnny Green, Media and Content Director for the International Cannabis Business Conference.
Policymakers in the Czech Republic recently expressed a strong desire to legalize cannabis for adult use, building on the momentum occurring across the border in Germany. Germany is trending towards adult-use legalization and the Czech Republic has expressed its own plans for legalization. However, the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Agriculture recently announced that it will be instituting new restrictions on CBD products, which is leaving many international cannabis observers scratching their heads.
“The State Agricultural and Food Inspection … is preparing measures of a general nature, which will prohibit the marketing of cannabidiol (CBD), other cannabinoids obtained from hemp, and products containing these substances. According to the EU, food with CBD cannot be marketed in any EU country. Their effects on human health have not been sufficiently scientifically investigated,” a recent Ministry of Agriculture press release (translated from Czech to English) stated.
Previous messaging
Back in October 2022, the Czech Republic’s top drug policy expert seemed optimistic about his country’s chances of passing an adult-use legalization measure in the near future.
“At the moment, there is a political consensus for me to create this proposal for the regulation of cannabis, a substance which is illegal at the moment. We want to regulate it with the help of the market and we believe that this regulation will be more effective than the current ban,” Czech drug policy leader Jindřich Vobořil told members of the press at the time.
Immediately following a legalization presentation to Germany’s federal cabinet by Health Minister Karl Lauterbach in October 2022, Vobořil posted on his Facebook page that “Germany and the Czech Republic [will] go to a regulated market at the same time.”
“Today, Germany announced through the mouth of its Minister of Health that it is launching the legislative process. It won’t be quite the free market, as some would expect. For example, colleagues from Germany talk about the allowed amount, they do not have cannabis clubs that we are supposed to. I’m pretty sure I want to hold on to cannabis clubs until my last breath. I find this model very useful, at least for the first years.” — Vobořil, in the October 26, 2022 Facebook post
“However, we are in live contact with our colleagues from Germany and have repeatedly confirmed that we want to coordinate ourselves, even practically by consulting each other on our proposals. I will also want their expert assessment of our proposals, which we will prepare in the above mentioned working expert group,” Vobořil also stated in his Facebook post.
Conflicting goals?
In addition to Vobořil’s comments late last year, government officials in the Czech Republic indicated mere weeks ago that they will be pursuing an adult-use legalization model that involves a consumer registry. And while pursuing a CBD ban while also simultaneously pursuing adult-use legalization, the Czech Republic recently punished a cannabis educator for “inciting and promoting toxicomania.”
It is clear that much of the rhetoric coming out of the Czech Republic right now seems to be conflicting. Ultimately, the Czech Republic needs what every other country in Europe needs – a comprehensive national cannabis policy that is based on reason, logic, compassion, and sensibility.
The European continent is experiencing a big push right now to try regulating cannabis instead of prohibiting it in order to boost public health. The current continental legalization strategy, which is being led by Germany, is straightforward: the strategy recognizes that adult cannabis consumption will always occur and that it is better for overall public health outcomes for the products being consumed to be regulated versus unregulated. Clearly, that logic applies to hemp-derived products as much as it applies to products derived from cannabis plants that contain amounts of THC that put it above the legal hemp threshold (typically between .2% and 1% depending on the jurisdiction).
Readers can learn more about what is going on in the Czech Republic, and how it fits into the larger legalization push in Europe, at the upcoming International Cannabis Business Conference in Berlin on June 29-30.
Oregon’s secretary of state resigned on Tuesday amidst the controversy surrounding her role as a consultant for a cannabis company, Oregon Live reports. Shemia Fagan announced on Monday that she had left the consulting role after Republican lawmakers called for her to resign from her office and Gov. Tina Kotek (D) had requested an ethics probe into her cannabis gig.
“While I am confident that the ethics investigation will show that I followed the state’s legal and ethical guidelines in trying to make ends meet for my family, it is clear that my actions have become a distraction from the important and critical work of the Secretary of State’s Office. Protecting our state’s democracy and ensuring faith in our elected leaders – these are the reasons I ran for this office. They are also the reasons I will be submitting my resignation today.” — Fagan, in a statement, via Oregon Live
Fagan’s cannabis consulting job with Veriede Holdings, an affiliate of the cannabis chain La Mota, had paid her $10,000 a month.
In a statement, Kotek said she supported Fagan’s decision to step down.
“It is essential that Oregonians have trust in their government. I believe this is a first step in restoring that trust,” Kotek said. “During the upcoming appointment process, my office will do everything possible to support the hard working staff in the Secretary of State’s Office and ensure this will not disrupt the May 16 election.”
Deputy Secretary of State Cheryl Myers will take over for Fagan until Kotek appoints a new secretary of state to serve out the remainder of Fagan’s term, which runs until January 2025.
The Florida House on Tuesday approved a bill that sets an age limit of 21 for hemp products that contain THC but does not impose THC caps included in the original version of the bill, Florida Politics reports. The measure passed the state Senate late last month and moves next to the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
The measure includes a ban on cannabis product packaging that is “attractive to children.” The bill that was first introduced in the House had included a limit of 0.5 milligrams of THC per dose and 2 milligrams per container, but those provisions were removed before being approved by the chamber. The measure does not include regulations for topicals, such as creams, lotions, shampoos, or other non-ingestible hemp products.
The bill also includes testing protocols for hemp-derived edible products.
The legislation is backed by hemp industry stakeholders, who had opposed the original version due to the THC caps, and by the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
A report by Whitney Economics suggests the Florida hemp industry employs more than 100,000 people and generates $3.5 billion in wages. A survey of hemp industry operators in the state found that 67% of respondents said restrictions included in the original House bill would have forced them out of business.
More federal government agencies are relaxing their drugs-related hiring rules in an effort to attract younger hires, the New York Times reports.
The shift is likely due to the growing liberalization of cannabis policies throughout the country: 22 states plus Washington D.C. have now legalized adult-use cannabis, 38 states have legalized access to the plant in some form for medical purposes, and the majority of Americans say they support the end of federal cannabis prohibition.
During the past five years, more than 3,400 military recruits who failed the initial drug test were given a grace period to try again, the Times report said.
Meanwhile, the FBI already walked back some of its cannabis-related hiring restrictions in 2021 in an effort to attract younger and more tech-savvy recruits, and the CIA followed suit with similar changes last year, according to the report. Additionally, the U.S. Secret Service announced this week that its cannabis-related hiring policies had been updated to reflect the state of growing reforms at the state level, Marijuana Moment reports.
While federal employees still must abstain from using cannabis once they are hired, a federal proposal by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) would allow for admissions of cannabis use in security clearance interviews.
“We don’t want to be disqualifying half of the population, tens of millions of people, for having done something that most of our recent presidents have done. You’re taking huge numbers of people off the field.” — Raskin, via the New York Times
Along a similar vein, Marijuana Moment reported this week that the Department of Transportation (DOT) has updated its policies to allow saliva-based drug tests. The move should lead to more cannabis-friendly hires because urine tests — which have been the longtime standard for employee drug testing — are particularly good at catching cannabis use but not much else.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s (D) administration on Monday announced he has created a blind trust for his assets, which includes about $1.2 million in shares of stock in a cannabis company, NBC 4 Washington reports. The Green Thumb Industries stock comprises about 46% of the governor’s assets now in the trust. Moore had served on the company’s board of directors from 2018 until March 2022.
Carter Elliott, a spokesperson for Moore, told NBC 4 that creating the blind trust “will ensure the governor is removed from even the appearance of potential conflicts of interest that could arise as a result of his duties as governor and further demonstrates his commitment to serving the people of Maryland to the best of his ability ethically, transparently, and effectively.”
The trust is required to be diversified and a large portion of his Green Thumb stock is likely to be sold.
Following the Senate’s rejection of a bill last week to require the Department of Veterans Affairs to conduct a study of veterans who use medical cannabis, Sen. John Tester (D-MT), chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, told Military.com that the measure, and other veteran-focused bills, “may all be dead.”
“At this moment in time, there is not a specific path forward. I just don’t like it when the Senate votes against their veterans. That’s what happened yesterday. Forty-one of them did.” — Tester to Military.com
In a procedural vote last Wednesday, the Senate voted 57-42 to advance the cannabis bill, three votes short of the 60 required to pass.
The bill, which included provisions related to the VA caregiver program and home ownership for Native American veterans, would have required Veterans Affairs to conduct a “large scale” observational study of veterans who use cannabis and have chronic pain or post-traumatic stress disorder to see how it affects their health and whether those veterans reduce their use of opiates or alcohol.
Following the observational study, VA officials would have reported back to Congress about the study results and whether the agency would move forward with a clinical trial looking at how cannabis use affects chronic pain and PTSD.
“If we’ve got veterans out there that are able to use cannabis and have it deal positively with PTSD and chronic pain, who am I to say no?” Tester told Military.com. “Because pain kills. I mean, it literally does kill.”
The measure had bipartisan sponsorship from Tester and Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Republicans on the Veterans Affairs, which had unanimously approved the bill in February, viewed the bill as a sensible way to examine the effects of cannabis, which many veterans are already consuming.
A study published in March by researchers at the University of North Texas Health Science Center and College of Applied Health Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found one in 10 military veterans reported using cannabis over the past year.
Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan (D) says she has abandoned a lucrative cannabis industry consulting side gig after days of Republican lawmakers calling for her to resign over the position — and after Gov. Tina Kotek (D) requested an ethics inquiry into the role — OPB reports. Fagan released a written statement and held a 30-minute press conference on Monday announcing she had canceled the contract and that she recognizes how consulting for an industry under audit by her own office had been a bad idea.
“Clearly this contract raises questions. Upon painful reflection, taking that contract was poor judgment, and for that I am sorry.” — Fagan, in a press release
During the press conference, Fagan said she had “faithfully followed Oregon’s ethics rules and laws” but that, “I am not here today to defend my rule-following. I’m here today to own that there’s a difference between following all the rules and doing nothing wrong.”
The row came after Fagan’s office released an audit of the state’s cannabis industry that concluded the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC) should “reform” some rules for cannabusinesses in the state, describing the certain regulations as “burdens” when paired with federal law and banking and tax issues.
Fagan had recused herself from the audit due to her role as a paid consultant for an affiliate of La Mota, a vertically integrated cannabis company with retailers around the state.
According to a Willamette Week report, La Mota’s co-owners have hosted fundraisers for Democratic politicians, including Fagan, and her partner and the businesses allegedly owe $1.7 million in unpaid bills along with owing back federal and state taxes. Fagan said her consulting work for the company had been to investigate out-of-state opportunities for the cannabis brand’s expansion; the position earned $10,000 per month.
In a joint statement, Senate Republican leader Tim Knopp and House Republican leader Vikki Breese-Iverson had called Fagan’s role with the company “an ethics violation” while she remains secretary of state.
“…If it isn’t then Oregon’s ethics laws are broken,” the Republican leaders said in the statement.
A hemp bill that includes no THC caps on products has passed the Florida Senate, Florida Politics reports. The proposal still includes age limits on purchasing hemp products that contain THC and a ban on packaging that is “attractive to children.”
The bill that was first introduced in the state House included a limit of 0.5 milligrams of THC per dose and 2 milligrams per container. The measure does not include regulations for topicals, such as creams, lotions, shampoos, or other non-ingestible hemp products.
Hemp businesses in Florida had opposed the House measure, saying it would be detrimental to the state hemp industry.
Matthew Schwarmann, the president of Outpost Brands, a hemp manufacturing company in Daytona Beach, told WESH that the age limits and packaging rules in the bill “makes sense” but that the regulations included in the House measure do “nothing but destroy the entire hemp industry and hand it right over to medical marijuana companies.”
“This has never killed anyone. We can regulate this to 21 plus to protect the kids but don’t destroy the entire industry. There’s nothing to be gained from that.” — Schwarmann to WESH
A report by Whitney Economics suggests that Florida’s hemp industry employs more than 100,000 people and generates $3.5 billion in wages. A survey of hemp industry operators in the state found that 67% of respondents said restrictions included in the House bill would force them out of business.
The Senate version of the bill moves next to the House.
The Texas House last week passed a cannabis decriminalization bill that would reduce penalties for possession of up to an ounce of flower or concentrates to a Class C misdemeanor, KXAN reports. Despite the reduced charge, however, possession penalties could still include a hefty $500 fine.
Under current state law, such possession would be considered a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,000. Possession of four ounces or more is considered a felony with a penalty of up to two years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine.
State Rep. Joe Moody (D), one of the bill’s authors, said the measure addresses cannabis possession “in a smarter way” than current Texas law.
“What it does is turn personal use possession into a non-arrestable Class C offense under House Bill 218. Possessing a small amount of cannabis is still illegal.” — Moody to KXAN
The measure also reduces penalties for possession of two ounces or less to a Class B misdemeanor punishable by 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine, and for possession of between two and four ounces to a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
The measure moves next to the Senate, which rejected similar legislation in both 2019 and 2021.
The Minnesota Senate last week narrowly voted to legalize cannabis for adult use on a 34-33 party-line vote, CBS News reports. The approval comes three days after the House approved its own legalization bill. The bills contain some slight differences, and lawmakers will next consider a compromise bill that would require final approval by both chambers.
The Senate version includes a 10% tax on cannabis products while the House version included an 8% tax. The Senate measure would also allow adults to possess up to 5 pounds of cannabis in their homes – the House version sets a 1.5-pound limit.
The Senate plan would also allow local governments to limit the number of cannabusinesses within their borders; the House version does not have caps.
The Senate bill also delays criminal justice provisions included in the bill until 2025 while the House version would start the process in August.
During a press conference after the Senate vote, State Sen. Carla Nelson, who voted against the proposal along with the rest of her Republican colleagues, said law enforcement in the state is “against this bill” and that there are “too many questions about … public safety.”
Ryan Winkler, who is chairman of the cannabis reform group MN is Ready and formerly served as Minnesota’s House Majority Leader, noted that lawmakers and advocates know about the potential public safety and public health issues.
“To the extent that we can address those issues and put funding into local communities, funding into public health, we are doing that,” he said in an interview with CBS News.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) has said that he would sign an adult-use legalization bill were it to make it to his desk.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Ryan Winkler is a state senator.
A Canada-based manufacturer of natural fiber composites has secured $40 million in funding from a private New York Family Office that will assist the firm in hemp-related projects including the construction of a hemp fiber processing facility in western Canada.
In a statement, INCA Renewable Technologies CEO and Chairman David Saltman said the funding “is an important milestone” for the firm.
“This round of funding will enable us to commercialize our line of hemp-based, advanced bio-composites for Toyota North America, Winnebago Industries and Gurit. … Completion of the project will make INCA the first vertically integrated natural fiber composites company in the world.” — Saltman in a press release
INCA has deployed its fiber processing and bio-composites innovation and manufacturing to produce lighter prepregs for the automotive industry, large dimensional panels to replace plywood in RV sidewalls, cores for wind turbine blades and boats, and compounded pellets to replace glass-reinforced plastics.
“Our ability to transform a low-cost raw material into a set of patented high value products, will enable our customers to produce lighter, stronger, lower cost and far more environmentally sustainable products,” Saltman said in a statement. “We think it is a winning value proposition.”
The product line will be manufactured from hemp, which has been legally grown in the Canadian Prairies since 1998, primarily for plant-based protein. INCA will acquire the waste biomass from large growers, refine it into long fiber, short fiber, and hurd and manufacture the full product line.
A group of Harlem-based New York City businesses filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to stop a dispensary planned for 125th Street, the New York Times reports. The lawsuit was filed by the 125th Street Business District Management Association in State Supreme Court in Manhattan.
The lawsuit aims to cancel the state’s lease on a storefront across from the Apollo Theatre. It is the first case challenging the process regulators use to choose dispensary locations, the report says.
The association said it did not oppose having a dispensary on 125th, or elsewhere in Harlem, but described the current location as “irredeemable” because it would add to crime, congestion, and open drug use already occurring at the location. The association described the state’s selection process for the site as “a naked, intentional and bold attempt to avoid community opposition.”
The lawsuit claims that the property’s landlord also currently rents space to an unlicensed dispensary two blocks away and that a recent murder and multiple shootings have occurred at that site.
The lawsuit names the Dormitory Authority – the state public construction agency – the Office of Cannabis Management, its executive director, and 246 West LLC among the defendants. The Dormitory Authority leased the 125th property in December as part of a program to provide retail locations to entrepreneurs selected to open adult-use dispensaries.
Dr. Jeffery C. Raber and cannabis testing lab The Werkshop have teamed up with The Terpene Store to create a line of naturally derived cannabis terpene profiles that make exploring the cannabis plant’s chemistry more accessible than ever before. This new Natural Products line, made from only the highest quality materials and manufactured under strict safety standards, consists of 30 foundational cannabis profiles, featuring scents from strains like Blue Dream, Super Lemon Haze, Sour Diesel, OG Kush, and many more. But the terps are not just for smelling and admiring. The line invites cannabis consumers to explore the role that terpenes play in the Entourage Effect.
The Natural Products package comes with five vials of terpenes that mimic various cannabis strains’ terpene profiles. It also comes with a 1-ounce curing bag and plastic pipettes to drip the terps onto your choice of cannabis material. Knowing a little about terpenes and how they give each cannabis strain its unique effects — and after having interviewed Dr. Raber for one of my first cannabis articles in 2014 — I was excited to put the system to the test.
It was a fun experiment to infuse a fat eighth of ground CBG terpeneless hemp with a sample of Super Lemon Haze terpenes. After adding a drop or two of terps to the hemp in the curing bag, I sealed the bag and let it marinate for five days. What I ended up with was Super Lemon Haze high-CBG hemp. Next, I took my new homemade strain and packed it into a hemp 1-gram blunt, then let that cure for a day or two. The blunt when smoked was smooth and the added terps enhanced both the taste and the effect of the hemp inside. Having consumed Super Lemon Haze before, I have to say the limonene did offer up an uplifting energetic head “high.” What an awesome product, and I have four more strain profiles to try.
All of The Terpene Store’s unique and high-quality cannabis flavors can be found on their website at TheTerpeneStore.com.
The Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission (GMCC) on Wednesday issued the state’s first five licenses to dispense low-THC medical cannabis in the state. The commission awarded the licenses to Botanical Sciences LLC and Trulieve GA Inc for dispensaries in Bibb, Chatham, and Cobb counties.
Under the state’s medical cannabis law, products sold through dispensaries can contain up to 5% THC. Both Trulieve and Botanical hold Class 1 production licenses in the state.
In a statement, Andrew Turnage, executive director of the GMCC, said Trulieve and Botanical, “have been working hard to get their production facilities fully operational” and have “signaled they are ready to sell to registered patients by applying for these initial dispensing licenses.”
“The dispensing licenses issued today are just the beginning. As more dispensaries become licensed, more patients will be reached at locations throughout the state.” Even with these licenses issued, the current production licenses are able to apply for the additional ones until they reach the maximum number allowed by state law.” — Turnage in a press release
The GMCC, under state law, can add one more dispensary license as patient counts in the state exceed 25,000 – 27,000 in all. The law allows the commission to add an additional dispensary license for every 10,000 patients over the 25,000 benchmark.
The state’s medical cannabis law requires that dispensaries are fully operational within 120 days of the date the license is issued.
According to a survey by Maine’s Office of Cannabis Policy (OCP), more than 1,350 medical cannabis caregivers left the program from the end of 2021 to the end of January 2023.
The survey found a variety of factors led to the exodus, including business costs, banking registrations and fees, municipal and OCP regulations, oversupply, competition from the adult-use and unregulated markets, lack of testing and tracking, no wholesale relationships, no connection to patients, switching to adult-use operations, and becoming a dispensary employee.
The majority of respondents (68 respondents) cited oversupply and low prices, and utility costs (57 respondents) as their impetus for leaving the caregiver program.
“The overproduction in the [Medical Marijuana Caregiver Program] has come as a result of legislative refusal to update the MMCP’s statutes in five years, even as the industry has transformed significantly. For example, with no inventory tracking system implemented for the medical program, it is impossible for OCP to ensure that program participants are sourcing their product from the regulated market and not diverting product to the illicit market.” — OCP, “Caregiver Exodus: Market Conditions and the Impact on Maine’s Medical Use of Cannabis Program”
In the survey, the OCP notes that the “findings depart dramatically from the rumors and speculation about what has happened within” the state’s medical cannabis program. The OCP said that the narrative that it was responsible for caregivers leaving the program was “unsubstantiated” as just 16 survey respondents said they left the program because of OCP regulations.
In all, the agency received responses from 117 former medical cannabis caregivers, just 8.7% of the 1,339 it contacted to take part in the survey.
Bipartisan lawmakers in both chambers of Congress on Wednesday reintroduced the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act in an effort to normalize banking and financial services for the legal cannabis industry. Sponsored by Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) in the Senate and Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Dave Joyce (R-OH) in the House, the updated SAFE Banking Act would protect banks and other institutions from federal prosecution for serving state-legal cannabis companies.
Under current federal law, banks are discouraged from providing services to state-licensed cannabis companies due to the ongoing federal prohibition of cannabis, and the lack of banking has led to an industry based almost entirely on cash transactions. The heightened levels of cash (and cannabis, which remains valuable on the illicit market) have made state-legal cannabis companies prime targets for criminals — Sen. Merkley tweeted on Wednesday that the current system is “dangerous” and “ripe for robbery, assaults, tax fraud, and money laundering.”
The House of Representatives has previously approved the SAFE Banking Act seven times, as both a standalone proposal and as part of a broader legislation package, but the Senate has yet to ever formally consider the bill. This year’s Senate version of the proposal, however, carries a total of 40 co-sponsors including five Republicans.
“The introduction of the SAFE Banking Act puts us on a path to move through the Senate Banking Committee and get a vote on the floor of the Senate,” said Sens. Merkley and Daines in a joint statement issued after the proposal’s reintroduction.
“We expect SAFE Banking to go through the Banking Committee, and on the floor there will be an opportunity to add additional regular-order passed provisions – such as the HOPE and GRAM Acts – before final Senate passage. This expanded ‘SAFE Banking Plus’ package will represent the largest-ever cannabis reform legislation with bipartisan support in Congress. We are committed to making 2023 the year a bill is signed into law that ensures all legal cannabis businesses have access to the financial services they need.” — Statement by Sens. Merkley and Daines
A 2022 poll by Data for Progress found that 72% of U.S. voters, including nearly two-thirds of Republicans, support giving legal cannabis companies access to traditional financial services.
“It is irresponsible to shut this heavily regulated industry out of the US financial system,” NORML Political Director Morgan Fox said in a press release. “Every day that Congress fails to act further endangers small businesses and consumers, puts regulators and law enforcement at a disadvantage, and facilitates the activities of unlicensed operators and criminal organizations.”
Cannabis is legal for medical purposes in 38 states and for recreational use by adults in 22 states, with Delaware being the latest to adopt adult-use reforms.
About a third of New Jersey adults have used cannabis products since the state passed legalization legislation about a year ago, according to a Stockton University poll. Nearly half – 47% – of those who consumed cannabis did so for recreational purposes, 14% purely for medical reasons, and 39% for both medical and recreational purposes.
In all, 69% of those polled bought cannabis from a licensed dispensary and 86% were either satisfied or very satisfied with the experience, the poll found. Forty-three percent of those polled said they were satisfied because they knew the products were safe and 23% approved of the quality; however, just 7% said they were satisfied with the price.
Among the 30% who bought cannabis from unregulated sources, 18% said they did so because prices or taxes charged at dispensaries were too high, but the main reason cited for buying cannabis illegally was the lack of a legal dispensary nearby.
Nearly half (48%) of survey respondents favored cannabis attractions like consumption lounges, while a full 50% of respondents in South Jersey, where tourism is a top employer, opposed offering such attractions.
Slightly more than half (53%) of respondents supported adult-use dispensaries in their town, down from the 56% who backed dispensaries where they live in an April 2022 Stockton Poll.
In all, 37% of male respondents had consumed cannabis, along with 28% of women. Democrats were also more likely to consume cannabis than Republicans or independents (38%, 24%, and 32%, respectively).
Medical cannabis sales in Arkansas during the first quarter of the year were up 7.14% compared to the same quarter of 2022, according to Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) data outlined by Talk Business & Politics. In March, Arkansas patients spent a record $24.9 million on 4,972 pounds of medical cannabis.
DFA spokesperson Scott Hardin told TB&P that state tax collection on medical cannabis totaled $2.48 million in March, bringing the overall total to $97.2 million.
The strong first-quarter sales follow record medical cannabis revenue in 2022 of $276.3 million, which was up 4.3% compared with the previous record of $264.9 million in 2021, the report says.
Arkansas collects a 6.5% regular state sales tax with each medical cannabis purchase and a 4% privilege tax on sales from cultivators to dispensaries. Most of the tax revenue is placed in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences National Cancer Designation Trust Fund.
The Arkansas Department of Health reports 93,977 active patient cards as of April 21, up from 89,855 at the end of last year.
Last November, Arkansas voters rejected a ballot measure to legalize adult-use cannabis by a 56%-44% margin.
The administration of Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) is partnering with NuProject to launch a statewide Cannabis Business Loan Program. The project is a collaboration between the mission-based lender and the Cannabis Business Office (CBO).
In a statement, Polis said the program “will create and retain 239 good-paying jobs and promote equity in the cannabis industry by providing growing businesses access to funding.”
The program will provide loans between $50,000 and $150,000 for renovations or expansions, the purchase of equipment, real estate or use as working capital, the governor’s office said in a press release. Loans will have favorable and manageable terms based on borrower needs.
NuProject and the CBO will manage the program as a revolving loan fund: as loans are repaid, the interest generated will be reinvested into the fund to support future borrowers. The initial $1 million investment is expected to lend $2.9 million over the next 10 years.
In a statement, Jeannette Ward Horton, NuProject CEO, said “When cannabis business owners have access to financial support and the know-how to put that funding to work, they can run better businesses and have the opportunity to build generational wealth through the cannabis industry.”
“NuProject is committed to redirecting the typical flow of financing so that small business owners in the cannabis industry, especially those who’ve been historically excluded from access to capital, can access the resources they need to grow their businesses.” — Ward Horton in a statement
The program is the third CBO funding source available for the state’s social equity cannabis businesses, the governor’s office said, noting that its Cannabis Business Grant, launched in 2021, provides $25,000 Foundational Grants to help early-stage cannabis businesses with their startup needs and $50,000 Growth Grants to support existing cannabis businesses as they grow or refine their operations. The Cannabis Business Loan Program is designed to support larger, more established cannabis businesses as they continue to grow
The California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) on Tuesday awarded $20 million in cannabis research grants to 16 academic institutions in the state. Rasha Salama, DCC chief deputy director, said the studies funded by the grants “will provide valuable insights on topics of interest to California’s consumers, businesses, and policy makers.”
“It is the department’s aspiration that these studies will advance the body of scientific research, further our understanding of cannabis, and aid to the continued development and refinement of the legal framework.” — Salama in a statement
Eight of the studies are focused on cannabis potency, two on medical cannabis use, one on the health of the state’s cannabis industry, two on monopolies and unfair competition, one on California legacy cannabis genetics and genetic sequencing, one on licensed and unlicensed cannabis cultivation throughout the state, and one on cannabis cultivation among Hmong farmers.
Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles were awarded the most funds – more than $7 million – covering six projects, including evaluating synthetic and semi-synthetic cannabinoids, a comparative study of the effects of concentrate use versus flower, interactions between delta-9 THC and CBD, medical cannabis use practices, the state of medical cannabis in California, and assessing the health of the state cannabis program.
Three projects at the University of California, Berkeley were awarded about $2.5 million by the state. The studies will investigate monopolistic and unfair competition in the state’s cannabis industry, the effects of licensed and unlicensed cannabis cultivation, and cannabis farming among Hmong farmers.
Two projects at the University of California, San Diego were awarded about $1 million by the state. Those studies are focused on the effects of cannabis on young adults. Researchers at the University of California, San Fransisco were awarded $904,052 for a study also focused on the effects of cannabis use on young adults.
The University of California, Irvine was awarded $2 million for a study on the short- and long-term effects of high-THC products.
Researchers at University of California, Davis were awarded $856,881 for a study focused on vaping cannabinoids.
A Cal Poly, Humboldt project was awarded nearly $2.7 million to study legacy California cannabis genetics, while Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo was awarded $444,643 to study the state’s cannabis regulations.
In all, the DCC received 98 proposals and said the accepted studies were chosen based on their strong scientific methodology, their ability to provide useful information for policymaking, their advancement of public understanding of cannabis, and their potential to generate foundational research that will support exponential future knowledge.
The Minnesota House on Tuesday passed a cannabis legalization bill, CBS News reports. The measure passed 71-59, mostly along party lines, including the support of just two Republicans. One Democrat voted against the proposal.
The measure would allow adults 21-and-older to purchase cannabis and possess up to two ounces of flower in public and 1.5 pounds of flower in their homes. Under the measure, Minnesotans would be permitted to home grow up to eight plants for personal use.
State Rep. Nolan West, one of the Republicans to vote in favor of the legislation, said that while he supports the reforms, he hopes that some issues will be cleared up in the final version, including local control of cannabis businesses and the impact of broad legalization on the state’s existing hemp businesses.
“The majority of Minnesotans agree that the time to end marijuana prohibition is here.” — West, during a press conference, via CBS News
The state Senate is expected to take up its own version of the legislation on Friday. If approved, the bills would move next to a conference committee to come to an agreement on final language, with a final vote expected before the state’s legislative session ends next month.
Gov. Tim Walz (D) has long backed cannabis legalization and has said he would sign the legislation if it reaches his desk.
Louisiana lawmakers on Tuesday killed a bill to legalize adult-use cannabis in the state, the Lafayette Daily Advertiser reports. The House Criminal Justice Committee voted down the proposal 9-4.
The measure was opposed by the state’s sheriffs, district attorneys, and police chiefs over public safety concerns and the impact of legalization on children.
Ken Caldwell of the Marijuana Policy Project estimated that the state supports an illicit cannabis market of at least $1 billion.
During testimony, state Rep. Candace Newell (R) argued that the 1937 federal ban on cannabis was enacted due to “racism, bigotry and fear-mongering” after a national propaganda campaign that stoked fears of Black musicians “smoking reefers” and “raping white women.”
“We should not still be criminalizing people when in other states their economy is flourishing.” — Newell via the Daily Advertiser
During his testimony, Will Hall of the Louisiana Baptist Office of Public Policy, said “It’s not worth mortgaging the future of our youth to create tax revenue.”
Louisiana does allow medical cannabis use and last year lawmakers downgraded possession of up to 14 grams of cannabis for personal use to a misdemeanor punishable by a $100 fine and no jail time.
Leading medical cannabis educational outlet Project CBD has announced the launch of their new website and brand system, which were developed over the past year in partnership with Blue Dream, the in-house creative agency at Ganjapreneur.
Project CBD was established in 2010 as a resource for patients, doctors, and cannabis growers to learn about medical research into the health benefits of CBD, THC, and other compounds found in cannabis, as well as other forms of plant medicine. Created before the medicinal applications of CBD were widely known, Project CBD helped initiate the movement to produce high-CBD cultivars by educating growers and breeders about the unique medicinal properties of cannabidiol and encouraging them to produce cannabis products that catered toward patients with severe health conditions.
The new Project CBD website is designed to make their educational content more accessible and discoverable, and also includes an updated marketplace for ethical CBD brands to showcase their products.
Brand identity development
Noel Abbott, CEO of Ganjapreneur and strategic advisor for Blue Dream, explained how Project CBD’s new visual identity aims to highlight the multifaceted nature of its mission.
“For many cannabis and CBD companies exploring a rebrand or brand update, we might steer them away from using a fan leaf as their primary symbol due to how common it is,” he said. “In Project CBD’s case, they are indisputably one of the most well-established voices in cannabis education in the world, so we felt they could truly own it. But the logo is more than a leaf – it also represents a flower and a molecule – highlighting that they are not only focused on CBD, but also other plant medicines as well as the scientific research that proves how these medicines can help people.”
In addition to the new logo, Blue Dream helped Project CBD create an array of graphic templates and supporting materials to drive engagement on social media, via their email newsletter, and through other communication channels.
“Blue Dream has been a fantastic partner with much-needed expertise in these areas,” says Project CBD director Martin A. Lee. “We hope to build upon this partnership as we expand our reporting on cannabis science, plant medicine, psychedelics, regenerative farming, and the social dimensions of health and drug policy.”
Website migration and optimization
As part of the collaboration, the Project CBD website was migrated to WordPress from Drupal, along with a large body of articles that had been translated into Japanese and Spanish to help spread knowledge about plant medicine globally.
One of the primary goals of the redesigned website was to increase search engine traffic, as Project CBD previously ranked in the top Google results for keywords such as “What is CBD,” “CBD dosage guidelines,” and other high-traffic search phrases. For years, Project CBD was the de facto authority on the web for these topics in Google. After the 2018 Farm Bill which effectively legalized hemp in the US, Project CBD saw a rapid acceleration of commercial content about CBD on the internet – much of which was misleading and incorrect – and this content wound up getting ranked higher by Google over time.
Noel Abbott of Ganjapreneur noted, “I’d like to see the authentic educational voices in our space stand out above the commercially-focused content Google tends to favor, and we’re looking forward to helping Project CBD reclaim and maintain their rightful place in search results.”
Opportunities for ethical CBD brands
The new Project CBD website also includes redesigned profiles for the brands who have supported their efforts, as well as opportunities for retailers and non-CBD brands to have a presence on the website. Cody Stevenson, who oversees business development for both Ganjapreneur and Blue Dream, said, “Finishing the website and brand system for Project CBD was the first part of our collaboration. Going forward, CBD and cannabis brands can look forward to unique cross-platform opportunities between Ganjapreneur and Project CBD, allowing you to leverage two authoritative platforms to help improve customer loyalty and SEO while also engaging new customers.”
