Regulations

Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey has signed the state’s medical cannabis program expansions into law; the new rules will allow for more patients, home delivery, and dozens more medical cannabis operators.

Officials with New Mexico’s Health Department are refusing to qualify out-of-state residents for the state’s medical cannabis program, despite a recent rule change for the program removing the residency requirement from the definition of “qualified patient.”

Maine Gov. Janet Mills has signed a bill creating regulations for the state’s adult-use cannabis industry, which was approved by voters in 2016. Former Gov. Paul LePage had vetoed similar reforms, stalling the market’s launch.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has signed into law several cannabis policy updates, including a bill allowing the state to export cannabis products to other states with cannabis programs.

Three weeks after its first public hearing on cannabidiol, the FDA says it will apply a “rigorous and science-based approach” to devising CBD regulations; however, despite the quickly growing marketplace, the agency has not yet set any official guidelines.

New Jersey’s governor wants to add another 100 dispensaries to the state’s medical cannabis program, which currently has only six operational retailers. This expansion would accompany a host of other changes meant to benefit patients.

The bill — which expands medical cannabis in the state by adding seven new conditions to the program’s qualifying conditions list and removing a requirement for patients to have two doctors’ recommendations before accessing the program — now goes to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature.

The bill, which would create state-chartered banks that would work with the state’s cannabis industry, passed the Senate 35-1 and now moves to the Assembly for consideration.

In a 3-2 vote, Massachusetts regulators narrowly approved the creation of regulations for a pilot social-use cannabis program. Currently, Alaska is the only other state with a social-use program.

The Vermont bill to create a taxed and regulated system for adult-use cannabis sales is likely dead until lawmakers — some saying they don’t want to rush the policy-making process — bring it up again next year.

In lieu of the adult-use cannabis reforms he hoped to establish this year, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has signed an executive order expanding the state’s medical cannabis program.

The Pittsburg, California City Council has enacted a 45-day moratorium on new hemp businesses in order to prepare hemp regulations that will cooperate with state cannabis laws.

The Texas House has approved a second bill this session expanding the state’s limited medical cannabis program — the legislature’s recent advances, however, are expected to face an uphill battle in the Senate.

A bill eliminating Iowa’s 3% THC cap on medical cannabis products has passed both houses of the state legislature; it’s still unknown, however, whether the governor intends to sign the bill.

Washington has established a clearer timeline for the official completion of the state’s long-awaited cannabis seed to sale traceability system.

Washington state’s cannabis regulatory authority has announced that, after a three-month hiatus from the testing requirements, cannabis products must once again be tested for heavy metals.

Alabama’s Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a bill that would vastly overhaul and improve the state’s limited medical cannabis program.

The legal counsel for Vermont Gov. Phil Scott says that recently passed legislation establishing adult-use cannabis sales in the state defies the state Constitution.

Under the new rules, low-THC cannabis oils allowed by the program will now be able to be produced and purchased by patients within Georgia’s state boundaries.

A bi-partisan Massachusetts proposal would subject unlicensed cannabis sellers to a “foregone tax revenue assessment,” which would bill illegal operators based on the “estimated forgone tax revenue” resulted from their unregulated sales.

A Massachusetts investigation aims to uncover whether or not two of the state’s large cannabis companies have thwarted state rules regarding the number of licenses that a single company can hold.

New legislation in Florida would establish rules for farmers and other businesses to cultivate, manufacture, and sell industrial hemp products.

The House Financial Services Committee is set to vote next week on the SAFE Banking Act; it will be the first Congressional cannabis vote of the year.

With the state’s controversial medical cannabis smoking ban now overturned, the Florida cannabis industry is set to explode in the coming months with additional sales and growth.