Maryland’s attempt to promote diverse ownership in its medical cannabis industry has attracted more than 160 applications from firms seeking to score one of the state’s 14 new licenses.

More than a year after state lawmakers and Gov. Larry Hogan passed a law to boost participation by minority- and women-owned businesses, the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission announced that competition will be fierce for four cannabis growing licenses and 10 for processing the plant into medical products.

Despite the healthy interest by companies, the new application process—like so many other milestones in Maryland’s medical marijuana market—has been marred by malfunction that regulators will work on fixing by Friday.

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Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) on Wednesday signed off on legislation that would allow businesses in the state to apply for licenses for social marijuana use areas.

The measure "authorizes marijuana hospitality spaces in “which marijuana may be consumed on site and retail marijuana hospitality and sales establishments in which retail marijuana, retail marijuana concentrate, and retail marijuana products may be sold and consumed on site in the establishment's hospitality space."

"The bill establishes requirements and prohibitions for the new hospitality spaces and requires the state licensing authority to promulgate rules governing the new hospitality licenses and spaces," the legislation also states.

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With the clock ticking to adjournment, the Illinois Senate on Wednesday quickly passed a comprehensive measure to allow recreational marijuana use—moving the state one big step closer to legalization.

The Illinois Senate voted 38-17 to approve the legislation after about 40 minutes of debate. It must still pass the Illinois House.

Facing opposition from law enforcement groups and others, bill sponsors scaled back the expungement provisions in the measure and narrowed down home grow for just medical marijuana patients, among other changes.

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SAN DIEGO, May 29, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PRESS RELEASE -- Driven Deliveries, Inc., a publicly traded cannabis delivery company, has announced that the company has signed a Letter of Intent to acquire cannabis retailer, Mountain High Recreation (MHR). The transaction is expected to provide Driven with an additional $2.5 million in annual revenue.

Operating primarily in Northern California, Mountain High Recreation currently offers marijuana for sale online, with a menu of cannabis flowers, concentrates, waxes, vapes, edibles, tinctures, CBD products and accessories. The acquisition will enable Driven to expand its services to now include dynamic same day and intraday orders and delivery. The company will now offer event based sales and marketing through on location mobile stores increasing its addressable market and audiences to include those traveling from out of state. With the acquisition, Driven’s combined customer count will increase to nearly 40,000 while its brand portfolio will expand to more than 80 brands an overall transactions should exceed 45,000 deliveries annually.

“In addition to affording us with strong topline growth, this acquisition provides a strong competitive advantage in reaching cannabis consumers in a more direct and efficient manner,” stated Mr. Brian Hayek, president of Driven Deliveries Inc. “Mountain High Recreational is another example of how Driven will continue to consolidate essential services into a single offering to dramatically increase the value we bring to our partnering brands and the growing community of loyal consumers. Management is excited about the value we are creating within the industry and our ability to leverage our technology and marketing platforms to immediately increase volume and reduce operating costs through integration.”

“We believe that MHR provides us with a strategic advantage in capturing market share throughout the rapidly emerging California cannabis sector. Going forward, we will continue to identify similar targets in emerging markets, in order to expand the Driven brand and achieve our overall goal of enhanced shareholder value.”

Mr. Ken Cordoba, CEO of Mountain High Recreation, stated, “Management is extremely pleased to announce this agreement with Driven Deliveries Inc. Their best-in-class technology and reputation for delivering quality products to their customer base in a timely manner dovetail perfectly with our business strategy."