PRESS RELEASE - The Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) has announced a notice of public hearing to hear from interested parties on its proposed Harvest Notification rule.

The hearing will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, June 15, at the OLCC, located at 9079 SE McLoughlin Blvd., Portland, OR 97222. Bryant Haley will be the presiding officer.

The Commission is tasked with regulating the recreational market. One key task of regulation is to prevent diversion of marijuana into other markets. Staff has identified harvest as an opportunity for diversion and is seeking to adopt a notification requirement for outdoor growers. This would require outdoor growers to notify the Commission of five harvest dates 24-hours before the first planned harvest date. This notification will allow enforcement staff ample opportunity to monitor harvests and ensure compliance with pertinent laws and rules.

After the hearing, you may submit written comments in person, by mail, by fax or by e-mail (see above for relevant contact information). However, all written comments must be received by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, June 29, 2018.

A gardening supplies store in St. John's, Newfoundland has found a new hit service in their home cannabis cultivation lesson. They're hoping to get would-be growers ready to go by the time marijuana is legalized later this year.

The Seed Company by E.W. Gaze has been operating in St. John's for over 90 years as one of Newfoundland's premier agricultural and gardening supply stores. Now, the company has taken a leap into the cannabis industry by offering cultivation lessons to people who would like to grow their own at home. A task which The Seed Company assistant manager Jackson McLean says isn't difficult to get started but hard to master.

"You gotta get the right lights, the right setup, the right ventilation to get a really good end product," McLean told CBC.

With the introduction of their home cultivation courses, The Seed Company has also begun working with hydroponics technology. While this may be new to them, it has been a favored method of cannabis cultivation for some time, and something McLean says his customers have been asking for.

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DENVER – Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper rejected a medical marijuana expansion bill Tuesday. 

House Bill 1263 would have added autism spectrum disorders to the list of medical conditions that authorize a person to use medical marijuana for his or her condition.

The bill had support from several parents, some of whom rallied at the capitol Tuesday.

Michelle Walker, a parent of an autistic child, said she had seen positive results from treatment for her son.

“He’s now seizure free, and that’s very exciting, but it has also been life changing for his autism as well,” Walker said.

But several medical groups, including the Colorado Psychiatric Society and the American Academy of Pediatrics, opposed the bill, citing a lack of research into medical marijuana’s effectiveness in treating autism.

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TALLAHASSEE - In a second stinging blow to Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature, a Leon County Circuit Court judge Tuesday lifted an automatic stay on her ruling that the state's ban on patient access to the smokable form of medical marijuana is unconstitutional.

RELATED: Judge Considers Lifting Stay on Florida Smokable Medical Marijuana

Judge Karen Gievers gave the state until June 11 to put into action a process that will make smokable marijuana available to patients at marijuana dispensaries throughout the state. She said that the state's attempt to delay the implementation of her May 25 ruling created irreparable harm to patients, particularly two women who challenged the law which prevents them from being prescribed smokable marijuana to treat their chronic diseases.

"First, they cannot legally access the treatment recommended for them,'' Gievers wrote in the four-page ruling. "Second, they face potential criminal prosecution for possession and use of the medicinal substance."

Diana Dodson of Levy County, who has HIV and neuropathy, and Cathy Jordan of Manatee County, who has Lou Gehrig's disease, testified that the only cannabis delivery system that works for their symptoms is smoking, and they are alive only because they break the law and smoke marijuana.

The Florida Department of Health, which is charged with regulating medical marijuana in the state, said it was reviewing the ruling and would not answer questions about whether it will move forward with rules related to smoking marijuana. Instead, the agency released a statement focused on the existing law, which Gievers has ruled was unconstitutionally inconsistent with voters' intent.

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