The Michigan Regulatory Agency announced Oct. 6 that it will allow cannabis businesses to apply for standalone adult-use licenses starting March 1, 2021, in an effort to combat the state’s illicit market, according to an MLive.com report.

Regulators are removing a requirement that class B and C cultivators, as well as labs, processors, transporters and retailers, in the adult-use market must first hold a medical cannabis license, the news outlet reported, which translates to lower application and license fees for businesses that do not want to participate in the medical market.

The move also opens the adult-use market to new businesses, including those in communities that have not opted in to the medical market but that would like to participate in the adult-use industry, according to MLive.com.

The Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act of 2018, which legalized adult-use cannabis in the state, included provisions that barred non-medical cannabis license holders from entering the adult-use market at the onset in an effort to give a competitive advantage to those already operating. The law allowed the state to eliminate this requirement one year after the state began accepting adult-use license applications last November, MLive.com reported.

The Marijuana Regulatory Agency began considering taking advantage of this clause in August to eliminate the requirement, which is set to expire automatically two years after the state began accepting license applications, according to the news outlet.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 06, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PRESS RELEASE -- Rubicon Organics Inc., a licensed producer focused on cultivating and selling organic certified and premium cannabis, has announced that it has entered into a distribution agreement with PAX Labs, Inc., a producer of cannabis vaporization technology.

Under the agreement, Rubicon Organics expects to launch pods for the closed-loop PAX ERA system under its Simply Bare Organics brand, filled with extracts formulated with its organic cannabis cultivated in Delta, BC.

PAX pods are expected to be available for distribution in the first half of 2021. The agreement represents the company’s second partnership for the distribution of cannabis 2.0 products following the agreement with Wildflower Brands Inc. to manufacture and distribute Wildflower CBD Relief Stick and CBD Cool Sticks.

“This agreement matches the highest quality organic cannabis products and the highest quality vaporizer devices for Canadian consumers. Our organic cannabis delivers a very rich terpene profile through our proprietary cultivation techniques for the discerning cannabis consumer,” said Jesse McConnell, Rubicon Organics' chief executive officer. “We look forward to partnering with PAX, as their devices are proven best-in-class and have been developed to maximize the user experience.”

“Our innovation pipeline is building momentum,” said Tim Roberts, president of Rubicon Organics. “This exciting partnership with PAX enables us to accelerate our premium 2.0 product range into vape products. We expect to also leverage this technology partnership with our new brands and rare new strains that we expect to launch into the Canadian market in the near term.”

“We are thrilled to be bringing Rubicon Organics’ premium, organic certified and sustainably produced cannabis to our PAX customers,” said Tim Pellerin, General Manager Canada and International, PAX Labs. “Both brands share an ethos of quality and craftmanship, and we look forward to delivering a highly personalized, terpene-rich experience to discerning cannabis consumers across Canada early next year."

Three finalists included in a lottery to win Illinois’ cannabis dispensary licenses have filed a lawsuit over the state’s decision to give applicants a second chance to qualify for the lottery, according to the Chicago Tribune.

SB IL, Vertical Management and GRI Holdings IL, which all received perfect scores on their applications, are asking the Illinois Supreme Court to award the licenses without the recent changes to the process, which were announced late last month.

Illinois regulators announced Sept. 3 that 21 social equity applicants would be included in a lottery to win the 75 available dispensary licenses.

Soon after, a group of companies behind some of the unsuccessful bids filed a federal lawsuit, alleging political motivation behind the number of businesses included in the lottery.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) then announced plans Sept. 15 to “review questions” raised about its licensing process before setting a date for the license lottery, which was initially expected to take place in September.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker then offered the dispensary applicants a second chance to qualify for the licensing lottery by allowing those who did not receive perfect scores on their initial applications to amend the applications or ask the state to re-score them if they believe a mistake was made in the initial scoring process.

Pritzker’s office said the IDFPR would review all updated applications and issue final scores before moving forward with the licensing lottery.

John Fitzgerald, an attorney with Tabet DiVito & Rothstein, which filed the lawsuit, told the Chicago Tribune that the changes in the licensing process contradict the law that legalized adult-use cannabis in Illinois by creating a supplemental deficiency notice and a chance to ask for re-scoring on the applications—neither of which are included as provisions in the law.

Fitzgerald said that applicants who believe their applications were incorrectly scored should file a lawsuit and ask the courts to correct the issue, or lawmakers should change the law going forward, rather than the governor changing the law after the fact, the Chicago Tribune reported.