The Mexico Senate approved a cannabis legalization bill Nov. 19, sending it to the lower house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies, which must now pass the legislation by a Dec. 15 deadline, according to an RTL Today report.
The Senate passed the bill with 18 votes in favor, 18 votes against and seven abstentions, the news outlet reported.
The legislation would legalize the possession of up to 28 grams of cannabis and allow licensed businesses to sell it, while adults would be authorized to grow up to six plants at home, according to RTL Today.
The bill would also establish the Mexican Institute for Regulation and Cannabis Control within the country’s Health Ministry to oversee the adult-use cannabis program.
The Mexico Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that an absolute ban on adult-use cannabis was unconstitutional, which forced lawmakers to pass legislation to regulate cannabis at the federal level.
After many legislative procedures were suspended in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year, lawmakers asked the Supreme Court to extend the deadline again, and were then given until Dec. 15 to finalize and approve the bill.
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New Jersey Assembly and Senate Committees Approve Different Versions of Adult-Use Cannabis Bill
Lawmakers in both chambers must now agree on a unified proposal before the legislation can receive floor votes.
New Jersey lawmakers passed two different versions of an adult-use cannabis bill out of Assembly and Senate committees Nov. 19, and must now agree on a unified proposal before the legislation can receive floor votes, according to an NJ.com report.
The Assembly Appropriations and Senate Budget and Appropriations Committees both approved the bill, S.21/A.21, in 8-4 votes, the news outlet reported, but the legislation that advanced in the Senate excluded a provision that passed in the Assembly that would limit the number of licenses for adult-use cultivators in the early years of the industry.
Lawmakers hoped to hold floor votes on the legislation in both chambers next week, but the votes will be delayed as lawmakers work to reach a consensus, according to NJ.com.
After some delays due to criticism from social justice advocates, who argued that the bill did not go far enough to address the harms caused by the war on drugs, the legislation appeared to be back on track after lawmakers added amendments to generate more revenue for programs in minority communities, NJ.com reported.
“We know through legislators’ words that racial justice is a high priority in legalization, but we need to see it as a throughline in the policies they present,” ACLU-NJ Policy Director Sarah Fajardo said in a public statement. “While today’s proceedings discussed promising amendments, New Jersey’s cannabis legalization scheme still lags behind other states’ schemes in policies pertaining to racial justice and equity. We need action that puts justice in place while the bill is before lawmakers. We thank the legislature for including key changes in the bills, and urge lawmakers to actualize the community reinvestment, equity in the industry, and access to expungement in the final bill language.”
Lawmakers must pass the bill by the end of the year, before the constitutional amendment approved by voters takes effect Jan. 1.
Chrysalis' computer lab
Photo courtesy of Chrysalis
Caliva Provides Career Training and Mentorship with Partners Chrysalis, Success Centers
The vertically integrated company is first focusing its resources in this area on aiding people released from prison, then it plans to additionally serve people without shelter and with low incomes.
Caliva, a vertically integrated cannabis company employing more than 400 people in cultivation, manufacturing and dispensary operations across California, is working to provide career training and mentorship to released prisoners and other people struggling with poverty and homelessness.
The business and partners Chrysalis and Success Centers, both non-profit organizations, have begun to assist recently released prisoners in California to reenter society. The three entities plan to eventually expand their work together to support people who are homeless and have low incomes.
"When we heard the news that California state prison systems would be releasing hundreds of thousands of people to slow the spread of COVID-19, we knew we had to take action to help make a difference in our community,” Caliva CEO Dennis O’Malley stated in a press release announcing the program. “We're fortunate enough to be in a position where we were able to hire some candidates already and have been extremely impressed by the talent thus far.”
Working with Chrysalis and Success Centers, Caliva aims to help everyone enter the workforce, according to the press release. However, the release states, “it is necessary to recognize that the War on Drugs has disproportionately affected BIPOC communities.”
Chrysalis helps people who have been through the criminal justice system with “case management and basic needs resources as well as transitional jobs” that will help them rejoin the workforce, Molly Moen, vice president of development and communications at Chrysalis, told Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary.
“For those who have been recently released during the pandemic, we have been working collaboratively with our re-entry partners to provide direct assistance to ensure that folks can access housing, transportation, and other critical supports while they are engaging in their job search,” Moen said.
Additionally, Moen said Chrysalis provides its clients with goods and services such as clothing, transportation, technology and mailing addresses, and works with partners to assist them with mental health and legal matters.
Photo courtesy of Caliva
Caliva's 7th Street dispensary in San Jose, Calif. Working with Chrysalis, Caliva volunteers will begin working with clients to aid in tasks such as applying and interviewing for jobs, Moen said.
Caliva’s assistance also extends to equity and ownership opportunities. Success Centers hosts weekly “Equity for Industry” workshops geared specifically toward people looking to enter the cannabis industry, Angela White, Equity for Industry program manager at Success Centers, told CBT and CD. “These workshops provide social equity applicants and members of underrepresented communities with the skills and information they need in order to successfully start cannabis businesses,” she said.
Between Caliva’s Director of Government Affairs Hirsh Jain, Director of Retail Operations Stacie Green and Director of Compliance Ross Mackie, White said the company’s executives have been leading Equity for Industry workshops. Jain focused his recent workshop on how social equity applicants can navigate licensing strategy and policy changes, while Green and Mackie provided attendees with a look into standard operating procedures (SOPs) and their relationship with compliance. Roughly 20 to 40 people attend each Success Centers workshop.
Californians who are convicted of cannabis crimes are not barred under state law from entering or owning cannabis businesses. In fact, municipalities across the state have set up equity programs, and the California Bureau of Cannabis Control and the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) have provided grant funding for them. However, some California equity programs, as elsewhere, have sparked contention.
Jain illustrated a couple differences between city approaches to people’s ability, if they have been convicted of certain crimes, from working in the industry. Caliva runs a 100,000-square-foot indoor growing facility and a flagship dispensary in San Jose. That city bars people who have been convicted of controlled-substance-related crimes in the past 10 years—for substances other than cannabis—from working in the industry, Jain told CBT and CD. Hanford follows a similar approach, he said, but the cannabis exceptions are specifically for medical cannabis.
“Therefore, even though California is generally fairly permissive in allowing formerly incarcerated people to participate in the industry, there are restrictions that do exist and they vary by city,” Jain said. “Caliva is a strong proponent of public policies that reduce these barriers to participating in the industry.”
Simultaneously, California’s drug laws allow people to be jailed for possessing an amount any higher amount than the legal limit of 28.5 grams of flower or 4 grams of concentrates. Maximum penalties are six months in jail, a $500 fine or both, for adult possession of more than 28.5 grams or 4 grams of concentrates with no intent to distribute, according to Proposition 64.
“These fines are too high,” Jain said. “The punitive policies of the War on Drugs destroyed millions of families over several decades. We should not be engaging in a War on Drugs 2.0. There are more effective ways of encouraging people to purchase cannabis legally than criminalizing minor possession.”
Addressing the equity programs in municipalities across California, Jain said they “are a necessary supplement to the work that organizations like Success Centers and Chrysalis do.” (Both organizations also provide career training and mentorship that is not related to the cannabis-industry.)
Underfunding of equity programs has complicated city officials’ ability to help applicants, Jain said, but the BCC and GO-Biz grant funding is a plus. “We are encouraged by the state of California’s recent move to provide $40M in funding for local social equity programs across California,” Jain said. “We are also encouraged that San Jose will also soon adopt a social equity program."
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Illinois’ Community College Cannabis Vocational Pilot Program Sets Stage for Students Eager to Enter Industry
The pilot program is seen as a component of broader workplace training platforms for the cannabis industry—as well as a piece of the Illinois social equity vision.
The Community College Cannabis Vocational Pilot Program managed by the Illinois Department of Agriculture was created as a solution to prepare students for a career growing, studying or working in the cannabis industry. When Project Evolve students were accepted into the Cannabis Dispensary Operations program at Olive-Harvey, one of the City Colleges of Chicago, hopes were high.
The Project Evolve program provides qualifying students with full scholarships and resources that lead them to high-wage and in-demand occupations, with Cannabis Dispensary Operations being one of nine areas of study to choose from. Olive-Harvey’s certificate is one of two City Colleges of Chicago cannabis certificates under the Community College Cannabis Vocational Pilot Program. Wilbur Wright Community College offers a Cannabis Technician Program with a focus on processing, infusing and testing.
The pilot program is seen as a component of broader workplace training platforms for the cannabis industry—as well as a piece of the Illinois social equity vision.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, Black Americans had the highest rates of unemployment in the nation at 6.3% in the first quarter. Black Illinois residents, in particular, saw an increase in unemployment rates from 6.7% in Q1 to 20.7% in Q2. These statistics are significant because workforce development programs are charged with providing skills training to address the low-wage worker paradigm and unemployment/underemployment cycles in which Black workers seem to be stuck. Many students were expecting the growth of the adult-use cannabis industry to create a pathway to entry-level positions, and certificate completion was the first step in that direction.
As of May 2020, Illinois ranked 10th in the nation for legal marijuana jobs, according to a Leafly report. Illinois has 9,176 legal marijuana jobs and is estimated to grow that number to 63,000 by 2025, according to New Frontier Data, with an expectation of two non-technical jobs to every one technical job (not including ancillary businesses). Illinois’ industry and job opportunities were expected to grow in 2020 with the state adding up to 75 new adult-use dispensaries by May 1. As the state postponed the distribution of licenses due to the coronavirus pandemic and legal challenges to the state’s retail licensing regime, prospective early-career cannabis professionals again found themselves wading in uncertainty.
Students attending classes were abruptly transitioned to emergency remote education. Online classes while accessible, unearthed other areas of need to keep students engaged. Laptops, hot-spots and software support became an integral part of the program. Yet even with the support in place for students to complete the certificate, a question remains: Will students be able to find full-time employment?
There are many concerns emerging about access to opportunities and removing barriers to make them more attainable. While the cannabis market is stalled in Illinois due to a myriad of reasons, hemp on the other hand shows promise. New Frontier reported “U.S. hemp saw a 459% increase in cultivation acreage from 2018 to 2019.” The passing of the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill allowed for growers to take full advantage of the legalization of this agricultural commodity and inspired City Colleges of Chicago programs to address cannabis holistically.
Both Olive-Harvey and Wilbur Wright are planning to incorporate hemp into their certificate programs with full awareness of the benefits and opportunities of the hemp side of the industry. While both marijuana and hemp clearly have environmental aspects to their industry, hemp, as a commodity crop, provides growers with multiple end uses as a renewable resource and in commercial product innovation.
The intersection of sustainable practices, energy efficiency, water conservation, environmental justice and climate change presents a unique opportunity to educate prospective cannabis industry employees. For communities of color, these environmental and sustainability-related lessons are invaluable and could have broader impacts for a number of industries and products that have been identified as causing harm to humans and nature.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues, community colleges and workforce development programs will have to be prepared to adjust due to the current employment landscape. Industry leaders and experts must be willing to explore creative employment models and early-career cannabis professionals must be equally willing to use this time to network, learn and allow their curiosity and their passions to seed their success.
When (And How) to Challenge a Cannabis License Denial
Key takeaways from Vicente Sederberg’s Nov. 12 webinar on when to consider a licensing appeal and how to navigate the appeals process in various markets.
Cannabis licensing can be extremely competitive, and with new states legalizing this fall and potentially more to come as we head into next year, applicants should know when—and how—to challenge a cannabis license denial, which can occur for a variety of reasons.
Vicente Sederberg hosted a Nov. 12 webinar on just this topic, where experts outlined when to consider a licensing appeal and how to navigate the appeals process in various markets.
Here are some key takeaways from the webinar, from appeal-worthy issues to details on specific appeals processes in Massachusetts, California and Colorado.
When to Appeal
Common reasons to challenge a cannabis license denial include an unfair or unlawful licensing process, arbitrary and capricious grading, and bias or corruption, according to Jerrico Perez, senior associate with Vicente Sederberg.
Perez pointed to Florida as an example of an unfair or unlawful licensing process, where the Florida Supreme Court heard a second round of arguments last month in a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of the state’s 2017 medical cannabis law.
Examples of arbitrary and capricious grading include inconsistent scoring, negligent scoring and erroneous scoring, and can often occur in states that bring in third-party consultants to score cannabis applications, Perez said, adding that this is often the most successful grounds for appeal.
Bias or corruption can occur if a state’s regulators have a close relationship with one of the successful applicants, for example, but Perez said that this is often the least successful grounds for appealing a license denial.
Perez pointed to real-world examples of these issues playing out in the cannabis industry today, including the legal challenges in Illinois, where applicants have sued the state over its process to issue 75 new dispensary licenses in a case that alleges arbitrary and capricious scoring, as well as bias and corruption.
Ultimately, when deciding whether to appeal a license denial, Perez said applicants should consider the following questions:
Does the licensing agency have the authority to issue additional licenses?
Do you have time?
What are your issues? (i.e. scoring)
What is your goal? (i.e. rescoring, new licensing round)
Have you performed a cost-benefit analysis?
Should you purchase an already appealing applicant if there is a likelihood that the appeal will be successful?
How to Appeal
Just as each state has its own unique set of cannabis regulations, each state also typically has its own unique appeals process to challenge license denials. The following are key takeaways from Vicente Sederberg on how to navigate the appeals process in Massachusetts, California and Colorado.
Massachusetts
License denials are rare in Massachusetts, where the licensing process is compliance-based rather than merit-based, according to Vicente Sederberg Partner Brandon Kurtzman. There have been no situations to the firm’s knowledge where the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) has denied an application for a final license, although there have been two situations where the CCC has denied a provisional license.
In those cases, applicants have two options: file an appeal in Superior Court within 30 days after receipt of the notice of the denial, or file a reconsideration of the denial if there is a change in the circumstances related to the denial and if allowed by the CCC.
Rather than denying a cannabis license, the CCC more often will suspend or revoke licenses if a licensee violates state regulations. In this case, regulators will send a Notice of Deficiency, and the licensee has 10 days to submit a Plan of Correction. The CCC must approve or deny the Plan of Correction, and can then initiate an Informal Dispute Resolution, suspend or revoke the license, or invoke monetary fines.
An Informal Dispute Resolution may involve multiple hearings, conference calls and the production of documents to settle the dispute before proceeding to an administrative hearing, Kurtzman said. A stipulated agreement may include suspension or revocation of the license, imposition of a fine, or a combination thereof, and it becomes a permanent part of the licensee’s record.
If a licensee is unable to resolve the dispute in an Informal Dispute Resolution, the issue will proceed to a formal hearing, Kurtzman said. A hearing request must be submitted to the CCC, which will designate a hearing officer. The CCC must prove the licensee’s violation of the law and conduct a formal hearing, after which the parties will reach a settlement that must be approved by the CCC.
California
The Medicinal and Adult Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) provides California’s cannabis licensees with a statutory right to an administrative hearing for specified reasons, as well as a statutory right to appeal, according to Vicente Sederberg Associate Andrea Golan.
MAUCRSA allows administrative hearings for the following reasons, as outlined by Golan:
Denial of an application for a license;
denial of the renewal of a license;
the placement of a license on probation;
imposition of conditions on a license;
imposition of a fine or assessing a penalty; or
canceling, suspending, revoking or otherwise disciplining any license.
In the case of a license denial, regulators must notify the applicant of a right to a hearing, and the applicant must request an administrative hearing within 30 days of the denial, Golan said.
When a hearing is requested, the licensing agency must file and serve the licensee a “statement of issues,” and the licensee has the right to representation at the hearing, as well as a record of the hearing in the form of a transcription or electronic recording, Golan said.
After an administrative hearing, any party involved in the decision may appeal that decision with the Cannabis Control Appeals Panel (CCAP), Golan said, but timing is critical—there is a 30-day window to file and serve a Notice of Appeal.
The CCAP’s decision can also be appealed, she added, by filing a writ of review in either the California Supreme Court or the California Court of Appeal. Applicants have 30 days after the filing of the final order to appeal.
The CCAP has yet to hear any appeals in California, Golan said.
When navigating the appeals process in California, Golan said it is critical for applicants to read the rules carefully and adhere to deadlines.
Colorado
While Colorado has unlimited licensing on the state level and a license denial is unlikely, Perez said the state still has a set appeal process in the event of a denial.
To get an administrative appeal, an applicant must appeal to the Colorado Department of Revenue licensing authority, which is the Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED). The applicant must file a Notice of Appeal and then proceed to a hearing in front of an administrative judge or negotiate a Settlement Agreement Order.
If a licensee has a disciplinary action against them, Perez said the licensee or its counsel should negotiate that disciplinary action, as the state is generally receptive to negotiations.
Legislative Map
Cannabis Business Times’ interactive legislative map is another tool to help cultivators quickly navigate state cannabis laws and find news relevant to their markets. View More
Melissa Schiller
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