Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed multiple cannabis-related bills into law July 13, including one that aims to regulate the sale of delta-8 THC in the state.
The cannabis compound has been loosely regulated in the state thus far, MLive.com reported, with gas stations, online vendors and other retailers selling delta-8 THC products without the licensing, testing and other regulations that govern Michigan’s legal cannabis market.
Under the new law, however, businesses will not be able to sell delta-8 products without proper licensing from the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency, and products must be tracked and tested like any other cannabis product. The new law also bars businesses without state cannabis licenses from producing and selling any other potentially intoxicating cannabis compounds, MLive.com reported.
As previously reported by Hemp Grower, 15 states have issued outright bans on delta-8 THC, while six additional states have pending legislation to regulate the cannabinoid.
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California Governor Signs Legislation to Establish Department of Cannabis Control
The move consolidates three state agencies into one in an effort to streamline California's cannabis regulations.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation July 12 to create the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC), which will consolidate the state’s three cannabis regulatory agencies into one.
Assembly Bill 141 creates a standalone cannabis regulatory body, which was proposed in Newsom’s 2021-2022 state budget. The change is intended to “improve access to licensure, simplify regulatory oversight and support California businesses,” according to a press release announcing Newsom’s signing of the bill.
“California has led the nation in progressive cannabis policies, beginning 25 years ago as the first state in the nation to legalize medicinal use of cannabis,” Newsom said in a public statement. “We’ve taken another significant step forward to fulfill the opportunities of legalization and better serve all Californians. We will continue building upon our efforts to foster a diverse and inclusive industry, protect consumer and public safety, safeguard our environment and advance economic opportunity for small businesses.”
Newsom has appointed Nicole Elliot as director of the DCC, which is a consolidation of three cannabis regulatory programs within the Department of Consumer Affairs’ Bureau of Cannabis Control, the Department of Food and Agriculture’s CalCannabis Cultivation Licensing Division, and the Department of Public Health’s Manufactured Cannabis Safety Branch.
“The state’s consolidation effort delivers on the commitment made by the Newsom Administration to listen to and work with California’s legal cannabis industry to streamline participation in the legal market by offering a central point of contact for licensed operators,” said Lourdes Castro Ramirez, agency secretary of the BCSH Agency, which houses the DCC. “One of the key missions of our agency is to build strong, equitable, and vibrant communities. This action takes bold steps in that direction.”
The California Cannabis Portal has been relaunched as the DCC website and will continue to be a centralized resource for cannabis information, and the prior websites for the previous three regulatory agencies will be accessible while the online content continues to transition to the new webpage.
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Group of Senators Say Cannabis Businesses Should Be Allowed to Access SBA Loans
U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen led nine of her colleagues to send a letter to a Senate Appropriations subcommittee.
U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) has led a group of her colleagues to submit a letter to a Senate Appropriations subcommittee requesting that cannabis businesses gain access to Small Business Administration (SBA) loans.
The letter, dated June 22, is addressed to Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government. Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Cory Booker, (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Raphael Warnock (D-GA) cosigned the letter, which asks that businesses legally operating in states with regulated cannabis markets receive access to the 7(a) Loan Guarantee Program, Disaster Assistance Program, Microloan Program and 504/Certified Development Company Loan Program.
Rosen and her colleagues ask the Senate Appropriations Committee to include language in the 2022 Financial Services and General Government Related Agencies Appropriations Bill that would grant cannabis businesses access to these SBA loans, which remain off limits to the cannabis industry.
“In 2020, states collected an estimated $3 billion in tax revenue from legal cannabis sales,” the senators wrote. “However, SBA’s current policy excludes small businesses with ‘direct’ or ‘indirect’ products or services that aid the use, growth, enhancement, or other development of cannabis from SBA-backed financing. Consequently, small businesses in states with some form of legal cannabis must choose between remaining eligible for SBA programs and participating in or doing business with a rapidly-growing and legal industry.”
The letter goes on to say that “SBA programs would be especially helpful to cannabis small businesses because they would fill gaps left by the private sector and help mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Access to these SBA programs could ensure that small businesses—including those led by our minority, women, and veteran entrepreneurs—support job creation and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
This is not the first time that Rosen and other lawmakers have asked that the SBA extend economic assistance to the cannabis industry. In March 2020, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sens. Michael Bennett (D-CO), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) joined Markey, Menendez, Merkley, Sanders, Wyden, Booker and Rosen in sending a letter to leadership urging—unsuccessfully—that lawmakers include language in last year’s appropriations bill to prohibit the SBA from denying loan applications from state-licensed cannabis businesses.
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Former South Carolina Congressman Vows to Legalize Cannabis in His Run For Governor
Democrat Joe Cunningham is running to unseat Republican Gov. Henry McMaster.
With Virginia becoming the first adult-use cannabis domino to fall in the South, the race is now on among neighboring states to follow suit and end prohibition. South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Joe Cunningham hopes his state is the next.
The former one-term Democratic congressman, who represented South Carolina’s coastal 1st District from 2019-2021 in the U.S. House, narrowly lost his re-election bid to Republican state representative Nancy Mace, 50.6% to 49.4%, in the November election.
During his two years in Washington, D.C., Cunningham joined bipartisan bills the second most often compared to other House Democrats, and was the fifth most politically right compared to House Democrats, according to GovTrack.us.
Cunningham, 39, is now seeking his party’s nomination to challenge South Carolina Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, 74, in the November 2022 election.
joeforsouthcarolina.com
South Carolina Democratic gubernatorial candidate Joe Cunningham presents his proposal to end cannabis prohibition in a July 12 press conference.
While Cunningham announced his run for governor in April and has since announced his support of cannabis legalization, he formally released his plan to end cannabis prohibition in the state during a press conference July 12 in Charleston. That plan calls for the full legalization of medical and adult-use cannabis for adults 21 years and older, as well as for the expungement of cannabis-relation convictions.
“There are countless reasons to provide our citizens with a safe and legal marijuana option,” Cunningham said. “Legalizing marijuana would free up our law enforcement to focus on more serious crimes and more effectively tackle our state’s record-high murder rate. It would be a game-changer for people in South Carolina with debilitating health conditions. And it would generate tens of millions in tax revenue to finally provide critical funding for our state.”
According to South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division data, murders in the state were up nearly 25%, from 457 in 2019 to 571 in 2020. The 571 murders represent the highest yearly total since the state began tracking the statistic in 1960, CBS-affiliate WLTX reported.
In addition to legalization and expungement, Cunningham said his cannabis plan aims to raise revenue through responsible regulation and create jobs to give South Carolina farmers a boost.
Cunningham also claimed McMaster has failed to be honest about cannabis and its benefits.
“The people are no longer divided on this issue,” Cunningham said. “It’s the politicians that haven’t come around. Politicians like Henry McMaster who have spent their entire career perpetuating the myths about marijuana, scaring people into thinking it’s more dangerous than it is and, worst of all, keeping it out of the hands of the people who need it most. I think it’s time to tell the truth. Be honest. This governor might be stuck in the past, but I’m not.”
In response to the legalization proposal, South Carolina GOP Chairman Drew McKissick said Cunningham was playing stupid games.
“We’ve seen the problems legalizing marijuana has caused in other states, like Colorado,” McKissick said in a press release. “The rise in crime, the increase in health problems, especially suicidal thoughts and the negative effect on children’s development, all became worse when the state decided to legalize marijuana.”
McKissick did not provide data to support those claims. According to a study by the CATO Institute, a libertarian think tank founded by the Charles Koch Foundation, violent crime has “neither soared nor plummeted” in the wake of cannabis legalization. Koch is a known advocate of ending cannabis prohibition.
“If you want to play stupid games, you win stupid prizes,” McKissick said. “And Democrats like Joe Cunningham keep wanting to play with fire.”
McKissick went on and said he and his fellow Republicans stand with state law enforcement that cannabis should not be legalized, and with doctors who believe medicine is something that should be approved and regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. At least one fellow South Carolina Republican did not agree with McKissick’s stance.
The SCGOP’s stance on medical cannabis is “an intellectually lazy position that doesn’t even try to present medical facts as they currently exist …” state Sen. Tom Davis said in a tweet.
As the incumbent governor, McMaster has previously expressed his opposition toward the legalization of adult-use cannabis, and also has failed to voice his support for medical cannabis legislation, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).
McMaster assumed governorship of South Carolina on Jan. 24, 2017, when former Gov. Nikki Haley resigned to serve as the U.S. Ambassador of the United Nations during the Trump administration. McMaster, an early Donald Trump supporter who delivered the nominating speech for Trump during the 2016 Republican National Convention, then won his 2018 election to serve his first four-year term as South Carolina’s governor.
Cunningham won South Carolina’s 1st District that same election, claiming suburban voter support by demonstrating his interest in local issues, especially his opposition to offshore drilling. The first bill he introduced sought to ban offshore drilling and seismic testing off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts—it passed the House but stalled in the Senate—The State reported.
While a Democrat hasn’t won South Carolina’s governorship since Jim Hodges’ occupancy from 1999-2003, Cunningham’s ability to reach across party lines was a driving factor in his 2018 U.S. House victory, when he became the first candidate to flip one of the state’s congressional seats from red to blue in more than a decade. Before that, that last Democrat to win the 1st District was Mendel Jackson Davis in 1978.
Should Cunningham unseat McMaster in 2022, legalizing cannabis would still be a tough task in South Carolina, where Republicans currently hold 65% majorities in both chambers of the state Legislature.
Learn About Delta-8 and the Legal Cannabis Business in Our Next Webinar
In this webinar, we will explore the scientific and legal questions surrounding delta-8 THC.
As more and more states crack down on the production and sale of delta-8 THC products, more and more questions arise. For one, where does a cannabinoid like delta-8 THC fit within the broader hemp and state-licensed cannabis markets?
While the legal context is becoming more clear with legislative action around the U.S., it's still very important to understand the context around this cannabinoid. It won't be the last of its kind to surface on the commercial market.
In our July 27 webinar, we're going to address the research, the legal questions and the business opportunities behind delta-8.
In this event, we will explore delta-8 THC from a scientific angle and a legal angle. As part of this panel discussion, we will get into a broader examination of other minor cannabinoids (CBG, CBN, THCA) and how they might figure into short- and long-term business plans, as well as the responsibility on the part of a licensed cannabis business to communicate effectively with customers on these complicated topics.
Joining us will be Greg Gerdeman, founder and CSO of NASHCX, and Justin Walsh, partner at Gleam Law.
You'll learn where delta-8 fits into the cannabis market right now (and, maybe, in the future) and you'll learn how to plan for adaptive business decisions in a rapidly changing environment. Delta-8 is just one part of a longer story: the legalization of cannabis.
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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