A New Jersey appellate court ruled Nov. 25 that the state needs a better system for licensing its medical cannabis operators, according to an NJ.com report.

According to the ruling, the state wrongly rejected applicants when it awarded six additional licenses in 2018, and the Department of Health must now establish a new scoring system, the news outlet reported.

The decision will not revoke the licenses of the state’s current medical cannabis operators, according to NJ.com, but it could give other applicants a second chance at licensing in the future, as well as create a more transparent licensing process going forward.

The New Jersey Department of Health accepted applications in 2018 for six new medical cannabis licenses, and seven of the rejected applicants filed a lawsuit over the scoring process, NJ.com reported.

In its decision last week, the court said that it does not have the authority to issue licenses to the rejected applicants, according to the news outlet, but the ruling could change how licenses are issued in the future, especially as New Jersey works to implement an adult-use cannabis program after voters approved legalization in the November election.

Under the voter-approved initiative, the medical and adult-use licensing processes will transition from the Department of Health to a newly created Cannabis Regulatory Commission, NJ.com reported.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has unveiled plans to introduce an adult-use cannabis legalization bill when the General Assembly reconvenes in January, following the release of a study on the potential impacts of legalization in the state, and the Virginia Medical Cannabis Coalition (VMCC) hopes that the state builds on its existing medical program when planning the launch of an adult-use market.

VMCC is a coalition of vertically integrated cannabis operators that had won conditional approval from the Virginia Board of Pharmacy with the goal of advancing the medical market through patient education and connecting the state’s industry stakeholders with legislators, according to Jack Page, VMCC member and the founder and CEO of medical cannabis operator Dharma Pharmaceuticals.

Dharma opened for business Oct. 17, marking the first day of medical cannabis sales in Virginia. From his experience in the medical market, Page says the state has a lot to consider when it comes to legalizing and regulating adult-use cannabis, as well as fine-tuning the medical program.

Photos courtesy of Dharma Pharmaceuticals

Virginia law requires medical cannabis operators to be vertically integrated, and Dharma currently operates one location that houses its cultivation, processing and retail operations. Page says patient response has been positive in the month or so since the market launched, and in January, Dharma will be able to open up to five additional retail locations within its health service area.

Page and the VMCC support adult-use legalization, but want to ensure that the medical program remains part of the overall cannabis industry in Virginia, and that changes are made to the medical program to make it more accessible to patients.

For example, although Dharma can deliver to its patients, the current medical regulations mandate that a patient’s first visit to the dispensary be on-site.

“We’ve been contacted by numerous hospice organizations and nursing homes across the state that have patients that could benefit from the medicine but are not physically able to travel,” Page says. “So, that’s one of the things that we need to look at fixing in the medical program.”

Another change the VMCC has been lobbying for is access to flower in Virginia’s medical market. Right now, it is an extract-only market, which increases costs for both patients and operators.

“That is a dose form that a lot of patients are asking for, and there are certain conditions that botanicals just treat better and the cost is lower to patients because there’s not all the processing with the expensive lab equipment that we have in the back to extract the oil, refine the oil and make the product,” Page says. “Right now, we’re vertically integrated, and that’s a barrier of entry to most people because the cost associated with a vertical organization is pretty high. We’d like to see some way for small business to be included in the adult-use market, as well.”

Virginia has an extract-only medical cannabis market, but Page says allowing patients to access flower would decrease costs for both operators and patients.

Although the medical program still has its pain points, Page would like the opportunity for Virginia’s medical cannabis operators to roll out the adult-use program to ensure a speedy market launch.

“Allowing the medical producers to jumpstart the adult-use market, you’re providing tax revenue pretty much immediately for the commonwealth, and that can pay for some social equity programs and pay for the infrastructure that will be required, and of course provide those jobs faster if we’re able to join the market as early as possible,” he says.

However, Page is still keeping his main focus on the state’s patient base.

“We definitely want to make sure that we also continue to serve our medical patients first and foremost,” Page says. “We want to make sure, too, that any kind of adult-use market has the same testing requirements so that we ensure that the product that’s being delivered is safe for Virginians to use.”

Virginia’s medical cannabis operators are required to submit their products for third-party testing for pesticides, heavy metals and mycotoxins.

“The thing, too, is with the medical cannabis market, there are more specialized dose forms that are used to treat specialized conditions, so that’s why it’s important to keep the medical market also viable in Virginia,” Page says. “For example, Dharma is producing a nasal spray and a suppository. You’re not probably going to find those kinds of products in an adult-use market, but we are seeing there’s a high demand for those products in the medical market.”

VMCC is advocating for one regulator that would oversee the medical and adult-use cannabis programs in Virginia, he adds, as well as the ability for medical operators to co-locate adult-use dispensaries with their medical storefronts.

“I just think in the discussions of bringing adult-use to Virginia, we need to realize that the medical program and the adult-use program are both necessary to serve patients across the commonwealth,” Page says. “We have to carefully think about how the adult-use market needs to be rolled out so that we don’t make all of the time and effort that’s been put into establishing the medical program be wasted."

This week, preliminary sales data from the Maine Office of Marijuana Policy indicated that the state’s adult-use dispensaries logged 21,194 transactions for a total of approximately $1.4 million in sales during the first month of the program. Elsewhere, in Georgia, regulators announced plans to accept medical cannabis cultivation applications through Dec. 28.

Here, we’ve rounded up the 10 headlines you need to know before this week is over.

• Pennsylvania: Multistate, vertically integrated cannabis operator Jushi Holdings has announced plans to nearly double the square footage of its subsidiary’s grower-processor facility in Scranton, Pa., from approximately 90,000 square feet to more than 160,000 square feet. The first phase of the expansion is expected to come online in mid-2021 and the final phase will be completed by the second quarter of 2022. Read more
• Maine: Preliminary sales data from regulators at the state’s Office of Marijuana Policy indicate Maine’s adult-use cannabis retailers grossed approximately $1.4 million and made 21,194 transactions during the first month of retail sales. The reporting period covers sales made from Maine’s retail sales launch date of Oct. 9 through the end of the day on Nov. 8, a total of 31 days. Read more
• California: San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge Ginger Garrett ruled Nov. 20 that cannabis billboards are illegal under California’s Prop. 64. Roughly 35 of California’s highways will be impacted by the ruling, although cannabis can still be advertised on billboards along highways that don’t cross state borders. Read more
• 4Front Ventures Corp. has announced that its 185,000-square-foot production facility in Commerce, Calif., is nearing completion and will be ready to serve the state’s market in Q2 2021. The project is on target to be completed in April 2021 with the company planning for the first of its full line of edibles, tinctures and vape products to be on California retail shelves by May. Read more
• West Virginia: The West Virginia Office of Medical Cannabis has issued 10 medical cannabis processing licenses to businesses that can now manufacture pills, oils, topicals, vaporizable products and tinctures, which can then be sold to the state’s licensed dispensaries. Regulators will now move forward with scoring dispensary applications, which is the last stage in the state’s cannabis licensing process. Read more
• South Dakota: Pennington County Sheriff Kevin Thom and South Dakota Highway Patrol Col. Rick Miller have filed a lawsuit challenging Amendment A, South Dakota’s voter-approved adult-use cannabis legalization measure, arguing that it violates the state’s one-subject rule and the amendments and revisions article of the South Dakota Constitution. Amendment A is a constitutional amendment that legalizes the use of cannabis for adults 21 and older, and allows the possession of up to one ounce of cannabis per adult. Read more
• New Jersey: The state’s voters passed legalization in November’s election by a landslide, but New Jersey cannabis advocates are now calling out serious shortcomings in the proposed A-21/S-21 bill, saying it doesn’t do enough to address the harsh repercussions of the drug war and will keep minority and disadvantaged small businesses from participating in the upcoming industry. New Jersey’s State Assembly and Senate both canceled meetings scheduled for Nov. 23 that were partially devoted to ironing out these issues, and the next scheduled legislative meeting is Dec. 7. Read more
• Massachusetts: Some of the state’s existing cannabis retailers are prepared to sue over the Cannabis Control Commission’s delivery rules, which, if approved, would allow a new set of cannabis licensees to provide home delivery. CCC Chairman Steve Hoffman has said that the commission feels it has the authority to move forward with its plan to regulate cannabis delivery, and a final vote on the rules, which was initially scheduled for late September, has been postponed until Nov. 30 to allow the CCC to accept additional public comment on the regulations. Read more
• Georgia: The state is now accepting applications from companies that want to cultivate cannabis and manufacture low-THC oil for the state’s registered medical cannabis patients. Applications must be submitted by Dec. 28, and Georgia will ultimately issue a maximum of six cultivation licenses. Read more
• International: The United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs is scheduled to vote on the rescheduling of cannabis and cannabis-related substances during the 63rd reconvened session in December. This scheduled vote follows an earlier meeting of the World Health Organization Expert Committee on Drug Dependence, during which the Committee recommended the rescheduling of cannabis and several cannabis-related items, effectively removing cannabis from the list of scheduled substances. Read more

Georgia is now accepting applications from companies that want to cultivate cannabis and manufacture low-THC oil for the state’s registered medical cannabis patients, according to Saporta Report.

The Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission met Nov. 23 to approve the application forms, and Andrew Turnage, the commission’s executive director, told Saporta Report that there is a social equity component to the licensing process.

“We want to encourage minority-, women- and veteran-owned business to look at this commission as an opportunity that they want to invest in and grow a business in,” Turnage said.

Although state lawmakers have not established formal social equity regulations, the commission plans to gather data from applicants for a disparity study that will determine whether the state is inclusive in its cannabis licensing process, according to Saporta Report.

Applications must be submitted by Dec. 28, and Georgia will ultimately issue a maximum of six cultivation licenses, which will allow a maximum of 400,000 square feet of greenhouse space to be cultivated in the state. Up to four licensees will be authorized to grow up to 50,000 square feet of cannabis, while up to two licensees will be able to grow up to 100,000 square feet.

Patients enrolled in Georgia’s medical cannabis program have been legally allowed to possess and use medical cannabis oil since 2015, but the sale or transportation of the oil was prohibited until Gov. Brian Kemp signed a law in 2019 that established a regulated system for the production, processing and sale of the oil.

RELATED: Georgia Will Now Allow the Production and Sale of Low-THC Medical Cannabis Oil

State lawmakers established much of the regulatory framework for the cultivation of cannabis in the state, but left decisions on distribution and dispensaries up to the commission, according to Saporta Report.