Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont renewed his push for adult-use legalization during his State of the State address Jan. 6, announcing that it is a priority for the new legislative session, according to a Patch.com report.

Connecticut’s 2021 legislative session opened Jan. 6, and Lamont, a Democrat, kicks off the session with increased majorities in the House and Senate, which could increase his chances of passing an adult-use legalization bill, Patch.com reported.

Lamont outlined legalization as a priority in his 2020 State of the State address, as well, and worked alongside the chairmen of key legislative committees last year to draft comprehensive legislation that would have legalized cannabis for adults 21 and older and supported social and criminal justice reform efforts.

RELATED: Connecticut Tries Again to Legalize Adult-Use Cannabis: Legalization Watch

While much of the 2020 legislative session was derailed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 session will be conducted both in-person and virtually, according to Patch.com.

Virginia Del. Steve Heretick (D-Portsmouth) has reintroduced a bill to legalize adult-use cannabis in the state, according to a local WAVY report.

Heretick has proposed legislation related to decriminalization and legalization in the past, and this year’s bill would legalize the cultivation, sale and consumption of cannabis in the state, WAVY reported.

The bill proposes licensing cultivation and retail businesses in an adult-use market, and would legalize home cultivation, according to the news outlet.

RELATED: Virginia Medical Cannabis Coalition Hopes State Builds on Existing Medical Program to Launch Adult-Use Market: Legalization Watch

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has announced his support for legalization, and signed a decriminalization bill into law last spring to lessen penalties for the possession of one ounce or less of cannabis.

A recent Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission study on the potential impacts of legalization in the state revealed that an adult-use market could generate more than $300 million in annual tax revenues by the fifth year of the program, as well as create more than 11,000 jobs in the state.

TORONTO, Jan. 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PRESS RELEASE -- WeedMD Inc., a federally licensed producer and distributor of medical-grade cannabis, has announced it has reallocated all medical packaging, labelling and distribution activities from its Bowmanville, Ontario site to its Aylmer, Ontario facility which also houses the company’s extraction hub. These strategic steps are part of WeedMD's ongoing plan to maximize the utilization of its facilities, improve operational efficiencies and further align its cost structure while focusing on growth, following the successful integration of WeedMD and Starseed Holdings Inc.

RELATED: WeedMD's Bold Pivot in Canada's Evolving Market

These structural changes, completed in January 2021, now centralize production activities at WeedMD’s flagship London-area sites, which also includes the company’s cultivation center of excellence in Strathroy, Ontario. With the exiting of its Bowmanville facility, which served as WeedMD’s medical distribution hub, the company has offered relocation and severance packages, where applicable, to about 20 employees.

“Following an internal assessment of our entire organization, we took the decisive action to close our Bowmanville operations in order to optimize our production, reduce costs and accelerate our profitability goals,” said George Scorsis, executive chairman and interim CEO of WeedMD. “We are now centralizing and fully utilizing our cannabis production sites and our talent to their fullest potential. While our Aylmer site will focus on product distribution, processing and extraction activities, our Strathroy facility will continue to be the center of excellence for quality cultivation, biomass production and dried flower processing. For 2021, we are establishing enterprise-wide targets as part of our focus on maximizing margins and increasing revenues. We thank all our dedicated employees for their commitment to their craft as we continue to produce and supply cannabis Canada with our premier Color, Saturday and Starseed Medicinal products.”

WeedMD confirms that all Starseed Medicinal patient orders began shipping from the company’s Aylmer facility, commencing Jan. 4, 2021. Visit Starseed here for more information about its medical product offerings.

TORONTO and PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y., Jan. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PRESS RELEASE -- North America’s first research and development facility dedicated to advancing cannabis cultivation techniques and systems has been completed by The Flowr Corporation and Hawthorne Canada Limited. Hawthorne is a subsidiary of the Hawthorne Gardening Company division of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. Scotts Miracle-Gro is a marketer of branded consumer lawn and garden products and indoor growing solutions. Flowr cultivates and sells premium cannabis to medical and adult-use markets in Canada, Europe and Australia.

Located on Flowr’s cultivation campus in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, the R&D Center includes laboratories, indoor grow suites and training areas in a single building. Flowr will test cultivation systems and techniques using Hawthorne’s lighting, fertilization and irrigation systems, growing mediums, and research protocols. In addition, Flowr intends to focus its own research on cannabis genetics and integrated growing systems in line with its goal of delivering premium quality cannabis products through highly efficient cultivation.

“We built Hawthorne to help cultivators of all sizes grow quality plants with high levels of efficiency and consistency. Completing the industry’s only dedicated R&D facility gives us a distinct advantage. We will leverage Flowr’s cultivation expertise and our technical capabilities into real world testing and results that will make a difference to growers,” said Chris Hagedorn, SVP & General Manager of Hawthorne Gardening. “We are proud of this collaboration with Flowr, a leading international cannabis company, with extensive growing experience indoors, in greenhouses and at-scale outdoors. Flowr is also one of a few companies that have had experience growing diverse genetics in different countries. We believe this experience will benefit our companies and the growers we serve.”

“The completion of the R&D Center brings our work with Hawthorne fully to life and will help keep both companies on the leading edge of cannabis cultivation for years to come,” commented Lance Emanuel, President and Interim Chief Executive Officer of Flowr. “Operationalizing the R&D Center is a major accomplishment for our organization and strengthens our competitive advantage in cultivation. We believe the long-term success of Flowr will be rooted in our ability to maximize the cannabinoid and terpene expression of genetics without sacrificing yield. The work we will do at the R&D Center will help us build upon the success we’ve had producing high quality, premium cannabis like our award-winning, flagship-strain BC Pink Kush beloved by budtenders and consumers throughout Canada. Leveraging our work at the R&D Center will be imperative to our eventual entry into the United States once federally permissible by law.”

The R&D Center is the centerpiece of a strategic R&D partnership formed by Flowr and Hawthorne in March 2018. It brings two of the world’s leading experts together to be at the forefront of cannabis cultivation. The operations will be led by Dr. Deron Caplan, the first person in North America to earn a PhD focused on cannabis cultivation and production. Caplan was awarded his doctorate by the University of Guelph in August 2018 and is Flowr’s Director of Research and Development. The R&D Center will be staffed by Flowr’s scientists, five of whom have PhDs in various plant biology, plant genetics and plant biochemistry disciplines. Hawthorne R&D will lead the research design and methodology.

All requisite licensing from Health Canada has been obtained by Flowr and the expectation is that the R&D Center will be operating at full capacity in Spring 2021. Research has already begun conducting growing trials at scale using Hawthorne products.