The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) announced plans Sept. 15 to “review questions” raised about its licensing process before setting a date for its cannabis dispensary license lottery, according to a Belleville News-Democrat report.

Regulators announced Sept. 3 that 21 social equity applicants would be included in a lottery to win the 75 licenses, with the lottery to be held later this month.

The 21 applicants, chosen from 1,667 total applications submitted, all received perfect scores, according to a Chicago Sun-Times report, but the licensing process has drawn criticism from those denied access to the lottery.

“Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s ... supposedly created a system that prioritizes social equity applicants, but what really was prioritized?” Vincent E. Norment, founder of Marijuana Hall of Fame and CMO of Parkway Dispensary, told Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary Sept. 4. “It didn’t identify or represent race as one of the deciding factors, but it did identify social equity as one, [although] that only gave white men who had been convicted by the war on drugs a push to the front of the line automatically.”

Earlier this month, both industry stakeholders and lawmakers asked Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration to temporarily stop the process, the Belleville News-Democrat reported.

In addition, a group of companies behind unsuccessful licensing bids filed a federal lawsuit Sept. 4 that alleges political motivation behind the number of businesses advancing to the lottery.

“The final date for the lottery for adult-use cannabis licenses had not been set as of today,” an IDFPR spokesperson told the Belleville News-Democrat. “As we continue to review questions that have been raised, our goal is to provide time to ensure that the process is fair and equitable. A date for the lottery will be announced by IDFPR."

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) has announced that over $2 million of funds from the state’s medical cannabis program will be transferred to the Missouri Veterans Commission for health and care services, according to an OzarksFirst.com report.

Lyndall Fraker, director of the Section for Medical Marijuana Regulation, told the news outlet that medical cannabis facilities are now operational in the state, with the first testing laboratory set to open soon, and that medical cannabis will be available for patients later this month.

The state’s 2018 medical cannabis law includes a provision that requires fees and taxes collected by DHSS to be directed to the Missouri Veterans Commission once operational expenses are covered, OzarksFirst.com reported.

Advocacy group Together for Responsible Use and Cannabis Education announced plans Sept. 14 to drop its lawsuit challenging the Utah Legislature’s decision to replace Proposition 2, the voter-approved initiative that legalized medical cannabis in the state, with its own law in 2018, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

The group initially sued Gov. Gary Herbert and Department of Health Director Dr. Joseph Miner in December 2018, shortly after lawmakers’ compromise bill, which made several key changes to Proposition 2, cleared the legislature and was signed into law by Herbert.

The lawsuit sought to declare the legislature’s replacement for Prop. 2 unconstitutional, but Together for Responsible Use and Cannabis Education spokeswoman Christine Stenquist told The Salt Lake Tribune that the group decided to drop the case because it was unable to continue paying legal costs.

“While this lawsuit is coming to an end, the fight for a real medical cannabis system for the state of Utah, which will meet all patient needs, continues,” Stenquist told the news outlet, adding that the case did force lawmakers to remove sections of the revised law that advocates for Proposition 2 said would curtail cannabis distribution against voters’ will.

Although Together for Responsible Use and Cannabis Education does not have the funds to continue fighting its legal battle, Stenquist is urging a “broad coalition” of other interest groups in Utah to unite and pick up where the case left off, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

And because the lawsuit was dismissed “without prejudice,” it can be refiled at any time, according to the news outlet.

Washington, DC - PRESS RELEASE: Members of a Congressional committee have, for the first time, advanced legislation to facilitate clinical cannabis research by allowing scientists to access marijuana and marijuana products manufactured in accordance with state-authorized marijuana programs.

Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted Sept. 9 in favor of a substitute version of Congressman Earl Blumenauer's HR 3797: The Marijuana Research Act of 2019. The substitute language amends the original bill by expediting the approval process for federal cultivation applicants and by providing scientists with the option to utilize products manufactured by state-licensed sources. Under current policy, FDA-approved protocols involving cannabis are strictly prohibited from utilizing cannabis grown under a state license.

“This proposed regulatory change is necessary and long overdue,” NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said. “In fact, NORML submitted comments to the US Federal Register in April explicitly calling for this change.”

He added: “Rather than compelling scientists to access marijuana products of questionable quality manufactured by a limited number of federally licensed producers, federal regulators should allow investigators to access the cannabis and cannabis-infused products that are currently being produced in the legal marketplace by the multitude of state-sanctioned growers and retailers. Doing so will not only facilitate and expedite clinical cannabis research in the United States and provide important data regarding the safety and efficacy of real-world products, but it will also bring about a long overdue end to decades of DEA stonewalling and interference with respect to the advancement of our scientific understanding of the cannabis plant.”

Under the existing regulatory system, which has been in place for some five decades, there is only one federally licensed entity--the University of Mississippi--that is permitted to cultivate marijuana for use in FDA-approved clinical studies.

Scientists have consistently criticized the poor quality of the University's plants, which they say fail to accurately reflect the varieties of marijuana commercially available in the United States.

According to the federal government’s marijuana menu, scientists may currently select from no more than six varieties of pre-rolled cannabis cigarettes--none of which possess THC concentrations above 7% or CBD concentrations above 1%. Other types of cannabis-infused products, like tinctures and concentrates, are not available for clinical study.

In 2016, the US Drug Enforcement Agency pledged to expand the pool of federally licensed entities permitted to grow cannabis. But, to date, the agency has failed to act on more than 30 applications before them.

Armentano concluded: “Legislative action is necessary in this arena because the DEA has proven time and time again that it is not an honest broker in this process. Despite promising over four years ago to expand the pool of federal licensees permitted to provide cannabis for clinical research, the agency has steadfastly refused to do so—leaving scientists with woefully inadequate supplies of cannabis and cannabis products available for human studies. The reality that most high-schoolers have easier access to cannabis than do our nation’s top scientists is the height of absurdity and an indictment of the current system.”

While the total number of peer-reviewed studies specific to cannabis has increased significantly over the past decade, a recent analysis published in Science Magazine affirmed that bulk of federal monies provided to fund this research is directed toward assessing “cannabis misuse and its negative effects.”

Today's legislative advancement comes on the heels of the House Leadership announcing an upcoming vote on The Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act, HR 3884 which had a legislative hearing in the Energy and Commerce Committee earlier this year. The committee is expected to waive its jurisdiction of the MORE Act in advance of an anticipated vote the week of September 21st. In the last two weeks, voters have utilized NORML’s action center and sent over 20,000 messages to Congress in support of the MORE Act.