Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo released a state budget plan Jan. 16 that includes a proposal to legalize adult-use cannabis and distribute the products through state-run retailers.

The $10.2-billion tax-and-spending plan would take effect for the fiscal year beginning July 1, according to a Providence Journal report.

The state’s cannabis shops would be operated by private contractors, the news outlet reported, but the state would control the location, price, potency and quantity of sales. The state would receive 61% of the net revenue generated, while the private operators would receive 29% and the host communities would receive 10%.

Raimondo projects that adult-use cannabis sales would begin March 21, 2021, and generate $70 million in sales over the last four months of the fiscal year, according to the Providence Journal. The tax revenue would go toward law enforcement, the Rhode Island Department of Health and educators.

To oversee the industry, 13 regulators would be appointed to the state’s Office of Cannabis Regulation, the Providence Journal reported.

Raimondo’s proposal would allow adult-use customers to purchase one ounce of cannabis per day and place a 50% THC cap on all adult-use cannabis products, according to the news outlet.

This is the second year Raimondo is including adult-use cannabis legalization in the state budget; she introduced a similar proposal last year, which was ultimately unsuccessful.

This year’s proposal is also likely to face pushback, the Providence Journal reported.

“At first glance, there are many areas of the budget that we can work together on to improve our state,” Senate President Dominick Ruggerio told the news outlet. “I am disappointed that revenue from the proposed legalization of recreational marijuana was included in the budget proposal. Seeing as the marijuana proposal is unlikely to pass, we effectively have a proposed budget that is out of balance."

Portland, OR -- PRESS RELEASE -- The Oregon Liquor Control Commission is issuing an immediate health and safety advisory due to the identification of potentially unsafe pesticide residue on plant material used in a packaged retail marijuana product. The product in question was cultivated by licensed marijuana producer Ard Ri and packaged for sale to retailers by licensed wholesaler DYME Distribution.

The affected marijuana flower failed its pesticide test, because it exceeded the acceptable level, known as the “action limit”, for the insecticide Imidacloprid.  The flower was incorporated into pre-rolled joints marketed under the Winberry Farms Sweet Leaf Blend; the strain name is Trap Star.

The impacted product has a Unique Identification (UID) number of 1A4010300022859000015892.

The OLCC has locked down the product in the Cannabis Tracking System (CTS) to prevent further distribution or sale to consumers. The product was sold through nine OLCC licensed marijuana retailers around Oregon. DYME distributed approximately 700 units of the contaminated pre-rolls; retailers have pulled the remaining 328 packages from their shelves.

The impacted Winberry Farms Sweet Leaf Products were sold from Dec. 17, 2019 through Jan. 8, 2020 at the following licensed retailers:

• Spark, 5103 NE Fremont Street, Portland
• Ancient Remedies, 2350 State Street, Salem
• Puff Oregon, 47700 NW Sunset Highway, Manning
• Rogue River Herbal PMC, 510 East Main, Suite C, Rogue River
• The Joint, 3270 Market Street NE, Salem
• Stoney Only Clackamas, 10289 SE Highway 212, Clackamas
• Tsunami Marijuana LLC, 36412 Highway 26, Seaside
• Track Town Collective, 3675 Franklin Blvd., Eugene
• Green Room, 2521 NW 9th Street, Corvallis

Initial test results for the source marijuana flower produced by Ard Ri was entered into CTS by PREE Laboratories in Corvallis on Dec. 4, 2019; the test results indicated that both test samples failed. PREE re-analyzed one of the samples, as allowed under marijuana testing rules, on Dec. 11, 2019 and the sample passed. However, marijuana testing rules then require a second lab to re-sample and re-test the original product. That verification test never took place.

Because of PREE Laboratories’ incorrect entry of test results into CTS, the tracking system designated the marijuana flower as having passed its pesticide test. Subsequently, DYME Distribution packaged and distributed the contaminated marijuana as pre-rolled joints.

The OLCC detected the discrepancy Jan. 6, 2020 when conducting a monthly audit on products that have failed pesticide tests at the point of origin – in this case the marijuana flower. When the OLCC initiates an administrative hold of a product, it automatically puts a hold on any product produced from the original flower.

OLCC is investigating both the contamination test failure, and the licensees’ use of CTS.

Consumers who have these recalled products should dispose of the products or return them to the retailer where they were purchased. Consumers can follow these instructions found on the OLCC Recreational Marijuana Program website to destroy marijuana on their own.

There have been no reports of illness. The possible health impact of consuming marijuana products with unapproved pesticide residues is unknown. Short- and long-term health impacts may exist depending on the specific product, duration, frequency, level of exposure and route of exposure. Consumers with concerns about their personal health should contact their physician with related questions. Consumers with questions or concerns about recalled product or pesticide residues in marijuana products are encouraged to contact the product retailer and/or the Oregon Poison Center at 800-222-1222.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture maintains a guide list for Pesticides and Cannabis that be found here.

An appeals court in New Jersey has ruled that an employer must reimburse a former employee for the cost of medical cannabis in a move that could have far-reaching effects for the industry.

In a ruling released Jan. 13, Superior Court Judge Heidi Willis Currier sided with Vincent Hagar, who was injured on the job in 2001 when a truck dumped concrete on him and left him unable to work.

Hagar was prescribed opioid painkillers as part of his recovery, which resulted in struggles with addiction, but Hagar was able to wean himself off the painkillers through the use of medical cannabis.

The costs associated with medical cannabis are generally not covered by insurance, however, due to federal prohibition, so Hagar was forced to cover the cost of his medication himself.

Hagar’s former employer, M&K Construction, denied his worker’s compensation claim for 15 years, according to court documents.

A worker’s compensation judge ruled in 2018 that Hagar had been injured on the job, and ordered M&K to reimburse him for the cost of medical cannabis and any related expenses, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, but the company appealed, arguing that the federal Controlled Substances Act took precedence over New Jersey’s medical cannabis laws. The company also argued that it would be helping Hagar commit a crime if it covered his costs for cannabis, which is a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act.

These arguments did not persuade the appellate court, however; the court wrote that M&K was not purchasing or distributing the medical cannabis for Hagar, only reimbursing him for his legal use of it as a treatment for his injuries.

Courts in other states, such as Connecticut, New Hampshire and New Mexico, have also ruled that injured employees must be reimbursed for their medical cannabis costs, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, but this marks the first ruling that dismisses employer’s arguments about running afoul of federal law.

Steve Schain, senior attorney at Hoban Law Group, views the New Jersey ruling as a monumental moment for the medical cannabis industry and its patients for other reasons, too; namely, that it may encourage private insurance companies—and perhaps even government insurance—to also cover medical cannabis.

“It’s not the first state to do it—I think there are six states that do it—but I can’t overstate the importance of all this,” he told Cannabis Business Times. “With Jersey accepting this, it’s yet one more state reimbursing for worker’s compensation, and it adds many more grains of sand to the scale to shift private health insurers and, ultimately, government health insurance to begin covering treatment with medical marijuana.”

Schain added that New Jersey is, in many ways, a bellwether state. “I think they’re a big influencer on law across the nation.”

Another major implication of this case, he said, is that it could help bolster medical cannabis programs across the country that have started to decline since the legalization of adult-use sales.

“Once you get adult-use, it tends to cross the medical market,” Schain said. “It’s just easier to go to adult-use. You can just show up—you don’t have to have a [medical] card, you don’t have to have a qualifying condition [and] you don’t have to see a doctor. On the medical side, it’s much more restrictive. With this development with reimbursement for medical coverage, it’s going to help out the medical programs."