The West Virginia Office of Medical Cannabis has issued 10 medical cannabis cultivation licenses, according to a MetroNews report.

The licensees are Mountaineer Holding LLC in Belle, Harvest Care Medical LLC in Kearneysville, Buckhannon Grow LLC in Buckhannon, Holistic WV Farms I LLC in Beaver, Verano WV LLC in Beaver, Columbia Care WV LLC in Falling Water, Tariff Labs LLC in Left Hand, Armory Pharmaceutical Inc in Buckhannon, Mountaineer Integrated Care Inc. in Fort Ashby and Blue Ridge Botanicals Ltd. in Southside.

“This is an important step in the process to make medical cannabis available to West Virginians with serious medical conditions and will generate economic activity throughout West Virginia,” Office of Medical Cannabis Director Jason Frame said in a public statement. “We continue to work toward a goal of providing eligible West Virginia residents the ability to procure quality-tested medical cannabis.”

Regulators will score processor and dispensary applications next, MetroNews reported, with the goal of launching medical cannabis sales in the spring of 2021.

A group of roughly 50 cannabis consumers and advocates met outside the Vermont Statehouse Oct. 4 to call on Gov. Phil Scott to veto a bill that would tax and regulate cannabis sales, according to a WCAX report.

The legislation, Senate Bill 54, cleared the legislature in a Sept. 22 Senate vote, and aims to establish a regulated system for the production and sale of adult-use cannabis products in the state.

The bill would create the Cannabis Control Board to oversee the commercial cannabis market, as well as a 12-member advisory board with appointed members that have experience in public health, social justice and equity issues, women- and minority-owned business ownership, and substance abuse prevention, as well as cannabis experience, WCAX reported.

Some who voiced opposition to the legislation claim that it fails to address social and racial justice issues, according to the news outlet. Among them was Vermont Racial Justice Alliance’s (VRJA) Mark Hughes, who expressed concerns about who would be appointed to sit on the advisory board, WACX reported.

The VRJA recently submitted proposals to the state legislature to revamp the legislation, according to the news outlet.

The Vermont Growers Association also turned out to express concerns about the bill, WACX reported, with member Geoffrey Pizzutillo telling the news outlet that the legislation would prevent many from transitioning from the state’s illicit market to the regulated one.

Scott received the bill Oct. 1, according to WACX, and can either sign it into law, veto it or allow it to become law without taking any action.

The Ohio Department of Commerce has issued a mandatory recall on medical cannabis edibles due to noncompliant levels of heavy metals, according to a Cincinnati.com report.

The cannabis-infused chocolates, sold under the Encore Edibles brand, were processed by Canton-based Mother Grows Best and sold in eight dispensaries across the state between Aug. 17 and Oct. 1, the news outlet reported.

The edibles did not pass all the required tests before hitting store shelves and regulators found that they exceeded state thresholds for cadmium, a heavy metal typically found in soil and water, according to Cincinnati.com.

The Ohio Department of Commerce has launched an investigation into the issue, the news outlet reported, and in the meantime, patients who purchased the recalled edibles have been instructed to stop using them and return unused product to the dispensary where they were purchased.

This week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a cannabis banking bill into law that will make it easier for cannabis businesses to strike up a financial relationship with a bank. Elsewhere, in Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis announced plans to pardon more than 2,700 low-level cannabis possession convictions through an executive order.

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

• Federal: The U.S. House has again included the SAFE Banking Act in its latest COVID-19 relief package, newly proposed legislation that is an updated version of The HEROES Act and that initially passed the House in May. The SAFE Banking Act would allow state-legal cannabis businesses to work with banks and other financial institutions, and was also passed as a standalone bill in the House last fall. Read more
• New Jersey: The state legislature has approved a bill that would allow doctors to use telemedicine to recommend medical cannabis to their patients. The legislation would allow certain patients with limited access to in-office consultations to receive medical cannabis recommendations from their doctors via telemedicine, while other patients would be required to attend one in-office consultation but could then have future recommendations renewed using telemedicine. Read more
• Missouri: The Department of Health and Senior Services has announced that a medical cannabis testing facility has passed its commencement inspection and received final approval to operate. The state’s medical cannabis supply chain is now fully operational with cultivation, dispensary and testing facilities, and sales are expected to launch soon. Read more
• Massachusetts: The Cannabis Control Commission has agreed on a regulatory framework for cannabis delivery, with a proposal that would create two types of licenses and establish a timeline to implement the new rules. The first license type, a “limited delivery license,” would allow a licensee to charge a fee to deliver from licensed cannabis dispensaries, while the second license type, a “wholesale delivery license,” would allow a licensee to buy cannabis wholesale from licensed cultivators and manufacturers, store it in a warehouse and sell it to consumers. Read more
• Maine: Portland received 43 cannabis dispensary applications last month for the city’s 20 available retail licenses, but a preliminary staff review has found that a dozen of the applicants could be disqualified for not meeting basic requirements. The 12 applicants could be disqualified for not having a conditional state cannabis license, being more than 30 days late on paying a local tax or fee in the last five years, having unresolved land-use violations, or planning to operate a dispensary too close to a school or in the wrong zoning district. Read more
• Hawaii: Gov. David Ige has signed legislation into law that allows the sale of cannabis edibles in the state, effective Jan. 1, 2021. The bill, H.B. 2097, cleared the legislature in July, and would authorize the state’s eight medical cannabis licensees to produce and sell cannabis-infused edible products for registered patients. Read more
• Colorado: Gov. Jared Polis announced plans this week to pardon 2,732 low-level cannabis possession convictions through an executive order. The move comes after the passage of House Bill 1424, which allows the governor to pardon convictions involving the possession of up to 2 ounces of cannabis, which is the current legal limit for those registered in Colorado’s medical cannabis program. Read more
• California: A bill became law this week that will provide safe harbor for banking institutions doing business with cannabis companies. Essentially, the law states that financial services and banking institutions are not acting criminally when engaging with a licensed cannabis business. Read more
• Arkansas: The Medical Marijuana Commission held a meeting this week where it rejected issuing an additional dispensary license and considered closing a loophole in the program’s reciprocity rules. The commission briefly considered adding a fifth dispensary license in Zone 6, which spans eight counties between Pulaski County and the Oklahoma border, due to rising customer demand, but ultimately shot down the idea in a 3-2 vote. Read more
• Maryland: The Medical Cannabis Commission awarded 11 medical cannabis cultivation and processing licenses this week in an effort to diversify the state’s industry. The three cultivation and eight processing licenses were issued after more than a year of delays stemming from logistical errors and allegations that the process was flawed. Read more