Associate Editor Tony Lange began reporting on a West Virginia bill that had picked up an affirmative vote in the House this week, a bill that would cap testing labs in the state at two. This proposal comes after several years of discussions that insisted in no uncertain terms that there would be no cap on test lab licenses.
As evidenced by the support for House Bill 4627, that tune is changing.
There are already two testing labs licensed to operate in the state’s medical cannabis market, which is itself only a few months into actual operation.
So, the bill raises a question: How many testing labs are too many?
Check out Lange’s story, which frames this central question that crops up in most nascent cannabis markets in the U.S.
We’ve rounded up some of the key cannabis headlines from the week right here.
- An association comprising some of Michigan’s largest cannabis companies is taking aim at the state’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency months after a 64,000-pound recall that was worth nearly $230 million. Read more
- Despite unreliable THC testing, multiple procedure violations and an owner-client conflict of interest, one Arizona cannabis testing lab is buying its way out of trouble to retain one of the state’s 20 licenses. Read more
- Canadian retailers saw tremendous growth in 2021, but is this trend leveling off? Read more
- It wasn’t a hard deadline, but New Jersey just missed another date on its adult-use rollout calendar. Read more
- 428,059: That’s how many jobs the U.S. cannabis industry is sustaining now, according to Leafly. Read more
And elsewhere on the web, here are the stories we’ve been reading this week:
- Axios: “The NCAA announced on Friday that it would be relaxing its marijuana policies —raising the THC threshold levels and recommending lighter punishments.” Read more
- HOUR Detroit Magazine: “If cannabis is legal, why is the illicit market still thriving?” Read more
- Santa Fe New Mexican: “With less than a month and a half to go before sales of recreational marijuana are scheduled to begin in New Mexico, the state agency charged with standing up the burgeoning industry is proposing new regulations and tweaks to others.” Read more
- Nashville Eater: “Nashville is preparing to open its first cannabis restaurant in Germantown this spring. … The menu at Buds & Brews will pair elevated American dishes with legal, hemp-derived THC-infused condiments from Craft Cannabis.” Read more
- Fox 2 Detroit: “In 2021, Michigan saw a 72% increase in full-time cannabis jobs with $1.79 billion in sales.” Read more
