Among this week’s cannabis headlines Sens. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) introduced a bill to give veterans easier access to medical marijuana in states where it is legal. Elsewhere, in New Jersey, the state received 146 applications to run six new cannabis businesses.
Here, we’ve rounded up the 10 headlines you need to know before this week is out.
- Federal: Many massive alcohol corporates have entered the cannabis space, yet Anheuser-Busch InBev, the largest of them all, has been somewhat aloof when it comes to saying whether the company is considering a similar move. But there is evidence that Anheuser-Busch is interested in selling THC-infused products: Operations recently appointed a Chief Non-Alcohol Beverages Officer—a new position within the company’s hierarchy—in an effort to expand its non-alcoholic beverages division. Read more
- A new bill introduced to Congress Sept. 5 could give veterans easier access to medical marijuana in states where it is legal. The Veterans Medical Marijuana Safe Harbor Act, introduced by Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Brian Schatz (D-HI), would allow Veterans Affairs (VA) physicians to recommend cannabis to ease pain or symptoms of PTSD. Read more
- Wisconsin: When voters in 16 Wisconsin counties and two cities go to the polls Nov. 6, they will join a nationwide debate by marking their ballots for or against legalizing marijuana use either for medical reasons or personal recreation. Supportive officials and marijuana legalization activists say the non-binding referendums will provide a measure of public opinion that can be shared with the state legislature, and possibly spur new laws relaxing or eliminating current prohibitions on cannabis. Read more
- Missouri: A Cole County judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit seeking to knock one of three initiatives to legalize medical marijuana off the November ballot. Dr. Brad Bradshaw, a Springfield physician and lawyer, filed a lawsuit earlier this month alleging that circulators with New Approach Missouri broke the law when gathering signatures. Read more
- Virginia: When a makeshift panel of state regulators met Sept. 4 to begin reviewing boxes upon boxes of paperwork to decide who will get to run Virginia’s first cannabis oil dispensaries, their first order of business was closing the meeting to reporters, lobbyists and advocates. After a nearly 30-minute, closed-door discussion on Virginia’s public-meeting law and how it does or doesn’t apply to the process, a Virginia Board of Pharmacy committee reopened the meeting—but it was only to announce that the application review process, which may take two days, will be kept confidential. Read more
- California: A growing dispute over where legal marijuana can be delivered in California is unsettling the nation’s largest cannabis market. Police chiefs lined up against a proposed state rule that critics say would allow unchecked home marijuana deliveries anywhere in California—even in communities that have banned cannabis sales. Read more
- Ohio: Non-psychoactive CBD oil derived from hemp has always been illegal in Ohio, according to the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy, but how that will be enforced is still unclear. Last weekend, the board advised Ohio medical marijuana dispensary licensees and prescribers—including hospitals—that CBD, even derived from hemp, is only legal when extracted and sold through the state's still-forming medical marijuana program. Read more
- New Jersey: In another sign of the robust interest in New Jersey's growing medical marijuana program, the state has received 146 applications to run six new retail shops that would sell the drug to the more than 30,000 people authorized to take it for conditions ranging from anxiety to chronic pain. Would-be operators of the six new dispensaries—two each in northern, central and southern New Jersey—had until Aug. 31 to submit applications to the New Jersey Department of Health. Read more
- Three mayors—Newark's Ras Baraka, Jersey City's Steve Fulop and Ravinder Bhalla of Hoboken—jointly released a letter Sept. 6 urging legislators to strengthen social justice and equity measures in adult-use cannabis bills making their way through Trenton. “While we all support the Legislature’s push toward legalization here in New Jersey and we think it’s long overdue [but] we still believe it falls very short from what it needs to be in order to have support of the city of Newark and other cities as well,” Baraka said at a press conference at Newark City Hall. Read more
- Canada: An Edmonton-based cannabis grower says it will team up with the University of Alberta to explore ways to convert the waste from cannabis production into sustainable products and bio-energy. With cannabis production, only the buds of the plants are harvested for use, said Jim Hole, vice president of cultivation for Atlas Growers, and the research project will look instead at "harvesting of the whole plant and using pretty much everything except for the roots.” Read more
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