This week, Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) announced an official policy position in favor of a state’s right to establish a legal, well-regulated, adult-use cannabis marketplace. Elsewhere, California’s three cannabis licensing authorities announced the publication of proposed regulations in a first step toward adopting non-emergency regulations.
Here, we’ve rounded up the 10 headlines you need to know before this week is over.
- Federal: Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) has announced an official policy position in favor of a state’s right to establish a legal, well-regulated, adult-use cannabis marketplace. In states where cannabis is or will subsequently be legalized, the association calls on the federal government to respect the right of states to legalize cannabis if they adopt cannabis market regulations that meet a framework similar to that governing the alcohol industry. Read more
- Florida: About half of the 13 Florida businesses allowed to grow, process and sell medical marijuana could be suspended from processing cannabis because of a little-noticed deadline in state law requiring food safety inspections—even though edible forms cannot be sold in the state. The requirement mandates that those medical marijuana treatment centers complete third-party inspections in the first year to ensure "good manufacturing practices" but went largely ignored or unnoticed by some centers because the Department of Health has still not cemented rules relating to edible medical marijuana. Read more
- California: California’s three state cannabis licensing authorities—the Bureau of Cannabis Control, California Department of Public Health, and California Department of Food and Agriculture—have announced the publication of proposed regulations in the California Regulatory Notice Register, the first step toward adopting non-emergency regulations. This publication is the start of the formal rulemaking process and marks the opening of the 45-day public comment period. Read more
- New Jersey: Gov. Phil Murphy's administration has announced that they are seeking up to six new applicants to operate vertically integrated medicinal marijuana dispensaries in New Jersey. The Department of Health has published a request for applications (RFA) for the medicinal marijuana program, and applicants chosen to proceed in the permitting process will be announced Nov. 1. Read more
- A new proposal would remove a hard limit on the number of marijuana shops allowed in New Jersey should legislators choose to legalize cannabis. Removing the cap on dispensaries is just one of the changes proposed by Assemblyman Jamel Holley (D-Union) to a recreational marijuana bill introduced last month by State Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union). Read more
- Texas: The American Hemp Campaign, a new hemp advocacy and education project, has announced that it will advocate for allowing commercial hemp cultivation in Texas. American Hemp Campaign leaders provided testimony to the House Agriculture and Livestock Committee Hearing July 17 to advocate for allowing commercial hemp farmers in Texas. Read more
- Ohio: Ohio's medical marijuana patient registry was expected to launch early this month but has now been put on hold because of unexpected delays in bringing Ohio's newest treatment to market, according to state regulators. The Ohio Board of Pharmacy has decided to push back the launch until officials have a clearer idea of when medical marijuana will be widely available. Read more
- Oregon: The Oregon Liquor Control Commission will soon announce new cannabis harvest regulations that would require outdoor growers to give the state advance notice before harvesting and several possible harvest dates. The goal is to keep growers focused only on the amount of cannabis that can be sold on the legal, regulated market; a rogue grower, the thinking goes, will be less likely to divert crops to the black market if they know regulators could turn-up at any time. Read more
- Maryland: The Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission is allowing MaryMed, a company picked to grow marijuana, to compete again for a license while two of its former executives await trial on charges of smuggling cannabis oil. The commission reinstated MaryMed July 17 after an administrative judge found “no reasonable likelihood” that the company participated in smuggling a half-million dollars in cannabis oil from Minnesota to New York in 2015. Read more
- Oklahoma: SQ 797 to legalize recreational marijuana in Oklahoma is unlikely to be on the November ballot. Although Green the Vote is just 20,000 signatures shy of the number it needs to put adult-use up for a vote, the signatures must also be certified and approved by the governor by Aug. 27. Read more
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