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This week, medical cannabis went on sale for the first time in Louisiana’s nine licensed pharmacies. Elsewhere, in Florida, State Rep. Shevrin Jones filed legislation that would decriminalize the possession of certain amounts of cannabis.
Here, we’ve rounded up the 10 headlines you need to know before this week is over.
- New Hampshire: Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed a bill that would have allowed medical marijuana patients to grow up to six plants at home, citing concerns about more cannabis ending up on the illicit market. Backers of the proposal said the home grow option would lower costs and increase accessibility for patients. Read more
- Iowa: The Medical Cannabidiol Board held its first meeting Aug. 2 since Gov. Kim Reynolds vetoed a bill that would have expanded the program. While it denied adding general anxiety and opioid dependency to the list of approved medical conditions and delayed a decision on PTSD, the board did approve chronic pain as a qualifying condition. Read more
- Elsewhere in the state, officers of the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Task Force hand delivered letters to several Council Bluffs businesses, informing owners that the sale of CBD products is illegal in the state. There are five licensed CBD oil dispensaries in Iowa, and only one Council Bluffs business, Have a Heart Compassionate Care, is licensed by the state to sell CBD products. Read more
- Arkansas: Medical marijuana sales topped $4 million through the end of July, according to sales figures released by the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. The six dispensaries in operation sold 574 pounds totaling $4.01 million. Read more
- Louisiana: Medical cannabis products went on sale for the first time in Louisiana Aug. 6. The state’s nine licensed pharmacies sold products manufactured by GB Sciences Louisiana, which included sublingual tinctures. Read more
- Maine: Portland, the state’s largest city, released its proposed cannabis regulations, bringing it one step closer to finalizing rules for adult-use shops. Within the proposal, the city says it wants to limit the number of stores to 20, ban delivery services and require stores to have staff for security and quality control. Read more
- Florida: State Rep. Shevrin Jones (D-West Park) filed legislation Aug. 5 that would decriminalize the possession of certain amounts of cannabis in Florida, although the bill could be a longshot in the Republican-controlled legislature. “We must restore justice to our broken criminal justice system. For far too long, communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by laws governing marijuana, and we must end this injustice once and for all,” Jones said in a prepared statement. Read more
- Michigan: Attorney General Dana Nessel and a workgroup she convened are exploring clarifying changes to the adult-use cannabis law voters approved last year. Nessel supported the proposal but is left with some legal questions about how to implement it. Read more
- Oklahoma: A lawsuit filed Aug. 5 against the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority seeks to block the Oklahoma Department of Health from possibly releasing information about patients to law enforcement agencies. “I don’t understand why that’s the state’s business,” said Whitney Wehmeyer, one of the main plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Read more
- New Jersey: A bill that would legalize adult-use cannabis in New Jersey may not be dead after all, NJ Advance Media reported. State leaders believe there is still hope of convincing lawmakers to vote on the bill either during the “lame duck” session at the end of this year or in the first half of next year. Read more
