On this week’s version:
Federal
NIDA to Fund Research on Cannabis Regulatory Models – On February 18, the Nationwide Institute of Drug Abuse launched a press release expressing curiosity in learning the “results of fixing hashish legal guidelines and insurance policies within the US and globally on public well being.” A part of a “examine solicitation,” the announcement states the kind of proposals that NIDA hopes to fund, together with research to develop a normal technique of measuring marijuana and its parts, to find out the bodily and psychological well being antecedents of marijuana use, or to look at different health-focused subjects.
SCOTUS asks DOJ for Federal Government’s Opinion on Medical Marijuana Compensation Cases – As a part of its consideration of a pair of instances regarding Minnesota staff who sought staff compensation for medical hashish bills after accidents suffered on the job, the Supreme Court docket requested the Solicitor Normal to submit a short outlining the federal government’s opinion on the difficulty. The workers are interesting the Minnesota Supreme Court docket’s ruling that the employees comp claims are invalid beneath the Supremacy Clause due to marijuana’s standing as Schedule I managed substance.
Dispensary Requests 10th Circuit En Banc Review of its IRS Dispute – Primarily based on Justice Clarence Thomas’s feedback that the federal prohibition of marijuana could now not be “essential or correct” due to the latitude given to states to legalize the substance, a state-licensed Denver hashish retailer requested the Tenth Circuit to listen to its dispute with the IRS and bypass the everyday panel evaluate. Stating that this problem is pressing due to the federalism dispute on hashish, this case arises from the IRS’s audit whether or not the dispensary violated IRS Code Part 280E. The dispensary argues that this code part is unconstitutional and that the break up between federal and state hashish coverage has develop into untenable.
Republican Lawmakers Op-Ed: Reform Federal Cannabis Law – Two Republican lawmakers, former Senator for Colorado Cory Gardner and Ohio Consultant and Hashish Caucus co-chair Dave Joyce, argue in an op-ed that the present standing of federal legislation relating to hashish is untenable as a result of it incentivizes unlawful and unsafe productions, creates harmful circumstances in forcing state-legal hashish corporations to function in money, and is unpopular. These Republicans name for incremental reform such because the SAFE Banking Act, and the “down scheduling” of hashish through Biden’s govt authority.
States
AZ – Within the first yr since leisure hashish use and sale turned authorized within the state, Arizonans spent greater than $1.4 billion on marijuana, producing round $217 million in tax income for the state. Medical hashish use, which has been authorized in Arizona for a decade, was overtaken in gross sales by leisure use by December.
CA – A federal decide refused Monday to problem an emergency order that will have blocked legislation enforcement businesses from persevering with to grab cash an armored automotive firm transports for licensed marijuana dispensaries. In visitors stops of Empyreal vans, sheriff’s deputies seized greater than $1 million in money and turned the cash over to the FBI for forfeiture. The FBI says it suspects the cash comes from unlawful drug gross sales and cash laundering, but it surely has revealed no proof to help the declare and nobody has been charged with any crime. Empyreal says it solely transports the money of marijuana dispensaries if their state licenses to promote the drug are in good standing. The decide might discover no proof that Empyreal’s constitutional rights had been violated.
GA – Proposed Georgia Home Invoice 1400 seeks to jumpstart the state’s medical marijuana program, which has been stalled due to disputes amongst corporations competing for one in every of six hashish licenses. This invoice would increase to 22 the variety of licenses given out in Georgia, grant the licenses by June 30, and provides the licensed corporations a yr to start operations.
MI – Proposed guidelines by Michigan regulators would create a regulated pathway for the processing of CBD into THC. If carried out, this rule would impression hashish cultivators whose means to promote dry biomass to make distillate as artificial distillate would develop into less expensive, and would additionally curb the already-existing underground apply of CBD distillate manufacturing.
NE – Each legalization advocates and opponents are opposing a proposed invoice in Nebraska that will legalize medical marijuana within the state is being opposed by. Whereas the opponents don’t want the substance authorized within the state, the advocates name the measure a “poison capsule” as a result of it might prohibit each the transportation of hashish throughout state strains and the cultivation of the plant itself, thus not permitting dispensaries to acquire hashish merchandise.
NM – The New Mexico Supreme Court docket has let stand a decrease court docket ruling that discovered that medical hashish purchases aren’t topic to gross receipt gross sales taxes, because the deduction from gross receipt for pharmaceuticals was supposed to make medical remedy extra accessible. Some within the business estimate that the state has collected between $25 and $30 million in gross receipt taxes from medical marijuana producers.
NM – The biggest marijuana firm in New Mexico is urgent insurers to cowl medical hashish prices for sure sufferers, a transfer it says is required by a brand new state legislation. Extremely Well being despatched a letter to insurance coverage corporations and state businesses, arguing that the brand new legislation eliminating cost-sharing and out-of-pocket prices for behavioral well being providers and “all medicines” related to the remedy of psychological diseases, substance abuse problems and trauma spectrum problems needs to be interpreted to incorporate medical hashish. Extremely Well being additionally cited insurance policies in place in Canada, Germany, Colombia and Israel, the place medical marijuana is roofed to various extents by conventional medical insurance providers.
NY – The New York State Hashish Management Board has authorized the proposed Medical Hashish Program rules. The Workplace of Hashish Administration (OCM) can be submitting the rules within the State Register, and a subsequent 60-day public remark interval will start. The rules will implement features of the brand new Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act. Rules additionally embody including prohibitions to packaging and labeling that advertises to youth, eradicating restrictions on naming conventions for merchandise, permitting pharmacists to offer their providers remotely whereas sustaining a minimal pharmacist staffing requirement for every dispensary, and permitting OCM to switch product testing necessities as essential slightly than by regulation.
NY – Governor Kathy Hochul signed laws Tuesday permitting New York hashish farmers to start out planting recreational-use marijuana this yr. The brand new legislation permits the state to right away start issuing momentary adult-use hashish cultivation licenses to hemp farmers which have grown and harvested hemp. It additionally authorizes the state to grant momentary licenses to adult-use hashish processors. Hashish Management Board Chair Tremaine Wright has mentioned she expects the board to start issuing adult-use hashish licenses in spring of 2023 for manufacturing and distributing hashish merchandise.
OK – After a yearlong investigation right into a multistate crime ring involving unlawful hashish grows, a multiagency crackdown seized round $500 million value of unlawful hashish. This seizure occurred on 9 farms, a number of of which had been reportedly licensed by the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority and in good standing, and totaled 100,000 marijuana crops and greater than 2,000 kilos of processed hashish.
SD – Some prospects of South Dakota’s solely medical marijuana dispensary are being arrested throughout the state, regardless of having tribal-issued hashish playing cards. Since beginning up its medical marijuana program on July 1, 2021, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe has issued about 8,000 medical marijuana playing cards to tribal and non-tribal members. And though a number of county- and city-level legislation enforcement businesses and state’s attorneys have eased up on arrests and prosecutions for possession of small quantities of marijuana all collectively, others, just like the Flandreau Police Division, aren’t honoring some tribal-issued medical playing cards. the South Dakota Division of Public Security and the Lawyer Normal’s Workplace have taken the place that tribal playing cards aren’t legitimate for non-tribal members. The tribal medical marijuana program operates independently of the state medical marijuana program
Hemp
CbdMD Requests FDA Remove Drug Exclusion for CBD and Examine Its Safety Submission – Pure Merchandise Affiliation filed a Citizen’s Petition on cbdMD’s behalf with the Meals and Drug Administration requesting it take away the drug exclusion for CBD and evaluate the corporate’s in depth file of id, security and high quality information. Eradicating the drug exclusion for CBD will obtain readability available in the market and create a stage enjoying discipline for all contributors. The ultimate consequence of this course of is predicted to consequence within the means of the cbdMD to submit and obtain acknowledgment for a brand new dietary ingredient notification, which is able to permit the corporate to tell customers of the advantages of its CBD merchandise and increase gross sales within the US by opening up mass retail channels.
Trade Organization Urges FDA to Rethink CBD Status – The Pure Merchandise Affiliation, a commerce group representing the “pure client items business,” filed a petition with the FDA asking the company to rethink its place relating to hemp-derived CBD and to incorporate CBD beneath the definition of dietary complement beneath the Meals, Drug and Beauty Act.
Trade Organization Urges Government Action on Hemp-Derived Intoxicants – Arguing that retailers and producers of hemp-derived psychoactive merchandise harm the reform efforts meant to assist the hemp business, a U.S. Hemp Roundtable referred to as on federal and state regulators to crack down on these producers and retailers.
Worldwide
European Commission Validates Five Natural Plant CBD Novel Food Applications – Calming fears that it’s going to change its place on CBD, the European Fee has moved to the ultimate stage of the Novel Meals course of at the least 5 corporations that submitted functions to promote CBD merchandise. These functions, amongst others, have been within the pipeline for over two years. The European Security Authority will now look at the functions, and ship its scientific opinion inside 9 months.
Health Canada Seizes over 35 Million Grams of Cannabis Products – Well being Canada seized over 35 million grams of hashish product, along with hundreds of crops, from federal license holders who failed to fulfill rules within the 2019-20 fiscal yr. Whereas 26 million grams had been destroyed, the remaining 9.5 million grams are being held by the regulator to return to licensees as soon as they regain compliance.
Canada’s Legalization of Cannabis Has Contributed $43.5B to National GDP – Based on a Deloitte Canada report, since Canada has legalized leisure hashish in 2018, the business has contributed $43.5 billion to Canada’s nationwide GDP. The business has generated $11 billion in gross sales nationwide and made $29 billion in capital expenditures. Variety throughout the business continues to be fairly lackluster so the authors of Deloitte’s report have advisable that governments and hashish corporations ought to take motion to enhance variety, fairness and inclusion throughout the sector, constructing on and increasing present efforts to allow extra racialized Canadians and ladies to take part within the business’s success. Total, Canada’s hashish business is proving to be successful.
Italy’s Top Court Blocks Referendum on Legalizing Cannabis Growing – A referendum that will make rising hashish authorized in Italy has been blocked by the nation’s constitutional court docket. However critics mentioned that the court docket had stifled the democratic course of after a petition gained 630,000 signatures, effectively above the edge to set off a referendum on the difficulty. Opponents of the referendum challenge have argued that decriminalization might encourage the usage of different medication.
Enterprise
NCAA Increases THC Threshold for Marijuana Testing – The NCAA is altering its longstanding testing insurance policies on marijuana, and can enhance their most allowable THC threshold from 35 to 150 nanograms per milliliter. This places the NCAA threshold in step with the World Anti-Doping Company.
Marijuana Flower Remains King, but These Cannabis Products Are Gaining Popularity – As hashish turns into extra standard, new merchandise are being embraced. It seems consumers have gotten extra educated concerning the merchandise they purchase; nevertheless, the traits fluctuate relying on the situation.
Marijuana Testing for Truck Drivers Is Becoming a Leading Cause of the Growing National Trucker Shortage – Based on Chris Harvey, Wells Fargo’s head of fairness technique, the nationwide scarcity of truck drivers could also be attributed to marijuana testing, along with different components. Drug screenings, paired with the character of the job, which frequently requires truckers to spend weeks away from residence, has led many truck drivers to depart the business. Harvey mentioned the difficulty will “proceed to push that value even larger,” worsening a surge in transportation prices which have left customers going through value hikes and shortages. Though marijuana use has develop into extra accepted usually, within the trucking business, drug insurance policies and testing have develop into extra strict. Truck drivers who check optimistic for marijuana use up to now two years are prohibited from work, which can have added to the scarcity of working drivers obtainable.
Dentons Speaks
Eric Berlin Discussing MSOs – In an article revealed by Benzinga on the impression of current market projections on hashish business optimism, Dentons Associate Eric Berlin is quoted expressing optimism for the business’s future however dispelling the notion that present business leaders will essentially be the dominant gamers as soon as the market reaches its full potential. Whereas he states that he sees a future the place MSOs have a major market share, he believes that these which might be projecting MSO market supremacy is likely to be overlooking present prime manufacturers or outdoors gamers that might nonetheless take over.
Eric Berlin on Expert Webcast Cannabis M&A Roundtable – Eric Berlin participated in a hashish M&A roundtable that examined M&A methods, concerns for brand new entrants, the function of know-how in M&A, and extra.
