Author: Chris Roberts
[ad_1] One of the biggest labor actions involving a U.S. marijuana company has been resolved. Employees at three Chicago-area Green Thumb Industries-owned Rise cannabis stores organized by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the company agreed to a multiyear contract this week, union officials told MJBizDaily on Friday. The deal follows months of negotiations that were interrupted in April by a nearly two-week-long strike by the nearly 100 workers employed at the Rise stores in Joliet and Napier. The strike is believed to be the longest work stoppage in marijuana industry history. “The workers fought a really long time to get…
[ad_1] At least 10 “labor organizations” that experts and observers have flagged as suspicious – and share characteristics in common with another “union” that state regulators declared fake in July – are signing required labor agreements with licensed California marijuana businesses, according to records obtained by MJBizDaily. The labor groups in question have inked state-mandated labor pacts with dozens of cannabis businesses across California, including some high-profile companies. This latest revelation suggests the fake-union problem in California cannabis is wider and more prevalent than previously known and raises questions about both regulators’ effectiveness as well as large marijuana businesses’ intentions…
[ad_1] (This is a developing story and will be updated.) Top U.S. health regulators have told the Biden administration that marijuana should be rescheduled under the federal Controlled Substances Act, a move that would usher in major tax changes and other benefits for the nation’s legal cannabis industry. The recommendation to move cannabis from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3 of the CSA – made in a letter sent to the Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday and first reported by Bloomberg News – is nonbinding and must be approved by the attorney general in order to take effect. But if rescheduling…
[ad_1] In a stunning reversal, a New York state Supreme Court judge on Monday held up all business applications to open adult-use marijuana stores in the state after finding cannabis regulators provided him “contradictory and confusing” information. This latest stumble in New York’s tortured rollout of legal marijuana comes in an ongoing challenge to the Office of Cannabis Management’s Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) program. After legalizing marijuana in March 2021, state lawmakers and cannabis regulators promised the first several hundred retail licenses would be reserved for small nonprofits and “justice-impacted individuals” who could demonstrate drug war-related harm. That…
[ad_1] Ohio dispensaries granted medical marijuana retail licenses that haven’t yet opened for business won’t lose their permits as long as they open before the end of the year. Thanks to a provision in the state budget signed into law earlier this summer, that’s an unexpected gift to nearly 30 businesses that were among the licenses awarded in 2022 but haven’t yet started retail operations. The extension will be especially valuable if Ohio voters approve an adult-use legalization initiative in November. The measure would allow existing MMJ dispensaries to obtain adult-use sales permits, though the state’s Republican governor and GOP-controlled…
[ad_1] A Pennsylvania judge has ordered the dissolution of a heavily indebted, state-licensed medical marijuana company that was once part of former chewing-gum magnate William “Beau” Wrigley Jr.’s fledgling cannabis empire. Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge Christine Ward issued the dissolution of Goodblend Pennsylvania on Aug. 21, according to Green Market Report. The judge’s order, first reported by Law360, is the latest marijuana-sector setback for Wrigley and his former company. Wrigley took over as the CEO of Florida-based cannabis company Surterra Wellness in 2018. Rebranded as Parallel, the company expanded to five states, including Florida and Massachusetts as…
[ad_1] The court order blocking new entries into New York’s struggling adult-use cannabis market remained in force after a Friday hearing in Ulster County Supreme Court – despite a new appeal filed by the state attorney general to lift the stay. However, 30 applicants who filed for their permits in time might be able to open for business. Several hundred more would-be recreational marijuana entrepreneurs, including both small businesses and major multistate marijuana operators, must wait at least a few more weeks to see how an ongoing legal challenge to the state’s Conditional Adult Use Recreational Dispensary (CAURD) program plays…
[ad_1] Maine’s congressional delegation on Thursday formally urged the U.S. Department of Justice to shut down a suspected statewide ring of illegal marijuana grows that’s allegedly connected to Chinese nationals. According to the Bangor Daily News, U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Angus King, an independent, and Democratic Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden asked U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in a letter for federal law enforcement to further investigate the situation. The delegation’s concern stems from a report last week by the Daily Caller News Foundation that a July federal memo the organization obtained tallied at least 270…
[ad_1] Chicago-based Verano Holdings filed a lawsuit against the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission, less than two weeks after the agency revoked a business license it had initially awarded the marijuana multistate operator. Verano is the second company this month to sue the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) over the state’s MMJ licensing process. The AMCC awarded an initial 21 cannabis business licenses in June. But the agency reversed that licensing round – and was sued – after finding “potential inconsistencies” in how the University of South Alabama evaluated those business license applications. Despite winning one of the five vertically integrated…
[ad_1] California labor regulators are investigating another complaint involving an alleged “fake union” that’s signing required labor agreements with regulated marijuana companies in violation of state law. According to a complaint from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters filed July 26 at the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board, an organization called the National Agricultural Workers Union – which signed labor peace agreements with licensees doing business under the Caliva brand name – is in fact a sham union with no members and no intent of organizing workers. Caliva is a property of The Parent Co., whose investors include billionaire entrepreneur and hip-hop…
[ad_1] An increasing number of county and local elected officials across California are acknowledging a longtime cannabis industry grievance – legal companies’ taxes are too high – and cutting local levies on retail sales, business operations or both. At least 14 cities and counties in the state – including key consumer markets such as Los Angeles and San Francisco as well as less-populated, production-focused areas like Calaveras and Humboldt counties – have reduced or eliminated local sales, business or cultivation taxes over the past year, according to research compiled by Hirsh Jain of Ananda Strategy, a Los Angeles-based consultancy. The…
[ad_1] New York’s struggle to create an equitable adult-use marijuana industry has suffered another major blow. A state Supreme Court judge on Aug. 18 ruled that New York’s discretionary licensing process violates the law. The ruling by Supreme Court Judge Kevin Bryant upheld a lawsuit filed by a group of would-be marijuana entrepreneurs. As a result, the state Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) remains prohibited from issuing any new retail licenses until at least Aug. 25. Further arguments are scheduled for that day. The OCM will appeal, a spokesperson said in a statement Monday. Bryant’s ruling does not apply to…