Author: Chris Roberts

[ad_1] North Dakota voters could see a “consumer-friendly, yet highly regulated” recreational cannabis legalization proposal on their November ballots. Only limited business opportunities would be available if the ballot initiative campaign that submitted initial paperwork to the secretary of state on Tuesday is successful, according to the North Dakota Monitor. If the petition is approved for circulation, organizers would need to collect 16,000 valid signatures by July 8 to qualify for the ballot. State voters rejected adult-use legalization in 2022 by a margin of 55%-45%. Organizers include a former mayor of Bismarck, the state’s capital and second-most-populous city, as well…

[ad_1] The latest Congressional leadership crisis means the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is “unlikely” to take up marijuana banking reform, a GOP senator believes. Speaking to investment podcast The Dales Report about the SAFER Banking Act, Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky predicted that GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson – whose grip on the gavel is weakening thanks to another far-right revolt – won’t want to risk further alienating his caucus. And that’s if Congress can find the time amid other more pressing business to consider marijuana banking reform. All that, Paul believes, is “unlikely.” “I mean, look – they’ve…

[ad_1] Predatory investors hijacked the cannabis social equity program in Arizona, where only three of the original 26 license winners still have a stake in their businesses, according to allegations filed in court and repeated in the state Legislature. Despite outrage over this controversy, a state lawmaker’s reform proposal aimed at returning the coveted permits to their original winners failed to pass the Senate last month, in part because of interference from Gov. Katie Hobbs’ administration, observers told MJBizDaily. The situation is notable for its strange political alignments: An ultraconservative lawmaker who says social equity is “a scam” agitating on…

[ad_1] Missouri marijuana retailers set another monthly sales record in March with $124.7 million in adult-use and medical cannabis transactions. The March total included $108.7 million in adult-use sales, which is the highest since the first recreational stores opened in January 2023, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. It’s also the highest since adult-use retailers reported $106.4 million in sales in December. MMJ sales in March totaled $16 million, also the state’s highest figure since December. If the trend holds, annual sales in Missouri are on pace to break the cumulative total of $1.3 billion in…

[ad_1] There’s “no reason” for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to delay its long-awaited decision on moving marijuana from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3 of the Controlled Substances Act, the head of the Food and Drug Administration told a House committee. However,  FDA Commissioner Robert Califf seemed to hint Thursday that the DEA could treat adult-use marijuana – now legal in 25 states – differently than cannabis used for medicinal purposes. Such a “bifurcation,” if applied to rescheduling, could have a profound impact on the U.S. marijuana industry, analysts observed Friday. Tax relief for MMJ, not adult use? It could…

[ad_1] Alabama medical marijuana licenses would be revoked and businesses forced to “start from scratch” and reapply for a fourth time under a bill that’s advanced out of a state Senate committee. Though Alabama legalized MMJ in 2021, sales have yet to begin and a promised 2024 launch date now seems questionable. Republican State Sen. Tim Melson’s Senate Bill 306, which advanced Wednesday, would revoke the five licenses for vertically integrated businesses that regulators issued late last year and force companies to reapply yet again, the Alabama Daily News reported. Frustration with the inability of the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission…

[ad_1] Top Senate Democrats circulated a letter Monday asking colleagues to sign on to an ambitious federal marijuana legalization push that also promises social justice reforms. The letter signals Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s second attempt to pass the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA), Politico reported. A nearly yearlong quest by Schumer to pass an earlier version of the CAOA fizzled out in 2022 thanks in part to dissent within his own party over how much criminal justice reform to package into a federal legalization bill. Booker, Wyden join effort But the lead voice in demanding legalization with equity,…

[ad_1] A potential showdown between law enforcement and a Native American tribe is brewing in North Carolina, where a district attorney has vowed “to enforce state law” once the state’s first cannabis dispensary opens later this month. The grand opening of the Great Smoky Cannabis Co., operated by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (ECBI) on their 57,000-acre Qualla Boundary west of Asheville, is scheduled for April 20. It will be the first and only dispensary in North Carolina, where neither medical nor adult-use cannabis is legal. Once sales begin, state law will continue to be enforced outside of tribal…

[ad_1] More than 500 marijuana delivery workers in California could observe 4/20 by going on strike. Drivers and depot workers employed at Eaze Technologies and the company’s plant-touching subsidiary, Stachs, have voted to authorize a strike as contract negotiations stall, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) labor union. According to a UFCW news release, points of dispute include: The rate at which Eaze and Stachs reimburse drivers’ mileage – currently 45 cents per mile. An increase in drivers’ hourly wages. A minimum number of guaranteed weekly hours. Workers at Locals 5, 135, 324 and 770 rejected the…

[ad_1] (This is a developing story, so please check back for updates.) A New York Supreme Court judge turned the state’s legal cannabis industry on its ear Thursday by striking down nearly all of the state’s adult-use marijuana regulations. Supreme Court Judge Kevin Bryant’s ruling stemmed from a lawsuit against New York’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), in which Leafly Holdings challenged the state’s ban on third-party advertising for marijuana retailers on free-speech grounds. In its 2023 suit, Seattle-based Leafly claimed the OCM unfairly targeted so-called “third-party platforms” such as Leafly in adopting rules that hampered the industry and limited…

[ad_1] The most expensive adult-use marijuana legalization campaign in U.S. history is picking up speed in Florida. Six additional marijuana multistate operators have joined the quest of Tallahassee-based Trulieve Cannabis Corp. to transition Florida’s $2 billion medical marijuana market – the largest in the country – to adult use. In addition to the new partners, legalization campaign committee Smart & Safe Florida announced Wednesday that it raised another $15 million toward the effort. The MSOs joining the Trulieve-led initiative are: Miami-based Ayr Wellness, which operates 63 medical marijuana treatment centers in the state. Chicago-headquartered Cresco Labs, 33. New York-based Curaleaf…

[ad_1] Maryland regulators have awarded 174 adult-use marijuana social equity licenses. A total of 1,515 eligible social equity applicants were entered into a lottery conducted March 14 for one of six license types, according to the Maryland Cannabis Administration (MCA). . The March social equity lottery presages the first major expansion in the state’s recreational cannabis industry since Maryland legalized adult use in November 2022. Recreational sales launched in July 2023 at existing medical marijuana dispensaries that were allowed to convert to adult use. Regulators had hoped to conduct the social equity licensing lottery in January but were overwhelmed by…