Author: A.J. Herrington

[ad_1] California’s Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce (UCETF) seized nearly 100,000 cannabis plants over the last three months, according to an announcement from the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. State officials lauded the seizures on Friday, saying that illegal weed grow sites pose a threat to consumer safety and are often associated with organized crime. Bill Jones, chief of the Law Enforcement Division for the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC), noted that the task force had focused on some of the largest unlicensed cannabis cultivation sites in California during the third quarter of 2023. “For the last three months…

[ad_1] The American Nurses Association (ANA) announced last week that it now formally recognizes cannabis nursing as a specialty practice. The professional association, which represents the interests of the more than 5 million nurses in the nation, also noted that cannabis nursing is identified by the American Cannabis Nurses Association (ACNA) as a specialty nursing practice focused on the health care of consumers seeking education and guidance in the therapeutic use of cannabis. “ANA is pleased to officially recognize cannabis nursing practice as a nursing specialty,” ANA President Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN said in a September…

[ad_1] More than 150 Oklahoma medical marijuana dispensaries have received letters from state regulators notifying owners that they owe thousands of dollars in fines for transactions that do not comply with the state’s medical cannabis regulations. Some providers could also lose their licenses for selling too much medical marijuana in a single transaction, according to a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA). The letters, one of which has been shared with High Times, notify owners that the potentially illegal transactions occurred between January and May of this year. The correspondence also informs the businesses that a November court…

[ad_1] A judge’s order forcing a temporary pause on the issuing of cannabis dispensary licenses in New York was extended for two weeks on Friday as business owners impacted by the injunction rallied outside an Ulster County courthouse to plead their case. Supreme Court Justice Kevin Bryant withheld a ruling at a hearing in a legal challenge to New York’s cannabis dispensary regulations brought by a group of military veterans, setting a new hearing in the case for August 25.  Bryant’s ruling keeps in place a temporary injunction issued last week barring the New York Office of Cannabis Management (OCM)…

[ad_1] New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu last week signed legislation to create a commission to study legalizing recreational marijuana via a plan that restricts adult-use cannabis sales to state-run retailers. Previously opposed to legalizing recreational marijuana, Sununu changed his position earlier this year after an adult-use cannabis legalization bill failed in the New Hampshire Senate after receiving approval from the state House of Representatives.  “Knowing that a majority of our residents support legalization, it is reasonable to assume change is inevitable. To ignore this reality would be shortsighted and harmful,” Sununu wrote in a statement in May. “That is why,…

[ad_1] A New York judge on Monday issued a temporary injunction barring state cannabis regulators from issuing licenses for retail marijuana dispensaries in response to a lawsuit challenging the rules for obtaining the lucrative permits. A group of military veterans filed the lawsuit last week, arguing that the state’s rules limiting the first Conditional Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licenses to those with previous marijuana convictions violates state law and New York’s Constitution. The lawsuit was filed by four veterans who have served a combined total of more than two decades in various branches of the U.S. military. The vets argue…

[ad_1] A group of four military veterans last week filed suit against New York’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), claiming that the agency’s rules that prioritize applicants with prior marijuana convictions for cannabis dispensary licenses violate the state’s 2021 marijuana legalization statute. In a complaint filed in the New York State Supreme Court, the four plaintiffs argue that state regulators failed to follow the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) when it did not issue cannabis retail licenses to disabled veterans and members of other minority groups. The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order barring the state from issuing further…

[ad_1] The supporters of a proposed ballot measure to legalize adult-use cannabis in Ohio last week submitted petitions with more than 6,500 additional signatures from voters who would like to see the proposal appear on the ballot for this year’s general election. The supplemental signatures were collected and delivered by the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol on Thursday after the group’s original submission last month fell just short of the threshold to trigger a vote on the proposal. “This submission validates what we’ve said all along: regulating marijuana is popular in Ohio,” campaign spokesman Thomas Haren said in a…

[ad_1] A group of hemp businesses has filed a legal action challenging a new Arkansas law that bans hemp-derived psychoactive cannabinoids including delta-8 THC, arguing the statute violates the 2018 Farm Bill’s provisions that legalized hemp agriculture. The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Little Rock on Monday by four hemp businesses, seeks an injunction blocking Act 629, a law banning hemp-derived psychoactive cannabinoids that went into effect on August 1. Act 629 bans the production and sale of products containing delta-8, delta-9 and delta-10 THC and other variations of the cannabinoids inside the state of Arkansas. Such…

[ad_1] Sales of regulated adult-use cannabis began in Minnesota on Tuesday with the launch of recreational marijuana sales at a dispensary located on the Red Lake Nation’s tribal lands.  The Red Lake Nation’s foray into the adult-use cannabis market on tribal lands in northwestern Minnesota coincided with the statewide legalization of recreational marijuana. Under legislation approved by state lawmakers and Governor Tim Walz in May, possession of cannabis by adults 21 and older was legalized on August 1, although sales of recreational marijuana at state-licensed dispensaries are not expected to begin until 2025. But as sovereign nations, Minnesota’s Native American…

[ad_1] A planned merger between cannabis multistate operators Columbia Care and Cresco Labs valued at $2 billion has been called off, according to a statement from the two companies released on Monday.  Chicago-based Cresco Labs announced in March 2022 that it had come to an agreement to acquire Columbia Care, headquartered in New York, in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $2 billion. In February, the two companies unveiled a revised plan to give the firms more time to divest assets in some markets to comply with regulatory requirements. Each already one of the largest vertically integrated cannabis companies in…

[ad_1] A bipartisan pair of U.S. lawmakers last week introduced legislation to ease federal employment restrictions on cannabis use that deny employment opportunities for past and current marijuana users. The bill, titled the Cannabis Users Restoration of Eligibility (CURE) Act, was introduced on July 27 by Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina who has been an outspoken supporter of federal cannabis policy reform. “Every year, qualified and dedicated individuals seeking to serve our country are unable to secure federal jobs and security clearances because the federal government has not caught up…