Author: A.J. Herrington

[ad_1] Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin on Thursday vetoed a bill to legalize recreational marijuana sales, saying that regulated sales of cannabis would be a danger to health and safety. Virginia legalized the possession of small amounts of weed three years ago, but consumers remain without a legal way to purchase cannabis in the state. The governor vetoed two identical bills passed by each chamber of the state legislature, SB 448 in the Senate and HB 698 in the House of Delegates. The legislation would have established a regulated cannabis market in Virginia, including provisions for the licensing of small and…

[ad_1] Senator Mitt Romney of Utah and two of his Republican colleagues have sent a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration, urging the law enforcement agency to decline a bid to reschedule marijuana under federal drug laws. Cannabis is currently listed under Schedule I of the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), a designation reserved for drugs with no accepted medical value and a high potential for abuse. The letter, which was signed by Romney and Republican Senator Jim Risch of Idaho and Nebraska’s Senator Pete Ricketts, was addressed to Drug Enforcement Administrator Anne Milgram. All three lawmakers are members of…

[ad_1] Regulated sales of marijuana in Arizona topped $1.4 billion last year, according to state data, marking the third year in a row that licensed weed sales have exceeded $1 billion in the Grand Canyon State. Sales of recreational marijuana totaled more than $1 billion in 2023, while sales of medical cannabis brought in nearly $350 million, the Arizona Mirror reported on Tuesday. Arizona’s continued strong weed sales were welcome news for the state’s licensed cannabis businesses. Luke Flood, senior vice president and West regional leader for multistate operator Curaleaf, said, “Arizona has been a strong success story for us,…

[ad_1] A majority of cannabis flower products purchased at licensed retail pot shops in Colorado contained less THC than indicated on the label, according to a study performed by a researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder. The study showed that THC levels indicated on the label of approximately 70% of products tested were at least 15% higher than those reported by a third-party lab after purchase. The research was conducted by Anna Schwabe, an associate lecture professor of modern cannabis science at the University of Colorado Boulder. To complete the study, Scwabe collected 23 cannabis flower samples from 10…

[ad_1] Medical marijuana patients would be permitted to grow up to 16 cannabis plants at home under a bill now pending in the state legislature. If approved, patients and caregivers would be able to grow twice the number of plants allowed under the state’s recreational marijuana legalization law, which went into effect on August 1 of last year. Minnesota legalized medical marijuana in 2014 with a law that allows patients diagnosed with certain qualifying conditions to use cannabis medicinally with a doctor’s recommendation. The law also allows the state’s approximately 41,000 registered patients to designate a caregiver to pick up…

[ad_1] Regulated marijuana sales in the United States are expected to exceed $31 billion this year, according to a recent economic forecast from a firm specializing in cannabis and hemp business consulting, data, and economic research.  The projection from Portland, Oregon-based Whitney Economics estimates that legal sales of medical marijuana and adult-use cannabis will total $31.4 in 2024. The forecasted amount is an increase of $2.6 billion from 2023, representing a growth rate of 9.14% year over year. The projection notes that legal sales of cannabis have been suppressed since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, citing changes in consumer…

[ad_1] The German government last week adopted a bill to end the prohibition of cannabis for adults that will make possession and home cultivation of weed legal in Europe’s most populous nation as of April 1. The legislation, which also allows for the establishment of cannabis clubs, was given final approval on Friday in the Bundesrat, Germany’s legislative chamber representing the country’s 16 federal states. The bill has already been approved by the second chamber of parliament known as the Bundestag, which voted to pass the legislation late last month. Under the limited legalization bill known as CanG, adults aged…

[ad_1] Nearly two dozen attorneys general from across the country wrote a letter to congressional leaders this week, urging them to enact legislation to federally regulate intoxicating hemp products. In the letter, the top law enforcement official from 21 states wrote that the legalization of hemp with the 2018 Farm Bill has resulted in “the proliferation of intoxicating hemp products across the nation and challenges to the ability for states and localities to respond to the resulting health and safety crisis.” The letter, dated March 20, was addressed to the committee chair and ranking minority members of the Senate Committee…

[ad_1] The median reported potency of regulated weed in California has been steadily dropping over the past six months, according to a report from Bay Area news source SFGate. The drop in potency, which includes a decline of 7% in just the past three months, coincides with the recent implementation of new state regulations governing how the potency of cannabis flower is determined by testing labs in the state. According to information from cannabis market data analytics firm Headset shared with SFGate, the median potency of cannabis flower tested in California was 30.7% in December. The data, which is based…

[ad_1] Proposed rules to regulate hemp in Tennessee could put a limit on the total amount of all forms of THC allowed in products, potentially closing what some see as a legal loophole that has led to the marketing of hemp flower high in THCA. When smoked, THCA converts to delta-9 THC, the cannabinoid primarily responsible for the psychoactive effects of weed. In April 2023, Tennessee lawmakers passed legislation to regulate and tax hemp products grown, manufactured and sold in the state. Under the bill, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture was tasked with developing rules to govern the industry, including…

[ad_1] New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Monday that her administration will conduct an assessment of the state’s rollout of legal recreational marijuana, saying that the review is needed to ensure the success of the regulated cannabis market.  New York lawmakers passed legislation legalizing recreational pot nearly three years ago, but the rollout of regulated sales has been plagued by lawsuits and other delays. More than a year after the first licensed recreational pot shop opened in December 2022, only 70 retailers selling adult-use cannabis have been licensed statewide. The figure includes Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) storefronts and…

[ad_1] A new study shows that natural mushroom extracts may be more therapeutically effective than synthesized psilocybin, which is widely used in research investigating the medicinal potential of the psychedelic drug. The findings suggest that natural mushroom extracts may offer more potential applications for the treatment of serious mental health conditions such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and schizophrenia. The study, which was conducted by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center BrainLabs Center for Psychedelic Research, compared the effects of the natural and synthesized versions of psilocybin, the compound primarily responsible…