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Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission Sets Timeline for Licensing

Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission Sets Timeline for Licensing

Alabama medical cannabis commission says licenses won't be available until 2022.

An Alabama regulatory commission has plenty to do before people can apply for medical cannabis licenses, so it won’t push for a date that might allow sales next year, a commission official said.

The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission had said earlier that it might ask for the date to be moved up. It decided last week not to do so, the Montgomery Advertiser quoted commission Vice Chairman Rex Vaughn as saying.

Before people can apply, the commission has to establish rules and train physicians, Vaughn noted. It also must create a central database to register patients by next September. Registration cards will cost up to $65 a year.

Since would-be growers and distributors cannot apply for licenses before Sept. 1, 2022, the substance probably won’t be available before 2023, supporters of medical marijuana have said.

But Vaughn noted that the legislature would have to change the date, and he said asking it to do so could open the way for those who want to weaken the law.

“We could lose what we’ve got,” he said.

The legislature approved the medical cannabis bill in May after hot debate in the House, which had blocked earlier bills. The commission must decide license applications within 60 days.

“If you start looking at the timelines for what it’s going to take to get rules and regulations approved, and the growth cycle and the 60 days that people have to get in business after they get the license, it starts adding up,” John McMillian, the commission’s executive director, said after the commission’s meeting last week.

Sen. Tim Melson, a Florence Republican and sponsor of a bill to move up the date, said he supported the commission’s decision because he is in favor of a program implemented in a “thoughtful and correct” manner.

Once available, doctors will be able to prescribe cannabis for at least 16 conditions including cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain. Cannabis would be available as tablets, capsules, gummies, lozenges, topical oils, suppositories, patches, and in nebulizers or oil to be vaporized. The law forbids smoking or vaping medical cannabis, or baking it into food.

The law also forbids the recreational use of marijuana.

Three in four California cannabis companies aren’t licensed

Three in four California cannabis companies aren’t licensed

Only 1 in 4 California cannabis companies have a permanent business license

State will give 17 cities and counties grants to help license cannabis businesses. But many say bigger problems remain.

Nearly four years after California started regulating its cannabis industry, three in four businesses still operate on provisional licenses.

As temporary license holders, 75% of the state’s cannabis industry lacks protections and privileges that come with holding full licenses — a situation that worries some in the business. Those temporary operators also haven’t passed extensive environmental reviews required of full licensing — a fact that concerns environmental groups.

Cannabis licensing is slow for a number of reasons, ranging from the sometimes dizzying complexity of California’s environmental rules to conflicting language between state and local cannabis laws to the high costs for permits and a shortage of government workers needed to process the paperwork.

The weed licensing glitch also isn’t new. For several years, state legislators have extended the permitting process so that thousands of businesses don’t become unlicensed overnight.

But now, California is pushing to change the situation. The state has set aside $100 million to help 17 cities and counties transition their cannabis businesses from temporary to full licensees. Los Angeles is eligible for $22.3 million of that money, while five other Southern California cities — Long Beach, San Diego, Commerce, Adelanto and Desert Hot Springs — are in the running for a combined $6.9 million. Applications are due by Nov. 15.

Eligible cities say they’ll use the money to hire staff and, in some cases, to offer direct support to businesses. They’re confident that over the next few months they can make a significant dent in the problem.

“I know it will help,” said Edgar Cisneros, city manager for Commerce, which has seven fully licensed cannabis businesses and 12 others waiting to get through the process.

“There is a real need for staff and also consultants…  to get these permits to permanent licensing at a much faster pace.”

Still, while business owners and others applaud the one-time state funding, they say it doesn’t go far enough. Many cities and counties remain left out of the applicant pool, and there is no statewide plan to ease the business hurdles that caused the backlog in the first place.

 

“No amount of money is going to change the significant amount of time it takes to come up to speed for local approval,” said Hilary Bricken, a cannabis industry attorney out of Los Angeles who said some businesses have failed during the multi-year wait to get licensed.

Nevada cannabis sales break $1 billion in 2021

Nevada cannabis sales break $1 billion in 2021

Nevada cannabis sales broke a record in 2021

Nevada retailers sold more than $1 billion in medical and recreational marijuana over a one-year period, state officials announced on Wednesday.

The Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board (CCB) and the Nevada Department of Taxation released the data, which shows $1,003,467,655 in taxable cannabis purchases in Fiscal Year 2021, which ran from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021.

By contrast, total marijuana sales for the prior 2020 fiscal year amounted to $685 million.

The bulk of the marijuana purchases ($791,100,017) came from Clark County, where Las Vegas is located. Another $135,326,790 of cannabis was sold in Washoe County, with Reno being the major city in that jurisdiction. The $77,040,859 remainder came from other counties.

Ten percent of tax revenue from recreational cannabis sales will support pubic education funding, as prescribed under a bill that Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) previously signed.

“This is what Nevadans expected since the legalization of recreational marijuana,” the governor said in a press release about the new sales data. “Education remains one of my top priorities, and I’m proud to see promised tax revenue from cannabis sales directly funding our students and classrooms.”

Sisolak also signed a bill in June to legalize marijuana consumption lounges in the state.

The new social use license types statewide and giving consumers this option—especially in the tourist-centric state—could further boost marijuana and other tax revenues.

The governor has also committed to promoting equity and justice in the state’s marijuana law. Last year, for example, he pardoned more than 15,000 people who were convicted for low-level cannabis possession.

That action was made possible under a resolution the governor introduced that was unanimously approved by the state’s Board of Pardons Commissioners.

Canopy Growth Pays Nearly $300 Million To Acquire Wana Edibles in the U.S.

Canopy Growth Pays Nearly $300 Million To Acquire Wana Edibles in the U.S.

canopy growth buys wana edibles brand

Canadian cannabis giant Canopy Growth is (kind of) acquiring Wana Brands, the #1 cannabis edibles brand in North America by market share – per Headset data.

According to information procured exclusively ahead of an official announcement, the deal features a similar structure to the one Canopy struck with Acreage Holdings a couple of years ago. Under the agreement, the Canadian operator will acquire the right to purchase Wana (comprised of Mountain High Products, Wana Wellness and The Cima Group) once THC becomes federally legal in the U.S.

The call option to acquire 100% of the membership interests in each Wana entity is being acquired by Canopy for upfront cash payment of $297.5 million.

When Canopy decides to move forward with the acquisition, it will pay 15% of the fair market value of the entities being acquired. Until the purchase is complete, thought Canopy Growth will have no economic, voting or controlling interest in Wana, which will continue to operate independently.

“Through the agreement with Wana, Canopy is adding another industry leading brand to power our rapid growth across the U.S. Wana has built a successful business using an asset-light licensing model, allowing them to scale across North America,” David Klein, CEO of Canopy Growth, said in an exclusive interview.

Breaking down the key strategic benefits of the acquisition, Klein explained Wana:

  • Strengthens Canopy Growth’s U.S. ecosystem.
  • Provides exposure to one of the fastest growing segments in both the U.S. and Canadian cannabis markets: edibles.
  • Would automatically make Canopy a leader in the edibles category.
  • Increases Canopy’s exposure to the U.S. market upon federal legalization.
  • Represents an opportunity to acquire a profitable and highly scalable business.
Billionaire-backed Denver Ordinance 300 would raise retail cannabis tax by 13%

Billionaire-backed Denver Ordinance 300 would raise retail cannabis tax by 13%

Denver Ordinance 300 would raise taxes on recreational cannabis.

An advocacy organization registered in Delaware and backed by a Bahamas-based billionaire Forbes calls “the world’s richest 29-year-old” is going head-to-head with the Denver cannabis industry — and the mayor — through a proposed city ordinance that would increase Denver’s recreational marijuana tax by 13%.

Initiated Ordinance 300, which will appear on the 2021 ballot, proposes that “Denver retail marijuana sales tax be increased by $7 million” through a 1.5% tariff to fund “pandemic research” at the University of Colorado Denver.

Should a statewide ballot initiative that will also be put before voters in 2021, Proposition 119, pass along with Ordinance 300, Denver cannabis consumers will be paying nearly 25% more for their weed within the next three years. Denver residents currently pay a total of 26.41% in taxes on recreational cannabis: 11.41% to the city and 15% to the state.

The move has Colorado cannabis industry insiders wondering why Colorado, why CU Denver and why their sector.

“Ordinance 300 taxes Denver cannabis consumers to fund, and I’m putting this in big old air quotes, ‘future pandemic research,'” Marijuana Industry Group Executive Director Truman Bradley told Denver Business Journal. “I literally cannot think of a cause that’s going to achieve more attention globally than [pandemic research]. It makes no sense to ask Denver cannabis consumers to foot the bill for that.”

MIG, along with industry advocacy organization Colorado Leads, primarily expressed concern about the impact on cannabis buyers who consume for medical purposes but may not have the means for a medical card — something that requires an often expensive annual physical exam and fees paid to the state — or simply don’t want to be on an official list.

“This measure — funded by a rich, out-of-town carpetbagger — taxes people’s pain relief to pay for a random pandemic preparation program that has no accountability, no oversight, no specific solutions and no connection to the marijuana industry,” Chuck Smith, Colorado Leads board president and CEO of Denver-based cannabis giant BellRock Brands, told DBJ. “If, as the proponents contend, this program is so beneficial, why aren’t all Denver industries asked to pay their fair share?”

British Soccer Coach Jailed for 25 Years in Dubai for Cannabis Oil

British Soccer Coach Jailed for 25 Years in Dubai for Cannabis Oil

British soccer coach arrested in Dubai for cannabis oil

A British football coach has been jailed for 25 years in Dubai after four small bottles of vape liquid containing cannabis oil were found in his car.

Billy Hood from from Notting Hill, West London, was given the harsh sentence despite being able to prove the vape liquid belonged to a visiting friend who had mistakenly left them in his car.

The 24-year-old fitness fanatic, who is anti-drugs and doesn’t smoke, was convicted by a court of drug trafficking with intent to supply.

Police in Dubai are thought to have singled out Hood after monitoring WhatsApp messages and looking for key words related to drugs. A week before his arrest the friend who owned the vape liquid sent a message telling Hood he had mistakenly left it behind in his car.

The ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed was last week revealed to have used spyware to hack into the phone of his ex-wife and her lawyer Baroness Shackleton while a custody hearing was taking place at the High Court.

The United Arab Emirates are known to be users of the Israeli made spyware known as Pegasus.

Hood, who played semi-professional football for Kensington and Ealing Borough FC, was stunned when police unexpectedly turned up at his flat in January and demanded to search his home and company car.

Four small vials of vape liquid containing cannabis oil (CBD) and a vape pen were later found in the passenger door compartment.

After his arrest Hood volunteered to take a urine test for drugs which came back negative.