Tag: Cannabis Wire

5/6/21--After years of failed efforts, Alabama lawmakers are one step away from passing the SB 46 bill, introduced by Sen. Tim Melson, to legalize medical cannabis. This bill would create a more robust medical cannabis program, allowing patients who qualify with at least one of more than a dozen conditions to buy medical cannabis products from a state-legal shop. Though, the bill does not allow for smokable products, including vapes, which would make the state’s program among the most restrictive in the country. Read

3/4/21--The latest report notes that the “number of depository institutions banking marijuana-related businesses appears to have leveled off from a decline that started at the end of the 1st Quarter FY2020.” Further, the “decline coincided with the release of guidance by FinCEN and financial regulators on providing financial services to customers engaged in hemp-related business activities.” Read

3/4/21--During two events Wednesday, cannabis reform advocates focused on the case for legalization and on issues with the governor’s plan, while an anti-legalization group warned of potential harms of any legalization proposal. Read

2/17/21--State agriculture regulators will vote next week on a major hemp policy change. Specifically, members of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) will vote on whether to support an amendment to the “federal definition of hemp to increase the total THC concentration to 1% or less.” Read

11/3/20--New Approach PAC is the top backer of cannabis ballot measures. According to Cannabis Wire, the PAC has raised nearly $10 million in 2020, and it is backing every campaign for medical or adult use legalization in 2020, except in Arizona. New Approach’s top contributors include philanthropist Cari Tuna, Napster founder Sean Parker, and philanthropist Alexandra Cohen. Read

06/18/20--Months after the novel coronavirus settled into communities across the country, states have begun to emerge from stay-at-home orders, with some legislatures powering through backlogged bills while others fade into recess. Cannabis Wire contacted public servants, elected officials, and activists from Rhode Island to Arizona to find out where legalization initiatives—for medical and adult use—stand as legislators head home for the summer and election boards prepare for November. Read

5/14/20--Millions of dollars pour into cannabis research each year at universities across the world, and that funding is increasingly coming from the cannabis industry itself. Industry giants such as Canopy Growth, Curaleaf, Tilray, Cronos, and Charlotte’s Web have funded, or otherwise partnered on, university research on a wide range of cannabis-related issues. Read

4/29/20--Federal lobbying expenses by cannabis and hemp organizations fell slightly during the first quarter of 2020, according to a Cannabis Wire analysis of disclosure reports. But cannabis companies have ratcheted up their efforts  in recent weeks as federal lawmakers  work to address the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read

3/30/20--Cannabis businesses, which have increasingly turned to Florida’s rapidly growing market, spent $3.7 million on lobbying in the state in 2019—more than double the year before—according to a Cannabis Wire analysis. The trend of spending heavily on lobbying in Florida was expected to continue in 2020, but the economic damage from the coronavirus crisis is likely deep and lasting enough to seriously trim the industry’s sails. Read

3/20/20--In 2016, the US Drug Enforcement Administration said it would, for the first time, open applications for those hoping to become federally-licensed cannabis researchers. The details came four years later. The DEA announced Friday, to “expand opportunities for marijuana growers who seek to grow marijuana for research purposes and outline the agency’s proposed process for administering the new program, consistent with applicable law.” There will then be a public comment period. Read

2/10/20--Grocery store giant Kroger, which has a large footprint in the midwest and south, is lobbying the federal government on hemp. It's the first company of its kind to do so, and indicated it is lobbying on “issues related to the regulation of topical products containing CBD oils and hemp derived products following the implementation of the 2018 Farm Bill,” according to its Q4 2019 disclosures. Read

10/23/19--Greenwich Biosciences, the United States subsidiary of the British GW Pharmaceuticals, registered to lobby in every single state in the country—including ones where all forms of cannabis are prohibited—over the last three years. Greenwich has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2019 alone on its state-level lobbying activities, mostly on issues related such as “scheduling of FDA approved cannabidiol drugs,” “drugs and controlled substances,” “pharmaceuticals,” “healthcare,” and “health insurance,” according to lobbying disclosures. Read

9/20/19--The American Bar Association hosted a roundtable discussion in Chicago on Thursday during which executives from some of the cannabis industry’s biggest companies debated current trends in the industry and weighed predictions about what’s next. Read

9/20/19--The Senate Appropriations Committee approved Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s additions to the 2020 Senate Agriculture Appropriations Bill. If implemented, the bill will require the Food and Drug Administration to pick up speed on developing more permissive guidance on hemp-derived CBD products, paving the way for increased business opportunities. Read

9/19/19--Last week, the California State Legislature made final decisions regarding several key cannabis bills that could have a significant impact on the world’s largest cannabis market. Governor Gavin Newsom has until October 13 to approve or veto the bills endorsed by the legislature. If he does not act on the bills, they will become law by default. Read

4/25/19--The Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act of 2019, commonly referred to as the SAFE Banking Act, would provide banks and federally-regulated creditors with ties to state-legal marijuana businesses with legal protection from prosecution. A number of large insurance companies and industry associations are chiming in because they see the “exploding” marijuana market, yet the insurance industry is grappling with risks associated with federal illegality. Read

4/24/19--Depending on where marijuana-based businesses are located, publicly available information on who’s selling legal marijuana in select cities can be scarce, as is information about how they were approved to operate. Proponents of access to information, certain members of the media, and some interested citizens maintain that the public should know who’s profiting from this highly regulated industry. Read

4/13/19--In an exclusive interview, US Attorney Billy Williams weighs in on banking, hemp, overproduction, black-market diversion—and marijuana regulators who fail to think things out. Williams’ advice to lawmakers and regulators considering legalization? “Slow down, wake up, and get serious about what you’re doing.”  Read

4/16/19--During a one-on-one interview with Cannabis Wire co-founder Alyson Martin, Steve Hawkins, the new executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, talks equity, federal legalization, and the organization’s role in the booming, multibillion dollar global cannabis industry, while also discussing the future of the Marijuana Policy Project organization, which has been on the ground floor of marijuana legalization in the US since the 1990s. Read

3/20/19--The United Nations’ Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) opted to indefinitely postpone a vote on the World Health Organization’s recommended changes to the scheduling of cannabis in international drug control conventions. The recommendations, prepared by the WHO’s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence, call for cannabis and cannabis resin to be deleted from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotics Drugs. Read  

8/8/18--The way states choose to tax marijuana plays a crucial role in how their marijuana markets will take shape, and will almost definitely have long-term effects on things like public health and criminal justice. To better understand where marijuana tax dollars end up in different states, Cannabis Wire provides a breakdown of how each state that has legalized marijuana collects and handles its revenue. Read