Tag: Medical

3/13/20--While neither the Department of Health and Senior Services or any of the dispensaries they've licensed have confirmed opening dates, online sources speculate a mid-2020 launch of Missouri's legal cannabis industry. Keep an eye on the DHSS website for the latest updates and regulatory news. Weedmaps outlines information about what should be known about purchasing cannabis in Missouri. Read

3/15/20--Two individuals involved in controversial energy projects in Independence that have drawn FBI scrutiny submitted a formal proposal to help repurpose a separate, soon-to-be shuttered Blue Valley Municipal Power Generating Plant into a biofuels production facility “to provide alternative fuels for the future.” Read

3/2/20--A proposed cap on the level of euphoria-inducing THC in medical marijuana has hit a snag in the Florida Senate, leaving a priority of the House in jeopardy as time runs down on the legislative session. Senate Health Policy Chairwoman Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, introduced a proposal Monday that would have capped THC levels in medical marijuana for patients under age 21. Read

3/3/20--Lawmakers have begun digging through the constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana, and in some cases, they don’t like what they see — and they’re intent on making changes. Read

3/3/20--More than 800 appeals have been filed by people who were denied state permits to grow, sell or distribute medical marijuana in Missouri. According to Joe Ingrande of Troy, Mo., who thought he had a good chance to open a dispensary in Bowling Green, says there was "something funny about the test, and there was too much ambiguity." Ingrade also states he was told priority would be given to pick local people, but he says many of the winners appear to be corporations from out-of-state. Read

3/5/20--An amendment that establishes a potency cap of 10% THC for medical marijuana patients under 21 has made its way back to the Florida House floor, where it was tacked onto a larger healthcare bill during a floor session Thursday. Capping THC is a priority of House Speaker José Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, who said Wednesday the chemical in medical marijuana could “possibly be detrimental to a young brain.” Read

2/15/20--A bill to let more potent medical marijuana products be sold in Iowa has cleared initial review in the Iowa House, but the bill also would limit the total amount of THC patients could be sold over a 90 day period. Under the state’s medical cannabis program, there are licensed growers, producers and sellers of medical marijuana to Iowans with a limited number of medical condition like Multiple Sclerosis and chronic epilepsy. Read

2/2/20--According to a new cannabis industry pricing guide, Arizona has some of the least expensive marijuana products in America. The pricing guide also reveals that many Arizona dispensaries see the highest profit margin from pre-rolls and the lowest from flowers. The lowest prices in the state appear to be for edibles such as foods and drinks. Read

1/20/20--Wellcana Group has big expansion plans for its LSU-licensed medical marijuana operations in Louisiana and is separately courting farmers to grow hemp to support the company's launch soon into CBD products. Currently, Wellcana's Baton Rouge facility can grow a limited number of marijuana plants and manufactures tinctures for patients suffering from specific ailments outlined in state law. Read

1/11/20--After a bill in 2016 regulating growing facilities and allowing for the licensing of doctors and pharmacies that the use of medical marijuana became viable in the state, it took two and a half years before medical marijuana became available to the public in Louisiana. The program still continues to have problems. Health insurance does not cover medical marijuana, and the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy, which licenses and regulates the pharmacies that dispense marijuana products, has received complaints about potential patients’ lack of access to the treatment. Read

1/11/20--A bright purple sky appeared over Snowflake, Arizona due to the lights from nearby marijuana farm Copperstate Farms. The landscape, with shades of pink and purple across clouds in the sky and a blanket of white snow on the ground, looked more like a video game than real life, and it was visible for miles, according to a Facebook post on Friday. Read

12/26/19--Six licensed operators in the New Jersey Medicinal Marijuana Program submit their strains of cannabis flower to a single laboratory, administered by the state’s Department of Health, for testing. The collection of strain profiles available in New Jersey conforms to results of other population studies, revealing three broad classification of strains based on their relative concentration of cannabinoids. Read

12/5/19--Results from a prevention study in California conducted by the RAND Corporation, published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, suggest that medical marijuana programs in that state attracted a substantial number of young people who already were heavy users of the drug. Read

12/3/19--Minnesota is expanding the state’s medical marijuana program to include chronic pain and age-related macular degeneration as conditions that can qualify for treatment, state health officials said Monday. The state Department of Health also said it would allow more sites where patients can access medical cannabis. The changes take effect in August, Minnesota Public Radio News reported. Read

11/11/19--This guideline covers prescribing of cannabis-based medicinal products for people with intractable nausea and vomiting, chronic pain, spasticity, and severe treatment-resistant epilepsy. Read

11/11/19--Two cannabis-based medicines, used to treat epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, have been approved for use by the NHS in England. Doctors will be able to prescribe Epidyolex, for children with two types of severe epilepsy - Lennox Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome - which can cause multiple seizures a day. The other treatment, Sativex, is a mouth spray that contains a mix of THC and CBD. It has been approved for treating muscle stiffness and spasms, known as spasticity, in multiple sclerosis. But doctors will not be allowed to prescribe it to treat pain. Read  

11/14/19--According to an article published in The Spectator USA, marijuana’s effects on the minds of many of its users are permanent. They may give it up entirely, but the damage has been done, and there’s a simple reason for this. Marijuana has been the beneficiary of one of the slickest, most sustained advertising campaigns in human history. Not only do millions believe it is some sort of medicine. Most people, even law enforcers, describe it as a ‘soft’ drug. Read

11/6/19--A year after Missouri voters approved medical marijuana, News 4 checked in with the state to get an update. Currently, there are no medical marijuana facilities in Missouri but over 20,000 applications have been submitted for facilities. To start, the state said they will only approve about 350 licenses for manufacturing and dispensaries. Read

10/30/19--According to the Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA), the new rules for the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act (MMMA) will lower the registry card application fee by 33% while eliminating fees associated with processing updates or replacing marijuana registry cards. Read

10/29/19--Some newly proposed bills would lay the foundation for legalization of recreational marijuana in Florida, and others indicate a more lax approach to drug sentencing. As it stands, lawmakers continue to grapple with their approach to licensing medical marijuana facilities and regulating public smoking now that hemp is legal. With that in mind, Miami New Times outlines what state legislators have been working on lately. Read

10/14/19--On Friday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a requirement that all cannabis stores enter into so-called “labor peace agreements” as soon as they have 20 or more employees. Labor unions have been pushing for these agreements in recent years, as more and more states decriminalize marijuana. They say they want to make sure the $6 billion industry doesn’t exploit workers, who are often paid below the minimum wage or given marijuana instead of wages. Read

10/4/19--Many LGBTQ people are at the center of the growth of the marijuana industry. Colton Griffin, CEO of Flourish, an Atlanta-based company that helps medical marijuana companies monitor logistics, is one of the LGBTQ people playing a role in Georgia’s booming medical marijuana business. Read

8/19/19--The medical marijuana facility application period closed at 4:30 p.m. today, and the Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) received approximately 2,100 applications by the extended deadline. Applications are from those hoping to obtain licenses from DHSS for cultivation, dispensary, manufacturing, testing laboratory, and transportation facilities for the state’s medical marijuana program. Read

8/22/19--Missouri collected $13-million dollars in fees after receiving more than 2,000 business applications to grow and sell medical marijuana. More than 1,200 applications were submitted in the final three days including 800 in the final 24 hours. Read

8/23/19--Despite the known risks to using marijuana while pregnant, including impaired brain development for the fetus, nothing in Missouri’s new medical marijuana law prevents other doctors from helping pregnant patients obtain the drug. Doctors are only required to discuss the risks. Read

8/10/19--Lauren and Shawn Jenkins, co-founders of FlowerCraft dispensaries in Tulsa and Coweta, announced this week that they will close their dispensary. Saturday was the last day for the Tulsa store. Read

7/9/19--The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority says it is currently taking steps to implement statutory modifications to the state’s medical marijuana program that was made during the 2019 legislative session. All changes will be implemented through August and November, and will be followed by permanent rule promulgation activities in 2020. Read

6/14/19--Medical marijuana edibles are now available in Arkansas – one month after marijuana sales began in the state. The state’s two operating dispensaries – Doctor’s Orders and Green Springs Medical – received their first shipment of marijuana gummies on Friday. Both dispensaries, located in Hot Springs, anticipate added variety of edible products in the near future. Read

6/15/19--Gov. Greg Abbott has signed House Bill 3703 into law expanding who can access medical marijuana products in the state of Texas. Effective immediately, specialty doctors will be able to prescribe medical marijuana to treat multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, ALS, terminal cancer, autism, and many kinds of seizure disorders. Read

6/14/19--Five new conditions were accepted for treatment to the state’s growing medical marijuana program at a recent Board of Physicians meeting. The five conditions will be added to the Medical Marijuana Program’s regulations, and are ultimately subject to approval by the Regulations Review Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly. Read

6/4/19--The City Council voted Monday to direct the city attorney to prepare a resolution stating that medical marijuana dispensaries are permitted on Marco Island. The motion, presented by councilor Jared Grifoni, passed 5-2. Chairperson Erik Brechnitz and councilor Howard Reed voted against it. Read

5/9/19--Missouri’s medical marijuana industry players have already donated more than $15,000 to a political action committee controlled by Gov. Mike Parson, whose administration will decide who gets growing licenses and what regulations they’ll face. There’s no law against giving money to politicians as they’re making decisions that directly affect the donor’s business — but, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial Board's recently published editorial, there should be. Read

5/10/19--The Catoosa city council will vote next week whether to reduce the distance allowed between medical marijuana dispensaries. Currently, city law says they have to be 1,000 feet apart, but the city council could change that to 500 feet. Read

5/10/19--According to the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, three licensed dispensaries or provisioning centers are now able to provide a delivery service service legally: Utopia Gardens LLC in Detroit, Lake Effect Group LLC in Portage, and BotaniQ in Detroit. Patients are required to have their medical marijuana card verified and the product can only be delivered to the address on the card. Read

5/9/19--Green Springs Medical will be the first dispensary to open in Arkansas to sell medical marijuana. Owners Dragan Vicentic and Bruce Simpson have a plan in place to help as many patients as they can. Read

5/10/19--A panel of physicians recommended the State Medical Board of Ohio vote next month to include anxiety and autism spectrum disorder as qualifying conditions for medical marijuana use. The committee’s recommendation comes after the Medical Board sought online petitions from the public requesting qualifying conditions to add to the current list of 21 conditions. Read

5/13/19--In an ongoing effort to improve transparency in marijuana licensing and the industry, Governor Steve Sisolak and Executive Director of Taxation, Melanie Young announced the passage of Senate Bill 32, permitting the release of details regarding who applied for licenses, who received licenses, their ranking, score, and the process of issuing marijuana license. Read

5/13/19--The city of Augusta owns roughly 600 acres of fallow farm land southeast of downtown. Twenty-five acres of that land are suitable for supporting a municipal marijuana farm. County Commissioner William Fennoy, in whose district the land is located, said he sees the potential for an influx of revenue flowing to the city coffers, but he also has some concerns regarding start-up costs. Read

5/13/19--Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday signed a bill into law that allows Georgia farmers to grow hemp. The crop is the source of products ranging from rope to soap to CBD oil. It is suddenly a ubiquitous trend, showing up even on Atlanta menus. Read

5/11/19--The marijuana industry is surging in Illinois and around the country, but despite all the growth many of those companies have continued to operate in the same spaces they launched in, until now. At least half a dozen marijuana companies in Chicago have moved or expanded their headquarters in the past several months. Executives had been waiting for certainty in an industry built on sales of a still federally illegal drug. Read

5/7/19--Marijuana-inspired objects and décor are becoming more elite. With dozens of states having legalized marijuana for medicinal or recreational use, or both, in recent years, designers are seizing the opportunity to define the look of a growing industry and lifestyle. And as the drug loses its outlaw, déclassé status, going from “weed” to a “flower”. Read

3/28/19--According to an article published in Cincinnati Enquirer, several medical marijuana patients say they aren't rushing to buy marijuana because the prices are just too high. The average price has hovered around $470 per ounce in Ohio, and prices aren't expected to drop by much any time soon. Read

5/8/19--Medical marijuana oils for vaping were pulled from the shelves this week after a labeling error was discovered by the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy. It's the first time state officials have halted sales of a product since medical marijuana sales began in mid-January. Read

5/7/19--Two medical marijuana operators, Surterra Florida LLC and Curaleaf Florida LLC, want the state to give them the same treatment as Florida’s largest medical-marijuana firm, after health officials allowed Quincy-based Trulieve to open more dispensaries than a state law allowed. Read

5/7/19--A feud between Louisiana State University's grower GB Sciences and Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain spilled into the Legislature on Tuesday, as lawmakers consider reworking oversight of therapeutic marijuana to end disagreements that have slowed release to patients. 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

4/14/19--Jefferson City is pursuing ways to regulate medical marijuana facilities, including proposing a required buffer between these facilities and some schools, churches and child care centers. On May 20, the Jefferson City Council will hold a public hearing and vote on the proposed zoning code amendment that outlines some medical marijuana facility regulations. Read

3/21/19--Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into a law a measure repealing a ban on smokable medical marijuana. Trulieve, the state’s largest medical marijuana operator, was the first of Florida’s 14 operators to sell whole-flower products, for use in joints, pipes or bongs. Curaleaf also was approved by the state to start selling smokable marijuana. Both have locations in Jacksonville. Read

3/19/19--Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Monday that now makes smokable medical marijuana legal in the Sunshine State, which had been a priority for the Republican governor since taking office in January. However, qualified patients may have to wait a bit before they are prescribed a smokable form of pot. Read

3/8/19--The Moore Police Department says Ivy League Cannabis is less than 600 feet away from Vista Academy. But the state of OKlahoma requires dispensaries to be at least 1,000 feet away from any school. The owner says he wasn't aware the high school was nearby when he went through the application process. Read

3/8/19--Virginia lawmakers have tweaked medical marijuana laws so the drug can be dispensed in lozenges, lollipops and lotions, and so school children certified to use it will be protected from expulsion and their nurses from prosecution. The Virginia Board of Pharmacy in November awarded licenses to five medical marijuana dispensaries to cultivate the plant, extract the oil and sell to customers who are registered with the state to use the product. Read

2/15/19--Thousands of Pennsylvanians have turned to medical marijuana since the drug became legally available last year, but dispensaries and their customers are living in fear. Since the federal government considers marijuana a Schedule 1 narcotic -- the same class as heroin -- banks and credit card companies are keeping their distance, meaning patients must carry large amounts of cash and go to great lengths to keep it safe. Read  

2/14/19--Florida growers are working on deals to get edibles in the state, while lawmakers are again taking up the issue of smoking medical marijuana. Meanwhile, medical marijuana company Trulieve announced it has signed a deal to sell edible products in Florida from Colorado company Love’s Oven. Read

2/13/19--A bill that would have opened the door for more people to qualify for medical marijuana in Arkansas failed to move past the House rules committee after it didn't get a motion to advance the bill on the House floor. This happened despite desperate pleas from people in support of the expansion. The bill would have added nearly 40 conditions to the list that was approved by voters in 2016. Conditions such as asthma, A-D-D and Autism failed in the committee. Read

2/13/19--New York supporters of medical marijuana claim that without protection for medical pot stores, they'll be driven out of business should recreational marijuana be legalized, as is likely. Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled his proposal for recreational pot last month. The medical industry argues it doesn't allow them to stay competitive. The governor's proposal is now being debated by the legislature, with an expected deal to be reached sometime before April. Read

2/11/19--Three medical marijuana dispensaries are set to open in West Memphis this year, the first of their kind in the Mid-South. Though medical marijuana is fairly new in the area, many have welcomed it with open arms, including city officials of West Memphis, who said it will do nothing but benefit the people and economy of the city. Read

1/9/19--Opioid addiction, autism, general anxiety, chronic anxiety, depression and insomnia were selected for more study as qualifying conditions for medical marijuana in Ohio. A committee of the Ohio State Medical Board met in Columbus to select those conditions as Ohio prepares for the first sales of medical marijuana. Read

1/9/19--The number of Arkansans approved for medical marijuana cards has grown by about 400 since late October to more than 6,700, according to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. The ADH fiscal year 2018 Medical Marijuana report, released in July 2018, shows a majority of the 5,459 people approved for medical marijuana cards at the time were white, middle-aged men and the most prevalent qualifying medical condition was intractable pain unresponsive to medicines, treatment, or surgery for over six months. Read