May 05 2023

New York Legislation Would Allow Licensed Marijuana Cultivators to Sell Directly to Consumers

Companions bills that would temporarily allow marijuana growers to sell directly to consumers was recently filed in the New York Assembly and Senate.

(Photo credit: REUTERS/Blair Gable)

The legislation would allow marijuana cultivators who are licensed with the state to temporarily sell marijuana on farm premises, directly to consumers. Proponents argue that this would allow farmers to recoup the cost of external circumstances that have caused farmers to be stuck with large amounts of marijuana and marijuana products that they have no current means of dispensing.

“[A] conditional adult-use cultivator licensee shall be authorized to sell their own or another conditional adult-use cultivator licensee holder’s cannabis products directly to consumers until no later than September thirtieth, two thousand twenty-three”, states the bill’s text. “Such authority shall allow for on-farm sales of tested, packaged and sealed products.”
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May 04 2023

Study: Coating Strawberries With CBD Nanoparticles Delays Deterioration

An interesting new study shows that CBD may serve “as an efficient active food coating agent”.

The study, published in the upcoming issue of the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces and published online ahead of print by the National Library of Medicine, is titled Influence of a Transparent and Edible Coating of Encapsulated Cannabidiol Nanoparticles on the Quality and Shelf Life of Strawberries.

The study’s goals were to “prepare encapsulated cannabidiol isolate (eCBDi), evaluate the effect of eCBDi edible active coatings on the physicochemical properties of strawberries, and determine whether CBD and sodium alginate coatings could be used as a postharvest treatment to promote antioxidation and antimicrobial activity and prolong the strawberry shelf life.”
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May 04 2023

Washington Bill to Allow Interstate Marijuana Commerce Signed by Governor Inslee

Legislation that opens the door to a future where commercial marijuana is legally transferred between states has been signed into law by Washington Governor Jay Inslee.

Interstate Marijuana Commerce

(Photo Credit: MJBizDaily)

Senate Bill 5069 found strong support in the legislature having passed the House of Representatives 71 to 26, and the Senate 38 to 8. The proposal was delivered to Governor Inslee on April 20, and was signed into law today.

The new law states that the governor may enter into an agreement with another state or states for
“cross-jurisdictional coordination and enforcement of cannabis-related businesses authorized to conduct business in this state, the other state, or both, and cross-jurisdictional delivery of cannabis between this state and the other state.”
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May 04 2023

Study: Over a Third of Chronic Pain Patients Use Medical Marijuana

According to a new study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, over a third of those in California suffering from chronic pain say they’ve used marijuana for medical purposes within the past year.

For the study researchers “surveyed a stratified random sample of adults in a large health system (aged 19-64) with and without documented chronic pain (CP) about their reasons for cannabis use” over a four month period. They “compared patients with and without CP on measures for medical, non-medical, pain-related, and mental health-related cannabis use based on self-reported symptoms.” The study was conducted by researchers from Kaiser Permanente and the University of California.

“Patients with CP reported higher past year medical use (34.6%) compared to patients without CP (22.8%), past year pain-related use (29.7% vs 15.5%), and past year mental health-related use (24.8% vs 18.9%)”, found the study.
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May 04 2023

Hawaii Bill to Make Multiple Changes to Medical Marijuana Law Passed by Legislature, Sent to Governor

Hawaii’s full legislature has given approval to legislation to amend the state’s medical marijuana law, sending it to Governor Josh Green for consideration.

Both the House of Representatives and Senate gave unanimous approval to House Bill 1082. The proposal was filed on January 3 by Representative Scott Saiki, and was sent to the governor exactly three months later on May 3.

The measure requires that written certifications for a patient with a chronic condition be valid for three years, and it “removes the requirement that a certifying physician or advanced practice registered nurse have a “bona fide” physician-patient or advanced practice registered nurse-patient relationship to certify that a patient has a debilitating medical condition.”
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May 04 2023

Maine Bill Would Legalize Marijuana Social Clubs, Establish Shelf Life for Marijuana Flower

Legislation filed in Maine would make several changes to the state’s marijuana laws, including legalizing marijuana social clubs.

House Bill 1880 was filed yesterday by State Representative Laura Supica, and today it was officially referred to the Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs.

The proposal states that cultivation facilities and product manufactures “may not sell or distribute cannabis flower harvested more than 12 months prior to sale or distribution.” Marijuana retail outlets would not be allowed to sell marijuana that was “harvested more than 18 months prior to sale.”
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May 04 2023

Study: Canada Marijuana Legalization Associated With 9% Reduction in Traffic Crashes

Toronto saw a 9% reduction in traffic crashes immediately following Canada’s legalization of marijuana, according to a new study being published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review and published online ahead of print by the US National Library of Medicine.

Conducted by researchers at the Université de Sherbrooke, this study “examines the association between the enactment of Canada’s Cannabis Act (CCA) and the number of cannabis stores (NCS) with traffic injuries in Toronto.”

For the study researchers applied two methods: hybrid difference-in-difference (DID) and hybrid-fuzzy DID. They used “generalised linear models using CCA and the NCS per capita as the main variables of interest”, and “adjusted for precipitation, temperature and snow.”
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May 03 2023

Colorado Psychedelics Bill Sent to Governor

Colorado’s Legislature has sent Senate Bill 23-290 (to legally regulate certain psychedelics) to the desk of Governor Jared Polis, who is expected to sign it into law.

(Photo credit: Paul Stamets)

On Saturday Colorado’s House voted 45 to 18 on Saturday to pass the proposal, which had already passed the Senate 25 to 11. However, amendments made in the House required the Senate to take up the measure once more. Yesterday the Senate did just that, voting 32 to 3 to concur with the House’s amendments. They then voted 24 to 11 to give the measure final passage and send it to Governor Polis.

Governor Polis has expressed support for the proposal, and is expected to swiftly sign it into law.
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May 03 2023

Montana Governor Vetoes Bill to Reappropriate Marijuana Tax Revenue

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte has vetoed a bill that would have reappropriated some of the revenue generated from legal marijuana sales.

Senate Bill 442 was passed overwhelmingly in both the House and Senate, 82 to 17 and 48 to 1. Despite this, Governor Gianforte has vetoed the measure. Typically the legislature could override an executive veto through a 2/3rds majority vote, but the legislative session ended on Tuesday. Although technically a veto can be overridden through the mail if the session has ended, it’s considered a difficult and unlikely move.

SB 442 would have created a new special revenue account for county roads, with the account funded by appropriating 20% of the revenue the state generates from legal marijuana sales. The funds would have gone to the Department of Transportation to be distributed monthly to county and consolidated city-county governments to be used for “construction, reconstruction, maintenance and road repair”.
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May 03 2023

Florida Medical Marijuana Telehealth Bill Passed by Senate

Florida legislation that would allow physicians to renew patients medical marijuana cards via telehealth was given approval today by the state’s Senate, and it has already passed the full House of Representatives

House Bill 387 was passed today through its second reading in the Senate, and placed on tomorrow’s calendar to receive a third and final reading. Given it was amended on the Senate floor once it’s passed through its third reading HB 387 will need to receive one final House vote before it can be sent to Governor Ron DeSantis for consideration.

If HB 387 is passed into law licensed physician would be allowed to use telehealth options such as Zoom when renewing a patient’s medical marijuana authorization card during annual renewals. The law does not, however, allow physicians to use telehealth when first authorizing a patient to use medical marijuana.
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