Oct 25 2023

Massachusetts: Over $150 Million in Legal Marijuana Sold in September, $1.24 Billion Year-to-Date

In Massachusetts there was over $150 million worth of marijuana and marijuana products sold by licensed retail outlets in September.

According to the state’s Cannabis Control Commission, those 21 and older purchased $152.8 million worth of marijuana in September. This marks a slight decrease from the record-breaking $158 million sold last month, but it’s more than any month prior. Sales numbers include dried marijuana flower and marijuana concentrates as well as products containing marijuana including edibles, tinctures and topicals.

In September recreational marijuana sales reached $135 million, with there being $17.8 million in medical marijuana purchased during the same period.
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Oct 25 2023

Federal Marijuana Banking Bill in Jeopardy as US House Selects New Speaker

The US House of Representatives have selected Representative Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, to become the 56th Speaker of the House. This is bad news for federal marijuana reform.

In September a federal marijuana banking bill (the SAFER Banking Act – S.2860) passed the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with bipartisan support, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowing to put it to a vote of the full Senate “very soon”.  The proposed law would provide legal protections for financial institutions, including banks and credit unions, that provide financial services to marijuana businesses that are legal under their state’s law.

The measure, which is sponsored by 32% of the entire US Senate, has the support of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) which recently sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell urging them to pass the bill into law, and a bipartisan group of 22 attorneys general sent a similar letter to congressional leaders late last month.
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Oct 25 2023

Georgia Becomes First State With Medical Marijuana Products Sold At Pharmacies

Georgia has officially become the first state in the US where medical marijuana products can be purchased at independent pharmacies.

Medical marijuana capsules.

As of today, three pharmacies in Georgia began selling medical marijuana products; Omega Pharmacy in Omega, Robins Pharmacy in Warner Robins, and Tifton Drug Company in Tifton. All three pharmacies are being supplied by licensed medical marijuana producer Botanical Sciences (located in pooler).

Although just three pharmacies are selling medical marijuana products as of today, the number is expected to balloon in the coming weeks and months, as 130 independent pharmacies throughout the state have signed up to sell medical marijuana products with the Georgia Board of Pharmacy.
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Oct 25 2023

Bipartisan Marijuana Bill Filed in US Congress, Would Decriminalize and Fully Allow States to Legalize

Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, has refiled the States Reform Act which was first introduced in 2021.

The proposed law, according to a legislative brief, would “Federally decriminalizes cannabis and fully defers to state powers over prohibition and commercial regulation.” In 2021 the bill had only Republican sponsors, but now it has bipartisan support.

The bill “performs confirming amendments to relevant statutes to ensure that cannabis products are treated like alcohol by amended statutes in line with Title II of the Act. It further provides opportunities for reentry for non-violent, non-DUI cannabis offenders who had no relation to a foreign drug cartel and pose no further threat to society, consistent with the policies of the Department of Justice under President Trump for clemency for non -violent cannabis offenders.”
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Oct 24 2023

Poll Finds 67% in Kansas Support Legalizing Marijuana

According to new survey data, a strong majority of adults in Kansas want state lawmakers to legalize recreational marijuana.

According to Fort Hays State University’s Kansas Speaks poll, 67.2% are in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana (including sales) for those 21 and older. Just 16.9% are opposed to the idea, with around 13% undecided.

The poll also found that 63.6% of respondents are “highly” or “somewhat likely” to vote for a candidate who supported medical marijuana legalization as they decided who to vote to represent them in Kansas Legislature; just 14.8% are unlikely to support a candidate that endorsed legalizing medical marijuana.
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Oct 24 2023

National Cancer Institute Issues $3.2 Million Grant to Study Impact of Cannabis on Immunotherapy Treatments

A University at Buffalo psychologist has received a $3.2 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to assess how cannabis use affects patients who receive immunotherapy, “a rapidly advancing treatment that helps the immune system fight cancer.”

According to a press release sent by the University of Buffalo, nearly 44% of cancer patients with 20 different tumor types receive immunotherapy treatment – notably, a specific type involving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Immune checkpoints are a normal part of the immune system. They govern the immune response to prevent the destruction of healthy cells.

Up to 40% of cancer patients report using cannabis for symptom management during and after their treatments. But there isn’t much rigorous research investigating the efficacy of using cannabis for that purpose, according to Rebecca Ashare, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology in the UB College of Arts and Sciences and the grant’s principal investigator.
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Oct 24 2023

Study Finds “Previously Undiscovered Cannabis Compounds” Giving Marijuana Strains “Unique Aromas”

A study published by the American Chemical Society has found “previously undiscovered cannabis compounds” that “yield a more complete understanding of the unique aromas that cannabis produces”.

For the study, researchers “conducted coupled sensory and chemical analyses on 31 different ice hash rosin cannabis extracts to determine how different chemical classes affect the aroma of each.”

Their sensory analysis “revealed highly divergent aroma characteristics for many samples that we broke down into three primary classes: Sweet exotic, prototypical, and savory exotic.” Researchers found “that varieties across both sweet and savory exotic classes often have very similar terpene profiles, indicating that they are not the driving force behind the unique aromatic differences.”
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Oct 24 2023

Ohio Voters Could Legalize Recreational Marijuana in Just Two Weeks

In two weeks and a day, on November 7, Ohio voters will decide the fate of Issue 2.

If approved by voters, Issue 2 would legalize the personal possession of up to two and a half ounces of marijuana, and up to 15 grams of marijuana concentrates. This would apply to those 21 and older, who would also be allowed to cultivate marijuana at a private residence in an enclosed location.

Issue 2 would establish a system of licensed, taxed and regulated marijuana businesses and retail outlets, overseen by a newly-created Division of Cannabis Control (a branch of the Department of Commerce). The state would be required to issue at least 50 marijuana retail licenses, although the Division of Cannabis Control has the authority to issue more than that.
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Oct 24 2023

New York Officials Say There’s No Confirmed Cases of Fentanyl Mixed With Marijuana

In response to a plethora of misinformation surround marijuana being allegedly mixed with fentanyl, New York regulators have released a fact sheet to clarify the situation.

The New York Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) has released factsheet titled Cannabis and Fentanyl: Facts and Unknowns. The fact sheet is meant to “address misconceptions about cannabis being mixed with fentanyl”.

The goal of this fact sheet “is to provide evidence where it is available, to share information about what is currently known and unknown, and to provide safety tips to help alleviate some of these misconceptions, often spread through misinformed media coverage and anecdotal reporting.”
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Oct 24 2023

More Than Double the Required Signatures Submitted to Put Marijuana Proposal to a Vote in Texas City

Proponents of an ordinance to decriminalize marijuana in Lubbock, Texas have submitted well more than the required signatures to put the measure to a vote of the people.

“This was a collective effort that could not have been possible without the more than 40 volunteers and the many other citizens that helped us collect these petition signatures and did the necessary work of notarizing, tallying and verifying,” said Adam Hernandez, a communications official for Lubbock Compact, the group pushing the Freedom Act Lubbock.

Hernandez says that “this is only the first part. What will happen next is up to each and every citizen of Lubbock. We need each and every person, especially the ones who have been sitting out of elections, to get registered and make your voice heard at the ballot box.”
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