Washington State has launched a first of its kind online portal that allows those charged with drug possession prior to 2021 to request reimbursement for expenses associated with the charges.

Following a 2021 decision by the Washington State Supreme Court (Washington v. Blake) that effectively decriminalized the personal possession of all drugs, the state Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) has officially launched the Blake Refund Bureau website in order to facilitate reimbursements for those who were charged prior to the ruling. This will be done in coordination with city and county courts, clerks, public defenders, prosecutors and advocates.

“If you have a Blake-impacted criminal record, you must first have your Blake-related convictions vacated and refund eligibility determined by the court or courts where your convictions were issued,” says the AOC. “Once your convictions have been vacated, you can apply for reimbursements on your paid Blake-related financial obligations.”
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There was $140 million worth of marijuana sold legally in Illinois in the month of July.

This marks the highest sales month for the year, and the second highest since the start of legal sales in 2020.

According to the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation licensed marijuana stores sold $140,048,722 worth of marijuana in July. This includes dried marijuana flower as well as marijuana-infused products such as edibles and concentrates. This is a roughly $4 million increase from June.
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County officials in Missouri have expunged over 70,000 marijuana-related convictions since December.

This includes more than 10,000 felony charges, according to an update provided by NORML Board of Directors Member Dan Viets, who co-authored the 2022 initiative that legalized marijuana throughout the state.

Provisions in the law, which took effect on December 8, 2022, required officials to expunge all eligible marijuana-related misdemeanor convictions by June 8, 2023. Viets said that some counties had failed to make a “good faith effort” to meet the June deadline, indicating that advocates may seek an order from the Missouri Supreme Court to compel certain counties to comply with the mandate.
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The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission has released marijuana sales data for July.

According to the data, consumers purchased $81,880,154 worth of marijuana in July. This includes dried marijuana flower and shake as well as marijuana products including hash, oil, edibles, topicals and vape cartridges.

The $81.8 million sold in July is an increase of around $1.5 million compared to the total sales in June, but a decrease from the $84.5 million sold in July, 2022.

Oregon garnered $13.9 million in taxes from July’s marijuana sales. At the state level marijuana is taxed at a steady rate of 17%. These figures don’t account for local marijuana taxes of up to 3%.
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According to a new report Illinois has the third largest cannabis market in the country, but it also has some of the highest prices.

Titled A Deep Dive into the Illinois Cannabis Market, the report was conducted by the research firm Headset. It examines the Illinois cannabis market, which was approved for medical use in 2013 and legalized for adult use in 2019. With a population of 12.7 million, Illinois is the 11th state to legalize recreational cannabis and one of the largest markets in the country.

This report “analyzes detailed data on thousands of products in the Illinois market to determine how it compares to other states. Key areas of focus include sales growth, product category popularity, pricing, basket analysis, and demographics.”
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