Mar 19 2023

California Cannabis Bill Introduced to Protect Consumers from Price Gouging and Harmful Ingredients

California Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer has introduced legislation designed to protect cannabis consumers and the legal cannabis market by enhancing testing and labeling standards.

“As consumers, we all want to know that what we purchase is safe, legal, and tested”, says Assemblymember Jones-Sawyer. “This is why I introduced AB 1610. As the cannabis industry continues to grow in California my bill will help protect consumers and maintain high quality cannabis products.”

Jones-Sawyer notes in a press release that the cannabis industry has seen product recalls in California, Michigan, Colorado, and Oklahoma for unsafe levels of mold, yeast, E. coli, and salmonella.
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Mar 19 2023

Study: 59% of Neighborhoods in Canada Within a 5-Minute Drive of a Cannabis Store

A new study published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review details just how much Canada’s legal cannabis market has grown since being legalized in 2018.

Titled Access to legal cannabis market in Canada over the four years following non-medical cannabis legalisation, the study was conducted by researchers at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, the University of Ottawa, the University of Toronto, the Toronto Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the Bruyere Research Institute.

For the study researchers examine and described “how the legal market has changed over the first 4 years following legalisation in Canada.”
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Mar 18 2023

Montana: $353 Million in Legal Marijuana Sold Between January, 2022 and February, 2023

In Montana there was $353 million in legal marijuana sold between January, 2022, and February of this year, resulting in over $50 million in taxes.

In total since January, 2022 Montana sold $248,407,983 million in recreational marijuana and $104,632,495 million in medical marijuana, for a total of $353,040,478 in sales. January, 2022 was the first month of legal recreational cannabis sales, with medical marijuana first being legalized back in 2004.

According to data released by the Montana Cannabis Control Division, the state made $49,681,597 million in taxes from recreational marijuana and $4,185,300 million from the sale of medical marijuana.
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Mar 18 2023

California Garnered $4.6 Billion in Marijuana Tax Revenue Between 2018 and 2022

According to data released by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, California has garnered over $4.6 billion in tax revenue from legal marijuana sales.

In total California has earned $4,632,749,942 in revenue from the distribution of marijuana and marijuana products as of the end of 2022. This revenue came from nearly $20 billion in marijuana sales.

Although California legalized marijuana in November, 2016 through the passage of Proposition 64, it wasn’t until January, 2018 when legal sales began to take place. Under the law those 21 and older are allowed to purchase up to an ounce of dried marijuana and up to eight grams of marijuana concentrates such as hash and oil. In California marijuana has a 15% excise tax placed on all sales. This is considerably lower than the 37% rate levied in neighboring Washington State.
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Mar 18 2023

Florida Bill to Allow Telehealth for Medical Marijuana Renewals Unanimously Passed by Two Committees

Legislation that would allow physicians to renew patients medical marijuana cards via telehealth options has been passed unanimously by two committees in the House of Representatives.

House Bill 387 was passed yesterday by the House Health and Human Services Committees in a 20 to 0 vote, eight days after it passed the House Healthcare Regulations Subcommittee by a vote of 16 to 0. The measure now goes to the full House, with passage there sending it to the Senate.

Under the proposed law although a licensed physician would still be required to meet a patient in-person to authorize their medical marijuana use for the first time, all subsequent annual renewals could be conducted through telehealth options such as Zoom.
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Mar 17 2023

Pennsylvania Court Rules Medical Marijuana Costs Should Be Reimbursed by Workers’ Compensation Insurance Plans

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled today that the costs associated with the legal use of medical cannabis are eligible for reimbursement under workers’ compensation laws.

The court ruled that the state’s Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board made a mistake when it upheld a decision by Firestone Tire & Rubber that denied the reimbursement costs for the medical marijuana used by employee Paul Sheetz.

“I am so excited that the Commonwealth Court, in their wisdom, agreed that workers comp carriers are required to reimburse injured workers who use medical marijuana to treat severe and often life-long injuries,” says Jenifer Kaufman, the attorney who represented the claimant’s estate. “This is a game-changer for those injured workers who have worked hard to get off dangerous and expensive opioids and are forced to pay the cost of medical marijuana treatment out of their fixed incomes.”
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Mar 17 2023

Marijuana Store in Marysville, California Giving Out Free Products to Veterans on March 18

Marijuana retail outlet Perfect Union is collaborating with the Weed for Warriors Project to provide thousands of dollars worth of free marijuana products to veterans.

On March 18th from 9 a.m. to noon Perfect Union in Marysville, California will be distributing $5,000 worth of free marijuana and marijuana products to veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other “service-related health concerns”.

To receive free marijuana veterans are required to provide hard copy proof of service, state ID and current medical recommendation to receive free cannabis. Although this is the third event Perfect Union has put on for veterans, it is the first hosted at their Marysville location.
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Mar 17 2023

Report Finds Wisconsin Residents Purchased $121 Million of Marijuana in 2022 from Neighboring Illinois

A new legislative report has found that Wisconsin residents in 2022 spent well over $100 million on marijuana products purchased legally in Illinois, despite marijuana remaining illegal in Wisconsin.

In total Wisconsin residents spent $121 million on marijuana and marijuana products in Illinois last year, which resulted in $36 million in taxes for Illinois. The report was prompted by Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard and was conducted by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

To come up with this figure the Bureau examined data from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which breakdowns marijuana sales throughout the state differentiating purchases made by residents and those from outside the state. The report notes that “this estimate could be lower or higher than the actual amount of taxes paid by Wisconsin residents purchasing cannabis in Illinois based on several variables.”
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Mar 17 2023

Study Finds Cannabinoids “May Have Utility in Cancer Immunotherapy Regimens”

According to a new Frontiers in Immunology study, specific cannabinoids “may have utility in cancer immunotherapy regimens by overcoming immune escape and augmenting cancer immune surveillance in metastatic disease.”

Titled Specific cannabinoids revive adaptive immunity by reversing immune evasion mechanisms in metastatic tumours, the study was conducted by researchers at the University of British Columbia, the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, the University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Pascal Biosciences (Seattle) and Koç University (Türkiy). The full text of the study can be found by clicking here.

“Emerging cancers are sculpted by neo-Darwinian selection for superior growth and survival but minimal immunogenicity; consequently, metastatic cancers often evolve common genetic and epigenetic signatures to elude immune surveillance”, states the study. “Fascinating ethnographic and experimental findings indicate that cannabinoids inhibit the growth and progression of several categories of cancer; however, the mechanisms underlying these observations remain clouded in uncertainty.”
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Mar 17 2023

Minnesota Marijuana Legalization Bill Passed by 13 House Committees, 10 Senate Committees

Minnesota’s HF 100, which would legalize marijuana for everyone 21 and older, has now been passed by 23 legislative committees.

Filed by State Representative Zack Stephenson in the House with a companion bill in the Senate, HF 100 would allow those 21 and older to possess up to two ounces of marijuana and grow up to eight plants for personal use. The measure would also establish a regulatory framework for licensed retail marijuana outlets. It has now been passed by 13 House committees out of the 14 necessary to put the measure to a vote by the full House of Representatives.

The companion bill (SF 73), filed by Senator Lindsey Port, has now been passed by 10 Senate committees out of the 18 necessary for a full Senate vote. However, given the measure was amended in its most recent Senate committee it will need to be revoted on by some of the committees it’s already been approved by before it can advance to full House and Senate (the amendments, which mostly relate to specific licensing rules, do not change the core of the bill). Continue reading