Maine’s Office of Cannabis Policy (OCP) today released a report regarding its recent audit testing of cannabis and cannabis products in Maine’s Medical Use of Cannabis Program (MMCP).

According to the report, out of 120 samples, OCP found that 50 samples, or 42%, contained at least one contaminant that would have failed testing according to the mandatory testing standards set for Maine’s Adult Use Cannabis Program (AUCP).

Some samples failed testing for more than one contaminant, and some failed testing for multiple contaminants within a given analyte category. Overall, testing showed 30 failures for yeast and mold, 26 failures for pesticides, four failures for heavy metals, and one failure for filth and foreign materials.
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Pennsylvania’s full House of Representatives has passed a Senate-approved bill to allow all licensed marijuana growers and processors to sell marijuana directly to patients.

With Ohio recently legalizing recreational marijuana, a majority of US residents now live in legal marijuana states, according to a new report.

Conducted by the firm Carnevale Associates, the report found that 53.1% of Americans live in states where recreational marijuana has been legalized. When it comes to medical marijuana, 245.9 million Americans – or 74% of the entire US population – live in states where it’s legal.

Carnevale Associates was founded by John Carnevale, an attorney who worked at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) over the course of three separate presidencies.
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U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley and Raphael Warnock joined Representative Earl Blumenauer and 16 other lawmakers in a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Director Andrea Gacki.

The letter is asking FinCEN to update its “out-of-date guidance on marijuana-related businesses to promote fairness in financial services for marijuana businesses operating in states where marijuana is no longer illegal.”

Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.),  Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Val Hoyle (D-Ore.), and Katie Porter (D-Calif.) signed the letter.
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US Representative Dean Phillips (D-MN), one of two primary challengers to President Biden, says Biden should smoke marijuana to better understand the hypocrisy of the federal government’s stance on the plant compared to alcohol.

(Photo credit: Getty Images).

During a town hall in New Hampshire, Rep. Phillips says he’s “sure” that President Biden “has never even smelt weed, let alone smoked it.”

This led to Phillips says that the “fact of the matter is, I think he should.” Phillips says if he does, “he would find it awfully hypocritical that you can drink a half a gallon of Jack Daniels at night and report to work in his White House, but if you ate a gummy and it was discovered you’d be fired and maybe even imprisoned”.
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The global market for cannabidiol (CBD) is expected to increase by over 1,100% between 2022 and 2032, according to a new report.

The report by Emergen Research found that as of the end of 2022, the global CBD market was valued at $3.86 Billion. It’s expected to register “a rapid revenue CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 28.3% during the forecast period”, to reach a value of $46 billion by 2032

Key factors propelling this growth “include the rising preference for cannabis extracts, changing regulatory landscapes, and a surge in retailers offering CBD-based products”, states the report. “CBD, a natural compound in the cannabis plant, has gained significant traction for its potential health benefits, including treating chronic pain, anxiety, inflammation, and insomnia. FDA approval for epilepsy treatment underscores its therapeutic potential.”
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Among the legal recreational marijuana states that have operating marijuana stores and regularly report sales data, there was over $4.5 billion in legal marijuana sold between June 1 and August 31 of this year.

There are currently 24 states that have legalized recreational marijuana, with Ohio being the most recent do to so last week. Among these states, nearly all allow marijuana retail outlets, though some states have legalized too recently for these to be up and running (Minnesota, for example).

Among the states that do currently have legal marijuana stores and report sales data, there was a whopping $4.52 billion worth of marijuana and marijuana products sold between the start of June, and the end of August, according to an analysis by The Marijuana Herald.
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There are 39 states that have legalized some form of medical marijuana, but in some states it’s more prevalent than others.

In 1996 California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana. 27 years later and nearly 40 states have legalized at least some form of medical marijuana, while 24 have legalized marijuana recreationally.

Although some states don’t report medical marijuana patient counts, many states do, and in some instances it’s a mandatory reporting requirement for regulators. Using data from states that do report, the Marijuana Policy Project has compiled a list of medical marijuana states and how the number of medical marijuana patients compare to states’ total population.
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The Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) announced this week that it’s given approval to Maui Wellness Group to open a new medical marijuana dispensary on Maui.

(Photo credit: MJBizDaily).

The DOH announced that the new dispensary will open its doors on Friday, and it will be located at 1215 South Kihei Road. It is the ninth medical marijuana dispensary approved for Maui, and the fourth operated by the Maui Wellness Group. However, one of the Group’s locations in Lahaina was destroyed by wildfires in August.

“Maui Grown Therapies’ new dispensary will provide much-needed access to patients on Maui, especially as its Lahaina dispensary was destroyed in the Lahaina wildfires”, Liam Gimon, Dispensary Licensing Supervisor for DOH, said in a statement.
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