Category Archives: Medical Cannabis

Last week the Maryland Cannabis Administration (MSA) released its draft emergency regulations for the state’s adult-use marijuana market which is set to come online on July 1. The draft regulations are subject to review by the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive, and Legislative Review (AELR) and do not go into effect until approved by the AELR Committee and printed in the Maryland Register. The approval could come as soon as 10 business days after the AELR received the draft regulations.… More

UPDATE: With Texas’ 88th legislative session having ended on May 29th, Texas will not see an expansion of qualifying conditions for medical cannabis this year. HB1805, which would have amended the Texas Compassionate Use Act to include as qualifying conditions any condition “that causes chronic pain, for which a physician would otherwise prescribe an opioid,” did not pass through the State Senate before the end of the legislative session.… More

Significant changes to DC’s medical cannabis program are currently unfolding after the Medical Cannabis Amendment Act of 2022 (MCA) went into effect last month. Previously, DC’s medical cannabis program licensed dispensaries, cultivation centers and testing laboratories, but there has been a proliferation of unlicensed establishments that take advantage of a loophole in the current laws. So-called “gifting” shops do not sell cannabis, but instead the shops sell common goods like art and clothing and give “gifts” of cannabis.… More

There has been big news out of the Sunshine State. The Florida Office of Medical Marijuana Use has set the due date for applications for 22 more Medical Marijuana Treatment Center licenses. The applications will be due no earlier than April 24, 2023 and no later than April 28, 2023 at 5:00 PM. Among many other criteria, the license application requires the applicant entity to have been registered to do business in the state of Florida for the previous five consecutive years;… More

Big news out of the Sunshine State today. The Florida Office of Medical Marijuana Use has set the due date for applications for 22 more Medical Marijuana Treatment Center licenses. By Emergency Rule published today, the OMMU set an application due date of window of 9:00 AM on April 24, 2023 through 5:00 PM on April 28, 2023, and will make available for award 22 vertically integrated MMTC licenses. … More

It’s official: New York’s first cannabis dispensaries will be owned by social equity applicants who have prior cannabis-related convictions.

During Thursday’s meeting, the Cannabis Control Board (“CCB”) voted to adopt final regulations for the (CAURD) licenses. The Board also signed off on a mockup of the application, which can be found here. In order to qualify for a CAURD license, applicants must prove they are justice-involved (meaning they or a direct family member were convicted of a marijuana crime before March 31,… More

Medical Cannabis in the DMV

Continuing this year’s trend of increased access to legal cannabis in the Maryland, DC and Virginia area that started with Maryland adding legalization to the ballot in November, DC and Virginia recently relaxed the requirements for accessing their licensed medical cannabis dispensaries, which should result in increased customers and sales.

Washington, DC

In Washington,… More

On Thursday, March 10, 2022, the New York State Cannabis Control Board (CCB) of the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) held its seventh and longest public meeting to date, during which it made significant progress in developing the adult-use regulatory framework contemplated by the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation (MRTA). As detailed further below, the CCB: (i) previewed its proposed conditional adult-use retail dispensary regulations, (ii) approved the application form for conditional cultivator adult-use cultivator licenses and announced the application period for these licenses,… More

On January 25, 2022, the New York State Cannabis Control Board (CCB) held its fifth public meeting. The CCB and Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) made several noteworthy announcements, including the approval of delegation of hiring to the Executive Director to streamline hiring and onboarding, and the roll out of virtual “Cannabis Conversations” planned for different regions in the state, among other items.

Most notably,… More

New York’s Cannabis Control Board (the “Board”) held its first public meeting today, kicking off a series of public meetings that will begin setting the regulations and guidelines for the adult-use cannabis market in New York. Led by Board Chair Tremaine Wright, the meeting was largely administrative. Some notable announcements from the meeting:

• Jason Starr is appointed as Chief Equity Officer to the Office of Cannabis Management (“OCM”).…

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Exactly five months after the passage of the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA), on Tuesday, August 31st, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that she is convening an Extraordinary Session of the Legislature to announce her nominees to head the Office of Cannabis Management and the Cannabis Control Board (CCB), which governs the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM).

The OCM is the agency that will regulate cannabis and will issue licenses and develop regulations outlining how and when businesses can participate in the new industry.… More

Vape product sellers face a new legal landscape after Congress recently expanded the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (“PACT”) Act to cover vaping devices. The amendments to the PACT Act came in the waning days of 2020 as a little noticed addition to a consolidated budget and Covid-19 relief bill.

The requirements of the PACT Act now apply to all Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems, or “ENDS”, which are defined as: “any electronic device that,… More

In what appears to be a win-win for the city and cannabis businesses, the City of Northampton announced it is dropping the 3% community impact fee it collects from marijuana establishments and medical marijuana treatment centers. Instead, the City will collect an impact fee only after identifying a specific cost incurred by the community. The change applies to both existing and prospective licensees.

Massachusetts law allows communities to collect a fee—limited to 3% of gross sales and for the first 5 years—in order to pay for costs associated with hosting a cannabis business.… More

On May 15th the House of Representatives approved the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act (H.R. 6800). This bill included the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act of 2020 which would exempt financial institutions from Federal prosecution for providing services to cannabis-related businesses legally operating under their respective states’ laws.

If passed, the bill would promote access to financial services by prohibiting Federal banking regulators from penalizing or taking any adverse action against financial

institutions that provide banking services to cannabis businesses.… More

Cannabis consumption is a complex issue and is first and foremost a health matter. While it is forbidden in France for recreational or medical use, on October 25, 2019 the French Parliament (National Assembly) gave its consent to conduct an experimentation on medical use of cannabis starting in early 2020.

The French National Agency for Safety of the Medicinal products (ANSM) had already approved the initiative in July 2019,… More

West Virginia is currently accepting applications for its growing medical cannabis program.  West Virginia’s Department of Health and Human Resources has made available applications for dispensaries, growers, and processors on its website and will be accepting applications through February 18, 2020.

West Virginia’s medical cannabis legislation came into effect on April 19, 2017, and has been developed by Department regulations since that time that cover most significant aspects of medical cannabis operation. … More