Recreational / adult use cannabis industry news coverage from the USA, Canada, and around the world. Keep informed about the latest news affecting cannabis brands in markets that have legalized for adult use.
Thu / Jun 17th
Lawmakers formally approved Connecticut’s adult-use cannabis legalization bill today, setting the state up to become the next to allow adult-use cannabis use and sales.
Wed / Jun 16th
The bill would decriminalize all drugs at the federal level and shift authority for the substances from the Attorney General to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Wed / Jun 16th
The $100 million plan will help legal cannabis businesses transition from temporary to permanent licenses.
Tue / Jun 15th
The “precedential decision” determined that urine samples do not accurately reflect whether an employee is under the influence of cannabis while at work.
Tue / Jun 15th
A lawsuit filed by Wrong for Montana in an attempt to dismiss the state’s cannabis legalization initiative is moot now that the governor signed the state’s adult-use cannabis bill.
Mon / Jun 14th
The provincial government in British Columbia, Canada is urging cannabis consumers to purchase legal cannabis after tests of unregulated products returned concerning results.
Mon / Jun 14th
The winner of the hotly-contested governor race in Virginia will shape the future of its regulated cannabis market.
Mon / Jun 14th
Virginia Tech updated its code of conduct to ban cannabis on campus despite the state’s legalization law set to take effect July 1.
Fri / Jun 11th
The dismissal of the more than 6,000 cases comes two months after lawmakers legalized cannabis for adult use in New York.
Thu / Jun 10th
A survey of self-reported behavior after consuming cannabis suggests that legalization does not lead to an increase in cannabis-impaired driving.
Thu / Jun 10th
Adult-use cannabis sales in Maine reached an all-time high at nearly $5.4 million in May.
Thu / Jun 10th
Connecticut’s legalization bill stalled in the House yesterday but state leaders are planning to hold a special session to consider and pass the legislation.
Wed / Jun 9th
Curaleaf’s partnership with Rolling Stone includes Select brand’s first pre-roll.
Tue / Jun 8th
The Connecticut Senate’s approval of adult-use cannabis passed by just two votes in an early morning session.
Tue / Jun 8th
The ‘Joints for Jabs’ Program will allow cannabis retailers to give a single pre-roll to participants 21-and-older who get a coronavirus vaccine at their clinics this week.
Mon / Jun 7th
Since cannabis was legalized in Arizona, the state has seen a rapid increase in hiring for cannabis jobs.
Mon / Jun 7th
WellgreensCA, Inc. in San Diego, California pled guilty last week to illegally dumping a 55-gallon drum of waste ethanol.
Mon / Jun 7th
Nevada’s governor signed legislation to limit possession penalties for minors and end per se THC limits for driving.
Fri / Jun 4th
The partnership between the rapper Drake and Canopy Growth, first announced in 2019, officially ended this week.
Fri / Jun 4th
Arizona’s Supreme Court launched a new website to help people determine whether they are eligible to have their cannabis-related criminal records cleared.
Fri / Jun 4th
Cannabis activists and industry representatives in Washington D.C. are disappointed by the Biden Administration’s continued ban on adult-use cannabis sales in the District.
Fri / Jun 4th
Massachusetts cannabis delivery licenses are now available, but only for applicants who qualify under the state’s social equity and economic empowerment rules.
Thu / Jun 3rd
The U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics found no evidence of increased teenage cannabis use in states where it was legalized.
Thu / Jun 3rd
A social equity cannabis applicant in Los Angeles filed suit against the city over its first-come-first-serve licensing process, which reportedly allowed for online bots to reserve application spots.
So far, in the United States, there is no law at the federal level that makes cannabis accessible to adults nationwide. There are, however, states that have independently legalized the plant for adults to possess and consume recreationally. Some of the most prominent states that have done so include:
For a full list of states that have enacted such measures, click here.
In most markets that have legalized for adult use (i.e. recreational use), there was already a preexisting market for medical cannabis that was established by advocates and activists in order to serve patients within the state who benefit from cannabis therapy.
When adult use markets are established, there has typically been a major impact on the existing medical market, often resulting in patients not being able to find a reliable source for the medicine that they had relied upon previously. Not all cannabis is created equal, and when the objective for producers is focused on profit as opposed to producing the best-quality medicine, those who remain focused on cultivating medicinal-grade cannabis are often unable to grow at a large enough scale to compete in the market (if they are able to acquire a license at all).
Similarly, products intended for medical use may not be as easy to sell in an adult-use dispensary, so brands tend not to focus on them. This means certain types of products that are in high-demand by medical patients, such as suppositories, tinctures, and RSO, may not even be available at dispensaries near where a patient lives.
When creating infrastructure and market regulations for an adult use industry, lawmakers and regulators should take into account the impact that the system is likely to have on patients. Concerns about competition between medical and adult use businesses should be set aside in favor of creating an accessible market for consumers.
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