A San Diego, California cannabis company and its owner have pleaded guilty to charges that it abandoned hazardous ethanol waste and transported the waste without a manifest, the Department of Justice announced last Thursday.
In pleading guilty, WellgreensCA, Inc., and owner Lunar Loussia admitted that, as a cannabis extraction company, Wellgreens generated various wastes, including 55-gallon drums of waste ethanol. The waste ethanol was a federally regulated hazardous waste that could be ignited, the Justice Department said. Wellgreens hired a contractor and directed them to dispose of the waste near a supermarket. The contractor is also charged in the case.
An employee of the supermarket contacted the El Cajon police and the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health Services (DEH) who were able to identify Wellgreens due to paperwork left along with the drum of waste ethanol.
Special Agent in Charge Scot Adair, of Environmental Protection Agency’s criminal enforcement program in California, said the “defendants knowingly ignored legal requirements for the proper transportation and disposal of hazardous waste, putting local communities in the San Diego area at risk.”
As part of the plea agreement, the company agreed to pay a $45,000 fine and restitution of $26,482 for the emergency response costs and restoration of the sites where the hazardous waste was abandoned.
Louissia is set to be sentenced on August 3. He faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a fine greater than $250,000 for transportation of hazardous waste without a manifest. Wellgreens faces a $500,000 fine.
Nadia Malloian, the contracted driver that abandoned the waste, is charged with accessory after the fact to transportation of hazardous waste without a manifest. He faces a fine of more than $50,000 and one year in federal custody.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisloak (D) last week signed legislation easing cannabis possession penalties for minors and revising the state’s per se THC limits for driving.
The bill aimed at reducing penalties for minors removes any incarceration or fine, caps community service at 24 hours, requires the offender to attend a victims impact panel or undergo an evaluation to determine whether the person has an alcohol or other substance use disorder, or any combination of those penalties, according to the bill text.
The rules apply to minors under 18-years-old and under 21 for people already in juvenile court caught in possession of one ounce or less. The new rules take effect on October 1.
The driving while stoned proposal amends Nevada’s traffic safety laws so that the operation of a motor vehicle with trace amounts of either THC or its metabolite is no longer a per se violation of law in certain circumstances. Per se violations make it illegal to operate a motor vehicle with trace levels of either THC or THC metabolites in one’s blood or urine, even absent any further evidence of impairment.
The limit will remain in place in circumstances when the violation is punishable as a felony.
Per se limits are controversial because someone could test positive for THC or its metabolite several days after consuming cannabis but are no longer under the influence.
In the age of social media, misinformation is becoming more and more common. Unfortunately, facts frequently face intense scrutiny and are sometimes just brushed aside. This is an occurrence we see often with extremely polarizing issues, and this is what leads us to the tug of war we are seeing in the world of vaping — with its tremendous rise in popularity over the past couple of years, there has been an intense focus on both the risks and benefits that come from vaping. This focus was magnified in 2019 when we were faced with a full-blown, vape-related lung disease epidemic.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the first vaping-associated lung illnesses were identified in Illinois and Wisconsin in April 2019, with cases peaking in September 2019 and slowly declining thereafter. In all, the CDC reported that there were a total of 2,807 hospitalized cases, including 60 confirmed deaths, as of February 2020.
Figure 1, Lung Illness Related Hospitalizations and Deaths, CDC, 2020
The alarming number of cases not only made headline news but also left many companies in the vaping industry scrambling to find solutions. Southern California-based FLO is one company taking initiative on the issue — FLO believes it has perfected its vaping cartridge offerings to not only deliver a flawless product but also give consumers peace of mind that they won’t risk going to the hospital with a vaping-related lung illness.
An epidemic of counterfeit & shoddy vaporizers
So, what exactly are the issues that FLO, and many other vaping companies, are up against? For one, things were so serious that the US government considered completely regulating the vaping industry by removing all flavored vaping products. Instead, the government raised the legal age requirement for tobacco and vaping products to 21.
But while raising the legal smoking age does make it slightly more difficult for teenagers to get their hands on smoking products, it still doesn’t accurately depict the issues with these vaping products in the first place. According to the CDC, the median age of individuals hospitalized with severe vaping-related lung illnesses was 24 years old. Furthermore, 79% of hospitalizations and deaths were of persons under 35 years old, with ages ranging from 13 to 75 years. These numbers illustrate that any age is at risk, so raising the legal age to 21 doesn’t necessarily solve the issue stemming from the epidemic.
Raising the legal age is a positive, especially considering the alternative proposal, but it’s important to truly understand what the main culprits of the vaping epidemic were.
One issue likely stemmed from vitamin E acetate — which is commonly used as an additive or thickening agent — being used in counterfeit vaping products. Research shows that while vitamin E acetate is used in supplements and skin creams and does not cause harm when swallowed or used topically, the chemical can impair people’s lung function when inhaled. According to health officials with the CDC, the chemical turned up in “every sample of lung fluid collected from 29 patients with vaping-related illnesses in 2019” and was being used as an ingredient in many counterfeit THC products. The fact that vitamin E acetate was found in every sample from 2019 could also explain why the epidemic sprung up suddenly that year and not before, even though vaping had been around for much longer.
But we shouldn’t be so quick to blame this just on vitamin E acetate because, according to Kathleen Raven of Yale Medicine, “officials stressed their findings remain inconclusive, and more than one chemical could be contributing to lung damage.” In a Scientific Reports study by Monique Williams, researchers conducted a topography on chemical elements and metals in the aerosol of tank-style e-cigarettes. The aim of this study was to examine other vaping-related culprits that may have led to lung illnesses. Researchers found a bevy of heavy metals in these vapors, including aluminum, copper, calcium, chromium, iron, lead, magnesium, nickel, silicon, tin, and zinc. They determined that the liquid is heated in these e-cigarettes, the metals essentially leach from the heating coil. Ultimately, the more metal parts there are in an e-cigarette, the higher the likelihood heavy metals are going to be present.
What happened?
So, was cheap material at least partially to blame? According to Michael Blood of the Associated Press, “Bootleggers eager to profit off unsuspecting consumers are mimicking popular, legal vape brands, pairing replica packaging churned out in Chinese factories with untested, possibly dangerous cannabis oil produced in the state’s vast underground market.”
China is the world’s biggest manufacturer and exporter of e-cigarettes, according to the China Electronic Cigarette Chamber of Commerce, and the country has been a frequent target of criticism due to the number of counterfeit and unregulated vaporizers being manufactured there. There have been numerous lawsuits against vaping manufacturers from China, including some by American companies. According to a May 2020 press release, “DS Technology Licensing, the owner of registered trademarks associated with the ‘Puff Bar’ vapor device, and Puff Inc., an authorized US distributor, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against over 20 Chinese and American companies accused of distributing counterfeit vaping devices.”
The firestorm of illnesses and the fear of cheap counterfeit products led to a dramatic drop in e-cigarette sales. Jane Technologies Inc. reported in 2019 that the market share for vapes was down 15% in medical states including Oregon and states with high levels of cannabis tourism such as Nevada and Massachusetts showing the worst declines. Furthermore, vapes’ share of sales fell 65% in New Mexico, 62% in Oregon, 37% in Massachusetts, and 32% in Nevada. As the illnesses wore on in 2019, so did the decline in vape sales across the country.
Figure 2, Vape Sales Dropping, New Frontier, 2019
And to be frank, this was all largely expected with the 24-hour news cycle churning out one negative article about vaping after another. Eventually, Chinese e-commerce sites like Alibaba noticed the outcry and removed e-cigarette components for the United States. According to a Reuters report, Alibaba began to feel pressure as their lack of regulating what was sold on their site came into the spotlight amid “many reports of death and injury in the United States” being tied to “makeshift brands with no identifiable owner.” Before the products were removed, it was very easy for consumers to hop on Alibaba and purchase devices, component parts, and packaging from the site — the move to suspend these sales spoke volumes to their connection to the counterfeit products. Another Chinese e-commerce site, DHGate, has also been accused of allowing counterfeit vaping products to be sold with no regulation. So, this is definitely a problem that even permeates the e-commerce world.
Localizing the US vape industry
Considering all of the issues above, legitimate vaping companies must take steps to ensure that their products are both safe and reliable. One strategy companies are pursuing is to create vaping cartridges that are free of heavy metals.
How does this circle back to FLO and its mission to put forth a reliable and trustworthy product? By assembling all their vaping cartridges locally, the company leadership is able to oversee the entire operation and make sure all regulations and standards are met. This is in contrast to many other vaping companies who go through China-based manufacturers and who sometimes must deal with the repercussions of inadequate material.
To combat the issues that other companies have faced with their vaping cartridges, FLO uses extremely heat-resistant organic Plexiglass, which contains zero heavy metals. FLO has also perfected the exact diameter thickness and heating resistance, and equipped the cartridges with patented ceramic coil technology that allows for perfect heating temperatures and will not leave a smell after use, and offers more-than-adequate airflow. Another important factor to FLO’s glass cartridges is that they are tamper-proof after being assembled, whereas many glass cartridges that can be screwed back out from the bottom have cause leakages when consumers attempt to unscrew the battery from the cartridge only to unscrew the cap that holds the whole cartridge together.
Ultimately, vaping is not going to land on anyone’s “most healthy” list. The fact is there will always be risks. But trustworthy and diligent companies like FLO do everything in their power to mitigate these risks as much as possible. Adult smokers need alternatives to cigarettes and giving them a safer and more reliable option is still important. FLO is leading the charge into a new era of vaping where counterfeits, heavy metals, and inadequate products are the furthest things from the consumer’s mind.
FLO products are available for purchase at Catalyst Dispensaries in LA and OC County.
The South Dakota Department of Health (DOH) will host meetings and a telephone town hall prior to medical cannabis rules taking effect to avoid any last-minute delays for the program, the Associated Press reports.
South Dakota’s medical cannabis initiative was approved last November by an overwhelming number of voters. Addressing concerns from Sen. Lee Schoenbeck (R), Health Secretary Kim Malsam said in a legislative hearing last week the DOH will have a “solid set of rules” in the Fall but knows the program may change in the coming years.
“We’ll have a continual process of refinement.” — Malsam, via AP News
Her view is opposed by Gov. Kristi Noem (R), who attempted to delay South Dakota’s newly passed medical cannabis initiative this session on the grounds the state wouldn’t have enough time to set up a proper system. She cited other states with “hasty” medical cannabis rollouts and their resulting “mess,” according to the report.
In other recent medical cannabis developments, South Dakota‘s Department of Revenue (DOR) has determined the state should charge sales tax on medical cannabis, despite prescription drugs normally not being taxed. Chief Legal Counsel for the DOR Michael Houdyshell said in the report that medical cannabis should be taxed because it is not “prescribed” like other drugs.
South Dakota made history in November 2020, passing its medical cannabis and adult-use initiatives at the same time. However, both have received blowback from law enforcement and the governor’s office. While the medical cannabis initiative is moving forward despite the governor’s attempted delays, the adult-use cannabis initiative was challenged in court on the claim that it covered more than one subject and was struck down by a circuit court earlier this year. The adult-use initiative was recently scheduled for a hearing in the South Dakota Supreme Court, where its fate hangs in the balance.
Drake and Canopy Growth announced the end of their partnership this week, according to a CTV News report.
In November 2019, Drake and Canopy Growth announced the More Life Growth cannabis brand, of which Canopy owned 40 percent while Drake held the remaining 60 percent stake. Financial documents filed by Canopy Growth reveal the company took a $10.3 million loss in the deal and “de-recognized” another $33.7 million in future royalty payments to More Life. It was unclear why the divestment occurred, according to the report.
At the time the deal was announced in 2019, Drake — full name Aubrey Drake Graham — was identified as the new venture’s founder.
“The opportunity to partner with a world-class company like Canopy Growth on a global scale is really exciting. The idea of being able to build something special in an industry that is ever growing has been inspiring.” — Drake, in a 2019 press release
According to Investors.com, More Life Growth is licensed to produce and process cannabis in Ontario, Canada. Under the deal, CGC kept the facility and the rights to distribute cannabis.
Drake is just one celebrity with whom Canopy Growth has partnered — other such celebrities include Snoop Dog, Martha Stewart, and Seth Rogen, Fast Company reports. David Klein, whose mission was to make Canopy Growth an international consumer packaged goods corporation, said last year about their focus on celebrity-backed brands: “One of our differentiators has to be knowing the consumer better than anyone, and we’re going to be applying our science to do that.
“We’ve been doing it in all kinds of pharma pursuits, but we have human affect scientists [who] tell us that when you try a product, what it does physiologically, how you feel, that’s their job to optimize for that,” Klein told Fast Company. “So my view is, if we know what that consumer wants, we can use our human affects guys to help us figure out how to get that experience for the consumer, then package it underneath our brands and bring it to our consumers in a safe and effective way.”
The Arizona Supreme Court has launched a new website to help individuals determine whether they are eligible to have their cannabis-related criminal records cleared for crimes that are included under the state’s 2020 voter-approved legalization law, KJZZ reports.
Proposition 207’s provisions allow the sealing of criminal records for possessing, consuming, or transporting two-and-a-half ounces or less of cannabis, of which not more than 12.5 grams was in the form of concentrate; possessing, transporting, cultivating, or processing six or fewer cannabis plants at a primary residence for personal use; and possessing, using, or transporting cannabis cultivation, manufacturing, processing, or consumption paraphernalia, according to the website.
Aaron Nash, communications director for the Arizona Supreme Court, estimated that tens of thousands of Arizonans could be eligible to have their records sealed.
Applicants can begin filing the forms on July 12.
An American Civil Liberties Union report published last year found that Hispanic people in Maricopa County who were charged with simple cannabis possession were sentenced to significantly longer incarceration terms than their white and Black counterparts and that Black people convicted of personal possession of drug paraphernalia received longer sentences than white and Hispanic people.
Maricopa County garnered national attention as a hub for institutional racism under the direction of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt of court after refusing to stop racially profiling people when detaining “individuals suspected of being in the U.S. illegally.” Arpaio was pardoned of that crime by former President Donald Trump in 2017.
Adult-use cannabis sales began in the state in January after voters approved the reforms in the 2020 General Election. The migration from medical to adult-use sales was just two months, the fastest by any state.
This article was written by Gaspard Le Dem and originally published by Outlaw Report.
D.C. elected officials and business owners are voicing their frustration following news that President Joe Biden’s proposed budget would continue to prevent the District from legalizing recreational cannabis sales.
The White House released its $6 trillion spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year on Friday May 28 that includes language blocking D.C. from using local tax revenue to launch a regulated market for recreational cannabis.
Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) first introduced the budget rider in 2014, and Republicans in Congress have since regularly renewed the provision in annual appropriations legislation. But with a Democratic administration in the White House, cannabis advocates were hopeful the “Harris Rider” would finally be scrapped this year. Harris himself stopped introducing the measure in 2019 when Democrats regained control of the House, though Senate Republicans continued to slip the provision in.
D.C. officials were also gearing up for the ban to be lifted. Earlier this year, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Council Chairman Phil Mendelson introduced separate bills to legalize and regulate recreational cannabis sales.
In April, Bowser said D.C. was “ready” to regulate recreational cannabis as soon as Congress would allow it: “We have to get the hurdle of Congress out of the way,” she said in an interview with WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi.
Though Congress will ultimately decide whether the rider makes it into the final budget bill, Biden’s support for the measure is a blow to local statehood advocates and puts a damper on D.C.’s legalization efforts.
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.’s non-voting delegate to the House, praised parts of Biden’s budget on Friday, but she slammed the White House’s decision to uphold the cannabis rider, a move she said contradicts the administration’s support for D.C. statehood.
“With Democrats controlling the White House, House and Senate, we have the best opportunity in over a decade to enact a D.C. appropriations bill that does not contain any anti-home-rule riders,” Norton said in a statement.
D.C. Ward 4 Councilmember Charles Allen, who co-sponsored legislation to legalize recreational sales in the District, told The Outlaw Report that he was “shocked” that the Biden Administration kept the rider in its budget proposal.
“To maintain the rider is anti-democratic and misses an opportunity to right a wrong around local governance and self-determination for Americans living in DC,” Allen said.
Allen said he hopes the rider will ultimately be lifted with the help of D.C. statehood supporters in Congress.
“It has caused huge problems for DC while other states have been able to set up a regulatory framework that permits legal and safe sales of marijuana,” Allen said. “DC’s limbo state has led to a lot of problems from public safety to public health issues.”
At-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson echoed Allen’s disappointment.
“DC is the only jurisdiction that must seek approval from Congress on how we spend our local dollars and govern our affairs,” Henderson told The Outlaw Report. “If President Biden truly believes in DC Statehood and our right to full autonomy and representation, this is part of it.”
Biden has been reluctant to back federal efforts to legalize cannabis since he took office in January. Still, some cannabis advocates were left confused by the president’s decision to uphold a provision that has historically been used as a Republican bargaining chip.
“We’re definitely disappointed and really surprised,” Grace Hyde, Chief Operating Officer of District Cannabis, a medical cannabis cultivation center in D.C.’s Ward 5, told The Outlaw Report. “I don’t think any of us were expecting him to voluntarily put [the rider] in there.”
Hyde said recreational cannabis sales have the potential to generate critical tax dollars for the District at a time when city coffers have taken a hit from the coronavirus pandemic: “It’s just a gigantic revenue stream that the city isn’t able to capture right now,” she said.
As a licensed medical cultivator, District Cannabis is a completely legal business, but the lack of a recreational market in D.C. has forced some businesses to rely on a “gifting” loophole in local law to sell their products.
Those “gray market” dispensaries are exposed to arbitrary police raids and legal prosecution. However, selling cannabis on the gray market has its own advantages — dispensaries that “gift” cannabis avoid the high taxes that D.C. imposes on cannabis sales.
Hyde says that delaying the creation of a regulated market for recreational cannabis sales could actually end up benefiting D.C.’s many unlicensed dispensaries.
“It’s going to allow a lot of places to stay in business who aren’t paying these exorbitantly high tax rates like we are,” she said. “For the gray market, the longer that recreational is postponed, the better it is for them.”
Jeremy Beaver, managing partner at Lifted, a gray market cannabis dispensary in D.C.’s Pleasant Plains neighborhood, said Biden’s decision to uphold the ban on recreational sales was predictable.
“While most might be disappointed, I’m not surprised because of the consistent mistreatment of District citizens for decades,” said Beaver, who has owned businesses in D.C. for 30 years.
Though Beaver said D.C. residents should get to make their own laws without interference from Congress, he worried that legalizing recreational sales could lead to larger, out-of-state cannabis investors gaining an unfair advantage over local dispensaries.
“I think legalizing would help the citizenry of the District more than it might help the small business owners, because many multimillion-dollar corporations will come in from other states and edge out all of the small and local business owners for licenses,” Beaver said.
As a business owner, Beaver said he would be reluctant to support the legalization of recreational cannabis sales.
“Our stance is not necessarily for legalization unless there can be provisions for small and local business owners to receive significant or majority percentages of licenses going forward,” he said.
A bill to allow smokable forms of medical cannabis has cleared both chambers of Louisiana’s Legislature, moving to the desk of Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards who is expected to sign it into law, KEEL reports. State Rep. Tanner Magee (R), the bill’s sponsor, said the measure will lower the cost of medical cannabis for the state’s patients.
“This will allow [producers] to deliver a much cheaper product to the pharmacies and retail level and then it is about the pharmacies pricing it right. It should drop the cost tremendously.” – Magee to KEEL
The new products should be available in Louisiana dispensaries in January.
Under current law, the only forms of medical cannabis available in the state are liquids, topicals, inhalers, and edible gummies.
Another bill covering taxation of the newly allowed smokable products is still working its way through the Legislature. That proposal was recently amended to include an unrelated tax scheme for infrastructure funding that could prove controversial, the report says.
Last year, lawmakers expanded the program by allowing any medical condition to be treated with medical cannabis as long as the condition is approved by a physician. That bill outlined nine specific conditions that would allow patients to enroll in the state’s medical cannabis program but also included language allowing “any condition not otherwise specified in present law or proposed law that a physician, in his medical opinion, considers debilitating to an individual patient and is qualified through his medical education and training to treat.”
Massachusetts economic empowerment and social equity cannabis industry applicants can now apply for pre-certification and licensing for cannabis delivery operator licenses. Social equity and economic empowerment applicants will have exclusive access to the permits for at least three years.
Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) Executive Director Shawn Collins said the state’s delivery policies and procedures “will only bolster [the state’s] reputation as a role model for states looking to incorporate equity into cannabis legalization and ensure public safety.”
The licenses allow businesses to wholesale cannabis products from licensed cultivators and manufacturers, white-label, or affix the brand names retail dispensaries, and sell those products directly to consumers, among other functions, the agency said in a press release.
Delivery licensees will have to follow the commission’s typical testing, packaging, and labeling rules and will be required to comply with public safety regulations to warehouse inventory. Two licensed Marijuana Establishment Agents must be present in any vehicle used during deliveries and body cameras must be used when carrying out the delivery, the CCC said.
Under the regulations, delivery services will be available in municipalities that the licensees have identified as its place of business; municipalities that allow for adult-use sales or have informed the commission that delivery is allowed despite otherwise banning adult-use sales.
According to the CCC, there are more than 500 applicants eligible for the delivery licenses – 122 certified economic empowerments applicants and nearly 400 social equity program participants.
A federal report filed last week by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) showed zero signs of increased teenage cannabis use due to cannabis legalization policies.
The report uses data volunteered by students to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, which falls under the umbrella of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The data was collected from 2009 to 2019, meaning that at the start, there were exactly zero states that had legalized cannabis for adult use — and it’s plainly visible in the report that as states passed their legalization laws, youth cannabis access and use stayed level.
“The overall percentage of students who reported using marijuana at least 1 time during the previous 30 days in 2019 was not measurably different from the percentage in 2009 (21 percent).” — Excerpt from the report
The findings are significant because they directly contradict one of the most enduring arguments for cannabis prohibition: that legalization will lead to increased cannabis use among the country’s youth.
Percentage of students in grades 9-12 who reported using cannabis at least once in the previous 30 days, from 2009 to 2019. Source: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) data, via the NCES
“In 2019, about 22 percent of students in grades 9–12 reported that illegal drugs were offered, sold, or given to them on school property,” the report stated. This result was also “no measurable difference” from the percentage of students who reported the presence of illegal drugs in 2009.
Meanwhile, a 2019 study found that Colorado’s cannabis legalization had not caused an uptick in teen use there — although, many of those who were consuming cannabis had altered their consumption methods to include more edibles and concentrates.
A Los Angeles, California cannabis industry hopeful is suing the city over its social equity licensing program and is seeking records related to the 2019 licensing process, Spectrum News 1 reports. Carina Christmas said she submitted her application within the first three minutes of the first-come-first-serve online process but ended up being application 325 in line and, therefore, did not qualify for one of the 100 available licenses.
According to the report, an audit found that since applicants were able to access the portal ahead of its 10 a.m. launch time, some spots had been reserved by online bots.
She said that her team has spent more than $100,000 on rent and utilities for the retail storefront while awaiting an answer from the city.
Christmas is being represented by Mike Gatto, a former state Assemblyman, whose firm has been researching the application process and has been unable to get records related to the 2019 social equity licensing portal. Last week, a Los Angeles County judge ordered the city to turn over documents related to the application process, including who had access to the portal early and whether certain members of city staff were able to apply for licensing, the report says.
“These are public records, they have to provide them to us. Whenever you have a system where the public is supposed to have faith in it and you have certain favored people getting access early, you have to question what’s going on with that system.” – Gatto to Spectrum News 1
Christmas said the process tells her that “there’s either a lot of corruption going on in the city or the city doesn’t know what they’re doing.”
An audit of the program by Sjoberk Evashenk found that despite some applicants getting early access to the site, city officials took “reasonable and appropriate” steps to prevent applicants from having an unfair advantage.
A Northeast Sustainable Cannabis Project representative told lawmakers on Tuesday that the Massachusetts cannabis industry is responsible for 10% of all industrial electricity use in the state and urged them to allow industry cultivators to use organic farming and outdoor technics, according to a MassLive report.
Sanford Lewis, general counsel for the organization, said indoor cultivation is driven, in part, by the state’s pesticide regulations, which only allow growers to use products included on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 25(b) list of approved products. Lewis described those rules as “misguided.”
“Since the cannabis sector could triple in size by the time supply and demand level out, the impact is likely to be quite a bit larger. So, this means that just as other industries are working hard to curtail their climate impacts, energy-intensive indoor cannabis has come along to undermine the Massachusetts goal of reducing greenhouse gasses emitted.” — Lewis, to the Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy, via MassLive
The Cannabis Control Commission has licensed more than 1.1 million square feet of indoor cannabis cultivation and just 280,000 square feet of outdoor cultivation, according to state data outlined in the report.
The Cannabis Policy panel was hearing testimony on a bill introduced in the House in March by state Rep. Paul Mark that would allow cannabis farmers to use biological and botanical pesticide products that are considered appropriate for organic farming provided that the EPA allows the use of the product’s ingredients on food and tobacco crops and has not established a federal tolerance limit, according to the bill text.
Lewis encouraged the panel to support that bill and noted that Colorado, California, and Oregon already allow the state’s cannabis cultivators to use organic products.
The Vermont Cannabis Control Board will prioritize equity as it begins to build a regulated adult-use cannabis market, VT Digger reports. The three-member board has until October 2022 to craft rules for cannabis retailers, producers, and labs; develop a license fee structure; and recommend who receives financial assistance from the state to open a cannabis business.
Board Chair James Pepper said the Commission would work to build a “diverse and equitable” market that, “builds upon Vermont’s competitive advantages, and can sustain and thrive in an eventual transition to federal legalization.” He said the state would like to create a “sustainable” revenue stream to help alleviate “second and third-order” consequences of the war on drugs through economic empowerment, according to the report.
To aid the Commission in their work, the legislature recently passed a bill — expected to be signed by the governor in the coming days — that will help people disproportionately affected by the war on drugs to apply for loans and grants for cannabis-related businesses.
Vermont’s executive director of racial equity Xusana Davis has been working with lawmakers and the Cannabis Control Board to develop social equity criteria. She believes “race and ethnicity” should center the discussion but feels other factors like sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, and poverty could also be considered.
“It really depends on how broad you want to go, right? For example, we haven’t historically considered people with low or no academic attainment as a historically marginalized group, but maybe we should, right?” — Xusana Davis via VT Digger
Davis believes the state should reach out to underground cannabis producers because they “know the market” and it would be a way for the state to automatically include “historically marginalized” individuals.
The other two board members expressed similar views to Chairman Pepper in the report. Kyle Harris said the market needs to be “rooted in equity” and should “pay close and special attention to small cannabis growers.” Board member Julie Hulburd said they had a “historic responsibility to build a foundation for which inclusive and restorative practices are the cornerstone” of the cannabis industry.
Washington State University’s Center for Cannabis Policy, Research and Outreach (CCPRO) was officially approved by the university’s Faculty Senate and Board of Regents last month, formalizing its designation as a research center.
Michael McDonell, CCPRO director and professor at the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, said the “center status recognizes [WSU’s] researchers’ outstanding, multi-disciplinary scholarship on cannabis.”
“It also brings together under one center work on everything from research focused on the impact of cannabis on development to scholarship on cannabis and public safety, as well as our growing hemp research. … “We’re seeing some of these barriers to research being lifted in a stepwise way. It will help us work to keep up with the cannabis industry to provide the citizens of Washington with the information they need to make informed decisions about their health and cannabis.” – McDonnell in a statement
WSU said that over the last six years its researchers have engaged in 50 projects with nearly $10 million in funding. The university said there are nearly 100 scientists working on cannabis-related projects. Recent projects, WSU said, include behavioral and biological predictor study of problematic cannabis use which was awarded a $400,000 National Institute on Drug Abuse grant.
WSU researchers are also conducting a hemp seed trial near the WSU Prosser Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center facility.
The center has also partnered with Oregon State University and California Davis on hemp germplasm studies and the Puyallup Tribe on a study on the use of cannabis for pain management.
The California Senate on Monday approved a bill to legalize possession of psychedelics, including LSD, DMT, MDMA, psilocybin mushrooms, ibogaine, mescaline, and ketamine. The proposal has already cleared three committees in the House, which must still approve the bill before it moves to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newson for final approval.
The bill, which passed 21-16, does not decriminalize the sale of any of the psychedelic substances but does include the repeal of crimes related to cultivation and transport of psilocybin mushroom spores
The measure was introduced by state Sen. Scott Weiner (D), who said during the floor vote that it was “time to move away from failed drug criminalization policies and toward a science- and health-based approach.”
“The War on Drugs has failed us, and criminalizing these substances doesn’t make anyone safer. … Psychedelics show great promise in helping people deal with complex trauma, depression, anxiety, and addiction.” Weiner on the Senate floor via Courthouse News
The version passed by the Senate also removed criminal reform language, which would have allowed expungement and sealing of previous psychedelic possession crimes. It does include provisions requiring the state Department of Public Health to examine possible legalization of the substances and their use in certain context, such as for therapeutic purposes.
Santa Cruz and Oakland have already decriminalized the personal possession and use of some psychedelics.
During the 2020 General Election, Oregon voters approved initiatives to decriminalize all drugs and legalize psilocybin therapy – the first state in the nation to approve such reforms. Voters in Washington, D.C. also approved a measure to decriminalize all psychedelic plants.
Amazon, the second-largest U.S. employer behind Walmart, said on Tuesday that it will stop testing would-be employees for cannabis. In a blog post, the company said it had in the past disqualified people from employment for positive cannabis tests – “like many employers” – but decided to change course as more states pass legalization reforms.
The company also said its public policy team “will be actively supporting” the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 (MORE Act).
“We will no longer include marijuana in our comprehensive drug screening program for any positions not regulated by the Department of Transportation, and will instead treat it the same as alcohol use. We will continue to do impairment checks on the job and will test for all drugs and alcohol after any incident.” – Amazon, Update on our vision to be Earth’s Best Employer and Earth’s Safest Place to Work, June 1, 2021
The MORE Act was reintroduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) last week. The measure would remove penalties for cannabis possession, clear some cannabis-related criminal records, and establish social equity programs dedicated to repairing the communities most disadvantaged by the racist War on Drugs and undoing other generational harms of cannabis prohibition.
The House, which is controlled by Democrats, delayed a vote on the MORE Act last year amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Last year, a U.S. District Court in New Jersey ruled in favor of a medical cannabis patient fired by Amazon over a failed drug test, allowing the case against the online retail giant to proceed in a lower court.
The Nevada Senate on Monday approved a bill to allow social use cannabis lounges, Fox 13 reports. The proposal includes a Senate amendment allowing municipal governments to enact stricter rules than the state on lounges, if they choose.
The bill had already approved by the House and moves next to Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) who is expected to sign it.
Cannabis has been legal in Nevada since 2016; however, there were no social-use provisions in the voter-approved law and consumption outside of private residences remains illegal. In 2019, the Vegas Paiute Tribe opened the state’s first social-use lounge – the NuWu Cannabis Tasting Room – which was permitted because the tribe in a sovereign nation. However, the site was forced to close amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Assemblyman Steve Yeager (D), the bill’s primary sponsor, told KSNV that he hoped social-use businesses would open “toward the fall of this year” but that it wouldn’t surprise him if lounges didn’t start opening until “early next year.”
The measure also sets aside some social-use licenses for social equity applicants, which Nevada Dispensary Association Executive Director, Layke Martin, said would “increase diversity” in the state’s cannabis industry.
The bill requires the state Cannabis Compliance Board to regulate consumption lounges throughout state with different license types available for sites attached to dispensaries or to stand-alone sites selling single-use products for on-premises consumption. Alcohol would not be allowed to be served in any cannabis lounge and they would not be allowed in the state’s casinos.
The Albuquerque City Council is considering cannabis zoning regulations that are more restrictive than New Mexico’s recently passed adult-use rules, according to KQRE.
At the request of Mayor Tim Keller, the proposals seek to limit retail cannabis hours from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm and to ban retail cannabis shops from opening within 660 feet of “main street” locations. Loosely defined as “linear development along a pedestrian-friendly street, typically emphasizing small and local retail and office uses,” there are multiple “main street” areas in Albuquerque, according to the report.
Additionally, the rules prevent dispensary signs from displaying a cannabis leaf and must only list the business name, hours of operation, and somehow identify the “nature of the business.” Finally, the rules add places of worship to the list of locations that cannabis businesses must distance themselves from by at least 300 feet — other such locations include schools, daycares, and public play areas.
Pat Davis, a City Councilperson and cannabis industry consultant, expressed concerns about the proposed regulations.
“There may be some other changes that we could do on a neighborhood level to ensure that people feel more comfortable. But this is a bridge too far.” — Davis, via KQRE
Linda Trujillo, the Superintendent of the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department, said Albuquerque has the authority to regulate cannabis businesses as they see fit, as long as the regulations are “reasonable” — although it is unclear exactly what that means. Commenting on the state-level restrictions, Trujillo said the zoning regulations were “logical.”
“It is about safety,” she said in the report. “For example, the [rule to keep cannabis businesses] 300 feet from a school or daycare center. That’s absolutely in relation to trying to ensure that our youth are safe and that they’re not being targeted for advertisements.”
The city’s Planning Director Brennon Williams said the council must act soon because zoning updates only happen once per year.
In an interview with Reuters, former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson said that psilocybin mushrooms changed his life as he struggled with suicidal thoughts.
“Everyone thought I was crazy, I bit this guy’s ear off. … I did all this stuff, and once I got introduced to the shrooms … my whole life changed. … To think where I was – almost suicidal – to this now. Isn’t life a trip, man? It’s amazing medicine, and people don’t look at it from that perspective.” – Tyson to Reuters
Earlier this month, Tyson announced he had invested in Wesana, a psychedelic-focused wellness company that is publicly traded on the Canadian Securities Exchange. Wesana is founded by National Hockley League champion Daniel Carcillo.
“Traumatic brain injury has affected me and many people I care about, including fighters and veterans,” Tyson wrote on Twitter, according to Psychedelic Spotlight. “I’m proud to be an early investor in @wesanahealth.”
Tyson launched his cannabis business, the Ranch Companies, in 2018 and last year announced a partnership with Smart Cups to manufacture printed, water-soluble cannabinoid products which would allow consumers to add their own liquid to create unique beverage infusions.
The company also sought the naming rights to Barcelona Spain’s Nou Camp soccer stadium. The company wanted to use the Swiss X brand – the Ranch Companies’ CBD product – for the marketing deal.
In an interview with USA Today prior to his exhibition bout with Roy Jones Jr. – which was sponsored by Weedmaps – Tyson said 5MeO-DMT “told [him] to get into shape.” Tyson said he lost 100 pounds training for the fight.
The Texas Senate declined to vote on a House-approved bill to reduce the criminal penalties for cannabis extract possession before the end of the state’s legislative session, the Austin American-Statesman reports. The measure passed the lower chamber 95-44 on Sunday ahead of the Legislature’s midnight deadline but the Senate declined to hold its own vote.
The proposal would have lowered the penalty for possessing less than 2 ounces of concentrate products – such as edibles, tinctures, and oils – from a felony to a Class B misdemeanor. Individuals caught with concentrate products in the state face between six months and two years in jail.
The House version had been amended by Republican Sen. Charles Perry to include regulations for Delta-8 THC but that amendment was neither approved by the House nor by the conference committee, which unanimously approved the original version.
According to the report, just one of more than a dozen cannabis-related bills made it to the desk of Gov. Greg Abbot (R). The watered-down version of the medical cannabis program expansion bill was the only cannabis-related legislation to be approved by lawmakers and move to the governor. As introduced, the measure would have increased THC limits in medical cannabis products from 0.5% to 5% but the final version only approved an increase to 1%.
A March poll conducted by the University of Texas and Texas Tribune found 60% of Texans support broad cannabis legalization in the state; 28% of poll respondents said they believed cannabis should only be legalized for medical purposes while 13% preferred cannabis remain outlawed in the state.
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To celebrate the launch, Heavy Hitters has created a special edition line of Diamond merchandise, custom humidors to store them for the industry insiders, and one-of-a-kind pendant necklaces, handcrafted by Sticks & Stones Jewelry. The pendant has been artfully fashioned, not only using white and black diamonds, emeralds, gold, and silver but also incorporating cannabis flower and THC-A diamonds. The final product is a stunning and unique adornment, the ultimate wearable expression of the Diamond Pre-Roll.
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Officials in Rhode Island are seeking to revoke the medical cannabis cultivation license of Colorado Ave LLC, which is owned by Brian Bairos – who agreed to pay a bribe to disgraced former Fall River, Massachusetts Mayor Jasiel Correia, WPRI reports. Correia was found guilty earlier this month of extorting cannabis businesses and fraud.
Bairos testified in Correia’s trial that he paid the $150,00 bribe, in return for a non-opposition letter to open a dispensary in the city, in a combination of cash and more than 12 pounds of cannabis to a Correia associate named Tony Costa. Bairos was given immunity in exchange for his testimony.
In a show-cause order issued in February, the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation (DBR) said Colorado Ave failed to ensure the agency access to its real-time camera feeds and failed to appropriately track and trace plants and inventory. The order also says the revocation is due to Colorado Ave’s “failure to uphold its fitness to engage in the medical marijuana industry by Mr. Bairos’ participating in Giving Tree’s extortion.” Giving Tree was the name of his proposed cannabis dispensary in Fall River.
The case has also ensnared David Brayton, a Rhode Island man who testified at Correia’s trial that he paid a $100,000 bribe to the former mayor for a non-opposition letter to open a dispensary. Brayton has successfully applied for the Rhode Island license lottery for his plan to open a dispensary, Faded Minds, in Providence, the report says.
Brian Hodge, a spokesperson for the DBR, said the agency is aware of Brayton’s links to the Fall River scandal and that regulators reserve “the right to disqualify applicants based on new information” but could not “comment on ongoing investigatory matters.”
Following his conviction, Corriea claimed he would “have a great day of vindication and eventually the real truth will come out” adding that “there were no facts that were brought forward [and] no overwhelming evidence.” He has promised to appeal.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) reintroduced The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2021 on Friday.
If approved, the MORE Act — which was crafted with an emphasis on empowering states to enact their own cannabis policies — would remove penalties for cannabis possession, clear some cannabis-related criminal records, and establish social equity programs dedicated to repairing the communities most disadvantaged by the racist drug war and undoing other generational harms of cannabis prohibition.
The bill’s House co-sponsors include Cannabis Caucus co-Chairs Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Barbara Lee (D-CA), Judiciary Crime Subcommittee Chairwoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and Small Business Committee Chairwoman Nydia Velázquez (D-NY).
The bill would establish an Opportunity Trust Fund, funded by a five percent tax (which would increase to an 8 percent tax over three years) on retail cannabis sales. This fund would cover job training, health education, re-entry, and other services including legal aid for people from the most impacted communities. The bill also calls for creating an Office of Cannabis Justice, which would oversee the new social equity requirements.
“Since I introduced the MORE Act last Congress, numerous states across the nation, including my home state of New York, have moved to legalize marijuana. Our federal laws must keep up with this pace. I’m proud to reintroduce the MORE Act to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, remove the needless burden of marijuana convictions on so many Americans, and invest in communities that have been disproportionately harmed by the War on Drugs.” — Rep. Nadler, in a press release
When House lawmakers first approved the MORE Act last December, it was the first time a body of Congress voted to end cannabis prohibition, but the bill eventually died in the then-Republican-controlled Senate.
However, with Democrats now in control of the Senate as well as the House, it remains unknown whether the MORE Act would reach the Senate floor as Congress is anticipating a separate federal legalization bill from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). While the exact language of that bill remains unknown, it is expected to likewise address social justice concerns and seek to repair the harms of cannabis prohibition — and Sen. Schumer has suggested that he may prioritize his own legislation over other cannabis reform efforts.
“With a strong base of support in the House and in the Senate, the table is set,” said Rep. Blumenaur, who co-founded the Congressional Cannabis Caucus. “It’s past time that we stop federal interference with cannabis banking and research, as well as the terrible pattern of selective enforcement that has devastated communities of color. The MORE Act will help address all of these problems and more.”
Positive employment drug tests reached a 16-year high in 2019 with cannabis positivity rates climbing 11% from 2018 to 2019, from 2.8% to 3.1%, respectively, according to an analysis by Quest Diagnostics. The study found cannabis positivity rates increased highest in the Midwest – 2.9% in 2018 to 3.3% in 2019 – and West where positivity rates increased 24% from 2.2% in 2018 to 4.1% in 2019.
The Midwest also saw rising rates in positive drug tests for methamphetamine – a 12% increase from 0.17% in 2015 to 0.19% in 2019 – and cocaine, which climbed 40% from 0.20% in 2015 to 0.28% in 2019. The West saw a 53% increase in positive drug tests for cocaine from 0.15% in 2015 to 0.23% in 2019, the analysis found.
Dr. Barry Sample, senior director of science and technology at Quest called the increasing positivity rates for methamphetamine and cocaine “a cause for concern” while noting “the national debate on drug misuse in the workforce has focused primarily on marijuana.”
“Marijuana continues to be an enduring presence in the U.S. workforce. Changing attitudes toward its use could pose heightened risks especially in safety-sensitive positions and those states exploring legalization.” – Sample, in a statement
Positive drug tests for opioids declined 19% nationally from 2018 to 2019 – 0.31% to 0.25%, respectively. The positivity rate for semi-synthetic opiates, like hydrocodone, dropped 26% from 0.50% in 2018 versus 0.37% in 2019 and more than 45 percent over five years – 0.68% in 2015 versus 0.37% in 2019. The positivity rate for oxycodone-type drugs saw a 21% decline from 0.43% in 2018 to 0.34% in 2019. The analysis found that positivity rates for oxycodone drugs fell nearly 55% from the 0.75% rate in 2015 to 0.34% in 2019.
Positivity rates for heroin also declined from 0.3% in 2018 to 0.2% in 2019 – representing a 50% decline since the 0.04% positivity rate in 2015 and 2016.
Sample attributed the rise, partly, to the “enormous strain” of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Organizations will need to consider the impact of COVID-19 not only on workplace safety but also as a health concern for their employees for some time to come,” he said.
