Licensing

Data recently released by Michigan’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency shows that applications for cannabis business licenses by white people outnumber applications from people of color by a ratio of 16 to 1.

Following months of delays, Illinois officials have informed cannabis industry applicants of problems they can remedy in their applications as the latest licensing process begins anew.

ProVerde Laboratories in Portland, Maine has been shut down for conducting cannabis tests without a proper license. With no license, the testing lab is allowed to test hemp and CBD products but not medical or adult-use cannabis.

Ilinois state senators have advanced a measure aimed at improving the state’s social equity cannabis licensing process.

20 years after issuing its first medical cannabis cultivation permit, the United Kingdom has awarded a second such license to Jersey-based Northern Leaf.

An Illinois judge has ruled against an effort by the Illinois Craft Cannabis Association to force the licensing of craft cannabis businesses in the state after many months of delay from the coronavirus pandemic.

After its inception this year despite delays from the coronavirus, the Washington Social Equity in Cannabis Task Force has opted to center on anti-Black racism in the cannabis industry.

AltMed is suing the city of Miami Beach in efforts to overturn a city board decision that blocks medical cannabis dispensaries from being located within 1,200 feet of each other.

A Pennsylvania-based cannabis investor is suing Missouri over residency requirements for the state’s medical cannabis business licenses.

Detroit officials are set to issue the city’s adult-use cannabis business licenses this summer.

Missouri’s medical cannabis industry is experiencing product shortages two months after the market’s launch.

The application period for becoming a licensed hemp farmer in Louisiana next year is now open.

CannTrust, the embattled Canadian cannabis producer whose license was suspended amid multiple compliance violations last year, is launching two new brands after an 18-month remediation process.

Under new adult-use cannabis regulations in Massachusetts, social equity applicants will be given the first crack at delivery licenses for three years.

Nevada regulators have extended the expiration dates for cannabis industry employment ID cards by 90 days as the state works through a backlog of applications.

Shawn Kemp’s Cannabis has walked back its claim in a disputed press release last month that the shop is Seattle’s first Black-owned cannabis dispensary after it was revealed that Kemp holds just a minor stake in the company.

A combination of stricter regulations, the coronavirus pandemic, and industry consolidation has resulted in a dramatic 31% decrease in the number of hemp licenses in New Mexico this year.

Teddy Scott is the CEO and co-founder of Ethos Cannabis, a Mid-Atlantic and East Coast-focused multi-state cannabis operator.

MedMen has filed suit against the city of Pasadena, California in an effort to block the city’s cannabis business licensing process after the company was removed from consideration following a major ownership/management shift.

The West Virginia Democratic Women’s Caucus of the House of Delegates wrote in a letter to the state’s top cannabis regulator about concerns that cannabis processor and dispensary licenses will only be awarded to white males.

West Virginia has issued 10 medical cannabis cultivation licenses. Most of the licenses were issued to companies based in other states.

Washington state is one of the latest to address social equity in the cannabis industry, but business owners and potential social equity applicants say they have concerns about the state’s plan.

Washington state regulators have suspended the license of producer El Rey De La Kush for allegedly shipping cannabis products out-of-state.

Vermont is the 11th state to establish a legal cannabis marketplace after Gov. Phil Scott announced he would allow the tax-and-regulate bill to pass into law without his signature.