Regulations

Washington state Ag Department officials recently clarified that hemp-derived CBD is not allowed as a food additive.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois has signed legislation expanding the state’s medical cannabis program, including one bill that makes the program — which was set to expire next year — permanent.

Officials in Portland, Maine, have released a proposal for city-wide cannabis industry regulations. According to the working group responsible for the rules, the city aims to generally treat adult-use and medical cannabis similarly.

Utah lawmakers are planning to change the state’s medical cannabis program, which was created in the first place as a legislative replacement for the voter-approved program that lawmakers said would be untenable, as the current program conflicts too directly with federal rules.

Three months before edibles regulations take effect nationwide, officials in Quebec, Canada have announced a ban on sweetened cannabis edibles containing THC, including (temporarily) topicals.

An audit by the California Finance Department reveals that two-thirds of staff positions at the Bureau of Cannabis Control are unfilled and the agency is operating with just a tiny fraction of its expected funding.

Emergency rules laying out adult-use cannabis regulations in Michigan have been released; under the new rules, delivery is allowed and adult-use business licenses will be cheaper and easier to acquire than medical cannabis licenses.

Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey has signed the state’s medical cannabis program expansions into law; the new rules will allow for more patients, home delivery, and dozens more medical cannabis operators.

Officials with New Mexico’s Health Department are refusing to qualify out-of-state residents for the state’s medical cannabis program, despite a recent rule change for the program removing the residency requirement from the definition of “qualified patient.”

Maine Gov. Janet Mills has signed a bill creating regulations for the state’s adult-use cannabis industry, which was approved by voters in 2016. Former Gov. Paul LePage had vetoed similar reforms, stalling the market’s launch.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has signed into law several cannabis policy updates, including a bill allowing the state to export cannabis products to other states with cannabis programs.

Three weeks after its first public hearing on cannabidiol, the FDA says it will apply a “rigorous and science-based approach” to devising CBD regulations; however, despite the quickly growing marketplace, the agency has not yet set any official guidelines.

New Jersey’s governor wants to add another 100 dispensaries to the state’s medical cannabis program, which currently has only six operational retailers. This expansion would accompany a host of other changes meant to benefit patients.

The bill — which expands medical cannabis in the state by adding seven new conditions to the program’s qualifying conditions list and removing a requirement for patients to have two doctors’ recommendations before accessing the program — now goes to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature.

The bill, which would create state-chartered banks that would work with the state’s cannabis industry, passed the Senate 35-1 and now moves to the Assembly for consideration.

In a 3-2 vote, Massachusetts regulators narrowly approved the creation of regulations for a pilot social-use cannabis program. Currently, Alaska is the only other state with a social-use program.

The Vermont bill to create a taxed and regulated system for adult-use cannabis sales is likely dead until lawmakers — some saying they don’t want to rush the policy-making process — bring it up again next year.

In lieu of the adult-use cannabis reforms he hoped to establish this year, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has signed an executive order expanding the state’s medical cannabis program.

The Pittsburg, California City Council has enacted a 45-day moratorium on new hemp businesses in order to prepare hemp regulations that will cooperate with state cannabis laws.

The Texas House has approved a second bill this session expanding the state’s limited medical cannabis program — the legislature’s recent advances, however, are expected to face an uphill battle in the Senate.

A bill eliminating Iowa’s 3% THC cap on medical cannabis products has passed both houses of the state legislature; it’s still unknown, however, whether the governor intends to sign the bill.

Washington has established a clearer timeline for the official completion of the state’s long-awaited cannabis seed to sale traceability system.

Washington state’s cannabis regulatory authority has announced that, after a three-month hiatus from the testing requirements, cannabis products must once again be tested for heavy metals.

Alabama’s Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a bill that would vastly overhaul and improve the state’s limited medical cannabis program.