Legislative and Licensing Update: November 17, 2021

Corrections to the New Jersey applications and Ohio’s deadline this week. New federal-level legalization bill proposed. Anticipated new licenses in Florida. Big distribution agreement and funding round for brands and tech.

Plus cannabis news updates from New York, South Dakota, West Virginia, Oregon, Connecticut, Arizona, and Montana.

Updated Adult-Use Application Details in New Jersey:  

The Cannabis Regulatory Commission announced that it will begin accepting license applications for cultivation and manufacturing on December 15 and retail on March 15. There are no application deadlines, and no limits on the number of licenses (except the cap of 37 on cultivators until February 2023).

The state found a “typo” in the annual app scoring (had to get 250 points but only 210 were available) and released an updated application packet Monday.

Russ has yet again pointed out to the state there’s an error in the conditional scoring, so I’m assuming the state will get it right eventually, with Canna’s help.

 

Local Level Decisions in New York:

The Lake Gorge Village Board voted to ban marijuana retail businesses, ahead of the December 31 deadline to opt out.

 

Application Deadline in Ohio This Week

Medical dispensary applications are due Thursday, the 18th, for the 73 available licenses. Also, the program is headed for expansion due to newly introduced bipartisan legislation.

 

Federal Level Action from Conservative Legislators:

A report from upside-down world, where republican Rep. Nancy Mace and GOP cosponsors filed a new bill to federally legalize and tax marijuana.

 

Heavy Interest in South Dakota Medical Marijuana Licenses:

Sioux Falls officials have received 79 applications for medical cannabis dispensary licenses.

 

First Medial Marijuana Purchase in West Virginia:

Local retired combat veteran Sgt. Ron Frye had the honor of making the state’s first medical cannabis purchase at the first-to-open West Virginia dispensary, owned by Trulieve.

 

New Licenses Coming in Oregon: 

The OLCC is reopening their recreational cannabis business licensing process at the start of next year, lifting a moratorium that had been in place since June 15, 2018, attributed to cannabis overproduction.

 

Anticipated New Licenses in Florida:

27 new state licenses for medical marijuana treatment centers (MMTCs) will soon become available, which will double the number of MMTCs in the state. The state Department of Health will issue the new licenses by July 1, 2023.

 

Connecticut Vendor Selection:

Regulators selected BioTrack to manage the state’s cannabis seed-to-sale tracking system.

 

Application Deadlines Looming in Arizona:  

The deadline to sign up for the state-mandated training to run a social equity cannabis business is November 17th for the 26 licenses social equity licenses open for application Dec. 1st to 14th.

 

Adult Use Preparation in Montana:

Montanna’s cannabis industry is scrambling to finalize details before recreational sales begin in January (in some counties that opted in).

 

Growth on the Horizon for Cannabis Brands and Tech:

Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. announced that it has signed a national distribution agreement with Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, the world’s largest distributor of beverage alcohol. The Agreement will bring Curaleaf’s lineup of products from their Hemp and CBD product lines into Southern Glazer’s distribution network.

Pistil Data closed a $6.5 million seed funding round led by Snoop Dogg’s Casa Verde Capital.