Legislative and Licensing Update: Week of May 10, 2021

More progress for cannabis programs in the Deep South with action in Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Plus East Coast developments and movement at the federal level.

Alabama

Big news out of Alabama! Supporters persevered through a filibuster last week to pass a medical cannabis bill in both houses. We’ll now watch and wait for Governor Ivey to sign.

Ohio

Ohio gave out a dispensary license last week, obtained via litigation from the last licensing round in 2018! Have now licensed 58. We’re prepping for the request for applications to be out soon for 73 new dispensary licenses. We’ll be announcing a related webinar soon, so stay tuned.

Tennessee

The Tennessee legislature made some progress by approving a bill to expand qualifying conditions. As a reminder, Tennessee’ss limited market only allows low-THC medical products.

Arizona

Regulators in Arizona released draft social equity rules, along with a survey about them. We’ll keep an eye out for deadlines there.

Colorado

The legislature approved doubling cannabis possession limits from one ounce up to two. Denver regulators released a location guide for marijuana businesses

Massachusetts

The legislature’s Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy will hold a hearing on several marijuana bills on Tuesday regarding the transparency and equity of host community agreements.

Mississippi

Mississippi regulators will hold a hearing on proposed medical cannabis testing rules on Tuesday. All of the proposed regs are out. These details were not posted yet on the Mississippi program’s website, but we found them thanks to the MS Cannabis Trade Association that published this handy resource with links all in one place.

California

Former Calexico city officials were sentenced to two years in federal prison for taking bribes in exchange for “guaranteeing” a permit for a cannabis business in a sting operation.

New Jersey

Last week, the Cannabis Regulatory Commission held a Zoom meeting to hear ideas for achieving equity. The next general meeting regarding cannabis regulation is on May 18, and they’re scheduled monthly going forward.

Thanks to everyone who attended our NJ Webinar last week and thank you for all of the thoughtful questions. The recording is available here.

New York

Join us next week, on May 19, for a 30-minute Canna Advisors webinar on New York licensing. You can register in advance on our site here.

Federal

The federal government has established a standard THC dose of 5 mg, which is primarily to be used for research purposes.