Tag: Maryland

Maryland officials have announced the winners of a first-of-its-kind marijuana licensing lottery for social equity applicants across all license categories, approving 174 growers, processors and dispensaries. The Maryland Cannabis Administration (MCA) held the lottery last month. As the state approaches the one-year anniversary of the first adult-use marijuana sales, regulators took to social media on Tuesday to tout the fact that they’ve now completed “the first application round in the nation that is designated exclusively for social equity applicants across… Read more.

A Maryland bill to establish a psychedelics task force to study legal access to substances like psilocybin and DMT is heading to the governor’s desk. The House of Delegates unanimously passed the Senate-approved legislation in a 137-0 vote on Tuesday. A House companion version has also received initial approval in the Senate, but it’s still pending a third and final reading before it can be sent to Gov. Wes Moore’s (D) desk. This comes just one week after committees in both chambers… Read more.

Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones said that a state rule requiring law enforcement recruits to have abstained from cannabis use for at least three years before they can be hired hurts the state’s police recruitment opportunities, according to a News4 report. Chief Jones, who is also the head of the Fraternal Order of Police and a Montgomery County Council Member, asked the Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission in a letter last year to revise the regulations. Montgomery County Assistant Chief Administrative… Read more.

After launching its adult-use market last year, Maryland cannabis retailers and dispensaries together have sold nearly $700M in products, according to a report from CBS Baltimore. According to the report, medical cannabis, which was already a thriving sector, saw an increase of over $200 million in just about five months. On the other hand, adult use sales rose to $270 million since stores opened. In a statement to CBS, President of SunMed Growers Jake Van Wingerden highlighted the dramatic impact that adult… Read more.

A new study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University will track 10,000 medical marijuana patients over a year or more in an effort to better understand the efficacy and impacts of cannabis therapy. Funded with a five-year $10 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the research team will work with federal researchers and the nonprofit Realm of Caring, among others, to collect data around dosing, delivery methods, the chemical composition of products, possible medication interactions and… Read more.

Maryland brought in more than $12 million in marijuana tax revenue during the first three months of legal cannabis sales to adults, which kicked off on July 1. The figures, released this week by the state comptroller’s office, detail revenues from the third quarter of the fiscal year, which spanned from July through September. Sales of recreational marijuana during that period totaled about $158.5 million, according to the Maryland Cannabis Administration (MCA). More than a third of the tax revenue—35 percent, or about… Read more.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) says marijuana legalization is “inevitable.” But yet another one of his home state’s neighbors enacts the reform, he concedes that the path in Pennsylvania has proved more challenging amid GOP resistance to the “common sense” policy that’s backed by the majority of voters. The senator—who has long championed cannabis legalization and made it a key issue when he served as Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor—spoke about the prospects of reform at the state and federal level in an… Read more.

The Maryland Supreme Court last week declined to review a lower court’s injunction against the enforcement of a state law to ban intoxicating hemp products, the Daily Record reports. The decision allows the injunction to remain in place and will allow the sale of the products, such as delta-8 THC and delta-10 THC, to continue.   The lawsuit against the rules was filed in July by the Maryland Hemp Coalition and several hemp farmers and businesses and in October Washington County Circuit Court Judge Brett R. Wilson… Read more.

In the midst of years marked by rapid expansion and recent swift exits, some of the nation's leading cannabis multistate operators (MSOs) have continued to streamline their operations this year, as revealed in the latest update on the activities of several major MSOs in the country. Over the past five months, two of the largest MSOs in the country, Trulieve Cannabis based in Florida and Cresco Labs based in Chicago, have withdrawn from state-legal cannabis markets. This strategic move reflects their ongoing… Read more.

The first round of adult-use cannabis licensing is open in Maryland. The first round of licenses is set aside for social equity applicants, defined by -state law as companies with “at least 65% ownership held by one or more individuals who have been verified as social equity applicants.” The state has already verified social equity applicants eligible under the law.   Additionally, social equity applicants lived or went to public school in an area disproportionately impacted by the criminalization of cannabis or attended… Read more.

Maryland has officially opened the first round of applications for new adult-use marijuana dispensary, cultivation and processing licenses—reserved exclusively for social equity businesses. The Maryland Cannabis Administration (MCA) will ultimately be accepting a total of 179 marijuana licensees following the 30-day application period that started on Monday. That includes 75 dispensary, 16 grower and 32 processor licenses. This will more than double the number of retailers in the state, where currently only existing medical marijuana dispensaries that converted to dual licenses… Read more.

A Maryland judge has temporarily suspended portions of the state’s marijuana legalization statute prohibiting the sale of hemp-derived products with intoxicating cannabinoids. The judge’s order allows hemp and CBD shops to resume selling the products while a lawsuit challenging the state’s cannabis legalization law continues. The legal action was filed in July by a group of business owners and the Maryland Hemp Coalition challenging provisions of the state’s marijuana legalization law that only allow businesses approved by state cannabis regulators to… Read more.

A group opposed to the legalization of marijuana is targeting a financial agreement between Wells Fargo and the state of Maryland. This arrangement enables state officials to collect and manage tax revenue from cannabis businesses operating legally within the state. The advocacy group is denouncing this arrangement as "a deliberate move to shield banks engaged in federal law violations" and is endeavoring to inform federal authorities about it. In response, the state maintains that it is "in adherence to relevant laws and… Read more.

An anti-marijuana advocacy group is taking aim at a banking arrangement between Wells Fargo and the state of Maryland that allows officials to receive and process tax revenue generated by state-legal cannabis businesses, calling the scheme “an active effort to protect the banks who are breaking federal law” and making an attempt to alert federal officials about it. The state, for its part, has said it “complies with applicable laws and regulations.” Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), which opposes marijuana… Read more.

Maryland officials are unveiling a new portal that will allow people to check their eligibility for a social equity marijuana business license before regulators begin to accept applications later this year. The Maryland Cannabis Administration (MCA) announced on Friday that the Social Equity Verification Portal will open on September 8. It’s one of the latest ways regulators are working to promote policies built into the state’s legalization law that support communities disproportionately impacted by marijuana criminalization. “Our goal with establishing… Read more.

A Maryland tax official says the state has found an unusual workaround with Wells Fargo in order to avoid clearly identifying marijuana tax revenue on financial forms, yet another example of the creative workarounds being used by cannabis businesses and regulators amid ongoing federal prohibition. “This was a heavy lift and something we had to do,” Rob Scheerer, director of the Maryland Office of the Comptroller’s Revenue Administration Division, reportedly said at a Maryland Association of Counties conference last week.… Read more.

The Maryland Hemp Coalition, several hemp farmers, and other business owners on Monday filed a lawsuit against state officials and agencies over a new licensing process they claim is discriminatory and being monopolized, WBFF reports. The lawsuit names Gov. Wes Moore (D), the Maryland Cannabis Administration, and the Maryland Alcohol, Tobacco, and Cannabis Commission.  The lawsuit challenges provisions in the state’s adult-use cannabis law that cap levels of THC in hemp-derived products that could be sold without an adult-use cannabis license along with details surrounding… Read more.

A top Maryland marijuana regulator says the state’s proactive approach to legalizing cannabis has allowed it to implement a system that effectively balances three key priorities: safety, access and equity. When the state’s legalization law took effect at the beginning of the month, nearly 100 existing medical marijuana dispensaries were already approved to start serving adult consumers. And a testament to the success of the rollout is the fact that Maryland retailers sold over $10 million worth of legal cannabis in the… Read more.

At least five states with medical marijuana programs have shared key data – including the products patients are using and how they are affected – with U.S. health regulators as part of the Biden administration’s review of whether to remove marijuana from the federal government’s list of the most dangerous drugs, MJBizDaily has learned. The state data sent to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) offers federal researchers a wider and deeper look… Read more.

Maryland is making significant progress in cannabis reform and preparation for implementing adult-use marijuana legalisation. As the state gears up for the forthcoming changes, a bill preventing police from using the odour or possession of cannabis alone as the basis for a search has been allowed to become law by the governor. This move marks a crucial step in protecting individuals' rights and addressing concerns regarding unwarranted searches solely based on the presence of cannabis. Along with this development, Maryland has… Read more.

Along a flat road in rural Cecil County, where the sky is big and the towns are small, stands a long, nondescript building. Inside is one of the most important cultivation and processing operations for Maryland’s new cash crop — cannabis. SunMed Growers and its 150 employees are harvesting, testing and packaging as many products as they can in preparation for July 1. That’s when any individual 21 or older will be able to buy vapes, gummies, pre-rolled joints, edibles… Read more.

A green fog won’t build above Maryland’s streets on July 1. The sidewalks won’t be littered with people gripping a joint or a bong, nor will everyone be enveloped in pungent smoke. For many, it will just be a Saturday. But the date will mark a historical and pivotal occasion. Cannabis, long ostracized from public society and formally categorized alongside drugs such as heroin, will be legal in Maryland for the first time in modern history. As a new era… Read more.

Curio Wellness, a cGMP-certified, vertically integrated cannabis company, has been granted the first-ever US patent for its cannabis sleep product, Good Night by Curio. The patent, designated as Utility Patent 11,654,130, was awarded to Curio Wellness on May 23, 2023, and will remain in force until January 2042, per a press release. Good Night, the cannabis sleep aid line available in Maryland has been leading the market since its introduction in 2021. The product, in the form of ratio tablets, is designed to… Read more.

The Maryland Cannabis Administration (MCA) has temporarily shut down a Cookies dispensary following several violations, including a video that “appeared to show large plumes of medical cannabis smoke being blown from a large gun apparatus into the mouths of persons outside the dispensary,” according to the suspension notice outlined. The action came less than a week after Cookies held the dispensary’s grand opening on May 27.  Inspectors also cited Cookies for advertising online in a way that “targets or is attractive to minors,… Read more.

Maryland officials are now accepting applications for grants to help existing medical marijuana businesses convert into dual licensees that can serve the adult-use market when legalization takes effect next month. Also, as regulators publish new guidance for the industry, the Department of Commerce (DOC) announced that, starting on August 1, it will additionally be taking applications for grants and loans to support market participation from social equity licensees by providing startup capital and covering operational costs. The Cannabis Business Assistance… Read more.

Governor Wes Moore of Maryland signed a bill, Senate Bill 516, which will regulate the commerce of adult-use cannabis. This paves the way for licensed sales of recreational marijuana to start in the state on July 1 of this year. State legislators approved the bill in April following lengthy negotiations that covered topics like social equity and taxation. During the signing ceremony for the legislation, Moore expressed that the new law would guarantee the fair distribution of opportunities to introduce… Read more.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is expected to sign into law before a key Monday deadline legislation that sets regulations for adult-use marijuana sales and cultivation, just in time for the first legal sales to begin July 1. Maryland residents voted overwhelmingly last November to legalize adult-use cannabis. But the industry-funded ballot initiative left vital details – including licensing, taxation and whether the state’s existing medical cannabis businesses would get first crack at what could be a $2.1 billion market by 2027 – to state lawmakers. After months of debate –… Read more.

Minnesota Marijuana Legalization Bill Clears Another Senate Hurdle Minnesota is close to legalizing marijuana after a Senate committee approved a bill by Sen. Lindsey Port (D). The bill has only two more committees to pass before it can be taken to the full chamber. The House companion bill, sponsored by Rep. Zack Stephenson (D) has already passed through 14 committees, reported Marijuana Moment. Want Some Great Weed In Michigan? Join the ultimate marijuana showdown at Michigan's 4th Annual Cannabis Cup. The competition is back and bigger than ever. With… Read more.

A Maryland Senate committee has amended and approved a marijuana sales bill to get the state ready for the implementation of a voter-approved legalization referendum, sending it to the floor—where a vote is expected this week. At a meeting of the Senate Finance Committee, members passed the legislation from Sens. Brian Feldman (D) and Antonio Hayes (D) in a 7-2 vote. Senate President Bill Ferguson (D) said last week that there were a number of issues that lawmakers needed to address before advancing… Read more.

The Maryland House of Delegates has advanced an amended bill to create regulations allowing for adult-use marijuana commerce following voter approval of legalization last year. The legislation, sponsored by Del. C.T. Wilson (D), passed on a second reading on the floor on Wednesday, just days after clearing committee. The House will need to give final third reading approval to the measure before it potentially moves to the Senate, where a companion version is scheduled for consideration in committee on Thursday. The House… Read more.

The first two months of 2023 have shown expansive interest in bold drug policy reform in state legislatures across the country—most recently, with the introduction of numerous new bills touching on everything from psychedelics legalization to authorizing safe drug consumption sites. Lawmakers in several states will conduct hearings on such reform proposals over the next week. The marijuana legalization movement continues to spread and evolve, but it’s become quickly apparent this session that legislators are eager to more holistically move… Read more.