MjLink Cannabis Business News and Press

The Community College Cannabis Vocational Pilot Program managed by the Illinois Department of Agriculture was created as a solution to prepare students for a career growing, studying or working in the cannabis industry. When Project Evolve students were accepted into the Cannabis Dispensary Operations program at Olive-Harvey, one of the City Colleges of Chicago, hopes were high.

The Project Evolve program provides qualifying students with full scholarships and resources that lead them to high-wage and in-demand occupations, with Cannabis Dispensary Operations being one of nine areas of study to choose from. Olive-Harvey’s certificate is one of two City Colleges of Chicago cannabis certificates under the Community College Cannabis Vocational Pilot Program. Wilbur Wright Community College offers a Cannabis Technician Program with a focus on processing, infusing and testing.

The pilot program is seen as a component of broader workplace training platforms for the cannabis industry—as well as a piece of the Illinois social equity vision.  

According to the Economic Policy Institute, Black Americans had the highest rates of unemployment in the nation at 6.3% in the first quarter. Black Illinois residents, in particular, saw an increase in unemployment rates from 6.7% in Q1 to 20.7% in Q2. These statistics are significant because workforce development programs are charged with providing skills training to address the low-wage worker paradigm and unemployment/underemployment cycles in which Black workers seem to be stuck. Many students were expecting the growth of the adult-use cannabis industry to create a pathway to entry-level positions, and certificate completion was the first step in that direction.

As of May 2020, Illinois ranked 10th in the nation for legal marijuana jobs, according to a Leafly report. Illinois has 9,176 legal marijuana jobs and is estimated to grow that number to 63,000 by 2025, according to New Frontier Data, with an expectation of two non-technical jobs to every one technical job (not including ancillary businesses). Illinois’ industry and job opportunities were expected to grow in 2020 with the state adding up to 75 new adult-use dispensaries by May 1. As the state postponed the distribution of licenses due to the coronavirus pandemic and legal challenges to the state’s retail licensing regime, prospective early-career cannabis professionals again found themselves wading in uncertainty.

Students attending classes were abruptly transitioned to emergency remote education. Online classes while accessible, unearthed other areas of need to keep students engaged. Laptops, hot-spots and software support became an integral part of the program. Yet even with the support in place for students to complete the certificate, a question remains: Will students be able to find full-time employment?

Cannabis licensing can be extremely competitive, and with new states legalizing this fall and potentially more to come as we head into next year, applicants should know when—and how—to challenge a cannabis license denial, which can occur for a variety of reasons.

Vicente Sederberg hosted a Nov. 12 webinar on just this topic, where experts outlined when to consider a licensing appeal and how to navigate the appeals process in various markets.

Here are some key takeaways from the webinar, from appeal-worthy issues to details on specific appeals processes in Massachusetts, California and Colorado.

When to Appeal

Common reasons to challenge a cannabis license denial include an unfair or unlawful licensing process, arbitrary and capricious grading, and bias or corruption, according to Jerrico Perez, senior associate with Vicente Sederberg.

Perez pointed to Florida as an example of an unfair or unlawful licensing process, where the Florida Supreme Court heard a second round of arguments last month in a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of the state’s 2017 medical cannabis law.

PRESS RELEASE - The list for pesticides that can be used on cannabis without being a violation of the Pesticide Applicators' Act has been updated. Please note the following products have been added:

AlmightyCritter-MaxxFuriousJudgementPower SI ControlZealous

To view the updated list, click here for a pdf or click here for an Excel form. For questions regarding this change, contact Laura Quakenbush at (303) 869-9060 or email [email protected].

The Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) is currently reviewing pesticide labels upon request and maintaining a list of products whose label it has reviewed that it believes could be used on marijuana without violating 35-10-117(1)(i), as long as the applicator follows the label directions.

Please be sure to review the list; pesticide products may be removed from the allowed products list if the registrant has not renewed their pesticide product with the department. Use of unregistered pesticides on cannabis would be a violation of the Pesticide Applicators' Act.

Stay Informed

PRESS RELEASE - Ridder has developed the Ridder Light Diffusion RLD 15 FR O screen together with Duijvestijn Tomaten, a tomato cultivator in Pijnacker. For Duijvenstijn’s new five-hectare unlit greenhouse, the grower needed a screen fabric that would protect the tomato crop against excessive incoming sunlight on hot summer days and offer the best possible ventilation. Together with the grower and the installer, Schermned, a new screen fabric was developed to meet the specific requirements of the grower.

Extra protection on sunny summer days

RLD 15 FR O is composed of a combination of diffusing bands and has an open structure. When the sun is shining directly onto the screen, the fabric provides a shading factor of 13%, which gives the crop additional protection from excessive solar irradiation, but thanks to its diffusing properties, it also enables the moderated light to penetrate deeper into the greenhouse. The open structure of the fabric ensures the best possible ventilation and heat regulation.

An alternative to chalk

A movable screen installation made with Ridder RLD 15 FR O fabric is a much more flexible alternative to chalking or coating the greenhouse roof. After all, a movable screen installation can be opened on overcast days, so that no precious sunlight is lost. And the screen cloth also has advantages when it comes to temperature control and regulating incoming sunlight.

New legislation in Utah would allow more doctors to recommend medical cannabis, according to a FOX 13 report.

The bill, which is sponsored by Rep. Ray Ward (R-Bountiful) and Senate Majority Leader Evan Vickers, would allow physicians to recommend cannabis for up to 15 patients, or up to 275 patients if a doctor receives specialized training through the state, the news outlet reported.

Qualifying patients in Utah have struggled to find doctors willing to recommend medical cannabis, according to FOX 13, with some physicians hesitant to process the required paperwork for only a handful of patients and others uncomfortable recommending cannabis to their patients at all.

The new legislation would not only allow doctors to recommend cannabis to more patients, but would also allow them to refer patients to the state’s medical cannabis pharmacies, where pharmacists can make specific product recommendations, FOX 13 reported.

The bill also adds cannabis to Utah’s controlled substances database, according to the news outlet, which allows doctors, pharmacies and law enforcement to track prescriptions for substances such as opioids.

As votes for the presidential race continued to be tallied, cannabis emerged as a clear winner in the 2020 election as five states—Arizona, Montana, Mississippi, New Jersey and South Dakota—passed legalization measures, leaving many to wonder what comes next for these new markets.

In one historic night, the U.S. cannabis landscape shifted dramatically as Arizona, Montana and New Jersey passed adult-use legalization, Mississippi passed medical cannabis legalization and for the first time, one state—South Dakota—passed both medical and adult-use legalization at the same time.

All five of the newly legalized states are significant in their own way and could each play a role in the future of continued reform efforts, according to industry stakeholders.

New Jersey, for example, could be the tipping point for adult-use legalization in the tri-state area, as New York and Pennsylvania consider policy reform efforts heading into 2021, according to Steve Fox, counsel at Vicente Sederberg and managing partner of VSS Strategies, Vicente Sederberg’s policy and public affairs consulting affiliate.

“I serve as an adviser to the Cannabis Trade Federation, and we actually just put out an alert where I described these ballot initiatives as domino initiatives, noting that they were likely to lead to other states following that,” Fox says. “I think the Northeast, with New York, Connecticut, Maryland [and] Pennsylvania, … have good prospects for moving forward as early as next year.”

PHOENIX, Nov. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- PRESS RELEASE -- Harvest Health & Recreation Inc., a vertically integrated cannabis company and multi-state operator in the U.S., has completed the divestiture of its dispensary and cultivation assets in Arkansas.

Natural State Wellness Dispensary, LLC and Natural State Wellness Enterprises, LLC, which own and operate a medical dispensary and cultivation facility, were sold on Friday, Nov. 13, 2020. The total purchase price paid by the buyer was $25 million. Following repayment of approximately $1.9 million in loans associated with the assets, the portion of net proceeds received by Harvest for its interests totaled approximately $12.9 million in cash. Harvest retains ownership of the real estate for the dispensary and cultivation facilities.     

"We are pleased to have completed this divestiture as part of our strategic plan to streamline our business and focus on core markets," said Chief Executive Officer Steve White. "The additional cash on our balance sheet adds flexibility at a time when we are pursuing growth opportunities such as recreational sales in Arizona."

Following the completion of this divestiture, Harvest maintains its 2020 guidance of greater than $225 million in revenue.

A cannabis decriminalization bill has stalled in the New Jersey Assembly after the Senate added an amendment that would lessen the penalty for the possession of up to one ounce of psilocybin, or psychedelic mushrooms, according to an NJ.com report.

The Senate approved the measure Nov. 16 in a 29-4 vote, but the Assembly canceled a vote on the bill, A.1897/S.2535, due to the added provision that would make possessing up to one ounce of psilocybin a disorderly person offense punishable by a six-month jail sentence, the news outlet reported. Under current law, the offense carries a prison sentence of three to five years.

“The Senate took an extraordinarily important step today by passing decriminalization, but, unfortunately, the Assembly’s decision to pull its scheduled vote means marijuana arrests—and all of the harmful, tragic consequences of racially disparate enforcement they come with—will continue until consensus can be reached,” ACLU-NJ Policy Director Sarah Fajardo said in a public statement.

Lawmakers are working to establish an adult-use cannabis program in the state after voters approved a legalization initiative on Election Day. They must pass a decriminalization measure to stop cannabis-related arrests as they work on separate legislation to regulate adult-use sales.

Lawmakers have pulled an adult-use bill amid criticism from social justice advocates, who said the legislation does not go far enough to promote diversity and inclusion in the industry. Advocates also criticized the legislation for not designating cannabis tax revenue for programs in communities disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs, NJ.com reported.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has announced plans to introduce an adult-use cannabis legalization bill when the General Assembly reconvenes in January, according to The Virginia Mercury.

Northam signed a decriminalization bill in May to reclassify the possession of one ounce or less of cannabis to a civil penalty punishable by a maximum fine of $25, and the General Assembly passed legislation last month to prohibit police stops based on cannabis odor.

Northam’s most recent push for cannabis policy reform is in response to a Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission study on the potential impacts of legalization in the state, The Virginia Mercury reported.

The study revealed that adult-use cannabis legalization could generate more than $300 million in annual tax revenues by the fifth year of the program, according to the news outlet, as well as reduce cannabis-related arrests by 84% when combined with decriminalization. The study also found that legalization could create more than 11,000 jobs in the state.

Also outlined in the study were ways policymakers could promote social equity, such as prioritizing minority entrepreneurs from communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs, according to The Virginia Mercury.

TerrAscend, a multi-state cannabis operator with a presence in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, California and Canada, has announced that the company will expand to Maryland through the acquisition of HMS Health, LLC and HMS Processing, LLC, one of the state’s licensed medical cannabis cultivators and processors.

The acquisition, announced Nov. 6, is strategically and geographically advantageous for the company, according to Ryan McWilliams, CFO of Ilera Healthcare, which was acquired by TerrAscend last year.

“Geographically, Maryland is kind of an obvious fit, and there are so many similarities across all these Northeastern cannabis markets in terms of the fact that they’re all medical but on the verge of going recreational,” McWilliams told Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary. “There’s a very limited availability of these licenses in each of these states, so when there was an opportunity to acquire a new one that is strategically and geographically advantageous for the organization, we were immediately very interested in that opportunity.”

HMS currently operates a 22,000-square-foot cultivation and processing facility in Frederick, Md., which produces flower and oil products for the state’s medical cannabis market. The facility will also be able to produce edibles upon receiving regulatory approval.

“Looking ahead, we’ve done our due diligence and met all of the current operators of the HMS facility, and [we] are very impressed by what they’ve been able to do,” McWilliams said, adding that TerrAscend plans to integrate HMS’ employees into its operations.

In 2020, many Americans are protesting criminal justice funding and tactics—some for the first time, growing and diversifying this coalition.

Leaders from the cannabis industry and industry-adjacent organizations have written and spoken about how the architects of the War on Drugs used cannabis as a means to imprison people of color and opponents of the Vietnam War and some of the effects of prohibition that continue today.

Seven out of 10 Americans now support legalization. Fifteen states and Washington, D.C., have legalized cannabis for adult use, and 36 states and D.C. have legalized medical cannabis, not including CBD-only states. Only a handful of states have not decriminalized.

However, prohibition continues to lead to disproportionate arrests of Black people, restrict job prospects and other opportunities in society for those who are arrested, and prevent prisoners from providing for their families. In states where cannabis is legal for adult use, people are serving time for cannabis offenses for which they were arrested before legalization.

Legalization activists continue the push to legalize cannabis federally, and in the meantime, in individual states, these efforts are gaining momentum, as evidenced by the fact that six pieces of legislation passed in five states last week to legalize adult-use and medical cannabis.

Also, on Election Night, voters decided on several criminal justice measures. Below are descriptions of some of them and how they relate specifically to cannabis.

On Nov. 12, Ohio medical cannabis regulators and the Medical Marijuana Advisory Committee (MMAC) held a virtual meeting to discuss the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program.

Regulators shared numerous updates, including about cultivation, processing, testing, dispensing and patients.

Ohio Department of Commerce update

Ohio’s Department of Commerce regulates cultivators, processors and testing labs. Greg McIlvaine, senior policy adviser for the Ohio Department of Commerce, oversees that department’s role in the medical cannabis program and gave a presentation during the meeting.

Twenty-five cultivators, 24 processors and three labs are currently operational in Ohio, McIlvaine said. Because of Ohio House Bill 197, “COVID-19-response legislation,” he said provisional licensees have until Dec. 1 to take action on their licenses. The department expects provisional licensees to have their final inspections and certificates of operation soon after the deadline, he added.

“The Commerce team also continues to implement accountability measures to ensure quality testing, including review of testing labs’ standard operating procedures and evaluation methods, as well as engagement with METRC, which is our seed-to-sale tracking system, to implement configurations and other updates to better track licensees’ testing results,” McIlvaine said.

McIlvaine called attention to an October mandatory product recall of dark chocolate Encore Edibles sold by Canton processor Mother Grows Best. He said the edibles “exceeded the regulatory thresholds for cadmium.”

New Jersey lawmakers have pulled a bill to implement the state’s adult-use cannabis program amid criticism from social justice advocates, according to a WHYY report.

“The bill that was introduced was an egregious, audacious, insidious white man money grab,” Charles Boyer, director of Salvation and Social Justice and pastor of Bethel AME Church in Woodbury, told the news outlet.

Boyer criticized the number of licenses designated in the legislation for Black and Latino communities, instead calling for more opportunities for people in communities most impacted by the war on drugs, as well as for individuals with prior low-level drug convictions, WHYY reported.

New Jersey Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) introduced the bill, S.21/A.21, Nov. 6, just days after voters passed a legalization initiative on Election Day. The legislation, which largely mirrored an unsuccessful legalization bill Scutari sponsored last year, outlined how the state’s newly legal adult-use cannabis industry would operate.

The bill passed committees in the Senate and Assembly Nov. 9, WHYY reported, and Scutari and Senate President Steve Sweeney issued a joint statement after the hearing indicating that adult-use cannabis tax revenues should go to the communities most impacted by systemic racism in the criminal justice system.

“Of all the kinds of men, the farmer is the greatest speculator. He does not think of himself as a gambler, but he lives every day subject to such risks as would give a professional Wall Street operator nervous chills.” Those words were written in an introduction by Rexford G. Tugwell, Under Secretary of Agriculture in 1934, and Professor Harry J. Carman to “Essay Upon Field Husbandry in New England.”

As this quote implies, cannabis farmers take the most risk. No logical argument against this statement exists. They bet on each crop, and they often are the last to be paid. There is a certain intelligentsia emerging in cannabis which seems to dismiss farmers as the invisible component of what they fashion as the cannabis business. You will hear statements like “it is just farming,” or, “it is all about brands,” or the dismissive, “Starbucks doesn’t grow their own coffee.” This is the environment in which farmers live.

When looking at the current revenue-linked arrangements from farm to bowl, it is apparent that the cannabis supply chain breaks down without a stable and prospering grower community. When the dispensary doesn’t pay the wholesaler, the wholesaler doesn’t pay the farm, and the farmer may not be able to pay its employees and suppliers; in worst-case scenarios, the farm shuts down. Put more simply, if the farmer doesn’t get paid, then the farmer doesn’t grow.

Working backwards from the point-of-sale with the customer who innocently buys his eighth for the week, let’s assume a wholesaler provided the dispensary terms for its purchase. A typical arrangement might be Net 30; meaning, upon delivery, the dispensary has 30 days to pay for the product. When 30 days comes and goes, the ripple effect is tremendous. Using a basic understanding of the velocity of money, the more money turns over (gets handed from one party to another) the more economic activity is generated. (As an aside, the size of any economy is the amount of money in the system multiplied by the number of times the money turns over.)

This situation raises numerous issues of risk management. But working through those issues can lead to business practices that dramatically reduce risk. Cannabis risk management is the most hard-won wisdom a cannabis business will acquire. It is the result of the classic school of hard knocks curriculum.

Though we have given a simple grower, wholesaler, retailer mechanism as our example, the lessons to be learned are fairly generic and apply across the whole spectrum of cannabis verticals. Payment risk is the first truly systemic risk in the cannabis business.

SACRAMENTO – PRESS RELEASE – The Bureau of Cannabis Control (Bureau) has announced that it has awarded $29,950,494 in public university research grant funding to universities across California. 

“The research conducted through these public university grants will provide critical information for evaluating our legal cannabis system and its impacts,” Bureau of Cannabis Control Chief Lori Ajax said. “This research will be a valuable tool to inform future cannabis policy in California.”

Research proposals had to fall within one of the several specified categories, including public health, criminal justice and public safety, economic, environmental impacts, and the cannabis industry. A detailed description of the list of research subjects for grant funding can be found in Revenue and Taxation Code section 34019.

In total, the Bureau received more than 100 applications for grant funds up to $2 million for any specific proposal. After a thorough review process, the nearly $30 million was awarded to the following public universities for the following research proposals:

UC San Francisco - $2,000,000.00 - Comprehensive Analysis of Developmental Cannabis Exposure on Brain, Immune, and Sensory SystemsUC Santa Barbara - $1,999,191.00 - Surface Water Emissions from Cannabis Cultivation Sites: Quantity, Quality, Toxicity, and Relationships to Farmers' Practices CSU Dominguez Hills - $1,866,311.00 - Cannabis Industry in South Bay Los Angeles UC Berkeley - $1,827,596.00 - Local Regulation of Cannabis in California UC Los Angeles - $1,429,001.00 - Impact of Cannabis Potency on The Properties, Composition, and Toxicity of Inhaled and Second-Hand Smoke UC San Francisco - $1,384,466.00 - Effects of Chronic Cannabis Use on Endothelial Function UC Irvine - $1,351,556.00 - Exploring Cannabis Policies and Practices That Influence Adolescent Use: Evolution of Local Cannabis Law, Products, Sales, and Marketing UC San Diego - $1,321,833.00 - The Public Health Impact of Cannabis Legalization in California: A Comprehensive Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis by Age, Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Regions UC Los Angeles - $1,082,815.00 - Assessing the Feasibility and Consequences of Implementing a Cannabis Potency Tax in California UC San Francisco - $1,067,483.00 - The LEAF Study: Lung Effects and Function Associated with Cannabis Use UC Los Angeles - $1,048,857.00 - Study of Employment Conditions and Equity in California's Cannabis Industry UC San Francisco - $1,038,782.00 - Public Health Impacts of State Policies Mandating Point-of-Sale Warning Signs Regarding Cannabis Use During Pregnancy UC Davis - $1,034,730.00 - Understanding the Impact of Cannabis Use in Early Psychosis UC San Diego - $987,738.00 - Evaluating the Impacts of Packaging and Labeling on Cannabis Edible Use among Youth UC San Francisco - $952,540.00 - California Cannabis Poisonings Under Proposition 64 UC Los Angeles - $896,794.00 - Assessing the Impact of Proposition 64 on Cannabis Use, Maladaptive Cannabis Use, Cannabis Use Disorder Treatment, and Public Health UC San Diego - $887,101.00 - The Role of Cannabidiol in Anandamide-Related Improvement in Alexithymia and Health Outcomes UC Los Angeles - $781,707.00 - A Demographic Analysis of the California Licensed Cannabis Industry and Consumer Market UC Los Angeles - $758,517.00 - The Impact of Cannabis Marketing on California's Youth: Neuro-Behavioral Studies for Informing Policy UC Davis - $726,816.00 - Cannabis Industry: Assessment of the Location, Structure, Function, and Demographics of Licensed Cannabis, Focusing on Geographical Price Differences, and Differential Impacts of Local Prop-64 Related Regulations on the Competitiveness of Licensed Businesses UC Berkeley - $658,306.00 - Transformation of Unregulated Cannabis Cultivation Under Proposition 64 UC Davis - $655,564.00 - Economic Impacts: Market Prices for Licensed and Unlicensed Cannabis and the Effects of the Current and Alternate Cannabis Tax Structures and Tax Rates on the Private and Public Sectors in California, Including Government Administrative Costs and Revenues UC Davis - $562,240.00 - Environmental Impacts of Cannabis Cultivation in California As Affected by the Farm Economics of Licensed and Unlicensed Cannabis Production, Including Effects of Testing Regulations and Compliance with the Criminal Prohibition of Unlicensed Cannabis UC Berkeley - $489,762.00 - Assessing Environmental Impacts of Cannabis-Related Noise and Light Disturbance to Inform Management of California WildlifeUC Berkeley - $465,902.00 - Examining Tribal Sovereignty Over Cannabis Permitting on Native Ancestral Lands CSU Humboldt - $464,997.00 - Cannabis Business Entrepreneurs and Jobs UC Los Angeles - $414,183.00 - Understanding the Impact of Cannabis Marketing on Cannabis Use Disparities Among Sexual and Gender Minority Youth UC Berkeley - $328,916.00 - Cultivation Bans, Local Control, and the Effects and Efficacy of Proposition 64  UC Berkeley - $319,091.00 - Cannabis and Wildfire: Current Conditions, Future Threats, and Solutions for Farmers UC Berkeley - $314,417.00  - Cannabis Water-Use Impacts to Streamflow and Temperature in Salmon-Bearing Streams UC Berkeley - $270,269.00 - The Effect of Local Cannabis Regulation on Property Prices UC San Diego - $235,039.00 - Evaluating Risks and Benefits of Cannabis Use by Older Adults: A Pilot Study CSU Humboldt - $183,015.00 - The Economic Impact of Cannabis Legalization in Rural Northern California UC Davis - $144,949.00 - California Cannabis Workers: Perceptions, Beliefs, and Knowledge of Occupational Health and Industry Hazards

Mexico’s senators are considering a cannabis legalization bill ahead of a Dec. 15 deadline set by the Supreme Court to pass legislation to regulate adult-use cannabis, according to a Reuters report.

The Senate’s health, justice and legislative studies commissions took up the bill Nov. 13, the news outlet reported.

The legislation would allow licensed businesses to sell cannabis and legalize the possession of up to 28 grams, while also allowing adults to grow up to four plants at home, according to Reuters.

The bill also establishes the Mexican Institute for Regulation and Cannabis Control within the country’s Health Ministry, the news outlet reported.

The Mexico Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that an absolute ban on adult-use cannabis was unconstitutional, which forced lawmakers to regulate it at the federal level.

This week, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced plans for a December vote on the MORE Act, which would federally decriminalize cannabis by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act. Elsewhere, in New Jersey, Sen. Nicholas Scutari introduced legislation to implement the state’s adult-use cannabis program, just days after voters passed a legalization initiative on Election Day.

Here, we’ve rounded up the 10 headlines you need to know before this week is over.

Federal: The U.S. House is planning a December floor vote on the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, legislation that would federally decriminalize cannabis by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act. In a Nov. 9 letter to colleagues, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer outlined the legislative schedule for the lame-duck session in November and December, and said lawmakers will take up the bill next month after postponing a September vote on the legislation. Read moreNearly seven in 10 Americans support legalizing the possession and use of cannabis by adults, according to nationwide polling data compiled and reported by Gallup. Sixty-eight percent of respondents endorse legalization—the highest percentage of support ever reported in a national Gallup poll. Read moreNew Jersey: New Jersey Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) has introduced legislation to implement the state’s adult-use cannabis program, just days after voters passed a legalization initiative on Election Day. The bill, S.21/A.21, outlines how the state’s newly legal cannabis industry will operate, and largely mirrors an unsuccessful legalization bill Scutari sponsored last year. Read moreIn another effort to roll out the state’s adult-use cannabis market, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has named two members to the state’s five-member Cannabis Regulatory Commission, which will oversee the state’s medical and newly legal adult-use cannabis industries. Murphy has named Dianna Houenou, associate counsel and senior policy adviser to the governor and former policy counsel for the ACLU-NJ, as the chair of the commission, and Jeff Brown, the current assistant commissioner of the Department of Health who oversees the state’s medical cannabis program, as the executive director of the commission. Read moreTennessee: Sen. Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma) has announced plans for a new medical cannabis legalization bill. Bowling, who has backed legislation to legalize medical cannabis in the state for years, plans to introduce the new bill when the state legislature re-convenes in January. Read moreMassachusetts: Gov. Charlie Baker has issued an executive order to implement a coronavirus-related business curfew that requires all adult-use cannabis sales to end at 9:30 p.m., although medical cannabis sales can continue past the curfew under the order, which went into effect Nov. 6. The rules are part of a new stay-at-home advisory, which aims to address a second wave of COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts. Read morePennsylvania: The Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Advisory Board held a quarterly meeting this week, where it rejected adding insomnia to the state’s list of qualifying conditions. The board voted 7-4 to reject insomnia as a new qualifying condition, and tabled a discussion on whether to add traumatic brain injuries to the list. Read moreTexas: State lawmakers have pre-filed several bills that would expand Texas’ medical cannabis program and legalize adult-use ahead of the 2021 legislative session. New legislation introduced by Sen. Jose Mendez, S.B. 90, would allow doctors to recommend medical cannabis to patients with any condition they deem necessary, while Rep. Roland Gutierrez has pre-filed S.B. 140 to legalize adult-use cannabis in the state. Read moreIllinois: Sangamon County Judge Adam Giganti has allowed Illinois regulators to rescore cannabis applications as part of the state’s controversial licensing process to issue 75 new dispensary licenses. On Nov. 12, Giganti denied a request to bar officials from rescoring the applications, ruling that the plaintiffs have not shown that they will be irreparably harmed by allowing the licensing do-over to continue. Read moreMontana: The Montana Department of Revenue has announced preparations for licensing adult-use cannabis businesses. The department will make cultivation and retail licenses available by Oct. 1, 2021, and under Montana’s recently approved adult-use cannabis law, only licensed medical cannabis businesses can apply for adult-use licenses for the first 12 months after they become available. Read more

While the industry likely focused on the five states that had cannabis legalization measures on the ballot Election Day, as well as the presidential race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, several other issues, including shifts in Congress and gubernatorial races, also have the power to shape the market.

RELATED: How U.S. House, Senate Results Could Influence Cannabis Legislation

Among the notable gubernatorial races were those in Vermont, New Hampshire and Indiana, where all three of the states’ incumbent governors were up for—and won—re-election.

Vermont

In Vermont, voters re-elected Gov. Phil Scott (R), who recently permitted legislation to become law that will establish a taxed-and-regulated adult-use cannabis market in the state.

Senate Bill 54 cleared the Vermont House and Senate in September, and Scott let the measure become law without his signature.

The Montana Department of Revenue has announced preparations for licensing adult-use cannabis businesses, according to an NBC Montana report.

The department will make cultivation and retail licenses available by Oct. 1, 2021, the news outlet reported.

“There’s a lot of work ahead before the first legal sale of non-medical marijuana in Montana, and before the first license is issued,” Department of Revenue Director Gene Walborn told NBC Montana. “We look forward to working with the public and all interested parties as we develop guidelines around this new industry to move it forward, while also protecting public safety and raising revenue for the state of Montana.”

Under Montana’s recently approved adult-use cannabis law, only licensed medical cannabis businesses can apply for adult-use licenses for the first 12 months after they become available, according to the news outlet, and the Montana Legislature is expected to address additional regulations for the program during the upcoming legislative session.

Ohio regulators are considering whether the state needs more medical cannabis dispensaries, according to a Cleveland.com report.

Officials announced Nov. 12 that they will base their decision on the distance of existing retailers from patients’ homes, the news outlet reported.

According to a recent state survey, 38.25% of patients enrolled in Ohio’s medical cannabis program travel up to 10 miles to a dispensary, while 42% of patients travel 10 to 30 miles, Cleveland.com reported.

Officials from the Ohio Board of Pharmacy are analyzing data from the state’s prescription drug database, which includes information about medical cannabis purchases, to compare the locations of dispensaries to patients’ addresses, according to the news outlet.

When Ohio legalized medical cannabis in 2016, the Board of Pharmacy divided the state into regions and allocated a set number of dispensaries to each, Cleveland.com reported. The state currently has 52 operational dispensaries and five more that are working toward opening.