Vermont Archives - Green Market Report

StaffOctober 11, 2022
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4min00

The Daily Hit is a recap of cannabis business news for Oct. 11, 2022.

ON THE SITE

More MSOs Move Into West Virginia’s Medical Marijuana Market

As the medical cannabis industry in West Virginia begins to bear fruit, the state is finding more multistate tenants vying for a slice of the pie. Canadian-based Heritage Cannabis Holdings (OTCQX: HERTF) said that has officially begun operations in the state alongside its production partner, Harvest Care Medical, joining the likes of Trulieve (OTC: TCNNF), Verano Holdings (OTC: VRNOF) and Columbia Care, which is now owned by Cresco Labs (CSE: CL). Read more here.

Michigander Sues New York Over Residency for Cannabis Licenses

Variscite NY One, an LLC owned by Kenneth Gay, is suing the state of New York, the New York State Office of Cannabis Management, and its executive director, Christopher Alexander, over the state’s decision to award its first cannabis licenses to New Yorkers who have been incarcerated or arrested for the plant. Read more here.

Vermont Launches Adult-Use Sales, Dozens More Retailers Yet to Open

Vermont launched recreational cannabis sales the first day of October, and though the operators who did open their doors were delighted by the customer turnout, they also know more competition is right around the corner as additional stores continue to open. Read more here.

Court Ruling Could Pave Way for Cannabis Paraphernalia Imports, Exports

According to Above the Law, Canada-based Eteros Technologies was stopped by Customs and Border Protection while importing automated trimming machinery to Washington state last year. Eteros sued, arguing that there’s an exemption written into the Controlled Substances Act for localities that have legalized cannabis where paraphernalia is concerned. Read more here.

IN OTHER NEWS

Cansortium

Cansortium (CSE: TIUM.U) (OTCQX: CNTMF), a vertically integrated cannabis company operating under the Fluent brand, announced that Patricia Fonseca will resign as chief financial officer of the company, effective Nov. 21. Fonseca has been with the company since March 2021. Read more here.

Fire & Flower Holdings Corp.

Fire & Flower Holdings Corp. (TSX: FAF) (OTCQX: FFLWF), a cannabis consumer retail and technology platform, entered into an amended and rested option agreement with an option to acquire Fire & Flower U.S. and an amended licensing agreement to deploy the Hifyre technology platform in the United States. Fire & Flower U.S. is also in the final stages of submitting applications for five cannabis retail store locations in the state of New Mexico. Read more here.


StaffOctober 10, 2022
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6min00

The Daily Hit is a recap of cannabis business news for Oct. 10, 2022.

ON THE SITE

More on the Exodus From the Top at Green Thumb Industries

Board members weren’t the only ones who resigned last week from marijuana company Green Thumb Industries (OTC: GTBIF). The company’s general counsel, Beth Burk, also departed, according to a U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission filing made Oct. 7. Burk resigned Oct. 4, along with three of GTI’s four independent directors. Read more here.

Michigan Fines Retailer, Suspends License Over Untracked Cannabis

Michigan authorities on Monday announced that The House of Mary Jane, a Detroit cannabis retailer, will have its license suspended for 30 days and be fined $75,000 after the company pleaded no contest to having cannabis products on-site that weren’t registered with the state marijuana product tracking system. Read more here.

Smoke Shops Popping Up Like Weeds in NYC in Anticipation of Legal Cannabis

All around New York City, smoke shops have been popping up like weeds, but not always just to sell tobacco, bongs and other paraphernalia. Some retailers hope to procure a coveted retail license to sell cannabis legally once they become widely available. Read more here.

Indigenous Communities Create Their Space in Cannabis Industry

While states continue to struggle to find the right formula around social equity, Indigenous communities have decided to stop waiting and forge a path for themselves in cannabis. New York state is a perfect example. To date, the only legal adult-use retailers operating in the state are on the Mohawk Indian tribal lands upstate. Other tribes, such as the Cayuga in central New York, have permitted sales through other businesses, such as gas stations. Read more here.

New Biden Push Could Have Major Financial Ramifications for Cannabis Industry

The news on Thursday that President Joe Biden had launched a formal review of cannabis’ status as a Schedule 1 controlled narcotic sent a shiver of joy down the industry’s collective spine, in part because of what it could mean on the financial front. Longer term, if the Biden administration moves cannabis lower on the list of controlled substances or yanks it off altogether, that will almost certainly resolve major financial hurdles such as the 280E provision of the federal tax code, which prohibits standard business deductions. Read more here.

Could Interstate Cannabis Commerce Become a Reality?

The possibility of legal cannabis companies shipping goods across state lines to other markets within the United States has been an industry talking point for years. Oregon activists even got a law approved in 2019 to prime the state for just such a development. A new bill introduced in New Jersey might move the idea from pipe dream to reality. Read more here.

IN OTHER NEWS

New York Harvest

Cannabis farmers in New York state are starting their first harvest to supply the adult-use market. Edward Kirkham, chief operating officer of HPI Canna, one of more than 200 hemp farmers in New York licensed to grow the state’s first crop of adult-use cannabis, said they will be harvesting one acre of flowering canopy this week. Read more here.

Michigan

Many marijuana business leaders in Michigan say they’re ready for increased enforcement on illicit marijuana that’s sneaking into an already saturated market now that Brian Hanna, who previously worked for the Michigan state police, has been named acting director of the Cannabis Regulatory Agency. Black market marijuana potentially damages the integrity and safety of the market, resulting in plummeting marijuana prices and stiff competition, the legal operators argue. Read more here.

Vermont

A little over a week after the rollout date, the Vermont Cannabis Control Board is working on processing over 30 more applications from businesses that want to sell adult-use pot, and more retailers are getting ready to open their doors. Read more here.


StaffFebruary 23, 2021
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7min00

Massachusetts lawmakers are moving forward to decriminalize psychedelic drugs. The effort began at the city level when Somerville and Cambridge adopted measures that would make possession of psychedelics a low law enforcement priority. Now it has moved to a state-wide initiative.

Cambridge

Cambridge’s city order read, “Drug policy in the United States and the so-called “War on Drugs” has historically led to unnecessary penalization, arrest, and incarceration of vulnerable people, particularly people of color and of limited financial means, instead of prioritizing harm-reduction policies that treat drug abuse as an issue of public health. Entheogenic plants, which include a spectrum of natural plants, fungi, and natural materials, have been used for centuries by people in different cultures to address conditions including substance abuse, addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), elements of Persistent Traumatic Stress Environment (PTSE) conditions, chronic depression, end-of-life anxiety, grief, cluster headaches, and tendencies toward recidivism, as well as to improve mental and socio-emotional health.”

The city resolved that the Middlesex County District Attorney  should “Cease the prosecution of persons involved in the use, possession, or distribution of entheogenic plants and the use or possession without the intent to distribute of any controlled substance.” It went on to say that the use and possession of all controlled substances should be understood first and primarily as an issue of public health by city departments, agencies, boards, commissions, and all employees of the city and that it should be the policy of the City of Cambridge that the arrest of adult persons for using or possessing controlled substances shall be amongst the lowest law enforcement priority for the City of Cambridge.

State

Marijuana Moment reported that the state Senate version of the legislation, SD 2248, was introduced Friday by Sen. Julian Cyr (D) and was virtually identical to the House bill. Both measures are titled “An Act Relative to Harm Reduction and Racial Justice.” This bill stated, “No person knowingly or intentionally shall possess a controlled substance unless such substance was obtained directly, or pursuant to a valid prescription or order, from a practitioner while acting in the course of his professional practice, or except as otherwise authorized by the provisions of this chapter.” It also limits any fines to $50.

A separate House bill introduced by Mike Connolly (D) on Friday would move even further than decriminalization and would set the stage for regulated sales of certain drugs. The House bill, HD 3829 language states that an interagency task force would be created to study the public health and social justice implications of legalizing the possession, consumption, transportation, and distribution of naturally cultivated entheogenic plants and fungi. The task force will be made up of 21 members.

“The task force shall: (i) compile and review research regarding the physiological and psychological effects of entheogenic plants and fungi; (ii) compile testimony and data on the experiences of communities across the United States—including Somerville (MA), Cambridge (MA), Denver (CO), Oakland (CA), Santa Cruz (CA), Ann Arbor (MI), sovereign native lands, Washington D.C. and Oregon. The task force shall file a report of its findings and recommendations, together with drafts of legislation necessary to carry those recommendations into effect, by filing the same with the clerks of the senate and the house of representatives, the chairs of the senate and house committees on ways and means, the senate and house chairs of the joint committee on public health, the senate and house chairs of the joint committee on the judiciary, the senate and house chairs of the joint committee on public safety and homeland security not later than June 2022.”

“Our coalition owes these bills to our volunteers across the Commonwealth,” the group Bay Staters for Natural Medicine, which was behind the successful local decriminalization efforts in Somerville and Cambridge, told Marijuana Moment in a statement. “From the vicious pain of opioid addiction and cluster headaches to the exclusion of people of color from the mental health care system, it’s your stories of redemption and hope that have created this movement.”

“I’m looking forward to a dialogue in Massachusetts to identify the most effective and evidence-based public health and harm reduction strategies that should replace the failed drug war,” Shaleen Title, a former Massachusetts cannabis regulator and longtime drug policy activist, told Marijuana Moment.

Vermont

Vermont, which borders Massachusetts is also laying the groundwork for some sort of decriminalization. The Vermont Digger reported that Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George was suggesting laws to that effect as a means to combat addiction issues. Rep. Selene Colburn, P/D-Burlington said, “a bill to decriminalize drugs across the board was still being drafted but would be introduced in the Legislature later this session at a press conference.”

 

 

 


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The Green Market Report focuses on the financial news of the rapidly growing cannabis industry. Our target approach filters out the daily noise and does a deep dive into the financial, business and economic side of the cannabis industry. Our team is cultivating the industry’s critical news into one source and providing open source insights and data analysis


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