Tag: legalized marijuana

Top Ohio Lawmaker Wants To Restrict Marijuana Homegrow Rights And Strengthen THC Potency Caps

Republican lawmakers in Ohio are once again aiming to scale back parts of the state’s voter-approved marijuana legalization law, looking to a proposal from last year that would have decreased allowable THC levels in state-legal cannabis products, reduced the number of plants that adults can grow at home and increased costs for consumers at dispensaries.

Those provisions, backed by Senate President Matt Huffman (R), were added to separate House legislation last year and passed by the Senate. House lawmakers ultimately blocked the Senate changes, however, with some members emphasizing the importance of protecting the will of voters, who passed the legalization law on a 53–47 margin in November 2023.

Come next month, however, Huffman will take over as speaker of the House, having won a seat in last month’s election and subsequently being chosen for the leadership role by colleagues. The move is widely expected to give Huffman new power to push his marijuana proposal forward.

“There were some fundamental flaws in the initiative that was introduced and passed by the voters, which you usually have when there’s not a vetting from all sides,” Huffman told reporters last week about the voter-approved marijuana law. “The bill that the Senate passed last December addresses many of those things.”

Initially, changes backed by Hoffman would have eliminated home cultivation rights entirely for Ohio adults and criminalized all cannabis obtained anywhere other than a state-licensed retailer. Those amendments would have also reduced the marijuana possession limit, raised sales tax on cannabis purchases and diverted funding away from social equity programs and toward law enforcement.

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New York’s Legal Marijuana Market Set To Pass $1 Billion In Sales By End Of 2024

New York’s legal marijuana market is expected to hit a major milestone in the next month as retailers pass $1 billion in products sold since stores opened two years ago.

As of last week, the total sales figure stood at $863.9 million—up from $500 million in August, according to data from the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM). The state is set to surpass the billion-dollar sales mark by the end of December, officials predict.

“These numbers clearly indicate that New York is open for business,” John Kagia, OCM’s policy director, told the New York Post, which first reported the impending $1 billion milestone. “There’s strong momentum behind the market right now.”

After a slow rollout in its first year marked by lawsuits and other delays, legal marijuana sales in New York have picked up significantly in the past several months. Regulators say that’s the result of more licensed businesses opening as well as what they describe as a successful crackdown on unlicensed shops.

This spring, for example, officials in New York City launched Operation Padlock, an enforcement initiative meant to shutter illegal storefronts. Since then, licensed shops that were open before the operation began have since seen sales climb 105 percent, according to an OCM survey.

A spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) told the Post that enforcement actions statewide shut down more than 1,000 illegal dispensaries.

“Her policies have helped transform the industry, increase revenues for local businesses and spur reinvestments in the communities most harmed by historical wrongs—all while building the most equitable cannabis market in the nation,” the spokesperson said.

Hochul argued in June that there’s a direct correlation between the stepped-up enforcement and “dramatically” increased legal sales.

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Colorado Springs Voters Approve Two Contradictory Marijuana Ballot Measures To Both Allow And Ban Recreational Sales

Colorado Springs voters approved two competing ballot measures this week, one that would ban retail marijuana in the city and another that would allow existing medical marijuana stores to also sell recreationally.

As of 6 p.m. on Wednesday night, about 53 percent of voters approved Ballot Issue 2D, a city charter amendment referred by City Council that would prohibit sales within city limits. About the same share of voters also approved Ballot Question 300, an initiated ordinance which would allow the approximately 90 medical marijuana stores in the city to apply for a recreational license.

Mayor Yemi Mobolade said the result creates “a really interesting legal dilemma for us,” according to Westword.

“Although the election is not final until the results are certified, it appears as though both Ballot Question 2D and Ballot Question 300 will have been approved by the voters. If this is the case, Ballot Question 300 must be read, interpreted, and implemented in a manner to be consistent and harmonious with Ballot Question 2D,” city spokesperson Max D’Onofrio wrote in an email.

The city charter takes precedence over ordinances, so provisions of Ballot Question 300 that conflict with Ballot Issue 2D cannot be implemented, which appears to mean recreational marijuana sales would continue to be outlawed. D’Onofrio said the city is currently reviewing the ballot language. City Council next meets on November 12.

At the same time, backers of Ballot Issue 2D are optimistic.

“When all the votes are counted and the will of voters is given effect, responsible regulation will be law and the city council’s cynical ploy will be defeated,” Citizens for Responsible Marijuana Regulation said in a statement. “We know that those in municipal government will defer to the clearly expressed intent of voters to authorize recreational marijuana, and we look forward to working with city leaders over the coming months to create a responsible regulatory framework.”

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‘Outdated’ Marijuana Packaging Rules Make It ‘Impossible’ For Cannabis Industry To Be Environmentally Sustainable, Study Says

A newly published study of product packaging from the commercial marijuana industry concludes that the market shift toward vape pens in recent years has been “a seismic event for cannabis waste,” with packaging from California’s legal market now nearly on par with that of household pharmaceuticals in the state.

But while there’s “a robust infrastructure in place for reverse distribution” of pharmaceuticals, the study notes, “no such infrastructure exists for cannabis waste at large scale.”

The new research, by Oaksterdam University researcher Mitchell Colbert, published this week in the standards organization ATSM International’s Journal of Testing and Evaluation, also highlights how state cannabis regulations contribute to excessive cannabis waste that doesn’t exist for other industries.

The paper describes itself as “a novel attempt to estimate the volume of cannabis consumer packaging waste produced in California each year…and compare it with other household hazardous waste (HHW).”

It notes that while California regulators collected waste data through the state’s track-and-trace program, that information “is not publicly available even with a state Public Records Act request to the [Department of Cannabis Control].” Instead the study looked at a sample of cannabis packaging of 256 California cannabis products from 138 manufacturers, combining those findings with sales data on the number of product units sold.

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Kamala Claims She Will Legalize Recreational Marijuana in Last-Ditch Vote Pandering Scheme After JAILING People for Pot Possession

Kamala Harris took to social media on Sunday, just days before Election Day, with a claim that she will legalize recreational marijuana. Unfortunately for the Democrat presidential hopeful, she made her career on locking up individuals who were in possession of small amounts of weed.

“I will legalize recreational marijuana, break down unjust legal barriers, and create opportunities for all Americans to succeed in this new industry,” Harris said in a social media post on Sunday.

1,560 people were sent to state prison for marijuana-related offenses in California under then-state attorney general Harris.

“Under Harris’s six-year tenure, hundreds were sent to state prisons for marijuana-related offenses, crime records show,” The Washington Free Beacon said in 2019.

On a debate stage in Detroit, Michigan in 2019, Tulsi Gabbard, then a Hawaii representative and rival for the Democratic nomination lambasted Harris over her anti-pot record.

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NYC law used to shutter unlicensed weed bodegas is unconstitutional, judge rules

A Queens judge ruled Tuesday that the local law that let New York City rapidly shut down more than 1,000 businesses accused of selling cannabis without licenses is unconstitutional because it denies shop owners their rights to due process.

The decision calls the legality of the closures into question and has the potential to halt the city’s enforcement effort, known as Operation Padlock to Protect, which Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly hailed as a success.

Liz Garcia, a spokesperson for the mayor, said Tuesday the city will appeal the ruling.

“Illegal smoke shops and their dangerous products endanger young New Yorkers and our quality of life, and we continue to padlock illicit storefronts and protect communities from the health and safety dangers posed by illegal operators,” she said.

The city updated its administrative code earlier this year to make it easier to shut down stores suspected of selling cannabis without licenses. But New York Supreme Court Justice Kevin Kerrigan has ruled that the portions of the city’s law that allow the sheriff to unilaterally decide whether to keep a store closed for up to a year are unconstitutional.

Under the law, the owner of a business that has been padlocked for allegedly selling cannabis without a license is entitled to a hearing with the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, or OATH. After listening to the facts of the case, the hearing officer makes a recommendation as to whether the store should remain closed.

But the ultimate decision is up to the sheriff — and lawyers representing businesses that have been shut down say it’s not uncommon for the sheriff to ignore OATH’s recommendations.

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Legalizing Natural Marijuana Is The Pathway To Protect Public Health, Not Pretending Synthetic THC Products Are Hemp

In a recent op-ed by the Reason Foundation titled “Banning Hemp Products Isn’t The Way to Protect Public Health,” the author correctly makes the case that bans are often ineffective and can push consumers toward more dangerous, unregulated markets. However, the Reason Foundation overlooks a crucial distinction in this case: that most “hemp products” referred to in the piece are in fact synthetic THC products, and they are sold as substitutes for natural—but federally illegal—marijuana.

The change in federal law has led to an explosion of unregulated intoxicating products in the marketplace that masquerade as “hemp” products.

Synthetically converted THC such as delta-8, HHC, THC-O, THC-P etc. are lab-created and do not exist naturally in large enough quantities for mass production. Yet, these molecules are being commercialized at scale in labs and sold outside the purview of regulation as “hemp.”

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Managers Of New York Cannabis Social Equity Fund Earned $1.7 Million Despite Accusations Of Predatory Lending And Mission Failure

They haven’t come close to fulfilling Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) goal of helping 150 people victimized by the state’s old, racially biased drug laws enter the legal cannabis business—and some they have assisted fear their dispensary dreams are collapsing.

But the three managers of a public–private loan fund established to carry out the primary social mission of New York’s sweeping cannabis legalization program are doing just fine.

Records obtained by THE CITY show that they earned $1.7 million over the most recently tallied 12-month period and stand to make millions more in years to come, even though the New York Cannabis Social Equity Investment Fund has faced charges of predatory lending, secrecy and mission failure. By a conservative estimate computed by THE CITY, the managers’ longterm haul could easily come to $15 million over a decade.

The state selected the three managers, who operate under the almost identical name of Social Equity Impact Ventures, after a bidding process in June 2022: Bill Thompson, a former New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate; the former NBA star Chris Webber; and Lavetta Willis, a former sneaker entrepreneur based in Los Angeles.

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Federal Court Upholds Order Requiring Alaska Airlines To Rehire Worker Who Was Fired Over Positive Marijuana Test

A federal judge in Seattle has rejected an effort by Alaska Airlines to overturn an arbitration order reinstating the employment of an aircraft maintenance technician whom the company fired over a positive test for THC.

The worker insisted that he did not knowingly use cannabis and was unaware of how the drug entered his system, speculating he may have accidentally eaten an infused edible at a neighborhood block party.

The employee, Gregory Chappell, was given a random drug test in July 2022. The level of THC metabolites came back above a minimum threshold, and he was immediately fired given the safety-sensitive nature of his lead aircraft maintenance technician (AMT) role.

Chappell denied using marijuana and said it was possible he’d unwittingly consumed an edible at the neighborhood party, where none of the potluck foods were labeled. The airline did not investigate that claim, instead relying on the company’s policy against drug use by safety sensitive employees.

Chappell’s union challenged the firing, and in October of last year, an arbitration panel reversed his termination.

Alaska Airlines promptly filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to undo the arbitration board’s decision, arguing that it was undisputed Chappell failed the marijuana test. The company said the employee’s claim “that he may have unknowingly and accidentally ingested a marijuana edible at a block party simply” amounted to “a fantastical story” and “bizarre speculation,” according to the arbitration panel’s account of the case.

But in a federal court order on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John H. Chun rejected the company’s challenge, ruling that the arbitration board “did not exceed its jurisdiction” in ordering Chappell be rehired.

“To vacate an adjustment board’s award, a court must conclude that the board’s reasoning was ‘wholly without foundation in…fact,’” the court wrote.

“And insofar as Alaska Airlines contests the Board’s reinstatement of Chappell,” the decision continues, “Alaska Airlines cites no authority suggesting that the board’s remedy was unfair, much less warranting judicial intrusion in an area over which the Board has special expertise.”

The judge further awarded the union attorneys fees and costs for the case, though it remanded the matter to the arbitration board to determine how to handle backpay and benefits for the past year.

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Arizona Court Says Marijuana Users Must Actually Be Impaired To Be Punished For DUI

The state can’t suspend someone’s driver’s license because they have THC in their bloodstream unless they are actually impaired while behind the wheel, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled, upholding a provision in a marijuana legalization law that voters passed in 2020.

Aaron Kirsten was pulled over for speeding in Sedona in October 2022, and the police officer saw that he had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and was unsteady on his feet. Kirsten refused a field sobriety test, but when he did a breathalyzer test, he blew a 0.083, slightly above the legal limit, and he was arrested.

While in custody, Kirsten consented to a blood draw, but the Department of Public Safety’s analysis showed his blood alcohol content was just 0.063, less than the 0.08 maximum BAC allowed under state law.

But DPS also tested Kirsten’s blood for drugs and found he had tetrahydrocannabinol metabolites. As a result, the Arizona Department of Transportation suspended his license for 90 days, citing a state law that bars driving if THC metabolites are present.

At an administrative appeal, Kirsten testified that he hadn’t consumed THC in the 24 hours prior to his arrest, and any effects from the THC he had consumed had long ago passed. A family member who is a nurse and chiropractor also testified on Kirsten’s behalf, telling the administrative law judge that THC metabolites—the compounds that form as the body breaks down a substance—can stay in the blood for weeks after consumption.

But the administrative law judge said it was “irrelevant” whether Kirsten had smoked marijuana within 24 hours of his arrest and sided with ADOT, ruling that the agency didn’t need to prove he was impaired by THC to suspend his license for using it previously.

Kirsten appealed the ruling to the Maricopa County Superior Court, which upheld the administrative judge’s reasoning.

But the appellate court said both got it wrong and effectively ignored voter-created laws that bars the state from punishing drivers who have legally used marijuana products but are not impaired while driving.

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