Tag: legalized marijuana

Minnesota Signs First-Of-Its-Kind Agreement Allowing Indian Tribe To Sell Legal Marijuana Outside Reservation

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (DFL) has signed a landmark agreement with the White Earth Nation that will allow the tribe to operate up to eight retail marijuana stores across the state. Already the tribe is preparing to open storefronts in Moorhead and St. Cloud.

Walz signed the new compact on Tuesday, making White Earth Nation—also known as the White Earth Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe—the first tribal entity in the state to reach an agreement with the state on selling legal cannabis outside of tribal land.

Notably, Minnesota’s 2023 cannabis legalization law allows tribes within the state to open marijuana businesses before state licensing of businesses begins. Following the law’s enactment, a number of tribal governments, including White Earth Nation, the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, made early moves to enter the market.

Minnesota officials said the next compact with another tribe could be signed within a few weeks.

The new agreement with White Earth will allow the storefronts to be located off tribal land but still be regulated by tribal authorities. It also requires at least some distance between the storefronts, with the tribe limited to no more than one retail location per city and three per county.

Under the compact, White Earth will also be able to open marijuana cultivation and manufacturing facilities off of tribal land and engage in wholesale transactions, transportation and delivery of cannabis.

The interim director of the Minnesota’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), Eric Taubel, described the state’s new deal with White Earth Nation to local reporters as a “nation-leading approach to cannabis compacting.”

“We’ll be the first state where not only are tribes operating cannabis businesses off tribal land, but they’re also doing so under tribal regulatory authority,” he told The Minnesota Star-Tribune, adding that Minnesota cannabis regulators will still be permitted to conduct an annual facility inspection and can take further steps if they believe stores are selling risky products.

Taubel also said that while the White Earth compact allows up to eight dispensary locations, he doubts that any of the 11 recognized tribal nations in Minnesota will actually open that many.

“Candidly, I don’t suspect any tribe will get past about three to four stores for the next two years just because of the actual cost in setting up these stores,” Taubel said.

Zach Wilson, CEO of Waabigwan Mashkiki—White Earth Nation’s cannabis business—told the Star-Tribune that the first off-reservation store could open as soon as this weekend.

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Federal Judge Blocks Voter-Approved Oregon Law Requiring Marijuana Businesses To Have Labor Peace Agreements With Workers

A federal judge has struck down a voter-approved Oregon law that required licensed marijuana businesses enter into labor peace agreements with workers and mandated that employers remain neutral in discussions around unionization.

About three months after two marijuana businesses—Bubble’s Hash and Ascend Dispensary—filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon challenging the implementation of Measure 119, Judge Michael Simon on Tuesday ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, agreeing that the law unconstitutionally restricts free speech and violates the federal National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

Under the now defunct law, a marijuana businesses that was unable to provide proof of a labor peace agreement could have been subject a denial or revocation of their license.

The lawsuit named Gov. Tina Kotek (D), Attorney General Dan Rayfield (D) and Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission’s (OLCC) Dennis Doherty and Craig Prins as defendants.

In the order on Tuesday, the judge walked through various components of the legal arguments from both sides and ultimately agreed that the Oregon law is preempted by the NLRA, which is meant to provide protections for workers who want to unionize—but specifically preserves the right for “uninhibited, robust, and wide-open debate in labor disputes.”

By mandating neutrality from employers in labor discussions, that constitutes a violation of the NLRA, the judge ruled.

“Measure 119 does not distinguish between permissible employer speech and threatening or coercive speech,” Simon said. “Measure 119 is not limited to restricting only threatening, coercive, false, or misleading speech, but instead prohibits all speech by employers that is not ‘neutral’ toward unionization.”

On the question of whether the law violates First Amendment protections under the U.S. Constitution, the cannabis companies argued that “Measure 119 is a content-based restriction on speech that is subject to strict scrutiny, and that Defendants fail to provide a compelling government interest requiring this restriction.”

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New York Officials Take Steps To Expand Marijuana Farmers Market Program

New York marijuana regulators are moving forward with new proposed regulations around the state’s so-called “cannabis showcase” program, which allows licensed businesses to sell to consumers at pop-up, farmers market-like events.

Members of the Cannabis Control Board (CCB), which oversees the state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), voted without opposition at a meeting on Tuesday to advance the 23-page showcase expansion plan, which next proceeds to a public comment stage.

The new rules follow the enactment of legislation signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in March that built on the existing showcase program, which was first created in 2023.

In a presentation to the board on Tuesday, John Kagia, OCM’s director of policy, said the program has “proved to be a particularly compelling way for the new, fast-growing, regulated cannabis market to get out in the community, to build relationships with consumers and to begin the process of normalizing cannabis in the state of New York.”

Between summer 2023 and the end of that year, he noted, New York saw over 60 showcase events that together brought in more than $10 million in revenue for participating businesses.

“It really established that there was real interest, both from the licensees and from the communities where these events were being hosted, to allow cannabis to exist out of the four walls of our retail dispensaries,” Kagia said.

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Montana Governor Signs Bill Directing Marijuana Tax Revenue Toward Environmental Conservation And Wildlife

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) announced on Friday that he had recently signed House Bill 932, a proposal that would expand uses for the conservation-dedicated tax revenues the state collects on recreational marijuana sales.

Under HB 932, the scope of wildlife habitat protection and improvement supported with marijuana taxes will broaden to include projects implemented on private land. The law is slated to take effect July 1.

Before the latest legislative reform, Habitat Montana was the sole beneficiary of the roughly $10 million of habitat-conservation-dedicated funding that marijuana revenues support. In recent years, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) has used Habitat Montana to purchase new Wildlife Management Areas and secure both perpetual conservation easements and 40-year conservation leases.

With HB 932 in play this summer, that $10 million of conservation funding will all go into a new account: the “habitat legacy account.”

From there, it will be further divided into three separate funding buckets.

Most of the money, 75 percent, will support Habitat Montana and state water projects. Roughly 20 percent of the remainder will be funneled into an existing program called the Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program, or WHIP, and 5 percent will be directed toward the newly established wildlife crossings account that seeks to reduce the wildlife-vehicle collisions that plague the state’s highways and interstates.

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Maryland Governor Signs Marijuana Bills To Legalize Homemade Concentrates, Set Consumption Lounge Rules And Shield Conviction Records

The governor of Maryland has signed a series of cannabis bills, including one that will require state officials to automatically shield records for low-level marijuana convictions that have been pardoned from public access, and to more broadly expand expungement eligibility for certain other offenses.

Gov. Wes Moore (D) on Tuesday also gave final approval to a separate bill meant to clear up policies around on-site marijuana consumption businesses, lay out the plan for a second cannabis licensing lottery round and allow business owners to sell their companies to employees ahead of a current five-year waiting period.

And he further signed off on legislation that will allow adults to manufacture marijuana edibles and concentrates for personal use.

“Marylanders who have served their time and turned their lives around are being unfairly blocked from jobs, housing and opportunity—and that doesn’t just hurt them, it hurts all of us,” Moore said ahead of the expungement bill signing.

“I want to be very clear: This is not about letting criminals or repeat offenders off the hook. It’s about common sense,” he said. “The people who will be helped out by this reform are our neighbors and our parents, even people in our congregation. They’re people who just want to move forward but keep hitting a wall made of paperwork.”

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Alcohol Retailers Say Only They Should Be Able To Legally Sell Marijuana Products

A new policy memo from an American alcohol retail industry group argues that marijuana should be regulated more like booze—including by requiring that intoxicating cannabis products be sold only by businesses licensed to sell alcohol.

“States should restrict the sale of intoxicating THC products to businesses licensed to sell beverage alcohol and that are regularly inspected for compliance with laws aimed at preventing sales to individuals under 21,” says the memo, published this month by the American Beverage Licensees (ABL) trade association.

The group contends that alcohol retailers, “with many decades of proven compliance, are best positioned to sell these products.”

Regulators should also treat cannabis similar to alcohol, the two-page policy memo says, such as by establishing licensing requirements, clear labeling standards and restrictions on advertising. “It may also include limits on potency per serving,” the alcohol trade group asserted.

THC products should also be lab tested for safety, purity and potency, the paper says. “Testing should verify the absence of harmful contaminants including but not limited to heavy metals, pesticides, mold and residual solvents, and confirm THC potency to prevent unintentional harmful effects.”

ABL, which represents on-premise sellers of beer, wine and spirits such as bars, taverns, restaurants and casinos, as well as off-premise retailers like package stores, is further calling for a “fair and transparent” tax structure for THC products, with production and retail tax rates “similar to those for beverage alcohol in the state.”

To ensure a working system, the memo also urges enforcement of laws and regulations. “This includes penalties for selling to underage individuals, failure to comply with testing and labeling requirements, and operating without a license,” the document says.

It also advises that states “should work with financial institutions, insurance providers, and regulatory authorities” to ensure that marijuana retailers have access to insurance and financial services.

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Maryland Bill To Shield Records For Pardoned Marijuana Offenses From Public Access Heads To Governor’s Desk

Maryland lawmakers have given final approval to a bill that would require state officials to automatically shield records for low-level marijuana convictions that have been pardoned from public access, and to more broadly expand expungement eligibility for certain other offenses.

The legislation from Senate President Bill Ferguson (D) cleared the Senate last month and passed the House in a 101-38 vote last week. It now heads to the desk of Gov. Wes Moore (D), who requested that the measure be filed at the beginning of the session.

Under the proposal, the Maryland Judiciary Case Search could no longer “in any way refer to the existence of records of a charge of possession of cannabis in a case with electronic records if the charge resulted in a conviction that was later pardoned by the Governor.”

Last year, Moore granted a mass pardon of more than 175,000 convictions around cannabis and paraphernalia offenses, the records of which would be blocked from public access under the bill that’s been sent to his desk. Pardons represent formal forgiveness from the executive, but such relief doesn’t remove the records.

“Hundreds of thousands of Americans unduly carry the burden and stigma of a past conviction for behavior that most Americans, and a growing number of states, no longer consider to be a crime,” NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said in a blog post on Tuesday.

“Our sense of justice and our principles of fairness demand that elected officials and the courts move swiftly to right the past wrongs of cannabis prohibition and criminalization,” he said.

According to NORML, more than 350,000 cannabis-related pardons and over two million expungements have been processed nationwide since 2018.

In February, the governor discussed the bill the legislature has now passed, stressing that it would expand opportunities for people to have their criminal records for marijuana expunged by allowing people who violated terms of their parole or probation to petition courts to erase those records.

“A cornerstone of our effort this year will be helping ensure that we confront this myth that every single sentence needs to be treated like a life sentence,” the governor said, “and that is why this session I have introduced legislation to build on the historic cannabis pardons that I signed into law last year, the largest state pardon in our nation’s history.”

The legislation would expand the range of offenses eligible for expungement and remove a requirement that people satisfy “parole, probation, or mandatory supervision” before petitioning a court to expunge their criminal records.

Instead, the proposal would require only that people complete the sentence and wait a certain number of years, depending on the nature of the conviction.

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Pennsylvania Lawmakers File Bill To Help Small Farmers Enter Marijuana Industry If The State Enacts Legalization

Pennsylvania Democratic lawmakers have introduced a bill that would allow farmers and other small agriculture operators to sell marijuana they cultivate to existing growers and and processors if the state moves to legalize adult-use cannabis.

As the legislature once again takes up the issue of marijuana legalization, Rep, Melissa Shusterman (D) and five colleagues filed the legislation on Thursday in a bid to ensure that the industry is inclusive to small farmers, creating a permitting process so they’re able to make inroads with larger operators.

“As more and more states legalize adult-use cannabis, it is only a matter of time before Pennsylvania does the same,” Shusterman said in a cosponsorship memo. “When adult-use cannabis is finally legalized in Pennsylvania, it is my belief that everyone should have accessible and equitable entry into the adult-use cannabis industry, including farmers and small enterprises.”

“Enabling local cultivation would allow Pennsylvania farmers and their communities to benefit from the legalization of adult-use cannabis. Moreover, this legislation would protect participation in the industry by farmers in the Commonwealth,” she said. “The legalization process must ensure PA’s farmers have fair access to this new market so that sales revenue and profits remain in PA.”

Whether the Pennsylvania legislature does legalize marijuana this session remains to be seen, with mixed opinions among Democratic and Republican leadership about the prospects of reform. Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) also included the policy change in his latest budget request.

But if prohibition is ended, the new bill would take a number of steps to provide for equitable access to industry participation.

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New Delaware Marijuana Bill Addresses Dispute With FBI That Has Threatened To Delay State’s Recreational Market

Delaware lawmakers have filed legislation meant to fix an issue with the state’s marijuana legalization law that led FBI to reject its request to create a fingerprint background check system for would-be cannabis industry workers.

Rep. Ed Osienski (D) and Sen. Trey Paradee (D), who championed the legalization bills that were enacted into law in 2023, said on Thursday that FBI’s decision to deny the state’s request for a background check service code is a “disappointing setback,” but they’re hopeful that their new proposal will address the problem.

While state regulators have been planning to license the first recreational cannabis businesses in April, the enacted statute requires the background checks to be in place first. Without a legislative fix, the market launch will likely be delayed.

“I know this is a disappointing setback, especially for the entrepreneurs who have invested so much and the consumers who have been anxiously waiting for legal access,” Osienski said in a press release. “But I’m optimistic that this bill will provide the necessary fix to get Delaware’s adult-use cannabis market back on track.”

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Indiana Lawmakers Weigh Widespread Ban On All Marijuana Advertising, Not Just On Billboards

Indiana lawmakers could ban all marijuana advertising within state lines under an amendment adopted Monday in a transportation-focused committee. It goes beyond the billboard-specific prohibition taken in a Senate panel last week.

Rep. Jim Pressel (R-Rolling Prairie) said his community is “inundated” with billboards advertising illegal marijuana. The district is near Michigan, which has legalized it.

But that’s not all.

“My constituents, myself included, receive up to two—what would look like political mailers—a week advertising an illegal substance” at dispensaries in nearby New Buffalo, per Pressel. He chairs the House Roads and Transportation Committee.

He commandeered Senate Bill 73, dealing with utility trailer sales, for an amendment outlawing the advertising of marijuana and other drugs on Indiana’s list of Schedule I controlled substances. Indiana’s attorney general could sue for injunctions, civil penalties of up to $15,000 and “reasonable costs” incurred throughout the investigation and lawsuit.

“I’ve heard about [how] the First Amendment, I’m trampling on it. I don’t believe that to be true,” Pressel told the committee. He cited a federal appeals court decision that, “basically, if it’s a criminal activity, you have no First Amendment right to advertise. That’s my understanding.”

The ban would take effect upon the bill’s passage. Advertising from contracts entered into or renewed before the approval date would be exempt.

The committee accepted the edits by consent.

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