Government
New York Regulators Issue First 15 Licenses for Cannabis Processors
New York State regulators awarded 15 licenses for cannabis processors on Monday, making new progress on the creation of the state’s regulated recreational pot industry.
New York regulators on Monday awarded 15 licenses for adult-use cannabis processors, a key step in the path to the launch of legal recreational marijuana sales slated for later this year. New York’s Cannabis Control Board issued the licenses to businesses already licensed as cannabinoid hemp processors, giving the businesses the opportunity to function as an integral facet of the state’s fledgling regulated marijuana industry.
“Processors aren’t just an important part of the cannabis supply chain, they are creators, who take a raw plant and transform it into tested, consistent, high-quality products that consumers can trust,” Tremaine Wright, chair of the Cannabis Control Board, said in a statement quoted by local media. “When we open New York’s first stores, owned and operated by New Yorkers harmed by the misguided criminalization of cannabis, the shelves will be lined with infused edibles, topical creams and concentrated oils. None of those products would be possible without these first processors launching New York’s cannabis industry.”
The hemp processors awarded licenses to process adult-use cannabis are required to participate in a mentorship program designed to provide entrepreneurship opportunities, encourage sustainable practices in the cannabis industry and ensure that those with convictions for marijuana-related offenses have a path to participation in the regulated industry.
“New York is launching our cannabis industry the right way, and our cannabis processors are an integral part of that,” Office of Cannabis Management executive director Chris Alexander said in a statement. “These processors aren’t just expanding their own businesses, they are committed to also mentoring the next generation of cannabis processors. They’ll be teaching vital manufacturing skills to those with a passion for cannabis who will take our state’s industry to the next level. New York’s entire cannabis ecosystem will create opportunities for those who have been shut out of jobs and industry, and will bring those skills to communities across the state.”
Troy Datcher, CEO of California licensed cannabis company The Parent Company, said that awarding New York’s first cannabis processor licenses is an encouraging and essential step in the launch of the state’s adult-use market later this year. But he noted that the state’s cannabis regulations, which are currently being drafted, must reflect the realities of an entrenched illicit market.
“We appreciate that these first cannabis processors in New York will be providing mentorship to social equity applicants to enable broader participation in the state’s industry,” Datcher wrote in an email to High Times. “However, as we’ve learned in California, it is critical that we create a policy environment that gives these businesses a chance to succeed. In particular, we need to ensure that the state’s advertising and packaging regulations do not make it impossible for these processors to make products that meet consumer needs. Given the lack of restrictions on New York’s untested, illicit cannabis market, it is important that we take steps to help legal businesses succeed.”
New York Initiative Fosters Social Equity in Cannabis
The cannabis processors mentorship program is part of New York’s Seeding Opportunity Initiative, which Governor Kathy Hochul launched earlier this year to help facilitate social equity in the cannabis industry. The initiative guarantees support for equity applicants and secures investment in communities most impacted by the disproportionate enforcement of cannabis prohibition.
“New York State is making history, launching a first-of-its-kind approach to the cannabis industry that takes a major step forward in righting the wrongs of the past,” Hochul said when the initiative was launched in March. “The regulations advanced by the Cannabis Control Board today will prioritize local farmers and entrepreneurs, creating jobs and opportunity for communities that have been left out and left behind. I’m proud New York will be a national model for the safe, equitable and inclusive industry we are now building.”
The Cannabis Control Board also approved an additional 19 conditional adult-use cannabis cultivator licenses on Monday, bringing the total number of growers to 242. Ryan Smith, CEO and co-founder of cannabis wholesale platform LeafLink, said that New York’s cannabis regulation is shaping up to be a model for the nation.
“New York State is taking another encouraging step towards establishing an equitable cannabis ecosystem to right the wrongs of the War on Drugs,” Smith wrote in an email. “Based on our experience operating in over 25 states and territories, early supply constraints continue to be an issue when a market launches. We applaud the state’s Cannabis Control Board for prioritizing equity, transparency, efficiency, and consumer choice, and look forward to seeing New York’s adult-use market come online.”
Source: https://hightimes.com/news/new-york-regulators-issue-first-15-licenses-for-cannabis-processors/
New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.
The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.
The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.
After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.
In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.
The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.
At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.
Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.
Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.
The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:
- Regulators alleged in August that Albuquerque dispensary Sawmill Sweet Leaf sold out-of-state products and didn’t have a license for extraction.
- Paradise Exotics Distro lost its license in July after regulators alleged the company sold products made in California.
Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/
Four marijuana companies, including a multistate operator, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in which they allege the federal MJ prohibition under the Controlled Substances Act is no longer constitutional.
According to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, retailer Canna Provisions, Treevit delivery service CEO Gyasi Sellers, cultivator Wiseacre Farm and MSO Verano Holdings Corp. are all harmed by “the federal government’s unconstitutional ban on cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing intrastate marijuana.”
Verano is headquartered in Chicago but has operations in Massachusetts; the other three operators are based in Massachusetts.
The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the “Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate cultivation, manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana pursuant to state law.”
The companies want the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
They hired prominent law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to represent them.
The New York-based firm’s principal is David Boies, whose former clients include Microsoft, former presidential candidate Al Gore and Elizabeth Holmes’ disgraced startup Theranos.
Similar challenges to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have failed.
One such challenge led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2005.
In Gonzalez vs. Raich, the highest court in the United States ruled in a 6-3 decision that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to outlaw marijuana federally, even though state laws allow the cultivation and sale of cannabis.
In the 18 years since that ruling, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana and the federal government has allowed a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry to thrive.
Since both Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, currently headed by Garland, have declined to intervene in state-licensed marijuana markets, the key facts that led to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling “no longer apply,” Boies said in a statement Thursday.
“The Supreme Court has since made clear that the federal government lacks the authority to regulate purely intrastate commerce,” Boies said.
“Moreover, the facts on which those precedents are based are no longer true.”
Verano President Darren Weiss said in a statement the company is “prepared to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to align federal law with how Congress has acted for years.”
While the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana would help solve marijuana operators’ federal tax woes, neither rescheduling nor modest Congressional reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act “solve the fundamental issue,” Weiss added.
“The application of the CSA to lawful state-run cannabis business is an unconstitutional overreach on state sovereignty that has led to decades of harm, failed businesses, lost jobs, and unsafe working conditions.”
Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.
The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).
Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.
Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.
That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.
Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.
Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.
A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/
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