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Oneida Indian Nation to Launch New York Cannabis Enterprise

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The Oneida Indian Nation has announced plans to establish a seed-to-sale cannabis facility on its land in central New York.

The Oneida Indian Nation announced on Monday that it is launching a new cannabis enterprise in central New York, with plans to begin construction next month on a 50,000 square foot facility to house the operation. The seed-to-sale venture will include cannabis cultivation and production at the new facility in Verona, New York, to be run entirely by the Oneida Indian Nation. Retail cannabis stores, which will be announced at a later date and located exclusively on tribal lands, are projected to open in late 2023.

Ray Halbritter, a representative of the Oneida Indian Nation and the CEO of Oneida Nation Enterprises, said that the Oneida Indian Nation is launching operations in the cannabis industry to take advantage of new economic opportunities created by the legalization of marijuana in New York and the surrounding area.

“As more and more states across the country enter into the cannabis business, including neighboring states and other tribal nations, it is important that the Oneida people not be left out from taking advantage of this economic opportunity,” Halbritter said in a statement from the Oneida Indian Nation. “We are excited about this new venture and are confident based on our expertise and proven track record within other highly regulated industries that we will be able to set the standard for developing a safe and successful adult recreational cannabis business on Oneida Indian Nation lands.”

New York legalized recreational marijuana last year with the passage of the Marijuana Taxation and Regulation Act, which was signed into law on March 31, 2021. Regulators are currently in the process of developing the regulatory system to govern the cannabis industry, with the first retail adult-use cannabis dispensaries expected to open by the end of the year.

Officials in New York have acknowledged that sovereign Native American nations are free to participate in the state’s legal cannabis market. The Cayuga Nation has established a cannabis growing and processing facility in Seneca County and a retail store in Cayuga County. The Akwesasne Mohawk Nation has retail cannabis outlets on its land in northern New York, while the Seneca Nation has about 20 retailers on its territory in the western part of the state.

For its newly announced cannabis enterprise, the Oneida Indian Nation has adopted a cannabis ordinance and regulations to govern the cannabis enterprise and hold it to standards comparable to New York State’s cannabis laws and regulations, including comparable age restrictions and limitations on purchase amounts, employee licensure requirements and assurances of product safety and quality.

The Oneida Indian Nation will own and operate all of the businesses associated with the cannabis enterprise, rather than issuing licenses to independent operators. The nation has discussed the tribe’s plans for the cannabis enterprise with the New York Office of Cannabis Management and is open to further talks, according to Joel Barkin, the nation’s vice president for communications.

The Oneida Indian Nation has engaged in discussions with the New York State Office of Cannabis Management to create a joint inspection partnership of their cannabis products. The nation will apply the same tax rate on marijuana sales as the state to “avoid competition questions,” Barkin said. All tax revenues will go to support the tribe and its municipal government services on the nation territory. Those include health care, education, public safety, and cultural preservation.

The Oneida Indian Nation is a federally recognized Indian nation in central New York, consisting of about 1,000 enrolled tribal members. The Oneida Indian Nation’s enterprises, which employ more than 4,500 people, include hotels, casinos, retail shops, an RV Park, and three boat marinas. Proceeds from these enterprises are used to develop the tribe’s economic base and provide essential services to its members, including housing, health care, and education incentives and programs.

Source: https://hightimes.com/news/oneida-indian-nation-to-launch-new-york-cannabis-enterprise/

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New Mexico cannabis operator fined, loses license for alleged BioTrack fraud

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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:

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/

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Marijuana companies suing US attorney general in federal prohibition challenge

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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.”

Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/marijuana-companies-suing-us-attorney-general-to-overturn-federal-prohibition/

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Alabama to make another attempt Dec. 1 to award medical cannabis licenses

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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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