Connect with us

Business

Utah Appoints Medical Cannabis Policy Advisory Board

Published

on

In Utah, nine board members have been chosen to form the Medical Cannabis Policy Advisory Board.

Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Executive Director Tracy Gruber announced the appointment of nine board members to the recently formed Medical Cannabis Policy Advisory Board. 

The advisory board will make policy change recommendations to DHHS, the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF), and state lawmakers. 

“The Medical Cannabis Policy Advisory Board will be an asset to the patients, medical providers, and the businesses that participate in the state’s medical cannabis program as it makes policy change recommendations to state lawmakers and state regulators,” Gruber said. “I appreciate the willingness of board members to serve on this important advisory board.” 

The Medical Cannabis Policy Advisory Board was created during the 2023 general legislative session after House Bill 72 Medical Cannabis Governance Revisions was approved. 

Six of the nine board members were appointed by DHHS Executive Director Tracy Gruber and the remaining three were appointed by the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food Commissioner Craig Buttars. 

Below is the list of board members. (In Utah, a qualified medical provider [QMP] is a physician who gives recommendations.)

Susan Jackson, MPAS, PA-C—a physician assistant and QMP who has participated in the state’s medical cannabis program since April 2020. As a medical provider at Quintessence Health & Wellness, she helped patients with medical management of pain, hormone replacement, mental health treatment, weight loss, and aesthetics. 

Misty Smith, PhD is a research assistant professor at the University of Utah, College of Pharmacy, Dept. of Pharmacology and Toxicology. She’s been a member of the Cannabis Research Review Board (CRRB) since May 2021, and has over 20 years of experience as a basic science researcher in behavioral pharmacology and holds the DEA Schedule I & II-V controlled substance licenses and Schedule I import/export licenses for an Epilepsy Therapy Screening Program (ETSP) control site. 

Annalise Keen, MD is a psychiatrist, and she’s been a QMP since May 2021 and is a member of the Compassionate Use Board (CUB) since May 2021. Dr. Keen is an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Utah Dept. of Psychiatry, Division of Adolescent and Child Psychiatry, performing evaluations and management of child and adolescent patients and other tasks. 

Desiree Hennessy is the director of the Utah Patients Coalition (UPC)—a non-profit organization seeking to empower patients to make informed health decisions through advocating legal access to plant medicine in Utah. 

Nanette Bereznhyy is a medical cannabis patient and parent, representing medical cannabis guardians of children who depend on cannabis. 

Kent Andersen is the Community and Economic Development director for Davis County, managing the county’s operation.

Matthew Page is the chief operating officer and co-founder of Riverside Farms, a licensed cannabis cultivator and processor. Matthew helped to produce products that were available to patients at the state’s first medical cannabis pharmacy in March 2020. 

JD Lauritzen, aka the “Leafy Lawyer,” is an attorney at WholesomeCo, a medical cannabis pharmacy. He has expertise in medical cannabis pharmacy operations—particularly vertically-integrated medical cannabis pharmacies. WholesomeCo is a vertically integrated cannabis company in the state, as it also has a cannabis cultivation and processing license.

Jimmy Higgs is a state trooper and deputy commissioner at the Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS). With more than 24 years of public safety experience, Deputy Commissioner Higgs has served in various capacities, including Utah Highway Patrol trooper, executive protection detail, and executive officer to the commissioner of Public Safety. He oversees three divisions at DPS: the State Bureau of Investigations, the State Information and Analysis Center, and the State Crime Lab. 

Source: https://hightimes.com/news/utah-appoints-medical-cannabis-policy-advisory-board/

Business

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

Published

on

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/

Continue Reading

Business

Marijuana companies suing US attorney general in federal prohibition challenge

Published

on

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/

Continue Reading

Business

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

Published

on

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/

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2022 420 Reports Marijuana News & Information Website | Reefer News | Cannabis News