Business
Arkansas Regulators Revoke Medical Cannabis Cultivator’s License
The head of the Arkansas medical marijuana program has revoked the license of a medicinal cannabis cultivator to comply with a judge’s ruling handed down earlier this month.
Regulators in Arkansas on Monday revoked a medical marijuana cultivator’s license to operate after a judge ruled earlier this month that the state erred when it granted the license two years ago. Doralee Chandler, the director of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Administration and the head regulator of the state Medical Marijuana Commission (MMC), revoked the license from medicinal cannabis cultivator River Valley Relief (RVR) on November 28 at a hearing that lasted nearly an hour.
The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission granted RVR a license to cultivate medicinal cannabis in July 2020, making the company the last of eight growers authorized by the state. But another company, 2600 Holdings, filed a lawsuit in January 2021, arguing that RVR should not have been granted the cultivation license. The plaintiff asked the court to disqualify River Valley Relief and award the license to 2600 or provide other relief under the Arkansas Administrative Procedures Act.
Attorneys for 2600 argued that the MMC had illegally granted the license to Nolan Storm, the owner of RVR, during the state’s second round of cultivator licensing. They maintained that the action violated state law because Storm’s license application was no longer valid and the site for the cultivation operation was too close to Sebastian County Juvenile Detention Center. The plaintiff argued that the site violated state requirements that medical marijuana facilities be located at least 3,000 feet from schools, churches, and daycare centers.
The case was litigated for the state by attorneys for the DFA, which submitted a 36-page brief disputing 2600’s filing. Nolan and his legal representatives were blocked from participating in the case by Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Herb Wright.
Earlier this month, Wright ruled that 2600 had proven its case and should be granted relief, ordering that RVR’s license be revoked. The judge decided that the MMC’s action had exceeded the agency’s authority, which is referred to as an “ultra vires” act.
“Plaintiff has, therefore, met its burden in showing that the undisputed facts of the case, viewed in a light most favorable to Defendants, prove that the plaintiff is entitled to relief,” Wright noted in his ruling handed down on November 3. “Defendants have acted unreasonably, unlawfully, and capriciously by awarding Nolan a license.”
“An effort was clearly made by the MMC to give Nolan thread to stitch up the holes in the RVRC application,” Wright continued in his decision. “Whether that was fair or unfair to any of the applicants, it was at minimum an unconstitutional and ultra vires act.”
Arkansas License Revoked at Hearing on Monday
At a Monday hearing of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA), the MMC oversight agency, Nolan and his attorney Matthew Horan argued that Wright’s decision contained important errors. Nolan addressed each point while under oath during the hearing, saying that he was trying to abide by the state Medical Marijuana Commission’s rules and the guidelines of officials including the secretary of state. Among other points, the attorney argued that the cultivation site, which is 2,400 feet from the youth detention center, did not violate MMC regulations.
“There is no evidence anywhere that the detention center is operated by a public school,” Horan said, adding that the Arkansas Department of Education issued a letter saying the juvenile facility was not a school. But Chandler noted that the hearing was being held solely for the purpose of deciding on the license revocation and refused to reconsider matters settled by the court case.
“We’re not here to litigate matters over any other location,” Chandler told Nolan, according to a report from the Arkansas Times. “You need to worry about your permit and your application.”
Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the DFA, said in a statement that the formal license revocation order would likely be issued no later than the end of the week, according to a report from Arkansas news site Talk Business & Politics.
Hardin also noted that Nolan has appealed Chandler’s administrative decision to revoke the license. The appeal temporarily halts the license until after a hearing by the full board overseeing Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control. The next hearing of the board is scheduled for December 21, meaning that RVR will be able to continue operating at least until that time.
After Monday’s hearing, Nolan said that the case would be appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court.
“River Valley Relief Cultivation has appealed the Pulaski Circuit Court decision to the Arkansas Supreme Court,” Nolan said in a statement to Talk Business & Politics. “RVRC has asked that proceedings be stayed until the appeal is heard. We await the decision of the Supreme Court.”
Source: https://hightimes.com/news/arkansas-regulators-revoke-medical-cannabis-cultivators-license/
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/
New Mexico cannabis operator fined, loses license for alleged BioTrack fraud
Marijuana companies suing US attorney general in federal prohibition challenge
Alabama to make another attempt Dec. 1 to award medical cannabis licenses
Pot Odor Does Not Justify Probable Cause for Vehicle Searches, Minnesota Court Affirms
New Mexico cannabis operator fined, loses license for alleged BioTrack fraud
Alabama to make another attempt Dec. 1 to award medical cannabis licenses
-
Business1 year agoPot Odor Does Not Justify Probable Cause for Vehicle Searches, Minnesota Court Affirms
-
Business1 year agoNew Mexico cannabis operator fined, loses license for alleged BioTrack fraud
-
Business1 year agoAlabama to make another attempt Dec. 1 to award medical cannabis licenses
-
Business1 year agoWashington State Pays Out $9.4 Million in Refunds Relating to Drug Convictions
-
Business1 year agoMarijuana companies suing US attorney general in federal prohibition challenge
-
Business1 year agoLegal Marijuana Handed A Nothing Burger From NY State
-
Business1 year agoCan Cannabis Help Seasonal Depression
-
Blogs1 year agoCannabis Art Is Flourishing On Etsy