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Germany’s proposed adult-use cannabis legalization plan excludes imports
The German government published key details of its plan to legalize and regulate adult-use cannabis, including what Health Minister Karl Lauterbach described as “complete” cultivation within the country.
The proposed blueprint also suggests 2024 is a realistic date for the program’s launch.
Keeping cannabis cultivation within Germany would be a blow to some international producers, who had been hoping Europe’s largest economy would find a way to allow imports – even though adult-use marijuana shipments across borders aren’t permitted under international drug-control treaties.
“At the moment, we’re planning complete cultivation in Germany,” the health minister said at a news conference Wednesday. “That’s the current target direction.”
The German cabinet endorsed the 12-page plan.
However, before a draft law is written and considered by lawmakers, a blueprint of the law will be sent to the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, for approval to ensure it is compatible with European Union and global drug laws.
Lauterbach said Germany will argue that the legalization plan is aligned with international treaties.
The legislative process will continue only after the plan gets the green light from the EU, Lauterbach said, implying these proposals could face changes before being presented in a draft law.
A potential blueprint for EU
If approved by the European Commission, Germany’s blueprint could serve as a basis for broader cannabis reform in countries across the European Union seeking to follow Germany’s example.
Similar to Canada’s approach, Germany proposes regulating adult-use cannabis in the primary interest of public health – both to protect youth and erode the illicit market.
There are virtually no details regarding the economics of the illicit market in the 12-page report.
Germany appears to have backed away from an earlier proposal to potentially cap allowable THC for consumers 18-21 years old. But the idea still appears to be under consideration.
The new proposal suggests cannabis could be sold in approved stores and, possibly, in pharmacies to anyone older than 18.
Germans would be permitted to grow up to three plants at home.
Cannabis purchases at stores would be limited to 20-30 grams.
Only one paragraph of the 12-page proposal deals with cultivation.
Cultivation would be allowed in indoor and greenhouse facilities “to ensure appropriate quality control,” the document says.
The plan doesn’t mention any potential production quotas, which currently govern the country’s very small number of medical cannabis growers.
“The entire supply and trade chain – cultivation, processing, transport, wholesale, retail – must be subject to a controlled track-and-trace system that includes documentation for each individual step in the supply chain,” according to the document.
Activities such as cultivation, processing, storage, transport and sale will be possible only by licensees.
Applicant licensees will be required to demonstrate – among other things – expertise, proof of entry into the EU’s beneficial ownership registry, proof of sufficient financial resources and creditworthiness, the document notes.
Advertising, packaging rules
Advertising for cannabis products would be prohibited, and strict rules would be imposed on the outer packaging of cannabis products.
Packaging would have to contain information such as who produced the product, the weight, the harvest date, THC and CBD content, age and health warnings as well as addiction risks.
Other details include:
- Flower, capsules, sprays and drops would be allowed, but edibles would be prohibited.
- Synthetically produced cannabinoids would not be permitted.
- Germany’s sales tax would be applied to recreational cannabis.
- A special cannabis tax is planned, but there were no other details.
The document proposes an evaluation of the impact of the law after four years, at which time cannabis edibles products may be considered.
The health minister suggested approval or rejection by the European Commission should not take long.
Depending on that outcome, a draft law could be presented in the first quarter of 2023.
Regarding timing, the health minister suggested that a realistic expectation is that legalization could come in 2024.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/germanys-proposed-adult-use-cannabis-legalization-plan-excludes-imports/
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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