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Is The European Union about to Legalize Recreational Cannabis? (South Africa Says Don’t Forget about Us!)
Germany, The Netherlands, Malta, and Luxembourg Hold Historic Meeting on Cannabis
Officials from these European nations met a few days ago to talk about legalizing recreational cannabis, marking the first of what may be several other joint meetings that could include other countries later on.
Cannabis law reform is currently sweeping the European continent, though the United Nations prevents member states from legalizing recreational marijuana. However, the countries released a joint statement staying that while their meeting didn’t end with major decisions, officials know that keeping a prohibitionist stance on marijuana is not going to be met without criticism. In addition, their statement says that it’s the “first multilateral exchange” with the intentions of discussing how marijuana can be regulated for both use that is not medical nor scientific.
They added that the discussions were necessary for many reasons including ironing out public health risks posed by the black market, and determining solutions for law enforcement to better identify various kinds of cannabis products. Additionally, the statement emphasized the importance of reviewing current marijuana policies especially in the light of other countries recently changing their own drug policies.
Will South Africa Be The Next Major Player in The Global Cannabis Industry?
According to Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, a legal firm in South Africa, the nation has a good potential for being a major player in the global cannabis industry.
South Africa already enjoys a low agricultural production cost because of low labor costs and good environmental conditions, making it a prime destination for cultivating marijuana. Furthermore, South Africa has a great track record when it comes to innovating agricultural processes, medical innovation, and top-notch quality control for MMJ licensing. “Local production has been primarily geared towards raw cannabis flower and extracts for exports to foreign markets as bulk active pharmaceutical ingredients. Demand is set to increase as pharmaceutical product development pipelines approach commercialization globally,” says the firm.
Last May 27, 2022, the Presidency issued a draft for public comment on the Country Investment Strategy (CIS). It indicates that marijuana is recognized as a legal and global traded agricultural commodity. The CIS adds that the state still has doubts when it comes to the use of marijuana recreationally and that it requires extensive research. “Considering South Africa’s agricultural competitiveness profile, the CIS concludes that cannabis grown and processed for medicinal use is the most viable competitive sales channel to pursue at an industrial scale and that capabilities developed for medicinal production can be rapidly deployed to service recreational demand from either local or international markets,” reads the draft.
“Accordingly, what is being prioritized is the development of a supportive legal framework which both streamlines export-scale production and opens up domestic market access through clear, sensible regulation of medicinal cannabis coupled with investment mobilization and enabling activity by the state,” it adds.
Mayor of Brussels Calls for Marijuana Decriminalization
Philippe Close, Brussels’ city mayor, once again comes forward urging for the decriminalization of marijuana. He thinks a national debate should be held, stating that cannabis legalization is needed to significantly reduce the violence that has been associated with drug trafficking.
Close told Le Soir, a French language newspaper, that there have been 22 shootings in Brussels since the year started, all of which have been tied to drug trafficking. “I have no doubt that after the publication of this interview, I will be accused by some of being a great promoter of drugs, or being laissez-faire. But I am addressing societal problems,” he says. “Let’s have a calm debate. I am convinced that by taking cannabis out of the criminal field, we can focus on addressing the trafficking of hard drugs,” he adds.
Marijuana continues to be the number 1 consumed illicit drug in Europe but that won’t stop, so it’s up to nations to decriminalize it and address the black market instead.
According to Close, Brussels is already working on the drug trafficking by cooperating with both the federal and Antwerp police. “But believing that we are going to solve a problem – drug addiction – only through police repression, doesn’t work. We have to get away from this hypocrisy,” he said.
He believes that a national drug plan is necessary so that all actors involved will cooperate with the federal government. Close also reiterates that what he is doing is not the promotion of marijuana but rather the management of the drug.
Ireland Court Challenges Ban On Goods With THC
Andrius Rogusas who, on October 2020, brought in cannabis oils from Slovenia, has challenged Ireland’s legal ban on any products that contain THC. The cannabis products were confiscated by Customs because they were banned even if the items were produced legally in another European country, with under 0.2% THC.
Mr. Rogusas, represented by Stephen Faulkner BI and Derek Shortall SC states that the 1977 Misuse of Drugs Act’s outright ban on all items with any level of THC contradicts the European laws regarding free movement of goods. He adds that a Courts of Justice decision in the European Union permits products with under 0.2% THC to be produced and sold within the continent. Because of this, it should not be possible to completely ban any product even those that have THC. However, he acknowledges that the ban of THC goods can only be done on the grounds of public health, backed up by assessments and scientific data.
Unfortunately, his claims were denied; since THC is a controlled substance by the State, they have the full liberties of prohibiting it.
Mr. Rogusas’ claims are one of many challenges that have been brought to the courts regarding the State ban on THC products.
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
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