Category: Marijuana News

OWOSSO, Mich. (WLNS) — In 2008 following the legalization of medical marijuana, Michigan saw an explosion in dispensaries appearing in empty storefronts across the state.

Local governments worked to regulate the market, while a complicated licensure process played out at the state level.  

In 2018, voters approved recreational marijuana sales in the state and the market exploded. The pot industry has since boomed, according to state regulators, with $1.7 billion in weed sales in the first seven months of 2023. In July, the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency reported more than $270 million in sales in just that month.  

But not every marijuana business is booming: dispensary Discount Buds in Corunna near Lansing recently shut down. 

“As it’s growing, the competition is becoming more,” said Raymond Abro, chief operation officer of Jars Cannabis.  

Abro has a location in Owosso, less than five minutes from where Discount Buds was operating. Abro’s is one of five dispensaries within a square mile. Small towns like Corunna and Owosso have become the battleground for survival for retail marijuana spots, Abro said.  

“It’s sad to see that somebody had a dream of coming into the cannabis space, mom and

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Lower Burrell has new rules about where medical marijuana dispensaries, growers and processors can operate in the city.

Council this week approved the regulations, which allow medical marijuana growers and processors to be located in light manufacturing- and manufacturing-zoned districts as a special exception use.

The dispensaries cannot be within 500 feet of the property line of a school, day care center, church, place of worship, playground or park.

It defines medical marijuana dispensaries as businesses that sell medical marijuana under a state-issued permit and a medical marijuana grower/processor as a place that holds a state health permit to grow or process medical marijuana. All growing and processing would be done inside the building.

The Legislature legalized the use of medical marijuana in 2016, with the first dispensaries and availability of product in 2018. Medical marijuana patients must qualify under one of more than 20 diagnosed conditions and be issued a medical marijuana card by a physician certified under the state’s medical marijuana program.

A bill introduced in Harrisburg this year would eliminate the list of qualifying conditions and allow marijuana to be prescribed by any doctor licensed to prescribe controlled substances in the state. The bill has

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Maplewood, NJ (KYW Newsradio) — New Jersey voters approved the use of recreational marijuana for adults back in 2020. Now, three years later, independently made edibles are hitting shelves in the Garden State for the first time.

ButACake owner Matha Figaro started selling regular butter cakes at a farmers market in 2015. About a year later, a customer sparked an idea, asking if she could infuse cannabis in them for medical purposes.

“The original ask was from a woman that was getting ready to go through chemo,” Figaro said. “She was like, ‘I love your cake, but at this point, I need medicine more. And instead of doing the two, can you combine it for me?’

“I never stopped after that. I realized how much I can help.”

Figaro applied for a manufacturing license soon after adult use became legal in New Jersey. The process took 444 days and, during that time, she had to stop selling ButACake products.

“My lawyers advised me that anything I was doing in my past in the unregulated market had

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Early this morning, Los Angeles firefighters battled a blaze at a downtown legal cannabis dispensary, successfully extinguishing the fire without reports of injuries. According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, the incident occurred at a single-story structure located at 645 S Imperial St. The first responders arrived on the scene and managed to contain and put out the contents fire within 31 minutes.

The LAFD team consisted of 40 firefighters who had to gain access to a highly secured and compartmentalized building to battle the flames. The fire was reported fully extinguished by 2:09 AM.

The cause of the fire is currently under investigation. The Los Angeles Fire Department’s alert indicated: “No injury. Fire cause under investigation.” The dispensary, measuring 100 feet by 100 feet, was described as a “legal cannabis dispensary,” though it has not been specified whether the nature of the business had any role in the fire’s origin or progression.

Officials have not yet released any details regarding the possible source of the fire or the extent of the damage. Fire Station 17, along with several other units, including battalion chiefs and specialized teams, were acknowledged for their role in the incident.

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Three marijuana dispensaries are poised to open in New York City over the next few days, after a state judge lifted a court order that temporarily barred new retailers from selling cannabis products.

Cannabis Emporium will open on Thursday as the second dispensary in the Bronx, the state’s ​​Office of Cannabis Management announced in a release. The retailer will begin sales on the first floor of 2460 Williamsbridge Road after an 11 a.m. press conference on Thursday.

A second retailer, Dagmar Cannabis, is expected to open for business as SoHo’s first dispensary after a similar event at 11 a.m. on Friday. Grow Together, a dispensary in Brooklyn, plans to open its doors Monday.

The anticipated openings follow a monthslong saga that mired New York state’s legal marijuana rollout in uncertainty. Dozens of retailers statewide were barred from opening after a court sided in August with a group of veterans who had sued over a critical part of New York’s criteria for doling out the first licenses, which gave preference to applicants with marijuana convictions prior to legalization in 2021 and their close relatives.

The state’s Cannabis Control Board approved a settlement last month in the veterans’ lawsuit and a second case that did not

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A fire at a legal cannabis dispensary near downtown Los Angeles was quickly extinguished Thursday.

Fire crews responded at 1:38 a.m. to 645 S. Imperial St. between Mateo Street and Santa Fe Avenue where they found the fire deep inside the 100-by- 100-foot dispensary, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.

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It took 40 firefighters 31 minutes to knock down the flames.

No injuries were reported.

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The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) has awarded integrated licenses to five companies to initiate the state’s medical marijuana industry, as reported by news outlet AL.com. Out of 33 applicants, Trulieve Alabama, Inc. was recognized as the only “minority-owned business” to receive a license.

This decision is part of the implementation of the medical marijuana law passed in Alabama in 2021. The law mandated that at least one of the five licenses be allocated to a company that is at least 51% minority-owned, a requirement that the agency determined was met by Trulieve Alabama.

This development highlights an issue that many entrepreneurs and activists in the cannabis industry have pointed out: when larger corporate entities partner with minority operators to secure licenses under state-level “social equity” provisions. Trulieve–a publicly traded company–was originally founded in Florida and has since expanded into other states, with no shortage of controversy along the way, including the death of employee Lorna McMurrey at one of their Massachusetts locations in January 2022.

The other companies awarded licenses by the AMCC are Sustainable Alabama, LLC; Wagon Trail Med-Serv LLC; Flowerwood Medical Cannabis, LLC; and Specialty Medical Products of Alabama, LLC. These integrated licensees will undertake the

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A recently-published report has highlighted the need for more diversity and equity considerations in the field of medical cannabis research. The paper was published in PNAS Nexus by Renée Martin-Willett and an interdisciplinary team including Wanda James, Madeline Stanger, Angela D Bryan, and L Cinnamon Bidwell: it addresses the historical and ongoing issues of discrimination and inequity in the cannabis industry and research field in the United States.

Despite the legalization of marijuana in several states, the authors note that the profits predominantly benefit wealthy white men, while communities of color continue to face disproportionate enforcement and penalties. The authors propose several actions to promote equity and inclusion in cannabis research. These include enacting legislation and policies focused on equity, supporting scientists of color in entering and remaining in the field, adhering to ethical research practices, and ensuring diverse and inclusive participant recruitment in research studies.

The racialization of the so-called War on Drugs has been well documented across multiple literatures. In the case of cannabis, in particular, there is evidence that communities of color have been disproportionately prosecuted and incarcerated, even though epidemiological data suggest cannabis use rates between Hispanic, black, and white groups are comparable. As

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A first-aid-centre and dispensary was inaugurated by Karimnagar Principal District and Sessions Judge B Prathima along with Collector Pamela Satpathy at the district court complex here on Wednesday.

The facility is meant for litigants, advocates and the court staff, according to a press release.

A duty doctor and a staff nurse will offer their services to the needy at the centre. A physiotherapist will also be available at the facility every Saturday.

Karimnagar Police Commissioner Abhishek Mohanty, District Medical and Health Officer Dr Lalitha Devi, Municipal Commissioner B Srinivasa Rao, Karimnagar Bar Association president B Raghunandan Rao and others were present.

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DES MOINES, Iowa — A popular local shop selling CBD and THC products in Des Moines is finishing up a 30-day suspension this week.

On November 14th, the Department of Health and Human Services sent the owner of Despensary a letter saying that the suspension was issued for selling products that did not comply with state guidelines.

HHS said that Despensary’s hemp-based flower products violated the state’s hemp guidelines.

Ashley Hartman, the Chief Strategy Officer for Central Iowa Vapors, said that there is a general misunderstanding of hemp. She defined hemp as cannabis that contains less than 0.3% of THC by dry weight. This differs from marijuana, which is cannabis that has more than 0.3% THC by dry weight.

Under state guidelines, consumable hemp products manufactured and sold in Iowa must contain less than 0.3% total THC to be legal.

Hartman said, “Iowa allows edibles, tinctures, and topicals. However, they do prohibit the sale of vapables and flower.”

Despensary’s Chief Operating Officer Sabrina Bergloff told Axios last month that the dispensary’s products do not violate Iowa hemp laws. They also said that there is a lack of communication from HHS.

HHS wrote in the letter, “Despensary has continually failed to comply with Iowa law, as demonstrated by

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