Category: Marijuana News

The Florida Supreme Court seems poised to allow an adult-use cannabis legalization proposal to be put to voters next year, seemingly rejecting the arguments by state Attorney General Ashley Moody that the initiative’s wording is misleading and that it violates the state’s single-subject rule on ballot questions, the Miami New Times reports.  

During a hearing last week, Justice Charles T. Canady said he was “baffled” by the argument laid out by Chief Deputy Solicitor General Jeffrey Paul DeSousa of the Florida Attorney General’s Office, which claimed that the initiative will make voters believe that approving the measure will protect Floridians from federal cannabis law violations. Canady responded to this argument by pointing to the 74-word initiative, which explicitly says the provisions of the constitutional amendment “Applies to Florida law; does not change, or immunize violations of, federal law.” 

Justice John D. Couriel said that the state Supreme Court’s decision in 2021 to block a similar initiative based on misleading language was due, in part, “because the ball was hidden” regarding federal law issues. 

“Where’s the hidden ball?” Couriel asked state attorneys during the hearing. “It says on the face

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The first round of adult-use cannabis licensing is open in Maryland. The first round of licenses is set aside for social equity applicants, defined by -state law as companies with “at least 65% ownership held by one or more individuals who have been verified as social equity applicants.” The state has already verified social equity applicants eligible under the law.  

Additionally, social equity applicants lived or went to public school in an area disproportionately impacted by the criminalization of cannabis or attended a four-year institution of higher education in Maryland where at least 40% of enrollees were eligible for a Pell Grant. The state has previously published the ZIP codes and public schools in Maryland that are within a disproportionately impacted area, and the qualifying four-year institutions of higher education.  

The Maryland Cannabis Administration will award up to 179 licenses, including 75 standard dispensaries, which will be distributed by county, and 16 standard growers, 32 standard processors, 24 micro growers, 24 microprocessors, and eight micro dispensaries, each of which will be distributed by region. Each applicant may apply for multiple license types but will only be awarded one.  

The application period will

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The National Labor and Relations Board (NLRB) has approved a settlement agreement between a Missouri cannabis dispensary and a union which forces the company to reinstate five employees and pay more than $145,000 in backpay, front pay, and interest and compensation to 10 employees who were terminated following a March union organizing action.

In a statement, NLRB Region 14 Regional Director Andrea J. Wilkes said, “Individually and collectively, this settlement vindicates employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act.” — Wilkes in a press release

The agreement between Point Management, which owns Columbia-based Shangri-La dispensary, and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 655 resolves 15 unfair labor practices complaints which were set for an October 30 trial.

Under the settlement, Shangri-La agreed to:

Recognize and bargain with UFCW Local 655;

Pay backpay to 10 terminated employees;

Offer reinstatement to five terminated employees;

Pay front pay to five terminated employees in lieu of reinstatement;

Pay damages to a terminated employee for the interest

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We are helping build out another marijuana banking program here in Oregon. My law firm has done a series of these for credit unions (“CU”s) and other financial institutions (“FIs”) going back to 2014. We have also handled a good bit of hemp banking work– mostly in 2019 and 2020 before that industry cratered. In this post, I’ll sketch out some considerations for FIs looking at banking marijuana-related businesses – or, as they are known in the common parlance, “MRBs”. And I apologize in advance for all the acronyms. That’s banking.

MRB defined

The term “MRB” is used pervasively in cannabis banking, yet this term is not defined in the moldering 2014 Financial Crimes Enforcement Network “FinCEN” Guidance. It’s also not defined in the 2020 National Credit Union Administration Guidance on banking hemp-related business (“HRB”s) (which we helped write) or the 2020 FinCEN Guidance on that related topic.

The lone federal definition we have is from a 2018 Small Business Administration (“SBA”) Policy Notice, as revised, which categorizes MRBs as “direct marijuana businesses”, “indirect marijuana businesses”, and “hemp-related businesses.” Here is my shorthand:

“Direct Marijuana Business.” A business that grows, produces, processes, distributes or sells marijuana or marijuana products.

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Good Grades, located at 162-03 Jamaica Ave. in Jamaica, reopened following extensive renovations.

Photo by Gabriele Holtermann

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Good Grades, the first woman-owned retail cannabis dispensary in Queens, reopened to the public in Jamaica on Nov. 15 after undergoing an extensive $1 million renovation.

The first legal retail dispensary in Queens, co-owned by Extasy James and her cousin, Michael James, opened as a temporary “pop-up” in March at 162-03 Jamaica Ave. in the heart of Jamaica.

Good Grades co-owners Michael James and Extasy JamesPhoto by Gabriele Holtermann

In August, the pop-up closed to renovate the sprawling 4,000-square-foot space in collaboration with Salt Construction Management and Seven Point Interiors under the creative direction of Michael James.

With its open-floor layout, the store is bright and airy, providing a clean and upscale atmosphere aiming to dispel the stoner stereotype.

Good Grades reopened to the public after a $1 million renovation.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann

Good Grades sells edibles, smoke-related items, tinctures and topicals from leading cannabis brands and vets the highest quality, organic and locally-grown cannabis products via weekly “Report Cards”

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PORTAGE PARK — A cannabis dispensary in Portage Park could bring economic development to the Irving Park Road corridor, 38th Ward residents said at a community meeting Wednesday.

At the meeting hosted by Ald. Nick Sposato (38th), neighbors packed the Portage Park Senior Center room, 5431 W. Berteau Ave., to share thoughts on a proposed dispensary that could open inside an old bank, 5900 W. Irving Park Road.

The building is at least 60 years old but has been vacant for over five years.

Eagle Dispensaries of Illinois, operated by Georgia-based entrepreneur Marcus Ferrell, seeks to open an adult-use recreational dispensary in the 12,000-square-foot building. Attorneys filed a special-use application with the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals Nov. 1, records show.

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A zoning change for the building was approved over the summer, the first hurdle to clear in opening the dispensary. Ferrell, who leads the Black-owned cannabis company Restorative Roots and whose grandmother is from the South Side, said the business would be the company’s first dispensary in Chicago.

The dispensary would operate 9 a.m.-10 p.m.

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PORTAGE PARK — A cannabis dispensary in Portage Park could bring economic development to the Irving Park Road corridor, 38th Ward residents said at a community meeting Wednesday.

At the meeting hosted by Ald. Nick Sposato (38th), neighbors packed the Portage Park Senior Center room, 5431 W. Berteau Ave., to share thoughts on a proposed dispensary that could open inside an old bank, 5900 W. Irving Park Road.

The building is at least 60 years old but has been vacant for over five years.

Eagle Dispensaries of Illinois, operated by Georgia-based entrepreneur Marcus Ferrell, seeks to open an adult-use recreational dispensary in the 12,000-square-foot building. Attorneys filed a special-use application with the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals Nov. 1, records show.

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A zoning change for the building was approved over the summer, the first hurdle to clear in opening the dispensary. Ferrell, who leads the Black-owned cannabis company Restorative Roots and whose grandmother is from the South Side, said the business would be the company’s first dispensary in Chicago.

The dispensary would operate 9 a.m.-10 p.m.

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This story was originally published by THE CITY. Sign up to get the latest New York City news delivered to you each morning.

By Rachel Holliday Smith, and Gabriel Poblete, THE CITY

Weed has been legal in New York since 2021, but the state is still working out regulating, licensing, and taxing it differently than any other place — and the new system is still budding.

As THE CITY has reported, the licensing of retail dispensaries has been rocky and slow. In that vacuum, illegal pot shops have proliferated across the five boroughs. And much of the rest of the would-be legal cannabis system — delivery, home growing and on-site consumption — has hardly gotten off the ground.

If you’re new to the topic, here’s where things stand in the legal weed world in New York City and the state.

Is weed legal in New York?

Yes, with some caveats. Thanks to a bill passed by Albany lawmakers in 2021, New Yorkers 21 years and older can possess, use, buy, transport, smoke or consume up to three ounces of marijuana and up to 24 grams of concentrated cannabis, used in products like tinctures, vape pen oils or butters.

That bill is the

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The price of legal weed at New Jersey dispensaries is still high, but you now buy an eighth-ounce of cannabis for as little as $20 in some parts of the state.

The Asbury Park Press analyzed the medical marijuana and adult use cannabis menus at all 76 dispensaries in New Jersey on Nov. 14 to pinpoint the cheapest eighth-ounce of weed in the state, which averages at $46.17 for recreational customers and $42.34 for medical marijuana patients. Prices in the cannabis market can fluctuate from store-to-store and from day-to-day.

The cheapest New Jersey legal weed for adult use customers can be found at Brute’s Roots, an independent dispensary and cultivator in Egg Harbor Township. Brute’s Roots was selling an eighth-ounce of small buds of its Goodfather strain for just $23, $13 cheaper than the next best option — all the way up in Bergen County, at Ascend’s Fort Lee dispensary ($36 for an eighth-ounce of Find’s Tarts #9 popcorn buds).

If you have a medical marijuana card, the cheapest legal weed is at Harmony Dispensary in Secaucus where patients can purchase an eighth-ounce of numerous strains from Harmony’s in-house brand for just $20. Harmony, which initially opened as a nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary

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Power change for New Yorkers!

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In January 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul outlined a bold vision to support the ambitious social-equity goals of New York’s new cannabis law: The state would create a $200 million fund to build out ready-to-open dispensaries in prime locations for retail licensees with past cannabis-related convictions. This, lawmakers and regulators agreed, was a chance for those who had been most harmed by decades of racist drug policies to not only participate in the legal market but to thrive from it. 

Reuben McDaniel, who headed the state Dormitory Authority in charge of setting up fund-supported dispensaries before leaving that position last month, proclaimed that the new program would “help build generational wealth that has been out of reach for far too many of our citizens, and that will succeed in creating social equity when so many other states’ programs have failed.” 

But nearly two years after Hochul announced the fund, financing documents obtained by THE CITY reveal that the 10-year loans it offers to dispensary owners

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