Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana. This week, we see California dealing with intoxicating hemp products. The Eastern Band of Cherokee opens their dispensary to everyone. Kentucky has a lot of people interested in medical cannabis licenses. We have an update on Missouri. And finally, it’s political campaign season, and marijuana is making its way into ads.
CALIFORNIA
Intoxicating hemp products have been in the news a lot lately. States are finding it difficult to deal with them – just look at Missouri (about which more below). In California, Governor Gavin Newsom (D) just issued emergency regulations that would ban hemp products with any detectable level of THC or other intoxicating cannabinoids. The hemp industry is not happy about this development, with Jonathan Miller, general counsel of trade group Hemp Roundtable, saying the regulations would result in “complete retail prohibition on 90%-95% of popular hemp products for adults.” The regulations are set to go into effect upon approval by the Office of Administrative Law.
EASTERN BAND OF CHEROKEE
We reported last month that the Eastern Band of Cherokee in North Carolina was planning to sell cannabis to all adults 21 and over in September. And they did. Last Saturday, the tribe began sales to any adult, regardless of tribal affiliation. Note that, in the rest of North Carolina, cannabis is illegal.
KENTUCKY
When Kentucky legalized medical marijuana and opened up a licensing lottery, interest was a bit slow at first. After three weeks, only 17 applicants had indicated interest in the state’s 74 available licenses. Well, that’s all changed now. In the final four days of the application period, over 4,400 applications were received. Now, the Office of Medical Cannabis has to review all of those applications, so they’ve hired on a lot more staff.
MISSOURI
Another week, another Show Me State update. You’ll recall from our previous installment that intoxicating hemp regulations had been caught up in a feud between Governor Mike Parsons (R) and Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R). This week, the Governor ordered intoxicating hemp products off store shelves, using the state’s Food Code to prohibit the products. This process will take longer than what would have been the case with the emergency regulation proposed by the Governor and rejected (twice) by the Secretary of State. In addition, the Governor and the Missouri Attorney General, Andrew Bailey have announced the formation of a task force and reporting platform to increase hemp regulation. Further bulletins as events warrant.
AND FINALLY
We’ve reported on political candidates smoking marijuana in ads before. Well, election season has rolled around again, so let’s have an update. This time, it’s Texas Democrat Sally Duval, who’s running for a House seat, and she smokes from both a cigarette and a bong in her ad. The tagline on her campaign website reads: It’s high time for change in Texas.
Be well everyone – we’ll see you next week!