The two results reveal a significant disconnect between the people's will and the actions of their elected state officials. Cannabis legalization reform has taken numerous forms in the past 15 years as states slowly began to erode the prohibition status of marijuana in the United States. Early on, states like Colorado and Washington passed reform initiatives through voter-approved ballot measures.  Most successful legalization efforts in America have, in fact, come directly from the people rather than the traditional route of legislative work by politicians at the state level. Of the 24 ..read more

Industry advocates and stakeholders believe that number to be far lower than it should be but expect the market to stabilize and produce more accurate numbers once the adult-use cannabis market launches next year. It has been a little over one year since the Minnesota State Legislature passed the recreational cannabis legalization statute last May. That law, which went into effect Aug. 1, 2023, legalized the cultivation, manufacture, and retail sales of recreational marijuana for adults over 21 in Minnesota. The new law, which legalized adult-use cannabis and made Minnesota one of 25 states ..read more

The two states represent a more extreme and rigid approach to addressing the complicated issues surrounding hemp-based intoxicants. This week, two more states enacted laws restricting intoxicating hemp derivatives (IHDs) in spite of legal challenges to both polarizing statutes. On Monday, a new hemp law took effect in Iowa just days after a lawsuit disputing the measure's legality was denied by a federal judge.  According to numerous local and national media outlets, last Friday, Judge Stephanies Rose of the U.S. Southern District rejected a request filed by two hemp-based THC drin ..read more

The recently signed statute also targets THC limits in hemp-derived products and establishes regulatory guidelines for THC-infused beverages. Another state in the deep South has officially made hemp and its intoxicating derivatives a little more challenging to manufacture and sell. As first reported by MJBizDaily, all smokable hemp flower products, most notably THC-A, are now illegal in Louisiana thanks to a new law designed to restrict intoxicating hemp derivatives or IHDs in the Bayou State. In addition to the ban on specific IHD offerings, House Bill 952, which Gov. J ..read more

With Minnesota and Ohio set to launch their recreational sectors in 2025, that number should grow exponentially over the next five years. As the election season begins to heat up with the already-simmering summer temperatures across the country, more states are contemplating legalizing adult-use marijuana as a means to attract votes and generate much-needed tax revenue. Since Colorado and Washington became the first two states to legalize recreational cannabis for adults over 21, 23 more have established adult-use marijuana industries, including the most recent additions of Minnesota and O ..read more

In an attempt to throttle any proliferation of intoxicating hemp derivatives, government officials could potentially eviscerate the country's fast-growing CBD market sector. The question of how to handle hemp, cannabis, and all of their derivative product offerings is not an exclusively American problem. From Europe to China and South America to the Pacific Rim, consumers are rapidly becoming dependent on the medicinal and recreational benefits provided by the cannabis sativa plant. While cannabis and its sister plant, hemp, are only distinguished by arbitrary THC concentration levels, both ..read more

The funds will help bolster the exports of American hemp products to areas such as South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa. While much of the recent news concerning the hemp industry has centered on legislation at the state and federal levels to improve regulatory guidelines governing the young and burgeoning American hemp market, other governmental agencies are attempting to strengthen the battered and bruised agricultural and plant medicine sector. According to Marijuana Moment, last Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded $745,000 to the National Industr ..read more

All eyes now shift to the House, where detractors on both sides of the political aisle have extinguished previous attempts to establish a medicinal cannabis program. With state legislatures nationwide in a mighty tug-of-war over what to do with legalized cannabis, medical and recreational, one legislative jurisdiction extremely familiar with the ebbs and flows of the polarizing political debate is the North Carolina State Assembly. For the third consecutive year, pro-cannabis legalization advocates are attempting to pass a medical marijuana bill during this latest session. According to  ..read more

Once they qualify as a 'social equity applicant,' aspiring recreational marijuana entrepreneurs will enter into a lottery to decide the first license recipients. According to the state's Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), Minnesota's aspiring adult-use cannabis business licensees will be allowed to begin that exciting and nerve-wracking process starting next week. After months of research, debate, and compromises, the Minnesota State Legislature finally announced the first tangible date for the greatly anticipated launch of the state's regulated recreational marijuana market. As firs ..read more

The new law severely restricts the amount of THC allowable in the trendy drinks and could potentially violate federal law, according to the plaintiffs. During the first six months of 2024, several state legislatures have gone after the hemp-based intoxicant market, citing public health concerns, particularly among underage minors. With the mass proliferation of products containing intoxicating hemp derivatives (IHDs) nationwide, there is legitimate concern over the "mildly regulated" hemp-based product industry. While the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has expressed an almo ..read more