Your Weekly Buzz
- Maryland State Sen. Jill Carter expects to file an equity-focused cannabis legalization bill this week. The legislation, which serves as a companion piece to a proposed referendum on legalization, would allow home cultivation and allocate 60% of tax revenue from recreational sales to communities harmed by prohibition.
- Soon-to-be Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said he won’t mess with recently passed laws that legalized pot possession in the commonwealth. But the former Carlyle co-CEO expressed reservations about the launch of recreational sales, a measure that state lawmakers will need to re-enact in 2022.
- The Plant Medicine Coalition, a D.C.-based advocacy group founded by the leader of the campaign that got psychedelics decriminalized in the District, announced a name change to the Psychedelic Medicine Coalition. The nonprofit also added former Congressman Ryan Costello, a Republican from Pennsylvania, to its board.
- MariMed, a multi-state cannabis operator based in Massachusetts, announced a $20 million deal to acquire Maryland’s Kind Therapeutics, a vertically integrated medical weed business. The acquisition still needs to be approved by regulators.
- Top Democrats in Kentucky say legalizing medical weed is at the top of their legislative bucket list for 2022. Meanwhile, state Republicans re-introduced a revised version of a previous medical cannabis bill in a bid to garner support from leadership.
- New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the state will build a $200 million fund to boost social equity applicants seeking retail weed licenses. It’s a significant amount of money, though some industry leaders say the funding may arrive too late if it depends on cannabis licensing fees and taxes. dispensary.
- The chair of New York’s recently formed Cannabis Control Board sat down to answer your burning questions about what the state’s process will look like to obtain a business license for adult-use weed. If all goes to plan, regulators say recreational dispensaries should be operational by the summer of 2023.
- || 🏛️ The federal view || Two companies harvested their first DEA-approved crop of cannabis last week, putting an end to a 50-year-old monopoly on growing weed for research.
Cannabis Calendar
- Will Maryland become a model for America’s cannabis industry by restoring communities of colors impacted by prohibition? Join Tea Pad for a provocative conversation with Senator Brian Feldman on strategies for equity and legalization success at Busboys And Poets in Baltimore. (Feb. 24; 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.; $99-125)
- Cannabis industry professionals will get a chance to mingle over craft beer, tacos and live music at this networking event hosted by Baltimore’s Full Tilt Brewing. Proceeds go to medical cannabis research and education. (Jan. 19, 6 p.m. – 9 p.m., $25)
- Virginia NORML is bringing experts, advocates, legislators and industry leaders together for a chance to mix and mingle at a two-day conference on the future of cannabis policy and regulation in the commonwealth at Delta Hotels in downtown Richmond. (Jan. 22 & 23; $75 – 150.)