Cannabis Gifting shops hit back at D.C.’s padlocking with new lawsuit
The Alliance for Recreational Cannabis Entities LLC, a group of seven unlicensed cannabis “gifting” stores, has filed a lawsuit against the District of Columbia, alleging that the city’s enforcement actions against them are unconstitutional. The lawsuit claims that the city’s cease-and-desist orders and subsequent closures deprived store owners of their property and liberty interests without due process. It also argues that the administrative process through the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA) deprived them of their right to a jury trial.
- ABCA closures slow, but hit 13 total padlocked cannabis gifting shops
- ABCA board will meet – Nov 19 at 01:30 P.M, agenda.
- ABCA will also meet Nov 20 10:30 AM, agenda.
New tool from the Maryland Department of Health to track cannabis public health impact
Maryland’s Department of Health recently launched a new tool for tracking and understanding the impacts cannabis has on public health. The Maryland Cannabis Public Health Data Dashboard is using visual representations of trends related to cannabis in order to show occurrences in health before and after adult use legalization. As cannabis use in the state continues to grow, officials are seeing an importance in monitoring what cannabis does to public health over time.
ICYMI: What does Trump mean for DMV cannabis? And new D.C. ABC Board appointees.
East Coast Roundup
Through the New York Office of Cannabis Management suggesting an extension for social equity cannabis retailers, the state’s Cannabis Control Board recently approved extensions for cannabis retailers holding provisional Conditional Adult Use Dispensary Licenses giving licensees 30 months from being approved to start their business.
The Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Advisory Board’s subcommittee recently suggested changes that would allow nurse practitioners to suggest medical cannabis to patients; it was denied by Secretary of Health Debra L. Bogen, extending the authorization instead to podiatrists.
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Culture & More
Headset, a cannabis analytics provider out of Seattle concluded an around 6% jump in infused beverage sales during Election Day from covering a normal 1% or 2% of retail sales with expected holiday sales spikes and increases in social gatherings playing a role.
In Florida, multi state operator Ayr Wellness Inc is standing behind and is confident in the strength of their indoor premium cannabis growth operation despite the state’s recent legalization rejection and Amendment 3 being shot down by Floridians.
The Green Lady dispensary in Nantucket, Massachusetts and other remote island communities are now receiving cannabis shipments via waterways by way of finalized regulation changes in June from a lawsuit in May between The Green Lady and the state’s Cannabis Control Commission.
Around the Country
In July of 2025, California’s excise cannabis tax rate is set to increase to 19% as a result of a legislature agreement that threw away previous cultivation tax in the state with a point being that the excise tax would increase slowly over coming years as a result with the state’s cannabis market seeing major setbacks in this past year.
Maine’s Office of Cannabis Policy recently announced the third recall for a cannabis product in the past three months with the state’s four year old adult-use market recalling product sold in October for unsafe levels of mold and yeast.
Under California’s multiagency Eradication and Prevention of Illicit Cannabis around 774,829 illegal cultivated cannabis plants had been destroyed this year along with around 106,141 pounds of processed cannabis, with federal and state investigations in 36 counties bringing in 282 arrests.
From the swamp
A recently released survey from The Associated Press and NORC found that despite former President Donald Trump’s endorsing the end of cannabis prohibition had no effect on voters and supporters in three states still looking to shoot down cannabis legalization at the ballot including Florida.
With reform decisions being turned to Republican officials rather than the states, cannabis advocates are finding strategies for coercing conservative lawmakers to be in favor of adult-use cannabis since the election’s result turned the Senate over to the Republican Party.
The U.S. The Department of Energy has awarded $8.4 million to the startup company Hempitecture as one of the 14 companies getting grants by way of the Department’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains in order to give cannabis based sustained alternatives to packaging, building and automobile components.
