Catch the Smoke: Oct. 16, 2023
D.C. rundown
- The National Cannabis Festival is back after a rained out event this year with an Instagram announcement for 2024. It is not clear how they’ll navigate gifting cannabis during the festival in light of the changing D.C. landscape.
- The current D.C. application period closes at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, October 30, 2023.
- Watch last week’s info session for the next unlicensed operator period starting in November.
- The next ABCA meeting will be held Oct. 18 at 10 A.M. This will be the second to last meeting in which this period of licenses can be approved while the period is open. But we’re guessing ABCA will continue to approve these licenses after the application period closes. They’ve been making efforts to work with applicants like asking them to fix or add to applications before hearing them at meetings.
- D.C.’s mayor signed a bill affecting cannabis product testing and expanding patient certification and cementing the expanded social equity definition.
- District Cannabis’s protest hearing is scheduled for January 2024 for a delivery license and a relocation of its business.
Hemp is back, for now
A group of hemp businesses in Maryland won a temporary pause on the state’s ban against selling hemp/hemp-derived products over the new mandated THC percentage without a state business license. A new law that came into effect with the new adult use market this summer and threatened to close many hemp businesses. The new ruling allows sales until a trial court ruling. No court date has been scheduled.
- Crab Cakes & Cannabis stopped selling an old bay parody sticker after receiving a letter from the actual Old Bay Company claiming that the words “420 BUD” on the parody tarnished their reputation and violated their trademark.
- A Cannabis retail store hopes that a holistic spa with their shop will boost business.
- A southern Maryland cannabis store staff voted to unionize.
- Maryland’s adult use market continues to show a growth in adult-use sales and a decline in medical.
Up for grabs
The application process for the last cannabis license available in Virginia will now be controlled by the new Cannabis Control Authority when it begins oversight of the medical program instead of the Virginia Board of Pharmacy.
East Coast Round Up
New Jersey revealed a new education campaign to promote delivery service options and prevent impaired driving.
New York’s cannabis office is going on a 20-stop tour of public forums to give out details on how to get into the retail market.
Connecticut hits another sales record, going over $25 million for the first time.
Culture Corner
A new report traces the use of cannabis by humans back thousands of years as a source of fiber, nutrition, enjoyment, spirituality and medicine.
From the Swamp
The unending search for a house speaker casts an increasing shadow on anything getting done in Congress including cannabis banking. The House’s weed banking bill received two new Democratic cosponsors last week.
- The only democrat who opposed the Senate’s banking bill, SAFER Banking Act, in committee explains that its lack of addressing restorative justice caused his opposition.
- Former DEA heads and others warn the Biden administration that descheduling cannabis will “supersize” the industry.
- There are reports that the Senate cannabis banking bill will not be voted on until house passage is secured.
- A new federal report said that states made over $5.7 billion in tax revenue over 18-months, highlighting how much money the federal government is missing out on taxing.
Don't miss
Seeds of Success: Insights from a Cannabis Social Equity Champion
Tea Pad hosts an event with national cannabis equity advocate and entrepreneur Chris Jackson for lessons learned from the Michigan cannabis industry at Party HQ in Bowie, MD. (Nov. 11; $58.50)
Please submit your upcoming cannabis event here.