Here’s the cannabis news you need to know this week.
The National Basketball Association announced it will now allow players to promote, invest in, and consume cannabis, marking a shift in its longstanding policy.
In a release, President Biden has deemed April Second Chance Month - saying, “recommit to helping people forge the new beginnings they have earned and building a safer and more just society.” Specific to cannabis, in the statement the White House noted:
“We have also taken historic steps to end our Nation’s failed approach to marijuana. Sending people to prison for possession has upended too many lives for conduct that many States no longer prohibit. It has seen Black and Brown Americans disproportionately arrested, prosecuted, and convicted; and imposed unfair barriers to housing, employment, and education.
Last fall, I announced a full pardon for Federal and D.C. simple possession offenses, while calling on other elected officials to do the same at the State and local levels where most marijuana prosecutions take place.”
Legal adult-use marijuana sales in New Mexico have exceeded a blazing $300 million in their first year, once again demonstrating the potential for economic growth and job creation in the state's newly legalized cannabis market.
Like in other legal/not-yet-legal markets, New Mexico is benefiting from their considerable border with Texas where New Mexican dispensaries cater to Texans. For a great example of this, check out our case study of Astro Buds, based in Chaparral, New Mexico, and learn how they increased AOV by 24% with PIN debit.
If you’re watching this, you know that the week in and around 420 is the biggest sales week of the year—capped off with the biggest sales day of the year on 4/20. So it’s exciting when a jurisdiction embraces it. DC has an annual medical cannabis sales tax holiday kicks off Saturday, April 15 and runs through Monday, April 24, 2023.
Even though New York set their legalization process in motion years ago, they still have not gotten around to home grow regulations for New Yorkers. Meaning at-home gardeners in the state are still without regulations guiding their spring planting.
New Yorker and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is set to speak at a 420 Marijuana Policy Forum, signaling his continued support for cannabis reform. The talk will be part of the National Cannabis Policy Summit’s Congressional Forum which will take place in the Capitol and hosted in the Visitors Center’s Congressional Auditorium, all according to Marijuana Moment.
New York state regulators have approved 99 new dispensary licenses, tripling the number of dispensaries in the state. According to a release from NY’s Cannabis Control Board “licenses included four for Western New York, one for Central New York, five for MidHudson, and three for Brooklyn, marking the first provisional licenses to be issued in these regions following last week’s modification of a court injunction that had prevented the Board from issuing them.”
For this week’s Cannabis Expert, we are going to go a conversation with Sher Joudeh from Social Cannabis in Denver, Colorado.
A longtime leader in the sector, Joudeh runs her Social Cannabis dispensary with a keen eye towards the community in which they operate, but also how they train their staff, the products they carry, and the operation they run are fully in line with the Denver cannabis community and the community overall.
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