Welcome to this Week in Cannabis News for Friday, January 12, 2024. Watch the full episode of This Week in Cannabis News:
Here's what you need to know this week.
It was unregulated cannabis retail stores that were the target of New York’s Governor Kathy Hochul this week during her State of the State address. She is proposing new legislation that would expand the power of the Office of Cannabis Management to padlock illicit shops and authorize local jurisdictions to close shops on the OCM’s behalf.
Last week, we shared that Wisconsin’s governor Tony Evers was willing to negotiate and deal with Republicans, perhaps, on a more incremental approach to legalization if that’s what was required to start down the legalization path. This week, Governor Evers, and those following what’s happening in Wisconsin, got a glimpse of what Republicans in that state would like to do. And it’s a fairly restrictive medical cannabis regime: Restrictions include the small number of conditions available for medical cannabis treatments, the limited number of medical cannabis dispensaries (five, all government owned/operated), and the fact that smokable products won’t be included.
And as Wisconsin tries to navigate their path forward, Virginia is trying to navigate their path forward. A new bill was introduced this week in the State House of Delegates to legalize adult-use, and a similar bill is expected in the State Senate. The bill would allow current medical-only operators to flip their licenses to be adult-use as well, starting as soon as this year.
Universities and colleges in states with legal cannabis see increased applications to attend those schools. The publication The Conversation took a look at the data.
For this week’s cannabis expert we are joined by Britni Tantalo of the New York Cannabis Retail Association. We wanted to connect with Tantalo about her background in New York’s industry, the work the Association is doing to give voice to the sector, and about an upcoming event they are planning - and Dutchie is participating in - on January 20th next weekend.
Learn more about the January 20th NYCRA Industry Event.
As always follow all things Dutchie on our blog at business.dutchie.com/blog and we’ll see you next Friday at Noon Eastern/9 AM Pacific on Dutchie’s LinkedIn page.
