highgreennews

When it comes to pot prohibition, it's state legislatures that refuse to act who are out of step with the times.

Last year wasn't a great one for advancing marijuana legalization at the state level. Despite high hopes for New Jersey and New York, state legislatures in Trenton and Albany couldn't quite get their acts together, and promising efforts petered out. Illinois was the only state to approve marijuana legalization in 2019.

Washington House lawmakers Sunday passed a bill intended to address racial inequity within the cannabis industry by issuing previously forfeited, canceled and revoked retail licenses to applicants of a new social equity program.

Innovation was alive and well in Louisville Kentucky last week at the National Farm Machinery show! The hemp industry was well represented as interest raises across the nation about growing this promising crop. Not only hemp, but marijuana growing equipment was also featured, and many familiar agricultural products are being using in new and interesting ways.

President Trump proposed a budget that will end the existing protection policy for state medical marijuana programs. Yesterday, in Trump Denies Protection to State Medical Marijuana Programs, I discussed how President Trump wants to ignore Congress’s introduced policy to protect the states that have legalized marijuana from federal interference. However, Congress decided to fight back against President Trump.

Marijuana could become legal in New York this year, but the form that legislation takes has yet to be determined.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is “all in on this. He wants to get this done,” said Darren “Hal” McCabe, executive director of the Legislative Commission on Rural Resources and mayor of the village of Homer. “He likes to be first, and he likes to lead. So I’m very confident that it’s going to get done this year, but I’m not sure what form it’s going to be in.”

Canopy Growth posts a quarterly loss narrower than expected.

Shares of Canopy Growth (CGC) - Get Report jumped  20% Friday to $23.70 after the Canadian cannabis company reported a narrower-than-expected fiscal third-quarter loss as revenue topped analysts' estimates.

The startup-laden cannabis industry is probably just right for those who are willing to forego a few extra dollars on their paychecks for the possibility of a bigger payout later when the company grows or goes public.

Giving employees an equity stake is far from an uncommon practice in startups, and companies in turn may see it as a way to save money on payroll and encourage workers to do more.

Ownership interests in the often heavily regulated cannabis industry, however, typically come with regulatory implications by necessity.

State lawmakers took steps on two bills Thursday that could bring protections for companies that insure cannabis-related companies in the Garden State and also allow those on workers’ compensation to have their medical weed covered.

The state Assembly committee on financial institutions advanced the two bills, but the state Senate has yet to take up either.

The Cannabis Packaging Summit was created with the main goal of bringing the rapidly expanding cannabis industry together with the nation's well-established networks of packaging providers to help "close the final gap" in understanding between the two markets.

A Kentucky House committee voted today to add Kentucky to the list of at least 33 other states with a government-regulated medicinal marijuana program.

The program would be established under House Bill 136, sponsored by Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, and Rep. John Sims Jr., D-Flemingsburg, approved today by the House Judiciary Committee. The bill sets out policies for cultivation, processing, sale, distribution and use of medicinal marijuana, should HB 136 become law.