On June 3, The Los Angeles Times reported that the budget proposed by Governor Gavin Newsom projected a decline in California’s cannabis sales. COVID-19 induced a recession in the US economy, which could drag cannabis sales down. At the beginning of this year, Newsom expected the excise tax on cannabis to bring in $479 million this year. For the fiscal year starting on July 1, he expects an excise tax of $590 million.
State Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg is reviewing a proposal for South Dakota’s industrial hemp program before it goes to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for clearance.
That’s according to a spokeswoman for the state Department of Agriculture. JaCee Aaseth said USDA will then have up to 60 days to look over South Dakota’s plan and decide whether it can proceed.
State lawmakers wrote the law so it could take effect immediately after receiving the governor’s signature. The hope by some was that farmers could plant by July, but that now seems off the table.
Despite its numerous growing pains over the past year and change, marijuana remains one of the fastest expanding industries on the planet. After logging $10.9 billion in legal worldwide sales in 2018, Wall Street has global pot sales hitting anywhere from $50 billion to $200 billion by 2030.
The cannabis market in Illinois has been growing despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Illinois legalized recreational cannabis on January 1, 2020. Since then, the sales have been surging. The pandemic might have affected all of the other sectors but it helped marijuana sales. Consumers stocked up on marijuana to ease their anxiety and panic amid the crisis.
FSD Pharma has received FDA permission to design and submit an application for a new trial using a synthetic cannabinoid-based drug in the treatment of COVID-19.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based cannabis company FSD Pharma has been granted permission by the Food and Drug Administration to submit an Investigational New Drug Application for a clinical trial using a synthetic cannabinoid drug called ultramicronized palmitoylethanolamide (micro PEA) to treat COVID-19.
As it contends with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Missouri's health department published its first constitutionally required annual report to the governor on the fledgling medical marijuana program.
The Czech government has released details of new cultivation and export rules expected to be introduced in the country’s medical cannabis sector. The new rules will stem from a Bill aimed at reforming the Czech Republic’s Act on Addictive Substances.
California’s legal marijuana industry faces a year of declining sales as a result of the pandemic-induced recession despite an initial spike in consumer demand after dispensaries were deemed essential businesses, according to details outlined in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget.
Newsom projected in January that the state’s cannabis excise tax would bring in $479 million this year and $590 million in the fiscal year starting July 1, but his revised budget now forecasts just $443 million this year and a decline to $435 million next year.
Starting June 2, patients previously tied to one provider can purchase medical cannabis from any dispensary in the state.
New opportunities emerge for cannabis retailers.
With the progressive legalization of cannabis in the USA, eCommerce platforms are set to expand — offering opportunities for cannabis retailers. If at first, cannabis and eCommerce didn’t work in pair, the current demand for legal cannabis products (THC and CBD) have set a new dynamic for retailers. And despite a pandemic, the industry is set to create 340,000 jobs within the next 4 years.
