Catch up on this week's top hits

For the second year running, the $32.1 billion U.S. cannabis industry will head into the Labor Day holiday weekend on the heels of a major milestone in the Biden administration’s effort to reschedule marijuana.

Instead of celebration, however, anger and a minor sell-off of cannabis stocks followed the announcement that an administrative law judge won’t hear the Justice Department’s proposal to recategorize marijuana to Schedule 3 of the Controlled Substances Act until December.

A year ago, the industry headed into the Labor Day holiday weekend celebrating “the biggest thing ever” to happen with cannabis reform when federal health regulators recommended that marijuana be classified as medicine.

But this year, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chief Anne Milgram’s notice in the Federal Register of a planned Dec. 2 hearing means it’s all but certain marijuana won’t be rescheduled until 2025.

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Most products that are certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture – such as baby food, meat, produce and other items – enjoy a hefty upcharge that consumers are willing to pay.

“The most valuable certification on the planet Earth is organic, particularly as it pertains to consumer-packaged goods,” said Ben Gelt , an adviser to the cannabis practice at law firm Greenspoon Marder LLP and board chair for the Denver-based Cannabis Certification Council , a nonprofit group providing education about cannabis certification.

Without that USDA organic certification, which was created in 2002, businesses are not allowed to use the word “organic” on their products.

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New York regulators won’t finish reviewing applications for adult-use marijuana business licenses submitted late last year until 2025.

That’s the timeline set by Felicia Reid, the acting director of the state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), during an interview last week with Spectrum News 1.

There are still 600 applicants from the so-called November queue of retail and microbusiness hopefuls that remain to be evaluated.

Reviews will continue until “early next year,” Reid told Spectrum.

Applicants from the December queue, which consists of cultivation permits, will wait even longer: Those applications will be reviewed “on a rolling basis” after the November queue is completed Reid told the New York City-based news outlet.

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Ohio regulators issued more than $200,000 in fines to five cannabis retailers for violating marketing and promotional restrictions surrounding the Aug. 6 launch of adult-use sales.

According to cleveland.com , the state’s Division of Cannabis Control issued the following penalties:

• $150,000 and a $12,500 fine to Greenleaf Apothecaries, which operates The Botanist dispensaries, for using an ice cream truck to advertise recreational sales, employee social media posts touting free ice cream as well as signage larger than permitted.
• A $12,500 fine to Bloom Medicinals for using a sign larger than 16×18 inches and one unattached to its store.
• A $12,500 fine to multistate operator Green Thumb Industries, which operates Rise outlets, for disseminating a promotional email in June alerting medical marijuana patients that cannabis would be available for adult-use and MMJ patrons as of June 10 – nearly two months before recreational marijuana sales kicked off.
• A $12,500 fine to Standard Farms.
• A $12,500 fine to Guaranteed Dispensary.

The other infractions include minor violations, including using “recreational” in promotional materials and misidentifying license status.

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WEBINAR

Join MJBizCon’s marketing leaders and special guest Brooke Mangum , CMO of Cheech and Chong's Global Holdings Company , to explore how businesses of all sizes can leverage trade shows and other events to boost brand awareness and their bottom line with an events-based marketing strategy.

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