420 with CNW — Cannabis Regulators Find Retail Outlets Have 99% Compliance Regarding Checking Age

A recent investigation by Colorado marijuana regulators has found that 99% of state-legal cannabis stores were compliant with underage sales checks. Out of 285 checks, cannabis regulators found only four failures, representing a “very high” compliance rate of around 99% for 2023.

The state Department of Revenue’s Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) noted in its latest quarterly Weeds newsletter that while any failure is unacceptable, the state still had an extremely high compliance rate for underage cannabis checks. Cannabis retailers in Colorado also had a 99% compliance rate in 2022 up from 95% in 2021, and 97% in 2020 and 2019.

While many cannabis reform opponents argued that legalizing marijuana would increase youth access to the controversial plant, data shows that age verification laws are limiting youth access to legal cannabis across the country.

Colorado residents who would like to buy legal cannabis have to show photo IDs before they can even enter a recreational cannabis retail location, meaning minors have little chance of accessing regulated cannabis products. Adult-use cannabis retailers also have to go through a training program to receive a “Responsible Vendor” certification, which further encourages company compliance while significantly limiting youth access.

Colorado legalized recreational cannabis in December 2012 and launched retail sales in January 2014. The state’s adult-use industry soon ballooned in size, thanks to significant demand for cannabis within and outside the state, reaching a whopping $1.537 billion in 2022.

With more than 20 states legalizing recreational cannabis, tens of millions of Americans have access to recreational cannabis. Consequently, most states with recreational cannabis markets only allow adults aged 21 and older to access cannabis markets and require that cannabis retailers verify their customers’ ages before selling cannabis products.

A Journal of Safety Research study from last May used underage operatives to investigate if 90 cannabis retailers in California followed state-mandated age restrictions and discovered a 100% compliance rate. Another study showed 100% of cannabis stores in Oregon passed the underage check test in a 2017 sting operation, indicating that a majority of cannabis businesses follow underage cannabis consumption restrictions deadly serious.

Data on underage cannabis checks has been so positive that former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper said he was wrong to think that legalizing cannabis in Colorado could result in increased drug use by the youth. He explained that there has been no change in the frequency of cannabis use among teenagers, no increase in cannabis experimentation and no change in rates of driving under the influence.

This goes to show that the rise of marijuana companies such as Verano Holdings Corp. (CSE: VRNO) (OTCQX: VRNOF) may have in some way actually helped to avert teen access to cannabis due to the stringent age verification requirements retailers adhere to.

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CNW420 spotlights the latest developments in the rapidly evolving cannabis industry through the release of two informative articles each business day. Our concise, informative content serves as a gateway for investors interested in the legalized cannabis sector and provides updates on how regulatory developments may impact financial markets. Articles are released each business day at 4:20 a.m. and 4:20 p.m. Eastern – our tribute to the time synonymous with cannabis culture. If marijuana and the burgeoning industry surrounding it are on your radar, CNW420 is for you! Check back daily to stay up-to-date on the latest milestones in the fast -changing world of cannabis.

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420 with CNW — Poll Shows NJ Residents Say Marijuana Use Rights Override Inconvenience of Smell

A recent New Jersey poll has revealed that people are increasingly noticing the smell of marijuana more than a year into cannabis legalization. However, many residents seem to be unbothered by the often pungent smell, and even more believe that drunk driving is “very dangerous’” in comparison to driving under the influence of marijuana.

The Stockton University’s Hughes Center for Public Policy poll found that 31% of the respondents believed that cannabis use laws superseded the right to not smell marijuana from a neighbor’s house. The study also reported that 46% of respondents said both rights were of equal importance while 16% believed the right to not smell cannabis from neighbors was more important than cannabis use laws.

However, even though cannabis users in New Jersey have legal means for accessing the drug, only 14% of New Jersey residents said they smelled cannabis from neighboring houses often, 15% said they sometimes smell the controversial drug and 21% reported that they rarely smelled cannabis from their neighbors.

Conversely, 57% of adults in New Jersey said they have smelled cannabis in public since legalization, with 29% saying they catch the smell often and 28% saying they catch it sometimes. An estimated 31% of the respondents said they rarely smell cannabis while out in public, and 9% said they have never smelled marijuana in public.

Hughes Center director John Froonjian said that while there was much excitement about the legalization of recreational cannabis in New Jersey, policymakers didn’t put a lot of thought into the issue of public cannabis use. Without any legal places for people to consume their cannabis, many people are opting to consume the drug at festivals, on the streets, in parking lots and in parks.

Given marijuana’s extremely pungent smell, burning cannabis is quite distinctive, and the aromatic odors from the substance can travel for up to 82 feet before fully dissipating. A whopping 90% of respondents said they could identify the smell of cannabis while 52% said they had zero issues with the smell. Another 28% reported being “somewhat” bothered by the smell, and 19% said that the pungent aroma bothered them “a great deal.”

Unsurprisingly, 55% of people who consumed cannabis said one’s right to use cannabis at home overrode a neighbor’s right to not smell the plant in their residence while only 21% of noncannabis users had the same opinion. In addition, 75% of users and 91% of nonusers said that driving while under the influence of cannabis was dangerous, while 52% of consumers and 81% of nonconsumers said they supported roadside tests to determine driver impairment levels.

This huge enthusiasm for marijuana in New Jersey is likely to give rise to successful companies along the lines of Verano Holdings Corp. (CSE: VRNO) (OTCQX: VRNOF) and other companies thriving in other legal cannabis markets in the U.S.

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420 with CNW — Marijuana Testing Scrutinized as Product Recalls, Differing Rules Draw Attention

State cannabis authorities, producers and various stakeholders are currently contending with the challenge of ensuring consumer safety in an environment where lab-testing regulations and enforcement practices vary widely across the nation, resulting in frequent large-scale product recalls.

At present, each state adopts its own approach to conducting lab tests for both medical and recreational cannabis, assessing inspections, potency, contaminants and production standards. This fragmented approach has led to inconsistent regulations for testing and raised concerns about whether safeguarding consumers truly ranks as a top priority for industry players.

Americans for Safe Access (ASA) founder Steph Sherer attributes this patchwork approach to the overarching federal prohibition of cannabis.

Medical marijuana producers in Maine have contended that their products are inherently safe and, therefore, should be exempt from mandatory testing, despite two separate analyses revealing high levels of pesticides and contaminants in their samples, rendering them unfit for sale in the regulated adult-use market.

Arizona has also faced multiple recalls this year due to potential salmonella and aspergillus contamination in marijuana flowers and processed products. Experts suggest that such recalls could be prevented through the implementation of more stringent marijuana lab standards, the establishment of a statewide tracking system or adherence to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards.

In Oregon, the Liquor and Marijuana Commission decided to permit the sale of products testing positive for aspergillus, a type of mold responsible for product recalls in several markets. This decision came after a lawsuit filed by cultivators arguing that enforcing the state’s new zero-tolerance policy for aspergillus would drive them out of business.

Sherer criticized the commission’s decision, describing it as “criminal.” Aspergillus may not harm healthy individuals, he said, but those with compromised immune systems or lung diseases face a higher risk of infection.

To address this situation, some experts propose the use of irradiation to eliminate contaminants such as mold. However, concerns persist that such processes may compromise product quality, underscoring the need to balance consumer safety with personal responsibility.

The potential rescheduling of marijuana from a Schedule 1 to a Schedule 3 drug by the DEA could be a key step toward federal oversight of marijuana testing and production standards. ASA envisions the creation of a federal office of medical marijuana under the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which would collaborate with state governments to formulate comprehensive cannabis testing requirements.

The regulation of cannabinoid-containing products, on the other hand, remains complex, as demonstrated by the slow progress in overseeing CBD products since the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill. It remains unclear how lab standards would evolve following rescheduling.

Marijuana enterprises such as Verano Holdings Corp. (CSE: VRNO) (OTCQX: VRNOF) would appreciate uniform nationwide standards that bring uniformity to cannabis products sold in any of the markets where such products are legal because such regulations would clear a lot of uncertainty in the rules players have to conform to.

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420 with CNW — Marijuana Banking Outlook Improves in Senate

Banking access in America’s state-legal marijuana industry has been a controversial topic since its inception. Federal law prohibited cannabis even as dozens of states legalized the plant for medical and recreational use, resulting in a state-level industry that dealt in a federally outlawed product.

Consequently, businesses in the cannabis sector were unable to access banking and financial services as financial institutions generally avoided state-legal cannabis cultivators, processors, and retailers for fear of federal reprisal.

Efforts by a group of lawmakers to mitigate this issue and finally grant the cannabis industry access to banking have generally moved at a slow pace, forcing cannabis businesses to operate on a cash-only basis in the meantime and increasing their risk of suffering violent robberies.

The Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act sought to expand banking access to America’s cannabis industry. However, the measure stalled in the U.S. Senate several times despite the support of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Most recently, lawmakers filed a revised version of the bill called the SAFER Banking Act and sent it to the Senate Banking Committee for review. Soon after, Schumer released a statement hailing the measure as a means of making small businesses and their communities safer by allowing the cannabis industry to finally access conventional financial services like small business loans and bank accounts.

The safety aspect likely referred to the fact that cannabis businesses are often targeted by criminals because they often have stockpiles of cash and cannabis, which are highly liquid assets, on-site. However, while Schumer and the other lawmakers behind the SAFER Banking Act are optimistic about its chances of advancing, several industry insiders aren’t confident of the measure’s chances of success.

Some advocates had been concerned that the SAFER Banking Act would be held up by a possible government shutdown that would halt legislative activities in Congress. Until this weekend, the U.S. government had been only days away from its fourth partial shutdown in the decade as Republicans and Democrats still hadn’t passed funding legislation for federal agencies.

Over the weekend, however, Congress passed a last-minute bill, keeping the government open. Now attention turns to the bill. Last week, Senate Banking Committee chair Senator Sherrod Brown predicted that a majority of the committee would vote in favor of the SAFER Banking Act. This has come to pass, as the bill has now been advanced to the Senate floor.

Brown noted in the Ask a Pol podcast that while he didn’t expect many amendments to the measure on the Senate floor or what the vote committee vote would be, he was confided that the bill would pass “decisively.”

Marijuana industry advocates, as well as enterprises such as Verano Holdings Corp. (CSE: VRNO) (OTCQX: VRNOF), hope that this particular piece of legislation will fare better than its predecessor did.

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420 with CNW — Federal Data Reveals Uptick in Financial Institutions Serving Cannabis Firms

New data from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has revealed that a growing number of financial and credit institutions are working with businesses in the cannabis sector. America’s state-legal cannabis industry has had limited access to banking and financial services for most of its existence because marijuana is still classified as a Schedule I product at the federal level.

Unable to access bank accounts or use cashless payment services, cannabis businesses across the country had no choice but to operate on a cash-only basis, which significantly increased their risk of violent robberies. However, after industry players and lawmakers spent years calling for cannabis banking legislation, U.S. senators are now poised to advance a marijuana banking bill that would finally grant the industry access to banking services.

However, even though cannabis banking legislation still hasn’t advanced yet and the plant is still illegal at the federal level, FinCEN’s quarterly report shows a significant increase in the number of financial institutions choosing to serve businesses in the cannabis sector. FinCEN reports that 812 credit unions and banks were actively serving cannabis businesses in Q2 2023, the highest number ever recorded since FinCEN started reporting in 2014.

One reason for the uptick in banking institutions and credit unions choosing to serve cannabis businesses may be due to the fact that several more states legalized recreational cannabis since FinCEN’s last report on the matter. Recent bipartisan discussions regarding cannabis banking reform may also have made financial institutions more comfortable with the idea of serving cannabis businesses as clients.

The Senate Banking Committee is set to vote on the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act next week, and committee chair Sherrod Brown included the marijuana banking bill in a group of priority bills he is looking to advance within the next six weeks.

If signed into law, the SAFE Banking Act would protect banks, depository institutions, and credit unions that work with licensed cannabis businesses from federal penalties. The measure currently has 42 cosponsors, including eight Republicans and three Independents, but has been held back by intense debate over specific sections of the bill.

FinCEN based its report on data collected from Suspicious Activity Reports (SARS) filed by financial institutions working with businesses in the state-legal cannabis sector. The report found that financial institutions in California filed 3,757 SARS in Q2 2022 followed by Oklahoma with 2,531 SAR filings, Colorado with 951 filings and Oregon with 436.

It is likely that major cannabis industry players such as Verano Holdings Corp. (CSE: VRNO) (OTCQX: VRNOF) are looking forward to a time when federal banking rules will be changed to permit marijuana companies to be regarded as any other licensed business whose activities don’t have to be reported in SARS reports.

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420 with CNW — Cannabis Rescheduling Recommendation Far Below Biden’s Campaign Promises, Advocates Say

Nearly two years after President Joe Biden took office, policy experts and drug-reform advocates aren’t happy with the Biden administration’s efforts to fulfill the campaign’s cannabis promises. Last month, the Biden administration recommended that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reclassify marijuana and asked federal drug officials to consider removing the decades-long restrictions on marijuana.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued the cannabis rescheduling recommendation to the DEA after President Biden sent a request to the HHS calling for a review of the rescheduling of marijuana as a Schedule I drug with no medical application.

Schedule III drugs are defined as chemicals or substances such as codeine, ketamine and anabolic steroids with a low to moderate risk of psychological and physical dependence and less abuse potential compared to Schedule I drugs like cocaine or heroin.

However, the administration’s efforts to reform federal cannabis policies haven’t drawn much praise from policy experts and advocates. According to the National Association of Black Cannabis Lawyers, reclassifying cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act will not address the racial justice issues associated with current marijuana laws.

The association’s executive director Natacha Andrews explained that federal rescheduling does not deal with the harm federal criminalization caused to marginalized communities, over policing by law enforcement, immigration issues or increased access to key federal services.

Furthermore, Andrews said the recommendation to reschedule cannabis did not align with what dozens of states had done to legalize and regulate marijuana. Current federal law classifies cannabis in the same group as drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamines, which have no medical applications unlike cannabis and have significantly deadlier side effects on the body.

Policies instituted decades ago honed in on cannabis as a societal problem and emboldened law enforcement and the court system to be incredibly harsh on cannabis offenders. Whether by design or not, individuals from Black and Brown communities bore the brunt of America’s intense cannabis policing despite using cannabis at similar rates to White people.

Most states with legal cannabis programs have now included social-equity provisions to invest in communities that were disproportionately affected by the war on drugs. However, many aren’t satisfied with the federal government’s cannabis reform efforts.

Cat Packer, the Drug Policy Alliance’s director of drug markets and legal regulation, noted that the administration is delivering less than what it promised during presidential campaigns. She said the recent recommendation for federal rescheduling left her wondering how the president will keep his campaign promise of decriminalizing the personal use of cannabis. The entire cannabis industry, including companies such as Verano Holdings Corp. (CSE: VRNO) (OTCQX: VRNOF), hope that federal restrictions on marijuana are eased so that they can have access to a bigger market.

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420 with CNW — Study Finds 90% of Illicit Marijuana Products Tainted with Pesticides

A recent investigation has revealed a significant disparity in safety standards between marijuana cultivated for Canada’s legal market and that intended for the illicit market. A staggering 92% of unregulated marijuana samples were found to contain various pesticides, while this figure plummeted to a mere 6% for regulated products.

The findings, published recently in the “Cannabis Research” Journal, involved scrutinizing 36 cannabis samples procured from licensed dispensaries and 24 illicit samples confiscated by regulatory agencies. The objective was to ascertain whether the products had been cultivated or had come into contact with any of the 327 diverse pesticides on record.

The results for legally produced cannabis were strikingly favorable, with only 6% exhibiting contamination. These traces were limited to two pesticide residues: dichlobenil and myclobutanil. On the other hand, pesticides were distressingly widespread in the samples from the illegal market, affecting a staggering 92% of samples. The study pinpointed the existence of 23 different pesticide ingredients, with an average of 3.7 distinct pesticides detected in each sample. Researchers found myclobutanil, imidacloprid and chlorpyrifos in the illegal samples, reaching quantities up to three orders of magnitude higher than the method’s lowest calibrated standard of 0.01 g/g.

Nevertheless, despite the small percentage of regulated samples displaying minimal pesticide content, the authors commended the significant strides made within Canada’s licensed marijuana sector. Prior to the introduction of mandatory testing in 2019, contamination levels hovered around 30%.

The study authors emphasized the uniqueness of their research as it comprehensively delved into pesticide residues across both licensed and illegal marijuana markets in a nation where the substance has been legalized. They emphasized that their findings support the government’s advisory, warning that “consuming illicit products could result in adverse harms and effects. Testing of unregulated marijuana has found contaminants like bacteria, arsenic, lead, and pesticides.”

In essence, these findings reaffirm the long-standing assertions of marijuana reform advocates: Regulating cannabis sales provides consumers with safer and higher-quality products.

A different study that looked at marijuana testing standards in state markets in the United States last year discovered that the inconsistent legal framework had confused the general public, underscoring the urgent need for a uniform regulatory strategy and national-level guidelines on the contaminant restrictions in cannabis. However, creating such a comprehensive framework faces significant challenges due to federal prohibition. While the Environmental Protection Agency has cleared the use of specific pesticides for hemp following its federal legalization through the 2018 Farm Bill, the agency has refrained from extending the same approval to cannabis while it remains prohibited.

This study goes to show that licensed marijuana companies such as Verano Holdings Corp. (CSE: VRNO) (OTCQX: VRNOF) are good for public health reasons and the findings create an urgency for stamping out the cannabis black market in order to reduce the harms arising from consuming tainted marijuana products.

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