NATIONAL NEWS

$$northwest OREGON SALES TOP $1 BILLION IN 2020 $

Oregon adult-use Cannabis sales soared in 2020, peaking despite a challenging summer of COVID-19 lockdowns and racial justice protests, reports the AP. The state’s marijuana merchants logged a record year of business, according to numbers from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, which oversees Cannabis sales in the state. Total marijuana sales in Oregon jumped from $795 million to more than $1 billion – $1,110,520,723, to be precise – for the year 2020.

Adult-use Cannabis sales skyrocketed in March when Gov. Kate Brown instituted a pandemic-related stay-at-home order and other restrictions. Sales numbers spiked 20 percent that month and stayed robust all year. In May, Cannabis sales in Oregon topped $100 million for the first time ever. Sales then topped $100 million in each of the three months that followed as well, peaking at $106 million in July.

west coast CALIFORNIA SEES NO RISE IN FREQUENCY OF CANNABIS USE BY YOUNG ADULTS POST-LEGALIZATION

Adult-use legalization in California isn’t associated with any increase in the frequency of Cannabis use by young adults, according to data published in the scientific journal Addictive Behaviors, reports NORML.

Researchers with the University of California at San Diego examined Cannabis use patterns among 563 young adults (18-24) in California in the years immediately prior to and following enactment of legalization.

“Contrary to our expectations, frequency of marijuana use did not change significantly after legalization and was stable throughout three years of observation,” the study’s authors wrote.

GOV. CUOMO

LEGALIZATION NEW YORK EYES LEGAL CANNABIS

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced a proposal to legalize Cannabis for adult use in New York as part of the 2021 State of the State address he began on January 11.

New York would join 15 other states to “IT WOULD HAVE A BIGGER legalize adult-use marijuana, including neighbors Massachusetts and New Jersey, IMPACT ON THE UPSTATE ECONOMY THAN THE CRAFT BEER INDUSTRY DOES,” and Vermont in the Northeast.

“It would have a bigger impact on the upstate economy than the craft beer industry does,” said Allan Gandelman, president of the New York Cannabis Growers and Processors Association. “If this is done correctly, we will see a billion dollars in total revenue for the adult-use program in the first full year of operating in New York state.”

According to Gandelman, the biggest factors will be the types and number of licenses was added, acreages allowed for cultivation and taxation levels.

sports UFC’S KNOCKOUT BLOW FOR POSITIVE CANNABIS TESTS

UFC announced on January 14 a formal change to its anti-doping policy, making Cannabis OK for in-competition fighters, reports CBS Sports. The only time athletes would be punished for using Cannabis or cannabinoids would be if “additional evidence exists that an athlete used it intentionally for performanceenhancing purposes.”

“While we want to continue to prevent athletes from competing under the influence of marijuana, we have learned that urinary levels of carboxy-THC are highly variable after out-of-competition use and have poor scientific correlation to in-competition impairment,” said UFC Senior Vice President Jeff Novitzky.

“The bottom line is that in regard to marijuana, we care about what an athlete consumed the day of a fight, not days or weeks before a fight, which has often been the case in our historic positive THC cases,” Novizky said.

east coast MARYLAND CANNABIS WORKERS WILL RECEIVE COVID-19 VACCINE PRIORITY

Cannabis workers in Maryland will be placed at the top of the list for COVID-19 vaccinations, alongside healthcare providers, reports Ganjapreneur.

The move further underlines the “essential” designation that Cannabis businesses and employees received when the pandemic began last year. The Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission alerted the more than 130 licensed Cannabis companies across the state that their workers will be eligible for Phase 1A of the state’s tiered vaccine distribution plan, reports the Baltimore Business Journal.

east coast NEW HAMPSHIRE ADVOCATES CONTINUE LEGALIZATION EFFORT

Cannabis advocates are continuing their push to legalize adult-use marijuana in New Hampshire, but the effort faces a forbidding path in the GOP-controlled Legislature, reports The Center Square.

A bipartisan bill filed in the N.H. House of Representatives in January would, if approved, legalize adult-use Cannabis for those 21-and-older and set up a system of regulation and taxation that would allow retail sales.

“The battle continues,” said Rep. Rebecca McWilliams, a Democrat from Concord who is a primary sponsor of the bill. “We keep refining it and negotiating it and trying to come up with something that could potentially get to the two-thirds vote needed to override the governor’s veto.”

Republican Gov. Chris Sununu is a firm opponent of legalization.

2

years passed between the federal legalization of hemp and the finalized federal regulations on the crop.

3

medical marijuana bills were introduced by Neb. lawmakers in the January session.

45

percent of all drug arrests between 2010 and 2018 in Indiana were for Cannabis possession.

67

percent more Cannabis was bought by Americans in 2020 than in 2019.

2,392

new Cannabis cultivation permits were issued by Oklahoma, surpassing California by 88 licenses.

$18.4m

was the amount of money paid to Irwin Simon of Aphria, the highest-paid Cannabis CEO in Canada, in 2019.