Marijuana Business Magazine - May-June 2018

¬NDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS National & ¬nternational News Developments What’s Happening: Spending Bill Includes Medical Marijuana Protections Medical marijuana companies won’t have to worry about being prosecuted by the federal government for at least another six months. President Donald Trump signed a $1.3 trillion federal spending bill March 23 that extends a statute prohibit- ing the Department of Justice from interfering in state MMJ programs. The bill lasts only through September, however, at which point Congress will have to approve a new federal budget or an extension of the deal just signed. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been lobbying Congress to kill the law, known as the Rohrabacher- Blumenauer Amendment, which has been approved or renewed by Congress 11 times since it first passed in 2014 because stand-alone bills to protect state-author- ized cannabis programs have not gotten any traction. Canada Releases Rules for Cannabis Packaging, ‘Micro-Cultivation’ When recreational marijuana hits store shelves in Canada later this summer, it will be sold in “plain pack- aging” that contains only a standardized cannabis sym- bol and one of 14 health warning messages, according to an updated set of proposals released March 19. The proposals also shed light on rules for new micro- cultivation and microprocessing licenses. Micro-cultiva- tion permits would authorize a canopy area of no more than 200 square meters (2,153 square feet). A micropro- cessing permit would allow the processing of no more than 600 kilograms (13,228 pounds) of dried cannabis (or equivalent) per year, or the entire output of a single micro-cultivation license. Medical Marijuana Harvests Begin in Jamaica At least two medical marijuana companies in Jamaica have begun the first-ever legal harvest of their crops, signaling that the island nation is well on its way to becoming a full-fledged MMJ market. Kaya Farms started its harvest Feb. 20, while Time- less Herbal Care said in a news release that it also had completed a harvest. Both harvests took place under the observance of the island’s Cannabis Licensing Authority. The program has been years in the works, following the 2015 change to Jamaican law that created the licensing authority and allows for private MMJ enterprises. 18 • Marijuana Business Magazine • May-June 2018

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