August 2018

Pennsylvania Commercial cannabis growers and dispensary opera- tors are weighing their legal options in response to a newly rewritten Pennsylvania law regulating medical marijuana research. The legislation allows eight medical schools to partner with marijuana cultivators to gener- ate data for pharmacological research. Cultivators that work with medical schools will be granted one of eight “super licenses,” which allow them to open up to six dispensary locations. That’s twice the number of store- fronts that commercial dispensary licensees are allowed to open. The bill’s opponents want the new regulations to issue research-only permits, define what constitutes medical research and create transparent financial dis- closure processes. West Virginia The cannabis banking conundrum could force regula- tors to pump the brakes on the launch of the state’s newly adopted medical marijuana program. Banks that work with the state “are unwilling to accept medical cannabis funds,” according to a letter state Treasurer John Perdue sent to Gov. Jim Justice. Perdue has pro- posed that legislators consider adopting either a closed- loop payment system or open a state-owned bank that would be operated by the state Treasurer’s office. Both options require legislative action. – Kate Lavin Note: Entries sourced from Marijuana Business Daily and other international, national and local news outlets. These develop- ments occurred before this magazine’s publication deadline, so some situations may have changed. Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo signed a state budget approved by the Rhode Island General Assembly that increases the fee medical marijuana dispensaries pay for licenses from $5,000 to $250,000. Previously, the governor had proposed a plan to open 12 more medical can- nabis dispensaries in the state, but the Rhode Island House Finance Committee nixed that idea. The Rhode Island Cannabis Association suggested that if the state is unwilling to allow more dispensaries, demand on the three existing MMJ outlets would remain too high and patients could be priced out of the legal market. 30 • Marijuana Business Magazine • August 2018