Marijuana Business Magazine March 2020

Marijuana Business Magazine | March 2020 40 Tennessee State Sen. Janice Bowling reintroduced legislation to legalize the use, cultivation and sale of medical cannabis in Tennessee. The bill would lay the legal groundwork to regulate the licensing of cultivators to grow, produce, distribute, transport, sell and acquire marijuana for medical use and scientific research. A measure died in the state Legislature in 2019 that would have legalized medical marijuana in the form of vapes and edibles but not joints. Utah The state’s new medical marijuana program will launch on schedule, Utah health officials said, with one or two dispensaries opening in the first week of March. The dispensaries’ opening coincides with the issuance of cards that will allow patients to legally purchase medical marijuana in the state. The state is planning for eight dispensaries—called pharmacies in Utah—to be open by July. However, the number of physicians willing to recommend medical marijuana is “very limited,” said Marc Babitz, deputy director with the Utah health department. Vermont Some state lawmakers urged the full Legislature to pass a law that would regulate and tax marijuana sales in the state, a renewed attempt to approve a full-fledged recreational market. Though it became legal in July 2018 to possess small amounts of marijuana for recreational use, the law contains no provision for the sale or regulation of the substance. The Vermont Senate passed a bill in February 2019 to establish such a system, but the measure has not yet been acted upon by the Vermont House of Representatives. Washington state State stores got the green light to begin selling flavored vape products— including those with THC—starting Feb. 7. The state’s Board of Health ordered a temporary ban on vaping products last October, following a number of vaping-related illnesses and deaths. Democratic state Sen. Annette Cleveland said the reversal stemmed from the identification of vitamin E acetate as the likely cause of the vape-related health crisis. Note: Entries sourced from Marijuana Business Daily , Hemp Industry Daily and other international, national and local news outlets. These developments occurred before this magazine’s publication deadline, so some situations may have changed. IndustryDevelopments | International & State