Tag: Medical Marijuana

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Why Are Ohio’s Medical Marijuana Prices So High?

“Moments after CY+ Dispensary sold some of the first legal medical marijuana in Ohio, the crowd of patients waiting outside for their turn to make state history wanted to know one thing: How much?

They weren’t happy with the answer: $50 cash for a small plastic container holding 2.83 grams of dried marijuana bud, or just under $500 an ounce.

Marijuana sold in legal markets has a hard time competing with a product sold on the black market for several reasons.

Legal marijuana businesses have to comply with regulations for pesticides, tracking every plant with sophisticated software, security and more. They also pay taxes, and because marijuana remains an illegal substance on the federal level, they can’t deduct expenses the way other businesses can.

Ohio law requires every medical marijuana product to be tested by an independent state-licensed lab. There are only two in operation. The labs test for pesticides, mold and other contaminants. They also test for amounts of various marijuana compounds including THC, which generates a high, and cannabidiol, or CBD, which doesn’t.

The state has licensed 29 businesses to grow marijuana, but only 14 have finished building their facilities and been approved to start growing. None of the state-licensed processors are operating, so oils, lotions, patches, edibles and other products are not yet available.

One specific regulation sets Ohio apart from the 33 states that allow cannabis for medicinal use.

Rules set by the Ohio State Pharmacy Board, which oversees dispensaries, require marijuana flower and infused products to be packaged in certain amounts, called “whole day units.”

Read the full article at Cincinnati.com

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Israeli Parliament Passes Bill Allowing Export Of Medical Marijuana

The Israeli Parliament (the “Knesset”), passed the 16th amendment to Dangerous Drugs Ordinance on December 25, that concerns the governance and regulatory aspects of exporting medical cannabis from Israel. Subsequently, Israel is poised to be a top-earning, global hub in the marijuana market.

The Knesset’s measure was approved unanimously by 21 votes. Following the vote, the Minister of Internal Security, Gilad Erdan, approved. (Minister Gilad previously disapproved such actions; however, his party is currently up for re-election.)

The bill passed the Knesset’s internal affairs committee and two additional votes in the Knesset’s grand hall. The legislation authorizes the Israeli Police to conduct supervision of cannabis farms, and grant approvals for cultivating, growing and exporting of cannabis and cannabis-related products. Police involvement clears a legal obstacle necessary for the final approval of export of medical marijuana from the country, during 2019, expectedly.

According to the Knesset’s website, the bill states that “any license to engage in medical cannabis will be subject to a license from the Ministry of Health.” Provisions were made stipulating that each applicant for a license to engage in medical cannabis will receive a positive or negative recommendation from the police department. An exemption from police review may occur for foreign investors. The police will be required to provide its guidance for domestic applicants within four months, and foreign investors within six months.

There are currently eight companies operating in Israel, and there are dozens of additional requests from business owners to work in the field, which are awaiting the approval of the relevant parties. Entrepreneurs and researchers, as well as the business owners themselves, cite many requests from all over the world. All are encountering roadblocks because medical cannabis is lumped in with the other types of cannabis in the sweeping prohibition on trade.

More of this news at Forbes

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Is Indiana On The Verge Of Legalizing Medical Marijuana?

In the fall of 2015, the Indiana Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources committee gathered at the Statehouse for yet another study on the potential legalization of cannabidiol oil, or CBD oil, for children with intractable epilepsy. In the back of the room, waiting to testify in support, were the head of the Epilepsy Foundation of Indiana, multiple doctors, and the parents of kids who had found relief from seizures by illegally using CBD oil, an extract derived from the cannabis plant that has no psychoactive properties—it doesn’t get users high.

It proved to be a winning argument—when Republican Senator Jim Tomes introduced a bill to legalize the substance for epileptic patients the following legislative session, it died a quick death in an unfavorable committee. CBD oil supporters were devastated, but they learned from the experience. In subsequent years, armed with new studies showing other health benefits of the oil and emboldened by rising public support, they refined their approach and focused on educating lawmakers. It finally worked. This past March, the legislature passed SB52, legalizing CBD oil for all Hoosiers, a bill that Governor Eric Holcomb signed into law.

The Indianapolis Star and other outlets covered the entire saga, but a piece of related legislation passed with far less media attention. In some ways, it’s a direct result of the efforts on the CBD oil front. Without a single dissenting vote, the House also approved HR-2, calling for a study committee to look into something that would have seemed inconceivable a few years ago: legalizing medical marijuana.

The resulting public outcry caused Governor Holcomb to issue a moratorium and demand that the legislature find a solution during the ensuing session, which they did, overwhelmingly. Of the 144 members of the General Assembly who voted on SB52, only 11 remained, as one lawmaker put it, “sympathetic to the prosecutor’s case.” But as IPAC attorney Negangard feared, it didn’t stop there. With an increasing number of Hoosiers in favor of dismantling more marijuana laws and a study of the curative properties of cannabis underway this summer, CBD oil may be just the beginning.

Read more at Indianapolis

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Bill To Refine West Virginia’s Medical Marijuana Rules Fails

A bill that would have made several changes to West Virginia’s medical marijuana law failed when the state’s legislative session ended last weekend.

West Virginia’s medical marijuana program was set to launch in 2019, but the bill’s failure Saturday night and an opinion from the state treasurer have put the rollout on shaky ground, WVNews.com reported.

Democrat Mike Pushkin, a sponsor of HB 4345, believes issues with the bill can be resolved quickly.

Here’s what you need to know:

• The bill didn’t return to the House floor after the Senate made significant amendments to the first version that passed Feb. 28. The Senate voted to approve it Saturday night.


• Before being altered by the Senate, the original bill would have allowed dispensaries to deliver medical marijuana to patients. It would have also made a push to allow the sale of smokable marijuana, which isn’t allowed under the current law. And the Bureau of Public Health would have been required to issue 100 dispensary licenses throughout the state.


• By the time the Senate passed the amended version, much of those stipulations had been stripped away and the dispensary number was cut in half.


• State Treasurer John Perdue wrote a letter to the governor and other state leaders on March 1 expressing concerns about the state’s MMJ program in context of the federal illegality of cannabis, particularly marijuana businesses’ difficulty finding banking services.

Marijuana Business Daily

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Medical Marijuana: Shore Medical Community Slow To Embrace It

Dr. Mitchell Gittelman can’t say whether medical marijuana will help any of his patients.

But he can’t say it won’t help them either.

“I think since you’re not going to die from cannabis,” the Salisbury physician said, “it’s reasonable to give people a chance to try it.”

The Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission records list a total of 520 eligible medical providers statewide.

“There will probably be pockets of Maryland that are disadvantaged,” Ransom said.

He suspects the number of doctors actively seeing patients is much lower than 520, noting that several on the list are medical directors affiliated with marijuana businesses.

Some fits and starts are to be expected even after the drug becomes available, said Patrick Jameson, executive director of the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission.

Read the full article at Delmarva Now

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Surprising Medical Marijuana Side Effect: More People Claiming Disability

Medical marijuana laws are becoming more popular across the country, but legalizing the drug for medicinal purposes can have a major unintended consequence.

State medical marijuana laws lead to an increase in the probability that people will make Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) claims, according to a new working paper from researchers at Temple University, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Cincinnati. The tendency to make a SSDI claim rose 9.9% following the passage of a medical marijuana law, while actual SSDI benefits rose by 2.6%. The report, which was distributed by the National Bureau of Economic Research, used data from the Current Population Survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to produce its findings.

The researchers also studied the effect state laws on medical marijuana had on workers’ compensation (WC) claims. While their analysis did not produce any statistically significant evidence for these claims, the researchers said the data suggested generally that the laws do cause an increase. “Expanding marijuana access has negative spillover effects to costly social programs that disincentive work,” the researchers wrote.

More of this news at Marketwatch

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High Number of Applicants for Arkansas Medical Marijuana

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Would-be growers and distributors of Arkansas’ initial medical marijuana crop flooded a state office building Monday, turning in thousands of pages of paperwork and handing over thousands of dollars in application fees.

Arkansas voters last year approved marijuana use by people with certain medical conditions. The new state Medical Marijuana Commission will review applications after the names of companies and individuals have been redacted and then select up to five growers and 32 distributors. The Arkansas Health Department has approved 1,200 people for a medical marijuana registry, making them eligible to obtain the drug.

Continue Reading at US News