USA Roundup: General, Federal,Massachusetts, Ohio

GENERAL

With Plans to Sell CBD Nationwide, Lucky’s Market Charts Legal Gray Area

https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/with-plans-to-sell-cbd-nationwide-luckys-market-charts-legal-gray-area

The Colorado-based grocer, which is backed by retail giant Kroger, announced this week that it will add a dozen CBD products to its apothecary shelves nationwide, where they’ll be sold alongside herbs and natural cosmetics made from ingredients like echinacea and calendula.

FEDERAL

U.S. Justice Department Admits Prosecution of Washington Medical Cannabis Growers Is Illegal

https://merryjane.com/news/justice-dept-illegal-cannabis-prosecution-kettle-falls-washington

Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) have finally admitted that they were in the wrong to pursue federal charges against five Washington state residents who were legally growing cannabis under the state’s medical marijuana law. The DOJ has been prohibited from spending money to prosecute state-legal medical cannabis patients and providers for the past several years thanks to the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, which was added to an Obama-era spending bill in 2014.

 

MASSACHUSETTS

Cannabis panel plans to extend job offer for executive director

http://www.newburyportnews.com/news/regional_news/cannabis-panel-plans-to-extend-job-offer-for-executive-director/article_465fc657-8577-5d86-b3e6-5932a3ab5765.html

BOSTON — The chief medical marijuana regulator from Rhode Island, the head of a Massachusetts child advocacy organization and the Treasury’s point person on pot paraded in front of the Cannabis Control Commission on Tuesday afternoon, each for an hourlong interview for the job of executive director.

The five-person commission interviewed the three finalist candidates — Norman Birenbaum, principal analyst at the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation; Erin Bradley, executive director of the Children’s League of Massachusetts; and Shawn Collins, assistant treasurer and director of policy and legislative affairs — in public despite a concern that open interviews could deter some qualified candidates.

The commission received 42 applications for the position, Chairman Steven Hoffman said, and conducted private first-round interviews with eight applicants. Hoffman and Commissioner Britte McBride, who led the executive director search, then selected the three finalists to be interviewed in public.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

N.H. Marijuana Legalization Committee Holds First Meeting

http://www.vnews.com/New-Hampshire-marijuana-legalization-study-commission-begins-meeting-but-advocates-unhappy-with-membership-13176882

A commission tasked with exploring marijuana legalization in New Hampshire held its first meeting on Tuesday, setting off a yearlong examination process ahead of its final report next November.

Created by House Bill 215, the commission is charged with looking at what might happen if the state legalized marijuana and regulated and taxed it like alcohol, along the model of other states.

The goal is broad. Among the topics to be considered, according to the commission: how legalization might affect the opioid crisis, crime rates, children’s health, DUI accidents, taxation policies, and New Hampshire’s brand.

“To me, in simple form, I think it’s our job to identify the good, the bad and the ugly of legalization,” Rep. Patrick Abrami, the commission’s chairman, said at the meeting on Tuesday.

 

OHIO

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