2021 has been very fruitful for cannabis legalization in the northeastern United States. First New Jersey legalized adult use cannabis, then came New York, then Connecticut, and now it is looking like Rhode Island should be able to get it done this year. Although technically not in the Northeast, Virginia also legalized adult use cannabis this year.
Quintessential New England: The Rhode Island coastline.
Those states are following in the footsteps of Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont who have all legalized cannabis previously. In addition, legislators in Pennsylvania and Delaware are both trying to advance bills to legalize adult use cannabis. While New Hampshire has a lot of support for legalization, progress in the legislature has stalled for now. And that just about covers the entire Northeast.
In a very interesting chain of events, the Northeast is legalizing adult use cannabis at a rapid pace in 2021. The incremental progress is similar to the history of legalization in the western United States and the events leading up to 2016.
In Rhode Island, senators approved Senate Bill 568 and now heads to the House where a legislative session ends in less than a week. While it is doubtful that representatives will be able to get it done before the end of the month, it is entirely possible that they could pass the bill and legalize cannabis before the end of this year.
Following Connecticut and hopefully Rhode Island, Pennsylvania lawmakers are building bipartisan support for legalization and are expected to introduce a bill soon.
Editor’s Note: This article has been edited and updated upon receiving comments from ProVerde Laboratories. This article originally stated that ProVerde was not licensed, but that was incorrect as the company had a 6-month temporary license from the state.
ProVerde Laboratories has cannabis testing laboratories in Milford, Massachusetts and Portland, Maine. They have been operating in Maine for several years now, well before the existence of any licensing process. According to the Press Herald, the city of Portland, Maine shut down ProVerde Laboratories, prohibiting them from conducting business in their Maine location and forcing them to remove cannabis products from the premises. However, the lab was shut down for a seemingly innocuous reason: city permits.
The city issued citations for operating without a permit or a business license back in December, hence why the city shut down the laboratory this month, pending a reinspection in February. ProVerde has already applied for a change-of-use permit, but that process was still in review when the lab was shut down.
The Press Herald says that because of the still pending review process, ProVerde does not have approval from Portland to operate. Citing a violation notice, they say that ProVerde had not yet applied for a cannabis testing facility license. ProVerde had been issued a temporary license, but that expired before the application for a full license was completed.
However, things get a little murky because Chris Hudalla, founder and CSO of ProVerde, told the Press Herald that Maine only requires testing licenses for adult-use labs, not medical testing labs. He is asking for clarification from regulators.
When reached for comment, Hudalla told Cannabis Industry Journal that last April they were given a 6-month temporary license. “When the Maine regulators created a pathway for licensure for adult-use marijuana testing, we started the process for the application of that license,” says Hudalla. “However, as I’m sure you well know, application processes for any type of marijuana license are complex and time consuming, worsened by the impact of COVID, when we had less staff resources available to work on the application.”
Hudalla went on to add that even getting out-of-state fingerprinting for Maine is a challenge, as local police departments were not letting the public in the police station to get fingerprinting, and Maine would not accept electronic transmittal of digital fingerprint records. “We had not completed our application when the temporary license expired, and no extension of the temporary license was granted. Based on that, we were asked to halt our laboratory operation until receipt of that license, which we complied with immediately.”
Until the reinspection next month, Proverde’s operation in Maine looks like it is currently on hold. However, Hudalla says they are working with the State and the City of Portland to get back up and running as quickly as possible. “Our application is in progress, and we are working to get the lab back into operation.”
In May 2019, there were 4,400 reports of tornadoes, hail and high winds across the U.S. That’s the highest number of similar weather incidents on record since 2011. This increasing number of weather incidents has a huge effect on the cannabis industry, which has turned more frequently to outdoor cultivation since legalization.
While outdoor cultivation can develop the flavor of the cannabis crop, much like wine, it also brings with it some unique challenges. Each component of the weather – wind, rain, temperature – plays a role in whether a crop succeeds or fails. While conditions one year may easily lead to a bumper crop, the conditions the following year may not be as favorable. And as the weather becomes more volatile due to climate change, growers are ever more at risk, especially when they aren’t insured.
Evan Stait, author and commercial account executive for HUB International
Unfortunately, traditional crop insurance isn’t available for outdoor cannabis cultivators, primarily because of a lack of data on yield performances – and the impact the weather has on yields. Insurance companies don’t create policies until they have the data to back the policy. But meanwhile, the growers are assuming all the risk.
Enter parametric insurance. Parametric insurance is a program that pays out after a certain parameter is met. In the case of cannabis growers, the parameters are weather-related. The policy is triggered when the weather varies from the average – if there is too much rain during a specific period of time, for example, or an occurrence of large hail. Because the policy is related to average weather, it has to be tailored to the specific growing region – which means the parameters for Colorado won’t be the same as a policy for Maine.
For cannabis crops, coverage can be created for the following parameters:
Rain (recorded in inches of rainfall over a period of time)
Wind (recorded in miles per hour)
Early freezing (using recorded temperatures)
Hail (measures intensity and size of the hail)
Drought (for non-irrigated plots)
Once a parameter has been set, the policy starts to pay out at the strike point, or the average measurement specified in the policy. Coverage continues to pay out until the exhaust point, or the entire limit of the coverage is paid out. It works well because it’s straightforward: The further away from the average, the more the likelihood of catastrophic loss.
Parametric insurance isn’t for everyone. It’s a program designed to fill gaps that exist within the traditional insurance system. Nor is it designed to stand alone. But it can protect outdoor cannabis cultivators from weather risks that are truly beyond their control, especially given the hardening property insurance market.
In addition, it works for two simple reasons:
Simplicity: Recorded weather events leave no room for ambiguity or dispute. You don’t even need an adjuster to guide the claims process. The official weather data proves what happened.
Correlation: There is a high degree of correlation between measurable weather events and potential damage to outdoor crops.
Parametric coverage is not widely available. Many insurance professionals may not even know of it. But with the property insurance market hardening and a growing need to protect you and your cannabis business from weather-related disaster, parametric coverage may be your best bet. Make sure you speak to a broker who knows about it.
Maine’s Office of Marijuana Policy (OMP), the government agency in charge of regulating their cannabis industry, announced today a six-year contract for traceability software with Metrc LLC. According to the press release, the software will be used for the newly formed adult use market, which is just a few months away from going live with legal sales.
Maine’s OMP was previously under contract with BioTrackTHC as their software provider before switching to Metrc with this new contract. The software is cloud-based and uses radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags on plants and products to track cultivation and distribution of cannabis products throughout the state. The software is commonly used across the country in states that have legal cannabis markets. It essentially prevents diversion to the black market, allows for a transparent supply chain with clear chain of custody tracking and it increases recall readiness.
Erik Gundersen, Director of Maine’s OMP, says Metrc is helping to make a smooth launch of the adult use market. “We are excited to partner with Metrc,” says Gundersen. “Metrc is an industry leader, and their team is committed to delivering a product that will allow us to proceed with the launch of our adult use program later this spring.”
Over the next few months, Metrc and OMP plan on helping the industry familiarize themselves with the new software. The two organizations will go on the road in March, giving licensees training and answering questions. Metrc will then offer online training and evaluations followed by credentialing licensees showing they are proficient with the software.
Jeff Wells, CEO of Metrc, says they are excited to get to work. “We’re excited to partner with the OMP to help launch the state’s adult-use marijuana market,” says Wells. “2020 is another significant year for cannabis industry growth, and we look forward to serving the OMP, local cannabis businesses, and the people of Maine.”
The agreement is a six-year contract with a value of roughly $540,000. License holders pay a $40 monthly fee to access the system, which helps support training and technical support, according to the press release.
On May 15, BioTrackTHC was announced the conditional winner for Maine’s seed-to-sale tracking system government contract. The award is still pending final approval from the State Procurement Review Committee and the successful negotiation of the contract.
BioTrackTHC, a Helix TCS subsidiary, announced in a press release their conditional award earlier this month. The contract means that BioTrackTHC would partner with the state to provide software for tracking both medical and recreational cannabis products from the immature plant to the point of retail sales.
The contract could go for as long as six years, through 2025. If this contract receives final approval from the state internally, then this will become the ninth government contract for BioTrackTHC. Patrick Vo, CEO of BioTrackTHC, expects a quick deployment of the software once the contract is finalized. “We are excited to be working with the State of Maine and are grateful for their vote of confidence in our team’s ability to execute upon state-level tracking contracts and rapidly deploy a sound and secure technology solution,” says Vo.
Zachary L. Venegas, Executive Chairman and CEO of Helix TCS, Inc, says BioTrackTHC’s technology is leading the industry in shaping regulatory oversight for legal cannabis. “As states and countries begin to rollout or expand legal cannabis programs, our technology continues to lead as demonstrated by this Intent to Award and our multiple recent contract extensions with our partners,” says Venegas. “We look forward to playing a vital role in shaping the global cannabis industry and ensuring that it is able to operate efficiently and transparently.”
As both recreational and medical cannabis legalization continues to progress across the country, each state is tasked with developing regulatory requirements to ensure that customers and patients receive clean cannabis for consumption. This requires cannabis to undergo laboratory testing that analyzes the presence of microbial impurities including yeast and mold.
Some states, such as Colorado, Nevada, Maine, Illinois and Massachusetts use total yeast and mold count testing (TYMC) and set a maximum yeast and mold count threshold that cultivators must fall below. Other states, such as California, require the detection of species-specific strains of Aspergillus mold (A. fumigatus, A. flavus, A. niger and A. terreus), which requires analyzing the DNA of a cannabis sample through polymerase chain reaction testing, also known as PCR.
Differences in state regulations can lead to different microbiological techniques implemented for testing.Before diving in further, it is important to understand the scientific approach. Laboratory testing requirements for cannabis can be separated into two categories: analytical chemistry methods and microbiological methods.
Analytical chemistry is the science of qualitatively and quantitatively determining the chemical components of a substance, and usually consists of some kind of separation followed by detection. Analytical methods are used to uncover the potency of cannabis, analyze the terpene profile and to detect the presence of pesticides, chemical residues, residuals solvents, heavy metals and mycotoxins. Analytical testing methods are performed first before proceeding to microbiological methods.
Petri dish containing the fungus Aspergillus flavus. It produces carcinogenic aflatoxins, which can contaminate certain foods and cause aspergillosis, an invasive fungal disease. Photo courtesy of USDA ARS & Peggy Greb.
Microbiological methods dive deeper into cannabis at a cellular level to uncover microbial impurities such as yeast, mold and bacteria. The techniques utilized in microbiological methods are very different from traditional analytical chemistry methods in both the way they are performed and target of the analysis. Differences in state regulations can lead to different microbiological techniques implemented for testing. There are a variety of cell and molecular biology techniques that can be used for detecting microbial impurities, but most can be separated into two categories:
Methods to determine total microbial cell numbers, which typically utilizes cell culture, which involves growing cells in favorable conditions and plating, spreading the sample evenly in a container like a petri dish. The total yeast and mold count (TYMC) test follows this method.
Molecular methods intended to detect specific species of mold, such as harmful aspergillus mold strains, which typically involves testing for the presence of unique DNA sequences such as Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR).
Among states that have legalized some form of cannabis use and put forth regulations, there appears to be a broad consensus that the laboratories should test for potency (cannabinoids concentration), pesticides (or chemical residues) and residual solvents at a minimum. On the other hand, microbial testing requirements, particularly for mold, appear to vary greatly from state to state. Oregon requires random testing for mold and mildew without any details on test type. In Colorado, Nevada, Maine, Illinois and Massachusetts, regulations explicitly state the use of TYMC for the detection of mold. In California, the recently released emergency regulations require testing for specific species of Aspergillus mold (A. fumigatus, A. flavus, A. niger and A. terreus), which are difficult to differentiate on a plate and would require a DNA-based approach. Since there are differences in costs associated and data produced by these methods, this issue will impact product costs for cultivators, which will affect cannabis prices for consumers.
On Election Day in November, two major states in the Northeast legalized recreational cannabis: Maine and Massachusetts. It seems that a handful of other states in the region are looking to legalize recreational cannabis now that their neighbors have done so.
New Hampshire Capitol Photo: Jim Bowen, Flickr
In New Hampshire, a bipartisan bill was introduced on January 4th to establish “a commission to study the legalization, regulation, and taxation of marijuana.” The commission formed by House Bill 215 aims to “study the experiences of states that have or are in the process of legalizing and regulating the recreational use of marijuana by adults, with particular attention to be given to the ways the changes in marijuana laws in Maine and Massachusetts, as well as Canada, impact our state,” the bill states. Notably, the bill provides for a representative from the Marijuana Policy Project to be a member of the committee.
Photo: David L, Flickr
New Hampshire Senate Minority Leader Jeff Woodburn (D) says he plans to sponsor a recreational legalization bill separate from House Bill 215. According to the New Hampshire Union Leader, Woodburn would work with lawmakers and stakeholders to set a timeline and regulatory framework.
In Connecticut, a number of lawmakers have sponsored bills this session that would legalize recreational cannabis. Senate President Martin Looney (D) filed a bill that would legalize, regulate and tax cannabis, with the tax revenue going to the state’s general fund, according to the New Haven Register. State Rep. Melissa Ziobron (R) introduced a piece of legislation that would legalize adult use over the age of 21. Lawmakers are optimistic that with Massachusetts legalizing it, perhaps the outcome will be different than previous failed attempts to push cannabis legalization.
Providence, RI Photo: David Wilson, Flickr
Lawmakers in Rhode Island told reporters they want to be the first state to legalize recreational cannabis via the state legislature, rather than a ballot initiative, the most common path to legalization for other states. Sen. Joshua Miller and Rep. Scott Slater of Rhode Island, both Democrats, plan to introduce a legalization bill, the seventh year in a row that such a bill has been introduced in the state. They are also hopeful that after Massachusetts’ legalized it in November, they will have more success this time around. “Our constituents think it is time for lawmakers to pass this legislation, and we should listen to them,” says Miller. “If we fail to pass the bill this year, we will lose significant ground to Massachusetts.” Their bill would tack on a 23% tax on cannabis sales.
In each state’s case, lawmakers are keeping a close eye on Massachusetts and Maine’s regulations and tracking their progress. While the bills in the state legislatures are nascent in their journey to becoming law, the important takeaway is that geographic proximity to states with legalized cannabis is a catalyst for reform in New England.
Voters legalized cannabis in 8 states on Election Day. Photo: Nicole Klauss, Flickr
Election Day brought a renewed sense of vigor to the market with voters in eight states legalizing forms of cannabis. California, Nevada, Maine and Massachusetts passed recreational cannabis measures, making legalization’s momentum seem exponential.
But November 8th also gave Donald Trump the presidency, and his cabinet appointments, namely Sen. Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, gave many a feeling of uncertainty for the future of federal legalization. Adding insult to injury, the DEA repeatedly stood by their antiquated and ludicrous judgment for cannabis to remain a Schedule 1 narcotic.
Trump nominated Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) for Attorney General Photo: Gage Skidmore, Flickr
A lot of the fervor surrounding public safety could be described as overdramatic or somewhat unwarranted. 2016 was the year of misinformation. Fake news spread like wildfire with people sharing stories like this or this that turned out to be very misleading or just downright false.
States with legal cannabis came under heavy public scrutiny and addressed problems like consumer education, public safety and lab testing. Pesticides became a highly publicized and persistent issue in a number of areas, with some states regulating it heavily and addressing public health concerns. Plenty of new rules were formed surrounding labeling and testing, with Oregon, Colorado and Washington experiencing some regulatory growing pains.
Those growing pains shed light on the need for regulators to craft rules that allow for changes, adding rules where necessary and getting rid of cumbersome rules that might thwart market growth. Rules need to be able to adapt as the industry grows, much like businesses need to adapt to a changing market climate to stay afloat. This is all the more reason why cannabis businesses need to make their voices heard and work with regulators to move things forward.
Pesticide use was a major issue in 2016 Photo: Michelle Tribe, Flickr
With so much uncertainty surrounding the future of legal cannabis in America, the word of the year for 2017 should be resiliency. In a social-ecological context, resiliency is “the capacity of a system to absorb or withstand perturbations and other stressors such that the system remains within the same regime, essentially maintaining its structure and functions. It describes the degree to which the system is capable of self-organization, learning and adaptation.”
A warning label for cannabis in Oregon after the October 1st compliance deadline
Self-organization, learning and adaptation are three very important attributes of a resilient system. Without knowing what will happen when Trump’s cabinet takes the reigns of federal agencies, it is important to prepare for the unexpected. Adhering to standards like FOCUS allows cannabis businesses to prepare for unexpected events like recalls or product safety failures.
Those standards could also become the law down the road, as government officials often look to an industry’s voluntary consensus-based standards when deciding how to regulate it. In 2017, a number of state governments will embark on the heavy undertaking of writing the regulatory framework for legal cannabis.
2017 will bring opportunities and challenges to the cannabis industry. The industry’s rapid growth juxtaposed with political, economic and regulatory uncertainties create a climate that requires resilience to be built into the system at all levels. It is critical, now more than ever, that cannabis businesses build strong relationships with industry groups, advocacy groups and regulators to craft the institutional capacity and mutual trust needed to weather the uncertainty ahead.
Update: The No on Question 1 Campaign has rescinded their recount effort, according to the Portland Press Herald. “We promised folks that if we came to a point where we could not see any chance of reversing the result, we would not drag the process out,” says Newell Augur, legal counsel for No on 1 campaign. “We are satisfied that the count and the result are accurate.”
On Election Day in Maine, voters were heavily divided on Question 1, a ballot initiative that would legalize recreational cannabis. Voters passed the initiative, but with a very narrow margin, according to a WGME article.
Maine Capitol building Photo: Mark Goebel, Flickr
Out of almost 760,000 ballots, Question 1 passed by a margin of only 4,073 votes, roughly 50.2% in favor and 49.8% against. Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap says State Police is responsible for collecting the physical ballots and bringing them to Augusta. Dunlap’s office is coordinating with volunteers to recount each vote by hand.
Dunlap is quoted saying there would have to be significant vote changes in every town to indicate any discrepancies in the polling. He says the state can recount up to 25,000 votes a day, but with the upcoming holidays, the recount will continue into 2017.
According to International Business Times, Gov. Paul LePage, who is a cannabis legalization opponent, has said he would delay the process of legalization even if the measure passed. He also said he would speak with president-elect Donald Trump regarding the enforcement of federal cannabis prohibition. Governor Lepage said if the Trump administration embraces states with legal cannabis then he too would honor the voters’ wish to legalize recreational cannabis.
Update: With 100% reporting (589 of 589 precincts), voters in Maine passed Question 1, legalizing recreational cannabis by a very narrow margin of 50.2% to 49.8% (378,288 in favor and 375,668 against is a margin of only 2,620 votes)
Voters in California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada passed ballot initiatives legalizing the recreational use of cannabis, creating huge new markets for the cannabis industry overnight. Voters in North Dakota, Florida, Montana and Arkansas passed ballot initiatives to legalize forms of medical cannabis. Voters by a margin of 52.2% to 47.8% rejected Arizona’s Proposition 205, which would have legalized recreational cannabis.
With 100% of the votes in for Maine’s Question 1, voters narrowly passed legalizing recreational cannabis, the polls show it won by a very slim margin, less than 3,000 votes.
New Frontier Data and Arcview Market Research released an Election Day update to their growth projections for the cannabis industry by 2020. The release projects: “The legalization of cannabis in California, Massachusetts, Nevada, Florida, Arkansas and North Dakota will result in new markets that account for $7.1 billion in sales by 2020. We project the overall U.S. cannabis market will exceed $20.9 billion by 2020.” Those numbers include overall cannabis sales and assume the markets are all fully operational by 2018.
Giadha DeCarcer, founder and CEO of New Frontier (photo credit: Frontierfinancials.com)
According to Giadha DeCarcer, founder and chief executive officer of New Frontier, there is overwhelming support for medical cannabis and a majority of Americans are in favor of legalizing recreational cannabis as well. “The ten initiatives on the ballot reflect the accelerating public debate on legal cannabis access,” says DeCarcer. “The passage of California’s adult use measure and Florida’s medical initiative expand legal access into two of the country’s most populous states.” The market potential is notably enormous in California, it currently being the 6th largest economy in the world. “Additionally, the passage of the measure in Massachusetts opens the first adult use market in the Northeast extending the reach of legal adult use access from coast to coast,” says DeCarcer. “The passage of the measures in Arkansas and North Dakota shows that public support on this issue is not solely confined to urban, liberal markets but extends into conservative rural states as well.”
According to the release, by 2020 California could reach a total market size of $7.6B and Massachusetts could grow to $1.1B. Massachusetts being the first mover in the Northeast to legalize recreational cannabis will be watched very closely by a number of surrounding states that appeared bullish on cannabis legalization previously.
Leslie Bocskor, president and founder of Electrum Partners
Leslie Bocskor, president and founder of Electrum Partners, believes the Election Day results will bring an influx of investing opportunities to the industry. “We are going to see a diverse approach from the irrationally exuberant to the sophisticated and experienced investor and entrepreneur getting involved, creating businesses and investing in the industry that will create innovation, jobs, wealth and tax revenue far beyond the consensus expectations,” says Bocksor. “The cannabis industry is more than one industry; it is an entire ecosystem, impacting so many verticals, such as agriculture, industrial chemicals from hemp, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and more. We see the funding of innovation that might have been absent without the velocity and heft that has come from this phenomenon,” adds Bocksor. As these newly legalized markets begin to launch, it will require a considerable amount of time to see the industry flesh out in each new state.
Tom Lohdan, Flickr
Donald Trump winning the presidential election and the GOP retaining control over the House and Senate could mean a lot of uncertainties for the future of the cannabis industry on a national scale. President-elect Trump has previously flip-flopped on the issue of cannabis legalization, but has said in the past he favors leaving the issue of medical use up to the states, advocating for access to medical cannabis, while recently saying he opposes regulating cannabis for adult use, according to the Marijuana Policy Project. The MPP gave him a C+ grade for his views toward cannabis.
On The O’Reilly Factor in February 2016, Trump told the conservative political commentator that he supports medical cannabis while opposing the recreational use. “I’m in favor of it [access to medical cannabis] a hundred percent. But what you are talking about [recreational use], perhaps not. It’s causing a lot of problems out there [in Colorado],” says Trump. It is still unclear at this time exactly what Trump’s policy will be for the now 28 states that have some form of legal cannabis.
Aaron Smith, executive director of NCIA
Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), appeared optimistic regarding the outcomes of Election Day. “More than 16 million voters, including in two of the three most populated states in the nation, chose legal, regulated cannabis programs that promote safety, boost the economy, help sick patients and address social injustices,” says Smith. In the press release, the NCIA spelled out their priorities for congressional action on cannabis policy: Opening up bank access for state-compliant cannabis businesses, ending the effects of federal tax code Section 280E on cannabis businesses and removing cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act via descheduling. “Last night’s results send a simple message – the tipping point has come,” says Smith.
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