Florida

There’s a lot going on in Tallahassee as Sunshine State legislators forge the regulatory framework for Florida’s medical marijuana program.

Senators appear poised to advance legislation (SB 406) to welcome five new cannabis dispensaries to Florida by October. At least one would be minority-owned. Friday’s measure also requires four additional dispensaries within “six months after each instance of the registration of 75,000 qualifying patients with the compassionate use registry.”

That 75,000 figure is dramatically less than the previous threshold of 250,000.

Ted Dobson and other small farmers like him are hoping to be growers for Massachusetts’ recreational marijuana program. Do they stand a chance?

Amy Turncliff, a mother of three, is concerned.

Her children are 10, 8 and 4 years old. In November, voters approved legislation that made recreational marijuana legal in Massachusetts. However, a lot of legislation is still coming down the pipeline.

Turncliff, a neuroscientist who lives in Ashland, thinks a lot is at stake. She and her husband are worried their children will grow up in a culture where “marijuana use is treated like alcohol use and is believed to be a rite of passage.”

“I’m not even sure 21 is the right cut-off age,” she said, referring to the current legal age for owning, using and home-growing marijuana. She thinks it should be higher.

At the edge of an industrial park in this suburb south of Boston, past a used-car auction lot and a defunct cheese factory, is an unmarked warehouse bristling with security cameras and bustling with activity. Until recently, the cinder-block structure was home to a wholesale florist, a granite cutter and a screen printer. Today, it is home to just one tenant: a medical marijuana operation called Ermont.

Legalized marijuana has already upset societal norms, created a large legal gray area and generated a lucrative source of tax revenue. Now it is upending the real estate market, too.

Like many states, Illinois is in deep financial trouble. Looking at the latest audit,  its black hole has deepened to $9.6bn (£7.6bn) and, according to the state’s financial comptroller, the books are “abysmal”.

But there could be salvation at hand if it becomes the first state in the midwest to legalise and tax the recreational use of marijuana. Two Democrats in the state legislature have introduced a bill to change the law, arguing this could raise as much as $700m a year.

Should the bill go through, it would bring the number of states where recreational pot is legal up to nine. If you throw in Washington DC, then more than 80m Americans would be free to enjoy cannabis.

Recreational marijuana is going to be big business in this state. Pot-infused chocolates. “Canna-tourism.” Estimates put annual sales at $1 billion once the industry gets going. And with so much money blowing around, and significant health and safety issues at stake, it is vital that the state get regulation right.

That’s why lawmakers should approve a bill that would expand the size of the commission that will oversee the marijuana trade, broaden its expertise, and make it less susceptible to influence, or “capture,” by the industry.

Recreational marijuana will not be legally sold in Massachusetts until July of 2018, but by 2020, the state could collect as much as $172-million each year just from sales taxes.

The Department of Revenue calculated this number, assuming marijuana is taxed a total of 12%, according to the ballot law voters approved in November. It adds a 3.75% excise tax to the state’s 6.25% sales tax, and another 2% cities and towns can add if they host a pot shop.

Those who support the ballot law caution lawmakers not to set the tax rate too high, or else it could drive some buyers to go to the black market.

If the excise tax bumps up to 5%, the state could collect $11 million more. Lawmakers still haven’t finalized how much pot will be taxed in the state.

Lawmakers made their first public revenue estimations since marijuana was legalized last fall.

Massachusetts revenue officials are expecting a pretty high return when retail marijuana sales begin next summer.

The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy held its inaugural hearing on Monday, and officials estimated that taxes on recreational pot could bring in more than $100 million annually, The Boston Globe reported. 

Can a worker be fired or denied a job for using medical marijuana?

At the same time as Massachusetts' highest court is considering the question, state lawmakers will also be debating whether to pass a new law to protect medical marijuana patients at work.

"Those protections are still not there, and our leaders need to recognize it and do something about it," said Nichole Snow, executive director of the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance, which advocates on behalf of medical marijuana patients. "We're still dealing with the stigma of using medical marijuana as a treatment plan for severe illness in the state of Massachusetts."

After a heated discussion, the City Council voted 6-1 Monday night to grant the special permit needed by Prime Wellness Centers to open the city's first medical marijuana dispensary.

A vote on granting the special permit had to be held twice, after the initial 5-2 vote was deemed invalid due to the council needing a two-thirds majority to approve the permit request.

Ward 1 Councilor Gail Feckley, who had initially voted against the special permit, changed her mind during the second vote while at-large Councilor Claire Freda maintained her opposition to the permit request.