Marijuana Business Daily

Former Michigan marijuana regulator pleads guilty to taking bribes

Published

2 years ago

April 25, 2023

admin

A former Republican House speaker in Michigan officially pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to accepting bribes totaling more than $110,000 while head of the state’s medical marijuana licensing board.

Rick Johnson, who led the Michigan House from 2001 to 2004 before joining the MMJ board, admitted he took cash and flights from Detroit-area businessman John Dalaly, who was seeking lucrative cannabis businesses licenses, the Associated Press reported.

Dalaly pleaded guilty last week.

Johnson, Dalaly and co-defendants Brian Pierce and Vincent Brown – who also were charged with conspiracy to commit bribery – had agreed to plea deals earlier this month.

Johnson led the state Medical Marihuana Licensing Board from its inception in 2017 until it was abolished by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2019.

At the time, Whitmer and other critics cited the board’s inefficiency and slow pace approving licenses as reasons for its elimination.

Read full article on Marijuana Business Daily

Source link

Marijuana Business Daily

Colorado cannabis operator’s testing experiment yields damning pesticide, microbial and potency results

Published

15 hours ago

February 3, 2025

admin

More than 85% of regulated marijuana products sold in Colorado’s adult-use market might violate health and labeling laws, according to a recent report by one of the state’s cannabis operators.

Frustrated by the apparent reluctance of the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) to test state-regulated cannabis products and punish those found to be breaking the law, Justin Singer, CEO of manufacturer Ripple, asked his staffers to visit Denver-area MJ retailers on Nov. 12 and purchase the flower, shake and pre-rolls brands “they would normally purchase.”

The company then sent unmarked, unadulterated samples – bud, pre-rolls and shake – to a state-regulated cannabis laboratory to have the products tested for potency, yeast and mold, pesticides and microbial contamination.

According to the lab results, only

Read full article on Marijuana Business Daily

Source link

Marijuana Business Daily

Ohio GOP lawmaker’s bill would upend voter-approved adult-use marijuana

Published

3 days ago

January 31, 2025

admin

A Republican lawmaker in Ohio has introduced a bill that would raise adult-use marijuana sales taxes, limit home grows and prohibit social equity licenses and job programs.

Senate Bill 56, introduced by Republican Sen. Steve Huffman, would increase the sales tax from 10% to 15% and cap the number of cannabis stores in the state at 350, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

The proposal, which also includes decreasing THC potency caps from 90% to 70% and home-grown plants from 12 to six, is a deviation from the will of voters, who overwhelmingly approved legalizing the cultivation and sale of recreational marijuana in a November 2023 ballot measure.

Leading up to that vote, lawmakers in the state’s Republican-dominated General Assembly vowed to make

Read full article on Marijuana Business Daily

Source link

Marijuana Business Daily

Ohio recreational marijuana market already showing signs of price contraction

Published

5 days ago

January 30, 2025

admin

Products in Ohio’s recreational marijuana market are showing signs of price contraction only five months after sales began.

Adult-use sales for the market topped $242.2 million in 2024, meeting industry expectations for the potential of a market that launched on Aug. 6.

And while sales are growing, an analysis of weekly adult-use data from Ohio’s Division of Cannabis Control (DCC) shows the price per item/pound in almost all the categories slid with more than half the products experiencing double-digit declines.

Plant material, which accounts for 52% of recreational sales in Ohio, almost doubled since the market opened.

Ohio consumers bought 2,158 pounds of plant material in the first week of January 2025, up from 1,284 pounds in the week ending Aug. 10.

But declining

Read full article on Marijuana Business Daily

Source link