Marijuana Business Daily

Scapegoat or solution? Ouster of top New York marijuana official raises questions

Published

9 months ago

May 14, 2024

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The exit of Chris Alexander, the top state official overseeing New York’s rollout of adult-use marijuana sales, is seen by many as assigning blame for what has been decried as the country’s worst cannabis market launch to date.

More than three years after New York legalized adult use, only 122 stores were open for business statewide, and the market’s $123 million in 2023 sales was only about one-quarter of projections.

But whether Alexander’s departure as executive director of the state Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) will mean a turnaround – or whether his replacement, to be assigned by Gov. Kathy Hochul upon completion of Alexander’s term in September, will be any better – is far from clear, industry observers told MJBizDaily on Monday.

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

Published

10 hours ago

February 3, 2025

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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

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

Published

3 days ago

January 31, 2025

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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

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Ohio recreational marijuana market already showing signs of price contraction

Published

4 days ago

January 30, 2025

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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

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