On May 14, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed Alabama HB8 into law. Effective June 1, HB8 introduced sweeping changes that will reshape how nicotine products are sold, marketed, and regulated in Alabama. You heard that right, nicotine — not cannabis. While the subject of HB8 is a little out of our typical green wheelhouse, this
“Equal is not fair, and fair is not equal. Equal is obtainable but fair is not.”
The Montgomery County Circuit Court overseeing the launch of Alabama’s medical cannabis program has an interesting dilemma on its hands. It has previously ruled that awards to integrated facility applicants were illegal because the underlying basis of
Most of the annual state legislative sessions have ended or are nearing an end, and it would be an understatement to say that the hemp industry has ever experienced a more widespread and seemingly coordinated effort to roll back consumable hemp programs. In some states, those reforms were dramatic. Others, substantial but not existential. Add to
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. That’s been the tenor of what I’ve heard and read from stakeholders in the Alabama hemp industry in response to the enactment of comprehensive hemp reform legislation earlier this month. And for reasons I will explain below, I am extremely sympathetic to anyone whose livelihood was
“Compromise” sometimes gets a bad rap. And history teaches us that there can be bad compromises. But as your resident glass-is-half-full contributor who has also been closely following debate over access to consumable hemp products in Alabama, I’ve been looking at some quotes about compromising and it turns out there’s some pretty good stuff from
Another legislative session has come and gone in Mississippi (a limited, short special session is all but a certainty, as the Legislature passed no state budget), resulting in tweaks to the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act (MMCA) and a failed consumable hemp regulatory bill. Those happenings, along with others we discuss below, prove that efforts remain
“If we couldn’t laugh, we’d all go insane,” we were told by the late, ever so great Jimmy Buffett. So before I go into details about the Montgomery County Circuit Court order that threatens to derail Alabama’s medical cannabis program before the train leaves the station, I’m reminded of the scene from the wonderful Farrelly
As the hallowed cannabis holiday for stoners-turned-business-entrepreneurs falls upon us, we find ourselves in the shifting sands of change in the cannabis industry as usual. Not surprisingly, many states have seen legislation brought to the table, decisions made at the courts, and commentary presented by politicians that will directly impact cannabis businesses, medical marijuana dispensaries
There’s a great scene in the movie Wall Street when the up-and-coming Charlie Sheen (pre-Tiger Blood and now that I think about it maybe the precursor to the “winning!” mantra that seems to resonate today) is playing the role of Bud Fox, an eager trader looking to land a job with the biggest whale of
In November 2023, we pondered whether 2024 might be “the year” for medical marijuana legalization in North Carolina. Well, it wasn’t.
Why, you ask? How can a state whose population has expressed overwhelming bipartisan support for medical marijuana legalization still have nothing to show for it? How can a state whose Senate has shown