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DeSantis vetoes bill to limit hemp products.
On Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed SB 1698, a bill that would’ve effectively banned intoxicating hemp products.
The move has struck cannabis legalization advocates as inconsistent with his firm opposition to adult use legalization.
It’s worth noting that Florida’s hemp industry is powerful: The Florida Healthy Alternatives Association, one of the state’s leading hemp groups, counts among their lobbyists two leaders of the state’s Republican Party, and, as CBS News reported, spent more than $150,000 to lobby in this year’s legislative session.
Of course, the cannabis industry in Florida is powerful, too, with connections to DeSantis, as Cannabis Wire reported. But a GOP gubernatorial veto of a hemp-limiting bill is far less of a leap than endorsing legal cannabis.
“Small businesses are the cornerstone of Florida’s economy. While Senate Bill 1698’s goals are commendable, the bill would, in fact, impose debilitating regulatory burdens on small businesses and almost certainly fail to achieve its purpose. Senate Bill 1698 would introduce dramatic disruption and harm to many small retail and manufacturing businesses in Florida – businesses that have emerged due to recent legislation paving the way for the commercial use of hemp,” DeSantis wrote in his veto message.
“I encourage the Florida Legislature to reconsider this topic during the next Legislative Session and engage with all relevant stakeholders to create a comprehensive regulatory framework for the manufacture and sale of hemp and hemp-derived products.”
Read DeSantis’ full veto note here.
Canada prepares for the most significant revision of its adult use law since it took effect.
On Friday, Health Canada released an extensive package of proposed regulatory changes to its adult use cannabis program – the first major change since the law took effect in 2018.
Back in March, as we reported in this newsletter, an expert panel convened by Health Canada published a nearly 100 page report on how legalization has gone so far. (The original adult use law required a review after three years, and the report came out a couple of years late.) That panel made a series of recommendations that informed the new proposed changes, including that “Health Canada should reduce the financial and administrative burden it places on participants in the legal industry.”
In explaining its approach with these new proposed regulations, Health Canada notes that “the legal cannabis industry has matured and evolved.”
“In legalizing and strictly regulating cannabis, the Government of Canada took a precautionary approach. Over time, stakeholders, particularly licence holders under the Regulations, have identified that certain regulatory requirements are overly burdensome or unnecessary to achieve the Act’s public health and public safety objectives,” they wrote.
“In addition, the cannabis industry is facing economic difficulties that threaten the objective of legal production of cannabis displacing the illegal cannabis market. A healthy, well-regulated, diverse and competitive legal industry is a key element of the cannabis framework.”
Health Canada’s proposed changes, which you can read in full here, are subject to a 30-day public comment window.
They range from allowing QR codes in packaging to increasing the amount of cannabis that micro businesses can grow and process to “facilitate product diversification” – and a whole lot in between.
Cannabis events regs could come sooner than expected.
New York’s legislative session wrapped last week, and cannabis-related bills crossed the finish line on several topics that will likely make the state’s cannabis industry happy (or, happier than folks have been, at least).
These are in addition to the major efforts that already passed in the state budget: a repeal of the potency tax, and expanded enforcement, as Cannabis Wire previously reported.
If signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul:
• Cannabis showcases will return: legislation passed that will create a new permit for cannabis showcases. (Regulators have fielded many requests to bring back cannabis grower showcases, which ended in December. They provided a lifeline for growers while shops have been slow to open.)
• Distributors will be able to file their taxes annually, rather than quarterly.
• Cannabis will be defined as an agricultural crop.
