California regulates hemp and marijuana under one framework

California regulates hemp and marijuana under one framework


California regulates hemp and marijuana under one framework

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed new legislation to regulate intoxicating hemp products and strengthen efforts to prevent illegal sales, particularly to children.

Assembly Bill 8 is a move toward regulating all intoxicating cannabinoid products – whether derived from hemp or marijuana – under a single regulatory framework, according to a news release from Newsom’s office.

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The legislation builds on emergency regulations the Department of Public Health introduced in 2024 to protect Californians from harmful hemp cannabinoid products.

“We are continuing to place the safety of every Californian first,” Newsom said in a statement.

“For too long, nefarious hemp manufacturers have been exploiting loopholes to make their intoxicating products available to our must vulnerable communities – that stops today.”

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Oatmeal raisin cookies are a classic baked treat, and these ones bring something extra (cannabis) while taking out the sugar.

Sugar and Flour-Free, No Bake “Sugar Babe” Oatmeal Cookies

Sugar and Flour-Free, No Bake “Sugar Babe” Oatmeal Cookies

This is a simple recipe that omits baking time, flour, white sugar and brown sugar which can be found in traditional oatmeal raisin cookie recipes. The floral and overly sweet Sugar Babe strain adds a dimension of taste to this cookie that keeps your mouth wanting more. This is the perfect oatmeal raisin cookie to satisfy your sweet tooth and will come with a little less guilt.

Mise en place:

• 10 golden dates

• 3/4 cup rolled oats that have been submerged in water overnight and then drained

• 3/4 cup almonds

• 3/4 cup cashews

• 1/2 cup raisins

• 2 tablespoons Sugar Babe cannabutter

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Step 1: In a food processor, add the almonds and cashews, then blend until it forms a moist crumbly mixture.

Step 2: Add the oats, butter, cinnamon and vanilla extract, then process again until well combined. Dice the golden dates and add them to the food processor. Process until the entire mixture becomes uniform and well blended. This mixture will be very sticky like cookie dough when you are finished processing.

Step 3: Add the raisins into the dough mixture and gently fold them into the dough with a spoon until evenly distributed.

Step 4: Divide the dough into 10 cookies. Gently pat each divided dough section with your hands and shape into a cookie.

Step 5: Place this cookie on a lined sheet pan with parchment paper and place in the fridge for 25 minutes or until set. Keep refrigerated to store and pull the cookies out as needed. Enjoy!

Dosage:

If Sugar Babe THC content tests around 15 percent, 15 percent of 1,000 mg would be 150 mg. Sub the number of your THC percentage and do the math to figure out your desired dosage per tablespoon for your cannabutter. Then take the dosage per two tablespoons and divide it by 10 cookies to get your milligram dosage per serving.

Strain Substitution:

I would recommend any strains whose terpenes match the sweet, syrupy, floral taste of Sugar Babe. Vanilla Kush and Cotton Candy would be excellent choices. Be creative, follow your nose/taste buds, and have fun with it!

The post Sugar and Flour-Free, No Bake “Sugar Babe” Oatmeal Cookies appeared first on Cannabis Now.

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Sunset Blue: The Sedative Strain That Will Help You Unwind

Sunset Blue: The Sedative Strain That Will Help You Unwind

Sunset Blue: The Sedative Strain That Will Help You Unwind

Aroma is one of the strongest memory triggers in nature. The smell of a certain perfume can remind you instantly of a friend who always wore the same scent. Without realizing it, scent can shift your thinking and transport you into a different state of mind.  Such is the case with the Sunset Blue cannabis strain, which immediately fills the nose with a sharp pine scent.

A true forest flower, breaking open a bud releases sweet fragrances of blueberry and woodland fruits. Mellow and fragrant, this herb provides an excellent alternative to a walk in the woods if you’re stuck inside all day.

The Sunset Blue High

When relaxation is in order, some cannabis strains are better than others. Those who partake in the herb regularly will likely appreciate the smooth and calming experience the Sunset Blue strain offers her consumers. While perhaps a little slow to kick in, a calm relaxation warms the chest and lungs. This sense of physical ease echoes through the limbs, easing away aches and muscle stiffness.

Excellent for winding down, this flower is the type of plant you’d want around after a long day at work. Unlike many cannabis flowers, however, this strain isn’t the type to promote laziness. Instead, the Sunset Blue high provides a blanketing state of calm that makes it easy to find pleasure in the most mundane activities. Fair warning, though: this strain might make it difficult to concentrate. While those feeling energetic may have enough attentive powers to push through tasks with this flower, Sunset Blue would make a better selection for anyone hoping to finish up some evening chores or spend the night posted up with a funny movie, friends, and family.

Strain Background

It’s all about the craft hybrids these days. With a dusted green coloration with hints of purple, it’s easy to see why this strain can quickly garner top-shelf status. A mix of Sunset Sherbet and Blue City Diesel, this decadent flower is a high THC producer, boasting over 23 percent of this compound.

Sunset Sherbet is a contemporary flower that grew in popularity over the course of 2017. A member of the Cookies family line, the plant is a cross between the famous Girl Scout Cookies and Pink Panties. The former is a high-potency hybrid known for its ability to produce both a powerful body relaxation and a strong euphoric emotion. The latter, Pink Panties, is an indica-dominant plant with Kush genetics.

Blue City Diesel is another well-known plant, crossing the Blueberry stain with NYC Diesel. Fragrant, this plant is known to produce a mouth-watering sweet berry taste and aroma. Its offspring, Sunset Blue, is offered by Northwest Cannabis Solutions, the plant is considered an indica-dominant hybrid. Expect a tight bud structure from this plant, with a frosted trichome coating and wily orange pistillate hairs.

Strain Benefits

The cannabis plant is a growing pharmacy. The herb can produce over 400 different phytochemicals, and early science suggests that many of them have medical value. However, thanks to decades of legal restrictions on growing and cultivating the herb, few cannabis compounds have been studied with enough fervor to make meaningful medical claims.

Still, just because they haven’t been found yet doesn’t mean that the benefits consumers describe are not real.

As a high-THC cannabis flower, the Sunset Blue strain may be helpful to those who struggle with nausea, vomiting, and the inability to maintain appetite. Already, synthetic versions of THC are available to some patients battling with these symptoms. This man-made version is available as a pharmaceutical drug. Sunset Blue, however, provides a natural source of the psychoactive compound.

Slightly sedative in nature, Sunset Blue may also be a valuable selection for those searching for a little extra help falling asleep. Relaxing without overpowering the consumer, this strain has a knack for easing consumers into a calm and relaxed state.

Like all high-THC strains, there are a few words of caution before partaking in Sunset Blue. In low to moderate doses, THC has been found to reduce stress and ease anxiety. In larger doses, however, the mind-bending plant compound may actually trigger more stress and discomfort. For best results with Sunset Blue, enjoy this herb in moderation.

Originally published on cannabisaficionado.com.

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‘Anthem Bold’ Cannabis Products Now Available in Arizona

‘Anthem Bold’ Cannabis Products Now Available in Arizona

‘Anthem Bold’ Cannabis Products Now Available in Arizona

Anthem
Curaleaf has announced the launch of Anthem Bold, a new infused pre-roll line that expands the company’s current Anthem brand portfolio. Anthem Bold is now available exclusively at Curaleaf dispensaries in Arizona, Illinois, New Jersey and New York, with a wholesale launch to follow.

Building on Anthem’s initial launch, Anthem Bold is Curaleaf’s newest premium pre-roll offering, taking the industry’s fastest-growing category to the next level. Known as an all-American pre-roll brand, Anthem’s premier product Anthem Classic launched in April, offering a quality experience for the everyday consumer. Crafted with care, the new Anthem Bold delivers premium, high-potency flower for consumers looking to elevate any evening. Anthem Bold infuses Anthem premium flower with THCA diamonds and strain-specific terpenes for enhanced flavor and a purely potent boost, averaging around 40% THC.

With Anthem Bold, customers and patients can choose from two bold flavor and product format experiences, in half gram 5-packs and one-gram single pre-rolls, with either a sweet wood tip or glass tip:

– Flavor-forward strain experience, enhanced with a sweet wood tip: Nostalgic sweet wood tips pair with punchy, fruit-forward strains to enhance flavor, rolling out with Blue Raspberry Kush (Indica), Pineapple Haze (Sativa), and Watermelon Z (Hybrid).

– Cannabis-forward, loud & iconic signature strain experience, enhanced with a glass tip: Anthem Bold’s glass tip option offers loud and iconic signature strains, for those who want the full expression of legendary genetics including Blue Dream (Hybrid), King Louis XIII (Indica), and Acapulco Gold (Sativa).

The brand’s cylindrical design, inspired by American tradition, features natural hemp paper for a smooth, even burn, every time. Anthem is committed to serving both adult-use and medical patients, offering a premium experience that delivers consistency, smoothness, and uncompromising quality. According to BDSA, pre-rolls are the fastest-growing category in the cannabis space, and now infused pre-roll sales account for 45% of the overall pre-roll category, and as high as 70% in some markets. Anthem Bold marks a significant step in establishing Anthem as a true national brand synonymous with quality, consistency, and American innovation.

Together, Anthem Classic and Anthem Bold offer consumers a full spectrum of pre-roll options under a single, national brand, nodding to classic Americana while excelling within today’s competitive pre-roll category. Both Anthem Classic and Anthem Bold will be available at select Curaleaf dispensaries across Arizona, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York, with continued expansion into additional retail anticipated in the coming months. In addition to those states, Anthem Classic is also available to customers and patients in Massachusetts, and Florida.

To learn more about Anthem, and find locations to purchase products in Arizona, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Florida, please visit anthemcannabisusa.com.

The post ‘Anthem Bold’ Cannabis Products Now Available in Arizona appeared first on AZ Marijuana.

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Oregon Federal Court Lawsuit Filed, Seeking Interstate Cannabis Sales

Oregon Federal Court Lawsuit Filed, Seeking Interstate Cannabis Sales

Oregon Federal Court Lawsuit Filed, Seeking Interstate Cannabis Sales

Yesterday late afternoon, Oregon cannabis wholesaler Jefferson Packing House (JPH) filed another dormant commerce clause (DCC) challenge to protectionist state cannabis laws. You can view the complaint here. I say “another” DCC challenge because JPH prosecuted DCC litigation in late 2022; and also because several DCC cannabis lawsuits have been filed in recent years, with some succeeding as of late.

What is the dormant commerce clause, and how does it relate to state cannabis programs?

The DCC is an implied constitutional principle, derived from the commerce clause. It prohibits states from enacting laws that discriminate against, or unduly burden, interstate commerce. The DCC applies even where Congress hasn’t passed a law regulating a zone of commerce.

The policy here is to bar state protectionism, and to maintain competitive, open markets. If a statute is discriminatory, the state has the legal burden to justify the local benefits flowing from the law, and to show that the state has no other means of advancing the legitimate local purpose. If the state can’t make that showing when held to account (sued by injured parties), its law will be struck down.

State marijuana programs uniformly prohibit trafficking of cannabis in- and out-of-state. They also contain other exclusionary rules in many cases. Chief among these are rules that prohibit nonresidents from owning local cannabis businesses. But really, the big kahuna is interstate marijuana sales.

Ultimately, the fundamental question is this: does the DCC protect interstate commerce of a controlled substance, even where Congress has legislated against the activity?

What have courts done with DCC cannabis lawsuits to date?

It’s been a mixed bag. Looking through the cases, though, I’d argue for an emerging view that the DCC applies to state marijuana programs, and that states cannot enact protectionist laws. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals just said that in a New York case, as did the First Circuit a few years back, as to Maine. Federal district courts in Maryland and Michigan and Missouri have likewise found that the DCC applies to state and local marijuana programs.

Other courts, such as the Western District of Washington have held to the contrary, writing in one case that “citizens do not have a legal interest in participating in a federally illegal market”; and explaining in another that declaratory relief wasn’t available for that same reason.

A final category of case is still pending: the most compelling here is Peridot Tree Inc. v. City of Sacramento. In short, the plaintiffs lost at district court, but filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit in November 2024. A ruling there could have serious implications for the JPH case filed yesterday evening.

What’s different about the JPH case in Oregon?

All of the cases mentioned above are challenges to state or local laws that require cannabis business owners to be residents. None have taken a bead on state rules that prohibit selling marijuana across state lines. The JPH case does exactly that, for both marijuana and hemp products that fall within the definition of “marijuana items” under Oregon state law.

JPH’s rationale for overturning the ban on interstate sales is similar to DCC arguments made in the cases discussed above. That said, JPH is really going for it here. A ruling that interstate sales of state-legal marijuana must be allowed per the DCC, would be extraordinary.

What happened to the first JPH case, from 2022?

The first JPH case was filed in late 2022 and dismissed in early 2024. It was dismissed by JPH voluntarily, and essentially for political reasons. I have a bit more information than that, but should probably say less. For now, suffice it to say that JPH is free to file again, and I don’t expect issues on procedural or standing grounds.

What would happen if JPH wins?

This question is supremely interesting and I haven’t considered it fully. Oregon would have the right to appeal, of course, and likely would; and it’s possible the Ninth Circuit would take up the case. The final stop would be the U.S. Supreme Court, though a very small percentage of federal cases get that far.

If Oregon laws banning interstate cannabis sales are overturned, some important questions include:

  • Which state or states will also change their laws, voluntarily or otherwise, and accept cannabis from Oregon operators?
  • What effects would interstate sales have on the Oregon market? (Presumably, Oregon would have to accept marijuana from other states as well.)
  • What upward pressure, if any, would the ruling place on Congress to finally act?

Who is behind the JPH case?

As mentioned above, JPH is a licensed cannabis wholesaler in Oregon. The company’s attorney is a talented litigator, Andrew DeWeese. Andrew is a friend of the law firm and my former, across-the-street neighbor. A big thanks to Andrew for sharing an advance copy of this well-drafted complaint with me last week. And best of luck.

Source: Canna Law Blog

The post Oregon Federal Court Lawsuit Filed, Seeking Interstate Cannabis Sales appeared first on Marijuana Retail Report – News and Information for Cannabis Retailers.



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Michigan: Inside Utica’s First Cannabis Lounge

Michigan: Inside Utica’s First Cannabis Lounge

Michigan: Inside Utica’s First Cannabis Lounge

I’ve been to cannabis lounges around the world, from Amsterdam to Barcelona to Mexico City. So, the excitement to finally get a local cannabis lounge in my hometown was an instant green flag to see how it compares. Here’s why Burn1 cannabis consumption lounge deserves a spot on the top-shelf.

Creating a one-of-a-kind Detroit cannabis experience

Burn1 lounge re-ignites Detroit as a cannabis hub by creating a place where visitors can indulge in the joys of smoking cannabis. Marijuana has been legal in Michigan for several years; however, finding a legal place to spark up (especially as a visitor) was challenging. Most hotels don’t allow it, and it is also not permitted in public spaces. Now, you can buy and consume cannabis on the same trip.
Whether you’re taking a day trip to Michigan for a cannabis run or spending time around the D, Burn1 fits the bill. Drop in for an afternoon smoke sesh before checking out the best place to eat in Detroit. It stays open until midnight every day, making it an excellent alternative for Detroit nightlife.

The post Michigan: Inside Utica’s First Cannabis Lounge appeared first on Marijuana Retail Report – News and Information for Cannabis Retailers.

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From Consumer to Cultivator: Why Growing Your Own Cannabis Will Transform Your Relationship with the Plant

From Consumer to Cultivator: Why Growing Your Own Cannabis Will Transform Your Relationship with the Plant

From Consumer to Cultivator: Why Growing Your Own Cannabis Will Transform Your Relationship with the Plant

That’s why I believe more cannabis users need to get their hands dirty – literally. Home cultivation isn’t just about saving money or ensuring quality (though those are nice perks). It’s about fundamentally transforming your relationship with cannabis from a mindless consumer transaction to a meaningful partnership with a living plant.

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