Washington Makes a Sweet Decision on Edibles
Cannabis regulators in Washington State will not be imposing a ban on sugared edibles.
The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board announced in October of last year the agency would re-evaluate all edible pot products early in 2019, especially edibles that might be considered more appealing to children.
The board approved an interim policy that doesn’t ban sweetened edible pot products but does regulate the appearance in an effort to curb children consuming edible pot products. The policy limits the shapes and colors edible pot manufacturers can use.
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OKC Leads States With Most Vapers
Oklahoma ranks number one in a report compiled from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data to see where e-cigarette usage is most prevalent.Top states for vaping: Oklahoma
(1), Kentucky (2), Indiana (3), Tennessee (4). Bottom states for vaping: California (50), Vermont (49), and Connecticut (48)
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Pot In Prison Not a Felony
California prison inmates who possess small amounts of marijuana are not guilty of a felony crime, according to an appeals court, which reasoned that because it’s legal to have small amounts of pot in the state, the same is true inside its prisons. But the justices also said it’s still illegal to smoke or ingest cannabis in prison.
Despite their conclusion that possessing cannabis does not constitute a felony, the court said prison authorities could still ban marijuana possession “to maintain order and safety in the prisons and other penal institutions.”
The attorney general’s office argued that the law resulted in an “absurdity” that would essentially legalize the use of a controlled substance in prisons and encourage drug smuggling.
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Gas Stations to Sell CBD
Last week, U.S. multistate dispensary operator Harvest Health & Recreation announced that it had signed an agreement with the Asian American Trade Associations Council (AATAC) to provide its Colors, CBx Essentials, and Harvest-branded CBD products to more than 10,000 convenience stores and gas stations.
The press release notes that AATAC is a large trade association for independent convenience stores and gas stations, with approximately 50,000 members representing nearly 90,000 locations across the country, and reaching roughly 60% of the U.S. market. Even though many of these stores are branded as Chevron, Shell, ARCO, BP, Sunoco, or 76 (to name a few of the better-known AATAC members), they’re usually operated by independent owners. Harvest Health will be reaching more than 10,000 of these locations by this summer, but may hit up to 30,000 locations with its CBD products by the end of the year.
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Shipping Hemp Products OK Says Post Office
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) confirmed in an expanded policy update last week that hemp products are legal to mail under certain circumstances since the crop is no longer a federally controlled substance.
Accordingly, the institution circulated internal guidelines on the matter in March and is now externally clarifying what it considers legally mailable. Here’s the language of the new policy:
“Hemp and hemp-based products, including cannabidiol (CBD) with the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration of such hemp (or its derivatives) not exceeding a 0.3 percent limit are permitted to be mailed only when:
a. The mailer complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws (such as the Agricultural Act of 2014 and the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018) pertaining to hemp production, processing, distribution, and sales; and
b. The mailer retains records establishing compliance with such laws, including laboratory test results, licenses, or compliance reports, for no less than 2 years after the date of mailing.”
