This is our short weekly review of what’s going on in cannabis in the week of 5/14/2022. Topics this week are a Colorado cbd manufacturer is facing a wage theft lawsuit, US senators pushing for Safe Banking act to be in a competitiveness bill, marijuana sales have eclipsed Starbucks sales, and NIDA’s Dr. Volkow is questioned at an appropriations hearing about cannabis. Audio player included below for those on the go.
Several congressional lawmakers questioned the director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse during a House Appropriations hearing. The members inquired about marijuana legalization and concerns they may have. In the midst of doing so it appears that even those opposed to legalization view the reform as inevitable.
Dr. Volkow was asked questions regarding marijuana as a cancer treatment, problems focused on with respect to cannabis legalization, and the impacts of removing the criminal restrictions on items such as marijuana.
Learn how to become a medical cannabis patient in Texas
Learn how to become a medical cannabis patient in Texas
Volkow noted at the hearing that as adult use has gone up over time, increasingly so during the pandemic. But, they were surprised that even federal surveys showed that underage use has remained stable. The hearing did not get the typical talking points that NIDA usually gives about the issues regarding the criminalization of cannabis, relating drug issues to being a public health issue and not a criminal one.
“I think it is a unique opportunity that we have to understand how the different policies implemented by the states affect the outcomes in children, adolescents and adults,” Volkow said. “And in these cases, we know for example that the policy implementation as it relates to cannabis has significantly impacted the adverse effects of cannabis utilization.”
Recent financial reports showed that Licensed marijuana sales in 2021 eclipsed the coffee giant Starbucks. The cannabis industry has beaten the coffee giant by a one third margin according to the MJBiZ Factbook. Starbuck’s North America revenue grew 25% for the 2021 fiscal year. But the cannabis industry saw its sales climb 30% last year.
Coffee can be sold in 50 states while marijuana has only been legalized in 39 states plus DC. This comparison shows that the potential for marijuana sales in the US has plenty of room to grow. Along with showing that the industry has plenty of economic drive left in it.
It is unlikely that medical sales drove all of this growth, as the nation saw an increase in other vices during 2021. Cigarettes sales went on an increase, something that had not been seen for 20 years
Two Dozen US Senators have called for cannabis banking to be included in a competitiveness bill. The U.S.House included the SAFE Banking in its version of the competitiveness bill known as the America COMPETES Act. The Senate however has not included it in the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act.
Signed by 19 Democrats and five Republicans, the letter calls for Senate leadership to include the Safe Banking act in the competitiveness bill.
‘Passage of the SAFE Banking Act… would help ensure that legal cannabis businesses do not have to operate in all-cash—the current reality for thousands of small businesses across the country, which has led to ongoing threats of robbery and assault for business owners and employees.” according to a press release from Oregon senator Jeff Merkley.
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A Colorado CBD Maker is facing a lawsuit over a wage theft complaint. Melissa Gamboa alleges in the lawsuit that Kiss Nutraceuticals engaged in wage theft when they abstained from paying overtime to employees. Gamboa argues that owners Cole Evans and Grant Dean paid hourly workers “non-payroll checks in order to obscure the fact that they were refusing to pay their employees overtime wages.”
The filing states that the employees were hourly paid employees that regularly worked past 40 hours a week and at times 12 hours a day. Colorado Minimum wage laws require overtime pay for any time worked past 12 hours in a work day. The filing notes that defendants subjected all their hourly employees to the same policy and practice of failing to pay overtime wages for overtime hours worked. The issue is noted to be possibly affecting up to 300 employees wth the company.
In addition to Colorado, the CBD company has manufacturing operations in Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Texas.
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