Two Legal Cannabis Stores to Open In Switzerland as Part of Pilot Program
Switzerland is launching a pilot study that will open two recreational cannabis stores to research the impact of dispensing legal marijuana. The groups behind the study are the Germany-based Sanity Group and the Swiss Institute for Addiction and Health Research (ISGF). While the Sanity Group-ISGF project is the sixth of a similar group of studies launched in Switzerland, it is the first to use retail stores instead of pharmacies or clubs. The study will go on for five years, and participants will be subject to surveys to monitor their cannabis consumption habits. A medical aptitude test will be required for admission into the project. The Swiss government hopes to gain information to help guide future decisions about cannabis legalization and regulation in the country. An amendment to Switzerland’s Federal Narcotics Act that went into effect in May 2021 allows these recreational cannabis trials to take place.
Cannabis Operator in New Mexico Loses License Over BioTrack Fraud
Cannabis officials in New Mexico fined a marijuana operator and revoked its license after discovering the company had been falsifying information in the state’s track-and-trace system. The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused Golden Roots, a licensed cannabis retailer and manufacturer, of 11 violations. Most of the violations pertain to the company’s improper use of BioTrack, the state’s track-and-trace software. According to the CCD, it became suspicious when Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after receiving its license – which raised alarms for officials as cannabis plants took longer than two months to grow. The CCD inspected the facility and Golden Roots was not able to provide officers with evidence to support the information in BioTrack. The company was fined nearly $300,000 as that is the amount officials estimate the company made from selling cannabis products that were not tracked properly.
Alabama Cannabis Officials Hope to Award Licenses on December 1st
After Alabama cannabis regulators had to scrap their first two attempts at awarding medical marijuana licenses to businesses, they are now aiming for December 1st of this year to award the first official batch of licenses. The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) plans to award the first licenses to testing labs, cultivators, processors, dispensaries, and delivery providers. After that, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations to multi-state operators. The goal is to get the licenses to businesses approximately 28 days after they are officially awarded so that businesses can begin medical marijuana production as early as January of next year.
