The attorney general of Massachusetts has published dozens of proposed initiatives for the 2026 ballot—including a pair that would roll back adult-use marijuana legalization in the state.

Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell's (D) office released 47 initiative petitions filed by 19 groups ahead of a Wednesday deadline. It will now review each petition to determine whether it can be legally certified.

The two marijuana measures, which would eliminate the commercial adult-use market while maintaining patient access under the medical cannabis program and continuing to allow lawful possession of up to an ounce of recreational marijuana, are being spearheaded by Caroline Cunningham, who previously fought against a psychedelics legalization ballot initiative that voters ultimately rejected last year.

Under the new measures—titled “An Act to Restore A Sensible Marijuana Policy”—adults 21 and older could still possess up to an ounce of cannabis, only five grams of which could be a marijuana concentrate product.

Possession of more than one ounce but less than two ounces would be effectively decriminalized, with violators subject to a $100 fine. Adults could also continue to gift cannabis between each other without remuneration.

But provisions in the state's voter-approved marijuana law that allow for commercial cannabis retailers and access to regulated products by adults would be repealed under the proposal.

Adults' right to cultivate cannabis at home would also be repealed.

There are two versions of the initiative. They're largely identical—except that one would set THC potency limits on medical marijuana, requiring the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) to prohibit flower in excess of 30 percent THC and concentrates over 60 percent THC or that have more than 5mg THC per metered serving. There would also be a ban on cannabis concentrates that “fail to clearly provide metered, or otherwise measured, standard delivered servings” of 5 mg THC and on packages of concentrate that exceed 20 metered or measured servings.

After reviewing all of the proposed initiatives to determine if they're consistent with constitutional requirements for ballot placement, the attorney general's office will then certify them and issue finalized summaries, clearing proponents to start signature gathering.

They will need to turn in 74,574 valid signatures from registered voters to the secretary of state's office by December 3, initiating a separate verification process to certify the signatures.

Whether the cannabis measures make the cut is yet to be seen. Voters approved legalization at the ballot in 2016, with sales launching two years later. And the past decade has seen the market evolve and expand. As of last month, Massachusetts officials reported more than $8 billion in adult-use marijuana sales.

Regulators are also working to finalize rules to allow for a new cannabis consumption lounge license type, which they hope to complete by October.

Separately, in May, CCC launched an online platform aimed at helping people find jobs, workplace training, and networking opportunities in the state's legal cannabis industry.

State lawmakers have also been considering setting tighter restrictions on intoxicating hemp-derived products and a plan to allow individual entities to control a larger number of cannabis establishments.

Also in Massachusetts, legislators who were working on a state budget butted heads with CCC officials, who've said they can't make critical technology improvements without more money from the legislature.

---

Written by Kyle Jaeger for Marijuana Moment | Featured image by Gina Coleman/Weedmaps

The post Massachusetts Would Recriminalize Recreational Marijuana Sales Under 2026 Ballot Initiatives Being Reviewed By Attorney General appeared first on Weedmaps News.

The California Assembly has unanimously approved a bill to delay the implementation of a planned hike on marijuana taxes.

About a month after state officials announced that the cannabis excise tax rate would increase from 15 percent to 19 percent on July 1, the Assembly voted 74-0 to pass legislation from Assemblymember Matt Haney (D) to delay the change for five years.

The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration, but advocates hope to see its language incorporated into a separate budget trailer measure that would take effect upon enactment — as opposed to at the beginning of next year as would be the case under Haney's bill.

While the legislation as introduced would have outright repealed the proposed tax hike, it has since been amended to delay its implementation until the 2030-2031 fiscal year.

The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) officials applauded the Assembly's vote.

Joe Duffle, president of UFCW Local 1167, said raising the tax rate would “only increase the number of failed legal cannabis businesses” in the state.

“AB 564 freezes the cannabis excise tax at 15 percent and gives legal cannabis businesses a fighting chance to stay afloat in an industry that is contracting every day,” he said. “Without this bill, the illicit cannabis industry will only flourish more and keep putting untested, untaxed and unregulated cannabis products into the hands of consumers.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/DKa13eoNrwI

Under the legislation, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA), working with the Department of Finance, would be required to “adjust the cannabis excise tax rate upon purchasers of cannabis or cannabis products” based on the “additional percentage of the gross receipts of any retail sale by a cannabis retailer that the department estimates will generate an amount of revenue equivalent to the amount that would have been collected in the previous fiscal year,” the bill text says.

The department would need to “estimate the amount of revenue that would have been collected in the previous fiscal year pursuant to the weight-based cultivation tax” and “estimate this amount by projecting the revenue from weight-based cultivation taxes that would have been collected in the previous calendar year based on information available to the department.”

“The specific goal of the cannabis excise tax rate reduction is to provide immediate tax relief to the cannabis industry,” the measure states. “The efficacy of this goal may be measured by the Legislature by the amount of gain or loss in cannabis excise tax revenues resulting from the cannabis excise tax rate reduction allowed by this act.”

It also mandates that CDTFA, on or before December 1, 2026, and each subsequent year, California “submit a report to the Legislature…detailing the amount of gain or loss in cannabis excise tax revenues resulting from the cannabis excise tax rate reduction allowed by this act.”

Meanwhile, California officials last month awarded another round of community reinvestment grants to nonprofits and local health departments, funded by marijuana tax revenue.

California's Supreme Court separately delivered a victory for the state's marijuana program last month, rescinding a lower court ruling in a case that suggested federal prohibition could be used locally to undermine the cannabis market.

The state Supreme Court ruling also came just weeks after California officials unveiled a report on the current status and future of the state's marijuana market, with independent analysts hired by regulators concluding that the federal prohibition on cannabis that prevents interstate commerce is meaningfully bolstering the illicit market.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) did sign a bill in 2022 that would have empowered him to enter into interstate cannabis commerce agreements with other legal states, but that power was incumbent upon federal guidance or an assessment from the state attorney general that sanctioned such activity.

Meanwhile, a California Senate committee recently declined to advance a bipartisan bill that would have created a psilocybin pilot program for military veterans and former first responders.

---

Written by Kyle Jaeger for Marijuana Moment | Featured image by Weedmaps

The post California Delays Cannabis Tax Hike for 5 Years After Vote appeared first on Weedmaps News.

American marijuana consumers have spent more than $4.1 billion on pre-rolled joints over the past year and a half, according to a new industry report, with the products now making up about 15.9 percent of the cannabis market.

Among the latest trends in the pre-roll market, it adds, is the continued growth of specialty infused pre-rolls, which are sold as a premium product and typically contain marijuana concentrate. Those products, which command higher price points than standard pre-rolls, accounted for almost half (44 percent) of the pre-roll market during the first half of 2024.

The findings were compiled by product manufacturer Custom Cones USA using data from the cannabis intelligence firm Headset, which collects point-of-sale data in a dozen U.S. states. It's Custom Cones's third year releasing a white paper on the current state of the pre-roll market.

“Every year we like to hunker down and look at the story the data is telling,” Harrison Bard, the company's co-founder and CEO, said in a press release. “Thanks to the help of our partners at Headset, we can now see even more clearly that pre-rolls are continuing to dominate the market on an upward trajectory that confirms our belief that pre-rolls remain a potent and profitable symbol of the cannabis industry as a whole.”

The data put pre-rolls in third place in terms of product form factors at marijuana retailers, following raw flower and vape pens. The report notes that in June 2024, sales revenue from pre-rolls was almost 12 times that of infused beverages.

Courtesy of Custom Cones USA via Marijuana Moment

From January 2023 to June 2024, pre-rolls saw “a meteoric increase in market share,” Custom Cones said, rising from 13.2 percent to 15.9 percent over that time period.

“The rise of the pre roll market is even more impressive when looking back even further,” the company noted. “Pre roll market share has increased every year since 2020 – when it stood at just 9.8%. The increase in sales revenue in the last five years is nothing short of remarkable: annual pre roll sales revenue went from $469 million in 2019 to $2.7 billion in 2023. That's nearly a sixfold increase in annual revenue.”

Prices on pre-rolls have also been falling, dropping from $7.80 per unit in January 2023 to $6.50 per unit in June 2024, a reduction of about 16.7 percent. But the overall size of the market is growing thanks to greater sales volume.

“Although average item price is on the decline, total pre roll items sold are skyrocketing – going from 15.9 million items sold in January 2023 to a record 26 million units sold in June 2024,” the report says.

Courtesy of Custom Cones USA via Marijuana Moment

Headset data from the report came from Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Oregon and Washington. That information was combined with other findings, such as a Custom Cones USA sample of about 1,000 pre-roll consumers.

Both consumers and businesses, the report says, choose pre-rolls predominantly based on price point and THC potency. Other factors include the strain of cannabis, paper type, packaging and brand loyalty.

The shift toward what Custom Cones calls the “connoisseur/infused” pre-roll segment has been happening for years, with producers marketing more high-end, indulgent products.

“Since 2019, the segment has maintained an average 34.4% share of the pre roll category across the 12 tracked markets,” says the company's press release. “This share has recently experienced a rapid acceleration, reaching 41.5% in 2023 and climbing further to 44.4% in the first half of 2024. This trend suggests a growing consumer preference for these premium products (that also command premium prices).”

As part of its effort to monitoring the latest in the cannabis pre-roll market, Custom Cones USA and its DaySavers brand have also launched notable efforts to drive engagement with consumers. In June, it announced it would pay 200 volunteers $4.20 apiece to smoke two free pre-rolls and provide feedback for a so-called “Science of Smokeability” study—a collaboration with the Cannabis Research Coalition and the Network of Applied Pharmacognosy.

Gina Coleman/Weedmaps

“This research not only has the potential to improve product quality and consistency, but also promote sustainability, profitability, and a deeper scientific understanding of cannabis as a medicinal and recreational product,” the company said at the time.

The study results are set to be shared with the standards organization ASTM International, which last year helped to add a pair of new marijuana items to a federal handbook that are meant to provide model standards for cannabis definitions, packaging and labeling requirements and best storage practices to control for moisture loss in marijuana flower.

DaySavers separately launched a campaign in March to hire for what it calls the “ultimate stoner dream job,” seeking a content creator to “get paid to smoke weed.” The full-time social media creator and event marketer job pays $70,420 with perks including cannabis product testing and all expenses paid travel to marijuana events.

The campaign is reminiscent of the time that cannabis icon Snoop Dogg disclosed in 2019 that he pays a person between $40,000-$50,000 per year to roll blunts for him.

Separate reporting from Headset, meanwhile, analyzed public comments related to the federal government's planned rescheduling of marijuana. It found that approximately 35 percent of comments submitted to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agreed with the Biden administration plan, but most—57 percent—said cannabis should be entirely descheduled.

“These numbers paint a clear picture: over 9 out of 10 individuals who took the time to comment believe that cannabis should not remain a Schedule I substance,” Headset said at the time. “Moreover, the majority of commenters went beyond the proposed rescheduling to Schedule III, arguing for complete removal from the controlled substances list.”

---

Written by Ben Adlin for Marijuana Moment | Featured image by Gina Coleman/Weedmaps

The post U.S. Marijuana Consumers Have Spent More Than $4.1 Billion On Pre-Rolled Joints In The Past Year And A Half, Industry Report Finds appeared first on Weedmaps News.