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Grown Rogue International Inc.  (CSE: GRIN) (OTC: GRUSF) has increased ownership in its Michigan operations of Golden Harvests.

The move bumped Grown Rogue’s interest in Golden Harvests from 52.2% to 80% via two transactions valued at $2.8 million. The deal consisted of $200,000 paid in cash and $2.6 million paid through 4-year sellers’ notes. The deal values Golden Harvests at $10 million.

“Michigan is such an important asset to our company because it was the first market we proved we could migrate our operational excellence from Oregon to additional markets,” said Obie Strickler, CEO of Grown Rogue. “Michigan has been a tremendous market for us, and we are thrilled to own a larger piece of this strong business. Michigan still has approximately 25,000 square feet of facility that can be built out, and we are in discussions to expand and optimize the additional capacity.”

Canopy Management LLC, which is 87% indirectly owned by Grown Rogue, holds a 60% interest in Golden Harvests. Grown Rogue bought the remaining minority interest in Canopy for $800,000, which included a 20% down payment in cash and monthly payments for 4 years with an annual interest rate of 5.2%.

The remaining 20% of Golden Harvests is owned by Dave Pleitner, an insider of the company, and certain company directors who own 8% of the interest in Canopy.

Golden Harvests controls its Michigan operations, operating out of an 80,000 square foot facility, which has approximately 15,000 square feet of flowering bench space.

Illinois

In March, Grown Rogue formed a joint venture with EBC Ventures to focus on cultivating and manufacturing cannabis products to meet growing demand in Illinois. This marked Grown Rogue’s first expansion beyond New Jersey.

The joint venture, Rogue EBC, acquired CannEquality, LLC, which held a craft grower’s license from the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

The post Grown Rogue grows ownership of Michigan’s Golden Harvests appeared first on Green Market Report.

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Louisiana lawmakers have approved a bill to create a regulatory framework for marijuana legalization, building upon the state’s 2021 decriminalization law.

Members of the House Health and Welfare Committee passed the measure from Rep. Edmond Jordan (D), with amendments, in a unanimous 10-0 vote on Wednesday.

The proposal wouldn’t legalize cannabis, per se. The plan is to have the broader reform implemented in three parts: passing the regulatory measure this year and then working to advance separate bills to allow adult possession and tax marijuana sales next year.

Getting the regulatory measure through the conservative legislature would represent a significant win in the state, however, and set lawmakers up to better define what their program might look like in the coming session.

The legislation as revised would establish an adult-use cannabis program under the Louisiana Department of Health. There would be no caps on the number of dispensaries that regulators could approve, and a previous cap on the number of cultivators was removed as part of an amendment on Wednesday.

Adults 21 and older would be able to buy up to one ounce of cannabis per day. And they could also apply for a permit to cultivate up to six plants for personal use, with a max of 12 plants per household. There would be a $75 annual fee for the home grow permit.

“This is a very simple bill,” Jordan told the committee on Wednesday. “It is for the adult use of cannabis. It sets up the retail side with dispensaries and how we would do that.”

Watch the committee discuss the bill, around 3:41:40 into the video below:

“We can’t bury our heads in the sand and think that people aren’t going to get access to cannabis,” he said. “They’ve gotten access to it since the beginning of time and are going to continue to do that. The question is: How do we make it safe? How do we regulate it? How do we tax it? How do we make money off of it, frankly?”

Kevin Caldwell, Southeast legislative manager for Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), told Marijuana Moment on Wednesday that the regulatory bill means “citizens in Louisiana will be able to know where their representatives stand when it comes to ending prohibition.”

As it stands in Louisiana, possession of up to 14 grams (or half an ounce) of marijuana is decriminalized, punishable by a $100 fine without the threat of jail time.

Last year, former Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) also signed into law a measure that was designed to streamline expungements for people with first-time marijuana possession convictions.

Whether current Gov. Jeff Landry (R) will be willing to sign into law any legislation moving the state toward adult-use legalization is another question. While his Democratic predecessor approved more incremental steps and acknowledged legalization as inevitable, he consistently said the state would not legalize under his tenure.

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Seven in 10 Louisianans support legalizing recreational marijuana possession for adults—and nine in 10 back medical cannabis legalization—according to a survey released last year.

While marijuana legalization has stalled in the Louisiana legislature, there have been efforts to end prohibition and tax cannabis sales that have moved without being enacted.

For example, a comprehensive legalization measure and complementary cannabis tax bill from Rep. Richard Nelson (R) advanced through committee before the tax proposal was rejected on the House floor in 2021, torpedoing the broader measure’s chances.

Lawmakers have also taken several steps to reform other cannabis laws and build on the state’s medical marijuana program in recent sessions.

In 2022, for example, the former governor signed a slew of marijuana reform bills, including one key measure that would expand the number of medical dispensaries that can operate in the state and another to prevent police from searching people’s homes over the smell of cannabis.

Biden Grants More Clemency For Drug Offenses, But Advocates Remain Critical About Lack Of Marijuana Commutations

Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.

The post Louisiana Lawmakers Approve Bill To Create Marijuana Legalization Regulatory Framework appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

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Feds File Charges Against Maine Weed Grower After Probe Spanning 20 States Image Cannabis News April 24, 2024 Maine Man Arrested for Alleged Illegal Cannabis Cultivation Amidst Federal Investigation. A Maine man was arrested and held without bail last week on federal charges of illegal cannabis cultivation as part of a yearslong investigation encompassing 20 states. A Maine man was arrested and held without Marijuana Politics Marijuana Business News High Times

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Cannabis News April 24, 2024

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“We said we were doing this bill for criminal justice purposes, and to partially correct the very failed multi-billion war on drugs campaign that happened for decades in New Jersey, so this is frustrating. I feel like we’re not headed in the right direction.”

By Sophie Nieto-Munoz, New Jersey Monitor

For the last two years, people have been able to stroll into New Jersey dispensaries to buy weed. But growing your own cannabis plant remains a third-degree felony.

Despite a growing number of nearby states legalizing the growing of marijuana plants at home, bills to do the same in New Jersey have languished every session since cannabis was legalized.

A state senator and chief sponsor of a bill to allow medical marijuana patients to grow cannabis, plus another bill that would expand that to 10 plants for medical patients and six plants for recreational users, said the fight for home grow is “at a standstill.”

“We said we were doing this bill for criminal justice purposes, and to partially correct the very failed multi-billion war on drugs campaign that happened for decades in New Jersey, so this is frustrating. I feel like we’re not headed in the right direction,” said Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Monmouth).

Under the state’s cannabis laws, the only people allowed to grow marijuana are those with cultivator licenses. Lawmakers, particularly Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), have previously voiced hesitancy over a home grow program, saying it would stunt the growth of the legal industry and allow the underground market to flourish without regulations. Scutari long pushed to make marijuana legal and sponsored the recreational legalization law.

In an interview last April, he said discussions had started about “perhaps allowing for a very, very slim amount of home grow applicants, some of the more significant or medical patients.”

Scutari did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Marijuana advocates say lawmakers opposed to home grow are misinformed about its financial impact on the cannabis industry, and have stressed the importance of a home cultivation program for medical marijuana users. Growing cannabis at home would be beneficial to patients who have trouble getting to a dispensary or who can’t afford the high prices of medical marijuana. The average cost of an eighth ounce of recreational weed is around $60.

Plus, they argue, Scutari’s argument is moot—the cannabis industry in New Jersey is thriving.

More than 100 dispensaries have opened their doors since sales first began April 21, 2022. Hundreds of licenses have been awarded for cultivation, manufacturing, and retail. Recreational sales exceeded $675 million in 2023, nearly double the year prior. And in February, the Cannabis Regulatory Commission said the state surpassed $2 billion in recreational and marijuana sales since 2018. The agency predicted that sales could exceed $1 billion alone this year.

At that meeting, officials noted that while legalizing home cultivation is not in their purview, they would encourage the Legislature to look into it.

Chris Goldstein is an organizer with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and a longtime cannabis activist in New Jersey. He questioned where Scutari “gets this idea that he needs to protect the industry from home cultivation.” He said it’s ironic that Scutari helped get the cannabis industry off the ground but now continues to stifle it.

“The small business owners I talk to, the consumers, the patients, they say he’s off base,” said Goldstein. “And again, the delay has been really terrible for New Jersey. We’ve seen nothing but the highest prices as well.”

Goldstein noted that six senators from both sides of the aisle have cosponsored Gopal’s and Sen. Troy Singleton’s (D) bill to allow medical marijuana patients to grow their own cannabis.

“I’m not sure what Scutari’s new excuse will be, but I think this is a sort of critical mass on home cultivation coming up pretty fast,” he said. Goldstein joined other cannabis advocates at a protest in front of the Statehouse Monday to bring attention to the need for home grow.

Gopal noted that without a home grow program, people can still be arrested for growing a plant for personal purposes that is otherwise legal, he said.

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Marijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,400 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.
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He said he hasn’t talked to Scutari about the home grow bills since the winter, noting that issues like NJ Transit’s financial woes and school funding have been at the center of the conversation in the Statehouse. He said support from the governor’s office would help put a spotlight on the issue.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Phil Murphy (D), who campaigned in 2017 on legalizing marijuana, noted that in 2023 Murphy said he’s “very much open-minded” to home grow.

“I’d love to see the governor and the governor’s office get louder on this,” Gopal said. “I’d love to see him play a more active role in this. We’re two years in and constituents have had trouble getting affordable, accessible, legal cannabis.”

This story was first published by New Jersey Monitor.

More Than A Decade After Approving Marijuana Legalization, Colorado Voters’ Support Continues To Grow, New Polls Show

The post New Jersey Lawmakers And Marijuana Activists Push To Legalize Home Cultivation, Which Is Still A Felony appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

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