Learn about recent changes to municipalities that are updating their cannabis regulations.

In this edition we have updates about the Bank Safe Act, Grand Rapids Michigan, Knox County Illinois, State of Washington, and the State of Illinois.

Illinois continues to be a promising area for cannabis growth and cannabis banking continues to evolve.

 

All Municipality / City Regulation Update Posts

 

January 28, 2020 – Municipality / City Cannabis Regulation Updates

Bank Safe Act

 

Grand Rapids, Michigan

 

Knox County, Illinois

  • Knox County has approved an ordinance for zoning of cannabis
  • Projected uses would include the sale cultivation and processing of cannabis
  • Ordinance applies to unincorporated municipalities such as Altona, Delong, Gilson London Mills, Oak Run, Oneida, Williamsfield and Yates City
  • Allowable zones include (WITH CUP): Agriculture, Conservation, Industrial and Heavy Industrial Infuser zones
  • Source: https://www.galesburg.com/news/20200124/knox-co-board-approves-marijuana-zoning

 

State of Washington

As stated by Rick Garza, Director of the The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB), “The 2019 legislative session included legislation (SB 5318) that strongly emphasized the LCB’s focus to be on compliance and education rather than just enforcement when overseeing the regulated cannabis marketplace. Following the 2019 legislative session, the LCB hired an independent, respected organization (Hillard Heintze) to review and report on all aspects of our Enforcement Division’s operations, organizational structure, and management.

Without direct involvement from LCB staff, HH led: interviews with industry members, interviews with cannabis and alcohol trade organizations, forums on each side of the state and interviews with a handful of agency staff.

HH released its final report that included 18 recommendations. There were three themes that emerged in the HH recommendations:

  1. Interpretations of agency decisions (rules, policies, etc.) are inconsistently communicated and applied not only within the agency but with the regulated community as well;
  2. A lack of transparency and understanding by stakeholders exists about agency decisions and interpretations; and
  3. Stronger outreach, communication, education, and collaboration with the industry is needed to help them understand and comply with laws, rules and policy.

The agency has already taken steps to restructure the enforcement penalty guidelines, the recent Enforcement Division re-organization to revise policy/procedures and develop expertise, and the Licensing Division implemented dozens of collaborative actions in 2019 to increase communication and effectiveness between the two divisions.”

 

State of Illinois

Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation Announces Ninth Round of “Same Site” Licenses for Adult Use Cannabis – The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has announced one more “Same Site” adult use cannabis license, which will allow an existing medical cannabis dispensary to obtain an adult use dispensing license. Also announced Wednesday was the second “Secondary Site” adult use cannabis license, which will allow an existing medical cannabis dispensary to obtain an adult use dispensing organization license within a limited geographic area.

This license will permit the dispensary to begin adult use cannabis sales at that location immediately, provided the dispensary complies with local zoning rules or other local laws. These recent approvals raise the total number of approved adult use cannabis dispensary licenses to 48.

 

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