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ARMADAIn the days of the Armada, a fleet of warships, the scuttlebutt was the rumor or gossip that would spread throughout the ship. Today, Armada Law Corp presents The Scuttlebutt, a daily summery of news articles that people within the cannabis, hemp and plant medicine industries are chatting about along with links to the full articles.
In today’s news:
#politics – “The Senate voted Thursday to send Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders a bill that is intended to strengthen religious freedom protections in state law.
The Senate voted 28-4 to approve House Bill 1615 by Rep. Robin Lundstrum, R-Elm Springs.
Lundstrum told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that the bill would update definitions in the state’s 2015 Religious Freedom Restoration Act and codify legal precedent to prevent the state from discriminating against religious organizations.”
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2023/apr/07/arkansas-state-capitol-news-in-brief-religious/
#cannabisindustry – “When cannabis becomes legal in Maryland on July 1, sales of the product will come with a 9% tax under a compromise that state lawmakers have reached.
A portion of the sales and use tax will go to organizations that serve communities most harmed by the criminalization of cannabis and the enforcement of laws against using or possessing it.
The tax rate was among the last hurdles in the way of a final vote on the rules and regulations for the new industry.”
https://thedailyrecord.com/2023/04/07/md-lawmakers-set-9-cannabis-sales-tax-prepare-for-final-vote/
#medicalcannabis – “A medical-marijuana doctor cleared of wrongdoing after an undercover probe is seeking unspecified damages from the Florida Department of Health and two investigators who posed as patients.
A lawsuit filed this week is the latest twist in a years-long legal battle between physician Joseph Dorn and state health officials, who sought to strip him of his medical license, permanently ban him from ordering medical marijuana and impose a $10,000 fine.
Dorn’s lawsuit stems from a 2019 complaint alleging that the physician violated state law by failing to conduct physical examinations of “Patient O.G.” and “Patient B.D.,” two undercover agents who work for the state health department.
The Florida Board of Medicine in December unanimously decided that Dorn — who has practiced in Florida for more than three decades — didn’t do anything wrong when he ordered medical marijuana for the agents who told the doctor they had medical conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder. An administrative law judge also twice cleared Dorn of wrongdoing.”
#californiacannabis – “The state has lost 1,766 cultivation licenses since the beginning of last year, according to data reported by the California Department of Cannabis Control and the Cannabis Business Times. Low wholesale prices and high taxes have made it almost impossible for operators to run a profitable small business, pot industry insiders say.
The fleeing farms are reducing the total amount of space licensed to produce cannabis in California. The state has lost 23% of its total legal canopy — the combined size of all legal cannabis grows — since the beginning of 2022, according to Aaron Edelheit, a cannabis investor
who analyzes California’s market. That’s over 19 million square feet of cannabis farming that has disappeared over the past year.”
https://www.sfgate.com/cannabis/article/california-legal-cannabis-farms-in-freefall-17882804.php
#psychedelics – “The cave entrance sits midway down the side of a ravine on an island off the coast of Spain. Anyone who enters will find a rocky cavern snaking far underground. Hidden deep within, this cave held a secret. The cave of Es Càrritx was used for burials and rituals during the Bronze Age, according to a study published April 6 in the journal Scientific Reports. Around 1600 B.C., the people living on the island of Menorca began using this cave for rituals. Eventually, “the cave became a collective funerary space and continued serving this function” until 800 B.C., researchers said. During this time, over 200 people were buried near the cave entrance.”
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article274084035.html#storylink=cpy
#cannabisindustry – “Aurora Cannabis Inc. is urging a New Jersey federal court to finally throw out claims by a group of investors alleging the company’s stock fell after the revelation of the truth behind a $21.7 million “round-trip sale” came out, saying the investors still can’t link any of the alleged disclosures to their financial losses.
In a reply brief filed Thursday, Aurora responded to the plaintiffs’ opposition to a January motion to dismiss, saying the opposition fails to provide any facts showing that four instances of alleged disclosures caused the stock price to fall, but instead relies on legal theories that don’t apply to the case or aren’t recognized in the Third Circuit.
The motion to dismiss and the surrounding briefs concern four times when the plaintiffs allege information about Aurora’s sale of cannabis to Radient Technologies Inc. caused the company’s stock price to fall
— Aurora’s Sept. 11, 2019, and Nov. 14, 2019, financial results and a pair of articles in October 2019.”
