MJBiz - September/October 2024 - 23

INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS
Missouri
Add Missouri to the growing list of states imposing bans on delta-8 and other intoxicating
hemp-derived products.
Republican Gov. Mike Parson issued an executive order on Aug. 1 prohibiting the sale of products
containing psychoactive cannabis compounds at retail locations, including liquor stores.
Stores violating the order are subject to disciplinary actions from the Missouri Division of
Alcohol & Tobacco Control, according to the order.
The state's Department of Health & Senior Services plans to embargo such products, according
to the governor's office.
" This Executive Order effectively bans the sale of these potentially harmful products in
Missouri until such time approved sources can be regulated by the (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
or State of Missouri through legislative action, " Parson said in a statement.
Products containing delta-8 THC and other hemp-derived cannabinoids have soared in
popularity since the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized hemp production and sales nationwide.
Sales of these largely untested and unregulated products have primarily taken root in states
without adult-use marijuana programs and/or with consumers younger than 21, industry
sources contend.
New York
State cannabis regulators closed 1,009 illicit marijuana sellers since the spring, including 779
in New York City alone, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams,
speaking at a joint news conference on July 31.
As a direct result of the crackdown, which began in earnest in May, regulated adult-use sales
are on the rise at the state's 152 legal retailers, including a 72% increase in New York City alone,
Hochul said.
In 2023, New York state adult-use retailers recorded only $123 million in sales, about
one-quarter of projections. The state's audacious illicit market was seen as a chief culprit for
the underachieving sales.
Leann Mata, who owns Matawana, a retailer in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood, said
her store sold about 500% more product in July 2024 than in months before enforcement
began, according to a news release provided by Hochul and Adams.
North Carolina
Adult-use marijuana will be available to anyone 21 and older at a Native American-owned
cannabis store in North Carolina starting Sept. 7.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) launched adult-use sales on July 4 on tribal
land, but sales were limited to people enrolled in a federally recognized tribe.
According to the Associated Press, the EBCI said on social media on Aug. 1 that recreational
marijuana sales will begin at 10 a.m. ET on Sept. 7 at the tribe's Great Smoky Cannabis Co.
store on the Qualla Boundary in eastern North Carolina.
Meanwhile, cannabis in all forms remains illegal elsewhere in North Carolina, where medical
marijuana proposals continue to be shot down in the state Legislature.
The EBCI has moved quickly to establish legal cannabis commerce since members voted last
September to legalize adult-use cannabis and set up regulated sales.
The EBCI began medical marijuana sales April 20 at the Great Smoky Cannabis Co.
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