MJBizMag March 2023 - 26

INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS State by State
North Dakota
The limited number of medical marijuana patients in North Dakota could see their modest monthly
purchase limits increase under a bill that advanced in the state Senate.
Patients purchasing either flower or topical products are subject to monthly limits: no more than
2.5 ounces at a time and no more than 4,000 milligrams of THC in topicals or concentrates.
That limit could increase to 6,000 milligrams if Senate Bill 2068, which recently passed the state
Senate and heads now to the House of Representatives, is signed into law.
Lawmakers also squashed two bills that would have allowed legal medical marijuana businesses to
sell edibles.
Ohio
Lawmakers have until May 3 to approve a citizen-initiated recreational cannabis legalization proposal,
or the question will go before voters.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose kicked off this latest step when he reintroduced the Coalition to
Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol's legalization proposal to the General Assembly.
That proposal was removed from consideration for the November 2022 ballot last year as part of a
lawsuit settlement.
Under the terms of the settlement, the General Assembly has four months to adopt the measure,
but campaigners also will be allowed to retain previously collected signatures to qualify a legalization
item for the ballot.
Oklahoma
Voters will decide the fate of adult-use marijuana legalization in a March 7 special election.
Oklahoma's robust medical marijuana program is expected to tilt odds in favor of legalization when
voters decide Question 820.
Advocates tried to qualify legalization for the November 2022 ballot before a series of bureaucratic
delays and legal challenges impeded the effort.
Weeks before the November election, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that the question would
go before voters either in 2024 or during a special election. Gov. Kevin Stitt triggered the rare special
election with an executive proclamation.
Texas
The Department of Public Safety is opening a business license application process to add more medical
cannabis dispensaries to the state's limited MMJ program.
The application window will remain open until April 28.
The agency has not said how many licenses it will approve, only that the decision on the timing for
adding licenses would not be made until this summer.
Only three MMJ dispensaries, all in central Texas, have been licensed in the state in the past three years.
In 2021, Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation to slightly expand the state's restrictive MMJ market under
the Compassionate Use Program. The new law permitted the use of low-THC marijuana for patients with
post-traumatic stress disorder as well as any form of cancer, instead of only terminal cancer.
26 March 2023 | MJBizMagazine

https://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/north-dakota-senate-oks-higher-thc-limit-for-medical-marijuana-patients/article_c9053a42-91e3-11ed-8e44-43fca147e758.html https://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/north-dakota-senate-oks-higher-thc-limit-for-medical-marijuana-patients/article_c9053a42-91e3-11ed-8e44-43fca147e758.html https://www.ndlegis.gov/assembly/68-2023/regular/documents/23-0209-01000.pdf https://mjbizdaily.com/ohio-suit-resolved-by-pushing-adult-use-marijuana-legalization-issue-to-2023/ https://mjbizdaily.com/ohio-suit-resolved-by-pushing-adult-use-marijuana-legalization-issue-to-2023/ https://mjbizdaily.com/oklahoma-governor-sets-march-7-special-election-to-decide-marijuana-legalization/ https://www.sos.ok.gov/documents/questions/820.pdf https://mjbizdaily.com/recreational-cannabis-legalization-wont-make-oklahomas-november-ballot/ https://mjbizdaily.com/texas-governor-signs-limited-medical-marijuana-expansion-bill-into-law/

MJBizMag March 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of MJBizMag March 2023