Vol. 1, Ed. 39 — Tue Sep 22: North Carolina panel floats state-run cannabis retail

North Carolina's cannabis advisory panel weighs state-run retail stores with private cultivation, a Fourth Circuit panel questions the DEA's Schedule I rule for hemp-derived HHC, and Colorado sets fourth-quarter marijuana excise tax rates. For general information only — not legal advice.

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This is the New Realm Compliance Brief, Volume One, Edition Thirty-Nine, for Tuesday, September Twenty-Second.

Our top story: in North Carolina, a subcommittee of Governor Josh Stein's Advisory Council on Cannabis discussed a framework that would put all retail cannabis sales in state-controlled stores, modeled on the state's A-B-C liquor stores and Quebec's system, while leaving cultivation and manufacturing to private businesses under several license types. Three wholesale structures are under consideration: private distributors, a state-run central warehouse, or a hybrid. No fee schedule has been proposed yet, and the council's final report to the legislature is due December Thirty-First. As drafted, private retailers would have no path to a cannabis retail license in the state.

On the federal side: a Fourth Circuit appeals panel appeared skeptical at Friday's oral argument of the D-E-A's reasoning for placing H-H-C, a compound synthesized from hemp extracts, on Schedule One. Hemp companies argue it qualifies as a legal hemp derivative under the Twenty-Eighteen Farm Bill. And California's top cannabis regulator, Clint Kellum, said states have received no formal guidance from the D-E-A on implementing marijuana rescheduling, even as the agency inspects registered businesses and requests state program data.

Around the states: Colorado published new average market rates for its fifteen percent marijuana excise tax, effective October First, with retail bud set at six hundred one dollars per pound, and holds a hearing on proposed marijuana tax rules October Fifteenth. Alabama's public health board voted unanimously to withdraw its objection to aligning state law with federal rescheduling.

On the radar: the order excluding Canadian wine, spirits and beer from U-S importation takes effect September Twenty-Ninth, and the federal hemp redefinition, four tenths of a milligram of total T-H-C per container, takes effect December Eleventh.

Full details and source links are in today's email. This update is for general information only — it is not legal advice.