Tag: news

Thailand Proposes to Again Make Marijuana a Crime

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Two years after marijuana was decriminalized in Thailand, nearly a hundred of its advocates marched to the prime minister’s office Monday to protest a possible ban on general use.
A health ministry drug control committee approved Friday a proposal to relist cannabis as a narcotic to be only allowed for medical and research purposes. The proposition is set to be submitted to the Office of the Narcotics Control Board this week and, if agreed on, will take effect on Jan.1, according to the AP.
Cannabis activists and entrepreneurs, some carrying potted marijuana plants, gathered at the United Nations headquarters in central Bangkok Monday as they prepared to head to the Government House, nearly 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) away.
Prasitchai Nunuan, a representative of a pro-cannabis network of individuals, addressed the protesters, saying that marijuana should be separately regulated by the health ministry instead of criminalizing the plant yet again. He accused the government of outlawing the drug to allow only a few interest groups to benefit from its medical uses.
July 8, 2024
Slow Burn: Ohio Cannabis Shops Ready to Open

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More than 100 dispensaries in Ohio are on their way to selling recreational marijuana.
The Division of Cannabis Control has granted 110 dispensaries provisional licenses to sell medical and recreational products once they receive final approval.
Of the 110, Northeast Ohio has 36, Southwest Ohio has 29, and Central Ohio has 18. Franklin County has the most with 12, Cuyahoga has 11, and Hamilton has nine.
Click here to learn which facilities have a provisional license.
License applications must be approved or denied by Sept. 7, but the state and policymakers have continued to say that applications could be granted and recreational sales could happen by mid-June.
The passage of Issue 2 allowed adults 21 years of age and older to smoke, vape and ingest weed. According to media reports, Ohioans can grow up to six plants with up to 12 per household.
Ohio Cannabis Coalition’s Tom Haren is staying positive despite the delayed start date. “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Haren said. “There is a lot of work that needed to get done.”
Consumers haven’t been able to buy weed legally because there is a process that takes place between getting a provisional license and getting a license with a certificate of operation.
The state has a list of requirements that shops need to meet, such as keeping visitor logs, having curbside and drive-through pickup and utilizing surveillance systems. Dispensaries will also have to demonstrate they can keep inventory aside to make sure medical patients continue having preferred access. Sellers will also have to do a test sale to a medical patient and a recreational consumer, among dozens of other tasks and evaluations.
July 8, 2024
CTP Brings Updates to Tobacco Compliance Website

The Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) has announced an enhancement to its website, which will more easily present information about tobacco compliance check outcomes.
The agency noted in a statement that the database is designed to be a resource for various audiences, including the general public, public health groups, and the tobacco industry.
The new database offers the ability to search for various compliance and enforcement outcomes among brick-and-mortar and online retailers, including warning letters, civil money penalties, and no-tobacco-sale orders.
Previously, this information lived in various locations across the FDA website, so the enhancement will allow site visitors to more easily find outcomes from the FDA’s compliance and enforcement efforts of retailers in one centralized location, according to reports.
This centralized database will be updated monthly with the latest compliance check outcomes. “The enhancements to this database reflect CTP’s continued efforts to optimize transparency and communication with stakeholders,” the statement continued.
To view the database, click here.
July 8, 2024
California Cannabis Retailers Begin New Rules

Credit: Martijn Baudoin
California cannabis brands and retailers are implementing new initiatives for vape packaging and disposal in response to a state law that went into effect July 1.
New requirements under California Business and Professional Code 26152.1, include a ban on using the term “disposable” to describe marijuana vape products in advertising, labeling and marketing.
The rules also mandate that THC oil, vape pens, and batteries be disposed of at hazardous waste collection facilities or other approved businesses, according to media reports.
The burden of disposing of defective, returned or used vape products likely will now fall on retailers.
“The consumers themselves, however, have no real recycling solutions that are dedicated to cannabis products, specifically vaporization products,” said Jeremy Green, CEO and co-founder of Los Angeles-headquartered Final Bell Holdings, which provides supply-chain services for California and Canadian brands.
July 8, 2024
North Carolina Governor Signs Vape Registry Bill

Credit: Katherine Welles
Under a bipartisan bill Gov. Roy Cooper signed into law this week, North Carolina will have a new registry that could lead to the removal of many vaping products from store shelves.
The law would allow only the sale of products authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The directory of products would be under the North Carolina Dept. of Revenue.
Stores will have a 60-day grace period after the directory is available to come into compliance. After that, repeat violators could face fines and have their licenses suspended or revoked.
“The vaping epidemic is quite the Wild West, particularly in high school,” said state Rep. Erin Pare (R-Wake). “That’s why this bill passed with broad bipartisan support. It brings order, enforcement, accountability, and transparency to a growing problem.”
The bill faced opposition from some operators of convenience stores, who worry it will have a negative impact on their revenue. Ches McDowell, who represents a group of Asian-American convenience store owners, warned it could also lead to lost jobs.
The Vapor Technology Association also urged Cooper to veto the bill, calling the FDA’s process illegal and saying the measure is “propping up cigarettes and hurting public health.”
Representatives of the tobacco industry advocated for the bill as it moved through committees in the state legislature, including Susan Vick, who lobbies for Reynolds American. She told lawmakers about visiting a store in Raleigh and finding many products from China, according to media reports.
Pare said the new law will help remove unregulated products from overseas and reduce the prevalence of products that appear to be marketed to young people.
“We don’t really know what’s in them,” she said.
The law takes effect on Dec. 1. The directory is expected to be available in early 2025.
July 8, 2024
Ireland to Raise Sales Age for Vaping Products

Photo: Vasyl
Ireland will to raise the minimum age for tobacco sales to 21.
With the measure, the government hopes to accelerate the decline in adult smoking prevalence, which has plateaued at 18 percent for several years, and reduce underage smoking prevalence to zero.
“My goal with this measure is to assist our young people to avoid a lifetime of addiction and illness from tobacco smoking. The modelling shows us that this measure will not only protect the targeted age group and but will also protect those under 18 as they will be less likely to be in social groups with 21 year olds who can legally purchase cigarettes,” said Health Minister Stephen Donnelly in a statement.
“Countries around the world are looking at endgame measures for smoking. We are no longer regulating it; we are seeking to eliminate it from our lives and the lives of our children. I’m very proud that Ireland is continuing its tradition of leading the way on this issue, and today’s measure is another important step on our journey towards a tobacco-free Ireland.”
Ireland will be the first EU country to raise the smoking age to 21. The measure will be phased in so that that those already entitled to be sold tobacco products—that is, persons over 18 but under 21—will not be affected.
July 5, 2024
New York City Wants Wholesalers to End Vape Sales
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The mayor of New York City has requested a Manhattan judge to intervene immediately and halt the sale of illegal flavored vapes by 11 wholesalers in New York.
The city filed suit against the wholesalers in April, citing data that kids and teens are getting hooked on flavored e-cigarettes at alarming rates.
Now, the city’s lawyers say they need a preliminary injunction to force the illegal, flavored vape peddlers to quit their noxious practices immediately, according to the New York Post.
“While we have already filed a lawsuit to hold these distributors accountable for their actions, the motion we have filed will help us ensure that they can no longer peddle this poison to our children while this case is being litigated,” Adams said in a statement after the request for an injunction was filed Monday.
Court records show that city investigators were able to directly place orders from the wholesalers.
The probers also were able to uncover sales invoices from vape distributors in the city, the documents show.
July 2, 2024
Maryland Indoor Vaping Ban Goes Into Effect
Credit: Glynnis Jones
A new amendment to Maryland’s Clean Indoor Air Act takes effect today, officially banning vaping in nearly all indoor public spaces and workplaces.
First passed in 2007, the Clean Indoor Air Act originally prohibited smoking in public indoor spaces to “preserve and improve the health, comfort, and environment of the people of Maryland by limiting exposure to environmental smoke.”
Beginning July 1st, 2024, that law now includes vaping after an amendment was passed in Maryland during the 2024 legislative session, according to WBOC.
According to Maryland’s Department of Health, smoking and vaping of tobacco, cannabis, or hemp-derived products is banned in indoor areas open to the public, specifically public meeting places, public vehicles and indoor places of employment.
July 2, 2024
SCOTUS to Hear Vaping PMTA Suit FDA v. Triton
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to hear the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s defense of the agency’s rejection of two companies’ premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) to sell flavored vape products that it has determined pose health risks for young consumers.
The justices took up the FDA’s appeal filed after a lower court ruled that the agency had failed to follow proper legal procedures under federal law when it denied the applications to bring their nicotine-containing products to market.
The Supreme Court is due to hear the case in its next term, which begins in October, according to Reuters.
Two e-cigarette liquid makers, Triton Distribution and Vapetasia LLC, filed FDA applications in 2020 for products with flavors such as sour grape, pink lemonade, and crème brulee and names such as “Jimmy The Juice Man Strawberry Astronaut” and “Suicide Bunny Bunny Season.”
An FDA rule that took effect in 2016 deemed e-cigarettes to be tobacco products, like traditional cigarettes, subject to agency review under a 2009 federal law called the Tobacco Control Act. The rule said manufacturers of the products would need to apply for approval to continue selling them.
The FDA rejected the applications by the two companies, along with more than one million other products, according to court records. The FDA has approved only 27 e-cigarette products, all tobacco or menthol flavored.
Triton and Vapetasia in 2021 asked the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the FDA’s denial of their applications.
In January, the full slate of 5th Circuit judges ruled 10-6 that the FDA had been arbitrary and capricious, in violation of a federal law called the Administrative Procedure Act, by denying the applications without considering plans by the companies to prevent underage access and use.
July 2, 2024
Australia’s Vape Sales Restrictions Begin Today

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Australia became the first country to restrict the sale of vapes to pharmacies when its new laws surrounding vaping products came into effect on Monday, stipulating sentences of up to seven years in prison and million-dollar fines.
The law forces nicotine consumers who want a therapeutic vape to help quit smoking combustible cigarettes to consult their general practitioner and obtain a prescription to buy a therapeutic device from pharmacies.
These products, whose access will be tightly controlled, will have plain packaging, and the flavors will be limited to tobacco, menthol and mint, according to media reports.
“Australia has led the world in pushing back on Big Tobacco and fighting for the health of our citizens and we’re proud to continue that effort,” Australian Home Affairs Minister Claire O’Neil said in a statement released on Monday.
Consumers over 18 years of age will be allowed to buy vapes with a maximum nicotine concentration of 20 mg/ml without a prescription until Oct. 1.
Under the new reforms, businesses or individuals selling vapes will face a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and a fine of up to AU$2.2 million ($1.47 million), while companies that produce them would be subject to a maximum fine of around AU$22 million.
The measures are part of amendments to the Therapeutic and Other Products (Vaping Reforms) Legislation 2024, which prohibits importing, manufacturing, distributing, and commercial possessing these devices, except with a license and special permit.
The Australian government appointed Erin Dale as Commissioner for Tobacco and Illicit Electronic Cigarettes. Dale will assume the position on an interim basis on Monday until a formal appointment is made to intensify the fight against the expected rise in nicotine products on the black market.
“Illegal tobacco is no different to any other illegal product – if you attempt to bring it into our country, you will be met by the full force of our border protection agencies,” O’Neil said.
Several major pharmacy chains in Australia have stated that they will not stock vapes once their sale is prohibited outside of pharmacies and a prescription requirement for adults is lifted.
July 1, 2024