The current Cannabis Control Commission will be dissolved and downsized from five members to three, all to be appointed by the governor, under marijuana industry reform legislation expected to pass both chambers of the Legislature this week.
The compromise (H 5350), which was finalized Monday by the four Democrats on the conference committee that has since January been hashing out differences between the House and Senate bills, would also allow cannabis retailers to hold up to six store licenses, doubling the current cap.
The bill eliminates the requirement that medical marijuana businesses be vertically integrated, meaning they will no longer be required to grow and process all the marijuana they sell. It also raises the amount of marijuana a person can legally possess from one to two ounces.
Negotiators did not go along with the House plan to tackle intoxicating hemp-based products that largely fall into a gray area of the law and between the regulatory cracks. Representatives had voted to ban their sale without a license and to establish a new framework to regulate and tax them, but the conference committee hewed closer to the Senate-backed plan to study the issue further. The compromise bill directs the CCC to make recommendations for regulation.
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