Track:
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, POLICY AND REGULATION
Sessions & Session Descriptions:
Budding Partnerships: Cultivating Cannabis Knowledge Through Multi-Sector Collaboration
The historic relationship between cannabis policymakers, researchers, industry, and public health has been fraught with tension and hurdles. However, the rapidly changing cannabis landscape requires stronger collaboration and partnerships to continue keeping communities safe while allowing the legal market to flourish. Today, policymakers increasingly value evidence-based decision making, researchers need government support to advance scientific knowledge, and public health and industry members recognize they share common values towards improving responsible use and well-being.
This session will explore success stories where collaborative initiatives among varied sectors have supported cannabis research, policy decisions, industry trends, and public health efforts. This session will additionally highlight continued barriers for collaboration, such as regulatory hurdles, funding limitations, and communication gaps. Pathways to continue fostering more productive partnerships will also be discussed.
The panel will be chaired by members of the Research Program at the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board, a non-partisan research group developed to be a resource focused on public health and safety outcomes related to products, policy, and regulation of cannabis and other regulated substances in Washington State. We invite individuals and teams with real-world examples of collaborations in various sectors, such as state government and research, to submit an abstract to this session.
Cannabis State Laboratory Certification and Health Monitoring
Session will provide and discuss the laboratory certification requirements and process specific to the State of Colorado regulations. Certrification of the cannabis testing laboratories provides benefits to the laboratory, i.e., accurate and consistent data to clients, improve laboratory reputation; as well as ensuring quality products on the consumer market, to protect the health and safety of consumers. Our certification process is scientificly based and consistently applied across the spectrum of analytical methods and matrix.
The Colorado Health Monitoring organization provides unique perspectives to cannabis use and reported health issues related to the use of cannabis and cannabis use products.
Current Issues in Cannabis Economics
Cannabis policy and the effects of various forms of regulations are growing topics of discussion among economists. In recent years, many US states have been shifting toward legalization and regulation. California was the first US state to allow medicinal cannabis use in 1998, but cannabis was largely unregulated in California until 2018, when adult-use cannabis was legalized, and both adult-use and medicinal cannabis were regulated and taxed. In all states where cannabis has been approved for adult recreational use, the market for licensed cannabis is under ten years old. In states where cannabis has been legalized for adult-use, the focus of research and regulations has been on eliminating the unlicensed market, fostering the licensed cannabis market, and preparing for a national cannabis market. This session explores various economic aspects of the cannabis market and compares different legalization, taxation, and regulation regimes. We cover topics such as consumer willingness to pay for potency in cannabis products, interaction between legal and illegal cannabis markets, and competitiveness of cannabis industries in each state where cannabis has been legalized on the potential national market.
Effects of Medical Cannabis Programs on Public Health and Welfare
As public attitudes towards the medical uses of cannabis evolve, taboos of the past have gradually diminished, causing a notable effect on the national political landscape. Lawmakers in most U.S. states now recognize potential benefits of cannabis-based therapies for their constituents as well as potential economic benefits to their states. Due to legal restrictions and the lack of a federal regulatory framework on medical cannabis use, over the last three decades many states have developed their own medical cannabis programs, some very different than others. Several challenges exist in implementing successful state-sanctioned programs due to conflicting interpretations of federal and state regulations as well as the complex nature of the plant itself. Consequently, many of the programs have continually evolved through legislative amendments intended to mitigate barriers experienced by program administrators, industry players, medical professionals, and patients. This session will explore how the various aspects of states’ policies and practices have affected public health and welfare. Presenters will offer practical information regarding qualifying conditions, educational efforts, research programs, and economic development, as well as challenges experienced in the implementation and administration of programs. Discussions will consider factors involved in evaluating both benefits and detriments to public health and welfare.
The Business of Cannabis
The business of cannabis is an important topic. Financing, operating, and marketing a cannabis business effectively is crucial, and although lessons from other businesses can be applied, the cannabis industry inherently has many characteristics such as the regulatory environment that demand different operating, financial, and marketing strategies. This session is designed to elicit abstracts that discuss the many different aspects of the cannabis industry with the goal that of identifying effective financial, operating and marketing strategies for cannabis businesses. Additionally, research on the role of consumers and consumer behavior in the decision-making process are welcome
Tools for Assessing and Reducing the Negative Impacts of Unlicensed Cannabis Businesses
In several West Coast states and provinces, the presence of unlicensed cannabis cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, and retail is ever present. This is mainly due to decades of unfettered growth in largely unregulated markets. The negative impacts on the licensed, regulated, and taxed markets are profound. Price disparities between licensed and unlicensed products (licensing premiums) are growing, and public health is at risk as these untested, unregulated products dominate their licensed counterparts. We will discuss how localities and states can use administrative code, fees, fines, and other non-arrest progressive enforcement tools to mitigate these impacts. The panel tries to set expectations for success in enforcement and track them against possible policy and law changes associated with possible federal rescheduling or descheduling, as well as what that translates to for tax, research, economic, and enforcement modifications. Session facilitator Brad Rowe, MPP from UCLA, has spent the last five years interviewing cannabis businesses nationwide and authoring "Cannabis Policy in the Age of Legalization" (Cognella). His team recently completed an analysis of the unlicensed markets in Los Angeles for the Department of Cannabis Regulation, reviewed arrest data from LAPD, and conducted dozens of interviews with regulators and enforcement officials from across the state of California, Oregon, Washington and across the nation.