According to a new report by the research firm New Frontier Data, the legal retail sales of marijuana and marijuana products in the United States reached all-time highs during the months of April and May.

According to the report which covered 24 legal recreational or medical marijuana programs, “Average consumer monthly spending rose to record highs in April and May, reaching $290 and $296, respectively.”

Nothing in 2020 has gone according to plan, and cannabis legalization is no exception. According to Vox's criminal justice and public health reporter German Lopez, at least 18 states were predicted to legalize cannabis to some degree this year, either through their legislatures or via ballot measure. 2020 was supposed to be a big year for cannabis legalization. 

And then COVID-19 happened. 

Uncertainty abounds in the coming weeks, as the cannabis industry will learn if its business is as resilient as alcohol.

The U.S.

If elected with a Democratic Congress, marijuana policy could change through bottom-up momentum.

Just three months ago, analysts from one of the biggest banks in Canada, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), rated the chance of meaningful marijuana reform at “near-zero” in 2020. And they gave reform odds an “unlikely” designation for 2021.

The House voted to approve Part B Amendment #87 Thursday evening, which is a provision to prevent the federal government from using any funds to interfere with state medical or adult-use programs or target individuals and businesses that are in compliance with state cannabis laws. The bipartisan amendment to the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill was introduced by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Tom McClintock (R-CA), and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC).

The most pressing issue is the treatment of foods and dietary supplements, which are common in the marketplace but are allegedly prohibited by the FDA.

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) submitted a CBD enforcement policy to the White House. We do not yet have the text of that document but we anticipate that it will have a significant impact on hemp-derived CBD (Hemp CBD) products.

In anticipation of the release of the FDA’s CBD enforcement policy, we wanted to cover the FDA’s current position on Hemp CBD, which is summarized in the following graphic:

As legislation moves through Congress to legalize cannabidiol (CBD) and other hemp-derived product use by military service members, the Navy has taken the ban a step further.

The Navy recently administered a memo clarifying that service members are prohibited from using “any products containing, made or derived from hemp” regardless of their stated cannabinoid content, including shampoos, conditioners, lotions, lip balms or soaps.

Delegates of the Democratic National Committee voted down a proposal to include the federal legalization of cannabis in the party’s 2020 platform on Monday. Platform committee delegate Dennis Obduskey of Colorado had introduced an amendment to include marijuana legalization in the platform, but the proposal was rejected by the committee with a vote of 105 to 60.

Several delegates spoke in favor of the legalization platform plank before the vote, including Stacey Walker, a county supervisor from Iowa, who referenced the words of civil rights activist and former Georgia congressman Rep. John Lewis in his comments.