There’s an ambient tension in cannabis world between folks who make money the old way and those who make it the new way. But the fight over a Michigan bill that would overhaul the state’s caregiver system has gotten especially heated.
Grown In

Michigan’s caregiver laws, enacted in 2008, allows caregivers to grow 72 plants, 12 each for five patients and themselves. Enforced (or not) by municipalities, the law supports a community of tens of thousands of caregivers. Their product doesn’t go through the testing process required of commercial flower.

• The new legislation, favored by the Michigan Cannabis Manufacturers’ Association, would reduce the number of patients caregivers can serve from five to one, while requiring their product to be tested and tracked.
  MLive 
• One of the bills Republican sponsors in the house said, “I’m sure many [caregivers] are not criminals, but I can tell ya, there’s a ton of ‘em that are criminals and they are all over my county.”
• Caregivers groups say its not their fault existing laws aren’t enforced and see the legislation as motivated by companies seeking to increase market share.

Travis Copenhaver, a partner in law firm Vicente Sederberg’s Michigan office, told WeedWeek many caregivers have been left of out of the commercialization of cannabis and this represents a potential “death knell” for their way of life.

• Copenhaver, who has clients on both sides of the issue, said he doesn’t think legislation in its current form is likely to pass.

Separately, why is so much Canadian weed getting smuggled into Michigan? (Some of the smugglers use submarines.)
MLive

Bottom line: Similar fights are happening in many states. The pie is getting bigger, but not everyone gets to eat.

Unlike many senior Democrats, President Joe Biden has declined to endorse cannabis legalization. Now more in his party are making the case that cannabis reform could help the party with next years’ mid-terms.
McClatchy

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), who’s running for what’s likely to be a fiercely contested Senate seat, said, “Whoever owns legal weed nationally, it’s all gravy. There’s no downside. None. When South Dakota democratically votes for it, in what circles is this controversial?”

• He calls legalization the “big bazooka” that neither Biden nor then-President Donald Trump fired in last year’s presidential election and warned Democrats not to make the same mistake.
• Democrats underperformed in last year’s congressional elections and the sitting president’s party usually loses seats at mid-term. 
• Mike Regan, a Republican state Senator in Pennsylvania and former U.S. Marshall, explained why he changed his mind and now favors REC legalization.
  PennLive
• Next door in Ohio, Cincinnati mayor and gubernatorial candidate John Cranley(D) wants to legalize REC.

Biden’s position remains that he favors 1) Decriminalization, 2)Medical research and 3)Re- rather than de- scheduling the plant. If the third happened, it could play havoc with the state markets.

• Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Cory Booker (D.-N.J.) called on U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to initiate a de-scheduling process.
  Marijuana Moment
• I’ve previously argued that many Democrats aren’t as pro-legalization as they seem.
  WeedWeek

Also:  A new federally-legal grow is coming to New Mexico. In the article, someone calls it the third, but I’m only aware of one other one, at the University of Mississippi.
KOB

Claims Journal dives into a new paper from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute on the complex issues at the intersection of MED and workers comp insurance. 

Some interesting nuggets:

• Insurers are cutting their spending on opioids with the help of stricter regulations.
• At present, only six states allow or require insurers to reimburse workers comp claimants for MED. 
• The paper cites a 2017 National Academy of Sciences review that only supported cannabinoids as a therapy for three conditions: chronic neuropathic and end-of-life pain, spasticity due to multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury, and for the control of nausea caused by chemotherapy.
• “Nevertheless, anecdotal evidence has persuaded many physicians that therapeutic use of marijuana is justified.”
• A Pennsylvania claimants attorney said some insurers are eager to cover MED since they won’t have to cover medication for opioids’ side effects.

Read the whole story.