America’s state-legal cannabis sector has seen major growth in the past few years as more states have legalized cannabis. California, which legalized recreational marijuana five years ago, has since sold $4.4 billion worth of cannabis, making its cannabis sector one of, if not the most, successful cannabis markets in America. Now in a move that is meant to simplify how California regulates its massive and swiftly growing cannabis space, Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a law creating a single agency to regulate cannabis. The policy, which Newsom first proposed in January 2020, will consolidate licensing authority from the three departments responsible for regulating California’s cannabis space: the Manufactured Cannabis Safety Branch under the Department of Health, the Bureau of Cannabis Control under the Department of Consumer Affairs, and CalCannabis under the Department of Food and Agriculture. Under the new law, a single Department of Cannabis Control will now handle the licensing, enforcement, and environmental oversight duties that these three departments were previously tasked with. According to the budget summary for Newsom’s 2020–2021 budget plan where he introduced the new policy, a single department for cannabis regulation that would “centralize and align critical regulatory functions.”
CannabisNewsWire, 07/28/2021 04:20:00