Marijuana Business Magazine - March 2018

California Following up on a plan he announced last year, state Treasurer John Chiang outlined the foundation for a pub- lic bank for cannabis businesses so they won’t have to operate on a cash-only basis. Chiang and state Attorney General Xavier Becerra have been working in concert on a cost-benefit analysis to figure out if such a venture would actually work. So far, the plan is to “conduct a fea- sibility study” in which the treasurer’s office would focus on costs, benefits and risks, while the attorney general’s office would look at legal and regulatory issues surround- ing a public MJ bank. Illinois An Illinois judge ruled the state must add intractable pain to the list of medical marijuana qualifying condi- tions, a move that could greatly expand sales at the program’s 53 dispensaries. The state health department initially rejected intractable pain as a condition, but Cook County Judge Raymond Mitchell ordered the depart- ment to include it. The health department is expected to appeal the judge’s order, which would put the change on hold. Intractable pain, often referred to as chronic pain, has dramatically increased dispensary sales in states that have added it.