Marijuana Business Magazine April 2020

Marijuana Business Magazine | April 2020 36 IndustryDevelopments | International & State Pennsylvania Regulators approved four more medical marijuana companies to grow MMJ that state universities can use for research. The Pennsylvania health department approved these companies for MMJ research collaborations: • Curaleaf is contracted to grow MMJ for the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. • Laurel Harvest Labs is partnering with Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. • CannTech is partnering with Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. • Organic Remedies is partnering with Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Those four alliances coupled with three partnerships approved last June bring Pennsylvania within one of its limit of eight entities that are per- mitted under state law to grow, process and supply marijuana to research institutions. Only the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine still is seeking to contract with a medical marijuana cultivator. Rhode Island The Department of Business Regulations is expected in the coming weeks to announce the licensing application period for six new medical cannabis dispensaries. Currently, Rhode Island has only three operating dispensaries, called compassion centers in the state. The new licenses will be assigned using a lottery system. There will be one dispensary for each of the six geographic zones in Rhode Island. The new regulations ban the new dispensaries from initially growing cannabis. South Dakota Members of an American Indian tribe in South Dakota voted to legalize medical and recreational marijuana on their reservation, according to the Oglala Sioux’s election commission. Assuming the results are upheld, the tribe will be the only one in the United States to create a cannabis market in a state where the plant is otherwise illegal. Initial plans call for the tribe’s own cannabis production and retail operations. If state voters approve legalizing marijuana in November, the tribe would have a head start in growing and selling MJ in the state.