Living up to her promise, the newly elected governor has appointed you as the Director of Cannabis Regulation and Control for the Cannabis Affairs Agency.

Living up to her promise, the newly elected governor has appointed you as the Director of Cannabis Regulation and Control for the Cannabis Affairs Agency. The state legalized cannabis for adult-use and medical use two years ago, but it has become clear that a few persistent issues need to be addressed:

• Testing – The first set of regulations did not include any requirements for testing the products at any stage. Since then, a series of high-profile cases has increased political pressure to create regulations to test all cannabis products sold in the state. However, it needs to do it in a way that is practical for businesses and that does not drive prices through the roof for consumers.
• Public Consumption – When the initial regulations were written, all cannabis consumption was prohibited anywhere other than one’s own private property. Since then, a number of cannabis businesses have been vocal that they want to offer all sorts of on-site consumption options to boost their revenue (and tax) opportunities. Medical patients are also complaining that they cannot legally use their medication as they need it. To be honest, the policy of prohibiting cannabis use in all forms everywhere has made it practically impossible to enforce that prohibition anywhere. The state’s public consumption regulations need to address some of these concerns.
• Social Equity – When the state legalized cannabis, it was promised to the public that regulations would be created that were aimed at righting some of the social inequities caused by cannabis prohibition. However, after two years of a legal cannabis industry, the demographics most negatively impacted are still woefully underrepresented in the ownership, management, and operations of the state’s cannabis companies. There is a desire for there to be one or more regulations that will help bring more women, minorities, and individuals with certain cannabis-related felonies into the industry. There are a limited number of additional licenses to award under current law, so while issuing social equity licenses may be part of your plan, it will not be enough.

Using your revised matrix of values and other resources that you think will help you, draft a section of regulation to address each of the above issues. Your draft regulations will be presented to the public for a comment and feedback period before they are officially enacted.

Remember, public regulations must be both comprehensive and understandable by the general public. Regulatory guidelines indicate that each issue should be addressable within two pages (double spaced) of regulatory text, although within a single page is ideal. Your draft may incorporate “appendices” where necessary for technical details that may need to be determined by a scientific advisory body. For example, your testing regulations may refer to a “Heavy Metals” appendix that identifies all of the heavy metals and any procedural standards that qualifying tests must meet. For the purposed of this assignment, you do not need to draft these detailed appendices, but you should describe with particularity what the appendix will contain and how it will be used.