According to a new memo, the federal government has prohibited a Massachusetts workforce development program from using its resources to support the state-legal cannabis industry because of ongoing prohibition. The money can be used to provide services for the hemp industry which is federally approved.
Diane Hurley (Acting Director of MassHire’s Department of Career Services) wrote in a memo to MassHire leaders and employees last month that despite the legalization of marijuana at the state level in Massachusetts, U.S. federal law prohibits the use of funds under the Workplace Opportunity and Investment Act of 1996 (WOIA), “to support directly or indirectly the marijuana industry.”
The memo states that “despite Massachusetts having passed the Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act,” marijuana is still classified as a Schedule 1 drug and federally illegal.
The state is required to inform subrecipients, by law, of the requirements of federal and state laws and regulations as well as the provisions of grant agreements or contracts. All grant agreements between the U.S. Department of Labor and the state are required to follow federal statutes, rules, guidelines, and policies.
The letter states that similar restrictions apply to federal funds including “WIOA and Wagner-Peyser programs, Trade Adjustment Assistance and Veterans’ Employment and Training Service [WPP] Expansion Programs, Foreign Labor Certification and Work Opportunity Tax Credit Programs, and National Dislocated Worker Grant Programs.”
It continues: “It also includes staffing and services provided under these programs including, but without limitation, training, employer outreach events, hiring events and career counseling as well as job orders, referrals and job orders.” There are no exceptions.
Hurley’s Memo states that, since Massachusetts legalized cannabis, “questions have arisen regarding services for job seekers, Migrants Seasonal Farm Workers, and other individuals working or who have worked in industrial hemp or marijuana.” There have also been questions regarding the provision of services to employers (growers/dispensaries) that have expressed interest in posting job orders and/or seeking assistance with recruitment efforts from MassHire Career Centers.”
MassHire published a Q&A regarding the clarification of the policy in addition to the memo.
The agency responded that yes, career centers could use state and locally funded funds in place of federal funds for working with the marijuana industry. But only if they can prove clearly that federal resources were not spent.
The Q&A states that it is the responsibility for each career center to remain compliant with all laws and guidelines. If a career centre wishes to use state or local resources that are permissible to support the marijuana/cannabis industries, it must maintain clear documentation and closely track and audit related funding sources.
The document states that job seekers can also fund their own training.
Some hemp businesses are also involved in the marijuana business in Massachusetts. This complicates the situation. MassHire stated that if an employee “has an active’ industrial license issued by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, (MDAR), and/or if their name appears on MDAR’s list of licensed industrial cannabis growers, then [MassHire Career Centers] are able to provide services to both employers and job seekers seeking employment in industrial hemp.
Massachusetts’ state-legal marijuana market continues to grow. According to the Cannabis Control Commission, Massachusetts set a new record for monthly sales of $158,7 million in legal cannabis products. This brings the total sales of the state to $1.8 billion by 2023.
Also, the state is preparing to reform its stance on psychedelics.
A separate bill to legalize the use of psilocybin in the Commonwealth was advanced by a legislative panel earlier this month. The bill would set up a framework for licensing facilitators that would supervise the medical, therapeutic, and spiritual uses of the drug.
This development follows the adoption by local leaders of a resolution in the city Medford to reduce the priority of arrests around psychedelic fungi and plants, and to urge county prosecutors not to pursue cases of possession or cultivation of these substances.
Medford, Salem, Somerville and Cambridge are the eight Massachusetts cities to adopt this policy. Amherst, Provincetown, Northampton, Easthampton and Easthampton have also adopted it.
, the activist-backed initiative, now before state legislators, would, on the other hand, create a regulatory frame work for lawful, supervised access psychedelics in licensed facilities. The initiative would legalize possession and gifting psychedelics like psilocybin or ayahuasca but not commercial retail sales.
The legislature can now choose to either enact the reform or propose a replacement, after activists have collected the initial batch of voter signatures. They also have the option of not acting at all. If lawmakers do not legalize psychedelics before May 1, activists will have until July 3, 2019 to collect at least 12,429 valid signatures in order to place the proposal on the ballot for November 2024.
Separately, Gov. Maura Shealy (D), last month, drew the attention of lawmakers to a bill she introduced that was aimed at veterans and that created a psychedelics working group to investigate the therapeutic potentials of substances like psilocybin.
A second bill would allow the Department of Public Health (DPH) to conduct an extensive study on the therapeutic potential of synthetic psychedelics such as MDMA.
Rep. Mike Connolly, (D), also filed a 2021 bill that was heard by the Joint Judiciary Committee in . The hearing focused on the implications of legalizing substances such as psilocybin or ayahuasca.
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The post Massachusetts Workforce Program Facing Restrictions in Supporting Marijuana Sector Due To Federal Prohibition – Memo, But Hemp Industry Is OK first appeared on Marijuana moment.
