Jack’s Blog |
The Feds came in heavy at the end of last year, flexing their muscles, showing who’s boss, and reminding the growers, that no matter what they think, the Feds are in charge. |
Jack’s Blog |
The Feds came in heavy at the end of last year, flexing their muscles, showing who’s boss, and reminding the growers, that no matter what they think, the Feds are in charge. |
A meeting between California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (left) and U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag ended only in frustration |
Graphic: Patients Care Collective |
Berkeley’s Patients Care Collective will mark 10 years in business on Monday, April 4. |
Photo: Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office |
Sheriff Tom Allman: “The difference between what Eric Holder did and Bush’s assistant U.S. attorney is nothing.” |
Northern California’s Mendocino County is world renowned for the quality and quantity of cannabis grown there. As part of the Emerald Triangle, along with Humboldt County, local buds including “Mendo Purps” have helped marijuana users everywhere have a happier day.
Photo: Andreas Fuhrmann/Redding Record Searchlight |
Dunsmuir, California Mayor Peter Arth, himself a medical marijuana patient, stands on his land in the center of town where he is proposing to grow a medical marijuana garden in greenhouses |
Photo: Michael Montgomery |
Garberville’s KMUD is a bastion of free speech |
Marijuana growers in Northern California’s Emerald Triangle have for decades received reports of pending police raids from a local radio station. Now the police, citing a boom in pot production and “armed illegal drug traffickers,” want the broadcasts to stop.
Graphic: Humboldt Clothing Company |
Marijuana cultivation — of the illegal variety — has been the economic lifeblood of three counties — Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity — in Northern California, known as the Emerald Triangle. The War On Drugs and frequent raids by federal agents have helpfully kept street prices of pot sky-high and profits large for renegade farmers.
As the winter holidays approach, retail companies routinely find themselves needing extra seasonal help for the extra business. But rather than working inside an Amazon warehouse, you could trim weed instead.
They opposed REC sales in Arizona.
Here’s your daily dose of pot news from the newsletter WeedWeek.
Several former executives of Insys Therapeutics, which sells the powerful opiate fentanyl, were arrested accused of “ bribing doctors, defrauding insurance companies, and fueling America’s opioid addiction crisis.” Insys contributed to successfully defeat Arizona’s November REC vote.
GW Pharmaceuticals reported some “pretty grim” quarterly numbers, but it could benefit from its anti-epilepsy experimental drug Epidolex which is in late stage clinical trials.
Bloomberg suggests there’s a Canadian pot-stock bubble.
Legalization in more states could depress California’s export market. And in another interesting piece by Madison Margolin, California’s “extract artisans” now have some legal protections from meth-lab laws.
Vice dives into regulatory tech which it calls the “ cannabis surveillance state.”
Home grow system Leaf raised $2M.
Celebrity-branded weed costs about 24% more than unbranded. Forbes asks if the trend has gone too far.
Commercial landlords in northern California prepare for legalization.
Quartz profiles marketing company Octavia Wellness which throws pot parties for seniors. The art world is joining efforts to re-brand cannabis.
The Denver Post’s Cannabist won most influential media source at the cannabis business awards.
A new study in Pharmacological Research, by Czech and Italian researchers, found that pot is an aphrodisiac. Read the study here.
New York state wants patients to be able to access MED in hospitals. A study found that cannabis users have lower in-hospital mortality rates.
In an effort to reduce opioid use, Oregon wants opioid patients monitored for marijuana use. The health agency view on marijuana vis a vis opioid use is unclear.
The world’s first clinical trial to test MED for chemotherapy patients is beginning in Australia.
A device developed by Israeli start-up distributes “ nano-droplets” of CBD as a nutraceutical to relieve inflammation and pain is on sale in the U.S. KKTV looked at the cannabis research happening at Colorado State-Pueblo.
The U.S. is lagging Israel and other countries in cannabis research.
The Washington [state]CannaBusiness Association is starting a fund to support MED access for the needy.
The new REC states have big plans for pot taxes. The Cannabist alerts them to “ five immediate concerns” about the industry.
“There isn’t some megalithic industry that exists today…The notion that there are these gigantic, big-money players running in to take this whole thing over is just a fiction. There’s no Philip Morris, no Anheuser-Busch, no cannabis division at Bank of America. Even the most successful company is still barely in the growth stage.”
September was the third-straight best-month-ever for Colorado dispensaries.
A company called CanPay has what it calls the first “legitimate” debit payment system for dispensaries. The customer pays with a QR code accessed on their phone.
The Post Office has few safeguards for stopping employees who intercept weed sent through the mail.
Employers in California will still be able to fire workers who test positive. The San Jose Mercury News piece mentions that near one drug testing lab in Colorado, workers who arrive with containers of someone else’s clean urine tend to heat it up in a nearby convenience store’s microwave.
Canadian firms appear to be gouging the government healthcare system by signing up veteran MED patients for expensive strains according to a Vice report. Canadian companies could also benefit if there’s a crackdown in the U.S.
The Toronto Stock Exchange halted trading of six surging cannastocks. Some market watchers think it’sstill too early to invest.
Heavy rains in southern Oregon will force growers to torch moldy crops. Some rural Colorado communities derive much needed revenue from pot.
Florida entrepreneurs are excited about MED.
Jamaica’s licensing authority received 89 applications.
“ Could Delaware become a tax-free cannabis haven?” Small-scale Northern California growers areadjusting to legalization.
A study suggests that cannabis use can weaken heart muscles, particularly in young men. Read it here.
The journal Science says that the lower potency of plants from the one federally-sanctioned grow ( the one in Mississippi) undermines studies conducted with those plants.
Scientists are working on a new drug that functions like MED without the psychoactive effect.
Recent studies suggest that cannabis use may have mental health benefits and could have a role in curtailing opiate use.
Viceland uncovers a U.K. network of underground MED providers who give it away to patients.
British Columbia Premier Christy Clark, a Liberal, said police had discovered pot and other drugs laced with the powerful opiate fentanyl. Vancounver police denied it.
Some researchers are starting to take psychedelics seriously, as therapy. Also see this.