It currently sells a powerful opiate.
Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek.
The Intercept reports that Insys Therapeutics, the company that donated $500,000 to oppose REC in Arizona, is about to release a synthetic THC spray to relieve side effects associated with chemotherapy that would compete directly with MED. It’s been more widely noted that Insys’ only current product is an opioid spray. Insys noted in a 2007 SEC filing that legalization is a threat to its business.
Forbes surveys a list of cannabis-involved pharmaceutical companies that are takeover targets. Insys is among them.
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said the military should scale back hiring restrictions for those who’ve used pot and other drugs. In 2014, FBI director James Comey suggested that banning anyone who has smoked marijuana was hampering the Bureau’s hunt for top hackers.
If California legalizes, Mexico will be under immense pressure to follow, Reuters reports.
The San Jose Mercury News asks what will happen if California votes yes. The L.A. Times goes through California’s 100-year flirtation with legalizing. The San Francisco Chronicle endorsed REC.
Millions of dollars are pouring into Massachusetts’ REC election. George W. Bush’s cousin Jonathan Bush donated $10,000 in favor. A poll found that the yes camp has a small lead. State regulators may also soon allow nurse practitioners to offer MED recommendations.
A Canadian official said it’s “ ludicrous” that the U.S. can block Canadians from entering the U.S. if they admit to having used cannabis in the past. (Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who smoked while he was in Parliament, should take note.) Also, Canada said it is in talks with the U.S. about its plan to legalize next year.
Scotia Bank, one of Canada’s largest, will stop working with marijuana companies. Royal Bank of Canada also said it doesn’t serve the industry.
