Stay strong, Arizona medical-marijuana patients.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and local authorities have little power to stop you from consuming, possessing, or even growing cannabis under state law.
The 2010 Arizona Medical Marijuana Act contains a sort of “Dracula clause“: If freedom-hating prohibitionists try to kill it, it will come back to life and bite them. Read it in the Phoenix New Times.
The Colorado Legislature is loaded up with marijuana measures this week, including proposals to establish pot clubs and to add PTSD to the list of patient ailments that can be treated with medical marijuana. And on March 8, the Senate Business, Labor and Technology committee approved Senator Tim Neville‘s bill to allow medical marijuana delivery systems for patients and businesses.
Senate Bill 17-192 calls for a state licensing authority to create an endorsement for existing medical marijuana licenses, permitting them to make deliveries to patients in need in areas where medical marijuana is currently sold.
It’s part of a whole PR campaign.
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Ahead of his confirmation hearing for Attorney General, a public relations campaign is trying to depict Sen. Jeff Sessions as emphatically not a racist. He has long been dogged by such accusations, due in part to a statement that he was ok with the Ku Klux Klan, until he heard that they smoke pot.
Rolling Stone envisions the war on drugs under Attorney General Sessions.
Oregon is revising its product testing rules again, following complaints from companies. Nevada companies call for strict product testing.
The Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, N.Y.) reports on “ progress and hurdles” in the New York MED program. For more see here.
Maine REC opponents cancelled their recall effort. Gov. Paul LePage (R) said that with REC there’s no longer a need for a MED program. A prominent New Hampshire state senator will propose a REC bill.
Canada.com looks at how legalization up north could alter Canadian/American relations.
An Arizona judge ruled that local officials can’t use federal law to block MED dispensaries.
The city of Copenhagen is pursuing a longshot legalization push in an effort to reduce gang warfare.
Caribbean nation Dominica will consider MED legalization next year.
Denver cannabis law firm Hoban Law Group may sue the DEA over its recent CBD ruling.
Purdue Pharma, which makes Oxycontin, is expanding overseas. In the U.S., the L.A. Times remarks, opioids are a “dying business.”
Hound Labs and Cannabix Technologies are racing to perfect a cannabis breathalyzer.
Boston is another potential “ cannabis capital.” Canadian businesses are preparing for legalization.
CBD pet treats are becoming big business.
Older adults are using more cannabis, and binge drinking more too. Cannabis use may not be a good idea for those seeking long-term abatement of depression and anxiety, Colorado researchers found.
Modern Farmer hangs out with Bear Real, a Colorado hemp scientist.
They opposed REC sales in Arizona.
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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.
Israel’s Teva Pharmaceuticals will start to distribute a medical cannabis inhaler developed by Syqe, an Israeli start-up that raised money from tobacco giant Philip Morris. The inhaler may also be tested with opiates.
An editorial in The Scientist says its unacceptable that the World Health Organization has not developed positions on legalization.
Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children will begin a clinical trial of cannabis extracts containing CBD and THC for children with severe epilepsy.
A new study from Steep Hill Labs found that 83 percent of California weed wouldn’t pass Oregon’s testing standards. An industry report says Oregon’s strict regulations are crushing the state industry. Willamette Week reports that business conditions are pushing some entrepreneurs back to the underground market.
Rehab provider Spectrum Health Systems said a doctor was not to blame for revealing to a patient’s employer that she uses MED.
A survey of cannabis researchers finds out what they want from the government in order to pursue their work.
A Reason investigation finds that conservative authorities in Idaho “conspired to restrict a promising cannabis-derived seizure treatment.”
The National Fire Protection Association is developing fire safety standards for cannabis businesses.
The FDA will allow a late stage clinical trial for ecstasy as a treatment for PTSD.
Minnessota approved PTSD as a MED qualifying condition. New York approved chronic pain.
Canada’s legalization push is getting complicated. The much-anticipated task force report on legalizationhas been delayed. Meanwhile activists wonder why shops are getting raided if the government plans to legalize. For more see here.
Bill Blair a Canadian government official overseeing the issue appeared at a “ cash-for-access” fundraiser with cannabiz leaders that may have violated Liberal Party ethics guidelines. Blair defended recent raidssaying, “The only system for control is the existing legal regime. And we’re a society of laws,” he says.
It would be the first in the country.
Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek.
Denver’s social use initiative is in the lead with some ballots still uncounted. If approved it would be allow bars and other businesses to apply for on-site pot consumption permits.
After Election Day, there are now eight more Senators and 68 more members of the House representing REC states, and six more Senators and 33 more members representing MED states. Marijuana.com predicts that it will be harder for them to reject cannabis reform legislation out of hand.
Massachusetts treasurer Deb Goldberg says she may need an extension of the October 2017 deadline to begin accepting license applications. Additional tweaks on taxes, edibles and DUI are anticipated.
How Florida’s MED program will work remains hazy.
Marijuana Business Daily calls it an $8 billion-night based on the combined annual sales projected in the newly legal states. Vox explains the votes. The New York Times has a round-up.
Rob Sands, CEO of Constellation Brands, whose portfolio includes Svedka Vodka and Robert Mondavi wine, said the company is interested in going green. “There are going to be alcoholic beverages that will also contain cannabis.”
The New York Stock Exchange accepted cannabis real estate investment trust (REIT) Innovative Industrial Properties’ listing. It will be the first cannabis REIT to trade on the exchange. It’s ticker will be IIPR.
Canadian producer Aphria announced a C$35M raise, the largest by a public company to date. Legal Canadian growers have raised more than C$313M in the last 13 months.
The New York Times profiles Denver-based Dixie Brands as it builds a national presence. (For more on interstate trade, see my April story in The Washington Post.)
WIRED tells us to “Get ready for the Budweiser of bud.”
Adrian Sedlin, CEO of California grower CannDescent, told Fortune that leaving California companies without bank accounts is “ not a tenable position.”
LAWeekly finds some psyched local cannabis executives. The San Jose Mercury News talks to some pumped-up Investors.
The president-elect may not be a hardliner, but he’s surrounded himself with them.
Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek.
The all-but-final Election Day tally is California, Massachusetts, Nevada and Maine legalized REC, whileFlorida, Arkansas, and North Dakota legalized MED.
Arizona rejected a REC measure. Montanans voted to allow a MED industry, though it remains contentious.
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (R), a legalization opponent and former DEA chief, said the process requires federal input. “It’s an example of the states innovating in a risky area, and certainly the states are leading on this, but we’re to a point that the federal government is going to have to readdress this,” he said. “This does not call for a state-by-state solution, it calls for … a national solution.”
This is an early indication that the cannabis industry will be harder for the Donald Trump administration to ignore than it was for the Obama administration.
Vice president elect Mike Pence (R) has replaced New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as head of Trump’s transition team. Both are known for their hardline stances against legalization, as is former New York City Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, a possible attorney general in the administration.
Several pieces speculate on what a Trump presidency means for legalization. Here are three: The Cannabist, MJBiz, Reveal (Center for Investigative Reporting).
Drug Policy Alliance head Ethan Nadelmann said, “the federal government retains the power to hobble much of what we’ve accomplished…The progress we’ve made … will be very much at risk when Donald Trump enters the White House.”
Vivian Azer, a stock analyst with Cowen, predicts cannabis will be a low priority for Trump.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D.-Ore.), probably pot’s best friend in Congress, said he thinks the industry’s priorities for banking and tax reform could both pass a Republican Congress under President Trump.
Companies like lawncare outfit Scotts Miracle-Gro are getting involved.
Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Download WeedWeek’s free 2016 election guide here.
It’s a big step towards national legalization.
Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Download WeedWeek’s free 2016 election guide here.
It follows an infamous raid..
Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Download WeedWeek’s free 2016 election guide here.
Santa Ana, Calif. paid $100,000 to a the dispensary raided by police in 2015, and agreed to drop misdemeanor charges against employees, in exchange for them agreeing not to sue. Three officers face charges after surveillance footage recorded them mocking an amputee and playing darts during the raid. They argued that they shouldn’t be charged since they believed they had disabled all of the dispensary’s video cameras.