Toke of the Town

Author Alex Halperin

Denver Social Use Initiative Maintains Small Lead

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By on News, Uncategorized

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.

Weed Wins Big on Election Day, But What Will Donald Trump Do?

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By on News

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.

 

Poll: California Is Set to Legalize

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By on News

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.

Boosted by support from younger voters, California is poised to legalize REC on Tuesday, creating the world’s largest cannabis market.
Manufacturers are  getting ready. So are tech start-ups. MED sales in the state climbed 132% between 2010 and 2015. Growers are bracing for a price crash.
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California City Pays $100,000 to Dispensary to Avoid Lawsuit

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By on News, Uncategorized

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.

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Pot Delivery App Eaze Raises $13M

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By on News

One of the biggest cannatech raises to date.

Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Download WeedWeek’s free 2016 election guide here.

Delivery service Eaze raised $13M from venture capitalists including the Winklevoss Brothers.

Cannabis has a $2.4 billion economic impact in Colorado, according to a report from the Marijuana Policy Group. It predicts that sales in the state will plateau at $1.5 billion in 2020. The industry has created18,000 jobs in the state (not all of them directly) and is bigger than Colorado’s craft beer industry.

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Most Upcoming Rec Votes Include Protections for Parents

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By on News

CannaKids founder Tracy Ryan with her daughter Sophie.

The issue often comes up

Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Download WeedWeek’s free 2016 election guide here.

The REC initiatives in Massachusetts and three other states include measures that protect parents from losing custody of their children as a result of marijuana use. An Idaho mom has lost custody of her kids and is facing criminal charges after giving her child cannabis butter to relieve seizure-like symptoms.

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Penn Jillette: I Hope the Legal Pot Biz Keeps Its “Funk”

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By on News

He doesn’t want it to go the way of the casinos.

Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Download WeedWeek’s free 2016 election guide here.

Magician and legalization supporter Penn Jillette talked to Marijuana Business Daily:

“What I’m really hoping for is that the marijuana industry can keep its funk.

“When Nevada first started with gambling, even though it was illegal, even though it was all very, very shady, there was a certain kind of individuality and honesty. Then, in the ’80s, corporations really took over Vegas and it got very homogeneous and very mall-style in general and McDonaldized.
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