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Browsing: Legislation

House Passes Landmark Marijuana Banking Bill

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By on Cannabusiness, Dispensaries, Feds 'N Heads, Legislation
incredibles_collins20180814_035_1_Jacqueline Collins

The United States House of Representatives just approved a bill that would allow banks and financial institutions to serve marijuana businesses in states where it is legal without risking federal prosecution, marking a landmark step towards marijuana reform.

Introduced by Colorado Representative Ed Perlmutter, the SAFE Banking Act needed approval from two-thirds of the House’s 435 members, or 290 yes votes. It got 321, becoming the first marijuana-centered bill to reach a Congressional floor for a vote — as well as the first to pass.

Colorado Reviews New Social Equity Marijuana Business Licenses

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By on Cannabusiness, Legislation
incredibles_collins20180814_041Jacqueline Collins

New marijuana business licenses reserved for low-income demographics are set to launch in Colorado in 2020, but questions remain about who should receive these licenses and how they should be regulated.

Created by Senate Bill 224, a 2019 law that overhauls the state’s medical and recreational marijuana regulations, the new licenses are intended to add more diversity to Colorado’s cannabis space while providing opportunity to entrepreneurs who don’t have traditional training or funding outlets. Also known as micro licenses, the new permits would require the new businesses to use the facilities of established pot companies as they research and create their own cannabis products.

Senate Committee Hears Testimony on Pot Banking Push

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By on Cannabusiness, Feds 'N Heads, Follow that story, Legislation
den_canna_20150717_colorado-harvest-register_slentz_05 (1)Scott Lentz

The push for federal cannabis banking legalization took another baby step on July 23 when the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs heard a bill that would allow financial institutions to serve companies connected with cannabis, which is still federally illegal.

Introduced by Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the SAFE Banking Act would protect banks and other financial outfits from federal charges if they provide accounts, loans and other services to pot businesses as well as ancillary enterprises that work with cannabis-focused enterprises, such as real estate agencies, accountants and other business vendors.

Marijuana Businesses to Congress: We Need More Diversity

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By on Cannabusiness, Feds 'N Heads, Legislation
mcba_opportunity_summit_collins20180325_010Jacqueline Collins

Over 100 cannabis businesses and organizations just sent a letter to Congressional leaders calling for federal legalization of the plant, but their request didn’t stop there. The letter also urged federal funding be used to diversify the cannabis industry, as well as administer retroactive justice for old pot convictions and help communities impacted the most by the war on drugs.

Cannabis is still far from legal in the eyes of the federal government, but Congress has been more open-minded lately. The House of Representatives has advanced legislation that would explicitly allow banks and financial institutions to serve medical and recreational cannabis businesses in states where they are legal, and the Senate just held a hearing on the same bill.

Colorado Health Officials Preparing for More Medical Marijuana Access

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By on Legislation, Medical
native-roots-edgewater-lentzScott Lentz

On July 15, 2015, the Colorado Board of Health rejected a petition to add post-traumatic stress disorder as a medical marijuana condition, to the vocal dismay of a packed room of veterans and medical marijuana patients. Fast forward four years, and not only is PTSD now an approved medical condition, but the board is preparing to usher in one of the most expansive sets of MMJ rules that Colorado has seen in over a decade.

Colorado Marijuana Industry Prepares for Deeper Pockets

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By on Cannabusiness, Follow that story, Legislation
natures_gift_shop_collins20170812_016 (1)Jacqueline Collins

Colorado’s billion-dollar marijuana industry is about to welcome some deeper pockets into the game, but first it needs to create rules to play by.

With just over five months to go until a new law expands marijuana business investment opportunities to publicly traded companies, venture capitalists and private equity firms, the Marijuana Enforcement Division has called upon dozens of marijuana industry regulators, attorneys, business owners and other stakeholders to help figure out how these new investors and owners will be able to operate in this state.

House Votes to Protect All Legal Marijuana States

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By on Feds 'N Heads, Follow that story, Legalize It, Legislation
lighting-blunt-420-fest-collinsJacqueline Collins

The United States House of Representatives has pushed for more marijuana reform in 2019 than in any prior year, and just approved a bipartisan measure that protects all state pot programs from federal interference.

On June 20, House members voted in favor of prohibiting the Department of Justice from using funds to prevent any American state, territory and Washington, D.C., from approving and implementing laws authorizing marijuana use, distribution, possession and cultivation; they did so through an amendment to the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill.

He’s a Veteran of Wars Over the Persian Gulf — and Marijuana Edibles

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By on Cannabusiness, Feds 'N Heads, Legislation
dan_anglin_headshot_2Courtesy of Grasslands

If America’s legal cannabis movement is going to be successful, it needs support from both of the major political parties and from people like Dan Anglin, a former U.S. Marine turned Republican lobbyist turned edibles entrepreneur. A veteran of Desert Storm as well as the early days of cannabis legalization in Colorado, Anglin has seen — and helped usher in — significant changes to laws and regulations surrounding cannabis edibles, while also starting a national brand of his own.

We chatted with Anglin about the early days of pot edibles, expanding his CannAmerica edibles into new states, and the political climate surrounding cannabis.

Can Micro Business Licenses Diversify the Marijuana Industry?

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By on Cannabusiness, Follow that story, Legislation
tetra_lounge_glitter_bong_collins2018 (1)Jacqueline Collins

The conversations around social equity in the Colorado cannabis industry may have started late, but a new category of business licenses could help expand diversity in this state’s pot industry.

When Governor Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 224 last month, he approved a long list of updated cannabis-industry regulations. Among SB 224’s many changes to the commercial pot industry was its creation of accelerator business licenses, reserved for people from low-income areas of Colorado who want to start their own cannabis business but don’t have industry connections or access to funding. Known as micro licenses around the industry, they would allow startup businesses to use the facilities of established pot companies as they research and create their own cannabis products, which they would completely own.

Colorado Marijuana Advocates Won Big in 2019

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By on Cannabusiness, Dispensaries, Follow that story, Legislation
04202018_bruce_polis_420_0040 (1)Kenzie Bruce

With a few strokes of his pen, Governor Jared Polis ushered in the most change to Colorado’s marijuana landscape in a single day since voters approved recreational pot in 2012.

Inside a sweaty, packed governor’s office at the Capitol on Wednesday, May 29, Polis approved bills that legalized social marijuana consumption, commercial delivery and opened the state’s pot industry up to public investors, as well as measures that significantly overhauled and expanded both the medical and recreational marijuana sectors.

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