Oakland’s Longest-Running Dispensary Still Recovering From Last Year’s Crime Spree

3/08/2021

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“Save your time.”

That’s what Keith Stephenson, 52, spray-painted on the plywood that covered the shattered bulletproof glass after his business, Purple Heart, was ransacked amid a crime spree adjacent to last summer’s civil rights protests in Oakland, California.

“I was telling them, ‘There’re nothing here, just save your time,’” he said during a phone interview with Ganjapreneur. “Let me help you by phrasing this message for everyone to see. Just save your time. There’s nothing here. They beat you to it.”

Stephenson, the proprietor of Purple Heart, Oakland’s longest-running cannabis retailer, said he feels “an extreme amount of frustration” when he sees the 12 letters in white spray paint across his shattered door. He also used the words “vulnerability,” and “heartfelt loss” while comparing the business to “a child.”

While watching the security feed on the evening of Friday, May 29, Stephenson saw someone inside the foyer of his store – who had entered through the glass front door splintered during the unrest – but was kept from the main area by the bulletproof glass door. The individual left without incident and Stephenson called the police who responded, despite already dealing with “pandemonium and social disorder at the highest level.”

His next call – at midnight – was to a contractor to board up Purple Heart. Two-and-a-half hours later, still glued to his cameras, Stephenson saw a group of individuals use a “sledgehammer or mallet” to smash a hole through the 4×8 plywood installed just hours earlier but they too left without incident.

It was the following night when a group of between 40 and 50 individuals breached the shop. Stephenson said the “organized” group used pneumatic tools to pry the bulletproof glass door from its frame.

Purple Heart’s front door lock, which was beaten and pried open by thieves. Photo credit: Eduardo Soler

“And I’m just watching everything in real-time and they’re in there and taking everything,” he said. “I called the police, but I had no idea the extent to what was happening in the city. I was on hold with 911 for two hours.”

Stephenson was not able to meet with the responding officers that early morning due to the chaos in Oakland that had worn the force thin. His security company told him there were at least 600 alarms triggered in the city that Sunday night.

Stephenson describes watching his store get raided as “overwhelming” and “extremely violating.”

“As I’m watching this my energy’s drained,” he said when asked to recall watching his store get repeatedly looted. “There’s not much you can do.”

Keith Stephenson, the owner and founder of Purple Heart, Oakland’s longest-running cannabis retailer. Photo credit: Eduardo Soler

Throughout the interview, Stephenson made clear that the break-in was not linked to the social justice protests that occurred in the city sparked by the on-camera, alleged murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis, Minnesota police officer.

“This was an organized crime ring that attacked a lot of cannabis businesses in the area and they did it knowing that the police had their hands full,” he explained, noting that individuals had actually discussed the plan on social media. “The city of Oakland, their police department was overwhelmed with about 20 [thousand] to-30,000 protestors.”

Stephenson said he no longer has the video because he doesn’t “want to have to relive it.”

A look inside the Purple Heart dispensary before the incident. Photo credit: Eduardo Soler
Purple Heart’s interior, after multiple robberies. Photo credit: Eduardo Soler

To make matters worse, his insurance company ultimately denied his claim for business interruption because he had temporarily closed due to the pandemic – just declared two months prior – therefore, they asserted, Stephenson hadn’t actually lost business. He was able to successfully claim losses on goods – in the “five-figures,” he said – and some computer components and damage. He described the insurance process, his first, as “an arduous battle,” sometimes “accusatory.” He noted that he had planned to open within days or weeks having installed sneeze guards and other coronavirus protection protocols required by the county.

“They asked me, ‘Did you leave the door open?’ If I would’ve left the door open why does my door look like this? My door is battered. The lock is smashed in. It’s pried off the frame. The question makes no sense. You can clearly see it’s breached. ‘Did you set the alarm’? Yeah, I set the alarm!” – Stephenson to Ganjapreneur

Ultimately, he filed a claim with the state insurance commissioner with the assistance of Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D).

Stephenson first moved to the Bay Area as an aviation maintenance technician for one of the major airlines. He was first introduced to cannabis after being diagnosed with a juvenile form of arthritis which led to two hip replacements and a shoulder replacement. In 1996, he got his first gig in the cannabis business with Oakland Cannabis Buyer’s Co-Op, one of the city’s first dispensaries. He became an activist, worked on legalization campaigns. He would later spearhead the idea of social equity licenses in Oakland.

“Purple Heart was always a community-based retail store.”

Broken appliances, stolen product, and an enormous mess to clean up — these were only the most visible of setbacks for entrepreneurs affected by last summer’s crime spree. Photo credit: Eduardo Soler

He’d open Purple Heart in 2006, which he said was “difficult at the time because the city was not embracing medical cannabis because they faced the threat of aiding and abetting cannabusiness” by the feds. After two dispensaries lost their licenses, Stephenson successfully applied, becoming the first Black-owned cannabusiness in the U.S.

Throughout the years, through Purple Heart, he’s donated to the Urban Services YMCA, Oakland School of the Arts, Oakland Police Officers Association, and Covenant House of California. He’s a member of California’s Cannabis Advisory Committee under the Bureau of Cannabis Control.

The destroyed incarnation of the shop was a 2017 remodel. Stephenson describes the previous design as “very avant-garde, very forward” with art-adorned walls showcasing local artists. The remodel – which cost a minimum of $300,000 – was a “green-build,” he said, using repurposed wood and more steel. The total included updated IT technology, including closed-circuit surveillance as required by the state for compliance.

He credits that upgrade with providing the information requested by the insurance company as his point-of-sale system had retained his inventory list. METRC – the seed-to-sale system used in California – didn’t use the format required by the insurers.

“The perpetrators were a street gang, and I don’t want any problems with them.”

Stephenson said “a couple” of the perpetrators were caught when they were found with Purple Heart’s stolen goods during a separate run-in with police. Those products were returned to him.

Other cannabis businesses – cultivation, production, retailers – throughout Oakland (and the rest of the state) were looted over the three days. There were “hundreds and hundreds” of perpetrators, Stephenson said.

While he hopes to re-open in the “near future,” Stephenson said he has been working for months “cleaning up the mess.” As one of just two cannabis retailers that have operated in the city since 2006, Stephenson wants Purple Heart to remain a pillar of the community.

He estimates lost revenue – the claim denied by insurance – at “over $5 million on the lower end.”

Still, he doesn’t plan to leave Oakland.

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Barbados Set to Decriminalize Cannabis Possession

3/08/2021

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Barbados Attorney General Dale Marshall told lawmakers on Friday that cannabis possession of 14 grams or less would soon be met with a fine rather than criminal charges, according to a Loop News report. However, he warned that those found wasting the court’s time and government resources by being dishonest with officials could face stiffer penalties.

He urged those caught with cannabis to use “common sense” and just admit their crime rather than attempt to lie to police and judges.

“There is always the possibility that a person will say ‘not me’, ‘officer you ain’t find me with nothing’. That is the first reaction. He may say ‘officer this is not cannabis, this is something else’. If that situation arises then the course of the law will be followed. … We don’t want anybody to plead guilty if what they have in their pocket is cerasee bush, that’s obviously not on, but you will have your day in court for the court to determine what that is.” – Marshall to the House of Assembly

The Attorney General explained that a person who disputes whether they were in possession of cannabis can be prosecuted and in the event the person is offered a monetary penalty but insists to take the case to trial, they would receive a higher fine.

During his remarks, Marshall reiterated that the reforms do not legalize cannabis possession.

“It is still a crime. When this bill is passed it will still be a crime but what we are saying is that a person in possession of a minor amount is not trafficking, is more of a risk to himself,” he said to lawmakers. “We have not legalized cannabis use, so take that off of the table completely. And if you need to see how it is not a crime then it’s because there is a penalty.”

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Minnesota Senate Committee Advances Bill to Allow Medical Cannabis Flower

3/08/2021

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The Minnesota Senate Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee last week unanimously approved a measure to allow flower products in the state’s medical cannabis market, 5 Eyewitness News reports. It’s the first time a Senate committee has approved such reforms.

State Sen. Matt Klein (DFL), a physician who also serves on the committee, said they while his “addiction medicine friends” have told him that “there is no evidence to support this in the medical literature, so it is not an evidence-based approach,” his opinion to support the bill was based on testimony given to the panel.

“…The testimony does have a point that the margin of toxicity in cannabis is extremely low and our burden of illness with opioid addiction is extremely high and very dangerous.” – Klein to 5 Eyewitness News

Currently, medical cannabis patients in Minnesota can only access pill or tincture products.

Patrick McClellan, a medical cannabis patient, told 5 Eyewitness News that he anticipates allowing flower would reduce the cost for patients enrolled in the program.

“I have to take nine additional medications, in addition to the medical marijuana pill, and it is very expensive and can be cost-prohibitive for many people,” McClellan said following the vote.  “The flower will really open things up, and it will allow someone like me to get rid of the nine other pills I have to take.”

Last month, the House Commerce Committee approved a broad legalization measure – the first time any legislative body in the state showed support for the reforms.

A same-as House version of the medical cannabis bill is currently in the Health Finance and Policy committee.

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Illinois City Using Cannabis Taxes to Fund Reparations

3/05/2021

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The city of Evanston, Illinois is following through on its plan to offer reparations to Black residents, funded by a tax on adult-use cannabis, according to ABC News.

Evanston passed its cannabis-based reparations law in late 2019, levying a three percent tax on adult-use cannabis to pay for it. Now, $10 million raised by the tax will go to helping keep Black residents living in the north Chicago neighborhood. Payments will come in $25,000 chunks for eligible Evanston residents.

When 5th Ward Alderman Robin Rue Simmons championed the law in 2019, she told The Washington Post, “Our community was damaged due to the war on drugs and marijuana convictions. This is a chance to correct that.”

Just over a year later, the program now aims to help undo the effects of racist redlining in the city.

“The historic redlining impacts our community today. That map still is the map of our concentrated Black community, our disinvestment, our inferior infrastructure.” — Alderman Rue Simmons, via ABC News

Alderman Rue Simmons hopes the new program will create living-wage jobs and provide more of a sense of place for the 16 percent of Evanston residents who are Black.

Actor and longtime reparations activist Danny Glover spoke in Evanston after the law’s signing and said, “This is the most intense conversation I believe that we’re going to have in the 21st century, right here — reparations.”

“This is a remarkable step,” Glover said. “It is you, the citizens of this extraordinary moment, who will go down in history, and whose voices will be remembered, as they stood up in the face of condemnation, made the choice to stand up for not only their own humanity, but the humanity of all people.”

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Study: Cannabis Vape Cartridges Linked to Higher Risk of Lung Injury in Teens

3/05/2021

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A University of Michigan study suggests that teens who vape cannabis are at greater risk for respiratory symptoms indicative of lung injury than those who vape nicotine or smoke cigarettes or cannabis. Vaping in the study refers to the pen-style devices rather than more traditional, tabletop devices.

Carol Boyd, Deborah J. Oakley collegiate professor emerita at the U-M School of Nursing, said the study results were not what she expected, anticipating vaping nicotine would be “most strongly associated with worrisome respiratory symptoms.” Boyd added that vaping nicotine and smoking “are unhealthy and not good for lungs” but “vaping marijuana appears even worse.”

“Our data challenges the assumption that smoking cigarettes or vaping nicotine is the most harmful to the lungs. If we control for vaping cannabis in our analyses, we find there is a weaker relationship between e-cigarette or cigarette use and respiratory symptoms when compared to vaping cannabis.” – Boyd in a press release

The researchers found that teens who reported vaping cannabis were about twice as likely to report “wheezing and whistling” in the chest than those who did not. Current use of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and cannabis were linked with some respiratory symptoms, such as dry cough, but most associations were not significant after controlling for vaping cannabis.

It’s worth noting that Michigan, where the study took place, does not allow teenagers to access the state’s regulated cannabis vaporizer products. Therefore, it is safe to assume that at least some study participants were using unregulated cannabis vape cartridges, which frequently contain vitamin E acetate and have been linked to EVALI, or E-cigarette or Vaping Use-Associated Lung Injury. The researchers also did not explore the co-vaping of cannabis along with cigarette and e-cigarette use and Philip Veliz, U-M research assistant professor of nursing, said “future studies need to assess if it is the combination of vaping both nicotine and cannabis” that is creating the respiratory issues.

“It may be the combination of vaping cannabis along with smoking cigarettes is what leads to the high rates of respiratory symptoms among youthful marijuana vapers,” he said in a statement.

The study included self-reported symptoms from a sample of youth ages 12-17 from the 2016-2018 Wave of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study. Symptoms included wheezing and whistling in the chest; disturbed sleep or limited speech due to wheezing; wheezing during or after exercise; and dry cough at night not associated with chest illness or infection.

The study is scheduled to be published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Cannabis’s status as a federally prohibited Schedule 1 substance, meanwhile, continues to block significant research into the plant’s effects and medicinal potential and maintains a status quo of lawlessness for cannabis consumers around the country.

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Some Vermont Towns to Allow Cannabis Retail

3/05/2021

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More than 20 Vermont communities have approved adult-use cannabis operations in recent town meetings, according to the Associated Press. Vermont is taking a local approach to rolling out its adult-use cannabis system. Instead of outright legalization across the state, voters can approve the adult-use industry on a town-by-town basis. Once a town votes in favor, businesses can apply for retail licenses, which are then considered by a state board.

According to the report, at least three towns have “rejected” cannabis sales, but most recently a surge of communities including Bennington, Brattleboro, Burlington, Montpelier, Vergennes, Waterbury, and Winooski added their names to the “approve” column.

Vermont’s adult-use cannabis journey looks a bit different from a lot of states. The Legislature legalized cannabis possession and home cultivation in 2018. However, the state failed to pass regulations for the commercial production and distribution of cannabis. The legislature later returned and passed a tax-and-regulate bill last year, which Gov. Phil Scott (R) allowed to pass into law without his signature.

Rather than a veto, the governor expressed his concerns to the Senate via letter, writing that the state’s licensing structure will “disproportionately benefit Vermont’s existing medical dispensaries by giving them sole access to integrated licenses and an unfair head start on market access.

“This creates an inequitable playing held both for our smaller minority and women-owned business applicants, and other small Vermont growers and entrepreneurs,” the governor wrote.

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Michigan School & Transit Funds Receive Over $23M from Cannabis Taxes

3/05/2021

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Cannabis-derived funds in Michigan generated about $11.6 million for the state’s School Aid Fund and another $11.6 million for its Transportation Fund, MiBiz reports. Another 100 municipalities across the state – those allowing adult-use cannabis operations – received their piece of nearly $10 million in funds from recreational sales taxes and fees.

Michigan reported more than $341 million in recreational cannabis sales during the last fiscal year.

It’s the first time local governments have seen revenue from legalized cannabis sales, which commenced in the state in 2018. In all, 38 cities, seven villages, 21 townships and 38 counties began receiving payments this week for fiscal year 2020 from the state fund. The payments include about $28,000 for each retail store and microbusiness allowed to operate as of Sept. 30, 2020 – the state had issued licenses to 178 retailers and microbusinesses during that time.

State Treasurer Rachel Eubanks said that, for the state’s cities and towns grappling with budget concerns due to the coronavirus pandemic, “every dollar helps right now.”

“The revenue generated from marijuana taxes and fees is important to our local governments. In this extraordinary time, our staff is working to get those payments to impacted municipalities and counties.” – Eubanks, in a statement, via MiBiz

In a statement, Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency Executive Director Andrew Brisbo said the funding is “very impactful and shows how strong and successful the industry is becoming.”

About half of the $9.7 million distributed went to counties. Washtenaw County received the most from the fund with slightly more than $616,000. The county has 22 licensed adult-use businesses – the most in the state.

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Alvin Edwards & David Moss: Equity-Building Partnerships In Cannabis

3/05/2021

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Alvin Edwards is the founder of Fruits of Our Labor, which employs former prisoners to provide a variety of professional services including the manufacturing/distribution of glass pipes and blunts. David Moss is the chief development officer for From the Earth, a dispensary operating in California and Michigan, and the executive director/co-founder for From the Earth Foundation, the dispensary’s separate, nonprofit organization.

In this interview, Alvin and David join our podcast host TG Branfalt to discuss the strategic partnership between their organizations, wherein From the Earth dispensaries purchase and retail the pipes made by Fruits of Our Labor; the project’s social equity-driven goals; and the importance of driving the industry to focus on giving back to disenfranchised communities that were most heavily affected by the destructive drug war. Their interview also covers Alvin’s journey as a young entrepreneur, David’s insistence on centering philanthropy as a core value for his business, and more!

You can tune in to this week’s Ganjapreneur.com podcast episode through the player below or scroll down on this page to read a full transcript of the interview.

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Read the transcript:

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TG Branfalt: Hey, there. I’m your host, TG Branfalt, and thank you for listening to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast, where we try to bring you actionable information and normalize cannabis through the stories of ganjapreneurs, activists and industry stakeholders. Today, I’ve got Alvin Edwards, the Third, founder of Fruits of Our Labor, which employs ex-convicts to manufacture and distribute vaporizers and glass blunts as part of their mission to rebuild black communities, rehabilitate their peers and showcase their knowledge to succeed in the budding cannabis industry, and David Moss, executive director and co-founder for From the Earth Foundation and chief development officer for From the Earth, which operates in California and Michigan, and is a strategic partner with Fruits of Our Labor on the social equity-driven project. How are you guys doing this afternoon?

Alvin Edwards: I’m pretty good. How are you?

TG Branfalt: I’m well.

David Moss: I’m doing great. Thanks, TG.

TG Branfalt: It’s great to have you guys on the show. It’s a really exciting partnership, strategic partnership that you guys have going on. I’m really excited to hear the details and for you to tell the audience about the details. But before we do that, give me a brief background about yourselves and how you ended up in the cannabis space.

David Moss: You want to go first Alvin?

Alvin Edwards: Sure. My cannabis background and journey is really starting with my parents. My dad was in the military. He was in the Navy for about 20 years, and then he got discharged because he didn’t have the right protective equipment. In turn, he got seizures and all that type of epilepsy, those types of diseases in situations. From as long as I was born, he just always had marijuana in the house and he was just growing and filtering it. He’s just recently created his own agriculture system in the house and just always been around. Then after that, my uncle tried to succeed and try to have his own company, but this was the ’90s so it was very not successful. Then I just had a lot of experiences with it. Try to build it off of that one.

TG Branfalt: How about you, David?

David Moss: Well, mine started in 1977, going from sixth grade to seventh grade but who … If you’d have told me back then that I’d be doing this today, I’d have laughed real hard. Basically, I lived in Humboldt County for 20 years. I went to Humboldt State after high school, my buddy moved up to Humboldt. I didn’t know Humboldt was an actual place, I just thought it was a weed. When he said, “Come on up and visit,” I fell in love with it, and ended up moving up here and raised kids in Humboldt County.

Moved back down to Los Angeles, and one of my closest friends from childhood called me and asked if I wanted to get into the weed business full-time, and that was basically From the Earth. At the time, we had one store, and at that time we basically had just purchased a new property in Long Beach that we built from the ground up. We had another one in Portland AME, Moreno Valley. We have a lab in Desert Hot Springs. Basically, it evolved into … Now, we’re in the full-time cannabis business, which just happened organically, not something that I actually planned or anticipated years ago.

I’ve also been in philanthropy for the last 25, 30 years. Philanthropy is a big, big part of my personal core values of my life. I’ve had the great opportunities to start a couple of amazing nonprofit organizations that have done some really cool work. So when From the Earth brought me in at the very beginning, this was a core value of ours as well as a business, was we’re in a very fortunate position to be in this business and we want to be able to give back as part of our core value.

TG Branfalt: Tell me about the creation of this strategic partnership and the details of it exactly. How did you guys link up? What’s the story there?

David Moss: Well, I’m going to let Alvin go ahead. It basically starts with our social media director, who’s no longer with us, Mars Wright. But Alvin, why don’t you go ahead and tell the story?

Alvin Edwards: When I first started, I was really just lost, looking for anybody to talk to about it. But I had this idea maybe in 2018, 2019, and then I just thought like, “Oh, it’s not going to happen. It’s not going to happen.” Then after of seeing a whole bunch of people in my other trans-community, I was like, “I might as well just message everyone that I know that has a significant following or just any following at all, and just see if they know anybody and just keep trying.” I think I texted … I sent Mars a message on Instagram and I was like, “Hey, I started this company. Just wanted to know if … I don’t think that you smoke, but I think that this is pretty cool, and I think that it would be nice if you just posted on my page, well, post it on your page.”

Then he was like, “Oh wait. But I have this company that I work for.” I was like, “You say what?” He was very, very supportive and he just showed me everyone and guided me through the whole process with the From the Earth team. He was more than helpful on any emails, getting me to understand what other people do at From the Earth, and just making sure that every partnership and every opportunity was seen and valued and that this could actually happen, and it could actually make a difference for my team and us.

TG Branfalt: Why don’t we back up just a little bit, Alvin? Tell me about … You said you had this idea several years ago. Tell me what was the spark for the idea and then using the ex-convicts and the rehabilitation aspect of it. It’s just such a sort of … When people go to start a business, they generally don’t think about these sort of provisions or this equity aspect of it. Tell me a little bit more about your thought process there.

Alvin Edwards: It all just started back in 2018. My uncle, my other uncle, not the first one, but he actually went to prison for it. What happened was, it was a big giant, not a raid-raid, but they were watching him and just keeping an eye on him because he had been there before. It just kept happening, and then when he went the second time, he was like, “This is the last time I want to go. I’m never going back. I don’t want anything to do with any of that.” I was like, “Okay, that’s fine.” Then I was like, “Well, let’s try to find you a job.” Then after a while of trying to apply for $12, $10 jobs, he couldn’t get any for about four or five months.

I was like, “This is ridiculous. If there was only a way,” and then he was telling me about all this other stuff that he can’t do now because he has a record. I was like, “How is he supposed to live on this?” He has three kids, all three daughters. I was like, “You can’t live on this, and there’s no way that you’re going to be able to work in an office. You’re not going to be able to do get supportive rights. You can’t vote anymore. You can’t do all this.” It was just so many things that he couldn’t do that just made me feel like, “Wow, I feel helpless this whole situation and there’s nothing I can do.”

Then I was like, “Well, is it up to the employers to say who gets hired and who doesn’t get hired based on your background, or is it the government?” Then I realized that after doing some research for about three months that you as a company, depending on which company you are, you can have someone that went to prison or went to any type of establishment and you can hire them, but you just have to be aware of the stakes on your own, and that’s perfectly fine because I really … Before I’d meet someone or hire someone, I try to understand their story before. I’ll just go into different areas in Maryland and then sometimes I’ll go to Baltimore City, and I’ll just try to figure out which parts are run down.

Then normally, my parents taught me that if the area is a run down, they normally have really, really great people, but just got in the wrong situations. I tried to go there. I tried to meet some people. I tried to make friends and then I would ask them like, “Hey, is there something that’s going on here? What happened?” Because I know that these areas were very fruitful at one point. If it’s just the loss of your heroes and the people that you had, because I know that for me, my uncle was my biggest hero and he was just always there. Then when he tried to do something that was better for the family, I guess, and in the legal sphere, his friends, so-called …

He got into a gang, I should just preface that. He got into a gang, and then what happened was the gang said, “Okay, you need to either be our driver or you need to start working product.” He decided after maybe a year of it, he was like, “I can’t do this anymore. My parents and my family come first.” He just said, “I can’t do it,” and then they killed him. It was one uncle that went to prison and then one uncle that ended up getting murdered. The whole thing has just been there since the beginning, and it’s a lot of … The options weren’t great, to begin with, and I just decided that if I can change this, then we can make some real habits or some really good changes, and …

TG Branfalt: Sorry, how do you end up on glass blunts and vaporizers? How did you end up there?

Alvin Edwards: That was the most legal thing that I could find without saying hemp at the time. I couldn’t use the words cannabis right now because when I started it, I was 18, 19. I couldn’t use the words hemp, I couldn’t use the words cannabis, I couldn’t use any type of tobacco … Well, not tobacco, marijuana affiliates. I had to use tobacco because tobacco, if you’re 18 in Maryland, you can use it. I just went and I found all these glass blunts. I started making designs. I found which ones were really selling in the market. I found the seven pipes, the twisty glass blunts, and I was like, “Well, let’s see what I can do design wise,” and I can try to see what tips and what types of filters were going to be good.

Then I just decided let’s have some influence from this, but let’s also have a Maryland or DMV flare to it. I just decided let’s go to a whole bunch of hookah bars, let’s go to a whole bunch of places that have whole bunch of kids. I went to the school. I went to University of Maryland. I just went to parties all the time and just kept asking people. “What do you like? Do you like weed? Do you like … Do you smoke?” Then just kept trying every opportunity that I had to try to grow with them and figure out what the youth liked.

TG Branfalt: It’s a really, really incredible story, man. David, you said you’ve been in philanthropy for 25, 30 years, what’s your take on how your company, From the Earth, works with Fruits of Our Labor and why was it important for you guys to have this strategic partnership?

David Moss: Well, like I said, I’ve been in philanthropy for 25 years unrelated to cannabis. I’ve been very involved in active and justice reform philanthropy. I work in one of the most famous inner city underserved communities in the country known as Watts. I’ve been working in Watts for many, many years. I’m involved with a couple organizations, Inside Outriders which works with young juveniles incarcerated in California. We go into the juvenile halls and do writing programs with the kids, and then follow them through their process and lead them into this group called ARC, the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, which basically works with currently and formerly incarcerated men and women in creating legislation and passing legislation on how juveniles are treated once they enter the legal system.

For me, this has been a big part of my life. When cannabis came about, it was just a very, very natural crossover and organic marriage so to speak, in that here we are in this amazing position to be in the cannabis business, to be legally selling cannabis while people are still suffering from the very disparaging justice rules and laws that apply to various segments of the population. We’re not all treated the same way when it comes to cannabis. Here we are trying to make. I don’t want to give the misrepresentation. Everyone thinks the cannabis industry is just killing it, but cannabis industry is struggling harder than any business in the legal world, trying to get through all the compliance and regulation. But we are very privileged to be forging this new industry, literally creating an industry out of the weeds, so to speak.

It just makes perfect sense that we, as an industry, have a lot of power to come together, much like the gun industry or the tobacco industry have a lot of power. Well, we can create that. We are that. We are developing that. It just made a lot of sense to focus on equitable social equity programs, things that make sense, things that are mutually beneficial all the way around that help raise awareness, change perspective of people and really focus on how to share the wealth work together and raise awareness in a very positive way. It was very natural for us to jump in.

TG Branfalt: Do you stock the Fruits of Our Labor products in your dispensary? Is that how this works?

David Moss: Yeah, we do. I think Alvin’s the first sort of … This is a new concept. There aren’t a lot of companies out there like what Alvin has started. I mean, it’s very rare-

TG Branfalt: I’ve never heard of another one.

David Moss: … at this point. There’s social equity programs that are out there, but I have yet to see a model that is actually a good model that makes sense for everyone. I think social equity has a lot of growth to work through as this industry creates social equity programs. Alvin just being an independent operator and focusing on social equity goals, so to speak and working with those that are formerly incarcerated and creating opportunities, it’s real easy to work with Alvin, as opposed to trying to work with the city of Los Angeles that has a social equity program that really makes no sense on how they’re doing it. But so yes, we stock the products. Alvin can speak to it probably better. I don’t know the exact number, but I think we placed a decent order, which helped Alvin kick off and launch, and we’re excited to be part of this program and to spread this message.

TG Branfalt: For you, Alvin, when this deal came to fruition, what was it like for you? I mean, what was your reaction to people recognizing what you’re doing and the value it has?

Alvin Edwards: I went to my parents, my dad first. At first, I told my parents, I was like, “I just got this big order.” They were like, “For what?” They didn’t really understand what I was doing at the time. Then I told them, I was like, “Oh yeah, we’re making glass blunts,” and they were like, “Oh no, no, no, no, no.” I was like, “Don’t worry, it’s legal.” Then they’re like, “We don’t know if we really want you doing this.” I was like … I had to talk to my dad about it and ask him about it for a long time. I asked my aunt who lost her son. I was like, “Do you think this is a good idea or not?” I just decided on that last one.

I talked to my team because obviously they are the most important people right now that are … They are really important to me right now because they are going through with me. If I say no, because that’s something that’s really not going to … It’s not affecting me as much as it’s going to affect them is what I’m trying to say. Just to have them be excited and to have that feeling of like, “Oh yeah, we’re actually doing something. We’re doing something and we’re going to be able to bring this to our family and we’re doing something that’s going to be seen and used and reusable. It’s not bad for the environment.” It’s just such a wonderful feeling for them.

I know that a few members of my team were just beyond ecstatic as soon as we got the order. We got one order for 50, and then they’re like, “Okay, this is cool. This is cool.” Then we got another order and they were like, “Wow, we are really making progress.” Since then, they have just been on this high still of feeling like they’re invincible and it’s amazing. It’s really great. We’ve been actually using some of the benefits from this to learn how to do other stuff in the cannabis industry. We’ve been learning about taking some classes. I have a few of them doing some online schooling about it. They’re really trying to learn as much as they can. They’re taking this opportunity with grace and just they’re so humbled by the experience of feeling like they matter about the situation and they’re making a difference.

TG Branfalt: I mean, congratulations on both of you. I mean, it’s such a unique business model. Then to be able to find something that fits in such a way that you’re able to do something, I think that does, as you alluded to David, better than the mandated social equity programs, which we’ll get to in a second. But I want to ask you both, what are some of the best practices that a cannabis company can employ to ensure that they are socially responsible when it comes specifically to social equity? From a business perspective, keeping the state mandates out of it, what do those look like in your estimation?

Alvin Edwards: I’m going to let David take this one first. I’ve answered two questions back-to-back first, so I’m going to let you take that one.

David Moss: I mean, it’s a great question, and it’s a complex question as well, because you had mentioned right now social is a new concept as is this industry being a new industry. Here we are legally selling cannabis and there are literally still 30, 40,000 people locked up across the country for cannabis crimes. One, raising awareness. I think all companies in the cannabis world should be working together to raise awareness with our legislators about creating laws that make sense, and the House of Representatives just took the very first step for the first time in history to vote to decriminalize at the federal level.

Now, obviously, we have our ways to go before that gets through the next level, but it’s a major sign and it’s a major step that awareness is being raised and mindsets are being changed. I think one, the cannabis industry as a whole can help raise awareness towards the injustices that are taking place, especially operators that are in states where there’s a higher density of people still locked up. California, I’m not sure how many people, if any are actually still locked up for cannabis-alone crimes, but there are other states across the country where those numbers are disproportionate.

TG Branfalt: I mean, Alvin and I both live in those states. I mean, Maryland and New York.

David Moss: What’s that?

TG Branfalt: Maryland and New York. I’m based in New York, Alvin’s based in … I mean, there’s still people in jail for cannabis here.

David Moss: Right. I think there are minority owned businesses and operators that have worked hard to get to their position, and I think recognizing and trying to do business with companies that are minority owned is something that we’re doing as a company. Alvin’s a great example of what’s possible. With a little idea and some hard work and perseverance, you can create a company. I think that’s a model to the industry as well, and to just people in general that if you can think it, you can do it, a lot of times. The way Alvin’s done it is actually real interesting because the barrier to entry is much easier to get into without touching cannabis. It’s a whole different realm of craziness and expense and red tape and challenges.

Then I think municipalities and cities that want to incorporate and create social equity programs. LA and San Francisco have taken the largest fastest step, but honestly they have a lot of work to do to make their programs make sense. Right now they’re not equitable social equity programs to all involved, and there should be benefit for everyone. It shouldn’t be that all the benefit goes to the social equity applicants. In concept, it’s great, but I don’t see too many successful models actually being implemented yet. We have a lot of work as an industry and as legislators to come together to create the model that makes sense.

I think we, as an operator, are constantly looking to create new brands and develop new things. Hiring practices in municipalities where they will allow us to hire somebody that has a felony record, we’re all about that. That’s a newer concept that we’re starting to incorporate because it’s a challenge. BCC has guidelines, and then each municipality has guidelines. We work closely with the law enforcement departments in cities that we operate, and it’s an issue that we’re now looking to actively pursue through some of these organizations that I’ve talked about already that are working with formerly incarcerated.

How can we create pipeline to create more opportunities that add to their list of, “Hey, they can come apply for a job with us.” We’re all about second chances and giving opportunities and then developing brands. Maybe helping and creating social equity opportunities where we work with somebody to create a brand that similar to what Alvin is doing, but maybe more actually in the cannabis. Those are I think things that the industry could do as a whole.

TG Branfalt: What do you think, Alvin? What are, in your opinion, some of the best practices that a cannabis company specifically could employ as far as social equity is concerned?

Alvin Edwards: I would say that there’s a lot of hesitation towards the community and towards the people that are in this bubble. I feel like it’s really easy to … At least in Maryland, I haven’t seen a lot of companies that are really willing to … They’re a part of the cannabis industry, but they won’t really work with people that have been inside of the system and been inside of “the hole.” They haven’t been … They want to be a part of it, but they aren’t really taking into account the people that have been, and they aren’t really listening to them. I’ve been trying to just contact other people and try to see if they can at least give them a floor to talk about their stuff.

I’ve been having direct conversations with people that are still incarcerated. I leave them letters even right now, even during COVID. I write them letters, I try to get them established so that they can at least know each other and know what’s going on. I have been trying to work on getting not therapy, but getting some type of vocalization out of it and getting the basic needs met. Because a lot of times, even after you come out of after being incarcerated, a lot of your basic needs are just not stripped away, but they’re deeply stunned where you don’t feel like you can talk to anybody, you don’t feel like you can do certain things. You just feel really … It just doesn’t feel like you’re being heard or seen.

In the cannabis industry, it’s such a big part of American history and American culture that it doesn’t really make sense to not hear everybody’s story. There’s tons of shows on Netflix or there’s tons of shows on Hulu or any other broadcasting streams, but none of them that are independently made or breaking through the lines yet. I’d want to see some type of growth in just any of the fields, any type of creative field or any type of field, period, that just shows that anyone can do it, anyone can feel it, no matter what’s gone through anything … That doesn’t make sense. No matter what you’ve gone through, it’s still possible and it’s still feasible without-

TG Branfalt: Your past doesn’t define who you are.

Alvin Edwards: Yes. Thank you. Thank you. It’s so many opportunities that people aren’t taking because they’re scared or they just have been told no so many times. I’d really want that to change.

David Moss: I would add to that. I mean, you brought up a couple of really important points because there’s a couple of issues. One, the general public’s view of formerly incarcerated, for lack of a better word, criminals, defined by maybe just or unjust laws is hard to change. I mean, that’s something that … I got involved in working with formerly incarcerated men and women. Prior to doing that, I was of the mindset that these are bad people that committed crimes that should be in jail. Then as I started to learn more about them and then who they were and what their stories were, and you talk about being able to hear their stories, I mean, it changed my entire perception, which entirely changed my entire life to be perfectly honest with you, by raising an awareness and changing the paradigm in my own head about what a criminal is or how this person even got there.

We tend to not deal with the issues, we deal with the symptoms. We’re not dealing with the disease so to speak, which is what leads them there. Most people are good people inherently. You mentioned your uncle who got into a gang. I mean, I deal with lots of kids who grow up without a father or raised by an aunt and they have no money and they have no access and all they have is the gang. That becomes the family and the guiding light until they get locked up, and then the family disappears and is gone. They’re not there for him. When you understand what led a person to get to that point, I think it’s important as a society and a culture that we realize these are human beings, that, one, the system is just against them. That’s a whole issue that’s going on.

Telling the stories is critical and understanding the human side of … Then I think people will change and then I think the industry as a whole can have a much more open mind towards this concept. From a company point of view, we’re getting ready to, and I’m not going to talk a lot about it, but we’re getting ready to release a little mini-documentary that we shot that highlights a young black man who was zero crime record, good kid, going to school, working, got busted for marijuana. We’re telling the story. The idea is to tell these stories to change perception, raise awareness, and hopefully develop social equity, which-

TG Branfalt: I mean, we’ve sort of touched on legislative social equity provisions, those provided by the government. I mean, it’s always seemed odd to me personally that it was the government that outlawed cannabis, put people in jail and now we’re relying on that same government to undo the harm that they did. That always seemed a little crazy to me. But David and Alvin, both of you, what’s your take on legislative social equity provisions? I mean, do they generally do enough to undo the harm of the war on drugs?

David Moss: I’ll just say, I don’t think so. I mean, you got to start somewhere. That’s the key. You got to start somewhere. Like I said, I think the concept is coming from the right place, but it isn’t developed properly yet and it’s not benefiting enough people. Like in LA, 100 people were entitled to social equity applications. Okay. I mean, that’s nothing …

TG Branfalt: 1% of the of people who have been jailed. I mean, or 0.5%. I’m not a math man.

David Moss: There needs to be more opportunity, and like I said, opportunity that makes sense, that makes me as an operator wanting to participate in a program, and right now that doesn’t exist. We’re looking outside of those systems and working directly with someone like Alvin to create something that makes sense for all of us. That works. Again like I said, how can we as an industry create something that makes sense? As an industry, we can talk to our legislators and our municipalities and say, “Hey, this program is good in concept, but it doesn’t make sense. We need to change it,” and develop real social equity programs.

TG Branfalt: What’s your take on it, Alvin? I mean, the social equity portion of it was a big sticking point in Maryland before they would pass the medical cannabis expansion. Ultimately there was a little bit of controversy associated with that because the delegate in charge was ultimately jailed for bribery related to this whole thing. What’s your take on these social equity programs?

Alvin Edwards: My thought on it as a whole is I really want younger people to be … No offense to anyone else, I really want younger people to start getting involved in this whole thing, because we’re in such an age where nothing really phases the young kids. They support their friends only fans, they support their friends doing whatever there is. It’s so easy for them to just be supportive and caring about other in things that don’t really … that don’t necessarily involve them. Older generations, they used to be like, “Oh, well, they’re doing this. It’s none of my business.”

But younger people are like, “No, I want to get involved. I want to learn about you. I want to feel what you feel, so then I can be sympathetic at least, or empathetic to what you’re going through.” I feel these are starting to be really big changes in this community. A year or two ago, I started working … I worked with the Cannabis Commission for Maryland. I started actually taking research there. I started being an intern. I took my free time just to learn the basics of it.

I kept trying, and I kept meeting more people that were either in situations like me or I met people that were really just passionate about it. There’s one guy, the Maryland … I think he’s the commissioner, I think, of some type of cannabis over here. His name is Darryl Carrington. I met him when I was at a college. I went to UNBC because my mom works there. I was just like, “Oh.” Well, my mom was like, “This guy, he keeps coming in. He said that there’s something about cannabis.” My mom had no idea what that actually meant. She was like, “Oh yeah, you can be an intern there.” I told my regular dad and he was like, “Yep, no.”

From then, I just kept his email, I just kept contacting him, I kept bothering him and pestering him until he would tell me more stuff about it to get to know about the legal, any type of things that he thought was important to him. I really grasp onto him a mentor, because obviously, if he’s taking his time and he’s dedicated his life to it, it’s something worth at least looking at or spending time to do. I feel like the young kids know this, the older generations are getting more feasible to it, if they aren’t already. I feel like this is going to be something that’s going to rebuild the stuff that’s been broken.

TG Branfalt: I want to ask you both very specific questions about your work with your respective companies. At Fruits of Our Labor, something I read about that was really, really interesting to me about your company was that you hold monthly meetings and you ask employees what they want for the company, how to make it better and how they and the company can innovate in the space. Not a lot … I mean, I’ve been in the workforce for 26 years now or something crazy, and I’ve never had this experience. Never, right? No matter where I’ve been professional, fast-food didn’t matter. What type of responses do you get from those meetings? Why is it important for you to hold these sessions?

Alvin Edwards: It’s really important for us to hold those sessions because every month things go on that are different. One month, one of the … When we first started out, what they said they really wanted, I asked them, “What type of benefits do you want? Because we can’t really give a lot right now.” Most of the people just said they want to get therapy for them and their kids. I said, “Okay, we can do that. That’s fine. We’ll find something that’s going to be affordable for all of us, and we will try to get therapy either in-house or we’ll try to have a trip that we all go to see them.”

TG Branfalt: Unbelievable.

Alvin Edwards: Then the next month, one guy was like, “Oh, I want to do … I’m really getting into drones and stuff like that.” I was like, “Okay, cool. Let’s look up how to build drones, and let’s see if we can make that into our thing,” because we live either by Carroll community, or we live by Baltimore County community. We live by community colleges, we live by dorm colleges, we live by these big places, knowing that either they’re close to getting a Green Card or they’re working on it, or there’s stuff that. We’re trying to build drones now that are going to be able to deliver it because we have the technology, we have all this stuff to learn.

We’re trying to just put some type of foothold in there that is technological, that is creative and almost any type of creative fields, we’re getting people that are interested in art into art, we’re getting people that are interested in just … Whatever they were really interested in was the monthly meeting. I just asked, “What are you guys really interested in? How can I make you guys feel like you’re valued and appreciated? Then what did you guys do that made sense? What was something that you saw that was cool or what was going on in the news?” Just kept asking every month. It got annoying for them at that first few months. But after the six months, they were like, “We’re starting to get this,” and I was like, “All right, sweet.” I thought its-

TG Branfalt: That’s super, super cool.

Alvin Edwards: … so important to do, to talk to people because things go on all the time and you don’t really know or things happen and then they’re just like, carrying it.

TG Branfalt: I mean, the idea of … Because we know that drone delivery is on the horizon, at least for Amazon, I mean, it’s such a spectacular idea to be ahead of the curve and figure out what those rules and regulations are going to look eventually for this space. Super wild, man. Thank you so much for sharing that with me. David, tell me about why the foundation was formed, ultimately. I mean, you already have a company where you can enact a lot of these policies. Why go the step further?

David Moss: Well, partly in due to, as a cannabis company, we’re giving back to the communities where we operate. We can do that. We don’t need a nonprofit to do that. But on a larger picture, we can also team up with organizations that are working towards justice reform. By creating a foundation, one, we wanted to see if we could get a cannabis related, even though it doesn’t touch cannabis, federally tax exempt, which we did.

Alvin Edwards: Nice.

David Moss: Yeah. The organization is called From the Earth Foundation. We didn’t hide it. We didn’t pretend. We talked about our … It’s a separate entity and we weren’t sure whether the IRS was going to approve it or not. Well, they did. We’re one of very few cannabis operators in the country that has a federally tax exempt non-profit, and we felt by doing so, one, it opens up more opportunities for us to raise money and awareness, because we can now ask our customers to donate and receive a legitimate tax write off for a donation. We can ask our vendors to participate. It just creates a more legitimate giving opportunity and it allows us to expand the program and expand awareness through a legitimate 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

TG Branfalt: Unbelievable, man. I mean, I-

David Moss: I’ll be really clear. From the Earth Foundation does not touch cannabis in any way, shape or form, but it receives money from our cannabis operations, and we made that very clear. Again, we just weren’t sure how that was going to play, but we got approved and we’re excited. Again, we support organizations like the Boys and Girls Club, and the Police Explorers, and the US Navy Marine Relief Center and food banks and stuff like that. In addition to working with, we’re beginning to build a relationship with Last Prisoner’s Project, which works on getting expungement and raising awareness and transition back into the real world once they get out and so forth. Having a nonprofit allows us to do that on a much larger scale.

TG Branfalt: I mean, it’s really interesting to me. I mean, you guys are working together from across the country. You couldn’t be any more different on the surface, but your passion, both of your passion, for this equity and this justice and this philanthropic soul, I guess you might say, it comes through just in this conversation. Congratulations to both of you for getting to this point in your lives. What advice would you guys have for other entrepreneurs looking to enter this space? Whether it be an ancillary business, like making glass blunts, or touch the plant side of it. What’s …

David Moss: I hope you got a … I would say on the touching the plant side of it, make sure you got a lot of money, a lot of patience, and that you can handle a lot of risk and a lot of headache. It’s a challenge, I’m not going to lie. It’s probably one of the most challenging things I’ve ever been involved in in my life. But-

TG Branfalt: Not for the faint of heart.

David Moss: That’s what I would say.

TG Branfalt: What about you, Alvin?

Alvin Edwards: I would say be nice to everyone, learn what people like. Just talk to people essentially. For a while, I didn’t want to take any money away from my company, from the people that worked for me. So I got a regular job and I kept a … When I had the interview, I just told my boss, I was like, “Okay, I run this glass blunt company. We normally work with marijuana and stuff like that,” and I was fully expecting her to say, “Oh, no, now you can’t work for us.” I was like, “Okay, that’s fine.”

But it turns out a week later, she was like, “Yeah, that’s fine. It doesn’t bother me. It doesn’t bother me at all.” They’ve been super supportive about the whole thing. They just really care. I would say just talk about your stuff, because who knows who’s into what and who knows what they have to offer, who they know. Just talk about yourself, not in a creepy way, but just talk about yourself and talk with people and understand what they like too. Because you might find that that really innovative idea based on just someone talking to you.

TG Branfalt: I mean, to your point. I mean, you sent an Instagram message and here we are.

Alvin Edwards: Yep.

David Moss: Let me just clarify. I don’t want to discourage anybody who has a vision of getting into the cannabis industry. But realistically, people should know the barrier to entry is a challenge. It’s a challenging thing. Get as much info … If you are thinking about getting into the business, research. Do as much research as you possibly can on what it takes. Every city is different. It’s a challenge. Find a city where there’s a non-competitive application process, meaning they’re willing to give as many licenses away if you meet the qualifications, as opposed to a competitive application process where there’s five licenses in a city. I mean, that would be my advice to somebody thinking about it. Get educated, learn as much as you can, and don’t just go in thinking you’re going to get into the business and make a lot of money. I mean, it’s challenging.

TG Branfalt: I mean, that’s one of the things that I’ve heard time and time is that people think that you get into cannabis and it’s early tech and you’re rich overnight. The more conversations I have, the more I realize it’s not the case. Before we wrap up here-

David Moss: Only in the elicit, illegal market does that happen. It’s true.

TG Branfalt: No, I just probably shouldn’t comment on that being because I live in New York. Before we wrap up, where can people find out more about From the Earth first, and then we’ll go to where people can find out more about Fruits of Our Labor?

David Moss: Well, you can go to fromtheearth.com, for one, to learn about our operations and what we’ve got going on, or you can go to fromtheearthfoundation.org and check out From the Earth Foundation, and how to donate and where you can make donations and where those donations go. We have our Instagram and our Facebook page and all of that stuff as well, which is all in that website.

TG Branfalt: It’s all @Fromtheearth?

David Moss: Yep.

TG Branfalt: Where can people find out more about Fruits of Our Labor?

Alvin Edwards: We have a Instagram page. It’s Fruits of Our Labor. It’s underscore. We have one underscore, it’s fruits_ofourlabour. We added U just to be different in labor. Then we have fruitsofourlabor.net. Those are our main two places where you can find us. But yep, besides that, I can’t really think of anything else that we really are up-to-date on. Not that I can think of yet.

TG Branfalt: Well, again, I really want to thank you guys for coming on the show, taking the time. This is a really, really interesting strategic partnership that you guys have. Again, I just want to congratulate you on getting to this point. That’s Alvin Edwards, the Third. He is the founder of Fruits of Our Labor, which employs ex-convicts to manufacture and distribute vaporizers and glass blunts as part of its mission to rebuild black communities that rehabilitate their peers and showcase their knowledge to succeed in the cannabis industry.

David Moss, executive director and co-founder for From the Earth Foundation and chief development officer for From the Earth, which operates in California and Michigan, and is a strategic partner with Fruits of Our Labor on the social equity driven project. Thank you both again for coming on the show, and I can’t wait to see where this goes down the road.

Alvin Edwards: Thank you for having us.

David Moss: Thanks for having us. It was fun. Great conversation.

TG Branfalt: I look forward to hopefully having you guys on the show again, maybe individually, because I think there’s a lot more that we didn’t get to cover because of the time constraints. But …

David Moss: Anytime.

TG Branfalt: You can find more episodes of the Ganjaentrepreneur.com Podcast in podcast section of ganjapreneur.com on Spotify, and in the Apple iTunes Store. On ganjapreneur.com website, you will find the latest cannabis news and cannabis jobs updated daily along with transcripts of this podcast. You can also download the ganjapreneur.com app in iTunes and Google Play. This episode was engineered by Trim Media House. I’ve been your host, TG Branfalt.

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Alabama Senate Committee Approves Cannabis Decriminalization Measure

3/05/2021

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The Alabama Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday passed a measure to decriminalize cannabis possession up to 2 ounces for first-time offenders, which would lower penalties from a misdemeanor penalized by up to a year in jail to a $250 fine.

Attorney Will League, who supports the reforms, told WAFF, that the measure would help youthful offenders avoid criminal ramifications associated with low-level possession convictions.

“Youth who has an indiscretion, not to affect his or her future and get them into the system. And once you get into the system, you’re talking about probation, records, poor issues finding jobs, and some things that could move past just their youth to affect them moving forward.” – League to WAFF

The measure was sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Sen. Bobby Singleton (D) and moves next to the full chamber for consideration. Singleton introduced more sweeping decriminalization legislation in 2019 that would apply to all possession charges – not just first offenses – but that measure died in the Judiciary Committee.

A recent report found Black people in Alabama were 4.1 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession in Alabama than their white counterparts.

In 2018, decriminalization legislation was introduced in both legislative chambers but neither failed to gain traction. The House bill died in committee while the Senate bill was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee but did not get a vote by the full chamber.

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Global Cannabis Sales Topped $21B in 2020

3/04/2021

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Global cannabis sales reached nearly $21.3 billion in 2020, an increase of 48% over the previous year’s $14.4 billion in sales, according to BDSA. The analytics firm forecasts global cannabis sales will grow to $55.9 billion by 2026, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 17%.

The more mature markets in the U.S. saw accelerated growth in 2020, BDSA said, noting that Colorado grew by 26% – double its 2019 rate – while Oregon expanded by 39%, 18% more than its 2019 rate. Medical and adult-use markets that launched in 2019 and 2020 contributed $1.6 billion in spending in 2020, BDSA said, with $422 million in medical cannabis sales and nearly $1.2 billion in adult-use.

Canada, the largest national market which legalized cannabis federally in 2018, grew by 61% in 2020 to more than $2.6 billion. 2020 marked the first year of “Cannabis 2.0,” which included edibles and concentrates. BDSA estimates by 2026 Canada’s sales will increase to about $6.4 billion, a CAGR of 16%.

BDSA CEO Micah Tapman said the company’s previous forecast was “conservative” based on the expected fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

“…But the industry not only survived, it thrived and legal cannabis gained considerable ground, exceeding our expectations in several markets.” – Tapman in a press release

Legal cannabis sales in the U.S. passed $17.5 billion in 2020, exceeding 2019 growth by 46%. BDSA predicts U.S. sales to reach $41.3 billion in 2026, a CAGR of 15%. California saw the biggest market expansion of $586 million, followed by Florida ($473 million), Colorado ($451 million), and Oklahoma ($400 million).

BDSA found legal cannabis product sales, including cannabis-derived pharmaceuticals, outside of North America reached nearly $1.1 billion in spending last year. BDSA forecasts international sales will exceed $8.3 billion in 2026, a CAGR of 40%. The bulk of that new legal spending internationally will be driven by Mexico at a 104% CAGR. Mexico is required to legalize cannabis following a 2018 Supreme Court ruling that declared cannabis prohibition unconstitutional. Mexico is expected to account for almost 32% of legal cannabis spending beyond the U.S. and Canada in 2026, BDS said.

In Europe, BDSA estimates legal cannabis product sales in France will see a 186%, followed by Germany with a 36% CAGR. The firm anticipates the U.K. – which has legalized cannabis-derived pharmaceuticals – will grow at a CAGR of 57%.

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Majority of Texas Voters Want to Legalize Cannabis

3/04/2021

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A recent poll by the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune hints at a significant rise in the state’s support for cannabis legalization.

The survey asked Texans whether or not they supported cannabis legalization, letting respondents choose between four options: “Never,” “For Medical Purposes Only,” “Small Amounts for Any Use,” or “Any Amount for Any Use.” Overall, 60 percent of Texans support legalizing the possession of either small amounts or any amount of cannabis, for any use.

Only 13 percent of respondents said cannabis should “never” be legal, while 28 percent believed cannabis possession should only be allowed for medical purposes.

The largest demographic in support of full legalization was the 30-44 age range at 69 percent. The least supportive age group was Texas’ older population but a significant number of aged Texans, 53 percent, still said they would support the right to possess “small amounts” or “any amount for any use.”

This is a big jump from a decade ago, according to the Tribune, as a May 2010 poll revealed that 54 percent of Texans opposed legalizing cannabis, with 27 percent preferring medical-only cannabis. The same poll found just 42 percent of Texans supported legalizing cannabis.

In an interview with Marijuana Moment, Heather Fazio — the director of Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy — said, “Current marijuana laws are harsh, unreasonable, and unpopular. Thankfully, both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have put forward bills to change the way Texas handles marijuana.”

Texas has seen ups and downs in its cannabis policy. Cities like Fort Worth, Dallas, and Austin are not enforcing low-level cannabis crimes, but cannabis remains highly illegal in the Lone Star State. Additionally, while Texas has a limited medical cannabis system and an industrial hemp industry, local politicians have offered little support to the programs and in many cases have attempted to hamper progress.

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Study: Benefits of Microdosing LSD Likely Placebo

3/04/2021

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Researchers at the Imperial College London have found that the anecdotally reported benefits of microdosing LSD can likely be attributed to the placebo effect, The Guardian reports.

Their study — reportedly the largest-ever placebo-controlled investigation into the potential benefits of psychedelics — found that while daily small doses of LSD appeared to carry beneficial psychological effects, study participants in the placebo-controlled group reported equally positive results.

To conduct the study, researchers recruited 191 people who were already microdosing with LSD. Volunteers were told to prepare their LSD microdoses (approximately 13μg, each) and placebos ahead of time using gel capsules, then mix them up with envelopes. Each batch was flagged with a QR code which participants would scan before accessing, thus leaving participants unaware but allowing researchers to track whether a participant was actually taking LSD or just the placebo. The volunteers then completed surveys throughout the study’s four-week trial to log their experiences.

“Our findings confirmed some of the beneficial psychological effects of microdosing from anecdotal reports and observational studies, such as improved sense of wellbeing and life satisfaction. But we see the same improvements among participants taking placebos. This suggests that the improvements may not be due to the pharmacological action of the drug but can instead be explained by the placebo effect.” — Balázs Szigeti, lead author and research associate at Imperial College London’s Centre for Psychedelic Research

The medicinal use of psychedelics is growing in popularity with researchers around the world launching investigations. Last year, a study found that psilocybin — the mind-altering substance in psychedelic mushrooms — offered patients with depression “more than four times greater” relief than traditional antidepressant medications.

Additionally, the U.S. military allocated $17 million last June for medicinal psychedelic research.

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Report: Only 46% of Americans Would Buy Home Near Dispensary

3/04/2021

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According to a survey by insurance comparison company the Zebra, less than half – 46% – of respondents would purchase a house within one mile of a cannabis dispensary. The survey found 51% of men would buy a home next to a cannabis shop but just 40% of women.

The Zebra found that Westerners were most open to buying a home near a dispensary (45%) followed by 44% of Midwesterners and Southerners, and 37% of Northeasterners. People aged 22-44 were most likely to purchase a home within a mile from a cannabusiness, while those 55-64 were least likely.

The survey also found that home prices in states, including Washington, D.C., that legalized cannabis also increased – some more dramatically than others – in the years following legalization. Home prices in most legal states, save for Michigan, were also above the national average.

“Colorado and Washington both legalized weed in 2012; since then, property values in both states have doubled. … After legalizing recreational marijuana, home prices grew at rates above the national average in 60% of states: Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Michigan, Maine, Nevada.” – The Zebra, Marijuana Real Estate: How Recreational Pot is Impacting the Neighborhood

A RE/MAX report focused on Canadian real estate last year found cannabis legalization increased home prices and led to home shortages in some regions.

Academic studies are mixed on whether crime increases in neighborhoods with legal cannabis shops. A 2019 City University of New York study published in the Justice Evaluation Journal, focused on Colorado, found that property crime, such as burglary and theft, rose 18% on street segments where adult-use dispensaries opened, while street segments adjacent to the dispensaries saw drug crimes increase by about 28%, and “disorder” crimes (like criminal mischief and graffiti) rose 17%. However, a study published September 2020 in the Journal of Regional Science and Urban Economics – focused on Denver – implied a reduction in crimes in neighborhoods with dispensaries of about 17 crimes per month per 10,000 residents which “corresponds to roughly a 19 percent decline relative to the average crime rate over the sample period.”

A 2019 study conducted by the University of Colorado at Denver found crime around dispensaries increased initially but fell over time.

A 2020 National Association of Realtors survey found 33% of respondents indicated there had been no perception of an increase in crime around dispensaries.

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NAACP Says Regulators’ Failure to Meet Social Equity Requirements Is a Crime

3/04/2021

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The NAACP chapter of New Jersey says that the makeup of the Cannabis Regulatory Commission violates the law that created the commission because it does not meet its own social equity requirements, Gothamist reports. In the letter to officials, NAACP lawyer Gregg L. Jeff said it’s unclear “that any appointed member of the commission meets this mandatory requirement.”

According to Jeff, the commission requires at least one member to be a “state representative of a national organization or State branch of a national organization with a stated mission of studying, advocating, or adjudicating against minority historical oppression, past and present discrimination, unemployment, poverty and income inequality, and other forms of social injustice or inequality.”

The letter also requests “all documents that identify the qualifications of the member or members of the Cannabis Regulatory Commission that qualify for the position,” according to NJ.com.

Gov. Phil Murphy announced his appointed members of the commission three days after voters approved the legalization ballot initiative last November, including Jeff Brown, who currently heads the medical cannabis division of the Department of Health, as executive director; Dianna Houenou, formerly of the American Civil Liberties Union of NJ and a member of the governor’s administration, as chair; and Krista Nash, a social worker who was recommended by Senate President Steve Sweeney.

The commission also includes Maria Del Cid, the director of the Office of Policy and Legislative Services at the Health Department; William Wallace, of the United Food and Commercial Workers union; and Sam Delgado, a former Verizon executive and Marine, according to NJ.com.

Given her experience with the ACLU, Houenou most closely matches the description of being in an organization that fought for social justice; however, she is no longer with the ACLU-NJ. She is also the only Black person on the committee. In the letter, Zeff called her an “excellent choice” for chair.

Richard Smith, president of the state NAACP conference, told NJ.com that the organization “is very concerned because we have been at the forefront for marijuana legalization and decriminalization since the beginning.”

“We can be arrested for it, our lives can be ruined by it, and yet it doesn’t appear that we’re good enough to be on the commission.” – Smith via NJ.com

A recent report found Black people in New Jersey were 3.5 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than their white counterparts.

Last week, Rev. Dr. Charles F. Boyer, founder of Salvation and Social Justice, blasted the makeup of the commission on Twitter.

“So is there really no Black man on the cannabis commission?” he Tweeted tagging Murphy, Sweeney, General Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, and the NJ NAACP. “You all really only have 1 Black person on this commission total? Wow?”

“So the demographic most targeted by prohibition has no representation on the commission?” he added in a follow-up tweet. “Btw the three of you not one could find a Black man to be on this commission?”

In an interview with the Gothamist, he noted that “there’s no one on the commission who has lived experience with the brutalities of the drug war.”

“There’s no one here who knows what it has been like to have been arrested or incarcerated,” he added. “There’s no one here who was ever in the underground market.”

The commission was fully appointed last week after Murphy signed the legalization package into law.

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Washington Police Upset About Drug Decriminalization

3/03/2021

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Law enforcement agencies throughout Washington state are releasing guidance – and pushing back – following the state Supreme Court decision last week that effectively decriminalized all drug possession in the state.

The decision ruled that state’s felony drug possession law unconstitutional and, following the decision, the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys (WAPA) said “police officers must immediately stop making arrests or issuing citations for simple possession of drugs,” according to an email published by the Post Millennial.

“No search warrants. No detentions upon suspicion of simple possession awaiting canine units, etc. You will need to advise your officers as to whether officers should still seize the unlawful drugs as contraband or leave them in the possession of the individual.” – Pam Loginsky, staff attorney for WAPA, via the Post Millennial.

Lawmakers have introduced a bill they believe would make the drug possession statute constitutional – by simply adding “knowingly” to the language of the law, KOMO News reports.

Democratic state Sen. Steve Hobbs said in an interview with KOMO following the ruling that the legislature has “to fix [the law] right away.”

“Right now, you can have controlled substances and not get arrested. It’s kind of crazy,” Hobbs told KOMO. “I know several states have gone through this very problem before and now it’s our turn.”

In a February 27 statement, the Renton Police Department CPC Cyndie Morris said the ruling “takes effect immediately and will also impact previous arrests and prosecutions.”

“I wanted you to be aware of the new constraints that our officers must now work under and ask for your understanding,” the statement says. “The safety and well-being of our community continues to be our top priority, but as you can imagine this recent ruling will have a dramatic effect on our community.”

In a Facebook post, Snohomish County Sheriff Adam Fortney appeared to mock the Supreme Court Justices, saying the High Court “actually bought off on the ‘THESE AREN’T MY PANTS’ defense.”

In an internal memo outlined by the Post Millennial the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs said they “believe that prosecutors will soon take the following actions: arrange for the immediate release of all pre-trial detainees whose only charged offenses are simple possessions, obtain orders vacating the judgments of all persons in your jails who are currently only serving time on simple possession, and recall all arrest warrants issued in cases in which the only charge is simple possession of drugs.”

The organization also said that it was “unclear” the impact of the ruling “on property forfeited pursuant to simple possession” and how the ruling “impacts cases where the fruits from search warrants based on simple possession revealed information relating to other crimes.”

In a February 25 statement, the Seattle Police Department said its officers would no longer detain or arrest individuals for simple possession or confiscate drugs based only on simple possession.

“This ruling does not impact any other charges that may be evident to officers during an encounter,” the statement says. “This ruling also does not limit officers’ ability to conduct investigations involving other illegal drug activity. However, officers must have reasonable suspicion or probable cause to investigate those other crimes, another those other crimes cannot rely nor be based upon RCW 69.50.4013 as the underlying crime.”

Kathleen Kyle, managing director of the Snohomish County Public Defenders Association, said in an interview with the Post Millennial that the “ruling is a step toward a more equitable criminal justice system.”

“If punishment were deterring addiction,” he said, “we wouldn’t be in the heroin epidemic that we have been in.”

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Massachusetts Community College Offers Cannabis Training Scholarships

3/03/2021

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Massachusetts’ Holyoke Community College Cannabis Education Center is offering scholarships to students who enroll in its core cannabis training program, which runs March 20 and 21. The program costs $595 but qualified individuals could have the full cost covered by the college’s partner, cannabis company Elevate Northeast.

Cara Crabb-Burnham, Elevate Northeast’s co-founder and director of education, said the scholarships are targeted primarily at students from communities negatively impacted by drug laws that preceded cannabis legalization in the state. The scholarships are funded by cannabusiness donations.

“The goal of the Elevate Northeast Scholarship Fund is to help future cannabis employees and entrepreneurs experience real-world training and education that will bolster their ability to earn viable positions in the cannabis industry. Through this scholarship program we hope to attract students to the cannabis industry who have a passion for cannabis and want to ensure the cannabis space is diverse, equitable, and fair.” – Crabb-Burnham in a statement

Students who complete the core training program are then eligible to register for classes in one of the college’s cannabis industry career tracks: culinary assistant, extraction technician, and patient services associate.

The Cannabis Education Center is a partnership between the college and Elevate Northeast and based out of HCC’s Kittredge Center for Business and Workforce Development.

Last year, Denver, Colorado-based cannabis tech company Veriheal announced they would offer $10,000 in scholarships to students interested in the cannabis industry, saying focuses such as pharmacology, botany, and business would be relevant for the awards.

Colleges and universities in states with both adult-use and medical cannabis programs, along with states with strong hemp industries, have launched a variety of industry-focused education programs as cannabis-friendly policies proliferate throughout the U.S.

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New Rhode Island Gov. Supports Cannabis Legalization

3/03/2021

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Democrat Daniel McKee was sworn in as Rhode Island governor yesterday after the U.S. Senate confirmed Gina Raimondo as President Joe Biden’s Commerce Secretary. McKee had previously served as Raimondo’s lieutenant governor.

Raimondo had been a proponent of legalization as Rhode Island governor, including it in her 2020 Executive Budget, but was rebuffed by lawmakers. Her new role as commerce secretary includes, among other things, promoting economic growth, job creation, and balanced economic development, which would all be enhanced by federal cannabis policy reforms.

As recently as 2019, McKee said he did not support cannabis legalization; however, JD Supra reports that in January he said that “it’s time [legalization] happens.” According to the report, McKee supports a system of privately-run dispensaries, a contrast to his predecessor who backed a plan for state-run cannabis shops.

The state is also facing a $275 million budget gap, which could press lawmakers to enact the reforms this session. House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi (D) has indicated that the chamber is “very close” to having majority support for the reforms and that he is “absolutely” open to the idea, according to JD Supra. Senate Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey (D), called for legalization in January.

“The time has come to legalize adult cannabis use. We have studied this issue extensively, and we can incorporate the practices we’ve learned from other states.” – McCaffrey via JD Supra

If lawmakers were to approve cannabis legalization this session – JD Supra notes that most major legislation is not passed in Rhode Island until the General Assembly is set to adjourn in June – sales wouldn’t likely commence until mid-2022 at the earliest.

In a January interview with ABC6, state Rep. Karen Alzate (D) put the chances of passing the reforms this session at 95%.

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Rhode Island Seeks Cannabis License Lottery Administrator

3/03/2021

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Rhode Island has posted a Request for Proposals seeking bids from firms to facilitate a lottery in mid-May to select winners of six licenses to operate new medical cannabis dispensaries around the state. According to the request, the deadline for application submission is March 24 with the contract beginning April 16 and lasting for approximately a month until the lottery takes place around May 16.

The selected vendor will “design, develop and administer the random selection process” in consultation with the Rhode Island Department of Business.

“The firm or individual will be primarily responsible for securing all equipment, technology, or other necessary mediums to run the process.” — Excerpt from the request

Defying some cannabis operators who want the selection process to be based on merit, former Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) — who yesterday ascended from the governorship to join President Joe Biden’s cabinet — previously said a lottery system would help avoid “political favoritism,” The Providence Journal reports.

Responding to skyrocketing medical cannabis patient registrations in recent years — far more than the state expected — Rhode Island plans to add six new dispensaries to its existing three. Twenty-eight cannabis companies submitted applications in December, hoping to get into the market before the expected arrival of adult-use cannabis.

The 28 applicants face expensive application fees, an annual fee of up to $500,000, and together they constitute a list of Rhode Island’s “who’s who,” Ganjaprenuer reported in December. The lottery, high application fees, and other barriers come at a time when activists and lawmakers are raising social equity concerns in many legal cannabis states around the country.

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UPS Will Stop Shipping Vape Products

3/02/2021

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UPS has joined FedEx in announcing they will no longer ship vape products starting April 5. The move was prompted by the Omnibus spending bill signed last year by ex-President Trump, which contained language requiring the United States Postal Service (USPS) to create regulations within 120 days — starting in December when the bill was signed — to govern the shipment of vape products, “whether they contain nicotine or not,” according to a Vaping360 report.

The UPS ban includes all cannabis vapor products as well as tobacco.

The “Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act” requires online vape sellers to follow the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act, which presents vape sellers with a maze of federal regulations that include heavy penalties and even prison time for vendors who violate the act, according to the report.

“If the increase in shipping costs wasn’t enough, the bill also imposes huge paperwork burdens on small retailers, and backs it up with threats of imprisonment for even innocent mistakes. This is not a law designed to regulate the mail-order sale of vaping products to adults; it’s an attempt to eliminate it.” — Gregory Conley, President of the American Vaping Association, in a statement

The USPS has not yet issued its regulations but they are unlikely to improve things for online vape sellers, considering the businesses will still have to comply with the PACT act.

Under the PACT Act, vape businesses are required to:

  • Register with the U.S. Attorney General and ATF
  • Verify the ages of their customers
  • Require an adult’s signature at the point of delivery
  • Register with the federal government and states’ tobacco tax administrators
  • Collect all local and state taxes, and include any required tax stamps
  • In states that specifically tax vape products, send a full list of customer transactions to each state’s tax administrator, including product types and quantity
  • Maintain records for five years of any interrupted or potentially illegal vape product delivery in taxing states.

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California Bill Would Ban Employers from Cannabis Use Discrimination

3/02/2021

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A bill introduced in California would prohibit most employers from using a positive drug test for cannabis from denying or terminating an employee and would allow those who face employment discrimination for cannabis use to take legal action, the Sacramento Bee reports.

The measure excludes employers under a federal mandate to drug test, those who would lose funding or a licensing-related benefits for not testing for THC, and building and construction firms, the report says.

Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML, told the Bee that the bill does not ban tests – such as blood screenings – that can determine whether an employee is actively under the influence but called the hair and urine tests most often used by employers “an irrational discrimination.”

“It is those tests that we want to ban, because they don’t detect anything related to impairment. … You can’t judge a worker by their urine. If you do that, you’re going to have a piss-poor workforce.” — Gieringer to the Bee

Gieringer also warned that the measure (AB.1256) is still being adjusted with language from other stakeholders and it might not be taken up this year. It was introduced February 19 by Democratic Assemblyman Bill Quirk and is pending referral to a committee where it may be heard on March 22, according to the bill history.

A study published last year by San Diego State University found that after-hours cannabis use has no negative effects on workplace performance but did find a negative correlation between those who used cannabis before and during work with task performance.

Last month several large employers in Maine – including the state’s largest private employer MaineHealth – indicated they are dropping THC testing from their pre-employment protocols for non-safety sensitive positions.

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Seth Rogen’s Cannabis Brand Set for U.S. Market Launch this Month

3/02/2021

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Actor Seth Rogen said on Monday that his cannabis company, Houseplant, is set for its U.S. launch. Rogen said he’s “hand-picked” the company’s strains which he “love[s] to be smoking.”

In a press release, the company indicated Houseplant products would be available in select California markets via a delivery service accessible through Houseplant.com beginning March 11 and in some dispensaries at a later date.

He added in the Twitter video that Houseplant is also offering “beautiful house goods for people who smoke weed” showing his followers a box table lighter, which includes an ashtray as its top. The company’s home goods will be available for shipping throughout the U.S.

“This is honestly my life’s work and I’ve never been more excited about anything. I hope you enjoy it.” – Rogen via Twitter

Rogen, star of ‘stoner’ comedy films “Superbad” and “Pineapple Express,” founded Houseplant in 2019 with longtime collaborator Evan Goldberg and in partnership with Canopy Growth. Among its flower products is a sativa strain called Pancake Ice, which Rogen said on Twitter tests at 33% THC (and is what he smokes “all day”). The company also has a pre-roll and beverage line of products in Canada. Rogen did not indicate which products would be made available in the U.S.

Rogen also unveiled “Houseplant LP Box Set Vol. 1” – a three-record set with “a different mix of songs for each strain,” he tweeted soon after announcing the U.S. launch.

“Houseplant was born out of our love and passion for cannabis, design and art,” Rogen said in a statement. “Evan and I also recognize that our lifelong dream of starting a cannabis lifestyle brand like Houseplant comes with a commitment to changing the unjust and racist cannabis laws that still exist in today’s society. We understand our responsibility to help right those wrongs and are dedicated to creating a more diverse, equitable cannabis industry.”

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Veteran Nonprofit Approved for Cannabis-for-PTSD Observational Study

3/02/2021

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California-based Battle Brothers Foundation has received approval from the Independent Review Board to launch an observational study on the use of medical cannabis to help combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans in partnership with medical data and research company NiaMedic.

The Battle Brothers Foundation is the nonprofit arm of the Helmand Valley Growers Company, HVGC was founded by disabled U.S. Special Operations veterans and donates 100% of its profits to fund research on medical cannabis use for veterans. NiaMedic generates clinical data of medical cannabis and provides healthcare, clinical research, and consultation services.

Bryan Buckley, founder and president of the board for the Battle Brothers Foundation, said the news of the approval “could not come at a better time.”

“Every day, 22 veterans are dying due to effects of post-traumatic stress from opioid addiction to depression. Through anecdotal experiences, we know that cannabis can alleviate symptoms and provide relief. We appreciate that the IRB recognizes the validity of and the need for this study.” – Buckley in a press release

The study plans to enroll 60 California veterans with moderate or severe PTSD over the next year and participants will dose and titrate individually purchased products at their own discretion. They will be followed for 90 days to evaluate the effects of cannabis on their symptoms.

According to the National Institutes of Health, the PTSD rate among returning service members varies across wars and eras. In one study of 60,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, 13.5% of deployed and non-deployed veterans screened positive for PTSD, while other studies show the rate to be as high as 20% to 30%. As many as 500,000 U.S. troops who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars over the past 13 years have been diagnosed with PTSD.

Several studies have found cannabis to be efficacious for treating PTSD. A study funded by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment published last month found, over the course of one year, PTSD sufferers who used cannabis reported a greater decrease in symptom severity than a control group and were 2.57 times more likely to no longer meet the DSM-5 criteria for the condition.

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Virginia Becomes First Southern State to Approve Cannabis Legalization

3/01/2021

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Virginia lawmakers on Saturday passed cannabis legalization legislation becoming the first Southern state to approve the reforms, which under the law will take effect in 2024. The measure moves next to Gov. Ralph Northam (D) for his signature, which is expected.

NORML Development Director Jenn Michelle Pedini, who also serves as the executive director of Virginia NORML, called the approval “another historic step for cannabis justice in Virginia.”

“Stakeholders, the administration, and the legislature have dedicated hundreds of hours to craft legislation that is just and equitable, and that will replace the failed policy of cannabis prohibition with one that promotes Virginia’s economy as well as Virginians’ public health and safety.” – Pedini, in a statement

The bill does not legalize simple possession immediately – which was included in the Senate-approved version – rather when sales commence in three years. Last year, the state approved a cannabis possession decriminalization measure which reduces the penalties for possession of up to a half-ounce to $25. Previously, possession charges could lead to a $500 fine and 30 days in jail.

The measure passed both chambers across party lines, 20-19 in the Senate and 48-43 in the House. Virginia is the third state to approve adult-use cannabis legalization via the legislative process, following Illinois and Vermont.

In a statement, the American Civil Liberties Union criticized the measure as not going far enough to “break the chains of marijuana prohibition” because it failed to legalize cannabis possession immediately.

“The Virginia General Assembly failed to legalize marijuana for racial justice,” the statement says. “Lawmakers paid lip service to the communities that have suffered decades of harm caused by the racist War on Drugs with legislation that falls short of equitable reform and delays justice.”

A recent report found Black people were 3.4 times more likely to get arrested for cannabis possession than white people in Virginia. The measure includes social equity provisions, such as prioritizing business licenses for individuals most impacted by the war on drugs.

In addition to allowing sales and possession, Virginians will be allowed to cultivate up to four plants per household.

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Report: Cannabis Products Marketed for Sleep Up 635% Since Pandemic

3/01/2021

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Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, California shopping and delivery platform Ganja Goddess found a 635% increase in revenue for cannabis products marketed to support sleep, while the company saw 100% year-over-year growth.

Additionally, the company saw a 275% increase in revenue on 4/20, the largest day for cannabis delivery sales and a 200% increase in revenue on Cyber Monday, the second-largest day for delivery sales.

Ganja Goddess CEO Zachary Pitts said during the pandemic, delivery “became a vital force in the industry.”

Throughout the U.S., both medical and recreational cannabis were considered essential services but were subject to in-person sales restrictions and forced to shift to delivery or curbside pickup.

“In a year filled with challenges, we saw a surge in consumers placing orders for cannabis products marketed to help with sleep issues, highlighting one of the many health issues Americans are facing during the pandemic. The critical need for cannabis delivery remains at an all-time high. As challenges related to the pandemic continue, we are committed to serving the growing needs of cannabis consumers and patients across California.” – Pitts in a statement

The company also reported a 53% increase in conversion rates, outperforming the average e-commerce conversion rate of 1-2% by more than 350%.

Other, broader, consumer shifts have occurred since the declaration of the pandemic last March, including one survey by Harris Poll, conducted on behalf of cannabis company Curaleaf, which found 45% of respondents had reduced or replaced their alcohol consumption with cannabis since the start of the pandemic.

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