Chris Van Leeuwen: Navigating Insurance In the Cannabis Industry

8/04/2020

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As the cannabis, industrial hemp, and CBD industries gain traction, so must ancillary services designed to assist the innovative entrepreneurs and business owners in this space. Sometimes those services are born out of necessity for the industry but many times they come from long-time experts in their field who have pivoted to a new focus on cannabis, one of the world’s most exciting and fastest-growing industries.

In our latest Q&A, Chris Van Leeuwen — an insurance industry veteran of over 30 years — talks about the insurance needs of the modern cannabis business owner and how Insurance Canopy caters to those needs. He also offers insights about what business owners should look for when purchasing insurance packages for their cannabis, hemp, and/or CBD firm, describes the most common risks that such companies are facing, and more!

Scroll down to check out the full interview.

Ganjapreneur: What are the benefits of buying cannabis, CBD, or hemp insurance?

Chris Van Leeuwen: The most obvious benefit is peace of mind. Obtaining the cannabis insurance coverages that are best suited for you and your business can bring a sense of security. Additional benefits include meeting contractual requirements of landlords, dispensaries, suppliers, or financial institutions. Insurance also gives confidence to consumers, potentially helping you increase sales or distribution of your product.

Really, when it comes down to it, proper insurance coverage can give you the peace of mind that allows you to focus more on building your business—not defending yourself from claims and lawsuits.

How much does cannabis insurance cost and how much insurance coverage does a cannabis-related business need?

The cost of insurance coverage varies based upon multiple factors: annual sales revenues, product type(s), the distribution model, your business operations, location, etc. Annual minimum premiums start at $850 and increase from there based upon your exposures and coverage choices.

My typical response to individuals who ask how much insurance they should purchase is, “How much do you have to lose?” You’ve spent a great deal of time and resources building your business; one lawsuit without proper coverage—frivolous or not—can put many businesses under. It’s important to evaluate your exposures and make a conscious decision on the risk you’re willing to take.

Is $1 million general liability limit enough coverage? Not if you’re sued for $2 million. In our litigious society, if you don’t have adequate limits and you have other business or personal assets, an attorney will probably go after them, so consider increasing your liability limits to protect yourself. This is definitely not an area where you want to skimp on coverage.

What types of insurance should cannabis, CBD, and hemp business owners have? Would just general liability insurance be sufficient?

No, not if they want to minimize their risks and maximize their protection. At a minimum, the three types of insurance that your cannabis, CBD, or hemp-related business should purchase are: General Liability Insurance, Product Liability Insurance, and Property Insurance. Let me explain some of the differences between general liability, product liability, and property insurance.

General Liability
General liability insurance protects you against third-party liability claims for bodily damage and property damage from your day-to-day operations. As you deal with the general public, you become vulnerable to lawsuits that arise from damages or harm you may cause. I’ve seen a simple slip and fall accrue thousands of dollars in damages, medical fees, lost earnings (current and future), emotional distress, and pain and suffering.

Adequate general liability coverage could help you respond to the compensatory damages and defense costs associated with claims like that.

Product Liability
Product liability insurance protects you against third-party bodily injury and property damage claims arising from your products. Product liability exposures include illness caused by things like edibles, infused products, manufacturing, and/or product-related defects.

Product liability also includes warranties or representations you make with respect to the fitness, quality, performance or use of your product in addition to providing (or failing to provide) warnings or instructions.

Plain and simple, wherever you are in the supply chain, you can be named in a suit if the edibles, inhalants, or infused products you manufacture, distribute, or sell cause illness or injury.

All policies have specific limitations, conditions, and exclusions to be aware of. I’m seeing some recent events in the vaping industry now affecting the cannabis industry. Many insurance companies are now excluding injury and sickness arising from vaping products (e.g. pens, batteries, cartridges). It’s critical you review these exclusions and limitations with an agent so you can make informed decisions for your business.

Property Insurance
Commercial property insurance can provide an array of coverages that may be critical for your business. The most common coverages businesses purchase are building, business, personal property, and loss of business income. However, you may also want to consider adding or expanding coverages for things like:

  • Cannabis Finished Stock
  • Harvested Cannabis Materials
  • Monies and Securities
  • Outdoor Signs
  • Property Off Premises
  • Property In Transit
  • Employee Dishonesty
  • Spoilage

Many companies have property enhancement coverages that bundle these into standard property insurance. Businesses can also expand their limits affordably based on their needs.

Property losses are some of the most common claims we see in the industry and sometimes the most neglected in terms of businesses obtaining proper coverage for them. It is important to have an open dialogue with an experienced insurance agent familiar with the cannabis, CBD, and hemp industries to discover your needs and get the right coverages for your business.

What are the most common risks you see cannabis businesses facing?

Cannabis, CBD, and hemp-related companies have unique exposures that vary depending on where they are within the seed-to-sale supply chain. Cultivating, manufacturing, testing, distributing, tracking and selling pretty much all possess different risks for carriers to consider.

The most common coverages purchased are for premises slips and falls, product liability, finished stock, harvested material, theft (including theft by employees), commercial property, and others.

We always recommend discussing with your agent the exposures that can cause financial harm to your business and obtaining the right coverages. If your policy isn’t written correctly or lacks proper coverage, a suit or claim could range from disruptive to catastrophic and seriously harm or even destroy your business.

Are there differences between your cannabis insurance, CBD/hemp topical insurance, and CBD/hemp ingestible insurance offerings?

Absolutely. Insurance companies have developed policy options based upon your business operations and the products you manufacture, distribute, grow, or sell. The policies may be similar in some ways, but there are some significant coverage differences based upon the unique risks your business faces.

I should first say that for the best assessment of the unique risks your business faces and the coverage it needs, I highly recommend working with a reputable agency, ideally one with experience in this industry.

Insurance Canopy is definitely one agency that’s reputable and experienced. But it’s also really unique and here’s why.

Nearly all insurance agencies have to do this back-and-forth with the insurance carrier when your application is being evaluated and underwritten. It can be a long and frankly a pretty tiresome process. But one of the special things about Insurance Canopy is that our carrier actually trusts us to do the underwriting on your policy in-house. There’s very little to no back-and-forth, which means a much faster turnaround time for you. It also means lower processing costs, so we actually pass that cost savings in processing on to you in the form of cheaper policy premiums. We’re one of the very few agencies even capable of doing that, and it’s only because of the trust we have with the carrier and our experience in the cannabis industry. So not only do you get someone reputable with great experience, you get the coverage you need faster and oftentimes cheaper than you can anywhere else.

Now back to the differences between insurance offerings within the cannabis industry. We developed different insurance programs or policy types because the risks, coverages, and nature of the businesses are so unique. A little about each one:

Cannabis Insurance Program: This program covers a broad spectrum of cannabis exposures including indoor and greenhouse cultivation, bakeries, manufacturers, hydroponic stores, laboratories, vocational schools, dispensaries, delivery companies, medical offices, consultants and retail outlets.

This program can also provide coverage for finished cannabis stock and finished cannabis products containing marijuana and/or its derivatives ready for retail sale and mature marijuana plants no longer in the growing medium, which is in the process of being dried or which includes any raw materials or product.

CBD/Hemp Topicals Insurance Program: This program is specific to business operations that produce non-ingestible, topical products containing CBD or hemp extractions such as balms, lotions, and various skincare products. CBD/hemp topical products must fall within the legal limits of less than 0.3% of THC to qualify for this coverage.

CBD/Hemp Ingestible Insurance Program: This program is specific to businesses that produced ingestible products created with CBD or hemp extractions such as tinctures (sublinguals), pet supplements, foods, gummies, beverages, and dietary supplements. CBD/hemp ingestible products must fall within the legal limits of less than 0.3% of THC to qualify for this coverage.

Because Insurance Canopy has access to all three of the national insurance programs, we have coverage options most suitable for your business.

Where should a business in the cannabis, CBD, or hemp industry buy insurance?

You’ll want to look for a representative that understands the cannabis, CBD, and hemp industries to help navigate you through the unique policy purchasing process.

Like I said, we have access to several insurance programs that are designed to respond to the cannabis, CBD, and hemp industries’ unique needs. Our Insurance Canopy team has worked diligently to streamline the purchasing process for the cannabis, CBD, and hemp industries. Because we work directly with our carrier underwriters and they trust us to do the underwriting for them in-house, we actually turn most quotes around within 24-48 hours compared to the average industry standard of 2-3 weeks. That means you get the coverage you need quicker, oftentimes cheaper, and can go back to growing your business sooner.

What are the main factors insurance companies consider when a cannabis business is trying to obtain a policy?

Insurance companies take many factors into consideration when underwriting cannabis exposures—some I’ve already mentioned including gross sales, product, distribution, and more. But overall business and quality control operations are important factors too. For example, do you comply with good manufacturing practices (GMP)? Is your labeling compliant with local and federal laws? Do you obtain a certificate of analysis (COA) on products? Are your records well-kept and maintained? Do you avoid offering unsubstantiated product guarantees? The underwriters are also looking to experience a virtual tour of your business including photographs inside and outside of your business, and often evaluate the security and construction of your building.

It’s important to provide the insurance carrier with a comfort level of your business exposure and demonstrate that you have good business and quality control practices in place. The better you are at that, the more likely you are to obtain a policy.

What advice does Insurance Canopy have for business owners looking for cannabis, CBD, or hemp insurance?

Know your risks. Know what’s at stake. Know your options, limits, and coverages. Start by talking to someone who knows cannabis industry insurance and has your best interest in mind. Trusted firms like Insurance Canopy help you identify exposures that threaten your business and provide you options to protect it, you, and your reputation from being negatively impacted.

Our Insurance Canopy team will walk you through the underwriting process to provide you some competitive insurance options. Think of us more as a trusted partner and advisor to your company and not just your insurance agent.

Thanks again, Chris, for taking the time to answer our questions. You can learn more at InsuranceCanopy.com.

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Study: Women Who Use Cannabis Are More Sexually Satisfied

8/04/2020

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A study published last month in the journal Sexual Medicine suggests that women who use cannabis on a regular basis have better orgasms, higher arousal, and more sexual satisfaction overall. The study is the first-of-its-kind to use a validated questionnaire to assess the association between female sexual function and aspects of cannabis use.

The study included 452 women aged 30 to 49, of which 72.8 percent used cannabis more than six times per week. Most of the women (81.6 percent) were in a relationship and 46.7 percent of the participants usually consumed cannabis by smoking flower.

The researchers used the validated Female Sexual Function Index and women who reported more cannabis use reported higher FSFI scores. Moreover, women who increased their use by just one use per week reported an increase in total FSFI, including in the desire, arousal, orgasm, and satisfaction domains.

For each additional increase of use per week, the odds of reporting female sexual dysfunction declined by 21 percent, the researchers found. The study found neither the consumption method nor the cannabis type consumed impacted sexual function.

The authors note that “the exact mechanisms by which cannabis may increase sexual function in women is unknown” but “the endocannabinoid system has been postulated to be involved in female sexual function.” They point out that previous studies “have demonstrated that increased amounts of endogenous cannabinoids … are associated with increased sexual arousal.”

“As many patients use cannabis to reduce anxiety, it is possible that a reduction in anxiety associated with a sexual encounter could improve experiences and lead to improved satisfaction, orgasm, and desire. Similarly, THC can alter the perception of time which may prolong the feelings of sexual pleasure.” – Assessment of the Association of Cannabis on Female Sexual Function With the Female Sexual Function Index

Note: We interviewed Dr. Genester Wilson-King, one of the study’s authors, earlier this year. Check it out to learn more about the study, the relationship between cannabis and sexual health, and more!

Last year, cannabis company Eaze partnered with vibrator manufacturer Lioness on a report that suggested cannabis makes sex lives better. The study found that 85 percent of respondents were more satisfied with their orgasms during solo sessions and 79 percent during partner sessions. Additionally, 84 percent reported that cannabis improved their experience with sex toys during solo sessions, while 79 percent agreed, but for partner sessions.

Eaze and Lioness also found cannabis to have a resounding effect on the length of sexual activity during both solo (64 percent) and partner (73 percent) sessions.

A 2017 study purported that cannabis consumers have, on average, about 20 percent more heterosexual sex than non-consumers. That study found that women who consumed cannabis daily had sex an average of 7.1 times during the previous four-week period, compared to six times for women that had not consumed cannabis in the past year.

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Black People Comprise 97% of Albany Cannabis Arrests & Tickets

8/04/2020

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From July 9, 2019 to July 9, 2020 Albany, New York police made arrests or issued tickets for cannabis crimes 134 times and just four of those enforcement actions were against a white person, the Times-Union reports.

According to the data outlined by the newspaper, 97 percent of the time those arrested or ticketed were Black — Black people, however, represent just under 30 percent of Albany’s population, according to recent census data.

The majority of the cannabis-related actions by police in the city – 76 of the 134 – were for unlawful possession, a violation, while 25 arrests were for possession of more than 8 ounces, a felony in the state.

Cannabis possession up to about 2 ounces (57 grams) is a simple violation in New York since Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed the decriminalization expansion last year after lawmakers failed to pass legalization legislation.

Of the 134 arrests and citations, 177 were related to crimes in progress, but the police data analyzed by the Times-Union did not indicate which crimes were being investigated or committed.

Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins, who is Black, said the felony-level arrests were related to “major” quality-of-life issues, violent crime, drug use and sales. He added it is “always concerning when you see that all of the arrests were Black males.”

“It’s not surprising to me that when we’re concentrating on addressing violent crime … we’re going to pull in some marijuana-related issues. … We’re not stopping young men in the community and writing them minor possession of marijuana tickets, it’s just not happening. I’m not seeing that these young men are being targeted but it’s concerning to me that that they are the ones who are impacted by this.” – Hawkins to the Times-Union

Mayor Kathy Sheehan (D) said city officials would examine the arrests as part of a state-mandated reform of the Albany Police Department. That review will be headed by the Albany Police Reform Collaborative and will analyze data associated with arrests by race, gender, and other demographics.

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Arizona Gov. Opposes Cannabis Legalization Initiative

8/04/2020

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In a statement of opposition, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) called the state’s cannabis legalization ballot initiative “a bad idea based on false promises,” according to a Capitol Media Services report. The governor said he would vote against the measure in November claiming that legalization in other states has led to increased traffic deaths, increases in teen drug use, and cannabis exposure in newborns.

In the statement outlined by CMS, Ducey said that the state’s medical cannabis program “is serving the people who need it for health-related reasons.”

In their 2020 political scorecard, NORML graded Ducey with a “D.” During his 2016 campaign, he said he didn’t “think any state ever got stronger by being stoned.”

As part of the initiative process, Arizona voters will receive pamphlets from state officials containing arguments both for and against the reforms. Arizona Public Health Association Executive Director Will Humble will write arguments from both sides. On one hand, he said, his organization broadly supports the idea of criminal justice reform; however, he suggests that “on the other hand, there is good evidence that these retail marijuana laws increase access to people under 21” and cannabis is “harmful to adolescents.”

Humble said he is “probably going to vote for it.”

Late last month, Arizonans for Public Safety – who oppose the reforms – filed a lawsuit against the initiative. The anti-cannabis group argues that the 100-word summary of the petition does not tell voters the reforms would allow more potent forms of cannabis, changes state driving under the influence laws, and doesn’t specifically say that the proposed 16 percent tax on sales can’t be increased by the Legislature.

In 2016, the cannabis legalization initiative in the state failed 52-48 percent.

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Michael Thompson, Nonviolent Cannabis Prisoner, Hospitalized With COVID-19

8/03/2020

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Cannabis prisoner Michael Thompson, who is serving 40-60 years in a Michigan prison for selling cannabis, has been reportedly hospitalized with the coronavirus. Cannabis and prison reform advocates called for his release earlier this year when the virus first started spreading through the U.S. prison system but Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who could have ordered his early release from prison, failed to take action.

Now, Thompson — a 69-year-old and diabetic nonviolent cannabis offender — is face-to-face with the frequently fatal virus.

Thompson has already served 25 years of his 40 to 60-year sentence, which was handed down in 1994 after he sold cannabis to an undercover police officer. During his incarceration, Thompson’s immediate family — including his mother, father, and only son — have all passed away; his mother’s last wish was that her son would not die in prison.

While it is widely accepted that nobody deserves to die over an herb, the coronavirus has made that a very real possibility for Michael Thompson (and the thousands of other prisoners who are locked up on nonviolent drug charges). We are calling on our followers and anyone who supports responsible criminal justice reform to contact Gov. Whitmer and the Michigan Parole Board to demand Michael Thompson’s early release if he survives this bout with COVID-19.

Contact officials via phone:

Michigan Parole Board – (517) 373-0270
Governor Whitmer’s office – (517) 373-3400

Contact the Michigan Parole Board via email:

moore4detroit@gmail.com
Parole-Board-Staff@michigan.gov
jlwarfield@aol.com
washingtonm6@michigan.gov

Michael Thompson’s Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) number is 176309.

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SEC Charges Six in $25M Cannabis Business-Related Fraud

8/03/2020

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The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against six individuals from California and Arizona for defrauding investors out of $25 million. The scheme included nine issuers and three marketing companies.

The SEC complaint alleges that from September 2017 to February 2019, California residents Anthony Todd Johnson, Jeremy T. Johnson, Richard A. Portillo, and Michael R. Gregory, and Arizona residents Charles Lloyd and Mark W. Heckele, raised funds from more than 400 individuals to invest in a California cannabis farm and a separate CBD extraction facility.

The SEC said the fraud was conducted through the following companies:

  • Smart Initiatives, LLC
  • Valley View Enterprises LLC
  • Target Equity LLC
  • Zabala Farms Group, LLC
  • GPA Enterprises LLC
  • C-Quadrant LLC
  • Green Bud Initiatives LLC
  • RJ Holdings Group, LLC
  • CIS Marketing, LLC
  • Green Growth Ventures, LLC
  • Extraction Capital Tier 1, LLC
  • Lloyd Marketing, LLC

The Johnson brothers, Portillo, Lloyd, and Heckle allegedly led investors to believe that they would receive a guaranteed annual return on their investments of 100 percent or more. Further, the complaint alleges that the Johnsons misappropriated more than $2.7 million of investor funds and, with Gregory, deceived investors about a purported “business loan” secured by real property to develop the CBD extraction facility that was actually used to pay back investors in an unrelated entity.

The complaint also claims that certain defendants misrepresented the principals’ backgrounds, their capital contributions, and a purported relationship with a California university.

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FDA Approves Epidiolex to Treat Tuberous Sclerosis Complex

8/03/2020

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The Food and Drug Administration has expanded the label for the cannabis-derived pharmaceutical Epidiolex to treat seizures associated with tuberous sclerosis complex (TCS) and allowing the drug to be used by patients one year of age and older.

The GW Pharmaceuticals drug is the only FDA-approved form of CBD derived from the cannabis plant. The medication was initially approved by the agency in 2018 for treating seizures associated with Dravet syndrome – or Lennox-Gastaut syndrome – in patients aged two and older.

GW CEO Justin Gover said the label expansion allows patients with TCS to “immediately” access the medication.

“This label expansion, including the expansion of the age range in all approved indications, further demonstrates that the FDA process can continue to enable broader patient access to appropriately tested regulatory approved cannabinoid medicines.” – Gover in a press release

Dr. Elizabeth Thiele, director of the Herscot Center for Tuberous Sclerosis Complex at Massachusetts General Hospital, said that nearly two-thirds of TSC patients develop treatment-resistant epilepsy and noted “a need for new options that may benefit these patients who often try and fail existing treatments.”

“Based on previous positive trial results in TSC patients, Epidiolex may become an important treatment option for patients,” she said in a statement. “It is a new tool in the toolbox for physicians and could meet a significant unmet need.”

In the U.S. about 50,000 people suffer from TSC along with approximately 1 million worldwide. About 85 percent of patients experience epilepsy and more than 60 percent do not achieve seizure control.

The drug is also approved in the European Union under the name Epidyolex. Regulators in Europe are currently reviewing the application to expand the label for TSC and lowered age range for patients.

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Scotts Miracle-Gro Hydroponics Subsidiary Hawthorne Reports 72% Q3 Growth

8/03/2020

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Scotts Miracle-Gro Company reported a company-wide sales increase of 28 percent in the third quarter, including 72 percent growth for Hawthorne – its indoor cultivation and hydroponic subsidiary.

Separately, Scotts Miracle-Gro Board of Directors approved payment of a special dividend of $5 per share and increased its regular quarterly dividend by 7 percent to $0.62 per share, the company said in a press release. Both dividends are payable September 10 to shareholders of record on August 27.

For the quarter – which ended on June 27, 2020 – company-wide sales increased 28 percent to $1.49 billion. U.S. Consumer sales increased 21 percent to $1.08 billion from $889.1 million. Hawthorne sales increased 72 percent to $302.9 million compared with $176.3 million. Segment income increased 14 percent for U.S. Consumer sales to $310.5 million and 145 percent for Hawthorne to $41.1 million.

Scotts Chairman and CEO Jim Hagedorn called the year so far an “unprecedented success” and said the board decided to make special one-time payments later this year to nearly 3,000 hourly and salaried associates who do not participate in bonus plans and enhance bonus payments to another nearly 1,500 eligible associates who do participate in incentive plans. Additionally, Hagedorn said the company plans to double its charitable contributions.

“Our results this year continue to exceed our most optimistic expectations and are a testament to the critical nature of the categories in which we compete, the commitment of our retail partners, and the loyalty of the consumers and cultivators who rely on our products for their success. As we enter the final weeks of fiscal 2020 and prepare for the start of our next fiscal year, we remain optimistic about the strength of our business as well as our ability to continue to enhance shareholder value.” – Hagedorn in a statement

Hagedorn added that Hawthorne saw strong third-quarter growth “in every product category and geography” noting that its growth in the quarter was “higher-than-expected.” For the first nine months of the year, Hawthorne sales increased 59 percent to $731.7 million, the company said.

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Pickens County, Alabama Case Against Purple Heart Veteran Echoes Racist History

7/31/2020

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In August 2016, Purple Heart-recipient Sean Worsley was arrested for the possession of marijuana in Gordo, Alabama. The Black veteran had purchased the cannabis using a state-issued Arizona medical card before leaving for a road trip to visit family in the South. The arrest — and the cavalcade of misfortune that followed for Sean and his wife Eboni Worsley — was thoroughly detailed in a recent account published by Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.

When they were arrested, the Worsleys had stopped to refuel their car on the way to Sean’s grandmother’s house in North Carolina. Gordo Police Officer Carl Abramo, who has since left the force, noticed Sean playing air guitar and joking around with Eboni and he approached to ask them to turn down their music. Eboni complied immediately, but the officer smelled cannabis.

Note: the smell of cannabis was also the justification cited by St. Anthony, Minnesota police officer Jeronimo Yanez before shooting and killing Philando Castile with five close-range bullets. This event occurred just one month before the Worsleys’ arrest.

Believing that his state-issued card protected him, Sean informed the inquiring officer of his veteran status and that he did have medically prescribed cannabis in the car. Sean told Abramo exactly where to find it and calmly complied with his requests but the officer called for backup and, ultimately, the police conducted a full search of the vehicle. They found Sean’s cannabis, tools commonly used by medical cannabis patients, grocery bags containing the loose tobacco insides of cigarillos, and Eboni’s prescribed painkillers.

According to Alabama state law, possession of cannabis for “personal use” is a misdemeanor offense punishable by up to one year in jail and a $6,000 fine. However, since Worsley had multiple strains in separate bags and a scale, the Gordo police officers on the scene claimed he was attempting to traffic. This assessment increased charges to at least Possession in the First Degree, bringing jail time up to a mandatory minimum of one year and one day, along with a $15,000 fine.

Ignorance About Medical Cannabis Leads to Biased Assumptions

Every cannabis patient knows that having multiple bags and a scale is not uncommon practice when managing a condition. Different phenotypes of cannabis plants produce flowers that can help with various symptoms — because of this, many cannabis patients keep more than one type of flower on hand to ensure they can treat specific symptoms. Over a long trip, a patient often must titrate out their daily dosage to ensure they don’t run out of meds before they return to a medical dispensary — which requires a scale to do effectively.

A Deposition from the District Court of Pickens, Alabama states that cannabis flowers were packaged in a bag, a plastic container, and a cardboard box. They also recorded finding a scale, glass pipe, rolling papers, cigarillos, and some bags of loose tobacco. There is no mention of a box of empty baggies for processing or pounds of flower to weigh out from. As evidenced by his willingness to cooperate with police to his supply and medical card, Sean Worsley was in possession of various strains of medical cannabis and the items that are often required to use his prescribed medicine, which in no way meet the amounts necessary to rationally consider him a trafficker.

The knowledge of what a scale and cannabis flowers are used for by a patient is a law enforcement blind spot, one that led four Gordo, Alabama police officers to charge a Purple Heart recipient with a felony. This ignorance is supported by a Federal government and judicial system that refuses to recognize that cannabis has any medicinal value. The ineptitude with cannabis is shared nationwide by law enforcement. A fact that’s proven by the “big busts” of legal hemp shipments that plagued startup CBD companies in 2019.

Ganjapreneur reached out to Pickens County Judge Lance Bailey (who did not rule on the case) for comment, as the arrest happened within his presiding county. Judge Bailey replied, “Yes, the Defendant had a prescription for medicinal marijuana in AZ. But the Defendant had 2 large bags of marijuana in his vehicle, a set of scales, and smaller bags that are used for packaging.”

No smaller bags are mentioned in the deposition, nor is the weight of the cannabis flower that was found in each container listed, and Judge Bailey did not respond to further requests for clarification. Based on publicly-available information, we can’t help but wonder if the two “large bags” referenced in his email are in reference to the “…two separate grocery bags containing cigarellos and tobacco from within the cigarellos…” that are listed in the deposition, which would serve as another example of just how much ignorance about cannabis there is within the justice system.

A County Steeped in Racist History

The mistreatment of this case is an unfortunate reality for many Black Americans. Data shows that in 2016, the year of the Worsleys’ arrest, Black people were arrested for cannabis possession at four times the rate of white people in the state of Alabama; this data has been available since October 2018.

When asked by the Alabama Political Reporter if Sean Worsley would have been treated differently if he were white, West Alabama District Attorney Andy Hamlin said, “That is an absolute pile of crap,” and added that it was “ridiculous and insulting” to even suggest it.

The assertion that Worsley’s treatment could be based on his melanin content is not so ridiculous, however, when taking a look into the history of justice in Pickens County. The Pickens County courthouse is famously haunted by Henry Wells, a Black freedman who was shot by police while attempting to escape a gathering mob in 1878.

Pickens County Courthouse
The Pickens County courthouse is reportedly haunted by the ghost of Henry Wells.

In 1979, civil rights activists Maggie Bozeman (50 at the time) and Julia Wilder (69 at the time) were arrested and convicted of voter fraud in Pickens County. The charges claimed the Black activists visited with elderly and illiterate residents of the area to assist them in voting through absentee ballots. The court case that proceeded is confusing, with testimonies from witnesses consistently siding with both the defense and the prosecution, depending on who was interviewing them. A parade of community beacons testified on behalf of the character of both civil rights activists but the pair were still found guilty.

Maggie Bozeman and Julia Wilder
Maggie Bozeman and Julia Wilder, Photo via Donald V. Whatkins

At the end of the trial, the all-white jury sentenced Bozeman to 4 years in prison and Wilder to the maximum of 5 years. Judge Clatus Junkin denied probation and the pair were sent to the state penitentiary. After national outrage and eleven days of protests, the Governor organized a work-release program for the activists. Circuit Judge Clatus Junkin went on the record to state that the elderly women had received special treatment, and that the work release program was a “slap in the face to the judicial system.” The entire conviction was thrown out in 1984 by US District Court Judge Truman Hobbs, ruling that the women were improperly tried by Judge Clatus Junkin.

Intergenerational Injustice

It was almost forty years ago that Bozeman and Wilder were sentenced to a punishment four times harsher than the most severely treated white defendant had ever faced for the same crime.

Flash forward to 2020, and Sean Worsley is sentenced to a ridiculous 5 years in prison over medical cannabis in the circuit court of Judge Samuel Junkin, who is none other than the son of Judge Clatus Junkin.

The severity and cruelty of the sentence is important to note, as Sean Worsley faces 60 months in the custody of the murderous Alabama Department of Corrections during a rapidly worsening global pandemic. Even by the standards of Alabama law, his sentence is egregious.

Senator Cam Ward explained to a reporter in 2018, “The only people in state prisons on possession of any kind of marijuana are those trafficking the truckloads of it.” But in Pickens County, Alabama, it appears that even a registered medical patient who served their country can wind up in prison… if they’re Black.

Ganjapreneur reached out to Judge Samuel Junkin multiple times for comment but a representative said he was on vacation and out of the office.

In the wake of the Alabama Appleseed article detailing Sean’s case, there has been an outpouring of support for the Worsley family. At her family’s suggestion, Eboni Worsley set up a GoFundMe that surpassed its $80,000 goal and she posted a video message in response to all of the support. In this video, she discloses that among their many fees and payments, they owe the VA alone $66,000.

Another Example of the Human Toll of Cannabis Criminalization

The Worsleys’ is a tragic tale of an American veteran who, by all accounts, was horribly mistreated by the nation he pledged to defend upon returning home from deployment with a Purple Heart, PTSD, and a traumatic brain injury. It is a narrative that repeats itself across the American judicial system, especially when the defendant is Black. In Pickens County, it is a continuation of the centuries-old history of unjustifiably harsh sentencing for Black people, a history so deep that local folklore would suggest it literally haunts the courthouse windows.

In the case of Sean Worsley, there is even more ignorance at play — if law enforcement had any real understanding of medical cannabis, it is possible that Worsley would have been charged with a lesser misdemeanor offense. And if police across the nation were more informed about the uses and effects of medical cannabis, perhaps vulnerable patients would be less likely to face police brutality and violence.

If you would like to take action in support of freeing Sean Worsley, we suggest that you start by reading and signing this open letter to Alabama officials.

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Cannabis Licenses Could Be Transferred to New Owners in Nevada Lawsuit

7/31/2020

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A proposed settlement in an ongoing lawsuit between Nevada officials and cannabis businesses would transfer some industry operator licenses to businesses that were denied approval during the state’s 2018 licensing round, the Nevada Current reports. Despite the proposal, some plaintiffs say they were shut out of the negotiations, allege collusion in the process, and are asking a judge to prevent officials from approving the deal.

The plaintiffs in the case claim regulators unfairly grated the bulk of the cannabis industry licenses to a few operators. In 2018, 61 state licenses were issued to just 17 applicants, the Current reports.

  • The settlement would shift 10 industry licenses from approved defendants to plaintiffs and force the state to issue one additional license.
  • The deal would see one of Lone Mountain’s Las Vegas licenses awarded to Qualcan, while licenses held by Lone Montain in Washoe, Lincoln, and Esmerelda Counties would be given to ETW Management. A Lone Mountain Douglas County license would also be transferred to Thrive.
  • Qualcan would also receive a Carson City license from Nevada Organic Remedies, owners of The Source. Nevada Organics would also assign a Clark County license to MM Development, owners of Planet 13.
  • Thrive would also assign a City of Henderson license to ETW.
  • Helping Hands would assign a Clark County license to LivFree, who would also receive a new license from the state for Henderson.
  • GreenMart would transfer a Clark County license to Nevada Wellness Center.

The settlement would also force the companies receiving a license to join the state in defending the lawsuit against the other claimants not awarded a license in the settlement.

Attorneys for THC NV and Herbal Choice – two companies that were not provided relief under the proposal – called the settlement “collusively procured” and said that their clients were deliberately and intentionally omitted from the decision-making process.

Attorney Amy Sugden told the Current that she intends to challenge the Tax Commission’s jurisdiction over the agreement since the industry is regulated by the Cannabis Control Board.

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Injured Employee Denied Compensation For Medical Cannabis

7/31/2020

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A Delaware court has denied a bid by an injured worker for his former employer to compensate him for out-of-pocket medical cannabis expenses related to treatment for an on-the-job injury, Law360 reports. For the ruling, the judge sided with the employer’s medical expert over the expert provided by the plaintiff.

John Nobles-Roark, the plaintiff, was injured in 1998 while working for a restaurant and in 2000 a state board found his injury to be compensable. Nobles-Roark underwent surgery for the injury, but his condition worsened and in 2003 the board granted him a partial ruling in his disability claim. His former employer tried three times between 2004 and 2007 to end the disability, but the board denied the motion each time.

Nobles-Roark was approved for the state’s medical cannabis program in 2014 after undergoing traditional prescription medications and physical therapy from 2003 to 2018, his physician, Dr. Peter B. Bandera, testified.

Last year, Nobles-Roark filed the petition seeing compensation for his medical cannabis.

Dr. Jason Brokaw, a medical expert certified in pain management, testified on behalf of the employer, arguing that Nobles-Roark is not a good candidate for medical cannabis treatment based on his other concurrent conditions, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.

Judge Andrea L. Rocanelli, agreeing with Browkaw, said that while the state legislature found “that medical marijuana can effectively treat some patients” the medical cannabis law “does not amount to a finding that medical marijuana is ‘reasonable and necessary’ to treat all patients.”

Rocanelli, in denying the claim, said there was sufficient evidence to support Brokaw’s opinion over Bandura’s.

Attorneys for Nobles-Roark told Law360 that they are considering an appeal.

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Former Lawmaker Headed to Prison Over Cannabis, Alcohol, and Opioid Bribes

7/31/2020

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Cheryl Glenn, a former Democratic lawmaker in Maryland representing parts of Baltimore, has been sentenced to two years in prison for taking bribes for legislative favors, including voting to benefit a medical cannabis company, the Star Tribune reports. Glenn had been a staunch supporter for creating social equity in the state’s cannabis industry.

Glenn admitted to accepting $33,750 in five bribes over an 11-month period from 2018 to 2019. The first was a $3,000 payment in exchange for voting favorably to increase the number of medical cannabis cultivation licenses from 15 to 22 and capping processing licenses at 28. She accepted another $20,000 in bribes for requesting a bill be drafted to create new liquor licenses, and another $5,000 bribe for introducing a measure to lower the number of years of experience required for a medical director of opioid clinics.

U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake also ordered Glenn to pay $18,750 in restitution and called the former lawmaker’s actions as more than a “one-time lapse.”

“It was not a momentary giving in to temptation. It was a deliberate scheme to take advantage of her political power and misuse her influence and to break the public trust in exchange for money.” – Blake in her ruling via the Star Tribune

Prosecutors had sought a three-year sentence for Glenn. Her attorney, William Brennan, argued for a sentence of probation and home detention saying he didn’t think incarceration was necessary for his client who “has otherwise lived an exemplary life.”

Prosecutors said Glenn was “instrumental” in creating the state’s medical cannabis industry. The Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission is named after Glenn’s mother, Natalie LaPrade.

Glenn pleaded guilty in January to bribery and honest services wire fraud.

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Democrats Reject Cannabis Legalization in Party Platform

7/30/2020

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The Democratic Party’s platform committee on Monday rejected an amendment to support federal cannabis legalization, Boulder Weekly reports. The vote was 50-106 with three abstentions.

The committee did approve language supporting federal cannabis decriminalization and rescheduling, along with language calling for reforms on how drug-related crimes are prosecuted.

“We will support legalization of medical marijuana, and believe states should be able to make their own decisions about recreational use. The Justice Department should not launch federal prosecutions of conduct that is legal at the state level. All past criminal convictions for cannabis use should be automatically expunged.” – The Democratic Party platform

In the platform, Democrats call substance use disorders “diseases, not crimes” and says the party believes “no one should be in prison solely because they use drugs.”

“And rather than involving the criminal justice system, Democrats support increased use of drug courts, harm reduction interventions, and treatment diversion programs for those struggling with substance use disorders,” the platform states.

The platform follows the lead of Joe Biden – the former vice president who will challenge President Donald Trump in November – who has stopped short of calling for federal cannabis legalization throughout the campaign. Biden has indicated support for legalizing medical cannabis nationwide but, with regard to broad legalization, the nominee said in a February recording on the campaign trail that he was “not prepared” to enact the reforms.

Biden has said throughout the campaign that he supports expunging low-level cannabis crimes. During a Tuesday speech, Biden called criminal records “the weight that holds back too many people of color, and many whites as well,” according to a Marijuana Moment report.

“Under my plan, if a state decides it wants to implement an automated system for the sealing and expunging of certain nonviolent criminal records if a state chooses to do that, the federal government will help put together the process and allow them the money to be able to know how to organize to do that,” he said during his remarks.

The Republican Party platform calls neither for cannabis nor broad criminal justice reforms.

Only the Green and Libertarian platforms include nationwide cannabis legalization. The Green Party will be represented by Howie Hawkins in the general election, while the Libertarian Party nominee is Jo Jorgensen.

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Cannabis Social Equity Program Offers Debt Instead of Equity

7/30/2020

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Editor’s note: this article is submitted by the Massachusetts Recreational Consumer Council, an organization advocating for restorative justice in the Massachusetts legal cannabis industry.

If we as a country dealt with the realities of racial capitalization, we would have a legal cannabis industry thriving as a free equitable market that prioritizes true craftsmanship and restorative justice. Instead we are pushing along state by state, choking for progress under the guise of social equity. As the country pushes forward, Massachusetts finds itself falling stagnant with liberal attitudes cloaking the truthful inequities of racial capitalization. Instead of moving forward with innovation, Massachusetts developed the legal cannabis industry to mimic other (broken) industries. These industries are reeling with the disasters of capitalism today. It’s apparent when you listen closely that Massachusetts is tone deaf in comparison to what the people who have suffered from the war on drugs are saying. What leads a state that prides itself on liberalism and innovation to fall so short in comparison to other states that have legalized and addressed the need to prioritize social equity in the cannabis industry?

Legalization Was Made Possible by the Traditional Market

The traditional market is a beautiful network of phenomenal spirits who understand the spirit of the cannabis plant and work to honor it. It is because of the traditional market you can gift up to an ounce legally in Massachusetts. It’s something the people championed for, like so many other things. And more could be legal but only if the traditional market is respected and consulted – not ignored, disrespected, preyed upon, and whitewashed. The Massachusetts legal industry is a sharp contrast to the traditional market in several ways including lack of access. The legal industry (in MA) has one access point and this access point requires millions of dollars in startup capital. This is by negligence. This is by capitalism. This is by design.

Across the state of Massachusetts, countless horror stories about the crushing debt of waiting for your license application to be processed by the Cannabis Control Commission can be heard. “LET THEM FEEL WHAT WE FEEL” Leah Daniels cried in dismay after waiting over 610 days for her application to be processed. After CCC Chairman Steve Hoffman attempted to turn a room filled with a majority of white cisgender men against a black woman in a plea of support for racial capitalism, the CCC has still failed to issue a public apology to Leah Daniels for its failed leadership in dealing with its own failures and miscommunication, even after the public outcry and headlines by local journalists. It’s apparent there is an extreme disconnect between the people and the legislators/regulators shaping our cannabis industry across the country, but this is especially true in Massachusetts. We must bridge this miscommunication TODAY.

How to Build an Equitable Industry

Only today is Massachusetts starting to have a serious conversation in regards to creating a social equity fund with bill s.2650 sitting before the Senate Ways and Means Committee pushing for traction to pass before the end of the July. Tragically, Massachusetts is still processing that it has already borrowed from the traditional market and chose to invest in the prison industrial complex, along with the rest of the country. The people who founded this industry have already paid the state of Massachusetts – with their lives. It’s time for Massachusetts to SHIFT and join the rest of the country by prioritizing social equity in the quest for a free equitable market.

Shifting requires acknowledging that debt is not equity. A loan is being dressed up and called social equity in Massachusetts through support of bill s.2650. Never is there an acknowledgement from the Cannabis Control Commission that loans are a form of borrowing that create debt, nor that the financial shortfalls of 10% set aside for social equity funds when it takes millions of dollars just to open one dispensary. It is alarming how basic banking practices are being spouted as progression and slapped with the social equity stamp for approval. How can you borrow from something you created and own? This is the insanity the legal industry in Massachusetts is proposing to the traditional market today. Instead of building debt Massachusetts needs to build bridges. There is no free equitable market without acknowledgement of the failures of racial capitalism.

Massachusetts is taking baby steps towards social equity and everyone across the country knows it. Bill s.2650 simply takes 10% of cannabis tax revenue and puts it towards a social equity fund with a social equity loan for social equity and economic empowerment licenses.  “In California, the Bureau of Cannabis Control awarded $10 million in equity grant funding in October 2019, and an additional $30 million in equity grant funding was awarded by the Governors Office of Business and Economic Development in April 2020” – Shaleen Title tweeted in acknowledgement of social equity grant funding in other states.

Yet Massachusetts supports loans. Loans are debt. Massachusetts should be proposing grants but apparently grants are too radical for such a liberal state. “This bill would give the support needed to these entrepreneurs, in the form of loans. In addition, I support the amendments included in Sen. Collins recent Amendment 179 to S2842 that expanded the bill to include loan forgiveness and grants, as well as a stipulation that municipalities grant host agreements to one equity business alternating with one general applicant.” Senator Patricia Jehlen.

This amendment was struck down by the Senate and Bill S.2650 still has not been amended to include anything from amendment 179 of Bill S.2842 as of today. It’s been noticed that no cannabis non-profit nor Senator has made public statements to push support of amending s.2650 to include grants other than Massachusetts Recreational Consumer Council and Senator Jehlen. S.2650 should simply be amended to include a loan forgiveness program that SE/EE licensees automatically qualify for. Or even simpler: join the rest of the nation and offer grants. Either way, Massachusetts legislators and the Cannabis Control Commission need to SHIFT today.

The horror stories of securing your Host Community Agreements licenses with municipalities is never-ending. Bill s.2650 needs to address lack of protective language if it wants the funds to get out and not sit unused and poorly dispersed. In an interview with Enterprise news, entrepreneur and social equity applicant Vanessa Jean Baptiste stated “We don’t have many resources. As an economic empowerment applicant and criminal justice major, I want to help people affected by the war on drugs. It’s really not fair that people with connections can get licensed, and people without government connections have to deal with the black market, knowing that they can get arrested at any point in time.”

Including a 1:1 priority between General and SE/EE licenses on a state level would be one way to address the problem, as currently licenses are being dealt with on a municipal level and often utilize a pay-to-play system which further marginalizes our SE/EE applicants. There are federal investigations occurring in municipalities across the state of Massachusetts because of this issue. Ignoring its existence doesn’t achieve anything and only widens the systemic damage from the inequities of prohibition. The people have been championing for a 1:1 ratio for YEARS. End the corruption. Our legislators need to SHIFT today.

Follow the Money

Illinois devotes 25% of cannabis taxes toward social equity. In Massachusetts, it’s noted that the bill the CCC supports proposes a mere 10% of cannabis tax revenue. Keep in mind: it takes millions in startup capital to open one dispensary. There are 70 social equity/economic empowerment applicants with their licenses yet only 3 are open, with lack of startup funds being the number one barrier. Since the legalization of cannabis, millions of dollars have gone to pay police for traffic details at cannabis dispensaries, deemed mandatory mainly due to reefer madness mentalities. Zero dollars from cannabis tax revenue have gone toward areas disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. 10% will assist only a few and ignore the hundreds. Who said that the people who lost the lives of loved ones, their community, & years of their own to the war on drugs only need 10% to successfully gain entry into the legal cannabis industry? Fuck liberalism. The people whose backs this industry STILL sits upon want their coins. All of them. They are not an afterthought. Our legislators need to SHIFT and amend 100% of cannabis tax revenue to the social equity fund.

It shouldn’t be hard to get social equity passed in Massachusetts, but this is a state that literally wrote into the legalization of cannabis that cannabis tax revenue would fund municipal police trainings. Prohibitionist indoctrination has shaped the legalized cannabis industry in Massachusetts from the start, and the failings of racial capitalization have already caught up with it. It will repeat over and over until there is acknowledgement. We cannot move forward until the issues on the table are addressed.

Take Action Now

The MRCC has proposed multiple amendments to the current bill that would work to address the institutional trauma of the drug war, create opportunities for impacted communities, and set Massachusetts up as an example for other states to follow.  Read about our objectives and learn more about our organization on our website, and if you believe that the people deserve an equitable industry, let the Massachusetts Senate Ways and Means committee know that you support our amendments by clicking here to call or send an email today.

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Texas’ Smokeable Hemp Ban Takes Effect on Sunday

7/30/2020

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As of Sunday, smokeable hemp will no longer be allowed for sale in Texas, KENS5 reports. The state’s recently-approved hemp rules prohibit smokeable forms of the plant; however, other consumable hemp products will remain for sale in the state.

Some smokeable products will remain on retailer shelves but they cannot be marketed or sold as a smokeable product. The rules do not prohibit raw hemp from being cultivated, manufactured, or sold in other consumable forms. The bill does not prohibit Texas from ordering smokeable hemp products online.

Alex Reyes, manager of Mary Jane’s CBD Dispensary-Smoke & Vape Shop, estimated that 30 percent of the company’s sales come from smokable hemp, calling it “the most convenient way to ingest CBD and get the benefits of all the cannabinoids.”

Heather Fazio, executive director for Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy, called the hemp rules “bad for businesses” and said officials are “allowing fear and misinformation” to guide them.

“This is bad for safety and making sure that there’s accountability for the products consumers are purchasing.” – Fazio to KENS5

Texas issued its first hemp license in April. That month, officials said they had received a total of 546 industrial hemp applications including 458 producer applications, 58 handler applications, and 30 handler sampler applications. The law includes legalization and regulation of CBD – which is often sold in smokeable forms including flower and concentrates. All hemp-containing edible products produced in the state, including CBD, are regulated by the Department of State Health, under the law.

Gov. Greg Abbott (R) approved the hemp legalization bill last June.

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Maryland High Court: Cannabis Odor Not Enough to Search a Person

7/30/2020

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Maryland’s Court of Appeals has unanimously ruled that law enforcement officers in the state cannot make an arrest based on the odor of cannabis alone, the Baltimore Sun reports. The ruling, though, does not prevent officers from searching a vehicle based on the odor of cannabis. State case law says there is a reduced expectation of privacy in a motor vehicle and the court’s recent opinion does not challenge that law.

“The odor of marijuana, without more, does not provide law enforcement officers with the requisite probable cause to arrest and perform a warrantless search of that person incident to the arrest,” Chief Judge Mary Ellen Barbera in the ruling.

Barbara wrote that there is “a heightened expectation of privacy enjoyed in one’s person” that “do not attend the search of a vehicle.”

“Arresting and searching a person, without a warrant and based exclusively on the odor of marijuana on that person’s body or breath, is unreasonable and does violence to the fundamental privacy expectation in one’s body,” she wrote in the opinion.

The ruling also requires a “probable cause” search based on cannabis odor to require police to “possess information indicating possession of a criminal amount” of cannabis since it is decriminalized throughout the state.

The ruling comes in the case of Rasherd Lewis, who police said in on Feb. 1, 2017 fit the description of a man in a tip about an armed person and was followed by police into a store.

Inside the store, officers said Lewis walked past “emitting” the smell of cannabis, and Lewis was handcuffed and searched based on the smell. During the search, police found a handgun inside a bag strapped to his chest and a small amount of cannabis in his pocket.

The Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office argued that “the odor of marijuana” provided the officer with probable cause to arrest and search Lewis because any amount of cannabis is contraband, despite the 10-gram threshold for decriminalized possession.

Lewis was convicted of possessing a handgun and sentenced to three years in prison. The ruling sends the case back to Baltimore City court with instructions that prosecutors cannot use the evidence of the search that found the weapon. Lewis’ sentence and conviction will likely be vacated due to the ruling.

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Run the Jewels Announces First Branded Cannabis Strain

7/29/2020

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Hip-hop artists Killer Mike and El-P – better known collectively as Run the Jewels – have partnered with cannabis companies Cookies and Lemonnade to release their first branded strain called Ooh LaLa. Cookies was founded by rapper and entrepreneur Berner.

The Run the Jewels line will include pre-rolls, vapes, extracts, and blunts. It will be available at Cookies and Lemonade retail stores throughout California, along with the Cookies store in Detroit, Michigan. Ooh LaLa flower and pre-rolls will also be available in Washington state, through the Hash Agency; Colorado, at Veritas Fine Cannabis; Oregon and Oklahoma, via ElectraLeaf; and later this year in Arizona and Illinois, the duo said on their website.

“We have huge respect for Berner and what he’s accomplished and we fucking love weed so this is very exciting for us.” – El-P in a statement

Berner and Killer Mike have previously worked together on Berner’s 2011 release The White Album. The strain name, Ooh LaLa, is based on the lead single of the same name from Run the Jewels’ latest album RTJ4.

Killer Mike and El-P join a long list of rappers to launch a cannabis brand or product, including Kurupt, Xzibit, Wiz Khalifa, The Game, B. Real, 2 Chainz, Jim Jones, Lil Wayne, Drake, and Snoop Dogg. Snoop’s brand, Leafs By Snoop, was found by a Green Horizons analysis as the most recognizable cannabis brand in the U.S.; however, just 23 percent of respondents had heard of the brand and no other brand had a higher rating of consumer recognition.

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Fake Cannabis Certification Scheme Claims Another 350 Missouri Patients

7/29/2020

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At least 350 more Missouri patients have reportedly been scammed by fake physician certifications for the state’s medical cannabis program, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The number of total affected patients is about 1,000 after Department of Health Officials announced last month that 600 patients were victims of the fraud.

All of the patients believed they were talking to a real physician when completing the program paperwork required by the state; however, the person on the other end of the phone wasn’t the doctor listed on their certification paperwork and may not have been a doctor at all. Health officials believe that all of the affected patients completed the approval process through WeedCerts. According to the report, the company was offering medical cannabis certifications for $50; they usually run $150-$200.

In a July 23 Facebook post, the company said it had been able to fix about 280 of the “fraudulent certifications” and is working with another clinic to get affected patients recertified at no cost. The company said it has also issued some refunds.

The first 600 applications found to be fraudulent listed the information of Dr. Allison Medlin of Independence who denied that she had anything to do with the scheme. She said in a statement to the Post-Dispatch that she was “extremely disappointed that any company or individual would fraudulently use [her] signature.”

In a June 27 post, the company said it “thought” it was working with Medlin but “that was not the case.”

On June 22 post, WeedCerts Head of Marketing Lou Moynihan said the company “is not going to survive” the scandal but argued that “not one single employee, manager or owner, past or present, ever did anything malicious, fraudulent, or with ill intent.”

Lisa Cox, spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Senior Services, said at least one other physician’s signature was fraudulently used in the scheme and that the agency has conducted random checks of the state’s 55,000-plus certifications to make sure they were legitimate.

Affected patients have 30 days to recertify for the program.

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Thailand Allowing Hospitals to Produce Cannabis-Based Medicines

7/29/2020

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Hospitals in Thailand can now make and provide cannabis-based medicines selected from a government-approved list of 16 recipes for traditional Thai medicines that contain cannabis as a base ingredient, the Bangkok Post reports.

Dr. Marut Jirasetthasiri, director-general of the Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine, said that health promotion hospitals in the country are now free to make the medicines so long as there is an expert in traditional Thai medicine on duty to prepare them. The medicines were traditionally prescribed to help treat common illnesses in each region of the country.

Dr. Marut said the demand for traditional medicine treatments has increased so the department has allowed 152 health promotion hospitals to expand their cannabis farms. There are currently 291 units offering cannabis-based medicines at state-run medical outlets throughout the country, and more than 60,000 cannabis-based treatments have been issued so far this year, according to the report.

In January, a health clinic in Chiang Mai became the country’s first medical outlet to offer the cannabis-based medicines.

Thailand legalized the medical use of cannabis in late 2018, making it the first Southeast Asian country to do so. Adult-use cannabis, however, remains prohibited.

A proposal last November would have allowed Thai citizens to cultivate up to six cannabis plants at home and sell their harvests back to the government to be processed into medical cannabis products.

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Poll: 68% of New Jersey Voters Will Vote to Legalize Cannabis

7/29/2020

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A new poll has found 68 percent of New Jersey residents said they would vote in favor of the cannabis legalization ballot question in November, according to a survey commissioned by law firm Brach Eichler LLC and conducted by DKC Analytics. Twenty-six percent opposed the measure.

Interestingly, 57 percent of the poll respondents indicated they were not current cannabis users. Another 17 percent said they were current users, while 14 percent said they had used cannabis in the past, and 9 percent said they would consider trying cannabis if it were legalized in the state.

The reforms were supported by 78 percent of Democrats, with 19 percent opposed; 57 percent of Republicans, with 39 percent opposed; and 63 percent of independents, with 27 percent opposed. In all, just 6 percent of respondents said they were unsure.

John D. Fanburg, co-chair of the Cannabis Law Practice at the firm, said the results confirmed that “there is overwhelming support for the creation of a regulated, adult-use cannabis marketplace in New Jersey.”

“Respondents supported it because it will create tremendous opportunity. It will create vitally needed new businesses, the state will receive significant tax revenues and illegal sales will be dramatically reduced, if not eliminated. Voters see this as a win for everyone.” – Fanburg in a statement

Poll respondents were split about whether the reforms should include local control of cannabis sales – which would allow municipalities to decide whether to allow cannabis sales within their city limits. The majority – 44 percent – of respondents favored home rule, with 41 percent opposed, and 51 percent unsure. Respondents also favored social-use lounges (50-38 percent), home delivery (55 to 33 percent), and limiting cannabis use to private property (71 to 26 percent).

Additionally, the poll found 68 percent supported expungement of low-level cannabis crimes that would be legal under the new regime. Fanburg said it is “well recognized” that minorities in New Jersey “were arrested and incarcerated for cannabis-related offenses disproportionate to non-minority populations.”

Charles X. Gormally, another co-chair of the Cannabis Law Practice, said the “strong level” of support for criminal reforms among respondents “should be well noted” by New Jersey lawmakers who will be tasked with writing and implementing the rules for legalization.

The poll surveyed 500 registered New Jersey voters from July 7-12. The poll has a 4.4 percent margin of error.

An April poll from Monmouth University also found New Jersey voters supported the reforms 61-34 percent.

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Review: Pacific Northwest Roots Hash & Rosin

7/28/2020

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Cannabis companies come in a wide range of varieties. One of the rarest and most respected varieties are cannabis companies that successfully make the transition from the medical cannabis market to the licensed recreational market. It takes an extraordinary combination of skill, grind, and luck to make the jump.

That’s why it is so nice to tour the Pacific Northwest Roots facility on their five acres in Tahuya, Washington, along the Hood Canal fjord, one of the Puget Sound’s four major basins. A gardening oasis in a thick forest, the location is modestly sized for a Tier 3 cultivator consisting of a couple of greenhouses and a small building for propagation and making hash.

Pacific Northwest Roots overview

The setup is clearly bootstrapped and the team likes it that way. Much of the gear came right out of the team’s medical cultivation operations. And it’s interesting — even though the lighting equipment is unmatched and some walls are still lacking drywall, when you interact with the team it becomes quickly apparent that these guys know every inch of their gear, have fixed them and rebuilt them, and know how to maximize the capabilities of everything from the lights to the air conditioners. On its face, the team is more of a deeply experienced band of brothers than a commercial enterprise.

Peeking into a greenhouse grow at Pacific Northwest Roots. Photo credit: Shango Los

The company is proud to have never taken investment capital from outside sources, which gives them a certain extra amount of freedom. For example, when it was time to build out the hash lab, the team received a bid for $30,000 but the folks decided they already had all the skills amongst them and did it themselves for $10,000. By building their business on a shoestring budget, with used gear, and waiting to get their property and license at a good price, Pacific Northwest Roots was continually able to capitalize on their calm patience — an attribute in short supply during the Green Rush.

Pacific Northwest Roots founder Ras Kaya Paul established the brand in 2010 while participating in the Washington medical market. While Kaya had already established himself as someone to know for obtaining elite genetics and specialty flower, Kaya saw PNW Roots’ first serious opportunity as a hash-maker in a market accustomed to what is considered today as barely passable quality. Kaya is quick to mention that his wife Tatiana was there before day one and, while he may be the founder, Pacific Northwest Roots would not exist without her ideas and efforts.

Primarily self-taught, source material was inexpensive enough in the medical market that Kaya and the early Roots Crew were able to do a great deal of experimentation on their own while slowly establishing a collection of best practices used to guide the company’s hash-making to this day. While their in-house genetics are easily as popular as their hash, the hash is clearly what has firmly established the Pacific Northwest Roots brand in Washington State. It is the Pacific Northwest Roots genetics that have extended their brand’s reach across the entire country.

The renowned hash-makers at Pacific Northwest Roots have found success by using their own premium, sun-grown cannabis flower. Photo credit: Shango Los

While it seems like an obvious outgrowth of the company now in retrospect, it was not an original goal of Pacific Northwest Roots to put out a venerable line of seeds. Clearly, Kaya and his team were able to find genetics that they could grow that would hash well. However, Kaya’s dad was a world renown game fowl breeder and, between the game fowl and sporting hounds they raised, Kaya learned breeding basics at an early age. Kaya was hardwired for breeding and he finally felt the call to breed cannabis after wanting to produce a terpene profile that he could imagine but had not tasted.

Pacific Northwest Roots focuses on growing outdoors under the sunshine. They are going for the full terpene profiles that sun-grown is known for, as well as some of that earth magic that comes from growing with the sun instead of a sterile grow room. During the late fall when the Pacific Northwest weather gets too gray to grow, they get some assistance from lights and heating coils in the living soil beds. Indoors there is a propagation room and a Mother Room holding their genetics and the in-house breeder’s cuts of their own lines.

Pacific Northwest Roots does not use synthetic fertilizers, nutrients or pesticides, instead focusing on natural farming and permaculture techniques with a heavy dose of Korean Natural Farming (KNF) fermentations and other preparations. The farm has put in the additional effort to become Dragonfly Earth Medicine “DEMPure Certified” working under the most rigorous regenerative and organic growing standards in the cannabis industry. They eschew growing in individual pots and instead opt for large raised beds in the greenhouses and hugelkultur under the naked sun. The hugels are filled with locally scavenged fallen trees, forest duff, last year’s soil, and inoculated with indigenous microorganisms. The canopy is primarily their own cultivars but you can see some other connoisseur grade rarities in the mix as well, like “Pinkleberry” from breeder Nicholas Mahmood of Green Source Gardens. The obvious omission of a large indoor cultivation area means that the team takes a break from growing during the winter and instead focuses on making hash with the fresh-frozen flowers they grew all summer long.

Photo credit: Pacific Northwest Roots

This seasonal inhale and exhale makes for some incredible hash. Pacific Northwest Roots provides five and six star hash and hash rosin as well. Controlling every aspect from the breeding of the seeds, to the cultivation, harvest time and then finishing up with the hashing and curing gives the Roots Crew an infinite number of variables to tweak while seeking to create the best hash.

The Pacific Northwest Roots genetics are collected and grown by many but there is nothing like enjoying the original breeder’s cuts when buying direct. Founder Kaya has had access to hard-to-find elite medical genetics by working with allies across the country. Due to this, the Pacific Northwest Roots library of options for crosses was significant since before normalization started rolling out nationwide.

Reviewing products

For this feature, we chose five lines of PNW Roots hash. Four hash rosins and one 6* sandy blond hash that was still unpressed.

We started off as any good morning should with Koffee, specifically Koffee Breath, an OG Kush Breath cross to Kaya’s Koffee. Kaya’s Koffee is likely the cultivar that first gave Pacific Northwest Roots seeds its national reputation. It captures coffee terpenes in a way none of us had experienced before. When Kaya’s Koffee is on its own, it is a straight hit of Koffee terps unlike many other coffee-tasting cultivars that simply mix coffee in with a range of other flavors. Kaya’s is a cleaner experience which, we suspect, is why it is such a champ to breed with. This blending of Kaya’s Koffee and OGKB pretty much tastes like drinking your morning coffee while pumping gas into your car. It has that warming and life-giving Koffee terpene but with fuel swirling all around.

Photo credit: Pacific Northwest Roots

Next was PNW Roots’ Hamma Hamma which is a cross of the legendary 9lb Hammer by Jinxproof with Kaya’s Koffee. We expected the Hamma Hamma to have that same Koffee terpene profile. We were certainly surprised to find that the usually barely-there taste of lemongrass that often comes with 9lb Hammer was right up front when made into a hash. That lemongrass blended with the roasted humus taste of the Kaya’s Koffee and became something more like chai or maybe even sweet chicory root. We all agreed that there was a delightfully distinct Play-Doh taste when dabbed onto an enail as well, which we all liked. I found that this is the one that I came back to first the next day.

Pacific Northwest Roots’ Strawberry Yogurt originated in a Strawberry Kush bagseed but then was bred, after a large sift, for its strawberry and dairy duality. One of the fun things about this strawberry hash is that it is not natural berry strawberry tasting. Rather, it tastes like the enduring strawberry taste of breakfast cereal. More like Crunchberries and less like fresh fruit. When smoking it, you get an immediate hit of breakfast as a kid that dissolves into a dairy taste, more milk-like really than yogurt because it doesn’t have that fermented bite that yogurt has. The finish is very balanced and makes you want to take that ride again right away.

The Key Lime Koffee we enjoyed was more lime pith and rind taste than the bright green lime we usually think of when we think Key Lime. That understatedness worked for us though since we had just sampled that bright strawberry cereal taste prior. This was a bit more sophisticated with that lime being accompanied by oiled leather and earthen notes. It was a bit more gentle on the palette than the other four and I’d choose to start with this one if taking it to a sesh so that my tongue could pick up the subtitles before getting blown out by less subtle OGs and heavy fuels.

Finally, Vanilla Koffee was a blend of cultivars pressed together as a wine vintner would do. I’ve become a big fan of whole-plant rosin hash blends. So long as the hash maker is blending whole plant hash and not adding outside terpenes, I’m all for it. Vanilla Koffee starts with warming roasted coffee overtones mixed with fuel. As that opens up, more of the vanilla bean comes through ending in kind of a creamy caramel dairy finish. When dabbed, a raw almond flavor comes out too and blends with the fuel.

No doubt, when you are standing in the Roots farm office with exposed wood walls while hearing about their vinyl LP records and resin floor, you definitely get the idea that you are visiting a clubhouse of artisans more than necessarily a business. Sure, I saw the signs of business, and certainly it takes mature business systems to interact with the state regulators and turn a profit, but there is a vibe that “great work” is happening here and that is what the team is constantly focused on. And this brings us back to why cannabis companies that started in the medical days are in a category of their own — there is a certain something that prohibition-era producers have that those new to cannabis just don’t have. For better or for worse, these same casually-driven work habits sink many cannabis companies but for Pacific Northwest Roots, persistence and patience are paying off.

Pacific Northwest Roots Instagram: @PacificNwRootz & @PacificNwRoots_
Pacific Northwest Roots Seeds Instagram: @worldwideroots

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EU Considers Labeling Some CBD Products as Narcotics

7/28/2020

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The European Commission is considering labeling naturally-derived CBD food products “narcotic-related” and has suspended applications for novel food with non-synthetic CBD, according to a Just Food report. The plan would not add the label to novel foods – described by the European Union as a product not widely consumed before 1997 – that contain synthetic CBD.

A spokesperson for the European Commission said the label would be added to products containing “CBD extracted from the flowering and fruiting tops of the hemp plant.” The spokesperson added that the commission has informed applicants of the novel food program about their “preliminary views” and has asked them to comment on the proposal.

Those “preliminary views,” the spokesman said, consider hemp-derived CBD as a narcotic drug under the 1961 United Nations Single Drug Convention on Narcotic Drugs.

“The commission must verify whether the individual applications fall within the scope of the Novel Foods Regulation and whether the data requirements are fulfilled. This includes a verification of whether the specific product falls within the definition of food. The commission will make a decision on the validity of the concerned applications afterward. … Applications for synthetic CBD can be considered valid and some have already been sent to the European Food Safety Authority for risk assessment.” – European Commission spokesperson via Just Food

The commission will also review applications for other hemp-derived products “including extractions from the flowering parts but also from other plant parts,” the spokesperson said, alluding to flavonoids and terpenes.

While the policy is being considered, businesses will be allowed to continue selling hemp-derived CBD food products that have been previously approved.

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France Reduces Drug Possession Penalties to €200 Fine

7/28/2020

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Police in France will issue on-the-spot fines of €200 for illegal drug use, including cannabis, beginning in September, French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Saturday. According to the France24 report, the fines had already been tested in several French cities but under the new policy, the penalties will now be enforced nationwide.

French law permits fines up to €3,750 and jail time for the public but few are incarcerated under the law, the report says. French people are Europe’s leading consumers of cannabis and a 2015 European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction report found that the number of 15-and 16-year-olds who use cannabis is higher in France than any other country in Europe.

In 2015, 140,000 people in France were arrested for drug offenses, with just 3,098 sentenced to incarceration.

Castex said on Saturday that the new rules allow police to apply a “punishment without delay.” The policy includes provisions reducing the fine to €150 if paid within two weeks, but courts can levy a fine up to €450 if the payment is not settled within 45 days. Castex told reporters that 150 law enforcement jobs would be created along with the new policy to “strengthen local criminal action for the repression of everyday delinquency,” according to a Euronews report.

President Emmanual Macron supported spot fines during his presidential campaign, saying they could be used to deter petty crimes that often go unpunished.

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Portland, Maine to Vote on Removing Cannabis Industry License Caps

7/28/2020

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Voters in Portland, Maine will vote in November whether or not to remove the city’s cap on cannabis businesses, News Center Maine reports. The successful campaign comes more than two months after the state reached a legal agreement with cannabusiness that had sued the state that will prevent officials from enforcing an industry resident requirement.

David Boyer, who led the campaign, said removing the cap will allow for “a fair and open market” since “the state has proved it will not defend Maine from outside, big corporations” entering the state’s industry.

“At a time of such economic uncertainty, it does not make sense to cap legal jobs and legal businesses. We are confident that Portland voters will endorse cannabis regulations rooted in fairness and inclusivity this November.” – Boyer in a statement via News Center Maine

The campaign collected more than 2,400 petition signatures; 1,500 were required. The initiative will be read during an Aug. 3 City Council meeting, with a public hearing on the measure expected on Aug. 31.

Maine was sued by the Wellness Connection and Wellness and Pain Management Connection of Delaware, subsidiaries of High Street Capital Partners of Delaware, arguing that the residency requirement included in the state’s cannabis legalization law violates the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution which forbids restrictive and discriminatory commercial regulations between the states.

In May, the Portland City Council voted to keep the residency requirements intact despite the outcome of the lawsuit against the state. Supporters of that decision said the city’s residency regulations would be easier to defend in court because unlike the state’s four-year residency requirement locals will get preferential treatment by the city only if it gets more than 20 applications and must break a tie among those with similar business experience, bank deposits, and employee wages.

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