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Michigan Proposes Cutting Medical Cannabis Fees

2/13/2019

The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs has proposed several cuts to fees for its medical cannabis program, according to a Detroit Free Press report.

The rules are expected to take effect later this year. Representatives of the state said in a filing that they’re lowering fees because the program is now cheaper to operate than it was at launch.

“The revenue generated based on the current application fee for the past three years is approximately 90-100% more than (the department’s) operational expenses.” — Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs in its filing with the Office of Regulatory Reinvention

The changes lower the cost of a two-year medical card from $60 to $40. Other fees will be completely eliminated, such as a $10 fee for changing address and a $25 background check fee for cannabis caregivers. There is now also a longer window for renewal when a medical card expires.

Tax rates on retail cannabis will also decrease due to the elimination of a 3 percent excise tax.

Fees for Michigan’s medical cannabis program have been declining at two-year intervals since the program launched in 2008. A spokesperson for the department said there is still enough of a cushion built for the program that it is expected to continue getting cheaper for at least the next five years.

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Connecticut Billboard Advertising Legal Cannabis In Massachusetts Draws Protests

2/12/2019

Weedmaps has put up another billboard in a state where cannabis remains prohibited, this time in Connecticut, according to a story by NBC Connecticut.

The billboard, located on the side of Interstate 91 in North Haven, Connecticut, reads: “Weed is legal in 60 miles.” Technically, the billboard is not violating any laws because it is advertising the Weedmaps app. Weedmaps conducted a similar campaign in Arizona, informing people about the availability of cannabis in Colorado and Washington.

Some Connecticut residents, however, are angry about the billboard. Connecticut has a medical cannabis program but not an adult-use program; it is still a crime to bring cannabis across the border from Massachusetts — or any state, for that matter. The billboard attracted enough attention that dissidents came out for a rally in front of the media company that owns the billboard.

Another billboard was placed four exits further down the highway towards Massachusetts that reads, “Treatment is closer.” It was placed there by an addiction treatment center in New Haven called Turnbridge.

The billboard is still posted along Interstate 91 and doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere for the time being.

Some Connecticut lawmakers are working to bring cannabis regulations to their state but opposition in the capital remains. Voters in the state strongly approve of overhauling cannabis laws, but Connecticut is not a state with rules allowing voter ballot initiatives so any significant change will have to come from elected officials.

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New Mexico Adult-Use Legalization Clears Committee

2/12/2019

Legislation to potentially legalize adult-use cannabis in New Mexico has successfully passed the Health and Human Services committee of the New Mexico state legislature, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

House Bill 356 passed the committee on a 5-2 vote in favor.

“Prohibition simply does not work, and the country is coming to the realization of that.” — State Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas (D-Albuquerque), via the Albuquerque Journal

The bill is cosponsored by Rep. Maestas and four other New Mexico House Democrats. Some Republicans are expected to oppose the legislation, and some moderate Democrats have historically helped block previous cannabis legislation in the state. A decision will need to be made by mid-March for the bill to have a chance to pass before the end of the legislative session.

Beyond legalization, the legislation stipulates:

Taxation of up to 19 percent on cannabis sales. The taxes would be earmarked for health, law enforcement, and research programs.
Cities and counties will be able to opt out of sales
Prior criminal records for cannabis crimes would be expunged

Before the bill can be considered by the full state House of Representatives, the bill must also clear the House Judiciary Committee. If that happens, and then the bill receives House approval, it would go to the Senate for consideration before eventually landing on the governor’s desk.

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John Boehner Joins Federal Cannabis Lobbying Group

2/12/2019

Former Speaker of the House John Boehner (R) has been appointed an honorary chairman of a newly-formed pro-cannabis lobbying group, The Hill reports.

The National Cannabis Roundtable, formed on Friday, aims to help develop cannabis policy on the federal level. The group aims to solve things such as banking access and roadblocks to cannabis research. The National Cannabis Roundtable was formed by companies including the Liaison Group, HDMK Public Affairs and Square Patton Boggs, and Acreage Holdings — where Boehner is already a board member.

Boehner will not be a lobbyist but will rather serve as an advisor for the group. Since leaving government, Boehner has become strongly supportive of the cannabis industry, saying that his beliefs related to cannabis have “evolved.” He has even started selling advice about making cannabis investments as the industry goes mainstream.

The National Cannabis Roundtable will be one more voice for the end of cannabis prohibition, which already includes groups like the Cannabis Trade Federation.

“As the cannabis industry grows and matures, it’s vital that we work together for a common-sense legal framework for cannabis policy,” Boehner said in a press release.

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California Regulators Shut Down Two Unlicensed Cannabis Companies

2/11/2019

According to an announcement from the Bureau of Cannabis Control, two businesses in Sacramento and Los Angeles County have been subject to search warrants due to operating without a license, according to a press release.

The Bureau of Cannabis Control and the Department of Consumer Affairs’ Division of Investigation served search warrants to two businesses. The unlicensed cannabis delivery service “Nollie Green-Blu Solutions” in Fair Oaks, California and the unlicensed retailer “Smoking Aces” in Los Angeles.

The delivery service crackdown was the result of complaints received by the Bureau of Cannabis Control. Police and regulators seized $250,000 of cannabis and cannabis products from Nollie Green-Blu Solutions and $27,637 from Smoking Aces. Two firearms and six people were also arrested in Los Angeles.

This follows the ending of a grace period on January 9 for unlicensed businesses in California. It’s unclear if more enforcement will follow, but there are still estimated to be hundreds of unlicensed cannabis businesses operating in California and regulators have been clear that those without licenses are taking their changes with law enforcement after the deadline.

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Medicinal Genomics Releases Industry’s First Comprehensive Cannabis Reference Genome

2/11/2019

by Featured Announcement

Woburn, MA — Medicinal Genomics Corporation (MGC), a pioneer in using genomics to improve the transparency, safety and yield of cannabis has today announced the industry’s most comprehensive cannabis reference genome, a high quality de novo genome assembly of the Jamaican Lion cannabis strain. As the first reference genome to break “usability barrier,” the significance of this development cannot be overstated. Having a comprehensive cannabis genome opens the door to a host of industry innovations, including enabling cannabis research in states and countries where cannabis is still illegal, marker-assisted selection (MAS) for genetically-based strain identification, accelerated breeding to improve production yields, reliable seed-to-sale tracking systems, and pathogen identification to ensure cannabis purity and safety.

“For the first time, growers and breeders will have a complete and reliable genome from which to create new strains for increased yields and productivity, while documenting them to protect their work. Cultivators will also be able to embark on a brand new era of intelligent breeding destined to change the way cannabis is grown, sold and consumed,” said Kevin McKernan, chief science officer for Medicinal Genomics. “And this is just the beginning of enhancing cannabis yield with genomics. This plant that has the potential to be more valuable than wheat and corn combined, but with far more varied and diverse uses, including everything from CO2 sequestration to pain relief and medical therapies to complete vegetable proteins, clothing and industrial materials.”

McKernan’s pedigree in genetics dates back to his work as a member of the Human Genome Project at MIT. “The completeness of the human genome that was celebrated at the White House in 2001 is 10-fold lower in quality compared to the cannabis genome we’ve just released. That’s certainly understandable considering the complexity the cannabis genome, but it’s more indicative of just how far the technology has come in almost 20 years,” he said.

MGC was the first to sequence the cannabis genome with its sequencing of the Chemdawg cultivar in 2011. Since then, major breakthroughs in sequencing technology have enabled their reference of the cannabis genome to greatly exceed the standards set by the Human Genome Project in 2001. The company has also steadily applied these improvements by adding more genomes to its Kannapedia knowledge database, and in 2018, in validation of the company’s progress their work was underwritten by the DASH Cryptocurrency.

The subsequent results of these efforts were made public on its blockchain, as will the latest Jamaican Lion reference genome, whose high quality assembly was recently presented and described by MGC senior advisor, Dr. Timothy Harkins, at the 2019 Plant and Animal Genome conference in San Diego. Publishing the “crypto-incentivized, blockchain-recorded peer review” (CIBR)” genome provides a foundation for others to build upon to fully characterize the genome and how it functions. Some of the early descriptions included identifying important locations for seed production and elucidating the complexity surrounding gene families for important cannabinoid production.

Transparency of review will validate the comprehensiveness of the assembly, and thus its repeatability, and when it comes to genetics, repeatability is the key to usability. Other companies have released their own version of the cannabis genome, but these attempts are significantly incomplete, missing at least 1 in every 10 genes. This lack of completeness creates gaps in the sequence information, creating reproducibility issues and ultimately a “usability barrier” for customers and renders these sequences highly compromised for serious commercial work.

In the Jamaican Lion assembly, over 180 billion bases were sequenced with Pacific Biosciences latest Version 6 Chemistry, allowing MGC to select the longest reads as the foundation for the DNA assembly process. These reads are so long and accurate that every base is covered over 15 times with 60,000 base pair reads. This is an order of magnitude more contiguous than anything produced to date and is 1000 times more contiguous than the genomes MGC published with Illumina technology in 2011.

In addition to its partnership with DASH Cryptocurrency, MGC’s collaborated with New England Biolabs, Phase Genomics, and Pacific Biosciences on the project and has set a new standard for the completeness of genetic information. The entire 1.1 Gb cannabis genome, which contains 10 chromosomal pairs, is now made up of just 387 pieces, each containing an average of 7.62 million bases. This genomic length includes the maternal and paternal genomes present in a diploid cell.

In addition to the Pacific Biosciences accurate long read sequencing, 1 billion HiC reads have been generated using Phase Genomics technology. This technology orders and orientates the 387 pieces of the genome into full length chromosomal pictures while assisting in separating the mother and father genomes from one another. New England Biolabs also surveyed the methylome and RNA landscape with their novel EM-Seq method and recently presented their results at the Plant and Animal Genome conference in San Diego, as well.

“We began this work to demonstrate prior art in an effort to help overturn the broad utility patents that have the potential to strangle the entire cannabis industry before it ever gets started. These patents should never have been granted in the first place and we intend to use full power of science to unlock the cannabis plants’ genetics to get these restrictive and predatory patents invalidated,” said Brendan McKernan, Medicinal Genomics’ CEO. “We welcome the participation of other firms working on the genome to join us in this effort.”

About Medicinal Genomics Corporation

Medicinal Genomics Corporation has pioneered the genomics of cannabis to build a stronger scientific foundation for cannabis-based products. Our unmatched expertise in genetic science has helped cultivators, dispensaries and testing laboratories characterize and understand the quality and consistency of cannabis to ensure patients and consumers have access to consistently safe, high quality cannabis.

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New Study Reinforces Effectiveness of Medical Cannabis

2/11/2019

Research into cannabinoids, the cannabis plant, and actual reports of which conditions patients are using it for are lining up neatly in a new analysis, The Associated Press reports.

The analysis was published in the journal Health Affairs. While it did not look at the outcomes of patient use, it attempted to find connections between what conditions patients were treating with medical cannabis and which scientific research suggested they do so. The two aligned fairly well.

“The majority of patients for whom we have data are using cannabis for reasons where the science is the strongest.” — Kevin Boehnke of University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, lead study author, via The Associated Press

About 85 percent of the reasons given by patients for their medical cannabis use were supported by substantial evidence. Nearly two-thirds of the 730,000 reasons analyzed said they use cannabis to treat chronic pain.

The analysis also discovered that Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, and Oregon saw a decline in medical cannabis patients after adult-use legalization. The study determined there were more than 800,000 registered patients in 19 state medical cannabis programs, which doesn’t include either California or Maine, where registration is not required. Some estimates that include those states indicate that there may be more than two million U.S. patients using medical cannabis.

The analysis provides yet further evidence debunking prohibitionist claims that cannabis isn’t medicine.

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Due to Canada’s Roll-Out Issues, Most Cannabis Sales Remain Illicit

2/11/2019

A variety of issues with Canada’s rollout of the legal cannabis market is expected to keep 71 percent of cannabis sales in the illicit market, according to a story by the Motley Fool.

Supply issues have been a problem across the country. Due at least in part to a huge backlog of license applications, it takes Health Canada nearly a year to go from receiving an application to issuing an actual license.

Packaging has also been a problem. Strict regulations about childproof packaging with specific labeling has created a shortage of possible containers.

Ultimately, growers are behind. While many companies who are poised to move into the space would’ve liked to have started constructing facilities much earlier than they did, most producers were not willing to take the risk until the law was definitively passed. It could take two more years before producers are fully up to speed for Canada’s market.

The analysis also reports that by 2020 this figure will have dropped precipitously to 34 percent, however. In the near term, analysts also dropped sales figures for the legal market for a whole, as well made predictions for as for specific companies like Canopy Growth and other market leaders.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pushed for lowering the excise tax rate to 10 percent to help battle illicit sales.

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Israeli Study Shows CBD Effective for Autism

2/08/2019

A study conducted by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Soroka University Medical Center in Israel has shown that cannabis oil has a significant effect on the symptoms of autism, The Growth Op reports.

Autism can be difficult to categorize and study because it can exhibit differently in each child. To date, there has been limited evidence that cannabis is an effective remedy for autism; this is likely both because of the difficulty of studying the condition as well as federal prohibition continuing to limit cannabis research funding.

Researchers in Israel gave cannabis oil to 60 children suffering from autism and polled their parents to see if there was a change in the number of tics, depressive episodes, or rage attacks.

“Overall, more than 80% of the parents reported significant or moderate improvement in their child.” — Lihi Bar-Lev Schleider, lead study author, in a statement

Over the six-month study, 30 percent of the children showed “substantial” improvement and 53 percent showed “moderate” improvement. The remaining 15 percent did not seem to respond favorably to the treatment. About 40 percent of the patients who improved with CBD were able to shower and dress themselves after treatment, 30 percent had better sleep, and 10 percent were able to concentrate better.

The study used a cannabis oil with a 30 percent CBD to 1.5 percent THC ratio derived from medical cannabis plants and not industrial hemp. Researchers cautioned that a double-blind, placebo-controlled study needs to be conducted to confirm the results.

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New York City Health Dept. Bans CBD in Food, Drinks

2/08/2019

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene this week announced a ban and resulting crackdown on CBD-infused foods and beverages throughout the city, NBC News reports.

In a statement, the Health Department confirmed that CBD food and drinks are no longer allowed to be sold in the city:

“Restaurants in New York City are not permitted to add anything to food or drink that is not approved as safe to eat. The Health Department takes seriously its responsibility to protect New Yorkers’ health. Until cannabidiol (CBD) is deemed safe as a food additive, the Department is ordering restaurants not to offer products containing CBD.” — New York City Health Department statement, via NBC News

The move is retaliatory to a growing trend of CBD infusions throughout the city.

Ian Ford, the proprietor of the Bushwick-based coffee shop Caffeine Underground, said that business boomed after they started offering CBD-infused brews.

“We were the first ones in New York State to offer drinks with CBD and it became a big deal for us,” he told NBC News.

Now, Ford says he expects a health inspector to come knocking any day to tell him to end his CBD sales or face fines and/or being shut down.

“All of this is very confusing,” said Ford. “It’s legal to buy it and stick it on your tongue, but it’s not legal to buy it and stick it in your coffee? It’s like there’s no rules and too many rules.“

For now, New York City is following in the footsteps of at least one nearby state — earlier this month, Maine issued a ban on selling CBD-infused edible products outside of licensed medical cannabis dispensaries.

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Steve Bannon Floats Building ‘Private’ Border Wall Using Hempcrete

2/08/2019

During a trip with several other high-profile Trump supporters to McAllen, Texas in support of the president’s contentious U.S.-Mexico border wall project, the president’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon floated the idea of building a privately-funded border wall made with hempcrete, Politico reports.

Bannon met with former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, former Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, and other Trump wall supporters in Texas to discuss a Florida man’s crowdfunding campaign that aimed to generate private funds to help fund the border wall. Erik Prince, who founded the private military company Blackwater, attended the meeting by phone.

According to Bannon, the group is looking seriously at constructing the wall out of hempcrete.

“Do you understand the irony of using hempcrete to keep out marijuana?” — Steve Bannon, via CNN

The endeavor seems unlikely to succeed, though the group plans to hold meetings in several other prominent border towns.

“Do we have a billion dollars right now? No,” said Bannon. “But can we raise one- or two-hundred million dollars? No doubt about it.”

Notably, one- or two-hundred million dollars would still be a drop in the bucket compared to the 2,000-mile wall’s $5.7 billion price tag, according to the president.

An analysis revealed late last year that there is no correlation between miles of border fencing and the amount of cannabis seized by border agents. There is, however, a correlation between state cannabis legalization programs and a reduction in cannabis smuggling. Perhaps we should all crowdfund the federal legalization of cannabis, instead.

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Idaho Police Seize Legal Hemp Shipment, Jail Truck Driver

2/08/2019

In what is becoming a worrying trend after the seizure of a legal hemp shipment in Oklahoma earlier this month, police have once again seized a completely legal shipment of industrial hemp, this time in Idaho, according to a CNN report.

The hemp was on its way from state-licensed hemp grower Boones Ferry Berry Farms in Hubbard, Oregon to Big Sky Scientific in Colorado, where it was meant to be refined into CBD extract. At a weigh station near Boise, however, an Idaho state trooper stopped the truck, driven by Denis Palamarchuck, for an inspection.

The bill of lading for the cargo said it was industrial hemp but, as the Idaho State Police (ISP) said in a press release, “The trooper’s training and experience made him suspicious that the cargo was in fact marijuana.” A drug-sniffing dog and portable THC test were enough to land Palamarchuck in jail facing felony trafficking of “illicit marijuana” charges.

All told, 6,700 pounds of industrial hemp were confiscated.

Since the 2018 Farm Bill legalized industrial hemp federally, interstate hemp commerce should now be protected by the Commerce clause in the U.S. Constitution, which states that state-legal goods being shipped between two states can’t be interfered with as they pass through other states. According to federal law, industrial hemp can contain up to 0.3 percent THC, which is still enough to make a basic test for THC show positive, even though it would be technically legal.

Big Sky Scientific is now suing for the return of its 6,700 pounds of industrial hemp held by the ISP. The company has test results that show the hemp crop contains about 0.043% THC — an order of magnitude below the legal limit.

According to Idaho State Police, Idaho laws say any substance containing any amount of THC is illegal. “Idaho State Police troopers will continue to aggressively enforce Idaho laws,” said a spokesperson for the ISP.

Palamarchuck has posted $100,000 bail and is awaiting prosecution.

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Study: Men Who Smoke Cannabis Have Higher Sperm Counts

2/07/2019

A new study published in the journal Human Reproduction reveals that men who reported smoking cannabis had higher sperm counts than men who claimed to never have smoked, Live Science reports.

The findings contrast with previous studies that showed sperm count falls alongside cannabis use. Researchers theorize that the difference may be dependent upon dose and other factors.

Interestingly, those who have smoked in the past had higher sperm counts than those that had never smoked, the sperm counts of those that had smoked continue to rise — after they stopped smoking. Each year between the time of measurement and the time when the subject last smoked appeared to add additional percentage points of sperm count.

The study looked at 662 men who had had sperm samples taken during fertility testing with their partners. 55 percent of the subjects reported having used cannabis at some time in the past and 11 percent said they were current smokers. The remainder said they had never smoked. Those who reported having smoked cannabis had an average sperm count of 63 million sperm per milliliter, compared to 45 million per mL for those who had never smoked.

Also, only 5 percent of smokers had below average sperm counts, while 12 percent of those who had never smoked showed lower-than-normal counts.

Researchers acknowledged some issues with their data collection: for one, the study subjects were all being tested for fertility issues. Also, it’s been shown that men with higher testosterone as a whole will have higher sperm counts — and are also more likely to engage in “risky” behaviors like drug use.

More research is needed, the researchers suggested.

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House Democrats Move Forward With Cannabis Banking Access Hearing

2/07/2019

The first cannabis-related congressional hearing of the new session is titled “Challenges and Solutions: Access to Banking Services for Cannabis-Related Businesses,” Tom Angell reports for Forbes.

The hearing will be held February 13 in a subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee.

“The upcoming hearing presents a real opportunity for the Democratic Party to assert their leadership by finally beginning the conversation on how we end the failed policy of marijuana criminalization,” said Justin Strekal of NORML.

“Chairwoman Waters has made it one of her first priorities to address this urgent and overdue issue, demonstrating that she understands the threat to public safety and the need for Congress to act. We have a bipartisan proposal to allow well-regulated marijuana businesses to handle their money in a way that is safe and effective for law enforcement to track. I am eager to get to the work of refining it and passing it into law.” — Rep. Denny Heck (D-Washington), via Forbes

Many lawmakers were upset at the derailing of previous efforts to address the cannabis industry banking issue. In the formerly Republican-controlled House, most efforts didn’t leave committee due to interference by key Republican lawmakers.

It has yet to be revealed who will testify at the hearing with the Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions Subcommittee.

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Cannabis Workers Earn 11% More Than U.S. Median

2/07/2019

An analysis by Glassdoor has revealed that workers in the cannabis industry earn 11% more than the median U.S. wage and that job openings in the industry increased 76% over 2018, according to a CNBC report.

The growth was seen between December of 2017 and December of 2018. Just comparing December 2017 to December 2018, job openings went from 858 to 1,512. It doesn’t seem like that trend will be changing any time soon, as new states continue to legalize cannabis.

“Investment in hiring is one of the strongest indicators for business confidence as it requires a substantial long-term investment of time, effort and money.” — Daniel Zhao, data scientist with Glassdoor, via CNBC

These aren’t just retail jobs, either. 53 percent of the openings are for professional positions such as audit assurance managers, marketing managers, and product managers. The median paycheck in the cannabis industry is $58,511 — the U.S. overall median is $52,863.

The top five cities for cannabis job openings by percent of total listings are: San Francisco (13 percent), Los Angeles (12 percent), Denver (7 percent), Seattle (4 percent) and New York (4 percent).

More than 80 percent of openings seem to be with small to medium-sized businesses with 500 employees or less.

The trend is not expected to let up anytime soon. As the cannabis industry continues to mature, even more workers will be needed as companies enter larger markets and need to meet tax and accounting standards, among other compliance issues.

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Quebec’s New Cannabis Awareness Campaign Is Utterly Weird

2/07/2019

Quebec launched an awareness campaign this week targeting youth and young adults who are considering experimenting with cannabis. The campaign ads were clearly designed to be eye-catching, perhaps even unnerving, but the images put out by the official Quebec cannabis awareness campaign — and the apparent reasoning behind them — are incredibly peculiar, to say the least.

The campaign features young Canadians sporting extra body parts, hair growing out of their eyes and/or ears, and youngsters with weirdly elongated necks. At the risk of appearing out of touch, it seems that campaign managers have chosen to forgo realistic interpretations of the potential risks of underage cannabis use in favor of shock and awe strategies or, in this case, shock and … what?

Check out the ads below:

The argument is not hard to understand: since we haven’t been able to fully research this plant, the campaign posits, why risk any potentially unknown side effects?

In this age of rampant information sharing, however — and amidst this global surge of cannabis reforms — it seems unlikely that attempts at fear-mongering will curry any favors with the modern youth. If you can glean more helpful information off a thirty-second Google search, for example, than through the messaging your own government has paid potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce and promote, something is clearly wrong — and kids these days are smart enough to know that.

Several cannabis professionals tweeted about the campaign this week. Mark Spear, founder and CEO of Burnstown Farms Cannabis Company, drew comparisons to an alcohol awareness campaign run previously by the Quebecois government. The differences are extreme.

Compare this #cannabis awareness campaign to Quebec’s teens & #alcohol awareness campaign, the difference is shocking!

“If you do drink , drink for the right reasons. Just like your parents, you and your friends drink alcohol to have fun and enhance your time together.” ?? pic.twitter.com/EfHumBpRKI

— ᴍᴀʀᴋ sᴘᴇᴀʀ ?? (@spearster55) February 5, 2019

Cannabis was made federally legal in Canada on October 17, 2018. Quebec, however, has instated the nation’s harshest provincial cannabis regulations, including a ban on public cannabis use, and has set aside $1.3 million for cannabis enforcement in the post-legalization era.

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Judge: “Accidental” Cannabis Use Still a Fireable Offense for Federal Agencies

2/06/2019

A federal judge has ruled that the government is able to fire employees who test positive for cannabis — even if it was consumed on accident — according to a Government Executive report.

The ruling was sparked by the trial of Jeffrey Hansen, an information technology specialist working with Customs and Border Protection. Hansen tested positive for cannabis during a random drug screening and was removed from his position. While he did not contest the results of the drug test, he did claim that someone at a barbeque had given him a cannabis-infused brownie as a prank and hadn’t told him it was an infused edible. Claiming a lack of evidence, however, the Customs and Border Patrol official in charge of the issue decided to remove Hansen anyway.

Hansen appealed the decision but a panel of judges, after hearing testimony, decided that Hansen’s intentions didn’t matter.

The court issued its decision with the proclamation that the ruling was precedent-setting. This means that all future cases heard on the matter will now start with the understanding that intent does not matter with regard to cannabis consumption and that any positive test, due to several guidances set by officials from both the Reagan and Obama presidential administrations, is grounds for firing.

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Boston Considering Proposal to Prefer Local Residents for Cannabis Licenses

2/06/2019

The city of Boston, Massachusetts is considering changing regulations for cannabis business licenses to favor awarding them to local residents, The Boston Globe reports.

The changes were proposed on Monday by City Councilor Kim Janey. Janey is seeking to take control of the permitting process from the Mayor’s office, which currently has full charge of the issue. Janey’s changes would create a two-year ban on participation in the market by out-of-area cannabis companies funded by outside money.

The proposal creates new rules for any company seeking to open a cannabis retail outlet in the Boston area. Any organization seeking to start a cannabis business would need to check three of six total boxes:

Have lived for half of the past ten years in an area of Massachusetts with high rates of arrest for drug crimes
Have lived in Boston for the last five years
Have been arrested in the past for cannabis-related crimes
Have spouses or parents arrested in the past for cannabis offenses
Be a person of African-American, Hispanic or Latino descent
Be a person whose household income is at 400 percent of the federal poverty level or lower

Janey hopes to be able to re-write the rules for issuing cannabis licenses so that the ills of the last half century of cannabis prohibition against minority communities are repaired and create a local cannabis industry instead of allowing large corporations, such as big tobacco, to come in with money and immediately dominate the space.

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Sen. Cory Booker Announces Presidential Bid, Wants to End Cannabis Prohibition

2/05/2019

Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) announced his bid for the 2020 U.S. Presidential campaign, including in his announcement his official backing for an end to cannabis prohibition, according to a MarketWatch report.

Sen. Booker talked about how our country needs radical empathy to bring the country back together and when asked by the hosts of the show about his stance on incarceration and drug policy, he took a strong stance against the drug war.

“We all pledge an oath in this country, we literally swear an oath that we are going to be a nation of liberty and justice for all. For the country that professes the ideals of freedom, to have one out of every four incarcerated people on the planet Earth here in America, to have one of every three incarcerated women on the planet Earth here in America, this is a cancer on the soul of our country and it hurts everybody. … I’m committed to this fight. … I’m gonna talk about changing our criminal justice system. … It means changing our drug laws; ending prohibition against marijuana.” — Sen. Cory Booker on the Tom Joyner Morning Show

Sen. Booker was the primary sponsor for the Marijuana Justice Act, which aims to remove cannabis from its federal Schedule I status. Booker was able to secure many other high profile co-sponsors for the bill, which contains provisions that would attempt to repair the damage caused to minority communities across the country.

Booker was also at the confirmation hearings for potential Attorney General William Barr and questioned the nominee about his stance on cannabis policy that, causing Barr to make statements that he would not “go after” state-legal cannabis businesses.

While other Democratic party Presidential hopefuls such as Sens. Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren have adopted favorable stances towards cannabis, Sen. Booker is the first “front runner,” so to speak, with such a long track record of supporting cannabis reforms. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws gave him an A+ politician rating.

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Truckload of “Marijuana” Seized in Oklahoma Is Likely Industrial Hemp

2/05/2019

Law enforcement officers in Oklahoma jailed a truck crew and seized 9 tons of suspected marijuana earlier this month and even began prosecution before test results revealed it was what the drivers claimed — industrial hemp — according to a Tulsa World report.

The truck was searched during a traffic stop violation on January 9 in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. The truck was en route from Kentucky to a business in Colorado that had legally purchased the hemp, which was legalized across the U.S. via the 2018 farm bill’s passage. The truck drivers and the drivers of a follow van were jailed under drug trafficking charges. The truck contained more than 17,000 pounds of hemp.

Officials in Oklahoma claimed it was unclear that it wasn’t marijuana, even though James Baumgartner, president of the company purchasing the shipment, produced paperwork certifying that the shipment had been tested to contain less than 0.3 percent THC.

Lawyer for the accused Matt Lyons said that federal testing has now been completed on 11 separate samples taken from the shipment — all showing percentages at or just barely above 0.3 percent THC. All of which were below 1 percent THC however, which is the bar set federally for the difference between negligent and intentional violation of marijuana laws. “Negligent” or accidental transport of industrial hemp containing over 0.03 percent THC carries no penalty federally, though Oklahoma retains the right via state law to possibly fine the business transporting the product.

The Osage County, Oklahoma District Attorney was not satisfied, however, and ordered that the entire shipment now be tested. Strangely enough, the only place with capable testing facilities is where the shipment was headed in the first place — Colorado. Lyons questioned this decision: “Why is this [still] being criminally prosecuted? Is this because you made the mistake of prosecuting them before the tests were done?”

Drivers of the follow van have been able to post bail, but the truck drivers are still in jail in Oklahoma.

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Study: Oregon Has 6.5 Years of Cannabis Oversupply

2/05/2019

by Pat Beggan

A study completed last week by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission and submitted to state legislators shows that the level of oversupply in the Oregon market is so high that existing stocks could supply 6.5 years of current demand, The Oregonian reports.

The report was compiled over the last three years of growing and two years of legal sales. Regulators wanted to stay in touch with how the market was developing and identify what policies may need to be adjusted. A previous audit by the Oregon Health Authority showed that regulators were not staying up on inspections or doing enough to prevent the diversion of cannabis product to the illicit market.

Demand consisted of about half of the cannabis produced between July 2017 and June 2018, which was 2,000 metric tons (4.4 million pounds). If licenses continue to be approved as expected, Oregon is expected to produce 4,000 metric tons (nearly 9 million pounds) of cannabis by June 2019.

The main problem created by this oversupply, for the cannabis industry, is plunging prices.

Other interesting data from the report: cannabis sold in legal adult-use stores only consists of about 45 percent of the amount actually consumed in the state by end users. The rest comes from a variety of sources, including legal home grows, medical dispensaries and the illicit market. Medical patients are starting to transition to adult-use stores as well, and the state’s medical cannabis program is shrinking.

Analysts do not believe that there is one clear path on the issue, such as capping producer licenses. Should the federal government legalize interstate commerce of cannabis, for instance, Oregon’s oversupply could suddenly be worth a lot of money once shipped around the U.S.

There is currently a bill in the Oregon legislature that hopes to establish interstate cannabis commerce, though it may not accomplish much without federal legalization.

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Maine Bans CBD Edibles Sales Outside Dispensaries

2/04/2019

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is limiting the sale of edible CBD products in the state to medical cannabis dispensaries only, citing statements made by the FDA following the 2018 farm bill’s passage, The Press-Herald reports.

Health inspectors started informing businesses last week that they needed to remove all edible CBD products from their shelves — even the dog treats. Interestingly, products that are consumed by smoking and vaping or that are used topically are not affected by the ban.

The DHHS pointed to recent rulings by the FDA that say until regulations are created stipulating exactly how CBD products are to be sold, it is technically an unapproved food additive, despite hemp‘s newly legal status.

“We just had the carpet pulled out from under us. Hemp just got legalized nationally and now Maine wants to do a 180 and make it illegal here, when we’ve been doing it with their blessing for two years now? How did CBD suddenly get unsafe? This is ridiculous. This cannot stand. People need to know what the state is up to and demand the state keeps its hands off our CBDs.” — Dawson Julia, Owner of East Coast CBDs in Unity, via The Press-Herald

Advocates for CBD are gathering for the Rally for CBD and Hemp Farmer Rights on Tuesday inside of the Maine Statehouse at 9:00 am EST. They argue that the recent ruling is unnecessary and unfair to existing retail CBD businesses, who have been thrust into a state of “unforeseen distress,” according to the event description. The rally will also include “meet the press” and “product show and tell” opportunities for CBD entrepreneurs and enthusiasts to share their stories with lawmakers and the public.

The recent DHHS ruling doesn’t affect the state’s medical cannabis system — it only applies to regular stores selling products that are not regulated under the state-legal system. Those who need CBD tinctures and other edible products should either seek a medical cannabis card or make their CBD purchases online.

The FDA has indicated that rules are coming to allow for the interstate commerce of edible CBD products, though the timeline is uncertain even though hemp and its derivatives were legalized prior to Christmas.

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New York May Delay Legalization Over Budget Woes

2/04/2019

Despite a push from Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), New York lawmakers are struggling to agree on a cannabis legalization plan for the state and may end up delaying until another year, according to The Daily Star.

Cuomo still has hope, however, for legalization to be structured and funded by the state budget deadline of March 31, though other lawmakers are not optimistic.

Complications began when Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D) said he was in no rush to approve the proposal. “I want to get it right, rather than beat a ‘time clock,'” said Heastie.

Other New York officials have suggested that legalization would require police to hire more drug recognition experts. Other issues include a lack of intoxicated driving detection methods for cannabis and no clear way forward on the proposed expungement of previous cannabis crimes.

While Cuomo said, “I’m not ready to give up yet,” the budget proposal recently submitted by the governor’s office does not include funding for the stated needs of many lawmakers.

The clock is ticking. Cuomo had promised that cannabis legalization would be a priority for his ninth year of governorship. If the program is not approved by April 1, the next deadline that might work would be in June. Every time the program is pushed to the next deadline, however, the launch of regulated cannabis sales is also pushed further back.

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