Massachusetts Plans Nation’s First Social Equity Cannabis Work Program

6/27/2018

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Massachusetts is in the early stages of launching the first social equity cannabis work program in the nation, according to a MassLive report. The program would be designed to give minorities and others previously convicted of drug offenses a chance at working in the legal cannabis industry.

The commission currently gives priority for cannabis license applicants to those who come from areas or groups that have been overly affected by cannabis prohibition. According to Massachusetts state law, however, the Cannabis Control Commission must promote participation in the legal cannabis industry from demographics who were harmed disproportionately by cannabis prohibition.

The state is crafting its social equity program to provide training and mentoring to individuals from those same disadvantaged categories. The program has four tracks for training different types of workers for the cannabis industry: owners and entrepreneurs, management and executives, entry-level workers and the previously incarcerated, and a fourth track for people with existing professional skills that are useful in cannabis.

Candidates for the program must meet certain criteria. The program is for those with past drug convictions — or for their partners and/or children — who have lived in Massachusetts for at least one year. The program would also apply to people who have lived in a community classified as an area of “disproportionate impact” for the last five years with an income below 400% of the federal poverty level.

The rules do not specify race. However, Shekia Scott, Director of Community Outreach for the Cannabis Control Commission, said the goal is to help create a more racially diverse workforce.

“Everyone can’t be an owner. We have to think bigger about building out the full workforce and full industry.” — Shekia Scott, via MassLive

Scott said her next goal is outreach in the 29 communities classified as “disproportionately impacted,” to encourage people to apply for the program. The Cannabis Commission has allocated $300,000 for the program for this year.

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Cannabis CEO Resigns Over Viral Video of Her Threatening to Call Police on Young Girl Selling Water

6/27/2018

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Alison Ettel has resigned as CEO of cannabis company TreatWell Health after a video went viral that showed her appearing to call the police on a young girl and her mother who were selling bottled water on the street. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the resulting backlash ultimately resulted in Ettel — who was dubbed “Permit Patty” by the online community — resigning from her position as the company’s head executive.

“It is Ms. Ettel’s belief that TreatWell, its employees and patients should not have to suffer because of a situation that occurred in an escalated moment.” — Treatwell spokesperson Cynthia Gonzalez, in a statement

TreatWell Health specializes in medical cannabis tinctures designed for both people and pets. Several dispensaries throughout San Francisco have responded to the incident, however, saying they will no longer carry TreatWell products.

The incident was recorded on Saturday and posted to Instagram. The video shows Ettel on her phone, where she appears to be reporting 8-year-old Jordan Rodgers — who is Black — to the police for selling bottled water without a permit. Jordan’s mother, Erin Austin, filmed Ettel while she made the call.

“She calling police on a 8-year-old little girl. You can hide all you want. The world gon’ see you, boo,” Austin says in the video.

Ettel responds while on the phone and looking into Austin’s camera, “Yeah, um, illegally selling water without a permit, yeah.”

Later, Austin said that her daughter had been selling water to raise money for a Disneyland trip.

“Recently, I lost my job, and we were planning a trip Disneyland before that happened, and so it kind of sidelined us a little bit. My daughter just wanted to help.” — Erin Austin, via CBS This Morning

Ettel has said that she acted because the mother and daughter had been screaming for hours on the sidewalk, but now feels “horrible and heart-wrenched.” She said that the call was not racially motivated and that she only “pretended” to call the police.

“I completely regret that I handled that so poorly. It was completely stress-related, and I should have never confronted her. That was a mistake, a complete mistake.” — Alison Ettel, via the Huffington Post

However, Austin said that she and her daughter were not screaming and had only been on the sidewalk for some 15 minutes.

Musician Jonathan Brannon saw the confrontation and sent four Disneyland tickets to Austin for her daughter and other family members. Since the incident, Austin has also started a Go Fund Me page seeking $75,000 that she says will go towards education and benefiting the lives of her children.

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Senate Approves Medical Cannabis Protections for Veterans

6/26/2018

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U.S. Senators voted 86-5 on Monday in favor of legislation that establishes protections for veterans seeking state-legal medical cannabis therapies, according to a report by Marijuana Moment‘s Tom Angell. The measure was added to legislation funding large parts of the federal government, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, through the fiscal year 2019.

Specifically, the provision protects veterans who want to participate in a state-legal medical cannabis program by denying the use of all funds for the following purposes:

(1) interfere with the ability of a veteran to participate in a medicinal marijuana program approved by a State;
(2) deny any services from the Department to a veteran who is participating in such a program; or
(3) limit or interfere with the ability of a health care provider of the Department to make appropriate recommendations, fill out forms, or take steps to comply with such a program.

These provisions are not present in the House’s version of the legislation because House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) has consistently blocked any cannabis-related legislation from consideration in that chamber.

The House and Senate now must reconcile the legislation’s differences in a bicameral conference committee. If the medical cannabis protections survive that process, it would be a huge stride forward for veterans suffering from PTSD, chronic pain, and opioid dependency.

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A close-up shot of a cannabis plant grown under Washington's I-502 market regulations.

Pennsylvania Governor Signs MMJ Amendment Allowing Research

6/26/2018

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Gov. Tom Wolfe of Pennsylvania, a Democrat, on Friday signed a bill amending the Pennsylvania medical cannabis law so that the state can proceed with its MMJ research program, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer. The bill was written to avoid a pending lawsuit that alleges the state improperly delegated authority to medical schools regarding the selection of cannabis growers.

The original law allowed medical schools to choose their own cannabis growers for research supplies. The previous language of the law would have allowed medical schools to circumvent the state’s official grower selection process, to which all cannabis growers and dispensaries have had to conform to date.

Opponents had issues remaining, even after the amendment. The new wording of the law still does not specify exactly what is meant by “research” or require disclosure regarding payments made from medical cannabis grow partners to medical schools. Opponents of the law say the situation favors corruption.

The Connecticut Department of Health has said they will have the last word on which partners are qualified to partner with medical schools.

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Connecticut Physicians Reject Opiate Withdrawal As MMJ Qualifying Condition

6/26/2018

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On Monday, Connecticut’s state medical marijuana board voted against a proposal to add opioid use disorder and opiate withdrawal as qualifying conditions for medical cannabis, the Hartford Courant reports. The proposal would have been one of the first in the country to clearly identify medical marijuana as a treatment for opioid addiction.

The nine-member board, consisting of the commissioner of the Department of Consumer Protection and eight medical doctors, claimed they could not separate cannabis’ effects on withdrawal symptoms from its pain-relieving effects. Without discussing treatment of chronic pain with cannabis instead of opioids, the board decided not to approve the proposal. Several board members claimed the research had not been done.

“In terms of curtailing cravings, we just don’t have the evidence. It’s just too open; it’s just too unknown.” — Jonathan Kost, Director of the Pain Treatment Center at Hartford Hospital, via the Courant.

The Connecticut State Medical Society was also against the proposal. The Society said trying to beat an opiate addiction with cannabis instead of buprenorphine, a drug that satisfies opiate cravings without producing a high, could be disastrous.

Advocates in the state expect to place chronic pain on the list of qualifying conditions in the future, hopefully then allowing opiate addicts a chance at switching to cannabis.

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FDA Approves CBD-Based Epidiolex

6/25/2018

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The Food and Drug Administration approved GW Pharmaceuticals’ cannabidiol-based medication Epidiolex on Monday, according to the Washington Post. It is the first cannabis-based medication to be federally allowed in the United States.

Epidiolex is an oral solution that utilizes CBD and was designed to treat two severe but rare forms of epilepsy. The drug was approved for patients who are at least two years old and must be prescribed by a physician.

“Today’s approval of EPIDIOLEX is a historic milestone, offering patients and their families the first and only FDA-approved CBD medicine to treat two severe, childhood-onset epilepsies. This approval is the culmination of GW’s many years of partnership with patients, their families, and physicians in the epilepsy community to develop a much needed, novel medicine. These patients deserve and will soon have access to a cannabinoid medicine that has been thoroughly studied in clinical trials, manufactured to assure quality and consistency, and available by prescription under a physician’s care.” — Justin Gover, GW Pharmaceutical’s Chief Executive Officer, in a press release

“This approval serves as a reminder that advancing sound development programs that properly evaluate active ingredients contained in marijuana can lead to important medical therapies.” — FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, in a press release

Gottlieb said this move was not a blanket approval of medical cannabis, but just one specific drug containing CBD, an increasingly popular cannabinoid with many demonstrated medicinal benefits. Gottlieb added that the FDA has become concerned by “the proliferation and illegal marketing of unapproved CBD-containing products with unproven medical claims,” a not-so-subtle reference to the country’s burgeoning hemp-based CBD industry.

Despite the FDA’s approval, the cannabis plant remains a Schedule 1 substance under the Controlled Substances Act with “no known medical applications.” With the FDA’s approval secured, however, the DEA is reportedly expected to reclassify cannabidiol within 90 days.

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New Vermont Hemp Rules Take Effect July 1

6/25/2018

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New rules for Vermont’s industrial hemp program will take effect July 1, according to a WCAX report. The state-level changes seek to reduce the likelihood of federal interference among the state’s hemp farmers.

Specifically, Vermont’s new industrial hemp rules set up a lab certification standard under a cannabis quality control program through the Agency of Agriculture. It also gives access to out-of-state seed supplies for Vermont farmers.

“[The] Farm bill gave states and universities the authority to do research on hemp, whether that was market research (or) genetic research. Just exploring the option of growing hemp as a viable crop.” — Cary Gigeure, Director of Public Health Agriculture Manager

Vermont hopes to encourage state businesses to incorporate more hemp products as a part of this shift, including beer, but officials are in some cases still uncertain how they will regulate and enforce the state’s new hemp laws.

Also on July 1, Vermont’s adult-use cannabis regulations will take effect. This policy shift will allow citizens to cultivate their own cannabis plants and gift up to an ounce of flower between adults; although the rules do not create a taxed-and-regulated marketplace, they are expected to establish a thriving gray market for cannabis products.

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Oklahoma Voters Consider Medical Cannabis Legalization on Tuesday

6/25/2018

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Oklahoma voters will decide on Tuesday whether to pass State Question 778 (SQ778), which would open the door to medical cannabis access across the state, according to a NORML news release.

SQ778 — which would let doctors recommend and prescribe medical cannabis for any condition, using their discretion — has been praised by cannabis advocates for allowing doctors, not politicians, decide how and when medical cannabis would be effective. The initiative would also establish infrastructure for licensed cannabis producers, processors, and retailers and would allow patients to grow up to six plants at home.

“This measure is one of the broadest, most patient-centric medical marijuana initiatives ever placed on a statewide ballot.” — NORML statement, in the release

Opponents of the initiative recently took to the airwaves, sinking nearly a half-million dollars into television advertisements claiming that the proposal is de-facto recreational legalization and is not restrictive enough. Polling data from May, however, suggests that Oklahoma voters favor SQ778 with nearly a 2:1 margin.

Oklahoma’s existing cannabis laws remain some of the strictest in the country; possession of any amount of cannabis is a criminal offense punishable by up to a year in prison, while the cultivation or distribution of cannabis could land an individual in prison for life. Recent data suggests that Oklahoma’s incarceration rate — 1,079 in 100,000 — is the highest in the country.

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Proposal Would Give Maine Municipalities Power to Ban Cannabis Retailers

6/25/2018

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On Friday, Maine state Sen. Roger Katz (R-Augusta) proposed an amendment to a pending medical marijuana reform bill that would require all caregivers to acquire municipal approval to operate a storefront, the Portland Press Herald reports. The amendment is designed to patch a loophole between the adult-use bill passed into law in May and the state’s longer-standing medical cannabis rules.

“This amendment would not stop licensed caregivers from selling out of their homes, where they grow their medical marijuana. It would, however, give municipalities control over all local retail marijuana sales – medical, recreational, all of it.” — Sen. Roger Katz, R-Augusta, via Portland Press Herald

The medical marijuana reform bill amended by this measure, should it pass, will be the first official recognition of these retail medical marijuana stores. Maine has been calling these gray area retail stores “caregiver storefronts.”

Officials have been concerned about an explosion of unregulated retail storefronts in many historic Maine downtown business centers. The shops opened following passage of the adult-use cannabis law, which opened up a gray area for cannabis retail. Many believed that an opt-out clause in the adult-use law would have allowed municipalities to ban retail stores — but that opt-out clause only applies to purely recreational stores, not medical operations.

“The state has left us in a very difficult position. It’s not enforcing its own laws. They’re leaving it up to us to interpret the law and do the work. […] Tying the future of our downtown to a volatile market is risky.” — Nate Rudy, Town Manager of Hallowell, Maine via the Portland Press Herald

Those stores which have already acquired local municipal approval would be able to continue operating. Those that did not may be closed down if the municipalities they operate in choose to ban medical marijuana caregiver shops.

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Canada’s Cannabis Packaging Rules Will Make Branding Difficult

6/22/2018

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While cannabis enthusiasts are celebrating the passage of Canada‘s historic legalization legislation this week, the rules agreed on by lawmakers include unfortunate stipulations for entrepreneurs in terms of product packaging and branding opportunities, according to a report by World Trademark Review. Specifically, cannabis products sold in Canada’s adult-use marketplace must include “little branding and strict health warnings.”

Similar packaging rules are already in place in Canada for tobacco products, but industry experts are concerned that the rules may stunt the growth of the cannabis industry, as individual brands will have a harder time gaining recognition and momentum in the marketplace.

Research conducted by the Canadian Convenience Stores Association (CCSA) and the National Convenience Stores Distributors Association of Canada (NACDA) suggests that most Canadians (64 percent) would prefer a freer branding environment for both cannabis and tobacco products. Additionally, 40 percent of Canadians reportedly believe that forcing brands to use generic packaging leads to an uptick in counterfeit products.

“We and millions of Canadian consumers are deeply concerned that imposing this type of generic brand regimen will fuel and accelerate the growth of the illict, criminal market.” — A spokesperson for NACDA, to World Trademark Review

The Canadian Senate approved bill C-45 earlier this week, pushing the legalization legislation over its final hurdle and making Canada the second country in the world and the first G7 nation to legalize and regulate adult-use cannabis. The market launch has been set for October 17, 2018.

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Industrial Hemp Rules Receive Final Approval in Arkansas

6/22/2018

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On Thursday, the Arkansas State Plant Board formally approved rules that will allow farmers to begin growing hemp in the state, according to Arkansas Online. The program was originally approved by the Arkansas General Assembly at the beginning of 2017 but was sidelined for over a year. Arkansas is the 37th state to approve an industrial hemp research program.

Arkansas has been slow to move the program through the steps necessary for implementation. The Plant Board first approved the rules in March, but concerns held by Republican Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson delayed the measure. Hutchinson finally signed off on the rules in May and the program then entered a 30-day public comment period, which ended last week.

The 2018 Farm Bill, which is currently under review in Congress, may make Arkansas’ hemp struggle irrelevant. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has added an amendment to that bill removing hemp from the list of controlled substances and defining it as an agricultural product. The potential federal legalization of industrial hemp would override all existing rules. Congress is expected to vote on the Farm Bill by July 4.

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Netflix Releases Cannabis-Infused Cooking Show

6/22/2018

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Today, Netflix released the first-ever cannabis cooking competition show, according to a report in The Guardian. Titled “Cooking on High,” the show is comprised of short, 15 minute episodes where two chefs face off. The chefs are tasked with preparing a cannabis-infused meal within 30 minutes. The chefs and their dishes are judged by comedians, rappers and other pop culture icons known not for their palettes but rather their familiarity with cannabis.

The competing chefs are experienced professionals. In the first episode, one chef is a former “Chopped” contestant and the other a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu.

Cooking on High is another foray into the potentially lucrative cannabis video content market by Netflix. The first show to dive into the country’s burgeoning cannabis industry was “Disjointed,” a sitcom about a medical marijuana dispensary that was not well received by critics. In August of last year, the streaming giant also co-created boutique cannabis strains with branding inspired by Netflix original shows like “Bojack Horseman” and “Orange Is The New Black.”

Whether the show flops or sees critical acclaim, mainstream cannabis-inspired television is a sign of positive social change for cannabis.

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Mexico: Opium Prices Plummet, Poppy Farmers Return to Cannabis

6/22/2018

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Poppy farmers in Mexico who helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic say that the price of opium paste — the key ingredient in heroin — has dropped so dramatically that many have stopped growing poppies and are returning to cannabis as their primary cash crop, Fox News reports.

With legalization continuing to spread across the U.S., cartel cannabis smuggled in from Mexico is growing increasingly obsolete, so farmers in the Guerrero state hamlets of Tenantla and Amatitlan switched some years ago to poppy flowers. However, cartels these days are more focused on pushing synthetic opioids like fentanyl and the price of naturally grown opioids has plummeted, sparking a revival of cannabis crops in Mexico’s mountainous southwestern region.

“If I’m working three months to make just 5,000 pesos ($250), I might as well do something else. It’s easier to plant marijuana. It isn’t so prone to pests.” — Farmer speaking under anonymity with Fox News

Many believe that a legal, regulated cannabis marketplace in Mexico would help the impoverished rural farmers who have historically worked for — and suffered under — criminal cartels. Humberto Nava Reyna, who heads the Supreme Council of the Towns of the Filo Mayor, has argued for development projects to help mountain farmers.

“We all know the economy of this region, the high mountains of Guerrero, has been based on growing marijuana and opium poppies. … What we are asking is that be regulated and regularized.” — Humberto Nava Reyna, in an interview with Fox News

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Why Marijuana Was Made Illegal

Why Marijuana Was Made Illegal

6/21/2018

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Cannabis has a complicated history in the United States but why was marijuana made illegal? Public interest in cannabis has gone through several cycles of boom and bust since its introduction to the West in the 19th century. Legislation for much of U.S. History has attempted to stifle consumption, though in recent decades the trend has seen some reversal.

Early History

Cannabis indica was first introduced to western medicine by William O’Shaughnessy in 1839. O’Shaughnessy had spent many years in India in pursuit of scientific discoveries. He returned to London in 1841 and spread his discovery to all of England. Medicinal cannabis had spread to pharmacies in the U.S. by the 1850s.

Cannabis use was on the rise in the U.S. in the middle to late 19th century. An 1854 New York Times article listed hemp among other “fashionable narcotics” including tobacco and opium. There was widespread use by the 1880s in “hashish parlors” found in every major city on the east coast. New York alone was estimated to have over 500 such parlors.

Efforts to regulate cannabis and many other pharmaceutical drugs began in this era in an attempt to block adulterated drugs from the market. Many states required drugs, when not issued by a pharmacy, to be labeled as poison. By the turn of the 20th century, most states had such poison laws in place, though some states explicitly did not include cannabis in their poison laws. There were attempts in California to regulate cannabis as early as 1880, made under the guise of controlling poisons.

Why Marijuana Was Made Illegal
William O’Shaughnessy brought Cannabis to the west.

Government Regulation

The first major piece of legislation that began the 20th century’s march towards cannabis prohibition was the Pure Food and Drug Act passed in 1906, which required the labeling of many drugs. Previously, patent medicines were largely unregulated. Many contained “secret” or undisclosed ingredients, or misleading labels. A second wave of legislation rolled out in 1910 to quell continued complaints about the ease of acquiring narcotics.

State-level regulations limiting sale passed in Massachusetts in 1911 and in New York and Maine in 1914. Cannabis was required to be labeled and could only be distributed by pharmacists. This state-level regulation continued in the west with California’s Poison Act of 1913, followed by many other states over the next 15 years: Wyoming in 1915; Texas in 1919; Iowa, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Arkansas in 1923; Nebraska and Louisiana in 1927; and Colorado in 1929.

In 1938, the Pure Food and Drug Act was updated to the “Federal Pure Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act,” which remains in effect to this day. It is one of the oldest operational pieces of legislation and creates the messy tangle of laws. Under the 1938 Act, cannabis is explicitly defined as a “dangerous drug.”

Police Enforcement

To this point, many of the regulations and controls on cannabis distribution were based on fines and economic penalties. The Uniform State Narcotic Drug Act of 1925 – 1932 was one of the first pieces of legislation that explicitly gave police the power to enforce drug laws, as well as standardizing many aspects of cannabis prohibition.

Policing infrastructure continued to expand. In 1930 the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was formed, headed by Henry J. Anslinger. Anslinger believed cannabis caused people to commit violent crimes and act irrationally. The FBN advocated harsh penalties for drug crimes, including for cannabis.

The FBN lobbied extensively for the passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, which made possession or transfer of cannabis illegal in the entire U.S., excluding industrial or medical uses. Enforcement was largely based around a tax system, as the federal government lacked the authority under the 10th amendment to regulate medicines and had to do so with taxes instead.

After the Marihuana Tax Act passed, Anslinger continued his campaigns for prohibition. Anslinger also ran campaigns with William Hearst, whose empire of newspapers used yellow journalism to create a belief that cannabis caused violent behavior, among other negative effects.

cannabis prohibition
Photo credit: Elvert Barnes

Increased Punishment and Mandatory Sentencing

By the 1950s, cannabis had been successfully demonized. The Boggs Act of 1952 and the Narcotics Control Act of 1956 instituted increased and mandatory sentencing. The new laws required first-time possession offenders to be given a minimum of two to ten years and a fine of up to $20,000.

In 1969, Leary v. United States determined the Marihuana Tax Act was a violation of the 5th Amendment. Cannabis prohibition was very much still in the cards, however. As a response to the nullification of the previous law, lawmakers passed the Controlled Substances Act in 1970. The CSA was a part of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, which repealed the Marihuana Tax Act. The new law prohibited any use of cannabis, including medical. Cannabis was given a Schedule I classification, putting it on the same tier as drugs such as heroin.

DEA & Medical Marijuana

From 1968 to 1973 the drug enforcement agencies of the U.S. government began to reorganize and on July 1st, 1973, the Drug Enforcement Administration was formed. With increased police power came increased incarceration. In 1975, the Supreme court ruled it “not cruel or unusual” for the state of Ohio to sentence an individual to 20 years for having or selling cannabis, effectively ratifying the plant’s Schedule I classification.

101315: Synergy III – 0006: DEA investigator teams up with ICE agent during Project Synergy III in Los Angeles, October 13, 2014.
Photo by: Jaime Ruiz

Prohibition began to ease in some areas at this time, however. The late 1960s saw a popular culture that was more permissive of cannabis use. California, one of the very first regulators of cannabis at the turn of the 20th century, was also one of the first states to soften the federal laws criminalizing cannabis. California introduced a law repealing certain prohibitions in 1976.

Through the 1980s, the Reagan administration created several new mandatory sentencing laws, including long prison terms for large-scale cannabis distribution. Three-strikes laws for multiple offenders went into effect at this time, which increased mandatory sentences as well as allowed the death penalty for certain “drug kingpins.” These laws were intended to curb cocaine and heroin trafficking primarily but were eagerly applied to cannabis as well.

By the late 1990s, the battle between state and federal drug laws had begun. California voters approved Proposition 215 allowing for medical cannabis use, followed by several other medical marijuana ballot initiatives in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Nevada and Washington D.C. Federal legislators attempted to fight back with new legislation and the battle raged for some time, including in the Supreme Court.

Legal Tangle

The battle continued through the Clinton administration and continues today. Many overlapping laws and legal precedents continue to muddy the field. Recreational and medical laws at the state level have been vindicated on the federal level, while at other times declared invalid.

One of the biggest signs of support was the Obama administration’s “Cole Memorandum” which discouraged federal employees from prosecuting state-level Cannabis enterprises. The Cole Memo was later repealed by the Trump administration’s Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, continuing the pattern of mixed signals over cannabis legalization.

In 2014, in response to increased raids on medical cannabis providers, Congress adopted the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment to stop the Justice Department from prosecuting individuals acting within state law. The Justice Department attempted to ignore this amendment as well but were ordered to comply by the U.S. District Court in October 2015. The Rohrabacher-Farr amendment is still in effect today but has been rebranded the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment because the rider’s sponsors have changed.

Looking Forward

Despite setbacks that seem to follow every positive decision, the pattern of legal and legislative battles against prohibition seems to be favoring legalization. Cannabis continues to see increased public support as more research reveals a large range of medical benefits. A majority of states now have legal medical cannabis and many have recently legalized recreational cannabis.

Movement towards federal legislation for legalization is slowly gaining more Congressional support — slowly, but surely. 

Last updated June 2, 2020.

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New Rhode Island Budget Raises MMJ Companies’ Annual Renewal Fees from $5k to $250k

6/21/2018

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Rhode Island medical cannabis retailers will likely see the cost of their annual renewal fees increase fifty-fold — from $5,000 to $250,000 — after lawmakers approved a new state budget, according to a Providence Journal report. Gov. Gina Raimondo, a Democrat, is expected to sign the budget this week.

Last year, Gov. Raimondo called for major expansions to the state’s medical cannabis industry. She proposed adding 12 new dispensaries to the program and raising retailer license renewals from $5,000 to $25,000. These expansions were opposed by the states’ existing three dispensaries, who argued that adding dispensaries to the state’s model would cut into the patient bases of existing retailers.

The House Finance Committee also disagreed and ultimately shot down the governor’s plan, though lawmakers adopted and dramatically expanded the increase in license renewal fees.

“The proposal would have created far too many centers. I don’t know what the right number is, but the whole system needs a comprehensive review before taking any further action. I don’t want to make a decision that may have to be pulled back.” — Rhode Island House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, via Providence Journal

While Rhode Island‘s dispensaries now won’t have to deal with new competition, the spike in license renewal fees is sure to be felt by existing operators.

Meanwhile, Magdalena Andreozzi of the Rhode Island Cannabis Association supported the idea of adding dispensaries and argued that the expansions would have generated more than 400 jobs and roughly $1.5 million in taxes.

“(The cultivators) have purchased the licenses, paid the necessary fees, gotten zoning variances, paid for their leases and the expense of building out [a grow location], and now there is no market for them to sell their product. It’s going to be a real rude awakening for some of these new licensees.” — Magdalena Andreozzi, member of the Rhode Island Cannabis Association

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Franco Brockelman: Collecting and Analyzing Cannabis Patient Data

6/21/2018

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Franco Brockelman is the CEO and co-founder of Releaf App, a digital cannabis journal that enables users to record and share their cannabis consumption experiences so they can better experiment, track, and understand their relationship with the plant.

In this episode of the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, Franco joins our host TG Branfalt to tell the personal origin story of Releaf (Franco’s own mother was the app’s original beta tester), discuss the lack of reliable patient data in the cannabis industry, and talk about some of the interesting and unexpected data points the company has gleaned so far.

You can listen to the interview via the player below, or scroll down to check out a full transcript of this week’s episode of the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast.

Listen to the podcast:

Read the interview:

TG Branfalt: Hey there. I’m your host, TG Branfalt, and you are listening to TheGanjapreneur.com podcast where we try to bring you actionable information in normalized cannabis through the stories of Ganjapreneurs, activists, and industry stakeholders. Today, I’m joined by Franco Brockelman. He’s the CEO and Co-Founder of Releaf App, which is a digital cannabis journal app that enables users to track their sessions with cannabis to record how it’s working, pretty innovative idea. How are you doing this afternoon, Franco?

Franco Brockelm: Yeah, doing great. Thanks for having me.

TG Branfalt: Hey, it’s totally cool, man. Before we get into learning about your app, I want to learn about you. What’s your background? How did you end up in the cannabis space?

Franco Brockelman: That’s a good question. I’ve been working with a group, called Automata Studios, for about seven plus years now. It’s a 12 plus year company. We’re basically a boutique software firm that works with a bunch of Fortune 500 companies doing all kinds of very dynamic experiential work. We’ve built online gaming platforms for NASA, built the face for IBM Watson when all they had was kind of a big refrigerator, which is pretty boring to look at and you want to look at something a little more interesting than that. We came up with a face that you could emotionally react to and relate to. We built a two story digital generative screen system for Victoria’s Secret and their flagship store in London, you know, a lot of really interesting work. I’m a process improvement guy, so I really like strategy and trying to make things better. It sounds a little bit cheesy, but I really, really enjoy that kind of thing. When I saw kind of a gap in the cannabis industry with patients and recording their experiences, our team kind of shifted to tackle that with all of the experience and know how that we had.

TG Branfalt: How did you recognize that gap? I mean, that’s not something that … I’ve been covering this industry for a long time, and it’s not something that I’ve ever thought about, this gap.

Franco Brockelman: Mm-hmm (affirmative), yeah. Well, what happened was back in 2014, I was visiting my parents up in Massachusetts about every three months or so, just to stay in good contact with them. My parents are awesome. My mom, she’s always had psoriasis. It’s an external skin condition usually around your joints. I didn’t know this, but apparently it can kind of turn internal and become or transform into psoriatic arthritis, which is very painful. It leads to immobility. It kind of had a domino effect with her in terms of just the pain and then kind of getting anxious, depressed, not being able to sleep.

Going back every three months or so, I started seeing her really deteriorate, which was very sad to see your mom kind of have a more bleak outlook on life. And so after a couple times and it not getting better, I had been reading a lot about cannabis back then and it seemed to be promising, so I said, “Hey, maybe you should try this,” ’cause she’s very open-minded and she’s tried a lot of things to help herself, wholistic medicine, acupuncture, traditional prescriptions, anything and everything. I said, “Maybe you would be open to this,” but she was straight edge growing up, never smoked, never drank, didn’t do drugs or anything like that.

When I told her, she basically said no way. I think her exact quote was, “I’m not breaking my streak,” which I could understand. I think that that’s fair. I’m a big fan of personal freedom and personal choice, so it makes sense to me, but it just kind of showed me kind of … Everybody knows about the stigma with cannabis, which is kind of created from the drug war, but she … I realized that it’s really unapproachable for some people. There’s so many choices. There’s not a lot of people with really solid answers. You see people using blow torches and things like that with dabs. It can be scary. That unapproachability was kind of the first clue to me that people could really use this and it could be really helpful for them, but it needs to be more approachable than it is.

Anyway, after nine months of waiting and when she had said no, she gave me a call. She said, “Okay, I’m ready.” I was like, “Well, ready for what? Ready for me to come visit again or something?” She was like, “No, no, the weed thing.” I was like, “Oh, oh, okay, right.” I totally forgot ’cause it had been so long, but I was excited that she changed her mind. I guess she decided that it was worth it to her to take a leap of faith. She said, “I’ll do this as long as you come up here and help me.” Of course, I’m there. I booked my flight and I went up there. I sat down. We looked over some things. I did some more research.

The only apps and tech that really existed at that time were Leafly, Weed Maps, Mass Roots. There wasn’t really that much. Leafly was kind of the only resource that existed, and so I was looking at that. I was like, “Okay, well you have pain and you have insomnia. Let’s just focus on those for now.” I was looking at the Leafly data and had these bar charts. They had no numbers, no source, so I was like, oh, that was a little unnerving, like I don’t know what this is, but okay. Is there a guy in a room somewhere trying all these things? How is this working? But it’s all I had. It’s all she had. It’s all that people had, obviously, at that time.

We went with it and it said Master Kush, classic strain. It’s like, all right, sure, so we went and got some, which was a whole ordeal. We had to meet somebody outside of a parking lot. It was a caregiver who gave us the stuff. They used to go to your house, but they got robbed too many times, so then they started meeting people in parking lots, which is just strange, but we got it. She was really glad that I was there ’cause it was scary for her. We went back home and we tried it, or she tried it. Her pain got worse and she stayed up all night, and that wasn’t very good. She almost didn’t want to do it again, but I assured her it doesn’t always go that way. She’s a pretty strong-willed person and she trusted me, so she agreed to keep trying it, but I saw how much that damaged her hope and then where was that data coming from? And why wasn’t it right? Leafly is huge, so why can’t they be accurate?

It just really got me curious about where is that data coming from? And if that data is not right, how can we make data that is accurate? When my mom sent me those experiences, how is she gonna write that down? How is she gonna keep track of these things if she tries 5 more things, 6 more things, 10 more things? How do you make sense of all that and get traction? Even if you were to write things down, what do you write down? For somebody who has never had kind of an experience that changes the way you think a little bit, it can be challenging. All of those things combined, like the lack of clear reliable data, the lack of inability to record how something is helping you or not, and also the lack of approachability, we came up with Releaf. It’s the first patient reported outcome tool to exist for cannabis in mobile form. We’re really proud of what we made, and it’s really helped her, and obviously it can help a lot more people in that same situation.

TG Branfalt: So explain to listeners what a digital cannabis journal is.

Franco Brockelman: Sure. What our goals with the app are to help you track the different cannabis varieties and products that you use, whether it be flower, concentrates, tinctures, topicals. We want to support as many forms as we can, and then we give you a way to record your experiences live. The live part, or real time, is very important. When we were doing some of our original research, we found that people were often asking people to report on their experiences or rate their experiences afterwards, sometimes like a week after, or in some research studies, even a year after. I mean, and that’s just … It’s hard to know what you ate last Monday, let alone how your cannabis experience went. It’s just too hard to remember, but not only that, but I’m a big fan of mindfulness.

I think it’s really important to be as mindful as you can and really engage with your life and your environment. By recording experiences in this real time way that we’ve built, we kind of have things in there that help elicit mindfulness in a way where you learn more about how the cannabis is actually making you feel. We subtly asked different kinds of questions. For example, we have patients that will reach out to us and say, “You know what? I never knew that cannabis could make me focused or creative until I used your app and you asked me those questions. Now I’m thinking about all these other feelings that it makes me feel.” I think that’s a beautiful thing, and that’s what we try to do with the journaling app.

TG Branfalt: So how long was the process to get this into the hands of users coming up with these questions amassing this data?

Franco Brockelman: It took a long time. We designed it far longer than we built it. I mean, that’s important, though. We wanted it to feel right. Some things have to feel good, and they have to make sense, and they have to be thoughtful. That’s our tagline. It’s a thoughtful approach to cannabis treatment, and so we spent a really long time coming up with different flows for how it could work. Our initial tests with her were called The Mom Test. I’d go back to the office and work with the team, and come up with different flows and designs. We have a great team, so that was really fun to do, just bust open the white board markers and just go to town. Then I’d fly back up to Massachusetts and sit down and say, “What about this? How about this?” We figured it out over time. From 2014, we were incorporated at the end of 2015, and we launched in 2016.

TG Branfalt: So the app, it’s geared towards patients. I was taking a look at some of the stuff you have on the Internet, the videos that you have, which are pretty interactive, pretty neat to … They keep your attention. I’m not a medical patient, never have been, but what do you think could recreational users glean from this app if they wanted to use it, as well?

Franco Brockelman: A few months ago, we added wellness into the app, which is basically our take on what recreational is. Recreational, to me, as a word just means for fun, frivolous, whatever, and so we wanted it to be a little more progressive than that. Wellness kind of … It means to have kind of some goals for your health and for yourself, and to try to work through some things. We put wellness in there for people to track that. But at the same time, we have common symptoms in there that everybody kind of experiences, headaches, nausea. When those things happen, we have recreational users or wellness users that use it in those cases. Maybe you don’t have a chronic issue, but you do have things that pop up. Cannabis is a natural medicine to try to remedy those things.

TG Branfalt: One of the limitations that I thought about while researching this was the fact that strains can vary from shop to shop. Northern lights, for example, might not be the same from place to place. I’ve talked to a lot of cultivators who say, “Our strain is slightly different than the one down the street due to a lot of factors, including how it’s grown.” How does the app, or does the app, account for these type of variances?

Franco Brockelman: That’s a very astute and good question. It’s another point back to when we … We learned a lot from looking at the way Leafly was handling their mental bottle of what cannabis is. Even today, they kind of end their messaging at that strain level. Even their icon, their logo, is all about that, but we know that cannabis is more complex than that today, the different lights you use, the water you’re gonna use, the quality of it, the nutrients, whether or not you’re playing jazz or heavy metal in the room. Those things are all gonna matter, right? A plant can express itself in many different ways, and that’s beautifully complex. I think that’s great. I think that’s one of the most special parts about cannabis because it’s almost green protection. You can’t really lock that IP in very well because it kind of shifts out from under you.

But at the same time, it makes it a little bit complicated to track. What we do is we track both layers, best of both worlds. We’ll track the name of what you’re trying and that strain name to look for patterns and trends at that level, but at the same time, we’ll also ask you the testing for that cannabis variety of strain that you’re using, like what are the cannabinoids in there? What are the terpenes? What’s the chemotype? What’s the species? You know, things that may matter as we continue to do research on cannabis. We track both of those layers to look for the patterns.

TG Branfalt: What information can you, or have you, gleaned from this data?

Franco Brockelman: First of all, we’ve learned that people really needed this tool. We get a lot of great fan mail every week from people that are just really thankful to have a way to get some traction over their treatment and help them learn what can work for them. The recreational side of the market is great, but it’s important to not forget that there’s a lot of people out there with medical challenges, and they’re looking for better solutions and for help, and honestly, there’s just not that many companies that were as patient-focused as we really set out to be. We learned how valuable this can be for people.

We were recently writing up some papers with some universities that are about to be published, showing the different symptom drop that cannabis can have across all the symptoms that we track and which symptoms it’s proving to be more effective for. We have another paper coming out about the relationship between THC and CBD. THC is proving to be actually a bit more important than we even thought in that relationship there. We’re a pretty big believer of whole plant and of entourage effect. There’s some real truth to that in the data that we’re seeing.

TG Branfalt: Can you tell me sort of … You’re the guy who gets to see all this data. What’s one of the most interesting things that you’ve seen come from this app?

Franco Brockelman: I would say that the most interesting thing to me is the people that I’ve met and the people that we’ve gotten the chance to work with. We have a really great team here of really good people that really care about patients. I think that for our partners who are working with us and that come and try to work with us, they could really see that. It pulls the most amazing people out of the woodwork, people that I just feel really lucky to get the chance to work with and meet, researchers, doctors. I was just at a cannabis learn conference this last week hosted by Greenhouse Ventures, who is our accelerator. It’s a great group, and just doctors coming up and giving us hugs, and just thanking us for the work we’re doing, and being excited about our new features coming out. I mean, it’s heartwarming. It’s really great to be able to work on a tech project like this that it’s not only tech, and it’s not only business and making things happen, and trying to grow, but it’s really, really helping the community at large, helping patients and hopefully changing the whole healthcare system.

TG Branfalt: Has anything that you’ve gotten surprised you? Have you seen some of the data and something stood out to you, and you’re like, I never thought of that or I never thought I’d see that?

Franco Brockelman: Some of the things that are beginning to be pretty fascinating is just seeing kind of people’s choices. If you have a couple experiences that are subpar, do you keep doing that same thing, or do you change to a different modee of ingestion, or a different strain? Seeing how people navigate their choices and their treatment … We’ve identified that there’s kind of five or six different classifications of patients today. There’s some that really just gravitate to concentrates and that’s all they really want to try. There’s some that gravitate to CBD only and they stick with that. There’s some that kind of want to try it all, and they want to track it all and see how it all affects them. To me, it’s really fascinating to see how people engage with this, as I said, beautifully complex and powerful plant.

TG Branfalt: From a medical perspective, are you seeing a lot of people shifting from smoking as a way of ingestion and going more towards edibles or vaping? I know that it’s … In a lot of medical programs, there is that no smoking sort of clause. Are people doing this even in places that allow smoking, or are they changing that mode of ingestion?

Franco Brockelman: Smoking is classic, I think. It has been and always will be a big part of our data. There’s a lot of people that still prefer to smoke. That being said, there’s a lot of people that vape. I mean, there are some definite benefits to that, too, especially people that feel like their throat gets irritated or they just want a cleaner ingestion method, but another interesting thing is the edible side. We’ve written a lot of blog posts about edibles and how helpful they can be. At first for people, edible seems scary because they hear a lot of scary stories about someone freaking out and hiding under their couch or whatever it is, but if you can get a hold on it and you can wade into that and start with two milligrams and work your way up and maybe sell around five, it can be a really effective way to medicate, especially if you have chronic pain or something that lasts a long time or throughout the day, just that lasting relief and that smoother come up, smoother come down, less foggy experience. We’ve seen a lot of people kind of turning back on to edibles and kind of trying them out, even amidst all the bad stories. I think that’s great. It’s wonderful to see people explore what this plant can do for them ’cause it can do a lot.

TG Branfalt: You’re obviously a very thoughtful guy. What are you, personally, most interested in learning about? Maybe just about cannabis in general, but stuff that you’re gonna be able to find out from your users.

Franco Brockelman: Some of the things that I’m interested in is … I’m interested in first just providing people with the tools that could help them explore this for themselves. I think it’s great that cannabis has such a safety profile that you can try some things out, right? That’s what the app helps you do. Try a little of Column A. Try a little of Column B. See what really resonates with you and what feels good to you. Then beyond that, just providing somebody a baseline tool, putting in expiration dates for when those terpenes are not as effective, or those cannabinoids aren’t as effective, or maybe putting some safety stuff in there so that if dispensary is using some sort of pesticide, like Eagle 20 or something you’re not supposed to use, maybe we can notice those symptoms in patients in a certain area of the country and throw a red flag to help people out. Through and through, this is a patient-focused project. I just want to help people explore how they can achieve the wellness and the lifestyle that they want to, even amidst the medical challenges that they have.

TG Branfalt: I want to switch gears a little bit. You’ve been involved in the tech space for a long time. How is launching a tech startup in the cannabis space unique?

Franco Brockelman: Well, when we started, there weren’t very many of them, so that was unique. The ones that existed, they didn’t have very good design, or they crashed, or they didn’t quite work. It was very exciting to … We’ve built so many apps, and websites, and things before, but it was exciting to take all those skills and just charge into it with the passion that we had. That was great. There’s a lot of excitement around the industry. One of my favorite things about this industry is that going to conferences before, like a Salesforce conference or whatever it is, nobody cares and they’re just waiting for Bon Jovi to play. But at cannabis conferences, people care. They care about this plant. They care about the world being a better place. They have a person story, or 2, or 3, or 10 of somebody getting a lot better, and they really care about that. You can tell. There’s a feeling of buzz and … Buzz, right? And positivity at the events, and I love that. People are there because they want to be there. Every time I go to an event, someone will come up with some idea. They’re starting a new business. They’re trying to do this. They want some tips or some help. That’s great. If that many people are passionate about getting up and doing something, that’s just awesome.

TG Branfalt: Did you have any problems or have you had any problems getting the app into Apple or Google stores due to the nature of the app? I know that this has been a problem with … You look at Facebook, for example. Cannabis companies can’t advertise. Apple has pulled some products out of their store. Is this something that you’ve faced?

Franco Brockelman: Actually, it’s been pretty good for us. I think because of the quality of design and software architecture behind the app, I think that those reviews have been really smooth. Our app turnaround right now and for Apple is something a little over 12 hours or something like that. It’s fast. Google is immediate because they barely review anything, but yeah. The only country that blocked us was Russia, I guess, which is fine. Not everyone has to like it, but yeah, we’re in every other store.

TG Branfalt: Wow. So you’re worldwide with this thing. Where are you seeing the most users?

Franco Brockelman: US and Canada, for sure, but we are internationally used. We’re seeing some use in Asia. There’s some use in Europe and South America. It’s spreading all over, but we definitely have a lot more users in USA and Canada right now.

TG Branfalt: How do you think technology will influence medical cannabis for patients? I mean, you’re obviously on the forefront of this.

Franco Brockelman: Mm-hmm (affirmative). I think that you need it for this. I think that maybe it’s a perfect marriage, technology and cannabis, to really help healthcare get to where it needs to be. Cannabis is complex, like I have said a few times. In order to collect the kind of data that you need to make research progress, I think you need an app like this. You can’t do double blind studies on every single cannabinoid and terpene in any reasonable amount of time. There’s people that need help today, now, yesterday. They can’t wait 30 years to maybe understand a little more about this stuff, but like I said, with the safety profile, we can start today. We can crowdsource this now. We can work together. Instead of having your anxiety patients trying things in a silo and your insomnia patients trying things in a silo, and muscle spasms, and what have you, you can collect this data in the app like we’ve built and use that anonymous data to help other people treating those same symptoms, and then looking at those trends to know where to point those more expensive research dollars in a more thoughtful and educated way. That’s what I’m most excited about, is to help pave a way to research progress that’s different than the traditional way, which I think is really needed based on cannabis’s complexity.

TG Branfalt: What about for providers? What sort of feedback are you getting from people supplying medical cannabis, dispensary owners, caregivers, that population?

Franco Brockelman: The ones that have kind of a patient-focused mission, they love it because this helps them pull their patients together. It helps them further support their patients in understanding what does or doesn’t work for them, but it also gives them something to look at when the patient comes back into the dispensary. We have a report right in front of the app, called The 30 Day Report, which basically shows what you’ve tried, and what’s been working, and what hasn’t been working over the last 30 days. That’s an important view in our mind because something that was part of your life six months ago or one year ago, it’s certainly you in some way, but you in the last 30 days, that’s really who you are and that’s really how you respond to the cannabis, so we show that report. When a patient goes into the dispensary and shows that to the patient consultant, or the bud tender, or the pharmacist, or whoever is on staff there, it gives them a real artifact to make the next decisions with, rather than, “Oh, how did it go?” “Oh, I don’t know, pretty good.” That’s what was happening before. This gives them some actionable reporting to make some good decisions with.

TG Branfalt: This is a really landmark app, I think. I do agree that it gives patients definitely information that they might have forgotten about. It helps sort of bridge that gap between something that’s sort of, oh, I felt this way or that way, versus sort of a concrete focus on what’s helping them and what might not be so much. What is your advice for entrepreneurs looking to enter the cannabis space, specifically those in tech?

Franco Brockelman: Mm-hmm (affirmative), sure. I’d say the first thing that I stress is keep the big important goals in mind. Think big and think about the kind of impact that you want to have on this industry. Remember that this industry is about a new kind of medicine, whether it’s just people being happier, or whether it’s about their Crohn’s getting better or something more complicated like that, at the end of the day, it’s about people leading healthier, happier lives. And so, I’d just stress for people to try to think about products and ways to conduct themselves in their businesses that really facilitate that kind of progress. This is a very special chance that we get to do something new, something that could be really impactful for centuries to come. This could be a really big deal, but a lot of it depends on how we handle things right now. As laws are changing and as we’re trying to set a good example and do the right things, just keep those things in mind. Keep the true end goals in your vision.

TG Branfalt: Well, Franco, I really appreciate you taking the time to come on the show. This has really been a unique discussion, I think, someone so focused on mindfulness and creating something that was really born from sort of the love for your mother. I mean, it sort of sounds cliche, but it’s a really great story. Where can people find out more about you, about the app?

Franco Brockelman: Mm-hmm (affirmative), sure. If you want to download the app, it’s free for patients, of course. Just search the Google store or the Apple store. It’s Releaf app. If you want to check us out online, it’s ReleafApp.com. Yep, that’s where you can find us.

TG Branfalt: Well, thanks again, Franco, for taking the time. I look forward to seeing how these studies go, what data you’ve gotten. It should be an exciting time.

Franco Brockelman: Yeah, thanks a lot. I really appreciate this talk.

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

At Ganjapreneur, we have heard from dozens of cannabis business owners who have encountered the issue of cannabias, which is one of mainstream business, whether a landlord, bank, or some other provider of vital business services refuses to do business with them simply because of their association with cannabis. We have even heard stories of businesses being unable to provide health and life insurance for their employees because the insurance providers were too afraid to work with them. We believe that this fear is totally unreasonable and that cannabis business owners deserve access to the same services and resources that other businesses are afforded, that they should be able to hire consultation to help them follow the letter of the law in their business endeavors, and that they should be able to provide employee benefits without needing to compromise on the quality of coverage they can offer.

This is why we created the Ganjapreneur.com business service directory, a resource for cannabis professionals to find and connect with service providers who are cannabis-friendly and who are actively seeking cannabis industry clients. If you are considering hiring a business consultant, lawyer, accountant, web designer, or any other ancillary service for your business, go to Ganjapreneur.com/businesses to browse hundreds of agencies, firms, and organizations who support cannabis legalization and who want to help you grow your business. With so many options to choose from in each service category, you will be able to browse company profiles and do research on multiple companies in advance so you can find the provider who is the best fit for your particular need.

Our business service director is intended to be a useful and well-maintained resource, which is why we individually vet each listing that is submitted. If you are a business service provider who wants to work with cannabis clients, you may be a good fit for our service directory. Go to Ganjapreneur.com/businesses to create your profile and start connecting with cannabis entrepreneurs today.

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MassRoots Pivots Business Model, Targets Dispensaries

6/21/2018

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MassRoots announced in a press release on Wednesday that they are releasing a new product, MassRoots for Business. The company expects that this pivot will create its primary source of income for the year. MassRoots’ previous income was primarily from direct-to-consumer ads, though the company has had trouble meeting revenue goals in the past and in 2017 reportedly lost $44 million.

Subscriptions to the new business portal will start at $420 per month with a minimum one-year commitment. The service will focus on providing locational and statistical data and analytics pertaining to the members’ local markets. New Frontier Data indicates there are currently 2,488 licensed dispensaries in the U.S. — MassRoots for Business hopes to onboard several hundred of those, according to the press release, in a bid to become profitable.

MassRoots has suffered in the last two years. Once a promising social media startup with successful fundraising in the tens of millions of dollars, the company has struggled to find a way to monetize their community and data and become profitable. Several bids were made, including an attempt to develop a cannabis-focused blockchain product.

Last year, the board of directors attempted to oust founder Isaac Dietrich but failed spectacularly.

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Trudeau Sets Industry Launch Date for Oct. 17

6/21/2018

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Wednesday that the nation’s adult-use cannabis industry will officially launch on October 17, The Hill reports. The landmark legislation, which passed its final hurdle in the Senate this week with a 52-29 vote, makes cannabis possession and consumption legal for adults 18 and older throughout the nation.

“Today I’m also pleased to announce that the new recreational cannabis will officially come into force on Oct. 17 of this year. We will soon have a new system in place, one that keeps cannabis out of the hands of our kids, and keeps profits away from organized crime.” — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to reporters

Cannabis legalization was a major platform for Trudeau during the election. While medical cannabis has been legal in Canada for some 20 years, it is only the second country in the world — and the first G7 nation — to end cannabis prohibition.

Provinces are individually establishing rules for their own cannabis retail systems. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec have decided to leave retail sales up to state-run liquor companies. Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, and Saskatchewan will allow private retailers.

While most Canadians will soon be able to visit nearby storefronts to purchase cannabis products, medical cannabis Licensed Producers — who are currently operating under the federal government via online mail orders — will also remain in place as the adult-use industry comes online.

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Canada Votes to Legalize Cannabis

6/20/2018

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Fulfilling a popular campaign promise of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada has officially voted to legalize the adult possession and use of cannabis, according to a CNN report. In a 52-29 vote on Tuesday afternoon, the Senate advanced bill C-45 for the last time, accepting changes put forward in the House of Commons and sending the bill onwards for Royal Assent.

Trudeau, who has argued that legalization is the best way to keep cannabis out of the hands of children and cartels, took to Twitter to celebrate the bill’s passing.

“It’s been too easy for our kids to get marijuana – and for criminals to reap the profits. Today, we change that. Our plan to legalize & regulate marijuana just passed the Senate. #PromiseKept” — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, via Twitter

What is legal? Canadians who are 18 or older will be allowed to possess and share up to 30 grams of cannabis flower, grow up to four plants in their households, and create cannabis-infused edibles and similar products. Provinces can individually raise the minimum age threshold, but a similar strategy by senators to allow provincial bans on cannabis home grows was shot down by the House of Commons.

The legislation also establishes rules for a taxed and regulated industry: there will be local cultivators and cannabis storefronts regulated by provinces and territories, but consumers will also have the option of purchasing from one of the many established Licensed Producers who can already grow and distribute cannabis across the country under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR).

Bill C-45 also included updates to Canada‘s impaired driving laws to adjust to cannabis being a legally available substance.

Experts predict the Canadian cannabis marketplace could generate up to a $1.6 billion in sales during its first year.

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NYPD to Issue Tickets, Not Arrests, for Public Cannabis Smokers

6/20/2018

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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and the New York Police Department announced on Tuesday that the city will begin ticketing, not arresting, people who are caught consuming cannabis in public, according to an NY1 report. This policy change comes just one month after the Mayor directed police to stop making the arrests.

“No one should be smoking marijuana in public. It’s illegal. Period. Is it happening every day? Yes. So we are trying to deal with it in the most productive, fair way.” — Mayor Bill de Blasio, via NY1.

The city’s relaxed enforcement of public consumption should take effect September 1st. For most offenses, officers will issue summonses requiring a later court appearance, during which the defendant can choose their plea and a judge can assign the appropriate fines.

The NYPD will still arrest smokers who are on parole, on probation, without identification or who have an open warrant or violent criminal history. Smokers caught behind the wheel will also be arrested.

De Blasio estimated this new enforcement policy will result in 10,000 fewer arrests per year. De Blasio said the reasoning behind the change of enforcement was to address the deep racial disparity in cannabis arrests. In May, the New York Times ran a story showing that black people in New York City were eight times more likely to be arrested for simple cannabis possession.

 

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A young cannabis plant showing signs of growth under an LED grow light.

Mass. Regulators to Vote On First Adult-Use Cannabis License

6/20/2018

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The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission is set to vote on the state’s first adult-use cannabis cultivation license on Thursday, reports the Boston Globe. Thursday’s hearing is for Sira Naturals’ cultivation facility in Milford. Sira Naturals already grows cannabis at that location for its three existing dispensaries, but this license would be its first recreational grow.

“We’ve worked very hard to build a strong and professional business, and we are very gratified that the commission saw fit to take this step with us. That said, there are a lot of unanswered questions we’ll be helping to answer over the coming days and weeks.” — Mike Dundas, CEO of Sira Naturals, in the report

Should the Commission approve the application on Thursday, there will be a several-week delay for Sira Naturals’ facility to undergo inspections before the company can proceed with cultivation.

The procedures for an adult-use grow are still largely undefined and confusing in Massachusetts. One major hurdle is the state has yet to license any adult-use retailers — currently, there would be nowhere for Sira Naturals to sell their product. Other regulations for transferring cannabis grown under a medical license to an adult-use license are unclear as well.

The Executive Director of the Mass. Cannabis Commission, Shawn Collins, said the scheduling of Thursday’s vote was a major milestone for the end of cannabis prohibition.

“It’s an important day, but it’s also just another step in the process. We’re working around the clock to get towards getting these facilities evaluated and licensed. Whether that means [stores opening in] July or not remains to be seen. I’m optimistic we’ll get our part of the process done efficiently.” — Shawn Collins, via the Boston Globe

 

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New York Health Dept. Endorses Adult-Use Legalization

6/19/2018

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On Monday, New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker told reporters that a study commissioned in January by Gov. Andrew Cuomo will recommend legalizing adult-use cannabis, the New York Times reports. The study, though not finalized, was informed by “experts from all across the government.” The report is expected to be fully released soon, though it has been teased for weeks by the governor’s office.

Until recently, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been against the legalization of cannabis. Competitors in the gubernatorial election have seized on this policy to attempt to leverage voters against the Governor, though the cannabis issue is largely supported by voters. The Governor’s office on Monday did not offer much comment beyond that they would review the report when it was released.

“We looked at the pros, we looked at the cons, and when we were done, we realized that the pros outweighed the cons. We have new facts.”— Dr. Howard Zucker, in the report

Gov. Cuomo’s opponent for the Democratic primaries, Cynthia Nixon, has used cannabis legalization as a cornerstone of her campaign platform. Nixon claims that New York must go further than just legalizing and must also expunge the records of previous cannabis offenders — especially for minorities, who have been disproportionately charged affected by prohibition.

This report is only the first step on New York‘s road to legalization. The legislative session is ending for the year on Wednesday and state lawmakers are unlikely to act fast enough to advance the legalization issue, so it will have to be taken up next year at the earliest.

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Canada’s House of Commons Approves Legalization; Bill Returning to Senate

6/19/2018

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Lawmakers in Canada’s House of Commons voted 205-82 in favor of Bill C-45, aka The Cannabis Act, on Monday, CBC reports. The legalization bill now returns to the Senate, which has already approved an earlier version of the bill but now must try to reconcile with changes made in the House.

Last time the Senate worked on the bill, Conservative lawmakers insisted on several amendments restricting the scope of the reforms. However, the House rejected many of the Senate’s amendments, including one that would have allowed provinces to individually ban cannabis home grows and another that would have severely limited advertising options for cannabis companies. In total, 13 of the Senate’s proposed changes were rejected.

Senators must now decide whether to accept the House’s changes or not. 

Sen. Yuen Pau Woo, who heads the Independent Senators Group, said that Conservative Senators had offered some thoughtful changes.

“The job of senators is to listen to signals as well. It’s not just to propose amendments willy-nilly with no sense of where the government position is. The Senate does not regularly insist and create a ping-pong between the House and the Upper Chamber. It’s only happened a few times in our history and on very, very consequential bills. I don’t know if this one qualifies … but if senators decide that the explanations are not sufficient and we get to it, then we are in that world again.” —  Sen. Yuen Pau Woo, in a radio interview

If Senators accept the House’s version of the bill this week, officials expect cannabis to be available across Canada for individuals who are 19 or older by September — though it will ultimately fall to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet to choose the actual launch date.

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French CBD Coffee Shops Subject of Official Investigation

6/19/2018

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The Paris prosecutor’s office has tasked French narcotics investigators with checking out coffee shops selling low-THC, high-CBD cannabis products, according to The Local.

The coffee shops selling the CBD-rich cannabis opened last week, taking advantage of a gray area that does not define restrictions on CBD. The primary target of the investigation is the shop that goes by the name “Cofyshop” in a very fashionable neighborhood of Paris.

The owner of Cofyshop, Joaquim Lousquy, had previously noted that police had trouble telling the difference between the CBD-rich, low-THC cannabis and typical and controlled high-THC cannabis. French law requires that any cannabis sold contain less than 0.2% THC, which is a standard Lousquy has said his store is meeting.

Many stores selling high CBD, low THC cannabis have opened in France in the wake of Cofyshop’s opening. The glut of new stores, however, is perhaps attracting too much attention for the legal gray area to survive. The Times reports that French government officials are beginning to threaten these shops with closure in the next several weeks.

 

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