Several cows graze in a Vermont pasture on an Autumn afternoon.

Vermont’s Cannabis Market Will Be Gray and We’re OK With That

2/26/2018

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We’re not expecting the Wild West in Vermont – think pre-legalization California with its semi-legal dispensaries and quasi-legal delivery services – but, as you might expect, we are expecting the law’s “loopholes” to be exploited by savvy industry enthusiasts.

Coming from a New York native (more or less), Vermont has been a green beacon for a decade – and not just for its lush Green Mountains. Growing up, we puffed on a lot of Vermont-grown cannabis; it wasn’t a secret that the state’s growers cultivated some of the best product you could get your hands on. The tiny state was our California – it had decriminalized cannabis possession before anyone in New England — yet, somehow, Vermont managed to fall behind Massachusetts and Maine with legalization and the new law does not create a taxed-and-regulated industry.

Come July 1, however, it will set in motion a thriving gray market.

What is a gray market?

On July 1, Vermonters can grow two mature and four immature plants-per-household – but we can’t sell it and we can’t publicly consume. The state’s licensed dispensaries will still only be allowed to sell cannabis to registered patients but a “gifting” culture is certain to emerge, as we’re seeing in Massachusetts and Maine as they move toward their own legalization dates. Gifting is nothing new. In California, shortly after the legalization vote, I gave a “donation” for a vape pen and cartridges after finding an ad on Craigslist. In Michigan, I acquired a “temporary” medical cannabis card to attend – and make purchases at – the 2016 Michigan cannabis cup.

An amateur cannabis grower’s seedling, bathed in the purple light of an LED-based grow closet. Photo credit: Cannabis Pictures

Kris Smith*, a Vermont native who owns an industrial hemp-related business in Vermont, temporarily moved to Maine following the legalization vote, hoping to cash in on the Green Rush. (*His name has been changed so he could speak openly about his experiences without fear of reprisal in either Maine or Vermont).

In Maine, Smith explained, a Craigslist culture emerged quickly where, for a donation, you could purchase flower, concentrates, vape pens, and infused-edibles.

“But another thing that immediately happened is people were growing more,” he explained. “People were like, ‘Well now I can grow my six rec and six medical and boom I have a fat basement grow with 12 plants in it growing at any time.’ That’s a money-maker.”

When voters passed the recreational cannabis initiative, Smith explained, there was nothing in the law that prevented people from doubling up on their plant counts and people started growing plants for people who didn’t even live with them or even smoke, such as relatives.

“Gifting was instantly a thing,” he said. “I’ve seen stuff as blatant as a delivery service with ‘donations.’ We’d find people through social media and you’d say ‘I’m a medical patient’ and you’d never show a card or anything. That’s not even allowed under the medical program but once rec was voted on it started happening all the time.”

While there were no “blatant” social-use clubs in Maine that Smith knew about, he said that, after hours, some bars would allow people to come in and consume cannabis on-site on an outdoor patio. However, he explained that because Maine is such a small market compared to other states such as California and Colorado – and the state’s “wide-open” medical cannabis program – that people didn’t necessarily need these gimmicks to operate in the state’s gray market. He said he was unaware of anyone who was arrested for gifting.

What does this mean, legally, come July 1 in Vermont?

Tim Fair, president of Vermont Cannabis Solutions and a lawyer specializing in cannabis law, explained that “as the law is written right now, it is not gray – it is black and white, clear letter law – it is legal to gift anything under 1 ounce to another adult 21-and-older.”

“The best example is the $100 Snickers bar,” he said. “You call up the delivery service, they deliver you a $100 Snickers bar and you get a free quarter-ounce of cannabis. As the law is written, that would be legal because the purchase you are making is for another object.”

The only way to close this loophole, Fair said, is by a legislative act. And if the Legislature is going to try and reign in the gray market, they would likely just pass tax-and-regulate legislation.

The personal stash harvested from a medical cannabis patient’s homegrown marijuana plant. Photo credit: Cannabis Pictures

Fair said that while the law allows for two mature and four immature plants, the policy makes it ripe for individuals to skirt the law and grow six mature plants at a time because there is no enforcement mechanism for law enforcement to ensure the plants meet those standards. Police would need probable cause to enter a citizen’s home and the only real way they could get such permission is if they were invited in, they were called to the residence for an unrelated crime, or someone were to tell them more than two mature plants were being cultivated at the residence – and even if law enforcement were to discover a six-plant grow, it would be hard for them to determine, in some cases, whether a plant is mature or immature.

Fair said that the new law has the potential to create a lot more legal questions that would need to be addressed, most likely, by the state Supreme Court; such as, whether the smell of cannabis emitting from someone’s home is probable cause.

“It’s legal – but, if you have quantities higher than the law allows, it could be a felony, right? As far as telling people what they can or can’t do is going to be a nightmare because we just don’t know yet,” he said. “We just don’t know what the courts are going to do.

At least one organization is planning a July 1 legalization party, which could raise the social-use question on the day the law takes effect. However, the party is being held on private property, which makes it near impossible that law enforcement could crack down on the event, so long as there are no cannabis sales or consumption by minors.

However, in a hypothetical, Fair said the proprietors of the property could be held liable if someone driving from that party gets into an accident – because they were allowing cannabis consumption at the party; but legally, Fair said, he believes the courts would have to hold cannabis to the same standard as alcohol in cases like this.

Neither Fair nor Smith expects local businesses to operate as “cannabis speakeasies,” as their livelihoods would most certainly be at risk.

The more things change, the more they stay the same

Look, as a New York transplant to Vermont, I can tell you that Vermont has always been viewed as the Northeast’s most liberal state when it comes to cannabis. I can tell you that I see people consuming cannabis in public parks. I can tell you that I puff on my vape pen while walking down Burlington’s Church Street and have consumed cannabis on statehouse property in Montpelier.

There is currently a bill to create a taxed-and-regulated industry in the Legislature, but lawmakers simply have no appetite to take up any more cannabis-related legislation this session – which was enough of a fight.

The legalization measure allows a gray market to exist and most advocates and stakeholders are happy with being able to operate without expensive and onerous licensing – it’s sorta the Vermont way.

At the end of the day, this might be the best form of legalization as other emerging state-sponsored markets, such as Maine and Massachusetts, are in limbo due to pushback from lawmakers and fear of federal interference. To some, this might seem like broad decriminalization rather than legalization, but now Vermonters can grow their own – or, if they can’t, they can buy an overpriced candy bar and possess up to an ounce without fear of penalty.

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The Alabama state capitol building.

Alabama Republicans Kill Cannabis Possession Reform Bill

2/26/2018

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The legislative push to reduce cannabis possession penalties in Alabama is dead as the state’s powerful Republicans ensured it would not make it to the House floor for a vote, AL.com reports. According to the report, Rep. Paul Beckman demanded the measure get a voice vote, which ensured the bill would not make it to the floor.

The House Judiciary Committee ended up voting 7-5 against the measure.

Rep. Jim Hill, chairman of the committee, said he thought the bill was too far-reaching because possession of an ounce or less would only be a violation even after repeat offenses under the reforms.

“I think we’re probably headed toward either some type of either decriminalization or lesser emphasis being placed on marijuana. But it’s illegal. And to say that no matter how many times you use it, how many times it’s personal use, it never rises to the level of a misdemeanor, I just think that’s a mistake.” – Hill, during the committee hearing, via AL.com

The bill’s sponsor, Democratic Rep. Patricia Todd, told the Associated Press he was “sad” about the bill’s demise.

“But it’s an election year. And a lot of people who voted no told me to my face that they were going to vote yes. And I think the roll-call vote scared a lot of people (who) don’t want to look like they’re soft on drugs. But most people sitting there have no concept or understanding of marijuana.” – Todd to the AP, via AL.com

A similar measure introduced by Republican Sen. Dick Brewbaker did pass the Senate Judiciary Committee 6-4. However, even if it passes the Senate, it would need to be approved by the House, which would include moving through their Judiciary Committee – where it is likely dead on arrival.

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Pam Marrone: Creating Bio-Based Pest Management for Cannabis Growers

2/26/2018

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Pam Marrone is the CEO and founder of Marrone Bio Innovations, a company offering bio-based pest management and plant health solutions that are effective, efficient, and environmentally responsible.

As the cannabis industry takes off, we’re seeing a continual and deliberate push away from the stigmatized days of old and towards the general acceptance of cannabis as just a plant — not a drug, but an agricultural commodity. We recently invited Pam for a Q&A session to talk about her company’s organic, non-toxic pesticide options, why these biopesticides are especially useful for cannabis growers, and more!

Ganjapreneur: What is your background and what prompted your pivot to the cannabis space?

Pam Marrone: I am a PhD entomologist and serial entrepreneur, having started and run three biopesticide companies (after starting my career at Monsanto discovering new ways to control pests). We were inundated with request for information and technical support for our products to control powdery mildew and mites on Cannabis. Our customer service line and our sales people’s cell phones were deluged with calls. The growers discovered by themselves that our product, Regalia is very good for Cannabis powdery mildew and that Grandevo and Venerate are good for mite control.

We did some background research and found out that pesticide residues can be a serious problem in Cannabis products. Because the EPA does not regulate Cannabis, it is left up to the states and so there is a patchwork of rules for pesticide use. We also found that many Cannabis growers do not have backgrounds in pest management so do not know how to choose and use pesticides. All of these things prompted us to start supporting the growers:

  • Providing technical support for our products
  • Setting up distribution
  • Re-deploying a sales rep to become the Cannabis Support Specialist (to take all the calls going to our ag sales team)
  • Getting our relevant products listed by all the medical and recreational states (in progress)
  • Developing smaller package sizes (1 quart and 1 gallon down from 2.5 gallons)
  • Listing on Amazon

How long did it take from the inception of Marrone Bio Innovations to the company’s final launch, and what kind of team did it take to get off the ground?

I left my previous company AgraQuest on March 31 and started MBI on April 1, 2006. In May I rented a lab, in late June, found a CFO and founding investors, in August raised seed financing, and the following March closed on more than $3 million Series A. We licensed in technology while our own discovery R&D was screening for microbes and extracts of plants we could turn into biopesticide products. We launched the first version of our first product, an extract of knotweed, Regalia, in 2009. In 2016/17 we were overwhelmed with the inquiries from Cannabis growers so that is when we started focusing on it.

How many employees work at MBI and what kind of traits do you look for when hiring new team members?

We have 100 employees. This is a very good question because hiring people who ultimately are counter to the values and culture we want can be very harmful and disruptive to the company. We need employees who truly believe in biologicals as mainstream products for sustainable ag systems. Employees need to be creative/innovative, agile, resilient, of high integrity and hard-working “hunters.”

What are the biggest advantages of using your products vs. more mainstream insecticides, fungicides, etc?

Our products leave no chemical residues and they can be used right up until harvest with shorter re-entry times after spraying, due to their safety. Our products can work as well as/or better than chemicals, when applied correctly with an understanding of their unique modes of action compared to chemicals.

What is the most challenging experience and the most rewarding experience you have had in the cannabis space, so far?

The tremendous feedback we get from growers about the performance of our products for powdery mildew (Regalia) and for mites (Grandevo and Venerate). Making the crop safer for consumers, without any chemical residues. Challenging: there are many growers who are new to growing plants and controlling pests and diseases so their level of technical knowledge can be quite low. So, they try bizarre cocktails of snake oils that would never be allowed in EPA-regulated agriculture.

What sort of product training/technical support do you offer growers who might not be familiar with biopesticides, and how much training would be required for someone with zero experience?

We have a technical support team (1 MS and 2 PhD specialists) who provide the education and training for growers and their advisors for both food crops and Cannabis. For someone with no experience the key is to emphasize to read and follow the label instructions. There is a lot of information on the label and it needs to be followed.  Biopesticides are easier to learn in some sense if you are starting from scratch because they have a high degree of safety to the applicator. Our team spends time helping them understand the mode of action of our products so they get the best results. For example, Grandevo and Venerate are not “knockdown” products – they don’t kill quickly (but they stop pest feeding right away) so it is important to understand it may take 7 days to see the full effect of the product on the mites.

What’s the feedback from cannabis growers been like? Could you share a particularly favorite reaction by a grower?

We hear that Regalia has become their standard for powdery mildew control. Used preventively before the mildew symptoms show up, growers say they have “clean plants.”

As for a favorite reaction, I love the one who told me he injects Regalia into the hydroponic system every week and he found that Regalia increased the root mass considerably and he has much healthier plants. We knew that Regalia had this effect on root growth but applied to Cannabis in hydroponics was new to us.

As an ancillary company to the cannabis space, which other agricultural or similarly niche industries do you deserve?

We focus on high value fruit, nut and vegetable crops and we just launched our first product into turf. We also note that our products are popular with tobacco growers, especially the fast growing organic tobacco segment.

Where do you see Marrone Bio Innovations in 5 years — and how about 10 years from now?

Our goal is to become the largest biopesticide company (in revenues) and continue to be the innovation leader with effective science-based products across the full range of grower needs. We are expanding internationally so in 5 years we will be more diversified than we are now where 90% of our revenues are in the USA. We expect to enter the herbicide segment in a couple of years, which is the largest pesticide market (40% of the $50 billion pesticide market). Organic growers have few effective solutions for weed control and conventional growers are faced with ever increasing weed resistance to popular chemicals like Roundup/glyphosate.

What kind of advice could you offer to someone who is eyeing the ancillary cannabis space?

It is an area for growth but it is evolving as new states enter and come up with new rules, so stay nimble.

Thank you, Pam, for taking the time to answer our questions! To learn more about Marrone Bio Innovations, visit the company website at MarroneBioInnovations.com.

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An indoor cannabis crop in a licensed cannabis cultivation site in Washington state.

Arizona Senate Passes MMJ Testing Bill, Moves to House

2/26/2018

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Arizona’s Senate has approved a measure to test medical cannabis products in the state 27-3. The testing regime, which is required in all other states with medical cannabis laws, would require testing for both impurities and THC content.

The legislation would also require that medical cannabis products sold in the state are labeled correctly and that cultivators disclose all pesticides and chemicals used in the growing process on product labels along with the registered patient’s name and ID card number.

If approved, the law would require state Department of Health Services officials to begin inspecting dispensaries for “sanitary conditions for storing and processing” medical cannabis products and mold “in any building operated by the dispensary” beginning June 1, 2019.

The bill would also begin treating medical cannabis products as an agricultural commodity on June 1, 2019, which would make the products subject to agricultural rules and regulations and permit the Department of Agriculture director to “enter at reasonable times into or on a private property where medical marijuana is cultivated to determine compliance or noncompliance with any rules or orders.” The bill sets aside $2 million to the Agriculture Department “for the purpose of regulating marijuana as an agricultural commodity.”

The bill has been moved to the House but has not been assigned yet to a committee.

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A wide and green fan leaf from an outdoor hemp plant.

Alaska Legislature Approves Industrial Hemp Law, Moves to Governor’s Desk

2/23/2018

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Alaska’s Legislature has passed an industrial hemp legalization bill, which moves next to Gov. Bill Walker’s desk for his signature. The measure, if signed, will allow farmers to register with the state to grow the crop under a pilot program.

Bill sponsor Sen. Shelley Hughes has said that farmers in her district wanted to use hemp as an inexpensive livestock feed, and the bill received more than 20 letters of support from Alaskan farmers.

According to a fiscal note attached to the measure, the Department of Natural Resources expects about 25 farms to register with the state to grow industrial hemp in the first season. The Department is seeking $10,000 to draft regulations in conjunction with the Department of Law. The Department of Public Safety fiscal note also indicates that the agency does not anticipate needing any additional funds to ensure the products meet the 0.3 percent THC threshold to determine whether they are industrial hemp.

Alaska does permit recreational cannabis sales.

“It was time to remove hemp from the marijuana statutes. There’s no psychoactive impact from hemp. If you were to smoke acres and acres and acres of hemp, all you would get would be a sore throat and a cough.” – Hughes to KTUU

Once signed, Alaska will become the 35th state to allow industrial hemp production.

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Nighttime photograph of the neon lights on a Ferris Wheel and the "Moscow Circus" attraction inside the Costa Mesa Fairgrounds.

Orange County, California Fair Prohibits Cannabis Events, Sales & Ads

2/23/2018

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The Orange County Fair Board has voted to prohibit cannabis events, cannabis sales, and cannabis paraphernalia at the Costa Mesa, California fairgrounds, the Los Angeles Times reports. The new rules were approved unanimously by the five present members of the nine-member board.

The rules also bar sponsors, vendors, and exhibitors from making any references to cannabis, including: “promotion, information or advertisement” from canna-businesses “or third parties that sell or promote cannabis-related products or drug paraphernalia.”

The board indicated the rules at the grounds were necessary due to Costa Mesa’s prohibition on the cannabis industry and the fairground’s location near Costa Mesa High School, Davis Magnet School, and TeWinkle Park. California state law prohibits cannabis industry operations within 1,000 feet from schools, recreation centers, and parks.

Last August, officials for the Del Mar Fairgrounds – the site of the San Diego County Fair – canceled a contract for the Goodlife Festival, which would have allowed attendees to bring their own cannabis to the event and smoke it in designated sections. Fairgrounds CEO Tim Fennell told the San Diego Tribune that the board was waiting for the state Department of Food and Agriculture “to provide rules and regulations in order to proceed with these types of events.”

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Young cannabis plant's branch reaches and droops under the moisture of an indoor cannabis grow room.

Canadian Student Union Approves Student Health Plan MMJ Coverage Pilot Program

2/23/2018

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The student union at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus have approved a pilot program that will allow their student health insurance to cover medical cannabis, according to a CBC News report. This is the second university in Canada to approve allowing medical cannabis coverage under its healthcare plan after the University of Waterloo approved such a plan in 2015.

Michelle Thiessen, chair of Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy Okanagan, said that $20,000 of the medical budget has been earmarked for the year of coverage under the pilot program, which will begin on Sept. 1 and end Aug. 31, 2019. Thiessen admitted that the $20,000 set aside for the program will not “be able to serve that many students.”

“We’re going to collect data during this year and see how we can make this program better. If the student union decides it’s something they want to continue offering, then we can make an even better program.” – Thiessen to the CBC

How will it work? Students will need to apply to access the pilot program – and that application process is still being finalized – and a third party will evaluate the applications for student eligibility and determine the type of coverage they might need. Patients must be registered with Health Canada in order to qualify for the program.

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Ohio Bill Would Put Hold on and Force MMJ License Review

2/23/2018

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Legislation introduced in Ohio would prevent the final medical cannabis licenses from being awarded but does not include language to delay the Sept. 8 deadline to roll out the program required by the law, according to a Toledo Blade report. The move comes two days after six medical cannabis applicants sued the state claiming regulators didn’t follow their own rules in scoring and awarding the 12 licenses to grow cannabis for the state program.

What would the legislation do? The measure, introduced in the Senate by Sen. Bill Coley, would require the Commerce Department to suspend the licensing process for 30 days as Auditor Dave Yost completes his review of the process. The Department of Commerce would then have 30 days to make any fixes, including potentially rescoring the application for which provisions licenses have already been issues.

Yost called for the process to stop in December after it was discovered that one of the application scorers was a convicted felon.

“This is an epic fail. I’m outraged. And you know it really calls into question the integrity of the entire process. The Commerce Department needs to hit the brakes, hit the pause button and needs to arrange for an independent review of how this all happened – and whether the scoring and application process is really reliable. Is it on the up and up? Because right now, I think there are major, major question marks.” – Yost to National Public Radio-affiliate WOSU

Thomas Rosenberger, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association of Ohio said the measure would delay the process, despite Coley’s measure not pushing back the deadline.

“[Yost] did not want to prolong patient suffering by putting Ohio’s Medical Marijuana Control Program on hold while he completes his audit. Senate Bill 264 would do just that by delaying the issuance of certificates of operation for months.” – Rosenberger to the Blade

Nothing in the measure would allow provisional licensees – some of which have already broken ground on their facilities – to keep their licenses.

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Stacey Mulvey: Cannabis, Yoga, and Community Building

2/22/2018

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Stacey Mulvey is the founder of Marijuasana, a company that has her traveling between major cities around the country — from Anchorage, Alaska to Boston, Massachusetts and everywhere in between — to teach cannabis- and hemp CBD-infused yoga classes.

In this episode of the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, Stacey joins our host TG Branfalt to talk about the intersection of cannabis and mindful movement exercise, what a typical cannabis yoga class looks like and how they help bring people together to reinforce the cannabis community, and the legality of social cannabis use in places where the plant has been legalized. They also discuss the educational side of these classes, how cannabis and CBD can help one achieve a more internal perspective while exercising, and more!

Listen to the interview via the player below or scroll further down to read a full transcript of this week’s Ganjapreneur.com podcast episode.

Listen to the interview:

Read the transcript:

TG: Hey there. I’m your host, TG Branfalt and you are listening to the ganjapreneur.com podcast where we try to bring you actionable information and normalize cannabis through the stories of Ganjapreneurs, activists, and industry stakeholders. Today I’m joined by Stacey Mulvey, she’s the founder of Marijuasana? Which offers hemp and cannabis-infused yoga classes in Denver, Colorado, Washington D.C., Boston, Massachusetts, Portland, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, Anchorage, Alaska, and the fabulous Las Vegas. How are you doing this morning, Stacey?

Stacey Mulvey: I’m doing well, TG. And it’s actually it’s Marijuasana, but you’re not the only person-

TG Branfalt: Ah, I knew I’d botch it.

Stacey Mulvey: Yeah, you’re not the only person that has that issue, so I’m happy to correct.

TG Branfalt: So, aside from me botching the name of your company, tell me about yourself. First of all, how’d you end up founding this company, and what’s your background with yoga?

Stacey Mulvey: I have a background in teaching movement through Pilates and yoga for the past five years. I actually came to teaching mindful movements after working in IT for a long time, and just working in various corporate jobs and realizing that I hated … First of all I hated my job, but realizing I wasn’t being … that I really needed to pay more attention to my body. And then once I was, I was a lot happier and more … just a healthier human in general. And at a certain point decided like, “You know what? I’m tired of buying into the notion that in order to be happy and successful you have to just throw your life away in this mindless corporate job, and do what you don’t like just so you can earn money. And I said, “Okay, I’m gonna be a teacher of this practice that I’ve discovered that’s really benefiting me.”

I went into training to be a Pilates teacher, and it was amazing, and that just kind of set me off on this path of taking trainings in Pilates, and yoga, pole dance, and other mindful movements. And realizing that this was really my passion, and I felt like it was my calling. The whole time prior to my teacher training during my career, if you will, as an IT professional I had always been a cannabis consumer. It was just like part of my identity almost, but of course it was a hidden identity. It was like my true identity that my friends knew, but it wasn’t something that I put out in the world, if you will. It was just like, “Oh, I just do this in the shadows when I’m off of work with the people that really know me, know that I really enjoy cannabis.” Being in Colorado as cannabis legalized there, and starting to work within the cannabis industry simultaneously …

As a Pilates teacher, you’re really your own boss. You know, you’re working for yourself, you’re getting your own clients, you’re working at different studios. My jobs most of the time were part-time in different locations. It was like, “Okay, work out at this studio Tuesdays and Thursdays. And then I work at this other studio Mondays and Thursdays.” And then in the meantime I was doing social media and marketing for a couple companies within the cannabis industry, and it became after while … You know I couldn’t say exactly when it hit, but it was like, “This is something that I should just start to do as a business. I should start to combine these two things and start putting it out there.”

It’s kind of scary at first because there’s the professional reputation that you have, you’re sort of putting on the line as like, “Hey, I have this reputation that I’ve built up as a teacher, and here’s my credibility, and here’s my resume, if you will. And what I’m gonna do is also add to the end of this resume, like at the end of my name, cannabis entrepreneur, Ganjapreneur.” Just stepping out and doing that, it took a little bit of kicking around in my brain, and kind of kicking around with like, “Okay, am I really ready to do this?” And like kind of put this idea out there. But once I did I was really happy that I did, and it really seemed to … It was really well received, I’ll just say that.

TG Branfalt: When’d you decide to use cannabis and hemp in your yoga classes? And if you could describe to me kind of what you started with and what you’re using now?

Stacey Mulvey: Sure. As far as the classes, I mean when I decided to use them in my classes it was once I started as … Once I started Marijuasana, when I said, “Okay, not only will I just do it in my own practice,” because that’s really where it started was me, myself, realizing in my own practice that cannabis and hemp made a huge difference in my experience when I did Pilates and yoga. Because my identity as a teacher, as someone who wants to teach others how to improve their experience in their own body, for a long time I had that knowledge, if you will, that, “Okay. I know that this will make a difference because it makes a difference for me, and I would love to impart this to other people.” I never did it within the professional space because it just wasn’t appropriate. It wasn’t acceptable to say like, “Hey, you know what you should really do is start maybe looking into some CBD oil, or hell you know, just start getting high before you come into this lesson because it would really make a difference, you know?” You just don’t do that.

It was really about a year and a half ago that I started becoming more confident in revealing to my clients that I was in the cannabis industry. It was always kind of in hushed tones, like, “Okay this is my other job. I work in the cannabis industry.” And the ones that were like, “Oh.” You know? It’s like this little kind of flag that you’re like sort of waving. Like your freak flag a little bit. Like, “Hey, I’m into this.” And then they would say, “Hey, oh yeah.” We’d start to share some sort of conversation like, “Oh yeah my husband and I went to a dispensary.” Then we’d feel more inclined to start speaking with each other, and start being more open.

Once that started, I started realizing okay a lot of my clients are in this space and would probably be receptive to something like this, and I’m gonna start teaching classes. It was really important to me that CBD be the focus of what I taught, and that I brought out into the world because everybody has access to CBD, whether or not they realize that it’s legal right now. Everybody has access to it, but not everybody has legal access to cannabis containing THC. I didn’t want to neglect people in other states, or in other markets, that felt like, “Well, that’s not really for me then if you guys are just gonna get high and do yoga. I can’t do that in Nebraska.”

I wanted to focus on CBD because it … Besides the legality of it, it really is a crucial cannabinoid for everybody. For humanity, for wellness. For me it’s about more than just getting high, and I don’t mean just getting high. I don’t mean to degrade that, but including phytocannabinoids in our daily consumption is extremely important to me because I feel like our bodies have been basically starved due to prohibition. We’ve been kept away from a really essential part of our nutrition in phytocannabinoids. Hemp provides CBD and the whole gamut of cannabinoids besides THC, and it was really important to me that people became aware of that, and that my company brought awareness to that.

TG Branfalt: How do you use the CBD in those classes? Do you use a tincture? Do you use a rub?

Stacey Mulvey: We use an oil. We use an oil that we just ingest prior to doing yoga, and then I also serve tea, hemp seed tea. The CBD that you’re getting from the tea is pretty minimal. You’re not getting like a dose of CBD, but it’s another method for … Well, it serves two purposes, that you’re receiving CBD in whatever form, it’s a minimal dose, or a trace amount. And then it also serves as a social lubricant, if you will, that we get to … We’re taking tea, there’s a tea bar, we’re drinking tea together, we’re starting to get to know each other a little bit. It breaks the ice, and it’s a chance for some education to take place. People can ask questions and we can get checked in and settled.

Most yoga classes you get checked in at a front desk and then you go into your studio, you set up your mat, and then everybody sits there looking straight ahead at themselves in the mirror until the teacher comes in and starts to teach the class. With Marijuasana and the tea bar, and the chance to have it be a little more informal, there’s this opportunity for people to get to know each other or feel at least a little more like it’s a community. Even if they’re at that first part not very inclined to speak to each other, they feel inclined to speak to me a little bit and then it takes down the barriers of like, “This is really weird. What’s this class gonna be like? We’re just gonna get high and then we’re gonna do what? How is this gonna go down?”

But yeah, at the beginning of class we’ll drink some tea, take some oil, and then at that point, too, that’s when I start letting people know like, “Hey, if you brought cannabis you’re welcome to start consuming. I have some that I’ll share with you, or if anybody wants to share you’re welcome to.” That’s when everybody starts to consume whatever they choose to. There are some people that do not actually consume cannabis that gets you high. They’ll just take the oil and the tea and that’s it.

TG Branfalt: This sounds like a lot of fun.

Stacey Mulvey: It is so much fun. It really is. It really is, and that’s something I’m poking at, but I haven’t explicitly said yet. But what is really fun about it besides the physical activity is the community aspect. And that’s really important to me that the people do feel like they’re coming together in community because we don’t have that opportunity as cannabis consumers. We don’t have this venue where we can get together and be like, “Hey, I smoke weed, too, and here’s what I use it for.” Some people are just like, “I just do it for fun.” But the vast majority of people that I talk to that come to class have a reason beyond the fun recreational aspect. They do it for some level of pain that they’re experiencing. Whether it’s emotional or physical, or they found some way that it helps them in their life in a wellness aspect, and so they consume cannabis.

Which is usually what brings them out to a yoga class as well, the wellness aspect, but it’s like, “Okay, now that we’re here we can get to know each other and realize that we really are a community, and that there’s not one specific type of person that’s in this class.” We’re very different, there’s a lot of diversity, and we can get to know each other. I’m the only one that’s usually not the local, but it’s like, “Look around the room and realize that all these people live here. You guys are all part of the same city, and you’re all cannabis consumers. Did you know that?” I’ve seen friendships begin from my classes where people start to talk and realize like, “We should be friends,” or, “We should network.” I love to see that because that’s really important to me, the community aspects.

TG Branfalt: I want to dig in with you about some of the social use aspect of yoga and cannabis, but before we do that I gotta take a break. This is the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, I’m TG Branfalt.

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TG Branfalt: Hey, welcome back to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m your host, TG Branfalt, here with Stacey Mulvey, found of Marijuasana? Did I get that right?

Stacey Mulvey: Marijuasana. Yeah.

TG Branfalt: Marijuasana. I have it written down phonetically three different ways apparently. And she goes around the country and utilizes cannabis and hemp in yoga classes. Before the break you were talking about how in addition to the physical wellness, there’s also the opportunity for people who attend your classes to meet each other, network, and get to know each other. Whenever I write about social use policy, the Denver … There’s a lot of talk about it happening in Maine, and Massachusetts, and Alaska … Yoga classes are really always mentioned as potential social use licensees. They talk about having cannabis clubs, but ultimately you always get yoga studios would be able to get these licenses. Why do you think this is? Why do you think they specifically talk about yoga classes?

Stacey Mulvey: Yeah, I find that really interesting, too, that that gets brought up as an example. I don’t … Part of me thinks it might be because they know that the yoga classes are happening, and so they’re sort of primed for that. That they’re like, “Oh, yeah. Yoga studios.” But also I think it’s because it’s a great model of a business where people do gather that is not necessarily a bar. It’s not a movie theater, or … Any other type of communal space that I’m trying to think of, it’s a way … It’s a business where people do gather and partake in an activity where cannabis works really well.

Obviously I believe that it’s beyond just the community aspect where it’s like, “Oh, yeah.” It fits really well on top of that, the social use license. The yoga itself, and the activity that you’re partaking in when you’re going to yoga, it works so well with cannabis. Like I’ve said, it’s like the chocolate and peanut butter of wellness. It’s just cannabis and yoga really do work together because it’s this mind-body experience that you’re moving your body in this mindful way, and cannabis is just meant to be with yoga.

TG Branfalt: What states, you do this in Colorado, and D.C., and Massachusetts, and Oregon, and Alaska, Nevada, what states are you seeing the most interest in your classes? And who’s coming? What age groups?

Stacey Mulvey: By far I’ve seen the most interest in Massachusetts. Something about the Boston community, they took to it immediately. It was like this complete resonance in Boston. What’s so cool is there’s not one specific type of person, and I love that. I’ve seen all age groups, I’ve seen all colors of people, so people of color. White, Black, Brown, what have you, also students. I’ve seen career professionals, I’ve seen … I don’t know. Not just a specific career either, all types of people end up showing up. It’s beautiful to see, like I was saying before, that’s when people start to get to know each other. It’s not a thing where we’re gonna hang out after the class, it’s pretty brief, but it does make a difference for people to see that it’s like, “Hey, I saw someone who wasn’t exactly like me in this class and we were together. We went through this experience together, and we gained the same benefit. We had the same idea about cannabis and yoga, and yet we’re different people.”

That might be, too, why you see that in connection with social use. It might just be this unconscious thing that people are realizing. Everybody can do yoga, and it’s this emerging sector in the wellness industry. Yoga’s been around for a long time, but it’s just getting bigger and bigger, and they’re realizing cannabis fits really well onto that. It’s something that brings people together and everybody tends to go for it. It’s an experience that really can foster a lot of community, and an education, and it does feed into wellness. Which is something that cannabis, I feel like there’s this wave that’s happening already, but there’s still a lot of momentum behind it for cannabis to transition from being something that, “Yeah, we’re legislating it and we’re considering it as a substance that people use to …”

They’re altering their consciousness, but they’re not thinking of it as altering their consciousness. They’re thinking of it as getting mindless almost. I’ve gotten that criticism from somebody before where they were like, “Yoga’s not about being mindless.” Because they think of cannabis as like drinking a six pack of beer or something. It’s like, “You’re just using it to kill your brain cells.” Anyone who would say that obviously doesn’t … They probably don’t use cannabis. Or they did once and they had a bad experience. But there’s this wave with cannabis where it really is about wellness, and it’s about altering consciousness, but not in a suppressing way, in this very expansive way.

I think the more that we start to speak to that as a cannabis industry, and … We’re stuck in a spot where we do have to say, “It’s just as, in quotes, harmful as alcohol. It’s not more harmful.” We have to bring that out into the world, and use that to legalize it, but it’s not that it’s harmful, it’s that it’s actually very beneficial. That’s the second piece, that it’s like we can’t use that as our argument as far as legalization, but once the legalization is there, I think we really do need to start speaking to it as it actually is good for you. It’s not that it’s harmful, it can be very, very good for you, and promote health, and promote wellness.

TG Branfalt: I’ve also interviewed a couple of … the founder of the 420 games on this show, and talked to quite a few people about the role that cannabis could play in a workout regimen. Either in the cooling down process as a tool to help the body heal. In your experience as somebody who’s worked in this health and wellness industry for a long time, what might be some other wellness sectors that could draw on cannabis as a tool? Holistically or as a, I don’t want to say performance enhancer, but as something to help with physical activity workouts? That sort of thing.

Stacey Mulvey: I’ve started to think of it … Yes, there’s the physiological aspects, and is it Jim McAlpine? The-

TG Branfalt: Yes. Yep.

Stacey Mulvey: Yeah, so Jim … There are a couple of other experts in the field that really do speak to the physiological aspects, that it helps with recovery, it helps with endurance and that type of thing, and all of that is true. My interest comes from the mind-body aspect because I’m the woo-woo chick of Pilates and yoga where I really do see it from a secular point of view. But at the same time I’m like, “No, the mind-body experience, that’s my spirituality.” I’m not trying to put anything higher on it other than being in touch with your own body, and your experience within your own body is one of the most propound experiences you can have in your own consciousness. That aside-

TG Branfalt: It’s interesting to me that you’ve got a guy like Ricky Williams who is a big-time NFL football player who uses both yoga and cannabis, post-football career, as a wellness tool. To your point, there’s gotta be a connection there.

Stacey Mulvey: There really is. Your somatic experience, and that’s the type of movement that I like to focus on is what it feels like within your own body. A lot of exercise is taught from the vantage point of … almost like from this external vantage. What does it look like from the outside? Are your legs in the right spot? Are you mirroring whatever you’re being told to do with your body? You’re seeing yourself from the outside. The somatic experience is what you feel within your own structure. What is your experience as you move? What does it feel like as you’re moving your hips, or when you’re positioning your body in such a way? Then when you’re moving into this other position, it’s taking that reference point from being external to internal. There’s an intrinsic value with that. It’s extremely moving for an individual to experience. Once you get into it and you start to experience it from the inside versus the outside, it becomes almost addictive. It becomes its own motivator. It’s like, “I want to keep experiencing that.”

Cannabis helps you switch from that external viewpoint to your internal viewpoint, I believe, and in my own experience I feel like I’ve been able to facilitate other people getting that experience. An athlete like Ricky Williams, I don’t know I haven’t spoken to him, but I would bet if we did speak to him about that and say, “Hey, what was it like when you were doing football?” When you were a professional athlete did cannabis help you be able to transition from like, “Hey, this is me doing stuff and I’m doing stuff from the outside.” Did you notice that you were able to internalize what you were doing with your own body once you started incorporating cannabis and really contemplating what you were actually doing with your own body? That you inhabit that body and like oh my God isn’t that crazy?

It’s this whole philosophical thing, but to answer your question you were saying what other aspects of wellness could cannabis facilitate? Because I see it as a mind-body experience, and mind-body tool, I feel like beyond the physical health there’s also a lot of aspects of holistic health that cannabis could help in terms of community wellness. Things like creative pursuits. Things like painting and creative writing, those are other events that I put on that aren’t necessarily related to yoga, but I see the correlation because, again, it’s cannabis working with helping you make different associations. Different associations with parts of your body when you’re moving your body, but also different associations in a creative way. Being able to open yourself up to painting and to writing.

I feel like any sort of therapeutic endeavor, like art therapy or group therapy. I’m not a therapist, so I don’t know how that would work in terms of administering cannabis to a group, but just getting people together and actually talking. I’ve conducted these writing classes that weirdly enough it turns into a group therapy session because people are … they just start to want to talk. People want to start to open up and connect with each other, and connect with themselves. There’s that with group therapy, and maybe work with the elderly, and work with social groups that I feel like cannabis could really help.

TG Branfalt: I want to talk to you a bit deeper about education, but before we do that we’ve got to take a break. This is the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, I’m TG Branfalt.

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TG Branfalt: Hey, welcome back to the ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m your host TG Branfalt here with Stacey Mulvey, founder of Marijuasana?

Stacey Mulvey: Yay. You did it.

TG Branfalt: I did it. Which offers hemp and cannabis infused yoga classes throughout the country. Even Alaska, which I haven’t talked to a lot of people who actually have gone there yet. What I want to talk to you about now is how much education is involved in your business? And do you tend to interact with many skeptics who come to these classes?

Stacey Mulvey: I’ll answer the second part first. No, not a lot of skeptics come to my classes. If they’re skeptical, they tend to just not come. The skeptics that I’ve encountered usually are on social media, and there’s usually some little comment somewhere, either on Twitter or in a post somewhere. There aren’t a lot of skeptics that actually confront me. I sort of wish that there were, in a way. I would really love to speak with them, in a healthy adult way, just because there’s so much that I would like to say and to answer. Also, their skepticism is valid. Everybody’s viewpoint is valid, and whether or not I agree with it, it would be nice to see like, “Well, why do you think that? Why are you skeptical?” Because that’s out there.

But as far as education in the class, I try to keep it light because people are there to move their bodies. The last thing you want to do is hear somebody talk at you for an extended period of time. I try to sprinkle as we’re moving, like, “Hey, this is why you’ll feel better after class because cannabis increases your circulation, and what we’re doing, the activity that we’re doing is feeding blood to various tissues in your body that may not be receiving great circulation. The fact that you’re getting more circulation, it’ll increase the soreness, but the cannabis will help alleviate that.” That type of thing.

I try to layer it into the class as far as education. People do receive a bit, and then my hope is that if they get curious with that, if they’re like, “Hey, I didn’t know that. Whatever she was talking about.” That it’ll prompt some curiosity, or they’ll want to either ask me more, or maybe they’ll investigate on their own. But it is important to me that I’m bringing some sort of education to every class because it is, like I’ve said many times already, it is about more … To me, it’s about more than just, “We’re just gonna get high and do yoga.” Yeah, that is awesome, and that’s what I do a lot, but I’d like to elevate it past that, past that mindset. It’s like, yeah just getting high and doing yoga, it is quite a bit actually. There’s a lot to that that we should start bringing our awareness to.

TG Branfalt: Finally, what advice would you have for other entrepreneurs? Maybe not necessarily entrepreneurs looking to enter the cannabis space, but maybe those listening who might be considering more on the wellness side? You have a very interesting business model, and you travel around a lot meeting people who might end up considering doing something similar to what you’re doing. What’s your advice for entrepreneurs?

Stacey Mulvey: That’s a good question. I like how you segmented it to those interested in the wellness aspect. The advice I would have for them is to arm yourself with information. Get as much information as you can about the science … Yeah I guess just about the science with cannabis, and also in movement. Or whatever wellness activity you’re doing. I say movement because that’s my focus, but never stop learning and arming yourself with information on the importance of both of those, and what those are even. Something that I’ve noticed with other movement teachers, especially in yoga, and this might get me in trouble, but often with yoga teachers they take a brief teacher training program and then that’s almost it.

I’ve been in yoga classes where I can tell that they’re understanding of anatomy and movement is lacking because they only went so far in memorizing a sequence of yoga poses and then they were done. Keep educating yourself, keep getting training, keep finding more information, doing your own research, doing your own work. Because we really need to have a unified front on the factual basis of the wellness aspect of cannabis. That it’s not just a frufruey thing that we’re making up. Jeff Sessions was saying that it’s over-hyped, the medicinal properties of cannabis were over-hyped. I think that’s an exact quote, and it’s not. It’s like, Jeff, if you’re listening, it is not over-hyped. It is absolutely true, and unfortunately-

TG Branfalt: If Jeff Sessions is listening to this, the world is literally coming to its end.

Stacey Mulvey: Well, someone write him a letter. I’ll write him a letter and say, “This is what I said to you, damn it.” But yeah it’s not over-hyped, and it needs to be more than just like … Unfortunately, anecdotal and firsthand experience isn’t good enough for those that are gonna be skeptical, so we need to continually provide them with information beyond the research that they won’t allow to happen, and keep doing our own research, and keep making our own case that cannabis is an integral part of wellness. That is an integral part of cannabis, it’s not just the recreational like, “Let’s get fucked up” side. That would be my advice.

TG Branfalt: Finally, where can people keep track of you? Keep track of your classes? Get to know more about the Marijuasana, Mari-wa-sana …

Stacey Mulvey: On my website, marijuasana.com, and just to speak really quick if you don’t mind, TG. The marijuana and asana are where the name come from. Marijuana, obviously, we know what marijuana is. Asana is the Sanskrit word for “pose” in yoga, and so all yoga poses end with asana. That’s where the name for my company came from is marijuana and asana, and I just put the two words together. It’s Marijuasana. That’s M-A-R-I-J-U-A-S-A-N-A.com. That handle works through all the social media channels, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Marijuasana. If you go to my website or social media, I’ve got the list of events that I’ve got coming up, and I’ve got some coming up in Portland. Also in Oakland in February, and then I’m gonna be back in Boston in March.

TG Branfalt: Well, this has been super lovely conversation. You’ve been super patient with me botching your company name several times. I really appreciate it-

Stacey Mulvey: No, my pleasure.

TG Branfalt: My impediment does not allow me to say that word, apparently. And-

Stacey Mulvey: You’re not the only one.

TG Branfalt: Makes me feel better. Congratulations on your success thus far, and traveling as much as you do, and bringing this practice, and bringing these two things together to people who can really benefit from what you do.

Stacey Mulvey: Thank you.

TG Branfalt: Thanks for your time. It’s been really lovely.

Stacey Mulvey: Thank you so much. Yeah, it’s been great to talk to you, and thank you so much for the opportunity.

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

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Windmill farm in Alameda County, California.

Alameda County, California DA Will Expedite Cannabis Conviction Resentencing

2/22/2018

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Alameda County, California District Attorney Nancy O’Malley has established “a policy, protocol, and a process to redesignate and dismiss prior cannabis-related convictions” under the guidelines of Prop. 64, which legalized cannabis for adult use in the state.

“California is offering a second chance to people convicted of cannabis crimes, from felonies to small infractions, with the opportunity to have their criminal records cleared. We join our State officials and intend to reverse decades of cannabis convictions that can be a barrier for people to gain meaningful employment.” – O’Malley in a press release

Since November 2016 – when the law was approved by voters – through Dec. 31, 2017, Alameda County Superior Court has granted 609 petitions to dismiss previous cannabis charges under the scope of the law, and O’Malley’s office has identified 5,900 cases eligible for dismissal, the release states. The office has identified 5,000 of those individuals and plans to notify them of their eligibility by mail.

Earlier this month San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón announced his office would retroactively expunge misdemeanor and felony cannabis convictions dating back to 1975. Gascón’s office plans to recall and resentence up to 4,940 felony convictions and dismiss and seal 3,039 misdemeanors and does not require any action by the convicted individual.

O’Malley’s office indicated any eligible cases will be expedited.   

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Maine Committee Votes to Strike Cannabis Social Club Language from Implementation Bill

2/22/2018

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The Maine committee tasked with implementing the state’s voter-approved recreational cannabis law voted 10-4 to remove all references to social use licensing from the legislature’s proposed regulations for the program, the Portland Press-Herald reports. The vote is not binding; however, a final committee vote on the proposals will be held tomorrow.

Social-use clubs were included in the ballot measure approved by voters in 2016. The committee voted 5-1 last month to delay the social use provisions of the law until 2023.

“No other state has licensed social clubs. This is clearly the law, but it passed by the narrowest of margins. We ought to go slow and be conservative.” — Sen. Roger Katz, co-chairman of the implementation committee, to the Press-Herald

The committee also rejected a plan to share cannabis tax revenues with municipalities friendly to the cannabis industry. The plan would have given localities that host cultivation, processing, or retail dispensaries a cut of the tax proceeds. The proposal was included in the legislation vetoed by Gov. Paul LePage last November. The new proposal included language that would have allowed municipal governments to enact fees for canna-businesses that would cover any cost increases to the town or city – but that was also voted down by the committee who feared Republicans would reject a bill including fee increases.

Recreational cannabis sales in Maine are supposed to commence July 1.

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A briefcase packed full of cash sits open on a glass table, surrounded by more cash.

Massachusetts Regulators Suggest State-Run Bank for Cannabis Industry

2/22/2018

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The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission is suggesting the creation of a state-run bank to serve the state’s canna-businesses after Chairman Steve Hoffman pointed out that no local banks or credit unions have indicated they would provide services to the industry, the Boston Globe reports.

“There’s a high degree of urgency, so it’s something we need to start talking about. Unfortunately, it’s a real possibility. We’re working as hard as we can to preempt that, but we can’t force any bank or credit union to service this industry.” – Hoffman to the Globe

The commission is concerned that a high-volume, cash-only industry would not only make the businesses a target for crime but would also complicate tax payments and product tracking efforts.

Gov. Charlie Baker’s office told the Globe that there are currently no plans to create such an entity. The measure would likely need legislative approval. According to the report, only Century Bank of Somerville is currently offering services to the state’s medical cannabis businesses. Massachusetts recreational cannabis industry is expected to be worth $1 billion by 2020. The state Department of Revenue expects to collect between $44 million and $82 million in cannabis-derived taxes in the next fiscal year.

Federally, some officials support allowing canna-businesses to access financial services. Earlier this month, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the agency doesn’t “want bags of cash” and “want to make sure [the federal government] can collect [the] necessary taxes and other things.” In January, attorney generals from 17 states, Washington. D.C. and Guam sent a letter to Congress urging them to “advance legislation that would allow states that have legalized medical or recreational use of marijuana to bring that commerce into the banking system.”

Massachusetts’ recreational cannabis industry is expected to come online July 1.

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Kansas Senate to Vote on Industrial Hemp Legislation

2/22/2018

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The Kansas Senate is expected to vote today on an industrial hemp legalization measure that would create a pilot program allowing government agencies, institutes of higher education, and licensed individuals to cultivate the crop for research and development purposes, according to a Hutchinson News report. A less restrictive industrial hemp proposal passed the House 103-18 last year but did not have enough support in the Senate to come to the floor for a vote.

If the measure is approved by the Senate it will move to the House Agriculture Committee whose chairman, Rep. Kyle Hoffman, called the revised legislation “cleaner and more concise” than its predecessor.

What’s included in the legislation:

  • The state Department of Agriculture, either alone or with an institute of higher education, could cultivate industrial hemp for R&D purposes. The Agriculture Department’s R&D site would be located in Russell County.
  • Individuals, corporations, and associations could receive licenses to grow industrial hemp. The licenses would need to be renewed annually.
  • Licensees would undergo state and federal criminal background checks, including fingerprints. Convicted felons would not be eligible to receive a license.
  • The Agriculture Department would need to develop rules to govern the program by the end of the year. By January 2019, the agency would need to outline a process to allow out-of-state sales
  • A THC limit of 0.3 percent, in line with federal regulations.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, some 34 states allow some form of hemp production, usually a pilot program requiring a license from a state agency to grow the crop. The only state that does not use the 0.3 percent THC threshold for hemp is West Virginia, which defines hemp as containing less than 1 percent THC.

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A sea of indoor cannabis plants inside of a licensed, commercial grow facility.

Canopy Growth Receives License for World’s Largest Cannabis Cultivation Site

2/21/2018

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Canadian medical cannabis producer Canopy Growth Corp. has been granted a license for the largest federally-licensed cannabis cultivation site in the world – it’s 1.3 million-square-foot site in Aldergrove, British Columbia. The site is one of two operating under a partnership with BC Tweed, known as the BC Tweed Joint Venture.

The license covers more than 400,000 square feet of cultivation at the site, which can, and will eventually, be expanded to the full facility. More than 100,000 live cannabis clones were flown to the site from Tweed’s Smiths Falls growing campus.

“A cultivation license for our first BC Tweed site positions us to continue this trend as Canada’s, and indeed the world’s largest, most reliable and most diversified producer and seller of high quality regulated cannabis.” – Mark Zekulin, Canopy Growth president, in a press release

The companies turn next to a second British Columbia site, currently in development, which has a 1.7 million-square-foot greenhouse. Once approved, Canopy will have over 5.6 million square feet of cultivation space throughout Canada.

“As proud native British Columbians and long-time horticulture producers we are excited to continue the proud tradition of BC bud on a national scale. Working with Canopy Growth we’re going to take the Tweed brand to the next level on the West Coast and bring the best our province has to offer to the country and the world.” – Victor Krahn, who runs operations for BC Tweed, in a statement

Following consultation with the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, management halted the trading of common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange because the growth “represented a material change” in Canopy’s production capacity.

Canopy is one of six companies signed on with the government of Quebec to supply product for the nation’s forthcoming recreational cannabis market. It also holds four licenses for Newfoundland and Labrador.

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Cannabis Decriminalization Bills Introduced in Alabama

2/21/2018

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Cannabis decriminalization bills have been filed in both chambers of Alabama’s Legislature and are expected to be heard in committees today, according to an ABC 33/40 report. The measure, introduced in the Senate by Republican Sen. Dick Brewbaker, would set fines for first-time possession of less than 1 ounce at $250 and up to $500 for subsequent violations.

“We’re trying not to hang felonies on college kids, bottom line. … This is what the public wants. They want personal use, very small amounts, no evidence of trafficking, they want it to be a fine.” – Brewbaker to ABC 33/40

Sen. Cam Ward, chair of the prison reform task force, told ABC 33/40 that he would support the measure, explaining that under current law, a second cannabis possession offense turns someone into a “felon for the rest of their life.”

“It ruins their life for an offense no one’s even prosecuting anyway. … You can go on Department of Corrections website, simple possession in state prisons is almost zero. The only people in state prisons on possession of any kind of marijuana are those trafficking the truckloads of it.” – Ward to ABC 33/40

The measure faces long odds in the House, where it is carried by Democratic Rep. Patricia Todd, as Speaker Mac McCutchen said its chances of passage are “slim to none.”

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Indoor cannabis plants inside of a licensed, commercial grow in Washington state.

Six MMJ Cultivator Applicants Sue Ohio

2/21/2018

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Six medical cannabis cultivator applicants are suing Ohio claiming that regulators didn’t follow their own rules in scoring and awarding the 12 licenses to grow cannabis for the state program, Cleveland.com reports. The lawsuit aims to block the state from awarding the licenses.

Among the claims:

  • Scores for at least 14 of the applications were incorrectly calculated.
  • Two scoring consultants had advance knowledge of the scoring rubric and had conflicts of interest with companies awarded licenses.
  • The two minority-owned businesses that were awarded licenses didn’t meet the criteria for the social-equity licenses.
  • Five licenses were awarded to companies that should have been disqualified for not meeting the pass-fail criteria or had misrepresented compliance with requirements.

The errors led “to a fundamentally arbitrary, capricious, unfair, and flawed scoring process” and the plaintiffs spent millions of dollars to comply with “rules the department did not properly enforce or follow,” according to Cleveland.com‘s review of the complaint.

The plaintiffs include:

  • CannAscend Ohio LLC
  • Appalachian Pharm Products LLC
  • CannaMed Therapeutics LLC
  • Palliatech Ohio LLC
  • Trillium Holdings, Inc.
  • Schottenstein Aphria LLC

The suit is filed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. Officials told Cleveland.com that they plan on continuing to establish the program, which is required under the law to be operating by Sept. 8.

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Photo of Newfoundland Island, taken from a boat in the harbor.

Newfoundland and Labrador Cannabis Regulators Request Canna-business Proposals

2/21/2018

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The Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corp has launched Cannabis NL, which will oversee recreational cannabis sales in the Canadian province, according to a report from the Telegram. The formation of the cannabis arm comes with a call for canna-business proposals and NLC officials expect to award 41 total licenses in the first round, not including the four already awarded to Canopy Growth.

“We did quite a bit of due diligence on this and we certainly put the effort in and we feel the time we took is going to be well worth it in regard to the [request for proposal] detail and enabling us to ensure that at the end of the day we have the right balance in terms of the licensed cannabis retailers for the province. We feel very strongly that this RFP reflects certainly what the NLC views as our mandate as well as the government’s mandate for us.” – Sharon Sparkes, NLC interim president and CEO

The RFP identifies four types of retail operations:

  • Tier 1: Standalone stores.
  • Tier 2: A store within an existing retail operation where cannabis products are segregated from other products.
  • Tier 3: A dedicated counter within an existing retail space wherein products are available but not displayed.
  • Tier 4: Behind the counter sales, similar to tobacco products throughout Canada and most U.S. states.

Licenses will be awarded based on a set of factors including geographic location, social responsibility, safety and security, business plan, and store design. Although cannabis and alcohol sales would, theoretically, be allowed under the provincial rules, prospective business owners seeking to sell both products would receive point deductions on their applications.

The deadline for proposals in Mar. 29, and applicants will be notified of their approval or denial by Apr. 15. Although many anticipated Canada‘s federal legalization taking effect July 1, a deal among lawmakers will push the reforms until at least August.

 

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Terry Rozier, an NBA player for Boston, jumps up for a 2-point layup.

NBA Players Union Boss Says MMJ Access Being Explored for Players

2/20/2018

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In an interview with SB Nation, National Basketball Players Association Executive Director Michele Roberts said the players union is “exploring” medical exemptions for NBA players to use medical cannabis but said that federal law is currently standing in the way.

“It is a banned substance in our league right now. If we do go down that road, we have to protect our players from — my words — a crazed attorney general who says he will prosecute violations of the law involving marijuana and he doesn’t care what individual states say. In other words, I don’t want my guys being arrested at airports in possession of a cannabinoid by some fed. It’s against the law. So, we’ll see.” – Roberts to SB Nation

In an August interview with the Players’ Tribune, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he doesn’t “see the need [right now] for any changes” in the league’s cannabis policies.

“… As you know, our players are constantly traveling, and it might be a bit of a trap to say we’re going to legalize it in these states, but no, it’s illegal in other states. And then players get in a position where they’re traveling with marijuana, and we’re obviously getting into trouble.” – Silver to the Players’ Tribune

Last October in an interview on UNINTERRUPTED, former commissioner David Stern said he “personally” thought cannabis should be removed from the league’s banned substance list.

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said in December 2016 that he had tried medical cannabis to treat his chronic back pain, and while he said it didn’t work for him, he supported allowing players to access medical cannabis and that it was “only a matter of time” before professional sports leagues embraced medical cannabis.

The NBA is home to eight teams in states with legal adult cannabis use; including the Washington Wizards from Washington, D.C., four teams from California, one each from Colorado, Massachusetts, and Oregon.

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A lone silo sitting among Iowa's stretching farmland.

Simple Cannabis Possession Reform Bill Gains Traction in Iowa

2/20/2018

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A measure introduced in Iowa’s Senate would reduce the penalties for possession of fewer than 5 grams of cannabis from six months in jail and a $1,000 fine to a maximum of 30 days in jail and a fine between $65 and $625. According to Democratic Rep. Mary Wolfe, in 2016 there were 3,400 cannabis possession convictions in Iowa and half of them were for 5 grams or less.

“You know you arrest them, you put them in jail overnight, they get out – I mean, what is the point? So, I do think that if we did reduce it down to where we’re looking at a fine, it would save local governments a lot of money, a lot of time, a lot of resources that could be better aimed at dealing with more serious criminal offenses.” – Wolfe to Public Service News

The measure is opposed by the Iowa State Police and Peace Officers associations. The Governor’s Office of Drug Policy Control has neither supported nor opposed the proposal.

According to the bill’s fiscal note, 75 percent of first offenses for simple possession of 5 grams or less utilize public defender services. The note suggests the measure “would have a positive minority impact to the African-American community,” noting that in fiscal year 2016 “18 percent of the persons convicted of first offense marijuana possession were African-American” while just 3.5 percent of the state’s population is African-American.

Last month the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended the bill for passage.

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The Alaska state capitol building in Juneau, Alaska.

Alaska House Passes Industrial Hemp Bill, Moves to Senate

2/20/2018

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Alaska’s House of Representatives has passed legislation to allow industrial hemp production and to establish a pilot program for its cultivation and production, according to a KTUU report. The measure, introduced by Sen. Shelley Hughes, defines industrial hemp as containing less than 0.3 percent THC.

Alaska is one of eight states that permits recreational cannabis sales.  

“… It does not have the psychoactive response and a person could smoke acres and acres and all they would get is a cough and a sore throat. So there are no psychoactive impacts from hemp so it is now an agriculture crop product and it is not under the marijuana statutes.” – Hughes to KTUU

Hughes indicated that farmers she represents want to use hemp as an inexpensive livestock feed. The bill received more than 20 letters of support from Alaskan farmers, including Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Mike Navarre. The measure next moves to the Senate.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 34 states allow some form of hemp production, usually a pilot program requiring licensing from a state agency to grow the crop. The only state that does not use the 0.3 percent THC threshold for hemp is West Virginia, which defines hemp as containing less than 1 percent THC.

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Last Washington MMJ Exchange Raided by Law Enforcement & Cannabis Regulators

2/20/2018

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Washington’s last remaining medical cannabis exchange, the Patient Cannabis Exchange in Parkland, was raided by law enforcement on Sunday, KOMO News reports. Officers arrested individuals with outstanding warrants and seized plants and cash.

Medical cannabis exchanges allow patients to designate a cultivator to grow their cannabis for them. Patients and cultivators at the exchange indicated officers from the Pierce County Sheriff and Tacoma Police, along with representatives from the Liquor and Cannabis Board spent about eight hours at the exchange.

Makaveli de la Cruz, owner of the exchange, told KOMO that the exchange had operated for five years and had never received a cease-and-desist order from regulators. Washington’s legal cannabis industry went online in 2013.

Blogger Miguel Miggy, who uses the name Miggy420, was at the exchange during the raid and, in a KOMO interview, said he believes the crackdown was an attempt by the LCB to reign-in the state’s untaxed grey market.

“I partially think it was the Liquor Control Board flexing their muscle and taking inventory about what’s going on in there just to see what the competition is.” – Miguel Miggy to KOMO

Law enforcement officials said they were looking for illegal drug activity. As of Tuesday morning, the market’s website is also offline.

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Steep Hill GenKit: Helping You Understand, Document, and Preserve Your Cannabis Varietals

2/20/2018

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Steep Hill Labs is one of the most trusted names in cannabis lab science. A leader in cannabis biotechnology, research, and analysis, Steep Hill has worked for years to give patients and cultivators throughout California the tools to better understand the cannabis products they grow and consume.

One such tool, the Steep Hill GenKit, helps commercial and amateur growers alike to streamline the early stages of a cannabis plant’s grow cycle.

With the GenKit, Steep Hill can offer the earliest possible identification of male cannabis plants, so growers aren’t wasting time on plants that ultimately won’t produce flower — or that might even sabotage their entire harvest. According to the company, the male identification test is 99% percent accurate and only a cross contamination could result in a legitimate error. The GenKit can also help identify CBD-rich varietals before they have even flowered.

“At its core, GenKit is a genetic sex-testing kit for cannabis cultivators that saves time and labor — using only a tiny snippet of a leaf sample, GenKit allows our team of scientists to identify male and CBD-rich seedlings in a matter of days, as opposed to forced flowering. The whole idea [behind GenKit] was to have it be one piece of a bigger plan. That bigger plan will allow breeders to get to stable phenotypes much faster,” said Reggie Gaudino, Steep Hill’s VP of Science and Genetics.

But the GenKit is more than a useful tool for determining a seedling’s sex — it can also help to safeguard a unique cannabis strain, or prove that it is truly unique, by documenting and recording its genetic makeup. This is especially important if you plan to seek a patent or other protections for your intellectual property.

“GenKit is the cultivator’s best ally in the protection of their intellectual property because they might not realize how special their strain or varietal is it is until it’s too late to stake a claim to the IP they bred,” said Gaudino. “Here at Steep Hill, we try to not only have the best science and the best testing, but we’re actually trying to help breeders find better traits, breed better strains, but also to have a concerted package of tools they can use, so they can grow better and faster, and hopefully that will help them put that stick in the sand and allow them to really get to the point where they have IP.”

Additionally, Steep Hill updated the GenKit’s packaging this year to be more efficient and user-friendly, while also offering additional protections to help preserve the integrity of samples they receive. A web-based integration system also allows users to track their samples through the testing process and see their results as soon as the analysis has been completed.

The GenKit is available for $99 online and in participating grow stores throughout California. The company plans to someday accept GenKit samples from any U.S. state but, until federal prohibition has been lifted, it remains illegal to ship cannabis products of any kind across state lines.

Visit SteepHill.com to learn more.

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Colorado Girl Scouts Will Allow Cookie Sales Outside of Dispensaries

2/19/2018

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The Girl Scouts of Colorado will allow cookie sales in front of retail cannabis dispensaries as part of their updated policies permitting sales at “adult-oriented businesses,” according to a Cannabist report. The change comes less than two weeks after a Girl Scout sold more than 300 boxes of cookies in six hours outside of a San Diego, California dispensary, leading to a debate about whether she had broken the organization’s rules.

Both Colorado and California allow recreational cannabis sales.

“(Potential cookie sales) sites are now all treated the same, and approval of those sites is contingent on whether they meet our guidelines and safety requirements. Safety is the biggest concern.” – Girl Scouts of Colorado spokeswoman AnneMarie Harper to the Cannabist

In a statement, Girl Scouts of the USA officials indicated that decisions for cookie selling sites are made by individual Girl Scout Councils.

“Local councils and leaders are best situated to set safety parameters in keeping with the well being of girls engaging in the cookie sale in their communities.” Girl Scouts USA in a statement to the Cannabist

Under the previous guidance, Girl Scouts in Colorado were barred from selling cookies outside adult-oriented businesses such as dispensaries, liquor stores, or casinos. Girl Scouts must still get permission to make sales in front of such establishments.

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Detroit to Challenge Voter-Approved MMJ Industry Reforms in Court

2/19/2018

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Detroit, Michigan officials intend to file a lawsuit against the voter-approved medical cannabis dispensary rules that relaxed restrictions on businesses, such as reducing the buffer area from religious institutions and requiring public hearings and comments before obtaining approval to open a shop, the Detroit Free Press reports. The legal action comes less than a week after the City Council passed a 180-day moratorium on new medical cannabis licenses and permits in the city.

Officials who supported the moratorium cited the new rules as the reason for the action. Councilman James Tate, who drafted the city legislation, said the new regime violated state law. Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Robert Colombo Jr. dismissed two challenges to the voter-approved regulations on Friday but allowed the city to move forward with its own legal action. City attorney James Noseda told the judge he would submit a complaint by the end of the day Friday.

“This is a cautionary tale for those who want to seek ballot initiatives with illegal language in them or language that is afoul of proven case law. This is what has created this situation … (Not) working with the city to try and find some common ground. This is a perfect example of things that can go wrong.” – Tate to the City Council, via the Free Press

Johnathan Barlow, the lawyer for Citizens for Sensible Cannabis Reform who worked to get the ballot initiative on the ballot, called the city’s attempt to “derail” the reforms “the most bizarre thing” he’s ever seen.

The measures were approved by 60 percent of Detroit voters.

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