Oregon Secretary of State Audits OLCC Cannabis Regulation Systems

2/19/2018

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The Oregon Secretary of State’s Office has released its audit of the state Liquor Control Commission’s cannabis regulation systems, identifying eight information-technology security issues and making 17 recommendations for addressing the program’s weaknesses.

The audit comes on the heels of a summit in the state held by U.S. Attorney Billy Williams with members of the industry to approach issues in the program identified by Williams, such as diversion of products out-of-state and to the illicit market.

What did the report identify as weaknesses?

  • “Data reliability issues with self-reported data in the Cannabis Tracking System (CTS) and an insufficient number of trained compliance inspectors inhibit OLCC’s ability to monitor the recreational marijuana program in Oregon.”
  • “OLCC should improve processes for ensuring the security and reliability of data in the CTS and the Marijuana Licensing System. In addition, better processes are needed to monitor vendors that host and support these applications.”
  • “OLCC has not implemented an effective IT security management program for the agency as a whole.”
  • “OLCC has not formally developed a disaster recovery plan and has not tested backup files to ensure they can be used to restore mission-critical applications and data.”

What are the agency’s recommendations?

  • “Develop and implement standards and protocols for on-site inspections and investigations.”­
  • “Evaluate the need and provide for an adequate number of trained OLCC inspectors commensurate with number of licensed marijuana businesses.”
  • “Perform risk-based on-site monitoring and inspections to ensure that licensees are reporting accurate information in the CTS and complying with applicable laws.”
  • “Develop and implement policies and procedures for effectively monitoring software of service vendors to ensure they are meeting security and hosting requirements defined in contracts and service level agreements.”
  • “Develop and implement reconciliation processes to ensure that data is appropriately transmitted by the Marijuana Licensing System (MLS) and received by the [CTS].”
  • “Establish processes for granting and reviewing access to the [MLS] and [CTS].”
  • “Implement change management processes in line with industry best practices, including measures that ensure test data remains segregated from the production environment.”
  • “Update and test OLCC’s information and security plan to ensure the plan reflects the agency’s current business and IT environment.”
  • “Establish a process to maintain an up-to-date inventory of authorized hardware and software allowed on OLCC’s network.”
  • “Develop and implement a configuration management process, including establishing configuration baselines, maintaining and up-to-date repository of configuration items, and monitoring configuration status changes to detect any unauthorized changes.”
  • “Develop and implement a process to scan for vulnerabilities on devices on network.”
  • “Develop and implement an effective antivirus solution on servers and workstations, and monitor to ensure all servers and workstations have an up-to-date antivirus solution.”
  • “Transition software off obsolete platforms. If that is not possible, ensure unsupported servers are appropriately segregated on the network.”
  • “Review physical access procedures to ensure access is appropriate, and require PINs to be periodically changed.”
  • “Develop and implement a process to remediate weaknesses identified in risk assessments and audits, and routinely evaluate and assess the agency’s security posture.”
  • “Develop a document an entity-wide disaster recovery plan.”
  • “Perform periodic tests of backups to ensure usability.”

 

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names for weed

MMJ Sales Begin in Pennsylvania

2/16/2018

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Medical cannabis sales in Pennsylvania began yesterday as six out of the 10 dispensaries so far approved by the state were legally allowed to open their doors. The program rolled out ahead of schedule, less than two years after the law was signed by Gov. Tom Wolf.

“We reached this historic day through a lot of hard work by many dedicated people at the Pennsylvania Department of Health and its Office of Medical Marijuana, and through the support of advocacy groups, the General assembly, and especially Pennsylvanians – the parents, doctors, and patients – whose tireless efforts helped make today a reality.” – Wolf in a press release

Wolf indicated that there are more than 700 physicians signed up with the state to recommend medical cannabis, along with more than 17,000 patients already registered with the state program, albeit only about 3,000 have received their medical cannabis ID cards.

The dispensaries approved and operating as of Feb. 16:

Creso Yeltrah in Butler

Keystone Canna Remedies in Bethlehem

Solevo Wellness in Pittsburgh

Organic Remedies in Enola

Dispensaries at which cannabis will be available beginning Feb. 17

Terra Vida Holistic Center in Sellersville

Keystone Shops in Devon

“Our work continues to increase access to this important medical tool. Our teams are crisscrossing the state inspecting dispensaries as they are ready to open their doors. Each week we will be adding locations where Pennsylvanians suffering from serious medical conditions can get this medication.” –  Dr. Rachel Levine, acting health secretary and physician general in a press release

Another 81 dispensaries are expected to open throughout the state over the coming months.

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A cannabis-themed depiction of the national flag of Canada, pictured during the 2014 World Marijuana March in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Canadian Cannabis Legalization Delayed Until at Least August

2/16/2018

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Recreational cannabis sales in Canada will not begin on July 1 as anticipated as federal lawmakers have come to an agreement that will see the legislation taken up on or before June 7, CBC News reports. Health Minister Ginette Petitpas-Taylor said that it would take eight to 12 weeks after the legislation is approved to get retail sales underway – moving the timeline to at least August.

“There’s no exact date but, if you do the math, you’ll see it won’t be July 2018. Cannabis legalization is not about a date, it’s about a process … We want this process done as seamlessly as possible.” Petitpas-Taylor, during a press conference, via the CBC

According to the report, the measure will be sent to five different Senate committees as Conservatives are concerned about how the legalization process is playing out. One unnamed Conservative source told the CBC “it’s not a matter of what’s being done. It’s a matter of how it’s being done,” adding that Conservatives have asked for a “thorough examination of the bill.”

Members of both parties are expecting amendments.

Which committees will review the measure?

The Senate Social Affairs Committee, the Aboriginal Peoples committee, the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, the National Security and Defense Committee, and the Foreign Affairs Committee will each review the measure. The Social Affairs Committee will inspect the legislative framework in its entirety.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that he was unsure where the July 1 legalization date originated.

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Bi-Partisan Legislation Introduced to Protect State-Approved Cannabis Programs

2/16/2018

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A bipartisan measure to protect state-approved cannabis programs has been introduced in Congress which would, effectively, reimplement the principles of the now-defunct Cole Memo. The legislation, dubbed the Sensible Enforcement of Cannabis Act, was introduced by Democratic California Rep. Lou Correa, Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, and Democratic Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who also serves as co-chair for the Congressional Cannabis Caucus.

What the sponsors said:

“To date, eight states have legalized recreational cannabis, and twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia, representing more than half of the American population, have enacted legislation to permit the use of cannabis. Attorney General Sessions’ decision to rescind the ‘Cole Memo’ created great uncertainty for these states and legal cannabis businesses, and put citizens in jeopardy for following their state laws. In my state of California, voters want legal cannabis. It boosts our economy and is a strong medical tool. By 2020, revenues from cannabis sales taxes could reach $1 billion annually for California. This bill will protect California and other states from federal overreach and ensure the will of the American voter is respected.” – Correa in a statement

“The cycle of uncertainty must end. We need permanent protections for state marijuana laws. I’m grateful for the leadership of Reps. Correa and Gaetz as they stand up for the American people, who overwhelmingly want the federal government to stay out of the way.” – Blumenauer in a statement

“In 2013, then-Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole directed all U.S. attorneys to focus their energies on dangerous drug-related crime instead of individual marijuana users. The ‘Cole Memo’ prioritized ending the distribution of marijuana to minors, preventing drugged driving, limiting drug cartels and other serious crime. With a finite number of resources, including law enforcement officers, it was a sensible policy. Unfortunately, it was also bad governance. We are a nation of laws, not department-wide memos. We should not tell prosecutors to ‘pick and choose’ what laws to uphold. When Federal law conflicts with state laws and the will of the American people, it’s time to change the laws. Rep. Correa’s Sensible Enforcement of Cannabis Act does just that, codifying the provisions of the “Cole Memo” into federal law. This bill is a tremendous step forward. It will help the men and women of law enforcement focus on fighting serious crime and will protect medical marijuana patients nationwide. I am proud to support this legislation, and hope that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will see its value and bring it to a vote soon.” – Gaetz in a statement

Justin Strekal, political director for NORML, said the measure would give “peace of mind” to lawmakers and industry stakeholders and “protect state-lawful programs from militant marijuana prohibitionist Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who rescinded the Cole Memo last month.

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New Blockchain Social Network Rewards Cannabis Fans with Cryptocurrency

2/16/2018

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A startup blockchain business has set their eyes on the cannabis community with the hopes of creating a better social network for cannabis users.

The team behind Smoke Network are convinced that issues such as censorship of legal cannabis pages and other monopolistic practices of social media giants such as Facebook point towards a need for a decentralized cannabis social network powered by blockchain technology that cannot be tampered with by outside influences with an anti-cannabis agenda.

Sites such as Facebook and Instagram regularly shut down cannabis related pages without warning, hurting real-world customers and fledgling businesses alike. Having previously built 420smokers.us, a cannabis community with currently over half a million Facebook fans and whose social pages have been killed off once already, the team behind Smoke Network have been exposed first hand to this ruthless censorship and how it can negatively affect the marijuana industry.

On top of this, users of the mainstream social media networks do not reap the rewards of the billions that advertisers spend on these platforms every year. Instead, those profits go directly into the pockets of its shareholders. Smoke Network promises to flip this conventional ad revenue model on its head.

Smoke Network, in addition to being uncensorable and decentralized, offers its users the ability to earn cryptocurrency for their use of the platform in the form of a daily ‘rewards pool.’ Users on the network who receive upvotes receive a portion of this rewards pool.

Content ‘curators’ who find high-quality content and upvote it first also receive rewards, so even users who don’t post regularly can be rewarded for their efforts.

A prototype design can be found at https://smoke.io/ showcasing basic features the social network will have on launch.

In stark contrast to the centralized global media landscape, Smoke Network offers a refreshing alternative to social media sites controlled by self-serving corporations. These benefits trickle directly down to its users who stand to gain just for investing time and energy in the platform.

The network is giving away free SMOKE cryptocurrency to users that sign up to their airdrop and will be holding a public sale in April. Check out their company website for more info.

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Philadelphia DA Will Not Prosecute Simple Cannabis Possession Cases

2/16/2018

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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s District Attorney Larry Krasner dropped 51 cases for simple cannabis possession last week, part of his new policy to not prosecute such crimes, NBC Philadelphia reports. The prosecution reforms will not apply to possession charges with intent to deliver or sell cannabis.

“We are going to tell them, yes, drop any cases that are simply marijuana possession. … I did it because I felt it was the right thing to do. We could use those resources to solve homicides.” –  Krasner to NBC Philadelphia

The policy builds on reforms introduced four years ago by Mayor Jim Kenney when he was a city councilman. They were adopted by then-Mayor Michael Nutter and Krasner’s predecessor Seth Williams. Krasner explained that 90 percent of the time police issue the citation for simple possession, but 10 percent of the time officers still attempt to treat possession as a misdemeanor – it’s those cases that will be affected by the DA’s directive.

Under the 2014 law, simple possession charges are met with a $25 fine and a $100 fine for smoking cannabis in public; however, the smoking in public fine can be waved following several hours of community service.

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Close-up view of a medical cannabis plant's cola and sugar leaves.

Federal Judge Hears Oral Arguments Against Cannabis Prohibition

2/15/2018

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U.S. District Court Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein admitted that cannabis has saved the lives of the plaintiffs in the federal case to legalize cannabis but said the “right thing to do is defer” to the Drug Enforcement Agency with regard to cannabis policy, according to an ABC News report. However, Hellerstein didn’t immediately toss the case after hearing oral arguments from federal government lawyers to dismiss.

In a statement following the court appearance, the plaintiffs’ lead counsel Michael Hiller, of Hiller PC, said it was “obvious we are living in an era where we must remain vigilant and ask hard questions.”

“If we look back at our collective history, this is not the first time we have seen some in the US government shamefully argue out-dated ideologies under a legal mask that is inevitably on the wrong side of history. We saw this with slavery, segregation, women’s right to vote, the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, gay marriage, and sadly, countless other times. We’ve seen civil rights trampled on before, but we have also seen everyday Americans and leaders rise to the occasion and have our judicial branch recognize when an interpretation of the law is obviously tragically flawed and wrong.” – Hiller in a statement

Hiller, along with lead counsel Laura Rudick, and co-counsels Joseph Bondy and David Holland are arguing, in part, that cannabis’ addition to the federal Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional because its inclusion was an attempt to arrest and jail African-Americans and anti-war hippies by the Nixon Administration. Hellerstein told the team they “can’t win with that argument.”

“The stated basis for the Controlled Substances Act was to help Americans’ lives. However, today, the federal government came to court to preserve the right to put Americans in jail, who use cannabis – even when it is used as an alternative medicinal treatment to addictive opioids and powerful prescription drugs. Tragically, what the federal government has done is taken the Controlled Substances Act and turned it on its head. Sadly, the government is now using the ‘Act’ to hurt and oppress US citizens, rather to liberate, deliberate and help them treat their illnesses and diseases.” – Hiller

There is no timeline for Hellerstein to make a decision whether to toss the case or allow it to proceed.

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Shopify Will Run Ontario’s Legal Cannabis Sales Platforms

2/15/2018

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The government of Ontario, Canada has tabbed Shopify Inc. to run online retail cannabis sales, the Canadian Press reports. Shopify’s platforms will also be used at retail points-of-sale.

“Our top priority is fulfilling the province’s framework for the safe and sensible retailing of recreational cannabis for when it is legalized by the federal government. We look forward to combining our expertise as a socially responsible retailer with Shopify’s world-class commerce solutions to deliver the safe, informed and reliable shopping experience that our new customers will expect.” – George Soleas, president and CEO of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, to the Canadian Press

Ontario expects to roll out 40 LCBO-run brick-and-mortar stores initially, with plans to bring that total to 150 by 2020. Ontario has not yet released the final provincial rules for their adult-use cannabis industry; however, officials have said that retail sales will not occur inside existing LCBO stores.

“Bringing this differentiator to the LCBO on this historic project to consumers of legal age across Ontario is a great example of a made-in-Canada innovation, which we are proud to be a part of.” – Loren Padelford, vice-president of Shopify Plus, to the Canadian Press

Although many federal officials are anticipating legal cannabis sales to commence on July 1, there is still no firm date on exactly when lawmakers will pass the reforms and when sales will be allowed to begin.

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View of Montreal, Quebec from a faraway hillside on a foggy day.

Six Companies Sign on With Quebec, Canada Government to Supply Adult-Use Cannabis Market

2/15/2018

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Six licensed medical cannabis companies have signed on with the province of Quebec, Canada to provide 60,000 kilograms (132,277 pounds) of cannabis for the forthcoming adult-use cannabis market, the Globe and Mail reports. The provincial government expects to open 15 stores throughout Quebec and will allow online sales.

The companies include:

The Hydropothecary Corp. – which will provide 20,000 kilograms through a full range of products.

Aphria Inc. – which will provide 12,000 kilograms of cannabis oils and flower grown in Ontario and British Columbia.

Canopy Growth Corp. – which will provide 12,000 kilograms.

MedReleaf Corp. – which will provide 8,000 kilograms.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. – which will provide at least 5,000 kilograms but a maximum level has not been determined. Their products will come primarily from their Quebec sites.

Tilray – which will provide 5,000 kilograms through a variety of brands.

In November, Quebec officials called for a one-year extension to implement the reforms, which are expected to begin in July; however, Quebec’s Minister for Rehabilitation, Youth Protection, Public Health and Healthy Living Lucie Charlebois said she does not expect the delay will be granted. That same month, the federal legalization measure passed the House of Commons and is now being considered by the Senate.

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Overhead LED grow lights inside of a commercial cannabis grow op.

CanopyBoulder Launches 9th Canna-business Accelerator Program

2/15/2018

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CanopyBoulder’s spring 2018 business accelerator cohort includes a blockchain technology company, a software firm, and other tech projects aimed at marketing and medical cannabis information. In total, six companies comprise CanopyBoulder’s ninth class in the 16-week accelerator program.

The six companies:

Realm 72 – an online marketplace for marketers, brands, and influencers, linking products and high-growth ventures with influencers inside and outside the cannabis industry. The company aims to offer “the best social network to promote influencer marketing in the cannabis industry.”

Andia – developers of a decentralized “plug-and-play platform that harnesses block-chain technology to provide a compliance solution for the adult-use and medical cannabis industry.” The tech encrypts, records transaction to “provide comprehensive, secure, precise and permanent financial audit trail” to prevent issues such as “looping.”

Catalyst Business Partners – an online platform that “provides legal and structural people operations support” cannabis businesses focusing on talent management, organizational design, and HR management.

Best in Grow – aims to provide an “unbiased source for all the information and expertise that anyone could need.”

KNXIT – provides API integrations between cannabis industry and conventional software.

TreatmentX – a network of cannabis brands “committed to the advancement of well-designed research promoting the efficacy of cannabis as medication.”

“CanopyBoulder is funding and nurturing the infrastructure businesses that the legal cannabis industry needs to continue on a high growth trajectory. As always, we will continue to support our founders with not only financial assistance, but the invaluable resources of a thriving startup community. The cannabis industry won’t stop growing and we won’t stop pushing our startups to innovate and exceed expectations.” – Patrick Rea, co-founder and managing director of CanopyBoulder, in a press release

Since 2015 CanopyBoulder has made nearly 80 investments and launched 63 businesses.

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Brian Applegarth: Cannabis Tourism in California

2/14/2018

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Brian Applegarth is the CEO and founder of Emerald Country Tours, founder of the Cannabis Trail, and founder of the California Cannabis Tourism Association.

California is the country’s most recently legalized state and — as the birthplace of medical cannabis in the United States — it is steeped in cannabis history, culture, and heritage. Brian recently joined our podcast host TG Branfalt to talk about how his company captures and shares the experience of California cannabis with visitors to the region, how the state’s cannabis tourism industry has evolved with the medical and now adult-use markets, what kinds of experiences tourists should look for and expect when exploring the cannabis industry, the future of cannabis tourism, and more!

You can listen to the interview below or keep scrolling down to read a full transcript of this week’s Ganjapreneur.com podcast episode.

Listen to the podcast:

Read the trancsript:

TG Branfalt: 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 Brian Applegarth. He’s the C.E.O. and founder Emerald Country Tours, founder of the Cannabis Trail and founder of the California cannabis Tourism Association. Guy’s got a lot going on especially as California is rolling out recreational. So how you doing today, Brian?

Brian Applegarth: I’m doing great TG, I appreciate you having me on man.

TG Branfalt: Amen. This should be this should be a good conversation. I’ve never talked to anybody working actively in the tourism aspect of this industry. Before we get into that, tell me about you man. How did you end up in the cannabis space?

Brian Applegarth: I was born and raised in Northern California so cannabis has always existed here as part of our culture. In high school it was buying bags of pot and using it recreationally. I went away to college in southern California and spent a lot of time abroad and when I came back to California, I came home, the cannabis industry had come a long way and my interest got piqued and I started studying more about the plant and I had kind of my travel background that was a big part of my life and it seemed like there was a natural alignment there.

TG Branfalt: Did you have any experience in tourism before embarking on this journey?

Brian Applegarth: Most of my tourism experience was really as the tourist and as the traveler. I’m currently 37 years old and I’ve traveled rather extensively. Lived abroad in a few different countries for a longer extended period of time and really found that magic of discovering cultures and feeling transported as an important part of my life and it’s something that’s always resonated for me. It went from visiting kind of more the flagship places, like the Eiffel Tower and the Great Wall of China to discovering these nuanced kind of hidden cultures where there was extreme authenticity. So instead of going to a produced luau in Hawaii for example, you’re going to a small more tribal culture up in the mountains.

I found that the more that I traveled the more I was drawn to that kind of authentic cultural experience and it became addictive to a certain degree. I don’t know what kind of neurons fire off when your mind and your body and your experience just kind of tapping into that magic of discovering something new but it’s something that really was fulfilling for me.

As far as the travel experience, running a backend booking software and taking reservations in the admin part, I never did that per se but I was always really strong at management and being organized and I was always kind of drawn to that travel culture, ex-pat culture abroad and I think I’ve racked up about 48 countries to date in my passport and I lived full time in Japan, Italy and Spain. So it’s part of who I am.

And then when I move back to the States after being gone for quite a while, there was a few years that, you know, there was a transition for me to kind of readjust back to United States and the culture that we have here. Then of course when I landed back in California I was very happy to be home and incredibly fascinated when I just started discovering the extremely unique culture and kind of the layered landscape of cannabis in Northern California even beyond what I grew up with here.

TG Branfalt: When did you get the spark to come up with the idea for cannabis tours?

Brian Applegarth: I was working in a corporate setting in the East Bay out in San Ramon. Just wasn’t inspired with that kind of corporate machine. It was one of the larger companies. I took a trip to Mendocino just because I felt compelled to and at this time I was already attending Oaksterdam University and I was educating myself around how far cannabis had come since I left and graduated college in 2001. This was back in 2013, 2012 when I arrived back in California.

That trip up to Mendocino was life-changing. I went up there and what I found was a mindset and a culture that lived closer to the earth, that was filled with creative people where cannabis was a center piece. Cannabis has been a centerpiece of our culture in Northern California for a long time but even more so up in Mendocino and Humboldt and in West Sonoma County and in Trinity County of course. It’s embedded. It’s like coffee in Colombia or pineapples in Hawaii or these flagship agricultural elements that end up defining a culture in some way because they’re so ingrained. That’s what I found cannabis’ role was and I became fascinated. It was a whole underbelly of a culture that was one, fascinating but two, there were a lot of people involved in that that were very aligned with ways that I thought and felt and I felt very inspired by that. So I continued to be pulled back.

And when I was looking at options of career paths and where to go, most of my experience has been either in traveling or real estate or in music. When I was looking across the board at those three skill sets I felt like travel and being able to create these experiences that empower people and give them special moments where they’re happy and laughing and celebrating or learning would deliver me the highest quality of life is to be surrounded in that kind of environment. That was where kind of the tipping point came.

TG Branfalt: And what can people expect when they go on one of your tours? Sort of take me step by step as to that experience the best you can in this sort of medium.

Brian Applegarth: Absolutely. We’re currently reskinning the website and we’re going to have, there’s basically three different offerings through Emerald Country Tours, which we might be doing a rebrand with that as well but it’s going to be three offerings. The first one is a half day or a full day trip and those are private tours of 10 people or less, Mercedes sprinters. You get picked up around 9:30 or 10AM in the morning, depending on your location. If you’re in San Francisco we pick you up a bit earlier.

Those experiences, once you get picked up, you’re basically off on an adventure for either five hours or eight hours and that’s a half day or a full day. And what that includes is typically a dispensary stop where you have a VIP dispensary tour. A few of our partners open their doors up early where you have basically a private consultant and you’re in a space that’s not yet open up to the public for the day and there’s essentially a presentation about the dispensary and why they do what they do and the health and wellness of cannabis.

On the way to this dispensary which is typically the first stop, in the vehicle we do a little bit of information share about the history and heritage of cannabis, cannabis as medicine, going back gosh, I mean cannabis has been around up to 34 million years back arguably. So we do like the long term history of cannabis. We talk about our local heritage in Northern California and we do a little bit of the health and wellness side with the endocannabinoid system and terpene charts and we do a little bit of education early in the morning on the history and the health and wellness side and how it’s ingrained in our culture.

And then we get to our VIP dispensary tour. We get off, you do a tour, you’re able to purchase medicine there on site and then typically a day continues. If it’s a full day, we’re going to have one more dispensary stop. You’re going to have a wine tasting, a locally sourced kind of catered lunch on the Russian River. And mind you that all this tour happens in one of the most beautiful places in the country. So, the redwood trees, the rivers and depending on the time of year and which jurisdiction we’re in, we like to visit a grow, a cannabis grow or garden where you can meet a master grower who’s been growing cannabis for sometimes 50 years or more depending on who is available that day, and they can tell you their story of why they grew cannabis and what that meant to them and what it was like living under prohibition. And you can see these plants in the ground growing naturally under the sun.

A big part of the cannabis cultivation in our region is sun grown with very thoughtful ways of growing, living soil and having biodynamic mindset when you’re approaching it, living close to the Earth and being mindful of how you grow. And those are all those messages that are really fun and very distinctive about our culture up here in Northern California and those are parts that we like to share. Usually the tour also includes some kind of special add on, whether it’s cannabis tasting or whether it’s some other offering that we include. Sometimes we do a redwood walk in the old growth redwood trees. But the standard half day and full day tour include dispensary visit, a grow visit, a locally sourced catered lunch on the river and a wine tasting.

TG Branfalt: You’re required to have a medical card to take the tour presently, right?

Brian Applegarth: It’s very interesting time. December 28th right now. We have dispensaries that are partners with ours that are open for adult recreational sales come January 1st. So, the answer is no. We can offer a half day tour that allows for just adult use for people that are interested to come on a tour and if they want to purchase medicine and medicate, great.

We’ve had people reach out to us as well that are just interested in the educational end. They’re not necessarily looking to medicate on the tour but they want to come get educated and they want to do a tour of a dispensary and they want to understand the methods of ingestion and what that looks like. So, we try to keep, we have our half day and full day tour offerings and then we also offer a customized tour where we can really craft a unique tour for you. For example, if you need to come and you’re looking for medical solutions to strictly address a specific ailment, really, our half day and full day tour is where we live and to answer your question, no. Starting the first of the year you do not need a medical cannabis card. We are legally set up to where you can experience the cannabis tour as an adult, recreational user.

TG Branfalt: This is a really exciting time for California because you not only have as you said the redwood trees and the nature but now you’re also going to be able to experience this industry that is ingrained on this culture.

Brian Applegarth: That’s it. I’ll tell you what, in part of my research I’ve been developing this tour model for the past three years and it’s really exciting because I feel like in a way you kind of get to innovate exactly, and there’s a responsibility there to achieve the authenticity of the culture. I think that’s one of the most important stand-out kind of missions that has emerged is our culture in Northern California is not like Denver and it’s not like Seattle. We were the first state to re-legalize cannabis in 1996 and there’s a story behind that and why that happened.

We have these pioneers that have been, I mean, we had the first doctor in San Francisco publish the medical marijuana papers in 1962 and we had our first pro cannabis law passed in 1974 and then we had another one in 1978 and then we had another significant law passed in 1991.

San Francisco and Northern California is a unique place, it’s a very unique place because you have activists and you have people that are constantly pushing toward the future and pushing the envelope with social acceptance and fighting for marginalized groups and the perfect storm happened in San Francisco and in Northern California that allowed cannabis to be re-legalized as medicine in 1996.

So it’s completely embedded in our culture. The tours that I’ve done in Seattle and Denver are incredible and just like tourism exists now, you’re going to have the Two Buck Chuck wine and you’re going to have the Screaming Eagle and the Silver Oak. You’re going to have different connoisseurs and different demographics wanting to tap into the tourism realm at different levels as well.

What we’ve identified in Northern California is this is the source, this is the place that the DEA called ground zero for marijuana and there’s a reason for that. It’s because most of the production has happened here but also most of that activism happened here. It’s completely embedded in our culture so being able to offer that authenticity of the source and talk about our heritage and all those important lessons of compassion and we even talk about the AIDS epidemic which was a major reason that cannabis was re-legalized in California in ’96. It was on the back of that public health crisis that cannabis emerged as the go-to medicine for managing pain and depression and stimulating appetite.

Obviously we have to walk that important line of the enjoyment and the adventure and the fun of cannabis tourism. But folding in the history and the education of health and wellness and the heritage, it’s all wrapped up in our culture here. It’s really fun to kind of puzzle that together to make the tourism as unique as it should be for northern California.

TG Branfalt: I wanted to talk to you a lot more about the education aspect of the tours. 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 Brian Applegarth. He’s the C.E.O. and founder of Emerald Country Tours, founder of the Cannabis Trail and founder of the California Cannabis Tourism Association.

So before the break you were talking about rolling in the culture in the education of cannabis into these tours. On one of your website you talk about the three pillars of early cannabis tourism as we transition from Prohibition. Explain to me that sort of theory I guess of the three pillars of early cannabis tourism. What’s that mean?

Brian Applegarth: The three pillars. The first pillar which I think speaks to any tour is the education. It’s obvious that mainstream America … there’s a lot of curiosity and there’s an information gap that needs to be filled for people to be able to understand this plant and be able to implement it into their lives to improve their quality of life. So I think there’s a responsibility with tourism where there is an educational component. It’s things like, so let me speak to that for one moment. If you look at coffee or tea, there’s a caffeine scale. They have non-caffeinated coffee, they have highly caffeinated coffee and then they have three different levels in between those two ends of the spectrum.

THC is the same. There’s cannabis strains that are non-caffeinated or non-THC strains that offer all the anti-inflammatory benefits of CBD and you can take them with a transdermal patch that you put on your arm. This kind of education is not known and this is what needs to be delivered to the mainstream so they understand their options and you can allow them and empower them with education and information to make decisions if to try cannabis, how to try cannabis and how to dose cannabis.

I think you need to walk that line of that typical kind of realm that we live in with tourism where it’s supposed to be fun and adventurous and let’s go wine tasting and get a buzz. But I think in these early stages of cannabis tourism, that educational component is very important. I try to have at least two to three sound bites or aha moments as I like to call them where people can come away and go wow, I did not know that. Part of our tour we have infographics and information that we share while in transit to each of the stops that some of this information that’s based around the educational health and wellness education.

The other two pillars which are extremely unique to Northern California that I feel that the tourism industry needs to rest on especially in California and even especially Northern California is the culture and the heritage. The history, we have a pioneer chart that I’ve developed with my friend Pebbles Trippet and it essentially is a cascading family tree of the top 25 pioneers in the northern California cannabis tourism history book so to speak. And those are people like Dr. Tod Mikuriya, Brownie Mary, Jack Herer, Dennis Peronne, Eddiy Lepp, Pebbles Trippet, Ed Rosenthal and a handful of others. Rick Simpson one of them, the Rick Simpson Oil.

These pioneers all played a crucial role in the re-legalization of cannabis and that heritage is important because it is somewhat of a roadmap to what it takes to change the world in a way and there’s a lot of inspiration that can be taken from that. I think it’s important to continually celebrate that heritage because that heritage speaks directly to the third pillar which is the culture and the culture of cannabis is an extremely inclusive non-judgmental come as you are bohemian mindset that stems back from the hippie movement. It’s the hippies that became the back to the landers that developed the Emerald Triangle and in tandem with the activism in San Francisco there’s this extremely compelling history that exists that’s all focused around cannabis.

But more importantly there’s a lot of messages that kind of rotate around that core of cannabis, that talks about human compassion and talks about overreach of power and talks about how do you farm. Are you using pesticides and chemicals or are you growing naturally using the living soil and the terroir that is your fingertips, in your region, in your appalachian.

So it’s finding the balance of the unplugging and the adventure and the fun where you can also empower people with information and let them come away, let them feel transported during the experience and then as they come out the other side let them feel maybe changed a little bit or thinking a little bit differently or more open to trying the medicine because now they know there’s a non-caffeinated transdermal patch they can put on their arm that won’t get them “high.”

So it’s fun because I think it’s going to continually change and we’re going to go through different phases of tourism but in this early transition period which you asked me about that educational component is something that I feel that all tour companies should have integrated in some form or fashion because I think there’s a responsibility there to really empower people with knowledge.

TG Branfalt: Can you give me an example of one of those aha moments that you use on the tour?

Brian Applegarth: Yeah. I’ll tell you what, that caffeinated scale works pretty well because caffeine is the most used drug in the world. Other aha moments are methods of ingestion. When I start describing to people that there’s like I said before transdermal patches or there’s, there’s like coconut fiber cannabis dips where like you put it in your lower lip and it’s a fully organic delivery system that goes into your mucus membrane and delivers cannabis that way. There’s pills. There’s obviously vaporizing and smoking but it’s letting people know about tinctures and edibles and micro dosing and drinkables and all the methods of ingestion where you can choose, you can choose how you want to integrate cannabis into your life if at all. I think everybody at this point needs to be empowered with the information to make the decision for themselves.

Even the concept of self titrating. We come from a pharmaceutical industry where you’re given a program of how many milligrams from a doctor. Ingesting cannabis right now, this whole concept of self titration and taking the amount of milligram doses or the amount of flour or whatever your method of ingestion is and being responsible for knowing how you’re feeling and if it’s therapeutically beneficial for what you’re trying to achieve, whether it’s pain relief or whether it’s alleviating depression or anxiety, but being able to self titrate with the right types of medicine and the right to leverage method, those are all aha moments because people start understanding that.

I’ll tell you what man, when you look at the tours and the people that I saw on the tours in Denver and Seattle, these people are so new to cannabis. They have no idea that there’s cannabis strains out there that have minimal traces of THC that are non psychotropic. We’re talking basic education 101. And that’s why that education component is so important. That’s why that caffeine scale is a very compelling infographic for a lot of people where it’s produced as this aha moment because that basic information, mainstream America and even cannabis consumers that are still like kind of the stoner mentality from like high school days and college days, they look at pot in a dime bag or in a half eighth or an ace baggy that gets them high.

Understanding these different cannabis ratios and cannabinoids and how they work therapeutically is the next step to really being able to understanding the plant well enough to improve your quality of life, whether that’s daily micro-dosing or whether that’s weekly or whether that’s a celebratory cigar at significant life moments where you want to laugh and unwind, like the birth of a new baby or a wedding. There’s all different ways that you can decide how cannabis should integrate into your life. Producing those aha moments allow people to have the information to kind of self reflect and decide what’s best for them.

TG Branfalt: So we talked about the pillars in sort of the transition period. How do you see those pillars evolving as the rec market matures?

Brian Applegarth: I think that’s a very specific to the location that you’re asking about. So I think that cannabis tourism in Minneapolis will be very different from Denver which will be very different from Northern California. As far as the pillars in Northern California, I feel like we are going to attract cannabis enthusiasts and cannabis connoisseurs. There’s people who have been cultivating this plant and breeding this plant for generations. The Emerald Triangle in Northern California is known as having and offering some of the best cannabis in the world and having the most accomplished cultivators in the world.

I feel like we’re going to attract cannabis enthusiasts and people that are interested in the bohemian culture of our region that’s intertwined with cannabis. I think we’re going to attract the cannabis connoisseur that wants to go behind the gates and meet the grower and see where the plant lives and has grown and understand how the plant has grown.

There’s a lot of people that live very close to the earth up in Northern California. We have solstice celebrations. We celebrate the equinox. We celebrate the agricultural cycles because we live close to the earth. This is something that’s very defining of our region is this outdoor sun grown organically grown kind of, it’s a very purist approach to how to grow cannabis and have it express itself in its most natural purest form. I think that’s going to attract kind of the cannabis connoisseur demographic as well.

As far as the pillars, I think education needs to remain a part of it, I’d say forever for right now. I think that there’s constantly education. Look at wine and look at the barrels and look at the different verbage and messaging and look at that road map because essentially cannabis is the new wine. We are wine back in 1933 when it came out of prohibition.

Cannabis is coming out of prohibition in four days from now and we have the responsibility to reframe the conversation. Because the fact that it’s going adult use now, it’s removing a major barrier for mainstream America. For all those people that have been living under the, kind of the spell of reefer madness, they are now getting curious enough and this last barrier removal, the only one we have left is the federal government acknowledging it but California is a very powerful force and it’s going adult rec in four days and that means that in a lot of places in our state it’s going to be available like a liquor shop, you can go in and buy cannabis. That’s going to remove the barrier where people are interested.

I’m getting a little off topic but I think the pillars as it emerges I think it’s going to be steeped in education and I hope that nationwide the heritage is adopted because there’s a lot of messages in there. I don’t think it used to do as deep of a dive as we do on our tours in Northern California because you’re here at the source but I do feel like the heritage and understanding the activism and the compassion and the medical use and why that happened and the people that sacrificed their lives. Dennis Peronne was arrested I think 27 times and he was shot by law enforcement at one point. You’re talking about somebody who, this industry stands on his shoulders and a lot of other activists.

I think understanding those things are really important for creating a better society and understanding how to treat each other better as human beings.

TG Branfalt: We got to talk about sort of your other projects, the tourism association, the Cannabis Trail. There’s a whole lot to get through. You’re such a wealth of knowledge man. Before we get into all that though, 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 host TG Branfalt, here with Brian Applegarth, CEO and founder of Emerald Country Tours, founder of the Cannabis Trail and founder of the California Cannabis Tourism Association which I want to talk to you about right now. Tell me about the goals of the California Cannabis Tourism Association.

Brian Applegarth: So the California Cannabis Tourism Association or the CCTA is a state level organization association that I established in November, just a month and a half ago. There’s three pillars once again to this association and that’s advocacy, education and networking. Networking I also refer to as bridge building. So the first pillar advocacy is essentially advocating at the state level on behalf of the cannabis tourism industry. For example, the state of California recently announced that for a public ticketed event the only acceptable land that is available to have these kind of events where you sell tickets publicly to festivals and like High Times cups and those things are basically state owned agricultural land. So it’s county fairs and things like that.

It’s incredibly narrow as far as the availability for a public facing event and understandable to a degree. They’re bottlenecking the industry so they can roll it out slowly and make sure there’s integrity and it’s done the right way and make sure that all their governmental organizations are involved. We will be advocating for example in year one, we’re going to be that pillar of advocacy is going to be having conversations about what does it look like and how can we open that up a little bit more and make it a little bit more of a wider net than only state owned agricultural land.

If you look at beer and wine for example, it’s just going to take time but it needs to also take advocating. So that’s one big part of the association, the California Cannabis Tourism Association. The second pillar again is education. This is about educating the mainstream demographic, the new arrivers to cannabis. It’s also educating other industries. There’s a lot of other industries that are very interested in cannabis that do not understand cannabis.

From a tourism lens we are going to be reaching out which directly kind of takes us into the third pillar which is networking. So that’s networking within the cannabis industry but also it’s bridge building like I said where we’re going to be having a space and creating a space and a conversation with hoteliers and different restaurants and fine dining and other tour companies. All of the different industries that overlap in tourism, we are going to be bridge building and doing presentations and showing people that cannabis can integrate into the tourism realm with massive integrity and as a force that will be supportive of bringing more jobs and more tax dollars and more ability to employ more people and it will support communities and bring economy and it will support other industries.

Those are the three different areas, three different pillars of the California Cannabis Tourism Association and we just established our founding board and we’re very excited. We have our first meeting at the end of January 2018 and we’re planning on having our first California Cannabis tourism event in Sonoma County in November 2018.

TG Branfalt: How can you use those three pillars of the association and this may even apply to sort of the three pillars of tourism itself. How can you leverage these things to help marginalized group within the burgeoning cannabis space?

Brian Applegarth: As far as the tourism association, a lot of it is … First let’s look at marginalized groups. Cannabis has a long running history of, well, one is cannabis users themself or cannabis enthusiasts themselves have been a marginalized groups. You have reefer madness and you have this narrative that was pushed out that demonized people that used cannabis or hemp. There’s a whole nother story there that would take another two hours to talk about or more.

Cannabis itself as a group has been marginalized. If you look back at cannabis use, whether it’s the African-American community or whether it’s the LGBTQ community or whether it’s the Hispanic community, cannabis has always been a tool to kind of alleviate the heaviness of living as a member of a marginalized group in society. It’s been a medicine in that way.

As far as the association, it helps marginalized groups because I think it allows organization and it gives people a voice. So for example, the networking, we’re going to have a few different levels under that. You’re going to have sponsorships and you’re going to have memberships. And with the association it’s going to offer the opportunity to get involved in this specific niche of the cannabis industry, the tourism niche, and maybe create a career path for yourself. We’re looking at a industry that is going to be a defining industry of our generation, of our experience here. There’s immense opportunity right now for people that are passionate about cannabis. If you go a little bit deeper down that rabbit hole and start learning more about the plant and the opportunity, whether it’s creating a product or being a creative agency that makes logos and branding, like that hybrid creative out of Santa Rosa or whether it’s a compliancy or whether it’s a distributor, a distribution network.

Maybe you’re passionate about education and helping people improve their quality of life, maybe you’re passionate about tourism. Cannabis right now is in its infancy and there’s a lot of opportunity for people that maybe aren’t inspired by what they’re currently doing for their career to look at another industry that has a very eclectic mix of people that are very inclusive and get in on the ground floor and create and manifest whatever they want to manifest in that space.

So I’m hoping that the California Cannabis Tourism Association becomes a megaphone and becomes a safe space for people to really integrate with cannabis and it allows bridges to be built for people to leverage, to improve either their business, their quality of life, maybe it’s a different career path. But yeah, I think as far as the medicinal role you have, or the cannabis, the marginalized group role you have, the fact that cannabis was used as medicine for marginalized groups in history, the education of this being a new industry bursting with innovation and opportunity and also the fact that cannabis promotes compassion and kind of self reflection. It’s one of those unique tools that allows you to see things through a different lens at times or allows you to be a little bit more compassionate to your fellow human being. I think those are three or four different ways that cannabis can kind of support marginalized groups in it’s existence now in our society.

TG Branfalt: So a lot of your message, a lot of this conversation you’ve talked about compassion and focusing on humans. And to this end you’ve produced some short videos associated with the Cannabis Trail, really interesting stuff. You focus on humans, you tell other people’s stories. Can you tell me first about the Cannabis Trail and how you came to producing these short videos and how they jive with one another?

Brian Applegarth: Yeah, absolutely. The Cannabis Trail is a nonprofit organization that’s mission is to preserve and celebrate the cannabis heritage of Northern California. And there’s three things that we focus on. There is the pioneers, the significant events and the storytelling lore of our region. An example of a pioneer would be somebody like Brownie Mary or Dennis Peronne or Jack Herer and talking about what they did in the movement. A significant event would be a very important raid that happened that kind of moved the needle forward as far as the movement to legalization. And the storytelling would be something like the hippie trail that was part of our Northern California region where people would travel over to Nepal or Afghanistan and collect these cannabis seed varietals and bring them back to Northern California.

That’s why Northern California is the most famous breeding region for cannabis is because we had these trails where people would go collect seeds from around the world and bring them back here and then they would cross breed them and they’d come up with new varietals and play with that.

So that’s what the Cannabis Trail is. The Cannabis Trail came to be because of the passion that kind of emerged from myself with the heritage of the cannabis story. There was a woman I might have mentioned her earlier named Pebbles Trippet who I ended up meeting up in Mendocino County who is a dear friend to this day. She told me in one of our conversations if you really want to find out about the history of cannabis and how it got legalized you need to meet Dennis Peronne and gave me his phone number. I called Dennis and then I went down and I’ve had an ongoing friendship with Dennis now for over two years, two or three years.

The more that I heard about these people’s stories and what they had been through and their inspiration and their passion, I just became very kind of enthralled and inspired by it. So, what that led to was me starting to collect archives of photos and I ended up doing a series of interviews with Dennis and about 11 other people, kind of capturing their story of what they did in the cannabis movement, and those have turned into this short film series called the Cannabis Trail, which is essentially it speaks right to the nonprofit. It’s all about the histories and the stories about people who are living under prohibition and fighting for this plant to be re-legalized.

What I’d like to do in those videos is continue building upon this collection of storytelling, that kind of fills in all that history that has happened in the past, what was it, 50, 80 years depending on how far back we can go. There’s a guy that lives right down the street from me in West Sonoma County that used to hang out with Allen Ginsberg and Timothy O’Leary and the Beatniks up in San Francisco and has been growing pot for over 50 years. It’s exciting to get these stories captured because they tell our story of our culture in Northern California and that’s all part of the puzzle.

TG Branfalt: Where can people find those stories? Where can people find all of the different projects you’re working on? Find out more about the tours?

Brian Applegarth: One of the best places is connect with me on LinkedIn. Brian Applegarth, that’s Brian with I. A-P-P-L-E-G-A-R-T-H. My website currently is emeraldcountrytours.com. You can find information there about the tours that I’m offering and the experiences and events. If you go to thecannabistrail.org, you can learn more about that nonprofit cannabis heritage self guided trail that I’m working on and we’re going to have a website up soon for the CCTA, the California Cannabis Tourism Association. Feel free to email me Brian B-R-I-A-N@emeraldcountrytours.com or hit me up on LinkedIn. I am more than happy to connect with people and continue the conversation.

TG Branfalt: Well, this has been a really, really great conversation man. I really appreciate you taking the time. As I’m sitting here in -4 degree weather and you’re talking about Northern California and grows and the giant redwoods I’m definitely a little bit jealous. So thanks for giving me that vision on a cold Vermont day. I really appreciate your time man, it’s been great.

Brian Applegarth: Thank you for having me and TG you’re invited. So next time you’re out here let’s get you on and take you out on a day of cannabis country.

TG Branfalt: You’re going to get an email in like four months.

Brian Applegarth: Nice man. I look forward to it.

TG Branfalt: Thanks again. 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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A large indoor cannabis grow operation based out of Washington state.

California Compliance: Reducing the Risk of Federal Cannabis Enforcement

2/14/2018

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Kern County, California — somewhere along Highway 5

The driver belonged to a collective and was transporting about $2 million of unprocessed product, from Northern California to Los Angeles. He had with him various documents, including a bill of lading and authorization from the collective to transport. The collective had corporate counsel and had established a phone-tree in case of an emergency or urgent situation. The driver pulled the truck into a mandatory weigh station. Officers inspected the documents, discovered there was marijuana on board, flagged the truck for secondary inspection and detained the driver. The driver was told that somehow the paperwork wasn’t in order. Officers arrested the driver for transportation of a controlled substance, a state-law charge.

In the days that followed, the collective had to hire a criminal lawyer — and one for the driver, as well — at a cost of many thousands of dollars, and it feared authorities were contemplating conspiracy charges against everyone. One day after the arrest, narcotics agents were seen lurking around the trimmers’ facility in L.A.; word quickly spread among employees and retailers, and a lot of people worried they would be next. The product, meanwhile, was moved to a non-climate controlled warehouse, neglected by police, and left to rot. Months passed. The collective didn’t get prosecuted, but asking the court to order the product returned would have brought unwanted attention compared to just moving on and being left alone. Because of the weight involved, and the suspicion that state law was not being complied with, local authorities still contemplated referring the matter for federal prosecution.

Sunset on a highway through Sonoma Pass in California. Photo credit: A Silly Person

Could this happen to you in California’s newly regulated cannabis market? Of course, whether the load is medical or recreational. And, if federal authorities wanted to try and make an example of you, they could — despite limitations on the use of federal funds to prosecute cannabis consumers or businesses in MMJ-legal states.

Let’s talk about these federal funding issues, what they mean and don’t mean, and then return to the Kern County scenario to assess how businesses should approach compliance in this new era.

Federal prosecutors blocked by Congress

Since 2014, the federal budget has prohibited the U.S. Department of Justice from using federal funds to “prevent any state from implementing their own laws that authorize the distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.” This budget item is named the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment, after two of its three authors. The Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment was recently renewed as part of a temporary federal spending bill — but each time the federal budget is up for consideration, the Amendment must be renewed or limitations on the Department of Justice will be lifted.

Rohrabacher-Blumenauer is pretty plain and clear: no DOJ funds can be used to block the implementation of medical cannabis reforms in states where it has been legalized, and consumers and businesses who are in full compliance with state law are protected from federal prosecution. But that’s where the protection ends. Many cannabis entrepreneurs make the mistake of over-hyping Rohrabacher-Blumenauer or thinking of it as an outright ban on federal action when it is not.  

Cannabis consumers and businesses need to be clear that even if state and local governments are supportive of the industry, federal acquiescence should not be expected beyond the narrow limits of the federal budget limitation. What’s more, no one wants to be in a position where their own interpretation of state law compliance might differ, dangerously, from a federal prosecutor’s interpretation of whether state law is being fully followed.

Another important thing to note about Rohrabacher-Blumenauer is that it applies only to medical marijuana, and does not extend to adult-use cannabis. So even as California’s recreational cannabis industry is poised for some major expansions — and with other states coming online later this summer — federal agents do not have to defer to or be limited by state adult-use cannabis laws. Theoretically, a recreational cannabis company or consumer is completely exposed to federal law. How this translates into reality has yet to be seen, we can only hope that federal authorities will exercise discretion and significant restraint in choosing whether to spend scarce taxpayer dollars enforcing federal law in a legalized state.

Beyond the Justice Department

It also means that federal agencies other than the Department of Justice are still able to investigate potential legal violations. At a recent raid on a purportedly illegal grow in San Bernardino County, the DEA was present — but so were agents from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of Interior, the Food and Drug Administration and more. While any federal agency would have to present a case to a U.S. Attorney for criminal prosecution — and U.S. Attorneys are part of the Department of Justice — these other agencies have their own legal staffs who are not Justice Department lawyers and they can bring civil or administrative actions of their own, short of criminal prosecution. In the San Bernardino County case, the DEA and U.S. Attorney quickly formed an opinion that the grow was not in compliance with California law. They ordered the grow eradicated. Many people in that case thought they were doing things right and are now hoping they won’t get hit with federal drug charges. Everyone has had to lawyer up, and there could be civil lawsuits about everything from the lease, to the equipment, to the management contracts associated with the grow.

The cola of an indoor cannabis plant leans slightly right. Photo credit: Rory Savatgy

The ever-present reality with cannabis is that all activity is still federally prohibited. The U.S. Attorney General recently rescinded guidelines that had the effect of limiting or narrowing the types of cases federal prosecutors would pursue in legalized states such as California. What we are left with is a situation where recreational and medical cannabis are legal under state law, assuming compliance with state law, and illegal federally, with U.S. Attorneys in California and around the country making very vague public statements about what their enforcement priorities will be — if they say anything publicly about it at all.

You can’t eliminate federal exposure until federal law changes to reclassify or declassify marijuana from Schedule I in the federal Controlled Substances Act. But if you are a cannabis business operating in a state where cannabis is medically or recreationally legal, you can minimize your federal exposure and, given the Kern and San Bernardino County scenarios, you’ll certainly want to do everything you can.

California’s cannabis regulations are complex and involved, and an in-depth analysis would require an article or two of its own. However, the rule of thumb is to be in full compliance with state law — that is the best way to protect yourself. Cannabis businesses should devote significant effort to understanding California law, carefully and methodically incorporate regulation into daily operations, and seek professional advice to make sure that they’re doing everything they can to be fully state-law compliant. 

Submitting to state law

Back to Kern County. If your employee were the driver at that weigh station today — and the test is to be fully compliant with the law of your state — what would officers or agents determine? Would packaging and labeling be as required? Would the insurance papers be in order? Would the vehicle specifications match state requirements? Is the driver a properly vetted employee per the regulations? What about the itinerary? Are there seemingly innocent detours that will place you outside of state law protection? And what of the page-long list of things the shipping manifest has to contain, and proof that the information was timely transmitted to state regulators before the truck pulled out of your parking lot?

These things are doable, but there’s little room for error and there’s no place for trying to cut corners. You’ll get in trouble, and the vendors and customers who do business with you will get in trouble. Your company’s reputation will take a potentially lethal hit, your business and investments could completely combust, and you will hurt the entire cannabis industry. It will be a tough road back to regaining the trust and confidence of your peers and colleagues who counted on you to do things right not just for your sake but for theirs. Ultimately, of course, you could be prosecuted federally for distribution of a controlled substance, and you could go to prison. Anyone whose product you were transporting, as well as wherever it is destined for, could be looped in on conspiracy and racketeering charges. Forfeiture proceedings would accompany any criminal indictment and would extend to everything believed to be the product of illegal activity (which, if you’re not complying with state law, is basically everything). Federal authorities would report back to your state regulator so that administrative action could be taken to revoke your state license, something state authorities might be all too eager to do in order to send the message that only compliant businesses will be tolerated.  Local authorities where you are licensed would follow suit. And, to top it all off, the feds will notify the IRS.

It could happen if you’re out of compliance with state law on medical marijuana — and, with recreational cannabis, it could happen even if you are fully compliant with state law. There is no eliminating federal risk, there is only minimizing it. That is why your compliance efforts have to be significant: they’re how to do business legitimately in a cannabis-legal state and they’re your best, maybe your only, hedge against federal attention.  There’s no good reason to do it any other way.

So, how to start? Read the law, get professional assistance in understanding it, design a compliance program with someone who knows not only the industry but what everything will look like to a hostile government agent. Then, put into action a proactive and full compliance plan, which you monitor, check up on, act on, and nurture like a new cultivation. In any industry — any sector of the economy — robust compliance goes a long way toward showing good faith and a law-abiding spirit. It’s no different with cannabis; in fact, it’s crucial.

Editor’s note: This article was co-authored by Steve Meister, a criminal defense attorney and healthcare compliance consultant in Los Angeles. He represents cannabis industry clients and emphasizes proactive compliance as an industry standard and as the best defense.

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A cannabis worker plucks large leafs from a recently harvested indoor cannabis plant.

Berkeley, California Becomes First U.S. Sanctuary City for Cannabis

2/14/2018

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The Berkeley, California City Council has passed a resolution to make the city the first cannabis sanctuary city in the U.S. The measure, proposed by Mayor Jesse Arreguin and Councilmembers Ben Bartlett and Cheryl Davila, is intended to prevent local law enforcement officials from working with the federal government if they were to crack down on local canna-businesses.

“In light of threats by Attorney General [Jeff] Sessions regarding a misguided crackdown on our democratic decision to legalize recreational cannabis, we have become what may be the first city in the country to declare ourselves a sanctuary city for cannabis.” – Arreguin in a Feb. 13 tweet

The resolution notes that more than $1 trillion has been spent on the federal government’s so-called War on Drugs, which has turned the U.S. into a “nation of mass incarceration … imprisoning 2 million American citizens which represents the highest imprisonment rate of any nation on Earth, representing 25 [percent of] the world’s prisoners.”

“… For 20 years, the City of Berkeley has permitted medical cannabis dispensaries, authorized under state Proposition 215 and local law, to safely delivered medicine to patients. These established businesses have not had a negative impact on the surrounding community or resulted in any increase in crime.” – Feb. 13 resolution “Declaring Berkeley a Sanctuary for Adult-Use Cannabis Customers, Providers and Landlords”

The resolution calls on the local police, the Alameda District Attorney, the county sheriff’s and the state Attorney General “to uphold the laws of the State, and specifically to not assist in the harassment, arrest or prosecution of cannabis landlords, owners, cultivators, distributors, retailers, laboratory testers, or customers who are licensed and attempting to comply” with the city’s approved medical and recreational businesses.

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Utah House Passes Measure Allowing Ag Department to Grow MMJ

2/14/2018

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The Utah House has passed a measure allowing the state Agriculture Department to grow cannabis for medical and research purposes, according to NPR-affiliate KUER. The measure just met the minimum of 38 votes required to pass the chamber; 32 were opposed.

The measure was championed in the House by Republican Rep. Brad Daw, who said the legislation, paired with the companion “right to try” bill which passed the House last week, provides a mechanism for medical cannabis to be grown for terminally ill Utahns.

“This bill becomes the way to supply genuine cannabis medicine for both of those programs. So we need to pass this bill. If we want to have patients’ the ability to try, both under ‘right to try’ and under research under an institutional review board.” – Daw to KUER

The reforms come as advocates seek to put a broad medical cannabis use proposal to voters in November. In order to qualify for the ballot, supporters must submit more than 113,000 valid signatures to the Secretary of State’s office that meet the requirements of Utah’s ballot initiative law. That law requires sponsors to “collect the signatures of registered Utah voters from each of at least 26 of the 29 state senate districts equal to 10 percent of votes cast for US President in that district.”

Earlier this month, Utah Policy reported that state lawmakers may consider adopting the ballot initiative’s language as a bill and passing the measure with language preventing it from taking effect until the federal government reclassifies cannabis as a Schedule IV drug – the move would effectively invalidate the petition.

Medical cannabis is popular in Utah. Three polls, dating back to August, have found at least 73 percent support for medical cannabis access in the state.

The cannabis cultivation measure moves to the Senate for consideration.

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Detroit City Council Passes 180-Day Moratorium on New MMJ Dispensaries

2/14/2018

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Detroit, Michigan’s City Council has passed a 180-day moratorium on new medical cannabis licenses and permits, the Detroit Free Press reports. Councilman James Tate, who drafted the resolution, said the moratorium is due to two voter-approved measures meant to relax the city’s industry regulations that, he says, violate the state laws.

“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

The initiatives, which were approved by about 60 percent of the city’s voters last year, eliminate the Detroit Board of Zoning Appeals’ authority to review dispensary applications and allows dispensaries to open 500 feet from one another and religious institutions. They also eliminated the requirement that the city hold public hearings and solicit public comments on dispensary proposals.

“The initiatives contained impermissible zoning provisions and have been legally challenged in the Wayne County Circuit Court. The law department believes that the initiatives will be declared void in whole or part.” – Tate, in a Feb. 8 memo to the City Council, via the Free Press

The lawsuit Tate is referring to is brought by 10 canna-businesses who were denied medical cannabis permits under the old rules. The suit claims that because of that previous denial, they were unfairly disqualified under the new regime.

The moratorium will take effect once signed by Mayor Mike Duggan.

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Guam Gov. Signs MMJ Regulations Bill

2/14/2018

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Guam Gov. Eddie Calvo has approved the island’s medical cannabis rules and regulations after more than three years of legal and political wrangling, Pacific Daily News reports. Medical cannabis was legalized on the U.S. territory in 2014; however, the measure did not include infrastructure regulations, rendering the legalization measure moot.

The rules require seed-to-sale tracking and product testing and allow reciprocity with other U.S. states’ and territories’ medical cannabis programs. The reciprocity is expected to make the system more affordable by increasing the number of participants and encouraging investment.

According to the bill creating the industry, medical cannabis business operators must be a resident of the island for at least three years and the majority of the business must be owned by a legal resident. Three types of cultivation licenses are available – a Type 1, which allows a 2,500 square foot canopy on a single location; a Type 2, which allows between 2,501 and 5,000 square feet of canopy; and a Type 3, which allows 5,001 to 10,000 square feet of canopy per premises. Application fees for all businesses run $1,000.

The Department of Public Health and Social Services indicated that the testing laboratory – which is expected to be run by the department – could setback the program as it carries a price tag of at least $1 million. The former director of that department, James Gillan, quit earlier this month because he said the medical cannabis program was imposed on the agency without resources or funding.

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Grimacing Jeff Sessions sitting next to FBI director Christopher Wray.

Sessions Calls Out Senator for Blocking DoJ Nominee Votes During Meeting with Sheriffs’ Association

2/13/2018

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During remarks at the National Sheriffs’ Association meeting in Washington, D.C. yesterday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the department was “trying to confirm a number of important component heads” but was being blocked by “one senator’s concerns over unrelated issues by reversing federal law on marijuana.”

That “one Senator” is Republican Colorado Sen. Corey Gardner, who has been preventing Justice Department nominees from receiving a full floor vote.

“As Attorney General, I don’t have the authority to say that something is legal if it’s not legal. We need our nominees confirmed – safety and security are important – and those of us who are gathered here know that protecting the safety and security of the American people is the mission that we share.” – Sessions remarks during Feb. 12 National Sheriffs Association meeting

According to a Denver 7 report, Gardner met with Sessions on Jan. 10 about his decision to rescind the Cole Memo, saying that the “meeting kind of went as I expected it to.”

“I shared my states’ rights position with Attorney General Sessions, and he shared his concern about the Cole Memorandum and why he rescinded it, and he also reiterated that the US attorneys will be in the position to make these determinations.” – Gardner to Denver 7

Since Sessions’ pulling of Cole Memo protections, some Trump-appointed U.S. attorneys have muddied the waters.

Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling released a memo last month saying he cannot “provide assurances that certain categories of participants in the state-level marijuana trade will be immune from federal prosecution.”

Pennsylvania U.S. Attorney Davis Freed said his office “has no intention of disrupting Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program or related financial transactions.”

Pennsylvania State Attorney Josh Shapiro said he would uphold Pennsylvania’s “very popular” medical cannabis law.

Oregon’s U.S. Attorney Billy Williams and other law enforcement officials met with industry stakeholders last week to discuss the issues with the state’s recreational cannabis system – namely overproduction and diversion – but according to a National Law Review report, “none of the U.S. Attorneys in attendance expressed an interest in cracking down on the industry as a whole.”

(H/t Leafly)

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Virginia state capitol building, photographed from the steps leading across the lawn to the building's front door.

Virginia Senate Passes First-Timer Cannabis Expungement Bill

2/13/2018

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A measure allowing first-time cannabis offenders in Virginia to expunge the charge for $150 passed the state Senate 38-2 on Monday, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. The measure would allow individuals to defer a finding on the charge and ultimately be found not guilty if the offender does community service and pass drug tests as ordered by the court.

According to the bill text, as passed by the Senate, a misdemeanor charge would require up to 24 hours of community service to be eligible for expungement under the program, and 100 hours for a felony charge – along with probation. The measure also eliminates the mandatory 30 days of jail time associated with misdemeanor cannabis possession, but the $500 fine remains in place.

The bill points out that “a charge of a violation of this section that has been expunged under [the law] shall be deemed a conviction for purposes of prosecuting a person for a second or subsequent violation of this section” – meaning the charge is expunged, but not when it comes to the courts.

State Sen. Adam Ebbins, a Democrat who voted against the measure, told the Times-Dispatch that he opposed the bill because it doesn’t address the racially biased enforcement of cannabis laws, adding that public opinion polls show that Virginia citizens want decriminalization.

A Feb. 7 Wason Center for Public Policy poll found 76 percent support for decriminalization.

Sen. Tommy Norment, the Republican bill sponsor, had hoped to pass a decriminalization measure; however, he admitted that the Legislature had no appetite for decriminalization. He called the Senate-approved bill a “substantial step forward.”

The Senate also passed a measure to create an expungement process for underage alcohol and cannabis charges five years after the penalties are completed. Both measures require House approval and the governor’s signature before they become law.

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Macro photograph of the bud of an outdoor hemp plant.

Wisconsin St. Croix Chippewa Suing State Attorney General Over CBD Policies

2/13/2018

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The St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin are suing state Attorney General Brad Schimel over whether the tribe has the authority to grow hemp for CBD production – a move blocked by Schimel, Wisconsin Public Radio reports. The tribe argues that while the federal Public 280 federal law gives states authority over criminal matters on reservations, hemp and CBD productions are civil matters that fall under the jurisdiction of the tribe.

The CBD program was adopted by the tribe last September as a means to create jobs and industry in the northwestern Wisconsin county which has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state, Elmer J. Emery, member of the St. Croix Tribal Council wrote in the ordinance creating the program.

Jeff Cormell, the tribe’s general counsel told WPR that the tribe is “not proposing anything illegal” under state law. He indicated that the tribe has spent $3 million on the project so far, which officials expect would create 15 full-time jobs.

“On the one end, you’re going to be cultivating hemp, which is now legal under state law. On the other end, you’re going to have processing of CBD, which possession of is legal under state law.” – Cormell to WPR

Johnny Koremenos, a Wisconsin Department of Justice spokesman, told WPR that they believe “any jurisdictional challenge to the application of Wisconsin’s criminal code on tribal lands will fail” but declined to comment further on the lawsuit.

Wisconsin law allows individuals with a doctor’s approval to possess CBD; however, there is no clearly defined means to produce it.

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Massachusetts Public Safety Director Opposes Social Clubs in Letter to Cannabis Regulators

2/13/2018

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Massachusetts Secretary of Public Safety and Security Daniel Bennett is opposing the creation of cannabis clubs in the state, alleging that allowing social use will increase access to minors and drugged driving incidents, according to a MassLive report.

“We believe the difficulties of safely administering the adult use marijuana market in the near term will be multiplied by the proposed licensing of social consumption establishments, mixed-use social consumption establishments, and home delivery retail services.” – Bennett, in a letter to the Cannabis Control Commission, via MassLive

Bennett’s concerns are shared by Gov. Charlie Baker, whose budget and environmental agencies legal counsel have warned against allowing social use immediately.

“If these folks want to take up a lot of these second and third tier issues at some point after the program is up and running, I think that’s fine. What I do worry about is creating a situation and a dynamic given the relatively early stages for the commission generally, and for this industry in particular, to get off on the wrong foot straight out of the gate.” – Baker to MassLive

In his letter, Bennett said that if consumers are prohibited from taking cannabis from social clubs off-site, it could increase the number of people driving under the influence, and that delivery services couldn’t determine whether someone under 21 is in the house.

The Cannabis Commission is currently crafting the final regulations for the state’s cannabis industry, which is expected to come online July 1. The draft rules were submitted last December.

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Photo of a judge's gavel lying on its side on a wooden surface.

Federal Case Challenging Constitutionality of Cannabis Prohibition Heads Back to Court on Valentine’s Day

2/12/2018

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In case you missed it, there is a lawsuit against the Department of Justice, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions – the text of which reveals the history of the 12,000-year relationship between humans and cannabis and how prohibition not only negatively affects the plaintiffs but potentially all humankind.

The suit is filed in the Southern District U.S. Court in New York on behalf of former NFL player Marvin Washington; disabled U.S. Military veteran Dean Bortell and his daughter Alexis, now 12-years-old, who suffers from intractable epilepsy; Sebastien Cotte, father of Jagger, a now 7-year-old boy suffering from Leigh’s Disease; Jose Belen, a 70 percent disabled Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran; and the Cannabis Cultural Association.

The Plaintiffs

Alexis, who resides with her family in Colorado as a “medical refugee,” is originally from Texas. She has received the most national attention for her role in the suit, catching headlines like “12-Year-Old Sues Attorney General Jeff Sessions to Legalize Medical Marijuana.” She’s also written a book called “Let’s Talk About Medical Cannabis: One of the Earliest Medical Communities Seen Through the Eyes of its Youngest Advocate.” Her father, Dean, is a 100 percent disabled Navy veteran.

Washington, another resident of Texas who in 1999 won a Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos, currently works with Swiss firm Isidiol that manufactures CBD products. According to the suit, Washington eyes expanding his business to include whole-plant cannabis products – and would like to receive federal funding through the Minority Business Enterprise Program to expand his business but is unable to do so due to cannabis’ Schedule I federal status.

Belen, 35 and from Florida, is an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran who is diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. According to the complaint, Belen is “unable to forget and/or otherwise cope with his memory of the horrors of war that he had witnessed in Iraq.”

Jagger, who lives in Georgia with the family, might not be alive if not for cannabis. Leigh’s Disease kills “approximately 95 percent of people afflicted with it” if diagnosed before age two by the time they are 4-years-old, the suit says. Jagger was diagnosed at age one. He is now seven.

The Cannabis Cultural Association is a New York-based non-profit which helps “marginalized communities engage in the legal cannabis industry, emphasizing criminal justice reform, access to medical cannabis, and adult use legalization.”

The Defendants

Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions III, former Alabama Senator and Attorney General of the United States since 2017. Sessions might be most infamous to the cannabis community for saying that “good people don’t smoke marijuana” and for rescinding federal protections for state-legal cannabis programs outlined in the Cole Memo.

The U.S. Department of Justice, the federal agency headed by Sessions responsible for enforcing U.S. law, including the crimes violating the Controlled Substances Act. Under the Barack Obama Administration, the Justice Department had taken a hands-off approach to state-approved cannabis programs with a directive known as the Cole Memo. Sessions rescinded that memo in January.

Charles “Chuck” Rosenberg and the Drug Enforcement Agency. The lawsuit contends that the DEAs “legal mechanism available to the public to file petitions to change the classifications of drugs and medications previously scheduled under the auspices of the CSA is illusory.”

The suit points to eight such attempts by governors, individuals, and organizations to de-schedule or reschedule cannabis under the CSA that were either denied or declined by the DEA. One, by the Hemp Industries Association and the Kentucky Hemp Industry Council, filed last June is still pending. However, in 1999 – after four years of consideration – the agency granted a request by UNIMED Pharmaceuticals Inc, manufacturers of Marinol, to reclassify the drug from Schedule II to Schedule III. Marinol, a synthetic cannabinoid, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1985 to “treat nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy in patients who have failed to respond adequately to conventional treatments” and to “treat appetite loss associated with weight loss in AIDS patients.”

Rosenberg once quipped that medical cannabis is “a joke.”

Under the glow of LED grow lights inside of a Washington cannabis cultivation center. Photo credit: Sarah Climaco

(Some of) the Claims

The lawsuit contends that the placement of cannabis on the federal drug schedule is unconstitutional, violating due process protections of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution. The federal government, it says, “does not believe, and upon information and belief never has believed” cannabis meets the requirements for a Schedule I designation under the CSA.

“Indeed, the Federal Government has admitted repeatedly in writing, and implemented national policy reflecting, that cannabis does (sic), in fact, have medical uses and can be used and tested safely under medical supervision. On that basis, the Federal Government has exploited Cannabis economically for more than a decade by securing a medical cannabis patent and entering into license agreements with medical licensees,” the suit says.

It points out that the government has had a federal program since the 1970s which supplies patients with medical cannabis.

“The notion that the Federal Government genuinely believes that cannabis has no medical application and is so dangerous that, as with heroin, it cannot be tested even under strict medical supervision, is so absurd that it must be rejected as a matter of law. The Federal Government does not believe in the factual prerequisites underlying its own statute,” the lawsuit contends.

Secondly, the lawsuit argues that the federal Schedule I classification was implemented during the Nixon Administration’s “war” on African-Americans and “anti-war hippies” as a means to arrest and jail leaders of those communities.

The lawsuit claims that prohibition violates citizens’ right to travel due to the current state-by-state patchwork of laws and that the federal government’s cannabis classification violates the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution because the government is regulating intra-state commerce.

“While empowered by Article I to regulate interstate and international commerce, Congress does not have the authority to regulate purely intra-state activities which do not have any impact on the national economy,” the suit states. “Any use of medical Cannabis that is legalized and regulated entirely within an individual State’s borders does not have any appreciable impact on the national economy. And Congress, in enacting the CSA, never believed that the cultivation, distribution and sale of Cannabis, purely at the intra-state level, ever affected or will affect the national economy.”

The Government response

Obviously, the government is seeking to have the case tossed, arguing, primarily, that the “plaintiffs failed to exhaust an available administrative remedy – the statutory rescheduling process – before bringing the lawsuit,” and that previous cases have already rejected the lawsuit’s premises.

“There is no fundamental right to use marijuana, for medical purposes or otherwise,” the government’s Motion to Dismiss states. “Because such a right is not ‘implicit in the concept of ordered liberty’ or ‘deeply rooted in this Nation’s history,’ the Court should reject such a claim.”

The plaintiffs’ attorneys contend that the government’s response is “a regurgitation of prior claims, made by different litigants, who relied upon arguments and claims” their clients “do not make, under different circumstances, in many instances more than 20 years ago.”

“There is a substantive due-process violation because the government can’t possibly believe that cannabis should be Schedule I.”

Joseph Bondy, a CCA executive board member and life member of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws’ National Legal Committee, is one of the attorneys fighting the government on behalf of the plaintiffs. The CCA is pursuing the claim that cannabis’ Schedule I status violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution because the laws “are grounded in discrimination and applied in a discriminatory fashion,” Bondy said in an interview with Ganjapreneur.

“These laws continue to impact communities of color disparately and unfairly,” Bondy explained. “The proof is in the pudding, so to speak.”

Among those testifying on behalf of the plaintiffs is Roger Stone – a member of the Nixon Administration who can speak directly to Nixon’s former White House Counsel and Chief Domestic Policy Advisor John Ehrlichman’s bigoted reasoning for ensuring cannabis was, not only scheduled under the CSA, but branded “highly addictive” with “no medical use.”

Bondy said that the allegations raised in the complaint “have to be presumed as true” and that government lawyers are arguing that the team has “failed to state claims upon which relief can be granted.”

“We feel strongly we are going to win,” he said, conceding that while other cases challenging cannabis’ scheduling have been ruled in the government’s favor, this case challenges different facts and several factors add to the case’s strengths — public opinion, research, and “legislative opinion as far down the road on legalization” as it is now.

“If we win the claim that the controlled substances act is unconstitutional as it pertains to marijuana it means that marijuana would be de-scheduled,” Bondy stated, matter-of-factly, “until such time as there is some further Congressional enactment.”

The reality is, Bondy admits, that if the case survives this lower court – and the government’s motion to dismiss – the government will, of course, appeal the ruling and whoever loses that case would appeal that ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. All of this could take years, but Bondy suggested that during that time Congress could take action on cannabis’ status, rendering the whole suit “moot.”

“We don’t care how we get to legalization – the fastest course is the best course – but this seems to be a track that is moving forward at a pretty rapid pace,” he explained, noting that the judge granted oral arguments the day after Sessions rescinded the Cole Memo.

Inside of an indoor, medical cannabis grow operation. Photo credit: Sarah Climaco

Unfortunately, Bondy explained, if the lawsuit were successful and cannabis was indeed de-scheduled, it would not release individuals being held on federal and state cannabis crimes but they would have standing to seek to have the convictions vacated and be released from jail under a “writ of habeas corpus.”

Bondy says the government “can’t have it both ways” – they cannot hold a patent for cannabis as a neuroprotectant, they cannot give patients medical cannabis, and cannot issue federal memos choosing not to crack down on violations of federal law while maintaining that cannabis “has no medical value” and “a high potential for abuse.”

“The notion that marijuana should remain a Schedule I is absolutely foolish,” Bondy said. “No one believes it. The Surgeon General doesn’t believe it, half of Congress doesn’t believe it, politicians don’t believe it, Jeff Sessions probably doesn’t even believe it.”

Oral arguments to determine whether the case will be thrown out are set for Wednesday.

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Rainy day on the streets of Manhattan, in New York City.

Poll: 56% of New York Voters Support Legalizing Adult-Use Cannabis

2/12/2018

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According to a Sienna College poll, 56 percent of New York voters support legalizing cannabis for adult use, with 40 percent opposed and 4 percent unsure. The reforms were supported by 66 percent of Democrats, 57 percent of Independents, and 41 percent of Republicans.

The results represent a 12 percent difference from a November poll, commissioned by the Marijuana Policy Project of New York and the Drug Policy Alliance and conducted by Emerson College, which found 68 percent support for recreational cannabis legalization, including a majority – 53 percent – of Republicans.

In the Sienna poll, 58 percent of men and 54 percent of women supported legalization, along with 76 percent of self-identified liberals, 56 percent moderates, and just 37 percent of conservatives.

The reforms were popular throughout the state’s regions – 60 percent of New York City residents supported legalization, along with 55 percent of suburban residents, and 52 percent of upstate residents; although that region is not defined by the pollsters. Adult cannabis use legalization was also supported by 72 percent of Latinos, 61 percent of black people, and 54 percent of white people.

As with the vast majority of legalization polls, the younger the respondent the more likely they are to support the reforms. Among respondents aged 18-34, 76 percent supported cannabis for recreational use, along with 57 percent of respondents aged 35-54. Just 46 percent of respondents 55-and-older supported legalization.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for a recreational feasibility study during his State of the State address last month. One of his potential Republican challengers, former Erie County Executive Joel Giambra has pitched legalization as a way to address the state’s infrastructure problems. The Sienna poll found a 53 percent favorable rating for Cuomo; while 84 percent indicated they didn’t know who Giambra was.    

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Michigan Anti-Cannabis Legalization Committee Nets $150K from National Prohibitionists

2/12/2018

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Smart Approaches to Marijuana of Virginia has donated $150,000 to the newly formed Healthy and Productive Michigan organization – a group fighting a potential ballot initiative to legalize cannabis in Michigan, the Detroit News reports. Kevin Sabet, SAM co-founder, indicated this is just the first donation to the prohibitionist group.

“Michigan is a priority because it’s been targeted by the pot industry. They see it as an opportunity to make a lot of money. We’re very concerned about what more marijuana use would mean for Michigan families, kids, the workplace and businesses.” Sabet to the Detroit News

Comparatively, however, the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol has so far outraised its opponents, reporting $651,486 in direct contributions for 2017, the vast majority – $549,238 – coming from within the state. Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project has contributed more than $174,000 in services and cash to the group.

Josh Hovey, the legalization campaign spokesman, pointed out that the prohibitionist groups have yet to report any donations from in-state sources.

“We’ll have to work hard to get the truth out there and make sure people have the facts. When the facts are out there, the only choice people will make is yes.” – Hovey to the News

A January Detroit News/WDIV poll found 56.6 percent support for cannabis legalization among Michigan voters.

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Photograph of an indoor cannabis grow in Colorado.

Illinois Health Department Appeals Court Decision to Add Intractable Pain to MMJ List

2/12/2018

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The Illinois Department of Public Health has officially appealed the court decision to add intractable pain to the state’s qualifying conditions list for medical cannabis, according to an Associated Press report. The appeal was expected as the judge allowed a stay on the program change in order to allow the state appeal to be heard.

Cook County Judge Raymond Mitchell had ruled that the state was “clearly erroneous” in rejecting the condition’s addition to the program. In January 2016 the now-defunct Medical Cannabis Advisory Board had voted 10-0 to add the condition, but it was rejected by Health Department Director Dr. Nirav Shah.

According to the AP report, Shah had denied the request alleging a “lack of high-quality data” from clinical trials; however, Mitchell cited 45 clinical studies that indicated medical cannabis had a positive effect as a chronic pain therapy.

“The record shows that individuals with intractable pain would benefit from the medical use of cannabis.” – Mitchell, in the Jan. 16 decision

In a Feb. 8 op-ed in the Chicago Sun-Times, Anne Mednick, an osteoarthritis patient who brought the suit against the department to add the condition, wrote that the “chronic suffering” from the condition “governs her life” and that all doctors have been able to provide her to relieve her suffering is opioids.

“Opioids have wreaked havoc on my life and I want nothing to do with them. On fentanyl, I became a prisoner — even more of one than I am now. I could not leave my house for fear of being more than a few steps from a bathroom. I lost 80 pounds. The drug made me horribly sick and worse, it clouded my mind. There were days where I didn’t know if I could get out of bed. Cannabis can ease pain without any of those side effects; it is not addictive.” – Mednick in the Sun-Times op-ed

In 2016, Cook County Judge Neil Cohen ordered Health officials to add post-operative chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder to the state’s medical cannabis qualifying conditions list.

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