Downtown Los Angeles pictured at night.

Los Angeles, California Draft Rules Approved by City Council Committee

9/27/2017

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Under the Los Angeles, California City Council adult-use cannabis industry rules proposal all currently operating dispensaries would be shut down while they await new licenses; however, City Council President Herb Wesson has indicated he would consider a provisional licensing system to avoid a total industry shutdown, according to a Newsweek report.

The rules would, however, see the Los Angeles adult-use market come online before the Jan. 1, 2018 start date provided by the voter-approved adult-use legislation.

Last year the city began taxing medical cannabis sales, leading to $21 million in revenues and officials expect that figure to jump to $50 million during the first year of recreational sales. The state’s nascent industry will not be without its issues as prices will likely be higher than other markets – including the illicit market – because of the high taxes approved on cannabis sales in the state.

Moreover, tourists will not have a place to consume cannabis as social-use provisions are not included in the state’s legislation, and smoking is banned at hotels, including balconies, beaches, bars, and parks.

The Los Angeles proposals cover taxes and details such as regulating hours of operation. They have been approved by a City Council commission but still need final approval from the full council.

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The large cola of a mature cannabis plant just before it's harvested.

Canada’s Aurora Ships 50kg of Cannabis to German Subsidiary

9/27/2017

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Canadian licensed producer Aurora Cannabis last week shipped 50 kilograms of medical cannabis from its facility in Alberta to Berlin, Germany-based producer Pedanios, a wholly-owned Aurora subsidiary which distributes to more than 1,500 pharmacies throughout the nation. The shipment was necessary to help offset “a significant shortage of supply,” according to a press release.

Neil Belot, Aurora chief global business development officer, described the shipment as a “huge milestone” for the two companies and “a critical step” in their international expansion strategy.

“Our team has done an outstanding job accelerating our entry into Europe,” he said in the release. “This is the first step in unlocking future potential markets in the EU of several hundred million people, and strongly validates Aurora’s acquisition of Pedanios as one of the most significant strategic transactions to date in the cannabis industry.”

Aurora had to obtain permits from both Health Canada and the German Bundesopiumstelle – the federal narcotics agency – before exporting the product on Sept. 18.

Aurora CEO Terry Booth indicated that Germany has more than twice the population of Canada and can, currently, only be served by four international producers; three of which distribute through Pedanios.

“Moreover, Pedanios provides a well-established gateway to the wider [European Union] market, which continues to grow as additional countries proceed in improving patient access through the establishment of their own national medical cannabis systems,” he said in a statement.

In addition to their German subsidiary, Aurora holds a 19.9 percent stake in Cann Group Limited, the first company granted approval to cultivate and research medical cannabis in Australia.

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A crop of mature, healthy medical cannabis plants inside of a licensed Washington cultivation facility.

Former Miss Iowa Launches Blockchain, Cryptocurrency for the Cannabis Space

9/27/2017

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A cannabis-centric blockchain – a publicly distributed ledger – called Paragon has been launched to serve the cannabis industry, and along with it a cryptocurrency known as ParagonCoin. The firm plans to sell 100 million ParagonCoins at $1 each through Oct. 16, and it will begin trading on cryptocurrency exchanges beginning in November.

While ParagonCoin will not be used by consumers to purchase cannabis products, it could be used for business-to-business purchases and other goods and services within the Paragon network.

The company was founded by Jessica VerSteeg, a former Miss Iowa and reality television star who also founded the Bay Area, California cannabis delivery service AuBox. She is joined on the venture by rapper Jayceon Terrell Taylor, better known as The Game; Paul Kim, CEO of Xfire; and Juan Carlos Gómez, Director of Clinical Programs at the Carlos A. Costa Immigration and Human Rights Clinic, who each serve on Paragon’s advisory board.

VerSteeg said she founded AuBox to “take away the ‘stoner’ image of cannabis” following the opioid overdose death of her ex-boyfriend Tyler Sash, who won the National Football League Super Bowl in 2011 as a member of the New York Giants. Versteeg indicated that Sash had asked about using medical cannabis while an active player and she had advised against it because, at the time, she was “uneducated about the medical side of cannabis” and “thought it was a ‘bad drug.’”

“…My goal in building Paragon is to provide a structure for the cannabis industry that will hopefully help the legalization of medical marijuana to all states and provide necessary medical care for those who need it,” she said in a press release.

The blockchain will help connect individuals and companies in the supply chain and track a variety of transactions taking place on the platform. According to a white paper, in addition to the blockchain and cryptocurrency, Paragon will launch ParagonSpace, co-working spaces for the cannabis industry whose location will be determined by ParagonCoin holders; ParagonOnline, a platform to organize legalization efforts worldwide; and ParagonAccelerator, which will see application builders design service-apps for the cannabis space.

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A roadside highway sign welcoming drivers to the state of California.

California MMJ Industry Sees $375M in Q2 Sales

9/27/2017

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Legal cannabis sales in California reached $375 million in the second quarter of 2017, with flower accounting for 55 percent of sales, according to a Forbes report outlining BDS Analytics data. Of those purchases, 26 percent were indica strains and 18 percent were sativa strains; the rest were, presumably, hybrid strains.

According to the report, the indica preference falls in line with Washington’s recreational cannabis market, where 24 percent of flower sales were indica, while the strain represented 20 percent of sales in both Oregon and Colorado – the same as sativa sales. In Colorado, 23 percent of sales were sativa varieties.

BDS indicated that they have tracked the sales of more than 13,000 unique strains, and called the term ‘flower’ “as descriptive as ‘wine.’”

“… Just as wine can mean Syrah, Cremant du Jura, port and thousands of other things, ‘flower,’ too, is broken down into thousands of strains,” the report stated.

In 2016, an Eaze report found hybrid strain Gorilla Glue #4 as the most popular in the state, followed by sativa strain Jack Herer; indica strain Bubba Kush; and hybrid strains Girl Scout Cookies, and Headband.

California’s adult-use market is estimated to be worth between $5 billion and $6.5 billion annually and legal sales are set to commence on Jan. 1, 2018.

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The U.S. Capitol Building in Washington D.C.

Amendment Protecting State MMJ Programs Included in Temporary Spending Bill

9/26/2017

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The Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment, which protects state-legal medical cannabis programs from federal interference, has been included in a budget agreement which approves funding for hurricane relief, raises the debt ceiling, and approves some federal spending until the end of the year, according to a Forbes report. The protections, however, only last until Dec. 8, 2017.

While the Senate Appropriations Committee had approved the amendment as part of the 2018 Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations package, the Republican-controlled House Rules Committee blocked the amendment from receiving consideration from the full chamber, effectively preventing House lawmakers from offering the industry federal protections. The House also blocked amendments protecting state-approved hemp programs and banks from doing business with legal cannabis businesses; reducing funds for the Drug Enforcement Agency’s cannabis eradication program; expanding access for cannabis research; ending the federal incentive to revoke driver licenses from citizens charged with cannabis crimes; allowing Washington, D.C. to implement a tax-and-regulate cannabis program; and an amendment that would have offered state-approved adult-use programs protections from federal crackdown.

In June, Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent a letter to legislative leaders urging them to oppose the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment as the nation deals with “a historic drug epidemic and potentially long-term uptick in violent crime.”

Rohrabacher-Blumenauer – originally known as Rohrabacher-Farr – has been authorized in every federal budget since 2014. The measure could still be included in the final budget if approved by a conference committee.

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Maine Draft Rules Would Prohibit Smoking, Vaping at Cannabis Clubs

9/26/2017

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Draft rules for Maine’s forthcoming adult-use program do not provide an exemption to the state’s no-smoking laws, which would force so-called cannabis clubs to only permit consumption of edibles or tinctures, according to a Portland Press Herald report. The rules also wouldn’t allow club licensing until June 2019, one year after the state’s first recreational cannabis retail stores open.

While the rules do not plainly ban smoking, they do not exempt social-use clubs from the smoking ban – which includes vaping. The ban applies to public places, like bars and restaurants; and while the state has provided exemptions to the smoking ban for so-called cigar bars, they refuse to do the same for the cannabis industry.

Sen. Roger Katz, co-chairman of the legislature’s Committee on Marijuana Legalization Implementation, said while the committee was “divided” on the social-use issue, they were committed to keeping the smoking ban intact.

“Some of us, including myself, did not want to be the first state to experiment with social clubs because of the public safety concerns,” Katz said in the report. “Others said it was going to happen anyway, better we recognize it and appropriately license and regulate them, which is what voters wanted.”

A public hearing on the proposals are underway at the State House in Augusta, the bill is expected to receive a full vote next month.

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Many pounds of cured and trimmed cannabis bagged up inside of a large plastic bin.

Report: Wholesale Cannabis Prices Remain Stable into Q2

9/26/2017

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According to New Leaf Data Services’ Cannabis Benchmarks report, wholesale cannabis prices averaged $1,614 per pound in the first half of 2017, representing an 18.6 percent decline from the first half of 2016, when the firm found prices at $1,983 per pound.

In May, the firm released a report on the first quarter of the year which found just a $1 difference in wholesale cannabis prices compared to the new first-half numbers. Rubin indicated that the drop from 2016 prices – which fell from $1,953 per pound to $1,487 per pound – was due to a spike in prices after product from outdoor grows “has been used up.”

The most recent report indicates that the U.S. Spot Index settled within a $150 per pound price range during the first half of 2017, while it had fluctuated within a $296 per pound range during the first half of last year. Jonathan Rubin, CEO of New Leaf, said the “new pricing reality” established in the second half of last year is “marked by relative stability and a return to more conventional trends.”

The analysts found that prices are lower in states with mature adult-use programs, although demand is significantly stronger than in newly legal states. The researchers indicate this trend is due to those states permitting cannabis production “adequate to meet demand” and there are more businesses “vying fiercely for market share and consumer attention.”

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Pennsylvania Seeking Public Comments on MMJ Draft Rules

9/26/2017

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The Pennsylvania Department of Health is seeking public comments from potential medical cannabis patients and caregivers on the draft rules for the state’s medical cannabis program. The proposed rules would see medical cannabis available to patients suffering from 17 serious medical conditions.

Pennsylvania Acting Health Secretary and Physician General Rachel Levine said public comments provide “invaluable” input in how the department will implement the program “as effectively as possible.”

“Every day, we hear from patients who are desperately waiting for this program to be fully implemented,” Levine said in a Lehigh Valley Live report. “We have made significant progress in getting this program off the ground since Gov. [Tom] Wolf signed the Medical Marijuana Act into law last year.”

State officials are anticipating the program will be online by 2018; however, a lawsuit by Keystone ReLeaf, LLC could delay the program. The firm has sued the state after being denied one of 12 cultivation licenses and one of 27 dispensary licenses in the state, calling the licensing awards process “arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable.” According to court documents, the firm missed the application deadline by two days. The case is still ongoing.

Public comments on the proposed rules will be accepted until Oct. 2.

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Jason Santos: Normalizing Cannabis Through Video and Music

9/25/2017

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Jason Santos is the CEO of Burn TV, a video/music network that was founded to help bridge and eliminate the gap between cannabis culture and the mainstream media.

In this Ganjapreneur.com podcast interview, Jason joins our host TG Branfalt to talk about his early forays into the cannabis industry, the important role that independent media groups play in this space, how cannabis is portrayed in the mainstream media — and how that affects cannabis enthusiasts and the movement as a whole — and much, much more!

Tune in via the media player below, or keep scrolling down to read a full transcript of this week’s Ganjapreneur.com podcast episode.

Listen to the podcast:

Read the transcript:

TG Branfalt: Hey there, I’m your host TG Branfalt. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. Where we try to bring you actionable information to normalize cannabis through the stories of Ganjapreneurs, activists, and industry stakeholders. Today, I’m joined by Jason Santos, CEO of Burn TV. Super excited for this Jason, we got a lot to talk about, from one media guy to another. But, lets jump right into this.

What’s your background, man? How did you get into the cannabis space?

Jason Santos: Well, first off, it’s great to be here. So, thanks for having us on the show. As far as cannabis goes, I was originally in the real estate space. I was flipping houses, and doing things like that. I saw an opportunity to kind of bring my consulting and business back down into the cannabis space as a way to kind of supplement my real estate business. I was paying cash for houses, and things like that. I wanted to have some kind of residual income, so I can continue to put more money to work in the space.

But, honestly, within a few months of being in the space, I had an encounter with a medical patient that pretty much shifted my focus to be on the cannabis industry permanently. I kind of started pulling back from the real estate stuff, and went all in on the industry, realizing how important it was.

TG Branfalt: You want to tell me a bit more about the meeting with that patient, and why that changed your mind in the way that it did?

Jason Santos: It was probably in the first 60 – 90 days of kind of being around the industry. I was consulting in managing a dispensary in Hollywood. We had a patient come in, she was in her 60’s, 70’s. And very anti-cannabis her whole life. Had just recently tried to commit suicide from trying to escape the pains and trauma of liver cancer.

She had something like 15 or 16 surgeries. And went from like an everyday walk around weight of around 140, down to the low 80’s. And was just in so much
pain and misery, that she just didn’t want to continue.

When that failed, her daughter finally convinced her to try cannabis. Like, what do you have to lose? I guess, they made something, or a friend of theirs, or someone made something like on a stove and she responded well to it. But they wanted to get into things that were a little more controlled, so they came to our shop.

She didn’t want to smoke it. So, I started putting together a bag of things for her to try in terms of edibles and things like that, that made sense for her. Went to give it to her, it was probably $150, $200 worth of product. She said she only had $40. I was like, “Well, I don’t even want your $40. Just keep your $40 because you’re not going to need to spend probably more than $20 when you go into a shop. Just take all these, figure out what works for you. So, the next time, you know what you need.”

For me, it didn’t seem that big of a deal. But, what I didn’t realize was how important that was to her, and what that meant to her because what that actually meant to her was not money. It was breakfast with their grandkids. This wasn’t probably going to save her life, or change her condition at the stage that she was at. But, it meant not being in a vegetative state, being bed ridden.

It meant sitting up at the breakfast table, and enjoying the last few days of her life, or months, or years. Whatever she had with her disease, with her family. And feeling better.

She held me for probably five, ten minutes in the middle of my store just bawling. That was the moment my life changed, right there. I pulled all my money, that day. I called my contractor, and my realtor was also my aunt. And pulled all the money from a job I was doing on a house, and decided I’m going all in on the industry.

TG Branfalt: That’s a really touching story. You cover a lot of these sort of stories in what you’ve done with Burn TV thus far. But, before we get into that, why did you end up launching Burn TV?

Jason Santos: Well, you know, I was always a business man and an entrepreneur and things like that. The one thing that I didn’t like about the industry was, even though I had the mind set of wanting to set the bar, or be the gold standard. The places that I was managing, we didn’t even have green signs.

Everything was white, there was no imagery of cannabis. We made everything above and beyond regulations, but no matter what we did at the level, here in California especially, they can take it away any day. There was … It wasn’t helping move the industry forward.

So, I saw an opportunity to do something bigger for the industry. I felt there needed to be a bigger shift. I didn’t see anyone doing it in a way that could provide that shift for the industry. I sought out to build something that could become the voice of an industry, that can start to bridge the gap between not only cannabis community, and the movement. But also main stream acceptance and  audiences.

TG Branfalt: So, I wanted to talk to you a bit about cannabis and the media, historical context, the evolution. Weeds was really one of the first cannabis centric shows to gain mainstream exposure. Now, we’re seeing cannabis focused episodes of The Simpsons, Family Guy, we’ve got Sanjay Gupta had a whole special on medical cannabis.

This isn’t shocking to me anymore. But when Weeds first came out, I was surprised it was greenlit. Because of canna-bias in the media. Cannabis has always played a huge role in music, The Beatles got high. But TV is a whole different animal. Do you think that the modern portrayal of cannabis on television helps or harms activists’ efforts?

Jason Santos: It’s a little bit of both to be honest with you. It all depends on how it’s portrayed. There’s a lot of content that’s still focused on old stereotypes.

TG Branfalt: Such as Weeds.

Jason Santos: Yeah. Weeds was a little bit different, because it was at least … It was like a comedic sitcom style, “dramedy” type show. Right? Whereas I see shows that discovery has done some shows where, it’s … They really kind of made a mockery of what’s going on. They want to make everything cops versus robbers. You know?

I felt, for me sometimes, for every good piece of information they’ll have in one of those shows like Weed Wars or Weed Country and things like this. Where they’ll have a great shot of how it’s helping someone, they’ll do some cheesy network garbage. Where it’s got to be a cops versus robbers scenario. In fact, one of my executives here is the creator of Weed Country. If you saw what the show was before Discovery got it, you’d see how different the show was.

So, there’s a lot of stereotypes and false drama that gets forced into some of the content that’s actually making it out on mainstream. But … While it’s good that more gets out there, there’s some of it kind of road blocks a little bit of the positive impact it could have. It should be doing more.

TG Branfalt: What about shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy, that are geared towards adults. A lot of adults understand what cannabis does do, and how it’s portrayed on those shows where it makes you laugh, or makes you peaceful. But, at the same time, those shows are also watched by children who might not understand yet what cannabis actually is.

What’s your take on sort of those more mainstream shows, that aren’t necessarily cannabis centric, but do focus on cannabis in some of their episodes?

Jason Santos: The way I look at it is this. If a parent has an issue with that as a subject matter, being on those shows. Then they should pretty much have an issue with that show in total. Because those shows push alcohol, drunks, violence, stereotypes, racism. It’s part of their humor.

In the scope of what those shows already display in terms of their general subject lines, cannabis is actually relatively mild. Ironically, cannabis is probably the only subject line in all of those controversial subjects that they’ll explore in comedy, that actually has a benefit to people under the age of 18. It’s been used in a medicinal, and a very impactful way, that is positive.

Whereas, there is no use for alcohol, or tobacco, or violence, or racism, all the other stuff that’s in those punch lines. I love all those shows. I think they have a great take when they take on subjects like this. I think it’s great for the industry.

But, at the same time, if a parent is going to have a concern about a cannabis storyline in that show, they should probably just be generally not letting the kids watch that show overall because there’s way worse subject matters that come up.

TG Branfalt: A lot of what you’re focused on with Burn TV is music. As I said earlier, The Beatles got high and that’s going back to the 60’s. Where do you see cannabis’ place in modern music?

Jason Santos: Well, if you talked to anyone who is inside music, any musician, anyone who works in the industry, they’ll all tell you it is just entwined in that culture, in that genre, in that industry up and down. It doesn’t matter what genre of music it is, it’s part of what they do.

You know, cannabis can be a very creative inspiration for these guys. Relax … There’s a number of reasons why people smoke weed. But, for us, the main connection of music isn’t even necessarily the cannabis connection. It’s that music fits side by side with cannabis, but also the big part about music for us is that it’s universal. You don’t have to like cannabis to like music.

The music that we’re embracing is just music, it’s not weed music. Right? You don’t have to be a fan of cannabis to be a fan of music. That’s kind of the whole theme of our platform, is we’re building an entertainment portal that is embracing cannabis. But we’re not just another weed channel. Music is a big part of the unification that we want to do to bring people that were over here. Maybe they use cannabis, but aren’t really engulfed into the lifestyle, but want to be exposed to other products. Maybe they have no interest in cannabis, or maybe they’re a heavy cannabis user.

Either way, they’ll still enjoy the music content. Like I said, it’s obviously got a massive long term connection with cannabis in general. It’s a perfect fit for us.

TG Branfalt: Tell me a little bit more about how you plan to create this platform that appeals to a broader audience than cannabis users.

Jason Santos: The main focus here is we’re not building a weed channel. We’re building a platform that fully embraces it, like I said. Gives it all the same business opportunities. But, the main focus here is on entertainment. To be an entertainment destination for the cannabis community, and other people who are attracted to this type of genre of entertainment around music, comedy, adrenaline lifestyle as well as cannabis.

While there will be a lot of high level cannabis themed content on the network. Most of our content won’t have anything directly to do with cannabis, but will be applicable content to the demographics around cannabis. The full scope of demographics.

Today, there’s this small niche of people who really like dab videos, or product show cases, or this or that. But, there’s another huge part of this demographic, that even when there’s good content out there, they won’t necessarily go look for it because they don’t want to be associated with that stoner stereotype anymore than a wine drinker wants to be associated with an alcoholic. In their mind, it has the same negative stigma.

So, even when brands are doing great content, there’s a lot of people inside this demo that just don’t see it. We wanted to normalize the content, we wanted to deliver what’s familiar to them. In all the other types of content they like, so they can be exposed to brands and products in a piece of content around music, or a comedy stand up special that has nothing to do with cannabis. But, maybe there’s a promo, or sponsor, something.

They shouldn’t have to watch heavy cannabis themed content to get exposed to other products and brands in this industry. We wanted to build this broader platform, so other people can feel safe and come to this network and engage in content without feeling like they’re somewhere they’re not comfortable.

TG Branfalt: You know, that’s a really remarkable sort of vision to have as a lot of companies would take an entirely different approach. And want to maybe monetize those dab videos or something like that. I want to talk to you a bit more about the role of independent media in the cannabis space. But, before we do that, I’ve got to take a short break.

This is the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, I’m TG Branfalt.

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TG Branfalt: Welcome back to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m your host, TG Branfalt here with Jason Santos, CEO of Burn TV. So, I’m obviously working for some independent media. I have my own sort of opinions on the role that the independent media should play in this space. What is your goal or your opinion of what independent media … what role independent media should play in this space?

Jason Santos: Well, I mean, independent media is incredibly important to the cannabis sector, because it’s still so heavily blocked from mainstream media, traditional media sources. So, it’s going to take an independent media brand to really become that centralized voice in … We’re not talking about a small niche space here. I’m talking about industry that realistically is probably a trillion dollar global industry already when you factor in all the legal, illegal, and ancillary businesses all under the one thing.

So, that’s pretty remarkable that something this big doesn’t have a centralized voice. So, that independent space is going to be key in setting that up. We live in a really exciting time right now, where independent media has become very popular, very powerful, very viable, and started to develop a really big reach. There hasn’t … This is like a perfect storm of timing between digital media, distribution, as well as the cannabis space.

TG Branfalt: At the same time, you’re leveraging the Roku platform, whatever it would be called. In your quest to distribute, have you faced any push back from any of the potential distributors that you’ve approached?

Jason Santos: You know, I’ll be honest with you, I have not. Even when I’ve dealt with people who have reservations around cannabis, they’ve been incredibly enthusiastic with our brand, our brand name, our look, our approach. It’s been very welcoming. To the point where I’ve actually been quite a bit surprised. I actually expected a little more resistance, or a little more hesitation.

I mean, we’re even … Even on a small level, we were allowed to go film at one of the most iconic comedy clubs in the country, especially Los Angeles. We were the only brand that was related to cannabis they’d ever let in there. Despite repeated requests to do special events and shows there because they felt their brand was safe with our brand. That’s really the philosophy of the network. We want people to feel safe here. Whether it’s a consumer, whether it’s a non-cannabis related brand, that wants to market or advertise here, whether it’s distribution, whether it’s a venue. Whether it’s a cannabis-based company.

We want everyone to feel that they can be here, and not be off putting or off setting to what their core values are.

TG Branfalt: I’ve watched some of the videos that you guys have put out, the My Life, My Story. The portraits. These are really incredible, very deep, very moving profiles. How did you find the subject for these profiles? No how did you approach them?

Jason Santos: Well, in the My Life, My Story series, these were people we knew. We knew their stories, being around the industry I’ve got to know a lot of really good people. The Tom and two sticks one actually was brought to us, it was from a creator who wanted to do a piece with him. I believe they were going to do something at MTV or something like that, but, it just wasn’t going anywhere yet. They kind of really wanted to do a piece. So, they pitched it to us and we loved it. But, the other two were people that came from our world, that we just knew their story.

And then, on the Portrait series, there was a combination of people we knew and there was other … Couple of the people that were brought in were friends of other people we knew. When we started talking to people at the show, they were like, you got to go talk to Tony Nier. Our friends over at Jam In The Van introduced us to him, and then he was fantastic. John Sally I already knew, he’s been wanting to work with us for a while. He’s a phenomenal human being, you cannot be in the room with that guy and not have a smile on your face. That guy is just epic.

Some of our friends knew a couple of the people, and honestly it became really hard to cast because we had so many people who wanted to be part of it. We knew we wanted to do nine individual stories. This first run was difficult. We wanted to create a diversity, you know. We wanted to space them out guy, girl, guy, girl, so there was … And then different people from different walks of life.

The response was overwhelming. Since the series has come out, we’ve had a lot of other people reach out and ask us if we’re going to do more because they’d like to be a part of it or they know someone that should be a part of it.

TG Branfalt: Since you don’t have a background really in broadcast media, how difficult was it for you to produce these projects?

Jason Santos: Well, actually, I was in television production for about 4 years before I got into real estate and started to go out on my own. Worked through a few big shows, a short stint on American Idol, Weakest Link, worked on the Olympic Broadcast team. So, I mean a couple shows for USA Network. I mean, I was familiar with the process, but if you’ve seen in my signature it always says … On the bottom of my email it says, “If I’m the smartest guy at the table, I’m at the wrong table.” I firmly believe that.

So, what I did is I surrounded myself with people who know how to make really good content. So, my entire executive team comes from mainstream television production. I got an Emmy winner, these guys are producers of the biggest shows on TV. They know how to make good content.

Producing the content is actually fun and relatively easy for us because it’s passion for us. We enjoy every second of it. My guys are … I’m very blessed to have a very talented team that is capable of executing these visions.

TG Branfalt: What’s the hardest part of your job as the CEO?

Jason Santos: Honestly, the hardest part of my job is wearing how many hats I have to wear right now, just because as a start up, your boot strapped all the time because there’s so many capital needs in so many different directions. We’re not trying to build something small here. It’s really having just to take on a lot of responsibility just because we can definitely use more support staff.

But, being pulled in all those different directions for meetings, to app development, legal. I mean. It’s just … Capital raising. It’s just, it’s a never ending responsibility. You know, I work seven days a week. There’s really no days off. I always tell people, I get up early, and I go to bed late. You can call me anytime. But, it’s fun.

TG Branfalt: Then you got guys like me calling me to get you on a podcast.

Jason Santos: No, this is great. I appreciate the interest. This makes me feel like we’re doing something right, when I get interest that people want to talk to us about.

TG Branfalt: I want to talk to you a bit more about the projects you have on tap. But before we do that, we got to take our last break. This is the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m TG Branfalt.

Commercial: At Ganjapreneur we have heard from dozens of cannabis business owners, who have encountered the issue of canna-bias. Which is when a main stream business, whether a landlord, bank, or some other provider of vital business services refuses to do business with them, simply because of their association with cannabis. We have even heard stories of businesses being unable to provide health and life insurance, because the insurance providers were too afraid to work with them.

We believe that this fear is totally unreasonable, and that cannabis business owners deserve access to the same services and resources that other businesses are afforded. That they should be able to hire consultation to help them follow the letter of the law in their business endeavors. And that they should be able to provide employee benefits without needing to compromise on the quality of coverage they can offer.

This is why we created the Ganjapreneur.com business service directory. A resource for cannabis professionals to find and connect with service providers who are cannabis friendly, and who are actively seeking cannabis industry clients. If you are considering hiring a business consultant, lawyer, accountant, web designer, or any other ancillary service for your business, go to Ganjapreneur.com/businesses to browse hundreds of agencies, firms, and organizations who support cannabis legalization. And who want to help you grow your business.

With so many options to choose from in each service category, you will be able to browse company profiles and do research on multiple companies in advance so you can find the provider who is the best fit for your particular need. Our business service directory is intended to a useful and well maintained resource, which is why we individually vet each listing that is submitted.

If you are a business service provider who wants to work with cannabis clients, you may be a good fit for our service directory. Go to Ganjapreneur.com/businesses to create your profile and start connecting with cannabis entrepreneurs today.

TG Branfalt: Welcome back to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m your host TG Branfalt, here with Jason Santos, CEO of Burn TV. So, tell me what you got on tap, man. Is there anything in particular that excites you as the CEO?

Jason Santos: We got a couple of really big shows in the works that I’m really excited about. We just officially closed them, we started production on one this month. The other one, we’re close to figuring out a production date. So, they’ll be coming to Burn here this calendar year. So, we’re super excited about that.

One is called Smoking With The Stars, it’s a music based show with a great … Just an incredible company called JB TV out of Chicago. We’re bringing in all these up and rising new stars in music, they play at a live venue. They sit down, smoke some weed, have an interview with Jerry who is kind of a combination of like Jerry Garcia, a skinnier Santa Claus and like everyone’s favorite uncle that you want to see at Christmas. The guy is just awesome.

They won a lot of awards and things like that, and we’re honored to have formed a partnership with them to make this great show. Then, we got another one I can’t announce yet, but we’re getting close to it. It’s an animated series that was in high demand, and it looks like we pulled it in. I’m super excited about it. The fun stuff is beginning now. The content, the creation, the creative side. It’s been a long road to get here.

That’s what excites me. Is actually going out and turning this thing on officially. I guess that’s the next big thing, is we’re going to be officially launching the network here very, very soon. We’ll be launching on approximately … It’ll be available on like 1.5 billion devices, whatever. That includes all Apple mobile, and tablets, all Android mobile, and tablets, Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, and Android TV set top boxes.

TG Branfalt: What are some of the topics most important for you as the CEO to showcase?

Jason Santos: You know, stuff like Portraits was very important to us, it was the brain child of our EVP of development Dave Yach. It hit everything that we wanted to kind of start to focus on. That is, we want to really start to change the stigma of what a cannabis user looks like.

These are your friends, your family, your colleagues, your idols, your icons, your neighbors, your coworkers. It’s entwined in our society. You know, 2017, 45% of Americans, which is a record high, have tried cannabis at least once. So, that’s almost one in two people has at least tried cannabis. We’re at 40 – 45 million people who regularly use cannabis in the US alone. So, we want to start to change peoples perceptions of what a cannabis user is because there’s a lot of negative stigmas that still get associated with it. But, at the same time, the other side of it is, we want to focus on cannabis isn’t the star of the show when we do content.

A lot of people think, you just throw a cannabis theme in there and that makes it good content, it doesn’t. You know, when you watch The Hangover, you don’t watch them take shots for an hour and a half before you get to the comedy. Right? It doesn’t have to be about the weed all the time. Where weed can be a role in the show, it doesn’t always have to be the star of the show.

That’s the only way we feel that cannabis is really going to make that true cross over, and get normalized. Is when we start incorporating it into story lines, into content, where the real stars … These are the story, the comedy, the structure, whatever. It’s not always cannabis.

TG Branfalt: So, I mean, it seems to be that you never really set out to be an advocate. But here you are, advocating for normalization. Is this a role that you really anticipated when you took on this whole project?

Jason Santos: Actually, absolutely. When I had the little side business and stuff, where I was consulting and working in the industry, I just saw a lot of problems. It was never going to get to where it needed to be, in my opinion, without the right voice. I knew there was a huge opportunity in this space.

It’s the only massive industry I can ever remember in my lifetime that didn’t have some kind of media voice. Mainstream media voice. So, for us, our focus isn’t to be an advocate, but our focus is on doing this in a way that allows us to be that advocate.

So, we’ll never do something that would put the industry backwards. Everything we do is designed to move the industry forward. But, obviously, our primary focus is on entertainment and building a good entertainment brand. The side benefit of that is, if we do this right, as we sat out to do, we’re going to elevate the industry side by side with us the entire way.

Again, we’re not on a non-profit advocacy agency. But we get to be a media brand that gets to move this industry into the light. And elevate its overall perceptions.

TG Branfalt: Finally, you said the first questions I asked you. You said, you’re an entrepreneur. What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs? Not just looking to get into the cannabis space, but possibly get involved in the media aspect of it.

Jason Santos: Well, in terms of the media space of cannabis, the one major piece of advice that I would give to anyone getting into media in general, is learn how to make good media. Just throwing cannabis as a subject line on something isn’t good enough. If you really want to transcend into this industry and do something good for this industry, but also make good content that’s sustainable, and going to continue to move this industry forward, and move your own opportunities forward, just learn how to make good content.

A lot of people think that they just use a good camera, and that’s good enough. It’s like, there’s lighting, story boarding, how to tell a story, editing, color correcting. There’s a lot that goes into making a quality piece of content, small or big. Understanding how to do good content is going to be imperative as this industry grows. Because it’s going to quickly outgrow the low brow, low quality, just weak themed content.

TG Branfalt: Finally, where can people find out more about Burn TV? You had mentioned quickly what devices it’s going to be on. Where can people find everything?

Jason Santos: Well, if you go to BurnTV.com, we got a website up right now. We’ve put a morning article out, called The Morning Burn. You can also find that on the website. The website right now is scaled back, as we’re just gearing up for the full launch. So, there will be some new updates coming to the website again. It’ll be expanding.

We got a partnership with another big media brand that’s going to be powering our news, the vision that we’ll be announcing shortly. So, there will be a lot more coming to the site. But the main destination for it, will be our apps. Which you will be able to find in the iOS stores, the Android stores, Roku, Amazon Fire, Android. Those kinds of things.

Obviously, you can follow us on Instagram at @BurnTV, at Twitter it’s @BurnTVNetwork. Same thing with Facebook, it’s BurnTVNetwork. We’re always publishing content there as well. In fact, that’s what Portraits was designed for, to be short form, shareable social media content so we can get as many eyeballs on it as possible so we can start to shift perceptions.

TG Branfalt: Portraits is what really drew me in. I saw that, I saw Smallie and I’m familiar with his story of it. I was really like … I was hooked. I watched one, and then I watched the other. Then the My Life, My Story you had mentioned the two sticks. That story itself was absolutely incredible. I was sitting there like, man, sometimes I don’t want to get out of bed in the morning. And this dude is … I mean, he’s doing things that you really, really wouldn’t expect.

So, I really want to congratulate you on the content that you’ve produced thus far. It’s really engaging, really good stuff. I want to thank you for taking the time, putting on the podcast hat, and joining me on this podcast. Really good stuff. I’m really looking forward to adding Burn TV on my Roku.

Jason Santos: I appreciate it man. It’s been a pleasure to be here. I definitely appreciate the kind words, and that’s the kind of reaction that we’re focused on when we make these types of shows. And, we got a lot more exciting stuff coming, we got a lot of stuff coming in action, sports, comedy, music. All Burn original stuff as well.

Then we got a lot of really great content partners, big mainstream brands as well as a big industry cannabis brands that we’re going to be bringing into the platform as well. We’re excited to get it launched, we’re really looking forward to that next stage.

TG Branfalt: I’m looking forward to seeing the next stage man. Thanks, again, for being on the show.

Jason Santos: My pleasure. Thanks for having us.

TG Branfalt: You can find more episodes on the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, in the podcast section of Ganjapreneur.com and in the Apple iTunes store. On the Ganjapreneur.com website, you will find the latest cannabis news and cannabis jobs updated daily, along with transcripts of this podcast.

You can also download the Ganjapreneur.com app in iTunes and Google Play. This episode was engineered by Jeremy Sebastiano. I’ve been your host, TG Branfalt.

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Indoor cannabis plants under the pink-hued glow of LED grow lights.

Vermont Awards Fifth Dispensary License

9/25/2017

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Vermont regulators have awarded the state’s fifth medical cannabis dispensary license to PhytoScience Institute, LLC., who will open shops in Bennington and St. Albans. The firm was one of five applicants to apply for the license.

Under the Department of Public Safety rules, PhytoScience must obtain an operating registration certificate and begin dispensing cannabis products to registered patients within six months. The fifth license is part of Act 65, which increased the number of licenses available in the state by two; however, the sixth license will not be granted until patient counts reach 7,000. As of Aug. 24, there were 4,609 patients enrolled in the program. Act 65 also permits current operators to open a second location. Once PhytoScience’s dispensaries are online, there will be 10 dispensaries operating in the state.

In an interview with Heady Vermont, Dr. William Cats-Beril, CEO of PhytoScience, indicated the company plans “to work closely with existing dispensaries.”

“We’re committed to well-being, to helping patients, to developing products that have a therapeutic impact on the life of patients and we identified areas that we thought were underserved,” he said in the exclusive interview. “… We hope to serve large swaths of patient populations – they’ve had poor access, long drives, and we hope that we’ll make it much more convenient to what we think is the best product in the state.”

According to a VT Digger report, two other hopefuls had their applications rejected by DPS who claimed they were incomplete.

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Panorama photo of the Salt Lake City skyline.

Poll: MMJ Overwhelmingly Popular in Utah

9/25/2017

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A new poll from UtahPolicy.com has found that 74 percent of Utahns support the petition bid to legalize medical cannabis use in the state, with 63 percent of “very active” Mormons supporting the measure. A “very active Mormon” is considered someone who attends church regularly and pays tithing; 80 percent of the state legislature’s 104 members are devout Mormons.

The proposal was also backed a majority of Republicans, 61 to 35 percent; Democrats, 93 to 7 percent; and those with no party affiliation 87 to 13 percent. Those who described themselves as “very conservative” favored medical cannabis legalization 51 to 42 percent.

Catholics in the state supported the reforms 80 to 20 percent; Protestants, including born-again Christians, also supported the proposal 61 to 26 percent; while non-religious supported the initiative 96 to 4 percent. Mormons who indicated they were “somewhat active” with the Latter-day Saints Church, also supported the regime 80 to 15 percent.

Last June, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a statement on the medical cannabis issue indicating that they believe “society is best served by requiring marijuana to go through further research and the [Food and Drug Administration] approval process that all other drugs must go through before they are prescribed to patients.”

The following month Jon Huntsman Sr., a well-known philanthropist in Utah and four-time cancer survivor, said he’d “love to” try medical cannabis.

“If medical marijuana was known by another name, it would have been utilized as a pain medication many years ago,” he told the Salt Lake Tribune. “From national research and understanding, the side effects of medical marijuana are considerably less than virtually all opioids and therefore less destructive to the body.”

Petitioners must gather 113,000 valid signatures of registered voters in the state in order to get the issue on the 2018 ballot.

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Young cannabis plants inside of a commercial grow site in Washington state.

Study: One in Four Cancer Patients at Washington Clinic Use Cannabis to Treat Symptoms

9/25/2017

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According to a study published in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, 24 percent of cancer patients treated at Washington’s Seattle Cancer Care Alliance had used cannabis in the last year for both physical and psychological symptoms related to their disease. Researchers also found that legalization increased the odds that a patient would try medical cannabis products.

The study, led by Dr. Steven Pergam and his colleagues at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, found that 75 percent of the 926 patients surveyed, with a median age of 58-years-old, were interested in hearing about medical cannabis treatment from those providing clinical care, while 66 percent admitted to using cannabis in the past. Another 21 percent said they had used cannabis in the last month, and 18 percent said they had used it in the last week. Patients who indicated they had used cannabis within the last week or month indicated they used it to treat pain and nausea, in addition to using it to cope with stress, depression, and insomnia.

Pergam hopes the study helps “open the door” for more research “aimed at evaluating the risks and benefits of marijuana” for those diagnosed with cancer.

“Cancer patients desire but are not receiving information from their cancer doctors about marijuana use during their treatment, so many of them are seeking information from alternate non-scientific sources,” he said in a press release. “This is important, because if we do not educate our patients about marijuana, they will continue to get their information elsewhere.”

The study was published online today.

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The Canadian flag flying on a blue sky in front of the sun.

Health Canada to Launch Cannabis Awareness Public Health Campaign

9/25/2017

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Health Canada plans to launch a cannabis awareness public health campaign aimed at teens and young adults which will focus on messages such as, “the younger cannabis use starts and the more it is used the higher the health risks,” and “like alcohol, cannabis is not without risks,” according to a report from the CBC. The federal government has earmarked $9.6 million from this year’s budget for public education about the risks of cannabis use as they move forward with legalization plans.

The campaign will focus on minors aged 13 to 17-years-old and young adults aged 18 to 24.

The government has posted a tender seeking bids for a contractor to run the “cannabis experimental marketing program” which closes on Oct. 16.

“Health Canada requires the services of a contractor to develop, implement, manage, and report on national experiential marketing events programs to support the proposed legislation and regulation of cannabis by raising awareness of the health and safety risks and engaging with the target audiences,” the ad reads.

According to the CBC report, marketing campaigns could be done through a series of events, concerts, and social media platforms. Health Canada expects the events to run from December to March 2019.

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Las Vegas Dispensary Receives Green Light to Stay Open 24/7

9/22/2017

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The Las Vegas, Nevada City Council has unanimously approved a measure that allows Oasis Cannabis to stay open 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week – it is the first dispensary near the Strip granted approval to operate around the clock, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.

The approval follows a Tuesday vote by the Clark County Commission to allow all 26 dispensaries in its jurisdiction to stay open 24/7; however that change is not expected until Oct. 3, while Oasis expects to begin their new operating hours as soon as Friday.

Presently, shops in North Las Vegas are permitted to stay open all day and night.

Benjamin Sillitoe, co-founder and CEO of Oasis, said that the Clarke County commissioners’ decision would eventually allow all dispensaries to keep a 24/7 schedule and that being forced to close would force customers to buy somewhere else.

“We have people lined up at our door at 6 a.m., and (we) are rushing people out at 3 a.m.,” Sillitoe said in the report, adding that both a bar and body painting studio in his shop’s vicinity are open around the clock.

The approvals by the city council and Clarke County Commission are just the latest changes to the state’s recreational cannabis market. Earlier this month the state Legislative Counsel Bureau issued an opinion stating that nothing in the voter-approved adult-use cannabis law prevents municipalities from granting social-use licenses. Gov. Brian Sandoval said that decision has “no precedential value” therefore it remains to be seen whether localities roll out social-use regimes.

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The wide fan leaf of a mature, outdoor hemp plant.

Hemp Cultivation Applications Open in New York

9/22/2017

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Applications for farmers to participate in New York’s recently expanded hemp research program are now open until Nov. 22 after the state was granted a Drug Enforcement Agency permit to help cultivators import industrial hemp seed.

Officials expect a 6,000 percent increase in the acreage in the state dedicated to hemp, from just 30 acres in 2016 to an estimated 2,000 acres next season. The state has so far licensed more than 20 partners to participate in the program.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that expanding industrial hemp research opens doors “to innovative ideas that could provide a major boost for our farms and communities.”

“Industrial hemp has the potential to become an economic engine not just in New York, but across the country and with this effort, we can lead the way in this emerging industry,” Cuomo, a Democrat, said in a press release.

Cuomo signed the hemp program expansion bill last July, which also established a Hemp Working Group to advise the state on policies to help grow the industry. Coinciding with the bill signing, Cuomo launched a $5 million Industrial Hemp Processors Grant Fund. The fund is administered by Empire State Development in consultation with the state Department of Agriculture and Markets. Grants up to $500,000 – to cover processing, new construction, and equipment costs – are available to qualifying applicants.

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The Icelandic capital city of Reykjavik photographed during the sunrise golden hour.

Bill to Legalize Cannabis Use and Create Industry Introduced in Iceland

9/22/2017

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A bill to implement a legal cannabis industry has been introduced in Iceland by Pawel Bartoszek, a member of the nation’s Reform Party, the Iceland Review reports. The measure, which would provide a legal taxed and regulated regime, is based on the handbook How to Regulate Cannabis: A Practical Guide. The guide is published by Transform, an independent think tank that campaigns for drug reforms.

Under the measure, Icelanders 20-and-older would be able to purchase cannabis products and social-use would be permitted in so-called “cannabis restaurants”; alcohol would not be served at these establishments. Products would be sold in plain gray packaging that includes product information and warnings, and a total ban on cannabis advertising would be included.

“I hope that the bill will be an icebreaker that spurs the debate and that it will ultimately lead to us ceasing the punishment of people for consuming this specific substance,” Bartoszek said in the report, adding that over 1,000 individuals are prosecuted for cannabis crimes in the nation each year.

The measure would include a fee similar to that paid by alcohol importers or manufacturers. According to the announcement on Bartoszek’s website, the fee would be 2,000 kroner “per gram of active THC,” so products with 15 percent THC would carry a 300 kroner fee per gram — or about $48 USD per gram.

The proposal was introduced on Sept. 20.

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A person wearing a white glove writes on a paper next to some medicine bottles.

Study: THCA ‘Worth Consideration’ as Huntington’s Therapy

9/22/2017

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Scientific advisory board members of Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc., a Canadian licensed medical cannabis company, have co-authored a study suggesting THCA shows neuroprotective activity and is “worth consideration for the treatment of Huntington’s Disease and possibly other neuroinflammatory diseases.”

THCA is the precursor cannabinoid to THC and has no psychotropic effect. THCA converts into THC as the plant dries but the process is sped up by smoking, vaping, or otherwise decarboxylating cannabis. The researchers purport THCA activates a pathway that is thought to be a neuroprotectant.

The research was conducted at Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba in Spain. Dr. Eduardo Muñoz, Ph.D., Emerald Health’s chief scientific officer, and co-author of the paper, said that in some cases patients with neurodegenerative diseases do not respond to traditional therapies.

There are more than 600 neurological disorders which impact an estimated 50 million Americans every year.

“Our research data provide further evidence that cannabinoids hold therapeutic potential for a wide range of diseases and conditions, including neurodegeneration, which represents a significant unmet medical need,” said Muñoz, who also serves as an immunology professor at the University of Córdoba, in a press release.

The article, “Tetrahydrocannabinolic acid is a potent PPARγ agonist with neuroprotective activity,” was published in the British Journal of Pharmacology.

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Survey: Recent Medical School Grads Not Prepared to Recommend MMJ

9/21/2017

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According to a survey of medical school curriculum deans conducted by researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, 66.7 percent indicated their graduates were not prepared to recommend medical cannabis and another 25 percent said their graduates were not even prepared to answer medical cannabis questions.

The survey included deans at 172 North American medical schools, including 31 that specialize in osteopathic medicine. They received 101 replies.

The team also surveyed 258 medical residents and fellows who earned their medical degrees from school in the U.S. who now work at the school and the Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. That survey found 90 percent of in-training physicians who responded said they were not prepared to recommend medical cannabis, and 85 percent indicated they had not received any training in medical school or their residencies about medical cannabis.

The researchers also examined the Association of American Medical Colleges database and found that just 9 percent of medical school reported they had covered medical cannabis.

Dr. Laura Jean Bierut, senior author of the study, and Alumni Endowed Professor of Psychiatry at Washington University, and a member of the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse, said the study shows that “medical education needs to catch up to marijuana legislation.”

“Physicians in training need to know the benefits and drawbacks associated with medical marijuana so they know when or if, and to whom, to prescribe the drug,” she said in an interview with the university’s BioMed Radio.

The study was published in the Drug and Alcohol Dependence journal.

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Ontario, Canada’s Niagara College to Offer Cannabis Cultivation Degree

9/21/2017

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Niagara College, located in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, will soon offer a one-year post-graduate program in cannabis cultivation as the nation moves toward federal legalization, according to a report from the Star. The program, which will be available to students who have earned a degree in horticulture, agricultural sciences, or related fields, will focus on plant pathology, standards, requirements and legal requirements for licensed producers, and growing techniques.

It will be the first of its kind in Canada.

Al Unwin, associate dean of environmental and horticultural studies, said college officials will “certainly” consult with licensed producers as the regulations change.

“There’s a huge need for highly-skilled well-trained workers who are not only knowledgeable about the crop itself, but the legal requirements governed by Health Canada,” he said in the report, adding that the class is already approved by the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development.

The college already offers a two-year greenhouse technician program and some of those students will likely become members of the cannabis cultivation Class of 2019. The first class will be held in the fall 2018 semester.

According to the report, Canada has 59 licensed medical cannabis producers throughout the nation and 32 of those are in Ontario. Earlier this month, provincial government officials unveiled their proposal for recreational cannabis sales, which would see the province shut down all currently operating dispensaries and license between 30 and 60 new ones.

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LC Solutions Michigan Offers Smart Cannabis Accounting

9/21/2017

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As state cannabis regulations come online, entrepreneurs seeking longevity in this industry need to make absolutely sure they strategize their business accordingly. Particularly in the state of Michigan, where — after years of an unregulated, caregiver/patient-based marketplace — commercial regulations finally came online last December, medical cannabis business owners are facing new requirements on their path towards a state-issued license.

One such requirement facing Michigan’s cannabis companies is a financial review process which, according to CPA Kareyna Miller, could easily evolve into a financial audit requirement — so last December, Miller founded LC Solutions Michigan PLLC to help cannabis entrepreneurs down the path towards licensing and success.

LC Solutions Michigan is the state’s first patient- and woman-owned, cannabis-focused accounting firm.

“Once clients start talking to me, they understand my background and they understand that I have been a part of this on a personal end,” said Miller, who first joined Michigan’s industry as a medical cannabis patient in 2011.

LC Solutions Michigan offers an extensive and diverse set of financial services — these include corporate bookkeeping, the setting up and management of new accounting systems, cloud record management, employee payroll, tax filings, and more. LC Solutions also offers consulting services that help cannabis entrepreneurs establish a strong financial foothold for their company, including costs accounting, start-up business planning, and preparation for state-issued audits and financial reviews.

“I understand cannabis, I’ve seen and been a part of patient grows. It’s a very unique industry and a unique set of people who are a part of it, and I’m not just somebody in a suit trying to get into this industry,” Miller said. “I’m very proactive, and I want to make this an accepted and legitimate industry here in Michigan.”

Miller founded LC Solutions Michigan to help cannabis entrepreneurs succeed — but it wasn’t her earliest effort to help members of the cannabis community. During Michigan’s initial years as a purely patient/caregiver-based marketplace, Miller also published a series of tutorials and articles under the platform LCS Accounting Online, where she offers tips, advice, and tutorials to help caregivers satisfy their own accounting needs.

And, while Miller is happy to help medical cannabis caregivers stay afloat in this emerging industry, the driving force behind these guides are the patients who rely on those caregivers and their ability to provide trusted, safe medicine. “Protecting patients and making sure they have what they need — that is the most important thing,” she said.

To learn more about how LC Solutions Michigan can help with your financial accounting needs, visit the company website at LCSolutionsMichigan.com or inquire via email at info@lcsolutionsmichigan.com.

 

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Looking at the road ahead on a California highway during sunset.

Colorado’s Front Range Biosciences Raises $3M in Bridge Funding; Plans California Expansion

9/21/2017

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Lafayette, Colorado-based Front Range Biosciences, which specializes in cannabis tissue propagation, has raised $3 million in bridge funding which will be used to scale the company’s processes and help fund its expansion into California. The investment round was led by Phyto Partners, Salveo Capital, Sand Hill Angels, HBS Angels of NYC, NY Angels, Halley Venture Partners, Anthill Ventures, and Canopy Boulder.

The firm was one of 10 companies who participated in CanopyBoulder’s spring 2016 startup accelerator program.

Nick Hofmeister, co-founder of Front Range and COO, said the round exceeded the firm’s expectations.

“With the rapid growth of the commercial cannabis industry, there is increasing demand for improved cultivation practices for large-scale grow operations,” said Dr. Jon Vaught, CEO and co-founder, in a press release. “We plan to use our recent funding to scale our processes and keep up with this demand, while expanding into new cannabis markets.”

Brett Finkelstein, managing director at Phyto Partners, indicated that the Front Range management team is what attracted the investment firm to the bioscience company.

“[Front Range] has all of the right pieces for a successful business – a stellar team, clear differentiated offering, early customer validation, and a rapidly growing pipeline,” he said in a statement.

Front Range uses Next Generation Sequencing technology to create cannabis genetics maps which help develop commercially relevant traits in cannabis plants, including disease resistance, oil and resin yields, and desirable cannabinoid profiles.

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Picture of cannabis fan leaves inside of a commercial cannabis grow operation.

Tikun Olam and MariMed Partnership to Expand into 4 States

9/21/2017

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Tikun Olam and MariMed Inc. have agreed to expand their partnership which will see Tikun-branded products rolled out in Rhode Island, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Illinois next year. The partnership brought the company’s products to Delaware in 2015.

The companies expect to offer at least six Tikun-branded strains, including high-CBD strain Avidekel, along with tinctures, edibles, vape cartridges, and edibles.

“Tikun Olam is delighted to expand our relationship with MariMed,” said Tikun CEO Bernard Sucher in a press release. “MariMed utilizes the ‘best practices’ and standards for cultivation and production and their qualified distribution channels allow us to bring our proven wellness products to more U.S. patients than ever before.”

Tikun Olam, a medical cannabis provider in Israel, announced in April that they were expanding their U.S. reach into Nevada with a partnership with CW Nevada LLC. They plan to begin offering products in Washington state in November.

MariMed CEO Robert Fireman said the agreement is due, in part, to the “great success” of the Delaware pilot program.

“Tikun Olam’s empirical data on clinical effectiveness is unsurpassed, and we look forward to educating healthcare professionals and offering Tikun’s products to tens of thousands of new patients nationwide,” he said in a statement.

Since 2010, Tikun’s clinical data has shown that the firm’s strains are effective therapies for symptomatic relief of cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder, Crohn’s disease, colitis, epilepsy, neuropathy, and chronic pain. The company has treated over 10,000 patients in Israel.

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A person dumps pharmaceutical pills out of a pill bottle.

Study: 34% of Chronic Pain Patients Enrolled in MMJ Program Quit Pharmaceuticals

9/20/2017

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A new study by researchers from the University of New Mexico found that 34 percent of chronic pain patients enrolled in the study were able to cease using all prescription medications by the last six months of the 24-month observation period.

The study included 83 chronic pain patients enrolled in the state’s medical cannabis program, compared to 42 who were not. Another 36 percent of registered medical cannabis patients enrolled in the study were able to use fewer medications by the end of the study.

“Legal access to cannabis may reduce the use of multiple classes of dangerous prescription medications in certain patient populations,” the study authors concluded. “[A] shift from prescriptions for other scheduled drugs to cannabis may result in less frequent interactions with our conventional healthcare system and potentially improved patient health.”

The authors state the purpose of the study was to “measure the effect of enrollment in state authorized [medical cannabis programs] on Schedule I [through] V drug prescription patterns. The authors argue that “co-prescribing of scheduled drugs is endemic” in the U.S. and presents “health risks to patients” and a burden on healthcare systems.

The study was published in the Journal of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.

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The state flag of California flying on a clear, blue skied day.

California Legislature Joins the Fight to Deschedule Cannabis

9/20/2017

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For decades, medical cannabis patients and activists have called for the Federal Government to remove cannabis from the Schedule 1 narcotic list — now, the legislatures in California have taken a remarkable step toward validating those claims.

The California Assembly just passed a joint resolution in a 60-10 vote that calls for the federal descheduling of cannabis. Earlier this year, the California Senate passed the same resolution 34 to 2 as part of a request that Congress loosen banking restrictions on the cannabis industry. Removing cannabis from the federal list of controlled substances would significantly improve the environment for cannabis entrepreneurs by opening access to the banking system, and would promote more research into medical cannabis by allowing federally funded institutions to conduct medical cannabis inquiries.

Not needing the Governor’s signature, the joint resolution will now be sent to President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, California’s 2 Senators and California’s 53-member Congressional delegation. The Trump administration has not signaled a willingness to support cannabis reform, but the Senate Appropriations Committee has expressed concerns that the Schedule 1 designation is impeding medical cannabis research.

Consider New Jersey Senator Cory Booker’s Marijuana Justice Act, which itself would deschedule cannabis, and there appears to be a groundswell of efforts to finally move cannabis from the Schedule 1 category.

The Controlled Substances Act set up the “scheduling” system in 1972 and sorted narcotics into five schedules. Cannabis was curiously put into the same Schedule 1 category as LSD and heroin, a designation reserved for “highly addictive” substances with “no known medical uses,” where it has remained for 45 years despite a large pool of research showing cannabis to be effective in treating a wide variety of medical conditions.

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