Activist-Drafted Bill Would Legalize Washington Home-Growing

1/09/2017

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Activists in Washington have drafted a bill that would legalize home cannabis cultivation and sharing – provisions not included in I-502, the ballot initiative approved by voters in 2012.

“Washingtonians were told that the intent was to regulate cannabis like alcohol,” the authors of the ‘Washington state cannabis home growing act’ state. “Adults are allowed to brew beer and wine at home, therefore they should be allowed to grow their own cannabis at home.”

Under the measure, adults over 21 would be able to grow up to 18 cannabis plants and transport up to one pound of dried cannabis or six live plants. The proposal includes the ‘in-plain-view’ provision typical to personal-grow policies in other legal states, but provides that all transfers also be performed in private. Home extraction would be permitted, but must be in compliance with I-502.

The drafters say the amendment is needed because it was the voters’ intent “to stop the treatment of adult cannabis use as a crime.”

“The people do not give up their sovereignty to government in order to plant a seed, grow to harvest and enjoy [its] full produce as a right of nature, or to engage in culture and society with other consenting adults, or to develop one’s own personality,” the bill states. “Therefore, humanitarian compassion necessitates this act…”

The proposal has not been taken adopted or sponsored by any member of the Washington legislature.

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Report: Cannabis Funding Up in Q4’16; Down 9% Overall

1/09/2017

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According to a CB Insights analysis, 2016 was a mixed bag for cannabis-related startups as funding and deal flow fell 9 percent, but the sector was bolstered by deals worth tens of millions of dollars.

The report found that cannabis funding deals totaled $225 million in 2016, down from the $220 million seen in the previous year. Deal flow – the quantity of investment opportunities in a sector – fell from 106 in 2015 to 96 last year, the report says. Deal flows peaked in the fourth quarter of 2016 at 32.

“On a quarterly basis, funding activity picked up in Q4’16, after deals fell for three consecutive quarters,” authors wrote in the report, published Jan. 6. “Funding in Q4’16 totaled $81M over 25 deals, more than tripling Q3’16′s funding total, but still falling short of the heights seen in Q1’15.”

Washington-based Privateer Holdings led the industry’s biggest 2016 deal with a $40 million convertible note round. The second largest pact belonged to Israel’s Syqe Medical, who struck a $20 million deal with Philip Morris International during a corporate minority round of fundraising. California-based MedMen rounded out the top three with their $15 million deal Cap-Meridian Ventures.

Privateer Holdings, who represented nearly half all quarter four cannabis funding, has raised $144 million since 2013 from investors, including Snoop Dogg’s cannabis-focused fund Casa Verde Capital and Founder’s Fund. Syqe Medical offers a metered-dose inhaler for precision dosing of medical cannabis.

Eight U.S. states enacted some form of adult-use or medical cannabis legalization last year.

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Oregon’s Cannabis Testing Rules Causing Product Shortages

1/09/2017

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Oregon’s more stringent cannabis product testing rules have caused supply disruptions and, according to dispensary owners, have forced a 40 to 50 percent decrease in concentrate and edible sales, the Coast River Business Journal reports.

The new rules, which took effect on Oct. 1, have created a burden for state-certified testing laboratories, who cannot keep up with the demand. The issue is compounded by the fact that there are simply too few labs statewide to test cannabis products.

Omar Guerrero, co-owner of Clatsop County’s The Farmacy, called the last two months “a nightmare.”

“We didn’t have edibles or extract because of the new lab test requirements. It delayed everything. We suffered,” he said in the report. “We had all the products then we had nothing for a little more than a month.”

Oscar Nelson, co-owner of the Sweet Relief Dispensary in Astoria, estimates he has lost 33 percent of his edible and concentrates stock, causing “customer volatility.” He anticipates the market will stabilize, eventually, but not until “St. Patty’s Day 2018.”

“You’ve got less producers, fewer people bringing product to the market and that same product is going through a much more stringent funnel,” Nelson said. “It’s like we’ve got several bottlenecks back-to-back.”

Both Nelson and Guerrero are worried that the Oregon Health Authority is overwhelmed; Nelson said that the agency is beleaguered by producer applications making it tough to focus on the backlog.

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South Dakota Cannabis Activists Gearing up for 2018 Ballot Initiatives

1/09/2017

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Pro-cannabis activists in South Dakota are planning to introduce both adult-use and medical cannabis proposals for initiated measures to go to a statewide vote in 2018, according to a KCCR-AM report. A notary error forced a medical cannabis measure off of South Dakota ballots last year.

Melissa Mentele, chairperson of New Approach South Dakota, indicated the adult-use measure would bring in “lots of revenue for the state and for educators,” explaining that the group is waiting on a summary from state Attorney General Marty Jackley before they can begin circulating the petition to citizens. Mantele said that the medical cannabis bill is “very similar” to their 2016 measure and that the group kept much of the language in that proposal the same because of the support it garnered last election cycle.

“We keep getting weak legislation or legislation that really doesn’t reflect who we are as South Dakotans,” Mentele said in the report. “We’ve been focusing on these bathroom bills for two years. I think people are ready to have fresh conversations for things that are really going to benefit our state.”

Mantele estimates that a recreational market in South Dakota would generate millions of dollars in tax revenues for the state.

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Freshman Nebraska State Senator Plans to Introduce MMJ Bill in Upcoming Session

1/09/2017

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Nebraska is one of just five states without any sort of medical cannabis program but freshman nonpartisan State Sen. Anna Wishart is looking to change that this year, the Omaha World-Herald reports. Wishart said her measure would be of the limited variety – much like the proposal that fell just three votes short in the state last session – allowing for cannabis medicine in pill, liquid or vapor forms.

“There are people desperate and in need,” Wishart said in the report, noting that during her door-to-door campaigning a lot of people expressed support for a comprehensive medical cannabis program. “I can guarantee you they are in every single senator’s district.”

However, the Nebraska legislature saw 17 new Senators win seats in the last election, and while the body is officially a “non-partisan” majority, nearly all leadership posts in the Senate will go to conservative members. Advocates believe that even if the measure passes the legislature it will be vetoed by Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts.

“I’m putting more faith in a ballot initiative than a legislative bill,” Shelley Gillian, whose 14-year-old son suffers from daily seizures, said.

According to Matt Schweich, director of state campaigns for the Marijuana Policy Project, the organization is “very seriously” considering a ballot initiative push in 2018 if lawmakers fail to act.

“It’s going to be a public policy in Nebraska at some time in the future,” he said. “I hope that legislators see that.”

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Should Chronic Cannabis Users be Worried about Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome?

1/07/2017

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The number of people living with cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome is impossible to quantify as both doctors and patients are limited by the lack of research and the newness of the condition. The syndrome – commonly referred to as CHS – was first named by Australian researchers in a 2004 article in the medical journal Gut. In the article, authors described 19 patients who experienced severe abdominal pain and “cyclical pattern” vomiting that was only relieved by hot showers. The 19 patients had another thing in common – they all used cannabis.

Patient Perspectives

In interviews with Ganjapreneur, patients reflected on their experiences, describing unimaginable physical and mental anguish. Each story, although unique, was weighed with desperation, anger, and confusion. (*Some names have been changed to protect patient privacy).

J. Spence*, a 36-year-old from upstate New York, first used cannabis when he was a sophomore in high school, but didn’t start using “all day, every day” until his “late teens, early-20s.” It wasn’t until his mid-20s that he started having the attacks. He assumed it was acid reflux or “a bad gut,” attributing the illness to being “a little overweight,” his alcohol use, and unhealthy eating habits.

“At that point it wasn’t really bad enough to get hospitalized,” Spence said in a phone interview, explaining that doctors put him on medication to treat acid reflux. But as time went on, he only got sicker and the attacks became more frequent. “At one point I considered maybe it was long-term use of that making me sick.”

“What I thought was helping me…is actually what was making me sicker,” he said, describing “pouring sweat” which led him to the shower. “It became a learned behavior. Whenever I had an attack I got into the shower.”

Spence estimates that it was about 12 years ago when a doctor first considered that he had CHS but Spence admits he was bullish and it wasn’t until three or four years ago – and about 30 CAT scans over 10 years – that he was clinically diagnosed by an emergency room doctor. He was using cannabis “half recreationally, half medically” for anxiety and pain and was unable to change his lifestyle, so the attacks persisted. He finally quit “for good” last Thanksgiving.

Janine Durand*, a 47-year-old California resident, started using cannabis at 18-years-old, “hanging out with friends in [Los Angeles],” before it was legalized for medicinal use in the state in 1996.

“I wasn’t really a heavy smoker, just every once in a while,” Durand said in an interview. “It wasn’t until I was 27 when I really started smoking every day. And, at that time, I was just smoking Mexican weed – it’s not the highest grade stuff. Chronic, as they call it these days, wasn’t really a big thing yet.”

Durand had her first attack when she was about 29 – she was hospitalized for three days. Allen’s paper wouldn’t come for another five years and Durand was often in and out of emergency rooms and hospitals. It took 17 years for her to get correctly diagnosed.

“About a year-and-a-half ago I decided to start using concentrates and pretty soon I replaced marijuana completely with dabbing and I got really sick,” she explained. “And I was thinking ‘whatever is wrong with me it’s progressing’ and I dabbed more.”

She barely remembers the emergency room visit during which she was diagnosed and it wasn’t until she got home and looked it up on the Internet that she finally had an answer.

“It all made sense,” Durand said. “I read about the hot showers and it was the only this that alleviates these attacks to where you don’t just want to kill yourself – and I’m not exaggerating. It’s not unusual for me to be in a hot shower for four hours.”

Like Spence, Durand didn’t immediately quit. She was using it medically to manage pain and doctors had stopped prescribing her pharmaceutical pain killers due to her cannabis use. She stopped using concentrates and started using less, and weaker, cannabis – she kept getting sick. Durand quit for good on Oct. 3 and has neither had an attack nor taken a four-hour shower since.

“I’m very pro-marijuana,” she said. “I don’t believe that the majority of people will be affected at all.”

Stuart Margolis, a 47-year-old from Portland, Oregon, suffered from dozens of attacks, hospitalized “only” two or three times. He started smoking “heavily” at 18 and it wasn’t until his most recent attack last November that an emergency room doctor finally convinced him it was his cannabis use.

Margolis, and others interviewed for this piece, are members of a Facebook group dedicated to CHS support and awareness. He indicated that being a part of the online community helps him “[not] feel like…the only one experiencing this weirdness,” which he thinks of “in terms of an allergy.”

“I don’t think it was the [potency] of the weed itself,” he said in an interview. “For me, I think it was constant usage over long periods of time. I’m not sure I buy into the ‘buildup of toxic levels’ theory,” remarking that he never really used concentrates on a regular basis.

“Bodies change over time,” Margolis said. “I think my body doesn’t like whatever [cannabis is] doing to my system, whether it’s hormonal, or toxic metabolites, or really just an allergy.”

He explained that, for him, quitting cannabis was “super easy” compared to quitting narcotic pain killers – which he was prescribed “years ago” after getting hit by a horse. He hasn’t decided whether or not he is going to try to use cannabis again.

Physician Perspectives

Dr. Eric Lavonas, the chief of Emergency Medicine at Denver Health and spokesman for the American College of Emergency Physicians, has personally treated around 40 or 50 cases of CHS over the last four years. He explained that, while “it’s not an uncommon problem” in Colorado “obviously, most people who smoke marijuana don’t have any problem with vomiting.”

“But when you have a lot of people who smoke a lot of marijuana, even an uncommon problem like [CHS] affects a lot of people,” he said in a phone interview.

Lavonas worked in the emergency department prior to legalization in Colorado and said that while legalization has probably increased the number of people affected, more people are now willing to discuss their cannabis use which is going to lead to more diagnoses, and the overall increase in the cases will lead to less missed diagnoses. “Here in Colorado we’re pretty good at figuring this out…Every emergency physician has seen it.” The medical community is also beginning to make strides in treating the attacks without the showers, utilizing capsaicin oil.

The increased potency of cannabis products could also be at play, Lavonas said, observing that people smoking cannabis is “not a new thing” but ready access to high potency strains is what has changed.

“I am neither pro nor anti-marijuana. I am anti-vomiting,” he wrote in a follow-up email. “And I believe strongly that people should have accurate information when they make their choices.”

Dr. Bonni Goldstein, medical director for Canna-Centers, previously served as a pediatric emergency medicine physician for 15 years. Goldstein has seen two CHS patients, both in their 20s, and both patients only began experiencing attacks after using high potency cannabis products. After abstaining from using cannabis for at least one month, both patients were able to start using “very low dose” products.

“I’ve heard of people that cannot reintroduce but both of my patients were able to use cannabis again in small amounts, compared to what they were using,” she explained.

Goldstein, who now provides medical cannabis recommendations and treats very ill patients, indicated that she has never seen CHS – which she describes as an allergy – present in a strictly medical user and, in her experience, the condition “occurs only in people who are recreational users.”

However, Goldstein said there are countless numbers of “chronic, heavy” cannabis users that never develop CHS. “The big question mark is the individual’s body, metabolism, and absorption.”

“With this particular syndrome I do believe there are some people with a predisposition and then they are using high doses of THC-rich cannabis products,” she explained. “We really don’t know, but it’s theorized that there is a paradoxical effect at the receptor – it was working fine and then became sensitized.”

Goldstein also debunked some of the statistics employed in recent news reports. “In Arizona, they’re saying there was a 200 percent increase. If you look at the numbers there were three cases one year and six cases the next.”

“The reality is that just because there are people who have this does not mean that cannabis is a dangerous substance,” she said. “It is the easiest thing in the world – you abstain – and then if you want to tip-toe back into it, you tip-toe back into it and you don’t go high dose.”

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Outgoing VT Gov. Pardons Nearly 200 People Convicted of Cannabis Crimes

1/06/2017

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In one of his final gubernatorial acts, outgoing Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin pardoned 192 people formerly convicted of nonviolent cannabis offenses on Tuesday, clearing the records of individuals whose ages ranged from their 20s to 60s, the Christian Science Monitor reports. During his tenure, the Democrat has pardoned a total of 208 people, setting a new record in the state.

About 450 people applied for relief under the program and among those pardoned all but 15 live in Vermont. The pardon applied to convictions of nonviolent offenders who possessed less than one ounce and had no felonies, or convictions either of driving under the influence or reckless driving.

P.S. Ruckman Jr., a political science professor as Rock Valley College in Illinois, called Shumlin’s sweeping pardons “almost unimaginably safe” from criticism compared to 40 years ago.

“It’s highly significant,” Ruckman said in the report. “I think it’s likely we’ll see more of it.”

The governors of other states that have either legalized or decriminalized cannabis have not moved to clear the records of those convicted under old marijuana laws.

Governor Phil Scott, a Republican who took office in Vermont yesterday, has made no indication that he would continue the policies of his predecessor, although he told the Burlington Free Press that he believes the pardon offers make sense.

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Australian Activist Raided Over Cannabis Oil Tried to Meet with Government Officials

1/06/2017

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The Australian woman raided by law enforcement for manufacturing medicinal cannabis oil, which she provided for free to terminally ill patients, said she has tried to meet with Health Department officials for more than two years prior to the crackdown at her home, according to an Australian Broadcasting Corporation report.

Jenny Hallam, 44, said she has worked with Greens MP Tammy Franks in the effort to legalize medicinal cannabis in South Australia but the bid “just can’t seem to get anywhere.”   

“I can’t even get a meeting with [SA Premier] Jack Snelling for the last two years … they keep putting it off to the drug and alcohol abuse minister, which we find insulting,” Hallam said in the report. “We’re not abusing anything; we’re not abusing any drugs. We’re using a drug responsibly and carefully and it’s saving people’s lives and it’s making people’s lives better and that’s all we’re trying to do.”

After the raid was made public, Franks called it “outrageous” saying patients had “been failed by the slowness of reforms.”

SA Innovation Minister Kyam Maher said that while the federal law does permit specialist doctors to prescribe medicinal cannabis, which is dispensed by pharmacies, further reforms will likely be discussed by South Australia officials during a meeting later this month. He said he would look into arranging a meeting between not only Hallam and state officials but “the industry in general.”

Snelling’s office indicated that the raid is in line with the law and is “a matter for police, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the courts.”

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Alaska Collects First Cannabis Taxes

1/06/2017

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Alaska’s legal cannabis market earned $750,851.59 from Oct 29., the day the first store opened, to Dec. 9, according to an Alaska Dispatch News report. In November, seven cannabis cultivators paid $81,100 in taxes to the state Department of Revenue – mostly in cash.

Half of the tax revenues will be deposited into the state’s general fund, while the other half will be used for programs aimed at rehabilitating repeat criminal offenders.

Under the law, buds are taxes at $50 per wholesale ounce, while trim – stems and leaves – are taxed at $15 per wholesale ounce. In total, about 98 pounds of bud and 10 pounds of trim were sold in the state during the first full month of recreational sales, the Department of Revenue’s Tax Division Director Ken Alper indicated in the report. The numbers for November’s sales, due in December, are not yet available.

Despite recent supply shortages that have forced intermittent closing of some retail locations, last month three new stores opened in Anchorage and one in Fairbanks. Sitka’s first shop, Weed Dudes, opened on New Year’s Eve.

The first-month sales were generated by two shops in Fairbanks, one in Valdez, one in the Kenai Peninsula, and one in the state capital of Juneau.

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Navy Vet Gets First Jacksonville, FL MMJ Delivery

1/06/2017

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A Jacksonville, Florida Navy veteran is the first person in the city to receive a medical cannabis home delivery, First Coast News reports. The expansion of the program under the voter-approved Amendment 2 took effect on Tuesday.

In 2008, Gabriel George was involved in a motorcycle crash that inflicted injuries that still cause him daily and excruciating pain, including; severe nerve damage, a minor brain injury, and right arm paralysis. At the time of the accident, both of his lungs collapsed, he broke his C2 and C5 vertebra, six ribs, scapula, and collar bones.

“I’ve done everything,” George said in the report. “I’ve done every pain pill, every muscle relaxer, every prescription pill you can find. I’ve had multiple surgeries.”

His low-THC oil was supplied by Knox Medical, a dispensary outside of Orlando – more than 140 miles from Jacksonville. His recommendation was written by Dr. Terel Newton of Jacksonville’s Total Pain Relief.

Insurance does not cover the cost of the treatment, forcing George to pay $90 out-of-pocket for a 600-milligram bottle. However, George says it’s worth it.

“I’m able to do more, smile more,” he said. “I’m able to eat without it hurting or causing more problems. Especially getting back to doing things with my daughter.”

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Jim McAlpine: Crushing the ‘Lazy Stoner’ Stereotype with Cannabis Athletics

1/05/2017

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One of the most frequent and well-known labels applied to cannabis users is that of the “lazy stoner” — the idea that cannabis use goes hand-in-hand with a sedentary lifestyle and lack of motivation. Patients, advocates, and cannabis entrepreneurs know that this is false (although of course anyone can get too high to function if they over-consume), yet this notion continues to appear in mainstream culture on a regular basis. Our latest podcast guest is involved in numerous business ventures that directly challenge this stereotype. Our podcast host TG Branfalt recently sat down for a conversation with Jim McAlpine, a serial cannabis entrepreneur best-known for his roles as founder and organizer of the New West Summit, 420 Games, and Powerplant Fitness.

In the interview, Jim details his own personal experience with micro-dosing cannabis to help him get past the mental barrier to exercising and losing weight, how he set out to organize athletic events geared toward cannabis users with the 420 Games, how cannabis can help with athletic recovery, and why he feels it should not be classified as a performance enhancing drug by sports regulatory bodies.

Listen to the full interview below, or scroll down for the transcript!

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Read the transcript:

TG Branfalt: Hey there, I’m TG Branfalt and you are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. The Ganjapreneur podcast gives us an opportunity to speak directly with entrepreneurs and experts who are working on the frontlines of the industry to normalize cannabis through responsible business, education, and activism. As your host, I will try to do my best to bring you actionable information to help you plan, grow, and manage your cannabis business. And today I’m joined by Jim McAlpine, founder of New West Summit, 420 Games, Powerplant Fitness, and Cannathlete.

Jim McAlpine: Hey TG, how you doing? I’m doing great.

TG Branfalt: I’m doing all right. It’s a bit cold here in Detroit, Michigan but it’s what you expect, right? December, after all.

Jim McAlpine: Pretty frosty across the whole United States right now, it’s cold out here in Cali as well.

TG Branfalt: Well let’s get right into it. I want to start a bit about your personal journey, I read a lot of your interviews and watched a bunch of panel discussions that you were on and something that really struck me is that you used cannabis as a way to lose weight, and at first that sounds a little counter-intuitive to many because cannabis is known for its munchie side effect and it’s often used to help people regain their appetite or stop vomiting from chemo-therapy. How did you decide to take that route and what was your approach and experience?

Jim McAlpine: Yeah, you know about three years ago during when my wife had our second child, I sat next to her and ate donuts and pizza and packed on a good solid 50 plus pounds. It does sound counter-intuitive but one thing people don’t know, I think the majority of people don’t know, is that edibles really affect you differently than when you smoke and edibles, if taken the right way can help suppress your appetite, per se. I used more of an edible dosing type of situation than smoking and I think that’s one of the reasons I was more successful. Because when you eat cannabis, it goes into your blood stream and through your liver and it stays in your system a lot longer so it affects you a little bit differently and works as an appetite suppressant better when you take cannabis as an edible.

TG Branfalt: You also paired that with an exercise regiment probably, right?

Jim McAlpine: Correct. I was just going to go there. The second piece of it is, the majority of people I meet don’t find it fun to go out and exercise. I think most people look at that as a chore versus fun and for me, what I did was kind of two things. I took down that barrier of feeling like I needed to do what I did when I was in college, I’d find myself going to the gym and slapping all this weight on and feeling discouraged that I wasn’t as strong as I used to be so the first thing I did was I broke down that wall of … You need to start slow, so take the cannabis out of it, anyone trying to lose weight, you can’t just jump in and be what you used to be. I said, hey I’m going to start walking and just walk three miles every morning and I rose that up to about five miles every morning.

But I would smoke right before, or eat right before, I should say, and occasionally I would take a puff when I was out of edibles but I would find that my cannabis kind of kicked in about the middle of my walk and it was right when I was getting a little bored and would want to turn around and the bird chirping started sounding a little cooler and my mind started flowing into a good state and I just found it helped me motivate myself to continue to exercise and stay out there and walk a little bit longer versus go back and quit and do something else.

TG Branfalt: This wasn’t something that was brought on by an encounter with a doctor or nutritionist, it was just something that you discovered about yourself that you helped … You used to help you develop this motivation technique, essentially.

Jim McAlpine: Yeah, I had read here and there about the fact that edible cannabis works differently in terms of appetite suppression, but other than that, no. I just kind of dialed it in and like I said, when you’re starting slow it’s not like I’m doing anything super … with coordination needed so I just started with an edible and found my sweet spot that way and just slowly built upon what I did. Yeah, it was just a process of feeling it out for me and I think that’s important. Everybody’s at a different level of needing to lose weight or athleticism so just start slow and find your sweet spot is my suggestion to make it something you want to stick with because I hate that feeling of getting too high and eating too much. Both with the cannabis and exercise, I think that the key is starting slow so you stay engaged and you don’t get those incredibly sore muscles and you want to do it again the next day.

TG Branfalt: You kind of turned this into what is called the 420 Games and from the interviews that I’ve read with you, part of the reason you created these events was to dispel the lazy stoner stereotype. Can you tell us a bit more about your thought process for the games, what they entail?

Jim McAlpine: Yeah, absolutely. Starting with what you said, de-stigmatization. I kind of have always looked at Hollywood and the Jeff Spikkoli and Dude Where’s My Car images that are almost representative of a cannabis user and that term ‘stoner’ as a blanket term for anybody that uses cannabis and I personally dislike the term stoner. I think it insinuates laziness and stupidity. The goal out of the gate was to say hey, let’s go out and do something really different than any other cannabis event because, being completely frank, I don’t think it’s a bad event, but I think when the general public looks in at Hemp Con or the High Times Cups, it gives the industry and a cannabis user in general a semi-bad name. It throws that stoner stigma out there so I wanted to create an event that was the opposite of that and we go out and do 4.20 mile runs in different cities to show we’re cannabis users but we’re not lazy and we like to go out and do things, not sit on the couch and eat Taco Bell.

TG Branfalt: Where are you holding these games? Where have you held them? Do you anticipate bringing them to some of the newly legal states?

Jim McAlpine: Very much so, yeah. This is just the end of our second year, our first year we were just in Northern California but this past year we did a six state tour, or a six city tour I should say. We did San Francisco and Los Angeles, we did Boulder and Denver, and we did Portland and Seattle. We’re doing all of those cities again in 2017 but since legalization swept across the nation, we decided to go to Boston and celebrate with them that they’re now recreationally legal. We’re going to go to Orlando, Florida. We’re going to hit Phoenix, Arizona and we’re going to hit Las Vegas, Nevada and add those dates to the tour this year too to become a fully national tour.

TG Branfalt: What type of people do you see coming to these events? Is it high-level athletes or is it somebody like me, for example, who could probably be in better shape but could probably still run a 4.20 mile.

Jim McAlpine: That’s a great question and it’s a very big cross section of people. One of the guys that’s, I don’t want to call him sponsored, but he comes to all of our events. His name is Avery Collins, he’s the world record holder in a 200 mile race and he’s one of the top ten in the world at ultra-marathons which are 100-mile races so he usually crushes everyone at the race and there’s several other very competitive runners that we see at all the races.

Then there’s guys like you and me, that are kind of in that middle ground, just want to get back in shape or are trying to stay in shape. Honestly, my favorite people to see out there are both people that want to get back into shape because I think this whole thing is about inspiring people to come out and be active and you don’t have to run, just like I said, a lot of people come out and walk. We have grandparents that come out, we have people that are very overweight that want to lose weight and it’s a family friendly event so we even have kids. My daughter who’s now seven has walked several of the events over the last couple of years.

TG Branfalt: Was it difficult to find a place to host these events and what are the consumption rules that you have in place?

Jim McAlpine: The first answer is yes and the stigma is the reason why. When we first went to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and wanted to do this, there was a massive pushback from the park and every new city we go to, we kind of get the same thing. Thankfully, now that we’ve done this for a couple of years and we’ve got videos and a lot of media behind us, we can show them what we are now and they get it more quickly. But it took a year for San Francisco and Golden Gate Park authorities to understand who we are so we really just try and push softly in and let them figure out that this is not your typical cannabis event.

And to answer you second question, it kind of relates because during these first two years here, we decided we were going to have no smoking at our events so there’s actually no smoking or vaping allowed at our events for a cognitive reason that we’re trying to change the perception of cannabis so we don’t want people from the outside looking in to see a cloud of smoke figuratively and literally over our heads. We inspire people to say hey you can discretely medicate prior to the event or you can use an edible but while you’re here at our event, we want to have kids and families here and we ask you all to abstain from smoking in the general vicinity of our event.

TG Branfalt: I’ve seen some videos and you guys have sponsorship booths and obviously they’re not similar to the booths that I saw at the Cannabis Cup that I saw here in Michigan, I’m sure. How do you go about selecting the sponsors? Are they all cannabis businesses or have some mainstream athletic brands jumped on the bandwagon at all?

Jim McAlpine: Yeah another good question. The majority are in each town or city like the dispensaries and the brands, the edibles and the concentrates and the flower brands and different ancillary things like Eaze is a delivery service that’s out here in California at all of our events. But what really made me feel like we hit a sweet spot and made something special is really the first non-endemic cannabis brands that I’ve ever seen come into sponsor or associate with the cannabis industry have been our events. Bare-Naked Granola came out to one of our events and sponsored it, Cliff Bar, one of the local TV stations even. KRON4, one of the big local San Francisco TV stations became a media sponsor.

I feel like we’ve created something special that’s very different than anything out there and it gives the opportunity for the non-cannabis companies to have a safe venture to come sponsor or be part of what we do. Honestly this year at MJ Biz we had the honor of being awarded the industry’s best consumer event and I found it ironic that we’re an event that doesn’t even allow cannabis to be smoked at our event and we won over all these other big cups and whatnot. I think it says a lot about the way when we put these events on, we should be looking at how we position it.

I actually want to have consumption at these events eventually, but rather than have it be Dab Fest 2017 where people are taking 25 dabs and everyone looks like they’re in a coma, I want to do micro-dosing and have our companies that are … really we pick them by only the highest level quality companies in cannabis. We’re not going to go out and work with companies that don’t focus on quality and healthy consumption and I’d like to have those companies have the ability to … More like sampling a fine wine and talking to a sommelier, take very small samples and really focus on the taste, not how high we can get in three hours at an event.

TG Branfalt: I do want to touch on this micro-dosing point but before we do, we have to take a short break. I am TG Branfalt and you are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast.

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TG Branfalt: All right, welcome back you are listening to the ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m TG Branfalt here with Jim McAlpine, the founder of New West Summit, the 420 Games, Powerplant Fitness, and Cannathlete. Before the break, you had mentioned micro-dosing and in virtually every panel I watched you’d speak on and every article that you’re quoted in, you’re a proponent of this idea of micro-dosing. What is your theory behind micro-dosing?

Jim McAlpine: Speaking from an athletic standpoint, what I like to do when I use cannabis is increase my focus. Take my consciousness and ramp it up just a small amount so I become a little more engaged in what I’m doing. I don’t want to become totally spun where I’m super, super high and my coordination or my thought process is going to be impaired. The best way for people to do that is ingest smaller amounts of cannabis and now that it’s legal, we can look at the labels and what we’re putting in our body and in my perception, a micro-dose is about five milligrams of cannabis or less. Some people say ten milligrams of cannabis or less but I would say about five milligrams or less per dosage is what I quantify as a micro-dose.

Actually to expand a little bit, you mentioned Cannathlete, one of our companies that is the world’s first athletic cannabis brand. What we did is we actually drilled it down even further. I don’t think in the marketplace I’ve seen anything under five except one company, Kiva makes a 2.5 milligram micro-dose, our spray that we make is one milligram per spray in your mouth and what I really think that’s going to be helpful for, if you’ve not used cannabis before or you haven’t tried it in 20 years and you’re going to do it again now because it’s legal, you want to start slow. As I talked about earlier, it’s not a good feeling when you get too high and I think your first experience is a very important one and I really really don’t want people on their first experience to eat five or ten milligrams and get that, oh shit, I’m not feeling great feeling. I’m too high.

I think micro-dosing is both a great way for people to introduce themselves to edible cannabis use because it’s hard to figure out what your dose is and then as an athlete I think it allows you to increase your focus without decreasing your coordination.

TG Branfalt: To your point, I think that a lot of people who do use cannabis on a daily basis, do this without recognizing that that’s what they’re doing. Just quickly, an aside, most of the time before I go and cover a story, I’ll eat a five-milligram gummy because it helps cure my anxiety, essentially and I didn’t realize that that’s what I was doing. The mainstreaming, I guess, of micro-dosing through the 420 Games or through your own activism it’s a very, very interesting kind of point that I’m not seeing that much of.

I do too want to talk about using cannabis to help with recovery. Is that something that micro-dosing is also useful for?

Jim McAlpine: Yeah, you know when someone says to me just straight up, “Hey Jim, what is marijuana in sports? What’s it good for? How do you do it?” My answer is there’s two ways. There’s focus, you can use it prior to your athletic activities to help accentuate focus and then the other answer is recovery. Just like you just said. And that one goes outside of the THC to the CBD part of the plant as well which I think both are effective in helping that pre-workout recovery aspect that an athlete needs.

TG Branfalt: Is it also good for recovery from say a long-term sports related injury? Would there be any differences in approach to using it for say a long-term injury versus maybe a short-term injury?

Jim McAlpine: Yeah, I think a good example I’ll use there. My daughter’s great-grandmother, my wife’s grandmother, she’s in her nineties, she’s in an assisted living home and she’s had really bad pain for years and years and years on her knees and finally I brought her some topical cannabis to put on her knees and she called us as we were driving home, crying saying, “Oh my god, please bring more of that, it’s the first time I’ve been out of pain in so and so long.” I think when you’re in a state of chronic pain, whether you’re an athlete or an elderly person or you’ve just hurt yourself, I think that finding topicals and things that you rub on top that goes into your body through your bloodstream or through your skin is a really great way for those more long-term injuries to let cannabis soak in and kind of help with the long-term pain, the chronic pain that you experience.

Then on the short-term for athletes that hurt themselves or if I just finished a long run and I want to get back into that place where I’m not feeling so cramped and whatnot. I think both CBD and THC can help an athlete at the end of a workout just kind of get back into that comfort place and recover a little bit quicker than if they just didn’t use anything at all. I think it’s good on both sides of the fence and I think the really important thing that the world realizes is you don’t have to get high using cannabis for recovery. You can use just the part of the plant called CBD and topical gels or even ingest it through smoking and you’re not going to feel any psychoactive effects, it’s just going to help with joint pain and all the other things your body might be craving to recover.

TG Branfalt: Do people at the 420 Games, do you see people using cannabis products during the cool-down period after the run for example?

Jim McAlpine: Like I said, we don’t allow smoking there so I don’t see a lot of people using at the event but I actually talk to everybody at the event about, “Hey, how do you use cannabis and how does it help you as an athlete?” And I think honestly, I use it for focus and I use it on long distance swims and whenever I’m going to go out and do something because I have some ADD and it helps me stay focused, but I really believe the majority of people use cannabis for recovery moreso than for focus and most of the people I talk to say yeah, they’re going to go home and whether it’s smoke a little bit to recover or eat an edible or use a topical, almost all of the people at the games at some level use it post-event workout to recover.

TG Branfalt: When we were talking about micro-dosing, you had mentioned the Cannathlete. A part of that is the train like a champion series, I’d seen the website and I’d seen some videos, how’d you develop that program and how’d you find athletes such as Jake Shields to participate in that series?

Jim McAlpine: That is my partner. His name is Seibo Shen, he’s in the industry. He actually makes the most healthy delivery device called the VapeXhale and so my partner Seibo knows Jake and he got him involved and we’ve also got another UFC guy that we’re both friends with, Denny Prokopos, he’s a national champion that came out of Greece but really the Jiu Jitsu community is probably the most cannabis friendly and the highest percentage of the Jiu Jitsu community as of any sport, are cannabis users. It was a surprise to me because I really didn’t know that but Jiu Jitsu and cannabis are almost as symbiotic as yoga and skiing and snowboarding, it just seems to be something that all the Jiu Jitsu athletes are drawn to.

We were lucky enough to have those guys come out and teach us weekend warriors some rolling techniques and some stretching techniques and personally they taught me a kettle bell workout that I did for 20 minutes and I was sore for three days. It’s really taking some high level, professional athletes that use cannabis and letting them show us weekend warriors how they integrate it into their training and kind of just giving us the extra nuance the non-professionals to step it up a notch, if you will.

TG Branfalt: We’re going to get a little more to athletes about the mainstream narrative that’s going on right now, but we’ve got to take one more short break. I’m TG Branfalt, you are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast.

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TG Branfalt: Welcome back to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, I’m your host TG Branfalt, here with 420 Games founder, Jim McAlpine. Before the break we were talking about the train like a champion series and how you had gotten some high-level athletes to participate in that. In interviews, you’ve said marijuana use and you’ve said marijuana use does not equal stoner. Do you think admissions by legendary NBA coach, Phil Jackson and championship winning NBA coach, Steve Kerr, both who are extremely respected in their sport. Phil Jackson might be the best coach of all time, do you think that their admissions that they use medical cannabis will help change the narrative at all in professional sports?

Jim McAlpine: Phil pissed off Lebron a couple weeks ago, but I still have a lot of respect for him. I was ecstatic to see that. When I saw coach Kerr come out recently being I’m California guy and a warriors fan, that was amazing and I think it’s absolutely, especially now that it’s being … It’s coaches, not players, and respected coaches at that. That’s a huge leap forward and about three or four weeks ago I got a call from a guy named Rick Barry. He’s probably in the top 50 all time NBA players. He and I went and had lunch and he doesn’t use cannabis, he’s never used cannabis, but he wanted to come talk to me about Powerplant and how he could get involved because although he’s never used it, he agrees that the League should bring it into prominence and allow people to use it and he also as a business man sees the potential.

Yeah, from guys like Rick who are advocates of the use of it but don’t use marijuana and then coaches like Coach Kerr and Jackson, those are incredibly forward moving things for our industry to have those guys quote unquote, coming out of the closet if you will.

TG Branfalt: And you interact with a lot of high-level professional athletes. Ricky Williams is your partner, correct? On the Powerplant gym.

Jim McAlpine: Ricky helped me launch the gym and I also work with a lot of football players like, one of my good friends is Eugene Monroe, we just went and did a little podcast yesterday in San Francisco and Eugene is an amazing guy who just retired and is fighting the NFL directly, head-on to change their policies. I got a long list of … What I really wanted to do was build a list of different athletes from different sports because the NFL’s getting a lot of focus right now but I want … I’ve got an NHL player named Riley Cope and a couple UFC fighters and major league baseball players. It goes beyond football and basketball into all sports. I’m hopeful that we get an Olympic badminton player to be on our team because literally from weekend warrior up through those professional, top level guys, there’s benefit to all of them.

The pro-athletes though, they get the eyeballs and those are the guys that really get people to listen to us so I’m blessed and very thankful of all those guys who are helping me further the cause.

TG Branfalt: Have any of them been able to give you a sense of what it might take for cannabis therapies to be accepted by the professional leagues?

Jim McAlpine: It’s a frustrating road. I’m going to go backwards just quickly a little bit. Using the NFL as the conduit and then going into other things. But the NFL, I watched a movie called Concussion with Will Smith recently and everybody should watch that because it tells the story of what CTE is and what it does so well and what I learned in that movie is that there are hundreds of NFL players that put a gun in their mouth and blew their heads off, you know? Marshawn Salam just killed himself a week or two ago, he was a friend of mine as well and Heisman trophy winner and most people are suspecting that was CTE related.

Just getting to this point where everybody is stepping out of the darkness. Eugene actually stepped out against the owner’s association which are a bunch of white, privileged billionaires that are very, very conservative. To me, the two things that need to happen are more guys like Eugene need to step out and say no, this is messed up and we’re not going to stand for it and we demand change from you guys and that’s happening right now. Many, many guys are following behind him. And secondarily, the blessing that we have with legalization is science. Because people like the NFL can come back and say well everybody says this, but show us hard science to empirical evidence and it’s hard to do that right now because we don’t have any. Now that we’re able to compile data that’s all pointing to the facts that were correct, we can actually point towards doctors and clinical data that says you can’t refute this. This stuff works and you need to let your players use it.

TG Branfalt: Let’s say that medical cannabis were to be approved by athletic commissions, the question would have to be asked, is cannabis or could it be considered, a performance enhancing drug? What do we know scientifically about how cannabis interacts with human physiology during exercise?

Jim McAlpine: I don’t mean to say that I have the answer 100% but I will strongly say that I very, very firmly believe cannabis is not technically a performance enhancing drug. Definition is important there because a lot of people when they say performance enhancing, they just feel like, oh you’re having a better time or whatever but performance enhancing drug to me technically means something like a steroid that gives you an unfair advantage to build more muscle than the guy next to you and the best analogy I can use is the drug caffeine. Any athlete can drink a Red Bull to get more energy before they go out on the field. I hate caffeine. I don’t drink caffeine so I choose not to use it but another player can, so I don’t see why cannabis would not be looked at the same way. It’s a substance that doesn’t give you an unfair advantage. If you like caffeine and it gives you a little pump up, great. If you like cannabis, it helps you focus, great. That’s the way I look at it and I don’t think it should be something that …

I wouldn’t recommend an NFL player smoke weed right before they go on the field and go into the grid-iron, the battlefield, but if they really wanted to I don’t think there should be a law that says they can’t do that.

TG Branfalt: Do we know much about how cannabis interacts with us while we exercise or is that … The jury’s still out, the research is still being conducted sort of thing.

Jim McAlpine: I think, erring on the side of being cautious. I think I can’t say anything with 100% certainty but there is a lot being done and I’m just waiting for the empirical evidence to pile up so we can really begin to point at it. But there is, I’ll use one example. Very recently, you can google this, there’s been a lot of studies that have been done that the runner’s high, quote unquote that many people say comes from endorphins, actually comes partially or almost mostly from the endocannabinoid system. Through research that scientists have done on how people enter that state through exercise, again the runner’s high, it’s been … I can’t say that endorphins aren’t responsible for part of it, but it’s been fairly strongly proven that the majority of that feeling comes from the endocannabinoid system and that in it of itself kind of makes a huge statement that cannabis and athletics go together pretty well.

TG Branfalt: As someone who is involved with numerous fronts in the industry, what would you say is the most important thing that an aspiring cannabis entrepreneur should keep in mind as they go about launching their business?

Jim McAlpine: I would say in this industry right now, you have to have some staying power and you have to have persistence and the thing I would advise most entrepreneurs coming into this industry is to just do it. Don’t sit there and overthink it. This is a good industry, it’s a growing industry, it’s not too late but you have to have a strong, strong desire to forge down the path when people are telling you you shouldn’t be forging down that path. I think it’s just a strong sense of understanding that this is an amazing plant that does really, really good things and if in your heart you know that, I think you just need to stay true to what you know and don’t listen to those people that are telling you you’re doing the wrong thing. There’s so many doubters and so many haters out there.

For me it was hard to get over that hurtle to have my name associated with cannabis but I’m so incredibly glad I did and for anybody that’s thinking about it, I was worried about being judged by the PTA where my kids go to school or my people that I work with and I’ve literally had no one tell me that they think I’m doing a bad job or it’s something that’s inappropriate so I was very surprised at the pats on the back I got for jumping into this industry and it’s been an incredible experience and I hope many more other people make the jump as well.

TG Branfalt: Well Jim, we’re just about out of time but I want to thank you so much for joining us and maybe we’ll see the 420 Games in newly legal states like Michigan pretty soon.

Jim McAlpine: I would love that, by the way. Anyone out there in Michigan that hears this, shoot me an email. Just jim@420games.org and we’re expanding and we want to come to Michigan and many, many, many other places so if you live somewhere and you want to see us come there, shoot me an email, I’d love to hear from you.

TG Branfalt: You can find more episodes of the Ganjapreneur.com podcast in the podcast section of Ganjapreneur.com and in the Apple iTunes store. On the Ganjapreneur.com website you 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. I’ve been your host, TG Branfalt.

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A mature, outdoor cannabis garden.

Unregulated Cannabis is California’s Most Lucrative Agricultural Crop

1/05/2017

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Cannabis is likely California’s top agricultural crop, besting milk, almonds, grapes, cattle, and lettuce, with an estimated value of $23.3 billion – and that’s not even the legal market figure.

The Orange County Register made the estimate based on seizures of illegal cannabis plants over the last five years. The outlet used the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime estimate that seizures account for 10 to 20 percent of all plants being grown which adds up to an estimated 13.2 million plants being grown in California based on the high-end 20 percent. The analysis estimates that each plant would produce, conservatively, one pound worth $1,765 – which might be optimistic for larger producers of outdoor-grown cannabis. California leads all states in illegal plant seizures – its 2.64 million plants seized in 2015 represent more than half of the 4.26 million seized nationwide. Kentucky is the runner-up in total plants seized during 2015, with 571,340.

For a comparison with California’s other crops in 2015, milk was worth $6.29 billion, almond sales totaled $5.33 billion, grapes accounted for $4.95 billion, cattle and calves reached $3.39 billion, with lettuce rounding out the top five with $2.25 billion.

According to ArcView Group research figures, California’s medical market was worth $2.8 billion in 2015 and the state’s legal market could be worth a total of $6.5 billion by 2020.

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

D.C.-Based Group Planning to Smoke Out Trump’s Inauguration

1/05/2017

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Cannabis advocacy group DCMJ is planning to light 4,200 joints during the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump at the National Mall, the Associated Press reports. According to DCMJ Founder Adam Eidinger, distribution of the joints is perfectly legal as long as it’s done in the District, however smoking them on federal land could lead to arrests.

The group plans to smoke out the inauguration at four minutes and twenty seconds into Trump’s speech. Eidinger said they want to send a message to the incoming administration to legalize cannabis. They are also concerned about the potential Attorney General nomination of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, who is a staunch prohibitionist.

According to the organization’s website, the group has already held three demonstrations, called #SmokeSessions, and are planning for a fourth round on Jan. 10 and Jan. 11 during the nominee’s Senate Judiciary Confirmation Hearing. The group has handed out flyers during previous events opposing Sessions, reading “Jeff Sessions: Wrong on Marijuana, Wrong for America.”

The group is demanding that Congress remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act within the first 100 days of the new administration — urging Sessions to “evolve his position.” The group encourages the incoming administration to continue to allow states to determine their own cannabis policies, and, if Sessions is confirmed, “investigate the racial disparities” of federal mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines.

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Cannabis branches on the drying line to cure.

Legal Cannabis Market is Outpacing 2000’s Dot-Com Boom

1/05/2017

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Legal cannabis sales in the U.S. last year reached $6.7 billion, a growth of 30 percent, according to an ArcView Group market research report outlined by the International Business Times. The growth is faster than the dot-com boom of 2000.

Tom Adams, ArcView’s editor-in-chief, said that the figures are almost unprecedented in U.S. history. The firm expects the market to exceed $20 billion by 2021 with a 25 percent gross domestic growth rate, outpacing the 22 percent rate seen during the tech boom.

“The only consumer industry categories I’ve seen reach $5 billion in annual spending and then post anything like 25 [percent] compound annual growth in the next five years are cable television (19 [percent]) in the 1990s and the broadband internet (29 [percent]) in the 2000s,” he said in a Forbes report.

And although many cannabis industry professionals are concerned about how the incoming Donald Trump administration will affect the sector, ArcView’s chief executive Troy Dayton believes Trump will allow states to decide their own policies regarding legal cannabis sales.

“It’s one of the few things he has been consistent on,” Dayton said, noting that 21 percent of the total U.S. population lives in legal cannabis markets.

According to the report, ArcView has assisted investors in placing $91 million with 135 mostly private legal cannabis companies since 2013.

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Young cannabis plants under the light in a Washington cultivation facility.

Supply Shortages Hit Alaska’s Cannabis Retail Shops

1/05/2017

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All three retail cannabis shops in Fairbanks, Alaska have been forced to temporarily close over the last three months due to lack of product, according to KFXF7 report.

Pakalolo Supply Company, a cultivator and retailer which opened last Halloween, had to close their doors during the holiday season due to high demand paired with growers selling their supply to other cannabis shops in southern parts of the state. Pakalolo Co-Vice President Keenan Hollister said that the cannabis grown for retail sale by the company is not enough to meet customer demand and that it will take time for growers to catch up with the market demand.

Due to the shortage, Pakalolo will have limited operating hours through this month.

According to an Alaska Dispatch News report, Frozen Budz, also in Fairbanks, has been closed for about a month and will remain closed through January. GoodSinse was only open for 19 days – opening their doors on Dec. 11 and being forced to close on Dec. 30.

Herbal Outfitters in Valdez is one of the few that has not been affected by the drought. General Manager Derek Morris indicated the shop still has “dozens of pounds” because of their location in a city with a smaller population and owners had negotiated its purchases for months prior to opening.

Leif Abel, co-owner of Greatland Ganja, a Kenai Peninsula-based cultivator, said that retailers are being put on waitlists and that some companies are offering to prepay for the company’s crop for the next year.

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A row of four United Kingdom flags, a.k.a. the Union Jack.

UK Health Agency Reclassifies CBD as Medicine

1/04/2017

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The U.K.’s Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has reclassified cannabidiol (CBD) as a medicine, according to an International Business Times report. Officials based their decision on the claims that the cannabis-derived substance is a therapy for treating serious diseases and are hoping that the move will lead to further research on its potential benefits.

Gerald Heddel, MHRA director of inspection and enforcement, said the agency made the decision after a reviewing CBD products and “quite stark claims” by some people “about serious diseases that could be treated with CBD.”

“It was clear that people are using this product with the understandable belief that it will actually help,” Heddell said in a Sky News report the day before the decision was officially announced.

Under the new rules, the MHRA plans to allow the production of products containing the ingredient and will conduct research into the safety, quality, and effectiveness of CBD as a medicine. The agency expects that the measure will cut down on unregulated CBD purchases made on the online, informal, market which could contain other, potentially harmful, chemicals.

“MHRA will now work with individual companies and trade bodies in relation to making sure products containing CBD, used for a medical purpose, which can be classified as medicines, satisfy the legal requirements of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012,” an MHRA spokesperson said.

According to an RT report, 18 companies have been advised of the rule change.

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A cannabis worker in Washington state inspects recently-trimmed nugs.

Things MMJ Activists Should Watch for in Florida

1/04/2017

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After a long battle, Florida finally passed a real medical cannabis bill in November, 2016. The historic amendment requires the Florida Legislature and the Department of Health to craft regulations for the administration of medical cannabis in the state. According to the state constitution, Amendment 2 went into effect on January 3, 2017. Unfortunately, there are already signs that the rollout may not be as smooth as voters want, despite it passing with an overwhelming 71% of the vote.

Here are five things that voters and activists should pay attention to as medical cannabis moves forward in Florida.

Moratoriums and license quotas

Moratoriums and license quotas can negatively affect medical cannabis patients, reduce government tax collections, encourage the illicit market and stifle economic growth. Several cities have already placed bans on medical cannabis in Florida, and opponents of the amendment have vowed to push for more bans around the state. The current CBD-rich medical cannabis system already has license quotas, meaning it’s likely the new system may suffer the same fate.

Keith Boyce, a Washington state cannabis activist and member of The Cannabis Alliance said, “The bans and moratoriums are put into place to ‘protect’ the local citizens. Though the intentions may be good, the result is quite the opposite. The illicit/black markets thrive in the banned areas, and patients are denied the very medication that may save their life.”

“We’ve been able to overturn some bans in Washington State by patients telling personal stories to the regulators. Real people showing up to talk about how medical cannabis helps them can really shine a positive light on this misunderstood issue,” Boyce said.   

Possession limits

The amount of usable cannabis and the amount patients can buy at one time vary widely from state to state. Americans for Safe Access contends it is best to let patients decide how much cannabis they are allowed saying “The type and severity of symptoms, the strain of cannabis, and the route of administration all greatly impact the amount that a specific patient may need at any given time.” Although it is unlikely Florida’s law will be this open, patients and activist can insist buying and possession limits are feasible for the most ill patients in the state.

ID cards and registry privacy

A patient registry is a database which catalogs medical cannabis patients and information related to their qualifying conditions. Often a medical cannabis ID is issued. Patients must register in Florida’s compassionate use database now to receive low THC cannabis from an authorized provider. Therefore, it is likely that Florida’s full plant cannabis system will utilize a patient registry and accompanying ID cards to track medical cannabis. Many states have strict penalties for improper access of medical cannabis records, but FL activists must be vigilant in this age of hacking so that their medical information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. Additionally, who is legally allowed to access the database has been a concern raised by activists in other medical cannabis states.

Pesticides

Pesticides can be a problem in any medical cannabis system. The most obvious reason is that medical cannabis patients are often already sick and adding contaminants like pesticides can be extremely harmful. Unlike many food products, pesticides cannot be easily washed off of cannabis flowers and leaves. Concentrating contaminated cannabis can add to the danger of pesticide-tainted plant matter. The pesticide residue can turn into even more harmful chemicals when ignited.

To compound the problem, there are no federal guidelines to regulate pesticides used on cannabis due to its ongoing prohibition under federal law. Recently, several recreational cannabis states have been surprised by seemingly large amounts of cannabis being contaminated with pesticides. Regulators were sent scrambling to fix the problem, but many patients have likely already been exposed. Patients and activist must insist that FL’s medical cannabis system is pesticide-free and that, in the event of contamination, there is a workable recall protocol in place.

Qualifying conditions

Amendment 2 allows the dispensing of cannabis to patients with a “debilitating condition.” This term is defined in the amendment as “Debilitating Medical Condition,” meaning cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, ALS, PTSD, Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, or “other debilitating medical conditions of the same kind or class as or comparable to those enumerated, and for which a physician believes that the medical use of marijuana would likely outweigh the potential health risks for a patient.” This is a broad and suitable list of qualifying conditions, but No on 2 has already signaled they are opposed to such a wide definition of “debilitating condition”.  In a statement issued after A2, No on 2 asked legislators to look closely at the debilitating condition list. It is important the FL Legislature and Department of Health allow this broad definition to go forward in order to treat the sickest patients in Florida.

This is a broad and suitable list of qualifying conditions, but the No On 2 campaign has already signaled they are opposed to such a wide definition of “debilitating condition.”  In a statement issued after Amendment 2 was passed, No On 2 asked legislators to look closely at the debilitating condition list.

However, it is important to call on Florida’s legislature and Department of Health to allow this broad definition moving forward in order to treat the state’s most sickly patients.

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Healthy cannabis plant photographed in a Washington state cultivation facility.

Maine Gov. Calls for Moratorium of Question 1 Rollout

1/04/2017

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Maine Gov. Paul LePage has signed the proclamation confirming November’s voter-approved ballot question to legalize adult-use cannabis in the state, but also called for a moratorium on its implementation with could delay the process, the Portland Press Herald reports.

By signing the measure, the governor has assured that as of Jan. 30 citizens will be legally allowed to grow and possess personal amounts of cannabis. However, if LePage and his allies get their way the licensing of retail shops and retail sales could be pushed back up to one year.

In an interview with WVOM radio, LePage said that while he had signed the proclamation “the issue now is when it will go into effect, and I don’t know.”

“That’s going to depend on the legislature because as of right now the election, according to Secretary of State, was positive for marijuana and there is nothing I can do until the legislature gives me money to set up the infrastructure,” LePage said.

The Republican governor called a moratorium “appropriate” saying he doesn’t think the voters “realize what they’ve done” and again called for getting rid of the state’s medical cannabis system in the wake of an adult-use market.

“In Colorado, what they’re telling us is ‘Don’t make the mistake we did. We didn’t tax medical marijuana and we taxed recreational marijuana, so everybody in [the state] went out and got a medical marijuana card’ so now they’re collecting just a fraction of the taxes that they thought they would,” he said.

LePage said that activist Paul McCarrier “is smoking” when he claims that the tax revenues from the industry would be $200 million by 2020.

“He is out in left field,” LePage said. “We don’t even make that on liquor and liquor has been around a heck of a lot longer. We might make $50 to $51 million a year on liquor, so he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

There has not yet been any legislation introduced to enact any moratorium on Question 1and lawmakers have not come to any consensus on potential measures.

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The state flag of Georgia flying on a sunny, blue-skied day.

Georgia Lawmaker to Introduce Bill Allowing In-State MMJ Cultivation

1/04/2017

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A Republican lawmaker in Georgia plans to introduce legislation as early as next week that would allow voters to decide whether to permit cultivation of cannabis plants for medicinal purposes in the state, according to a Telegraph report. The measure would need two-thirds of support from legislators in order to make it to voters in 2018.

Rep. Allen Peake, who sponsored the state’s limited medical cannabis legislation, said the proposal “would let the citizens of the state decide whether or not to go down this path,” noting that “the sky has not fallen” since the state passed their medical cannabis bill in 2015. Peake supports a “limited licensure” for a handful of tightly regulated medical cannabis growers.

The existing law suffers from serious flaws, mainly that — while medicinal cannabis is legal under certain circumstances — it is extremely difficult to obtain because Georgia’s program does not permit cannabis to be grown or processed in the state. This forces patients to obtain their medicine from out-of-state, which is illegal under federal law and constitutes drug trafficking.

Nevertheless, Republican Gov. Nathan Deal opposes Peake’s proposal over fears that the industry would grow out-of-control and some law enforcement agencies are opposed due to fears that it would lead to an adult-use market.

Peake indicated he was working on another bill that would add autism, intractable pain, AIDS, Tourette’s and post-traumatic stress disorder to the state’s medical cannabis qualifying condition list.

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Car operated by the New South Wales Police Highway Patrol.

Police Raid Australian Woman Who Provides Patients Free Cannabis Oil

1/04/2017

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An Australian medical cannabis oil producer, who gives away her products to sick and terminally ill people for free, has been raided by law enforcement who confiscated her manufacturing equipment and products, according to an Advertiser report.

Jenny Hallam, 44, explained what occurred in a series of Twitter posts, urging the government to “stop stalling” saying that sick people will die because of the raid. The tweets were subsequently deleted.

Her lawyer, Heather Stokes, questioned whether what her client was doing was actually criminal in the first place despite cannabis being outlawed under South Australian law.

“This is a woman who is doing it because people need it,” Stokes said in the report. “There is scientific evidence out there to tell us it works. She doesn’t grow the cannabis she uses … she doesn’t sell it.”

Tammy Franks, a Green Party member in the South Australian Upper House, called the raid “outrageous” and said that Hallam’s patients “have been failed by the slowness of health reforms.”

“She’s not in this for a profit – she is in it to help people,” Franks said. “For pain and palliative care alone, we know this works and we should be allowing access urgently, not delaying it any further.”

A South Australian Police spokeswoman confirmed the raid, saying they “seized a quantity of chemicals and other substances” which will be forensically analyzed as part of the “continuing” investigation.

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Image depicting the inside of a high security prison cell.

Houston DA Promises to End Jail Sentences for Misdemeanor Cannabis Possession

1/03/2017

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The incoming District Attorney for Harris County, Texas unveiled a progressive future for cannabis prosecutions during her inauguration ceremony yesterday.

In her statements at the ceremony, newly appointed District Attorney Kim Ogg remained loyal to the progressive ideas that had been proposed throughout her campaign, including a plan to stop making arrests and jailing people for misdemeanor cannabis crimes, CW39 reports.

Ogg was very explicit during the ceremony about her continued support for such reforms: “All misdemeanor possession of marijuana cases will be diverted around jail,” she said.

Under her administration, small-time cannabis enforcement are expected to see drastic changes. Instead of being arrested and facing jail time, nonviolent misdemeanor cannabis offenders will be ticketed and released on the spot.

“I’ve never felt good about putting marijuana users in the same jail cells as murderers. It’s just not fair, it doesn’t make any sense, and our country is resoundingly against that,” Ogg said after the ceremony.

While Ogg’s exact views on cannabis aren’t as favorable as we might hope — Harris County will still be penalizing consumers who are caught, and felony cannabis crimes such as distribution are to remain in place — her other campaign promises included increasing transparency in cases of police shootings and ramped up efforts in the prosecution of burglars and white-collar criminals.

During the ceremony, Ogg also acknowledged that there had been turmoil within the DA’s office following her recent decision to fire 37 prosecutors.

“Welcome to a new era of criminal justice,” she said.

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A black credit card from the New York-based HSBC bank.

Senators Urge FinCEN to Allow Bank Access to Legal Canna-businesses

1/03/2017

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A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has sent a letter to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network urging the agency to explicitly allow financial institutions to do business with legal canna-businesses.

In the letter, sent to Acting Director Jamal El-Hindi, the senators argue that due to the disparity between federal and state drug laws “many legal businesses are forced to operate in cash, which jeopardizes community safety, limits economic growth, and greatly expands the opportunity for tax fraud.” The senators say that a 2014 memo by FinCEN and the Department of Justice meant to clarify reporting requirements and provide clarity to the legal cannabis industry and financial institutions “did not distinguish between state-sanctioned marijuana businesses and the indirect businesses that service the marijuana industry” leaving that determination to the banks and credit unions.

“Indeed, since FinCEN’s 2014 guidance was released, less than 3 [percent] of the nation’s 11,954 federally regulated banks and credit unions have chosen to serve the cannabis industry,” the letter states.

The senators contend that the lack of codified rules has led to the closure of accounts for chemists, lawyers, security professionals, and others who do not work directly with the plant.

“To be clear, these legitimate, indirect businesses have been unable to open checking accounts and accept credit cards or checks. In some cases they have also lost access to existing accounts, such as retirement accounts, and have been forced to pay their employees, taxes, and bills in cash. Locking lawyers, landlords, plumbers, electricians, security companies, and the like out of the nation’s banking and finance systems serves no one’s interest.”

The letter was signed by Senators Jeff Merkley, (D-OR) Ron Wyden (D-OR), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Patty Murray (D-WA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Al Franken (D-MN), Angus King (I-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Cory Booker (D-NJ).

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The Global Marijuana March in Vancouver, British Columbia, circa 2013.

Canadian Dispensary Owner Hopes Charges Dropped as Feds Eye Legal Market

1/03/2017

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A Canadian dispensary owner arrested and charged with possession and drug trafficking during raids in Halifax, Nova Scotia last week hopes that the charges will be dismissed if the federal government passes cannabis legalization as planned this spring, according to a report from the CBC. Three of her employees were also arrested and charged with trafficking.

Shirley Martineau, 66, owner of Auntie’s Health and Wellness, opened up the shop despite not being granted an occupancy permit by the city and was openly selling cannabis products to anyone over the age of 19 regardless of whether they held a medical cannabis card. The shop was closed following Friday’s raids – during which police seized eight plants from her home and a few thousand dollars’ worth of stock from the shop — but was reopened by volunteers the following day. She was released from custody five hours after her arrest.

“It’s a fight between me and them. They have a job and I respect that,” she said in the report. “I don’t want to go to jail. I don’t want to sit in prison for months, but I have to be there for the patients.”

Martineau indicated that she planned on using the profits from her adult-use sales to offer products to medical cannabis patients for free.

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The coastline in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

MMJ Now Available in Puerto Rico

1/03/2017

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Medical cannabis is officially available for sale in Puerto Rico after two dispensaries opened on Friday, nearly two years after island lawmakers adopted regulations for the industry, the Associated Press reports. Those two dispensaries, however, are the only ones currently operating in the U.S. territory and serve about 2,000 registered patients.

The law, enacted in 2015 via executive order by outgoing Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla, allows for medical cannabis to be used in pills, creams, oral drops, inhalers, vaporizers, and patches. Patients suffering from chronic conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, fibromyalgia, and multiple sclerosis are eligible for the program. Padilla moved to implement the law using the executive order because the legislation had stalled in the Puerto Rico House of Representatives for two years.

According to a Costa Rica Star report, 23 companies have been approved to cultivate, process, transport and sell cannabis. Carmen Serrano, managing partner for NextGen Pharma, who opened a dispensary in San Juan, called the rollout of the industry “a historic day for Puerto Rico.”

“Today sees the fulfillment of a promise in favor of the right of thousands of patients in Puerto Rico to a better quality of life,” he said in the Star report.

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