While the DEA failed to change its position on cannabis, a video emerged of the elder First Daughter apparently smoking a joint at Lollapalooza — because that’s what most 18-year-olds do at Lollapalooza.
In the 9 second video, posted by Radar Online, Malia Obama appears to take a quick puff off of a joint, then passes it on to a fellow concert-goer.
Her father, the President of The United States, has admitted to getting high in college — famously saying he “inhaled frequently and that was the point.” Former Democratic President Bill Clinton admitted to trying marijuana but claimed he “did not inhale.” His successor, President George W. Bush, a Republican, admitted that he “might have smoked some” during an interview with Jay Leno.
There was no press conference called to address Malia’s behavior, and aside from the usual conservative pundits and muckrakers, it isn’t even that big of a deal. Malia is headed to Harvard University, and a bit of pot isn’t going to have much of an impact on her education or future job prospects.
Cannabis possession is decriminalized in Illinois (Lollapalooza was held in Chicago); medical marijuana is available in Massachusetts, with two dispensaries operating in Cambridge (where Harvard’s campus is located). Washington D.C. has legalized cannabis for recreational use. Malia is growing up in a nation where, in many places, cannabis use is normal – particularly normal for an 18-year-old at Lollapalooza.
By now, you’ve probably seen the news: the Drug Enforcement Administration has decided to keep cannabis — despite countless reports on its relative safety, healing properties, and the political and racist reasons for its very prohibition in the first place — ranked as a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act.
“This decision isn’t based on danger. This decision is based on whether marijuana, as determined by the FDA, is a safe and effective medicine,” DEA chief Chuck Rosenburg told NPR. “And it’s not,” he said.
However, it’s painfully obvious to anyone with a sense of the corrupt, behind-the-scenes power schemes typical in politics, that this decision is much more about self-preservation to the DEA than it is about protecting the American people. If cannabis were made legal, the DEA knows it’s only a matter of time before Drug War ideologies continue to fade, and the agency will be disbanded — or at least rebranded, with hopefully fewer guns — in favor of treating drug addiction as a health condition rather than a crime.
So, at the risk of getting everyone else as equally pissed off as I am while writing this piece, let’s do a short review of the absurdity of prohibition:
Three recent U.S. presidents in as many administrations have admitted to smoking cannabis despite its prohibited status.
More than half of the U.S. — as well as many major international players including Canada, Italy, and Germany — have legalized cannabis for medicinal purposes.
A growing majority of U.S. voters approves of the medical and recreational legalization of cannabis.
There are thousands of patients, families, doctors, and researchers around the world lauding the plant’s many medicinal benefits.
Famously, there remain zero recorded deaths attributed to cannabis use (the enforcement of its prohibition, however, has claimed countless victims). Meanwhile, alcohol and tobacco —which are not regulated by the Controlled Substances Act — kill a combined half-million Americans every year.
A top official from the Nixon administration publicly admitted that the Drug War was a racist political strategy, originally instituted to disrupt Black and anti-government hippy communities.
Black people and other minorities continue to be targeted for drug-related crimes at significantly higher rates than white people.
It’s a sad state of affairs.
And — instead of taking a logical approach to the long list of embarrassing failures the DEA has racked up — the U.S. Department of Justice continues to sit on its hands as its over-funded and now practically obsolete agency runs around, rampantly destroying lives.
The ballot initiative in Arizona to legalize cannabis for recreational use submitted enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot, the Arizona Republicreports. The initiative is being challenged over the language of the measure, but if it survives the court case it will appear on the ballot as Proposition 205.
“Eighty-three years ago, Arizona voters approved a ballot measure to repeal the failed policy of alcohol prohibition,” J.P. Holyoak, chairman of the Yes on 205 campaign, said in a statement. “This November, we will have the opportunity to end the equally disastrous policy of marijuana prohibition. Prop 205 would establish a more sensible system in which marijuana is regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol.”
It’s the bit about the drug being “taxed similarly to alcohol” at the heart of the lawsuit by Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy – who claim that voters are being deceived on that premise. The group contends that the cannabis market would not be regulated like alcohol, citing two provisions; one pertaining to employees able to be fired for suspicion of being under the influence of marijuana; and another giving 100 of the 150 available licenses to current medical marijuana dispensaries.
If approved, the measure would allow adults 21 and older to possess up to one ounce of cannabis and grow up to six plants. The Department of Marijuana Licenses and Control would implement a regulated system, with a 15 percent excise tax on retail cannabis sales. Proceeds from the tax would be used to fund the regulator system, with any additional revenues being allocated to the Department of Education, and the Department of Health Services.
The Arizona Joint Legislative Budget Commission estimates tax revenues and license fees would generate more than $123 million annually by 2020, with about $55 million per year for K-12 education and full-day kindergarten programs.
The Southern California Cannabis Conference & Expo took place last weekend, August 6-7, in the San Diego Convention Center. The event was a B2B flurry of industry networking, the latest cannabis products, and expert seminars.
Speakers at the event presented on a massive, centrally located stage. Speakers included Dr. Sue Sisley, famed medical cannabis researcher; Chris Beals, President of Weedmaps.com; Wendy Robbins and Karen Paul of The Marijuana Show; as well as the four former NFL stars Eugene Monroe, Jim McMahon, Ricky Williams, and Kyle Turle; and many more industry experts, professionals, and researchers.
Major discussion points common throughout the event ranged from CBD and CBD-infused water and sports drinks; to the health benefits of cannabis for professional sports and fitness programs, including injury recovery; to the future of California’s cannabis industry; and to expert strategies for social media, branding, and marketing.
Southern California’s top cannabis industry players were on the expo floor in full force. Several stand-out booths included: Kandy Pens, Modern Martini, Magical Butter and FlavRx. FlavRx was a major sponsor of the show’s Waka Flocka Flame performance.
Scroll through our photo coverage below to witness the excitement yourself!
A California dispensary shuttered following a raid by the Costa Mesa Police has filed a lawsuit against the department alleging officers exceeded their legal authority during the crackdown early this year.
The suit, filed by attorney Matthew Pappas on behalf of Costa Mesa Collective, seeks the return of cash, cannabis, patient records, and unspecified damages, according to an OC Registerreport.
“The city of Costa Mesa … believes it is above the law,” Pappas said in the report. “No longer can cities and police departments violate people’s rights based on marijuana once being part of failed drug prohibition policies.”
In the suit, Pappas alleges that police acted as “judge, jury, and executioner,” in the raid on the business — and did so without a search warrant. Costa Mesa Police Chief Rob Sharpnack said he is “100 percent certain” a code enforcement inspection warrant was obtained prior to the raid, however, officials have declined to produce the warrant or offer any additional details about what information that warrant contained.
The Register has not yet been able to locate a copy of the inspection warrant — which is normally used to review building, fire, zoning, and other civil code compliance — in city databases. Neither the collective’s owners nor employees were provided with a warrant at the time of the raid.
“[The police] were doing this to shut down a business without due process because they don’t like it,” Pappas said.
During the raid, police disabled security and recording devices “because they knew they were going to take everything in sight,” Pappas said, noting that authorities often argue they must seize recording devices to “ensure officer safety.” However, hidden cameras recorded the incident, which Pappas has made public.
In the video, officers enter the dispensary with guns drawn, forcing about a half dozen people to the floor while yelling “search warrant” but they do not appear to produce any documents at that time. Pappas says the rights of both employees and patients were violated because police continued to interrogate them after they requested to have a lawyer present.
A Denver District Court judge has given the owners of Starbuds until Sept. 3 to finish harvesting the maturing plants in its grow facility, after which they must destroy any that remain, according to a report by the Denver Post.
The order comes after Judge Ross B.H. Buchanan denied the company’s preliminary injunction request against the denial of a routine cultivation license by Department of Excise and Licenses Executive Director Stacie Loucks.
The denial is the first ever by the city; made on the grounds that the grow operation is a detriment to the residents’ quality of life and hindered the neighborhood’s prospects for improvement. Starbuds says that their renewal should not have been up for an administrative hearing, which sparked the community protest.
City attorneys plan on filing a motion asking the judge to dismiss the case. However, according to Starbuds attorney Jim McTurnan, if the chain survives the motion the judge could consider the injunction challenge more fully. He said Buchanan used a broad interpretation of the marijuana code, giving the excise department leeway to decide when to hold administrative hearings, which would be “problematic for the industry.”
“We’re certainly concerned about what precedent this might set,” McTurnan said in the report.
Last month, the City Council passed an odor-control ordinance aimed at stemming cannabis cultivation odors which take effect next year. Starbuds has already installed four carbon filters at the grow site in response to community pushback.
Citizens in Missouri will not vote on a medical marijuana initiative as the ballot initiative push to do so fell 2,242 signatures short, the Columbia Tribunereports. The signature drive stalled in the state’s Second Congressional District.
New Approach Missouri, the group behind the campaign, indicated they plan on filing a lawsuit challenging the decision by Secretary of State Jason Kander after his office finishes the paperwork on the results of the review, Jack Cardetti, the group’s spokesman said.
“This was a large number, and our internal numbers show we should have met the requirements in this particular district,” he said in the report.
The failure was met with celebration by the Keeping Missouri Kids Safe Coalition, who campaigned against the measure.
“Today is great news for Missourians,” Joy Sweeney said after the Secretary of State’s decision was announced. “The ballot initiative was not certified by the secretary of state and will not be on our ballot in November. The big question I have, and many of us in this room have, is, ‘Why on Earth is this group willing to spend more than $1 million to get this passed in our state?’”
The coalition is comprised of the Council for Drug Free Youth and the Missouri Association of Community Task Forces (ACT). The group has not formed a committee, allowing it to bypass spending disclosures with the Missouri Ethics Commission. However, Dan Viets, state coordinator for NORML, said the group acted like a campaign committee and spent money against the medical cannabis campaign in the form of posters, information packets, and press releases.
“They are functioning as a campaign committee, and if they continue I am sure we will file a complaint with the Missouri Ethics Commission,” Viets said.
ACT was fined $1,000 by the Ethics Commission in 2013 for campaigning against a marijuana initiative in Columbia for failure to disclose its spending or funding sources.
It appears that all of the recent hopes surrounding a possible re-scheduling or de-scheduling of cannabis by the DEA have been shot down. NPR has reported that the DEA will be recommending that no change be made to the status of cannabis via the Controlled Substances Act.
Earlier on Wednesday, the hype started to build regarding a possible statement. According to The Denver Post, DEA spokesperson Russell Baer suggested that an announcement would be happening on Thursday, but did not say what it would be. Multiple other reports indicated that an announcement was coming as well. However, NPR reported that DEA chief Chuck Rosenberg said on Wednesday that the DEA has decided not to reschedule cannabis or remove it from the list of controlled substances and that this decision “isn’t based on danger,” but rather “whether marijuana, as determined by the FDA, is a safe and effective medicine.” It seems that the FDA has taken the position — contrary numerous scientific studies and the testimony of countless patients — that it is not.
Meanwhile, legal recreational cannabis markets are operating in four states, 25 states have legalized cannabis for medical use, there continues to be no example of anyone ever overdosing or dying directly from cannabis use, and alcohol continues to kill over 80,000 people per year in the US alone. After all the rumors that circled earlier this summer we were hoping for positive news, but then again, we are not surprised.
Canadian medical marijuana producers are pushing for Veterans Affairs to provide reimbursements for soldiers who choose cannabis oils over dried plant material, according to a Globe and Mailreport. Currently, soldiers are only reimbursed for flower purchases.
The push comes even after the Supreme Court last year ruled Health Canada was putting patients at risk of cancer and bronchial infections by allowing only dried cannabis. More than 1,700 veterans participate in the publicly funded medical marijuana program.
When Tilray launched its oil-based offerings last March, 183 bottles were sold to veterans, who believed they would be reimbursed under the medical marijuana program. In June, just four bottles were sold to veterans due to the program rules.
On Aug. 4, Phillipe Lucas, executive director of the Canadian Medical Council, launched an e-petition urging the department to provide the reimbursements. New Democrat MP Sheila Malcomson has sponsored the petition, which has over 200 signatures so far, and will remain open until Dec. 2.
Advocates say that people who smoke cannabis must dose more frequently than those who use oil-based medicines. The Health Department says that due to medical marijuana being “a new and emerging area in the medical field…there is no commonly accepted practice for the use or dosage of specific products.” However, the VA indicated that it planned on overhauling the existing rules “in the near future.”
A new cannabis industry-based webisode series named “Propaganja” recently started filming its pilot episode in Portland, Oregon.
“Propaganja” is the first dispensary-focused comedy that features entrepreneurs struggling with and learning to navigate Oregon’s nascent, recreational cannabis marketplace. The project was created by Lee Johnson, Patrick Servais, and Ryan Moore, the webisode’s co-director Paul Pedreira told Ganjapreneur.
Pedreira owns the Portland Best Buds dispensary in the St. Johns neighborhood of Portland, and he is also an experienced director who spent 25 years working in the film industry. He originally came to Portland as an assistant director on the popular, Portland-based NBC series called Grimm — several years later, however, Pedreira switched gears to become a cannabis entrepreneur.
“Patrick and Ryan conceived the idea a few years ago, and when legalization happened in Oregon they decided to ramp up production and go for it, and that’s when they brought me into the fold,” Pedreira said. “We fine-tuned the script for several months before going into production and … filmed on location at Portland Best Buds.”
Filming on the “Propaganja” pilot is nearly finished — the post-production process will likely take several months, however, before the webisode premieres.
“We are having a blast with the material — mostly at government’s expense. Basically, the villain in our story is government,” Pedreira said. “I think it’s important to have a sense of humor in this new industry because cannabis is so misunderstood by some members of the public, and Reefer Madness propaganda is still being perpetuated by the federal government. The Feds’ stance on cannabis is a combination of corruption and ignorance, so it’s nice to have a good laugh about it!”
Co-directors Patrick Servais (left) and Paul Pedreira (right) during the filming of the pilot episode of “Propaganja.”Co-director Patrick Servais films a scene where two characters argue about whether or not state officials are actually watching their dispensary’s security camera footage.
HempStaff is a Florida-based enterprise focused on cannabis staffing, networking, and educational opportunities.
There are two core offerings at HempStaff. The company was developed to be a combination cannabis head-hunters agency — dedicated to helping cannabis companies find the right talent to fill their high-level occupational vacancies — and an institution of cannabis learning, through which HempStaff offers live, in-person group classes to people around the country who are pursuing entry-level positions at a dispensary or legal grow operation. The classes are also popular among entrepreneurs who are curious about cannabis, opportunities in the industry, and/or the medical and cultural advances that have been made since the era of widespread prohibition.
Finding and satisfying demand for cannabis talent
According to company co-founder and Vice President Rosie Yagielo, HempStaff — put simply — is “in the business of helping people.”
“We’re helpers,” Yagielo said when interviewed by Ganjapreneur. “We want this industry to succeed, no matter what side we’re looking at: from the business point of view, we want their business to succeed right off the bat, so we’re going to help them find the most qualified, experienced person we can; on the employee side, we want these folks to succeed as well.”
HempStaff offered its first class in September 2014. The agency has a dedicated cannabis trainer based out of Colorado who has worked nearly every typical cannabis industry job — this person travels regularly on weekends to wherever HempStaff is hosting a class to talk about cannabis and what it means to be a dispensary agent (a.k.a. budtender). Yagielo herself teaches the HempStaff courses on regulatory compliance, which she says are kept interesting because the laws inevitably vary state-by-state, and, more often than not, even those laws are changed on a month-by-month basis.
“It is amazing the quality of people that come to my class,” she said. “I could teach everything [about] what the job is — but I can’t teach passion, and I can’t teach compassion. They come to my class because they have both of those things: they really want to get into the industry, and they really want to help other people.”
Spreading success around the industry
Yagielo, who left behind twenty years of experience working in hotels after an unfortunate knee injury prevented her from spending too much time in the day standing and walking, set her sights on the cannabis industry in 2013 after realizing that her networking skills and business experience would be a boon to many cannabis entrepreneurs — many of whom are emerging from the unregulated market.
“My goal is to make others succeed,” she said. “That’s what we built HempStaff on: we want students to succeed and we want businesses to succeed, because we want the industry to exceed. That’s always been the goal.”
Between their talent sourcing and educational opportunities, HempStaff works to cultivate opportunities that will cover every important base for a potential career in cannabis. Whether it’s a person looking for an entry-level trimming job; an esteemed master grower looking to meddle in a different, emerging marketplace; or an entrepreneur who by all accounts has the capital and gumption for a cannabis startup, but doesn’t yet have an established, dedicated team to bring their idea to life — HempStaff dedicates itself to finding a solution.
For more information, visit www.HempStaff.com — or go to Rosie Yagielo’s blog, where she tackles many of the important questions common when considering a career in cannabis.
Ohio’s medical cannabis program is off to a rough start.
One city has enacted a complete dispensary ban, two Ohio municipalities have passed six-month moratoriums on dispensaries, and two more cities are considering similar measures, WKYC 3reports.
Rocky River has completely banned dispensaries over concerns about who will police the businesses, according to Andrew Bemer, the city Law Director. He says the law does not specify if enforcement is the responsibility of the city, the state, or the West Shore Enforcement Bureau.
“Given our tight knit and dense intense community, it’s our belief our best road would be to do an out and out ban,” he said in the report. “Our West Shore Enforcement Bureau is advocating against allowing any of those three processes (growing, processing and selling) to go on in any of the cities, so that’s the tack we’re taking.”
Brooklyn and Lakewood’s moratoriums are, right now, only for six months. Lakewood has taken the additional step of halting the changing of building and zoning laws, which could allow for dispensaries.
Brecksville and North Royalton are considering enacting their own measures but have so far not codified any attempts to prevent dispensaries.
Officials plan for the program to be rolled out in Sept. 2018.
Previously available on any device’s browser as a free anonymous fully functional web and mobile app, and now available as a dedicated iOS app via the iTunes App Store, LeafedOut.com is the only tool in the marijuana marketplace that focuses specifically on person-to-person networking for any cannabis employment or product need, while at the same time still encouraging all models of communication and networking through any models, whether it be business and individual based dividing users in four unique niches; Vendors, Buyers, Employers and Workers; LeafedOut.com creates an interface that allows users to instantly survey and connect to cannabis industry players in their area via an integrated live messaging service, fully functional review system, and real-time map-based technology. The iOS app includes all the fundamental functionality of the LeafedOut.com web app, yet to take advantage of all the latest products enhancements the web app may still need to be used as the new versions of the iOS app are released in the coming days.
“LeafedOut.com is pulling the marijuana industry out of the grey economy that currently exists in many legal and medical states, by providing all people and entities who are involved in the cannabis market and industry to have a technologically advanced streamlined networking tool to make direct connections and reduce the inefficiencies that plague the progress of the marijuana movement across the country. It provides the necessary fundamental technological infrastructure and framework, that can now not only be accessed on any devices browser but also as an iOS app through the iTunes app store, to assimilate marijuana as a whole into the mainstream of this country’s economic and cultural identity” saidLeafedOut.com’s founder. “Add to this LeafedOut.com’s dedication to activism and giving back to the marijuana community, as well as the fact the service is still offered free for all and even free of any advertising, there is a clear vision of continued growth across the board for the product both in size and value to thousands of free registered users, who use LeafedOut.com daily to meet all their legal/medical marijuana product and employment needs.”
As the marijuana community grows, so does the diversity of participants in aspects such as age, gender, language and backgrounds. Hence, the LeafedOut.com app is designed to be as simple and robust as possible as to offer its service as many participants in the marijuana industry as possible. Sign ups are free, quick and users may enter a fixed location or use the geo-location services of iOS.
Once the LeafedOut.com app is on an iOS device it gives the user the resources and ability to participate in any sector of the marijuana industry. Whether a user is on vacation looking for a specific strain while in Washington D.C., individual caregivers or delivery services searching for new medical patients in their local area, legal growers looking for a group of trimmers for their ranch in Colorado, or a college student looking for work back home or locally during the college break, the LeafedOut.com app provides all this and more.
Editor’s note (11/11/22): This announcement was updated to reflect a name change by LeafedOut.com following a legal settlement.
Connecticut’s eighth medical marijuana dispensary opened in Milford despite concerns from residents about its location in a residential area, WTNH News 8reports. The Southern Connecticut Wellness and Healing LLC dispensary is the first of two that will operate in the city.
Milford Mayor Benjamin Blake opposed the dispensary site when it was announced, saying it “should be moved to a location that is not in the middle of a residential neighborhood.”
According to the Department of Consumer Protection, nine of the 17 applications to operate dispensaries in the state were for locations in Milford. A second clinic is slated to open in the fall.
The state’s two-year-old medical marijuana program is growing. More than 12,000 patients have registered, up from the 1,200 that initially signed up in 2014. The growing patient roster means more demand, which means more dispensaries will certainly be needed. According to the Department of Consumer Affairs website, there are now just eight dispensaries currently in business in Connecticut.
“So the program is progressing which is good because it’s providing another alternative for people suffering from a limited number but very serious conditions whether it’s cancer, AIDS, ALS, those are serious diseases,” Jonathan Harris, Commissioner of Consumer Protection, said in the report.
In addition to Milford, Connecticut has dispensaries in Waterbury, Hartford, Bristol, Uncasville, Branford and South Windsor.
Yet another California county is looking to cash in on the potential “green rush” if voters approve the ballot measure to legalize recreational cannabis use in November.
Solano County supervisors have approved a measure to place a tax on gross receipts of all marijuana-based businesses on the upcoming ballot. Under current ordinances, the county does not allow cannabis operations in unincorporated areas. The county’s largest city, Vallejo, has 10 legal dispensaries which are subject to a 10 percent tax under current law. Those dispensaries generated more than $965,000 in revenue for the city between Sept. 20, 2015 and June 30, according to a report from the Daily Republic.
If voters pass the Adult Marijuana Use Act, the county board would have to establish regulations for potential commercial and medical operations. During the meeting, board members were urged to not apply the tax to medical marijuana dispensaries.
The proposal would levy a 15 percent tax on cannabis businesses in the county; however that rate, along with whether or not the tax would apply to medical dispensaries, still needs to be finalized by the board before the final ordinance is proposed.
According to a February poll from Probolsky Research, nearly 60 percent of Californians are in favor of Proposition 64.
Bhang Travel Inc., the Cannabis Industries Premiere Travel and Event Agency, presents the first-ever Jamaican Cannabis Cruise from Miami, Florida on January 21st – 26th 2017. Bhang will bring together industry experts, professionals and enthusiasts for five days of cannabis-infused fun at the Annual Jamaica Cannabis Cruise!
The first day in Miami we will board the original Fun Ship and kick it off with a “Bhang” during our private, onboard meet and greet cocktail party. The second day at sea will be filled with mini-workshops from a host of industry professionals: doctors, nurses, health care workers, cultivators, attorneys, technology, dispensary owners, edibles and infusion makers and many other industry experts will be offering their experience and expertise to attendees. Day three, we will disembark in Ocho Rios, Jamaica and head off to our exclusive tour of a working Jamaican cannabis farm. Walk around the buds in many phases of cultivation and see how ganja has been grown on the island for hundreds of years. Then, off to the quaint little village of St. Anne — the birthplace of Bob Marley — where we will be led by a Rastafarian guide who will tell you stories about Bob Marley’s life and take you to where he is laid to rest. Day 4 will be spent in Grand Cayman. Day 5 will begin onboard with a panel of professionals in the cannabis industry answering questions regarding cannabis use for health and wellness, and all things about growing cannabis. Then, there will be a tradeshow in the afternoon where attendees can freely mingle with the speakers and sponsors and view their products and services up close, ending with a cocktail and dinner party. On Day 6, we will arrive back in Miami at 8AM.
Included are all of the amenities normally on board a cruise ship, the private Bhang attendees-only cocktail parties, seminars, workshops, tradeshow, and the excursion to a working cannabis farm and Bob Marley’s birthplace in Jamaica. Cabins are limited and start at $995 per person for a double occupancy Ocean View. The price includes taxes and fees.
Bhang Travel Inc. is quickly becoming the go-to cannabis event travel promoter in the industry. Bhang specializes in combining international cannabis-friendly destinations with industry experts and cannabis enthusiasts for an amazing adventure with cannabis on land and at sea. Our events include Alaska Cannabis Cruise, Spannabis, all-inclusive trips to existing events and festivals, special events to international destinations, our Annual Jamaican Cannabis Cruise and so much more. Visit www.bhangtravel.com to learn more about how to travel with Bhang.
The Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America paid for an ad in the May 24, 2016 edition of Politico’s daily Huddle newsletter pushing for members of Congress to fully fund Section 4008 of the FAST Act, which would force a study on “marijuana-impaired driving,” according to a Marijuana.comreview of hacked Democratic National Committee documents released by Wikileaks.
“A message from Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America: While neutral on the issue of legalization, WSWA believes states that legalized marijuana need to ensure appropriate and effective regulations are enacted to protect the public from the dangers associated with the abuse and misuse of marijuana.
“23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medicinal marijuana while Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and D.C. have legalized possession and recreational use. In the years since the state legalized medicinal use, Colorado law enforcement officials have documented a significant increase in traffic fatalities in which drivers tested positive for marijuana.
“Congress should fully fund Section 4008 of the FAST Act (PL 114-94) in the FY 2017 Appropriations process to document the prevalence of marijuana impaired driving, outline impairment standards and determine driving impairment detection methods.”
The year-long study by the Department of Transportation — included in the infrastructure legislation — would make recommendations for defining driving under the influence of marijuana, including an “impairment standard.”
Morgan Fox, communications manager for the Marijuana Policy Project, said that money would “do better to fund research on how to decrease drunk driving.”
“Given that driving under the influence of marijuana is already illegal and that the existing research shows marijuana’s effect on driving ability is significantly less than alcohol, it is difficult to see a legitimate reason for the alcohol industry to be taking up this issue,” Fox said in the report.
According to the WSWA website, the organization “does not have a position on the core question of marijuana legalization,” however their website indicates that they are proponents of a “three-tiered” regulatory structure for the cannabis industry akin to the one in place for alcohol.
“Without a similarly robust system, the marijuana market could present the potential for illicit and unregulated activity akin to that which occurred with alcohol prior to and during Prohibition,” the WSWA site says. “Accordingly, WSWA stands ready to serve as a resource for states in explaining the merits of the three-tier system as a systematic and effective regulatory framework.”
Ohio has released the first information regarding the implementation of its medical cannabis program, the Columbus Dispatchreports, but offered little in the way of concrete details beyond the projected Sept. 2018 roll out of the program.
The Department of Commerce is tasked with developing rules for growers, processors, and testing laboratories; while the Board of Pharmacy will determine the number of dispensaries allowed in the state, and create the rules, applications, and fees for those dispensaries.
Physicians — following the guidelines of other states with only medical marijuana programs — will be allowed to “recommend” medical marijuana, but, due to federal law, will be unable to prescribe the drug. Patients and caregivers will need to register with the state Health Department.
The list of qualified conditions includes 21 severe or chronic medical disorders — including post-traumatic stress disorder — and qualifying patients will be able to access a 90-day supply of marijuana edibles, oils, tinctures, and patches. The measure allows for plant material but does not permit smoking as a delivery method.
According to the official website for the program, officials are currently seeking a medical marijuana analyst “with specialized industry knowledge to assist with the development of the rules and regulations impacting cultivators of medical marijuana.”
Gov. John Kasich (R) signed the bill into law in June. The measure circumvented a ballot initiative campaign backed by the Marijuana Policy Project which would have allowed the drug to be smoked and had a “grow-your-own” provision.
Staff at SickKids Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada refused to administer cannabis oil to an 11-year-old patient during his recent stay due to the policies of the hospital and the College of Nurses, according to a City Newsreport.
Maria Niembro said that the oil is the only drug that stops and prevents her son Francesco’s seizures. The boy suffers from CFC syndrome — one of just 450 people in the world diagnosed with the condition.
“The hospital staff, the hospice care workers, they all tell me there is no policy in place,” Niembro said in the report. “They can’t administer it, even though it is legal, even though it is prescribed. They say they can’t do it. I ask why and they say ‘It’s political, the College of Nurses has to give the green light.’”
Niembro’s son used to suffer two to 10 seizures a day before he started cannabis oil therapies, now he sometimes goes days without one, his mother said.
In a statement, SickKids indicated that they have recently received approval from Health Canada for a clinical trial to “determine the safety and dosage of cannabinoid oil” for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, and supported the administration of the drug by the patient’s parent — but refused to comment on Niembro’s case directly.
“SickKids does not currently prescribe or administer cannabinoid oil as part of clinical care, as there are not enough high-quality studies about the safety and efficacy of its use in treating seizures in children,” the statement said.
The Ontario Ministry of Health said they are investigating the claims.
Twice as Many U.S. Citizens Admit to Cannabis Use than Three Years Ago
According to a Gallup poll released yesterday, 13 percent of adults surveyed admitted they “currently” use marijuana, up from 7 percent in 2013. The figure represents about 33 million adult cannabis users in the U.S.
Either a large number of Americans have just started using marijuana — perhaps due to newly legal markets since the first survey — or, more likely, that more are admitting to using the drug as the stigma often associated with cannabis use wears off.
“The results show that age and religiosity are key determinants of marijuana use,” Gallup analyst Justin McCarthy said in the report. “Almost one in five adults (19 percent) under the age of 30 report currently using it — at least double the rate seen among each older age group.”
Just 9 percent of churchgoers admitted to being cannabis consumers, compared to 14 percent who indicated they seldom or never attended church. According to the survey, people in the western part of the country — who have the most access to formal markets — smoke marijuana (14 percent) than those in the East (9 percent), Midwest (9 percent) and South (6 percent.)
Nine states will vote on legalizing cannabis for either medical or recreational use in November. According to a June poll from Quinnipiac University, 54 percent of Americans support general legalization of cannabis.
Two suspects are in custody following an attempted armed robbery at a North Seattle dispensary late Sunday night, Komo Newsreports.
An off-duty Have a Heart employee witnessed the robbery-in-progress via the store’s security cameras and called 911 from home.
Two masked suspects, armed with handguns, entered the dispensary and tied up the employees, according to Seattle Police Detective Mark Jamieson. The duo was apprehended by authorities when they walked out of the front entrance carrying two large duffel bags.
The employees were uninjured in the incident and were able to free themselves before running out another door. They are cooperating with police in the ongoing investigation.
Dispensaries are often robbery targets because of the cash-only nature of the business, caused by the federal status of cannabis. According to a report by Merry Jane, more than six dispensaries in Colorado, California and Michigan were victims of robberies, or attempted robberies, in July alone.
According to a 2015 report by Bulbulyan, a business consulting firm that has since rebranded into SIVA Enterprises, robberies often cost dispensaries more than $250,000 in just property damage, legal fees and lost work time. The report estimates that dispensaries are 16 percent more likely to be robbed than banks and that cannabis-related businesses can expect to be robbed every two years.
Entrepreneur Daniel Yazbeck has been thinking a lot about the Flint water crisis lately.
“It’s not just Flint but also what’s happening in Alabama now with contaminated drinking water,” he said. With a background as a scientist, Yazbeck is drawn to analyzing problems and developing solutions.
In January 2015, the contaminated water crisis came to a head in Flint, Michigan when the city warned its nearly 100,000 residents that the water supply contained chemicals that exceeded permissible safety levels.
The warning was followed by reports of individuals, including children, who had gotten sick; many had high levels of lead detected in their blood.
Yazbeck, at the time, was transitioning from working in product development at Panasonic (PCRFF) to launching a business. He had previously worked as a research fellow at Pfizer with a focus on chemical research and development technology.
After launching his startup CDx in San Diego in 2014, he spent the next 12 months developing the first product — a handheld analyzer called MyDx, designed to test the purity of what we drink, eat and breathe, including cannabis.
“I wanted MyDx to be like a kitchen tool — simple and easy to use,” said Yazbeck.
Daniel Yazbeck, CEO of CDx.
The device (about the size of two iPhones stacked together) is intended for use in at-risk households where water contamination is a problem.
“It’s a quick and easy way to check the water,” he said. “You can do it weekly or monthly and track the water safety to see if it has improved or not.”
MyDx is designed to work with interchangeable sensors that test the quality of air, water, and food. The first iteration of the portable plastic device was paired with a sensor to specifically test the quality of cannabis.
While there are other tests on the market — such as Pro-Lab and First Alert — Yazbeck said MyDx takes a more modern approach.
“We’ve digitized the process,” said Yazbeck. “This isn’t like a one-time, at-home stick test to check drinking water. The system uses cloud technology to analyze the results against a database.”
Users get results back in a matter of minutes and are able to track results over time.
MyDx analyzers are manufactured and assembled in California.
Yazbeck launched an Indiegogo campaign in February 2015 to crowdfund the device. “We needed $19,000 and raised almost $40,000,” he said. “Part of the goal was to validate that there was demand for this device — and there was.”
The first iteration of MyDx, which costs $699 to have at home, hit the market in May 2015 and has sold 2,000 devices. Its sensor enabled users to test cannabis samples for both potency and pesticide contamination. “We just signed a $4 million distribution deal to supply the analyzers for this purpose to hydroponic shops in the cannabis industry,” he said.
The second iteration — dubbed MyDx2 — is coming later this year and will pair with sensors to test water, air and food (not cannabis). It will look for heavy metals, pesticides and other chemicals based on a few drops of water (or a sample of air) added to the sensor. A future sensor will test for lead.
The water, air and food sensors will also work with the original machine.
A pass or fail will appear on the screen in six minutes. Yazbeck said the results are graded against safety standards established by government agencies.
Unlike the first MyDx, Yazbeck wants its successor to be mass-market friendly.
“We’re pricing it at $349, but I would love to get that price down to under $100,” he said.
He also wants to partner with cities like Flint and states like Alabama where contaminated water is a serious problem. The goal is to provide the device to households at a subsidized cost, or even for free.
“We would also embrace the idea of giving the device to schools for free, too,” he said. “My vision is to have our machines in every city, in the hands of as many people as possible so that they can protect themselves.”
Applications for retail dispensaries in Yakima, Washington open today, but residents remain divided on whether or not they want the shops in the city, according to a report from the local CBS station KIMA.
Five shops total will be allowed to open within the city limits.
“If you ask me if I think marijuana should be legal here in Yakima, I would say no, absolutely not,” resident Phyllis Anderson said in the report.
Donald Kinney, a Yakima County Jail Captain, said the city was losing revenue due to their self-imposed dispensary ban, which didn’t reduce marijuana use anyway. He warned that many of the criminals he interacts with attribute cannabis use to “how they started their criminal history,” but “the city’s moved in the right direction” by allowing legal dispensaries.
The City Council lifted the ban in May by a 4-3 vote. During that meeting, nearly 30 people spoke for or against the measure, which was ultimately decided by three council members who defeated incumbents in the last election, according to a Yakima Heraldreport.
One dispensary, Happy Time, had operated in the town while the ban was in place. They, along with The M Store, have both been granted licenses to operate in Yakima.
The hot days of summer are the perfect time to make a cannabis solar infusion, and a great way to use up any leftover shake you have sitting around.
Solar infusions are old folk remedies that make use of the sun’s radiation to cook potent brews of oil, called a carrier oil, infused with medicinal herbs. Herbal-infused oil can be used for many things, including cooking, but are mostly commonly used in topical treatments and make excellent massage oils. Herbs can work as natural preservatives and add their own healing properties to the mix.
Solar infusions are not hard to make, but they do take time. Sun magic doesn’t happen overnight.
First, choose a carrier oil. Olive oil is wonderfully healing and has three major antioxidants: vitamin E, polyphenois and phytosterois. It makes a great base for any healing oil or salve. Avocado is another luxuriant, rich oil that is great for the skin. Apricot kernel oil is a favorite among many massage therapists for its light, non-oily application.
Some people also use animal fats. For example, emu oil has been gaining popularity in canna-lotions. Personally, I have problems putting dead animal oil on my skin, but emu oil is supposed to have many positive benefits — so if it doesn’t conflict with your personal ethics, it might be worth trying.
Second, loosely fill a large glass jar about two-thirds full with dried or fresh cannabis. You might want to add other herbs as well, such as rosemary, calendula or lavender. Some people prefer to make single-herb infusions and then mix the oils. Others like the mystery of tossing in a mixture of medicinal herbs and then see what transpires.
Pour in enough oil to cover the herbs, cover tightly and place it in a sunny spot either in your yard or on a windowsill. You can gently shake the herbs every day, pray over them, chant, sing or just let them brew.
After three weeks, strain the mixture through cheesecloth and discard the herbs. You can either bottle the oil up or add a fresh bunch of herbs and repeat the process until your oil reaches the strength you desire.
This infusion makes great massage oil on its own. It can also be mixed with other oils to achieve different consistencies. A few drops of your favorite essential oil will enhance the fragrance. It also makes a great base for healing salves, lotions or soaps.
