Texas GOP Adds Medical Cannabis Improvements to Party Platform

5/17/2016

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In an unprecedented win for cannabis normalization in Texas, the state’s Republican Party announced at a GOP convention last week that it was adding an expansion of the state’s medical marijuana program to the party’s political platform.

Here’s the exact language approved last week by the Texas GOP:

We call upon the Texas Legislature to improve the 2015 Compassionate Use Act to allow doctors to determine the appropriate use of cannabis to prescribed patients.

According to Heather Fazio, Texas Political Director for the Marijuana Policy Project, this is a hopeful sign.

“This confirms what we already knew: marijuana law reform is not a partisan issue,” Fazio said in a statement. “Across the board, Texans of all political persuasions acknowledge that cannabis is medicine and support the reforming of outdated policies.”

The 2015 Compassionate Use Act was passed to open up only individuals suffering from intractable epilepsy to CBD oil treatment. While this announcement is not a direct policy change, it signals that the Texas Republican Party should at least be willing to have serious discussions about how best to expand the program.

The GOP’s new-found progressive ideals, however, do not extend to the full legalization of cannabis. They also approved the following language:

We oppose legalization of illicit and synthetic drugs. We also oppose any needle exchange programs. Faith based rehabilitation programs should be considered as a part of an overall rehabilitation program.

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Cannabis Dispensary to Replace San Francisco’s Last Gun Store

5/17/2016

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High Bridge Arms, the last gun store in San Francisco, officially shuttered its doors in October, 2015 following a long fight with city officials over regulations requiring that firearm sales be videotaped and ammunition sales be reported to police.

Now, according to a recent 7×7 report, an effort to turn the building into a medical marijuana dispensary has been filed with the city’s planning commission.

Pacific Heights resident Sean Killen founded the new dispensary, aptly named High Bridge, to be a nonprofit endeavor dedicated to enhancing its local community — a stark contrast from the location’s namesake. Killen plans to keep medicine prices low, and says he will be offering some product at no cost to his poorest patients.

High Bridge’s landlord, Mr. Takahashi, bought the building originally in 1988. Takahashi is “very happy, quite frankly, that a cannabis store is going in there,” Killen said. In fact, one clause in the dispensary’s lease draws particular attention to the building’s history: the new business “shall not use [the space] for the purposes of storing, manufacturing, or selling any explosives, flammables, or other inherently dangerous substance, chemical, thing or device.”

“We did find a lot of stray bullets in there during renovations,” joked Killen.

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Dr. Ethan Russo: Non-Cannabis Plants Could ‘Nurture’ Endocannabinoid System

5/17/2016

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New research suggests that we can nurture some responses from our endocannabinoid system from plants other than cannabis, helping to keep it regulated and “healthy.”

According to Dr. Ethan Russo, author of “Beyond Cannabis: Plants and the Endocannabinoid System,” “numerous additional plants whose components stimulate, antagonize, or modulate the different aspects of the system” have been identified. Previous research has shown that our endocannabinoid system is responsible for our “relax, eat, sleep, protect and forget” functions, additionally performing major regulatory conditioning and maintenance functions in the brain, skin, liver, genitals, digestive tract, cardiovascular system and bone.

Russo first published the theory that some conditions, such as migraine, fibromyalgia, and irritable bowel syndrome, could be due to endocannabinoid system deficiency, in 2001 — though Russo revisited the subject in more detail in 2004. And, in 2008, subsequent research on this hypothesis (also by Russo) concluded that it is “highly likely that additional regulatory roles for endocannabinoids will be discovered” for modulating these systems and potentially treating these disorders when “modern medicine fails to cure.”

The endocannabinoid system has two cannabinoid receptors. When activated, CB1 is responsible for the psychoactive effects of marijuana when triggered by THC, while CB2 reduces pain and other inflammatory systems. However other systems have similar responses when triggered, such as TRPV1, which is triggered by capsaicin, the active ingredient in chili peppers. TRPV1 regulates temperature and pain responses and can be blocked by the non-psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, CBD. Using CBD to block TRPV1 “turns down” neuropathic pain, including; migraines, burns, chronic pelvic pain, bowel disorders, fibromyalgia and irritable bladder symptoms.

Russo notes that CBD has “not been definitively identified in other plants.”

In much the same way TRPV1 can be blocked by the introduction of CBD, the endocannabinoid system can be inhibited as well.

Carrots, for example, contain the natural pesticide and fungicide falcarinol – which has shown in studies to block cannabinoid receptors. If that caratoxin can be absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract, blocking cannabinoid receptors, it could be used as an appetite suppressant because of the role the endocannabinoid system plays in regulating our eating habits.

CBD and THC are not the only compounds in marijuana that help to modulate the endocannabinoid system. Cannabigerol, the “parent” to THC, only presents itself in trace amounts. Despite making up just a small part of cannabis DNA, cannabigerol has shown antidepressant effects in rodents and effectiveness as an antibiotic against MRSA. The compound has also been found in a flower native to South Africa, which could lead to additional research on the compound because it is not subjected to the same regulatory oversight as marijuana.

Beta-caryophyllene is another agent found in cannabis that interacts with CB2 receptors – which, due to this relationship, has anti-inflammatory properties. This compound is found in commonly used substances, such as; black pepper (up to 35 percent), lemon balm (up to 19.1 percent), cloves (up to 12.4 percent) and hops (up to 9.8 percent). Interestingly, black pepper has shown to mimic the effects of cannabis in mice at 2.5-10 mg/kg greater than placebo.

Frankincense also shows similar anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antiseptic effects to those found in cannabis. Additionally, it meets the “cannabinoid tetrad” – the four signs researchers use in animal experiments to determine that a substance stimulates CB1. This does not mean that frankincense can be used to get high; rather it means that it could be useful in maintaining endocannabinoid system health without cannabis.

Some varieties of terpenoid-producing herbs and other plants bearing glandular trichomes and lipids contain THC analogs but there is no evidence to conclude they have any psychoactive effect. Because these compounds – found in salvia, citrus and two types of liverworts (relatives of moss found in Japan and New Zealand) – seem to mimic THC on a molecular level, they too could be used to some effect in maintaining the health of the endocannabinoid system.

Despite the gains made in recent years, there is still a lot of work to be done in studying not only the endocannabinoid system, but what compounds could help modulate it. If some debilitating diseases are the result of a dysfunctional endocannabinoid system, as suggested, then finding ways to nurture this system could lead to potential treatments and, quite possibly, cures.

“When the substances involved may also include potentially forbidden substances resembling THC, which are subject to regulatory scheduling, the barriers to research become greater still,” Russo wrote. “…This educational deficit, born perhaps of lingering prejudice toward a plant called cannabis, must surely end soon, as it is contrary and detrimental to the potential significant contributions to public health.”

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UW Study May Misrepresent Washington’s Medical Marijuana Market

5/16/2016

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A study released last week by the University of Washington-based Cannabis Law Policy Project (CLPP) found that the currently allotted cannabis canopy in Washington should be enough to satisfy both the recreational and medical marijuana markets. However, some cannabis insiders have already voiced concerns over the findings’ validity.

The study was requested by the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) amid concerns that state-licensed cannabis retailers might not be able to provide for the state’s medical marijuana patients after July 1, which is the deadline for all non-licensed, grey market dispensaries to permanently shutter their doors. The study confirmed that the 12.3 million square feet currently allotted for the state’s legal cannabis canopy should be sufficient.

Sean O’Connor, the report’s principal investigator, said in a statement, “It was important to design this study the right way and engage in careful empirical research reaching out directly to medical dispensaries and growers across the state.” O’Connor is faculty director for the CLPP and a Boeing International Professor at UW Law.

One factor that has some industry experts concerned, however, is that UW researchers appear to have reached this conclusion by placing faith in the findings of a December, 2015 BOTEC study that, according to many, grossly underestimated the actual demand of Washington’s medical marijuana consumers.

Jim MacRae, founder of cannabis industry consulting agency Straight Line Analytics, has argued that BOTEC’s study contained flaws at its most fundamental levels.

The report (which was conducted during the early fall of 2015) collected data from existing grey market dispensaries to determine the likely patient base and amount of cannabis supported by the medical industry. However, the problem with this logic, according to MacRae, is that when BOTEC began collecting its data on Washington’s medical marijuana last fall, the marketplace was already facing a systematic down-sizing through over-reaching, legislative restrictions.

Ultimately, the methodology came down to this: unregulated dispensaries had been asked by an organization representing the Washington state government to disclose information about how much of a federally-prohibited substance they had sold in a non-taxed and unregulated grey market.

“Many of these people have not paid any taxes,” MacRae told Ganjapreneur. “Some of these people have now had to come into the light [to be] considered compliant enough to have a chance at existing after July 1. Don’t you think there might be a systematic bias there?”

Despite his concerns about the recent study, MacRae emphasized that he still holds a certain amount of respect for Seattle’s most well-established academic institution. However, hypothetically: “If I had a child right now that was looking to go to law school — and that child was thinking about going to the University of Washington law school — I would be a little less supportive of that decision today than I would have been yesterday,” he said.

Some industry members, however, believe that regulators should be focusing more on facilitating the movement of products that already exist in the wholesale market to store shelves where they can be accessed by consumers. Licensed cannabis producer Danielle Rosellison, co-founder of Trail Blazin’ Productions in Bellingham, said she is not particularly concerned about whether or not the state has enough allotted canopy space at this time. Rather, she wonders if there are enough retailers to dispense the product already being grown.

“If you look at all the [cannabis] farmers — and how many farmers are having a difficult time selling their product — I’m not sure that opening it up … to create more products is a good idea yet,” Rosellison said. “Do I think that this is forever? No. But I think for right now, to give those people a fighting chance, … the focus should really be on opening more retail stores.”

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Learn about Cannabis

NFL Offensive Tackle Donates $80,000 to MMJ Research

5/16/2016

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Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Eugene Monroe has donated $80,000 to medical cannabis research efforts, according to a press release issued last week by The Realm of Caring and CW Botanicals.

Monroe’s donation, made to Johns Hopkins University and the University of Pennsylvania, will fund studies meant to demonstrate the effectiveness of marijuana treatment for typical pro football injuries, such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

According to the press release:

Due to the NFL’s strict anti-cannibas policies, it’s difficult for current players to speak in support of the plant and its potential therapeutic uses. Despite the risks, on March 9 Eugene became the first active NFL player to call on the NFL to remove marijuana from the banned substances list; fund medical marijuana research, especially as it relates to CTE; and to urge the NFL to stop overprescribing opioids.”

“It’s time for the NFL to change its archaic standards to better protect its players and set an example for our young athletes,” Monroe wrote on his new website, EugeneMonroe.com, which lauds cannabinoids as an effective and safe method of pain management. “For too long, I’ve watched my teammates and good friends battle with opioid addiction and leave the game with a long road still ahead; it’s time to make a change.”

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Kansas Reduces Cannabis Possession Penalties

5/16/2016

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Kansas lawmakers approved a measure reducing marijuana possession jail sentences for first-time offenders and no longer charging second-time offenders with a low-level felony, according to an AP report.

First-time offenders will now serve no more than six months in jail, reduced from one year. Individuals on their ‘second-strike’ now face a year in jail in lieu of a felony charge. Subsequent offenders could serve 10 to 42 months in prison, the penalty under the current law for a second offense.

The bill easily passed both chambers of the Legislature in April; 38-0 in the House and 96-23 in the Senate.

The original proposal included provisions for legalizing hemp oil to treat seizure disorders, and authorized industrial hemp research. The House passed that version but it was stripped by the Senate. The House version was designed to reduce the state’s prison population by reclassifying first-time possession charges.

The enacted Senate version also increases prison time for burglary of an occupied dwelling from 31 months to 38 months. As passed, the Department of Corrections estimates it will reduce 32 adult beds in the state prison system for the next fiscal year.

The bill is expected to be signed by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.

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Colorado Opens Door to Out-of-State Cannabis Investments

5/13/2016

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Colorado’s Legislature has passed a measure permitting out-of-state individuals to own and operate marijuana companies in the state; a move the Cannabis Business Alliance says will help the cannabis industry expand and remain competitive.

This change, which still needs to be signed by Gov. John Hickenlooper (D), effectively opens the door for interested parties living outside of the state — and perhaps outside of the country — to enter Colorado’s booming recreational marijuana industry. Legal cannabis has already raked in about $270 million this year, according to a Denver Post report.

“Now that Colorado has led the way and gained effective control and transparency of cannabis businesses and the industry, we must remain competitive with emerging state markets like Nevada, Oregon, and even Texas, which have municipalities that will all allow outside money to be vetted and injected into their respective cannabis industries,” Don Slaugh, executive director of the CBA said in a release. “The State of Colorado must be able to expand on the success of our $1 billion industry as we continue to grow, consolidate and position ourselves for expansion into other markets both nationally and internationally.”

The bill allows for non-Colorado residents to own stake in marijuana ventures so long as at least one company officer has been a resident for one year. The company can have no more than 15 “direct beneficial interest owners” from out-of-state, according to the bill text. Additionally, “indirect benefit interest owners” can own up to 30 percent of a company if they are considered “qualified institutional investors” by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Swing State Voters Are Likely to Support Legalization, Study Shows

5/12/2016

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A solid majority of voters in three notorious Senate election swing states — Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania — support the legalization of cannabis. Meanwhile, super majorities of Florida and Ohio voters support making marijuana available for medicinal purposes, according to recent Quinnipiac poll results.

56 percent of Florida voters support legalized marijuana, agreeing that legislation to allow “adults to legally possess for personal use small amounts of marijuana” would be a good idea. In regards to medical cannabis, however, 80 percent of Florida respondents confirmed plans to vote for this November’s constitutional amendment to create sweeping medical cannabis reforms.

In Ohio, 52 percent of respondents approved the legalization of small amounts of cannabis for personal use, though 90 percent of voters there support the establishment of a state medical marijuana program.

Pennsylvania voters support 57 percent to 39 percent the notion of allowing adults to possess and consume small amounts of cannabis for recreational purposes. Pollsters did not ask respondents about the subject of medical marijuana, however,as Pennsylvania lawmakers have already approved such a system.

The only demographics with a majority of voters opposing legalization in any of the swing states were self-identified Republicans and respondents over the age of 65. Zero demographics, however, sported a majority of voters standing against the legalization of medical cannabis.

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Louisiana House Passes MMJ Reforms

5/12/2016

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Louisiana’s House of Representatives voted 61-32 in favor of SB271, making sweeping reforms to the state’s current medical marijuana program. The proposal works within the confines of the state’s 2015 legislation which provides some individuals access to oils with low THC, but does not permit “raw or crude marijuana” or inhaled forms.

This is the fourth time the state’s legislature has passed medical marijuana legislation – they did so in 1978, 1991 and 2015 – but, according to the Marijuana Policy Project, those laws were written in a way that made them ineffective, relying on doctors to prescribe marijuana, which jeopardized their license with the DEA to prescribe drugs. Instead, the new proposal protects physicians by allowing them to “recommend” medical cannabis to patients with severe and debilitating medical conditions.

The current law covers glaucoma, chemotherapy symptoms and spastic quadriplegia. Glaucoma is removed under the new proposal, but it adds wasting syndrome, seizure disorders, Crohn’s disease, spasticity, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis to the list of approved conditions.

Republican Rep. Sherman Mack lobbied for an amendment which would make possessing medical marijuana without a prescription a felony, but his bid failed 32-62 and was panned by his colleagues.

“Haven’t we led to the highest incarceration rate in the world?” Rep. Tanner Magee said, according to a NOLA.com report. “You are only adding to a failed strategy.”

The bill gives Southern University and Louisiana State University the first refusal to produce the drug, which they must do by September. Private companies would be permitted production rights if they refuse.

The bill now heads to the Senate, where it is expected to pass.

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Colorado Cannabis Company Awarded U.S. Patent for Marijuana-Based Product

5/12/2016

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Colorado-based Mary’s Medicinals announced today in a press release that it has been awarded a U.S. patent for its transdermal cannabinoid gel technology.

“We might be the first legal cannabis company in the United States to have a patented product formulation currently available to consumers,” Graham Sorkin, Director of Business Development at Mary’s Medicinals, told Ganjapreneur.

Through Mary’s four unique transdermal gel formulations — THC Indica, THC Sativa, CBN and CBD — consumers have an accurate and discreet way of consuming medical cannabis products. Mary’s also offers CBD Transdermal Gel Pens that have been manufactured through its sister company, Mary’s Nutritionals.

“We are pleased that the Patent and Trademark Office has approved our application,” said founder and CEO Nicole Smith in a statement issued by Mary’s Medicinals today. “The PTO has only granted an extremely limited number of cannabis-related patents — almost exclusively to major international pharmaceutical corporations, research institutions and the Federal Government.

Mary’s Medicinals started as a medical cannabis flagship company in Colorado and has since expanded to markets in Washington, California, Oregon, Vermont and Arizona.

“As a small startup company, securing this protection for our intellectual property and the recognition of the uniqueness of our offerings will bolster our continued leadership in this rapidly growing industry,” Smith said.

According to the press release:

The patent application (U.S. Patent Application Serial No.14/561,091), which is owned by Mary’s Medicinals, was filed on Dec. 4, 2014 by inventor Nicole Smith. Mary’s Chief Scientist, Noel Palmer, Ph.D. is also listed as an inventor. Mary’s Medicinals has additional patent applications filed and pending for its other unique cannabis products.

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Jim MacRae: Cannabis Business Intelligence

5/12/2016

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Jim MacRae is the founder of Straight Line Analytics, a cannabis industry consulting and advisory firm which gathers available data on the cannabis market from a variety of sources and uses it to help cannabis business owners make better decisions. He recently joined our host Shango Los for a conversation about how this data is gathered and how he uses it, why it’s important for regulators to release this data, and how it can ultimately be used. Listen to the episode below or scroll down for the full transcript!

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Read the transcript

Shango Los: Hi there and welcome to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast. I am your host Shango Los. The Ganjapreneur.com Podcast gives us an opportunity to speak directly to entrepreneurs, cannabis growers, product developers and cannabis medicine researchers. All focused on making the most of cannabis normalization. As your host I do my best to bring you original cannabis industry ideas that will ignite your own entrepreneurial spark and give you actual information to improve your business strategy and improve your help and the help of cannabis patients everywhere.

Today my guest is Dr. Jim MacRae. Dr. MacRrae is the founder of Straight Line Analytics. Since 2014, Dr. MacRae has been using Washington state Liquor and Cannabis Board data merged with his own proprietary compilations of industry related information to produce analytic summaries, innovative metrics, and numerous insights for business clients, cannabis advocates and policy makers. Welcome to the show Jim.

Jim Macrae: Good afternoon Shango. How are you doing today?

Shango Los: I’m doing really well. Thanks for giving us some of your time. I know your time is valuable. I want to start out by saying how valuable your work is in the cannabis industry, and that’s why I asked you on this show. Most cannabis people just repeat what they’ve heard from others, and you are one of the only people I know who is digging into the raw data to create whole new understanding, real original thought. Are you surprised that the Liquor and Cannabis Board decided to make this information public so that you can massage it and learn from it?

Jim Macrae: I’m pleased that they have, and I’m certainly think we’re fortunate that they have. We’re fortunate to live in Washington, which has one of the stronger public records acts out there. They’re some what compelled to make information available. They have chosen to make fairly extensive information available to this industry. Sociologically, for studying it, for understanding it is huge. It’s such a new industry as a regulated industry that what we do here can really serve as a good set of lessons nationwide. The LCB and the state of Washington have been very complicit in allowing that to occur.

The first year, they basically were making weekly and monthly regular deliveries of aggregate information to people, which allowed us to understand at a high level what was going on in the industry. Really down even to the monthly business level sales data, and tax collection data, so really did a lot of good stuff with that.

About this time last year they began releasing a monthly copy of the traceability data base which is effectively … Think of it as transactional level of information in the industry. It’s every piece of product creation, and movement, and flow through the industry. From wholesale, to retail, to ultimately consumers.

That’s similar to some of the data that I’ve played with in Pharma, when I worked there. I just see a huge opportunity for understanding and then for commercial value out of this information.

Shango Los: The LCB recently changed its rules a bit, so that there was less information coming out and cannabis advocates just freaked out about it. Looking at the information that is no longer coming out. Has that really been a loss at all?

Jim Macrae: We nipped the hard parts of that in the bud very early. They were proposing language from the motivation that was very good. They were releasing too much information. They were releasing stuff that was absolutely inappropriate. Things like security plans for buildings. Certain financial account numbers that people had in their application packages. Things of that sort. Stuff that really shouldn’t be out there.

But they put in general language like, we will deny all government issued ID numbers, and stuff like that. From a database perspective if they did that, if I did not have the license number, which the bureau of licensing service gives them, and the UBI number, and things like that, I wouldn’t be able to merge any data together. In deed the database, the traceability database, many pieces of it would fall a part, in terms of the ability to use them productively.

We pushed back hard. I was one of the people who freaked on that early. They listened and they modified the legislation accordingly.

Shango Los: I really like that answer to, because it kind of justifies everybody. On the one hand, my in-elegant of the use of the word freak, it was appropriate for us to freak out, because like you said, without the key IDs to anchor the data to, you weren’t able to make sense of it, but at the same time it also makes a good point that it is important for us as citizens to have oversight of our regulators so that we can make sure we’re getting clean data, and we understand how our industry, and our states are evolving.

I know that there’s a growing movement of data wonks and activists pushing cannabis regulators to keep the information available and complete. Can you tell us a little bit about those efforts?

Jim Macrae: I’m part of those efforts I believe, but yes. I would say, Dr. Corva, Dominic from CASP is involved in that as well. Many people are. The local media are involved in that, because they value the ability of our state constitution and legislation to say you can get access to these records, and we can basically hold the government accountable for many things.

When you look at the data … This is like the citizen-metrics thing that we talked about. You’re effectively saying all this information about this new industry, which is a very emotionally, politically, medically loaded subject for many people is now available to people beyond those that are blessed explicitly by the government. The government has the data. Bio-track presumably has the data, our traceability central vendor, and the consultants of the government would have the data. If other people do then you have more sets of eyes looking at it, and you glean more information and value from it. We have many examples of that. I like that term, the citizen-metrics that we talked about earlier.

Just the stuff that I’ve created from it that is not necessarily your averages and totals. Many other people are making this available commercially as well. I tend to give the data away and do other things with services. Sales by inventory type, growth, pricing, mark-ups, how long product is staying on the shelves, how one store differs from another, when they started tying the lab results in. The potency numbers and the quality assurance, and safety numbers. That just opened up a huge window. Indeed, my interest in the traceability data base started from Dominic being given it as a public records request, but the first thing I looked at was the lab results data that was from the old cannabis transparency project. The database was made available. I was all excited. I was like a kid in the data candy store, but it’s a horribly, poorly documented database, whose linkages are not obvious.

After about two months of frustrating work on my part, Dominic struck together a team of very talented people. We were able to crack initially the lab results. We looked at that, and it was apparent … The labs basically do two types of testing, potency and quality assurance. Potency is cannabinoid levels. I don’t like that use of the term but it’s what it is right now. Quality assurance, which is things like anti-microbial assessments, foreign matter, residual solvents, extracts for inhalation, things like that.

We looked at that, and my eyes just opened. It was a clear odd pattern in the data. It was so odd that we took it to the LCB about a year ago almost now, and showed it to them. It was clearly not possible in the world as we understood it. That just spun a whole bunch of work, as which you’re aware of that I’ve published up on High Blog.

It showed the labs doing some funny things. We would not have been able to do that without the data. My take away on the data stuff, the transparency of the data is crucial. As the rest of the nation launches this, please, I look at what Colorado makes available and what Oregon makes available to their people, which are dramatically different. I’m so fortunate in yet another way to live in Washington State, because we understand … We have the ability to understand this marketplace. Like right now, I don’t think any of the other states can, and we’re doing it.

If the other states come on board, if it’s only the liquor board or the cannabis board, or the gaming commission or whatever sin thing, medical thing they put in charge of it, or new thing, please encourage those governments and regulators to make available as much information as possible to you, so that you can understand the market, and so that you can really manage the market, sell its benefits, and adequately educate people about how few concerns there really are about it.

Shango Los: That’s a powerful piece of advice. We’re going to take a short break and be right back. We’re going to talk more about the inconsistency in lab results when we get back. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast.

The Ganjapreneur Podcast is listened to by tens of thousands of cannabis entrepreneurs and enthusiasts every single week. These folks are most likely your target customers and we’d like to introduce you to each other. Our down to Earth and information-rich commercial breaks can deliver your message to the cannabis business communities and others who just find relief in getting high. If you want to reach out and connect with our audience in the most personal way that we can offer, go ahead and drop us an email at grow@ganjapreneur.com and we can talk about you becoming a commercial sponsor of the podcast. Thanks for listening and being a part of the Ganjapreneur family. Now back to the show.

Welcome back. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast. I am your host Shango Los, and our guest this week is Dr. Jim Macrae of Straight Line Analytics. Before the break we were talking about the importance of cannabis analytics, getting data dumps from the state, so that individual citizens can work the data and see what we find. One of the things that most excited me and originally attracted me to your work Jim, is that you started coming up with really interesting data around the potency and other analytics that were coming out of the state approved cannabis labs. What insights does the data show with which labs may be more or less friendly to the industry?

Jim Macrae: Please, don’t get sued Jim. I published a series of … Something like five articles late last year, between late November and New Years Eve, I believe, on what I called lab friendliness within the state. Effectively, based on the work out of the Cannabis Transparency Project I took it upon myself, once I cracked the other portions of the lab data, and updated it, to do an assessment on a window of time. I took June, July, August effectively of last year. Those three months of data. We had, I think 14 labs up and running in the state at that point. Some of them had just started, so I have really thin data from them. It was enough into the market that I figured that they would work the bugs out of their processes and all that. I took a look at three months of data. Basically all of this stuff that they report. It falls into two families. I’m going to talk about quality assurance first, then I’ll talk about potency, if you don’t mind.

Quality assurance is basically, is the stuff safe? Would be a good way to put that. It’s a series of five different families of test including such things as the moisture level of bud, the relative absence of foreign matter in the product, the pass/fail levels on a handful of anti-microbial and growing things test, and the residual solvents in extract ventilation, particularly in volatile solvent based extracts.

It’s interesting, there’s data in all of that stuff. Those are basically pass/fail results. If you exceed a threshold or something like that, you fail. If the product fails, and they are typically testing batches of flowers here, many pound lots, if it fails you can’t sell it as that. Presumably you can retest it and if you remediate if that’s possible, and if it passes subsequently you can sell it. It’s a big thing to fail a test.

I looked at the data and failure rates on some of the test were almost non-existent. They were extremely small. When I cut it by lab, there was a differentiation that was stunning. I’m not going to go into detail on that, but there were a handful of labs that really stood out as failing virtually nothing, or nothing. Over quite a few tests, in some cases. That’s in the context of a whole bunch of other labs that are failing relatively consistent level of failure for the most part, but non zero. Take that as you will.

I stored that away. That was the original observation, the moisture level. Which I won’t bore you with the details. It’s in the blog. If that’s true, if the implication of that is that some labs are just failing a lot less, there’s really only a few ways that that can happen. The one that’s kind of an interest to me is that there’s almost a financial interest in that. The product that does not fail such results can be sold, that which does fail cannot be sold in that form. Store that away.

Then I looked at the potency results. I don’t like the word potency. It’s actually four measures. CBD levels, THC levels, THC-A levels and a total metric, total cannabinoid. That was what they were reporting. That’s considered to be potency. It’s the only thing that’s on the label. Now, one of the big advantages of this industry is people knowing what’s in their product. It’s more expensive for the most part, it’s taxed more, you’re less likely to go to jail in Washington if you use it, that’s an advantage. But the big advantage is I’m not as likely to OD when I do an edible. I’m going to know the profile, at least within the four measure constraint that I just said of the cannabinoids of the product, and I’m going to know given the test that they’re doing for quality assurance that it’s less likely to hurt me or kill me along those dimensions. That’s a great thing.

If some of the labs are failing nothing. They’re either … They got extremely talented growers and absolutely pristine samples, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah all the time, or something else is going on. With the potency levels, it turns out that in a naive market, people were basically shopping for THC in various flavors. They were looking for numbers and high THC were commanding a higher price. It was moving faster, and indeed when you start talking to the farmers and you look at the data some of the stuff that was lower in THC … Let’s just say it’s velocity through the system was slower than the other product.

It really a big thing. When you look at the potency. There’s some interesting patterns of growth over time that I won’t bore you with. It’s either extraordinary genetic manipulation or people dialing in their processes quickly, but the growth in cannabinoid levels we’ve seen is humongous.

There was a sideline in that, which is that the total cannabinoid level that was being reported was different, by different labs for a period of time, and that ultimately got corrected, but a very interesting dynamic there. That’s also on the blog. I looked at the labs that were not failing results, and the labs that were failing results, and I looked at the labs as they distributed on their cannabinoid levels. There were some labs that popped as really, almost apparently … They had higher results then anybody else did. Their distributions were odd in various forms. There was some interesting temporal anomalies in it. I scored the labs basically on levels where, if they were deferentially showing higher cannabinoid levels, and deferentially showing no failures, or very unexpectedly low failure rates for quality assurance, that all incremented up sort of a non-parametric metric I developed that a summary score friendliness, which is detailed in the last series of the blog post on where I did the report card.

There were three groupings of labs. There were some very clearly friendly labs that tended not to fail a lot of stuff. Tended to have higher cannabinoid levels reported. Then there were other, what I call, non-friendly labs, which were reporting stuff that didn’t look like what the friendly labs did. There’s a third group of labs that I just didn’t have enough data on to be able to make a judgement. So it’s about a third, a third, a third.

The most interesting thing about it is, that when you look now. I’m just beginning to do the final assessment of the six month follow up of that work, that the labs that I called friendly way back when, one of them fortunately … well, one of them is no longer in operation. It was the most friendly lab, I think somebody ultimately called them out, or they called themselves out for what they were doing.

The remaining four labs that I called friendly that are in business represent the majority of testing that is done in Washington today. Whatever they did then, certainly didn’t seem to help their market share within the lab testing space. The good thing about this is the LCB and the regulatory bodies have all been made available, or made knowledgeable of this work. They have recently struck a quality assurance working group to do oversight on the labs, and indeed start looking at some of the pesticide levels that are beginning to pop up. I’ve done some work in that space as well.

We are making a big step forward with that potentially in the quality of the product that is out there. My one big concern about it is the way people are still tending to go with potency as the proxy for quality, and value, and price on the product, and how quickly it moves. That’s relatively ignorant market. It’s like shopping for Everclear when you buy alcohol. It’s much better than a fine Cabernet, because it’s got more alcohol.

Shango Los: Similar connoisseurs, they are looking at THC, but they’re also looking at terpene profile, and all these other things which gives you more of whole experience than just getting really baked.

Jim Macrae: That’s pretty much it on the labs stuff. I’m very disappointed to be quite frank, in some of what I’ve seen in some of the lab data, but I’m glad that the LCB seems to be addressing some of these issues that were there.

Shango Los: I think that’s a really good point to make that we even have this data. We’ve had years and years of medical marijuana in Washington state. We could see anecdotally that this was happening. I had consultant clients that were labs, that I was helping them with their marketing. You can tell from lab to lab, the customer saying, “oh, you’re not giving me the potency results I’m looking for. I had this run two different places. I like their results better, so I’m going to take my product back to them.” Then you would hear talk at industry gatherings where, so and so has a special relationship with this particular lab. They make sure that their testing has got the wink, wink for higher potency rates.

It really became a belief that this was a true thing. Therefor the market started to attract to those labs. Then over time we all felt, we know between the lack of sure science at the lab, and also the fact that some of the labs may be gaming the system. Our test results may be off, but at least if we all get our results at the same lab they’ll all be off in a similar way. We saw that. It was making a mess of the medical market. It gave a lot of evidence to regulators to bring regulation into medical, so that we can have exactly the kind of information that you’re talking about now, and look at it, and take action on it.

The follow up question then Jim is that, if you saw this in the analysis and you mentioned it to the regulators, what are you seeing now? Are these same labs still providing outlier data, or have their results magically become more in line with the mean?

Jim Macrae: That’s a work in progress, Shango. What I have looked at thus far, there is a very interesting thing that’s almost looking like regression to the mean. The two periods of time that are notable are last spring. The LCB gave directive out to the labs that they were to begin reporting a value that I call THC Max, which is the fully decarboxylated THC as the cannabinoid total metric. Prior to that a number of the labs had been reporting that. I think very arguably the appropriate number, and the obvious number to report there.

Some of the labs had been reporting other things. That in some cases it was driving me nuts. I could not figure out from the three other metrics that were there what a couple of the labs were reporting. I almost had to multiple them by a number to get to where they were.

Turns out some of the labs were actually reporting … They were measuring a whole bunch more cannabinoids and they were just adding them in to the arithmetic total. Bottom line is they were, I called it in my articles, inflating their cannabinoid total numbers by up to 3% on average. Remember, those are the labs that now command the differential market share of testing in this industry. When that directive came from the LCB, virtually all of the labs that were inflating by that definition very quickly came in to line, almost over night, within a week.

Two of the labs did not. One was just errant and a little learning one that was just starting up its processes I’ll say. The other one was a big monolith that continued to report inflated values for five to six weeks. Subsequently that lab has said they got special, super, secret permission from the LCB to do so. It’s one of my friendlier labs, in my opinion.

Shango Los: Right on. We’re going to take another short break and be right back. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast.

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Welcome back. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast. I am your host Shango Los, and our guest this week is Dr. Jim Macrae of Straight Line Analytics. Before the break we were talking about all of the differences that having the proper analytics on the data have had in the market. Both helping correct the potency numbers so that patients and recreational consumers know what they’re buying, but also that everybody understands now that the market that used to be medical and unregulated is now regulated.

With these numbers we’re getting to know so much more about our market. Everything from labs to sales numbers, so that people can start projecting. The Washington market has been stifled a bit by the pendulum of approving producers, and approving retailers out of sync. There’s been this too much supply, not enough supply thing. We’re in a position now that there’s simply not enough retail stores for the amount of production that’s happening, and the amount of want by the customer and patient base. Does that bear out in the data as well?

Jim Macrae: Yeah. It’s been a bit of a back and forth as the market is launched. We’re coming up on two full years of data in this market or later this year. Initially the obvious problem was there. There’s only a few farms operating. Some of them started growing two or three months before the market originally opened. Our stores opened in July of 2014. The first stores that were open sold out immediately. Prices were through the roof. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Supply was big, supply was small. Initially, supply was small.

Then it became apparent as more stores began opening, then there were areas that were undeserved by the stores. Remember, we’re in the background in Washington of having a very robust 15 plus year old medical market with dispensaries, reasonably distributed for the population that was consuming the product.

Those were beginning to see increasing regulatory pressure. Many of them beginning to get closed down in certain areas. Some local jurisdiction began to freak out a little bit about the stores coming onboard. Will this be a societal problem? Bans and moratoria were put in place, but the bottom line is as the stores began to open over the first year of the market it was almost a linear growth in terms of licensing of retail stores month to month. The growth in sales was a little bit better than that. It was going up very, very nicely. At a micro-level … Now, remember the LCB got at this point a couple of thousand probably farmer applicants, producer applicants for the industry. They’re trying to go through and license people. Get them producing. Have them produce into the market. Get their processes right as they scale up their basement grow to 3/4 of an acre sun grown. Things like that.

The dynamics of the market were extraordinarily complicated. Then the first fall harvest came along in 2014, and thank goodness it was a partial one, because it wasn’t a mature enough market to have a lot of big ones. Some of the people nailed it. That was a bolus of product without enough stores open, so prices, at the wholesale level took a big dive. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Some of the farmers almost didn’t recover from that. That’s going into the way it was in Washington and there’s a lesson there.

When Washington started everybody was taxed at 25%. Excised tax. Farmers, processors, and retailers. They’ve subsequently changed that to the taxes now at only the retail level, but it’s 37%. That was a great thing for farmers. The farmers I say, some of them are having trouble, some of them are differentiating themselves as just superb. There’s a lot of demand and demand continues to grow.

I’ve really begun focusing on some of my work on retail the last couple of months. I think I pretty much nailed a lot of the product flow at wholesale. It’s very interesting and it’s growing tremendously, but it’s the demand at retail that’s the interesting thing and that’s where your story’s looking really good. Retail is growing like crazy right now. Of course they are closing actively the remaining medical dispensaries. They will all be closed by July 1st. At the same time the LCB has allowed an additional 222 stores, on top of the original 334 that were allocated a couple of years ago. That’s way too few for the market place, but we’ll go there another time. They based it on frankly, a piece of crap study done by BoTek. It’s embarrassing. BoTek should be embarrassed about releasing that, let alone taking money for it, but they’re making policy based on it now and it’s horrible. It grossly underestimated the size of the market in Washington state. Some of the dynamics that are going on here.

The retail is growing and it’s growing at a very good clip. I’m forecasting pretty firmly total markets sales, wholesale, and retail of over a billion dollars this calendar year in Washington. That goes well beyond what the economic forecast research council of the state is forecasting. There forecast are getting better. They’re very talented, but for some reason the legislature wants to under ball those numbers. We’re doing very well. Some of the retailers are a little worried because of the gross impact of 280E on their taxes, their margins, their operating margins.

The growth of the market is going to be stronger than people suspect. It’s looking pretty good here. Growth can be explosive, and it is explosive at least from what I’ve seen in Washington. Every way that I’ve looked at it. When a new store opens that first little bit is very big. That’s becoming less now that there’s more competing stores. They’re looking pretty good.

Shango Los: Yeah, no doubt. We all knew that there was going to be a lot more pent up demand than they expected. So much of this has been happening in the casual and black market … There were no metrics. Folks like BoTek were magic wanding it to better or lesser effects. Jim, when I started letting some of the industry leaders here in Washington know that I was going to have you on the show, they were really excited to get some free access to your analysis.

I can imagine. We’ve got listeners to all over the country. Even some outside of the country. For folks who are listening to you and they identify with, this guy understands data. I would love to be able to talk to him about my market in Oregon or Colorado. Do you work with folks? I mean, are you working on data in other states, or are you pretty much Washington centric?

Jim Macrae: I’ve been talking to people in Colorado, Oregon, and Alaska. No where near to the level that I’m doing here. Mainly because we have better data here. There are some folks particularly out in Colorado, and Oregon right now that I’d say are trying to maximize access to the information that is available in their states. There are a couple of entities that are doing a more macro-level across the states and the country that are very good work. I’m not working with them right now. I might in the future. I’m focusing on Washington, but I’m interested in branching out to the other states, because the lessons we’ve learned here will be somewhat different in those other ares, because of how they implemented the markets. If people got three market, or two well functioning markets now with lots of data, and a third one coming online, wouldn’t you like to know the good lessons out of that to make your market more effective to meet the public health and policy needs and, frankly, the financial needs of the industry people.

Shango Los: Yeah, absolutely. My dad always use to tell me that it’s fine to learn from your mistakes but it’s really great if you can learn from somebody else’s mistakes.

Jim Macrae: We’ve got a lot of them we can learn from here.

Shango Los: Yeah, so Jim that’s all the time we have for today. Thanks so much for being on the show.

Jim Macrae: Thank you very much Shango. All the best. Talk to you soon.

Shango Los: To find out more about Dr. Macrae and Straight Line Analytics, you can go to his website at highintelligence.org or you can email him at jim@straightlineanalytics.biz.

You can find more episodes of the Ganjapreneur Podcast in the podcast section at Ganjapreneur.com and in the Apple iTunes store. On the Ganjapreneur.com website you will find the latest cannabis news, product reviews, and cannabis jobs updated daily along with transcriptions of this podcast. You can also download the Ganjapreneur.com app in iTunes and Google Play. Do you have a company that wants to reach our national audience of cannabis enthusiast? Email grow@ganjapreneur.com to find out how. Today’s show is produced by Pat Packet. I’m your host Shango Los.

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Ohio House Approves Medical Cannabis Bill

5/11/2016

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In an historic vote, the Ohio House has approved a bill that would legalize medical marijuana in a 71-26 vote, according to a Cincinnati Enquirer report. It was the first time members of the GOP-controlled House had a serious and impassioned discussion about the plausibility of marijuana being medicinal.

“I am absolutely convinced that there is therapeutic value in medical marijuana,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Stephen Huffman (R-District 80). “There is absolutely no doubt in my mind.”

The proposal — though likely to face further tweaks before earning the Senate’s approval — could still make it to Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s desk by the end of the month. Gov. Kasich said he would sign a medical marijuana bill if it was well-written and there was a recognizable need.

Unfortunately, the law is more strict than medical cannabis advocates would have liked. Patients would not be allowed to smoke cannabis, and would instead vaporize or consume orally their medicine. There would also be a 35% potency cap for THC in plants and flower products, and a 70% potency cap for concentrated products. There are also concerns over strict limitations placed on doctors that many fear will deter the medical industry from embracing the new law.

“Very few doctors will be willing to enter into a system that doesn’t trust them to make decisions that are in the best interest of their patients and ties their hands with regulatory red tape,” said Aaron Marshall, spokesman for Ohioans for Medical Marijuana.

“[W]e are not going to let the passage of a bad bill deter us … The bottom line is that this bill will not provide patients with access to medical marijuana. We are going to continue to move forward with a plan that provides access to medical marijuana for thousands of Ohioans with serious debilitating illnesses.”

There are two ballot initiatives underway in Ohio that would establish a more robust medical marijuana program via amendments to the state constitution.

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Cannabis Companies Named in Lawsuit Over Fatal Shooting

5/11/2016

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Two recreational cannabis companies in Colorado — Gaia’s Garden LLC, a manufacturer of infused edibles, and Nutritional Elements Inc., a retailer of recreational cannabis products — have been named as defendants in the first wrongful-death lawsuit against the U.S. cannabis industry.

According to The Denver Post, the lawsuit claims that both companies failed to issue appropriate warnings about the potency and potential side-effects of a cannabis-infused candy purchased by Richard Kirk on April 14, 2014. Hours later, Kristine Kirk called 911 out of fear that her husband might hurt her. However, the mother of three was shot and killed by Kirk, who now faces first-degree murder charges in his wife’s death.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the couple’s children by Kristine Kirk’s parents and sister. “While nothing can bring their parents back, this lawsuit will seek justice and change in an edible industry that is growing so fast it failed these young kids,” said attorneys Greg Gold and David Olivas, who represent the family. “Edibles themselves are not the evil, it is the failure to warn, the failure to properly dose, the failure to tell the consumer how to safely use edibles, that is the evil.”

A partially consumed “Karma Kandy Orange Ginger” infused candy was found in the residence, which was the size of a tootsie roll and contained roughly 100 milligrams of THC, or ten doses. A toxicology report indicated there were trace amounts of THC in Kirk’s bloodstream the night of the shooting — though his intoxication level was still well below the legal driving limit. No signs of alcohol or other drugs were found.

Colorado updated edible label requirements in January, 2015, requiring companies to provide detailed dosage information on recreational cannabis products. Edibles must now be either individually wrapped or somehow clearly separated into doses of 10 milligrams or less.

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Alabama’s Limited Medical Cannabis Program Rolling Out June 1

5/11/2016

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Alabama’s cannabidiol medical marijuana program will roll out on June 1, decriminalizing possession of CBD oils commonly used to treat epilepsy, according to a report from The Cannabist. The law allows the oil to be imported from other states, rather than produced in Alabama.

The measure, nicknamed Leni’s Law, allows for oils to contain up to 3 percent THC and follows a 2014 law allowing CBD oil to be studied by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Gov. Robert Bentley, who is also a physician, said the law provides patients with chronic and debilitating diseases “every possible option for treatment.”

“With Leni’s Law, citizens in Alabama will have access to cannabidiol that may help with treatment. Through a study at UAB, we have seen the benefit of cannabidiol to help with chronic seizures,” Bentley, said. “I hope we will be able to collect information that will determine the efficacy of this substance in other chronic debilitating diseases.”

Bentley’s Republican colleague Rep. Mike Ball sponsored the 2014 bill after meeting with families struggling with epilepsy and other medical conditions.

Leni’s Law draws its name from Leni Young, a 4-year-old who was diagnosed with an epilepsy condition and cerebral palsy shortly after birth. Young had hundreds of daily seizures and her medication rotted her teeth and made her lethargic. Her family moved to Oregon in order to utilize CBD therapies after she was denied access to participate in the UAB trials.

About 50 percent of the patients in the UAB study of pharmacy-grade CBD oil Epidox found “sustained improvement in seizure control” and two are seizure-free, according to the UAB report released in March. Epidox contains just .2 percent THC.

“She’s progressed further than we were ever told was a possibility for her,” Amy Young, Leni’s mother, said. “I can’t wait to watch our friends’ children progress.”

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Medical Marijuana Consultant Classes Now Available in Washington

5/10/2016

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With the July 1 implementation of Washington’s controversial Cannabis Patient Protection Act looming, Washington officials, entrepreneurs and educators are working to ensure there will be an infrastructure in place to provide medical marijuana patients the medicine they need.

The Cannabis Patient Protection Act (SB 5052), which was designed to fold the state’s less-regulated medical marijuana market into the state-licensed recreational cannabis system, bans medical dispensaries from operating past July 1, 2016 unless they have been issued a retailer license under the state’s recreational regulations. One of the often overlooked aspects of Washington’s I-502 legalization law, however, says that budtenders in recreational stores cannot discuss with consumers any of marijuana’s potential medical benefits.

Because medical marijuana patients will soon be sourcing medicine from recreational retailers as their only legal option, regulators have begun approving educators for offering courses on medical marijuana consulting. These classes, according to the state, will qualify individuals to discuss the medical benefits and/or drawbacks of cannabis with patients. Without at least one employee who is certified as a medical marijuana consultant, cannabis retailers will not be allowed to register for offering medical cannabis.

Two institutions have had medical marijuana consulting programs approved by the state: NRG Enterprises will be offering 3-day, in-person courses — the first of which begins May 27 — and the Seattle Central College and The Academy of Cannabis Science Division of Extended Learning launched its first online course earlier this week.

Continuing education classes will be required for individuals wishing to maintain their qualification as a medical cannabis consultant.

“[Our] course costs $499 and is a 20-hour, self-paced online program that must be completed within 2 weeks,” said Kat Oak, Marketing Manager for Seattle Central College’s Center for Extended Learning. “If students have questions on the material, there will be a series of optional online Q&A sessions held by our expert instructors — covering legal, medical, ethical and horticultural considerations — but otherwise the course can be completed in their own time. Because it’s online, anyone within the state of Washington can take it.”

A new class will start every other Monday through early July, Oak told Ganjapreneur, at which time the institution will reassess demand and determine the frequency of future medical cannabis consulting courses.

“Very few people have had an opportunity for formal training when it comes to cannabis, so that’s why we’re excited,” said Trey Reckling, founder of The Academy of Cannabis Science. Reckling said that the institution has been planning its course — which is offered in conjunction with Seattle Central College — since February. Throughout the course, students will have access to top experts from Washington’s medical, legal, and horticultural spectra of modern cannabis.

The course — as per requirements from the Washington State Department of Health — will cover topics ranging from qualifying medical conditions, the effects of certain cannabinoids, the potential risks vs. benefits of certain cannabis products, state laws regarding medical marijuana, and ethics and customer confidentiality.

“We’ve really taken a lot of time to emphasize that there’s a firm line we can’t cross, and that’s practicing medicine without a license,” Reckling said. “We continue to remind our consultant students that we’re going to educate them and give them a great amount of knowledge in a 20-hour course, but at the end of the course they will not be medical professionals. They will not be pharmacists, they won’t be nurses, but they will be the most educated, qualified and recognized employees in the industry … to date.”

Reckling also said that, as the first version of what he expects will become a long road of cannabis consulting education, they will always be working to improve the course.

“We’ll be welcoming feedback from students and input … from the community,” Reckling said. “We want to show that we are contributing, we support patients’ rights … and we want to do our best to elevate the standards and expectations of what service is when you go into a recreational marijuana store.”

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U.S. Marijuana DUI Laws Not Based on Facts, AAA Study Finds

5/10/2016

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A study by AAA’s safety foundation found that driving under the influence of marijuana laws in the U.S. are not based on scientific research. Instead, researchers determined that the traditional method – testing for THC in the bloodstream – is not an adequate way of testing for impairment.

According to the study, drivers with low levels of THC content in their blood can still be unsafe, while others with high levels might not be as dangerous, according to the RT report.

Researchers found that people with high THC levels in their blood were sometimes safer drivers than those with lower concentrations. The blood-alcohol-content limit for alcohol-related DUI impairment is .08 percent. Three of the six states with marijuana-DUI benchmarks, Colorado, Washington and Montana, set the BAC marker for marijuana-DUIs at 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood, but cannabis is not metabolized by the body the same way as alcohol, and the presence of THC, high or low, is often not a true indicator of how impaired a driver may, or may not, be.

Some regular cannabis users might always exhibit higher continuous THC levels and might not be under the influence at all when their blood is taken for DUI suspicion – but the test would indicate otherwise. On the flip side, a moderate cannabis user might have very low proportions of THC in their blood but could still be under the influence. Those users might also be more impaired by a small amount of marijuana compared to regular users.

“It’s an attempt to try to do an apples-to-apples comparison with blood alcohol concentration,” Marijuana Policy Project senior legislative analyst Chris Lindsey said.

AAA recommended that police officers be trained in spotting signs of impairment, such as field sobriety tests, rather than relying on BAC testing.

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Orlando, Florida Decriminalizes Personal Amounts of Cannabis

5/10/2016

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City Council members have voted 4-3 to make Orlando the next Florida municipality to decriminalize small amounts of cannabis, according to a WESH 2 report.

The decriminalization measure passed in a 4-3 vote on Monday afternoon. The change means that individuals who are caught with up to 20 grams of marijuana will no longer face automatic criminal charges. Instead, law enforcement officers will have the option of issuing fines: $100 for a first offense and $200 for a second offense — subsequent offenses would require a court appearance and warrant fines of up to $500.

People who can’t afford the fines will have the option of doing volunteer services for the city or attending drug education courses.

City commissioners first approved the legislation last month, but the bill has since undergone several changes that tightened restrictions and raised the fee amounts.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer approved of the changes. “What we’re saying is to someone who has made a youthful mistake for the first time and they have no other background of any sort and are not associated with any crimes, we’re probably going to be able to give them a second chance,” Dyer said.

The measure was opposed by two former police officers who serve on the City Council, Commissioners Tony Ortiz and Samuel Ings, and Commissioner Jim Gray.

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Ganjapreneur Podcast Changes: In-House Production, Updated Channels

5/09/2016

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If you’re a regular reader here at Ganjapreneur, you’re probably familiar with the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast. The show is heard by tens of thousands every week, and creates endless opportunities for podcast host Shango Los to delve deep into cannabis business and health topics with industry pioneers.

We’re very grateful for the healthy and thoughtful engagement that each episode spurs with today’s most important cannabis industry issues.

Recently, we have brought production of the show in-house, and, because of that change, many of our podcast feeds have changed too.

Some of our subscribers may need to update their subscription information on certain platforms to continue receiving the latest episodes of the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast. Our official podcast channels are on iTunes, Stitcher and Soundcloud. You can also view every podcast episode we’ve ever done right here on our website, and we do offer an RSS feed for podcast-specific content.

This also means that we are now placing our own commercials. From now on, during our short commercial breaks, we will tell you about a cannabis company we believe in, talk briefly about their product or service, then get right back to the show. If your company would like a personal connection with our audience as a podcast sponsor, email grow@ganjapreneur.com to get the conversation started.

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Massachusetts Voters Split Over Cannabis Legalization

5/09/2016

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Voters in Massachusetts are split on legalizing recreational marijuana for adult use, according to a Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll, which found 43 percent of likely voters would support such a ballot initiative compared to 45.8 percent opposed.

Proponents lost a bit of ground in the poll released Saturday. A July 2014 poll found 48 percent were pro-legalization, with 47 percent opposed.

Fifty percent of those polled were also opposed to citizens growing their own cannabis for personal use, while 40 percent approved of the proposal.

The spike in disapproval numbers comes just two months after Gov. Charlie Baker (R), Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and state Attorney General Maura Healey penned on op-ed in The Boston Globe espousing prohibitionist rhetoric.

The state has already decriminalized marijuana via a 2008 ballot question, and has medical infrastructure thanks to a 2012 referendum. Another poll in March, by WBZ-TV, WBZ NewsRadio and UMass Amherst, found 53 percent approval for recreational marijuana, with 40 percent opposed – that poll was released just days before the article by Baker, Walsh and Healey was published.

The legalization ballot question is likely to appear on Massachusetts ballots in November. The 2004 decriminalization initiative passed with 65 percent support, and the 2012 medical cannabis initiative with 63 percent support.

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Protesters Call for International Cannabis Reform in Global Marijuana March

5/09/2016

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Participants in the annual Global Marijuana March — a.k.a. the Million Marijuana March or Global Cannabis March — took to the streets in hundreds of cities across the world on Saturday, May 7. The first Global Marijuana March was organized in 1999, and it has since become a fundamental event in the international effort to legalize and regulate cannabis.

According to an RT report, protesters in 829 cities in 72 countries marched on Saturday to raise awareness about drug policy issues and to pressure their governments to undo the gross overstepping of power that is the Drug War.

Citizens in Medellín and Bogota, Colombia — where marijuana laws are significantly more relaxed than most other countries — marched with particularly eye-catching flair. Protesters proudly displayed massive smoking apparatuses constructed with over-sized, hand-crafted joints that had been stuffed into various fruits, including apples, pineapples, watermelons and pears.

International cannabis reform has grown increasingly more popular on the global stage. In North America, medical cannabis is legal in Canada and the federal government has announced plans for full legalization in 2017. Mexico also announced plans to decriminalize possessing up to an ounce, and will develop a national medical marijuana program to be unveiled sometime next year. Nearly half of all U.S. states have now passed some form of medical marijuana legislation, and four states plus Washington D.C. have legalized its recreational use.

Germany recently revealed plans for a government-run medical marijuana program, and all illegal drugs have been decriminalized in Portugal.

Cannabis has been fully legalized in Uruguay.

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Happy World Naked Gardening Day!

5/06/2016

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Congratulations, home gardeners: the annual World Naked Gardening Day (WNGD) is happening Saturday, May 7.

In case you’ve never heard of it, WNGD is an annual event that takes place on the first Saturday of May each year:

Events like WNGD can help develop a sense of community among people of every stripe. Taking part in something that is bigger than any one household, naturist group, or gardening club can move gardeners with an ‘au naturel joie de vivre’ toward becoming a community. And in the case of WNGD, it’s fun, costs no money, runs no unwanted risk, reminds us of our tie to the natural world, and does something good for the environment.

Not everyone has the luxury of outdoor gardening — especially when it comes to home-growing cannabis, our personal favorite. But if you’ve got the venue — or find yourself feeling a little risque this Saturday — get outside, take your clothes off, and plant something!

U.S. weather reports predict a spattering of spring storms across the Great Plains this weekend, with uncharacteristic sunshine imminent in the Northwest region. So wherever you are, maybe consider consulting a local weather report, but we hope that the prospects of a little muddy gardening or lightening showers won’t deter you.

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Top Canadian Pharmacy Exec. Wants to Dispense Medical Cannabis

5/06/2016

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The top executive of one of Canada’s largest pharmacy and grocery chains wants in on the nation’s medical marijuana market, according to The Toronto Star.

Galen G. Weston, president and executive chairman of Loblaws, said Thursday that Canada’s pharmacists are well-positioned for safely dispensing a controlled substance like cannabis.

“We’re an industry that is extremely effective at managing controlled substances,” he said. “It gives pharmacists the opportunity to work directly in real time with patients as opposed to doing it through the mail, working on their doses and making sure it actually has the therapeutic effect that it is intended to have.” If it were allowed, Loblaws would offer medicinal cannabis to patients with a doctors’ prescription, Weston said.

Pharmacists would provide a much more personal interaction with patients than the current online and mail delivery system, Weston said, though he admits to seeing no “safety or credibility” issues with the current system.

Loblaws isn’t lobbying the federal government in Ottawa to make changes, however. Rather, it is supporting a move by The Neighbourhood Pharmacy Association of Canada to do so. The organization is alarmed by what it calls a “lack of clinical oversight” in Canada’s current medical marijuana program, and argues that pharmacies should play a more central role in the dispensing of cannabis.

Ottawa has announced it is considering changes to the program, which are likely to be finalized sometime in August.

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Federal Agents Raid Three Michigan Dispensaries

5/06/2016

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Federal law enforcement officers executed search warrants on three HydroWorld dispensaries in Lansing, Michigan on Wednesday, confiscating plants, personal belongings, supplies, and cash from the shops on Cedar Street.

Trisha Burch, a HydroWorld vendor who was at one of the locations when the raids occurred, said agents from the FBI, DEA and ATF handcuffed everyone inside and ordered them to the floor.

“Initially when I got there I thought they were robbed, she said in a WLNS 6 report. “I didn’t know they were robbed by the FBI.”

The raid comes as the City Council considers a moratorium on new medical marijuana dispensaries and new ordinances for existing dispensaries. Michigan’s 2008 medical marijuana legislation permits use of medical cannabis by those authorized by a physician. Licensed patients and caregivers are allowed to grow their own; however so-called “provisioning centers” remain outlawed.

In 2011, Lansing’s City Attorney Office indicated that local dispensaries were operating “at their own peril.” In 2013, Michigan’s Supreme Court ruled that the state’s public nuisance law could be used to shut down dispensaries.

HydroWorld owner Danny Trevino said he was surprised law enforcement chose to raid the locations instead of using the public nuisance law. Despite the setback, Trevino plans to stay in business.

“This is what I do. This is all I know,” he said.         

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California Voters Will See Cannabis Legalization on November’s Ballot

5/05/2016

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Voters in California will decide whether or not The Golden State will legalize cannabis for recreational purposes this November.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that proponents of the Adult Use of Marijuana Act have collected enough signatures to see a legalization measure appear on November’s ballot. Advocates claim to have submitted about 600,000 signatures, and only 366,000 are needed to qualify.

The measure would make it legal for anyone 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of cannabis, and would establish a regulatory framework for the commercial cultivation and distribution of recreational pot. The law would impose a 15 percent tax on all retail cannabis sales, which is expected to generate hundreds of millions in new tax revenue for the state.

California voters turned down a similar proposal in 2010. Since then, however, four other states — Washington, Colorado, Oregon and Alaska — and Washington D.C. have passed recreational legalization laws.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa), who supports the measure, calls this an issue of personal freedom. “I can’t think of a bigger waste of government money than to try to use it to control the private lives of adults,” said Rohrabacher. “The walls of cannabis prohibition and this tyranny that our people have faced is coming down. Join us in tearing down this wall.”

Newsom, who is personally against marijuana use, says he is more concerned about the effects of prohibition than the drug itself:

“You do not have to be pro-marijuana to be pro-legalization. We are not promoting something that is not already ubiquitous in the state of California. Survey after survey, our kids say the same thing: It is easier to get marijuana than it is to get alcohol.”

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