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California Board of Equalization Calls for Cannabis Banking Services

10/21/2015

In an opinion piece on the Huffington Post, California Board of Equalization (BOE) member Fiona Ma called for California to establish its first marijuana bank.

Currently, the state collects some $44 million in taxes from the marijuana industry each year, and does so largely in cash.

“California should look into a state-chartered depository institution to provide, at the minimum, basic merchant services to allow businesses to pay their taxes and payroll via check or electronic funds transfer,” writes Ma.

MA, a CPA and Assembly Speaker pro Tempore Emeritus, represents nearly 10 million people in 23 counties. The BOE is a tax agency representing all California taxpayers, and is the only elected tax agency in the country.

Assemblymember Jim Wood has proposed a bill (AB 1549) that would create a California Cannabis Credit Union. The bill will be presented early next year in committee.

“Right now, one of the largest industries in California — and the tens of thousands of citizens who work in it — is being restrained from fully integrating into our financial and tax systems. This is a lose-lose proposition for our state,” writes Ma.

“Colorado’s growing pains can provide some useful lessons for California, and we need to pay attention to those lessons so that we are prepared for the changes that might be coming next year, and more importantly, to get those changes right the first time.”

Source:

http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2015/10/13/california-needs-a-marijuana-bank-says-board-of-equalization/

Photo Credit: Myfuture.com

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Morgan Kristine: Empowering Women in the Cannabis Industry

10/20/2015

by Shango Los

Morgan Kristine is president of the Marijuana Business Association and founder of the MJBA Women’s Alliance. She is also a long-time cannabis activist, grower, and enthusiast.

Morgan recently joined the Ganjapreneur podcast for a discussion with our host Shango Los about the growing number of women entrepreneurs in the cannabis industry, as well as the sexism in advertising which has been present across much of the market. In the interview, Morgan shares her thoughts on how to improve gender equality in the cannabis industry, why using cannabis in public is an important step in the cannabis normalization process, and more.

Listen via the media player 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’m 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 actionable information to improve your business strategy and improve your health and the health of cannabis patients everywhere. Today, my guest is Morgan Kristine. Morgan is president of the Marijuana Business Association and founder of the MJBA Women’s Alliance. A long-time cannabis activist and grower, Morgan also has a successful background in international business, working with clients like Lucasfilm and Corbis, and as vice president of Masters FX, one of Hollywood’s leading makeup and creative effects studios. Welcome, Morgan.

Morgan Kristine: Welcome, thank you so much. It’s great to be here.

Shango Los: Morgan, as co-founder of the first truly functional national cannabis trade organization, you saw a need for something more specific for women and went ahead and formed the MJBA Women’s Alliance within the existing organization. What did you see that called for a specific women’s alliance?

Morgan Kristine: It was pretty powerful. I’ve met so many woman in the industry, and I started hanging out and doing business with women. We decided that if we’re going to get together, we might as well be talking about business since we’re all there together. When women get together and they start talking about their business, it’s a totally different passion. The level of enthusiasm and just the camaraderie that we have when we get together is just incredibly powerful. I got together with a couple of other ladies in the industry and said, “Let’s really do this.” In May of 2014, we launched our first event which was called a power luncheon.

Shango Los: I would think that it would also serve your interest as well to come together as a power block because technically, you could get together at the regular trade organization meetings and chat, but by pulling yourselves together, you blend your powers to be able to take care of the things that you want to.

Morgan Kristine: Oh, it’s so true. When you think about how one powerful woman is a fierce force to be reckoned with but you put 50 to 100 women into this same room talking about cannabis, it just will blow your mind. We don’t have anything against men. We all love and appreciate men. So many of the guys in the industry have taught us so much. We can talk about issues without you there that will actually feel like we’ve been validated, we’ve been heard, and then that pushes us forward to more success. You know what I’m saying?

Shango Los: I do, but I would love to hear a couple of examples of the different topics that you handled differently when you’re together.

Morgan Kristine: As you probably know, sexism is huge in the cannabis industry. It’s huge everywhere, actually. When we’re talking about a brand new industry and we talk about sexism, when we talk about, for example, vape pens or dab rigs, and then you put them in combinations with half-naked women, we’re sending the wrong message. We can talk about that openly when we put together about what we want to do going forward. We don’t think it’s necessary. We don’t think we need to actually … We can do a better job. We can do this whole new industry without having to sexualize women. That’s just one example of some of the things that we do together. It’s just so much easier to talk about when the guys aren’t around.

Shango Los: We all know that the prohibition era of marijuana business was pretty male dominated. Now with the normalization, we’re not only seeing that women are starting and running these hugely successful companies and organizations, but I dare say that the industry is starting to become dominated by women. Why do you think that the women are gaining so much more influence in the post-legalization back during prohibition?

Morgan Kristine: Cannabis, that we cultivate marijuana from, is a female plant. I think right there in it of itself is a license to run with it. The businesses that are coming up are all women who’ve been in the industry or maybe they’ve just been tired of working for the man and they want to start their own thing. It’s like, why not this industry? We’re your growers, we’re your patients, we’re your educators. We purchase more marijuana than anybody else. It’s like, why wouldn’t we just starting taking over the industry? Why wouldn’t we step up and come out of the closets and say, I run a business, I want a network, I want community, and I want opportunity to provide for my family just like any man wants to do but now is the time because it’s never been done before.

Shango Los: Totally hear what you’re saying, Morgan, especially the part about the community. Here where I live on Vashon Island, we’ve got a few recreational cannabis growers and the biggest are all owned and operated by women. One of the things that I’ve noticed is that the meetings of the trade organization here on the island are so much more warm and communicative now because the mostly male-dominated prohibition growers, they are very concerned for their secrets and it’s very competitive and it’s kind of got a guy vibe to it. Now that the companies that are more influential are owned by women, it just seems to be a more warm and inviting and sharing of information environment. I really think that’s better for everybody, both the businesses and the patients.

Morgan Kristine: I totally agree. I really commend any organization or club or committee that gets together to talk about cannabis. There are so many wonderful ones. I started out with Women of Weed, Ah Warner and Shawn DeNae started this fantastic organization for women to get together just to imbibe and to share and to feel but we didn’t really talk about business. We really kept it light and friendly and warm. I joined NORML Women of Washington with Danica Nobel and I thought there I was like, this is awesome, this is incredible. It wasn’t too much longer when I said, okay it’s only a natural fit for me to slide from the marijuana business association as a whole into bringing women together on a regular basis.

Shango Los: I would suspect that when given the opportunity to get together as professional businesswomen that you are just attracting interest in droves by women who are like, oh my gosh thank goodness that there’s finally an organization for me, specifically within an industry that they’re passionate about as healers and cannabis makers and processors.

Morgan Kristine: You bet and so many men too like, please take my wife, please. I want her to get into this industry and want her to understand what I do. I’m like, absolutely, bring her on in. At the Women’s Alliance when we have our gatherings, it’s usually an evening or perhaps a luncheon where we’ll talk about business for the first 50 minutes and that might just be business plans, vision statements, creating our logos or whatever that may be. Then the second half of the programming may be dedicated to just specific cannabis industry-related topics. Students for Sensible Drug Policy come out. We’ve had Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Women in these industries that are helping us on a local level here in Washington and we’re also in Colorado and in Portland.

Shango Los: That’s an interesting idea too that the cross industry contacts as well. I would think that … Very often in male-dominated arenas, we tend to want to over speak women and we just get louder as our communication tactic. I would think that there are a lot of really creative ideas that come out from not just people who have introverted communication styles but just women without needing to worry about being talked over the top by a guy.

Morgan Kristine: It’s so true. I can’t tell you how many times in a business meeting I was cut off or somebody’s back was turned to me. I’ve had sexist remarks made at me and I’ve had inappropriate touching. I’ve had this before, it’s not just cannabis. We need to educate men, you seem like you’re very enlightened, more guys need to be like you. We need to understand that this is a team, we can move this industry along together but we need the support. I really believe that if women start getting involved locally in politics, locally in healthcare, growers, producers, and the retail women. Have you seen how many women are coming out strong on the retail end of it?

Shango Los: All over the place.

Morgan Kristine: Yeah, yeah. More women just need to get together and start talking about what they want to do and dream big, you know dream it. I just couldn’t be happier with the women that are really making this happen in Washington and all over the world actually.

Shango Los: It’s a good thing that it is. We’re going to take a short break and be right back. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast.

Shango Los: Welcome back, you are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m your host Shango Los and our guest this week is Morgan Kristine of the MJBA Women’s Alliance. Morgan, before the break we were talking about how so often in cannabis advertising we get these images that are overly sexualized and how many of us really do not want the industry to go that way. However, it seems that as the industry gets bigger, we are continually introducing new players that still have not been hip to that we want to advertise in a more mature way and so we’re constantly having to educate folks. What’s the experience that you and the Women’s Alliance have had with coming into contact with folks who are using hyper sexualized images and how do you communicate with them about considering something different?

Morgan Kristine: We’ve handled it on a couple of different levels. We’ve discussed this at some of our meetings. There’s a hashtag going around it’s called, not buying it. Anytime you see a cannabis product that’s been over sexualized with men or women, either way. I’ve seen men half naked with hemp on their junk. I’m not cool with that either. Sexualization in any form really has no place. I understand that we want to be pretty when we sell stuff, we want to look good. Nobody is going to buy an ounce from some slob but they’re more likely from somebody who is a little more attractive. Finding that line is really important but you know when it’s over sexualized because it’s in your gut. It gives you that feeling of like, that’s kind of wrong.

I’m all for talking to men about it. I’ve done this at Cannacom, there’s been vendors who have had huge signs with half naked women. It’s just a matter of letting them know, hey I’m a consumer, I’m one of your customers, and I’m not happy with that. I’m offended and I’m not going to buy your products and I’m going to make sure that other women know about you as well. We don’t want to be mean. I really just think that some men just don’t know. They don’t know any other way because it’s been ingrained in their psyches for so long. I’m saying, save that sexualization for the woman you go home to at night, you don’t need it in your cannabis purchase price.

Shango Los: Morgan, how likely is it that we’re going to be able to eradicate this kind of imagery from the industry when it exists in all the other industries? I obviously understand that we want to minimize it as much as possible but what do you see as the goal here? Is the goal to clean up cannabis at its very outset so that trajectory is better or do you see it more as, try to take care of every instant as it comes? How will you know if you’re succeeding?

Morgan Kristine: I think we’re at a good point because now major media is starting to pick us up. I was in National Geographic last summer, Gogo Lidz just did a fantastic piece in Newsweek, and of course now Forbes is on the bandwagon. I think if we can get some major media people to understand that women in business and in cannabis is coming on and we may not be able to solve it right away. These movements take a lot of time and it’s going to be slow but we have to attack it both on the small side and not purchasing products that are offensive, educating people about what it really is all about, is it necessary, and then taking action. Let them know, hashtag it, not buying it. Put a sticker on it, this over sexualizes women. This perpetuates, the more they keep putting those ads up, it perpetuates that women should be sexual objects and it’s not cool. It’s so lame and it’s even worse on these … Are men really that dumb? You really have to be fed this kind of ad to be purchasing your pot? I’m telling you, you’re going to love the pot no matter what, it doesn’t really matter. I think that there’s all different ways to market but I think it’s going to take a long time and take all of us getting involved to say something, even the men.

Shango Los: We had a really great discussion on this show a couple of weeks ago with Wes Abney, the publisher of Northwest Leaf magazine about how he doesn’t taken overly sexualized ads and how he has spent a good deal of time educating his advertisers about why he doesn’t think that’s the best approach for them and they kind of work through that. What do you recommend for people of either gender to communicate to the companies that are using this kind of imagery? We don’t want to create a situation where it is angry conflict because that will just isolate and alienate the vendor. You’ve obviously spoken about this at length so what kind of words do you find are to the point and yet nonconflict creating?

Morgan Kristine: I think a soft approach is really all you need. Again, I really just don’t think that men understand that if you look me in the eye and I look at you and I say, I’m offended by this, can you help with it? He’s going to say yes or no, either no I’m not going to listen you or I’ll take it under consideration. I like to go straight to the head. Wes Abney is a great example. He has a wife and lovely daughters. He gets it, he understands it. There are a lot of millennials that maybe don’t have the wife and the girlfriend and the experience to know or the education that it’s not going to happen, it’s not going to work, and we’re not going to let it. We just have to be able to slow it and then eventually eradicate it.

Shango Los: That’s a really good point about the generational difference between my generation with me being 44 and the millennials who are 15 years or more younger, they’re so used to more violence, more whiz bang, more fast cut videos, just everything is more intense and they become more desensitized to it. I think that it’s a different message to communicate with people of my generation than it is to a younger generation but I also think that even though they are possibly more desensitized to it, they also don’t seem to be as responsive to that kind of marketing. It’s almost like, ugh sexuality has been played out, what else do you have?

Morgan Kristine: Exactly, I totally agree. I was just going to say, I give the millennials a lot of credit. I think with the new generation coming up, they’re not all just lazy stoners. Not everybody who smokes weed is worthless. It’s like, come on you guys we’ve got to be smart about what we put out there in the industry. It’s just a matter of time and education.

Shango Los: I know the Women’s Alliance has a lot of members and growing. What are some of the other topics that the group is very activated on other than the sexualization of advertising? I know you’ve got a whole agenda of really interesting things. What are some of the others?

Morgan Kristine: Oh my gosh. We do a lot of wonderful work with say for instance, the Pink Gene Foundation. We did a fundraiser or Tara Martin’s Pink Gene Foundation which is raising awareness in breast cancer in young women. We did raffles and fundraisers. What I’m really super excited about is our event coming up on September 24 where we have taken a proactive stance against the cities and counties that are resisting the cannabis industry. We’ve got five women in politics including Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles who is now running for Seattle City Council and four other incredible women. We’re going to help fund raise for them so they can get into office and start helping us change the moratoriums and the blocks that are on the industry. It’s going to be a semi-formal event with probably a hundred women with an incredible chef-inspired dinner, raffles, prizes, and fundraising. It’s historical. We’ve never had a group of women come together at this beautiful Sorento Hotel and actually encourage these women in politics to start making changes so this industry can continue to thrive.

Shango Los: That brings up a really interesting point too because the agenda of the Alliance doesn’t necessarily have to be issues that effect mostly or solely women. The event that you just talked about, we could have had that same event with both guys and gals and raised money and increased the awareness of the moratoriums. However, like you were saying before the break, when women are together they communicate using a different set of languages and nods, it’s just different organically. I think that creates an opportunity for people who would normally be either shouted over or disenfranchised to participate in a way that brings more of a swelling to the movement in corollary to the rest of the movement not necessarily separate from the movement.

Morgan Kristine: It’s so true. When we had our first Oregon meetup with all the women, we had a luncheon. The business women came out and as you know, Oregon is just getting off the ground but man, the women down there are really hustling. They’re getting their names out there, they’re getting brands out there, they’re coming together, and I just couldn’t be happier. Women all over the United States are starting to get together but when they get together and talk about business and how they’re going to make money and they start talking about their dreams and their hopes and know that the sky is unlimited, you walk away feeling validated, empowered. That’s ultimately what we want. We want women to feel strong in their space and to work hard. They do, I’m telling you, these women in the industry are busting their butts and it’s really starting to show off. I think if we can just get them the support that they need, there’s no stopping it.

Shango Los: When you’re giving them that kind of support, you’re pretty minting entrepreneurs. You are saying, you can do this. You’ve got a posse behind you so what’s your great idea and let’s get into it. We’re going to take another short break and be right back. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast.

Shango Los: Welcome back, you are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m your host Shango Los and our guest this week is Morgan Kristine of the MJBA Women’s Alliance. Before the break, we were talking about the power of bringing women together to create new entrepreneurs and have them fell supported. I think that’s one of the key aspects of the Women’s Alliance is causing this swelling and moving forward and increasing of women in the cannabis industry ranks. Morgan, as somebody who travels the country speaking to women’s groups and essentially cheering them on to get involved, what do you see as some of the best things that can be done at the local level to start these grass roots organizations? A lot of the folks getting into cannabis itself is new but also creating a new women’s organization might be new to them as well but you’ve done this now several times. Go ahead and break out the blueprint for folks so that they can start doing this where they live.

Morgan Kristine: Yeah, sure. It’s also very scary. I think that’s also been part of the problem. Talking about pot or smoking pot in public or even growing, you’ve been fearful and scared and hidden for so long. I would encourage any woman who is already a casual user or is just extremely interested in the industry to find another woman who is doing the same thing and has the same interests. Start slow, get together 5-10 women on a Thursday night and talk about what’s going on. Talk about the news, what have you heard, what’s happening in your city? Is it medical? Is it recreational? Then start getting active. The way to get active is to show up at association meetings, show up at rallies, go down to your courthouse, your city council meetings.

The way that we started with the MJBA and the Women’s Alliance was just a matter of getting all the growers that I knew together, all of the smokers that I knew together, putting them in a room and talking about the topics that matter. Our goal at the time as it is today is legalization. The way to move the ball forward is to get it removed Schedule I and the goal is to normalize it so women, please smoke in public or smoke in front of your friends who may be drinking instead and encourage them to … Show them the benefits of cannabis and just talk about it. The more that you talk about it, the more you normalize it, the more you normalize it you’ll start turning the heads of the old cranky people who don’t get it or the stodgy old people who just have the old mindset of what cannabis used to be and how you used to go to jail. You have to be careful at the same time but it requires people to be bold, you’ve got to be brave.

Shango Los: I long your idea of modeling cannabis for your neighbors by puffing in front of them so that they feel more free to do it themselves. That’s a great image.

Morgan Kristine: You bet, absolutely. I always get concerned though too. I’ll smoke outside and I see a kid and I’m so nervous about it. I’m like, well I better hide it. Well, their dad is right there chugging a beer, why shouldn’t I be able to enjoy my joint in privacy and away from the building and within all the regular guidelines. Then I’m like, you know what, I’m okay with this and I think other women should be too and men in general.

Shango Los: I like what you said about not only getting everybody together for these women’s nights to get something started and have an actual agenda and talk about what directions you want to move in and what you can do that’s concrete. We talked with Ah Warner from Cannabis Basics and one of the things she said that really turned me on was that not only is she an entrepreneur and doing the Cannabis Basics business but she’s also very active in the legislature and she’s influencing politicians and she’s going to them on behalf normalization but also her health and beauty aids legislation. She’s playing this dual role, both as entrepreneur and also as active citizen.

Morgan Kristine: I love Ah Warner. Honestly, she has been one of the major women who have inspired me. She is the one who pulled me into Women of Weed and she’s the one who actually helped me inspire the whole business side of it. The great thing, I’m just always so impressed with her so this new HOBA bill that she had help with passing allows for less 0.3 THC in health and beauty products. This is major. This is something that she’s been working hard on, she’s been aligning herself with the right people, getting to know her legislators, showing up and doing exactly what she’s supposed to be doing and it’s working. To have this level of THC in an over-the-counter product is historical. Absolutely, good on her and good on all the work that she’s doing. There are so many wonderful women and she is the perfect example.

Shango Los: Yeah, that’s a really good example of modeling too. We may have been joking before about getting high in front of our friends to encourage them to but also Ah doesn’t just say, go and do this. She’s all like, follow me and that’s the kind of leader that I’m more down with.

Morgan Kristine: Absolutely. We always have a great time when we get together. It’s fun too. We work, work, work and I was always joking because so many of us women have products in our trunks. We show up at conventions together and you pop a trunk and there’s all of our swag and our stuff and our products and we haul it in in our sneakers and we go in and put on a slight higher pump and in Ah’s case she usually has three-inch platforms. I don’t know if you’ve seen those boots but they’re high.

Shango Los: Yeah, I have.

Morgan Kristine: I’m really, really impressed with Ah and there are so many women in her organization and in NORML, Women Grow, Women’s Alliance. There are so many wonderful organizations that are already out there but if there isn’t, start your own. Get together and make it on a recurring basis so that you always know that that month is coming up and you know what you want to talk about and make it fun at the same time.

Shango Los: That’s great. I can’t think of any other way to end this than by cheering on Ah Warner. With that, we’re going to call it a day. Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us Morgan.

Morgan Kristine: Thank you, Shango. This was really a lot of fun, I’m happy to have done it.

Shango Los: Morgan Kristine is founder of the MJBA Women’s Alliance. You can find out more at MJBA.net also on Facebook on /MJBA Women’s Alliance and also the MJNewsNetwork.com. You can find more episodes of the Ganjapreneur podcast in the podcast section at Ganjapreneur.com. You can also find us on the Cannabis Radio Network website 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. We’re also thrilled to announce this week that you can now find the show on the I Heart Radio Network app bringing the Ganjapreneur podcast to 60 million mobile devices. Thanks to Brasco for producing our show. I’m your host, Shango Los.

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Alaskans Object to Proposed Ban Targeting Recreational Cannabis Clubs

10/20/2015

In a two-day public comment period in Alaska regarding proposed recreational cannabis rules, many Alaskans expressed concerns over a proposed ban on marijuana clubs that would allow for the consumption of marijuana onsite.

The ban would limit consumers to partaking in marijuana use within their homes, although many landlords have banned that as well. In effect, many Alaskans feel that cannabis might as well not have been legalized in the first place.

Lawyers have told the Alaska Marijuana Control Board that, because the ballot measure that legalized marijuana did not explicitly mention the legality of clubs, it doesn’t have the right to legalize them either.

Officials must approve any changes to the rules by November 24.

Source:

http://mjbizdaily.com/alaskans-riled-up-over-proposed-ban-on-cannabis-clubs/

Photo Credit: Chris Lott

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Oregon Publishes Draft Rules for Recreational Cannabis

10/20/2015

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) published its draft rules for the state’s recreational marijuana program earlier this month. No big surprises are to be found among the rules, though the OLCC notes that “draft rule language is subject to change and should NOT be used as basis for making business decisions.”

The Commission will be awarding four types of licenses: for producers, processors, wholesalers, and retailers. You can submit a single application for any or all four of these licenses.

Entities submitting an application must have at least one “legitimate owner”: one or more individuals or legal entities owning at least 51% of the business. Individual applicants must be 21 years or older and have established two years of Oregon residency, although the residency requirement ends in 2020.

Ownership does not necessarily include the following: preferential rights to distributions based on return of capital contribution; options to purchase an ownership interest that may be exercised in the future; convertible promissory notes; or security interests in an ownership interest.

The current rules could make Oregon a hotspot for out-of-state entities looking to get in on the recreational market.

Applying to become a licensed producer or processor is a bit more complicated. Processors must provide (1) one of several endorsements related to the proposed processing activity; (2) a description of the type of products to be processed; and (3) a description of equipment to be used, including any solvents, gases, chemicals or other compounds used to create extracts or concentrates.

Producers, in turn, must provide (1) a report describing the applicant’s estimated electrical and water usage; (2) a description of the growing operation, a description of equipment to be used in the production, and whether production will be indoor, outdoor or both; (3) proof of a water right or a statement that water is supplied from a public water system or from an irrigation district; and (4) the proposed canopy size and tier of their crop with a designation of the canopy area within the licensed premises.

Finalized rules will likely not be published for another month. The full text of the draft rules can be found here.

Source:

http://www.cannalawblog.com/breaking-news-oregon-recreational-marijuana-draft-rules-arrive/

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Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe Forges Ahead with Marijuana Resort Plans

10/19/2015

A South Dakota Tribe has its marijuana growing operation up and running in preparation for a first-of-its-kind marijuana resort.

The Flandreau Santee Sioux tribe is hoping to kick off the resort with a New Year’s Eve opening.

The grow op has 65 different strains growing, but the operation, while function, is still in its infancy. The tribe plans on selling about 80 pounds of pot per week at the resort, which is about one year in the making.

President Tony Reider says other tribes have been watching the operation closely. The resort will be open to adults 21 years and older, and the tribe, based on reactions on social media and elsewhere, expects large crowds. The facility, a former bowling alley on the Flandreau Sioux Reservation, 35 miles north of Sioux Falls, can welcome up to 1,000 people.

A video of the resort posted online got more than 6 million hits, says Reider, and a Seattle evening news show even reported on it.

“The reaction has been insane to say the least,” said tribal council treasurer Ryan Kills A Hundred. “We’ll take the free publicity.”

Not all the reactions have been positive. Flandreau police chief Anthony Schrad said that he and other city officials are “giving it a rest” as far as publicly commenting on the resort. They have made it clear in past statements that they are vehemently opposed to the tribe’s plans.

But the tribe is forging on ahead, despite statements from South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley, who has reiterated that smoking marijuana remains illegal for non-Native Americans, even if they’re on tribal lands.

The tribe has emphasized that it will make marijuana available for medicinal use in a facility separated from the main lounge. The tribe’s lawyer, Seth Pearman, said that although the tribe will do everything it can to keep cannabis away from minors, medical marijuana will be available at the resort to underage persons who have a doctor’s order and parental consent. Such treatments would likely be available in oil form.

Source:

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/south-dakota-tribe-starts-growing-plants-for-marijuana-resort/article_bf73830a-fe59-5512-8fb4-3ec8a410a564.html

Photo Credit: Leslie J. Clary, Insanity Strains

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Vancouver Researchers Urge Canadian Doctors to Prescribe Medical Cannabis Over Opioids

10/18/2015

Vancouver HIV/AIDS researchers have published an editorial urging Canadian doctors to prescribe medical marijuana instead of opioids, which tend to be abused, for neuropathic pain and other conditions. The editorial appears in the Canadian Journal of Public Health.

Thomas Kerr, Julio Montaner and Stephanie Lake, researchers at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, argue in the editorial that the Canadian Medical Association unfairly holds marijuana to a higher standard than other drugs prescribed for pain relief.

Dr. Kerr, who serves as co-director of the center’s Urban Health Research Initiative, says that doctors are hesitant about prescribing a drug not yet approved by Health Canada, even though the research into marijuana’s therapeutic benefits is quite positive.

“The evidence supporting the therapeutic use of cannabis is actually much stronger than the use of other drugs that are used to treat the same conditions and it also seems, in many cases, that cannabis has a more favourable side-effect profile,” he said.

In contrast, opioids tend to be abused: “Opioids are killing people right now,” said Dr. Kerr. “There is no association with cannabis and mortality, and yet North America is in the midst of, really, what is a public-health emergency associated to opioid overdose deaths.”

Cindy Forbes, president of the Canadian Medical Association, issued a statement in response:

“The limited clinical evidence combined with very limited guidance for the therapeutic use of marijuana pose a challenge for physicians in providing the best care to patients.”

Source:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/researchers-urge-medical-marijuana-over-opioids-to-treat-neuropathic-pain/article26733746/

Photo Credit: Jamie

End

Ohio: Where Legalization Comes Down to Two Issues

10/16/2015

This November, Ohio voters will have the opportunity to vote on The Ohio Marijuana Legalization Initiative, Issue 3. If passed, Ohio will be the fifth state, the first in the Midwest, to legalize cannabis for recreational use.

Although legalizing marijuana for recreational use sounds like a no-brainer, the reality is that it’s just not that simple for Ohio. Issue 3 aims to create 10 marijuana growth, cultivation, and extraction facilities that would hold the exclusive rights to produce marijuana for public consumption. These facilities would not sell the product to consumers, but handle every step involved in the cultivation process before selling it to retailers. The measure requires that these facilities operate independently of each other, state lawmakers and voters alike felt it still granted the MGCE facility owners too much control of the state’s cannabis industry. Enter Issue 2.

The Ohio Initiated Monopolies Amendment, Issue 2, was drafted as a response to Issue 3. Issue 2, if passed, will require the Ohio Ballot Board to determine whether a proposed initiative would create an economic monopoly or special privilege for the entity involved. In other words, amendments like Issue 3 would need to be examined by the Ballot Board and, if determined to create such a monopoly or privilege, be presented to voters alongside a separate ballot question that reads:

“Shall the petitioner, in violation of division (B)(1) of Section 1e of Article II of the Ohio Constitution, be authorized to initiate a constitutional amendment that grants or creates a monopoly, oligopoly, or cartel, specifies or determines a tax rate, or confers a commercial interest, commercial right, or commercial license that is not available to other similarly situated persons?”

Basically, a separate question reminding voters that the issue presented to them is in violation of the state’s anti-monopoly law. Voters will have to approve both questions for such an amendment to pass.

Currently, more than half of Ohio voters support both Issue 2 and Issue 3, which presents a problem. If approved, Issue 2 will invalidate Issue 3, delaying marijuana legalization in Ohio. The issue would need to be settled in the Ohio Supreme Court, which can be a long, expensive process.

Monopolies make for a stifled economy. That’s why we have laws like the Sherman Antitrust Act. When the power to control a specific industry, or even just a part of that industry’s supply chain, is limited to only a few participants, those participants can easily become corrupt by engaging in unfair business practices like collusion.

Issue 2 is not necessarily seeking to undermine efforts to legalize recreational marijuana in Ohio. Rather, it would require voters to examine the choices they face closely when those choices may allow or lead to monopolies.

Just like any election, voter education and turnout are critical this November. Be an active participant in your country’s progress and go vote.

Photo Credit: Enrique Fernández

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Croatia Latest Country to Legalize Medical Cannabis

10/16/2015

Croatia has passed legislation allowing doctors to prescribe medical cannabis to patients suffering from illnesses such as AIDs, multiple sclerosis and cancer, reports the Associated Press.

Cannabis will only be allowed when prescribed by a doctor, and it remains illegal to grow the plant at home. It also remains illegal to consume the drug without a prescription or for recreational purposes.

Prescriptions will be valid for 30 days, and patients can be issued a maximum of 7.5 grams of cannabis per prescription.

According to Health Minister Sinisa Varga, cannabis will be available in Croatian pharmacies within the next few weeks. Because the law just came into effect on Thursday, there are currently no registered medicines in Croatia containing THC.

Sources:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/croatia-legalizes-medical-marijuana-34493945

http://news.yahoo.com/croatia-allows-marijuana-medical-114920214.html

Photo Credit: Michael Caven

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Colorado Monthly Marijuana Sales Top $100 Million; Businesses Still Struggle With Cash Overflow

10/16/2015

Sales of Colorado cannabis broke the $100 million mark in August for the first time. Recreational sales made up $59.2 million of the total, while medical sales came in at $41.4 million.

“It means that $100 million is going to licensed, taxpaying businesses, creating jobs and helping to build new schools, instead of going to cartels and drug dealers — as is the case in the 46 states that don’t regulate marijuana,” said Dan Riffle of the Marijuana Policy Project.

The only problem for business owners remains finding a place to deposit all that cash.

“I’ve gone through at least eight banks,” said Shaun Gindi, owner of Colorado’s Compassionate Pain Management.

Andrew DeAngelo, operations director at Harborside Health Center in Oakland, said in June the company had already gone through different 15 banks.

Only 220 of some 7,600 U.S. banks and credit unions currently accept money from marijuana businesses, fearing crackdowns by the federal government.

Securing such large amounts of cash has become an enormous business expense for cannabis companies.

“The federal government and these banking laws are making it so that people have to walk around with tens of thousands of dollars in their businesses, in their cars, in their homes,” said Michael Julian, CEO of the cannabis security company MPS International. “[It’s] putting these people in danger.”

Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley introduced a bill in July that would allow marijuana businesses better access to banking services, but that bill remains in subcommittees for review. Meanwhile, private firms have stepped in to try to solve the problem, such as a CannaNative, which is trying to connect marijuana firms with the Native American banking system.

Riffle sees this as a short-term solution at best: “I think rather than finding a way to work around broken and outdated federal marijuana laws, Congress needs to simply fix the law,” he said.

Source:

http://news.yahoo.com/marijuana-sales-colorado-cash-problem-143659821.html

Photo Credit: Insanity Strains, Leslie J. Clary

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Brand Focus: The Consistency Factor, Ft. ebbu

10/16/2015

As we mentioned in last week’s article featuring Jett, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos suggests that a brand is for a company like a reputation for a person, “You earn a reputation by trying to do hard things well.” Committing to doing one thing or set of things better than anyone else is the foundation of a great brand. Volvo safety, Apple innovation, and Google search are just a few well-known examples. One cannabis industry startup is positioning themselves to do just that. For ebbu, that one thing is consistency.

ebbu

Led by one of the entrepreneurs that brought us the Assassin’s Creed video game franchise, the ebbu team is working to develop a method of distilling the active ingredients in cannabis so that they can be used to create products with consistent, predictable effects. Their five initial “feelings” are chill, create, giggle, bliss, and energy, and they’re working to isolate the specific compounds in cannabis that elicit these responses. Co-founder Dooma Wendschuh shed some light on their approach to brand-building.

What process did you use to develop your brand? Was it developed internally or with an agency?

All high level branding work, including branding strategy, roll out and values is always completed by ebbu’s founders in conjunction with our marketing department. Montreal-based DTK Media handles all of our execution, including logo design, package design, web design, as well as all of our photo and video shoots. They are an incredible outsource partner and a lot of ebbu’s aesthetic is clearly the result of their pioneering vision. They are a unique partner in that they publish two very popular fashion magazines and when you work with them, you have access to the same world class photographers, layout and graphic artists who make their magazines such a big success.

What are the defining characteristics, core tenets, or ideological values of your brand?

ebbu stands for predictability and reliability. Our distilled cannabis products are an entirely new product category – they’re unlike any of the oils or concentrates on the market. We don’t make medical marijuana. We make preventative medicine. A healthier, safer alternative to alcohol and tobacco. We don’t compromise, and have an obsessive dedication to quality. We produce a premium product, and provide attainable luxury to consumers.

Our extracted products, sold under the brand name Fancy, have a slightly different brand identity and core values from the products sold under the ebbu brand name. They’re not intended to be predictable or reliable – but the obsession with quality is no less pronounced. Fancy products are artisanal and bold. They are harbingers of a new era in cannabis where artisanal extraction artists care about their consumers, strive to elevate the industry, and view consumer education as the secret to ending prohibition and creating a better class of cannabis product.

How do you think effective branding benefits the consumer? How does it benefit businesses?

Branding is more than packaging and marketing. To have a true brand, you need a quality product that is the same every time. Imagine if you went to the grocery store and picked up a six pack of beer. Imagine if each beer in that six pack had a different flavor or provided a different type or intensity of intoxication. You’d probably never buy that beer again, no matter how pretty the ads were, or how nice the packaging was. The cannabis industry still has a ways to go before it reaches the level of standardization seen in beer. A true brand begins with a great product and a continuing effort to improve that product based on consumer feedback and changes in market preference. Great products benefit consumers, they benefit businesses – they benefit everyone.

What are some of the most effective ways that you use branding to grow your business?

I don’t know how you’d grow your business without branding. It is everything. Consumers won’t request your product if your brand doesn’t resonate with them. Without great branding, your brand will not grow. It will fade away and disappear.

Are there other companies in the cannabis industry that you feel have branded themselves exceptionally well?

Everyone is headed in the right direction. Kiva’s done a great job. Dixie has as well. But as I said before, building a great brand is more than marketing and packaging. You can hire the best branding agency, the best ad agency in the world, and still fail. You need a product people will recommend to their friends. Word of mouth is always the best ad campaign, and that only happens when a product is so great you need to immediately tell your friends. .

What common missteps or pitfalls would you suggest to companies looking to build a brand in the cannabis industry?

Save money on media buys. Unlike in other industries, in this industry no one chooses what to buy based on an ad they saw in a magazine. This industry is unique. In this industry, people choose what to buy based on a budtender’s recommendation. You’ll never fool the budtender. Focus on a great product, get the budtenders to recommend your product. Then use your branding dollars to build loyalty with your customer base.

Photo Credit: Martijn

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Kellie Butterfield Dodds: Helping to Normalize Cannabis Through Film

10/15/2015

Kellie Butterfield Dodds is the founder and owner of the Cannabis Film Festival in Garberville, California, an annual event that celebrates cannabis and exposes marijuana culture through the medium of film.

Kellie is a California-grown ganjapreneur and cannabis activist based out of the Emerald Triangle. She moved to Southern Humboldt County in 2006, where in 2010 she co-founded the 707 Cannabis College, a place for cannabis professionals and enthusiasts to gather and learn under experts from all avenues of the cannabis industry.

In this interview, Kellie explains how she founded the Cannabis Film Festival as a means to help bring cannabis deeper into mainstream American culture, how this year’s inaugural event has prepared the festival’s small team for next year, and she offers advice for the entrepreneurs who are eyeing the cannabis industry but still haven’t decided to take the plunge.

Read the full interview:

Ganjapreneur: How did the Cannabis Film Festival get started?

Kellie Butterfield Dodds: I wanted to bring more tourism dollars and something fun to my community. It used to be fishing and lumber that sustained the North Coast and that’s gone. Since those industries have been replaced with the cannabis business why not focus on something related to that. Films bring all types of people together from the film maker to the audience.

We can’t wait for you to join us for the second annual cannabis film festival! ???? #cannabisfilmfestival #cannabis #film #festival #marijuana #mj #weed #weedstagram #instaweed #theater #garberville #california #cff

A photo posted by Cannabis Film Festival (@cannabisfilmfestival) on Sep 17, 2015 at 2:07pm PDT

What were you doing before starting the Cannabis Film Festival (CFF)?

Homesteading, I was the General Manager of a retail business in the Redway/Garberville area, and I am co-founder of 707 Cannabis College.

How do you think film can help further the cannabis legalization cause?

By bringing it to the mainstream. Movies are a way to inform and entertain at the same time.

How has your local community responded to this event?

Very supportive. We received an email from the Garberville/Redway Chamber congratulating us for a successful first year and hopes we do it again in 2016. A few local vendors/retailers reached out after the last event expressing an interest to be involved in the next one which is scheduled for late April 2016.

Look what came in. For all you ballers out there be sure to get those VIP tickets online at www.cannabisfilmfestival.com. Can’t wait to see ya! #cannabisfilmfestival2015 #cannabisculture #trimscenesolutions #leafly #thegreenscissor #CFF #skunkmagazine #kitchenatchautauqua #theganjier #wonderlandnursery #cannabiscommunity #710society #710 #420 #marijuana #VIP #legalizemarijuana #dabbersdaily #stoner #humboldt #humboldtcounty #sohum #garberville #garbervilletheatre A photo posted by Cannabis Film Festival (@cannabisfilmfestival) on Apr 22, 2015 at 12:50pm PDT

How many people attended this year’s event?

Our attendance was somewhat small however, what we lacked for in attendance we gained in excitement by bringing Hollywood to our little town in Southern Humboldt.

How many films were submitted?

We had about 15 film submissions and have already started receiving a few for the 2016 festival.

Is the festival open to all types of film? For example, would a slapstick stoner comedy (i.e. Pineapple Express) be as welcome as an enlightening documentary about the evils of prohibition (i.e. The Culture High)?

Absolutely! Any independent film that has something to do with cannabis or hemp: short or feature film – comedy/action/drama/sci-fi/documentary – every genre is welcome.

How many people does it take to coordinate the event?

It takes a team of dedicated people we affectionately refer to CFF Team Awesome. We have our CFF Core Team of 5 and then we add employees and volunteers to make this happen.

Who can enter a film, and when do they need to turn in their submission?

Anyone! Just remember the film has to have some connection to cannabis or hemp to qualify. The submission deadline is 2/15/16 with a fee of $40 (or $30 for a short film). To save a little money we recommend submissions arrive on or before 1/15/16. Check out our website for all the Rules and Regulations and print out a submission form.

Garberville, California: we’re all set and ready to go to celebrate the 2nd Annual #cannabisfilmfestival! Come watch some flicks and get the opportunity to meet local artisans and speak to cannabis-related businesses in between viewings. #cannabisfilma ‪#Marijuanamovies #BringPopcornAndMunchies #cannabis #marijuana #cannabiscommunity #cannabisculture #mj #weedstagram #weed #instaweed #smokers #dabbers #comeonecomeall #garberville #california #festival #film

A photo posted by Cannabis Film Festival (@cannabisfilmfestival) on Aug 26, 2015 at 3:20pm PDT

Are you planning to keep the Cannabis Film Festival local to Garberville, or can we expect it to eventually be seen around the country?

World domination baby! In all seriousness, we expect to outgrow our little town and be required to move to a larger arena. Maybe Las Vegas, New York City or who knows?

What are some of the obstacles you’ve faced launching CFF?

Time – we had a very short time period to get the first one off the ground, about 5 months. We were very blessed to have an awesome team of people working together to make it happen.

What is one piece of advice you would offer to aspiring ganjapreneurs?

Find something you really want to do, create an atmosphere you want to work in. Those things will attract like-minded people to help you along the way create the success you are working for. Don’t be afraid to fail. Those experiences are wonderful opportunities to learn and grow stronger.

Thank you Kellie for sharing your thoughts and insights! We wish you luck with the Cannabis Film Festival 2016, coming up in April. For more information about the festival or to submit your own film, visit the Cannabis Film Festival website.

End

Bernie Sanders Declares Support for Cannabis Legalization; Hillary Clinton Hesitates

10/15/2015

While Bernie Sanders came out in clear support of marijuana legalization at the Democratic presidential debate on Thursday, Hillary Clinton hesitated, saying she wasn’t ready to take a position on the issue.

“We have the opportunity through the states that are pursuing recreational marijuana to find out a lot more than we know today. I do support the use of medical marijuana, and I think even there we need to do more research so we know exactly how we’re going to help people for whom medical marijuana provides relief.”

Sanders had previously said that he would support marijuana legalization given the change. When asked about a ballot measure to legalize cannabis in Nevada, Sanders hit the nail on the head:

“I suspect I would vote yes. And I would vote yes because I am seeing in this country too many lives being destroyed for non-violent offenses. We have a criminal justice system that lets CEOs on Wall Street walk away and yet we are imprisoning or giving jail sentences to young people who are smoking marijuana,” he said. “I think we have to think through this war on drugs, which has done an enormous amount of damage. We need to rethink our criminal justice system and we’ve got a lot of work to do in that area.”

Clinton did acknowledge that too many people are behind bars for nonviolent offenses, but declined to go further than that:

“I think we’re just at the beginning, but I agree completely with the idea that we have got to stop imprisoning people who use marijuana,” she said. “Therefore we need more states, cities and the federal government to begin to address this so we don’t have this terrible result that Sen. Sanders was talking about, where we have a whole population in prison for low-level, nonviolent offenses primarily due to marijuana.”

In other words, Clinton thinks that “states, cities, and the federal government” should stop imprisoning people for using marijuana, but she’s not sure we should legalize it.

Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-marijuana-legalization_561dcf54e4b050c6c4a3660a

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-marijuana_561dc5ebe4b0c5a1ce61126d?utm_hp_ref=politics

Photo Credit: Phil Roeder

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Two Sue Colorado Cannabis Company Over Fungicide Use

10/14/2015

Two Colorado residents are suing a marijuana grower for allegedly spraying plants with a fungicide that becomes toxic when ignited. The claimants allege that the grower sprayed the plants with the fungicide without alerting consumers.

Brandan Flores and Brandie Larrabee accuse the cannabis retailer and distributor LivWell of spraying plants with Eagle 20.

The Eagle 20 fungicide contains myclobutanil, a chemical that releases toxic fumes when burned. The fungicide is commonly used for fungi control on grapes and other edible crops, but is not approved for use on smokeable crops such as a tobacco.

“As such, persons who smoke cannabis that has been sprayed with Eagle 20 inhale … poisonous hydrogen cyanide,” the lawsuit states.

Steven Woodrow, lawyer for the plaintiffs, says the complaint marks the first product liability action against a company in the legal marijuana industry as far as he knows. Woodrow is seeking a class-action lawsuit.

Flores is a recreational user, while Larrabee, who has a brain tumor, has a medical marijuana card. They are not claiming that the chemical caused them to be sick, but that they would not have bought the marijuana had they known of the use of the fungicide.

LivWell, in turn, claims the plants are safe to smoke.

“Testing of our finished product by an independent, state-licensed lab approved by the City of Denver showed that our products are safe – as we have always maintained,” said John Lord, LivWell owner, in a statement.

Denver health regulators previously withheld LivWell’s products from sale while they were being tested for the chemical. Only low levels of myclobutanil were detected, and the plants were released for sale. The plaintiffs claim that even low levels of the chemical can be harmful.

Source:

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2015/47799/colorado-marijuana-grower-sued-for-fungicideuse/

Photo Credit: Coleen Whitfield

End

Noah Stokes: Security, Compliance, and Contingencies for Cannabis Businesses

10/13/2015

by Shango Los

Noah Stokes is the founder and CEO of CannaGuard Security, a cannabis industry security firm that serves cannabis businesses nationwide. From storefronts to grow ops, CannaGuard helps companies not only meet the standards put in place by state regulators, but also to be prepared for these standards to change, and to make sure that there are contingencies and preventative measures in place as safeguards against theft and robberies.

Noah recently joined our host Shango Los to discuss some of the most common requests his company receives, as well as what types of businesses he works for, the many flaws in the logic used by regulators when defining mandated security protocols, and how cannabis retailers and producers can best prepare for worst case scenarios.

Listen to the podcast using the media player below, or scroll down to read the full transcript!

Subscribe to the Ganjapreneur podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud or Google Play.

Listen to the podcast

Read the full transcript

Shango Los: Hi there and welcome to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast. I’m 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 actionable information to improve your business strategy and improve your health and the health of cannabis patients everywhere. Today my guest is Noah Stokes, founder and CEO of CannaGuard Security, a company providing security services for cannabis companies nationwide. Welcome, Noah.

Noah Stokes: Thank you so much Shango for having me on the show.

Shango Los: Let’s start by giving folks an idea of what it is exactly to be a cannabis security consultant. What services do you provide to these cannabis companies?

Noah Stokes: We’ve been doing this for just over two years now, and it’s been evolving. As we’ve been going we started out specifically with electronic security, so cameras, access control, alarm systems and using some pretty state-of-the-art, high-end systems to make sure that they’re compliant and future proof, can grow with the actual licensees as well as be able to detect potential threats and be able to keep them secure.

Over the last year, and especially the last six months, as Oregon is about to really breakaway with their licenses and really start enforcing regulation we’ve had a lot of our customers requesting us to get into the actual guard side of it, transportation, offsite video monitoring so people can actually have a company monitoring their videos offsite as opposed to having to pay for somebody to be onsite because sometimes that doesn’t make sense financially for them, be able to do background checks and provide ATMs and customized safes that will actually alert them of activities through their alarm system, through their camera system.

POS analytics, if someone does a voided transaction on their POS system it actually sends a realtime alert to the licensee or the managers so that they can see, “Hey, someone voided a transaction, but did the customer still hand them cash? Did they give the cash back?” Even compliance audits so they can self-audit themselves as opposed to having an inspector come in there and tell them all the things that they may or may not be doing correctly. They can prevent any potential violations.

Cash tracking, so our customers can now put something disguised as dollar bills or anything, really, into their cash so if someone did come in and actually rob them they can track it with three different methods of tracking, RFID, cellular tracking, GPS, the whole bit. We wanted to provide our customers with an all-encompassing security solution so that whatever worry they had we can provide them with a solution to help them sleep at night, which is a major thing that our customers complain about, is constantly being worried while they’re there. We give them peace of mind and keep them protected, in compliance with the State.

Shango Los: Do you find that most of your clients are retailers, since that’s where the cannabis and the public come together most often, or are you also finding that you’ve got a lot of folks that are in producing and processing that are concerned about their security where it’s grown and processed?

Noah Stokes: Currently our customer base, about a hundred actual licensed facilities in Oregon and Washington, most of them are retailers, but we have a lot of growers. As they start regulating the actual growers more heavily here in Oregon because they really haven’t on the medical side, so as they start regulating the recreational growers, that’s where most of our business will be. That’s where we really will specialize.

The dispensaries are easier in some ways because they’re a smaller building, they’re more public. It’s less likely that someone is going to come into that facility because generally these dispensaries and retail stores are on a high-traffic road, most of them. The growers, on the other hand, are very remote and they generally have more product on hand and they are easier to get to, outdoor grows, they’re five acres. That’s where we really specialize and we really shine is protecting people in remote areas that if something happened the police aren’t even going to get there coming full speed for 20 minutes.

It’s a 50-50 scenario, and it’s easier to do a dispensary because they’re smaller systems. Once you get into these large, even the indoor grows, that are a 10, 20, 30 thousand square foot facility that has to have camera coverage all over the place for the State as well as camera coverage and the actual security piece of it for internal threats, which is where most likely you’re going to have someone steal something. To have that protected and have it usable and have a policy and procedure in place, you really have to put additional thought and energy and effort into that because it’s such a large facility with nooks and crannies everywhere. We do all of them, and we do them all slightly differently because they’re a different animal.

Shango Los: From working with my own cannabis clients one of the things that they almost uniformly disdain is working their way through the often byzantine regulations at the state level, and yet you’ve chosen to embrace the suck and make it your specialty. I would think that your clients would be thrilled to be able to have a turnkey solution for this. Do you find that universally that the business owners really don’t want to go through the regulations? Are you seeing that with everybody?

Noah Stokes: Absolutely. We saw an opportunity when they first came out with the regulations here in Oregon and obviously going through the process in Washington. The typical client is not someone with an extensive business background, I should say. It’s getting more professional by far. There’s a lot of very professional business people that are getting into the market. There’s also still a high volume of people that are not familiar with filling out the forms and working with the government. Believe me, it’s not fun, it’s not easy. We try to take every ounce of that fear and that confusion out of it. When you do something over and over and over and over and over again you’re going to do it better. You’re going to know what people’s expectations are. It may say one thing, but you know that they’re actually expecting something different.

Because we’ve worked with as many licensees as we have, we’re in process with over 400 licensees in Washington and Oregon that are just waiting to build it out, to get their license applied for. We’ve been in communication with inspectors and the regulators and we’ve been helping the OLCC here in Oregon to actually draft these rules and regulations and do them intelligently so that someone can know, “If I do exactly this I will be compliant.” That’s really what a lot of our customers want to know. The way that, honestly, every state has written their rules and regulations, it’s very vague and very open to interpretation.

People that really want to be regulated, they’re willing to be regulated, they want to do it correctly, they want to know that what they’re doing is the right way to do it, and the states make it very difficult for them to know exactly that they’re doing it. We have to be a lot of times either the bearer of bad news or the people that they have to trust explicitly because we’ve been through this process. We are really asking for a lot of trust based on our experience with these customers because we’re going to tell them they have to spend a certain amount of money on a system that they may not want to spend that money on it, and we have to tell them, “This is the only thing that will actually get you open and passed and regulated.”

We’ve done it enough times now that we can much more confidently say it than when we were first starting. When we first started we had to be really creative with ways that we could ensure compliance without overselling somebody, but also not underselling somebody. We’ve actually passed every inspection we’ve ever done, first day, 100%. We’ve done it by having extra installers and extra cameras and extra wires run because the inspectors have interpreted things differently than anybody else or any other inspectors, but we made it happen. It’s been a huge pain, and, yes, our customers love that we have taken the compliance and taken the regulations and really owned them and made it our business to know exactly what they need and how to best service them.

Shango Los: I bet you that they are certainly smiling when they hear that you’ve passed 100% of your inspections the first time. It brings to mind that any of our listeners who are considering opening cannabis security companies in the newly legalizing and normalizing states that it’s a good reminder for them that in addition to having your own business setup, structured properly, you should also participate with the rules and regulations that are evolving in your state so that you can have a hand in their creation so that you know that you can help companies get to the marks that they’re setting up. It sounds like it’s almost two jobs. There’s a job to setup your own business, and then there’s a second job which is understanding the regulations and how they’re evolving so that as an entrepreneur you can evolve your services to meet this moving target that is state-by-state regs.

Noah Stokes: Yeah, it absolutely is. We just met with the OLCC recently and a good example of that is when they put in their requirements or rules and regulations they call it security system requirements. My question to them, as they’ve asked us to review the draft rules and to give them advice because we’ve reviewed just about every state that’s out there and helped create plans for it, my first question was, “Do you want me to recommend requirements that would keep these facilities secure, or do you want to verify compliance?” Because when you call it a security system people will put these cameras in and use security equipment, but really what they’re doing and what the state’s intent is is to actually verify their compliance versus their priority being the security.

My ploy to them would be, “Hey, please call it a compliance verification system versus a security system because people think, ‘Hey, if I buy some security cameras from Costco and put a bunch of them in that must mean I’m secure.'” No, that means that you can pass your compliance and the State is okay, they can watch you and verify that you’re paying your taxes, but that doesn’t mean that you’re actually secure. They’re very different things. That’s been a big one for us is helping them to understand the difference between secure and compliant.

Shango Los: I think that’s an important delineation between security and compliance, and when we get back from the break we’re going to talk more specifically about the security side, so thanks, Noah. We’re going to take a short break and be right back. You are listening to the ganjapreneur.com Podcast.

Shango Los: Welcome back. You are listening to the ganjapreneur.com Podcast. I’m your host Shango Los. Our guest this week is Noah Stokes of CannaGuard Security. Before the break we were talking about the difference between compliance and security. Compliance meaning your business is in line with the state regulations, but security is actually keeping your money, product and employees safe. Noah, there have been a lot of new technologies introduced in the last few years experience with the development of the internet and IP address and video cameras and cloud services within retail environments. What are a couple of these new technologies that you find especially useful in securing a cannabis retail environment?

Noah Stokes: Absolutely. We have really taken a lot of pride… we really are a technology company first that’s operating in the security space. The actual security components of is a center opened or closed, or is there motion or no motion, those are all relatively simple, but the new technology that’s out today really allows these people to be secure in a way that they’ve never been able to before. When the State comes out with their rules and regulations, for instance Washington, they require a minimum resolution basically VGA resolution.

In the real world I can understand that they’re trying to reduce the sheer volume of recorded video space because it gets to be very, very expensive. You buy a one gigabyte thumb drive and it’s 25 bucks at Best Buy. I think you can still buy a one gigabyte little thumb drive, I’m not really sure. You’re buying 8 and 10 gigabyte hard drives and little thumb drives. The VGA resolution requirements of these states that tried to help out, really I can’t find, we did a search for it, I can’t find a camera that exists that’s a new camera that I’m buying from anywhere, Costco, online, anything, whose actual maximum resolution is VGA. I’m having to take one and two mega pixel cameras and crank down the resolution to VGA quality.

Then in the grand scheme of things they’re requiring motion-based recording or 24/7 recording. The difference there of cost between motion-based recording and 24/7 recording is relatively minimal in the grand scheme of things because memory is so cheap. I can get a 16-camera system, we wouldn’t, but a licensee, I should say, can go down to Costco, get a 16-camera system for $800, and then buy a 6 terabyte external hard drive for $200, and that’s recording 24/7. It’s just such a minimal expense nowadays because of the way technology has gone. They take these rules and regulations from 20 years ago that were written up for liquor licenses or whatever it was and they try to apply them to today, and really it’s just setting the industry up for failure.

We propose 24/7 recording because a security system, again, they’re selling people a security system, or telling them they have to get a security system, but really they’re trying to verify compliance. What I think the State is missing often times and not putting together when they do this is when people buy a security system they have full control over that security system, the owner of the security system.

Security systems are not meant to prevent the owner of that system from tampering with it. It’s meant to catch other people. When the owner of that system happens to be a licensee who is operating in the cannabis space that may or may not have been operating in the black market for years and years and years and may or may not have been paying their taxes, ever, the chances of them manipulating a security system in their favor to provide financial gain are drastically higher than most if not any other industry.

When you can have a motion-based recorded system versus 24/7 someone can just turn the motion recording off anytime they want to from anywhere they want to, so the middle of the night when there’s typically not any motion, if they just turn the motion recording settings off from their house on their laptop in their pajamas at midnight, and then they go into their facility and do whatever they want to, and then turn it back on once they get home when they finish their activities no one will ever know that anything happened because there’s nothing recorded on the video. They’d have to be standing there to catch them.

Shango Los: As a security entrepreneur in the middle of that situation like yourself, that must create some awkward situations where your client is the licensee, but you’re also working on compliance almost representing the State. I know you work for your client, but you are working towards compliance, and so I can imagine you finding loopholes that you’re like, “Oh, we should plug this loophole,” and then on a rare occasion a licensee will go, “No, I think we’re good.” That would put you in an odd place in the middle.

Noah Stokes: We do this very specifically and strategically, but our customers are not the customers that want those loopholes. Those guys don’t call us. We’re not in the business of setting our customers up for failure. When we sell a system the reason people hire CannaGuard is because they want to be compliant, and they want to know that they’re good with the State, and they just want to operate a good business.

We specialize in what things can and can’t be, like ways to divert, and educating our customers and our licensees about that, and we setup notifications because they really want their employees to be honest, they want the people that are working for them to be honest. We typically deal with a different clientele, but if have the internet and YouTube and about 15 extra minutes on your hands you can find out ways to get past a lot of these, especially in a motion-based recorded scenario.

That’s the compliance piece, but to get back to the security aspect we have a lot of cool technologies. The offsite video monitoring is something that I mentioned a little bit ago which is allowing people, it’s kind of like an alarm monitoring center, some place in the country to be able to view those cameras at night or during the day or during cash-counting scenarios. For people that are leaving a facility, so if they’re locking up their dispensary at night and they’re taking the cash and the product out or whatnot they can say, “Hey, I’m leaving in 10 minutes. Can you watch the cameras and make sure that I get into my car and drive away safely?” Then, “Hey, in the morning. I’m coming with the cash and whatever is needed to open up the store that day. Can you make sure there’s nobody waiting for me in the parking lot and that I get inside and I’m able to lock the door?”

They can be offsite and instead of being taken hostage, now this company can monitor what’s happening to ensure that that person is safe. It’s a lot less expensive than having to have a body standing there the entire time, and it’s very easy because they have to have camera coverage everywhere anyway, and these camera systems can be logged into from anywhere. That’s one of the cool things.

We also would provide cloud storage that’s above and beyond what the State requires. If someone gets broken into and let’s say they’re remote and it takes the officer 20 minutes to get there. All someone technically has to do go in there, take 20 minutes, grab what they’re going to grab, and, heaven forbid, they have the alarm code and they know what they’re doing because they’re familiar with the facility, if they go in there and take the DVR that’s recording everything, how’s anybody going to know who it was or how many people it was or where they went?

Shango Los: That’s just like classic movies, right? They’re like, “Quick, grab the tape,” and they grab the tape on their way out with the money.

Noah Stokes: Yeah, but, hey, you’re compliant. We throw in cloud storage so that nobody can mess with it and it records the high-value, high-risk areas and then it’s recorded so that if anybody does tamper with the internet or the power or the server we at least have that recorded. Even like the cash-tracking POS analytics are extra above and beyond things from the State’s perspective. In my opinion they should be pretty common sense things, but it’s an all-cash business. You have a safe full of cash. If you throw in some of these tracking devices either into the bag or the jars. They can make them into anything, so a little packet that goes in the actual jars to keep the marijuana humidity, to keep them long-lasting can also have these tracking capabilities built into something like that.

They throw the jars in their bag, they throw the cash in their bag, and now we’re tracking exactly where they go, anywhere they go, and can find them very easily without having that person to have to prevent them or be a hero. Little services like this that we add in there that let people know that, hey, even if somebody does come in and clean me out during the day in my dispensary they’re just going to track them down in 5, 10 minutes anyway. Yep, take it, go do you thing. Don’t hurt anybody, we’re good to go.

Shango Los: Noah with our last minute here, it sounds like there’s a lot of range of different types of technology that can be used, and some of it, I’m assuming, can get to be quite expensive. Before the first break you were talking about future-proofing some of these technologies. Just briefly for the entrepreneurs who are listening can you explain how to think through future proofing your technology so it doesn’t have to be all re-bought again in 18 months?

Noah Stokes: Yeah. If you talk to people in Colorado and Washington that went through this process there were several regulation changes after the fact that took their camera system, for instance, from something that did qualify and was compliant … Washington, the biggest example and the easiest example, is Washington originally did their plan 45 days, 24/7 recording on every single camera, but they had no frames-per-second requirement. Meaning that frames-per-second is how many frames are taken, so the smoothness of the video, because you’re watching plants grow. Maybe you don’t need 30 frames-per-second like a casino.

What they did about 8 months after issuing licenses and people opening and buying their systems and billing it out is they said, “We feel like 10 frames-per-second on every single camera is really what it should be.” There’s applications where 10 frames-per-second makes sense, but not on every single camera. When someone bought a system and built out, they had enough storage to get them at 3 frames-per-second to get them compliant. Then the State comes in and they have 50 cameras at 3 frames-per-second, and then they flip it to 10 frames-per-second as a requirement after the fact, that’s three and a half times the amount of storage.

You go from 10 terabytes in your system which is maxing out most, even the small ones, and then you go to 35 terabytes. You don’t just flip a switch and turn it to 35 terabytes. You throw that one away and you buy a totally different system. The State wasn’t in the mindset of, “Oh, you’ve already purchased it? Okay, we’ll grandfather you in.” It was, “You have a certain amount of time to do whatever you have to do to get that compliant.”

We saw that happen a few times, and so we made sure that all of our systems have the capability to grow in any form or fashion, video quality, the storage amount, the number of locations that you can have monitored off site. If the State wants the access to it offsite we can create a custom login that’s restricted so they don’t have the admin login. There are little things that you just want to be intentional of when you’re designing one of these systems so that if the State does change their mind, or I should say when they do change their mind that you’re okay, and you’re not having to throw something you bought 6, 8, 12 months ago.

Shango Los: That’s a great explanation. We’ve got to take a short break right here. We’ll be right back. You are listening to the ganjapreneur.com Podcast.

Shango Los: Welcome back. You are listening to the ganjapreneur.com Podcast. I’m your host Shango Los and our guest this week in Noah Stokes of CannaGuard Security. Noah, the one thing that we haven’t talked about is weapons because at the federal level cannabis is still illegal, and at the local level is it legal, and we’re trying to protect cash and cannabis and employees. As a security firm I’m thinking that there’s a chance that your team must carry weapons at some point, and yet there’s this conflict at the federal level. Tell me a little bit about your understanding of your team carrying weapons and how that works at the federal and state level and how they contrast.

Noah Stokes: It’s a touchy subject, for sure. The Cole memo talks about not having weapons, and for our licensees in their dispensary, even retired military and retired police officers that have a registered concealed-carry weapon they cannot have it on the premises with them and having cannabis present. You have cash, you have marijuana, and these guys can’t carry a gun. We get request for that on a regular basis, and we have to be careful with how we deploy that. We’re going to start getting into those services a lot more in this highly-regulated aspect of the recreational here in Oregon. We have armed transport, we have armed guard services. We just have to be careful how we facilitate that, not inside the actual buildings, but more outside the buildings, outside the perimeter, whether it’s follow car.

It really is a silly and archaic rule that has forced people to spend extra money that is not needed. There’s easier and less expensive ways to accomplish this if the Federal law was different. Their intent with that was to keep the cartels from having a table full of gold AK-47s. I get that, but having a retired police officer have a concealed-carry to protect himself in an all-cash marijuana business that probably makes a little bit of sense. Until people, unfortunately, probably get shot in attempted robberies the government’s not really paying that much attention to it. It’s not on their radar, which is scary. We try to give these guys peace of mind in other ways to protect themselves.

Shango Los: For banks being robbed is just a normal course of business, they’re used to it. Banks will often get robbed, they’ve got plans for it, and then they just continue to go on. Do you think we’re at a point where cannabis retailers should expect to be robbed as part of their daily course? Not daily, but it should be something that they are expecting versus a blue moon event?

Noah Stokes: My saying with that is just don’t be the easiest target on the block. Right now security systems, camera systems, alarm systems they are not strictly required. Most of the time they’re not present, and so realistically, unfortunately, there’s so many facilities out there, grows being the biggest targets, they get robbed on a regular basis because they don’t have an alarm system. They don’t have a camera system. Generally these guys aren’t wanting video cameras to be recording everything that they’re doing, and even if it was recording it and somebody stole it they can’t exactly go to the police and say, “Hey. I had a big pile of cash here and a big pile of marijuana, and so if you find it anywhere can you return it to me? Just sent me a picture and I’ll tell you if that’s the one that got stolen from me.”

They can put security systems in. Our customers, we’ve had nobody that’s had a successful attempt, and even a couple even attempts on them. When you put measures in place it drastically reduces that fact. If you have nothing, if you have no cameras, if you have no alarm systems, if you haven’t done anything the chances are it’s probably just a cost of doing business. I’d rather you spend money on a camera system than factor in just getting robbed.

Shango Los: Right. That makes sense. Yeah, I hear that. For the business owners that are listening to this show and probably taking notes, what are your suggestions for them to create better relationships with their local law enforcements so if the day comes and they need to call them they’re already familiar with each other?

Noah Stokes: I think it’s great. If you’re going to do it right then bring the police in, bring the sheriff department, bring anybody else into your facility, the fire department. Let them walk around it, let them see the rooms. Let them see what’s in each room, where the valuables would be kept, where your safe room is. Let them see where the potential threats are, the entries, the exits. Let them meet you, let them see that you’re a normal business person just looking to run a state-legal business like everybody else and you want protections just like anybody else.

They really appreciate that. They love it, they generally have a lot of fun with it. They’ll help you write security plans. They’re not unfamiliar with this industry. They’re familiar with it from two sides, the illegal side and the legal side. Now that it’s been around long enough, so they really appreciate that. They want to know what they’re getting themselves into prior to walking into one of these facilities because they’ve seen it from the illegal black market side, and it’s usually not a fun scenario to walk into. It’s highly recommended to get them involved and just meet them and talk to them and open that line of communication with them so that if something does happen they want to come and help you out because they know that you’re trying to do it legit.

Shango Los: That sounds like really solid advice. Well that’s all the time we have for today. Thanks so much for chatting with us, Noah.

Noah Stokes: Yeah. My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. You guys are awesome.

Shango Los: Noah Stokes is founder of CannaGuard Security. You can find out more at cannaguardsecurity.com. You can find more episodes of the Ganjapreneur Podcast in the podcast section at ganjapreneur.com. You can also find us on the Cannabis Radio Network website 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 the iTunes and Google Play Stores. We’re also thrilled this week to announce that you can now find the show on the I Heart Radio Network app bringing Ganjapreneur Podcasts to 60 million mobile devices. Thanks as always to Brasco for producing our show. I’m your host Shango Los.

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Steve DeAngelo Discusses His Marijuana Investment Strategy in Ganjapreneur.com Interview

10/12/2015

by Ganjapreneur

Steve DeAngelo has made a name for himself throughout 40 years of cannabis activism and many significant feats of marijuana entrepreneurship (which include the founding of Harborside Health Center — the world’s largest and most successful medical dispensary — and Steep Hill — a testing lab that is setting nationwide standards for medical cannabis testing facilities). DeAngelo recently appeared on an episode of the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, in which he discussed the release of his book, “The Cannabis Manifesto,” as well as what it takes to build a successful cannabis enterprise.

Shango Los, host of the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, said of the book: “Steve has found an elegant way to balance Cannabis medicine advocacy with an understanding of how markets work. His book is required reading for anyone interested in Cannabis or healing humans.”

DeAngelo, who is also founder of The Arcview Group — one of the largest and fastest-growing investment groups currently pursuing opportunities in cannabis — offered several recommendations for investors and entrepreneurs who want to make it big in legal marijuana. “I think that talent is a lot more important than money,” he told Ganjapreneur podcast host, Shango Los. “I’ve seen cannabis companies who have received pretty significant infusions of cash and not done a whole lot of great things with that cash because they lacked the talent to be able to properly execute on it.”

He also offers advice to cannabis professionals for keeping the legalization and normalization political movements moving: “register to vote, know who your elected representatives are, write a few campaign donations to them, and make sure that they understand how you care about this issue,” he explained. “If every American who was in favor of cannabis reform did that, we would have the laws changed tomorrow.”

The podcast is available for download via iTunes and at Ganjapreneur.com, where there is also a transcript of the interview available.

About Ganjapreneur:

Ganjapreneur launched in July 2014 and has since established a significant presence in the cannabis business world. The website regularly publishes interviews and commentary from leading minds in the industry, and has also launched a B2B business directory, a live feed of job listings from marijuana job boards, a domain name marketplace for start-ups and venture capital firms, and a mobile app for Apple and Android devices which aggregates daily cannabis industry news, business profiles, and other information. For more information about Ganjapreneur, visit http://www.ganjapreneur.com.

Source:

http://www.prweb.com/releases/steve-deangelo/cannabis/prweb13006347.htm

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Oregon Sells $11 Million Worth Of Recreational Cannabis During First Week of Sales

10/12/2015

Oregon broke records in its first week of recreational marijuana sales, racking up some $11 million in sales.

According to data from the Oregon Retail Cannabis Association, sales broke $3.5 million on October 1st, the first day of retail legalization. During the first week, Oregon sales more than doubled the $5 million that Colorado saw in its first week of legalization. Washington sold just $2 million worth of marijuana in its first month.

Recreational sales in Oregon are tax free until the end of 2015, when a 25% tax will be added on. Tax revenues will go to schools, mental health programs, and state police in those cities and counties that have chosen not to ban recreational sales.

When Oregon voters legalized recreational marijuana, the state estimated tax revenues for all of 2017 would be just $9 million. Given the numbers from the first week of sales, that estimate likely falls far short.

Sources:

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/ready-weed-what-oregon-pot-sales-set-historic-record

http://m.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/08/1429336/-Oregon-s-first-week-s-pot-sales-at-11-mil-tax-benefits-for-state-may-exceed-expectations?detail=email

Photo Credit: Matt McGee

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Brand Focus: What Makes a Legendary Cannabis Brand? Ft. Jett

10/09/2015

Brands are not logos. Brands are not taglines or ad campaigns. Brands are not colors or fonts or products or companies. Great brands are transcendent. Great brands are emotional, aspirational. Great brands are synonymous with an ideal, a mission, a state of being.

Here’s what two of our generation’s branding giants have to say about what a brand is:

Great companies that build an enduring brand have an emotional connection with customers that has no barrier. – Howard Schultz (Starbucks)

Brand is not a product, that’s for sure. It’s not one item. It’s an idea, it’s a theory, it’s a meaning, it’s how you carry yourself. It’s aspirational, it’s inspirational. – Kevin Plank (Under Armour)

We communicate the brand through product design, through advertising, through color and shape and font, but those things are not the brand itself. A brand is the emotional connection between people and organizations. A brand is the aspiration of groups of people to a desired mode of existence. A brand is the collective social impact of the decisions an organization makes every day.

This industry is undeniably unique. We are united by a product that has been used around the world since the beginning of civilization, yet our industry is in its infancy. We are united by social activism, by a belief that our laws should reflect the will of the people. We are united by an entrepreneurial spirit, the desire to create products and services and organizations that once only existed in our minds’ eyes. A part of that entrepreneurial process is to lay the foundation for what will become the brands of our organizations. We must take great care to build that foundation of substance, not merely a skin or a façade.

There are many businesses that could have been featured in this list: it is by no means definitive, but each of these companies has shown a commitment to laying the foundations of their brands on something real, something meaningful, and it shows. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos stated, “A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn a reputation by trying to do hard things well.”

Every company should be aspiring to develop an organizational culture that is committed to executing difficult tasks at a world-class level; literally committing to doing one thing better than anyone else on the face of the earth.

This series will feature cannabis companies who are striving to do just that.

Jett

The Jett brand family is comprised of three separate brands to differentiate between its business lines: Jett Cannabis, Jett Brand, and Jett Licensing. Focusing on creating the most pure and healthy cannabis products, Jett Cannabis will be producing a line of CO2 and solventless concentrates which should reach stores by early November. Their complementary lifestyle brand, Jett Brand, was created to promote the spirit of Colorado on a national scale, doing event promotion and developing a line of apparel and accessory products. Jett Licensing will provide intellectual property and brand licensing to similar industries. Marketing Director Patrick Haske shared their vision with us:

Stay lifted. Jett VP1.0 now available on www.jettbrand.com. #vape #vapepen #vapor #co2 #jettset #jettlife #jett #jettbrand #juice #puffpuffpass #smoke #oil

A photo posted by Jett cannabis (@jettcannabis) on Oct 6, 2015 at 1:59pm PDT

What process did you use to develop your brand? Was it developed internally or with an agency?

Our brand development was done 100% internally by the initial Jett team. Both the CEO and myself come from marketing backgrounds. The fundamental idea behind our brand comes from our core personal values. We believe in being light on our feet, bold, fun, recognizable and transcendent. Once we put into words how we felt, we started on the design.

We immediately knew that we wanted to stand out in the industry against the assorted shades of green. Jett went with a black and white approach to represent the ideals we had. We wanted something that was specific to Colorado but applicable to Americans in general: light, free, bold, daring, independent. It’s urban with our focus on the RiNo district and its street life, but outdoorsy in the spirit of the adventurous Coloradoan.

We wanted a lifestyle brand, so we made our logo “mark” our name. JETT can represent whatever you want it to be, and is interchangeable with our cannabis product and lifestyle brand. Many, if not most, companies in the cannabis industry think their mark is their brand, when in reality it’s what you do and how you portray yourself in all aspects that forms the foundation of your brand.

What are the defining characteristics, core tenets, or ideological values of your brand?

As I mentioned in the previous response, we started our brand image development with our core values. Our #1 value is the most simple and well known rule around, treat others as you want to be treated. We apply this to our consumers, our employees, and our clients because, collectively, they are the reason we exist. This ideal is how we do business.

As an outwardly defining characteristic, our main adjective would be independent. Everyone (over 21) is free to make their own choices, and our goal is to give them the best choice. We are creating a brand that translates to sales for us as well as our dispensary partners. Our consumers aren’t going to go to the store for a CO2 cartridge, or a gram of rosin. Our customers are going to go to the store for a Jett Cartridge or gram, because they know they will be getting the absolute best. This gives us sales, and offers our partner the opportunity to upsell even more product to the customer that Jett brought through the door.

As a company, Jett is entrepreneurial and light on its feet, just like the location of its brand house in RiNo. We know that the market is made up of a wide array of customers, and we offer a wide variety of products for just that. We don’t make what we think is best, we make what you think is best. We strive to give our customers exactly what they are looking for.

How do you think effective branding benefits the consumer? How does it benefit businesses?

Effective branding gives customers the confidence to know what kind of product they will be receiving each time they purchase. It provides a level of trust between the consumer and the product. If someone goes to the store to buy a new TV and has owned and loved a Samsung for the past 10 years, they probably won’t buy the Vizio brand. They are going to purchase another Samsung, because their experience has proven that Samsung makes a quality TV. There are a couple companies in the industry that have this consistency, but haven’t built the brand behind it yet, so customers don’t have the kind of trust that they could and should have when selecting a product.

It benefits our business, as well as our partner businesses, because our customers become loyal brand advocates. If a Jett customer knows that he can be served by a knowledgeable budtender at a specific store and receive the products he wants, he will tell his friends about it. Everyone wins.

A strong brand also gives room for customer feedback. We can cater to our customers when our customers know how to reach us. Our phone number is listed on our website for any kind of feedback, whether that be partner business or consumer. As I mentioned before, every consumer is different. Being involved allows us to fill their needs better.

What are some of the most effective ways that you use branding to promote your products?

We have a strong focus on personal interaction. We’ve found our brand excels anywhere we can engage people on a personal level. This works for us because our B2B clients are the same as our B2C clients. Jett Cannabis believes that we are all in this growing and changing industry together. We have been heavily involved in social media, which allows us to engage with people. We have also done a number of industry related events, as well as concerts and shows. Last Friday we took a limo up to Red Rocks for the GRiZ show to promote the brand and treat some of our company friends.

Are there other companies in the cannabis industry that you feel have branded themselves exceptionally well?

Sweet Leaf, Terrapin Care Station and Native Roots are some recreational brands that have been doing well with their brand in the recent months. Sweet Leaf has done a great job of applying a unique style and color pallet that includes a neon pink, purple and blue. The branding is very bold, and works great to stand out in the industry with very little green or marijuana leaves. I spoke with one of the owners of Terrapin Care Station shortly after they had rebranded what he called several of their “neighborhood feel” stores under a unified brand after becoming recreational. I think they’ve done a great job visually of creating a consistent brand between both their advertising and storefronts. Native Roots, winner of the 2015 CannAwards for most creative marketing initiative, have also clearly created a wide reaching and recognizable brand for their shops.

What common missteps or pitfalls would you suggest to companies looking to build a new brand?

Many of the cannabis brands out there are very logo-centered. Some companies think that their brand is their logo, when in reality the logo is merely a representation of the brand. I see ads all the time in the Westword that have multiple logos on one coupon. This kind of “branding” is driven by the fact that the demand is there. Currently, tourism drives a large amount of sales, and dispensaries can bank on this. They don’t need to create a unified brand, or advertise with more than a coupon in the back of the Westword. They might be able to prosper solely off demand at this point, but as more and more states legalize I think that the companies who focus on branding effectively will come out far ahead.

Marketing is an afterthought in this industry today. Owners don’t seem to look at their brand from the outside. Building a brand takes a lot of work, and can often cost a lot of money. When the owners see huge profits and increasing revenues despite very little brand awareness, they don’t take that extra step because they don’t feel the need. That said, when they don’t go the extra step to strengthen the brand, their employees don’t go the extra step to represent the brand, and the brand becomes stagnant.

Many of the brands out there aren’t attitudes, and the employees don’t believe in it. It’s a just a place to go to work. Employee enthusiasm leads to word of mouth sales. Word of mouth is huge in this industry. Currently 20% of cannabis users make 66% of cannabis purchases in Colorado according to the 2014 Department of Revenue study. People trust their friends and family for referrals. When a budtender makes a great impression, that customer is going to go back, then they are going to tell their friends to go. While working at a dispensary the last 2 years, I’ve witnessed that word of mouth is by far the biggest driver of new customers, no matter how many ads we had running or how many social media posts we made. It all goes back to your employees and your customers. Treat the customer how you want to be treated and the sale will take care of itself.

Photo Credit: Joshua Earle

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Chris Kelly: Bringing Medical-Grade Extracts to the Recreational Market

10/08/2015

by Ganjapreneur

Chris Kelly is the Vice President and General Manager of Landrace Labs, a cannabis production company serving Washington State’s recreational market. He is also the founder and former CEO of Green Lion Farms, a medical cannabis company based in Seattle. Landrace produces high-quality CO2 extracts as well as flowers and pre-filled vape cartridges that are for sale in retail shops within the state.

“Adopt a winning team mentality, be a professional, and treat this like the billion dollar industry that it is.”

Given that his experience with cannabis runs from growing ditch weed to growing multiple thriving companies in the legal market, Chris Kelly has witnessed first-hand how legalization has affected the cannabis industry. We recently had the opportunity to ask him about how he transitioned from Washington’s medical market to its much more strictly-regulated recreational market, how he has grown his company with excellent marketing and branding to back up his premium products, and what he thinks the future of legal cannabis looks like.

Read the full interview:

Ganjapreneur: How did you first get involved in the cannabis industry, and what was your career prior to that?

Chris Kelly: I have been in the “cannabis industry” since 1992. Started by growing ditch weed and selling it to my classmates. I have always been a dealer, but had a normal job at the same time. I studied Biology and Business Administration during my multiple stints at various community colleges. I had been doing system and network administration as a profession until 2011, when I left Starbucks Corporate to focus on the cannabis industry full time.

What is the story behind your company’s brand, “Landrace?”

My team and I had to regroup after our last venture and realized our core group is very much like a landrace strain of cannabis. A landrace refers to a local variety of cannabis that has adapted to the environment of its geographic location. We like to think we represent a Pacific Northwest way of life and my wife suggested we call ourselves Landrace Labs.

Got our branded buttonless vape pens in. ???????????? Ask for them in your local legal pot shop in #washington ???????????? #i502 #vape #vapelife #blowclouds #co2 #oil #errl #legal #dabs #landracelabs

A photo posted by Landrace Labs (@landracelabs) on Sep 22, 2015 at 2:54pm PDT

Is Landrace entirely focused on extraction, or will you be producing flowers and other products as well?

We have two brands we are focused on developing. Landrace Labs (Rochester, WA) focuses on CO2 extracts, Hash, and Vape Cartridges. The lab is responsible for the processing portion of our organization. Landrace Farms (Oroville, WA) focuses on growing a wide range of genetics, including CBD specific strains. We offer Smokes (Pre-Rolls) and Flower (Bud) under our farm brand.

How many people are currently employed by the company?

We have 12 FTE, 2 PTE at the lab and 4 FTE at the farm. We do use a migrant work force on the farm and we are in the process of growing, so this number is likely changed by the time you read this.

When hiring lab technicians, how do you balance experience with cannabis vs. experience with lab work? Are both mandatory?

We are not so interested in past cannabis experience, although it is very helpful. A healthy balance of lab work and “life skills” make for an ideal candidate. We treat the HR process like any other company. We are looking for qualified candidates that demonstrate professionalism, organization, and a good head for science.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ got kief? #i502 #sixstar #hash #fullmelt #twax #vape #mmj #refill #measure91 #prop215 #ommp #washington #science #pnw #lab #cannabis A photo posted by Landrace Labs (@landracelabs) on Jul 16, 2015 at 3:22pm PDT

As someone who has built businesses in both Washington’s medical market and the recreational market under I502, what are your thoughts on the current state of affairs? What would be the best way forward for Washington, in your opinion?

It’s a mess out there. People that figure out how to play by the rules and get compliant with our states regulations in the next year, may stand a chance. People holding on to our old way of thinking in the “green market” are going to have a bad time. Moving forward, Washington needs to lower the barrier to entry for individuals and small businesses, especially for retailers. The good news is that with the recent passing of SB5052, a lot of medical shops are getting the chance to convert to recreational stores. This means better access and more consumer choice.

I’ve been following Landrace on Instagram for a long time, and it has been a lot of fun to watch the company’s journey and how your brand has evolved. Ten years ago, the idea of a cannabis production facility broadcasting its activities & sharing photos would not have been possible. Do you view social media primarily as a marketing tool, or as a way to share history in the making?

Both. It also serves as a great reflection tool for me. I often say, “Holy shit, we were doing _____ only 4 weeks ago!”

Remember fellow citizens: Don’t dab and drive! ???????????????? #i502 #dab #dabs #shatter #budder #hash #wax #co2 #dabsrus #dablyfe #seattlestoners #wfayo #landracelabs

A photo posted by Landrace Labs (@landracelabs) on Aug 3, 2015 at 7:09pm PDT

How close were you to the recent wildfires in Eastern Washington? Did they interfere with your operations at all?

The Okanogan Complex Fire came within 10 miles or so of our farm. Even though our operations were not affected, we did evacuate non-essential personal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okanogan_Complex_Fire

Wrong kind of fire. ???????????? #i502 #fire #smoke #wildfire #fame #washington #pnw #cascadia #homegrown #landracefarms

A photo posted by Landrace Labs (@landracelabs) on Aug 14, 2015 at 6:38am PDT

In both Colorado and Washington, people were surprised by how much of retail sales went to edibles and infused products. Do you think that extracts will eventually rise to challenge the popularity of flowers & edibles among consumers, or is this already happening?

I think we are seeing a decline in consumption of smoke. The younger segments of our market would rather vaporize or eat their cannabis. We will continue to observe an increase in popularity of concentrates and edibles.

What do you make of the rise of “Rosin Tech,” and do you anticipate that it will ever poise a threat to botanical extraction?

Rosin is great and it makes for some of the best dabs I have had. I have yet to see it work on a scale we need it to though. I am hopeful that someone will modify some newspaper press somewhere and create a rosin factory line. Until then, CO2 closed loop systems are the only thing of scale that can keep up with our pace. The idea of pressing a few kilos of Rosin with one or two employees per day is laughable at this point, but I’m keeping my eye out for emerging tech.

???????????? Grape Ape Co2 Muffin! ???????? Made from @artizencannabis #legalweed ???????? #legal #dabs #i502 #cannabis #weed #extracts #dabbersdaily #co2oil #dab #recreationalmarijuana #wfayo #ffourtwenty #errl #seattlestoners #landracelabs #repost @atomextracts

A photo posted by Landrace Labs (@landracelabs) on Oct 6, 2015 at 10:05pm PDT

What advice you would offer to someone who is in the black market as a grower or extraction specialist, and who wants to pursue a career in the legal industry?

Approach it like you are applying to a Fortune 500 company. If your Cover Letter and Resume are not on point, most companies are throwing it away and never looking at it again. Adopt a winning team mentality, be a professional, and treat this like the billion dollar industry that it is. Nobody ever did anything of importance by himself or herself. It takes a team to win championships and this is definitely the big leagues!

Thank you for sharing your insights and experience, Chris! We look forward to watching Landrace Labs continue to put out high quality products as the market grows.

To learn more about Landrace Labs, you can visit their website. Something to say? Post your comments below!

End

New Rules for Medical Cannabis Could Come Soon to California

10/08/2015

California Governor Jerry Brown is expected to sign a package of three bills that would institute statewide rules for the marijuana industry.

AB 266 would create an oversight agency for the industry, the Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation, and would allow local governments to institute their own stricter rules.

AB 243 is intended to reduce the environmental impact of the marijuana industry.

Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) called on Brown to sign the bills into law on Sep. 30th.

“California has needed to provide clear direction on how to move forward on medical marijuana, and now I think we’ve achieved that goal. That’s because we’ve had hundreds of meetings,” said Atkins. “All the stakeholders came to the table — law enforcement, local agencies, patient advocates, medical marijuana businesses, and even Governor Jerry Brown’s staff participated in helping to create what we have before him to sign, hopefully in the next few days.”

Some in the industry are worried that the new bills could in fact shut down much of the medical marijuana industry in Los Angeles. The new rules would require businesses to obtain both state and city permits, and currently, Los Angeles doesn’t offer such permits.

The voter-approved proposition D provides only “limited immunity from… enforcement” to 135 Los Angeles pot shops that were established before a 2007 local “interim control ordinance” was instituted.

Others, such as president and founder of the Greater Los Angeles Collective Alliance (GLACA), Yami Bolanos, says that the new rules are a good thing, and that the industry won’t be shut down.

“It’s better to deal with it and regulate it,” Bolanos said. “Changes and amendments need to be made.”

Dale Gieringer, state coordinator of California NORML, said that the rules represent “an accomplishment … keeping everybody on board.”

“Not everybody’s happy. But there are plenty of industry people praising it.”

Bolanos said that those who are unhappy with the rules should have spent time giving input while the proposals were being crafted.

“Welcome to the adult world where you have to follow the law and regulations,” she said. “That’s what we’ve been begging for for years. Give us rules so we can be respected.”

The dispensary rules are scheduled to go into effect in 2018.

Sources:

http://www.laweekly.com/news/new-marijuana-rules-could-close-every-dispensary-in-la-6104682

http://timesofsandiego.com/politics/2015/09/30/atkins-other-legislators-urge-governor-to-sign-medical-marijuana-bills/

Photo Credit: Håkan Dahlström

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New York Medical Cannabis Company Etain Offers First Look at Cultivation Facility

10/07/2015

Over the next few weeks, an old horse barn will be transformed into one of the first medical marijuana cultivation facilities in New York.

The 8,000-square-foot barn in Chestertown is still being renovated but once complete it will serve as the extraction, curing, processing, separating and lab site for Etain, LLC’s production facility. Alongside the barn, nestled in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, is the footprint for what will soon be a 13,000-square-foot greenhouse.

During an open house of the facility, led by Etain COO Hillary Peckham, local government officials and media members were allowed inside the horse barn for the first, and last, time. Soon clones will be brought to the site and it will be locked down, per Department of Health regulations. Presently an 8 foot fence surrounds the perimeter of the site. Additional security measures, such as cameras, motion detectors and guards, will be in place before the first marijuana shipment arrives.

In accordance with state law the plants will be used to extract oil. New York’s Compassionate Care Act forbids smoking as a delivery method, and because of this Etain has narrowed their offerings to four products: capsulated pills, sublingual drops, oral sprays and concentrates for use in vaporization pens. Etain has partnered with Clean Room Extract to create the concentrates using carbon dioxide extraction methods. The law allows for each of the five state-approved companies to have five “brands,” determined by the THC to CBD ratio in the final product.

“Clean Room Extracts [process] gives the highest yield for the amount of extractable oil,” Peckham said during the tour. “Most industry standards are about 14 percent of the usable oil…Clean Room Extracts has a minimum of 35 percent.”

Etain is currently the only New York company using Clean Room Extracts for their oil processing. Clean Room Extracts entered the marijuana extraction sector three years ago, according to Alfonso Liu, a Clean Room Extract representative who attended the event. Prior to getting involved with the marijuana industry they utilized their methods to extract liquids from algae and fungi. The firm also works with companies in New Jersey, Colorado, California and Kentucky.

“The industry standard [for extraction] is getting about 50 to 60 percent,” Liu said. “We have a proprietary method that we can go all the way to 95 percent. So depending on what method we use, we can get 95 percent of the oil.”

No products will be sold directly from the rural Chestertown location. The law allows for each of the five companies granted permission to operate in the state one production site and four dispensary sites. Peckham explained that despite there currently being zero enrollees in the program, their business plan has prepared them to handle a customer base of 500 patients. Their first, and currently only in-progress, dispensary is set for North Pearl Street in Albany – a stretch currently occupied by warehouses, mechanics, breweries and bars. Peckham expects a slow start to the program, hence her focus is on the small-scale grow-op and just one dispensary. During these early stages she expects to have about 20 employees working between both sites. Peckham is hopeful that her other locations will be ready by the end of February.

The security for both the cultivation and dispensary sites are headed by Mike Rego, a former Newport, Rhode Island narcotics detective. Rego helped open Greenleaf Compassionate Care Center in his home state and has worked with other medical marijuana sites with securing their locations.

Rego says that the rural setting for Etain’s cultivation center might make his job a little easier but he is going about securing the site in the same fashion he would any active grow facility. The fact that the plants are useless once used for extraction eases his mind a bit compared to other sites because it makes the site less appealing to thieves. Rego explained that oil is less likely to be “diverted,” or sold illegally. At the cultivation site the products will be stored in an 800 pound safe so, “even if someone were to get past the fence and into the vault, the cops are going to be there in no time and your face is on camera.”

“There is a general interest here that this is a place that is not going to have any problems,” he said. “We want to be a good neighbor.”

Rego said that one of his primary goals is to ensure patient comfort at the sites in his charge.

“My experience has been patient interaction is very important… You want to feel like you’re in a safe and secure place,” he said. “You don’t want to have an armed guard hanging over you. That’s not the environment we want to create.”

Rego’s approach to security seems in line with the “compassionate” namesake of the bill, while the cultivation facility’s tranquil location elicits a peaceful vibe. Although the Department of Health can shut down the program at any time for any reason, Peckham is confident that this is just the beginning for the industry and the Health Department realizes that medical marijuana therapy is long overdue, and much-needed, for patients in the state.

“It’s compassionate care, it’s palliative care and you can make an impact on patients’ lives,” she said.”

Photo Credit: TG Branfalt Jr.

End

Ecuador Increases Penalties for Small-Scale Drug Trafficking

10/07/2015

Ecuador has moved to increase penalties for small-time drug sellers, going back on reforms instituted last year that differentiated penalties for possession of small amounts of drugs and possession of larger amounts with intent to sell.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, speaking to the National Assembly before the vote, said that small-scale drug dealers, or “microtraffickers,” were “poisoning the population.”

”Do we want to end drug use in youth? We have to jail microtraffickers (…) I have called for higher sanctions for microtraffickers,” President Correa said in September.

Correa called the stricter penalties “preventative prison,” but Hannah Hetzer, Senior Policy Manager of the Americas for the Drug Policy Alliance, said that “this won’t do anything to protect youth from drug use, while filling Ecuadorian prisons with people – mostly women – who are often forced into the drug trade, either out of violence or economic necessity.”

The new law increases penalties for the sale of “small quantities” of certain drugs from 2-6 months to 1-3 years in prison, and for “medium-scale trafficking” from 1-3 years to 3-5 years.

Correa’s step backwards comes at a time when other Latin American policymakers are beginning to recognize the failures of marijuana prohibition and moving to reform their laws. Uruguay legalized marijuana in 2013, and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has spoken out against the failed war on drugs.

Source:

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2015/47647/ecuador-backtracks-on-criminal-justice-reforms-increases-penalties-for-drug-selling/

Photo Credit: Dallas Krentzel

End

It’s Harvest Time: Loving the Outdoors

10/06/2015

There is always a lot of energy in the air in northern California when the fall harvests start coming in, and Ganjapreneurs can use this as an opportunity to educate their clients about the differences and misconceptions between indoor vs. outdoor cannabis.

Lots of people feel that indoor pot is more potent and flavorful than outdoor. However, grown in a good area under the right conditions, outdoor cannabis can rival or even surpass indoor crops.

After all, it’s hard to mimic nature with her pure sunlight and moonlight. The unique reaction of the earth on the phenotypes creates a brew of the different cannabinoids and releases the terpenes. The unpredictable moods of the weather, the cycles of the natural world, all contribute to the unique complexity of outdoor pot.

Legalities have forced many growers who might prefer working with the earth inside. And there are definite advantages to growing indoors. You can control the environment. It’s easier to keep a handle on insect infestations.

Indoor grows also lend themselves to experimentation. New high potency strains that are constantly cropping up in collectives are the result of innovative indoor farmers applying their creative vision to their gardens.

Sometimes growers will start their plants in a controlled inside environment then move them outdoors.

Insanity Strains, a boutique facility in northern California, this year created two strains in this manner: Insanity OG and Hannibal Nectar. They kept their operation small to better monitor the results. At this writing, the buds are still drying, but early tests indicate that these two strains are nearly as potent as the high-quality indoor plants they used to create them.

Throughout California and the nation, growers are doing the same. It’s a good time for pot farmers and Ganjapreneurs in general.

For one, it’s a chance to broaden the perspective of your customers. Whether the weed was grown inside or out is less important than its other qualities. How does it smell? Taste? What are the effects? Is it organic? These are the questions you want your customers to ask.

It’s also an opportunity to look at marijuana’s cultural and social history. Most people use pot, not as a way to get high but to cope with some deeper issues like anxiety, PTSD, sleeplessness or chronic pain, and prefer a natural alternative rather than the cocktail of drugs most doctors prescribe.

For most of history, outdoor is how the plants came to us, and as the industry emerges from the shadows we can expect higher quality, flavorful and more experimental outdoor pot as well.

Trimmed up, outdoor plants look as lovely and neat as their smaller, indoor counterparts.

But in the ground, with buds shimmering like alien bottlebrushes and their green leaves the color of health itself, they are truly one of the most beautiful and practical plants around.

Photo Credit: Insanity Strains

End

Ah Warner: Formulating Premium Topicals with Cannabis Basics

10/06/2015

by Shango Los

Ah Warner is the founder and CEO of Cannabis Basics, a premium hemp and cannabis topicals producer since 1995. Cannabis Basics formulates lotions and topicals for both the medical cannabis and skin care markets, producing everything from pain relief creams to beauty products and tattoo treatment balms. Cannabis Basics is one of the leading cannabis topical manufacturers in the USA, and it was an honor to speak with Ah about how she has grown the business, the difference between her products and many of the other cannabis topicals on the market, as well as how she comes up with her unique formulations.

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

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Listen to the Podcast

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 actionable information to improve your business strategy and improve your health and the health of cannabis patients everywhere.

Today, my guest is Ah Warner, founder and CEO of Cannabis Basics, a premium hemp and cannabis topicals producer since 1995. Ah was the winner of the 1999 Hemp Times Bioneer Award for outstanding achievement in body care. She has been featured in Cannabis Now Magazine for her entrepreneurial savvy, honored as DOPE Magazine’s patient of the month for her advocacy work on behalf of the cannabis plant, and recently received a special award from the MJBA Women’s Alliance for her focus and dedication to the Women in Washington’s cannabis industry.

She’s a proud member of the American Herbal Products Association and is a member of their cannabis committee. She’s also founder and executive director of the International Cannabis Health and Beauty Aids Producers Alliance. She’s an active participant in nearly every respected cannabis organization that exists, and we are thrilled to have her with us today. Welcome, Ah.

Ah Warner: Thank you so much. I’m thrilled to be here.

Shango Los: Ah, in the first several years of medical cannabis topicals, we’ve seen a lot of different producers and a lot of different quality, shall we say, but very few formulations that are actually really effective and also pleasurable to use. What attributes make for a really great topical?

Ah Warner: I think it’s important that, when we’re working with this beautiful plant, we stay as natural as possible. For me, when I look in a quality topical, first off, I want no chemical preservatives and no man-made fragrances. Man-made fragrances will create a barrier on our skin. Not only will it not let the therapeutic effects of all the natural botanicals absorb, but it also keeps up from detoxing. It keeps us from releasing the CO2 from our skin.

When we use these man-made fragrances, we also do not get the benefits from the natural terpenes from the essential oils that we should be using. We don’t get the terpene effect. We also don’t get the penetration from those terpenes.

Shango Los: I see. We want to stay as close to the basics so nothing blocks the health that we can get from the terpenes and the other natural constituents. In some way, though, we do have to mix it with something to create a vehicle for the oil. I’m assuming that you think we should stick with natural, I guess solvents isn’t the right word, but vehicles as well to mix with our oil.

Ah Warner: Absolutely. When we’re talking vehicles, my product line I have massage oil, I have lip butter, I have pain cream. If you’re talking about carrier oils or the rest of the botanicals that make up a formula, as natural as you can go, shea butter, coco butter, coconut oil, olive oil, are all great oils to be used as carriers.

Shango Los: My mom says, “Oh, the rule for product development is KISS, Keep It Simple, Stupid.” It sounds like it’s the same kind of idea that adding more is not necessarily going to be better. Keeping the product as stripped down, so that you’ve got a very clean and effective medicine, is what you’re saying is the way to go.

Ah Warner: Absolutely, keep it simple. However, I really feel like cannabis topicals are not just about THC. You really want to bundle these cannabinoids, and the very foundation of my entire line is hempseed oil for a completely different set of reasons. You want to keep that at the forefront, but also bundle it up with a lot of other great botanicals so that you have, if you will, an entourage effect. I use a lot of tea tree and arnica that are also very effective for quite the same reasons that cannabinoid therapy is.

Shango Los: That’s a good delineation. There are many different uses for these topicals. As far as I can tell, they fall into 2 big categories: one is being pain relief; the other is for dermatological formulations. One where you want to get it to soak into the skin, and one where it’s more topical. Can you explain the difference between those kind of formulations and their uses?

Ah Warner: What you’ll find in the health and beauty aids market is that we really have to pigeon-hole products to be a single-use item for marketing purposes, but the fact of the matter is many of the products that we use every day could have multiple uses.

My products, my 2 pain creams, are just as great for eczema and psoriasis. Because of the actual benefits of the cannabinoid therapy, it’s anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antispasmodic for the pain relief. It’s also, in the same formulation, great for eczema and psoriasis. It’s antibacterial, antifungal, deals with foot odor because it deals with bacteria.

When people ask me how cannabinoid therapy, what it’s like, I liken it to the best of both tea tree and arnica. You’re dealing with those surface-skin issues as well as muscle and inflammation and pain issues.

Shango Los: You must spend a lot of time educating budtenders when you’ve got products that are only for one thing and then products that can be used for multiple things. They each have got subtleties to provide different kinds of relief. There must be a lot of education in that to make sure that the person who’s actually talking to the customer is getting the right information.

Ah Warner: There really has been a ton of education, and I’d like to give my props up to all of my competitors here in the state of Washington. We really have created this marketplace. It has been painstaking because we really had to, 1, get them to buy into topicals were even a thing that they would want to sell, and then get all the budtenders to really get behind these products. It meant, like any other marketing campaign, giving a lot of product away and having them use them for themselves. Once they buy in, it’s all good from there.

Shango Los: A lot of the different formulations have got wildly different concentrations of cannabis in them. I’ve sampled a bunch and written a lot of reviews, and some of them I got nearly no effect, and others really took care of my carpal tunnel syndrome to sooth it and gave me that anti-inflammatory. Outside of patient diving in and learning everything about it, are there any rules of thumb that can be used so that people know that they’re buying something that’s potent enough?

Ah Warner: Right. There’s a couple things I want to say about this. You want to make sure that whatever THC level or other constituents, whatever level it is, you want to make sure there are terpenes there to actually carry it into the lower layers of the skin if you’re looking for muscle or pain relief. I would like to make a point that the legislation that I just co-authored, it really defines the difference between my world and what I consider cannabis health and beauty aids. Those are products that are less .3% THC. Even anecdotally, we know that these products are very helpful in many, many maladies.

Then there are a separate division of products that I would consider medical grade topicals. Those are products that are above .3% THC. Whether you have high concentration or a low concentration, you need to make sure that whatever it is bundled with is effective in getting it down into the lower layers of the skin. There, I’m talking about terpenes or emu oil if you choose to use an animal byproduct.

Shango Los: It sounds, again, that we’re back to making sure that entrepreneurs educate their budtenders on what the difference is in their product and what it can be used for and to make sure that they can pass that information on to the consumer so they know what they’re getting and they know they’re getting the right thing.

Ah Warner: Absolutely. I do see a lot of stuff out there that I’m not crazy about. I would like to encourage anybody that’s getting into this to please keep it as natural as possible because once you start adding a lot of preservatives for shelf life, you really take down the quality of the product itself.

If we’re talking about patients here, patients need … My health and beauty aids, I target to all health-conscious consumers, so you don’t necessarily have to be a patient to buy health and beauty aids. When we’re talking about patients with serious issues, we want to keep these products as clean as possible. That would be my advice.

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

Welcome back. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast. I am your host, Shango Los. Our guest this week is Ah Warner of Cannabis Basics.

Ah, before the break, we we’re talking about all the variety of topicals that there are. Sometimes I will get one, and it will be separated in the jar. What kind of formulations do you recommend that will stay together? I’m asking this question more from an entrepreneur side than from a consumer side. For folks that are looking to develop their own topicals, where do you recommend that they consider starting for something help them have a successful product from day 1, and then they can learn from there.

Ah Warner: Yeah. It depends on the product. It depends on what you are going to use the product for. Making a massage oil, where you don’t need an emulsifier, that’s not going to separate on you as long as you have all oil-soluble constituents. My 2 pain creams are something pretty rare in this industry as far as I know because I think that most of my competitors actually take an already-built lotion, and then they will add their cannabinoids to them.

If you are going to actually make a true emulsification, you are going to need to do that in your process. That’s why you’ll find the 2 pain creams that I make will never separate. What you’re seeing, I think, on the marketplace is actually formulas that are thrown together that aren’t actual true emulsifications.

There also is a step down from emulsification when you’re talking about suspending. Like a lip butter, for instance, you don’t need an emulsifier. There is a little bit of water in that, but you actually keep the formula suspended and separated until it cools by actual inertia.

For those types of products, it’s all about the physical centrifugal force to keep the product blended well while it cools. It’s about level of sophistication and what type of products. If you’re just starting now out to make topicals, you want to start with something simple like a massage oil or a lip balm.

Shango Los: You’ve got a really great reputation. Not only do you do a lot of cannabis outreach, but people know you to be a product development nerd, I dare say. You build your lotions themselves from scratch. A lot of our listeners as entrepreneurs are going to be figuring out their own formulas.

Do you have any good advice for them for finding their own formula, as far as the testing goes, or creating and comparing different ingredients? Because I’ve tried to do this myself, and sometimes I forget which batch is A, which batch is B, and what had what in it. I’m sure you’ve done that for months and months. Do you have any words of advice for folks who are jumping into developing their own product now?

Ah Warner: Yes, absolutely. First of all, do some research. I can tell you that most of my formulas are from the research that I did in natural cosmetics, or natural botanicals. Do some research first. When you’re actually start to do your test batch, make sure that you take copious notes.

Really, please do not put these products on the shelves until you have had 6 months of research and development. What happens is you’re risking your entire reputation if you put a product on the market, and then it starts to mold, or it starts to separate. You actually need to do that in your lab or in your facility to make sure that those things don’t happen before you expose your brand to those kinds of negative feedback.

Shango Los: That’s actually a really good point. I didn’t even think about the product molding. How terrible would that be to do an entire run of something and then heat seal it, and then ship it out. Then, maybe it sits for little bit, and they bring it home, and they open it, and it’s moldy. Gosh, that is not a good way to start with your customer.

Ah Warner: No, it’s not, but unfortunately, it does happen, especially … I just want to make the note that people that are making commercial chemically-preserved products don’t have that to worry about. If we really are going to focus on natural products, it is an absolute concern of ours.

Look at a company like Lush. Lush recommends one of the most natural cosmetic body-care companies in the world. They recommend refrigeration for many of their products. You might argue the same for some of these products because the more natural the more susceptible they are to rancidity. It’s all about care. Natural products, you never want to keep them in the light, the heat, or expose them to too much air because that exposes them to rancidity or mold.

Shango Los: I think that’s a really good example, too, because I adore Lush products. I love how natural they are. They’ve got fantastic smells. I’m willing to pay a little bit more premium price because I know that there’s nothing toxic in it for me. I’m even willing to put it in the fridge, which is a minor inconvenience, because I want it to be able to stay fresh for me.

Ah Warner: Absolutely. I did want to add one more thing for Ganjapreneurs that are just starting out that it’s really important that you be fully transparent. You really need to put … Because of the history of our industry, not everybody has been forward with their ingredient list. I think that’s really important, especially for patients. They’re sensitive to allergies. They need to know exactly what’s in these formulas, so full ingredient list is definitely super important.

Shango Los: I think that’s a great note. That’s a good idea. Those notes would go on the packaging. Let’s talk about your packaging.

I adore your packaging. It’s simple. It’s colorful. It’s easy to read. I daresay it’s fun. When you look at the other products on the market, sometimes you’ve got people doing package design who are less experienced. They’re using fonts that are mismatched or hard to read or too small for a lot of folks like me who wear glasses. You seem to have discoed around all of those challenges.

How did you come to your brand? Was it just something that came to you fully born, or did you do focus groups? How did you get to the visual representation of your brand?

Ah Warner: Well, fully born after 20 years. Cannabis Basics was Cannabis Creations and then Cannabis Creations Body that started in 1995. If you look at the evolution of our logo, it’s pretty crazy. The best advice I can give to entrepreneurs is to pay professionals do this type of work for you. If you are not graphic designer, you should not be doing this work for yourself.

You can come in with your ideas. My graphic designer has been brilliant because I was really strong about what I wanted, but she was able to craft it in a way that made sense and was timely and was beautiful. For instance, inside of our logo, most people, even dedicated fans of Cannabis Basics, they don’t actually see the subtleties of our logo. We’ve got 4 hands inside the negative space of the marijuana leaf, and it’s just really beautiful. It’s those subtleties that you don’t necessarily see that mean a lot in a logo.

Just along this vein, I wanted to let you know that Cannabis Basics was just awarded the first-ever federal trademark with the word “cannabis” and the leaf in the same marking. This just happened like-

Shango Los: Wow, congratulations! That’s a big deal.

Ah Warner: Thank you! It’s the first of its kind, definitely in my category, I believe in the entire marketplace. It’s a big, big deal. We’re super proud to be leading the way.

Shango Los: That’s fantastic! You’re clearly going to be taking your brand national as allowed by law state-by-state. Have you been able to do any interstate brand development at this point to kind of help warm up the customer bases in the different states to maybe cause them to want to buy it when they come here to Washington?

Ah Warner: Sure. A little bit. I’m so Washington-centric focused that I haven’t really done a whole lot. I’ve been in some national magazines. I’ve been a judge and a presenter at the High Times Cannabis Cup. My main focus is really the mainstream marketplace here in the state of Washington. That is where I’m going to concentrate for the next couple of years because, 1, I can’t take my cannabinoid products across the state border. 2, I’ve just gotten this legislation passed that allows me now to sell in the mainstream marketplace. There’s plenty of market for me to focus on right here in the state of Washington.

Shango Los: The legislative part is very exciting. We’re going to talk about that right after this short break. We’ll be right back. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast.

Welcome back. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast. I am your host, Shango Los. Our guest this week is Ah Warner of Cannabis Basics.

Ah, before the break we were just beginning to talk about the new legislation that you’ve been working on to allow folks to be able to use cannabis products purchased just at their local shop instead of having to go to cannabis-centric retail stores. If I get the idea generally correct, it’s that once the cannabis oils are mixed with the lotions, they’re no longer abusable, and you can’t bring them out and smoke them. It really creates a different kind of product that should be regulated in a different way. Whey don’t you break it down for us so that we understand the changes that are coming?

Ah Warner: Yeah. About 2 years ago I can tell you that I looked at what I needed for the future, and I went to our champion here in the state of Washington, the Senator Kohl-Welles. I went and had a discussion with her, took her some of my products, and she was really excited about the potential of this as a Washington-centric product. I asked a friend of mine, Kari Boiter, who is a political strategist, to help me to craft some legislation that would define that difference between cannabis health and beauty aids and medical-grade topicals.

Medical-grade topicals is a totally separate issue, and that’s not what I’m talking about here. Medical grade topicals are above .3% THC and can be highly-concentrated RSOs that you use topically that could cause intoxication.

What I’m talking about here are less than .3% THC, that are not intoxicating, that you would never ingest. We introduced legislation in January that actually passed and was signed into law on June 30 by Governor Inslee and went into effect on July 1. It’s a-

Shango Los: Wow, that was fast!

Ah Warner: It’s almost unheard of, actually. It was signed into law, so now, anybody here that is making cannabis health and beauty aids, less than .3% THC, can now start conversations with stores like Bartell’s and Whole Foods and Super Supplements because of this legislation.

I just want to say “thank you” to everybody that was involved, Doug Hiatt. Even bigger than defining these products and allowing them to be sold in the mainstream, what it actually is, in fact, is the first chipping away of our Washington State Controlled Substances Act. These products that have marijuana in them have been removed from the Washington CSA even before industrial hemp has been removed from the CSA here in the state of Washington. This is no small deal.

I want to thank the champions on that on the Senate side. I actually had 2 bills. They were companion bills that were moving through at the same time. On the Senate side, Senator Kohl-Welles was my champion. She was able bring Senator Ann Rivers, who’s a Republican, in in the second position on that bill. Then, on the House side for 1753, I recruited House of Representatives Cindy Ryu. Then Republican Matt Shea, who’s also a hemp hero here in the state of Washington, came in as the second on there. It had bipartisan support and had very little opposition, if any.

My question now is, do I go state by state with this type of legislation that is the first of its kind in the country? Or, do I just go, simply, to the federal level at this point? I think that really we need to knock a few more states down before we actually can take it to the federal level. If anybody is encouraged enough to make that happen and to write the legislation and to get champions behind it and to do the lobbying, certainly they can reach out to me, and I will help them to guide them through that process.

Shango Los: I think that’s a real unique part of being a Ganjapreneur that you are modeling so well. For a lot of parts of our industry, you’re just making a product and you’re bringing it to market based on legislation that other people fought for that the entrepreneur may not have fought for themselves, especially if they’ve just come into cannabis from another entirely different industry. In your case, you’re actually having to make the legislative changes that allow your products to even be purchased. That’s like having 2 businesses.

Ah Warner: It really is. Although I’ve been advocating for industrial hemp for 20 years and for medical marijuana for the last, I would say, 3 years, I really consider myself an accidental activist. It really was out of necessity that I see this law created and changed the situation for my business. I loved being a part of the process. Now that I see how easy it is to just find out what you need and put one foot forward, I would encourage anybody to get involved and make that happen.

There’s one small incident that I want to quickly tell you about. It’s about engaging our youth into this process as well. When I went down to Olympia and delivered a Remedy Pain Stick and my Naked Lip Butter to every single office in Olympia, so 150 offices, every House of Representative, every Senate office, the governor’s office, and the lieutenant governor’s office, I took my 15-year old son with me to do this lobbying effort. He got to see what it was like actually talk to these folks to help them to understand what you need. He’s now seeing our efforts in law. It was a pretty phenomenal thing.

Shango Los: It’s good for him to see, but it’s also good for all of us to hear the way that you blended your entrepreneurial spirit with your activism and then actually take an action about it instead of just complained about it. Wow, that’s really great.

Well, Ah, that’s all the time we have today. I profoundly appreciate you joining us today and sharing your deep experience.

Ah Warner: It was a blast. Thank you so much for having me. I’m honored.

Shango Los: You can find more episodes of the Ganjapreneur Podcast in the Podcast section at Ganjapreneur.com. You can also find us on the Cannabis Radio Network website and in the Apple iTunes Store. On the Ganjapreneur.com website, you will find the latest cannabis news, products 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. Thanks as always to Brasco for producing our show. I am your host, Shango Los.

End

Attorney General Loretta Lynch Supports Letting States Handle Cannabis Laws

10/05/2015

In an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd last week, Attorney General Loretta Lynch stated that states should have the right to make decisions about legalizing marijuana, but noted that the federal government should play a role in making sure minors stay away from the drug.

“I think states have to make those decisions on their own. They listen to their citizens and they take actions,” said Lynch. “What we have said and what we continue to say is that states have to also have a system designed to, number one, mitigate violence associated with their marijuana industries. And number two, and perhaps most importantly, keep young people, children away from the products.”

Lynch cited the accidental ingestion of marijuana edibles as a top priority for the federal government: “We’re seeing a number of situations where children gain access to products that look like candy or cookies or cakes. The purity is different and they’re becoming very, very ill,” she said.

Lynch also noted that the federal government would continue to intervene in cases where a state that neighbors one that has legalized marijuana is having problems with interstate trafficking: ““We also have concerns — and states have expressed this to me — where a state that has not legalized this particular substance sees people traveling across state lines to obtain it,” she said. “We do still intervene and we will still intervene in those areas.”

When Todd pressed Lynch regarding her stance on whether marijuana should be reclassified under federal law, the attorney general remained opaque. In her confirmation hearing, Lynch had stated that she was personally against the legalization of marijuana:

“I can tell you that not only do I not support legalization of marijuana, it is not the position of the Department of Justice currently to support legalization, nor would it be the position if I were confirmed as attorney general,” she said then.

Source:

http://www.marijuana.com/blog/news/2015/10/attorney-general-cautiously-supports-letting-states-legalize-marijuana/

Photo Credit: US Department of Education

End

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