Oregon Cannabis Sales Taxes Begin Jan. 4th

12/30/2015

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Oregon’s marijuana sales tax holiday will come to an end on January 4th, when a 25% tax will kick in on all sales, reporter Noelle Crombie writes for The Oregonian. Medical marijuana will remain tax free.

Recreational sales have been tax free since they began on October 1st of this year. The sales tax that will begin January 4th extends to the end of 2016. The state expects to collect between $2 and $3 million in 2016.

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission, which regulates the state’s recreational market, is expected to begin licensing rec-only stores near the end of 2016. Once these stores are functional, the 25% tax will drop permanently to 17%.

Because cannabis remains illegal under federal law, most banking services are off-limits to marijuana retailers. Stores will have to transmit tax revenues in cash, but the Oregon Department of Revenue says it is prepared to deal safely with the large volumes of cash expected, which will be collected each month. The department has added cameras, trained employees, and set up a special “cash handling location.”

Revenue from marijuana sales will be divided as follows: 40% will go to the common school fund, 20% for mental health, alcoholism and drug services, 15% to the state police, 10% to city law enforcement, 10% for county law enforcement, and 5% for the Oregon Health Authority’s alcohol and drug abuse prevention, intervention and treatment programs.

Photo Credit: Tax Credits

 

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Fourth Corner Credit Union Sues Federal Reserve Over Application Denial

12/30/2015

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A little over a year ago, the Fourth Corner Credit Union announced its plan to become the first banking institution established purely to serve the cannabis industry. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City denied the application, however, despite significant support from marijuana business owners and even state government officials.

Instead of giving up, the hopeful credit union has filed a lawsuit against the federal banking agency.

The lawsuit is being closely watched by industry advocates everywhere: “This transcript is going to be read around the world and your decision will have an effect around the United States in a major, major way,” Fourth Corner’s attorney Mark Mason told Judge R. Brooke Jackson, who presides over the case.

Andrew Freeman, Colorado’s marijuana policy coordinator, explained the state’s stance:

“Both the governor and I thought it was a pretty good short-term solution to getting cash off the streets and bringing some measure of financial accountability to the marijuana industry…. Secondly, as we talked to banks, a lot of them feel like they are getting yellow blinking lights when it comes to marijuana. The existence of a marijuana credit union would give more faith to other banks and credit unions that they are able to bank marijuana.”

Typically, obtaining a master account is only a formality if the bank already has the state’s approval. Fourth Corner’s association with cannabis, however, appears to have severely handicapped its chances at the federal level. “The Federal Reserve is not the enforcer of drug laws,” argued Mark Mason in court.

Judge Jackson, who is expected to make a ruling soon, gave no indication that he had reached a decision leaning one way or the other. “I think there’s a certain unfairness to allowing these big banks to serve this business and keeping you out,” he admitted. However, “The problem I have… is I would be forcing the Federal Reserve Bank to give a master account to an institution that has stated it will participate in an illegal activity.”

Photo Credit: Ken Lund

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Group of U.S. Senators Continue Pressing Federal Agencies on Cannabis Research

12/29/2015

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is leading a group of eight senators in pressing the federal government on the issue of scientific research on marijuana.

The group is pressing for answers from federal agencies regarding why the government has failed to move forward on enacting policies to enable research on the medical benefits of cannabis.

In a letter sent Monday, the lawmakers wrote:

“There are currently numerous federal and state regulatory barriers to researching marijuana. This regulatory scheme which limits medical marijuana research is outdated and in desperate need of serious and immediate review. These problems are only exacerbated by a lack of coordination between the agencies and states.”

The letter was addressed to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). These agencies provided a briefing for lawmakers last month that apparently “failed to answer key substantive questions.”

The lawmakers are pressing the agencies on a number of issues, including:

  • Why the University of Mississippi maintains a monopoly on the ability to grow cannabis for research purposes
  • Why marijuana is still classified as a Schedule 1 drug, a classification reserved for drugs that have no medical value, despite the FDA’s recommendation that it be reclassified
  • Better coordination between agencies and between states

The group comprises Warren, Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ). They had initially written to the agencies in June but were unsatisfied with the response.

“We must ensure that our public policy regarding medical marijuana is guided by the best science available, and in the absence of that science we must ensure that we are taking swift and deliberate steps to facilitate the research that provides for it,” the letter states.

For more on this topic, see Tom Angell’s recent article on Marijuana.com.

Photo Credit: Phil Roeder

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what are cannabis concentrates

What Are Cannabis Concentrates?

12/29/2015

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While most commonly thought about in its flower form, cannabis can be made into concentrated extracts for topical application, oral ingestion, and smoking. These come in many varieties and are used in many different ways, but there are three forms of concentrates that first became popular in medical markets.

Kief

Kief is pollen that is collected from the flower. This is the simplest of all concentrates, it comes as a loose powder or sometimes as a sandy, pressed brick. This is sometimes what people think of when the word “Hash” is mentioned, although crafting hash is a more delicate process than harvesting kief. It consists of (mostly) the trichome of the plant, which is where most of the cannabinoids (including THC) are made. This is made from either dry sieving the plant over screens (many grinders have a feature like this) or in tumblers inside of a collection box.

Tincture

This is an extract that uses a solvent, usually alcohol, glycerin or even olive oil, to strip the cannabinoids from the plant matter. This is great for oral or topical applications. Usually only a few drops are needed under the tongue, or a little bit rubbed on the troubled areas of the body to get the desired effect. Orally consumed tincture is more quickly absorbed in your body, making it easier to dose than a lot of solid edibles.

Butane Hash Oil (BHO)

This is the relative newcomer on the extract block and the cause of many controversies. BHO uses butane as the solvent. After running butane over the plant material, and then spending some time purging in a vacuum chamber to remove the butane, you are left with a sticky waxy substance. This is typically consumed via vaporization — by superheating a ceramic or metal nail with a common blowtorch, generally referred to as dabbing — this method of consumption uses very small amounts of material per dose. When made correctly, this is potentially the purest and potent forms of cannabis on the market. The controversy comes because without lab testing to back it up, wax could potentially be unclean and dangerous. There is also a risk of fire or explosions with such quantities of butane involved if the process is not carefully undertaken. This should not inspire fear of the product but should lead to careful research on how to identify quality materials.

cannabis concentrates

So, What Are Cannabis Concentrates?

There are other types of concentrates circulating the market — CO2 oils, and a solvent-less form of concentrate created using the Rosin technique — but these three remain the most common and popular options for patients looking for more punch than you get from a bong rip.

The biggest advantages of concentrates are that they allow for people to get the desired effect in ways that don’t necessarily involve smoking tons of plant material, and it allows people to consume less, but still get the required medical effect. This is especially advantageous for patients who are in public, or who have health conditions that limit their smoking.

Of course, even the most experienced consumer of cannabis flower can potentially be floored by underestimating a concentrate. Still, no fatalities from cannabis have been credibly documented.

Before trying these products, consult with your doctor and your friendly neighborhood dispenser. Inquire about dosage, effect, purity, and other people’s experiences. Then, go slow: start with a small amount and work your way up. Tolerance takes time.

Last Updated May 26, 2020

Photo Credit: Andres Rodriguez

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Chris Horyn: Micro-Producers are Vital

12/29/2015

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As the tide of legalization rolls forward and retail markets are established and regulated by state governments, what will become of the cottage industry of medical producers and farmers’ markets that helped pave the way? This question is the focus of our latest podcast, in which our host Shango Los sits down with Chris Horyn of the Patient Cannabis Exchange, a cannabis producer’s market for medical patients in Tacoma, Washington.

Recently, Washington State has moved to close down its loosely-regulated medical market and make more retail licenses available for their recreational market in an attempt to consolidate the two. However, this sweeping approach will surely put many small producers and family-run operations out of business, or at the very least, force them back into the black market. In this episode, Shango and Chris discuss the many ways that micro-producers help the economy and why they should be valued rather than shunned by states that are planning to set up regulated markets.

Listen using the media player below, or scroll down for the full transcript!

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

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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’s show is a little different. Today we’re going to talk about the importance of artisan micro-producers in the cannabis market. As Washington, Colorado, Oregon and California have all seen in varying degrees, one of the downsides of moving from a medical market to a regulated commercial market is an exclusion of small family growers and producers who have pioneered the industry. The exclusion of these growers is a huge missed opportunity for quality products and economic development.

Today, my guest is Chris Horn. Chris is founder of the Patient Cannabis Exchange, a cannabis producer’s market for medical patients in Tacoma, Washington. He’s also the founder of Dab Land, an exceptionally good e-nail producer. Welcome to the show, Chris.

Chris Horyn: Hey, Shango. Merry Christmas, brother.

Shango Los: Thanks for being on the show. Happy holidays to you too, man. Chris, I wanted to have you on the show because you have worked with more micro-producers than anyone I have met. Let’s start out by asking you to explain the business model for the Patient Cannabis Exchange itself, and then tell us a little bit about the demographic of who your vendors are.

Chris Horyn: Oh, fantastic. Shango, as you know, we have a farmer’s market. When you say farmer’s market, it’s very similar for those out there. Imagine you go to your local corner. You have producers of local fresh vegetables, artisan crafts, flowers, where we can all partake. It goes straight from the producer right to the end consumer. Now take that model and let’s apply it to cannabis. Instead of bringing turnips, spinach, carrots, we’re bringing concentrates, flower and edibles.

We’re able to take the medical model and, I think, strip it back to its bare root essentials. Sure, there’s some economics in it, but we’re able to pair a patient with legitimate medical needs, and I want to stress that. When we talk today, Shango, I’m going to reference the real patients, not those that maybe have their authorization and abuse the system, but those that really have medical need, both physical and psychological. We’re pairing them with the actual producer. We can have that dialogue, which is ultra-dynamic that makes, I think, the farmer’s market so electric.

It’s not just come in to a local store front, pick up your meds like you would at a pharmacist. You don’t have a dialogue, really, with your pharmacist. He’s going to read your labels, he’s going to hand you the meds, and he’s going to say “Next.”

With the farmer’s markets, we’re able to talk. You’re able to engage, instead of the pharmacist, the actual producer of the medicines you’re going to consume. You’ve been there. What did you think of that? Was it a little bit different dynamic for you?

Shango Los: Yeah. It’s really different, actually. You know, I was thinking about how dynamic that is when I go to my farmer’s market here on Vashon Island, and I get to talk about the heirloom carrots and their colors with the producer. We’re not just buying generic carrots. I’m buying carrots that they’ve cared for, that they’ve ordered heirloom seeds special for, and I can learn about them directly from the farmer. We actually share the joy of that carrot, or whatever.

Similarly, when I come to the PCE, I’m talking directly to the producers, and if it’s flowers, you can totally feel the pride that they have. They want to tell you about how they’re organic, and they want to talk about how long their bloom cycle is. If it’s concentrates, they want to talk about how clean their meds are. Everybody wants to show you their testing results. If it’s medibles, essentially you’re interacting with a bunch of bakers who also want to help patients. There’s a warmth to it that you don’t get when you just go to a commercial location.

Chris Horyn: Here’s the beauty, and it’s really hard to describe. When I first started the market, it was economics. I saw, okay, each table had a value. About 30 days in, that value … Granted, the market to be able to self sustain, but it was no longer about making the money. There is … That is part of what we do. There’s an exchange of currency. We’ll talk a little bit more about how that affects the individual vendor, but what it allowed us to do is to continue to build bonds and relationships.

My vendors weren’t vendors anymore. They were my friends. Saturday, we had 20 people over. They weren’t 20 family, they weren’t 20 people from high school or college. These were 20 people from my market that I wanted to share my holidays with. It kind of tells you the extent of community environment. What I said from day one is I want our Sunday events to be our playhouse. This is where we come to escape, where we walk in that door, nobody’s going to judge us for our color, our sexual orientation, our economic status, or most of all, our physical or mental disability or affliction. We walk in there, we’re amongst friends, nobody passes judgment. It’s just that energy of “You know what? Maybe today, I’ll have a little bit better of a day.”

Cannabis people want to broad stroke it as a cure all. It’s not, but it can help us improve quality of life and make some significant changes in our health.

Shango Los: You know, last legislative cycle here in Washington, when I was talking with our legislators, I invited them to go down to your market and find out what it’s really like, because they were all so hot to get rid of medical to protect the commercial market. I’m friends with I-502 commercial producers too, so I’m not hating on them, but I wanted the inclusion of these other producers. I said “Just come on down to the market and meet these folks.” Because they kept on talking about them as criminals. I’m like “These aren’t criminals. These are families. These are artisans. These are people who are passionate.” 

Of course, I don’t know of any of them that actually ever came, but I don’t think people understand how family oriented, safe, and gentle the environment is there, because it’s truly made for patients.

Chris Horyn: We’ve been really lucky. When my wife and I spoke is when we started the market, and I want to give a huge shoutout to my wife. I love you, baby. Without you, it wouldn’t have happened. It takes a lot of balls to go out there and … Something that’s in a gray area, where there is no definable law that yes, this is legal, or no, this isn’t.

We pushed the envelope, we brought the market together, because here is what we found. The common misconception about all of us that grow flower or produce … We grow weed, so we’re rich. They saw an episode of Weeds. What they don’t understand is I’ve never worked harder than I have gardening. It’s some of the most enjoyable work I’ve ever done, but those plants are so reliant on their caretaker. To make the meds, the quality that we see on a day-in, day-out basis in the medical community, without the “state regulated testing,” is off the charts.

What you alluded to earlier, everybody wants to tell you about their product. There is so much pride, because they’re not doing it on a commercial scale. They’re doing it on an enough to provide for themselves and the surplus that they can pay forward. The amount of attention, it’s like if you dropped your kids off at day care, or do you stay home and both parents raise them on a daily basis? That’s kind of the analogy I use. The baby that stays home with the parents are going to get that much more attention. Not that the child with day care is not going to be good, but that TLC, and that energy … There’s so much more to it than putting the fertilizer in the ground and growing a big productive plant.

Shango Los: Chris, why don’t you give us a little bit … Not to use the names of your vendors, because I know you respect their privacy, but just give me maybe two or three examples of what a vendor is like at the market. Who brings products to the market?

Chris Horyn: I’ll give you a couple different examples. One’s going to be your classic 1960’s hippy. Her and her partner have been producing, I would say medicine. Granted, they’ve been growing weed, but they’ve been looking at it on a medical side way before the concept of medical had ever been coined. Ways to enlighten, ways to help the day-to-day grind, where it wasn’t just about getting high and listening to rock and roll. They were looking for ways, back in the ’60s and ’70s … How do we improve our quality of life?

That’s transcended 40 years forward, and those same ideas are being passed forward with the refinement of the new processing. Taking the concentrates and being able to make that much more in-tuned medicine to their patients, where they’re able to determine the milligram volume that the patient’s consuming, so they can get a consistent medicine.

Then, Shango, we have the patient. We deal … And I’m talking about legitimate patients. We have so many that are fixed income. Imagine trying to make your rent, make your food payments, and provide alternative med, anywhere from 900 to 1200 dollars a month. Absolutely amazing what people have to endure because you don’t have a prescription, you don’t have a $15 co-pay to go to a local pharmacy and just get your med.

The farmer’s market allows them to cut out the middle man and maximize their dollar on a fixed income. That’s who we really strive to address with our different vendor type.

Shango Los: It would seem that a lot of these patients who are producing their own meds, and they’ve gotten really good at it, that it makes a lot of sense to have them be a vendor because they’re educated, they’re passionate, and this extra money that they make from being a vendor at your market can be the difference of whether or not they make rent or not.

Chris Horyn: Make rent, and it’s kind of like that whole stripper thing. I’ve got vendors, and I’m one of them. I’m helping put my kids through college based off of what I do in cannabis. You laugh, but “Oh yeah, I strip for college.”

Well, I grow weed for my kid’s college.

Shango Los: If anything, this is probably a little more safe than that. Yeah, I think your point is well made. Even though it’s a taboo industry, and other people may have judgments, when it comes down to quality of life and making your basic bills so your family can subsist, sometimes doing what is taboo is the best thing that you can do for your family. Hey, we need to take a 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 Chris Horyn, founder of the Patient Cannabis Exchange and Dab Land.

Before the break, we were talking about subsistence level families growing cannabis and making concentrates and edibles, so that they can make the bare minimum that their family needs to survive. There are certainly lots of different flavors. We’ve got prohibition era growers who are trying to go legit. We’ve got patients who are home bound, who can finally use what they’ve learned to benefit other patients. Do you see that many of these micro-producers who come to these markets are at this subsistence level, or do you see that more of them are formulating business plans and jumping in to just crush the market and make all of the money?

Chris Horyn: Sadly, Shango, these are grass roots gardeners. They don’t have the economy of scale that some of your recreational producers have. Unfortunately, they don’t have the luxury of investing in the best equipment for the highest efficiency. They sacrifice a little bit of that to make the best med possible for their own consumption, and to give to those in their circle.

To say that anybody is getting rich, no, but you are able to subsidize income at the cost of a lot of time, and energy, love and passion. You do not do this to get rich. It is true. You’ve got to love it, especially in today’s environment.

Shango Los: We’ve talked with a lot of these independent producers when the commercial laws were getting passed. Of course, they all wanted to be included because it’s how they’ve been making their money, and they’re pioneers of the industry. But the state puts up all these bureaucratic hurdles that demand enormous cash, or they don’t reply because the people who are e-mailing them or calling them don’t really share the same education or cultural backgrounds as the people in enforcement.

I’m sure that you’ve had to offer a lot of emotional support to these producers as they realize that the new commercial market is not going to have a place for them, and their choice is either to shut down operations and give up the money that’s helping their family survive, or go back in the black market and be, potentially, a criminal again, which is a really bad decision to make.

Tell me a little bit about what it’s like for you, kind of as a mentor in the market, to give feedback to these people who are being pushed out and have to make this choice.

Chris Horyn: Well, from day one, we wanted to be a small business incubator where the opportunities that I had gotten in previous businesses, and also in the cannabis industry, were passed forward to other families, because it does have an economic impact. What we’ve had is, from day one, I’ve said “Hey, we know laws are changing. Change is coming. Is everybody prepared? What are you doing?”

Tried to get everybody to kind of do that “Hey, let’s all get the dialogue going.”

The dialogue didn’t get going. What we found is a lot of them that weren’t capitalized, because there is a cost of entry, and it’s prohibitive unless you’ve planned for it. What we found is they’re going through like “All right, what am I going to do? Well, I look at my checkbook. I can make my mortgage this month, but I can’t go ahead and invest the 50, 100, 150, 200 thousand to legally do what I’ve been doing for the last 15 years.”

There’s starting to become an apathetic mindset like “All right. I came from the black market. I’ll go back to the black market. Thank you 502, you just bumped my prices. I’ll make more money doing it illegally in the black. Not even in the gray, straight to the black market, like I was. Again, I’ll become a criminal, but I don’t care. This is what I know, this is what I do, and I need the money to sustain my family.”

Shango Los: It’s a shame, too, because so many of these folks were the pioneers. They put themselves on the line while it was a gray area, and now that we voted to make it legal, suddenly they’re being left behind, which is a real drag. I think it’s important to point out that this is not just about buying meds from these folks as charities. Some folks have the assumption that this is lower grade processing than commercial producers, and in some cases, you may run into, for example, edibles being made in a home kitchen. I agree that they should be done in licensed kitchens, or create a licensed kitchen on your property.

Some folks in the medical market, there tend to be more BHO in that market, because cO2 machines cost $200,000 to buy. Overall, the quality of the meds that are in the market are exceptionally high. As the guy who runs the market, what are your standards, and what do you see as far as skill sets and producing an end product, which is safe and quality for the patients?

Chris Horyn: Real quick, I’m going to backtrack on you, Shango. Just because somebody has a commercial kitchen, does not mean it’s a clean commercial kitchen. You and I grew up with our moms cooking in regular kitchens. We didn’t die. Yes, amazing meds are about to be produced in the average kitchen. These people are all required to have a food handler’s card. Again, the vendors that we choose to bring in our market were vetted. We’re very fortunate that we have people come to us on a weekly basis to try to get in. It’s not first come, first served. It’s who’s going to be the best fit for our market.

When we go through and vet them, we want, obviously, health food cards, because you’re processing food. There are guidelines. Concentrates that we bring in, we do have PPM requirements. I don’t care about PhD levels. What I do care about is if you’re claiming CBD, that it indeed has test results to back that up.

There is a lot of self-regulation. That was one of the big things, the house and senate said “Oh, they aren’t regulated. This wild wild west environment.”

Well, those of us that care, truly care about patients. Not the guy that’s “Hey, I got some butter, I’m going to make some cookies, I’m going to get five bucks a piece.”

No, that’s not the demographic we’re going after, or the vendor type. These are people that typically have their own afflictions, and because of their own pain are very empathetic to others and producing the best product.

Shango Los: I think what you’re illustrating there is the middle ground that is almost always missed by legislators, which is the patient medical market does have less professional players in it. That’s true. But if you just gave a gentle amount of regulation, you would be able to include all of these pioneering producers, instead of adding this huge amount of regulation that adds all of this cost, which then excludes all of them, and the only people that you can have involved are corporate interests.

I think that’s important because everybody is so afraid of cannabis that they’re over-regulating and excluding these folks.

Chris Horyn: Here’s the thing. There’s more of them than there are legal producers. There always will be. The sad thing is, that vast knowledge base, that experience base … You and I have seen it. How many 502ers have had the wallet, the financial backing. They go in “Bang! I’m going to be a 502 producer. I’m going to make the best meds, the best product. Bla bla bla.”

18 months later, they’re looking for another round of investment, because they haven’t found that lightning in a bottle that they just assumed was there, because they’re going to do weed. These producers, these processes … I’m sorry, I’m getting a little bit excited, because what’s not given enough credit is how much work these people do, the love, the attention to detail. Again, they’re empathetic because most of them are actually patients, not “Hey! I’m Johnny. I’m going to go to work today. I’m going to produce some meds.”

No. He’s going to produce another commodity just like a guy at Boeing stamping a regular part. There is a very distinct difference in quality.

Shango Los: I think that a lot of the medical growers are really proud of the quality of it, as well, just like an artisan wine producer. I have sat with many of my clients when they’ve been weighing their margins against the quality, and for a lot of them, it’s a toss up. Whereas whenever I’ve sat with my medical clients, it’s always about “Okay, well, I understand that this is going to cost a little bit of my margin, but it’s going to be an increase of safety and maybe product experience for the patient.”

And then they’re going turn that way. Obviously, we’re making vast generalizations, right? There’s a lot of people in the 502 market and in other states doing commercial who have got a lot of heart in their product. I’m not saying everybody. All I’m saying is that we should include these artisans, because losing their production memory and having it just drift away, is something that we’re really losing as a society.

Chris Horyn: Without question. You’re right. I know some fantastic people that are transitioning from medical and taking their same ideology to rec. Fantastic. They were lucky enough to have the resources to do it. Here’s a sad thing. The small vendors that we see today in the market that are so good, and they’ve come so far to come out of the shadows, into the open to where they can actually connect and help pass on that information, that knowledge, and that experience. They’re now going to be shoved back into the closet, and they’re a stepchild instead of the ancestral heroes that made it all possible.

That’s what this community is having a hard time with right now, Shango. We had an amazing market on Sunday. Talking to them, they don’t even care what we did, or what we’ve done for them, and they’re just going to make us go away. They feel so disenfranchised. It’s like “No, you don’t understand. We just want to keep helping people.”

These people aren’t rich. They aren’t driving Escalades and Mercedes. These are the entrepreneurial spirit of America. So they aren’t selling picks and shovels for the gold rush. They’re providing medicine in a pharmaceutical era that wants to shove poison down you before they want to actually diagnose and cure you.

Shango Los: Well said. We need to take a short break. We’ll be right back. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast.

 

Welcome back. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur podcast. I am your host Shango Los. Our guest this week is Chris Horyn, founder of the Patient Cannabis Exchange and Dab Land. Before the break, we were talking about the importance of including heritage growers and producers in the commercial market. We were talking about, even though they only produce small artisan amounts, that they do it with such passion, and they do it for themselves economically, that these are not people we want to exclude and destroy the potential economic growth that we could get from keeping money coming into these families, instead of just one singular, large commercial company.

We were talking about how to actually involve them in the state market, Chris, and you’ve put together quite a few regulations, if you will, for your market, which actually get rid of a lot of the problems that we see at the state level. What would you recommend as a couple regulations that we could use at the state level which would open the door for local artisan producers?

Chris Horyn: What I would like to see is, if we’re going to be medical patients, we’re going to use cannabis as medicine, I want to see the relationship between your primary care physician that’s authorizing you to use cannabis … I want that relationship to determine what your limits are for how much you grow, how much you need for personal reserve, because they’re the only ones. HIPAA laws don’t allow the state to make that determination, because they don’t have the data, because we don’t disclose it. Really, common sense. Just like we would … How much oxy do you take? How much Ibuprofen do you need to take? How many antibiotics do you take? Let your doctor determine that. Don’t let the state, the Cannabis Control Board, do that. They aren’t medical professionals.

Shango Los: Well, that’s really great. That actually takes the state out of the equation totally. I was thinking about it as you were giving your answer. Even though you can do things like you recommended earlier in the show, like making sure edibles, people have food handling permits, and encourage organic growth, and testing, but also, being able to activate the patients so that their voice is heard at the state level, that is key. That’s something that we totally failed on in Washington.

Nobody was fighting for the patients and the heritage growers. It was all of the new money coming in to build commercial grows, and then a bunch of patients who were home and sick, or couldn’t get up early enough to get to the legislature, or when they got there, they look all bedraggled, because they may or may not have the income to have the kind of clothes that the other lobbyists would have, it’s really hard to activate patients and subsistence level artisans who, while they may make a fantastic product that it was well wanted on the market, they don’t look the role down at the state capitol.

Did you find anything there at the PCE that was successful in helping organize and motivate patients?

Chris Horyn: The passionate ones were there. Passionate ones did the right things. They contacted their legislators. They made the phone calls. They sent the e-mails. They went and they attended session. The problem is, there’s a lot of apathy in our community. I want to speak to those that are out there listening, and other communities that potentially might be going medical or legal. Make sure that you’re fighting forces about the patients, that you look at the mistakes that other states have made, and then apply them to yourself. At least now you have information. We didn’t have that going forward.

Today … Now, Shango, what do we do? Here we are. We have to make a correction in Washington state, because medical has essentially been eliminated. What I want to do is I want them to reach out, start a dialogue. Not just on cannabis, but start a dialogue with your local legislators and senators. They are going to listen to people that they recognize. It doesn’t matter what you wear. If you treat them with respect, you communicate with them, build that dialogue, humanize who you are, more so than we have in the past, that’s how we start to change laws. Educate your children. Letting them know, the next generation is going to be the medicine. Break the stereotypes of Cheech and Chong. Let’s rock and roll, baby. Let’s make this medicine.

Shango Los: That’s a really good point. Interacting with your legislators early is a way for them to become familiar with you ahead of time. Those of you who are in states that are approaching normalization, you’ve really got to get an early start. Grass roots takes more time than just AstroTurfing, and throwing money, and having a lobbyist make your rule. If you want to have a seat at the table, you have to get activated early.

Chris, that’s about all we have time for today. Thank you so much for being on this show and sharing your stories of important micro-producers and why they are valuable for the economy.

Chris Horyn: Well, Shango, thank you for everything. People, get out there. Try something new. Get outside the box. We only live once. Just because your doctor has a degree does not make him a healthcare professional.

Shango Los: Tell your legislators about economic revitalization of the rural areas, and not just about patients right.

Chris Horyn: Amen.

Shango Los: Make sure you give them both a heart and an economic reason to include you in commercial cannabis. You can find out more about Chris Horyn and the Patient Cannabis Exchange on Facebook at Facebook/PCE420. You can also check out his exceptionally well made and colorful e-mails, including their Star Wars line, at www.Dab.Land.

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 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. You can now find this show on the iHeartRadio network app, bringing Ganjapreneur to sixty million mobile devices. Do you have a company that wants to reach our national audience of cannabis enthusiasts? E-mail grow@ganjapreneur.com to find out how. Thanks, as always, to Brasco for producing our show. I’m your host, Shango Los.

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Texas County Moving Forward with Decriminalization Law

12/29/2015

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Texas’ most populous county has moved to institute a form of marijuana decriminalization.

Devon Anderson, the District Attorney of Harris County, which has more than 4 million residents, first introduced the First Chance Intervention Program in October 2014 in cooperation with the Harris County Sheriff’s Department and the Harris Police Department. Deputies and officers must offer first-time offenders arrested for possession of no more than two ounces of cannabis the opportunity to take part in the program.

Effective January 1st, 2016, all law enforcement agencies in the county will be required to offer the program, which allows first-time offenders to avoid jail time and a criminal record by doing either eight hours of community service or completing an eight-hour class.

Only 22 percent of offenders arrested since October 2014 have been given the chance to participate in the program because not all departments were initially required to participate.

“If it’s offered at the pre-arrest stage, it frees up space in jail,” said Anderson. “It minimizes the administrative burdens that officers face when they file charges; it reduces the cost for prosecution and court proceedings; and of course it gives the offender an opportunity to have a completely clean record.”

Data from the D.A.’s office shows a recidivism rate of under 10 percent for those who participated in the program — much less than for those who were convicted of a criminal offense.

Photo Credit: Adam Baker

 

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District Judge Dismisses Cannabis Monopoly Case as ‘Conspiracy Theory’

12/29/2015

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A federal judge has thrown out a suit by a private medical cannabis dispenser accusing the City of Berkeley of racketeering and establishing a private, for-profit monopoly on medical marijuana.

Private dispenser Chris Smith has sued the City of Berkeley, Berkeley’s city council, the Medical Cannabis Commission, and three private, for-profit dispensaries operating in Berkeley, under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Practices Act (RICO). Smith claims that the city established a three-dispensary cap, then hand-picked the three dispensaries which would be allowed to operate, allowing them “to grossly inflate the prices of this medicine to line the pockets of these organizations’ owners.”

In his suit, Smith also claimed that the city placed individuals representing the three dispensaries in “key government positions,” and on the city’s Medical Cannabis Commission, to steer city code in their favor. He writes in his complaint that “Daniel Rush, a sitting member of the city’s Medical Cannabis Commission, has already been indicted for taking $600,000 in ‘loans’ from dispensaries.”

But U.S. District Judge William Alsup threw the claim out of court with extra derision, calling Smith’s suit a “conspiracy theory,” and claiming it “lacked specifics.” He refused to take the claim seriously because marijuana is still illegal under federal law.

“Smith seeks to eliminate alleged racketeering and corruption from an industry that is undisputedly illegal, no different in that regard from a murder-for-hire business,” Alsup said. “This court will not lend aid to Smith’s efforts to operate an illegal business.”

Photo Credit: Clyde Robinson

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U.S. Universities Have Scaled Back Punitive Cannabis Policies for Athletes

12/28/2015

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A recent investigation conducted by The Associated Press shows that many of the nation’s largest universities have eased back punishments in recent years for athletes who test positive for marijuana use.

Though the recreational use of cannabis is legal for adults over the age of 21 in Oregon and Washington, it’s still against the rules of the Pac-12 conference—where schools in those states compete—to partake in recreational drug use. Other conferences, like Big Ten and Big 12, will test athletes but not exact punitive measures, instead forwarding their results onto the athlete’s school for action.

Of the 57 schools investigated, 23 have reduced penalties for a positive test in the last five years, or have increased the number of infractions before an athlete is suspended or dismissed. Ten of the schools have written separate policies specifically targeting marijuana that are less strict than other types of infractions.

NCAA medical chief officer Dr. Brian Hainline aims to change overall NCAA policy to not test athletes for recreational drug use at all, keeping the focus on performance enhancing drugs.

“The most important thing that I can’t emphasize enough is that as a society, we have to make a clear distinction between recreational drug use and cheating,” Hainline said. “I really believe that they require two different approaches. One is more nuanced, and one is hard core.”

Photo Credit: Jamie Schaap

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Donations-Based Edibles Enterprise in Washington D.C. Butts Heads with Local Police

12/28/2015

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A man arrested for running the Washington D.C. infused edibles company Kush Gods was recently set free — though he is reportedly determined to continue operating within the District, despite the court case and legal purgatory that is the city’s local cannabis laws.

It’s currently legal in Washington D.C. to grow, consume and possess cannabis — and even to give it away or share it with a friend — but actually selling the drug is still against the law. That’s why Nicholas Cunningham, owner-operator of Kush Gods, runs his business on a “donations only” infrastructure. “I know what I am doing is legal,” Cunningham told The Washington Post.

Cunningham and one of his employees were arrested recently after providing cannabis products to an undercover police officer, according to a report by The Associated Press:

“Police said in court documents that the Kush Gods investigation began in October and that an undercover officer bought pot from Cunningham on seven occasions. The officer bought pot-laced brownies, rice cakes and gummy-style candies along with loose marijuana, paying up to $550 at a time, according to the documents.”

Since their release, however, it appears Kush Gods is moving forward with the business. According to a recent article in the DCist, there is now a Kush Gods app available for Android that allows people to make donations directly through their phone, and the company will afterwards deliver products accordingly.

“I don’t really have a suggested donation price because I don’t want to turn anyone down,” Cunningham explained in an October interview with the DCist. “But people understand the reality of the situation. Brownies are ten dollars.”

Photo Credit: Ted Eytan

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Cannabis Consumer Magazine Now Available in North American Airports

12/28/2015

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Consumer-focused magazine Cannabis Now has secured a deal via Hudson News that makes the magazine available in 50 airports across Canada and the United States, the company announced in a recent press release.

This is the first time a cannabis publication has secured such a deal, and the magazines hit airport newsstands this year just in time for Christmas. “We wanted to make these historic announcements during one of the highest traffic weeks of the year,” explained Eugenio Garcia, publisher of Cannabis Now.

The magazine also announced a seed round of investment funding to help future expansions.

Founded in 2010, Cannabis Now has grown to be widely available in head shops, dispensaries, book stores, Barnes and Noble, Kroger and the online iTunes store. “What we’re seeing is a paradigm shift,” said Garcia. “It is the final step in acknowledging that cannabis is has become acceptable to the mainstream community.”

The magazine focuses on major political happenings, scientific discoveries, social justice and horticultural advancements. According to Garcia, the magazine’s recent distribution deals are “validation of the higher level of conversation Cannabis Now provides.”

Photo Credit: Incommunicado aka Max

 

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Gourmet Cannabis Butter

HERB: A Gourmet Cannabis Cookbook

12/28/2015

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HERB: Mastering the Art of Cooking With Cannabis is a gourmet cookbook of cannabis-infused recipes featuring beautiful photography and a wide variety of recipes. The book was created by The Stoner’s Cookbook, an online infused recipe resource for medical cannabis patients, and was written by master chefs Laurie Wolf and Melissa Parks. The book also features mouth-watering food photography by Bruce Wolf.

We loved our copy of HERB immediately due to the impression of quality and professionalism it gives. We knew right away that this book wasn’t going to rely on hackneyed stoner tropes. This is as much a coffee table book as it is a cookbook: it is well bound with sturdy material, and the cover, from the beautiful photo to the textured print and stylish typography, makes it clear that HERB is intended as a resource for those who are interested in cooking seriously with their herb.

Best of all, HERB addresses some of the most common complaints people have about infused foods in general: dosage and flavor. Admittedly, I am usually not a huge fan of edibles for these reasons. Either I get way too high because I don’t know how potent the edible is, or I can taste the awkward flavor of cannabis distinctly because it dominates the recipe that wasn’t intended to have it included as a flavor. HERB opens with a chapter about the various types of oils that can be infused, how to gauge the potency of your oils, and how to choose a strain of cannabis that will create the flavor and effect you are seeking. Each recipe within the book seems to be crafted with this in mind, with specific instructions regarding the type of oil or butter to use.

herb-compound-butter

When we tested out a recipe for steak from HERB on Christmas Eve, part of the Ganjapreneur team collaborated to make a compound cannabutter, which is something none of us had ever heard of before. By rolling our infused butter up with a bunch of spices and herbs, we were able to treat it like a delicious garnish that was applied as the final step to our meal. Apologies to the vegans, but the pictures really don’t do it justice: dripping with our flavorful, mildly-dosed compound butter, the meat was gone within a few minutes of being served.

Overall, we love the book and how it works to advance cannabis normalization by reiterating the truth that cannabis is, truthfully, just an herb. Check out our short video below for a closer look!

To learn more about HERB or purchase a copy, visit HerbKitchen.com.

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U.S. Opioid Overdoses at Record High: It’s Time to Wake Up

12/24/2015

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Most people today are likely aware of the fact that the United States is smack dab in the middle of a prescription painkiller overdose epidemic. Awareness, however, is not nearly enough to scare away a problem so deeply festering and troublesome.

Between pharmaceutical-grade oxycontin and blackmarket heroin, the number of annual drug overdose deaths has recently grown to disgusting proportions.

47,055 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2014 — more than any year before it. That’s one and a half times more people than were killed in car accidents. 61% of those overdoses stemmed from opioids. According to other stats from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 44 people in the U.S. die every day from prescription drug overdoses.

And this has been going on for a while: since 2000, opioid drug overdose deaths have risen 200%. And in those fifteen years, nearly 500,000 Americans have fatally succumbed to opioids.

So what’s the solution? According to the CDC, we need a renewed emphasis on safe prescribing practices. We also need to improve state policies regarding prescription drugs and develop some prescription drug monitoring programs to help identify issues with addiction earlier in a victim.

What the CDC fails to mention, however, is that on multiple occasions it has been shown that a functioning medical marijuana market leads to less opioid overdoses in the community.

This is an astounding blow to the pharmaceutical industry: not only are the drugs being peddled by Big Pharma literally killing more U.S. citizens than any other product on the market (except perhaps tobacco), but now it’s been shown that the legalization of medical cannabis — which is often lauded as a healthier, cheaper, and more natural alternative to many mainstream pain medications — can actually help protect American lives from the murderous onslaught of doctor-prescribed addiction.

Wake up and smell the pot, America.

Photo Credit: Kurtis Garbutt

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FDA and DEA Privately Discuss Rescheduling Cannabis

12/24/2015

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Despite clear evidence supporting the effectiveness of cannabis at treating a variety of conditions, the plant has long been classified as a Schedule I drug by the US government, painting it as a substance with a high risk of abuse and no accepted medical use. Recently, however, the FDA submitted a recommendation to the DEA to review the plant’s current status, perhaps an indication that the federal government is considering a change to this outdated and erroneous classification.

The catch: nobody except the FDA and DEA knows what that change would be and what information it will be based on.

Perhaps this is a sign that the FDA and DEA are beginning to cave under the pressure of the general public, the majority of whom support legalization. Given the DEA’s horrible track record with cannabis and patients who use it, however, the secretive nature of this decision is concerning. When considering a change to a drug’s classification via the Controlled Substances Act, the government must take into account a thorough medical and scientific review.

With the closed-door nature of the process, the general public will not know what new information is being considered and what the proposed new classification will be until after the decision has been made.

In an interview with Marijuana.com, who first broke the story, Mike Liszewski of Americans for Safe Access said, “We hope the agencies will become more transparent and give medical marijuana patients the respect they deserve.”

Photo Credit: NCinDC

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Portland Cannabis Community to Gift Snoop Dogg $5,000 Worth of Oregon Pot Products

12/24/2015

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It’s one hundred percent legal under Oregon law to give away cannabis, and the local cannabis community in Portland is taking full advantage of this allowance. According to reports from The Oregonian, a couple dozen Oregon cannabis companies have pooled together resources to present Snoop Dogg with a gift: close to $5,000 worth of top-shelf Oregon flower, edibles, topicals and more.

Snoop is performing in Portland next Tuesday. Before going onstage, however, he and his crew will be given the gift, which was organized by Joshua Jardine Taylor of Portland. Taylor writes about cannabis for The Mercury, and recently founded Oregon’s Cannabis Concierge. “It was remarkably fast,” Taylor said. “… honestly, the feedback has been tremendous as far as people bringing me a lot more than I expected, people showing up with 2 ounces of their finest flower or 15 of their edibles.”

Naturally, the gift includes way more cannabis than legal limits allow (personal possession in Oregon is capped at one ounce of flower, one pound of edibles, 72 ounces of fluids, and one ounce of extract), so Snoop Dogg will be given first dibs on the products before the rest trickles down to his crew.

Photo Credit: MPM *** Música Para Marzianos

 

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New Hampshire Reps. Pre-File Cannabis Legalization Bill

12/23/2015

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A bill has been pre-filed in New Hampshire for the 2016 legislative session that would legalize the possession of marijuana for adults 21 years and older, according to a recent report by The Daily Chronic.

Reps. Michael Sylvia (R-Belknap) and Robert Hull (R-Grafton) are the sponsors of House Bill 1610. The bill would allow adults to have up to two ounces of cannabis, to grow no more than six plants, and to gift up to an ounce of marijuana to someone else.

Like a bill passed in Washington D.C., HB 1610 would not legalize retail sales of cannabis.

New Hampshire’s motto is “Live Free Or Die,” yet remains the sole New England state where cannabis possession is a criminal offense. According to NORML, marijuana possession arrests in New Hampshire come in at around 2,900 a year.

Possession of marijuana is a misdemeanor in New Hampshire, and can get you put behind bars for a year and fined up to $2,000. Previous attempts to decriminalize cannabis have been defeated in the Senate, although recent polls indicate strong voter support for legalization.

Granite State citizens in favor of the bill should by all means get in touch with their representatives. Residents can contact their legislators via NORML’s site.

Photo Credit: Teemu008

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President of Colombia Signs Decree to Legalize Medical Cannabis

12/23/2015

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Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signed a decree Tuesday making the cultivation, processing and distribution of medical marijuana fully legal in the South American country.

The War on Drugs in Colombia, fueled by funding from the U.S., has created a fifty-year battle between the Colombian government and drug cartels, and has left more than 220,000 dead.

Though marijuana for medical use was authorized in 1986, no regulatory body existed to grant permits for growing, producing, or distributing it, leaving medical marijuana in a legal grey area. Colombia decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana in 2013, and it is legal to grow up to twenty plants.

But until now, there was no regulatory inroad for drug companies seeking to manufacture marijuana-based medicines to access the plant. “That is what we are doing today,” Santos said.

According to Yahoo News, President Santos’s televised address focused on the medical benefits of cannabis. The decree is aimed at making the cultivation, purchase, and development of cannabis-based drugs easier for health companies.

“Our goal is for patients to be able to access medications made in Colombia that are safe, high-quality and accessible. It is also an opportunity to promote scientific research in our country,” Santos said.

Photo Credit: Julián Ortega Martínez

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Deschutes County, OR Places Temporary Ban on Retail Cannabis

12/23/2015

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County commissioners in Oregon’s Deschutes County have unanimously voted to install a 90-day ban on recreational marijuana businesses, according to Bend’s The Bulletin. After the 90 days, officials are expected to return to and readdress the subject.

The ban affects new marijuana businesses in the unincorporated areas of Deschutes County, though the decision does not affect existing businesses in the county, nor does it prevent additional cannabis businesses from sprouting up within city limits.

“I don’t want us to be the test pilot and take this straight to the crash site,” said Commissioner Tammy Baney. She warned that moving forward with regulations at the moment would be a “wild card,” and that it’d be safer to step back and see how other Oregon counties handle the challenges introduced by retail cannabis. “If we opt out today, we have an opportunity to have those challenges occur, and we can always take up this issue tomorrow, the next day, in two weeks or two months,” Baney said.

Commissioners also established a citizen-led advisory committee to review and address public concerns regarding marijuana land use regulations.

While undoubtedly frustrating for hopeful cannabis startups in the area, marijuana advocates can take comfort knowing the ban will need to be approved by county voters in the November elections to become a permanent roadblock.

Photo Credit: Andy Melton

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Detroit Passes New Medical Dispensary Zoning Restrictions

12/23/2015

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The Detroit City Council has passed new zoning ordinances that will regulate medical marijuana dispensaries. The ordinances, which come after hours of discussion among council members and comments from local citizens, could lead to the closure of half of Detroit’s dispensaries.

The zoning regulations, which were first written by City Councilman James Tate, specify that dispensaries must be:

  • 1,000 feet from a Drug Free Zone — these are defined as arcades, child care centers, educational institutions, libraries, outdoor recreation facilities, schools, youth activity centers and public housing;
  • 1,000 feet from another medical marijuana caregiver center;
  • 1,000 feet from a ‘Controlled Use’;
  • 1,000 feet from a city park;
  • and 1,000 feet from a religious institution defined as exempt by the city assessor.

The City Council had been debating an ordinance that would have allowed up to a 20% variance in the 1,000 ft. restriction: dispensaries that were no closer than 800 feet could have applied for approval, but the Council finally rejected this idea.

Instead, the Council opted to allow dispensaries to apply for approval on a case-by-case basis for a variance of up to 100%: dispensaries that are located right next to zones defined as off-limits by the ordinance can still get approval from the appeals board.

Detroit has more than 150 dispensaries currently. Matthew Abel, an attorney with the Cannabis Counsel, said that more than half of those dispensaries may be forced to close.

Photo Credit: Bryan Debus

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First Lady of Japan Considers Hemp Farming

12/23/2015

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In an interview with the Japanese magazine Spa!, First Lady of Japan Akie Abe said that studying the history of hemp has gotten her interested in cultivating the plant, which is strictly limited in Japan.

Hemp, specifically cord and clothing made from hemp fiber, plays a key role in traditional Shinto ceremonies. The plant traces its roots back to the 7th century and earlier, when the Japanese first began making traditional paper, or washi, from hemp.

Though cannabis grows wild in parts of Japan thanks to its long history in the region, the country’s strict anti-marijuana laws prevent people from picking it or smoking it. Since the Cannabis Control Act of 1948, which outlawed hemp and other cannabis products in Japan, only a few select farmers receive permits to grow the plant.

“Hemp is a plant of which all of its parts can be used effectively,” the First Lady said. “While it is not yet permitted in Japan, I think it can be put into great practical use for medical purposes as well.”

She also said she has considered applying for a special permit to grow hemp as part of an initiative to revive the tradition in Japan.

Photo Credit: toyokeizai.net

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Andrew Rosener: Investing in Cannabis Domain Names

12/22/2015

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Andrew Rosener is the founder and CEO of Media Options, one of the world’s leading domain name brokerages, having bought and sold domains for clients such as Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. He has been inducted into the Domain Name Hall of Fame and received the domain name broker of the year award in both 2014 and 2015. He is also the CEO of Ganjapreneur, and over the past several years has amassed a portfolio of premium cannabis-related domains that will likely skyrocket in value as the legalization movement continues to spread around the globe.

Andrew recently joined our podcast host Shango Los to share his knowledge and experience as a domain name broker and investor and to help shed light on an industry that is not well-known to the general public. In this episode, Andrew discusses why domain names are an asset class very similar to real estate, why the negative stereotypes about “domaining” as trademark squatting are not relevant to today’s domain name aftermarket, as well as why premium domain names are valuable to start-ups and why companies who invest in a premium domain to represent their business are more likely to succeed.

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

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

 

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 Andrew Rosener. Andrew is founder and CEO of Media Options, a domain brokerage and investment firm. He received the domain broker of the year award in both 2014 and 2015. He has also been inducted into the domain name investors hall of fame. He founded hempbox.com, is an investor in SteepHill, vida.com, Lodo Labs, and Evoked Vaporizer and is CEO of our very own Ganjapreneur. Welcome to the show, Andrew.

Andrew Rosener: Thanks a lot. Great to be here, Shango.

Shango Los: Andrew, let’s start at the very cusp of this to get a good grasp of the market dynamic behind domain names. When speculating on domains, what is the model for actually making a profit on buying these in advance?

Andrew Rosener: It’s no different than any different asset class. That’s exactly what domains are, they’re an asset class. Although, the general public probably doesn’t recognize that. At this stage, I think we are still in the early stages of the internet and that’s becoming much more common. There’s a lot of large money, family office money, private equity money moving into the domain market, you know hedging by owning some premium domain names. The principles work the same as real estate essentially. From the investment standpoint, obviously is what I’m discussing, you’re looking to buy under market value investing in the very Warren Buffet sense of the word and then either holding or flipping. There are many ways to monetize but it’s value investing. You’re looking to find domains that you think are available to purchase for less than what they may be worth to either the wholesale market in the course of a flip or to the end user who is ultimately the company that could put good use to that domain and drive commercial value from it.

Shango Los: Choosing the right domain name seems to be the key between making no money and some money. What are the attributes you that you look for in choosing a profitable domain name.

Andrew Rosener: That’s true both from the investment standpoint as well as the end user standpoint. Having done this for as long as I have and having completed as many transactions as I have, I have seen it first hand, the companies that come to me, these startups that come to me and say, we want to buy this domain name. Whether we own it or we’re helping them to acquire domain from a third party and they say, no we’re not going to pay more than $5,000 for that premium .com. You’re like, well the domain is worth a lot more and you’re not going to get it for less. They’ll go, well I’d rather buy a .io. I say, okay fine, you’re going to pay me to acquire the domain name, I’m going to give you my advice and you can take it or not.

The ones that don’t take my advice, the ones that go out and buy that .io or .net or some other alternative extension, they don’t get the premium domain. Or they put some prefix or they put some suffix on their domain name, they don’t buy the premium domain, the right domain that they should from day one. Those businesses just have a much worse track record. I think that the mentality of the founder or the mentality of the guy making that decision is probably reflective of some of the business decisions they’re making. Obviously, there are exceptions to the rule. For the most part, I see founders that come in and buy the best domain for their business from day one, those turn out to be successful businesses.

Now, on the investment standpoint, you’re looking for very much those same domain names. You’re looking for the domain that that smart founder is going to want and more than want, ideally they’re going to need. You’re looking for domain names that represent some type of commercial service, product, whatever or something that represents a tremendous brand, a generic brand. Something like ring.com that was recently sold for a quite substantial price tag and is now the internet of things doorbell that everybody’s raving about.

I think if I had to put quantifications on it, the most common attributes that I see people looking for at the brand level is no more than six characters .com, ideally one word .com. Easy to spell, passes what we call the radio test which is if you hear an advertisement on the radio and I say visit us at xyz.com when you get home, you know how to spell it, you’re going to know exactly where to go, easy to remember, easy to spread word of mouth without having to explain it. Whereas, if it’s something like I don’t know, vanilla.com. You call your company Vanilla but instead of buying vanilla.com you buy vnla.com and you think that you’re clever and you think you’re cute but really all you’re doing is creating a branding catastrophe. Because you say, visit us you know, we’re vanilla and here’s our message and come visit us. They’re like well, you’re not at vanilla.com, you’re at vnla. Every time that you say your email address, you need to explain it to somebody, you know that can be painful.  

Shango Los: Andrew, I would think that timing is really important as well because folks like you have been collecting cannabis domain names now for several years. Some people are saying all the good cannabis domains are taken but from working with you, I know that there’s a certain amount of R&D at play here and finding out what the next wave of cannabis domains are going to be cool so that you can buy those in advance. What are the moving parts? How do you look into the future to know what good cannabis domains will be coming along.

Andrew Rosener: If you want to focus specifically on cannabis domains, I’ll say timing … On multiple levels, across the board on a daily basis I tell everybody, not just in cannabis domains but domains in general, price is very low in the hierarchy of needs in completing a successful sale and timing is very high. Timing is the absolute unequivocal most important variable in any domain transaction whether you’re buying, you’re selling, timing is everything probably 80-90% of the transaction variable equation. In terms of cannabis, there are two ways to look at. In terms of timing, yes all the good domain names are gone. Everything that is worth anything today is gone. If you register something on Go Daddy today unless it’s got some unknown meaning to the rest of the world, it’s worthless and you can tell yourself otherwise but for the most part you’re registering something that is garbage, it’s worthless. You’re probably going to have to upgrade later down the road and it’s going to cost you a lot more or you’re going to fail.

Shango Los: That sure is chipper.

Andrew Rosener: Yeah, no but it’s just a fact. I’ve conducted 100 million dollars in domain transactions, I’ve seen the guys that come, I’ve seen the guys that go, I’ve seen the ones that win, I’ve seen the ones that lose. It’s exactly what I’ve talked about before. That’s the first element of timing in terms of cannabis domains is that yes, anything that is good that has intrinsic value today is already gone. But when I say gone, all that means is that you can’t get it for $8.99 on Go Daddy. Everybody or a lot of people have it in their head that if I can’t get for $8.99 as a new registration on Go Daddy, it’s gone, it’s forever lost and that’s bullshit, it’s not true at all. There is a very active and healthy after-market for domain names.

There are a number of large portfolio owners in the cannabis market that have tremendous portfolios of cannabis-related domain names. Some are of generic nature, descriptive nature like mjshops.com. Then others are more brandable, something like bluedream.com you know, one of the iconic strains in the cannabis market. There was a company I just saw, I suppose it went public. There was a press release about a company called Pineapple Express and they launched their brand on pineappleexpress.com. That put a smile on my face just because Pineapple Express is another iconic brand in the cannabis industry. It doesn’t need to be used necessarily just for representing the strain that it describes. It can be used for any type of business because it has that mind share. Mind share is another one of these variables that we should probably come back to later in the conversation.

People immediately, if you say my name is bluedream.com, my name is sourdiesel.com, people know the industry you’re operating in from the start. What you offer in that market is up to you but you’ve already captured some degree of mind share. You’ve already created an instance where people know who you are, they’re going to remember who you are, they’re going to know where to find you. Ultimately, that is what domain names are all about. If we look back, why do we have these types of domain names? Well, because we started out with these long strings of IP addresses that nobody could communicate or remember and we needed a way to facilitate something else that would be more memorable, something that would be more communicable, that would express a message, a communication.

That’s ultimately the underlying value of a domain. You’re looking for attributes that further help to achieve that value, that memorability, that ease of communication, easy to spell, easy to … The shorter the domain name, the faster it is to get onto your website, particularly in a world where mobile internet use is now exceeding desktop internet use. If you’re on your mobile phone, you don’t want to type in a 12-character domain name or a 24-character domain name that’s three words. The shorter it is, the better it is.

Shango Los: I think that’s a good example that it is much more like real estate, where even thought the domain name that you want may not be available at $8.99, you can definitely find it on the secondary just like you can buy a piece of real estate on the secondary market. 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 Andrew Rosener of media options. Before the break we were talking about the attributes of what makes a good domain and how best to go about getting it. Andrew, to kind of use your own portfolio as an example to educate folks on how to put together the entirety of a portfolio, what have you collected recently and what are some of the domains in cannabis that you’ve got that you think are going to be winners long term?

Andrew Rosener: I’m happy to discuss that. One point I just want to quickly make. Before we cut out for the break, we were talking about the similarities to real estate. I want to emphasize how true that is. Just the way that real estate deals are done and like you said, the open land. If you want to buy let’s call .com is like Los Angeles or New York or Miami, the prime real estate markets. Just like you can’t find an empty lot there anymore, if you want to buy something in those markets, you’re going to buy it in the after market. The same is true here with domain names. Those transactions can be structured in many different ways.

It’s not just that, oh you’re going to get raked over the coals. If you’re dealing with an intelligent operator, there’s a lot of ways to skin a cat so to speak. You can do a lease. Leasing has become a very popular way of handling a domain transaction for a high value domain. Even that lease can be structured in many different ways. You can do a straight lease where it’s a fairly low monthly payment. The domain generally would get held in escrow by a third party escrow service. We like to use a company called escrow.com, licensed, bonded escrow service, state of California. They hold the domain name, nobody has to worry. The transactions are 100% secure on both sides, everybody is protected. The payments go to the escrow service, they confirm receipt, then they send the payment to the lessor or the seller.

Then you have a lease with an option to buy where people can say yeah, I’d love to buy bluedream.com. Obviously, you can’t get that for $8.99 at Go Daddy, it’s going to cost you some money. Maybe you can’t afford to buy it now because you’re a startup in the cannabis space as most businesses today are. This is a relatively new industry so pretty much everybody is a startup. Big or small, everybody is a startup for the most part. Conserving cash flow is pretty critical for startups. If you can’t lay out a lot of cash upfront to get your domain, don’t give up hope. It’s still better to enter into a lease.

It’s still better to enter into a lease to own where you pay a monthly fee to lease a name. You get full use of the domain, just as if you owned it but you have the option to buy that domain at some time during the course of the lease. It might be a year, it might be three years, it might be five years. Every deal is different. But you’ve got an option to buy that domain name when your company achieves a point where you can afford to but it. You raise money from an investor or a group of investors. Maybe you become cash flow positive and suddenly you’re making a lot of money. Maybe you get acquired by somebody bigger and they say okay, let’s get rid of that lease and let’s just buy out the name.

Alternatively, there are equity deals where there may be some cash, there may not be some cash but there’s an exchange of equity. Early on you had mentioned I was a founder in Hemp Box. I wasn’t the founder, I was one of the initial founders. When they were getting that idea off the ground, they came to me because we had hempbox.com and the way that we structured that deal was with equity. I came in, I offered a lot of my guidance and advice as somebody who has been extremely successful in the online media business and I give them my domain name in exchange for a piece of equity and helped to found hempbox.com. We’ve done many deals like that.

Shango Los: Circling back around to your own portfolio, what are some of the domains that you’ve collected that you think are going to be the winners? The goal here is not so much as to point out on how much money you’re going to make on these is that more so that you can model for folks what a successful portfolio would look like.

Andrew Rosener: We’ve got some great ones. The top of the pack is clearly mj.com, two-letter.com basically the single most valuable asset class on the internet. They’ve all been gone since the early ’90s. Basically, they have a liquid, absolutely liquid market in the seven figures. That’s definitely the biggest name we have in the cannabis base. Then we’ve got lots of great brands related to strains like bluedream.com, sourdiesel.com, chemdog.com, grapeape.com, afhganica.com. It goes on and on, hinducush.com. Lots and lots of the top iconic strain names. Then we’ve got more generic names like tincture.com or tinctures.com, shwag.com, strains.com, landrace.com. Then we’ve got some sort of more like clever phrases, something like passitaround.com or mycannabis.com or myweed.com, gosmoke.com, things like that.

Shango Los: I can see how each of these are actually appealing to a different segment of the market. Some of them might be used by an established company that wants to extend their brand into a slogan. Some might want to leverage a famous strain and others are just vocabulary that’s really common in the industry that someone could build their brand around. It sounds like by putting together a portfolio, you’re decreasing your risk by increasing the variety of what’s in the basket so all sorts of different buyers would be coming to you instead of just one kind of buyer.

Andrew Rosener: Absolutely, absolutely. You’re trying to get exposure to as many elements of the market as you possibly can. Any type of investing is about hedge your risk, making sure that you’re taking advantage of any of the opportunities so that you don’t go 100% down this path and then the success ends up down the other path. You want to make sure you’ve got exposure across the board.

Shango Los: Let’s talk a little bit more about the buyer. If choosing the right way to sell your domain names is such an important aspect of making money, what do you think is the best way to go about it? It may be a case-by-case basis because you can sell through broker sites, yourself on an auction, or you can do direct sales by reaching out to a company that you think is a good target for it. How do you think is the best way to be getting the most for these domains that people are collecting?

Andrew Rosener: I think on a case-by-case basis it differs. On a very high value domain name, I think it’s generally best to use a broker. There are a lot of variables, a lot of sensitivities to negotiating a high value domain transaction. There’s a lot of education involved generally in terms of why is this domain worth that much. There’s intricacies involved in the transfer. Obviously, people are much more concerned about risk when it’s a high value dollar amount. On anything $10,000 or more I think using a broker is probably intelligent. I don’t think auction sites are necessarily the best way to say a cannabis-related domain name today just because I don’t think the market has evolved yet to where it should be where there’s enough liquidity in the market to say, okay I’m going to roll the dice throw it up on an auction and hope for the best.

In terms of direct sales, it’s just up to the individual. Some people are good at sales, some people are comfortable with sales, some people are comfortable getting on the phone and discussing things with people, some people are not, a lot of people are not. I think that’s just up to you. If you’ve got a good domain that you think you know who some of the great users are, email them. Send out some emails, makes some phone calls, try to network a little bit, and see if somebody wants to buy your domain.

Shango Los: I know that in the early days and maybe even still now, you’ve actually been on the phone yourself calling the decision makers at these companies who you think are a good target for your domain name. Do you find … I can imagine that some people might think that that is a hoax or something and that wow, you’re actually bringing me this domain I’ve always dreamed of. How do you get over that hump into believability with whoever your target is?

Andrew Rosener: It all comes down to reputation. I just tell people look, Google my name, Google my company name. We’ve got an exceptional reputation. I sell domain names to … I’ve sold Mark Zuckerberg a domain name, I’ve sold Elon Musk domain names, you name it. Basically, I’m the top domain broker in the world. Pretty much I’ve sold domains into every category of every business and service known to mankind around the world. If trust becomes an issue, I just basically say here’s a contact, call these people or Google my name, look at what people say about me, look at what I’ve done. That’s basically what it comes down to but ultimately yes, domain names and people that own domain names for speculative purposes, there’s still a bad reputation out there which shouldn’t necessarily be the case anymore. It’s not about trademark squatting anymore. The value is in these generic high value brands.

Shango Los: That’s a really good point for new entrepreneurs to make sure you keep your own personal name brand clean and make sure people are saying good things about you and referring you instead of bad things. It’s time for us to take another short break. 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 is Andrew Rosener of Media Options. Andrew, before the break we were talking about how to know when you’ve got a good portfolio put together. I would think that there’s a certain time to give up on domains that you’ve been paying dues on for a couple of years and you’re realizing, oh man, this is just never going to make me money. How do you decide when there is a dog in the basket and you just need to stop paying on it?

Andrew Rosener: Good question. We get a lot of people almost every day emailing us with lists of just terrible domain names that have no value to anybody. Ultimately, I think when you’re evaluating your names, you look are the words in the wrong order. You know, dream blue is not the same as blue dream. Are you getting clever with some kind of prefix or suffix that really today has no value even if you think somebody someday might want that.

At the end of the day you’re paying ten dollars a year on average to maintain these domains. If you’ve got a hundred of them, that’s $1,000 a year. After a couple of years, that starts adding up. That crap domain that you’ve unless you’re going to sell it for some multiple of those thousands of dollars that you’ve been paying to maintain the overall portfolio, you’re not even going to make up even if you sell one name for $2,000, you’re not making up for the renewal fees you’ve been paying on the rest of the crap portfolio for years. I think if you’re not getting inquiries, if it doesn’t have any traffic, if it doesn’t have immediate intrinsic value and mind share, then it’s probably not worthwhile.

Shango Los: I’m sure that we’ve got quite a few listeners who tuned into the podcast because they themselves have collected a handful of cannabis domains and now from listening to you, they totally get the example of this is real estate and so now they may be excited to buy some, I guess what I’ll call after market stuff that’s not $8.99 on Go Daddy anymore. Investor to investor, what advice would you offer people who want to get deeper into domain investment … how to start out and get professional.

Andrew Rosener: First and foremost ground rule number one, having one premium domain that cost you $1,000 is way better than having 100 crap domains that cost you $10 each. Ground rule number one. Don’t go out and try to register your domain names because honestly like I said, unless you found some trend and you’re getting the exact match .com domain name for that trend and even that, trends are fleeting. It’s all about timing.

I would focus on buying a premium name that has staying power. If it costs more than you’re comfortable with, get comfortable. Buy the one name and don’t go out and buy a bunch of crap smaller names. Buy the right name from day one. When you sell that, take some money off the table or just double down and then go out and buy two more. Always, when you’re looking to invest in domain names, always focus on am I improving the quality of my portfolio? Does this incremental investment increase the value of my portfolio? Is it better than the domains I already have in my portfolio or is it going to drag down the portfolio in terms of overall quality average. You’re always looking to push the average quality of your domain portfolio up.

Shango Los: That’s really great feedback. Now that they’ve built this and they want to sell then, you’ve mentioned that working with a quality broker is a good idea because yes, you’ve got a website but really it’s about the connections that you’ve got and being able to connect with people like Elon Musk to be able to sell these premium domains. After you have a portfolio and you’re ready to sell a couple, what questions should you be asking a broker to make sure that you’re choosing a good one?

Andrew Rosener: Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of great brokers out there. Basically, you want to make sure they’re not trying to buy the domain themselves to flip it. If they are, that’s not necessarily a problem, you just want to make sure that it’s transparent. You want to make sure you’re paying a fair fee which is generally between 10-25%, it depends on the value, it depend on the name. If it’s a smaller name, the commission is probably going to be higher. If it’s a very large name, the commission is probably going to be smaller, the rate of commission.

You also want to be giving them the appropriate tools they need like an appropriate ask price, an appropriate reserve price. You don’t want to be … If you’re shooting for the moon, you’re probably wasting everybody’s time. You want to put them in a position where they are set up for success. You’ve given then an accurate and meaningful ask and reserve price, you’ve given them and effective and sufficient amount of time to market your domain name exclusively and effectively. You want to be transparent with them about inquiries that you’ve received, providing them with contacts that you’ve gotten before. I think relationship is a lot. Get on the phone, have a conversation, make sure you’re comfortable with that person. I think more than anything, that’s probably the most important.

Shango Los: Right on. I can imagine that we’ve just encouraged and totally jacked up a whole bunch of people who are now ready to jump in with both feet. We’re wrapping it up here now, Andrew. Thank you so much for being on the show. I’m glad you could join us.

Andrew Rosener: It was great to be here.

Shango Los: You can find more about Andrew Rosener and Media Options at mediaoptions.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. You can now find the show on the I Heart Radio Network app, bringing Ganjapreneur to 60 million mobile devices. Do you have a company that wants to reach our national audience of cannabis enthusiasts? Email grow@ganjapreneur.com to find out how. Thanks to Brasco for producing our show. As always, I’m your host, Shango Los.

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Pittsburgh City Council Votes to Decriminalize Cannabis

12/22/2015

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In the final moments of its 2015 legislative session, the Pittsburgh City Council voted 7-2 in favor of the decriminalization of cannabis within city limits.

Councilman David Lavelle sponsored the bill, which makes the penalty for possession a civil fine of up to $100 when dealing with small amounts of cannabis: up to 30 grams of flower and up to 8 grams of hashish or other concentrated marijuana products.

Mayor Bill Peduto intends to sign the bill and, according to a spokesperson from the mayor’s office, sees this development as “a common-sense change that will help protect the futures of young people.”

Marijuana activist Patrick Nightingale praised the move, saying that the change “will protect Pittsburghers of all colors and all ages from unwarranted and unnecessary police interactions, and it will help police more efficiently utilize limited resources.”

Councilman Ricky Burgess — who voted in favor of decriminalization — said that while he does not condone drug use, “I think young people who make mistakes should not suffer lifelong consequences on something that I think is perhaps not life-threatening.”

Councilwomen Theresa Kail-Smith and Darlene Harris were the only to oppose the bill, and claimed to do so because they believe such a move would be more appropriately taken by state lawmakers.

Photo Credit: Jon Dawson

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Australian Anti-Cannabis Ad Campaign Backfires

12/22/2015

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The New South Wales Department of Premier and Cabinet in Australia released an anti-marijuana ad campaign this past week, depicting stoned teenagers as incompetent, oversized sloths.

The ads are comical in their absurdity, and have evoked a mocking reaction from the Australian public. Already dozens of parody videos of the “stoner sloths” have popped up on Youtube. Adweek calls the campaign by prominent Australian ad company Saatchi & Saatchi “tone-deaf.”

Though Australia’s National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre was originally linked with the ads, they have now distanced themselves from the bizarre ad campaign, according to The Guardian. The NCPI states they were only consulted briefly before development.

“In this case, those general recommendations were things like being aware that teenagers are intelligent and have access to a lot of information, so campaign approaches should respect them and give them credit by avoiding hyperbole,” the statement said.

The “stoner sloth” ad campaign did the exact opposite of avoiding hyperbole and respecting the intelligence of teenagers, and now NCPIC is demanding the NSW government remove their name from the ads.

“NCPIC was not consulted on any of the creative elements of this campaign,” said NCPIC director Jan Copeland, “They have used our name to cover this campaign … We are going to ask them to print a retraction that it is based on work that we did.”

In a strange twist, one of the ads even appears to be promoting alcohol use as a “party-friendly” alternative to weed. In the ad titled “Life of the party… said no one ever,” the incomprehensible groaning of the stoned sloth turns off his more fun, party-going friends—all of whom are carrying red plastic cups, the international symbol of alcohol at house parties.

Photo Credit: Screen capture from Youtube.com

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Washington Considers Plan for Hundreds of New Cannabis Retailers

12/22/2015

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In an effort to meet demand from the soon-to-be defunct medical marijuana industry in Washington, staff members of the state’s cannabis regulatory agency have announced they hope to extend the marketplace with an additional 222 retailer licenses — plans that would increase total licenses statewide by 66 percent and would nearly double the current number of licensed pot shops in Tacoma and Thurston County.

Current regulatory constraints require all medical dispensaries to either secure a cannabis business license or close down by July 1, 2016, The Olympian reports.

Recent estimates figure that 37 percent of all Washington marijuana is currently sold through the unregulated, medical ‘grey market.’ Meanwhile, already-licensed retailers reportedly make up for another 35 percent.

“With the inclusion of medical we might be somewhere around 50 or 60 percent after a year or two, so I think that’s putting a pretty large dent in the black market,” said Rick Garza, head of the state Liquor and Cannabis Board. “But I think we’re always going to have an illicit black market.”

The Board may take a vote on the issue as early as January 6, and newly licensed stores could start opening later that month.

With this move, the number of total marijuana licenses allowed by the state would rise from 334 to 556, and some experts predict that by the July 1 cutoff more than 350 stores could be licensed to provide medical cannabis. There are currently about 190 licensed recreational stores in Washington and roughly 150 businesses are licensed to provide medicinal cannabis.

Photo Credit: Harvey Barrison

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Maryland Officials Announce Six Month Delay of Medical Cannabis Licensing Process

12/21/2015

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The licensing of Maryland’s medical marijuana industry will be delayed until at least the summer of 2016, the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission announced via press release on Monday.

The delays are the result of higher-than-anticipated interest in the marijuana business licenses: last month, the state announced it had received more than 1,000 license applications. 811 applications were for dispensing licenses. Maryland is limiting the number of dispensary licenses on a per-county basis, however, meaning many applicants submitted have more than one application, the total depending on which and how many counties they wish to serve — this has also slowed the process.

MMCC Executive Director Hannah Byron said in a statement:

“Before medicine can be dispensed, it has to be grown, processed, tested and packaged. Therefore, we will first issue Stage One approvals for grower and processor licenses, with Stage One approval for dispensary licenses to follow. This sequential approach mirrors the operational needs of the program and represents the most efficient means of processing each category of application.”

Applicants who receive approval for Stage One of the licensing process are encouraged to begin fulfilling any outstanding requirements to satisfy the Commission before they can formally receive a license. Some hopefuls, however, are already stepping up to the plate by raising more capital, acquiring appropriate real estate and beginning to maneuver the bureaucratic process of reaching full compliance with state marijuana laws.

“This proactive approach on the part of applicants certainly will help expedite the program’s rollout schedule so that Maryland patients can begin receiving medicine at the earliest possible date,” said MMCC Chairman Dr. Paul W. Davies.

With cultivation licenses expected this summer, it will likely be another four to six months before any medicinal cannabis products are ready to be brought to market. Patients may be waiting until 2017, four years after voters initially approved the program.

Photo Credit: Charlie Stinchcomb

 

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