House Republicans Begin Combating DC Marijuana Decriminalization Law

4/28/2014

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Public eye turned to the nation’s capital last month when the District of Colombia passed a bill that decriminalized marijuana. Mayor Vincent Gray signed the bill into law on March 31, and marijuana enthusiasts waited with baited breath for the Congressional Republicans’ retaliation. House Republicans now appear intent on combating DC’s decriminalization legislation, and will be hosting a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Subcommittee on Government Operations.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton will be defending her district’s marijuana law reform during the hearing in May. Norton is renown for her successful 11-year fight to remove Republican barriers that prohibited the District of Colombia from legalizing medical marijuana — now, four years later, she’s expressed surprise at seeing DC’s decriminalization law singled out in this fashion:

“It is appropriate for Congress to examine how the Obama administration will enforce the federal prohibition on marijuana in jurisdictions that have legalized or decriminalized it, as the subcommittee has done in two hearings this Congress. It is also appropriate to examine whether the federal marijuana prohibition preempts such local laws, but no local officials were called to testify at those hearings.”

And yet, on the other hand:

“It is inappropriate to hold a hearing on the local marijuana laws of only one jurisdiction, the District of Columbia, when 18 states have decriminalized marijuana, 21 states have legalized medical marijuana and two states have legalized marijuana.  There is nothing that distinguishes the District from these states except for Congress’s illegitimate power to overturn the democratically enacted local laws of the District.  What is clear is that the enforcement of marijuana laws here and throughout the country has a disproportionately unfair effect on African American men and boys, leaving them with criminal records that often cripple them for the rest of their lives.”

The bill in question decriminalizes possession of less than one ounce of marijuana, changing the penalty from potential jail time to a $25 civil fine — that’s lower than any other state in the union.  Since Mayor Gray signed the bill, it has been transferred to Congress for review and is currently undergoing a 60-day legislative review period.

Becca Glover Watkins, who is the spokeswoman for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, stated that the subcommittee’s justification for reviewing DC’s decriminalization bill is that it’s an “examination of tension between federal and local marijuana laws in many jurisdictions,” and that it comes in addition to an examination of the “tension between federal laws against marijuana use and distribution in places like Colorado.”

In order to overturn the bill, the House and Senate must pass a joint resolution and President Obama would have to sign it — considering that the DC council voted 10-1 to pass the bill, and that marijuana law reform has become one of the most popular political topics in US politics, that doesn’t seem very likely at this point in time.

Sources:

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/30837/house-republicans-launch-attack-on-dc-marijuana-decriminalization-law/

http://inthecapital.streetwise.co/2014/04/23/republicans-may-overturn-dc-marijuana-decriminalization-law/

Photo Credit: Kevin Harber

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Alaska Marijuana Legalization Vote Delayed Until November

4/24/2014

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Alaska’s vote to legalize the production and retail sale of recreational marijuana has been postponed until November, officials announced on Monday. With this opportunity, Alaska is potentially set to become the third U.S. state to legalize recreational pot.

The measure was originally expected to go to the ballots in August, during the state’s primary election, but it was decided this week that the vote should be delayed. Lawmakers reached that decision because of a failure to adjourn this year’s legislative session within the standard 90 day allotment — and Alaska law requires that ballot initiatives go to voters after a minimum of 120 days following the session’s closure.

The ballot initiative would legalize the adult possession of up to one ounce of marijuana, legalize the cultivation of up to six plants for personal consumption, and it would allow the retail production and sale of cannabis and cannabis-fused products to adults aged 21 or older. Commercial cannabis ventures such as stores and production facilities would be subject to taxation — though personal grows and not-for-profit transfers of small amounts of cannabis will not be taxed. The measure does not amend Alaska’s current medical marijuana market.

Public marijuana consumption would still be illegal, but the penalty would be reduced to a civil fine (under current law, possession of less than one ounce of pot is considered a criminal misdemeanor and could mean a $2,000 fine or up to 90 days in jail).

“A bipartisan tidal wave of support for regulating marijuana like alcohol in Alaska has pushed this issue onto the ballot,” said campaign spokesman Taylor Bickford, “and we will be running an aggressive campaign designed to build momentum on that.”  And indeed, support for the movement does seem to be the popular opinion: a recent Public Policy Polling survey reflects that and gives further hope to marijuana activists. The survey, released in February, suggests that 55% of registered voters believe that “marijuana should be legally allowed for recreational use, that stores should be allowed to sell it, and that its sales should be taxed and regulated similarly to alcohol” — only 39% of survey respondents opposed legalization.

Alaska should not be alone in its vote on recreational marijuana this November: Oregon activists are now collecting signatures to see marijuana law reform on their ballot, as well. Florida is also to vote this year on a constitutional amendment that would open access to cannabis for medical purposes.

Across the nation, marijuana law reform has become a popular topic and, ironically, benefits from a wealth of bipartisan support. “There is more public dialogue about marijuana taking place than ever before,” said one spokesman for the Denver-based Marijuana Policy Project.  And with the recreational market exploding in Colorado, decriminalization efforts succeeding in Washington DC, and something like half the states in the union making moves to legalize a drug that’s still classified as a Schedule 1 substance by the federal government, 2014 is taking important steps to snowball itself into a great success for marijuana.

Sources:

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/30777/alaska-marijuana-legalization-vote-postponed-until-november/

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/27722/alaska-marijuana-legalization-2014-ballot-initiative-certified/

http://regulatemarijuanainalaska.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/AK-Initiative-Text.pdf

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Whoopi Goldberg Advocates for MMJ Over Pharmaceuticals in Debut Cannabis Blog Article

4/22/2014

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In her debut article last week as a columnist for The Cannabist, an online, cannabis-oriented branch of Colorado’s The Denver Post, TV and movie-star Whoopi Goldberg confessed her deep and passionate love for a vape pen she’s named “Sippy.”

Two years ago, after quitting cigarettes, Goldberg writes that she first tried smoking a joint to help endure her painful case of glaucoma. Smoking cannabis straight, however, proved too harsh and uncomfortable of an experience, she explained, so a few months later her daughter introduced her to a magical thing: the vape pen. These days, Goldberg tells us, “Mostly it’s just she (Sippy) and I working through my pain. And her ability to help me live comfortably with glaucoma makes her one of the most important figures in my day to day.”

Glaucoma is an eye condition that damages the optic nerve, the thing responsible for sending visual information that’s collected by our eyes to our brain for processing. It can lead to permanent damage of the eye(s), and will cause blindness if left untreated (in fact, glaucoma is the second-leading cause of blindness in the world). Symptoms include intense headaches and a strong sensation of pressure building up behind the afflicted eye(s).  Goldberg describes her own run-ins with the pain, and how she’s learned to combat it with Sippy’s smooth, vaporized medical marijuana:

“These glaucoma-induced headaches come on like freight trains — like, BOOM, my head starts hurting, my eyes start bugging, my whole body starts to tense up. But then I find her, and it relaxes everything and calms everything. It helps my head stop hurting, and with glaucoma your eyes ache, and she takes the ache out. It’s wonderful.”

Goldberg explains that she’s not in it just to get high — rather, she believes that she has finally found an avenue of actual relief from her medical condition. “I used to take Advil by the handful for this very reason, and I don’t take Advil anymore — not for my eye.” In the end, Goldberg argues that “it‘s important for people to know that there are alternatives out there to pain management, and this one is particularly magical.”

Also, “a lot of the new pot is too strong,” she writes, so having the vape pen always helps keep her medication in moderation:

“If my headache is just starting, I know a short sip will take care of it. If the pressure inside my head is pounding, then two or three sips is a better prescription…. I can do this without hurting myself. It helps that I know when to do it. I have a day job where I need to be clear. But if I need it after the show, she’s there. And if I don’t feel any pain, she stays in my purse.”

The idea of having Goldberg write the column came shortly after she interviewed Ricardo Baca, Editor of The Cannabist, as part of her day job hosting ABC’s The View.  The two got along and she expressed unique interest in the industry, and was eventually selected over other celebrity candidates including Miley Cyrus and Michelle Malkin.

In case you’re unfamiliar with the accomplishments of Goldberg’s successful career, she is one of the only artists in the world to have won the Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony awards. Her column at The Cannabist is currently slated to be a bi-monthly publication.

Sources:

http://www.thecannabist.co/2014/04/17/whoopi-vape-pen-love-story-column/9571/

http://abc.go.com/shows/the-view/cast/whoopi-goldberg

http://arts.nationalpost.com/2014/04/17/whoopi-goldberg-to-pen-bimonthly-column-for-colorado-website-the-cannabist-on-her-marijuana-use/

Photo Credit: Cedward Brice

 

 

 

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Colorado Receives $3.2 Million in Marijuana Taxes for February

4/17/2014

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Colorado state, according to figures released by state authorities, earned $3.2 million in marijuana tax revenue during the month of February.  This is more than the $2.9 million that the state earned during January, which marked the advent of the state’s marijuana legalization experiment.

Although, while marijuana tax revenue did see an increase, the state’s projected $3.7 million in marijuana tax revenue for the month of February appears to have been an overshot. Nonetheless, reports maintain that Colorado’s recreational marijuana program is expected to generate $98 million this year, which exceeds the state’s initial estimates by 40%.

By the numbers, $1.43 million of Colorado’s marijuana tax revenue in February came from a special 10% sales tax on recreational marijuana; an additional $438,253 came from the state’s standard 2.9% sales tax. Medical marijuana sales, which are only taxed by the state’s generic 2.9% sales tax, produced just over $1 million dollars in revenue during the month of February—this is much more than the state’s $791,000 projection for the medical industry.

The 15% excise tax on recreational marijuana still seems to be less effective than first predicted: with a total of $339,615, the excise tax generated only 54% of February’s $739,330 expected revenue. In January, the marijuana excise tax only produced $195,318.

Denver County continues to generate the largest amount of marijuana tax revenue for the state of Colorado, where the 2.9% generic sales tax produced $483,432 from the medical market and $245,709 from the recreational market, and the special 10% sales tax for recreational added another $710,930.

Natalie Mullis is the chief economist for Colorado’s legislative Council, the agency tasked with providing the state with revenue forecasts. “It’s impossible to know, based on these first two months, how much revenue they’ll be in the future,” Mullis said, addressing why future revenues from the medical and recreational cannabis industries remain uncertain. “This isn’t representative of what revenues they’ll be a year, or even six months from now.”

The first $40 million—about 30% of the projected $134 million from total marijuana taxes—is already slated for helping to improve school districts across the state, which has been the plan for Amendment 64 all along. As far as Colorado’s overall state budget is concerned, legal marijuana’s tax revenues will only represent 1.4% of the state’s available general fund.

One Colorado company named Moody’s Investors Service has been closely monitoring the now-regulated market, and has said that legal cannabis sales in Colorado should shrink the black market and plug more tax payments into state coffers, but representatives are warning that, despite the growing buzz around marijuana legalization, these revenues are “still a very small fraction of the state’s overall budget. It’s not going to sway things too much in one way or another.”

While it certainly appears that marijuana tax revenues are starting off slowly, the new revenues are likely understated in the long term because many retail establishments were still unopened, growers had difficulty meeting buyers’ demand, and many localized jurisdictions had yet to issue the proper marijuana licenses.

Sources:

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_25532130/colorado-marijuana-tax-revenues-total-3-2-million

http://www.hightimes.com/read/colorado-marijuana-tax-revenues-32-million-february

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/30674/colorado-marijuana-tax-revenue-exceeding-expectations-by-40/

Photo Credit: Don Goofy

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How Cartels Suffer From Marijuana Legalization

4/16/2014

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The recent push for marijuana law reform, while popular with the majority of American citizens, has upset more people than just die-hard prohibitionists and the DEA: criminals, as well, are suffering as a result of legalization.

It’s often been said that the weed kids are smoking these days is much more potent than what their parents had back in the 70s, and that’s the truth.  In fact, between experimentation with medical strains and a better understanding of the plant and general plant-growing itself, the weed being produced in Colorado might be the strongest stuff on the planet.  According to the sheriff of Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska, “There is no place in the world where you can buy as strong marijuana legally as you can in Colorado.”

This has begun to pose a serious problem for drug cartels in Mexico, whose product—notoriously known as “brick weed,” the low-quality and high-quantity compressed mess of marijuana buds, leaves, and stems—cannot hope to compete with the quality and accessibility of legalized recreational or medical marijuana establishments in the U.S. “It’s not worth it anymore,” said Rodrigo Silla of Mexico’s Sinaloa State, who is 50 years old and has been growing marijuana illegally for his entire life, “I wish the Americans would stop with this legalization.” This year will be the first that Silla does not rely on illegal cannabis for his personal income.

That is not to say, though, that Mexican cartels will be fading from the marijuana business entirely: they’ve already demonstrated their willingness to bribe, extort, torture, and murder individuals to move their product across U.S. borders. Unfortunately, it’s an entirely unrealistic expectation that legalization and regulation could squeeze the major drug lords out of the market entirely. “Expect to see Mexicans come into the picture if they see an opportunity,”  informs Tom Gorman, the director of Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. “It’s a great resource for them: there’s little danger involved and extortion is one of their big ways of making money.”

However, legalization is not only affecting illegal Mexican growers: black market growers in the U.S. and Canada are struggling as well. The legal competition from both medical and recreational grows has become too steep for illegal growers to validate the risks of operating on the black market. “The market has collapsed. There is such an oversupply as a result of illegal cannabis grows and legal grows… that all kinds of people are out of business. The price has gone down and they can’t sell,” Canadian lawyer John Conroy explains.

Major Neill Franklin, a 34-year veteran of Maryland State Police and the Baltimore Police Department, explains the very simple phenomenon: “The prohibition of drugs, just like the prohibition of alcohol, is what provides the tremendous profits to the criminal organizations that provide the drugs on our streets.” And as that prohibition slowly slips away, so will the absurd profit margins of illegal marijuana growing.

Ironically, it seems that the only folks left complaining about legalization these days—from Mexican drug cartels and their slipping grasp on the marijuana market, to DEA Chief Michele Leonhart and her thinly-veiled campaign to keep funds flowing for this grossly misguided war on drugs—are those people poised to lose a lot of money when prohibition officially ends.

Sources:

http://www.hightimes.com/read/legal-marijuana-killing-demand-brick-weed

http://www.leafscience.com/2014/04/11/marijuana-legalization-hurts-organized-crime/

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Obama Administration Willing to Work with Congress to Reschedule Marijuana, Holder Says

4/09/2014

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The national conversation about marijuana legalization took a new turn last Friday when Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Obama administration would be willing to work with Congress on rescheduling marijuana from its current Schedule 1 status.

Rescheduling the drug is far from actual legalization, but it would certainly ease the process of researching marijuana’s medical properties, and it would allow marijuana businesses to take federal tax deductions.

“We’d be more than glad to work with Congress if there is a desire to look at and reexamine how the drug is scheduled, as I said there is a great degree of expertise that exists in Congress,” the Attorney General said. The announcements came during Friday’s House Appropriations Committee hearing, and Holder declared “It is something that ultimately Congress would have to change, and I think that our administration would be glad to work with Congress if such a proposal were made.”

The announcement came specifically in response to a question from Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, whose inquiry about the Justice Department’s resource expenditures in Colorado and Washington demonstrated that marijuana was being treated very differently than other Schedule 1 substances, though technically no legal differentiation exists. Schedule 1 is supposedly reserved for dangerous drugs with “a high potential for abuse” and “no currently accepted medical use,” even when used under strict supervision. Diaz-Balart argued that, if the Obama administration really believes that marijuana doesn’t belong among other Schedule 1 substances, “wouldn’t it make sense to come to Congress with some recommendations, some changes… if nothing else, to give certainty and consistency, and the American people would understand that the law is applied with certainty and consistency?”

Bill Piper, the director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, has commented on this development, stating that “Rescheduling would be a modest step in the right direction, but would do nothing to stop marijuana arrests or prohibition-related violence.” He further argued, “Now that the majority of the American public supports taxing and regulating marijuana, this debate about re-scheduling is a bit antiquated and not a real solution to the failures of marijuana prohibition.”

Nonetheless, the Obama administration has suffered many criticisms regarding marijuana’s need for rescheduling since January, when the president admitted to believing that marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol. Not only is marijuana less harmful “in terms of its impact on the individual consumer,” he said, but its prohibition grossly undermines racial equality and demonstrates the painful inequalities of our current justice system; he also claimed that the legalization experiments in Colorado and Washington should be allowed to run their course without federal interference.

Critics of marijuana’s placement in the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have argued many times that a substance deemed safer than alcohol by the president himself does not deserve to be legally equivalent to harder drugs such as ecstasy or heroin, which are also Schedule 1 substances.

Sources:

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/30514/ag-holder-obama-administration-willing-to-work-with-congress-to-reschedule-marijuana/

http://reason.com/blog/2014/04/07/when-holder-says-congress-can-reclassify

Photo Credit: US Embassy

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WSLCB Approves Lottery Process for Retail Pot Shops

4/07/2014

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The Washington State Liquor Control Board announced via email last week that the lottery process for licensing retail pot shops has been approved. The lottery drawing begins on Monday, April 21st and will continue for the rest of that week. The lottery will produce a list of successful applicants that the WSLCB will use in continuing the retail licensing process. The Board expects that the first retail licenses will be issued no later than the first week of July.

Initiative 502 charged the WSLCB with limiting the number of retail marijuana stores by county, and the agency settled on a total of 334 retail establishments across the state.  The most populated cities will be allotted a maximum number of stores, with any additional to be spread across the rest of the county.

In the event that there are more applicants than there are licenses allocated to a region, the state will use another lottery system for ranking the applicants. The WSLCB has arranged for the Economic Sciences Research Center of Washington State University and the accounting firm for Washington’s Lottery, Kraght-Snell of Seattle, to independently manage lotteries in counties where necessary.

The Board warned that even those selected as successful applicants are not guaranteed to receive a license: “There are multiple requirements for licensure such as the applicant must pass a criminal history and financial investigation as well as have a location that is not within 1,000 feet of a school, park or other area specified by Initiative 502 as places where children congregate,” the email said.

Interested entrepreneurs had the option to apply for pre-qualification during the weekend of Feb. 21-23, 2014.  According to the Board,

“Applicants had 30 days to return the basic documents necessary to be eligible for the lottery including verification of: their personal criminal history, their age being 21 or older, that they are Washington State residents, that their business was formed in Washington State, and that they have a location address with a right to real property. A letter of intent to lease was acceptable to be eligible for the lottery.”

The WSLCB licensing staff is still reviewing the applicants, though they did note that “despite repeated notices and reminders to applicants, roughly 25 percent did not return the required documents at all. Of the returned packets, anywhere between 20-50 percent are incomplete, thus disqualifying them from the retail lottery.”

In Colorado, the state has allowed retail cannabis establishments since January 1st. The state government there reportedly raised a grand total of $2.4 million in marijuana tax revenue during its first month of legalization, with an additional $1.4 million in medical marijuana taxes. The Washington government predicted at I-502’s passing that it would receive nearly $2 billion in state revenue through to the fiscal year of 2017, but predictions about the cannabis industry have notoriously been confusing: like that one time when Washington officials thought that state residents smoked half as much weed as they actually do.

Sources:

http://www.ofm.wa.gov/ballot/2012/I-502_Worksheet.pdf

Photo Credit: Brett Levin

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Oregon Lawmakers Drop Proposed Ban on Sugary Medibles

4/03/2014

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Oregonian dispensaries and medical marijuana patients can rest easy knowing that popular cannabis-infused edibles such as cookies, brownies, and hard candies are, for the most part, safe from a recently-proposed ban.

Last month, Oregon lawmakers presented a new set of medical marijuana rules that would have prohibited the sale of sweet medibles.  The ban was intended to prevent the sugary medicine from being exposed to children, who are sometimes tempted by the conventional appearance of most edibles, but the proposal upset the MMJ community so much that—after plenty of emailed complaints—Oregon officials have decided to rethink their strategy.

In a new set of rules released on Monday, the Oregon Health Authority now seeks only to ban medibles that are made or packaged in such a way that they might be appealing to children. Brightly-colored treats shaped like animals, toys, or other conventional candies will not be allowed. Medicine must also only be sold in child-proof containers without brightly-colored labels or cartoony decorations. “Medicine isn’t candy, and it shouldn’t look like candy,” explained Tom Burns, the Director of Pharmacy Programs for the Oregon Health Authority.

Burns admitted that it was the perturbed emails they received that convinced lawmakers to reconsider the ban, after reportedly hundreds of medical marijuana advocates electronically voiced their concerns that the proposal would harm some patients who either cannot smoke or simply require the more lasting effects of edibles.  Oregon dispensaries have claimed that about 15-20% of their sales are generated through edibles, but nonetheless they prematurely pulled the products from store shelves in preparation for the ban.

Overall, marijuana-laced edibles have frequently become targets for lawmakers across the U.S. In 2011, Colorado Republicans tried and failed to ban edible products from dispensaries. In 2013, Michigan lawmakers ruled that edibles infused with cannabis extract were illegal under the state’s medical marijuana laws. And in New Jersey last fall, Gov. Chris Christie had to sign an amendment allowing edible products for use by minors only (the state’s original marijuana regulations didn’t allow the sale of medibles in any context). The proposed Oregon ban would have been the first, however, to specifically target sugary edible products.

Some Oregon business owners are still voicing concern about the most recent rules update. Laura Brannan, who runs Elbe’s Edibles in Portland, told the Assosciated Press that she was having problems finding opaque, child-proof containers that would satisfy the new rules. Having them specially-made would be a “$250,000 problem,” an issue that she says would surely put her business under.

Generally-speaking, Oregon’s dispensaries are still a relatively new development for the state’s medical marijuana program, which, prior to last year, had been purely run through private arrangements between patients and state-registered caregivers. Oregonian marijuana advocates are now hoping that cannabis will be legalized for recreational use this year, with two separate campaigns working to accomplish that goal.

Sources:

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/30428/oregon-officials-drop-proposed-ban-on-medical-marijuana-edibles/

http://mmjbusinessdaily.com/oregon-businesses-prepare-for-edibles-ban/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=oregon-businesses-prepare-for-edibles-ban

Photo Credit: Pauly McGuire

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Colorado Government Cracks Down on MMJ

4/02/2014

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The state of Colorado has begun a thorough investigation of the medical marijuana industry, which will quite likely result in a serious crackdown on the growing options of medical marijuana caregivers in that state.

The Colorado Health Department announced on Friday that it will be contacting doctors and asking them why they have recommended that some patients exceed the six-plant limit currently in place for medical marijuana patients, when six well-tended cannabis plants can easily produce an arguably substantial amount of medicine for a single person.

The investigation primarily targets medical marijuana caregivers, who are individuals tasked with growing marijuana for patients incapable of growing their own. Colorado has about 3,300 caregivers growing cannabis for approximately 8,500 patients. It is important to note that there are more than 100,000 registered MMJ patients in Colorado, though most individuals obtain their marijuana from dispensaries.

Under current law, the maximum that Colorado’s caregivers can grow is a total of six plants per patient, but with a doctor’s recommendation a caregiver can apply for a waiver that allows them to grow additional plants for patients who may need higher quantities of medicine. The investigation’s goal is to learn exactly how and when doctors have determined that “greater amounts were medically necessary to address the patient’s debilitating medical condition,” as the rules in Colorado’s constitution state.

Dr. Larry Wolk is the Colorado Health Department’s executive director, and he claimed the investigation was prompted because “We need information.” Since medical marijuana laws were passed in Colorado fourteen years ago, the state government has seemed relatively indifferent on this issue—but now that regulated recreational sales have begun, however, it seems possible that concerns over the medical marijuana market tampering with the recreational industry’s economy have grown.

Wolk also unveiled a proposed bill last Friday that would place much tighter restrictions on caregivers. The bill would make the six-plant limit a hard cap, with no waivers available for additional plants per patient, and it would also limit each caregiver to only five patients—currently, there is an application process for taking on more patients, and right now there are 24 caregivers with more than five patients. There is even one caregiver who serves 82 different patients.

There has been outrage expressed in Colorado in response to the Health Department’s proposed changes; one medical marijuana supporter even yelled “Fascist!” during Dr. Wolk’s announcements on Friday. According to caregiver James Clark Jr., who is providing for 25 different patients because there are so few caregivers in his area, “This is criminal. This is mean. This is hurtful to people who are very sick.”

MMJ advocates claim that sometimes more than six plants per patient is necessary for caregivers to make powerful edibles or concentrates, which are often better for treating some patients’ ailments.

There is also an argument that these changes are the result of complaints from Colorado law enforcement officials, who have often claimed that the caregiver/patient relationship allows an easy and quasi-legal source for black market marijuana sales.

Sources:

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_25443826/colorado-crack-down-medical-marijuana-patients-and-caregivers

http://www.leafscience.com/2014/03/31/colorado-begins-crackdown-medical-marijuana-providers/

Photo Credit: Rusty Blazenhoff

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Oregonians Might Get to Vote for Marijuana Three Times in 2014

3/31/2014

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Some people were surprised when Washington legalized marijuana in 2012 and Oregon did not, though the issue went up for vote in Oregon that year and received 47% support.  This year, Oregon voters are being faced with two different legalization initiative campaigns, and both of them seem likely to reach the ballot—one of those campaigns even includes a constitutional amendment to end marijuana prohibition, which could also make the ballot.  Three potential choices for legalization means three opportunities for the progressive state to join its northern neighbor in the quickly-expanding marijuana trade.

One option, the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act (OCTA), is essentially the same campaign that was nearly passed in 2012.  Headed by medical marijuana ganjapreneur Paul Stanford, this campaign is actually a two-pronged effort, with the Oregon Cannabis Amendment (OCA) being yet another possible avenue toward marijuana legalization.

The 2014 OCTA differs from the 2012 campaign mainly by adding personal possession and growing limits, neither of which were addressed in the 2012 campaign: “We got 47% allowing people to grow and possess unlimited amounts for personal use, but people want limits,” said Stanford.

The 2012 vote was so close, in fact, that the numbers strongly encourage a second attempt: “In Washington, they spent $7 million; in Colorado, they spent $4 million; here in Oregon, we spent… half a million, and we only lost by 112,000 votes,” Stanford explained.  This year’s campaign has gotten a few private funding pledges, but major marijuana activist groups like the Drug Policy Alliance and the Marijuana Policy Project have offered no support.  Nonetheless, Stanford believes that the OCTA has a good shot at getting passed this year, and even argues that it would have succeeded in 2012 with just a little more funding.

The second campaign is called New Approach Oregon.  The Control, Regulation, and Taxation of Marijuana and Industrial Hemp Act is its brainchild; the bill, and also a near-identical counterpart that is a placeholder if the first one is rejected or delayed by Congress, would legalize the personal possession of up to eight ounces of marijuana and allow the personal cultivation of four plants.  The bill trusts the Oregon Liquor Control Board to regulate marijuana sales, but instead of a marijuana commission, there would be a predetermined tax set at $35 per ounce.

“We’ve received pledges of a million dollars to get us on the ballot, and we expect to have time to gather the necessary signatures,” said the New Approach Oregon campaign manager, Anthony Johnson. And on the subject of funding, Johnson explained, “our funding team has always included the Drug Policy Alliance, as well as other national funders.”

Both initiatives are expected to enter signature-collection soon, and will require 87,213 valid voter signatures to qualify for the November ballot.  The constitutional amendment, however, requires 116,284 signatures to be placed on the ballot.

But perhaps the most important aspect of the upcoming votes on marijuana legalization is the mutual respect and support across both campaigns.  As long as legalization is on the ballot and is passed in one way or another, both sides will be happy.  “Of course I’ll be voting for New Approach Oregon, and I encourage everyone else to,” said Stanford. In turn, Johnson clarified that “if he (Stanford) makes the ballot, we will support any measure that improves the status quo.”

Oregon is joined by Alaska and Washington D.C. in voting on the legalization and regulation of cannabis this year.  Alaskans will be voting first on their initiative in August, and will hopefully be joining Colorado and Washington’s thriving cannabis industry.  Oregon, at least, could become the first state to legalize marijuana twice (or even three times) in one election.

Sources:

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/30367/will-oregon-have-three-marijuana-legalization-initiatives-this-year/

Photo Credit: Edmund Garman

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Cannabis Social Clubs: Is Barcelona Europe’s New Amsterdam?

3/28/2014

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Since Colorado’s foray into the legal cannabis industry, there has been speculation on whether or not Amsterdam would be surrendering its “Weed Capital of the World” title to the city of Denver.  Now however, it seems that Amsterdam may not even be considered the weed capital of Europe for much longer, if Spain’s progressive climate continues on its current path. In answer to the infamous Dutch “coffee shops,” Spanish cannabis enthusiasts have discovered an openly creative method to appreciate marijuana without needing to recede from the heart of society: the cannabis social club.

Social clubs are the Spanish alternative for cannabis access points: they are semi-exclusive locations dedicated to cannabis cultivation and consumption, and they have been recently spreading far and wide across the country.

But when and how did these cannabis clubs become possible without marijuana’s legalization? Nick Buxton, writing for the UK’s Red Pepper, describes how it happened:

“In 1974 the Spanish supreme court judged that drug consumption and possession for personal use was not a crime, while still deeming drug trafficking an imprisonable offence. This created a jurisprudence in which providing drugs for compassionate reasons, and joint purchase by a group of addicts – as long as it did not involve profit-seeking – were not crimes either. “

Modern cannabis clubs in Spain are nonprofit organizations which offer marijuana products exclusively to adult members of the club.  And while marijuana trade is technically still illegal, personal cultivation and consumption has been decriminalized. Additionally, the transactions between social clubs and their members are legally considered compassionate distributions: it’s just a bunch of self-admitting pot addicts hanging out and smoking their weed, not some black market drug cartel looking to commit even more heinous crimes for profit.

Most clubs have registration fees—usually a monthly commitment, but sometimes it only requires a one-time payment.  These clubs’ popularity has grown in recent years, but strict advertising restraints keep the locations from being too easily-publicized. Nonetheless, Facebook and Leafly pages provide sufficient information so that locals and tourists alike can find them, though the shops sell more to locals than to foreigners.

The clubs themselves usually offer between 5-15 different strains and about 8 different types of hashish or concentrates. Marijuana-infused edibles are not nearly as prevalent as they are in North America, and stoner tourists might be surprised to find that in Spain, as is common with most parts of Europe, people tend to smoke their marijuana—or, often, their hashish—mixed with tobacco in a rolled-up spliff.

The city of Barcelona has especially embraced Spain’s new role in Europe: there are currently at least 300 different social clubs within the city limits, and the city also hosts a massive event named “Spannabis” every year.  Spannabis is a celebration of marijuana that attracts tourists from around the world. The festival features more than 100 different booths and exhibits, all of them targeting or representing different aspects of cannabis culture. This year’s Spannabis took place earlier this month.

Sources:

http://www.leafly.com/news/lifestyle/will-barcelona-be-the-new-amsterdam-what-tourists-should-know

http://www.redpepper.org.uk/drug-club/

Photo Credit: Stefan Tärnell

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One Pack of Joints Could Cost Less Than a Dollar

3/27/2014

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With marijuana legalization trends beginning to spark up around the globe, many have begun to wonder how the global economy might handle a world-wide green rush the likes of what we’ve witnessed in Colorado this past year. Some predictions based on current production costs, which is estimated between $2-3 per gram, put the price of a pack of marijuana joints that is similar in size (1 gram per joint) and quantity (20 joints per to a pack of cigarettes: 20 joints ) at about $50 per pack. Forbes contributor Tim Worstall, however, speculates that in a fully-legal and globalized green market, that same pack of joints would actually cost something a bit more like $0.50.

Currently, because the marijuana industry is federally illegal, these speculations are in the end nullified: marijuana is not legal on a global scale, or even on a national scale except in Uruguay, and there’s truly no telling when a globalized cannabis industry might happen. However, given that large tobacco companies like Phillip Morris (the makers of Marlboro) tend to gravitate towards money-making opportunities, as all corporate empires are inclined to do, it seems safe to assume that “big tobacco” would translate to “big marijuana” in a heartbeat if the necessary political conditions were satisfied.

And in a future world where cannabis has been completely legalized, Worstall argues that big players like Phillip Morris would take their immense capacity for funding marijuana production and go elsewhere. Malawi, a tiny country in southeastern Africa, is one such possibility: the country is ideally located in the right climate for growing cannabis, and tobacco companies are already quite familiar with Malawi, whose economy is hugely dependent on the country’s involvement in the international tobacco industry—Malawi tobacco is already commonly found in almost every Marlboro or Camel tobacco blend on the planet.  But perhaps most importantly: according to the UN Office of Drug Control, the wholesale price of cannabis on the black market there is somewhere between $3-4 per kilogram, or something like one thousandth that of the price here in the U.S.

There are absolutely other variables to consider—costs of packaging and transport, manufacturing, the inevitability of a steep government excise tax—but when we’re talking about price differences of this magnitude, Worstall’s $.050 prediction for a globally-produced pack of joints begins to make a little more sense.

But maybe the more important question is what would happen in a world where $0.50 might pay for enough joints to arguably hotbox a small condominium? If the cannabis industry ever reaches the globalized state described by Mr. Worstall, could we expect something like a 1000% excise tax to make that $0.50 pack of joints cost $5.00? As a buyer, I have to say I wouldn’t personally complain if that were the case.

Sources:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2014/03/22/global-capitalism-would-make-a-pack-of-fully-legal-cannabis-joints-cost-50-cents-not-50/

http://www.unodc.org/pdf/WDR_2006/wdr2006_chap5_cannabis.pdf

Photo Credit: Gavin White

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Legal Cannabis Research: Dropping the Curtain on Marijuana Prohibition?

3/26/2014

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According to federal law, marijuana is a highly-dangerous drug. The DEA lists it as a schedule 1 narcotic, meaning that it has no federally-recognized medical properties. And until recently, though nearly half the states in the country have adjusted state laws to allow for medical marijuana programs, the federal government has remained inflexible on the issue, despite surmounting legalization and awareness efforts nationwide.

In Colorado, where buying a sack of weed is as easy as buying a bottle of scotch, some have questioned why cannabis research hasn’t become commonplace since the state’s marijuana-legalizing Amendment 64. “It remains illegal under federal law for any person to import, manufacture, distribute, possess, or use marijuana,” explains one memo from the University of Colorado’s president, and “Conducting unapproved marijuana-related research could adversely affect the University of Colorado’s ability to seek federal research funding or federal financial aid.”

Ultimately, researchers wishing to study marijuana can only do so at the grace of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), no matter cannabis’ incredibly commonplace accessibility.

Appeasing federal bureaucracy on this issue has proven to be difficult, but not impossible. In a letter delivered earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services finally signed off on one determined research group’s request to study medical marijuana. The research team is called the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), and several scientists from the group have been pushing for years to get this experiment approved. NIDA has continually stalled their progress until now. The group’s goal is to demonstrate that marijuana, whether it’s smoked or vaporized, has distinct medical benefits in treating U.S. veterans suffering from PTSD.

When considering the feds’ long-overdue submission, MAPS communications director Brad Burge concludes, “It really is a concrete advance in how the U.S. federal government is approaching medical marijuana drug development research.” At least some part of the federal government is finally demonstrating awareness of the DEA’s absurdly-high classification of cannabis, and this ruling “clears the way for marijuana to actually be a prescription drug.”

“The idea is to get marijuana – the whole plant – approved as a prescription drug that physicians can then prescribe,” Burge explains, because right now doctors simply can’t go further than just recommending medical marijuana, and even that puts both doctor and patient at risk of federal prosecution.

Call me an optimistic observer, but this advancement may be the first of many political victories for the medical marijuana community and cannabis industry as a whole: if the feds are willing to allow medical research on a substance supposedly as dangerous and addictive as heroin or PCP, something has certainly changed for the good. And if it so happens that cannabis, a purely natural substance, is proven capable of actually replacing swaths of pharmaceutical chemicals and controversial prescription drugs, I believe we can trust in the already-riled American public to be truly scrambling to demand marijuana’s federal declassification.

Sources:

http://www.leafscience.com/2014/03/18/u-s-government-clears-way-medical-marijuana-research/

http://www.leafscience.com/2014/03/12/marijuana-still-limits-researchers-colorado/

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/27956/michigan-medical-marijuana-law-expands-include-patients-ptsd/

Photo Credit: Lenny Montana

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The Ganjapreneur, Cannabis Industry News Outlet, Announces Website Overhaul

3/25/2014

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The cannabis industry has been dominating popular media headlines, influencing more and more of the American public with surmounting legalization and awareness efforts. And with this exciting new industry, new industry-specific news outlets were sure to follow.

The Ganjapreneur, one such outlet, has been regularly publishing articles featuring different aspects of the cannabis industry since last June. Recently, some website revamps and an increase in weekly articles has given the publication, which also offers a free weekly newsletter, a new look to better serve the marijuana community. Additionally, The Ganjapreneur has recently plugged into popular social media outlets, with updated Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ accounts designed to further ease the readership’s access to the publication’s news articles and editorials.

One article in particular received special attention, in which the Ganjapreneur questions President Obama’s real stance on marijuana prohibition. The article, “What Kind of Ex-Stoner is President Obama, Anyway?” claims that a true “ex-stoner” would know better than to fear that marijuana legalization would result in the attempted legalization of deadlier recreational drugs. The writer even calls on Mr. Obama to go ahead and “Light one up,” just in case he needed a reminder of what the effects of the drug truly are.

The Ganjapreneur’s media coverage spans a variety of topics about the cannabis industry. News from Washington and Colorado, where recreational marijuana has been legalized, will surely frequent the weekly newsletter. There are also articles covering the medical marijuana community on a more national scale, along with reports on legalization efforts and political updates from around the country. A stand-alone area of the website is dedicated to humor and editorials, a subsection aptly named “Rants and Raves,” for a more opinionated flavor of writing.

For those individuals who have been following the media conversation surrounding this new industry and wish to chime in themselves, the Ganjapreneur offers a section of their website where would-be contributors can send in articles of their own to be reviewed and published as guest writers.

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Marijuana May Improve Cognitive Functions in College Students

3/20/2014

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Marijuana-use has long been associated with dampening brain development and the hindering of very basic cognitive functions, especially among teenagers and young adults.  Wild theories like those from the infamous Reefer Madness even permeated the American public for some time; and, unfortunately, researching the plant has been historically impossible, so many of these theories have not been fully investigated. But while most marijuana-minded researchers are inclined to hold off while the plant is still illegal to study in the U.S., some enterprising individuals at the University of Minnesota have found an interesting way to look at marijuana use and its effect on teenage cognitive development.

Their study, recently published in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, consisted of cognitive tests, comparing the results of 35 non-users with 35 students who had been regularly smoking marijuana since before the age of 17. Ultimately, the research group reached some surprising conclusions: college students who regularly use marijuana were both “high functioning” and “demonstrating comparable IQs to controls and relatively better processing speed.”

Participating subjects were all between 18-20 years old, and were told to refrain from consuming any substance for at least 12 hours before the study.  According to the researchers, “Marijuana use during this age span has been most strongly associated with cognitive impairment.”

The results specifically noted that marijuana users performed better on tests of processing speed and verbal fluency, while scoring slightly lower on tests of motivated decision making, engagement, and verbal memory.  Smokers and non-smokers had comparable results in tests of working memory and verbal learning.

The goal of the study was to provide “a comprehensive cognitive profile of college-aged daily marijuana users,” and while the research team discloses that there yet remains substantial room for further testing, one can only hope that the unexpected findings of this study will someday serve as grounds for more in-depth research on the illegal plant that has saturated in the American sociopolitical spotlight for decades.

Sources:

http://www.leafscience.com/2014/03/14/marijuana-users-better-cognitive-skills-study-finds/

Photo Credit: Orin Zebest

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Washington’s MMJ Market to Remain in Limbo

3/18/2014

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The medical marijuana program in Washington State has been the target of many controversies since the revolutionary passage of Initiative 502, the law that legalized recreational marijuana-use across the state in late 2012.  According to the Seattle Times, there had been much pressure for state lawmakers to pass regulations for medical marijuana, but after an eleven-hour session last Thursday the Legislature adjourned for the year without taking any further action on the subject.

“Even with the help of the governor, it was too much to get beyond at the eleventh hour,” said Senator Ann Rivers.  Rivers was sponsoring a bill that would have amended I-502 to address concerns over marijuana regulations, but it required a two-thirds supermajority and was opposed by House Republicans who wanted some allocation of marijuana tax revenue for more localized governments.  House Democrats are hesitant about such a notion, desiring more information about the economic effects of recreational marijuana before sharing tax revenues at the local level.

Medical marijuana supporters then turned their attention to U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan, wondering if she would target medical marijuana growers and businesses simply because Washington’s medical market remains so largely unregulated. Durkan responded on Friday, saying that while all marijuana establishments are still federally illegal, the feds would be focusing on those businesses that specifically violated other policies outlined by the Department of Justice: namely, those concerning money laundering, cross-state drug trafficking, and supplying marijuana to minors.

Kari Boiter, the Washington State coordinator for Americans for Safe Access (the nation’s largest medical marijuana advocacy group), was not necessarily comforted by Durkan’s words: “That doesn’t give patients much reassurance that we won’t be targets,” she says.

Some lawmakers in the state capitol believe that Governor Jay Inslee should designate a task force for handling the medical regulations, but Sen. Rivers has the sense that this is unnecessary. “As long as we have interested parties engaged, I think we can get it done without a formal title.”

State lawmakers and a spokesman for Gov. Inslee have claimed that there remains enough time to place new regulations for Washington’s medical marijuana system before the feds may find it necessary to crack down on the state’s medical program, though any real action must wait until the next legislative session in January, 2015.

In the meantime, medical marijuana dispensaries and patients across Washington find themselves in a state of limbo in regards to state law.  Seattle’s approximately 200 dispensaries are in an especially confounding situation: the Seattle City Council already passed a provision requiring all marijuana dispensaries (medical and recreational) to have acquired a state-approved license by January 1st, 2015—this now appears to be an impossible feat, as such a license is currently only offered under I-502 until further regulations are passed, hopefully during the next legislative session at the beginning of next year.

Additionally, last month the Washington House voted to ban medical dispensaries as of May 1st, 2015; the state’s medical program will be dropped then, and patients will be required to purchase their medicine from retail marijuana establishments. This move is clearly an effort to place the medical marijuana system under similar regulations as the budding recreational market, which would both undercut economic competition that could disrupt the recreational market and hopefully appease the onlooking federal government.

Sources:

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023134465_potlegislaturexml.html

Image Credit: Aram Kudurshian

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$2.4 Million to Colorado in Recreational Marijuana Tax Revenue

3/13/2014

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The numbers are in, and Colorado has reportedly earned a whopping $2.4 million from recreational marijuana tax revenue for the month of January. An additional $1.4 million in taxes was raised from the medical marijuana market. Experts predict that, if these trends continue, Colorado can expect up to $40 million by the end of the year, purely from marijuana tax revenues.

The Colorado Department of Revenue has released information showing that $14 million worth of pot was sold in Colorado this January, the first month of the state’s great legalization experiment.  It is likely, however, that these numbers are a slightly skewed prediction of what’s to come for Colorado’s cannabis industry.  This is because many cannabusinesses were still in start-up mode, and those that had opened experienced a predictable rush of customers from around the state (and nation, and probably the world) wanting to be among the first to pay for fully regulated and legalized weed.

“This is revenue directly out of the hands of cartels,” said Brian Vicente, a Denver attorney who helped pass the law. “These tax numbers will probably grow over time, but since it’s a new market, will have to wait and see.”

Marijuana sales in Colorado currently undergo three separate taxes from seed to sale, with sales tax rates reportedly as high as 21.12% in some places in the state capitol.  In addition to the sales taxes, there is also a “retail marijuana excise tax” of 15% across the entire state. This tax applies on the first sale or transfer of marijuana from wherever it was grown and processed to wherever it might be going next, and while the cost of the tax can be included in the product pricing at retail establishments, legal pot sellers are not allowed to label the spike in price as a consumer tax: it is a tax on the industry itself.

Despite the severe and many-tiered taxation system in place, consumers and producers alike have been relatively quiet on the issue. People don’t seem to mind paying the extra price for legalized access, and the state of Colorado is already making plans on how to spend its first year’s worth of marijuana tax money.  The legalization of marijuana in Colorado came with an original restriction that the first $40 million in tax revenue must go toward school construction, but beyond that Gov. John Hickenlooper has proposed using the money to advance marijuana-related programs, such as funding efforts to keep children away from drugs, educating the public about the general dangers of substance abuse, and a now-quite-relevant, state-wide campaign against stoned driving.

If the office of Gov. Hickenlooper’s predictions are accurate, Colorado can expect a grand total of $188 million in marijuana tax revenue over the fiscal year, which begins this July.

Sources:

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/27829/colorado-raises-2-1-million-recreational-marijuana-taxes/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2014/03/11/its-no-toke-colorado-pulls-in-millions-in-marijuana-tax-revenue/

Photo Credit: Jonathan Piccolo

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Washington D.C. Decriminalizes Pot, Congress Might Have Something to Say About It

3/12/2014

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The U.S. capital joined the popular movement to end marijuana prohibition last week. In a groundbreaking effort, the D.C. Council passed a bill last Tuesday that decriminalizes marijuana, replacing current criminal penalties for the possession of one ounce or less with a $25 civil fine.  Smoking marijuana in public will still be a misdemeanor crime, punishable with a maximum fine of $500 or 60 days in jail.

The legislation passed with a 10-1 vote, and now heads to the desk of Mayor Vincent Gray, who has already expressed support for decriminalization and is expected the sign the bill. However, the legislation will not become law until Congress has completed the next legislative review, as required by federal law, which could extend into the summer months.

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio claims to be unfamiliar with the bill, but has verified that Congress will be looking into the matter.  While Congress technically does have the authority to overturn local District of Columbia laws, it hasn’t felt the need arise in more than 20 years.  Some expect that Congress’ reaction to the capital’s dramatic change in drug policy may provide some insight about the federal government’s strategy for handling the popular marijuana legalization phenomenon.

Advocates for the bill are elated by the expected social benefits from decriminalization. “For far too long, people of color have been disproportionately and unfairly arrested and marginalized for marijuana possession in the District of Columbia,” said Grant Smith of the Drug Policy Alliance. “D.C. Council members took the first critical step today toward ending the selective enforcement of marijuana prohibition policies that have perpetuated racial disparities in the criminal justice system for decades.”

Marijuana-related judicial punishments have indeed been shown to disproportionally target African American residents in the District of Colombia.  According to a 2013 survey by the Washington Lawyers Committee, nine out of ten criminals being punished for marijuana-related crimes in the nation’s capital are of African descent.  Other studies have shown that African Americans are eight times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people, though surveys have shown that marijuana consumption is more or less balanced across racial divides.

Smith, who works as the policy manager for the Drug Policy Alliance, has said that “Councilmembers heard the public’s demand that marijuana arrests end and have passed model legislation that is one of the strongest marijuana decriminalization laws in the whole country. Mayor Vincent Gray should sign and ensure this bill goes to Congress for its review without delay. With every day that passes, more District residents’ lives are irrevocably harmed with these senseless marijuana possession arrests.”  Dan Rifle, director of federal projects with the MPP, also claimed “This means that, outside of Washington and Colorado, marijuana penalties are now less punitive in our nation’s capital than anywhere else in the country!”

In a poll taken of the city in January, the Washington Post learned that 64% of D.C. residents not only supported decriminalizing marijuana, but also legalizing it for regulation and taxation purposes in a manner similar to Colorado and Washington State.  The D.C. Council members are now considering two additional marijuana reform measures: one which would implement such a system to fully regulate recreational marijuana use among adults, and the other would permanently seal all citizens’ marijuana-related arrest and conviction records.

Sources:

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/27769/d-c-council-passes-far-reaching-marijuana-decriminalization-bill/

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/27795/boehner-congress-will-look-washington-dc-marijuana-decriminalization-bill/

http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/4/5470934/washington-dc-votes-to-decriminalize-marijuana

Photo Credit: Humberto Romeno

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WSLCB Issues Washington’s First Recreational Marijuana License

3/06/2014

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Washington State’s first recreational marijuana license was designated to Spokane’s Sean Green yesterday by the Washington State Liquor Control Board in Olympia.  Green has prior experience operating medical dispensaries in Spokane and the Seattle suburb of Shoreline.  His company is named “Kouchlock” and, based in Spokane, first plans to sell young marijuana plants to other interested growers as their licenses get distributed in the coming weeks, and will eventually focus on marijuana production for retail consumption.

“This is a historic day,” said Board Chair Sharon Foster, according to the WSLCB’s announcement email yesterday morning, “The hard work and preparation this agency has done has laid the foundation to make this pioneering endeavor a success.”

The Board praised Green’s application, which was also the first application to be fully completed: “We’re proud of you. We now know there are folks out there who follow the rules and are willing to be participants of this brave new venture in Washington state.”  Not that Washington actually has much reason to worry about a lack of willing participants: the Board says it had expected about 2,200 applicants to express interest, but actually received more than 7,000 applications.  Green’s application process required criminal and financial background checks, developing a fully-laid-out business plan, and finding a proper site for his business located far from schools or daycares.  

Green, naturally, is also quite excited. “Cannabis prohibition is over,” he happily declared to a room of supporters after receiving the license.  “I’m coming home with jobs, Spokane,” he promised.  His 3rd-tier license allows for both production and processing of cannabis products, though his site of operations must be no larger than 21,000 square feet.  Under his Board-approved business plan, he expects to someday employ between 30 and 50 employees.

“It’s easy to talk about what marijuana legalization might look like,” says Seattle attorney Alison Holcomb, who headed the state’s legalization campaign in 2012. “It’s a much different thing to see it roll out.”

Of course, the landmark licensing was unable to please every onlooker.  Derek Franklin, president of the Washington Association for Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention, claims to be troubled by Green’s company’s name and his personal goal for a future product.  The name, ‘Kouchlock,” sends a message alluding to a state of stonedness that prevents even rising off the couch–Green’s coinciding dream product, the “super joint,” has been described as an “ultra-strong marijuana cigarette made with cannabis oil and flowers.”

Franklin’s complaint? “There doesn’t seem to be much attention being paid to public health and public safety,” he said.  While that may sound more like an issue with Green’s business plan and less like a complaint about the WSLCB’s licensing process, marijuana remains federally illegal and the political climate of the cannabis industry will likely remain uncertain until that changes.

Sources:

http://www.king5.com/news/marijuana/first-washington-state-marijuana-license-248549291.html

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/washington-state-issues-legal-pot-license-22786308

http://nypost.com/2014/03/06/washington-state-issues-first-legal-marijuana-business-license/

Photo Credit: Brian Stalter

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Banking in Cannabis Industry Seen as “Trade Secret”

3/06/2014

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The marijuana legalization movement was accompanied by an explosion of helpful information about how to get your budding marijuana business off the ground.  How-to-grow handbooks, nationally-cooperative legal campaigns, and general guidelines for navigating the new laws in Colorado and Washington were easily found and vastly supported by members of the industry.  Now, that sense of camaraderie among ganjapreneurs is slipping away as secretive marijuana banking enters Colorado’s legalized playing field.

According to The Denver Post, whether or not a bank is cooperating with businesses in the cannabis industry has become a closely-guarded secret in Colorado. Though the federal government recently passed guidelines that allow for banks to do business with the cannabis industry, banks have so far been generally reluctant to publicly engage with the industry.  For this reason, pot shop owners don’t spread the word if they find a bank that will–either secretly or unknowingly–handle their money.

“It’s not surprising that information isn’t shared readily, given the history of the industry with banking,” said Taylor West, the deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association. West’s comment reflects on the many recorded occasions in which marijuana businesses have had their bank accounts closed on them shortly after the bank learned of the business’ true nature. “It’s unusual and cruelly ironic to have an industry that’s being denied basic banking services, then threatened with the loss of those services if they share that they have it,” West surmised.

According to one anonymous ganjapreneur, “They (the pot shops) all act like it’s a top-secret thing since they already have a banking relationship. They think if they give that data away freely, it might impact their ability to continue their banking relationship.”

As a result of all these complications, ownership of a bank account is greatly coveted by proprietors of marijuana retail establishments: not only does it simplify the sales process and increase store safety, but it also provides a leg up against other pot stores who don’t have access to bank services, and who must still rely on a purely cash-based economy.  And, in true entrepreneurial spirit, someone with a bank willing to serve them is going to strategically keep their mouth shut and maintain that economic advantage over the competition.

What might it take for banks and cannabusinesses to maintain public relations without fear of federal prosecution? Well, some members of the banking industry have accused the federal government’s current guidance of being merely a “yellow light” for marijuana banking. Don Childears, CEO and president of the Colorado Bankers Association, has further affirmed that “banks need permanence of law versus changeable guidance.” 

Whether or not this trend of erring on the side of caution is going to die off in the near future, or if this will actually remain an important banking issue until the federal government decides to reclassify (or declassify) marijuana on the national level, is completely up for speculation. As things stand now, however, being secretive about the relationship between a bank and marijuana business is a win/win situation for both parties.

Sources:

http://www.denverpost.com/marijuana/ci_25244700/where-colorado-pot-shops-bank-is-closely-guarded

http://mmjbusinessdaily.com/top-co-banker-yellow-light-is-not-enough/

Photo Credit: Jordan Wunderlich

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Washington Updates I-502 Rules to Foster Competition

2/27/2014

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The Washington State Liquor Control Board made a ruling last week that should spark the hopes of small-scale ganjapreneurs around the state. The change dramatically affects how licenses are distributed to marijuana producers, cutting the number of licenses a person or company can have to only one (from a previous potential for three) and limiting the amount of product they can produce to only 70% of what the licenses originally allowed.

Claiming that many applicants either are not ready for the full growing capacity for which they’ve applied—or have simply applied for multiple licenses with the intent of only using one to begin with, saving the other licenses for later expansion—the WSLCB released this statement following its decision to limit the number of producer licenses:

“The Board closed a 30-day application window for marijuana licenses on December 20, 2013. During that period the agency received 2,858 marijuana producer applications. The plant canopy of these applications far exceeds a manageable plant canopy set by the Board in its rules. Of these applications, over 900 are for more than one marijuana producer application. The rules currently allow for up to three licenses per licensee.”

In an effort to meet a manageable plant canopy for marijuana production, the Board will file an interim policy that limits any qualified entity or principals within any entity to one marijuana producer license. If any entity or principal has more than one marijuana application pending, staff will contact the applicant and offer them the option of withdrawing their additional applications for a refund or having their additional applications held up to one year or until the Board determines more marijuana producer licenses are needed.”

According to a news release by Board Chair Sharon Foster, the WSLCB’s action last week “clears an obstacle and allows the agency to begin issuing marijuana producer and processor license in the coming weeks… We believe this is the most fair and equitable way to get the market up and running.” And while some prospective growers feel cheated by the rule changes, small-scale production operations are expected to benefit from a less-competitive market.

In the most extreme cases—businesses seeking the maximum of three licenses—prospective production sites face a drastic decrease in available growing space: previously the maximum was 90,000 square feet, and it has now been reduced to 21,000 square feet.  Some business owners and other investors have already purchased property and general infrastructure for their growing operations, and now feel particularly duped by the WSLCB.  Such is the case for Ryan Agnew, consultant for some investors who applied for production licenses. “I’m blown away,” he says, and informs that the new limits will cripple plans already set in motion by his group.  

On the smaller side of the market though, it’s a different story. Christi Masi and Scott Masengill of Seattle are partners in the industry (and in marriage), and they hope to receive a license for pot production in the coming weeks.  Thanks to the Board’s recent ruling, their chances for success in the market as a small, private operation have greatly increased. “I do feel like the state has done a good job of setting things up in a way that we will all have the opportunity to succeed at this,” said Masi. “I really appreciate that they are kind of protecting the small ‘ma and pop,’ which we totally are… The state has decided that the small guy gets a chance here, and that feels good.”

Sources:

http://blog.seattlepi.com/marijuana/2014/02/20/washington-state-just-shifted-marijuana-market-from-big-weed-to-ma-and-pa-weed/#14194103=0&20340101=0

http://blog.seattlepi.com/marijuana/2014/02/19/board-reduces-amount-of-marijuana-each-business-can-grow/#18853103=0&20340101=0

http://www.liq.wa.gov/publications/releases/I-502_License_FAQII_02-18-14.pdf

Photo Credit: The Other Dan

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Marijuana Advertising Lawsuit Sparks 1st Amendment Discussion

2/27/2014

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On Monday, February 10th, two popular alternative magazines, High Times and Colorado’s own Westword, filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Colorado.  The magazines argue that the state’s strict rules covering marijuana advertising are unjust and a violation of their 1st Amendment right. They called for a preliminary injunction against the regulations—on February 14th, a US District Judge rejected the case, but has allowed for adjustments to be made for further review.

Currently, the rules of Colorado’s Amendment 64 state that “A Retail Marijuana Establishment shall not engage in Advertising in a print publication unless the Retail Marijuana Establishment has reliable evidence that no more than 30 percent of the publication’s readership is reasonably expected to be under the age of 21.” This also affects advertising in television, radio, and outdoor advertising as well, though only recreational businesses are affected by the state’s rules—medicinal businesses are not bound by the advertising restraints.

The lawsuit claims that the regulations are an unconstitutional restriction of free speech, calling the restrictions irrational.  The plaintiffs argue that marijuana establishments have been singled out for “more stringent advertising restrictions than those regulating the alcohol industry,” despite the fact that “the Colorado Constitution calls for the regulation of marijuana ‘in a manner similar to alcohol.'” Their document additionally argues that “defendants have not and cannot produce sufficient evidence to demonstrate that any of its heavy-handed restrictions at issue directly advance any arguably substaintial government interest(s).”

The case was rejected by Judge Marcia Krieger on the grounds of neither High Times or Westword having the right to claim the legal injunction.  As she writes, “the regulations in question do not address conduct by the Plaintiffs—who are publishers. Instead, the regulations limit conduct by advertisers—i.e, retail marijuana establishments. Thus, it is retail marijuana establishments who seek advertising who are directly affected by enforcement of the regulations.”

Past courts “have allowed publishers to challenge regulations that restrict the speech of putative advertisers if there is a colorable assertion that the regulation had a ‘chilling effect’ on the potential advertisers,” Krieger admits, but the lawsuit as written doesn’t offer enough “factual elaboration” on the subject for her to allow it.  Additionally, she argues that “there is no allegation that any advertiser has been discouraged from seeking to place advertisements with either of the Plaintiffs”—and indeed, in one of Westword‘s most recent issues, there were are least 9 ads featuring recreational marijuana companies.

Steve Suskin, attorney for Westword, says that the magazine’s decision to join High Times in the lawsuit was “really more a matter of principle than it is a burning need to have a change in the law in order to continue serving the marijuana industry in our advertising function.”  He writes, “Westword is reviewing the Court’s opinion… and considering its options,” adding that “First Amendment litigation is complex and our litigation counsel, David Lane, remains confident Westword can meet the procedural requirements set forth by the Court for legal standing to challenge this law.”

The magazines have until March 7th to file further evidence of their complaint.

Sources:

http://www.thecannabist.co/2014/02/12/magazines-sue-colorado-high-times-westword-over-marijuana-advertising-restrictions/4469/

http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2014/02/marijuana_advertising_lawsuit_injunction_rejected.php

 

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Rolling in the Green: Expectations for the Cannabis Boom

2/21/2014

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Right now someone is legally purchasing marijuana for recreational use in Colorado. Actually, lots of people are buying marijuana—more than was initially expected. Recent reports state that Colorado has raised its predicted tax revenue for the next fiscal year from $70 million to just under $100 million based on $610 million in expected sales. When Washington State starts legal sales, estimates point to $190 million in tax revenue over the next four years.

Those are really big numbers and big numbers talk—and they aren’t just limited to recreational purchases. Medicinal marijuana, which is currently available in 20 states and DC, is taxable as well.

Another big number: 30 more states are considering marijuana reform in one way or another. This includes efforts for full legalization, decriminalization and medicinal use. On top of that, experts have predicted that legal marijuana sales could reach over $10 billion by 2018.

And now, thanks to new guidelines issued by the Obama administration, it will be a lot easier for banks to provide services to marijuana businesses that have been forced to work on a cash-only basis because banks feared retaliation due to marijuana’s status as a schedule one drug under federal law.

Of course, the new guidelines for banks aren’t just a favor to the growing marijuana industry—they also set up a system in which the government can closely monitor and oversee the flow of revenue derived from marijuana sales. The federal government has always reserved the right to prosecute if they see fit, mainly if they feel businesses or banks aren’t in total compliance with the guidelines set forth. It is also unclear how banks will react to these new guidelines.

In light of these developments, now more than ever, investors and entrepreneurs are getting into the marijuana business. State governments have also appeared more eager to embrace the trend as their operating budgets dwindle. The market is there, and it is growing. Legalization in Colorado has been a success so far, and it is increasingly looking like it will be in Washington State as well. Uncertainty is giving way to certainty.

But this growing certainty is leading to an industry that is becoming highly competitive, leading some people to speculate about an industry bubble, like the dot-com boom of the 90’s. The bubble would pop as larger, more established businesses start to edge out the majority of other start-ups in the industry. However, one thing is becoming clear: marijuana is here and it’s here to stay.

Sources:

http://rt.com/business/marijuana-related-business-boom-246/

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/15/us/us-issues-marijuana-guidelines-for-banks.html?_r=0

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/homegarden/246192301.html

Photo Credit: Sakeeb Sabakka

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Ganja for Grandma? Researching Medical Cannabis for the Elderly

2/20/2014

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We are all familiar with the image of the forgetful stoner. Almost every smoker can recall a time where they couldn’t remember a name or fact; but now, almost counter intuitively, studies are beginning to show that marijuana use may be beneficial for older generations, especially those experiencing dementia.

Last July I wrote about David Nutt and his calls for government regulation to be loosened so that they no longer restrict research into the benefits and hazards of marijuana. These calls have not stopped—especially in light of the legalization of recreational use of marijuana in Washington State and Colorado and the subsequent domino effect those legalization efforts are having when it comes to other US states considering either legalization or decriminalization.

Now that the use of marijuana, both recreationally and legally, is becoming less of a taboo subject there have been calls for more studies on what illnesses and health issues marijuana is an acceptable treatment for as well as how patients will be affected in the long term.  As evidence builds that marijuana can be an effective treatment for medical issues that are faced by the elderly, questions have been raised about just how effective it is and what affect it will have on that population.

A recent study, conducted at Radboud University Medical Center and published in the February issue of Ageing Research Reviews, addressed marijuana use in the elderly, stating “although trials studying medical cannabinoids included older subjects, there is a lack of evidence of its use specifically in older patients.”

Specifically, marijuana use has in some cases proven effective at treating pain, nausea, loss of appetite and even dementia in the elderly. The authors of the study report that there are only five studies that directly relate to marijuana use primarily in elderly patients. In the opinion of the authors, it is not enough evidence to effectively draw conclusions about the affect medicinal marijuana use has on the aging mind.

The lack of a significant volume of research could lead to some doctors to avoid prescribing marijuana, simply because they aren’t confident in the available medical research.

In the report, the team states that, “Adequately powered trials are needed to assess the efficacy and safety of cannabinoids in older subjects, as the potential symptomatic benefit is especially attractive in this age group.” And also that, “It is highly worthwhile to conduct well designed studies on the efficacy of cannabinoids in symptom management in dementia, given the initial positive results on weight loss and agitation in this patient population, and the great lack of other effective and safe strategies in this field.”

Studying how marijuana affects both the aging population and younger generations is important because research has shown that young and old brains react to marijuana differently. In fact, some researchers predict that use of marijuana could potentially prevent the development of illnesses like Alzheimer’s disease later in life. In an interview with Leaf Science, neuroscience professor Gary Wenk stated, “I think all we can say safely so far is using low doses of marijuana for prolonged periods of time at some point in your life, possibly when you’re middle-aged to late middle-aged, is probably going to slow the onset or development of dementia, to the point where you’ll most likely die of old age before you get Alzheimer’s.”

If in addition to treating existing conditions marijuana could also be used for preventative medicine, it would be a total game changer. And, in that light, it seems appropriate for studies on marijuana’s effects on all ages to proceed without restriction.

Sources:

http://www.leafscience.com/2014/02/11/experts-want-research-medical-marijuana-elderly/

http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2014/02/04/marijuana-prevents-alzheimers-disease-major-researcher-suspects/

http://www.leafscience.com/2014/01/30/smoking-marijuana-might-best-way-prevent-alzheimers-disease/

Photo Credit: Leah Borchert

 

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