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This is WeedWeek, your Saturday morning rundown on America’s most interesting industry. Share it with the link WeedWeek.net and like it on Facebook. I don’t give out readers’ names or contact information.
Here’s the news:
U.S. Legal marijuana sales climbed to $5.4 billion in 2015 up from $4.6 billion in 2014, according to a report from The ArcView Group and New Frontier. REC sales climbed from $351 million to $998 million and the report predicted sales of $6.7 billion in 2016. (The $4.6 billion in sales is a upwards revision of an oft-cited 2.7 billion figure.) The report predicts that sales will rise to more than $21 billion in 2020, with REC accounting for more than half of revenue.
The City of Denver released 28,000 infused products that it had recalled last year for pesticides. The products, made by EdiPure and Gaia’s garden contain lower levels of the chemicals than is permitted on food. This reversal comes amid growing tensions and fingerpointing between producers, regulators and testing labs over recalls. On his blog Cannabis Candor, consultant Adam Koh has written some very in-depth posts about Colorado’s pesticide problem, with tough words for the state’s Marijuana Enforcement Division, and its METRC database.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that heavy marijuana use can lead to reduced cognitive abilities in middle age.
Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who won the Iowa caucus, doesn’t support legalization but said he believes it’s a legitimate question for states to decide. This might be the only issue where the conservative Senator aligns with President Obama, who said he won’t push for legalization during his last months in office. Unlike the president, I’d bet Cruz doesn’t have a strain named for him, but if you’re aware of one, or other candidate strains, definitely write to alexhalperin@gmail.com with the details. I’ll protect the anonymity of responders if desired.
National Geographic visited towns in the Indian Himalayas where farming families survive by growing cannabis and rolling it into finger hash also known as charas. “Nearly 400 of the 640 districts in India have cannabis cultivation,” says Romesh Bhattacharji, ex-Narcotics Commissioner of India. “It’s time for the Indian Government to stop being a slave of UN-backed policies: since 1985, cannabis use and cultivation has only proliferated. Prohibition has failed.”
The photographs by Andrea de Franciscis are gorgeous.
Illinois’s Republican governor Bruce Rauner declined to expand the conditions eligible for MED, contributing to a gloomy market outlook for the state. A proposed bill in Colorado would allow dispensaries to apply for “special events permits.” It doesn’t specify whether these permits would allow selling, consumption or both, but it’s clear that food must be available.
Oregon, which does not currently allow REC edibles, might limit packages to 50 mg of THC and individual doses to 5 milligrams, half of what’s allowed in Washington and Colorado. A proposed bill in the Beaver State would allow REC dispensaries to sell MED.
Republicans in Alabama’s state legislature are urging the feds to reform marijuana laws. Three New Jersey MED dispensaries and others nationwide have had their pages deleted by Facebook. Green Flower Media, which doesn’t touch the plant, had its account closed by Chase Bank.
Toronto-based firm Jacob Securities, which had planned to raise a cannabis investment fund advised by “Cannabis Queen of Beverly Hills” Cheryl Shuman, has imploded. The proposed cannabis fund contributed to its difficulties according to New Cannabis Ventures. The big Canadian bank CIBC forecasted legal sales up north that could reach $10 billion annually.
Several Seattle MED business owners are suing the state’s Liquor and Cannabis Board over the awarding of new licenses in the city. “The entire process is a mess,” one plaintiff said in a statement. “I am watching phantom entities gobble up scarce licenses that will put real people out of business.”
An Australian man was acquitted for driving nine days after smoking pot, which throws the existing rules in New South Wales state into doubt. He had previously been pulled over and was told to wait a week after smoking to drive.
A Native American church is suing the U.S. Postal Service over confiscating “sacramental” MED sent in the mail to Ohio.
Washington D.C. may license pot cafes. Detroit dispensaries will have to apply for licenses in March. The battle for Delaware MED licenses is on. Alaska’s REC rules are set.
No one knows how much water goes into growing Colorado’s pot crop, but it appears lower than the six or more gallons per plant per day that has been reported in California.
Sacramento became to biggest city in the state to allow industrial-scale growing. California named its first MED czar, Lori Ajax, who’s currently chief deputy director of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control department. Her Medical Marijuana Regulation Bureau is part of the ABC. California’s Democratic Governor Jerry Brown abolished the March 1 deadline for cities and counties to create their own MED industry regulations or accept the state’s.
Yes, cannabis companies pay taxes. CNBC also brings up 280E, the section of the tax code that the industry considers an unfair burden. Electrum Partners’ Leslie Bocskor discussed his outlook on the finance channel as well.
In a first, Colorado farm CBDRx won permission from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to market its hemp as organic. As a federally illegal drug, Marijuana cannot legally call itself organic, even if a crop meets all of the criteria. The CBDRx further complicates hemp’s legal status; the federal government’s definition of hemp is cannabis with minimal THC content.
The owner of shuttered Colorado business VIP Cannabis pleaded guilty to charges stemming from November 2013 federal raids. (These remain the largest federal operation ever taken against a Colorado MED business.) Glendale Colorado Mayor Mike Dunafon has been slapped with an ethics complaint for voting to approve a REC dispensary owned by the woman who’s now his wife.
The University of East Anglia’s Dr. Peter McCormick (Ph.D) did an Ask Me Anything on Reddit to discuss his research on decoupling THC’s medical use as a pain reliever from its “negative cognitive side effects.”
Authorities in Northern Ireland found a Vietnamese national who had been trafficked into the country working in an illegal cannabis facility surviving on canned dog food.
Leo vapes. But not at the Oscars.
Tomorrow’s Super Bowl in Silicon Valley is a marketing opportunity: at least one dispensary assembled tailgate packages that include a “medicated pizza” called Weezza.
My improving Web presence owes a great deal to Joshua Jennings or “Jodajen.” Check out his site, he may be able to help you.
Alex
@alexhalperin
All rights reserved.
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