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Los Angeles-based Med-X says it’s the first cannabis company to try and raise money– $15 million for a 21 percent stake — through online crowdfunding. At his site New Cannabis Ventures, the financial analyst Alan Brochstein calls the opportunity a “very bad idea” for investors. Med-X has a book value of $369,000 and no apparent sales, but has decided on $70 million valuation.
According to the company’s prospectus, “[Med-X] determined the price of the shares arbitrarily. The offering price of the shares of common stock has been determined by management, and bears no relationship to our assets, book value, potential earnings, net worth or any other recognized criteria of value.” Med-X did not respond to a request for comment.
Colorado dispensaries sold more than $996 million worth of cannabis in 2015.
A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators introduced a bill that would end the denial of government financial aid to students who have a drug conviction.
At The Influence, executive Shaleen Title writes that the industry needs to talk about reparations: “The marijuana industry is different from Hollywood, tech and every other industry currently struggling with a “diversity” problem. Because this industry was created by campaigns using talking points about the systematic destruction of communities of color to encourage voters to pass legalization.”
Massachusetts’ Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote to the Centers for Disease Control urging research into MED as an alternative to opiods. In New Hampshire, heroin dealers could face murder charges.
A study found that smoking pot before age 16 is associated with damage in the brain’s pre-frontal cortex, the area responsible for willpower, focus and planning skills. Labels warning about consuming during pregnancy will appear in Colorado later this year.
The Seattle Times introduced readers to Ian Karl Eisenberg who runs Seattle’s busiest dispensary. He’s been under fire for gentrifying his neighborhood and displacing black residents. Asked if cannabis was a moral business he said “Is working for Boeing and making warplanes moral?”
At the Super Bowl, San Francisco’s abundance of weed surprised visiting NFL dignitaries. The weekend was the biggest ever for California delivery serviceGreenRush with sales more than 300 percent above normal.
The Cannabist’s pot critic Jake Browne picked the five most stoner friendly Super Bowl ads. After the game, Denver’s winning quarterback Peyton Manning said he wanted a Budweiser.
A flurry of legislative action across the country: New Mexico may vote on REC in November. A Republican state rep filed a MED bill in Iowa. A Democrat in the Connecticut state legislature is pushing for REC. California lawmakers proposed a 15 percent tax on MED. Rhode Island lawmakers will consider a REC bill.
The Mormon church opposes MED, raising questions about whether a bill will pass in the Utah state senate. New Orleans may reduce penalties for possession. Vice has a dispatch from Puerto Rico’s legalization movement. The island territory is known for tough penalties.
A judge dismissed a pesticide-related lawsuit against LivWell, the largestgrower in Colorado, on grounds that the plaintiffs hadn’t been injured. Oregon ordered cannabis users to stop using the pesticide Guardian.
Oregon may start to allow out-of state residents to invest in cannabis companies. Like Colorado, the state currently has a two-year residency requirement.
Equities.com interviewed Dixie Brands CEO Tripp Keber.
A former federal judge asked President Obama to commute the 55-year sentence he delivered to a music producer who brought guns to pot deals. TheDEA searched the homes of two Portland-area extract factory owners. Their facility was shut down in December for code violations.
A judge ruled that Nevada acted constitutionally when it accepted registration fees for MED cards before product was available. The FDA sent warning lettersto eight CBD companies telling them to stop making health claims about their products. One of the targeted companies has the bizarre name Morguetorium and sells products called Morgue Juice.
In an interview with Leafly, blogger and journalist Andrew Sullivan said cannabis saved the lives of many AIDS patients in the 1990s, by enabling them to tolerate heavy pharmaceutical regimens. “I found it intolerable that the government would actively prevent people from saving their own lives.” Sullivan, who’s best known as an early advocate for same-sex marriage, edited “The Cannabis Closet” a book of writings by stereotype-defying users.
Deborah Dunafon, owner of Denver-area strip club Shotgun Willie’s has opened a pot shop across the parking lot. Meanwhile, her husband, Glendale, Colo. mayor Mike Dunafon, received an ethics complaint after voting to allow it. He was not her husband at the time of the vote, but they were living together.
Illinois Farmer Today found that local growers don’t like to discuss their work. The Cannabist published a stoner’s ski kit.
Actor and cannabis activist Woody Harrelson applied to open a MED dispensary in Honolulu County, Hawaii.
Alex Halperin
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