Breit Bart (June 26, 2018) California’s legal marijuana industry is about to see big business move in to buy up small players in expectation of continued high growth in the markets for medical and recreation pot. Sean Williams, who writes about biotech companies for the Motley Foot website, reported that the legal marijuana business is “budding in North America,” with revenues spiking 33 percent higher in 2017 to $9.7 billion.

Marijuana Business Daily (June 26, 2018) The latest legislative defeat of a proposed banking fix for U.S. cannabis firms has leaders across the industry skeptical that a solution is on the horizon any time soon. A proposal that would have offered protections for financial institutions that open bank accounts for legal cannabis firms was sidelined late last week by the U.S. Senate Appropriations committee. The move follows the defeat of a parallel amendment in the House a week earlier.

Marijuana Business Daily (June 26, 2018) The California Cannabis Industry Association (CCIA) dropped its affiliate status with the National Cannabis Industry Association to join NCIA’s Allied Associations Program. The move is something of a departure for the California trade association, as the dues for its roughly 460 members now will stay with the state group instead of going to NCIA. The Ohio branch of NCIA is making the same move.

San Francisco Chronicle (June 25, 2018) Almost as soon as Alison Ettel’s colleagues in the Bay Area cannabis industry recognized her as “#PermitPatty,” they began purging her products from their shelves. Several Bay Area marijuana dispensaries said they will no longer carry TreatWell Health products after Ettel, the company’s founder, was outed as the notorious white San Francisco woman caught on a viral video supposedly calling police on an 8-year-old African American girl for selling water without a permit.

CNBC (June 26, 2018) Justin Gover, the CEO of GW Pharmaceuticals, told CNBC his company’s new drug will pave the way for other medications derived from marijuana. On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration approved the company’s new epilepsy drug, Epidiolex, the first cannabis-based drug the U.S. regulator has approved. The medication is made from cannabidiol (CBD), one of hundreds of molecules found in marijuana plants. However, it is not known to produce a high.

STAT (June 26, 2018) The Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Epidiolex, a medication derived from cannabis, could be life-changing for Americans suffering from certain types of epilepsy. It may also have far-reaching implications for U.S. marijuana policy. Epidiolex, made by GW Pharmaceuticals, is the first medication derived from the cannabis plant ever approved by the FDA. It has in the past approved synthetic formulations of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana.

The Verge (June 25, 2018) For the first time, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug made from cannabis. Epidiolex treats severe forms of childhood epilepsy — but the Drug Enforcement Administration will need to reclassify this form of cannabis before the drug can be put on the market. For almost half a century, the DEA has classified cannabis as a Schedule I drug, along with heroin and LSD. But now the FDA has approved Epidiolex as a medical drug.

PR Newswire (June 26, 2018) Cannabis kings are becoming real estate moguls; a surprising but calculated trend. Why? Despite mergers, acquisitions, and high valuations making the news on a near daily basis, the industry is still growing. Just as McDonald’s became a global power in the fast food market by leasing land to all of their franchisees, leading cannabis players are making big moves through real estate investment.

Forbes (June 26, 2018) In their combined executive summary “The State of Legal Marijuana Markets, 6th Edition” (SOLMM), Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics report, “Cannabis saw its first US$5-billion company in 2017, Canadian licensed producer Canopy Growth [CG].” Capitalized at that level, the company posted $54 million in cannabis revenue. It is no wonder the giant alcohol conglomerate Constellation Brands earlier invested $190.8 million in CG, an almost 10% stake in a company formed just four years ago.

Forbes (June 27, 2018) This fall, Canada is set to become the 2nd nation in the world to allow legal consumption of recreational marijuana. The Cannabis Act, passed by the Canadian Senate on June 21, controls and regulates the growth, distribution and sale of recreational marijuana in Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expects everything to be in place for consumption to begin on October 17. The U.S. would become the largest potential market for legal cannabis. So, it makes sense to ask: “Will it actually happen here?

OUT (June 26, 2018) For years following the emergence of the AIDS epidemic in 1980, there was little knowledge as to what the virus was and how to suppress it. AIDS was a death sentence, and while smoking marijuana didn’t stop the virus from destroying the body, it did increase the quality of life for one’s last months following diagnosis. Marijuana helped with nausea and wasting syndrome. Those who smoked marijuana got “the munchies” and were finally able to consume enough calories to no longer look and feel sick.

Marijuana Business Daily (June 27, 2018) Oklahoma voters on Tuesday approved an open-market medical marijuana program: no caps on the number of business licenses, and doctors can recommend MMJ for any patient ailment. Voters supported the measure by a double-digit margin despite a strong, last-minute opposition effort by a coalition that included the Oklahoma State Medical Association, religious leaders, law enforcement agencies and business groups in this conservative state.

Marijuana.com (June 25, 2018) Dr. Janice Knox was the first in her immediate family of four doctors to leave traditional medicine. After 35 years of working as an anesthesiologist, she began researching cannabis therapeutics and endocannabinology, a specialty concerned with the study and treatment of the body’s endocannabinoid system.