YubaNet (July 13, 2018) California’s three state cannabis licensing authorities today announced the publication of proposed regulations in the California Regulatory Notice Register, the first step toward adopting non-emergency regulations. This publication is the start of the formal rulemaking process and marks the opening of the 45-day public comment period. The current emergency regulations, adopted by the Bureau of Cannabis Control, California Department of Public Health and California Department of Food and Agriculture in December 2017 and readopted in June 2018, were originally issued through the emergency rulemaking process to meet the legislative mandate to open California’s regulated cannabis market on January 1, 2018.

The Orange Country Register (July 13, 2018) Cannabis retailers soon may be able to deliver marijuana anywhere in California, no matter what city or county rules say. Also, it’s likely that medical marijuana patients will be allowed to buy edibles infused with cannabis more potent than currently permitted under state law. And on another front, the rules for what companies can and can’t say when advertising cannabis products soon could become more strict. All three shifts are among the new rules proposed Friday by state regulators in their long-awaited draft of permanent regulations for California’s cannabis industry.

ABC 7 News (July 13, 2018) The legal cannabis industry is just getting off the ground and communities across California are still trying to sort out the rules. One of the state’s most remote counties may hold the key to success. It’s been the epicenter of pot growing for decades: Humboldt County. Humboldt County was the first in the state to pass land use rules regulating cannabis grows of medical marijuana in 2016. But those existing rules became more complicated when legalized recreational cannabis started hitting the market this year.

Motley Fool (July 13, 2018) This has been a year of big changes for the marijuana industry. Namely, our neighbor to the north passed bill C-45 on June 19, which also is known as the Cannabis Act. It will allow Canada to become the first industrialized nation in the world and second, overall, to legalize recreational marijuana for adults. As you may have guessed, the possibility of adding $5 billion in annual sales has caused quite a stir with growers and investors.

ABC 10 News (July 14, 2018) It’s legal for Californians to smoke marijuana now, but how soon after lighting up is it safe to drive? UC San Diego researchers are trying to figure that out to help both users and law enforcement. UCSD’s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR) teamed up with the California Highway Patrol for the study, which was authorized by the California Legislature.

Los Angeles Times (July 13, 2018) State and local officials say they are alarmed by a spike in calls they have received to report children and teenagers ingesting marijuana products since California legalized cannabis for recreational use by adults in 2016. The number of calls to poison control centers involving people 19 and younger who were exposed to marijuana has steadily risen from 347 three years ago to 588 last year. In the first six months of this year, there have been 386 calls to poison control centers involving marijuana exposure by underage people.

Herb (July 13, 2018) A bill awaiting a vote in the California Senate aims to close a loophole in consumer privacy for people buying cannabis in the state’s dispensaries that few are aware of. Assemblymember Evan Low introduced AB-2402 to the California Assembly in February and it will soon be voted on by the Senate. California, unlike some other states with recreational or medical cannabis, has no law preventing the collection or sale of consumer information by cannabis businesses. The bill aims to fix that before the nation’s largest cannabis economy comes fully online.

City Watch L.A. (July 12, 2018) According to the Attorney General’s annual crime report for 2017, arrests for marijuana offenses dropped precipitously in California following the passage of Proposition 64, which legalized the recreational use for adults in November 2016. A total of 6,065 marijuana arrests took place in 2017, versus 13,810 arrests in 2016, a drop of 56%. Felony arrests for marijuana fell a whopping 74% to 2,086 in 2017 from 7,949 in 2016. Under Prop. 64, the majority of felony offenses were reduced to misdemeanors. Felony arrests have plummeted from 13,300 since 2014.

Motley Fool (July 15, 2018) Practically everywhere you look, legal cannabis is expanding at a breakneck pace. For instance, Canada passed the Cannabis Act (officially bill C-45) on June 19, setting up Oct. 17 to be the first day that adults can legally purchase recreational weed. Canada is also the first industrialized country in the world to have given the green light to adult-use cannabis. But when it comes to the United States, we’re going nowhere fast, at least at the federal level. Despite 30 states having passed broad-sweeping medical cannabis laws since 1996, including nine states that also allow adults to consume recreational pot, the federal government has stood firm on its view of marijuana as a Schedule I substance.

CTV News (July 14, 2018) With the impending legalization of recreational marijuana this fall, Canadians with investments in American pot companies will have to be careful crossing the U.S. border following the news that one prominent businessman was banned for life. Sam Znaimer is a prominent venture capitalist in Vancouver who started investing in budding U.S. cannabis startup companies a few years ago. In May, Znaimer was trying to travel to the States when he was stopped by border officials. During the questioning, he said he was never asked about his personal consumption of the drug, which is legal in several U.S. states, but not federally.

Marijuana.com (July 14, 2018) Hawaii’s governor announced some noteworthy improvements — and one major disappointment — for the state’s  medical marijuana program, Michigan cultivates new conditions for prospective patients, and New York regulators rush to replace opioids with medicinal cannabis. For those in Michigan suffering from arthritis, autism, chronic pain, colitis, inflammatory bowel disease, obsessive compulsive disorder, Parkinson’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, spinal cord injury, Tourette syndrome, and ulcerative colitis: Life is about to get a little less painful.