CCMA Political greenBrief
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
www.cannabismanufacturers.org
Many Law Enforcement Agencies Still Tracking Down Cartel Grows Despite Legalization
“Before, all we needed was patient paperwork for each of our collective members. We could cultivate, transport and distribute. We could manufacture cannabis products and dispense them to patients. This year, that would require four different licenses — for cultivation, distribution, manufacture and dispensary or delivery — to do what we were doing last year completely legally for 150 patients. And each of those permits costs tens of thousands of dollars.”How Airone, Founder/Director Of SF Based Sweetleaf Collective, On Compassion Programs Being Cut From CA’s New Regulations“Most departments’ budgets have never recovered from the 2008 financial collapse. So you took a $5 billion industry and threw it on local government and said, ‘Here, you need to regulate this.’ There has also been a tremendous burden placed on law enforcement.”Jonathan Feldman, Legislative Advocate For The CA Police Chief’s Association, On The Need For More Resources For The Booming Cannabis Industry In CA
Compassionate Care Programs Pushed Out Of California’s New Regulations (CA – Cannabis Regulations)
Cannabis Now (July 23, 2018) Donating medical marijuana to the ill, or compassionate care, was what first opened up California’s legal medical cannabis system a generation ago. But to the disappointment of advocates, California’s newly released draft regulations overseeing cannabis businesses create no room for compassionate care. This year, California is supposed to see the final enactment of the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA), approved by California voters in 2016’s Proposition 64. But authorities have thus far failed to address a glaring omission in the law: any provision for the regulation of “compassionate care” providers.
https://cannabisnow.com/compassionate-care-programs-in-californias-new-regulations/
Law Enforcement Experts Call On California To Boost Funding To Monitor Marijuana Market (CA – Cannabis Industry)
Marijuana.com (July 23, 2018) More resources are needed to police California’s massive cannabis industry – for the legal as well as the illicit trade, two California law enforcement and regulatory officials have warned during a meeting of California’s marijuana overseer. Jonathan Feldman, a legislative advocate for the California Police Chiefs Association, and Joe Devlin, Sacramento’s chief of cannabis policy and enforcement, gave a presentation at the California Bureau of Cannabis Control’s Advisory Committee meeting on Thursday, July 19, 2018, in San Diego. They shared a similar message to the committee: They don’t have adequate resources to effectively address illicit cannabis activities.
Trying To Increase Social Equity In The Cannabis Industry (CA – Cannabis Discussion)
L.A. Weekly (July 23, 2018) Nearly 200 people gathered in the Leimert Park Vision Theater on Tuesday, July 10, for a round-table discussion on social equity in L.A.’s cannabis industry, with speakers including such notables as Cat Packer, executive director of the city’s Department of Cannabis Regulation, and Hilary Bricken, a lawyer and legal advocate for Harris Bricken and the Canna Law Group. The idea was to provide an update on the status of L.A.’s licensing rollout for social equity applicants as well as solutions to ensure the city’s industry is headed in a direction that supports participants from communities of color and those otherwise targeted by the War on Drugs.
https://www.laweekly.com/news/trying-to-increase-social-equity-in-the-cannabis-industry-9686003
Cannabis, Coworking, And The Marijuana-Industry Land Rush (CA – Cannabis Market)
Curbed (July 24, 2018) In Los Angeles, a pair of soon-to-open coworking spaces will offer a twist on the formula popularized by behemoth WeWork and The Wing in New York City. Though they boast whiteboards and shared workspace, host regularly scheduled meet-ups and speaking events, and even offer access to advisers and investment capital, these LA incubators aren’t about computers—they’re about cannabis. Developers see the marijuana industry as an increasingly profitable arena for innovation and business—and coworking spaces as key to connecting players in an industry that, for some, has the frisson of the Wild West.
https://www.curbed.com/2018/7/24/17604852/real-estate-marijuana-retail-cannabis-coworking
Family Fights For 5-Year-Old’s Medical Marijuana Use In California School (CA – Medicinal Cannabis)
Today (July 24, 2018) Brooke Adams is a 5-year-old girl with Dravet syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy for which she takes CBD oil, a derivative of the marijuana plant. Brooke is now entering kindergarten and her parents say she’d need to access her cannabis while in school – but state law in California, where the Adamses live, prohibits marijuana in public schools. The Rincon Valley Union School District has suggested that a teacher go to Brooke’s home, but her parents want her to have social interaction. Brooke’s parents have decided to contest this decision, and a hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
https://www.today.com/parents/family-fights-5-year-old-s-medical-marijuana-use-california-t134056
California Is Paying People To Get High For Science (CA – Cannabis Research)
Herb (July 22, 2018) The University of California, San Diego’s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research and the California Highway Patrol (CHP) want you to drive high! Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration and the car is really just a simulation, but the researchers and state law enforcement are looking for volunteers to help them study the effects of cannabis on driving. The study will require participants to take blood, saliva and breathalyzer tests before and after smoking for a seven-hour period in order to determine whether roadside kits can be just as effective as lab blood testing.
https://herb.co/marijuana/news/uc-san-diego-california-drive-high-cannabis-roadside-tests/
Goleta’s New Cannabis Business License Fees Lowest In Area (CA – Licensing)
Noozhawk (July 22, 2018) Formalizing its embrace of legal cannabis ventures, the City of Goleta has established a set of fees and costs for businesses looking to establish such operations in the city. The City Council voted at a recent meeting to impose a business license application fee for commercial cannabis businesses of $2,320. The licenses must be renewed annually, at a cost of $559. The city also will charge a commercial cannabis land-use permit deposit of $1,000.
https://www.noozhawk.com/article/goletas_new_cannabis_business_license_fees_lowest_in_area_20180722
In Santa Cruz, Nation’s Oldest Cannabis Co-Op Still Searching For New Home (CA – Cannabusiness)
Santa Cruz Sentinel (July 23, 2018) It’s been seven months since the doors closed at the Wo/men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana, a storied nonprofit that is often credited with being the nation’s oldest cannabis collective. Founded in 1993, the cannabis collective counts hundreds of terminally and chronically ill patients among its members, according to director Valerie Corral — many of whom insist that cannabis-based treatments do a better job at managing their symptoms than pharmaceuticals. A majority are cancer patients, Corral said, but many others suffer from epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, autism and Crohn’s disease.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/article/NE/20180723/NEWS/180729914
These Are The Marijuana Stocks That Trade On The NASDAQ (USA – Cannabis Investments)
Pot Network (July 23, 2018) Although most marijuana stocks trade over the counter —that is not on a traditional stock market and thus much more opaque to the rest of the world —there are a few that trade on the Nasdaq as well as the New York Stock Exchange. The Nasdaq has always been the favorite of high tech companies, and marijuana stocks sometimes fall into that category. Investors new to the cannabis stock market may find stocks traded on the Nasdaq as a good place to dip their toes into the water when it comes to trading. After all, a more well-known exchange may make you feel more comfortable when it comes to investing in marijuana stocks.
https://www.potnetwork.com/news/these-are-marijuana-stocks-trade-nasdaq
That Purple Kush You’re Toking Might Be A Genetic Imposter (USA – Cannabis Research)
Wired (July 24, 2018) Cannabis strain names can get a bit … quirky (Lamb’s Bread, anyone?). But without them, patients that rely on marijuana to treat ailments like pain would be lost. If you want to treat seizures, you might want ACDC—a strain that expresses almost zero THC and very high CBD, a non-psychoactive cannabinoid—and stay away from the potentially panic-inducing Ghost OG, which verges on 25 percent THC. Unfortunately, there isn’t an official federal database with information about cannabis strains, for obvious reasons. After all, this hasn’t been a regulated industry—you’re not allowed to call a Gala apple a Red Delicious, but no one is stopping you from calling your crop ACDC when it is in fact Ghost OG.
https://www.wired.com/story/whats-in-a-cannabis-strain-name/
OPINION: Is Trump About To Legalize Cannabis? (Plus: Other Pot Stock News) (USA – Federal Legalization)
Nasdaq (July 24, 2018) As some of you may know, I’ve been following developments in the legal cannabis space for some time now. And I keep my followers at Fast-Track Millionaire up to date with any news that I think warrants our attention. Not only do I have firsthand experience in the corporate marijuana space — I also know many of the players. I also know what it’s going to take to make this into a legitimate gold mine for investors. It won’t be an easy path, but it’s worth the effort to stay abreast of the developments.
How This Investor Blazed A Path To Success In The Cannabis Industry (USA – Cannabusiness)
Entrepreneur (July 24, 2018) It was spring of 2015, and the green rush was on in New York. That state had concluded a long process and awarded the first five medical marijuana licenses to operators. Investor Gregg Smith saw many of his friends and former colleagues scouring the market, looking for any cannabis-related investments, with the most commonly sought-after being licenses to operate dispensaries. But while on the surface these looked like surefire bets, Smith believed that most opportunities he saw were significantly overpriced for the risk and earning potential.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/317053
The Massive Marijuana Market You Won’t See in Canada — At Least Not This Year (Canada – Recreational Cannabis)
The Motley Fool (July 22, 2018) You probably know by now that Canada is on course to allow the adult use of marijuana for recreational purposes in October. And you probably know that many project that the market will be big — with some estimating first-year sales of CA$5 billion and perhaps even more. What some might not realize, however, is that one potentially massive marijuana market won’t be open for business in Canada this year. But this market should be on the path to legalization in 2019, with companies such as Canopy Growth (NYSE:CGC) champing at the bit.
https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/07/22/the-massive-marijuana-market-you-wont-see-in-canad.aspx
Colorado’s Black Market Marijuana: Are Authorities Wrongly Blaming Cartels? (CO – Illicit Market)
The Gazette (July 22, 2018) A frequently used criticism by law enforcement of Colorado’s legalized marijuana industry is that it invited dangerous drug cartels into the state, where they operate in black market shadows. Law enforcement in El Paso, Teller and Pueblo counties say it in news releases when perpetrators are of Cuban or Mexican descent. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, said it in January, alleging “cartels have rushed into Colorado, resulting in 19 cartel operation busts in the last 18 months.” And 4th Judicial District Attorney Dan May repeated it to a crowd of community leaders May 1.
