Search Results for "maine"

Medical Marijuana Bill Narrowly Fails in Utah Senate

3/12/2015

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The Republican-controlled Senate in Utah voted down a bill Monday night that would have allowed people with chronic and debilitating diseases in the state access to medical marijuana products.

SB 259 failed 15-14, with several senators citing concerns with the language in the bill. Senator Todd Weiler (R-Wood Cross) said that he feared the bill would prevent police from arresting those with a medical card for the possession methamphetamine or cocaine paraphernalia. Senator Mark Madsen (R-Saratoga Springs) the sponsor of the bill, has stated that Weiler is misrepresenting the language in the bill.

Under the bill, smoking marijuana would have remained illegal, but businesses would have been permitted to grow the crop and sell MMJ products, including brownies, candies, and lozenges. Senator Madsen had begun research on the issue after years of back pain, and eventually visited Colorado on his doctor’s recommendation to experiment with marijuana-based solutions.

Madsen viewed the bill as a measure to bring compassion and freedom to those in pain, and stated that he was disheartened by what he saw as fear in the legislative opposition.

Sources:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=757&sid=33766250

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/health-family/article13165358.html

Photo Credit: vxla

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How to Brand Your Cannabusiness for Optimal Success

2/03/2015

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Bacardi Rum began in a tin roof distillery with bats in the rafters. Burt Shavitz, founder of the ubiquitous Burt’s Bees, had his start selling honey at a roadside stand in Maine. Diamonds were not commonly used as symbols of love until 1947 when a copywriter named Frances Gerety coined the phrase “a diamond is forever” and catapulted DeBeers Diamonds to the forefront of the diamond industry. All three companies fill a consumer need by providing high quality products, but all three also know one of the most important business strategies: they know how to brand themselves.

If you haven’t put some serious thought into how to brand your cannabis business, it’s time to begin. Are you looking for a short-term fix or do you want to establish your company as one of the early innovators in the newly emerging medical and recreational marijuana industry?

Legalities might mean now is not the time for aggressive advertising, but you can still put thought into your brand and develop a campaign, so when all the laws and restrictions in your area of business finally fall away, you’ll be ready to launch.

Leigh Coulter, President of GGS Structures Inc., one of the leading suppliers of integrated systems for growing cannabis believes everything about a business grows from branding. “A brand is an image and a feeling about a specific product, service or group of products and services,” she says. “You need to clearly solidify in your mind that feeling and image that you want your brand to become.”

One of the most important fist steps is choosing a name. “The name is everything,” says Coulter. “It’s how you set yourself apart from other brands or strains. It should define who you are today without limiting your potential growth. And in the interconnected world, the name has to be much more than just a name. It has to be an available url, a Facebook page, a Youtube site, a Twitter handle.”

One example of what Coulter calls a “brilliant name branding strategy” is Privateer’s Marley Naturals. She says, “It’s clean. It’s pure. It’s natural. It’s basically a retroactive celebrity endorsement. A universally recognized name that evokes respect for the pioneers who paved the way for today’s freedoms.”

Branding can make or break a business. While many accomplished professionals are working hard to change the public perception of marijuana, Coulter says “There are also a lot of dreamers with half-baked ideas and branding that leaves a negative impression. In this way our industry is also our worst enemy because the press is sure to pick up on what is sensationally bad even more frequently than what is sensationally good.”

Successful branding is the result of a careful, targeted marketing strategy. Do you want to grow for the recreational or medical community? You’ll want to focus your language and images to what matters to the consumers you plan to cater to.

Who knows? Maybe Fruit Loops or Purple Kush will be to recreational marijuana what Chateau Montelena Chardonnay was to the wine world.

Photo Credit: Martin Brochhaus

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Governor Deal Kills Georgia MMJ Bill

1/13/2015

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Georgia Governor Nathan Deal made headlines last week for supporting a ‘new bill to legalize medical marijuana.’ This new bill would kill Georgians’ chances at being able to develop a localized medical marijuana industry, and offers zero opportunities to purchase medicine within state lines.

Patients and their families that had been awaiting the opportunity to access medical marijuana legally were disappointed to learn that the new bill, the result of a closed-door discussion between Deal and State Rep. Allen Peake (R-Macon), would merely offer prosecutorial “immunity” for “certain citizens” who brought legally-purchased marijuana into Georgia from other states. This would amount to forcing people to break federal law in order to take advantage of the program, a fact that Deal and Peake have not acknowledged, choosing instead to repeat the line that the bill will “be bringing Georgia families back home.”

James Bell, director of Georgia’s Campaign for Access Reform and Education (C.A.R.E.) Project, condemned the move: “They have pulled the wool over our eyes and pulled the rug out from under the citizens of Georgia that support medical marijuana. They have betrayed the will and desire of the people of Georgia with their political shenanigans.”

Rep. Peake, meanwhile, argued that “we need to conduct more research on setting an in-state growing scenario in order to provide the best and most effective infrastructure for our citizens.” The bill does provide for the creation of a council charged with performing research in order to establish a regulatory model for a Georgian medical marijuana growth and distribution system in the future.

While Peake called the HB 1 “a huge step forward,” Blaine and Shannon Cloud, whose daughter Alaina suffers from seizures, expressed dismay in an interview with WSB-TV Atlanta. Shannon Cloud said that it was “a disappointing day for all of the families because we had high hopes this was going to be the year and Georgia was actually going to do it the right way.”

Medical marijuana advocates in Georgia had received some unexpected help last year when Rep. Peake adopted the issue and filed a house bill that focused on making CBD oil (Cannabidiol) available for patients with epilepsy. The bill failed to pass, but in November Peake pre-filed House Bill 1 for the 2015 legislative session, promising constituents that it would allow them to obtain cannabis oil in the state.

Peake acknowledged this in a statement made Friday:

“Last year, I made a promise to bring our families home and to give Georgians a chance to obtain cannabis oil in our state without fear of prosecution, and this has remained a priority. The changes that we have agreed upon for HB 1 vary slightly from the original version, but the bottom line is that we will be bringing Georgia families back home.”

Meanwhile, the Georgia C.A.R.E. project has encouraged the public to abandon HB 1 and to focus attention instead on Senator Curt Thompson’s (D) Senate Bill 7, which would allow Georgian physicians to recommend certain patients up to two ounces of medical marijuana.

Sources:

http://www.gacareproject.com/governor-nathan-deal-kills-medical-marijuana-bill/

http://www.gacareproject.com/georgia-marijuana-legislation-2015-three-bills-filed/

http://v2010.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=283859

http://www.peachtreenorml.org/news/georgia-marijuana-legalization-2015

Photo Credit: Brett Weinstein

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Detroit Has More Dispensaries Than Grocery Stores

1/09/2015

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“Detroit has three casinos, 23 libraries,  107 parks, 115 grocery stores, and – wait for it – 180 medical marijuana dispensaries.”

That’s the opening line of a recent Daily Caller article highlighting the explosive growth of the Detroit medical marijuana dispensary scene, which has really taken off in recent years. Currently, Michigan state law allows medical marijuana use for qualifying patients, but the issue of dispensaries has remained largely unregulated.

In an interview with CBS Detroit, City Councilman James Tate called the industry “the next big thing in the city of Detroit.”

Observing the flow of new businesses, however, Tate has expressed concerns about the possible over-saturation of dispensaries. “It’s not about being against it. It’s about making sure that we’re able to regulate it in a way that ensures the best quality of life for the residents who live in that area.”

A medical marijuana bill was considered by the legislature in December, but failed to pass through the Senate. That bill, however, did not address the issue of dispensaries. Rather, it would have given patients access to non-smokable medicine such as marijuana-infused edibles or tinctures.

Concerned individuals are now looking to the state legislature to set up regulations for dispensaries.

Sources:

http://dailycaller.com/2015/01/08/detroit-has-more-medical-marijuana-dispensaries-than-it-can-count/

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2015/01/08/180-marijuana-dispensaries-pop-up-in-detroit-this-is-the-next-big-thing-in-the-city/

Photo Credit: paul bica

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Brief: ATM Services Unexpectedly Pulled from Hundreds of Marijuana Retail Stores

10/25/2014

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On Wednesday, cashless ATM services were pulled from hundreds of legal marijuana dispensaries and retail marijuana shops. According to Marijuana Business Daily, at least 300 to 400 shops were affected by the sudden drop of services.

Cashless ATM services are especially useful to the cannabis industry because it allows patients and recreational consumers to use their debit or credit cards to pay for cannabis as if it were a cash withdrawal.

“We found out about this issue first-hand when ours went down this morning,” said Kayvan Khalatbari, co-founder of Denver Relief, on Wednesday. “We’ve had to move to all-cash today. It was pretty frustrating. We lost some business when that went down and customers didn’t have any cash on them.” Khalatbari said that Denver Relief experienced a 30% loss of sales, but that a new cashless ATM service would be installed by next week.

The majority of affected ATM machines are tied to MetaBank, a major player in the U.S. ATM industry. The Denver Post reported that the banking institution had warned the cannabis industry in January that machines located in marijuana businesses were in violation of federal banking rules. The system, however, had remained in place until this week — more than 10 months later, and only days after several Colorado bankers said they’ve received approval from regulators to continue serving the cannabis industry.

Sources:

https://mmjbusinessdaily.com/breaking-100s-of-marijuana-stores-abruptly-cut-off-from-cashless-atm-accounts/

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_26785077/hundreds-atms-unplugged-legal-pot-shops-colorado-washington

Photo Credit: William Grootonk

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Kentucky Hemp: First Crop Successfully Harvested, Industry’s Future Looking Strong

9/26/2014

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In May of this year, Kentucky sued the federal government for confiscating the state’s legally-acquired Italian hemp seeds, sparking a fiasco that enraged hemp supporters nationwide. The seeds were eventually returned and planted as part of a pilot crop for Kentucky’s industrial hemp industry. That pilot crop was harvested earlier this week and has been called a great success.

“There’s a great possibility that [hemp] could become a viable crop in Kentucky,” said David Williams, a University of Kentucky agronomist. Williams is an overseer of operations at the UK hemp research plot. “It’s not the most complicated plant to grow for farmers. I think they would pick up on it immediately with very little guidance.”

Six universities and twelve farmers were involved in Kentucky’s hemp experiment, which took place on about 15 acres of land scattered throughout the state. The UK plot reportedly grew quickly and easily: “The plants … have been allowed to grow on their own, and they’ve done just fine,” Williams said.

The hemp harvested this week was a variety grown for fiber production. The plants will remain in the field for two more weeks, however, as part of the curing process.

Hemp, the non-psychoactive sister plant to cannabis, was once considered a staple crop by Kentucky farmers. During the federal government’s crackdown on marijuana in the 1970s, however, growing hemp was also outlawed and the American hemp industry disappeared. Under the most recent Farm Bill, however, the federal government ruled to allow states that have legalized hemp cultivation to begin experimentation with industrializing the plant once more.

A thief reportedly stole several plants during the night last week. Adam Watson, the state’s hemp program coordinator, explained that the thief likely didn’t understand it was hemp and not marijuana being grown on the eastern Kentucky plot. “You can’t use it to get high,” he said. “So we expect it’s … a case of mistaken identity.”

Kentucky is not alone in its experimentation with industrial hemp. Twelve other states — California, Colorado, Hawaii, Indiana, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and West Virginia — have passed legislation allowing industrial hemp for research and/or commercial purposes. Meanwhile, actual licenses for growing pilot hemp crops were issued to farmers this year in Kentucky, Colorado, and Vermont.

Though this year’s hemp-growing season has concluded, Kentucky farmers are already looking forward to next year’s crop. After attending this year’s harvest, Everett McIntosh, a farmer from Garrard County, explained that he was curious about converting some of his own land into hemp production. “There’s so much work invested in farming that this would seem much more economical, if they can come up with processing locations,” he said. “That’s the only problem right now is to see who’s going to invest in that.”

Sources:

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/37136/hemp-crop-successfully-harvested-in-kentucky/

Photo Credit: Chris H

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Legal Cannabis Research: Dropping the Curtain on Marijuana Prohibition?

3/26/2014

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According to federal law, marijuana is a highly-dangerous drug. The DEA lists it as a schedule 1 narcotic, meaning that it has no federally-recognized medical properties. And until recently, though nearly half the states in the country have adjusted state laws to allow for medical marijuana programs, the federal government has remained inflexible on the issue, despite surmounting legalization and awareness efforts nationwide.

In Colorado, where buying a sack of weed is as easy as buying a bottle of scotch, some have questioned why cannabis research hasn’t become commonplace since the state’s marijuana-legalizing Amendment 64. “It remains illegal under federal law for any person to import, manufacture, distribute, possess, or use marijuana,” explains one memo from the University of Colorado’s president, and “Conducting unapproved marijuana-related research could adversely affect the University of Colorado’s ability to seek federal research funding or federal financial aid.”

Ultimately, researchers wishing to study marijuana can only do so at the grace of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), no matter cannabis’ incredibly commonplace accessibility.

Appeasing federal bureaucracy on this issue has proven to be difficult, but not impossible. In a letter delivered earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services finally signed off on one determined research group’s request to study medical marijuana. The research team is called the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), and several scientists from the group have been pushing for years to get this experiment approved. NIDA has continually stalled their progress until now. The group’s goal is to demonstrate that marijuana, whether it’s smoked or vaporized, has distinct medical benefits in treating U.S. veterans suffering from PTSD.

When considering the feds’ long-overdue submission, MAPS communications director Brad Burge concludes, “It really is a concrete advance in how the U.S. federal government is approaching medical marijuana drug development research.” At least some part of the federal government is finally demonstrating awareness of the DEA’s absurdly-high classification of cannabis, and this ruling “clears the way for marijuana to actually be a prescription drug.”

“The idea is to get marijuana – the whole plant – approved as a prescription drug that physicians can then prescribe,” Burge explains, because right now doctors simply can’t go further than just recommending medical marijuana, and even that puts both doctor and patient at risk of federal prosecution.

Call me an optimistic observer, but this advancement may be the first of many political victories for the medical marijuana community and cannabis industry as a whole: if the feds are willing to allow medical research on a substance supposedly as dangerous and addictive as heroin or PCP, something has certainly changed for the good. And if it so happens that cannabis, a purely natural substance, is proven capable of actually replacing swaths of pharmaceutical chemicals and controversial prescription drugs, I believe we can trust in the already-riled American public to be truly scrambling to demand marijuana’s federal declassification.

Sources:

http://www.leafscience.com/2014/03/18/u-s-government-clears-way-medical-marijuana-research/

http://www.leafscience.com/2014/03/12/marijuana-still-limits-researchers-colorado/

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/27956/michigan-medical-marijuana-law-expands-include-patients-ptsd/

Photo Credit: Lenny Montana

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State of the Union Lacks Important Legalization Topic

1/30/2014

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President Obama gave his fifth State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, in which he touched upon a variety of topics that predictably resonated well with liberal-minded citizens. And while it’s great to hear about immigration reform and the very real problem of income inequality between genders, there remained a looming issue in the American sociopolitical climate that should have been addressed.  This being, of course, the trending phenomenon that is marijuana legalization.

In case you missed it, Obama already conceded last week that weed is less dangerous than alcohol, and his own administration is currently planning new banking regulations that will allow banks to do business with marijuana companies. Meanwhile, nearly half the states in the country have legalized cannabis for medical use, and the recreational legalization experiments in Colorado and Washington have frequented national headlines since they were passed more than a year ago – where is the presidential recognition that this movement deserves? Everyone else – or, rather, the majority of the American public (58%) – is on board with legalization. Is the president afraid of acknowledging the elephant in the room that is the bountiful, rapidly-growing cannabis industry?

Nick Gillespie of Reason.com argues yes, calling the president’s continued reluctance to openly address the issue “unfathomable, bottomless, contemptible cowardice.” This reaction might seem extreme, but the very real issue of marijuana legalization has been steadily emerging for years, yet presidential acknowledgment has been consistently dismissive with little to no recognition of the actual arguments being made. After his most recent progressive admissions, for example, Obama made an immediate clarification to ensure political murkiness: “those who argue that legalizing marijuana is a panacea and it solves all these social problems I think are probably overstating the case. There is a lot of hair on that policy.”

And that’s all we really get to hear. There are some slippery-slope scenarios, of course, but that’s a form of rhetorical fallacy too overused to suffice. How is the case being overstated? Huge increases in tax revenue, check. Save millions of taxpayers’ dollars by abandoning the unwinnable and socially-harmful war on drugs, check. Bring a potentially-dangerous (yet incredibly popular) substance out of the control of criminals and into the hands of experts who can supervise and regulate its distribution, check. The list goes on, but everyone already knows how that goes – we’ve been hearing about it for years, now. What we haven’t heard is what precisely gives that policy, as the president put it, so much “hair.”

Tom McKay, writer for PolicyMic, believes that, in neglecting to address marijuana legalization and its growing popularity, Obama “speaks to an administration skeptical about ceding any political ground to the opposition, even when the political risks aren’t very high.” Which begs the question: is it possible that this vexing stubbornness has actually pervaded all avenues of modern politics? Considering the current state of congress, it seems that he answer, of course, is yes.

And in that case, I have to agree with Mr. Gillespie.  Obama’s recent comments to the New Yorker “illustrate how absolutely terrified politicians are to do the right thing – even when the vast majority of Americans agree with them – and why lasting change almost always comes from the bottom up rather than from the top down.”  Instead of this painfully-cautious governing body, we need leadership willing to accept change as the majority of Americans desire it. The legalization movement has waited long enough.

Sources:

http://www.policymic.com/articles/80421/two-huge-issues-notably-absent-from-obama-s-speech-marijuana-and-gay-rights

http://ideas.time.com/2014/01/24/obama-pot-marijuana-cowardice/

Photo Credit: James Omalley

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