A briefcase packed full of cash sits open on a glass table, surrounded by more cash.

Massachusetts Regulators Suggest State-Run Bank for Cannabis Industry

2/22/2018

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The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission is suggesting the creation of a state-run bank to serve the state’s canna-businesses after Chairman Steve Hoffman pointed out that no local banks or credit unions have indicated they would provide services to the industry, the Boston Globe reports.

“There’s a high degree of urgency, so it’s something we need to start talking about. Unfortunately, it’s a real possibility. We’re working as hard as we can to preempt that, but we can’t force any bank or credit union to service this industry.” – Hoffman to the Globe

The commission is concerned that a high-volume, cash-only industry would not only make the businesses a target for crime but would also complicate tax payments and product tracking efforts.

Gov. Charlie Baker’s office told the Globe that there are currently no plans to create such an entity. The measure would likely need legislative approval. According to the report, only Century Bank of Somerville is currently offering services to the state’s medical cannabis businesses. Massachusetts recreational cannabis industry is expected to be worth $1 billion by 2020. The state Department of Revenue expects to collect between $44 million and $82 million in cannabis-derived taxes in the next fiscal year.

Federally, some officials support allowing canna-businesses to access financial services. Earlier this month, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the agency doesn’t “want bags of cash” and “want to make sure [the federal government] can collect [the] necessary taxes and other things.” In January, attorney generals from 17 states, Washington. D.C. and Guam sent a letter to Congress urging them to “advance legislation that would allow states that have legalized medical or recreational use of marijuana to bring that commerce into the banking system.”

Massachusetts’ recreational cannabis industry is expected to come online July 1.

End

Kansas Senate to Vote on Industrial Hemp Legislation

2/22/2018

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The Kansas Senate is expected to vote today on an industrial hemp legalization measure that would create a pilot program allowing government agencies, institutes of higher education, and licensed individuals to cultivate the crop for research and development purposes, according to a Hutchinson News report. A less restrictive industrial hemp proposal passed the House 103-18 last year but did not have enough support in the Senate to come to the floor for a vote.

If the measure is approved by the Senate it will move to the House Agriculture Committee whose chairman, Rep. Kyle Hoffman, called the revised legislation “cleaner and more concise” than its predecessor.

What’s included in the legislation:

  • The state Department of Agriculture, either alone or with an institute of higher education, could cultivate industrial hemp for R&D purposes. The Agriculture Department’s R&D site would be located in Russell County.
  • Individuals, corporations, and associations could receive licenses to grow industrial hemp. The licenses would need to be renewed annually.
  • Licensees would undergo state and federal criminal background checks, including fingerprints. Convicted felons would not be eligible to receive a license.
  • The Agriculture Department would need to develop rules to govern the program by the end of the year. By January 2019, the agency would need to outline a process to allow out-of-state sales
  • A THC limit of 0.3 percent, in line with federal regulations.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, some 34 states allow some form of hemp production, usually a pilot program requiring a license from a state agency to grow the crop. The only state that does not use the 0.3 percent THC threshold for hemp is West Virginia, which defines hemp as containing less than 1 percent THC.

End

A sea of indoor cannabis plants inside of a licensed, commercial grow facility.

Canopy Growth Receives License for World’s Largest Cannabis Cultivation Site

2/21/2018

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Canadian medical cannabis producer Canopy Growth Corp. has been granted a license for the largest federally-licensed cannabis cultivation site in the world – it’s 1.3 million-square-foot site in Aldergrove, British Columbia. The site is one of two operating under a partnership with BC Tweed, known as the BC Tweed Joint Venture.

The license covers more than 400,000 square feet of cultivation at the site, which can, and will eventually, be expanded to the full facility. More than 100,000 live cannabis clones were flown to the site from Tweed’s Smiths Falls growing campus.

“A cultivation license for our first BC Tweed site positions us to continue this trend as Canada’s, and indeed the world’s largest, most reliable and most diversified producer and seller of high quality regulated cannabis.” – Mark Zekulin, Canopy Growth president, in a press release

The companies turn next to a second British Columbia site, currently in development, which has a 1.7 million-square-foot greenhouse. Once approved, Canopy will have over 5.6 million square feet of cultivation space throughout Canada.

“As proud native British Columbians and long-time horticulture producers we are excited to continue the proud tradition of BC bud on a national scale. Working with Canopy Growth we’re going to take the Tweed brand to the next level on the West Coast and bring the best our province has to offer to the country and the world.” – Victor Krahn, who runs operations for BC Tweed, in a statement

Following consultation with the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, management halted the trading of common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange because the growth “represented a material change” in Canopy’s production capacity.

Canopy is one of six companies signed on with the government of Quebec to supply product for the nation’s forthcoming recreational cannabis market. It also holds four licenses for Newfoundland and Labrador.

End

Cannabis Decriminalization Bills Introduced in Alabama

2/21/2018

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Cannabis decriminalization bills have been filed in both chambers of Alabama’s Legislature and are expected to be heard in committees today, according to an ABC 33/40 report. The measure, introduced in the Senate by Republican Sen. Dick Brewbaker, would set fines for first-time possession of less than 1 ounce at $250 and up to $500 for subsequent violations.

“We’re trying not to hang felonies on college kids, bottom line. … This is what the public wants. They want personal use, very small amounts, no evidence of trafficking, they want it to be a fine.” – Brewbaker to ABC 33/40

Sen. Cam Ward, chair of the prison reform task force, told ABC 33/40 that he would support the measure, explaining that under current law, a second cannabis possession offense turns someone into a “felon for the rest of their life.”

“It ruins their life for an offense no one’s even prosecuting anyway. … You can go on Department of Corrections website, simple possession in state prisons is almost zero. The only people in state prisons on possession of any kind of marijuana are those trafficking the truckloads of it.” – Ward to ABC 33/40

The measure faces long odds in the House, where it is carried by Democratic Rep. Patricia Todd, as Speaker Mac McCutchen said its chances of passage are “slim to none.”

End

Indoor cannabis plants inside of a licensed, commercial grow in Washington state.

Six MMJ Cultivator Applicants Sue Ohio

2/21/2018

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Six medical cannabis cultivator applicants are suing Ohio claiming that regulators didn’t follow their own rules in scoring and awarding the 12 licenses to grow cannabis for the state program, Cleveland.com reports. The lawsuit aims to block the state from awarding the licenses.

Among the claims:

  • Scores for at least 14 of the applications were incorrectly calculated.
  • Two scoring consultants had advance knowledge of the scoring rubric and had conflicts of interest with companies awarded licenses.
  • The two minority-owned businesses that were awarded licenses didn’t meet the criteria for the social-equity licenses.
  • Five licenses were awarded to companies that should have been disqualified for not meeting the pass-fail criteria or had misrepresented compliance with requirements.

The errors led “to a fundamentally arbitrary, capricious, unfair, and flawed scoring process” and the plaintiffs spent millions of dollars to comply with “rules the department did not properly enforce or follow,” according to Cleveland.com‘s review of the complaint.

The plaintiffs include:

  • CannAscend Ohio LLC
  • Appalachian Pharm Products LLC
  • CannaMed Therapeutics LLC
  • Palliatech Ohio LLC
  • Trillium Holdings, Inc.
  • Schottenstein Aphria LLC

The suit is filed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. Officials told Cleveland.com that they plan on continuing to establish the program, which is required under the law to be operating by Sept. 8.

End

Photo of Newfoundland Island, taken from a boat in the harbor.

Newfoundland and Labrador Cannabis Regulators Request Canna-business Proposals

2/21/2018

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The Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corp has launched Cannabis NL, which will oversee recreational cannabis sales in the Canadian province, according to a report from the Telegram. The formation of the cannabis arm comes with a call for canna-business proposals and NLC officials expect to award 41 total licenses in the first round, not including the four already awarded to Canopy Growth.

“We did quite a bit of due diligence on this and we certainly put the effort in and we feel the time we took is going to be well worth it in regard to the [request for proposal] detail and enabling us to ensure that at the end of the day we have the right balance in terms of the licensed cannabis retailers for the province. We feel very strongly that this RFP reflects certainly what the NLC views as our mandate as well as the government’s mandate for us.” – Sharon Sparkes, NLC interim president and CEO

The RFP identifies four types of retail operations:

  • Tier 1: Standalone stores.
  • Tier 2: A store within an existing retail operation where cannabis products are segregated from other products.
  • Tier 3: A dedicated counter within an existing retail space wherein products are available but not displayed.
  • Tier 4: Behind the counter sales, similar to tobacco products throughout Canada and most U.S. states.

Licenses will be awarded based on a set of factors including geographic location, social responsibility, safety and security, business plan, and store design. Although cannabis and alcohol sales would, theoretically, be allowed under the provincial rules, prospective business owners seeking to sell both products would receive point deductions on their applications.

The deadline for proposals in Mar. 29, and applicants will be notified of their approval or denial by Apr. 15. Although many anticipated Canada‘s federal legalization taking effect July 1, a deal among lawmakers will push the reforms until at least August.

 

End

Terry Rozier, an NBA player for Boston, jumps up for a 2-point layup.

NBA Players Union Boss Says MMJ Access Being Explored for Players

2/20/2018

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In an interview with SB Nation, National Basketball Players Association Executive Director Michele Roberts said the players union is “exploring” medical exemptions for NBA players to use medical cannabis but said that federal law is currently standing in the way.

“It is a banned substance in our league right now. If we do go down that road, we have to protect our players from — my words — a crazed attorney general who says he will prosecute violations of the law involving marijuana and he doesn’t care what individual states say. In other words, I don’t want my guys being arrested at airports in possession of a cannabinoid by some fed. It’s against the law. So, we’ll see.” – Roberts to SB Nation

In an August interview with the Players’ Tribune, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he doesn’t “see the need [right now] for any changes” in the league’s cannabis policies.

“… As you know, our players are constantly traveling, and it might be a bit of a trap to say we’re going to legalize it in these states, but no, it’s illegal in other states. And then players get in a position where they’re traveling with marijuana, and we’re obviously getting into trouble.” – Silver to the Players’ Tribune

Last October in an interview on UNINTERRUPTED, former commissioner David Stern said he “personally” thought cannabis should be removed from the league’s banned substance list.

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said in December 2016 that he had tried medical cannabis to treat his chronic back pain, and while he said it didn’t work for him, he supported allowing players to access medical cannabis and that it was “only a matter of time” before professional sports leagues embraced medical cannabis.

The NBA is home to eight teams in states with legal adult cannabis use; including the Washington Wizards from Washington, D.C., four teams from California, one each from Colorado, Massachusetts, and Oregon.

End

A lone silo sitting among Iowa's stretching farmland.

Simple Cannabis Possession Reform Bill Gains Traction in Iowa

2/20/2018

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A measure introduced in Iowa’s Senate would reduce the penalties for possession of fewer than 5 grams of cannabis from six months in jail and a $1,000 fine to a maximum of 30 days in jail and a fine between $65 and $625. According to Democratic Rep. Mary Wolfe, in 2016 there were 3,400 cannabis possession convictions in Iowa and half of them were for 5 grams or less.

“You know you arrest them, you put them in jail overnight, they get out – I mean, what is the point? So, I do think that if we did reduce it down to where we’re looking at a fine, it would save local governments a lot of money, a lot of time, a lot of resources that could be better aimed at dealing with more serious criminal offenses.” – Wolfe to Public Service News

The measure is opposed by the Iowa State Police and Peace Officers associations. The Governor’s Office of Drug Policy Control has neither supported nor opposed the proposal.

According to the bill’s fiscal note, 75 percent of first offenses for simple possession of 5 grams or less utilize public defender services. The note suggests the measure “would have a positive minority impact to the African-American community,” noting that in fiscal year 2016 “18 percent of the persons convicted of first offense marijuana possession were African-American” while just 3.5 percent of the state’s population is African-American.

Last month the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended the bill for passage.

End

The Alaska state capitol building in Juneau, Alaska.

Alaska House Passes Industrial Hemp Bill, Moves to Senate

2/20/2018

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Alaska’s House of Representatives has passed legislation to allow industrial hemp production and to establish a pilot program for its cultivation and production, according to a KTUU report. The measure, introduced by Sen. Shelley Hughes, defines industrial hemp as containing less than 0.3 percent THC.

Alaska is one of eight states that permits recreational cannabis sales.  

“… It does not have the psychoactive response and a person could smoke acres and acres and all they would get is a cough and a sore throat. So there are no psychoactive impacts from hemp so it is now an agriculture crop product and it is not under the marijuana statutes.” – Hughes to KTUU

Hughes indicated that farmers she represents want to use hemp as an inexpensive livestock feed. The bill received more than 20 letters of support from Alaskan farmers, including Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Mike Navarre. The measure next moves to the Senate.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 34 states allow some form of hemp production, usually a pilot program requiring licensing from a state agency to grow the crop. The only state that does not use the 0.3 percent THC threshold for hemp is West Virginia, which defines hemp as containing less than 1 percent THC.

End

Last Washington MMJ Exchange Raided by Law Enforcement & Cannabis Regulators

2/20/2018

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Washington’s last remaining medical cannabis exchange, the Patient Cannabis Exchange in Parkland, was raided by law enforcement on Sunday, KOMO News reports. Officers arrested individuals with outstanding warrants and seized plants and cash.

Medical cannabis exchanges allow patients to designate a cultivator to grow their cannabis for them. Patients and cultivators at the exchange indicated officers from the Pierce County Sheriff and Tacoma Police, along with representatives from the Liquor and Cannabis Board spent about eight hours at the exchange.

Makaveli de la Cruz, owner of the exchange, told KOMO that the exchange had operated for five years and had never received a cease-and-desist order from regulators. Washington’s legal cannabis industry went online in 2013.

Blogger Miguel Miggy, who uses the name Miggy420, was at the exchange during the raid and, in a KOMO interview, said he believes the crackdown was an attempt by the LCB to reign-in the state’s untaxed grey market.

“I partially think it was the Liquor Control Board flexing their muscle and taking inventory about what’s going on in there just to see what the competition is.” – Miguel Miggy to KOMO

Law enforcement officials said they were looking for illegal drug activity. As of Tuesday morning, the market’s website is also offline.

End

Steep Hill GenKit: Helping You Understand, Document, and Preserve Your Cannabis Varietals

2/20/2018

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Steep Hill Labs is one of the most trusted names in cannabis lab science. A leader in cannabis biotechnology, research, and analysis, Steep Hill has worked for years to give patients and cultivators throughout California the tools to better understand the cannabis products they grow and consume.

One such tool, the Steep Hill GenKit, helps commercial and amateur growers alike to streamline the early stages of a cannabis plant’s grow cycle.

With the GenKit, Steep Hill can offer the earliest possible identification of male cannabis plants, so growers aren’t wasting time on plants that ultimately won’t produce flower — or that might even sabotage their entire harvest. According to the company, the male identification test is 99% percent accurate and only a cross contamination could result in a legitimate error. The GenKit can also help identify CBD-rich varietals before they have even flowered.

“At its core, GenKit is a genetic sex-testing kit for cannabis cultivators that saves time and labor — using only a tiny snippet of a leaf sample, GenKit allows our team of scientists to identify male and CBD-rich seedlings in a matter of days, as opposed to forced flowering. The whole idea [behind GenKit] was to have it be one piece of a bigger plan. That bigger plan will allow breeders to get to stable phenotypes much faster,” said Reggie Gaudino, Steep Hill’s VP of Science and Genetics.

But the GenKit is more than a useful tool for determining a seedling’s sex — it can also help to safeguard a unique cannabis strain, or prove that it is truly unique, by documenting and recording its genetic makeup. This is especially important if you plan to seek a patent or other protections for your intellectual property.

“GenKit is the cultivator’s best ally in the protection of their intellectual property because they might not realize how special their strain or varietal is it is until it’s too late to stake a claim to the IP they bred,” said Gaudino. “Here at Steep Hill, we try to not only have the best science and the best testing, but we’re actually trying to help breeders find better traits, breed better strains, but also to have a concerted package of tools they can use, so they can grow better and faster, and hopefully that will help them put that stick in the sand and allow them to really get to the point where they have IP.”

Additionally, Steep Hill updated the GenKit’s packaging this year to be more efficient and user-friendly, while also offering additional protections to help preserve the integrity of samples they receive. A web-based integration system also allows users to track their samples through the testing process and see their results as soon as the analysis has been completed.

The GenKit is available for $99 online and in participating grow stores throughout California. The company plans to someday accept GenKit samples from any U.S. state but, until federal prohibition has been lifted, it remains illegal to ship cannabis products of any kind across state lines.

Visit SteepHill.com to learn more.

End

Colorado Girl Scouts Will Allow Cookie Sales Outside of Dispensaries

2/19/2018

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The Girl Scouts of Colorado will allow cookie sales in front of retail cannabis dispensaries as part of their updated policies permitting sales at “adult-oriented businesses,” according to a Cannabist report. The change comes less than two weeks after a Girl Scout sold more than 300 boxes of cookies in six hours outside of a San Diego, California dispensary, leading to a debate about whether she had broken the organization’s rules.

Both Colorado and California allow recreational cannabis sales.

“(Potential cookie sales) sites are now all treated the same, and approval of those sites is contingent on whether they meet our guidelines and safety requirements. Safety is the biggest concern.” – Girl Scouts of Colorado spokeswoman AnneMarie Harper to the Cannabist

In a statement, Girl Scouts of the USA officials indicated that decisions for cookie selling sites are made by individual Girl Scout Councils.

“Local councils and leaders are best situated to set safety parameters in keeping with the well being of girls engaging in the cookie sale in their communities.” Girl Scouts USA in a statement to the Cannabist

Under the previous guidance, Girl Scouts in Colorado were barred from selling cookies outside adult-oriented businesses such as dispensaries, liquor stores, or casinos. Girl Scouts must still get permission to make sales in front of such establishments.

End

Detroit to Challenge Voter-Approved MMJ Industry Reforms in Court

2/19/2018

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Detroit, Michigan officials intend to file a lawsuit against the voter-approved medical cannabis dispensary rules that relaxed restrictions on businesses, such as reducing the buffer area from religious institutions and requiring public hearings and comments before obtaining approval to open a shop, the Detroit Free Press reports. The legal action comes less than a week after the City Council passed a 180-day moratorium on new medical cannabis licenses and permits in the city.

Officials who supported the moratorium cited the new rules as the reason for the action. Councilman James Tate, who drafted the city legislation, said the new regime violated state law. Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Robert Colombo Jr. dismissed two challenges to the voter-approved regulations on Friday but allowed the city to move forward with its own legal action. City attorney James Noseda told the judge he would submit a complaint by the end of the day Friday.

“This is a cautionary tale for those who want to seek ballot initiatives with illegal language in them or language that is afoul of proven case law. This is what has created this situation … (Not) working with the city to try and find some common ground. This is a perfect example of things that can go wrong.” – Tate to the City Council, via the Free Press

Johnathan Barlow, the lawyer for Citizens for Sensible Cannabis Reform who worked to get the ballot initiative on the ballot, called the city’s attempt to “derail” the reforms “the most bizarre thing” he’s ever seen.

The measures were approved by 60 percent of Detroit voters.

End

Oregon Secretary of State Audits OLCC Cannabis Regulation Systems

2/19/2018

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The Oregon Secretary of State’s Office has released its audit of the state Liquor Control Commission’s cannabis regulation systems, identifying eight information-technology security issues and making 17 recommendations for addressing the program’s weaknesses.

The audit comes on the heels of a summit in the state held by U.S. Attorney Billy Williams with members of the industry to approach issues in the program identified by Williams, such as diversion of products out-of-state and to the illicit market.

What did the report identify as weaknesses?

  • “Data reliability issues with self-reported data in the Cannabis Tracking System (CTS) and an insufficient number of trained compliance inspectors inhibit OLCC’s ability to monitor the recreational marijuana program in Oregon.”
  • “OLCC should improve processes for ensuring the security and reliability of data in the CTS and the Marijuana Licensing System. In addition, better processes are needed to monitor vendors that host and support these applications.”
  • “OLCC has not implemented an effective IT security management program for the agency as a whole.”
  • “OLCC has not formally developed a disaster recovery plan and has not tested backup files to ensure they can be used to restore mission-critical applications and data.”

What are the agency’s recommendations?

  • “Develop and implement standards and protocols for on-site inspections and investigations.”­
  • “Evaluate the need and provide for an adequate number of trained OLCC inspectors commensurate with number of licensed marijuana businesses.”
  • “Perform risk-based on-site monitoring and inspections to ensure that licensees are reporting accurate information in the CTS and complying with applicable laws.”
  • “Develop and implement policies and procedures for effectively monitoring software of service vendors to ensure they are meeting security and hosting requirements defined in contracts and service level agreements.”
  • “Develop and implement reconciliation processes to ensure that data is appropriately transmitted by the Marijuana Licensing System (MLS) and received by the [CTS].”
  • “Establish processes for granting and reviewing access to the [MLS] and [CTS].”
  • “Implement change management processes in line with industry best practices, including measures that ensure test data remains segregated from the production environment.”
  • “Update and test OLCC’s information and security plan to ensure the plan reflects the agency’s current business and IT environment.”
  • “Establish a process to maintain an up-to-date inventory of authorized hardware and software allowed on OLCC’s network.”
  • “Develop and implement a configuration management process, including establishing configuration baselines, maintaining and up-to-date repository of configuration items, and monitoring configuration status changes to detect any unauthorized changes.”
  • “Develop and implement a process to scan for vulnerabilities on devices on network.”
  • “Develop and implement an effective antivirus solution on servers and workstations, and monitor to ensure all servers and workstations have an up-to-date antivirus solution.”
  • “Transition software off obsolete platforms. If that is not possible, ensure unsupported servers are appropriately segregated on the network.”
  • “Review physical access procedures to ensure access is appropriate, and require PINs to be periodically changed.”
  • “Develop and implement a process to remediate weaknesses identified in risk assessments and audits, and routinely evaluate and assess the agency’s security posture.”
  • “Develop a document an entity-wide disaster recovery plan.”
  • “Perform periodic tests of backups to ensure usability.”

 

End

names for weed

MMJ Sales Begin in Pennsylvania

2/16/2018

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Medical cannabis sales in Pennsylvania began yesterday as six out of the 10 dispensaries so far approved by the state were legally allowed to open their doors. The program rolled out ahead of schedule, less than two years after the law was signed by Gov. Tom Wolf.

“We reached this historic day through a lot of hard work by many dedicated people at the Pennsylvania Department of Health and its Office of Medical Marijuana, and through the support of advocacy groups, the General assembly, and especially Pennsylvanians – the parents, doctors, and patients – whose tireless efforts helped make today a reality.” – Wolf in a press release

Wolf indicated that there are more than 700 physicians signed up with the state to recommend medical cannabis, along with more than 17,000 patients already registered with the state program, albeit only about 3,000 have received their medical cannabis ID cards.

The dispensaries approved and operating as of Feb. 16:

Creso Yeltrah in Butler

Keystone Canna Remedies in Bethlehem

Solevo Wellness in Pittsburgh

Organic Remedies in Enola

Dispensaries at which cannabis will be available beginning Feb. 17

Terra Vida Holistic Center in Sellersville

Keystone Shops in Devon

“Our work continues to increase access to this important medical tool. Our teams are crisscrossing the state inspecting dispensaries as they are ready to open their doors. Each week we will be adding locations where Pennsylvanians suffering from serious medical conditions can get this medication.” –  Dr. Rachel Levine, acting health secretary and physician general in a press release

Another 81 dispensaries are expected to open throughout the state over the coming months.

End

A cannabis-themed depiction of the national flag of Canada, pictured during the 2014 World Marijuana March in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Canadian Cannabis Legalization Delayed Until at Least August

2/16/2018

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Recreational cannabis sales in Canada will not begin on July 1 as anticipated as federal lawmakers have come to an agreement that will see the legislation taken up on or before June 7, CBC News reports. Health Minister Ginette Petitpas-Taylor said that it would take eight to 12 weeks after the legislation is approved to get retail sales underway – moving the timeline to at least August.

“There’s no exact date but, if you do the math, you’ll see it won’t be July 2018. Cannabis legalization is not about a date, it’s about a process … We want this process done as seamlessly as possible.” Petitpas-Taylor, during a press conference, via the CBC

According to the report, the measure will be sent to five different Senate committees as Conservatives are concerned about how the legalization process is playing out. One unnamed Conservative source told the CBC “it’s not a matter of what’s being done. It’s a matter of how it’s being done,” adding that Conservatives have asked for a “thorough examination of the bill.”

Members of both parties are expecting amendments.

Which committees will review the measure?

The Senate Social Affairs Committee, the Aboriginal Peoples committee, the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, the National Security and Defense Committee, and the Foreign Affairs Committee will each review the measure. The Social Affairs Committee will inspect the legislative framework in its entirety.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that he was unsure where the July 1 legalization date originated.

End

Bi-Partisan Legislation Introduced to Protect State-Approved Cannabis Programs

2/16/2018

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A bipartisan measure to protect state-approved cannabis programs has been introduced in Congress which would, effectively, reimplement the principles of the now-defunct Cole Memo. The legislation, dubbed the Sensible Enforcement of Cannabis Act, was introduced by Democratic California Rep. Lou Correa, Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, and Democratic Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who also serves as co-chair for the Congressional Cannabis Caucus.

What the sponsors said:

“To date, eight states have legalized recreational cannabis, and twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia, representing more than half of the American population, have enacted legislation to permit the use of cannabis. Attorney General Sessions’ decision to rescind the ‘Cole Memo’ created great uncertainty for these states and legal cannabis businesses, and put citizens in jeopardy for following their state laws. In my state of California, voters want legal cannabis. It boosts our economy and is a strong medical tool. By 2020, revenues from cannabis sales taxes could reach $1 billion annually for California. This bill will protect California and other states from federal overreach and ensure the will of the American voter is respected.” – Correa in a statement

“The cycle of uncertainty must end. We need permanent protections for state marijuana laws. I’m grateful for the leadership of Reps. Correa and Gaetz as they stand up for the American people, who overwhelmingly want the federal government to stay out of the way.” – Blumenauer in a statement

“In 2013, then-Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole directed all U.S. attorneys to focus their energies on dangerous drug-related crime instead of individual marijuana users. The ‘Cole Memo’ prioritized ending the distribution of marijuana to minors, preventing drugged driving, limiting drug cartels and other serious crime. With a finite number of resources, including law enforcement officers, it was a sensible policy. Unfortunately, it was also bad governance. We are a nation of laws, not department-wide memos. We should not tell prosecutors to ‘pick and choose’ what laws to uphold. When Federal law conflicts with state laws and the will of the American people, it’s time to change the laws. Rep. Correa’s Sensible Enforcement of Cannabis Act does just that, codifying the provisions of the “Cole Memo” into federal law. This bill is a tremendous step forward. It will help the men and women of law enforcement focus on fighting serious crime and will protect medical marijuana patients nationwide. I am proud to support this legislation, and hope that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will see its value and bring it to a vote soon.” – Gaetz in a statement

Justin Strekal, political director for NORML, said the measure would give “peace of mind” to lawmakers and industry stakeholders and “protect state-lawful programs from militant marijuana prohibitionist Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who rescinded the Cole Memo last month.

End

New Blockchain Social Network Rewards Cannabis Fans with Cryptocurrency

2/16/2018

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A startup blockchain business has set their eyes on the cannabis community with the hopes of creating a better social network for cannabis users.

The team behind Smoke Network are convinced that issues such as censorship of legal cannabis pages and other monopolistic practices of social media giants such as Facebook point towards a need for a decentralized cannabis social network powered by blockchain technology that cannot be tampered with by outside influences with an anti-cannabis agenda.

Sites such as Facebook and Instagram regularly shut down cannabis related pages without warning, hurting real-world customers and fledgling businesses alike. Having previously built 420smokers.us, a cannabis community with currently over half a million Facebook fans and whose social pages have been killed off once already, the team behind Smoke Network have been exposed first hand to this ruthless censorship and how it can negatively affect the marijuana industry.

On top of this, users of the mainstream social media networks do not reap the rewards of the billions that advertisers spend on these platforms every year. Instead, those profits go directly into the pockets of its shareholders. Smoke Network promises to flip this conventional ad revenue model on its head.

Smoke Network, in addition to being uncensorable and decentralized, offers its users the ability to earn cryptocurrency for their use of the platform in the form of a daily ‘rewards pool.’ Users on the network who receive upvotes receive a portion of this rewards pool.

Content ‘curators’ who find high-quality content and upvote it first also receive rewards, so even users who don’t post regularly can be rewarded for their efforts.

A prototype design can be found at https://smoke.io/ showcasing basic features the social network will have on launch.

In stark contrast to the centralized global media landscape, Smoke Network offers a refreshing alternative to social media sites controlled by self-serving corporations. These benefits trickle directly down to its users who stand to gain just for investing time and energy in the platform.

The network is giving away free SMOKE cryptocurrency to users that sign up to their airdrop and will be holding a public sale in April. Check out their company website for more info.

End

Philadelphia DA Will Not Prosecute Simple Cannabis Possession Cases

2/16/2018

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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s District Attorney Larry Krasner dropped 51 cases for simple cannabis possession last week, part of his new policy to not prosecute such crimes, NBC Philadelphia reports. The prosecution reforms will not apply to possession charges with intent to deliver or sell cannabis.

“We are going to tell them, yes, drop any cases that are simply marijuana possession. … I did it because I felt it was the right thing to do. We could use those resources to solve homicides.” –  Krasner to NBC Philadelphia

The policy builds on reforms introduced four years ago by Mayor Jim Kenney when he was a city councilman. They were adopted by then-Mayor Michael Nutter and Krasner’s predecessor Seth Williams. Krasner explained that 90 percent of the time police issue the citation for simple possession, but 10 percent of the time officers still attempt to treat possession as a misdemeanor – it’s those cases that will be affected by the DA’s directive.

Under the 2014 law, simple possession charges are met with a $25 fine and a $100 fine for smoking cannabis in public; however, the smoking in public fine can be waved following several hours of community service.

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Close-up view of a medical cannabis plant's cola and sugar leaves.

Federal Judge Hears Oral Arguments Against Cannabis Prohibition

2/15/2018

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U.S. District Court Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein admitted that cannabis has saved the lives of the plaintiffs in the federal case to legalize cannabis but said the “right thing to do is defer” to the Drug Enforcement Agency with regard to cannabis policy, according to an ABC News report. However, Hellerstein didn’t immediately toss the case after hearing oral arguments from federal government lawyers to dismiss.

In a statement following the court appearance, the plaintiffs’ lead counsel Michael Hiller, of Hiller PC, said it was “obvious we are living in an era where we must remain vigilant and ask hard questions.”

“If we look back at our collective history, this is not the first time we have seen some in the US government shamefully argue out-dated ideologies under a legal mask that is inevitably on the wrong side of history. We saw this with slavery, segregation, women’s right to vote, the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, gay marriage, and sadly, countless other times. We’ve seen civil rights trampled on before, but we have also seen everyday Americans and leaders rise to the occasion and have our judicial branch recognize when an interpretation of the law is obviously tragically flawed and wrong.” – Hiller in a statement

Hiller, along with lead counsel Laura Rudick, and co-counsels Joseph Bondy and David Holland are arguing, in part, that cannabis’ addition to the federal Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional because its inclusion was an attempt to arrest and jail African-Americans and anti-war hippies by the Nixon Administration. Hellerstein told the team they “can’t win with that argument.”

“The stated basis for the Controlled Substances Act was to help Americans’ lives. However, today, the federal government came to court to preserve the right to put Americans in jail, who use cannabis – even when it is used as an alternative medicinal treatment to addictive opioids and powerful prescription drugs. Tragically, what the federal government has done is taken the Controlled Substances Act and turned it on its head. Sadly, the government is now using the ‘Act’ to hurt and oppress US citizens, rather to liberate, deliberate and help them treat their illnesses and diseases.” – Hiller

There is no timeline for Hellerstein to make a decision whether to toss the case or allow it to proceed.

End

Shopify Will Run Ontario’s Legal Cannabis Sales Platforms

2/15/2018

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The government of Ontario, Canada has tabbed Shopify Inc. to run online retail cannabis sales, the Canadian Press reports. Shopify’s platforms will also be used at retail points-of-sale.

“Our top priority is fulfilling the province’s framework for the safe and sensible retailing of recreational cannabis for when it is legalized by the federal government. We look forward to combining our expertise as a socially responsible retailer with Shopify’s world-class commerce solutions to deliver the safe, informed and reliable shopping experience that our new customers will expect.” – George Soleas, president and CEO of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, to the Canadian Press

Ontario expects to roll out 40 LCBO-run brick-and-mortar stores initially, with plans to bring that total to 150 by 2020. Ontario has not yet released the final provincial rules for their adult-use cannabis industry; however, officials have said that retail sales will not occur inside existing LCBO stores.

“Bringing this differentiator to the LCBO on this historic project to consumers of legal age across Ontario is a great example of a made-in-Canada innovation, which we are proud to be a part of.” – Loren Padelford, vice-president of Shopify Plus, to the Canadian Press

Although many federal officials are anticipating legal cannabis sales to commence on July 1, there is still no firm date on exactly when lawmakers will pass the reforms and when sales will be allowed to begin.

End

View of Montreal, Quebec from a faraway hillside on a foggy day.

Six Companies Sign on With Quebec, Canada Government to Supply Adult-Use Cannabis Market

2/15/2018

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Six licensed medical cannabis companies have signed on with the province of Quebec, Canada to provide 60,000 kilograms (132,277 pounds) of cannabis for the forthcoming adult-use cannabis market, the Globe and Mail reports. The provincial government expects to open 15 stores throughout Quebec and will allow online sales.

The companies include:

The Hydropothecary Corp. – which will provide 20,000 kilograms through a full range of products.

Aphria Inc. – which will provide 12,000 kilograms of cannabis oils and flower grown in Ontario and British Columbia.

Canopy Growth Corp. – which will provide 12,000 kilograms.

MedReleaf Corp. – which will provide 8,000 kilograms.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. – which will provide at least 5,000 kilograms but a maximum level has not been determined. Their products will come primarily from their Quebec sites.

Tilray – which will provide 5,000 kilograms through a variety of brands.

In November, Quebec officials called for a one-year extension to implement the reforms, which are expected to begin in July; however, Quebec’s Minister for Rehabilitation, Youth Protection, Public Health and Healthy Living Lucie Charlebois said she does not expect the delay will be granted. That same month, the federal legalization measure passed the House of Commons and is now being considered by the Senate.

End

Overhead LED grow lights inside of a commercial cannabis grow op.

CanopyBoulder Launches 9th Canna-business Accelerator Program

2/15/2018

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CanopyBoulder’s spring 2018 business accelerator cohort includes a blockchain technology company, a software firm, and other tech projects aimed at marketing and medical cannabis information. In total, six companies comprise CanopyBoulder’s ninth class in the 16-week accelerator program.

The six companies:

Realm 72 – an online marketplace for marketers, brands, and influencers, linking products and high-growth ventures with influencers inside and outside the cannabis industry. The company aims to offer “the best social network to promote influencer marketing in the cannabis industry.”

Andia – developers of a decentralized “plug-and-play platform that harnesses block-chain technology to provide a compliance solution for the adult-use and medical cannabis industry.” The tech encrypts, records transaction to “provide comprehensive, secure, precise and permanent financial audit trail” to prevent issues such as “looping.”

Catalyst Business Partners – an online platform that “provides legal and structural people operations support” cannabis businesses focusing on talent management, organizational design, and HR management.

Best in Grow – aims to provide an “unbiased source for all the information and expertise that anyone could need.”

KNXIT – provides API integrations between cannabis industry and conventional software.

TreatmentX – a network of cannabis brands “committed to the advancement of well-designed research promoting the efficacy of cannabis as medication.”

“CanopyBoulder is funding and nurturing the infrastructure businesses that the legal cannabis industry needs to continue on a high growth trajectory. As always, we will continue to support our founders with not only financial assistance, but the invaluable resources of a thriving startup community. The cannabis industry won’t stop growing and we won’t stop pushing our startups to innovate and exceed expectations.” – Patrick Rea, co-founder and managing director of CanopyBoulder, in a press release

Since 2015 CanopyBoulder has made nearly 80 investments and launched 63 businesses.

End

Brian Applegarth: Cannabis Tourism in California

2/14/2018

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Brian Applegarth is the CEO and founder of Emerald Country Tours, founder of the Cannabis Trail, and founder of the California Cannabis Tourism Association.

California is the country’s most recently legalized state and — as the birthplace of medical cannabis in the United States — it is steeped in cannabis history, culture, and heritage. Brian recently joined our podcast host TG Branfalt to talk about how his company captures and shares the experience of California cannabis with visitors to the region, how the state’s cannabis tourism industry has evolved with the medical and now adult-use markets, what kinds of experiences tourists should look for and expect when exploring the cannabis industry, the future of cannabis tourism, and more!

You can listen to the interview below or keep scrolling down to read a full transcript of this week’s Ganjapreneur.com podcast episode.

Listen to the podcast:

Read the trancsript:

TG Branfalt: Hey there, I’m your host TG Branfalt and you are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast where we try to bring you actionable information and normalize cannabis through the stories of ganjapreneurs, activists and industry stakeholders. Today I’m joined by Brian Applegarth. He’s the C.E.O. and founder Emerald Country Tours, founder of the Cannabis Trail and founder of the California cannabis Tourism Association. Guy’s got a lot going on especially as California is rolling out recreational. So how you doing today, Brian?

Brian Applegarth: I’m doing great TG, I appreciate you having me on man.

TG Branfalt: Amen. This should be this should be a good conversation. I’ve never talked to anybody working actively in the tourism aspect of this industry. Before we get into that, tell me about you man. How did you end up in the cannabis space?

Brian Applegarth: I was born and raised in Northern California so cannabis has always existed here as part of our culture. In high school it was buying bags of pot and using it recreationally. I went away to college in southern California and spent a lot of time abroad and when I came back to California, I came home, the cannabis industry had come a long way and my interest got piqued and I started studying more about the plant and I had kind of my travel background that was a big part of my life and it seemed like there was a natural alignment there.

TG Branfalt: Did you have any experience in tourism before embarking on this journey?

Brian Applegarth: Most of my tourism experience was really as the tourist and as the traveler. I’m currently 37 years old and I’ve traveled rather extensively. Lived abroad in a few different countries for a longer extended period of time and really found that magic of discovering cultures and feeling transported as an important part of my life and it’s something that’s always resonated for me. It went from visiting kind of more the flagship places, like the Eiffel Tower and the Great Wall of China to discovering these nuanced kind of hidden cultures where there was extreme authenticity. So instead of going to a produced luau in Hawaii for example, you’re going to a small more tribal culture up in the mountains.

I found that the more that I traveled the more I was drawn to that kind of authentic cultural experience and it became addictive to a certain degree. I don’t know what kind of neurons fire off when your mind and your body and your experience just kind of tapping into that magic of discovering something new but it’s something that really was fulfilling for me.

As far as the travel experience, running a backend booking software and taking reservations in the admin part, I never did that per se but I was always really strong at management and being organized and I was always kind of drawn to that travel culture, ex-pat culture abroad and I think I’ve racked up about 48 countries to date in my passport and I lived full time in Japan, Italy and Spain. So it’s part of who I am.

And then when I move back to the States after being gone for quite a while, there was a few years that, you know, there was a transition for me to kind of readjust back to United States and the culture that we have here. Then of course when I landed back in California I was very happy to be home and incredibly fascinated when I just started discovering the extremely unique culture and kind of the layered landscape of cannabis in Northern California even beyond what I grew up with here.

TG Branfalt: When did you get the spark to come up with the idea for cannabis tours?

Brian Applegarth: I was working in a corporate setting in the East Bay out in San Ramon. Just wasn’t inspired with that kind of corporate machine. It was one of the larger companies. I took a trip to Mendocino just because I felt compelled to and at this time I was already attending Oaksterdam University and I was educating myself around how far cannabis had come since I left and graduated college in 2001. This was back in 2013, 2012 when I arrived back in California.

That trip up to Mendocino was life-changing. I went up there and what I found was a mindset and a culture that lived closer to the earth, that was filled with creative people where cannabis was a center piece. Cannabis has been a centerpiece of our culture in Northern California for a long time but even more so up in Mendocino and Humboldt and in West Sonoma County and in Trinity County of course. It’s embedded. It’s like coffee in Colombia or pineapples in Hawaii or these flagship agricultural elements that end up defining a culture in some way because they’re so ingrained. That’s what I found cannabis’ role was and I became fascinated. It was a whole underbelly of a culture that was one, fascinating but two, there were a lot of people involved in that that were very aligned with ways that I thought and felt and I felt very inspired by that. So I continued to be pulled back.

And when I was looking at options of career paths and where to go, most of my experience has been either in traveling or real estate or in music. When I was looking across the board at those three skill sets I felt like travel and being able to create these experiences that empower people and give them special moments where they’re happy and laughing and celebrating or learning would deliver me the highest quality of life is to be surrounded in that kind of environment. That was where kind of the tipping point came.

TG Branfalt: And what can people expect when they go on one of your tours? Sort of take me step by step as to that experience the best you can in this sort of medium.

Brian Applegarth: Absolutely. We’re currently reskinning the website and we’re going to have, there’s basically three different offerings through Emerald Country Tours, which we might be doing a rebrand with that as well but it’s going to be three offerings. The first one is a half day or a full day trip and those are private tours of 10 people or less, Mercedes sprinters. You get picked up around 9:30 or 10AM in the morning, depending on your location. If you’re in San Francisco we pick you up a bit earlier.

Those experiences, once you get picked up, you’re basically off on an adventure for either five hours or eight hours and that’s a half day or a full day. And what that includes is typically a dispensary stop where you have a VIP dispensary tour. A few of our partners open their doors up early where you have basically a private consultant and you’re in a space that’s not yet open up to the public for the day and there’s essentially a presentation about the dispensary and why they do what they do and the health and wellness of cannabis.

On the way to this dispensary which is typically the first stop, in the vehicle we do a little bit of information share about the history and heritage of cannabis, cannabis as medicine, going back gosh, I mean cannabis has been around up to 34 million years back arguably. So we do like the long term history of cannabis. We talk about our local heritage in Northern California and we do a little bit of the health and wellness side with the endocannabinoid system and terpene charts and we do a little bit of education early in the morning on the history and the health and wellness side and how it’s ingrained in our culture.

And then we get to our VIP dispensary tour. We get off, you do a tour, you’re able to purchase medicine there on site and then typically a day continues. If it’s a full day, we’re going to have one more dispensary stop. You’re going to have a wine tasting, a locally sourced kind of catered lunch on the Russian River. And mind you that all this tour happens in one of the most beautiful places in the country. So, the redwood trees, the rivers and depending on the time of year and which jurisdiction we’re in, we like to visit a grow, a cannabis grow or garden where you can meet a master grower who’s been growing cannabis for sometimes 50 years or more depending on who is available that day, and they can tell you their story of why they grew cannabis and what that meant to them and what it was like living under prohibition. And you can see these plants in the ground growing naturally under the sun.

A big part of the cannabis cultivation in our region is sun grown with very thoughtful ways of growing, living soil and having biodynamic mindset when you’re approaching it, living close to the Earth and being mindful of how you grow. And those are all those messages that are really fun and very distinctive about our culture up here in Northern California and those are parts that we like to share. Usually the tour also includes some kind of special add on, whether it’s cannabis tasting or whether it’s some other offering that we include. Sometimes we do a redwood walk in the old growth redwood trees. But the standard half day and full day tour include dispensary visit, a grow visit, a locally sourced catered lunch on the river and a wine tasting.

TG Branfalt: You’re required to have a medical card to take the tour presently, right?

Brian Applegarth: It’s very interesting time. December 28th right now. We have dispensaries that are partners with ours that are open for adult recreational sales come January 1st. So, the answer is no. We can offer a half day tour that allows for just adult use for people that are interested to come on a tour and if they want to purchase medicine and medicate, great.

We’ve had people reach out to us as well that are just interested in the educational end. They’re not necessarily looking to medicate on the tour but they want to come get educated and they want to do a tour of a dispensary and they want to understand the methods of ingestion and what that looks like. So, we try to keep, we have our half day and full day tour offerings and then we also offer a customized tour where we can really craft a unique tour for you. For example, if you need to come and you’re looking for medical solutions to strictly address a specific ailment, really, our half day and full day tour is where we live and to answer your question, no. Starting the first of the year you do not need a medical cannabis card. We are legally set up to where you can experience the cannabis tour as an adult, recreational user.

TG Branfalt: This is a really exciting time for California because you not only have as you said the redwood trees and the nature but now you’re also going to be able to experience this industry that is ingrained on this culture.

Brian Applegarth: That’s it. I’ll tell you what, in part of my research I’ve been developing this tour model for the past three years and it’s really exciting because I feel like in a way you kind of get to innovate exactly, and there’s a responsibility there to achieve the authenticity of the culture. I think that’s one of the most important stand-out kind of missions that has emerged is our culture in Northern California is not like Denver and it’s not like Seattle. We were the first state to re-legalize cannabis in 1996 and there’s a story behind that and why that happened.

We have these pioneers that have been, I mean, we had the first doctor in San Francisco publish the medical marijuana papers in 1962 and we had our first pro cannabis law passed in 1974 and then we had another one in 1978 and then we had another significant law passed in 1991.

San Francisco and Northern California is a unique place, it’s a very unique place because you have activists and you have people that are constantly pushing toward the future and pushing the envelope with social acceptance and fighting for marginalized groups and the perfect storm happened in San Francisco and in Northern California that allowed cannabis to be re-legalized as medicine in 1996.

So it’s completely embedded in our culture. The tours that I’ve done in Seattle and Denver are incredible and just like tourism exists now, you’re going to have the Two Buck Chuck wine and you’re going to have the Screaming Eagle and the Silver Oak. You’re going to have different connoisseurs and different demographics wanting to tap into the tourism realm at different levels as well.

What we’ve identified in Northern California is this is the source, this is the place that the DEA called ground zero for marijuana and there’s a reason for that. It’s because most of the production has happened here but also most of that activism happened here. It’s completely embedded in our culture so being able to offer that authenticity of the source and talk about our heritage and all those important lessons of compassion and we even talk about the AIDS epidemic which was a major reason that cannabis was re-legalized in California in ’96. It was on the back of that public health crisis that cannabis emerged as the go-to medicine for managing pain and depression and stimulating appetite.

Obviously we have to walk that important line of the enjoyment and the adventure and the fun of cannabis tourism. But folding in the history and the education of health and wellness and the heritage, it’s all wrapped up in our culture here. It’s really fun to kind of puzzle that together to make the tourism as unique as it should be for northern California.

TG Branfalt: I wanted to talk to you a lot more about the education aspect of the tours. But before we do that, we’ve got to take a break. This is the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, I’m TG Branfalt.

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TG Branfalt: Hey, welcome back to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m your host TG Branfalt, here with Brian Applegarth. He’s the C.E.O. and founder of Emerald Country Tours, founder of the Cannabis Trail and founder of the California Cannabis Tourism Association.

So before the break you were talking about rolling in the culture in the education of cannabis into these tours. On one of your website you talk about the three pillars of early cannabis tourism as we transition from Prohibition. Explain to me that sort of theory I guess of the three pillars of early cannabis tourism. What’s that mean?

Brian Applegarth: The three pillars. The first pillar which I think speaks to any tour is the education. It’s obvious that mainstream America … there’s a lot of curiosity and there’s an information gap that needs to be filled for people to be able to understand this plant and be able to implement it into their lives to improve their quality of life. So I think there’s a responsibility with tourism where there is an educational component. It’s things like, so let me speak to that for one moment. If you look at coffee or tea, there’s a caffeine scale. They have non-caffeinated coffee, they have highly caffeinated coffee and then they have three different levels in between those two ends of the spectrum.

THC is the same. There’s cannabis strains that are non-caffeinated or non-THC strains that offer all the anti-inflammatory benefits of CBD and you can take them with a transdermal patch that you put on your arm. This kind of education is not known and this is what needs to be delivered to the mainstream so they understand their options and you can allow them and empower them with education and information to make decisions if to try cannabis, how to try cannabis and how to dose cannabis.

I think you need to walk that line of that typical kind of realm that we live in with tourism where it’s supposed to be fun and adventurous and let’s go wine tasting and get a buzz. But I think in these early stages of cannabis tourism, that educational component is very important. I try to have at least two to three sound bites or aha moments as I like to call them where people can come away and go wow, I did not know that. Part of our tour we have infographics and information that we share while in transit to each of the stops that some of this information that’s based around the educational health and wellness education.

The other two pillars which are extremely unique to Northern California that I feel that the tourism industry needs to rest on especially in California and even especially Northern California is the culture and the heritage. The history, we have a pioneer chart that I’ve developed with my friend Pebbles Trippet and it essentially is a cascading family tree of the top 25 pioneers in the northern California cannabis tourism history book so to speak. And those are people like Dr. Tod Mikuriya, Brownie Mary, Jack Herer, Dennis Peronne, Eddiy Lepp, Pebbles Trippet, Ed Rosenthal and a handful of others. Rick Simpson one of them, the Rick Simpson Oil.

These pioneers all played a crucial role in the re-legalization of cannabis and that heritage is important because it is somewhat of a roadmap to what it takes to change the world in a way and there’s a lot of inspiration that can be taken from that. I think it’s important to continually celebrate that heritage because that heritage speaks directly to the third pillar which is the culture and the culture of cannabis is an extremely inclusive non-judgmental come as you are bohemian mindset that stems back from the hippie movement. It’s the hippies that became the back to the landers that developed the Emerald Triangle and in tandem with the activism in San Francisco there’s this extremely compelling history that exists that’s all focused around cannabis.

But more importantly there’s a lot of messages that kind of rotate around that core of cannabis, that talks about human compassion and talks about overreach of power and talks about how do you farm. Are you using pesticides and chemicals or are you growing naturally using the living soil and the terroir that is your fingertips, in your region, in your appalachian.

So it’s finding the balance of the unplugging and the adventure and the fun where you can also empower people with information and let them come away, let them feel transported during the experience and then as they come out the other side let them feel maybe changed a little bit or thinking a little bit differently or more open to trying the medicine because now they know there’s a non-caffeinated transdermal patch they can put on their arm that won’t get them “high.”

So it’s fun because I think it’s going to continually change and we’re going to go through different phases of tourism but in this early transition period which you asked me about that educational component is something that I feel that all tour companies should have integrated in some form or fashion because I think there’s a responsibility there to really empower people with knowledge.

TG Branfalt: Can you give me an example of one of those aha moments that you use on the tour?

Brian Applegarth: Yeah. I’ll tell you what, that caffeinated scale works pretty well because caffeine is the most used drug in the world. Other aha moments are methods of ingestion. When I start describing to people that there’s like I said before transdermal patches or there’s, there’s like coconut fiber cannabis dips where like you put it in your lower lip and it’s a fully organic delivery system that goes into your mucus membrane and delivers cannabis that way. There’s pills. There’s obviously vaporizing and smoking but it’s letting people know about tinctures and edibles and micro dosing and drinkables and all the methods of ingestion where you can choose, you can choose how you want to integrate cannabis into your life if at all. I think everybody at this point needs to be empowered with the information to make the decision for themselves.

Even the concept of self titrating. We come from a pharmaceutical industry where you’re given a program of how many milligrams from a doctor. Ingesting cannabis right now, this whole concept of self titration and taking the amount of milligram doses or the amount of flour or whatever your method of ingestion is and being responsible for knowing how you’re feeling and if it’s therapeutically beneficial for what you’re trying to achieve, whether it’s pain relief or whether it’s alleviating depression or anxiety, but being able to self titrate with the right types of medicine and the right to leverage method, those are all aha moments because people start understanding that.

I’ll tell you what man, when you look at the tours and the people that I saw on the tours in Denver and Seattle, these people are so new to cannabis. They have no idea that there’s cannabis strains out there that have minimal traces of THC that are non psychotropic. We’re talking basic education 101. And that’s why that education component is so important. That’s why that caffeine scale is a very compelling infographic for a lot of people where it’s produced as this aha moment because that basic information, mainstream America and even cannabis consumers that are still like kind of the stoner mentality from like high school days and college days, they look at pot in a dime bag or in a half eighth or an ace baggy that gets them high.

Understanding these different cannabis ratios and cannabinoids and how they work therapeutically is the next step to really being able to understanding the plant well enough to improve your quality of life, whether that’s daily micro-dosing or whether that’s weekly or whether that’s a celebratory cigar at significant life moments where you want to laugh and unwind, like the birth of a new baby or a wedding. There’s all different ways that you can decide how cannabis should integrate into your life. Producing those aha moments allow people to have the information to kind of self reflect and decide what’s best for them.

TG Branfalt: So we talked about the pillars in sort of the transition period. How do you see those pillars evolving as the rec market matures?

Brian Applegarth: I think that’s a very specific to the location that you’re asking about. So I think that cannabis tourism in Minneapolis will be very different from Denver which will be very different from Northern California. As far as the pillars in Northern California, I feel like we are going to attract cannabis enthusiasts and cannabis connoisseurs. There’s people who have been cultivating this plant and breeding this plant for generations. The Emerald Triangle in Northern California is known as having and offering some of the best cannabis in the world and having the most accomplished cultivators in the world.

I feel like we’re going to attract cannabis enthusiasts and people that are interested in the bohemian culture of our region that’s intertwined with cannabis. I think we’re going to attract the cannabis connoisseur that wants to go behind the gates and meet the grower and see where the plant lives and has grown and understand how the plant has grown.

There’s a lot of people that live very close to the earth up in Northern California. We have solstice celebrations. We celebrate the equinox. We celebrate the agricultural cycles because we live close to the earth. This is something that’s very defining of our region is this outdoor sun grown organically grown kind of, it’s a very purist approach to how to grow cannabis and have it express itself in its most natural purest form. I think that’s going to attract kind of the cannabis connoisseur demographic as well.

As far as the pillars, I think education needs to remain a part of it, I’d say forever for right now. I think that there’s constantly education. Look at wine and look at the barrels and look at the different verbage and messaging and look at that road map because essentially cannabis is the new wine. We are wine back in 1933 when it came out of prohibition.

Cannabis is coming out of prohibition in four days from now and we have the responsibility to reframe the conversation. Because the fact that it’s going adult use now, it’s removing a major barrier for mainstream America. For all those people that have been living under the, kind of the spell of reefer madness, they are now getting curious enough and this last barrier removal, the only one we have left is the federal government acknowledging it but California is a very powerful force and it’s going adult rec in four days and that means that in a lot of places in our state it’s going to be available like a liquor shop, you can go in and buy cannabis. That’s going to remove the barrier where people are interested.

I’m getting a little off topic but I think the pillars as it emerges I think it’s going to be steeped in education and I hope that nationwide the heritage is adopted because there’s a lot of messages in there. I don’t think it used to do as deep of a dive as we do on our tours in Northern California because you’re here at the source but I do feel like the heritage and understanding the activism and the compassion and the medical use and why that happened and the people that sacrificed their lives. Dennis Peronne was arrested I think 27 times and he was shot by law enforcement at one point. You’re talking about somebody who, this industry stands on his shoulders and a lot of other activists.

I think understanding those things are really important for creating a better society and understanding how to treat each other better as human beings.

TG Branfalt: We got to talk about sort of your other projects, the tourism association, the Cannabis Trail. There’s a whole lot to get through. You’re such a wealth of knowledge man. Before we get into all that though, we’ve got to take a break. This is the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, I’m TG Branfalt.

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TG Branfalt: Hey, welcome back to the ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m host TG Branfalt, here with Brian Applegarth, CEO and founder of Emerald Country Tours, founder of the Cannabis Trail and founder of the California Cannabis Tourism Association which I want to talk to you about right now. Tell me about the goals of the California Cannabis Tourism Association.

Brian Applegarth: So the California Cannabis Tourism Association or the CCTA is a state level organization association that I established in November, just a month and a half ago. There’s three pillars once again to this association and that’s advocacy, education and networking. Networking I also refer to as bridge building. So the first pillar advocacy is essentially advocating at the state level on behalf of the cannabis tourism industry. For example, the state of California recently announced that for a public ticketed event the only acceptable land that is available to have these kind of events where you sell tickets publicly to festivals and like High Times cups and those things are basically state owned agricultural land. So it’s county fairs and things like that.

It’s incredibly narrow as far as the availability for a public facing event and understandable to a degree. They’re bottlenecking the industry so they can roll it out slowly and make sure there’s integrity and it’s done the right way and make sure that all their governmental organizations are involved. We will be advocating for example in year one, we’re going to be that pillar of advocacy is going to be having conversations about what does it look like and how can we open that up a little bit more and make it a little bit more of a wider net than only state owned agricultural land.

If you look at beer and wine for example, it’s just going to take time but it needs to also take advocating. So that’s one big part of the association, the California Cannabis Tourism Association. The second pillar again is education. This is about educating the mainstream demographic, the new arrivers to cannabis. It’s also educating other industries. There’s a lot of other industries that are very interested in cannabis that do not understand cannabis.

From a tourism lens we are going to be reaching out which directly kind of takes us into the third pillar which is networking. So that’s networking within the cannabis industry but also it’s bridge building like I said where we’re going to be having a space and creating a space and a conversation with hoteliers and different restaurants and fine dining and other tour companies. All of the different industries that overlap in tourism, we are going to be bridge building and doing presentations and showing people that cannabis can integrate into the tourism realm with massive integrity and as a force that will be supportive of bringing more jobs and more tax dollars and more ability to employ more people and it will support communities and bring economy and it will support other industries.

Those are the three different areas, three different pillars of the California Cannabis Tourism Association and we just established our founding board and we’re very excited. We have our first meeting at the end of January 2018 and we’re planning on having our first California Cannabis tourism event in Sonoma County in November 2018.

TG Branfalt: How can you use those three pillars of the association and this may even apply to sort of the three pillars of tourism itself. How can you leverage these things to help marginalized group within the burgeoning cannabis space?

Brian Applegarth: As far as the tourism association, a lot of it is … First let’s look at marginalized groups. Cannabis has a long running history of, well, one is cannabis users themself or cannabis enthusiasts themselves have been a marginalized groups. You have reefer madness and you have this narrative that was pushed out that demonized people that used cannabis or hemp. There’s a whole nother story there that would take another two hours to talk about or more.

Cannabis itself as a group has been marginalized. If you look back at cannabis use, whether it’s the African-American community or whether it’s the LGBTQ community or whether it’s the Hispanic community, cannabis has always been a tool to kind of alleviate the heaviness of living as a member of a marginalized group in society. It’s been a medicine in that way.

As far as the association, it helps marginalized groups because I think it allows organization and it gives people a voice. So for example, the networking, we’re going to have a few different levels under that. You’re going to have sponsorships and you’re going to have memberships. And with the association it’s going to offer the opportunity to get involved in this specific niche of the cannabis industry, the tourism niche, and maybe create a career path for yourself. We’re looking at a industry that is going to be a defining industry of our generation, of our experience here. There’s immense opportunity right now for people that are passionate about cannabis. If you go a little bit deeper down that rabbit hole and start learning more about the plant and the opportunity, whether it’s creating a product or being a creative agency that makes logos and branding, like that hybrid creative out of Santa Rosa or whether it’s a compliancy or whether it’s a distributor, a distribution network.

Maybe you’re passionate about education and helping people improve their quality of life, maybe you’re passionate about tourism. Cannabis right now is in its infancy and there’s a lot of opportunity for people that maybe aren’t inspired by what they’re currently doing for their career to look at another industry that has a very eclectic mix of people that are very inclusive and get in on the ground floor and create and manifest whatever they want to manifest in that space.

So I’m hoping that the California Cannabis Tourism Association becomes a megaphone and becomes a safe space for people to really integrate with cannabis and it allows bridges to be built for people to leverage, to improve either their business, their quality of life, maybe it’s a different career path. But yeah, I think as far as the medicinal role you have, or the cannabis, the marginalized group role you have, the fact that cannabis was used as medicine for marginalized groups in history, the education of this being a new industry bursting with innovation and opportunity and also the fact that cannabis promotes compassion and kind of self reflection. It’s one of those unique tools that allows you to see things through a different lens at times or allows you to be a little bit more compassionate to your fellow human being. I think those are three or four different ways that cannabis can kind of support marginalized groups in it’s existence now in our society.

TG Branfalt: So a lot of your message, a lot of this conversation you’ve talked about compassion and focusing on humans. And to this end you’ve produced some short videos associated with the Cannabis Trail, really interesting stuff. You focus on humans, you tell other people’s stories. Can you tell me first about the Cannabis Trail and how you came to producing these short videos and how they jive with one another?

Brian Applegarth: Yeah, absolutely. The Cannabis Trail is a nonprofit organization that’s mission is to preserve and celebrate the cannabis heritage of Northern California. And there’s three things that we focus on. There is the pioneers, the significant events and the storytelling lore of our region. An example of a pioneer would be somebody like Brownie Mary or Dennis Peronne or Jack Herer and talking about what they did in the movement. A significant event would be a very important raid that happened that kind of moved the needle forward as far as the movement to legalization. And the storytelling would be something like the hippie trail that was part of our Northern California region where people would travel over to Nepal or Afghanistan and collect these cannabis seed varietals and bring them back to Northern California.

That’s why Northern California is the most famous breeding region for cannabis is because we had these trails where people would go collect seeds from around the world and bring them back here and then they would cross breed them and they’d come up with new varietals and play with that.

So that’s what the Cannabis Trail is. The Cannabis Trail came to be because of the passion that kind of emerged from myself with the heritage of the cannabis story. There was a woman I might have mentioned her earlier named Pebbles Trippet who I ended up meeting up in Mendocino County who is a dear friend to this day. She told me in one of our conversations if you really want to find out about the history of cannabis and how it got legalized you need to meet Dennis Peronne and gave me his phone number. I called Dennis and then I went down and I’ve had an ongoing friendship with Dennis now for over two years, two or three years.

The more that I heard about these people’s stories and what they had been through and their inspiration and their passion, I just became very kind of enthralled and inspired by it. So, what that led to was me starting to collect archives of photos and I ended up doing a series of interviews with Dennis and about 11 other people, kind of capturing their story of what they did in the cannabis movement, and those have turned into this short film series called the Cannabis Trail, which is essentially it speaks right to the nonprofit. It’s all about the histories and the stories about people who are living under prohibition and fighting for this plant to be re-legalized.

What I’d like to do in those videos is continue building upon this collection of storytelling, that kind of fills in all that history that has happened in the past, what was it, 50, 80 years depending on how far back we can go. There’s a guy that lives right down the street from me in West Sonoma County that used to hang out with Allen Ginsberg and Timothy O’Leary and the Beatniks up in San Francisco and has been growing pot for over 50 years. It’s exciting to get these stories captured because they tell our story of our culture in Northern California and that’s all part of the puzzle.

TG Branfalt: Where can people find those stories? Where can people find all of the different projects you’re working on? Find out more about the tours?

Brian Applegarth: One of the best places is connect with me on LinkedIn. Brian Applegarth, that’s Brian with I. A-P-P-L-E-G-A-R-T-H. My website currently is emeraldcountrytours.com. You can find information there about the tours that I’m offering and the experiences and events. If you go to thecannabistrail.org, you can learn more about that nonprofit cannabis heritage self guided trail that I’m working on and we’re going to have a website up soon for the CCTA, the California Cannabis Tourism Association. Feel free to email me Brian B-R-I-A-N@emeraldcountrytours.com or hit me up on LinkedIn. I am more than happy to connect with people and continue the conversation.

TG Branfalt: Well, this has been a really, really great conversation man. I really appreciate you taking the time. As I’m sitting here in -4 degree weather and you’re talking about Northern California and grows and the giant redwoods I’m definitely a little bit jealous. So thanks for giving me that vision on a cold Vermont day. I really appreciate your time man, it’s been great.

Brian Applegarth: Thank you for having me and TG you’re invited. So next time you’re out here let’s get you on and take you out on a day of cannabis country.

TG Branfalt: You’re going to get an email in like four months.

Brian Applegarth: Nice man. I look forward to it.

TG Branfalt: Thanks again. You can find more episodes of the Ganjapreneur.com podcast in the podcast section of Ganjapreneur.com and in the Apple iTunes store. On the Ganjapreneur.com website you’ll find the latest cannabis news and cannabis jobs updated daily along with transcripts of this podcast. You can also download the Ganjapreneur.com app in iTunes and Google Play. This episode was engineered by TRIM Media House, I’ve been your host, TG Branfalt.

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