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According to an ESPN survey of active NFL players, 61 percent said they believed fewer players would take pain-killing shots if the league would allow medicinal use of cannabis, with 41 percent saying it would be more effective at controlling pain.

Cannabis is one of eight drugs banned by the NFL, despite it having less known side effects than Toridol — a chemical pain killer and anti-inflammatory commonly used in the league. The survey found 64 percent of respondents indicated they had taken an injection of the drug or another pain killer during their career. Positive test results for cannabis lead to disciplinary measures such as suspension and fines.

About two-thirds of the respondents said they were concerned about the long-term effects of chemical pain killers, with 42 percent admitting that they have had a teammate become addicted to the drugs.

Seventy-one percent of the players indicated that cannabis should be legal, with one player pointing out “it’s legal where I live, but not where I work.”

Three of the league’s teams hail from cities that allow adult cannabis use – the Seattle Seahawks, the Denver Broncos, and the Washington Redskins — and as more states legalize cannabis it could put pressure on the league to reevaluate its policies.

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Dispensary Owner Fights California Officials Over Funds Seized in Raid

11/02/2016

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A Kearny Mesa, California dispensary owner is seeking the return of assets seized during a February raid after neither he nor his employees were formally charged with any crime, according to a report from the San Diego Tribune.

Following the crackdown, James Slatic’s bank accounts, along with those of his wife and two teenage daughters, were frozen and his dispensary, Mid-West Distribution, was shuttered, leading to all 35 of his employees losing their jobs, health benefits and retirement accounts. Slatic is not fighting to have the dispensary cash and property returned, rather just the $100,000 seized from the family’s accounts.

“It’s the dirty little secret of the American justice system,” Slatic said in the report. “They can come in and take all your money and property just on the say-so of a police officer. Once they do that, you have to go to court and prove why your money is not guilty.”

Steve Walker, spokesman for District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, said the Office opposes the release of any funds or property seized by law enforcement because the case remains under investigation and that confiscations aid in crime prevention.

“The primary mission of the asset forfeiture program is to enhance public safety by removing the proceeds of crime and other assets relied on by criminals to perpetuate their criminal activity,” he said.

Slatic argues that he has paid all of his federal and state taxes for the businesses, which was licensed by the city of San Diego, and has the paperwork to prove it.

“I’m a 57-year-old entrepreneur and businessman,” Slatic said. “You always think the laws are designed to protect middle-class gray-haired guys supplying jobs, then one day you wake up with 28 helmeted SWAT guys with automatic weapons breaking down your front door with a sledge hammer.”

San Diego Police Detective Mark Carlson, said that the dispensary was using chemicals to extract oils from cannabis, in violation of state law, and argues that the family was attempting to hide the proceeds from the extraction business.

“Based upon my review of Wells Fargo documents and documents provided by Schools First and North Island Credit Union, Slatic has transferred significant funds from his concentrated cannabis extraction business to his wife Annette Slatic, who in turn has deposited some of these funds, at least $210,200 into her Wells Fargo accounts,” he said in the report.

In a court filing, Slatic’s lawyers argue that “writing a check to one’s wife is hardly suspicious” and the government has so far failed to show any evidence that there was any wrongdoing.

Last month Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation barring law enforcement from seizing any asserts worth up to $40,000 without a criminal conviction; however that law will do little to help Slatic because his seized property exceeds that amount. According to a report by the District Attorney’s Office to the federal government, the office has more than $2.4 million in seized funds on hand.

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Ireland’s GreenLight Medicines Partners with Ulster University for Arthritis Study

11/02/2016

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A study in Ireland is underway by Ulster University and GreenLight Medicines which aims to determine the effectiveness of cannabis therapies as a treatment for arthritis, the Irish Examiner reports. According to Dr. David Gibson, the lead researcher and rheumatoid arthritis specialist, “the research will explore which compounds of the plant are the most promising and help inform dosage recommendations” before clinical trials on arthritis patients are performed.

“We are studying several components of the cannabis plant which have been shown to possess anti-inflammatory properties,” he said in the report. “Specifically, we’re investigating the use of cannabis-based extracts that have been proven to reduce inflammation, and we wish to explore the full therapeutic potential of these molecules in relation to several inflammatory diseases.”

The study, backed by more than $1.2 million, will be conducted over five years.

Dublin-based GreenLight Medicines primarily focuses on the potential of cannabis as a treatment for arthritis, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, cancer, and epilepsy. The research could help validate the company’s first product, targeted at osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Last month the pharmaceutical startup secured more than $550,000 in private funding, including commitments of about $140 million in CBD oil from Swiss-American firm Isodiol, to develop “breakthrough medicines” using cannabis extracts.

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Sign reading "Welcome to Massachusetts" on the Massachusetts state line.

Legal Cannabis in Massachusetts Could Impact New York’s MMJ Program

11/02/2016

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New York’s medical marijuana program could be disrupted if voters in Massachusetts vote ‘yes’ on the ballot initiative to legalize cannabis for adult use, according to a report by NPR-affiliate WAMC. However, because the Massachusetts law could take up to two years for implementation, sweeping changes could be made to New York’s medical program that could prevent medical refugees from crossing state lines.

Chris Alexander, policy coordinator for the New York Drug Policy Alliance, suggests that once a Northeastern state moves toward legalization, it could have “a very significant change” in the way New York legislators tackle the issue.

“The Massachusetts border an hour away from Albany, and just the impact that that will have, the challenges that will come up from New York having to deal with interstate commerce and New Yorkers leaving the state to access recreational marijuana,” he said in the report. “So it gives legislators an opportunity to see firsthand how regulations can work. Massachusetts, in observing and studying legalization, sent some of their elected officials to Colorado. I think that’s something that we should do here as well.”

At least one sheriff, Rensselaer County’s Pat Russo who has jurisdiction over the state borders, indicated that he plans on increasing patrols on the county line and on the roadways between the two states.

Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, who sponsored the state’s medical marijuana legislation, said that it’s only a matter of time until the New York legislature takes up adult-use cannabis legislation due to the support of the electorate, and if the Bay State initiative passes it “will help raise the visibility of the issue, raise the sense of it being achievable and help move the issue forward in New York.”

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Canada’s Budget Office Estimates Cannabis Market Worth Hundreds of Millions During Flagship Year

11/02/2016

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According to Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Office, sales tax revenues from legal cannabis could be between $356 million and $959 million once the drug is legalized nationwide, as is expected this spring. The figures are based on legal per gram prices between $7.48 and $9.34 with only federal and provincial sales tax applied.

Parliamentary Budget Officer Jean-Denis Fréchette notes that the office expects the revenues to, eventually, climb into the billions of dollars and that the new sector will create both new revenues and expenses for the government.

“Different products, such as edibles and concentrates, may require entirely different approaches to taxation,” the report states. “These variations, along with others, each have different implications for market incentives and fiscal revenues.”

The PBO projects that in 2018 — the likely first year of legal sales — Canadians will consume between 378 and 1,017 metric tons of cannabis and that the legal market will be largely driven by individuals who consume the drug daily or weekly. The office suggests that between 3.4 million and 6 million Canadians will consume cannabis at least once after it is legalized nationally.

“Ultimately, no one knows exactly how legalization will impact the cannabis market — in particular, how use patterns will evolve, especially among frequent or youth consumers; how illicit and legal market prices will respond; the extent to which Canadians will participate in the recreational, medical and illicit markets; or how consumer tastes and product offerings, including value-added products, will change,” the report says.

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The large "cola" nug of a homegrown marijuana plant.

Colorado Lawmakers Call Out Anti-205 Campaign Ads in Arizona

11/01/2016

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A trio of Colorado lawmakers have sent a letter to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy calling the information in their anti-Proposition 205 campaign commercials “highly misleading” and “wholly inaccurate.” The letter, published by AZ Central, says that Colorado citizens are “confused” by the claims made in the ads and provided a factsheet to dispel the rumors.

“As members of the Colorado Legislature who played intimate roles in the budgeting and appropriation of marijuana tax revenues, we feel it is our duty to set the record straight so that voters in both states have accurate information about this subject,” the letter, signed by Sen. Pat Steadman, and Reps. Jonathan Singer and Millie Hamner, states.

The letter was addressed to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy leaders Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk and conservative talk radio host Seth Leibsohn in response to two ads airing in Arizona which claim that the tax revenues promised for education in Colorado “were empty words” and the funds are being diverted “to regulation and the pot industry.”

Included in the document is a breakdown of how the tax revenues from the cannabis industry have been dispersed. The authors — all three of which sit on their respective legislative Appropriations Committee — point out that more than $138.3 million was distributed to the Colorado Department of Education, while roughly $21 million combined was distributed to the Departments of Revenue, Agriculture, and Law in addition to the less than $500,000 sent to the Governor’s Office of Marijuana Coordination.

Another $114.9 million was appropriated for the Building Excellent Schools Today public school construction program, which was earmarked for $40 million of the tax revenues when voters adopted Amendment 64.

“That tax actually raised more than $40 million in the last fiscal year, resulting in $40 million for the BEST program in [fiscal year] 2016-17, plus an additional $5.7 million for Colorado’s Public School Fund,” the authors wrote.

The letter closes with the authors requesting that the campaign stop airing and publishing campaign ads that “contradict these facts.”

“We also trust they will be reflected in any of your future communications to Arizona voters regarding Colorado’s experience with regulating and taxing marijuana for adult use,” the authors conclude.

Arizona joins California, Nevada, Maine, and Massachusetts in bids to legalize the adult-use of cannabis during next week’s general election.

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Plants growing in an indoor environment in Washington state.

Seeds and Clones Scarce for Hopeful Canadian Home Growers

11/01/2016

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Despite a Federal Court ruling in February allowing medical marijuana patients to grow their own medicine in Canada, individuals have limited access to seeds, seedlings, and clones at affordable prices, according to a Globe and Mail report. Just one licensed producer, Whistler Medical Marijuana Corp., is authorized to sell the small plants or seeds to clients and they are charging $750 for a five-plant package, only making $20 clones available after the package purchase.

Chris Pelz, Whistler president, said the package deal represents an upfront fee to access their organic cannabis strains and that the plants sent by the company could be cloned by the client who could maintain their supply indefinitely.

“These [mother plants] are held in laboratory conditions,” Pelz said in the report. “I don’t know if the clones that are being blasted out on the street are near the same quality of plant or genetics that we offer.”

Moreover, the company has no plans to sell their seeds, he explained, due to “the red tape” around acquiring them under Health Canada’s rules.

Another potential option for patients would be to allow one of the country’s licensed producers to grow their plants for them. Jordan Sinclair, a spokesman for Tweed, said the company is interested in growing plants for patients – which might be an ideal set up for some clients because it’s unknown whether or not home growing will still be permitted under the federal government’s adult-use cannabis laws expected to be unveiled in the spring.

About 28,000 people are still allowed to cultivate cannabis for themselves or other registered patients under the old medical marijuana system.

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Third Lawsuit Filed Against Maryland MMJ Commission

11/01/2016

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A third Maryland medical marijuana company has sued the state medical cannabis commission alleging that the commission “was derelict in its legislatively mandated duty to actively seek to achieve racial, ethnic and geographical diversity when licensing medical cannabis growers,” according to Baltimore City Circuit Court filings outlined in a WBFF report. The lawsuit aims to block the final approval of medical marijuana licenses until the licensing process is reviewed.

Alternative Medicine Maryland, LLC, a minority-owned company based in Annapolis, contends that the commission “ignored race and ethnicity throughout the licensing process in clear contravention of its authorizing statute.”

The claims echo the sentiments of the state Legislative Black Caucus, who have met with the commission over the lack of minority-led businesses approved for the state’s preliminary cultivation licenses. Maryland Cultivation and Processing and GTI Maryland have also sued the commission over their denials after it was discovered that the commission bumped both companies from their high rankings for others that fit “geographic diversity” requirements in the law. According to the lawsuit, Alternative Medicine has more than $9 million in verified capitalization.

The suit by the company, which is more than 80 percent African-American owned, acknowledges the plight of their counterparts, saying the oversight body “compounded its failure by replacing top ranked applicants with lower ranked applicants in the name of geographic diversity but gave no consideration to the ethnic and racial diversity of its applicants.”

John Pica, the attorney representing Alternative Medicine, says an “easy way” to solve the problem is to add or re-score the existing licenses or increase the number of licenses allowed under the program.

“The legislature made it very clear that that commission was supposed to seek racial diversity in awarding the licenses, and they completely ignored their responsibility,” he said in the report.

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CBD-Rich Products Gaining Traction as Therapy for Pets

11/01/2016

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CBD-only cannabis products for pets are currently legal in all 50 states and a growing number of advocates and individuals are seeking to spread awareness about the potential of cannabis therapies for their pet companions, according to a KPIX 5 report. The support is buoyed by a recent Journal of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association study, which purported cannabis as a tool to manage chronic health conditions such as anxiety, cancer, seizures, sleeplessness, arthritis, and behavior issues for pets.

The Milo Foundation, a California non-profit that rescues dogs from high-kill shelters, uses donated Treatibles, a CBD-rich pet chew, to treat animals suffering from injuries and arthritis.

“What we see happen with the dogs is amazing,” Lynne Tingle, the foundation’s founder and director, said in the report. “They go from being, you know, tongue out, stiff, painful … barely able to walk to hopping up on their favorite chair, skipping around the dog park … tails wagging.”

John Blair said he had dug a grave for Pixel, his cancer-stricken 11-year-old German Shepard, and turned to edibles to try and improve her quality of life — she was in pain and unable to eat. Two days later, “she didn’t want to just lay around and wait to die,” he said.

“Suddenly she got life back in her eyes,” Blair said. “She had a little bounce in her step she wanted to go on walks again.”

Blair now sells Treatibles at his hardware store.

Yet, despite the legal status of the CBD-only pet products, the FDA has not explicitly approved its use and neither the SPCA nor PETA support cannabis use for pets due to a lack of research.

“Yeah, there’s no evidence to back it up except the fact that here [Pixel] is … she’s not dead. And she would have been,” Blair said.

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Cannabis plants in an indoor grow operation.

Aurora, CO Planning One-Third of Cannabis Tax Revenue for Homeless Programs

10/31/2016

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Over the next three years, homeless outreach programs in Aurora, Colorado will receive more than $3 million to provide services to the homeless community from their cut of the profits from the taxes derived from adult-use cannabis sales, according to a Vetts report. The programs will see about $1.5 million in funding by June 2017, the end of the current fiscal year.

The city gained $4.5 million via sales and excise taxes raised through legal cannabis sales and has already given funds to homeless action programs, such as the Comitis Crisis Center and Aurora Mental Health, who used the resources to purchase and van and hire two care workers, while Colfax Community Network was given $220,000 for operational costs. One Aurora Housing Association received $45,000 to pay the salary of a full-time landlord coordinator, who works with property owners to approve the housing applications of formerly homeless applicants.

The plan was approved last May and City Councilman Bob Roth said it’s an example of how legalization can benefit a community and the influence a local government can have.

“We wanted to be able to show citizens that we are having a positive impact on the community and point to specific projects or initiatives to where that money is going to,” he said in the report.

Colorado raised nearly $70 million through cannabis tax revenues during the last fiscal year, which ended in June.

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Creso Pharma’s First Self-Developed Product to be Distributed in Czech Republic

10/31/2016

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Creso Pharma has struck a distribution deal with MEDI-IN s.r.o. for its hemp extract-based food supplement CBDium to be sold in more than 300 retail outlets in the Czech Republic, the company announced in a press release. The product is the first Creso-developed creation to be released to market.

Boaz Wachtel, Creso co-founder and CEO, said the deal was only possible through the company’s acquisition of Slovakia-based Hemp-Industries and he anticipates it will lead to “rapid growth” for the firm in the European market.

“This relationship brings both immediate revenue and cash flow to our newly listed company, as well as first exposure in an EU market for our products,” he said in the release.

MEDI-IN supplies medical equipment and natural medications to hospitals and pharmacies, and also distributes consumer products to sports and food stores in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. As part of the agreement, MEDI-IN will perform “extensive marketing activities” including direct retail marketing and e-commerce.

The agreement comes on the heels of Creso’s successful listing on the Australian Stock Exchange on Oct. 20, which subsequently saw the company’s shares spike more than 70 percent in its first week of trading. Last Friday, the stock closed at 29 cents, down from its 36 cent high on Oct. 24.

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Australian Doctor Group Urges for More Cannabis Research

10/31/2016

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In an official position statement, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners says that “further research is warranted” to clarify the medical uses of cannabis but that, presently, it should only be used as a “last-resort medication.”

The statement comes the same day that the Australian government will begin accepting applications for companies to participate in the medical cannabis program.

“The evidence base for the medical use of cannabis is currently incomplete. There remains much to be learned, particularly relating to treatment efficacy and the longer term side-effects of cannabis-based drugs,” the statement reads. “Recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses indicate that there is some therapeutic potential and that further research is warranted with a call for better designed clinical trials and longer duration of follow-up.”

According to the professional organization, the grade of evidence for cannabis as a treatment for chronic pain, nausea, spasticity, mood and sleep is “very low” to “moderate” — meaning that estimates of effect are “very uncertain” or require further research to “have an impact on [their] confidence.”

The body also suggests that the nation’s medical marijuana law is “unclear,” observing that the Therapeutic Goods Administration must sign off on any product offered under the program but that the registration process “requires evidence of testing and efficacy” which is not available for natural cannabis but does exist for some synthetic pharmaceutical cannabis products. However, the statement points out that “the potential therapeutic effects of the full complement of all of the compounds in the cannabis plant have not been tested and is an area identified for future research.”

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North Carolina Hemp Grower Secures Early Buyer for Next Year’s Crop

10/31/2016

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Industrial Hemp Manufacturing, LLC has signed a Letter of Intent to purchase the 1,000 acre-plus hemp crop planted by BioRegen Innovations Cooperative in North Carolina, the company announced in a press release. The crop is among the first planted in the state and is expected to be harvested toward the end of 2017. Industrial Hemp Manufacturing is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hemp, Inc.

“I believe this will be a turning point for not only our company, but for the state of North Carolina and America,” Davis Schmitt, COO of Industrial Hemp Manufacturing said in the release. “We already have the infrastructure to grow industrial hemp in the short run. The NC Industrial Hemp Commission is now able to define the rules and regulations for growing industrial hemp. This industrial hemp crop is part of history in the making and I believe it will be a very lucrative venture for both parties.”

Hemp, Inc. CEO Bruce Perlowin called the agreement “momentous” indicating that the crop will be processed at the company’s facility in Spring Hope.

“…We can process millions of pounds of hemp fibers and stalks to be incorporated into thousands of products used for clothing, plastic composites, construction material such as hempcrete, paper, biofuel, absorbent materials and more,” he said. “Instead of leaving the stalk in the fields to be wasted, or in some cases burned thereby polluting the environment, we have the infrastructure in place to take that wasted fiber and process roughly forty million pounds per year.”

Additionally, some of the hemp processed in the facility will be used for CBD-only medical products.

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Understanding Celebrity Cannabis Licensing

10/28/2016

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Celebrity product licensing is nothing new — Michael Jordan has sneakers, Elizabeth Taylor has perfume — but the practice is beginning to permeate the cannabis space with the introduction of celebrity-branded cannabis products, such as Leafs by Snoop from the hip hop superstar and Willie’s Reserve, a line featuring the country music icon Willie Nelson.

Wiz Kahlifa, Wu-Tang’s Ghostface Killah, and Melissa Etheredge join the estates of counter culture icons Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix as musicians either already involved in, or seeking to enter, the cannabis industry. Actor and director Kevin Smith partnered with a dispensary to create two strains to help promote his horror flick “Tusk,” and Tommy Chong, who was once jailed for nine months for his role in Chong’s Glass company, has launched his own brand Chong’s Choice. Whoopi Goldberg has also entered the fray with Whoopi & Maya, a line of bath soaks, balms and tinctures targeted toward women.

How celebrity licensing deals work

According to Olivia Mannix, co-founder and CEO of the Denver-based marketing company Cannabrand, the celebrities are the ones responsible for coming up with a brand and they work with industry partners to find cultivators and distributors in different markets in states where the product will be sold. The celebrity plays an “integral role in the development process,” meeting with potential growing partners and (of course) trying the product to “make sure it is something that that they like” and are willing to stake their reputation on, she said.

“They’re the last and most important people to sign off because it’s them, it’s their brand, and they want it represented in the best way possible,” Mannix said in an interview with Ganjapreneur.

Unlike traditional products, cannabis products must be sourced from the state in which they are sold — so while a customer will have an option for a celebrity-branded product in both California and Colorado, those products will not come from the same grower, Mannix explained. If the brand is tainted in one state — tests positive for a banned substance for instance — it could negatively impact the brand in both states even though it doesn’t have the same source.

“Quality control is huge in really making sure the partners and the people they’re working with have their [standard operating procedures] so that the consistency and the quality of their products are streamlined across all markets,” said Mannix, adding that if news breaks that a branded product in California has an issue, such as a pesticide alert, it would not affect the product in another state because it doesn’t come from the same source. However, the consumer might not necessarily understand that and “it could be detrimental to the entire brand,” she said.

The benefit for dispensaries carrying celebrity-branded products

For dispensary owners, celebrity-branded products are a way to drum up business and elevate the company’s profile. Both the cannabis-centric and mainstream media lights up (no pun intended) when a celebrity releases a cannabis product because, on one hand, it’s normalizing cannabis, but on the other hand it can be controversial — either way, customers get curious and want to experience the product for themselves.

And while cannabis tends to sell itself, dispensary owners are still competing for a market share.

Southwest Patient Group, a dispensary in San Diego, California, carries Chong’s Choice and according to its manager Alex Scherer, celebrity endorsements tend to carry some weight by helping to legitimize a product and, in most cases, bring mainstream attention to the benefits of cannabis therapies. As the industry grows, so does demand for high-quality products, he said.

“Right now branding is a really important part of the retail segment of this industry,” Scherer, who also serves as the president of the United Medical Marijuana Coalition, told Ganjapreneur. “In the past it wasn’t so critical… now days there is a bit more sophistication to the industry.”

Scherer said that customers tend to buy products that “appear of higher quality” and that celebrities are able to give that appearance due to their deep pockets and ability to hire world class designers and partner with top-flight manufacturers. Goldberg, for instance, partnered with Maya Elisabeth, founder of Om Edibles and winner of seven High Times Cannabis Cup awards.

“The product that stands out more on the [sales] floor will sell better,” Scherer said. “You just can’t get into a legitimate shop with poor packaging, no strategy, and expect to compete against companies with those things.”

Chong’s Choice sells well at Southwest because it lives up to the packaging. “It’s a high-quality product,” Scherer said, because if it wasn’t the dispensary would stop selling it — Tommy Chong’s endorsement or not. “If it doesn’t do the job and we have customer complaints, we wouldn’t keep it long-term.” It might help that Chong’s Choice doesn’t boast a price premium over its competitors, making it even more enticing to Scherer’s customers.

Celebrity trademarks in the cannabis space

Unlike traditional products — sneakers or perfumes — cannabis products are not afforded the same trademark protection by the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office (USTPO) due to marijuana’s Schedule I status. However, according to Neil Juneja, founder of Gleam Law, a firm specializing in marijuana law, celebrities are protected under personality rights law in the state in which they reside if that state has laws on the books for personality rights protections, such as California or New York. Personality rights allow individuals to control commercial uses of their name, image and likeness.

In a hypothetical scenario in which a new variety of cannabis was created and named after a celebrity, that product might also be afforded some protections even without a trademark in place. Courts can employ a test, called the Sleekcraft factors, to determine if there is a likelihood of consumer confusion which would violate a trademark and the plaintiff could also prove dilution through tarnishment, for which there is a different test, Juneja explained.

“You could prevent people from using that name or anything confusingly similar,” he said in an interview. “So that means if anyone was confused about the source of the goods you couldn’t use any name.”

Rebeccah Gan, a partner at Wenderoth, Lind & Ponack LLP, who specializes in trademark and patent law, said that companies can seek trademark protections on a state level but in many cases, such as the Washington Redskins trademark case, courts have determined that if a trademark “is not capable of being registered at the federal level at the time of the use, the use doesn’t give you common-law rights,” meaning that just because a celebrity has common-law trademark rights it doesn’t necessarily allow that person to claim rights to a product not allowed to be trademarked by the USTPO.

Gan suggests that if the company is selling non-cannabis products, such as clothing and hemp products, they would be able to apply for a trademark for those items, but because the federal government opposes legalization, the USTPO refuses to grant or even consider trademark protections for cannabis.

“They say, ‘When it comes to our registration system or common-law rights we are going to take this hard stance,’” she said in an interview with Ganjapreneur. “Which is ‘people rip each other off, oh well,’ because this is illegal commerce and we are not going to get involved in playing umpire.”

The celebrity effect

The marketing rules in states with cannabis markets, whether medicinal or recreational, do not permit marketing toward children and most television networks will not air cannabis commercials — although there is currently no official ban on such advertising under FCC rules. But as more states end cannabis prohibition, it’s likely that those marketing rules will evolve — in much the same way tobacco advertising was banned from television and radio in 1971. However, it’s unlikely that celebrity-branded products will be outlawed as several alcoholic beverages carry the names of celebrities — Marilyn Manson has an absinthe called “Mansinthe” and Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout carries the name of Wil Wheaton, who helped create the brew, among others — and many of the rules governing the industry mirror those for alcohol and tobacco.

According to a 2013 study by Ace Metrix outlined by Marketing Charts, celebrity endorsements that had “little apparent connection” to the brand underperformed compared to those endorsements that had a strong connection to the brand. It’s safe to say that celebrities like Snoop Dogg, who is not just famous but famous in part because of his cannabis use, and Whoopi Goldberg, who has a long history of cannabis advocacy, have strong connections to their brands — making them no-brainer choices as brand ambassadors. It remains to be seen whether or not celebrities without a public history with cannabis will enter the market and, if they do, how the market will respond.

“Celebrities have a voice and they are able to get behind these brands, they are able to get behind the cannabis industry and they are able to have people listen to them,” Mannix said. “Celebrities are entrepreneurs — they have their own brand, their own backing, their own following — so they are really advocating for [the cannabis space] to be able to get that insight and the messaging and education out there, which is crucial to the industry.”

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Report: Legal Cannabis is Boon to CO Economy

10/28/2016

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According to a report by the Marijuana Policy Group, Colorado’s legal cannabis market has generated $2.39 billion in state output, created 18,005 new full-time-equivalent jobs, and was the second largest excise tax revenue source in 2015, with $121 million in combined sales and excise tax revenues.

“Marijuana tax revenues were three times larger than alcohol, and 14 percent larger than casino revenues. The MPG projects marijuana tax revenues will eclipse cigarette revenues by 2020, as cigarette sales continue to decline,” the authors said in the report. “Marijuana tax revenues will likely continue increasing as more consumer demand shifts into the taxed adult-use market.”

Cannabis spending creates “more output and employment per dollar spent than 90 percent” of other state industries, and demand is projected to grow 11.3 percent annually through 2020, the report says. The analysts expect state demand for cannabis will be 215.7 metric tons of flower equivalents by 2020, during which total sales value will peak near $1.52 billion.

The study found that the largest spending category for Colorado retailers is the cannabis itself, followed by payroll, rent, security, compliance, and consulting services. For cultivators, electricity and HVAC represent the largest spending categories, followed by fertilizers, pesticides, “other agricultural inputs,” and payrolls. Many of those services and products are handled by businesses operating in ancillary markets; and as the industry has become “structured, organized and competitive” a growing need for specialized law firms has developed, the researchers said.

“As the need for analysis and advice grows within the private sector and government agencies, so has the legal and consulting segment of the marijuana industry,” the report states. “Investment banking and business valuation services are additional examples of ancillary demand that are related to the marijuana industry.”

Additionally, the study shows that from 2014 to 2015 the US legal cannabis industry has grown 42.4 percent, reducing the informal market 36.2 percent. Colorado’s economy grew at 3.5 percent – double the national average of 1.75 percent. The report suggests that by 2020 Colorado’s market “will be fully saturated” but will still grow at 2 percent to 3.1 percent per year.

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The Australian flag flying on a windy day.

Australian MMJ Cultivation License Applications Open on Monday

10/28/2016

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Australia’s Office of Drug Control will start accepting applications for cannabis cultivation licenses on Monday, one day after the federal medical marijuana legislation takes effect, according to a report from the Australian Broadcasting Company. The applicants must show that they will be supplying either a researcher or licensed manufacturer in order to be considered for the program.

MGC Pharmaceuticals, AusCann and Bedrocan Australia, which has ties to the Dutch company of the same name and Canada’s Tilray, all indicated they would apply for licenses.

Elaine Darby, AusCann managing director, said the company hopes to have its first crop planted the middle of next year, with products available toward the end of next year.

“Initially AusCann’s products will be used in some of our clinical studies as well as provided to clinicians who wish to provide from the outset and the key demand areas at this point seem to be chronic neuropathic pain and treatment-resistant epilepsy,” she said in the report.

The Motley Fool Australia’s Tom Richardson estimates Australia’s medical cannabis market could reach $75 million per year, but suggested that investing in the nascent market was not a sure bet due to the many unknowns of the industry including the fact that the government could choose to shut it down at any time.

“Some of Australia’s largest healthcare companies — such as Cochlear that make hearing aids, CSL that make emergency hospital products, or Resmed that makes sleep treatment products — these are all multi-billion dollar markets, so $75 million a year is really a drop in the ocean,” he said.

One of the most prominent medical cannabis activists in the country, Lucy Haslam, said that she had bought a farm with the intention of growing cannabis as soon as the government allowed, but that due to the high-powered corporations making their way in and its potential as “a cut-throat industry” she will not apply for a license.

“We’re seeing large companies that are very cashed up looking to come to Australia so it is at risk of being all about money rather than all about patients,” she said.

Haslam is also concerned that a “convoluted and complicated” system will just force people to stick with the informal market. So, for now, she plans on focusing her efforts on education.

End

Humboldt State University Panel Debates Pros and Cons of Prop. 64

10/28/2016

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Some California growers have already voiced their concerns over the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, and during a Humboldt State University panel discussion, one researcher called marijuana the “last small farm industry in California.”

In the Times-Standard report, Fred Krissman, a research associate with the HSU Anthropology Department and Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research, pointed out that Proposition 64 allows for large-scale grows five years after the law’s passage which could allow large companies to take over the industry as it has in other agricultural markets.

“This is a major threat to small scale grows,” he said in the report. “Most best practice growers that I have met oppose AUMA on that issue alone.”

Kristin Nevedal, a local cultivator and consultant to Americans for Safe Access who appeared on the panel, said that the law doesn’t allow grows larger than 1 acre during the first five years and prevents non-California residents from securing a business license for the first two – which allows smaller operators a “small window” to carve out their market share. She said that the language of the law provides strong anti-monopoly language and farmer protections.

“It does prohibit the act of selling a crop below the cost it takes to produce it,” she said.

According to the report, most members of the panel said the tax issue, which provides for total taxes of 10 percent on retail sales, is worth scrutinizing. Sequoia Hudson, member of the True Humboldt cooperative, said that if the retail prices are not competitive with the informal market, the latter will continue to thrive.

Another HIIMR member, Tony Silvaggio, noted that until the drug is decriminalized on a federal level the informal market would still compete with legal sales, and that Prop 64 doesn’t make it any easier for researchers to study cannabis.

“Without federal prohibition being removed, we’re going to have pressure on our ecosystems here as every year it gets worse and worse,” he said.

End

Alaska’s Plan for Marijuana Handler Permits Would Shut Out Host of Applicants

10/28/2016

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New proposed permit requirements for potential cannabis industry workers in Alaska are so onerous that they are “unreasonable impracticable,” with one industry hopeful saying they limit employment opportunities “without any tangible benefit to the state or city,” the Peninsula Clarion reports.

The proposal would force employees to pass a training course to obtain a marijuana handler’s permit, for which the requirements would be the strictest in the nation and inconsistent with similar permits required for people employed in the alcohol industry.

Under the plan, individuals would not be eligible for a marijuana handler’s card if they have been convicted of a felony or of selling alcohol without a license over the last five years, or have ever been convicted of a misdemeanor crime that included “violence, weapons, or dishonesty” or a controlled substance conviction other than a Schedule VI violation.

Steve Cehula, one of the industry hopefuls, called the occupational licensing proposal “incongruent with the voice of the people and unfair” and that the plan would disqualify cannabis workers for something that doesn’t preclude them from working in the tobacco or alcohol industries.

The alcohol industry equivalent in the state, Training for Alcohol Professionals, has no criminal restrictions at all. Kristen Myles, vice-president of operations for the Cabaret, Hotel, Restaurant and Retail Association, said the proposal “doesn’t make any sense.”

“It’s hard enough to find good employees for any business,” she said in the report.

So far, there have been over 300 licenses issued to canna-businesses in the state but it’s not yet clear how many employment opportunities that will lead to.

End

Arkansas' state flag flying before a cloudless sky.

Arkansas Supreme Court Disqualifies One of the State’s Two MMJ Measures

10/27/2016

by Graham Abbott

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One of Arkansas’ competing measures to legalize medical cannabis — the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act — has been disqualified from the ballot by the Arkansas Supreme Court, according to a 40/29 News report. The other legalization measure, the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment, remains on the ballot and will be appearing before voters in the November 8 general election.

According to the court, the AMCA — which was set to appear as Issue 7 on the ballot — was disqualified due to a number of mistakes made in the petitioning process. In the court’s written opinion, five reasons were given for dismissing some of the signatures:

Some petition gatherers did not comply with state requirements laid out for political canvassers.
Some signatures listed only a P.O. box number and not a home address.
Some canvassers had verified their petitions before they were signed by a voter.
Some canvassers made errors filling out the form.
Canvassers did not always explicitly witness the signing of the petition.

In total, the Arkansas Supreme Court threw out just over 12,000 signatures, lowering the total number of valid signatures to 65,412 — insufficient for making the ballot.

The AMCA, which enjoyed a NORML endorsement, was considered by many marijuana advocates to be superior to the AMMA, for it allowed cannabis treatment for a wider variety of ailments and included home grow provisions for patients.

On the bright side, however, narrowing things down to only one MMJ option on the ballot means that Arkansas is less likely to split the pro-cannabis vote between two measures, which means that legal cannabis may now be a more likely outcome.

Three other states will be voting on medical marijuana measures this November.

End

Pennsylvania Health Department Releases Medical Cannabis Draft Rules

10/27/2016

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The Pennsylvania Health Department has released the draft regulations for the state’s medical marijuana program, expecting to begin accepting applications from would-be cultivators, processors, and dispensaries early next year, the Inquirer reports. Secretary of Health Karen Murphy said the department expects sales to begin in 2018.

Additionally, Murphy indicated that more than 100 parents and caregivers have been granted “safe harbor” letters that allow them to acquire medical cannabis from out-of-state sources for children suffering from a qualifying condition, but that no adults have been granted such permission.

The draft regulations include input from “nearly 1,000 comments” from community, industry and legislative members.

“This is a program we are starting from the ground up,” Murphy said in the report. “We feel this type of engagement is incredibly important for the integrity of the program.”

Under this version of the draft regulations, growers would be permitted to import seedlings during the program’s first 30 days, and the definition of person under the rules includes limited liability companies and corporations. Medical marijuana delivery personnel no longer have to hold a Pennsylvania drivers license, and the age to work in a grow house is reduced from 21 to 18.

The rules also divide the state into six geographical regions, up from three, for grow house and dispensary license distribution. The number of permits granted in a region will be determined based on a variety of factors, including population, number of potential patients and access to public transportation, and regions with economic development needs will get special consideration. In all, there would be 25 grower-processors and 50 dispensaries with three locations each permitted in the state.

End

Indoor cannabis plants being grown in a licensed Washington state marijuana production facility.

Ohio Patients Unlikely to Have MMJ Access Until 2018

10/27/2016

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Patients in Ohio are unlikely to have access to medical marijuana until 2018, despite the law taking effect on Sept. 8, according to a Columbus Dispatch report. Policy makers still have to draft rules for the program, adopt policies, and implement a plan for certification and licensing – under the law those rules, which have to be approved by two oversight agencies, don’t have to be completed until next year.

Robert Giacalone, a medical board member, suggests that the board “is in no way prohibiting the recommendation of medical marijuana now that HB523 is effective” but a provision of the law bars doctors from recommending medical marijuana until the rules are written and products are cultivated and sold in the state.

“If any physician wishes to recommend medical marijuana before the rules are in place, we strongly recommend that they contact a private attorney,” he said in the report.

The Ohio Patient Network’s Rob Ryan said there is “no doubt” people with approved qualifying conditions should be able to access medical marijuana in the state, but that anyone seeking to do so should be “very careful going out of state to do so.” He said that until the state program is in place, patients could obtain cannabis “from a family member or friend, or a dealer as a last resort,” noting that patients could opt to grow their own medicine.

Patients could travel to a neighboring state that allows out-of-state cardholders to purchase the drug at dispensaries, such as Michigan, but they would be running the risk of being charged with trafficking for carrying cannabis across state lines. Those charged could assert an “affirmative defense” until medical marijuana is available in Ohio, but it would be up to a judge to accept it.

According to Dan Tierney, spokesman for Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office, it would be “very difficult” to legally obtain medical marijuana until the infrastructure is in place.

“Everybody knows there’s significant lead time built into this statute,” he said. “We don’t have the specific rules in place at the medical board or the pharmacy board.”

Even after the program is set up, it might still prove difficult for patients in more than 40 cities who have passed moratoriums on the cannabis industry, and for patients in Hamilton and Butler Counties, which have passed permanent bans.

End

A member of the Georgia National Guard force searches for illegal marijuana plants.

Feds Request Report on DEA Cannabis Eradication Program

10/27/2016

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Seven congressional Democrats along with one Republican have written a letter to U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro requesting the Government Accountability Office to “produce a report on the cost effectiveness of the DEA’s Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program,” calling into question the “necessity” of the program.

The lawmakers cite an Oct. 7 Washington Post report that discovered the DEA spent $73,000 on the program in Utah, “but did not find a single plant to eradicate.”

“Over half the states have now legalized marijuana in some form, yet the DEA continues to funnel millions of tax dollars every year into marijuana eradication,” the letter reads. “As Congress evaluates how to allocate government funds over the next fiscal year, it is critical that we have an accurate picture of what the DEA’s DCE/SP funds are being spent on, where and how effectively.”

Specifically, the congressmen want the agency to report:

The cost per plant per state and the total program cost over the last three to five years.
How the states have used those funds
How the DEA measures the program’s success
How many states had zero eradications
The “mean, median, and mode” of plants destroyed at each source
The total amount of cannabis that has been eradicated or suppressed by the program in the past three to five years, and how much of that was in states with medical or recreational cannabis laws.
What types of levels of coordination happen between the DEA the U.S. Department of Agriculture and US Forest Service.

According to the Post report, the DEA spends $14 million annually on the eradication program and 12 members of Congress have proposed eliminating the program altogether.

End

The fountain outside of the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Polling Close on Nevada’s Question 2

10/27/2016

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