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The sun shines through a New England forest, pictured here piercing the foliage just above the trunk of a fallen tree.

Feds Seek MMJ Patient Info from Northeastern States; Massachusetts Complies

8/28/2017

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Officials in Massachusetts have complied with a medical cannabis patient data request from the White House National Marijuana Initiative, but Gov. Charlie Baker indicated that none of the submitted information can be used to identify patients, CBS Boston reports. The information included the gender, age, and date of cannabis prescription for the state’s 40,000-plus registered patients but not specific medical conditions – which was requested by the federal task force.

The National Marijuana Initiative is a project contained in the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program created by Congress in 1988. According to the report, other states were also sent requests for medical cannabis patient data. The NMI reports directly to the White House and not the Justice Department or Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Baker said officials would not do “anything that is going to violate anybody’s privacy.”

Dan Quigley, deputy coordinator for the NMI, told the Boston Globe the request was part of a project researching whether there was a link between how states regulate medical cannabis and cannabis use among different age groups within the general public.

“There are no black helicopters warming up in the bullpen,” Quigley, a former Colorado police officer and cannabis legalization opponent said in the report. “I have no idea where this is going to take us yet.”

According to the Globe report, other states asked for medical cannabis patient information by the NMI include Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine and Vermont.

Update 8/28/17: In an email to Ganjapreneur, it was confirmed by Marijuana Program Administrator Lindsey Wells that the Vermont Marijuana Registry also received and complied with the NMI request.

The provided information included the approximate number of medical cannabis applications Vermont has received each year, which has risen from just 566 in 2012 to a whopping 4,310 in 2016. The information also covered the average age of cannabis patients in Vermont, which has risen from approximately 50 in 2013 to 53 years old in 2016, as well as the most popular conditions cited for medical cannabis access — of which, unsurprisingly, chronic pain (1,205 cases) tops the list with cancer (167), Multiple Sclerosis (77), and nausea (46) trailing far behind.

However, Vermont does not track the gender of its medical cannabis patients.

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The New Hampshire Capitol Building on a sunny day in Concord, New Hampshire.

New Hampshire Gov. Signs Cannabis Decriminalization Bill

7/19/2017

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New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu has signed legislation reducing penalties for possession of small amounts of cannabis, and with it effectively decriminalized low-level cannabis possession in New England. The measure makes possession of up to three-quarters of an ounce of flower and up to five grams of hashish by adults 18-and-older a violation rather than a misdemeanor.

New England includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Last November, voters in Maine and Massachusetts both approved adult-use measures, while possession of less than an ounce of cannabis is a simple violation in the remaining states. New Hampshire was the only holdout in the region.

New Hampshire’s law specifically prohibits police from making any arrests for a cannabis possession violation, and offenders under 18 caught possessing less than the threshold would be subject to a delinquency petition, WMUR-9 reports.

Adults found possessing above the threshold will be fined $100 for the first or second offense and $300 for subsequent offenses within a three-year period. A fourth offense will result in a misdemeanor charge. Money collected from fines will be deposited into the state fund for alcohol and substance abuse treatment.

Justin Strekal, NORML political director, said the measure allows the state to “join the chorus of states that recognize the baseline level of dignity for its citizens and tourists” who choose to use cannabis.

“Soon, throughout New England, individuals will be able to freely travel without the threat of jail time for possession of marijuana,” he said in a statement.

Sununu previously called the legislation “common sense marijuana reform.” The bill takes effect in 60 days.

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Peering through an indoor cannabis grow operation's lower canopy.

Names of Pennsylvania MMJ Cultivators Announced

6/21/2017

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The Pennsylvania Department of Health has announced the 12 companies awarded cultivation and processing permits for medical cannabis. Under the state rules, two licenses were available in the state which was broken into six regions.

Prime Wellness of Pennsylvania LLC, and Franklin Labs, LLC were chosen for the Southeast Region licenses; Terrapin Investment Fund 1 LLC, and GTI Pennsylvania were awarded the Northcentral Region – GTI was also awarded a preliminary license in Maryland.

Pennsylvania Medical Solutions LLC, and Standard Farms, LLC will head up the Northeast Region; Agrimed Industries of PA, LLC, and PurePenn, LLC were awarded licenses for the Southwest Region; Ilera Healthcare LLC, and AES Compassionate Care, LLC will cultivate in the Southcentral Region; and Holistic Farms LLC, and Cresco Yeltrah, LLC round out the state in the Northeast Region.

Several of the companies are corporate medical cannabis businesses from Illinois, Maryland, and Connecticut.

According to a Philadelphia Enquirer report, the companies must begin growing in six months. The state’s regime does not permit whole-plant consumption so the companies will have to process their crops into tinctures, oils and capsules.

The names of the 27 companies approved to operate dispensaries in the state are expected next week.

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Chip Baker: A Livelihood in Dirt and Cannabis

4/19/2017

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Chip Baker is a man of many pursuits and accomplishments in the cannabis industry: he is the founder and former owner of Royal Gold Potting Soil, the founder and current CEO of Cultivate Colorado, and he is also the host of his own cannabis industry podcast — The Real Dirt with Chip Baker.

In this Ganjapreneur.com Podcast episode, Chip sits down with our own podcast host TG Branfalt to discuss Chip’s entrance to the cannabis world, the early years he spent learning about cannabis cultivation from professionals in Switzerland and the Netherlands, and the important role that independent media plays in the national coverage of the cannabis movement.

Listen to the podcast below, or continue scrolling down to read a full transcript of this week’s episode.

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Read the transcript:

TG Branfalt: Hey there. I’m TG Branfalt. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast. The Ganjapreneur.com Podcast gives us an opportunity to speak directly with entrepreneur and experts working on front lines of the industry to normalize cannabis to responsible business, education, and activism. As your host, I will do my best to bring you actual information to help you plan, grow, and manage your cannabis business. Today, I’m joined by Chip Baker. He is the host of The Real Dirt with Chip Baker, founder and former owner of Royal Gold Potting Soil, and founder and owner of Cultivate Colorado. How you doing today, Chip?

Chip Baker: Oh, I’m doing great, Tim. Thanks for having me on. I’ve been looking forward to this all week.

TG Branfalt: No doubt, no doubt. We’re on the heels of Sessions coming out saying that he’s probably not going to make a whole lot of changes to the Cole Memo. So that’s kind of some good news that we’ve had in the last week, after a couple of weeks of just kind of being shamed by the administration.

Chip Baker: Right, right. Yeah, it’s a tough political world right now. There’s so many uncertainties. The cannabis industry really is an uncertain industry, but honestly it has more security today than its ever had. Most people that want to be involved in a legal cannabis industry aren’t going to jail.

TG Branfalt: I mean, aside from what did happen with Canada with Mark and Jody Emery, but we’re already getting off topic here. I want to thank for being on the show. So why don’t you tell us about your background, how you’d get involved in the cannabis space, and tell me more about your time in Europe.

Chip Baker: Well, man brief history. I was raised in Georgia, always been interested in farming and agriculture, agriculture technology. When we were kids smoking weed, we just had joints, or didn’t necessarily know what it was. Lots of drug war propaganda back there. And we got a sack one day that had seeds in it. To this day, when I see those friends that were involved in it, they quote me by saying, “We can grow this shit.” That’s what fascinated with me of cannabis. It was this incredible, psychedelic plant with, you know, lots of potential medicinal value. And we can grow it. We can grow it ourselves. That’s really where it all started way, way, way, way long time ago. Right.

I kind of started out early, probably earlier than most people should. But fascinated with growing things. One thing led to the next, and I ended up in University of Georgia studying botany, and then, Biological Anthropology, basically the pre-history of agriculture, the archeology of agriculture. And that just kind of set the tone for my life. In ’97, we moved to California, me and my then girlfriend, and now wife to be involved in the medical cannabis industry, and immediately hit with a great group of people, great group of activists that were really pushing the limits. Some of them had been growing weed for 30 years already, and really got a great knowledge then. And had a number of successful years experimenting, and growing different cannabis in different ways up in Humoldt county, at the time the epicenter of cannabis in the world, really.

But there was only one place that was doing it legal, and that was in Europe, The Netherlands. At the same time, the Internet had come about, this crazy thing that we take advantage of, and we’re having a Skype interview on right now. And I was able to communicate with people oversees, and say, “Hey man. I’m from Humboldt County. I live in Humboldt County. You know, we’ve got this strain, or this technique, or I have this interesting question.” It just opened a lot of doors for me. We went over there first in, I think, 1999, and met everybody, Sensei Seeds, and Mr. Nice, DNA Genetics, Segmarta Genetics, all of those early people, and stayed there for a number of years on and off, specifically in Switzerland with Scott Blakely of Mr. Nice Spain.

At the time, he was growing acres, and acres, and acres, and acres, and acres of weed. Greenhouse, light dep, indoor. And I was able to spend about a year and half on and off there with Scott. And he really schooled me in several different ways, and allowed me to go, and take pictures, and ask questions all throughout Switzerland and where he was growing these massive, massive cannabis crops. That was 2000 to 2002, 2003 I believe. All that got shut down. And it hasn’t really been until recently that these massive style grows have really come back. It’s kind of a brief overview of what’s happened in the past 15 years, but that’s where we’re at. Now, we’re having these huge grows again, 1,000 lights, 1,500 lights, huge greenhouse operations, 20,000 50,000 square feet, you know, 5 acres of greenhouse, 10 acres of greenhouse all over Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington. It’s really a great time to be involved in the cannabis industry, that’s for sure.

TG Branfalt: So why don’t you tell me about some of the growing techniques that you picked up in Switzerland.

Chip Baker: Well, light deprivation is the primary thing that we picked up in Switzerland. At the time, in northern California, every one called it Black Box. And there was all kinds of, like, misnomers on how it worked, and what you did, that people basically taking black sheets of plastic and pulling it over their plants in some manner; anything that’s kind of poor quality cannabis.

Well, so Scott, he had perfected this technique. He had been studying with rose growers and cut flower growers on how to control your nighttime and daytime temperatures, and simple light deprivation operations. Now, what light deprivation is it’s where you artificially control your nighttime in a greenhouse, or an outdoor setting. So, you black the plants out for 12 hours a day to induce flowering anytime of year.

Linus, one of our founders of modern botany, he developed this technique 150 years ago. Right, and I had tried it. I’d been using it and trying it for a number of years, but it wasn’t until I saw the techniques they were using, which were supplemental lighting to keep your vegetative plants going. This idea that there was every moment of the day, every moment of sunshine was flower time, instead of having these traditional, seasonal flowering periods. That was new to me. You know, over there Scott was literally flowering every single day. Mr. Nice, GBT Genetics, they were flowering every single day of the year, and just using high-pressure sodium lights at the time, 400 watt lights to supplement the light to extend their daylight, increase their vegetative period say in the winter time. Or to use an extra light in the winter time to increase the light intensity in the greenhouse. These guys really liked growing incredible, indoor quality cannabis, what at the time was perceived an inferior technique to grow weed.

TG Branfalt: And you described yourself to me earlier as a soil guy. Um-

Chip Baker: Yeah, dirt.

TG Branfalt: Dirt. Tell me about your soil, and how it differentiates from others out there, and how you came up with the recipe, so to speak.

Chip Baker: Sure. Well, I founded Royal Gold Potting Soil in 2002 or 4. It’s been such a long time ago, I’ve kind of forgotten. And I sold it just recently last year to my partner and a group of investors. And we still happily do business together. I’ve always wanted to make my own soil, and been fascinated with soil biology and soil chemistry. So, I was always making my own potting soil even in the early years. I had a neighbor. He had a company called Power Flower. They were making a local potting soil in Humboldt County. And I thought to myself as I saw his trucks go by my house every day, “Wow man. I think I can do this. I think I can turn it into a business.” I loved Dan’s product, but I made it better. I took his product and added more parts and pieces, which is a common theme in the cannabis industry. People want to mix in their own magic, so to speak.

So, I started importing coconut fiber way, way back before anybody even knew what it was, cocoa pith, cocoa quar, cocoa whatever you want to call it. It is the waste product from the coconut fiber industry. They’re these little short fibers that fall to the ground after fiber production. And they pack those, import them into the US, and then we process it into a peat-like substitute. The really interesting thing about cocoa is that it has a certain amount of natural potassium in it that cannabis loves. And it also has the perfect drainage and nutrient exchange rate that cannabis loves. In coconuts, just like cannabis, we have a long co-evolutionary history with them. They’ve really fed humanity and given medicine to humanity for eons, since our beginning really.

So all of my product has been coconut based in some form. And in Royal Gold, there was a completely cocoa based product, cocoa based soil. I’ve currently started a new company called Growers. We’re based out of Colorado. Our production will be up here in the summer of 2017. And we’re having a peat cocoa perlite-based products that allows our growers to be able to supply all of their own nutrients. Almost everybody has a magical, or their special recepie of nutrients. And our soil will allow you to be able to grow with any recipe that you have, or you want to develop.

The other part of your question is how did I come up with these formulas. You know, a lot of it was self experimentation, a lot of it was customer participation. Like over the years, I’ve been able to talk to hundreds, and hundreds of growers, and go and see hundreds and hundreds of grow rooms, hundreds of outdoors. It’s been a really an impressive education on soil, and soil management techniques across the board. And that’s really allowed me to see what the customer wants, and what’s really great for packaging, and just making money because that’s what we’re trying to do in business every day is make money, right?

So growers, it’s geared specifically towards the cannabis industry. It’s mostly inert product that has a specific drainage made for cannabis. We’ve now used some of the best soil scientist in the world to help us refine and develop the techniques, and the components that we’re putting in it. The highest quality cocoa fibers chosen, from 15 years in the industry, I literally chose it from the best guy. There’s one guy, and you know who you are. I’m not going to tell everybody, but thank you. There’s one guy who’s got the shit in cocoa fiber, and I get it from him. And then, there’s the highest grade peat. We source the highest grade peat in a local perlite product. So, it’s all highest end product, highest end inputs, highest end outputs, made specifically for cannabis growers and soil.

TG Branfalt: So I can tell just by talking to you, like, how passionate you are about dirt, right. And you’re an OG, you know. You were in Sweden, you were with some of the famous, you know, early growers. So, it’s interesting to get your take on, not just where you’ve come from … But how have you seen … I mean, obviously, when you started, there wasn’t the legalization that exists now, but how has the industry changed for you in the dirt game?

Chip Baker: Well, you know-

TG Branfalt: Because you can always sell dirt.

Chip Baker: Yeah, it has changed though, man, that’s for sure. You know, years ago when people grew indoors, they grew mostly hydroponic style. Right, because it’s really easy to hide that, and get the medium. That’s the material that you grow your plants in. That’s what we call it, medium. To get it in your house, rocks, or rock wool, it’s real lightweight. As cannabis changed … Let me back up. So, you had this lightweight growers, and then you had dirt growers. Back in the late 90s-2000s, that was the definition, dirt growers and hydro. Most of the dirt growers were in northern California because we had places we could hide. We had big open spaces. We had private spaces. And it was simple as like, Fox Farm Potting Soil and Power Flower Potting Soil. We’d fill these things up with buckets, put some plants in it, and start watering it.

Then, there was only a handful of nutrients on the market. You had pure blend and general hydroponics, and maybe a few others. Now, there’s dozens of different formulas. I mean, at our shop, Cultivate Colorado, we carry $2 million worth of fertilizer probably because everybody has their little specific thing that they want. So, the fertilizer game changes, and so the soil game has to change. Companies like Premier, and Royal Gold, and Botanicare, Sunshine, we all came to play with innert, pro-style potting mixes. Most of these mixes were developed out of UC Davis in the 50s, where lots of agriculture research came from. They said how much moisture rating, and how much air, and how much drainage you needed to have for a specific growing style.

All of us, Premier is the biggest people. Sunshine, they’re one of the biggest people. Fox Farm, I mean they’re the godfathers in the cannabis industry. And my little company at the time, we were all going towards this way of okay, we need some inert mediums, so that people can put their own fertilizers in it, and have access to all these fertilizers in it. So, now the industry, we all use hydroponic style mediums, but we’re basically growing in dirt, soil as the heady people say. And we take a container, we fill it full of an inert medium, and then we use a hydroponic style nutrient to feed the soil-less mediums. That’s the predominant way. Every single grow room I go into, 99% that’s what they’re doing. They have a soil-less medium that’s made of peat or perlite, or cocoa peat or perlite, or just cocoa. And they’re using their specially picked hydroponic style nutrients to grow in it.

TG Branfalt: So, the amount of knowledge that you’re just, like, dropping on me about dirt right now is absolutely mind blowing. Um-

Chip Baker: It seems like dirt. People ask me all the time, “Do you make dirt? How do you make dirt?” Right?

TG Branfalt: So I want to talk to you about how you’ve kind of shifted gears a little bit, and entered into a kind of consulting career. But before we do that, we gotta take a short break. This is the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, I’m TG Branfalt.

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TG Branfalt: Welcome back to the Ganjapreneur.com Podcast. I’m here with Chip Baker. He is the host of The Real Dirt with Chip Baker, founder and former owner of Royal Gold potting soil, and founder and owner of Cultivate Colorado. So before the break, we were talking about your new grower soil, that project, and you also do a lot of consulting. So, why don’t you tell me, not how you got into consulting, but why you decided to get into consulting.

Chip Baker: Well, it’s actually kind of linked, man. One led to the next through running a potting soil company and a hydro store for, you know, 15 years, everybody comes through the door and has a story to tell, or has a question to ask. And over those years, I’ve gained a significant amount of knowledge from my other customers, the questions they ask, the problem solving that we went through to solve their problems. I’ve kind of just become, like … When the experts are stumped, they call me. Not to sound arrogant, but, like, I generally have an answer to every question based on some previous application. Randomly do I get stumped, but when I get stumped, I also have a pool of experts that I give a call, that know the answer.

So here in Denver, Colorado, real tight-knit community. Denver is where it’s all happening for the whole state pretty much. Growers come in, dispensaries come in, they start asking questions. I solve their problems quickly and easily. And just one thing led to another, and venture capitalists start calling. Financing people start calling. Big grows start calling. Governments start calling, just how it happens.

TG Branfalt: What’s one of the most common questions that you get from growers, people coming to your shop?

Chip Baker: It’s the same thing over and over again. Well, growers are constantly prideful in what they … Growers are prideful in what they do. People who grow cannabis are some of the most prideful people that I’ve met. A lot of the question is associated with the yield. That’s almost every person’s question is associated with yield. Like, “My yields are down because of pest. My yields are down because of watering. My yields are down because of environmental control.” At Cultivate Colorado, we have every size customer from grandma with one light, to the ganjapreneur with 1,500. And they all have similar questions about watering and environmental control, pests. It’s almost always the same.

TG Branfalt: And you said that you worked with government regulators. Can you describe that experience because, you know, I’m just wondering what is it like? Do they kind of turn their nose down at you? Is there any excitement at all from the bureaucrats who are involved in this?

Chip Baker: Yeah, now there is. I’ve always spoke openly about cannabis. Like, I can speak on pretty much any subject from water consumption to hemp, importation of CBD distilled. I’m just fascinated with all of it. And I understand it in a way that manypeople don’t. In the past, there was lots of sphere associated with that because I’m right upfront about it. Right? And now, people are fascinated. And they ask really interesting questions. And they’re questions of all types. You know, last week as matter of fact, Colorado were regulated how much cannabis a medical person can grow in their home. And previously, we had 99 plants. Lobbyist called up last week, and asked me like, “Hey Chip. How many plants do you have to have to sustain a six plant flower?” I was like, “Wow, that’s a really interesting question.”

The government, at the time, wanted to change it to just six plants, where you could only have six plants in your house. And my answer was 44 plants. That seems like a lot, but it’s not really. You need a mom, right, to get your cuttings off of. Then, you need to take, like, 25 cuttings because most people’s plants, half of them die off, right. Then, you’ve got 12 vegging plants at that point. And half of those might die off, or be bad, or you might want to throw them away. And then, you’re left with six, right. So, it’s not just this simple answer of plant six seeds, and get six plants. It’s a little more complicated. Unfortunately, they decided to go with the number of 16, instead of 44. But 16 is better than 6.

TG Branfalt: When we spoke about this last week, you had said that you’re actually more of a proponent of canopy size as oppose to plants.

Chip Baker: Yeah, restricting number of plants is useless. For instance, there’s a big movement going on right now in consuming raw cannabis leave. Well, one of the easiest ways to do that is through a micro greens type technique. And for that, you’d have 100 plants in 2 square foot area. So, the numbers of plants don’t really make sense to me. You can go one plant or 200 plants in the same area, and that’s what it all boils down to, its square footage. Now I’m of course in the business of retailing hydroponic and indoor growing equipment. I would like there not to be that strict of limits on this type of stuff, right?

TG Branfalt: Of course.

Chip Baker: But in California, and other states, they’ve had this canopy idea. This means that you have so many square feet that you can grow in. And that really is a better example of what’s going on. If you have a 10 by 10 canopy, right, that means the top two foot of all of your plants equal 100 square feet. Well, if you spread that outright, it might be 200 square feet of growth, but it’s 100 foot canopy. That kind of thing really makes sense. Man, how many times you counting how many tomato plants you planting in the backyard? You don’t, you don’t. And you go to the nursery to by petunias or mums, or something. And you just look at the six packs, and you’re like, “I want five of those.” You don’t think that there’s 30 plants there. You’re just like, “Oh, I think I’ll take that many.”

And that’s how we should be treating weed as well. The problem here is really based on this 1970s awful law that said that one plant equals one kilo of can-

TG Branfalt: What?

Chip Baker: That’s a federal law, when you look it up. And it’s all over the country. People still use this. They use this in Chicago. They use this in Georgia, is that one plant equals a kilo. And I have absolutely seen 10 pound plants, absolutely beautiful, huge, majestic, huge plants. Most plants don’t equal a kilo. Most plants equal an ounce. That’s 28 grams, right. So, that’s also part of it. They look at it and they’re like, “Oh six plants. Well, then you’re getting six kilos. That’s way too much, way too much.” Personally, that’s not too much for me. And I don’t think anybody should tell me it’s too much either. But it’s also not reality.

Most people grow six plants, and get six ounces. Most people that are actually growing inside their house, here in Denver anyway, you can go buy it for cheaper than you can grow it. It’s-

TG Branfalt: Yeah.

Chip Baker: … inexpensive here now. As little as $75 an ounce. Still as much as 300. So yeah, I just don’t think they have a grasp of really what’s going on. They still think it’s this evil plant. And like, “Oh, you can only have six.” It’s this gentle, beautiful, incredible piece of evolutionary history that we have together. And we should support it, and cultivate it as it cultivates us.

TG Branfalt: Well, I don’t think you, me, or anybody else listening to this podcast would dispute the symbiotic relationship cannabis has. And I want to talk more about normalization, and more about your role as a media host. But before we do that, gotta take a short break. I’m TG Branfalt with Chip Baker. This is the Ganjapreneur.com podcast.

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TG Branfalt: Welcome back to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m your host, TG Branfalt here with Chip Baker, host of The Real Dirt with Chip Baker, founder and former owner of Royal Gold Potting Soil, founder and owner of Cultivate Colorado. So, you’ve spent your whole career in dirt, and helping people as a consultant, and then you end up doing a podcast. How do you end up there, man?

Chip Baker: God, you know, I wanted to tell people stories man. I have these incredible friends, and they get interviewed by NBC and CNN and Fox News. The journalists don’t ask the right questions. They don’t know what questions to ask. And I saw this every time I’m reading an article on cannabis. I shouldn’t say every time, but many, many, many, many times it’s just the same old, “Oh, you guys must get really stoned at work today.” And that might be part of it, don’t get us wrong. But there was a deeper level of conversation that I believe it needed to have. And man, I just got some friends with incredible stories.

Like, Christian Sederberg from the Vicente Sederberg, he’s an attorney who helped legalize cannabis here in Colorado, has a law practice that is primarily cannabis related for people all over the world, man. Jordan Segota, just an incredible extractor. Justin Jones, and my buddy Matt Bickle are both successful cannabis growers, and now consultants for people all over the world. I just kinda wanted to share their stories, man. I thought it was fun. I also just sold all my interest in Royal Gold, and was feeling really creative. I had this huge amount of success from this business that I had created and built from the ground up, from literally, like $1,200. I started in 2002 with it. And I couldn’t say how much business they do now, but they ship all over the world.

That makes me feel really good for sure. And just wanted to, like, tell these stories. They we just interesting to me. Podcast, I haven’t had that many downloads. I’m a boutique podcast as of now. Right, I think I’ve had about 10,000 downloads that I can track. And I get people that come up to me now and say, “Hey, you’re Chip Baker from The Real Dirt.” And we usually smoke out and talk about their favorite episode, or they tell me something that they’re interested in. Yeah man. That’s kind of why I do it, is I’ve always loved radio. I’ve always loved the stories. I’ve always love this American life, and NPR type stories. And it’s what I want to be a part of it.

TG Branfalt: So, when you said that most reporters don’t ask the right questions especially … And I gotta agree with you as somebody who has a Master’s degree in Communications, who studied journalism, who-

Chip Baker: Yeah, you know ganja to some degree. And you’ve been around it. I haven’t read any of your work Tim, I’ll be honest with you, but I’m sure you probably can ask relevant questions other than, “Are you getting stoned at work?”

TG Branfalt: Well, I mean focusing on the business aspect of it. The normalization is a huge thing. I think anybody who, like, gives a damn about the advocacy end of it … It’s all normalization when it comes right down to it. We want our businesses. In my case, I want the stigma to be over, so when people see me with my long hair, and my kind of laid back, and they think stoner, they don’t think, “Well, he’s not going to be a good worker. He’s not good for the brand” if that makes any sense. So-

Chip Baker: Yeah, I try to break that right there because I’m a stoner, 100% man. I’ll tell you that. I love it, and there’s nothing wrong with it. So, I’ll bring it up immediately with people all the time. And it makes them feel comfortable, and I smoke with people who never smoke. I smoke with people who have never smoked. People come to me and say, “Hey man. I’m really interested in trying it.” I kind of make it normal, right?

TG Branfalt: I mean you grew up in Georgia, right? So, probably growing up for you, there was a far more stigma for … You know, I grew up mostly in the northeast, New York and Connecticut, where it’s a lot more liberal than Georgia, where people still go to jail for a long time.

Chip Baker: Oh yeah, man. I’ve got a family friend who’s looking at a felony for a joint right now in Georgia.

TG Branfalt: A joint?

Chip Baker: A joint. A joint because they turn that into resisting arrest, and they whipped his ass, put him in jail. It became this thing because that’s how it works. There’s never just one thing, right?

TG Branfalt: So, in your podcast, what were some of your favorite guests and your favorite interviews that you’ve done in that role? Is it with people that you’ve known for a long time that you’re just being able to ask them questions that you may not have gotten to before, or is it with people that you really never met.

Chip Baker: A little bit of both. Mostly, they’re friends of mine. I have pretty good Rolodex of people that have asked me questions in the past, maybe owe me a favor, or you know, have grown in their businesses to where they’re just a powerhouse, right. So that’s part of it, but yeah, you said it right there. I get them in the studio here. I’m in the Real Dirt studio right now. I get them in here, and they put the headphones on, and they got a microphone in front of them, and they’re just transported. And I keep saying psychedelic experience. I guess I’m on that frame of mind today, but we do have this bonding psychedelic experience because headphones are on, and it makes that controlled sound. Your voice is modulated a little bit. It puts in a little bit of an altered state. We are smoking weed for sure. People, like, tell me things they haven’t told me before.

I have really good, open conversation. Some of the best conversations I’ve had with my friends doing the podcast. People feel like they can really talk about what they’re doing, and that it’s a professional conversation. It encourages them. It encourages me too, you know. Most of my podcast interviews, we leave here, and we high five each other, and we’re like, “Ah, that was great man. Ah, I never knew that about you. Thanks for all that information.” Like with Andrew Livingston, he’s a statistician for Vicente Sederberg’s and a researcher. He came here, and I got to ask him all the stats, all the information, on how much people are making, how much weed was selling, the direction. We got to chat these mathematical theories. That’s hard to come by. But he studies the data that comes out of the tracking system for this year, the state of Colorado.

So, he was definitely one of my favorites. It’s kind of a little nerdy of a podcast, so you gotta be into numbers and shit, business in order to really like that one. My longest and favorite podcast, though, is with my friend, Matt Bickle. We’ve been friends for 10 years, and in 2009, he really became involved in the medical cannabis industry. I’ve been able to watch him grow from having a four light grow to working for a 10 light dispensary, a 40 light dispensary, and now he’s a consultant all over the country, motivating and helping people to set up cannabis facilities, and grow quality cannabis.

I’ve got one later on today that I’m really excited about with a friend of mine who’s got an ancillary business. I won’t speak of her name yet. I don’t know if I can say I have a favorite one. I often ask people what their favorite one is. And I get a Jordan Segota, which that’s probably my most interactive. He’s a really colorful character. We smoked like, dude I swear, an ounce in blunts while he was here. He’s really descriptive. He’s an extractor looking for the highest quality product, and it’s branding his product in a unique and different way. And lots of people really loved that one.

My most downloaded ones are the Christian Sederberg and Matt Bickle episodes. You can listen to these episodes if you want to be in the cannabis industry. This is what the byproduct of it was. So, if you want to be in the cannabis industry, you listen to four or five of these episodes, and you get to talk to guys that you might not be able to afford to talk to. Or might not be able to get on the phone because there’s a line of 10 deep billionaires that want to talk to them. If you listen to episodes from Jordan Wellington and Christian Sederberg, Justin Jones, Matt Bickle. You listen to those, and you’re interested in starting cannabis facility, a legal cannabis production facility, you can start and talk about it to people with a high degree of intelligence.

That’s hard for people to get, you know, especially for free. You gotta find an attorney, pay them. Find an accountant, pay them. Find a consultant, pay them. And then you might not know what questions to ask. So, it’s really become a valuable resource for people, which is kind of just an interesting byproduct. I never thought that would really happen.

TG Branfalt: Well, with doing these interviews in the same way as all podcasters, such as myself, we do these interviews, and we’re trying to create something informative. We’re acting as independent media. You know, I went to school studying media. So, for me, it might not be that shocking that I end up in the media —

Chip Baker: It’s the modern world though, man. It’s the beauty of it. Like, I started my podcast with maybe $500 worth of equipment: a Mac, an HD Zoom 6, and a microphone. And I collected gear along the way, but that sounds so good. It’s just incredible. And with the editing, I’m using a virtual editor outside the country. They edit all of my stuff. It’s not that expensive. Everybody has the access to it. Anybody can open up a Facebook account, and say, “Hey, I’ve got a podcast. Listen to it.”

TG Branfalt: So, what do you think of the role that you’re playing as the independent media? What is the importance of having independent media in a space that we both agree isn’t well covered by the mainstream?

Chip Baker: Well, nobody’s funding me to do it. I get to talk whatever I want. And even if I do have some sponsors, I don’t do any product placements specifically for them. If their product comes up, it comes up because I like it. Like, dude, I love these Pax pens. They’re not a sponsor, but they could be. I’d love to have some sponsorship on those. But I can’t be bought necessarily. I’m not looking for advertising dollars. So, it’s this underground thing that gets to happen. And we get to talk about the undergroundness of it, where you know how much media is controlled these days. And for instance, in my industry, the LED technology really doesn’t work that well, but there’s this whole media push by some group of people that I don’t know, that drives people in my store all the time asking for LEDs. And all of the general public, they want to know about LEDs.

I think that’s manipulative. And you know as a reporter, how much stuff gets manipulated, either edited out, or purposely made to support some economic gain. It’s business, man. That’s just how it is. There’s no real business for me on this. I just want to do it.

TG Branfalt: So where can people hear your podcast? Where can they get information about the new grower soil? And is there anything else that you’re working on?

Chip Baker: Oh yeah. You know, I’ve got a dozen things going on all at once. But I’m learning to play the banjo right now.

TG Branfalt: How’s it going?

Chip Baker: It’s going pretty good, actually. My southern roots have drawn me to that lonesome sound of the banjo.

TG Branfalt: You can play the thing from Deliverance, right?

Chip Baker: You know, because I’m from the south, I’m not going to learn to play that.

TG Branfalt: That’s the only reason people get a banjo, dude.

Chip Baker: Oh shit, no. Yeah, just that reverberation, that bwang sound is the same sound I hear in my head when I get stoned. So, yeah let’s say it. Cultivatecolorado.com, TheRealDirt.com, you can see it on iTunes, Stitcher, and SoundCloud. You can follow me on The Real Dirt, on my Facebook page. You can look me up on Instagram just at Chip Baker. I’m always posting some cool pictures of grows that we get to go see. And GrowersSoil.com, that’ll be coming out here in the summer time.

TG Branfalt: Dope man-

Chip Baker: So, want to reach out, you ever got a question, something interesting to say, give me a call man.

TG Branfalt: Dude, it’s been a pleasure. It’s been one of the more fun episodes that I’ve done lately. You can find more episode of the Ganjapreneur.com podcast in the podcast section of ganjapreneur.com in the Apple iTunes store on the Ganjapreneur.com website. You will 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 Jeremy Sebastiano. I’m your host, TG Branfalt.

End

The state capitol building of Connecticut.

Bill Imposing 6% MMJ Sales Tax in Conn. Strongly Opposed at Hearing

3/20/2017

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Connecticut lawmakers are considering adding a 6 percent sales tax to medical cannabis products, but the plan didn’t gain much traction during a public hearing on Friday, according to a report from CTNewsJunkie. Patients in the state already pay $100 annually to register with the program and an average of $150 for an annual medical appointment for physician certification.

Tom Schulz, president of licensed producer Connecticut Pharmaceutical Solutions, told the committee that if sales taxes are levied it could “push people back to the black market,” adding that the average patient purchases 2.5 ounces per month which runs about $200 to $400.

“We are worried that the surcharge could exacerbate the price differential between the pharmaceutical grade medical marijuana that is available through the program versus what is available on the street,” he said in the report. “This price differential would tend to drive the use of marijuana that is often unsafe or contaminated.”

Margherita Giuliano, executive vice president of the Connecticut Pharmacists Association, offered written testimony to the House Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee explaining that many of the 17,000 enrolled patients are “suffering from severe illnesses” and low-income due to their disabilities.

“This is a measure that would impose additional financial hardship on Connecticut citizens, particularly our patients, who already spend a significant portion of their income on medical care,” she wrote. “Many are disabled, from low-income families, or already seeking end-of-life care. The burden of additional taxation on these individuals is unjust, especially in light of the fact that medical marijuana is not covered by insurance and thus, patients are paying for it out-of-pocket.”

According to the bill text – introduced by Republican Rep. Vincent Candelora – the funds would be used for drug abuse treatment programs.

End

Marc Shepard: Preparing for Legalization in New England

2/01/2017

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Marc Shepard is an active member of NORML, MassCann, and the Patient Advocacy Alliance. He is also co-founder of the New England Cannabis Convention: an extensive and affordable cannabis industry business conference that is returning to Boston this April.

In the following interview, our podcast host TG Branfalt and Marc discuss what can be expected for Massachusetts and Maine (the first states in New England to legalize adult-use cannabis), what is likely to happen to the states’ medical markets as recreational laws come online, how lawmakers and entrepreneurs are preparing for the changes, and more!

Listen to the episode below, or keep scrolling for a full transcript of the interview.

Subscribe to the Ganjapreneur podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud or Google Play.

Listen to the interview:

Read the transcript:

TG Branfalt: Hey, I’m TG Branfalt. You are listening to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, where we will bring you essential cannabis business news and insights, by speaking with stakeholders, experts, and entrepreneurs, who are focused on normalizing and demystifying the cannabis industry. Since November’s election, the General Election in particular, attention has been paid to California, after all, it is the nation’s most popular state and has led to … The industry is the first state to pass medical cannabis laws, in 1996. New England is quickly making its own mark with two states passing their own adult use measures, a couple of months ago.

Today, I’m joined by Marc Shepard, a member of NORML and MassCann and the Patient Advocacy Alliance. He’s also the co-founder of the New England Cannabis Convention. We’re going to discuss the newly legal eastern states. How are you doing today Marc?

Marc Shepard: Terrific TG, and thank you so much for having me on today.

TG Branfalt: It’s my pleasure, my man. I’d like to kick off our discussion today with Massachusetts. Massachusetts has a medical program, which was pretty new by the time that voters approved the ballot initiative, so let’s start … What’s the status of the medical market, and how might the adult use market impact the current structure?

Marc Shepard: Sure. The brief history in Mass., possession was decriminalized less than one ounce, back in 2008. The medical programs were approved in 2012. The first dispensaries, unfortunately, didn’t open until 2015. You get a taste of the Massachusetts bureaucratic process there. I’m sure that will apply to the new rec market.

The medical program has been up for four years. There’s 35 licenses approved. There are only eight or nine dispensaries active and open. We still have a long way to go just to get enough medicine out to patients. With rec passing now, obviously, the immediate impact, if you’re a patient and you’re having trouble getting to a dispensary, you can now grow up to six plants yourself, possess 10 ounces at home, two ounces in public … You can also be gifted up to an ounce from another person. The first impact of the medical program is just that, patients now who don’t have easy access to a dispensary or a caregiver, have it a little bit easier to try to get medicine now.

TG Branfalt: There’s no indication that the medical market is going to be decimated by the rec initiative?

Marc Shepard: No. I can’t see that. This isn’t a perfect analogy, but I just kind of say, you can get brandy at a liquor store but that’s not medicine. Yeah, there’s cough medicine … Brandy has alcohol in it. It’s kind of the same thing with medical mariajuana. You can go to a rec store and buy cannabis, but honestly, that’s cannabis that’s grown and developed in order to produce a good high for people, whereas medical mariajuana is going to be produced specifically to treat ailments and specific symptoms people have. So the rec market isn’t going to produce the medicine people need for their ailments.

TG Branfalt: So you said that there were 35 licenses, given in Massachusetts, but there are less that 10 dispensaries operating. Do you have any indication when the rest might come online?

Marc Shepard: It’s picking up speed. I think there were more than 90 approved applicants, and they are all going through the process. It’s an arduous, obstacle course of getting through all of the state regulations and then finding a town, and getting all that done. Everybody makes their estimates as to how soon those 35 will open. All I can say, is it’s starting to happen faster and faster. Certainly before there’s recreational stores open, I would guess the number of medical dispensaries will at least double in the next year.

TG Branfalt: Let’s talk about the recreation in Massachusetts. According to Arcview Group and New Frontier Data, they estimate that the state market could be worth one billion by 2020. Much of that figure could be driven by Boston … It’s 200 miles away from New York City. How much of that estimated one billion dollar figure, would you think would be driven by tourism?

Marc Shepard: I’ve been reading a lot about that, and a couple of people have written about how Boston is going to become the capital of cannabis by 2020, for some of the reasons you mentioned. I’m a little bit skeptical of that. I think right now, these estimates are making some assumptions. One, that things are going to progress quickly in the Mass. market, which I don’t think is going to happen, unfortunately. I think it’s going to be much slower than what people think. Also, that’s four years from now. That gives, be it Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania … That gives them four years to pass their own recreational ballot. I think those estimates, they’re based on some pretty big assumptions. I think it will be a great market. I think it’ll be a terrific tourist market. I think Cape Cod is a great tourist destination, and obviously Boston can be too. I would just say, in general, my experience with industry forecasts, they’re always wildly positive. I’m not trying to be negative. I just think that’s a little bit high.

TG Branfalt: Now you said several times that you anticipate the roll out of the recreational program being slow. Is this due to the blowback that occurred during the election? During the run up to the election by the governor and the mayor of Boston? Do you think that they’re going to try to stand in the way, or do you think that it’s just going to be a slow process?

Marc Shepard: I think it’s both. I think when you have the mayor of Boston and the governor both openly, fully opposed to this, there’s just so many ways that the sitting government can drag their feet on a process. Also, just with the law itself, it’s pretty vague, and gives states a lot of control on zoning, and on licensing, and how thing are done. So just the normal process of saying, hey, we’ve got to set up a commission. We’re going to set up a brand new control commission and give them nine months to set up rules and regulations. Even out of the gate, you’re talking about a year before a license could even be issued. It’s just going to move slow. It’s going to happen. I think it’s just going to move slower than people think. I don’t think anybody anticipated three years, from the time the medical program was approved till the first dispensaries sold marijuana. If you apply that here, you’re talking 2019 before rec would be sold, which I’m not saying will happen, but that’s what happened with medical.

TG Branfalt: Are there a lot of municipalities seeking to bar a recreational market from existing in their townships?

Marc Shepard: There’s been a decent amount of talk, so far, especially when you’re saying nobody can even apply for a year. The fact that it’s coming up, shows that people are looking at that and are concerned with it. The easiest way for towns to do it, is to set up zoning laws that sort of make it impossible. In my hometown, in North Attleboro, the zoning law for medical dispensary … You have to be separated a certain amount from schools and by churches. When you draw a map of the town, there literally isn’t any space in the town that meets the zoning qualifications. There’s lots of things that people can do to slow things down.

TG Branfalt: What’s the next step in Massachusetts? I know that we’re very early, and that no licenses, even preliminary licenses, have been issued. Where are we now in the process, and what’s next?

Marc Shepard: Sure. Right now, in this first year, there’s 75 available licenses for retail. Each license holder can apply for four different licenses … A retail shop, a product manufacturer, cultivator, and testing facility license. So you theoretically have up to 75 licenses available. In this first year, the only applicants that will be considered for those 75 licenses, will be the 90 people who successfully submitted medical marijuana applications back in 2015, and received a provisional approval. The first 75 will come out of that group. Starting in 2018, the process will be open to everybody. As those licenses are being submitted and applied for, there’s going to be a three person cannabis control commission, that’s going to be named by the state, and they’re actually going to be writing the regulations as they’re getting applications submitted and going though the process.

TG Branfalt: Have any representatives or officials or lawmaker … Have they gone to Colorado, or one of the other legal states, to get an idea of what the regulations might look like?

Marc Shepard: Yeah, there was a group of state reps, and local reps, that did go out to Colorado. They came back with a mixed bag. A lot of their quotes about what they saw, and statistical quotes that they gave to the Boston Globe and the Herald, flew in the face of statistical information from Colorado. You have people coming and saying that there was high crime and social decay, and all these problems that the state itself, in Colorado, claims that’s not true. There was some effort put into that but it seemed there were people out there just looking to sort of validate what they had heard, or what they wanted to say. It’s tough out here. There aren’t many local legislators who think it’s going to be good for them politically, to be at the forefront of this, so everybody is going to kind of … Go along for the ride, but no one is going to lead, because nobody thinks it’s politically advantageous to do so.

TG Branfalt: It’s very interesting that, in a state that has … It wasn’t an overwhelming passage of the law, but that the officials really aren’t behind this at all. It shows the will of the people kind of shining through. Applause to the activists in Massachusetts. We’re going to step away from the show real quick and take a short break. When we come back, we’re going to talk about the other state that legalized adult use cannabis in the northeast, Maine. This is Ganjapreneuer.com podcast. We’ll be right back.

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TG Branfalt: Hey, welcome back to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m TG Branfalt here with Marc Shepard, member of NORML, MassCann, Patient Advocacy Alliance, and co-founder of The New England Cannabis Convention. We’re here discussing the northeastern states that recently passed adult use cannabis legislation during the general election. We talked about Massachusetts. Let’s move on to Maine. Very similar to how we approached Massachusetts, how will … What’s a brief history of Maine’s medical market, and how do you think that program will jive with the new recreational market?

Marc Shepard: It’s interesting, Maine’s question, really got into the medical program, and tried to protect it a lot more than Mass. It’s a much older program. It started in 1999, passed with a huge majority. There are eight dispensaries open in Maine, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but there’s only a million people in Maine, so it’s the equivalent to maybe six times as many dispensaries, say in Massachusetts. There’s close to 50,000 registered patients and there’s a huge caregiver network in Maine, where people, individuals, can register as caregivers and grow plants, and provide medicine for up to five patients. It’s a huge program that also is an industry. You’ve got 3,000 caregivers making a living off of this. The referendum for rec in Maine, did a lot to protect that. The growing licenses, as they come out … I think it’s 40% of them, are set aside and can only be used by what they call small grows, which wouldn’t be practical for somebody coming from out of state. The laws specifically to have a huge portion of the rec market be awarded to local growers, and more than likely it’ll come from the existing caregivers, those 3,000 caregivers.

TG Branfalt: They were the only state initiative … The city of Denver also did this … to include Cannabis clubs in the legislation. Do you think that this is a good thing? Will it help drive the program, and to what extent?

Marc Shepard: I think it’s a great thing, to be honest with you. There’s a social aspect to cannabis use, just as there’s one for alcohol. It’s sort of legalizing it but making it something that you can only do when you’re hidden in your home, that doesn’t make any sense to me. I’m very excited by that piece of it. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out in Maine.

TG Branfalt: There’s also been political attempts to thwart the voter initiative. The opponents forced a recount, which was verified as a pass. Governor LePage, has actually said that he wants to get rid of, to quote, “the medical marijuana program.” Similarly to what was done in Washington, which is now forcing patients to pay the 37% excise tax. Who, or what agency would have to implement such changes in Maine, and are activists concerned that LePage will have his way?

Marc Shepard: On the first part, on the recount bit, it was … When you’re trying to get something passed it’s always disappointing, but I think people have to admit, it only passed by 4,000 votes. Any valid question that … is that close … I think a recount is warranted. It was dropped pretty quickly when they saw that there wasn’t enough movement to do anything. I wasn’t really that upset about that.

As far as LePage, as the governor, his lack of information and lack and total refusal to educate himself on the issue, just …. It’s really reprehensible. For anybody again, to think somehow, that recreational marijuana is the same as medical marijuana, it shows that they haven’t made the least amount of effort to look into it. That being said, the medical marijuana program was a people’s referendum. The governor can’t outlaw it. He just doesn’t have anyway to do that. Gay marriage passed in Maine. If the governor is not for that, he can’t overturn it because he doesn’t like it. I think that’s a lot of saber rattling, and that’s just him getting the word out to his constituents, that he’s against it. I don’t see how he can do anything about it.

TG Branfalt: What’s next for Maine? I haven’t really seen any numbers about the projected revenue, such as I did in Massachusetts. Do you have any insights as to what the market might bring in, in Maine?

Marc Shepard: The same survey that you had quoted earlier about Mass. puts Maine at potentially 250 million by 2020. The interesting thing is that Maine is a huge tourist market, not just for New Englanders but also for New York. I think that piece of it, and the fact that there’s the social club aspect, maybe not dollar for dollar bigger than Mass., but I do think it will become a bigger tourist destination than Massachusetts will, just because it’s a great tourist place … The southern coast of Maine.

Right now, where the law stands is the governor, I think 10 days after the recount, to sign off on this, it’s really just a ceremonial thing. It goes into effect in 10 days after the recount ended, whether he signs it or not. It might even be tomorrow that those 10 days are up, and then possession, and growing, and use become legal 30 days after that. We’re looking at, say, the end of January. It’s going to be legal to possess and grow. The commission then has nine months to finalize their regulations. In Maine, it’s actually the Department of Agriculture. They’ll have until October 30, 2017 to finalize the regulations. Then the license application process will open for 90 days for existing dispensaries and care givers. Again, October 30th or so, 2017, is when those applications will start.

TG Branfalt: The legislation is a bit more clear than Massachusetts, in terms of time frame?

Marc Shepard: Yeah, I think so. Mass. Hasn’t even named the three people who are going to make the laws yet.

TG Branfalt: So let’s talk a bit about New England as a whole. Who’s next? Neither Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, nor Rhode Island have voter referendums. Vermont’s tried a couple of times to legalize adult use. It’s failed. They’ve come the closest to a legislature actually legalizing cannabis for adult use. Do you think that Massachusetts and Maine might start a domino effect in New England?

Marc Shepard: I mean, obviously if they’re successful and well run, I think it certainly puts pressure on the other states. I would think, probably, Rhode Island has the biggest stake in that. They were the first state after the Connecticut casinos opened … The indian reservations … Rhode Island was the next state, as they saw they were losing revenue, they opened the first casinos after Connecticut. They’ve got probably the best and biggest, organized, advocacy groups, led by Regulate Rhode Island … Campaigning and lobbying the legislature. I think Rhode Island might be next.

It could happen in Vermont, from what I saw, the failure in the legislative bill was really just about the fact that it was written to benefit retailers. I think that sort of, Vermont attitude, of if we’re going to make anything legal, it’s going to be for people in Vermont to grow and possess this themselves, not to make it just legal to sell. I think it was a case of poorly written legislation that led to the state house to reject it. I think Vermont could pass as soon as the right bill is written.

New Hampshire’s still in it’s baby stages of medical, so I don’t think anything will happen there. I honestly don’t know that much about Connecticut, although they have a functioning medical program, but I haven’t heard much in the way of a thrust from the people for rec. Once these … Maine and Mass. … are up and running, and people are able to either critique them or see the success, I think it does change everything.

TG Branfalt: What might your advice be to potential investors in Maine and Massachusetts?

Marc Shepard: This may run contrary to what a lot of people think, but to me, if you want to get into the business, and you’re not already in it and experienced, look at the ancillary businesses that don’t touch the plant. It’s difficult to navigate, and expensive, and risky, to get into the license lottery. You’ve got to know what you’re doing. You’ve got to be connected. You have to have a lot of cash flow, and you have to be prepared to get shut out, even if you do everything right. If you’re able to capitalize on the ancillary business, be it … There’s millions. There’s lighting, there’s growing. There’s security. There’s transportation. There’s so many ancillary business connected to this industry. I would look at my own skill set and say, what skills are applicable to those ancillary businesses. I would try to establish myself there.

TG Branfalt: We’re going to talk a bit about you bringing some of these businesses together at the New England Cannabis Convention, but first we have to take one more short break. This is the ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m TG Branfalt.

Recorded Voice: At Ganjapreneur, we have heard from dozens of cannabis business owners, who have encountered the issue of canna-bias, which is when a mainstream business, whether a landlord, bank, or some other provider of vital business services, refuses to do business with them simply because of their association with cannabis. We have even heard stories of businesses being unable to provide health and life insurance for their employees because the insurance providers were too afraid to work with them We believe that this fear is totally unreasonable, and that cannabis business owners deserve access to the same services and resources that other businesses are afforded. They should be able to hire consultation to help them follow the letter of the law in their business endeavors, and that they should be able to provide employee benefits, without needing to compromise on the quality of coverage that they can offer.

This is why we created the Ganjapreneur.com business service directory, a resource for cannabis professionals to find and connect with service providers who are cannabis-friendly and who are actively seeking cannabis industry clients. If you are considering hiring a business consultant, lawyer, accountant, web designer, or any ancillary service for your business, go to ganjapreneur.com/businesses, to browse hundreds of agencies, firms, and organizations who support cannabis legalization and who want to help you grow your business. With so many options to choose from in each service category, you will be able to browse company profiles and do research on multiple companies in advance so you can find the provider who is the best fit for your particular need.

Our business service directory is intended to be a useful and well-maintained resource, which is why we individually vet each listing that is submitted. If you are a business service provider who wants to work with cannabis clients, you may be a good fit for our service directory. Go to ganjapreneur.com/businesses to create your profile, and start connecting with cannabis entrepreneurs today.

TG Branfalt: Hey, welcome back to the Ganjapreneur.com podcast. I’m TG Branfalt, here with Marc Shepard, co-founder of the New England Cannabis Convention. So I want to talk to you about the NECC. You guys were the first organization to hold these events in the northeast. Why don’t you tell me about it, and what’s the purpose?

Marc Shepard: We’ve actually been doing it for a little while. We came up with the idea in 2014, to sort of create a networking and resource hub for the local cannabis industry. We sort of said, look, medical is here. Rec is going to come, and sort of, our fear, myself and my co founder, Jeff Lawrence, was that with all the successful, existing business models in the other recreational states growing and competing there, when recreational use comes here, how easy is it going to be for them to take their proven models, and just plop them down in New England, and sort of take over the industry and send all the money back out west? Our idea was, how do we get all of the people who are interested in this industry, who are local, in the same room, to network and educate, and learn from each other, and build a framework for a New England-based cannabis economy?

We started with a series of small, local shows in 2015. We did shows in Providence, Rhode Island, Portland, Maine, a couple in Boston, Mass. with the idea of introducing ourselves and the idea, and then circling back to one major show. We did the first one at the Hines Convention Center in Boston this April, and brought in people from all over New England. Obviously, we welcome companies from the outside. We’re not trying to shut out other people, but we just want to give the people locally a chance to compete.

TG Branfalt: Did you have any issues with the Hines Convention Center, specifically as hosts for a cannabis con.?

Marc Shepard: I have to say, we’re very grateful to the Hines. No other convention center in Boston would even accept our show last year. They let us in. When we did sign, recreational use was illegal in Massachusetts. It’s still illegal federally. This is a state-owned facility. We had to sign an agreement saying that there’d be no actual cannabis product onsite. They asked us to sign that again, for our show next April. We signed the contract before the rec ballot passed. We’re sort of in negotiation now about what we can do, for people who have been to cannabis cups, in legal states … The vision of, a gigantic sort of farmer’s market with people sampling and partaking. That’s not going to happen anywhere in Massachusetts. We’ve got to build a model where maybe we host, sort of an event off site, and then for the convention itself, we’ll really just be doing an award show to highlight and celebrate the winners of the cup.

TG Branfalt: What was the turn out like? Was it more than you were expecting? Was it a little less?

Marc Shepard: The one in April, this year, was more. You never know when you haven’t done them. We did smaller shows in 2015 with between 55 and 70 vendors and maybe a couple thousand attendees. Then we did the show in April. We sold out the floor of the Hines. We had about 120 vendors. We had over 4,000 people come in, which certainly beat our projections of what would happen.

TG Branfalt: I was going over the website for the convention, and I saw a very interesting page about a canna-pitch slam. Do you want to elaborate as to what that is?

Marc Shepard: Sure. It’s a stolen idea, for anyone who is familiar with shark tank. It’s something that I had seen at a couple of other conventions, where you encourage young cannabis businesses, or not even born yet cannabis businesses, to submit their business proposal and their investor plan. What we’re going to do, is collect three or four veterans of the cannabis investment community to serve as judges. We’re going to take all the entries, read through them, pick our finalist, and then they’re going to do a live pitch to these people, shark tank style. It’s not going to be the same in that there’s not going to be a massive, onsite investment by these people, but it’s more just the idea of the entertainment of seeing the ideas come out, people competing, and getting hammered by questions in a very interactive type show at the convention.

TG Branfalt: How did you go about working around some of these issues with not being able to have cannabis onsite, and did this impact the expectations, I guess, of the attendees?

Marc Shepard: You certainly field plenty of questions from people asking, can I smoke inside? Can I buy cannabis inside? I understand those questions. I think it’s a little silly when people’s expectations is that they’re going to be able to smoke inside a state building. You can’t smoke a cigarette in there. How are you going to be able to smoke cannabis? Again, at the time, it was illegal.

The people who come to our show we’re really looking at two components. One, people who want to get into the business or are already in the business, and want to network … They don’t care if there’s plants in the show or not. Maybe some people want to demo a product they have and it’s easier to demo with actual cannabis. It’s not very hard to substitute a similar plant. The other half is people who are interested in the medical program, whether they want education for themselves or a loved one, or are trying to understand how to navigate the system, or get involved in that industry. Again, the absence of having an actual cannabis plant, doesn’t really impact that experience.

What we’re missing, and I’m a recreational user myself, I’d love to go to what I would call a pot festival, where there’s buying and selling and comparing. That would be great. I do understand that that’s illegal and it isn’t going to happen in Massachusetts, or anywhere in New England, for a couple of years on. I’m eagerly awaiting when we can do that, but it’s going to be awhile.

TG Branfalt: So, before we go, we’re getting short on time here, could you give me an idea of what was most exciting? What’s the most exciting kind of event or product was, at the last convention, and give our listeners an idea of how they can actually attend the next event?

Marc Shepard: Probably the most well attended and best feedback we got, was we had a programming stage of live demos. The demos went everywhere from cloning, growing, trimming, creating tinctures, making edibles … Every single aspect of home growing and using of cannabis, both for medical and recreational. I think there was a lot of great information there. People got very excited. They met instructors. They were able to get directions on what to do. We’re obviously going to greatly expand that now, for legal home growing and processing. I’m very excited to have a huge expansion of programming for that. The convention is April 22nd and 23rd, 2017. All the information for tickets are on our site, which is NECANN.com, which is N-E-C-A-N-N dot com.

We have very inexpensive tickets for people looking for medical information. They can just go in, pay a small fee to get in, and get access to all of the medical programming. Then there’s a more expensive ticket that gives you access to all of the demos, the business and career advice, and the main keynote speakers, and the full convention experience. It’s still, compared to the national shows that are charging $200, $300, $600 for admission, our ticket prices range between $20 and $70. It’s very affordable for anybody who’s looking to get into this industry.

TG Branfalt: Well Marc, I want to thank you so much for joining me today. It’s really refreshing to get … I’m from New York. I went to college in New York. I’m living in Michigan now, but to see the proliferation of the legal cannabis market, in the northeast, which I adore New England, it’s very refreshing and great that there’s somebody out there who’s already doing conventions and bringing would be cannabusiness owners together.

Marc Shepard: It’s fantastic. It’s a very exciting time in new England for this industry. Everybody I meet, it’s that enthusiasm. You get to be surrounded by smart, driven, motivated people, who are excited to be part of a brand new successful industry that will bring a great economic boom for this region. It’s fantastic to be involved in it.

TG Branfalt: All right. That was Marc Shepard, the co founder of NECANN. I’d like to thank you so much for coming on the Ganjapreneuer.com podcast, and wish you the bet of luck in April.

Marc Shepard: Thank you so much TG. It’s a real pleasure to be here, and I really appreciate the invite. Thank you so much.

TG Branfalt: Thank you, Marc. You can find more episodes of the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, in the podcast section of Ganjapreneur.com, and the Apple iTunes store. On the Ganjapreneur.com website, you’ll find the latest cannabis news and insights and cannabis jobs updated daily, along with transcripts of this podcast. You can also download the Ganjapreneur.com app in iTunes and Google Play. I’ve been your host, TG Branfalt.

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The New Hampshire capitol building in Concord, New Hampshire.

Bill Removing Hemp from State Drug Schedule Pre-Filed in New Hampshire

12/27/2016

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A coalition of Republican lawmakers in New Hampshire has pre-filed a bill that would prohibit hemp’s designation as a controlled substance in the state, thereby legalizing full-scale commercial hemp farming and treating hemp just like any other agricultural crop. However, cultivators would still need to seek a federal permit if they wish to comply with federal law.

The measure, HB 151, was introduced in the House by Reps. Daniel Itse, J.R. Hoell, and James Spillane; with support in the Senate by Sens. Harold French and John Reagan.

The bill is refreshingly simple – instead of creating a tightly-regulated pilot program, the measure removes hemp from the state’s Controlled Drug Act, which would immediately allow its cultivation in the Granite State. In 2014, the federal government included language in the Farm Bill which allows state Agriculture Departments and universities to grow hemp for research purposes in states that already allow hemp production under state law. Connecticut and Vermont passed similar legislation in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

The bill will be formally introduced on Jan. 4. It was sent to the House Committee on Environment and Agriculture, and is expected due out of that committee by Mar. 3.

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Medical cannabis being displayed at the Clio, Michigan Cannabis Cup 2016.

Study Suggests MMJ Programs Not Being Abused

10/26/2016

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According to a study published in the Drug and Alcohol Dependence journal, children who live in states with medicinal marijuana programs are not more likely to use cannabis. The study did find, however, that people over the age of 25 did use the drug more after the laws were enacted.

The study’s lead author, Dr. Silvia Martins, an associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, said that despite the fears expressed by some researchers, physicians and laypeople, medicinal cannabis is not easily available — and is not being diverted — to young people. The authors reviewed the results of national surveys in Illinois, Arizona, Delaware, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island and New Jersey, which included more than 53,800 people ages 12 and up, between 2004 and 2013.

“The laws seem to be working as expected with little unintended consequences for youth and young adults to date,” she said in a HealthDay report. “It’s harder for [young people] to access it for recreational purposes and most of the medical indications of marijuana are for ailments that typically affect a larger proportion of older adults.”

The researchers found that 26 to 39-year-olds who reported using cannabis within the past month grew, but not significantly, after the laws were passed — from 9 percent prior to the enactment of the laws to 10 percent after the law’s passage. The percentage of people aged 40 to 64 who used cannabis within the month after reforms were passed climbed slightly higher, from 4.5 percent to 6 percent. Less than 1 percent of people over the age of 65 said they used cannabis within the last month after medical marijuana laws were passed.

Four more states will voting on medical cannabis programs in next month’s general election.

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TG Branfalt: Cannabis Journalism and Reporting On What Matters

10/25/2016

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TG Branfalt has been writing for Ganjapreneur for the past two years, covering cannabis policy updates and business developments around the country and worldwide every single day. TG has worked as a reporter for Reuters and other media outlets, and he has written extensively on public policy. He developed our comprehensive guide to the nine state-level ballot initiatives that voters will decide this election season and has produced several breaking-news stories that were shared thousands of times.

Going forward, we are excited to announce that TG will also be the new host of our cannabis industry podcast. His first interview will be published tomorrow: be sure to check your email and/or subscribe to our podcast channels on iTunes, Stitcher, and SoundCloud!

Want to get to know the man behind so much of our daily news coverage? Below you will find an interview with TG about his experience as a cannabis journalist and his thoughts on prohibition.

Ganjapreneur: So, when did you decide to pursue journalism as a career, and what led you to it?

TG Branfalt: I pursued journalism for a couple of reasons. A few years before I enrolled in college, I was interviewed by a newspaper about O.J. Simpson making his first public appearance at the mall I was working at outside of Hartford, Connecticut since his acquittal. When I read the article the next day, my quote was incomplete – that didn’t sit well with me. I understand it now, but in my teens this was a great injustice and that’s about when I became interested in being a journalist – some part of me needed to right this “wrong” (even though, looking back it really wasn’t a big deal).

Sitting in the registrar’s office at Herkimer County Community College I still didn’t quite know what I was going to major in (I also considered philosophy and political science) but that reporter popped into my head, and in the span of seconds I remembered that you could make a living with a journalism degree – more so than either philosophy or poli-sci, at least. So I enrolled in journalism and it wasn’t long before I knew I had found something I was passionate about. I just kept on the path when I transferred to UAlbany. My master’s degree in communications from The College of Saint Rose was very journalism-centric, and it was during that program that I really was able to sink my teeth into the craft, not just the practice.

Not to mention I read a lot of Hunter S. Thompson and Gay Talese; and was, for a time, sort of obsessed with the Watergate story and all of the brilliant reporting that came out of that, so that, too, might have something to do with it.

What do you think makes journalism different than other forms of writing?

You’re telling the story of people – that’s really what journalism is. Even if you are covering the mundane – a school board meeting or profiling a crossing guard – there are still stakeholders and people at the core of every story. I still write some fiction as a hobby – but it’s not real. You control what happens to the characters… I’ve covered some very, very strange stories as a journalist – I covered a guy who tried (and with the help of the FBI nearly succeeded in) building a “laser” that shoots radioactive waves – we referred to it as a ‘death ray.’ The guy wanted to be a supervillain – it was lunacy. Sure, that could all be made up, but this is reality, the so-called “fourth branch,” the first draft of history.

You also need to know a little about everything. I have covered the car wash industry, political protests, homicides, court cases – you never know what tomorrow will bring, really – so it’s more exciting to be a news reporter than, say, a poet or novelist, in my opinion.

Having covered the issue of cannabis (and particularly the cannabis industry) extensively yourself as an independent journalist, what do you have to say about how the mainstream media tends to cover it?

It’s truly horrifying. For my master’s thesis I studied how the media uses various biases when reporting on third-party and ‘outsider candidates’ (such as Jill Stein and Gary Johnson) and I have a keen eye for what these biases are and how they occur.

The term ‘marijuana’ elicits negative bias; within insider circles, the term ‘cannabis’ is preferred. The word ‘marijuana’ is associated with reefer madness. In most public policy, it is referred to as ‘marijuana.’ That’s, like, the term used by “the man” – it’s like ‘pot,’ ‘weed’ etc. – these are not normalizing terms to most folks, especially many advocates.

The mainstream media doubles down on reefer madness any chance it gets. The headlines read ‘More Colorado Kids in Hospital for Marijuana since Legalization’ and so few people read past the headline that they miss the meat of these stories. Pharmaceuticals and household cleaners are responsible for more childrens’ hospital visits in Colorado than cannabis – but that’s not the headline. We had Sanjay Gupta on CNN praising the medical benefits of cannabis, but that came years after public opinion had swayed in its favor.

They’ve been toeing the prohibitionist (and government) line and effectively distributing propaganda for so long it’s hard for them to admit that they’ve been wrong all these years.

To what extent do you think mainstream cannabis coverage has shaped public opinion? What has been the outcome?

People have been glued to their televisions for decades and that television has always told them cannabis is a ‘gateway drug,’ “only criminals smoke pot!” People forget that the US ran a Hemp for Victory campaign during World War II – we’re taught and told a revisionist version of the history of cannabis. Many people believe whatever that television tells them and very few seek independent information.

It’s hard to quantify what the outcome has been because, despite all of my negative opinions on the mainstream media and to how it affects its audience, I feel like we (the advocates) are winning – at least legislatively through voter-backed initiatives. But at the same time people are still getting arrested for possession, Malia Obama getting stoned at Lollapalooza is still national news – many people still have that prohibitionist attitude. Perhaps now that more people are Internet-literate they are starting to do some research and realize prohibition is unjust, but you still have a swath of Southern states without even a limited medical cannabis program, so there is still a lot of work to be done to change the hearts and minds.

What has been your most profound experience or revelation while writing about cannabis over the past few years?

Man … prohibition might be the most ludicrous sham ever enacted by a civilized society. I mean, we have people shooting elephant tranquilizer, we have children being able to live normal lives – imagine a world without prohibition. How many people have lived with a lifetime of seizures that could have lived a better quality-of-life if they had access to cannabis? Cannabis has helped many people I know get clean from hard drugs and alcohol – and there are studies that back this up. Prohibition ruins lives – it’s that simple.

I’m not even from the ‘legalize and regulate’ camp. I’m from the ‘our government owes every citizen one pound a month for life’ camp because they kept it from us (all the while holding a marijuana-as-medicine patent).

The government jails people over a plant, the government regulates a plant – it’s maddening. Cannabis isn’t dangerous – that’s it, plain language. Hemp could help eliminate our reliance on fossil fuels – but that, too, is unjustly outlawed.

So I went from being a passive supporter of legislation to sort of a radical who believes that the government should straight up end prohibition and let people grow cannabis and use it as they see fit. It’s, literally, never killed anybody, and any responsible parent is going to keep it from their kid.

What do you think is the most important issue facing the cannabis industry as a whole, and people who are starting businesses in state markets where it is legal?

Lawmakers. I think the regulations are too much – too far reaching. I think individuals should be able to grow their own. But as far as the industry goes, I think the federal government, and its Big Drug, Big Tobacco, Big Booze donors, are going to do everything in their power to get their piece of the pie – and I fear that piece is going to get larger than the piece current operators have. If cannabis is rescheduled it allows it to be put in the hands of pharmaceutical companies – the very same companies that are at least partially responsible for the opioid epidemic. If the drug companies get seriously into the market, not with a synthetic here or there, but if they get their claws in – you are going to see small operators pushed out or even outlawed – I’m serious. If the feds allow drug companies, tobacco companies and alcohol companies to grow, process and sell cannabis it spells the end for any company not operating as such – the independent operators are cooked. They’re already doing this sort of thing in New York and Minnesota – those programs offer an insight into how the government would operate both the medicinal and recreational market – and those programs are ineffective with just a handful of operators.

This is less likely to be the case if it were removed entirely from the Schedule.

People getting into the industry need to find a way to be prepared if the industry is co-opted by these bad actors – or work on finding ways to prevent that from happening.

The only way this would be possible is by electing candidates (from city councils to Congress) who are pro-cannabis and also pro-small business. Because I don’t foresee the feds just removing cannabis from the Schedule list – there will always be regulations – but we need people in government to say ‘no’ to the Big Corporations that don’t usually have the best interest of the community in mind.

What role do grassroots & independent media outlets play in society?

Unfortunately, grassroots and independent media don’t get the respect they deserve, but in the same breath, I want whoever I am getting my news from to be trained. Not saying I want them to have to get a license or anything – but I’d hope that they completed a degree or an internship or worked under a seasoned reporter. Information is important – but the source is everything. Too often am I contacted by someone who has a “scoop” but it’s really a hunch – usually that person is a blogger or “independent journalist” trying to promote themselves or their cause.

I’m not saying that to be an elitist or anything, but one bad experience with a reporter and a whole community can lose a source. I’d like to see people in official capacities give more deference to respectable independent and grassroots outlets and I’d like to see more sites like The Intercept become the “mainstream media.” I freelance for a multi-national media outlet, I’ve worked for a Fortune 500 publisher – I read local and independent news primarily because it’s often less bias; however I sometimes cringe because too often the indy author makes their bias known – to me that’s when you stop being as credible – when you interject your opinion in a piece that does not call for it – and that’s JRN 101. Without independent news sources all we have are the Big Three TV outlets (Fox, CNN, MSNBC), and newspapers and websites owned by conglomerates. You rarely see any visible outlets using Democracy Now as a source – but Amy Goodman is one of the preeminent reporters of our time. We need more quality independent voices because too many people are reliant on “info-tainment” sources.

What is the weirdest cannabis-related story you have ever covered?

The Michigan Cannabis Cup was the weirdest experience I’ve ever had, at least from a culture shock standpoint. The piece I wrote about Malia Obama getting high was weird in that it was actually revered as national news. Recently, the introduction of legislation in New Jersey to legalize cannabis by a Republican struck me as odd, because the sponsor was once referred to as the most conservative legislative member and because Gov. Christie will never go for it.

But the Dan Riffle story really sticks out because there was so much back-biting and whispers, and to Dan it didn’t seem like that big of a deal at all. It seemed that some outlets had really wanted this to be a big deal – they were taking shots at the Marijuana Policy Project – it was a strange moment of disharmony because, in my experience covering the industry, even if you don’t agree with the guy on the other side of the table, you are still sitting at the same table. It just seemed like a lot of unnecessary in-fighting and everyone was more interested in speculation than talking to the players – and this goes back to my critique of some independent news outlets – you have to pick up the phone or knock on a door if you want to be taken seriously. No one seemed interested in talking to Riffle but everyone was putting words in his mouth.

What niche of the cannabis industry do you find the most interesting, and why?

I’m starting to get really interested in the science. As more testing labs open, and more research emerges it’s truly fascinating – there are discoveries being made right now about the endocannabinoid system. The cannabis plant is as old as this planet and we are just now figuring out how our bodies are affected by cannabinoids – it’s remarkable. When I toured PSI Labs I interviewed two people who were as passionate about the science as I was interested in it – and they see it every day, which tells me there are more and more discoveries to be made.

Long before medical cannabis was a thing, I had read that Kurt Cobain had smoked pot to ease the pain of a stomach ailment (likely undiagnosed Crohn’s disease). In high school I suffered a pretty serious knee injury and painkillers always made me sick, so that’s about when I started using cannabis as a pain management therapy – because of what I had read about Cobain – but it’s also when the science of cannabis piqued my curiosity. Now, 15-or-so years later, I have the opportunity to see this research emerge that helps to answer why cannabis has improved my quality of life.

It’s also super-interesting to see cannabis legalized. Despite my personal beliefs, I never thought I would see this happen in my lifetime and I’m starting to believe that I will see prohibition ended on an almost global scale before I’m dead.

If you could share a joint with anyone you have written about, who would it be, and why?

I have always wanted to get high with Woody Harrelson – I wrote about him once when Hawaii was licensing growers. He seems like he’d be a great conversationalist, he’s funny – just strikes me as a rad dude. I’ve always wanted to talk to him about his role in “Natural Born Killers” and how much of that persona was based on his own father, who was a hit man. I’d also want to ask him about growing that hemp plant and calling the cops on himself – it’s such a beautiful act of civil disobedience and, I think, made some people really evaluate prohibition back in 1996.

But of the people I have interviewed or met – the guys at PSI. We chatted for hours when I toured their lab and they knew so much about the science – and they could explain it in layman’s terms which makes it more exciting, vivid. I, obviously, enjoy getting stoned and just shooting the breeze and I could talk to those two about terpenes and chemical compounds for hours. So, Ben, Lev, if you’re reading this hit me up. I did smoke a joint with Dickie Betts of the Allman Brothers. I hung out with him on his tour bus after a festival and I was, somehow, the only guy with papers on the bus.

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Petition for Gov. Christie to Sign MMJ Program Expansion Gains Significant Traction

9/06/2016

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A petition calling on New Jersey Gov. Christ Christie to sign legislation adding post-traumatic stress disorder to the list of medical marijuana qualifying conditions has garnered nearly 18,000 signatures. The petition, started by The Joint Blog, comes a month after the state legislature approved a bill adding the condition, sending it to the governor for his signature.  

“The measure sits on the desk of Governor Chris Christie, who has the option of signing it into law, allowing it to become law without his signature, or vetoing it,” the petition reads. “We are calling Governor Christie to quickly sign it into law, allowing those suffering from the ailment to use a medicine that research has continually shown is beneficial.”

The bill (A457) passed the Assembly, 56-13, in June, moving through the Senate, 29-9, in August.

The petition includes links to two separate studies that found marijuana therapies to be effective in the treatment of the condition, which according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, affects about 8 million adults during a given year.  

Michigan, California, Illinois, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maine, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Arizona all recognize PTSD as a qualifying condition for their respective medical marijuana programs.     

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New Mexico State Bar Association Advises Attorneys to Not Represent Cannabis Businesses

8/16/2016

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New Mexico’s State Bar Association is cautioning attorneys to represent medical marijuana dispensaries and growers at their own risk, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports.

In a formal opinion, the State Bar’s Ethics Advisory Committee said that while a lawyer could comply with the Rules of Professional Conduct in representing cannabis-related businesses, they “may not counsel or ‘assist’ a client to commit a crime.”

“As producing and distributing any type of cannabis, including medical cannabis permitted under state laws, is illegal under federal law, a lawyer may not provide prohibited counseling or assistance,” the summary said.

The opinion is non-binding, and New Mexico Bar Association Executive Director Joe Conte called it “a gray area.” There have not been any public disciplinary actions against lawyers in New Mexico due to their work with those in the medical marijuana business.

Jason Marks, a former member of the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, said the opinion could be seen to limit the rights of individuals operating in the sector, noting that the state Supreme Court could change the rules of professional conduct for attorneys allowing them to work with cannabis-related businesses.

“They’re depriving these businesses of a right to counsel,” he said in the report. “That’s an inconvenience and a detriment.”

Similar decisions have been made in Ohio and Hawaii, while other states, such as Connecticut and Colorado, have changed their rules to explicitly allow attorneys to counsel cannabis companies.

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New England: The Next U.S. Region to Embrace Legalization

2/23/2016

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Though the west coast has had a lock on U.S. cannabis culture for some time, the tides are turning nationwide, and it’s due time for some representation from America’s birthplace.

On the whole, New England is shaping up to be a promising locale for cannabis. Its growing medical marijuana industry includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

Vermont has three pending legalization laws in the legislature, finally getting the chance to make official its long relationship with industrial hemp and cannabis. Lots of self-identified marijuana users hail from this state, and a recent poll showed that 56 percent of Vermonters support legalization while only about 34 percent would oppose it.

Maine is expected to legalize via voter initiative later this year, with a few years’ experience running a successful medical marijuana program already under its belt.

Massachusetts, though home to the business and technology hub of Boston, has had trouble gaining government support for adult use legalization. Two competing ballot initiatives faced off, but only one campaign collected enough signatures for 2016. With just a handful medical marijuana dispensaries just recently having opened, three years after the law permitting them was passed, Mass. pot shops are still having trouble doing business with low product supply and very high patient demand.

Rhode Island is also entering campaign season with a viable adult use initiative, which recently gained the support of a key legislator. Historically, Rhode Island citizens have had one of the highest rates of cannabis consumption in the country.

Connecticut has a medical cannabis program in place, but will likely not be legalizing adult use this year.

The New Hampshire House recently shot down a couple of legalization bills, but progress in neighboring states could provide a more supportive environment for policy change, especially given the fact that two thirds of voters showed their support for drug decriminalization, according to a recent poll.

Though New York is typically not considered part of “New England,” it’s the population center of the region and the state’s advances in medical cannabis policy cannot be overlooked. The state finally implemented its own government-supervised retail dispensary program last year, with a total of 393 physicians and 921 patients registered for the program in the first six weeks, and around a dozen storefronts either in operation or set to open soon.

Overall, the East Coast is home to a lot of individuals that support the legalization of marijuana; though stigma and federal illegality is still keeping many prospective New England patients out of the dispensaries. The legislative process seems to be the only hurdle here.

Even if for some reason these campaigns fall short, success is inevitable in the western states. If California, Nevada, and Arizona all choose to legalize adult use come November, it will create a cannabis super-region that will no doubt influence policy across the U.S. for the foreseeable future.

Will New England really be the next hotbed for cannabis, or will traditional values keep the industry low key? Time will tell – but what matters is that just about anywhere you choose to live in the United States, some form of legalization is well on its way.

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Painkiller Drug Companies Are Directly Funding Prominent Anti-Marijuana Arguments

9/11/2014

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It should come as no surprise that the multi-billion dollar companies behind our society’s most popular and deadly painkillers are suspected to have been lobbying for decades to keep cannabis outlawed. It’s easy, from a selfishly-economic viewpoint, to understand why they would do this: if everyone had the option to self-medicate with an easy-to-grow plant (it’s literally a weed) — especially one with so many medicinal applications — people would stop spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month to maintain their current painkiller prescriptions.

With marijuana law reform an increasingly popular topic among Americans, opponents of legalization have been scrambling to find their footing amid the influx of marijuana advocacy. Today, there remains yet a small group of anti-marijuana academics who are commonly sourced in opposition to legalization, and — new records suggest — this final bastion of academic resistance indeed sits comfortably on the painkiller industry’s payroll.

Dr. Herbert Kleber of Colombia University is one such leading academic voice against marijuana. He’s often quoted by both prohibitionists and public media in general, his argument being that legalizing marijuana could lead to widespread addiction and other public health issues. However, as VICE recently reported:

… what’s left unsaid is that Kleber has served as a paid consultant to leading prescription drug companies, including Purdue Pharma (the maker of OxyContin), Reckitt Benckiser (the producer of a painkiller called Nurofen), and Alkermes (the producer of a powerful new opioid called Zohydro).

Another academic, Dr. A. Eden Evins, is an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Evins is on the board of Project SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana), an anti-marijuana special interest group. She has often publicly spoken out against efforts to legalize marijuana, telling the NY Times last year, “When people can go to a ‘clinic’ or ‘cafe’ and buy pot, that creates the perception that it’s safe.” Unsurprisingly, after her participation in a commentary on marijuana hosted by the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, the publication’s administrators disclosed that as of 2012 she was working for a number of painkiller drug companies. One such company, Pfizer, currently has plans to introduce Remoxy, a direct competitor to OxyContin, to the painkiller marketplace.

Dr. Mark L. Kraus, who runs a private practice and serves as board member to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, has also publicly outspoken against marijuana. And, sure enough: one year before going on testimony in 2012 against Connecticut’s medical marijuana bill, he was serving on the scientific advisory panel for Big Pharma companies such as Pfizer and Reckitt Benkiser.

And it’s not just choice medical academics in their pocket, but entire political campaigns as well. In a recent Ganjapreneur article, we covered how the Colorado government’s most recent and notorious anti-marijuana campaign was “funded by a $2 million grant from the state attorney general’s office, though much of that money can itself be sourced back to legal settlements with various pharmaceutical companies.”

Painkiller overdoses claim 16,000 lives per year in the U.S. — more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined, and the most of any country in the world. Meanwhile, there are still zero reported marijuana overdoses in all time. Yet painkiller drug companies, when faced with the pending legalization of what’s considered by many to be a miracle plant for its myriad medicinal uses, are simply lobbying harder than ever for prohibition.

Sources:

https://news.vice.com/article/leading-anti-marijuana-academics-are-paid-by-painkiller-drug-companies/

Photo Credit: Brandon Giesbrecht

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