Pubdate: Mon, 10 Nov 2014
Source: Tulsa World (OK)
Copyright: 2014 Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.tulsaworld.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/463
Author: Tim Talley, Associated Press
Page: A1

TULSA FIRM WANTS TO SELL MARIJUANA E-CIGARETTES

(AP) - As more states approve the medicinal and recreational use of 
marijuana, an Oklahoma-based electronic cigarette retailer is looking 
to build a national franchise.

Marijuana is illegal under federal drug laws. But voters in Oregon, 
Alaska and Washington, D.C., approved ballot measures Tuesday to 
legalize the recreational use of marijuana, joining Washington state 
and Colorado.

And in more than a dozen other states, medical marijuana is available.

The growing availability of legal pot opens the door for Tulsa-based 
Palm Beach Vapors to market a method for producing a cannabis oil 
product that can be inhaled through a common e-cigarette, according 
to CEO and co-founder Chip Paul. "This is a wave that's kind of 
sweeping the nation," said Paul, whose company is looking to patent 
the method and has already signed licensing deals in California and 
Colorado for what it calls the M-System. He said he intends to set up 
franchise locations in other states.

The use of marijuana is currently illegal in Oklahoma, but the market 
for cannabis products is projected to grow as more states move to 
legalize it. Advocates plan a big push for legalization initiatives 
on 2016 ballots in California, Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts and 
Nevada, according to Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug 
Policy Alliance.

Paul was one of the organizers of an Oklahoma initiative petition 
calling for the legalization of medical marijuana, an effort that 
ended in August when volunteers failed to gather the needed 
signatures of more than 155,000 registered voters. The failed 
petition sought voter approval of classifying marijuana as an herbal 
drug that would be regulated by the Oklahoma Department of Health. 
Doctors would have been authorized to prescribe it for a variety of 
medical conditions.

Cannabis has a history of medicinal use to treat pain or alleviate 
symptoms such as nausea and vomiting in chemotherapy patients and 
people with AIDS. Paul plans to launch another petition drive in August 2015.

But Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and 
Dangerous Drugs, said the agency is concerned about the inhalation of 
cannabis oils via e-cigarettes.

E-cigarettes work by heating liquid nicotine into an inhalable mist; 
cannabis oils and waxes work much the same. Palm Beach Vapors does 
not buy, sell or ship marijuana but licenses the preparation method 
and additive that produces a vegetable glycerin base in which 
cannabis oils remain evenly distributed, which is key to labeling 
concentrations, similar to the nicotine measurements in e-cigarettes, 
Paul said.

The company has applied for a patent, and expects the M-System to 
account for 30-40 percent of its annual revenue by 2018, provided the 
country continues its march toward wider legalization, Paul said.

Marijuana is still illegal in Indiana, but Nate Renschler, who has a 
Palm Beach Vapors franchise in Newburgh, Indiana, said that sentiment 
could change when state officials realize the tax benefits of legalization.

"The whole country is going one way and Indiana is taking two steps 
back. We'll be one of the last steps to legalize marijuana," 
Renschler said, noting that the e-cigarette product is still viable 
regardless of what state it is sold in. He uses the Palm Beach Vapors 
method to sell hemp oil, which he claims is good for a person's 
general well-being.

Even though marijuana is not legal in the majority of the United 
States, Woodward said teens are obtaining e-cigarettes and cannabis 
oils. "It's an easier way for people, especially our youth, to 
disguise their marijuana use," Woodward said.

He said investigators for the agency have already intercepted 
couriers traveling across Oklahoma who have purchased cannabis oils 
legally in one state with plans to sell it where it's illegal.

"It can be hard to detect," Woodward said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom