Pubdate: Wed, 28 Jan 2015
Source: Colorado Springs Independent (CO)
Column: CannaBiz
Copyright: 2015 Colorado Springs Independent
Contact:  http://www.csindy.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1536
Author: Bryce Crawford

NATIONAL GROUP LOBBIES FOR POT, PEDIATRICIANS SUPPORT 
DECRIMINALIZATION AND MORE

New national voice

The mainstreaming of marijuana continues with the creation of the 
National Cannabis Chamber of Commerce 
(nationalcannabischamberofcommerce.com), a week-old organization that 
will both lobby Washington and host your next industry 
meet-and-greet, says Brenda Sandoval, the southern Colorado director of sales.

"Of course, we'll have dispensaries and growers, but we want to find 
people that provide things for these people: car dealers, carpet 
layers, roofers," she says. "Everything that these people might have 
go wrong in their home or need, they're going to go the people that 
are supporting their industry and putting that money into the community.

"And then, once a month, we will be having a business after-hours, 
like normal chambers do, to grow different businesses within the 
Colorado Springs area."

For now, the different levels of annual membership for those in the 
cannabis industry cost $295, $2,500 and $5,000 and include weekly 
newsletters and a monthly magazine. The Florida-based NCCC will also 
be hosting expos in Colorado and Oregon, and expects to have 10,000 
members in marijuana states by the end of the year.

It all sounds a bit like what one existing organization, the National 
Cannabis Industry Association, is already doing. But Sandoval is 
confident: "It's going to far surpass them, because of the people 
that are behind it," she says. "We've got a lot of money behind it, 
so we think it's going to be much bigger and much better." One of 
those people is NCCC president Michael Miller, a Florida businessman 
also owns the back-end dispensary system BioTrackTHC.

Schedule change

On Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a landmark 
policy statement saying it thinks people under age 21 should not be 
using marijuana; the plant itself should be decriminalized; and the 
feds should reschedule the substance from Schedule I (heroin) to 
Schedule II (meth).

AAP member Seth Ammerman talked to The Wall Street Journal about the 
organization's thought process: "Unless scheduling changes, 
[FDA-regulated research] won't happen," the Stanford University 
professor of pediatrics said. "And there could be therapeutic 
benefits. The AAP is not opposed to medical marijuana, per se, but we 
feel it's important that this be explored within the [framework of 
the] FDA process, where you have standardization."

You can read the full statement at tiny.cc/the3sx.

Learn the leaves

Hit the Cannabis Boot Camp at The Mining Exchange hotel (8 S. Nevada 
Ave., mmjbusinessacademy.com) on Saturday, Jan. 31, for an all-day 
seminar on starting your own company. Led by KC Stark, owner of 
Studio A64, and attorney Charles Houghton, both with the MMJ Business 
Academy, the event - which includes admission to bonus events on the 
31st and Feb. 1 - will cost $299 per person.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom