After a Spate of Recalls in Denver, Should Users Be Worried? It's Hard to Say. Because Marijuana Is Still Illegal in Most Places, There's No Official "Safe Level" of Pesticides. Despite fining two marijuana growers and suspending the licenses of two others for using unapproved pesticides, Washington state hasn't recalled any products for pesticides during the 18 months that legal pot sales have been allowed. The city of Denver, by comparison, recently recalled 19 pot products for pesticides in 19 weeks. [continues 1200 words]
As part of the sweeping changes to the state's medical marijuana industry, an expected new tax was introduced Wednesday that would target point of sale transactions for marijuana products. Senate Bill 987, "The Marijuana Value Tax Act," would impose an excise tax of 15 percent on purchasers seeking medical marijuana products for consumption or other uses within California when purchased from any retailer. The tax, if moved forward within the state Legislature, is being proposed to take effect beginning in January 2018, when the Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation begins to enforce operatives of the recent Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, according to Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, who authored the bill. [continues 347 words]
There's a marijuana recall saga playing out in Denver that suggests our regulatory system isn't quite up to snuff yet (at least when it comes to quality control.) It first blew up last March when the city of Denver quarantined more than 100,000 plants from six separately owned and operated grows after the fire department discovered off-label pesticide use on the plants during routine safety inspections. The city stepped up its inspections of cultivation facilities, and the Denver Post 's Cannabist blog even commissioned its own tests for pesticides on retail marijuana extracts. [continues 538 words]
Area state Sen. Jim Nielsen last week opposed a bill that would eliminate a deadline for cities and counties without marijuana cultivation ordinances to adopt local growing rules. Nielsen, R-Gerber, voted against Assembly Bill 21, correcting what lawmakers say was a mistake in the state's medical cannabis regulations approved last year. It passed the Senate 35-3 and next moves on to the Assembly. Nielsen, one of three Republicans opposing the bill, told The Associated Press he couldn't support legislation that might help further the medical marijuana industry. [continues 304 words]
POLICE are going to use helicopters to spray dagga fields in the former Transkei with poisonous chemicals again this year despite widespread opposition. Eastern Cape police spokeswoman Col Sibongile Soci said yesterday the spraying of Round-up would take place in the remote "hills and valleys" along the Mzintshana River near Port St Johns. The decision has been slammed by environmental and dagga activists who claim glysophates in the poison "probably cause cancer", according to the World Health Organisation, and they seriously impact flora, fauna and people. They say it has been banned all over the world. [continues 77 words]
Commercial medical marijuana dispensaries are prohibited throughout Ventura County. Now, to meet a March 1 deadline under a new state law, six of the county's 10 cities - Camarillo, Fillmore, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Thousand Oaks and Santa Paula - are rushing to go a step further by formally banning small-scale, personal cultivation of medical marijuana. The Ojai City Council will take up the issue in February, but currently forbids personal cultivation. Officials argue that they want to retain control over marijuana in their communities, while opponents contend that heavy-handed ordinances reduce patients' access to medicinal pot. [continues 1168 words]
Goal Is to Determine Perfect 'Recipe' For Cannabis Growing GUELPH - Marijuana has been grown in a clandestine manner by a great many growers for a long time. Despite that, an optimal way of cultivating the plant to boost its medicinal properties has not be found, says a University of Guelph plant scientist who is leading the charge to perfect pot growing. Mike Dixon and his research team in the University of Guelph's controlled environmental system research facility and program have received $210,000 from Ontario Centres of Excellence. The money will fund the application of new irrigation technology to medical cannabis growing. It's a process by which small sensors are strapped to the stem of a plant and hooked up to a wireless data logger that measures the water status of the plant every 15 minutes. [continues 421 words]
Canna-Branders Prepare to Hurry Up and Wait "I'm not sure brand dilution can get any worse than it has up to now," says Chrystal Ortiz, marketing and branding coordinator for True Humboldt. True Humboldt, a co-op of local cannabis farmers, is one of several organizations trying to turn the region into a brand and realign that brand with values that will sell. At the heart of the issue is appellation, the protected geographical distinction of where a product comes from. Champagne, for example, can only be called such if it's bottled in Champagne, France. Appellation rights for cannabis growers were one of the provisions in the recent spate of state medical marijuana laws largely celebrated by local growers. But what Humboldt's appellation will actually come to stand for is under pressure from competing visions and practices. [continues 539 words]
WASHINGTON - U.S. Supreme Court justices are expected to decide in their closed door meeting on Jan. 22 whether to allow Oklahoma and Nebraska to sue Colorado over its marijuana laws. The two states claim their neighbor's licensing of growers and sellers has led their own residents to travel to Colorado to buy marijuana. That in turn has strained their own law enforcement and other resources, they claim. In a brief filed last week, Oklahoma and Nebraska compared Colorado to a drug cartel that is now exporting pot to 36 states. [continues 396 words]
As the federal government begins the process of moving towards legalizing marijuana, East Kootenay Addiction Services Society will be presenting a number of articles to generate discussion about marijuana and what changes to marijuana laws could mean. This article will look at some of the common beliefs about marijuana and separate the myths from the facts. Marijuana is the most popular illicit drug used worldwide. Because of its popularity, and in part because of the push to change the legal status of marijuana in Western countries, there are many statements made about marijuana in the media and on the internet that sound factual but may not be accurate. [continues 772 words]
Gov. Jerry Brown laid out his proposed $170.7 billion budget this week for the 2016-17 fiscal year, and for the first time, detailed funding for the newly enacted Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, which was designed by lawmakers as a complete regulatory process over the medical marijuana industry. The new regulations were initially financed with a loaned amount of $5.4 million in general funding from the current fiscal year's budget that is due to close at the beginning of July. [continues 748 words]
The Fortuna City Council voted unanimously Jan. 4 (with Councilmember Linda Gardner absent) to approve the first reading of an ordinance banning almost any medical marijuana activity, including cultivation for personal use, within city limits. The city already has a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries on its books, but the expansion of the prohibitions, City Clerk Linda McGill told the Journal, was to maintain the city's local control when state regulations go into effect. The deadline for local ordinances to be in place is March 1, prompting a statewide scramble for city and county laws. [continues 554 words]
DENVER - The $3.5 billion U.S. marijuana market is emerging as one of the nation's most power-hungry industries, with the 24-hour demands of thousands of indoor growing sites taxing electricity grids and unraveling hard-earned gains in energy conservation. Without design standards or efficient equipment, the growing facilities in the 23 states where marijuana is legal are responsible for greenhouse-gas emissions almost equal to those of every car, home and business in New Hampshire. While reams of regulations cover such things as tracking individual plants, package labeling and advertising, they lack requirements to reduce energy waste. [continues 724 words]
DENVER -- Pot's not green. The $3.5 billion U.S. cannabis market is emerging as one of the nation's most power-hungry industries, with the 24-hour demands of thousands of indoor growing sites taxing aging electricity grids and unraveling hard-earned gains in energy conservation. Without design standards or efficient equipment, the facilities in the 23 states where marijuana is legal are responsible for greenhouse-gas emissions almost equal to those of every car, home and business in New Hampshire. While reams of regulations cover everything from tracking individual plants to package labeling to advertising, they lack requirements to reduce energy waste. [continues 1060 words]
Indoor Growing Sites Tax Electric Grids, Unravel Conservation Efforts DENVER - The $3.5 billion U.S. marijuana market is emerging as one of the nation's most power-hungry industries, with the 24-hour demands of thousands of indoor growing sites taxing electricity grids and unraveling hard-earned gains in energy conservation. Without design standards or efficient equipment, the growing facilities in the 23 states where marijuana is legal are responsible for greenhouse-gas emissions almost equal to those of every car, home and business in New Hampshire. [continues 225 words]
Growing Market Cannabis Industry Canceling Out Efforts for Low-Carbon Footprint Pot's not green. The $3.5 billion U.S. cannabis market is emerging as one of the nation's most power-hungry industries, with the 24-hour demands of thousands of indoor growing sites taxing aging electricity grids and unraveling hard-earned gains in energy conservation. Without design standards or efficient equipment, the facilities in the 23 states where marijuana is legal are responsible for greenhouse-gas emissions almost equal to those of every car, home and business in New Hampshire. While reams of regulations cover everything from tracking individual plants to package labeling to advertising, they lack requirements to reduce energy waste. [continues 1078 words]
Colorado Pot Facilities Used As Much Energy As 35,000 Homes in 2014. Pot's not green. The $3.5 billion U.S. cannabis market is emerging as one of the nation's most powerhungry industries, with the 24-hour demands of thousands of indoor growing sites taxing aging electricity grids and unraveling hard-earned gains in energy conservation. Without design standards or efficient equipment, the facilities in the 23 states where marijuana is legal are responsible for greenhouse-gas emissions almost equal to those of every car, home and business in New Hampshire. While reams of regulations cover issues from tracking individual plants to package labeling to advertising, they lack requirements to reduce energy waste. [continues 1053 words]
Pot's not green. The $3.5 billion U.S. cannabis market is emerging as one of the nation's most power-hungry industries, with the 24-hour demands of thousands of indoor growing sites taxing aging electricity grids and unraveling hard-earned gains in energy conservation. Without design standards or efficient equipment, the facilities in the 23 states where marijuana is legal are responsible for greenhouse gas emissions almost equal to those of every car, home and business in New Hampshire. While reams of regulations cover everything from tracking individual plants to package labeling to advertising, they lack requirements to reduce energy waste. [continues 948 words]
In the first months of marijuana legalization in Oregon, a flood of medical marijuana shops has spread the customer base thin in parts of the state. According to a Guardian article, an oversaturation of medical marijuana dispensaries in Portland has some business owners hurting, with hundreds of business license applications still being processed. Recreational pot shops won't open until late next year. One marijuana business advocate described it as a survival-of-the-fittest situation, saying, "Those with sound business practices will survive, those without are going to fail." [continues 490 words]
County supervisors approved a voluntary registration program this week that could give local growers seeking state permits a leg up. New state medical marijuana laws, expected to go into effect in 2018, will create 17 different types of licenses for cannabis businesses. As an apparent stimulus to get applications rolling in, the legislation says that any medical marijuana business in operation and good standing in local jurisdictions by Jan. 1, 2016 will get "priority" status when applying for state licenses down the road. It's unclear what that status will provide, but the clause has left counties scrambling to determine how to recognize what "good standing" means, considering there's no county laws to date dictating how large outdoor grows can operate. (The title of this column is a quote from Senior Planner Steve Lazar describing the rush to develop regulations in the wake of new state laws.) [continues 618 words]
