A popular marijuana website has told the state's cannabis czar that she lacks the authority to make the company stop running advertisements for unlicensed pot retailers. In a letter sent Monday to Lori Ajax of the Bureau of Cannabis Control, Doug Francis and Chris Beals of Weedmaps.com said the company is not licensed by the bureau and therefore not subject to its enforcement. They also said Weedmaps is protected from such action because the company is an "interactive computer service" covered under the federal Communications Decency Act. The law states that such a service shall not be treated as the publisher of information provided by a third party. [continues 405 words]
Unlicensed marijuana delivery companies are operating across Sacramento County, drawing the ire of legal pot retailers and warnings from state and local regulators. Regulators cite concerns about the delivery companies not paying fees and taxes and selling weed that hasn't been tested for pesticides or other possible toxins. They say the companies are threatening the financial viability of legal retailers who must pay those costs in a new legal marijuana market that started in California on Jan. 1. In Sacramento County, about 200 marijuana delivery services were advertising Friday on the website Weedmaps.com. Only one jurisdiction in the county, the city of Sacramento, has plans to allow cannabis delivery services, and it has yet to issue permits. In the interim, city pot czar Joe Devlin has told delivery companies to register with city, and eight have done so. [continues 835 words]
A bill in the Maryland General Assembly had sought to add more black firms to the state's regulated medical marijuana industry. Instead it might end up favoring existing players -- nearly all of whom are white-owned companies. A bill in the Maryland General Assembly had sought to add more black firms to the state's regulated medical marijuana industry. Instead it might end up favoring existing players -- nearly all of whom are white-owned companies. Given how much the Legislative Black Caucus has complained about the lack of minority-owned firms among Maryland's medical marijuana growers and processors, it may seem crazy that the legislation designed to address the issue that just passed overwhelmingly in the House could lead to more white men getting licenses. [continues 929 words]
Pennsylvania's recently launched medical marijuana program may have unintentionally created a minefield that employers and patients across the state have only begun to navigate: Patients who use marijuana could end up losing their jobs as a result. At a fact-finding hearing in Philadelphia City Council on Wednesday, a panel of lawyers, business interests, and medical professionals hashed over the murkier employment issues stirred up by the law. The upshot: Patients currently have few -- if any -- workplace protections. And until a lawsuit is filed, it's unlikely that patients will know how strong those protections might be. [continues 523 words]
Proposed ban on balcony marijuana smoking ignites debate Should condo owners and tenants be allowed to smoke pot in their homes and on their balconies? Ottawa Public Health's newly released position paper has ignited debate on those questions, and set the scene for a confrontation between pot smokers who want to exercise their hard-won right to use legal weed later this year, and non-smokers who want to be protected from the effects of second-hand smoke. Shery Dia, a writer and University of Ottawa student, supports the health unit's call for a strict smoking ban inside multi-unit buildings. She plans to move from her current apartment because of the persistent incursion of pot smoke into her fifth-floor unit of a Gloucester highrise. [continues 610 words]
When New Jersey State Sen. Nicholas Scutari introduced a 62-page bill and primer on how to legalize marijuana almost one year ago, he chuckled when asked if it had a prayer of passing. The legal sale of recreational marijuana had not yet begun in any other East Coast state, and yes, Chris Christie, the Republican governor at the time, had threatened a veto. The bill, Scutari insisted, would give lawmakers time to digest and debate the issue so that a palatable package would be "ready for the next governor." [continues 1067 words]
Employers are struggling to hire workers in tightening U.S. job market. Marijuana is now legal in nine states and Washington, D.C., meaning more than one in five American adults can eat, drink, smoke or vape as they please. The result is the slow decline of pre-employment drug tests, which for decades had been a requirement for new recruits in industries ranging from manufacturing to finance. As of the beginning of 2018, Excellence Health Inc., a Las Vegas-based health care company with around 6,000 employees, no longer drug tests people coming to work for the pharmaceutical side of the business. The company stopped testing for marijuana two years ago. "We don't care what people do in their free time," said Liam Meyer, a company spokesperson. "We want to help these people, instead of saying: 'Hey, you can't work for us because you used a substance,'" he added. The company also added a hotline for any workers who might be struggling with drug use. [continues 747 words]
Studies show legal cannabis can boost values As Canada moves closer to legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, many are speculating on how the decision will affect society and the economy. While some are concerned about health and safety effects, others are optimistic about potential new tax revenues and the prospect of bringing the sale and distribution of marijuana out of the criminal sphere. One area that few are talking about, however, is how legal marijuana will affect residential property markets. [continues 576 words]
The idea's been floated before, but recreational marijuana's backers have so far been unable to convince the Land of Steady Habits to legalize a new one. The legislature's General Law Committee will weigh a new bill legalizing the retail sale of marijuana at a public hearing. The hearing, originally scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed until Thursday because of the snowstorm. The bill, No. 5458, would allow people 21 or older to purchase up to an ounce of marijuana from a retailer or "marijuana lounge," where customers would smoke or consume their purchase on-site. Anyone 21 or older would also be allowed to grow up to six plants for personal use. [continues 651 words]
FRANKFORT -- Four law enforcement officials and a doctor urged state lawmakers Tuesday to say no to a bill that would legalize medical marijuana. For more than an hour, opponents of House Bill 166 told members of the House Judiciary Committee the ills they see in it. Their predictions about passage of the measure included an increase in crime, creation of trafficking problems along the state's borders, an enhancement of economic and social costs, temptations of children to use marijuana and uncertain physical outcomes over long-term usage. [continues 398 words]
Major alcohol companies will likely see sales squeezed by legal cannabis in the coming years, according to Wall Street research firm CFRA Research. "Due to shared usage occasions, we view the legalization of cannabis as a threat to alcohol industry consumption growth," wrote CFRA analyst Joe Agnese, who covers the food and beverage and tobacco industries, in a note published Monday. Agnese cites Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, The Boston Beer Company and Brown-Forman Corp., best known for Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey, as companies that could see a decline in product consumption. [continues 553 words]
TRENTON -- The first New Jersey legislative hearing on the legalization of marijuana held since Gov. Murphy took office -- after he promised his support -- unfolded Monday before more than 100 people. More than a dozen experts traveled from as far as Colorado and Massachusetts to office advice on legalization, a topic gaining traction after Murphy, a Democrat, replaced Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican adamantly opposed to it, in January. Several lawmakers are working on legalization bills, but none has come up for a vote and some legislators say they are trying to get a consensus. [continues 580 words]
FRANKFORT -- Kentucky lawmakers shelved Wednesday a controversial bill to legalize medical marijuana, but supporters of the measure pledged to continue their fight. Some backers of House Bill 166 were in tears after the House Judiciary Committee voted 14-4 to "pass over" the measure. That's a procedure to put off voting on the bill until a later date. The bill's sponsor, Rep. John Sims, D-Flemingsburg, said it's doubtful the proposal will be revisited in this year's legislative session but "anything is possible." [continues 357 words]
For years, Kentucky veterans have approached us with a question that has no good answer: "Why are my comrades in other states able to treat PTSD and pain with medical cannabis while I cannot?" Frustrated and confused, these men and women struggle daily with the effects of post-traumatic stress triggered by the horrors of war and chronic pain from injuries suffered in combat. One is Eric Pollack whose PTSD became so unbearable that he nearly became part of a depressing statistic. In Kentucky, the veteran suicide rate is 10 percent higher than the national average. [continues 694 words]
To the editor, Bootleggers in Pictou County sell beer at double the price because of all the risks involved. Marijuana is mostly supplied by organized crime. These people face all the risks of the bootlegger and more. There have been murders, kidnappings, torture, etc., all in the quest for control of the marijuana trade. Is it any wonder why their prices are so high? The reasons they risk life and limb is that the profits are astronomical. Marijuana is one of the cheapest, easiest and maintenance-free plants to grow. Can someone please explain how the government-sanctioned marijuana distributors came up with such exorbitant prices when their entire operation is "risk free." Marijuana on the street is the very same marijuana that the government distributors sell but their prices don't reflect this. [continues 96 words]
To see how the NSLC's marijuana distribution will be a disaster take a tour of Halifax's "medical" marijuana dispensaries. There are a dozen, or more, at least. They all have lines, seven days a week, from open to close. Their inventory (marijuana) is sourced in the industrial black-market production infrastructure in BC which is vast, efficient and already produces a variety of products (in-demand strains of marijuana) and product formats (oils, vape cartridges, topicals, edibles, etc). Many people don't fully understand that these dispensaries are actually all illegal and will be shut down upon legalization. Currently, the only legal way to purchase medical marijuanais through the mail from a licensed producer. [continues 305 words]
Cannabis Culture, a former pot shop on Bank Street, lost a court bid to have its eviction overturned. Justice Michelle O'Bonsawin ruled the landlord was justified in terminating the lease because the dispensary was operating in contravention of both its rental lease and federal law. The landlord posted an eviction notice on the door of the illegal dispensary in December and called a bailiff to change the locks. Cannabis Culture appealed to the Superior Court of Justice to reinstate the lease so it could continue to operate. [continues 367 words]
Back off, bud. The City of North Vancouver is aiming to slam the lid on the host of unlicensed pot shops that have operated with seeming impunity in recent years following Monday's council meeting. The crackdown, which involves civil court injunctions, is meant to give the city enough time to draft its own regulations about where and how marijuana dispensaries can operate within city limits. "I do believe that it should be legalized but it needs to be regulated," explained Mayor Darrell Mussatto. "This enforcement action here is allowing us some time so that we can put in these regulations before it actually becomes legalized." [continues 397 words]
Lawyer Denis Mahoney outlines a plan for employers surrounding the legalization of cannabis in Canada How are employers going to deal with the use of cannabis in the workplace once it becomes legal later this year? According to lawyer Denis Mahoney, a partner with Mcinnes Cooper in St. John's, speaking to delegates at the 50th anniversary conference of the Newfoundland and Labrador Construction Association (NLCA) on Friday, there are many questions that need to be answered first. "We are really concerned about this at the employers' council because as I can tell you in our business today, the No. 1 issue we are working with clients on today, above all else, is this particular topic," Mahoney said. [continues 796 words]
Two women arrested in April after police raided their medical marijuana dispensary in St. Catharines have been granted a conditional discharge. "I only wish I was able to help more people on the legal route," Abbigail Millar, 32, told Judge Tory Colvin in an Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines, Friday. Millar, together with Angela Millar, 38, were arrested after Niagara police raided Kronic Inc., a dispensary on Wright Street. Police seized just under 3,000 grams of marijuana as well as pre-rolled marijuanacigarettes, marijuana oil capsules and a variety of marijuana edibles. The also seized more than $4,000 in cash. [continues 185 words]
