News

Another myth bites the dust 

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Researchers at the United States Department of Agriculture’s Forest Services found that illegal marijuana grow operations on federally protected lands fell after states began legalizing it for adult use.

“Outright, national recreational cannabis legalization would be one means by which illegal growing on national forests could be made to disappear,” they found. 

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The Florence Nightingales of cannabis 

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Colorado nurses have launched a hotline, Leaf411, to answer questions about cannabis. They said they expect many of their callers to be senior citizens, a growing user demographic that’s more likely to need health care and use the phone.

Westword Article »

Local News

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The Louisville City Council approved two ordinances to send two November ballot questions to voters: one, to allow marijuana cultivation facilities in the city and two, authorization to impose an excise tax on those facilities.

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Denver-area schools will split more than $14 million raised through marijuana taxes and lottery revenue for projects ranging from replacing roofs to expanding their buildings.

Denver Post Article »

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

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… but trying to come up with specific numbers is difficult because those jobs don’t show up in government employment data.  This leaves American workers in the dark about high wages and job opportunities in the marijuana industry, experts say.

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That makes 11. 

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With the recent action by Illinois, more than 20% of the country now allows legal recreational marijuana. “Illinois’ new governor, J.B. Pritzker, delivered on a top campaign promise Tuesday by signing legislation that makes his state the 11th to legalize small amounts of marijuana for recreational use and the second to approve it through the Legislature rather than the ballot box. The bill, HB 1438, goes into effect Jan. 1, 2020.”

Check out the full story at CBS News » 

Nearly 800,000 marijuana convictions will be expunged from people’s records in Illinois.  »

Reefer Madness or Pot Paradise?

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So asks The New York Times as it looks at Colorado’s legacy as the first state in the nation to legalize adult-use cannabis. 

Read the Article »

Medicine will never be the same thanks to cannabis

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Cannabidiol can help stem the tide of antibiotic resistance. 

 “Antibiotic, or antimicrobial, resistance is where bugs such as bacteria can survive drugs created to kill them, making infections difficult, or impossible, to treat. Scientists in Australia found cannabidiol — the non-psychoactive ingredient marijuana — killed all the strainns of bacteria they tested in a lab, including some which are highly resistant to existing antibiotics.

Read the entire article here »

And maybe food, too…

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has exerted some pressure on the head of the FDA to develop regulations on hemp-derived CBD. 

“While the 2018 Farm Bill included my provision to remove hemp, and its derivatives like CBD, from the list of controlled substances, CBD food and dietary supplement products remain in a gray area without clarification from the FDA,” he said in a press release. 

Where do we go from here?  

When a state grows too much cannabis, what do you do?

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Well, Oregon is working on that very problem where a flood of legal cannabis and optimal growing conditions have seen prices plummet. Oregon signed two bills into law last week, “one aimed at curbing excess production and the other seeking to establish new markets to funnel excess (cannabis) into.”

The first one is easy, but the second one has that pesky legal problem of it being illegal to transport cannabis over state lines. Oregonians are optimistic about the end of that problem, but it presumes overcoming some fairly high hurdles. More »

It looks like two federal legislators from Oregon are attempting to do something about that second problem. More »

Guv’ners

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Our current governor continues to tout the benefits of a legal, regulated cannabis industry

Gov. Polis appeared on CNBC recently talking up the economic contributions of legalized marijuana, notably “nearly $50 million on marijuana sales in just 2 months in April and May.” Check out his full appearance here »

While the former governor – who is running for president –has “evolved slowly” on the issue.

Hickenlooper is not an advocate for marijuana use, saying that “he sometimes wonders if his own past marijuana use could have impaired his memory.”

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But he was also criticized for “revisionist history” when he took credit for cannabis legalization during the debates last week. 

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