News

The future is green 

Now that voters in four states – New Jersey, Montana, Arizona, and South Dakota – approved recreational marijuana, and voters in one state – Mississippi – approved medical marijuana sales, expect more states to follow, experts say.

“This indicates that people are frustrated with the outdated drug policies from the 1970s,” Mason Marks, a law professor at Gonzaga University and a fellow in residence at Harvard Law School’s Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, told ABC News.

In fact, governors in New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Virginia have started seriously considering legalizing adult-use cannabis in 2021.

Good news on driving while impaired

A new study shows that while driving after cannabis use was more prevalent in legal cannabis states, driving while high was actually less common. Researchers recommended states use public education campaigns – such as the Don’t Drive High campaign by CDOT – to effectively decrease impaired driving.

Not all Canadians are nice

 

Columbian drug lords were known to keep lions, tigers, hippos and venomous snakes, but Canadian drug traffickers have different taste in exotic animals.

A recent police bust just north of Toronto recovered $150 million worth of illegally-grown marijuana, guns, crossbows and . . .   THREE kangaroos and TWO zebras.

No word on who owned them and why. More…

Counting Down…

There are only 13 days left until the election.  We’re hard pressed to find anyone who says 2020 has been a good year, but perhaps the last couple of months are shaping up to deliver good news to the cannabis industry.


AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL, there is hope that the 83-year prohibition on cannabis is nearing its end – if the Democrats win the White House, retain the House of Representatives and take control of the Senate.

 

“If the Democrats do a clean sweep, then de-scheduling with interstate trade is definitely within the realm of possibility,” Randal Meyer, the executive director of the Global Alliance for Cannabis Commerce (GACC), told Marijuana Business Daily.  

DE-SCHEDULING would not only legalize marijuana at the federal level, it would end 280E tax restrictions, open banking to cannabis companies and permit interstation and international cannabis trade. Because the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act is already sitting in the House, it would likely be the “vehicle” used to de-schedule.

ASSUMING ALL THAT HAPPENS, it is unclear how to construct a regulatory framework.  Cannabis does not fit neatly into one category that can be regulated by the FDA, as it is food, a drug and a cosmetic.  Some industry recommendations include a hybrid approach, allowing states to continue enforcement and the FDA and Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau oversee interstate cannabis trade.


More than $3 million on lobbying for cannabis reform in Congress has been spent this year in Congress. Click here to see a chart showing the money spent.


Click to see the Marijuana Policy Project’s breakdown of states’ positions on legalization. 

AT THE STATE LEVEL, it’s all about ballot measures.  Voters in five states will decide on legalization of cannabis for recreational or medicinal purposes.  If all five measures pass, medicinal marijuana will be legal in 38 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, and adult-use will be legal in 14 of those, and in D.C.

Arizona, Montana, and New Jersey will vote on whether to legalize marijuana for adult use.  

Mississippi will vote on whether to legalize medical marijuana. Currently, it is legal in 33 states.

South Dakota would become the first state to approve both medical and recreational cannabis markets simultaneously. The state’s current marijuana possession laws are considered the harshest in the country.  

Dazed and Confused 

 

First the good news. The total number of people arrested in the U.S. for breaking cannabis laws declined for the first time in four years.

Now the really bad news. Arrests for marijuana violations outpaced arrests for ALL violent crimes put together, according to data from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI’s report showed police arrested 545,602 people for cannabis-related crimes in 2019, which is 9 percent higher than the 495,871 people arrested for violent crimes. And the charges? Well, 92 percent of the cannabis arrests were for simple possession.

A recent report from the ACLU found that black people were 3.6 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than white people. And in Montana, which is voting on legalization in less than two weeks, Black people were about 9.5 percent more likely to be arrested.

The Maturity of the Market

 

Colorado cannabis users have spent about $1.42 billion on cannabis through August, positioning the industry to exceed $2 billion in 2020 sales – four years earlier than industry experts’ predictions.

These numbers come as the Marijuana Enforcement Division released an in-depth report on the Colorado cannabis market, which was prepared by MPG Consulting (formerly the Marijuana Policy Group) and Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business. The key themes include:

  • The regulated market is nearing maturity as evidenced by price trends, supply patterns and consolidation.
  • A larger and more compliant market has emerged and includes accurate reporting, better internal controls, better use of the inventory tracking system by state and industry, and an effective regulatory and enforcement system.
  • Most all regulated marijuana products have continued to decline due to improvements in production efficiencies and competition.
  • Adult use marijuana sales are still increasing, medical sales, not so much.
  • Shifting demand to Concentrates continues.
  • Average potency continues a steady increase while price per dose is decreasing.
  • Consumption is increasing among Colorado adults.

How to make change

Colorado Leads member LivWell Enlightened Health found that just a few cents goes a long way to making change. In August, LivWell asked its customers to “round up” their purchase to the nearest dollar with the difference going to the Colorado COVID Relief Fund. The company has already raised more than $30,000 through nearly 69,000 transactions/donations.

The relief fund supports Colorado communities and organizations affected by the recent outbreak of COVID-19.

And Social Justice for All . . .

A new report from a global network of non-government organizations promoting drug policy offers a blueprint for cannabis businesses that take social justice seriously. The International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC)’s looked at the responsible regulation of cannabis and shined a light on why companies should address broader issues such as social justice and sustainability.

The IDPC document lists 20 principles, and in an interview with Marijuana Business Daily, had three takeaways for cannabis executives:

  1. Support affirmative action for communities affected by the war on drugs
  2. Protect and empower women within the cannabis industry
  3. Use certifications to promote fairness and sustainability across the supply chain

Read more details here.


 

In a related video, Yahoo Life spoke to power players in the industry who are working to dismantle oppressive systems meant to incarcerate people of color and prohibit them from finding success.

VIDEO: How Marijuana Legalization Advocates Across the U.S. Are Fighting to End the War on Cannabis

Some shells hold pearls, others . . . 

U.S. customs and border officers found almost 40 grams of cannabis hidden inside seashells shipped from Nigeria. Cannabis was put into plastic bags in the shell and taped closed.

Wouldn’t a package of sea shells raise questions to begin with?
Not exactly top-notch smugglers here.

Cannabis by the Numbers

Despite the pandemic, there has been a lot of positive cannabis news in the last couple of weeks.

From research advancements to increases in industry employment numbers to an infusion of millions of dollars of tax money to the State of Colorado, the cannabis industry has a lot to be proud of.

By the numbers:


The cannabis industry’s
projected economic impact
by 2024.


Projections show cannabis employment growth could increase 50% in 2020. That would be more than the number of the nation’s computer programmers. Chart: US cannabis employment could climb nearly 50% in 2020, surpassing computer programmers


The year marijuana was hailed as a miraculous treatment for “general debility” and “nervous excitement.” Since then, there hasn’t been much scientific research on cannabis, but Colorado is one of the states trying to lead the way with controlled, peer-reviewed studies.


Put a $ in front of it and it’s $167 million. That’s the tax revenue generated by the Colorado cannabis industry from January through June of 2020. Since legalization, the state has received nearly $1.4 billion in cannabis taxes and fees.

Here’s how Denver spends it’s
tax revenue.


Here are the 35 most influential womenin cannabis, according to Green Entrepreneur. Notables include soccer star Megan Rapinoe, and in Colorado, CEO of Simply Pure Dispensary, Wanda James, Shannon Donnelly, CEO of Healthy Honeys, and Nancy Whiteman, CEO of Wana Brands.


That is how much of an increase in the rates of crime in states bordering Colorado and Washington, according to a study published in the Journal of Drug Issues. In fact, researchers found “a substantial reduction in certain types of crimes, such as property crime, larceny, and simple assault in border counties in the Colorado region.”