MMJ Business Daily

Massachusetts regulatory agency gets second anti-cannabis member

Massachusetts Treasurer Deb Goldberg has appointed Steven Hoffman, a former business executive who voted against recreational marijuana legalization, to head the state’s five-member Cannabis Control Commission (CCC).

The new agency is responsible for regulating marijuana in Massachusetts and will work with the Cannabis Advisory Board.

Hoffman, 64, is the second person selected to the five-member commission who voted against marijuana legalization, causing some worry among the state’s marijuana advocates.

“We are concerned that a second legalization opponent now sits on the commission and we hope for balance in the remaining appointments,” said Jim Borghesani,

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Massachusetts regulatory agency gets second anti-cannabis member is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Another MMJ edibles company temporarily leaving Arizona

Just days after news broke that Dixie Brands is leaving the Arizona medical marijuana market, another prominent edibles company said it’s doing the same – though for different reasons.

California-based Bhang Chocolate is losing its local licensee, Harvest of Arizona, meaning it won’t have anyone on the ground in the state to produce and distribute its products, the Phoenix New Times reported.

Bhang’s inventory has already run out in several dispensaries and probably won’t last long in the remaining shops, according to the New Times.

But a company spokesman told the newspaper it hopes

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Another MMJ edibles company temporarily leaving Arizona is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Week in Review: Netflix + cannabis, Tennessee eyes MMJ & Israel-Canada partnership targets US

By Bart Schaneman, John Schroyer & Omar Sacirbey

Netflix develops marijuana strains to promote its shows, Tennessee plans to study the impact of medical cannabis, and Israel and Canadian firms partner to do business in the United States.

Here’s a closer look at some notable developments in the marijuana industry over the past week.

A matter of taste

Marijuana businesses partnering with mainstream companies to develop and sell cannabis products is a clever move as long as the conventional firm is sending the right message, according to one MJ industry analyst.

“As long as it’s done tastefully,

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Week in Review: Netflix + cannabis, Tennessee eyes MMJ & Israel-Canada partnership targets US is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Week in Review: Netflix + cannabis, Tennessee eyes MMJ & Israel-Canada partnership targets US

By Bart Schaneman, John Schroyer & Omar Sacirbey

Netflix develops marijuana strains to promote its shows, Tennessee plans to study the impact of medical cannabis, and Israel and Canadian firms partner to do business in the United States.

Here’s a closer look at some notable developments in the marijuana industry over the past week.

A matter of taste

Marijuana businesses partnering with mainstream companies to develop and sell cannabis products is a clever move as long as the conventional firm is sending the right message, according to one MJ industry analyst.

“As long as it’s done tastefully,

…

Week in Review: Netflix + cannabis, Tennessee eyes MMJ & Israel-Canada partnership targets US is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Anti-cannabis group urges feds to shut down MJ industry

A prominent anti-marijuana group is urging the U.S. government to shutter the legal cannabis industry.

Smart Approaches to Marijuana sent a report to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and federal lawmakers claiming to show how the first three states to legalize recreational marijuana have failed to follow rules outlined in the Cole Memo and calling for the industry to be “systematically shut down” – beginning with its biggest players.

The Smart Approaches report – “The Cole Memo: 4 Years Later” – alleges that Colorado, Washington and Oregon have failed to comply with seven of the eight guidelines in the

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Anti-cannabis group urges feds to shut down MJ industry is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Florida’s medical marijuana program gets boost from doctors

Florida’s medical marijuana market is expanding quickly, thanks in large part to the rapidly growing number of physicians certified to recommend MMJ.

There are more than 1,200 doctors in Florida who can recommend medical marijuana, up from roughly 300 when voters approved the program in November 2016, Florida Politics reported.

That interest gives Florida a leg up on other medical cannabis markets, like New York and Minnesota, where physicians’ reluctance to recommend MMJ is hindering the programs.

The state’s medical marijuana office is certifying about

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Florida’s medical marijuana program gets boost from doctors is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Canada’s Cronos dips toes in Caribbean medical cannabis market

Cronos Group is exporting medical marijuana oil to the Cayman Islands, making it the second Canadian MMJ producer to ship the product to the Caribbean island.

CEO Mike Gorenstein described the sale – the company’s first to the Caribbean – as a “trial run” before larger shipments are sent. “We absolutely expect this to be a consistent distribution channel for us going forward,” he told Marijuana Business Daily.

The company’s wholly owned licensed marijuana producer, Peace Naturals Project, sold the extract-based MMJ product to Caribbean Medical Distributors. That company is working with Professional Pharmacy Services in the CTMH

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Canada’s Cronos dips toes in Caribbean medical cannabis market is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Montana’s largest city bans medical marijuana dispensaries

Although medical marijuana advocates had hoped for an industry renaissance in Montana after a ballot-box victory in November, at least one major municipality isn’t having it.

The Billings City Council voted to ban medical cannabis dispensaries, meaning the industry won’t have a visible face in the most populous city in Montana, the Billings Gazette reported.

Technically, the vote doesn’t change a law that’s already on the books, since the city enacted an ordinance five years ago to prohibit MMJ storefronts. And currently there are only two in existence, according to the Gazette.

But those

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Montana’s largest city bans medical marijuana dispensaries is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

No evidence of widespread bank crackdown on cannabis advocacy groups, observers say

By Omar Sacirbey

A major bank’s decision to close accounts tied to the Marijuana Policy Project and NORML put cannabis advocacy groups on high alert, with some fearing the start of a concerted attack on the MJ movement by the Trump administration.

But the groups say it appears those initial fears were overblown.

The closures seem to have been isolated to PNC Bank, the nation’s sixth-largest financial institution.

In June, PNC pulled an account belonging to the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), saying it “couldn’t afford the risk.”

A month later, the Pittsburgh-based bank

No evidence of widespread bank crackdown on cannabis advocacy groups, observers say is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

No evidence of widespread bank crackdown on cannabis advocacy groups, observers say

By Omar Sacirbey

A major bank’s decision to close accounts tied to the Marijuana Policy Project and NORML put cannabis advocacy groups on high alert, with some fearing the start of a concerted attack on the MJ movement by the Trump administration.

But the groups say it appears those initial fears were overblown.

The closures seem to have been isolated to PNC Bank, the nation’s sixth-largest financial institution.

In June, PNC pulled an account belonging to the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), saying it “couldn’t afford the risk.”

A month later, the Pittsburgh-based bank

No evidence of widespread bank crackdown on cannabis advocacy groups, observers say is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs