MMJ Business Daily

Second Michigan recreational marijuana campaign gets OK

A second – and now competing – campaign to legalize recreational marijuana in Michigan has gotten the go-ahead from state officials to begin collecting signatures in a bid to make the 2018 ballot.

The campaign, Abrogate Prohibition Michigan, was approved Thursday by the state board of canvassers to move ahead with its goal of 315,654 signatures, the Detroit Free Press reported.

An existing campaign, the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, has already collected more than 100,000 of the 252,523 signatures it needs to make the 2018 ballot. The coalition is supported

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Second Michigan recreational marijuana campaign gets OK is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Southern University winnows list of medical cannabis vendors to three

Three Louisiana companies have been chosen as finalists to operate Southern University’s medical marijuana program.

Advanced Biomedics and Med Louisiana from Lafayette as well as Southern Roots Therapeutics from Baton Rouge are the three firms still in the running, the Baton Rouge Advocate reported.

Southern’s Agricultural Research and Extension Center estimates the cost for running the business will initially range from $5 million to $7 million. The company that gets the winning bid will pay that cost.

The state’s Medical Marijuana Review Committee will conduct closed interviews next week, according to the Advocate.

The finalist from

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Southern University winnows list of medical cannabis vendors to three is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Week in Review: Maine rec cannabis launch delayed, Maryland MMJ grow licensees & DOJ vs. DEA

By John Schroyer and Bart Schaneman

The launch of Maine’s recreational marijuana industry is delayed, a deadline passes for Maryland’s licensed medical cannabis growers, and the Department of Justice nixes a DEA decision on MJ research.

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

Maine rec in doubt?

Maine’s adult-use cannabis industry won’t launch until next summer – at the very earliest – simply because state regulators say they don’t have enough time to craft rules and start licensing rec businesses.

While delays in new markets aren’t uncommon

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Week in Review: Maine rec cannabis launch delayed, Maryland MMJ grow licensees & DOJ vs. DEA is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

New Hampshire medical marijuana dispensaries prep for sales increase

New Hampshire’s four medical marijuana dispensaries are ramping up for an expected boost in both patient registrations and the resulting uptick in sales, thanks to new qualifying MMJ conditions that go into effect this month.

The state updated its MMJ law in July to allow those suffering from chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder to purchase medical marijuana.

Pain patients will be allowed to begin making purchases this week, while those with PTSD can start buying MMJ later this month, New Hampshire Public Radio reported.

“Whether the program is going to double in qualifying

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New Hampshire medical marijuana dispensaries prep for sales increase is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Judge says Nevada can expand pool for rec cannabis distribution

A judge cleared the way for Nevada to allow more businesses to transport cannabis from growers to stores in an effort to keep up with overwhelming demand since recreational marijuana sales began last month.

Carson City District Judge James Russell on Thursday lifted an order blocking regulators from issuing cannabis distribution licenses to anyone other than alcohol wholesalers.

Nevada’s voter-approved law is unique among legal marijuana states in granting liquor wholesalers exclusive rights to distribute marijuana unless they can’t keep up with demand.

Russell said after an hourlong hearing there’s overwhelming evidence alcohol wholesalers

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Judge says Nevada can expand pool for rec cannabis distribution is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Vancouver MMJ dispensary to get its day in court – in a year

A date finally has been set for a British Columbia courtroom to hear a case involving the first of 53 injunctions Vancouver has filed against unlicensed medical marijuana dispensaries operating within the city.

Karuna Health Foundation will serve as a “test case” for the other 52 injunctions, CBC News reported, although the case won’t be heard for more than a year.

The city of Vancouver has long struggled with unlicensed medical cannabis dispensaries.

Across Vancouver, 60 cannabis businesses are operating without requisite permits and are subject to enforcement, according to city data.

The city has

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Vancouver MMJ dispensary to get its day in court – in a year is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Several marijuana-related companies make Inc. 5,000 list

A handful of companies tied to the cannabis industry are among the fastest-growing private businesses in the United States, according to the annual Inc. 5,000 rankings.

Among the marijuana companies on the list, released this week by Inc. magazine:

• Media and events company Marijuana Business Daily ranks No. 528, posting an 843% spike in revenue over the past three years
• Construction firm Your Green Contractor (No. 535 with 839% revenue growth)
• Software provider MJ Freeway (No. 1,506 with 270% revenue growth)
• Extraction equipment manufacturer Apeks Supercritical (No. 2,248 with 163% revenue growth)

Other cannabis-related companies might appear on the

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Several marijuana-related companies make Inc. 5,000 list is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Report: Nevada distribution issues hurting recreational cannabis sales

The 50 dispensaries licensed to sell recreational marijuana in Nevada have experienced a 20%-30% decline in sales since an initial explosion of activity on July 1, according to a report by the Nevada Department of Taxation.

The tax department said the drop in sales stem from the dispensaries’ inability to meet demand, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.

The dispensaries – which are selling adult-use cannabis under the state’s early start program – have seen the supply of marijuana goods they can offer shrink by more than 50% because of Nevada’s ongoing distribution problems,

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Report: Nevada distribution issues hurting recreational cannabis sales is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Los Angeles appoints chief of marijuana department

A longtime California marijuana advocate will oversee Los Angeles’ Department of Cannabis Regulation.

The L.A. City Council has confirmed Cat Packer as executive director of the newly created department, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Packer – a former director for the California chapter of Drug Policy Alliance – will work alongside the five-member Cannabis Commission that will help develop the L.A.’s marijuana industry rules.

According to the Times, the council also approved the commission’s members:

• Robert Ahn, an ex-planning commissioner
• Rita Villa, a certified public accountant
• Philip D. Mercado, of Southern California Permanente

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Los Angeles appoints chief of marijuana department is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Two states rebut AG Sessions’ critiques of their cannabis laws

Governors in at least two states that have legalized recreational marijuana are pushing back against the Trump administration and defending their efforts to regulate the industry.

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker, a former Republican, sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions this week asking the Department of Justice to maintain the Obama administration’s more hands-off enforcement approach to states that have legalized the drug.

The letter comes after Sessions sent responses recently to the governors of Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington state after they asked the attorney general to allow the cannabis experiments to continue in the first four

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Two states rebut AG Sessions’ critiques of their cannabis laws is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs