MMJ Business Daily

Chart: Cannabis industry employs 165,000-plus workers

By Eli McVey

With 165,000-230,000 full- and part-time workers, the U.S. cannabis industry has quickly become a major job generator.

Cannabis-related businesses now employ more people than there are dental hygienists and bakers in the United States and will soon surpass the number of telemarketers and pharmacists.

The estimates – published in the newly released Marijuana Business Factbook 2017  – include employment data for retailers, wholesale grows, infused products/concentrates companies, testing labs and ancillary firms.

The job figures represent an impressive feat for an industry that has, for the most part, been operating legitimately only since 2009.

…

Chart: Cannabis industry employs 165,000-plus workers is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Nevada enacts plan to start adult-use marijuana sales July 1

Nevada’s marijuana regulators believe they have found a way around a judge’s order that threatens to block the state’s first recreational marijuana sales scheduled to begin next month.

Gov. Brian Sandoval on Thursday signed an emergency regulation intended to allow rec sales to start July 1 at some existing medical dispensaries.

Under the regulation, any legally licensed retailer that has inventory remaining from its MMJ program will be allowed to sell the products for recreational use effective July 1, according to Nevada Department of Taxation spokeswoman Stephanie Klapstein. The regulation could extend to as many

…

Nevada enacts plan to start adult-use marijuana sales July 1 is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Rhode Island to form recreational cannabis study commission

Rhode Island’s Senate and House of Representatives voted to end their debate over recreational marijuana legalization bills and instead created a 19-person commission to study the issue.

Among the commission’s mandates – after the Senate agreed Thursday with an earlier House vote to halt any MJ legislation – is the exploration of the recreational markets in states that already have it, such as Colorado and Washington.

Marijuana advocates called formation of the commission a delay tactic that would encourage Rhode Island residents to buy marijuana in Massachusetts, where rec sales are supposed to begin in the second

…

Rhode Island to form recreational cannabis study commission is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Mexican president signs medical marijuana legalization decree

Mexican President Pena Nieto made it official this week: His nation is the latest to legalize cannabis for medical purposes.

Many of the details of the country’s MMJ program are still unclear, and it seems that only low-THC marijuana will be permitted, which could mean the black market and Mexican cartels would still profit from providing stronger cannabis.

But still, it’s a significant development in that the United States is now literally sandwiched between two countries whose federal governments have formally recognized that marijuana has medical value.

The new Mexican law was approved overwhelmingly

…

Mexican president signs medical marijuana legalization decree is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Week in Review: Massachusetts rec logjam, Pennsylvania MMJ grower licensees & Oregon testing woes

By Omar Sacirbey, Bart Schaneman and John Schroyer

The Massachusetts House of Representatives proposes an overhaul to a voter-approved measure to legalize recreational cannabis, Pennsylvania awards 12 medical marijuana cultivation licenses, and Oregon continues to have MJ testing issues.

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

Massachusetts bill wrangling

Massachusetts state senators and their counterparts in the House passed very different adult-use marijuana bills and now need to bridge their differences to forge a common measure that Gov. Charlie Baker must sign by July 1 for it to become law.

…

Week in Review: Massachusetts rec logjam, Pennsylvania MMJ grower licensees & Oregon testing woes is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Vermont adult-use cannabis legalization bill stalls in legislature

The Vermont state House of Representatives has blocked consideration of a bill to legalize recreational marijuana in the state.

Lawmakers in the House refused to take up the bill late Wednesday during a special veto session.

The measure won approval in the Senate on a voice vote earlier in the day, and Senate negotiators said they had reached a deal with Republican Gov. Phil Scott on the measure. But the House refused to agree to suspend legislative rules so the measure could have been considered during this veto session.

Vermont’s legislature can take up the bill when lawmakers return in January and it

…

Vermont adult-use cannabis legalization bill stalls in legislature is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Massachusetts House would repeal, replace rec marijuana bill

The Massachusetts House of Representatives on late Wednesday approved a bill that would repeal and replace the adult-use marijuana law voters passed last November and would more than double the tax rate and require that cannabis business employees be fingerprinted in the process.

The state Senate must now work on its own version of the recreational cannabis bill. Once it’s passed, both chambers must then negotiate a compromise bill they hope to send to the governor by July 1.

The House bill, which passed 126-28, calls for:

• Raising the tax on retail cannabis sales from 12% to 28%.
• Background checks

…

Massachusetts House would repeal, replace rec marijuana bill is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Nevada retailers still targeting July 1 rec marijuana start amid uncertainty

By John Schroyer
A ruling by a Nevada judge has jeopardized the planned July 1 start date for early adult-use marijuana sales, but some retailers believe they’ll be able to move ahead as planned.
At least until they run out of inventory.
Nevada retaile…

Medical cannabis legalization to appear on Oklahoma ballot in 2018

Oklahoma will become the latest state to weigh in on the legalization of medical marijuana after the secretary of state’s office certified a ballot measure.

The measure, which nearly made the 2016 ballot, is backed by Oklahomans for Health. The measure’s certification was first reported by Tulsa’s Fox 23 News.

The group collected enough valid signatures last year to qualify for a statewide vote but was thwarted by a dispute with the attorney general’s office over the wording of the ballot measure title. The dispute lasted past the 2016 election

…

Medical cannabis legalization to appear on Oklahoma ballot in 2018 is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

PNC Bank shuts down Marijuana Policy Project’s accounts

PNC Bank – the sixth-largest financial institution in the United States – has closed Marijuana Policy Project’s accounts, a move that underscores worries the Trump administration will try to interfere with state-licensed medical and recreational cannabis programs.

The move is especially noteworthy because non-plant-touching cannabis organizations like MPP – which is a nonprofit cannabis advocacy group – have generally had an easier time opening bank accounts.

The Pittsburgh-based bank told MPP Chief Financial Officer Nick Field in May it planned to close the accounts July 7, The Washington Post reported. The reason: An account audit showed that MPP

…

PNC Bank shuts down Marijuana Policy Project’s accounts is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs