MMJ Business Daily

Chart: Marijuana business licensing backlog in Alaska

By Eli McVey

After legalizing adult-use cannabis in 2014, Alaska’s recreational marijuana industry is just now getting off the ground.

But an understaffed state regulatory agency has been slow to license new businesses, and significant amounts of red tape at the local level have prevented some licensees from opening their doors.

While growing pains are to be expected for a new market starting from scratch – Alaska had no medical marijuana industry before legalizing recreational cannabis – the slow rollout has caused significant supply shortages and some of the highest retail prices marijuana in the nation.

Alaska’s rec

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Recreational marijuana home delivery kicks off in Oregon

Oregon’s recreational marijuana businesses are leading the way in the U.S. rec industry with a new service: delivery of adult-use cannabis to a customer’s home.

According to Portland TV station WCSH 6, rec marijuana customers can now order from licensed dealers and have product delivered to their home.

Legal deliveries of adult-use cannabis are a new phenomenon. Medical cannabis deliveries, by contrast, are permitted in certain places in the United States.

Oregon’s Liquor Control Commission has issued delivery permits to 117 retailers across the state, with 13 in Portland. The commission delayed the launch of delivery services until last

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SEC charges cannabis vending firm, founder in $12M case

Federal securities regulators charged a California company peddling marijuana vending machines and its founder with issuing bogus news releases that bragged about phony “record” sales and touted the business as an MJ industry leader.

Much of Medbox’s revenue, however, came from “sham transactions with a secret affiliate,” according to a news release from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to the SEC’s complaint, Medbox provided marijuana consulting services and claimed to sell vending machines called “Medbox” devices that dispensed marijuana using biometric identification.

The SEC said Medbox founder Vincent Mehdizadeh allegedly acknowledged in a text message that “the only

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Colombia’s medical cannabis infrastructure still in the works

Colombia, one of the latest countries to legalize medical marijuana, is still working toward a functional cannabis industry. But it’s getting there.

The largest company poised to take advantage of the new system is Canada-based PharmaCielo, which was awarded a business license to produce MMJ in Colombia last June. But according to the New York Times, the Colombian government is prepping to issue more MMJ business permits, and PharmaCielo “is looking to hire.”

According to the Times, PharmaCielo also:

• Is taking advantage of a new peace deal between the Colombian government and longtime rebels that

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Week in Review: Los Angeles marijuana vote, Canada rec rollout & new cannabis standards

By John Schroyer, Omar Sacirbey and Bart Schaneman

Los Angeles voters approve a groundbreaking marijuana initiative, Canada adult-use legalization may take longer than anticipated, and an influential standards-setting group eyes cannabis.

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

L.A. industry now hitched to uncertain city rules

Those outside Los Angeles may not have heard wedding bells for the city’s cannabis industry and local officials, but that’s basically what happened following passage of Proposition M.

The yes vote gives city officials the authority to approve cannabis businesses and write citywide regulations

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Colorado Senate OKs cannabis clubs, governor threatens veto

The Colorado Senate approved a bill Thursday that would allow bring-your-own marijuana clubs in the state, a move that would be a first for the nation.

According to the Associated Press, local jurisdictions would be allowed to permit cannabis clubs, provided the establishments don’t sell alcohol or food beyond light snacks.

However, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has threatened to veto the bill if it doesn’t ban indoor smoking of marijuana.

“Smoking is bad for you,” Hickenlooper said, according to the AP. “I’m not sure that’s a great thing to be encouraging.”

Hickenlooper also fears a possible federal crackdown

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Oakland expands marijuana license diversity program

The city council in Oakland, California, expanded a groundbreaking but controversial cannabis business license program that supporters say is needed to help reverse the underrepresentation of minorities in the industry – while opponents charge the plan unfairly excludes other deserving candidates.

The council first approved the Equity Permit Program in May 2016, stipulating that half the city’s marijuana business licenses would go to people who have been convicted of marijuana-related charges, as well as those who, in the past two years, have lived in six of the police beats hardest hit by the War On Drugs.

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Oakland expands marijuana license diversity program is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Oakland expands marijuana license diversity program

The city council in Oakland, California, expanded a groundbreaking but controversial cannabis business license program that supporters say is needed to help reverse the underrepresentation of minorities in the industry – while opponents charge the plan unfairly excludes other deserving candidates.

The council first approved the Equity Permit Program in May 2016, stipulating that half the city’s marijuana business licenses would go to people who have been convicted of marijuana-related charges, as well as those who, in the past two years, have lived in six of the police beats hardest hit by the War On Drugs.

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Oakland expands marijuana license diversity program is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Report: Oregon marijuana industry has $1.2B economic impact

Oregon’s cannabis industry has produced an economic impact of more than $1 billion, according to a new report.

The report, by economist and marijuana business insider Beau Whitney, found that the Oregon cannabis market created more than 12,500 jobs with an average wage of $12.13 an hour, which translates into roughly $1.2 billion in economic activity for the state.

The job figure is only for plant-touching companies, such as retailers and growers, and doesn’t include ancillary marijuana businesses, such as attorneys or security services.

“Cannabis is a job-creation machine,” Whitney said in a press release.

He noted that through Feb. 21,

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Report: Oregon marijuana industry has $1.2B economic impact is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Montana’s medical cannabis industry on the rebound

By John Schroyer

Just a few months after Montana voters resurrected the state’s medical cannabis industry, dispensaries appear to be leaping quickly back into business.

“It’s turned 182,” Billings dispensary owner Rich Abromeit joked, combining a reference to Initiative 182 – the ballot measure voters approved in November – with the 180 degrees the state’s industry seems to have spun since last year.

The Montana industry seemed to be in dire straits a little more than a year ago after a state Supreme Court decision that ultimately forced dispensary owners to close or mothball their operations by

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Montana’s medical cannabis industry on the rebound is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs