MMJ Business Daily

Chart: Retail marijuana markups in Washington state continue to dip

By Eli McVey

Washington state cannabis stores continue to face pricing pressures long after the introduction of a new tax structure sent markups plunging, reflecting an increasingly competitive business environment.

According to information provided by the analytics company Top Shelf Data, the average markup per gram of flower sold at the retail level has been declining since summer 2015, when the state shifted to a single 37% excise tax paid by consumers at the point of sale.

Under the previous structure – when the state assessed a 25% tax on producers, processors and retailers – average prices per gram of

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Chart: Retail marijuana markups in Washington state continue to dip is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

New York patients aren’t buying much medical marijuana

New York’s nearly 13,000 medical cannabis patients apparently aren’t enthusiastic about their purchase options at the state’s dispensaries.

The first New York dispensary opened over a year ago, in January 2016, but only 10,250 patients have made a purchase and just 6,403 have been repeat buyers, Politico reported Friday.

And it also doesn’t portend a profitable future for New York’s MMJ businesses, unless some dramatic changes are made to the program.

One of the five New York licensees, PharmaCann, told Politico it’s using only 8%-10% of its production capacity because it hasn’t had enough patient

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New York patients aren’t buying much medical marijuana is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

New York patients aren’t buying much medical marijuana

New York’s nearly 13,000 medical cannabis patients apparently aren’t enthusiastic about their purchase options at the state’s dispensaries.

The first New York dispensary opened over a year ago, in January 2016, but only 10,250 patients have made a purchase and just 6,403 have been repeat buyers, Politico reported Friday.

And it also doesn’t portend a profitable future for New York’s MMJ businesses, unless some dramatic changes are made to the program.

One of the five New York licensees, PharmaCann, told Politico it’s using only 8%-10% of its production capacity because it hasn’t had enough patient

…

New York patients aren’t buying much medical marijuana is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Alaska regulators seize imported CBD oil in raids

Alaska officials raided an unspecified number of recreational cannabis shops and seized “thousands of dollars worth of imported CBD oil,” the Alaska Journal reported.

A news release from the Alaska Marijuana Control Office confirmed Thursday that “several retail stores” appeared to be in violation of state laws that mandate specific testing, labeling and packaging for marijuana products. But executives from those shops told the newspaper they were confused because the seized oils were derived from hemp, not marijuana.

The incident illustrates the ongoing lack of clarity between federal and state law in differentiating between hemp products

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Alaska regulators seize imported CBD oil in raids is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Colorado marijuana sales hit $1.3B in 2016, up 30% from year earlier

Colorado’s marijuana dispensaries and recreational stores sold $1.3 billion in products last year, up 30% from 2015 and nearly double the total in 2014 when adult-use sales began.

According to state data, last year’s sales total is up from $996.2 million in 2015 and nearly $700 million in 2014. Colorado averaged more than $100 million in sales per month last year, the Denver Post reported. Summer was particularly strong, with combined sales totaling $376.6 million in July, August and September, according to the newspaper.

But it wasn’t all good news for Colorado marijuana retailers. Prices for

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Colorado marijuana sales hit $1.3B in 2016, up 30% from year earlier is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Colorado marijuana sales hit $1.3B in 2016, up 30% from year earlier

Colorado’s marijuana dispensaries and recreational stores sold $1.3 billion in products last year, up 30% from 2015 and nearly double the total in 2014 when adult-use sales began.

According to state data, last year’s sales total is up from $996.2 million in 2015 and nearly $700 million in 2014. Colorado averaged more than $100 million in sales per month last year, the Denver Post reported. Summer was particularly strong, with combined sales totaling $376.6 million in July, August and September, according to the newspaper.

But it wasn’t all good news for Colorado marijuana retailers. Prices for

…

Colorado marijuana sales hit $1.3B in 2016, up 30% from year earlier is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

OR regulator warns rec cannabis businesses for lax record keeping

Recreational marijuana businesses in Oregon that do not use the state’s seed-to-sale tracking system could lose their licenses or face fines.

Steve Marks, executive director of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, delivered that warning Thursday to cannabis cultivators and retailers, noting that roughly 20% of the state’s 900 license holders are not keeping their seed-to-sale tracking records up to date, according to the Bend Bulletin.

The “most egregious” violations, Marks wrote in a compliance notice:

• Failure to record batches of dried, harvested flower into the system within the required 45 days.
• Recording outdoor-grown plants as “flowering”

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OR regulator warns rec cannabis businesses for lax record keeping is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Another California town may allow huge marijuana grow

The central California hamlet of Hanford, just south of Fresno, may become the state’s latest cash-strapped municipality to find refuge in the immense tax benefits from the cannabis industry.

Town leaders are reportedly “inching toward” permitting one of the largest indoor cannabis cultivation operations in the state, according to the Fresno Bee, signaling that more MJ businesses are finding allies in small burgs that view the industry as an economic driver.

Purple Heart Patient Care, a medical cannabis company based in the San Francisco Bay Area, is hoping to retrofit a 1 million-square-foot industrial park in Hanford into

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Another California town may allow huge marijuana grow is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Week in Review: Contaminated medical cannabis, CO workplace safety & Ohio’s tech search

By John Schroyer, Omar Sacirbey and Bart Schaneman,

Tainted medical cannabis is suspected in a California cancer patient’s death, Colorado creates a workplace-safety guide, and Ohio is in the market for a seed-to-sale tracking system.

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

More liability lawsuits?

The potential for costly lawsuits over defective – and possibly dangerous – products remains an overlooked legal aspect for businesses in the growing cannabis industry.

That threat materialized this week when a California cancer patient’s death was tied to fungus-contaminated medical marijuana and 90-plus MMJ patients

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Week in Review: Contaminated medical cannabis, CO workplace safety & Ohio’s tech search is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Peruvian government seeks to legalize medical cannabis

Peru could become the latest country to legalize medical cannabis if a bill proposed by the nation’s president is approved by the legislature.

President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski decided to back the move after a raid in the capital city of Lima unveiled a group of parents growing cannabis so they could produce oils with which to treat children suffering from epilepsy and other ailments, according to Telesur.

The likelihood of the bill meeting with success seems small, however, given that the legislature is controlled by the president’s archrival, who lost the presidential election by a razor-thin margin. And the

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Peruvian government seeks to legalize medical cannabis is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs