MMJ Business Daily

Nevada recreational marijuana sales could begin as early as July

Marijuana dispensaries in Nevada could have recreational product on the shelves as early as July, a development that would make the state the first new adult-use market created through last November’s election.

During an appearance before a panel of state lawmakers, the Nevada Department of Taxation outlined a timeline for the rules governing the new market, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Regulators plan to hold a town hall forum in March to present temporary regulations that would allow existing medical cannabis dispensaries to sell adult-use products. Under the proposal, the tax department would adopt those regulations by May

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Nevada recreational marijuana sales could begin as early as July is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Contaminated medical cannabis leads to random testing in Canada

Health Canada said it will begin random testing of medical marijuana after two of the nation’s licensed producers recalled MMJ that was contaminated with unapproved pesticides.

The government health agency implemented the testing plan in response to the MMJ recall late last year by OrganiGram of Moncton, New Brunswick, and Mettrum of Toronto. Both used chemicals that are not among the nation’s 13 approved pesticides.

The growers’ recall of cannabis tainted with myclobutanil, bifenazate and pyrethrins affected roughly 25,000 medical marijuana patients in Canada, according to CBC News.

Myclobutanil also is banned in Colorado, Oregon and Washington because, when

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Contaminated medical cannabis leads to random testing in Canada is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Alaska’s marijuana regulator asks for additional staffers

Alaska’s acting head of cannabis regulation is asking for additional staff members to help to handle her agency’s workload, a sign that regulators are struggling to cope with the rollout of the state’s new adult-use industry.

Sara Chambers, the acting head of Alaska’s Alcohol & Marijuana Control Office, asked a state House budget panel this week for two more licensing examiners as well as an administrative assistant to help in regulating cannabis.

Chambers’ office has been tasked with a growing list of duties after Alaska assigned licensing legal marijuana businesses to her department in 2015. Couple that

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Alaska’s marijuana regulator asks for additional staffers is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

New Market: Fierce competition for licenses in Pennsylvania’s emerging MMJ program

By Bart Schaneman

Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana market is positioned to become a large one, but the business opportunities will be limited with hundreds of applicants from across the nation expected to compete for a finite number of licenses.

New Market: Fierce competition for licenses in Pennsylvania’s emerging MMJ program is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

U.S. Senate confirms cannabis critic Jeff Sessions as AG

The Senate on Wednesday evening confirmed President Trump’s nominee for attorney general, the outspoken marijuana opponent Jeff Sessions, formerly a U.S. senator from Alabama.

Sessions was confirmed in a 52-47 vote, with only one Democrat in the chamber backing the Republican.

When Trump named Sessions as his pick for attorney general last November, plenty of cannabis industry insiders were alarmed and feared that Sessions could spearhead a new federal crackdown on marijuana businesses.

But on Wednesday two of the more prominent national cannabis advocacy groups took a more measured stance: Both said they expect that Sessions will

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U.S. Senate confirms cannabis critic Jeff Sessions as AG is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

L.A. County to shutter 70 dispensaries, extend cannabis ban

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors agreed to reaffirm an ongoing ban on cannabis businesses of all types and to close roughly 70 dispensaries that are operating unlawfully in unincorporated parts of the county.

The situation may change early next year, after statewide regulations for California’s medical and recreational marijuana industries are put in place. But, for now, the county has asked the local district attorney’s office to shutter all illegal MMJ storefronts, City News Service reported.

Although the county could technically choose to prohibit MJ businesses permanently, that’s not the direction the board seemed to be

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L.A. County to shutter 70 dispensaries, extend cannabis ban is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Colorado issues safety guidelines for marijuana businesses

Cannabis businesses in Colorado now have guidance on how to create and maintain a safe workplace.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) has issued an 80-page report intended to help marijuana businesses identify health and safety hazards that could exist in their workplaces and “provide a starting point for the assessment and evaluation of occupational health hazards.”

Assembled by the Colorado Marijuana Occupational Health and Safety Work Group, the guide focuses on the safety of jobs ranging from extraction personnel to budtenders. It spotlights three areas of hazards – biological, chemical and physical.

It also recommends measures and

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Colorado issues safety guidelines for marijuana businesses is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Contaminated MMJ blamed for California man’s death

A cancer patient in California is dead, and doctors suspect contaminated medical marijuana may have been the cause in what could serve as a wake-up call for the state’s MMJ industry.

According to CBS Los Angeles, the man was using medical cannabis to ward off the side effects of traditional cancer treatments. The cancer treatment compromised the patient’s immune system, and he unexpectedly contracted a rare fungal infection that ultimately killed him.

The fungus that killed the patient “was equivalent to what is on rodent droppings,” CBS Los Angeles reported.

After the patient died, 20 MMJ samples from across California

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Contaminated MMJ blamed for California man’s death is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Breaking down borders: The rise of U.S.-Canada cannabis partnerships

The Green Solution, a large retail marijuana chain in Colorado, wanted a foothold in Canada’s expected recreational cannabis market. OrganiGram, among the growing number of federally licensed Canadian growers, needed know-how and a name.

And so was born a partnership indicative of the growing synergy between the U.S. and Canadian cannabis industries.

It reflects what’s expected to be a growing trend. Another U.S. cannabis brand, Snoop Dogg’s Leafs by Snoop, inked a partnership with Canadian medical cannabis cultivator Canopy Growth Inc. to produce and sell the rapper’s products north of the border.

And Seattle-based Privateer Holdings, which owns both the

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Breaking down borders: The rise of U.S.-Canada cannabis partnerships is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Ohio seeks seed-to-sale system for medical cannabis program

Ohio is seeking a company to develop and implement a seed-to-sale tracking system for the state’s new medical marijuana industry.

The software platform would track the medical cannabis supply chain, everything from cultivation and transportation to dispensary inventories and sales, according to the Cincinnati Business Courier.

Ohio’s MMJ program is expected to be large, generating between $200 million and $400 million in annual retail sales via dispensaries once the market matures, according to preliminary estimates by Marijuana Business Daily.

Applications for the seed-to-sale contract are due March 10, according to the state. Work on the new

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Ohio seeks seed-to-sale system for medical cannabis program is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs