MMJ Business Daily

Proposed national fire safety codes in works for cannabis businesses

By Omar Sacirbey

Marijuana extractors in particular as well as cultivators and retailers across the nation can anticipate new fire safety guidelines in the months ahead designed to head off potentially deadly fires and explosions at cannabis businesses.

A 10-member committee of fire code enforcers, equipment manufacturers and people who work in extraction facilities have drafted a proposed marijuana chapter for the Fire Code of the National Fire Protection Association, a nonprofit that develops fire safety codes and standards. Panel members hope it will give extractors and other cannabis industry businesses guidelines on how to fireproof their work environments and

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Proposed national fire safety codes in works for cannabis businesses is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Maryland OKs 102 preliminary medical cannabis licenses

Maryland’s medical cannabis board on Monday finally approved 102 dispensaries for preliminary licenses.

The Maryland Cannabis Commission said it employed a Nobel Prize-winning algorithm to help filter out the candidates from a field of more than 800 license applications.

It has been a slow process for entrepreneurs eager to get involved in what looks to be one of the largest medical marijuana markets on the East Coast, with the first round of 15 growers and processors having been approved in August.

The Maryland Cannabis Commission said it won’t make public the names of Monday’s license winners

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Maryland OKs 102 preliminary medical cannabis licenses is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

CA’s Prop 64 sparks requests for MMJ recommendations

Could medical marijuana businesses in California see a spike in business before recreational cannabis sales begin?

The prospect of recreational marijuana sales in the middle of 2017 or early in 2018 has sparked an unexpected spike in requests for medical marijuana recommendations, the Sacramento Bee reported.

While it will be at least half a year before the start of recreational marijuana sales, recreational marijuana consumption became legal on Nov. 8 for anyone 21 or older with the passage of Prop 64, as California’s new adult-use law is known.

Many social cannabis consumers, however, mistakenly believe they

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CA’s Prop 64 sparks requests for MMJ recommendations is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Proposed rules for recreational MJ in Canada due Wednesday

A Canadian task force will deliver a report Wednesday to the cabinet of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on which rules should govern the country’s proposed adult-use cannabis marketplace.

The report, by a nine-person group, is expected to address issues such as where marijuana will be sold, keeping profits away from organized crime and ensuring patients will continue to have access to medical cannabis, the Globe and Mail reported.

The government of Trudeau has said it will introduce legalization legislation in spring 2017 for recreational marijuana. Medicinal cannabis was legalized in Canada in 2001.

Task force chair

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Proposed rules for recreational MJ in Canada due Wednesday is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Chart: Medical marijuana patient numbers, dispensary sales steadily climbing in Illinois

By Eli McVey

Despite a slow start, Illinois’ medical marijuana program has been adding patients and increasing sales at a solid, consistent pace throughout 2016.

Licensing delays and a restrictive list of qualifying MMJ conditions had many industry insiders wondering if the state’s MMJ program was even viable. But the patient count this year through October has almost tripled, rising by more than 7,600 over the 10-month period to hit about 12,000.

Monthly sales via dispensaries have exceeded that growth rate, nearly quadrupling to hit more than $4 million in October compared with just over $1 million in

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Chart: Medical marijuana patient numbers, dispensary sales steadily climbing in Illinois is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Week in Review: Investor insight into MJ trade, Denver buzzkill & lawmaker confident in cannabis protections

By Bart Schaneman and John Schroyer

Investors get an inside look at the cannabis industry, Denver marijuana advocates bemoan a decision on public use, and a Republican congressman is hopeful a federal protection for the MJ industry will remain.

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

Lowdown for investors

To get an idea of how attractive the marijuana industry has become to mainstream investors, look no farther than Bloomberg.

The respected media and business data company held a panel discussion on the marijuana sectors on Monday at its midtown Manhattan

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Week in Review: Investor insight into MJ trade, Denver buzzkill & lawmaker confident in cannabis protections is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

ATF reinforces gun ban for marijuana users

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is clarifying its position on marijuana and reaffirming its stance against allowing MMJ patients and recreational users from owning own firearms.

The ban could mean millions of dollars in lost sales for medical marijuana dispensaries in particular if patients decline to renew their MMJ cards so they purchase a gun. The warning could put a chill on some rec sales, too.

Form 4473, the federal Firearms Transaction Record, includes an updated reminder that gun buyer applicants should be aware marijuana remains illegal at the federal

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ATF reinforces gun ban for marijuana users is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

New York state broadens its medical marijuana law

The New York Department of Health is modifying its medical marijuana regulations to make it easier for patients in the state to access their medicine.

Under the first change, nurse practitioners will be permitted to recommend medical marijuana to patients beginning Nov. 30, Buffalo TV station WKBW reported. Previously, only physicians were allowed to write the recommendations.

To be allowed to write the recommendations, nurse practitioners, like physicians, will need to successfully complete a four-hour online course sanctioned by the health department, “Medical Use of Marijuana.” The course costs $249.

Health officials are also considering an amendment that

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New York state broadens its medical marijuana law is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Thailand’s justice minister continues push to delist marijuana

Thailand’s Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya has reiterated his stance to reclassify marijuana from a narcotic drug to a medicinal herb.

The official says the government has failed to police marijuana, as well as stimulant kratom, so both plants should be treated as herbs, according to the Bangkok Post.

The justice minister has said that prohibition isn’t working and a number of raids have only pushed people to Malaysia to buy illegal marijuana and kratom plants. The latter has opiate- and stimulant-like qualities.

Under the law, neither plant can be produced, consumed, sold, imported, exported or possessed unless the health

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Thailand’s justice minister continues push to delist marijuana is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Trade groups are sprouting from cannabis industry

By John Schroyer

It wasn’t too many years ago that groups such as the Marijuana Policy Project, the Drug Policy Alliance and a few others were the only formally organized pro-cannabis associations in the United States.

But as the cannabis industry has spread, a variety of marijuana organizations, especially trade groups, have cropped up.

Many are reputable but some have more of  a self-interest at stake, meaning that cannabis entrepreneurs will want to perform some due diligence before joining.

The growth of trade groups has reached a point where even industry insiders don’t have a good idea how many

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Trade groups are sprouting from cannabis industry is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs