MMJ Business Daily

Montana Dispensaries Close Doors in Response to New Curbs

Montana’s medical marijuana dispensaries closed their doors in response to new restrictions Wednesday limiting each storefront to just three patients, a move that forced them out of business, the Associated Press reported.

Now the dispensaries must look to voters for a new lease on life. Local residents will go to the polls in November and vote on an initiative backed by the Montana Cannabis Industry Association that aims to legalize the MMJ industry.

The restrictions took effect in response to a long-delayed 2011 state law that has now kicked in and allows MMJ providers just three customers each.

MMJ advocates

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Montana Dispensaries Close Doors in Response to New Curbs is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

SoCal Marijuana Grower Raises $6.5M for Cultivation Facility

Canndescent, a commercial marijuana grower in southern California, announced Wednesday it has closed a $6.5 million funding round to bolster its cultivation facility in Desert Hot Springs.

The raise was completed from more than 30 investors, according to a press release, and will go towards “working capital, marketing, and additional property, plant and equipment.” The facility will start cultivation operations on Sept. 29.

The Desert Hot Springs facility is the first in southern California to operate with a locally-issued business permit specifically for growing cannabis, the release claims, though the town has become a hotbed of marijuana business

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SoCal Marijuana Grower Raises $6.5M for Cultivation Facility is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Proposed Rules Would Permit Ohio Lawyers to Help MMJ Firms

Ohio’s Supreme Court Wednesday proposed rewriting its ethics rules to allow lawyers to help medical marijuana companies, a change that would be welcomed by local attorneys and cannabis entrepreneurs, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

The move comes after the state Supreme Court’s Board of Professional Conduct issued a non-binding but influential advisory opinion on Aug. 11, warning that lawyers who counsel cannabis-touching business clients would be violating federal law and therefore its rules of conduct.

The warning – and similar advisories in New Mexico and Connective – triggered concern among attorneys and cannabis entrepreneurs, given that

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Proposed Rules Would Permit Ohio Lawyers to Help MMJ Firms is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Tale of Two States: Pennsylvania, Ohio MMJ Programs Moving at Different Pace

By Omar Sacirbey

Pennsylvania and Ohio legalized medical marijuana within weeks of one another over the spring, but their programs are advancing at different speeds.

Officials in Pennsylvania unveiled wide-ranging draft regulations last week governing the state’s new MMJ program, while neighboring Ohio is still a long way from that milestone. 

Ohio’s government leaders must still establish an advisory board that will help pen regulations, and final rules for all licensed cannabis businesses might not materialize until early September of 2017.

Medical marijuana entrepreneurs in the state will remain in limbo until that point, while their peers in

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Tale of Two States: Pennsylvania, Ohio MMJ Programs Moving at Different Pace is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Oregon Issues First Licenses for Marijuana Testing Labs

Oregon cannabis regulators have licensed a pair of marijuana testing labs, the first such permits for what will be a centerpiece of the upcoming adult-use market.
The Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC), which is overseeing the new recreational mar…

New York Takes Steps to Expand State’s Medical Cannabis Program

New York’s health department said Tuesday it will expand the state’s medical marijuana program by creating a home delivery system and allowing nurse practitioners to certify patients for MMJ.

The department also is expected ultimately to increase the number of licensed MMJ businesses in a bid to pump new life into New York’s medical cannabis industry, which has been slow to ramp up.

In addition, Newsday reported that the health department said it will review the inclusion of chronic pain as a qualifying condition.

Such a move could open up the state’s MMJ program to many more patients. In

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New York Takes Steps to Expand State’s Medical Cannabis Program is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Rec in Arizona Could Lead to Fewer Medical Dispensaries

Legalization of adult-use cannabis in Arizona this fall could lead to fewer medical dispensary storefronts across the state, according to a report by the Phoenix New Times.

The main reason is simple. Medical cannabis cards in Arizona cost patients around $300 each year. And if a sizeable number of the roughly 100,000 MMJ patients decide it’s cheaper to occasionally purchase from a recreational shop, that could lead to a precipitous drop in business for dispensaries. Many could close their doors.

If Arizona voters approve the recreational ballot initiative, it’s also possible many current medical dispensaries will

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Rec in Arizona Could Lead to Fewer Medical Dispensaries is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Marijuana Lounge Initiative Fails to Make Denver Ballot

A movement to legalize cannabis clubs in Denver has failed to make the November ballot, but a second ballot initiative to allow marijuana use in some bars and other businesses could still be placed before voters.
The Denver chapter of NORML failed to m…

Revolving Door at Cannabis Programs Creates Uncertainty for MJ Entrepreneurs

By Omar Sacirbey

Turnover of key personnel at state marijuana agencies has become relatively common across the country, creating uncertainties for cannabis entrepreneurs already operating in an unpredictable environment.

Over the past two years, several top marijuana regulators in various states have departed – either voluntarily or because they were forced to step down.

In some cases, the moves have created delays in the licensing and approval process –  leaving MJ business owners who are plotting their spending plans in the lurch.

At the very least, such turnover leads to question marks about how the program will be

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Revolving Door at Cannabis Programs Creates Uncertainty for MJ Entrepreneurs is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Medical Marijuana Unlikely to Make Oklahoma Ballot

Despite having passed the 65,987-signature threshold to secure a spot on the November ballot, it appears that medical cannabis won’t appear before Oklahoma voters this fall owing to a dispute over how the attorney general reworded the ballot initiative’s title.

The Associated Press reported that Oklahomans for Health, the group behind the proposed ballot measure, didn’t turn their signatures in with enough time to spare so that such legal disputes could be resolved before the Nov. 8 election. The group submitted its signatures on Aug. 11, and was one of the last statewide pro-cannabis campaigns

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Medical Marijuana Unlikely to Make Oklahoma Ballot is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs