MMJ Business Daily

PA Regulators Seek Input for Medical Cannabis Rules

Pennsylvania regulators want input from cannabis entrepreneurs on regulations that will govern the state’s new medical marijuana program.

The request gives hopeful industry entrants – and longtime veterans – a chance to shape what could be one of the biggest and most important markets in the northeast.

The draft regulations, which can be viewed at the state health department’s website, will be open for viewing and comment until Aug. 28, Pennlive.com reported.

The industry itself is not expected to launch until 2018. But the rulemaking and licensing process will take months and plenty of legislative hearings. Regulators will tackle everything

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PA Regulators Seek Input for Medical Cannabis Rules is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

No Clemency for Montana Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

A Montana judge has denied a last-ditch appeal to postpone the closure of medical marijuana dispensaries until after the November election, meaning the state’s dispensaries will either all shutter after Aug. 31 or risk the wrath of law enforcement.

District Judge James Reynolds ruled that a previous decision by the state Supreme Court – which upheld a 2011 law that Montana MMJ caregivers be limited to three patients apiece – should take effect as scheduled at the end of the month, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

The practical effect is that all of the state’s dispensaries will be out

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No Clemency for Montana Medical Marijuana Dispensaries is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Once High-Flying Barclays Banker Backs CA Cannabis Venture

A once high-flying banker at Britain’s Barclays Plc plans to use his financial savvy to capitalize on California’s marijuana industry.

Richard Jenkins, one of Barclays’ highest paid bankers, is behind a California investment fund that has bought real estate to set up a marijuana business in his adopted home of California, Bloomberg reported.

Californians will vote on an adult-use marijuana initiative this fall. If passed, it would create huge opportunities for marijuana entrepreneurs.

Jenkins, who left Barclays in 2009, is among several investors behind the project, according to Bloomberg, which cited sources who wanted to remain anonymous because Jenkins’ stake in the venture

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Once High-Flying Barclays Banker Backs CA Cannabis Venture is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

SD Tribal Consultants Enter Opposing Pleas in Narcotics Case

A pair of Colorado-based consultants who were contracted to help a South Dakota tribe start a marijuana resort on Native American land have entered opposing pleas in connection with state narcotics crimes.

The case highlights how tribal interests in marijuana have receded since a U.S. Department of Justice memo in late 2014 sparked a short-lived speculative rush that tribes nationwide could get the green light by the federal government to grow and sell cannabis.

The South Dakota tribe, the Flandreau Santee Sioux, represented the most ambitious of such plans after the Wilkinson Memo from the

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SD Tribal Consultants Enter Opposing Pleas in Narcotics Case is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Flood of Dispensary Applications in Arizona Signals Keen Market Interest

By John Schroyer
Arizona recently opened the door to a new wave of licensing for medical marijuana dispensaries, and got flooded with 750 applications for just 31 permits.
It is perhaps the largest ratio of applications to licenses in any market, and s…

Ohio Supreme Court Weighs MMJ Rule Change for Laywers

The Ohio Supreme Court signaled Wednesday it might rewrite its ethics rules to permit lawyers in the state to help medical marijuana businesses, a move that would no doubt be welcomed by MMJ entrepreneurs and attorneys.

Earlier this month, the state supreme court’s Board of Professional Conduct issued a non-binding but influential advisory opinion warning that lawyers who counsel cannabis-touching business clients would be violating federal law and thereby its rules of conduct.

Some observers feared attorneys would avoid counseling legitimate marijuana businesses, depriving them of legal representation.

On Wednesday, court officials directed staffers to draft an

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Ohio Supreme Court Weighs MMJ Rule Change for Laywers is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

AZ Rec Referendum Triggers Rush for Medical Marijuana Licenses

Arizona’s ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana has triggered a deluge of applications for a limited number of state medical marijuana licenses that will be awarded in October.

Some 750 applications were submitted for the 31 available licenses, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services, which oversees the medical-marijuana program, AZCentral.com reported.

The legalization measure qualified for the Nov. 8 ballot earlier this month.

Applicants have opted not to wait for the Nov. 8 vote but instead have rushed to get their paperwork in ahead of time. That’s because medical marijuana license holders would get first

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AZ Rec Referendum Triggers Rush for Medical Marijuana Licenses is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Lawyers Warned in Select States About Working With Medical Cannabis Firms

By Omar Sacirbey

Professional ethics boards in a few states – most recently New Mexico and Ohio – have warned local attorneys that helping medical marijuana businesses can be a violation of professional rules of conduct.

The non-binding opinions could make it tougher for MMJ businesses in those states to get legal representation.

The recent opinions caution lawyers that assisting a cannabis business can be tantamount to helping a client break federal law, given marijuana’s status as a Schedule 1 controlled substance.

While differing from opinions issued in most states, the warnings given in New

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Lawyers Warned in Select States About Working With Medical Cannabis Firms is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Four Cannabis Companies on Inc. 500 List

Four cannabis-related firms – including Marijuana Business Daily – have been named to Inc. magazine’s annual list of the 500 fastest-growing private companies in the nation, yet another indication of how legitimate the MJ trade has become.

The marijuana businesses on the Inc. 500 list, which appear alongside companies in mainstream industries, are involved in diverse areas of the cannabis sector:

• Seattle-based Leafly, which provides listings and reviews of cannabis retailers and strains, ranks No. 76, posting a 3,860.7% surge in revenues over the past three years.
• Johnston, Ohio-based Apeks Supercritical, which makes extraction equipment for marijuana companies, ranks No.

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Four Cannabis Companies on Inc. 500 List is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

MA Town Nixes Dispensary, Foregoing Big Revenue Steam

A Massachusetts town has rejected a deal with a medical cannabis dispensary, in essence turning down hundreds of thousands of dollars in future revenue under the proposed terms.

The move by the city council leaves the town of Springfield without a dispensary, MassLive.com reported, and arguably leaves intact a “pay to play” culture in Massachusetts’ medical marijuana industry.

Hampden Care Facility Inc. had agreed to pay $50,000 a year to the town’s police department, plus a percentage of its gross revenue. But the city council didn’t like that the dispensary wanted five years of exclusivity in

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MA Town Nixes Dispensary, Foregoing Big Revenue Steam is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs