MMJ Business Daily

New IRS Audits in Colorado Worry Cannabis Companies

By John Schroyer

The Internal Revenue Service has begun probing the large cash transactions of dozens of Colorado marijuana companies, sparking uncertainty and unease among cannabis entrepreneurs.

The audits – focusing on Form 8300 – have raised the specter of money laundering charges. But legal experts are divided over whether such fears are overblown.

“It’s not necessarily something that a marijuana business has to freak out about. All cash-intensive industries are subject to Form 8300 filing requirements,” Colorado attorney Rachel Gillette, who has already settled multiple Form 8300 audits, said.

Others aren’t so sanguine, including one business owner who

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New IRS Audits in Colorado Worry Cannabis Companies is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Second Poll Finds AZ Rec Initiative in Trouble

A second poll has found an Arizona recreational marijuana ballot measure getting a thumbs down from voters.
The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which filed petitions on June 30 to get a spot on the November ballot, is supported by only 39%…

ND: Medical Campaign Submits Signatures, Rec Falls Short

One campaign in North Dakota to legalize medical marijuana on Monday reportedly handed in well over the necessary number of signatures to place an initiative on the November ballot, while a group in the state trying to legalize recreational cannabis ad…

Portland MMJ Dispensary Faces Unprecedented Fraud Investigation

Oregon officials are investigating the owner of an Oregon medical marijuana dispensary and a California consulting firm she used, exploring the possibility that investors in the MMJ business were defrauded.

Trisha Siler, CEO of the Cannacea dispensary which was opened last fall in Portland, denies any wrongdoing, and instead blames  a former contract consultant at Green Rush Consulting in Oakland for the misdeeds, according to the Oregonian.

A key component in the case is a fake 2014 letter purportedly from Oregon state regulators to Siler, informing her that she had been awarded seven dispensary licenses. Siler used the letter

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Portland MMJ Dispensary Faces Unprecedented Fraud Investigation is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Democrats Endorse Cannabis Legalization Pathway

After hours of wrangling, the Democratic Party on Saturday endorsed a “reasoned pathway to future legalization” of marijuana as part of its convention platform, and called for MJ to be downgraded from Schedule 1 on the federal government’s list of controlled substances.

Codifying support for the legalization of recreational marijuana is an important step that starkly distinguishes the Democrats from rival Republicans in terms of cannabis policy. Prior to Saturday’s meeting, the two parties and their presumptive White House candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, had few significant marijuana policy differences to speak of.

Clinton

Democrats Endorse Cannabis Legalization Pathway is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

CA City Sells Prison to Cannabis Extraction Company

The central California city of Coalinga has taken the unusual step of selling its former prison for $4.1 million to a cannabis company that will convert it into a medical marijuana oil extraction plant.
The prison, which has sat unused for several year…

Chart of the Week: Number of Concentrates Product Lines Ballooning in Washington State

By Eli McVey

A surge in the number of concentrates product lines in Washington State’s recreational marijuana market attests to the growth in popularity of alternative consumption methods and highly potent cannabis, a trend seen across the industry at large.

According to retailer point-of-sale information provided by Headset, a Seattle-based cannabis industry data provider, the number of distinct concentrates product lines in Washington’s recreational market currently stands at 175, up from just 59 at this same time last year.

Month-to-month growth in the number of concentrates lines has been uneven, but over the past year the state is seeing

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Chart of the Week: Number of Concentrates Product Lines Ballooning in Washington State is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

AK Agency Passes On-Site MJ Consumption Amendment

Alaska’s Marijuana Control Board on Thursday approved an amendment to the state’s draft regulations governing on-site cannabis consumption that would permit customers to take a doggy bag home with any unused product they didn’t consume at retail MJ shops.

Alaska is expected to have the first on-site marijuana consumption program in the nation.

The amendment would permit consumers to buy cannabis at licensed on-site cannabis retailers, and then leave the store with any leftover marijuana products as long as they’re resealed in a package, Alaska’s newsminer.com reported.

“My desire is to see a space where people can purchase products and consume

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AK Agency Passes On-Site MJ Consumption Amendment is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Colorado Marijuana Potency Cap Backers Cancel Campaign

Supporters of a proposed ballot measure to cap cannabis product potency at 16% THC abruptly halted their campaign on Friday, saying they didn’t have the financial resources to beat the marijuana industry.

“We simply couldn’t go toe-to-toe with the marijuana moguls,” Ali Pruitt, one of the two primary proponents of Amendment 139, said in a press release. “The marijuana industry built a wall of money between us and the November ballot that we simply couldn’t break through.”

Colorado’s cannabis industry recently formed a coalition called the Colorado Health Research Council, which had raised over $300,000 to fight Amendment 139.

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Colorado Marijuana Potency Cap Backers Cancel Campaign is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Ohio Proposes Cashless System for Medical Cannabis Businesses

Could Ohio have a solution to the marijuana industry’s cash-only problem?

The state’s new medical marijuana law proposes a closed-loop payment processing system that would rely on something similar to pre-paid debit or gift cards, according to Cleveland.com.

Legal marijuana companies have had to rely on cash-only transactions because banks, credit unions and credit card companies are reluctant to do business with them, given the uncertain federal regulatory environment.

Ohio’s Commerce Department is responsible for setting up the program’s payment system, but officials there haven’t made a decision about the plan, a Commerce Department spokeswoman told

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Ohio Proposes Cashless System for Medical Cannabis Businesses is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs