MMJ Business Daily

Unlicensed WA Dispensary Raided Following July 1 Deadline

Local law enforcement raided a Washington State medical cannabis dispensary after it continued serving customers and ignored a July 1 state deadline to obtain an official business permit.

The dispensary, Green Organics, is located in the Tacoma suburb of Parkland, near the Pierce County sheriff’s department.

“It is amazing that these people thought that they could flaunt the law right in front of our precinct. Now they know better,” a sheriff’s office spokesman told the News Tribune.

Green Organics could be the first of many such raids to come, given that local officials in Pierce County alone estimated

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Unlicensed WA Dispensary Raided Following July 1 Deadline is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Week in Review: MMJ Stare Down, Miracle Wager in Cannabis, Colorado’s Industry Unites

By John Schroyer and Omar Sacirbey

Two medical marijuana campaigns slug it out in Arkansas, Scotts Miracle-Gro wagers big on a different kind of grass, and Colorado cannabis business leaders unite to fight a potency cap.

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

MAD in Arkansas?

Come November, Arkansas voters may confront two competing – and vastly different – ballot measures to legalize medical cannabis. Both could fail as a result, thanks to a Cold War doctrine: mutually assured destruction, or MAD.

That scenario could be a first for the marijuana

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Week in Review: MMJ Stare Down, Miracle Wager in Cannabis, Colorado’s Industry Unites is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Arkansas Medical Marijuana Initiative Certified for Ballot

Another southern state may be joining the medical marijuana club this November, along with Louisiana.

Arkansans for Compassionate Care (ACC) announced in a press release Thursday the secretary of state had certified the group’s initiative to legalize medical cannabis. The measure will appear on the November ballot.

The campaign turned in 77,516 valid signatures of registered voters. It needed 67,887 to make the ballot.

Support for medical marijuana in the state is strong, with one of the latest polls putting it at at 58%. Other surveys have found even higher levels of support.

Four

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Arkansas Medical Marijuana Initiative Certified for Ballot is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Big Sales Predicted for Hawaii MMJ Dispensaries

Hawaii’s new medical marijuana dispensaries are expected to ring up $12.7 million to $38 million in sales during their first year of business, a report from the Hawaii Dispensary Association predicts.

By 2018, sales could surge to as much as $145 million, according to the association’s report.

The initial sales projections are based on a patient count of 14,074 MMJ patients, with each patient expected to spend $100 to $300 per month.

The association’s projections roughly correlate with those of the 2016 Marijuana Business Factbook, which predicts that Hawaii dispensary sales will range from $15 million to

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Big Sales Predicted for Hawaii MMJ Dispensaries is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Scotts Miracle-Gro CEO Bets On the Marijuana Business

The CEO of Scotts Miracle-Gro – a provider of lawn and garden products dating to the 19th century – wants to invest half a billion dollars in the marijuana industry,

“It’s the biggest thing I’ve seen in lawn and garden,” CEO Jim Hagedorn told Forbes. His plan: “Invest, like, half a billion dollars.”

Scotts Miracle-Gro sells grass seed, fertilizers, pesticides and dirt.

Hagedorn already has started wagering on the cannabis industry. Last year, he invested $135 million in two California businesses that sell fertilizer, soil and other gardening accessories to cannabis cultivators.

More recently he spent $120 million on a

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Scotts Miracle-Gro CEO Bets On the Marijuana Business is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Maryland’s Medical Cannabis Waiting Game Frustrates Entrepreneurs

By Omar Sacirbey

Maryland’s medical marijuana program – likely to become one of the largest on the East Coast – is moving forward in fits and starts and may undergo more changes before launching.

That’s thrown the actual start date into uncertainty, frustrating wannabe cannabis business owners anxious to win a license.

The slow start has boosted costs for some aspiring business owners, underscoring the risks entrepreneurs face in states where a medical cannabis program is slow to take off.

Paying Rent

In Maryland, for example, some business license applicants already are paying rents on buildings they thought would be generating

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Maryland’s Medical Cannabis Waiting Game Frustrates Entrepreneurs is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Dueling Denver MJ Ballot Measures Possible for November

Two competing initiatives may be on the November ballot in Denver, one to legalize private cannabis clubs and another to permit practically any business to set up a public marijuana “consumption area.”

The initiatives would have different impacts on the cannabis industry. The first would cede the business opportunities to potential club owners, while the second would be aimed at making cannabis use more widespread and socially acceptable.

The Denver NORML chapter supports the club initiative. The Marijuana Policy Project and the cannabis powerhouse law firm Vicente Sederberg support the second measure, the Denver Post reported.

Neither campaign shows

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Dueling Denver MJ Ballot Measures Possible for November is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Few Uruguay Pharmacies Interested in Selling Rec Cannabis

Relatively few pharmacies in Uruguay are interested in selling recreational marijuana, even though it will soon be legal for them to do so.

So far, only 50 of the country’s roughly 1,200 pharmacies have registered to begin selling recreational cannabis in the coming weeks, the Associated Press reported.

The reason? They don’t want to be robbed or run afoul of the country’s black market dealers. That’s on top of the additional pain of paperwork, higher business costs, and general customer opposition to cannabis.

“Besides the fear of robberies, enrolling in the system means a hike in costs and having

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Few Uruguay Pharmacies Interested in Selling Rec Cannabis is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Jamaica Mulls Airport Kiosks for Marijuana Use Licenses

The Jamaican government is considering installing kiosks at airport arrival halls and seaports for tourists to get a license to buy and consume up to two ounces of marijuana during their stay on the island.

The possible move is aimed at capitalizing on the nation’s cannabis and tourism industries. The kiosks would mainly be for medical marijuana users, The Gleaner newspaper of Jamaica reported.

They would represent a novel retail approach in a country that only recently started reforming its marijuana laws.

In April, Jamaica implemented new laws that allow tourists with MMJ cards to obtain health ministry permits that

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Jamaica Mulls Airport Kiosks for Marijuana Use Licenses is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Google Eyeing the Cannabis Industry?

By Omar Sacirbey

Is global technology giant Google the latest major U.S. corporation to kick the tires of the marijuana industry?

It could be. Signs suggest the Mountain View, California-based company is exploring the opportunity to work with cannabis businesses.

An executive with Colorado-based LivWell –  one of the largest marijuana retail chains in the country – recently disclosed Google’s interest in the industry at an event for Congressman Jared Polis, a longtime supporter of the cannabis sector.

LivWell CEO John Lord told the audience that Google recently contacted him to see how it could help serve

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Google Eyeing the Cannabis Industry? is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs