MMJ Business Daily

Hawaii Marijuana Activist Sues to Stop Dispensaries

A longtime cannabis activist in Hawaii has filed suit in U.S. District Court in an attempt to stop state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries from opening later this year.

The suit is the brainchild of activist Mike Ruggles, who also faces criminal charges for illegally selling cannabis through a now-defunct MMJ collective, West Hawaii Today reported. Ruggles’ suit argues that the dispensary system violates federal law, and should therefore be overturned.

He also takes issue with the state system because it phases out the current caregiver system – in which caregivers can grow medical cannabis – and eventually will require MMJ

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Hawaii Marijuana Activist Sues to Stop Dispensaries is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Group Asks DEA to Make It Easier to Grow Hemp

A group of entrepreneurs, a former United States Attorney, farmers, state legislators, scientists, and environmentalists have petitioned the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to change its definition of marijuana to make it easier to grow a wider variety of industrial hemp plants.

The current DEA definition of marijuana is too broad, and wrongly includes hemp, said Andy Kerr, one of the petition authors and a founding board member of the North American Industrial Hemp Council.

Specifically, the DEA prohibits cultivation of any plant belonging to the cannabis sativa family, which includes marijuana and hemp. The latter isn’t an intoxicant and so

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Group Asks DEA to Make It Easier to Grow Hemp is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Competing Medical Cannabis Measures in AR Could Fail

Two campaigns to legalize medical cannabis in Arkansas could wind up killing each other in November if both of them somehow qualify for the ballot.

“It will be enough to split the vote and both will fail,” one MMJ campaign manager told the Associated Press.

Arkansans have already rejected medical cannabis once before, in 2012, when 51% of voters shot down another statewide initiative.

This year, one proposed ballot measure – by Arkansans for Compassionate Care – needs 67,887 signatures by July 8. If successful, it would change state statute and legalize MMJ.

The second, supported by Little Rock

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Competing Medical Cannabis Measures in AR Could Fail is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Vermont MMJ Dispensaries Expecting Big Jump in Patient Counts

By Omar Sacirbey

Vermont’s small medical marijuana industry could see its patient count more than double after the state added chronic pain to the list of conditions treatable with MMJ.

Medical cannabis businesses in the state are now weighing how best to ramp up production to meet the increased demand.

In addition to chronic pain, a new law – signed by Gov. Peter Shumlin on June 6 – adds glaucoma as well as hospice care patients to the list of qualifying conditions for medical cannabis. The state has three MMJ license holders operating four dispensaries and four cultivation sites.

“We

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Vermont MMJ Dispensaries Expecting Big Jump in Patient Counts is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

RI Cannabis Oil Firm Strikes Research Partnership

Two Rhode Island companies – a cannabis oil manufacturer and a biotech farm – are collaborating on tests to see if cannabis oils can be used to treat respiratory diseases.

The collaborative effort teams Providence-based Nature’s Comfort Meds, the cannabis oil maker, with Beech Tree Labs, which is developing therapies to treat pulmonary disease, fibrosis, brain injuries and other illnesses, according to a press release from Nature’s Comfort Meds. Providence-based Beech Tree also produces an over-the-counter dietary supplement for respiratory health, Mucolyxir, which is in its earliest stages.

A Beech Tree spokesman said it’s too early to know if the partnership

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RI Cannabis Oil Firm Strikes Research Partnership is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Judge Forces Denver to Issue Rec Marijuana License

For perhaps the first time, a Colorado judge has ruled that a municipality erred in not granting a recreational marijuana business license to an entrepreneur.

According to Colorado Public Radio, Denver medical cannabis dispensary the Pig ‘N Whistle was granted a business permit to start selling adult-use marijuana only after a Denver district court judge sided with the owner, who had sued the city after being denied a recreational license.

The ruling could prove important for at least a half dozen other rec license applicants awaiting final approval from the city, CPR reported.

Initially, residents living near the the

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Judge Forces Denver to Issue Rec Marijuana License is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Bank Nixes Marijuana Firm’s Crowdfunding Hopes

Crowdfunding may not be the simple solution that cash-starved marijuana start-ups can turn to for funding.

In May, the Securities and Exchange Commission implemented new rules permitting small businesses to raise up to $1 million annually through crowdfunding.

The move was hailed in the cannabis sector as a major breakthrough that would help entrepreneurs raise capital from individuals at a time when many banks are leery of conducting business with marijuana companies.

But it may not be that easy. Just ask NextRX, a cannabis-related software firm that launched a fundraising campaign on May 16 through StartEngine Crowdfunding in

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Bank Nixes Marijuana Firm’s Crowdfunding Hopes is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Chart of the Week: Sales of Marijuana Concentrates, Edibles Surging in Colorado

By Marijuana Business Daily staff

Demand for cannabis concentrates and edibles is exploding in Colorado, offering a window into trends that will likely play out in the larger marijuana industry over time.

Retail sales of concentrates in the state’s medical and recreational markets surged 125% in the first quarter of this year from the same period in 2015, according to BDS Analytics, which provides cannabis industry data based on point-of-sale information it gathers from retailers.

Edibles sales, meanwhile, rocketed 53%.

Those gains far outpace the 11% rise in sales of marijuana flower, showing that demand trends in Colorado’s cannabis

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Chart of the Week: Sales of Marijuana Concentrates, Edibles Surging in Colorado is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

MI Lawmakers Again Fail to Legalize MMJ Dispensaries

Michigan medical marijuana dispensaries will continue to operate in a legal gray area for at least the rest of the summer, after state lawmakers left the capital for an extended recess without addressing the issue.

Lawmakers have repeatedly tried, but failed, for several years running to approve legislation that would formally legalize MMJ dispensaries. Lawmakers won’t return to the capital Lansing until September, MLive.com reported.

The state Senate had been scheduled to take up a package of bills to legalize dispensaries this past week. But Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhoff said the measures needed more tweaking.

The primary sponsor of the dispensary

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MI Lawmakers Again Fail to Legalize MMJ Dispensaries is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Canadian Medical Cannabis Producer Exports to Croatia

A Canadian medical marijuana producer is wagering on overseas markets, having received the green light from the nation’s health department to export products to Croatia.

The Eastern European nation legalized MMJ last October.

Tilray, which is owned by the canna-centric private equity firm Privateer in Seattle, hopes the venture is the first of many export deals as it hopes to capture a nascent international market – especially at a time when the Canadian market is stagnating.

The company previously announced that it would export cannabis products to Australia, and reportedly plans to announce other European partnerships in the coming months.

Tilray

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Canadian Medical Cannabis Producer Exports to Croatia is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs