MMJ Business Daily

Crowdfunding Now Viable Financing Option for Cannabis Companies

By Omar Sacirbey

New federal rules allowing small businesses to tap ordinary folks will give upstart marijuana companies a sorely needed alternative to traditional sources of financing such as angel investors and venture capitalists.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s new rules tied to so-called crowdfunding could create a tidal wave of fresh financing in the cannabis industry. 

The new rules, which took effect Monday, permit individuals to put $2,000 or more per year – the allowable amount is based on annual income and net worth – into a small company in exchange for a stake in the business.

Companies can now

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Crowdfunding Now Viable Financing Option for Cannabis Companies is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Nasdaq Shoots Down MassRoots for Stock Listing

Denver-based MassRoots, the popular social network for cannabis enthusiasts, failed again to secure a public listing on the Nasdaq, a setback for marijuana companies hoping to trade on a major U.S. stock market.

MassRoots said in a press release the Nasdaq linked its decision to the argument that the company, as a pro-marijuana business, could be considered as aiding and abetting the distribution of a federally illegal substance.

“With this decision, the Nasdaq has set a dangerous precedent that will prevent nearly every company in the regulated cannabis industry from listing on a national exchange,” MassRoots CEO Isaac Dietrich said in the

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Nasdaq Shoots Down MassRoots for Stock Listing is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Michigan Appeals Court Deals Blow to Cannabis Dispensaries

Dispensaries in Michigan may be on their last legs after a state court of appeals effectively ruled that medical marijuana patients only can get their medicine by growing it themselves or from registered caregivers who are allowed to assist up to five patients.

The decision comes after two men who were charged with distributing medical marijuana appealed the plea deals they had reached,  local broadcaster WOOD TV reported.

Michigan’s voter-approved medical cannabis law doesn’t say anything about dispensaries.  So up until now different counties in Michigan have treated dispensaries in different ways.

In some counties, police have

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Michigan Appeals Court Deals Blow to Cannabis Dispensaries is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Nebraska MMJ Legalization Supporters Abandon Petition Drive

Advocates of legalizing medical marijuana in Nebraska have abandoned a petition drive to put the measure on the November ballot, saying they lacked time and money.

The petition effort surfaced after a bill legalizing medical cannabis failed in the legislature  in April. Now advocates of MMJ legalization will have to wait at least a year – or perhaps another three years – for any new law, the Lincoln Star Journal reported.

The legalization bill faced opposition from Nebraska Gov. Gov. Ricketts and Attorney General Doug Peterson.

It would have allowed MMJ in pill, oil or liquid form. The number of

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Nebraska MMJ Legalization Supporters Abandon Petition Drive is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Chart of the Week: Illinois’ Medical Marijuana Market Gaining Steam

By Marijuana Business Daily staff

After a relatively slow start, the medical marijuana industry in Illinois is finally seeing some sizable growth – both in retail sales and patient counts.

Monthly medical cannabis sales via dispensaries have ballooned by 83% since January, reaching $2.2 million in April alone.

The state’s MMJ industry is now on pace to rack up roughly $25 million in sales this year, putting it right in the middle of the $20 million-$30 million estimate in the 2016 Marijuana Business Factbook.

The final tally, however, could be closer to $35 million if the trend of roughly 20%

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Chart of the Week: Illinois’ Medical Marijuana Market Gaining Steam is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

U.S. House Paves Way for Veterans to Get Easier MMJ Access

The medical marijuana market moved towards a significant expansion and greater legitimacy after the U.S. House of Representatives voted to allow Department of Veterans Affairs doctors to recommend medical marijuana to veterans in states where it’s legal.

The 233-189 vote overturns an Obama administration gag order from a year ago that prohibited VA doctors in states with legalized marijuana from recommending it. A similar proposal narrowly failed last year, 213-210, Bloomberg News reported.

Senate lawmakers have included similar language in their version of an annual spending bill covering veterans health programs.

The House medical marijuana amendment is part

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U.S. House Paves Way for Veterans to Get Easier MMJ Access is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Week in Review: Maryland Medical Marijuana Downshift, Toronto Crackdown & MA Logjam

By Omar Sacirbey and John Schroyer

Maryland’s fledgling medical marijuana program downshifts, Toronto dispensaries brace for a crackdown, and a licensing bottleneck in Massachusetts throws the state’s MMJ program into disarray.

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

First Gear in Maryland

A spokesman for the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission said the state’s MMJ program won’t be “fully up and running” until the middle of 2017.

State officials initially planned to have the program – by far the largest on the East Coast – serving patients by the second

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Week in Review: Maryland Medical Marijuana Downshift, Toronto Crackdown & MA Logjam is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Louisiana Governor Signs Landmark Medical Marijuana Bill

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards signed a landmark bill to create a viable medical marijuana program, paving the way for MMJ to be available to patients for the first time in Louisiana history.

The move also puts Louisiana squarely on track to be the first state in the South to implement a workable medical cannabis program – and the 25th state in the nation to do so.

The opportunities for cannabis entrepreneurs appear limited, however.  One marijuana grower would be allowed to operate – and that’s only if two Louisiana universities skip the opportunity to grow medical cannabis.

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Louisiana Governor Signs Landmark Medical Marijuana Bill is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Feds Raid Montana Medical Cannabis Dispensary

Federal agents raided one of Montana’s largest medical marijuana dispensaries, sending shockwaves through the state’s already withering MMJ industry.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents were seen Wednesday carrying items from the Four Corners location of Montana Buds, a dispensary chain with eight stores in the state, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported. Four Corners is located west of Bozeman.

A DEA agent at the scene told Cannabis Now magazine the six agents involved in the raid were conducting a federal investigation. At least one woman was handcuffed at the scene.

The raid comes after Montana’s Supreme Court ruled last month that

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Feds Raid Montana Medical Cannabis Dispensary is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Prominent California Marijuana Testing Firm Expands

One of the nation’s first marijuana testing companies, Steep Hill, is opening a quality-assurance lab in the upcoming medical cannabis state of Maryland, marking the California company’s expansion to the East Coast.

The move is yet another example of a marijuana company looking outside its home borders for business and licensing opportunities.

Steep Hill said in a news release it has licensed its name and technology to a group of physicians that plans to open a lab in Baltimore, called Steep Hill Maryland.

Steep Hill also has has testing labs in California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Washington

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Prominent California Marijuana Testing Firm Expands is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs