MMJ Business Daily

Second Arizona MJ Legalization Initiative Floated

Although stakeholders in Arizona’s marijuana industry had hoped to unify behind a single legalization ballot measure for this November, it looks like the mainstream establishment will have at least one competitor. The question is whether or not the new grassroots campaign will have enough resources to make the ballot, according to the Phoenix New Times.

While the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which is supported by the Marijuana Policy Project, would legalize roughly about 150 rec shops in the state, newcomer campaign Arizonans for Mindful Regulation is pushing a measure to allow for upwards of 1,500 storefronts.

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Second Arizona MJ Legalization Initiative Floated is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Cannabis Mini-Mall Planned for Southern Colorado

A pair of Arkansas real estate developers are planning to open the “World’s First Pot Mini-Mall” in Trinidad, Colorado, just 12 miles north of the New Mexico border.

The duo plan to capitalize on cannabis tourism that draws thousands of tourists to Colorado each year from neighboring states, and the position just over the border is deliberate, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican. The idea, even though Trinidad already has eight recreational marijuana shops, is to have five new rec storefronts side by side under one roof.

“It would be silly to ignore the fact that we’re

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Cannabis Mini-Mall Planned for Southern Colorado is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Chart of the Week: Percentage of Wholesale Cannabis Cultivators Growing Organically

By Marijuana Business Daily staff

An increasing number of commercial marijuana growers are adopting organic cultivation methods as scrutiny over the industry’s use of pesticides increases and consumers clamor for “clean” cannabis.

Nearly 60% of wholesale marijuana cultivators claim all of their cannabis is grown organically, according to a survey conducted for the 2016 Marijuana Business Factbook.

Another 17% use chemical-free methods on at least half of their cannabis.

On the other end of the scale, only about 20% of wholesale cultivators currently don’t offer any organically grown marijuana.

Medical marijuana patients and recreational consumers are increasingly

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Chart of the Week: Percentage of Wholesale Cannabis Cultivators Growing Organically is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Branding Firm Acquires Major California MMJ Delivery Service

Aquarius Cannabis, a branding firm in Woodland Hills, California, announced on Thursday that it will acquire SpeedWeed, one of the state’s biggest medical marijuana delivery services.

SpeedWeed was founded in 2011 by three siblings and now has 25,000 medical marijuana customers in the Los Angeles area, and it generated more than $2.5M in revenue in 2015, according to a press release.  SpeedWeed has 45 employees, including 30 drivers.

Aquarius CEO Davis Lawyer said the firm had plans to expand SpeedWeed to other markets across the state.

SpeedWeed co-founder and CEO, AJ Gentile, will become Vice Chairman of the

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Branding Firm Acquires Major California MMJ Delivery Service is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

MA Business Group Comes Out Against Legalization

Massachusetts’ largest employer trade group has come out against marijuana legalization, joining a growing list of influential organizations and individuals that are opposing an attempt to pass adult-use cannabis in the state.

The expanding anti-legalization coalition underscores that success at the ballot box is by no means guaranteed, even though overall support for marijuana legalization in the country is growing.

Associated Industries of Massachusetts announced this week that 62% of its members oppose the marijuana legalization measure, while 32% said they would vote in favor of it.

Earlier this month, the group’s president, Richard Lord, wrote a letter

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MA Business Group Comes Out Against Legalization is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Oregon Limits Rec and Medical Edible Doses

On Thursday afternoon, Oregon health officials went ahead with a new limitation on cannabis edibles: those produced for recreational consumers will be limited to five milligrams for a single dose and 50 milligrams for an entire package, and medical edibles will be limited to 100 milligrams per package.

Although the Oregon Health Authority will continue to hold hearings on the matter, the edibles rules are already scheduled to go into effect Oct. 1, according to the Oregonian.

The move was spurred, as it was also in Colorado and Washington State, by concern over edibles’ appeal to children, as

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Oregon Limits Rec and Medical Edible Doses is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Week in Review: Oregon MJ Boost, Support for Vermont Rec Bill & New York Blues

By Omar Sacirbey and John Schroyer

Oregon dispensaries get some great news, Vermont’s governor throws his weight behind a recreational marijuana bill, and New York’s fledgling MMJ program continues to struggle.

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

More Relief in Oregon

Medical dispensaries in Oregon are rejoicing this week, as they should be.

On Tuesday, the state’s governor signed into law a bill that, among other things, will allow existing medical retailers to begin selling edibles and concentrates to recreational customers before Oregon’s adult-use system is fully

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Week in Review: Oregon MJ Boost, Support for Vermont Rec Bill & New York Blues is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Ohio Medical Cannabis Campaign Cleared for Petition Circulation

The Marijuana Policy Project’s Ohio campaign to legalize medical cannabis has been cleared for signature gathering by the state ballot board.

Now, the real work begins: The campaign must gather at least 305,591 valid signatures of registered voters from across the state by July 6 to make the 2016 November ballot.

MPP spokesman Mason Tvert said the organization plans to rely on both volunteers and paid signature gatherers in order to make the ballot.

If MPP can get the measure on the ballot, it likely stands a decent chance of passing, as repeated polls in the state have found over

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Ohio Medical Cannabis Campaign Cleared for Petition Circulation is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Congressmen Want Protection for MJ Advertising

Advertising for legal marijuana companies may become a bit easier in the near future, if a handful of members of Congress have their way.

Eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives have signed a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, to ask that the Department of Justice enact a policy of not prosecuting publications that run state-legal cannabis advertisements, according to the North Coast Journal.

“We therefore request that DOJ offer guidance to clearly establish… that DOJ will not prosecute individuals who are placing advertisements for marijuana products in accordance with state law,” the letter reads.

The letter

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Congressmen Want Protection for MJ Advertising is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

NAACP Official: Marijuana Industry Lacks Minority Owners

The head of the San Francisco NAACP has publicly backed a black female dispensary license applicant in the city, saying laws that essentially exclude minorities from leadership positions in the cannabis industry need to change.

“I enthusiastically endorse Ms. Tikisha Ong and urge you to support her efforts to bring much-needed African American community representation to the city’s medical cannabis industry,” the NAACP’s Rev. Amos Brown wrote in a letter to city councilors earlier this month, according to San Francisco Weekly.

Brown wrote that blacks have been disproportionately affected by anti-drug laws, adding that African Americans are often not

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NAACP Official: Marijuana Industry Lacks Minority Owners is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs