MMJ Business Daily

Illinois Medical Marijuana Sales Start Strong

The first eight medical marijuana dispensaries to open in Illinois sold nearly $211,000 worth of cannabis combined during their first few days of sales.

The state’s medical marijuana program director said the dispensaries served 806 customers who bought some 460 ounces of marijuana, or about a half an ounce per person on average, from Nov. 9 through Nov. 13,  according to the Associated Press.

 This suggests that the average price per ounce was about $450. Illinois monitors sales through a statewide digital tracking system.

With less than a quarter of eligible patients registered, industry observers are encouraged by the

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Illinois Medical Marijuana Sales Start Strong is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Chart of the Week: Momentum Building for Marijuana Legalization Via Ballot Measures

By Becky Olson and John Schroyer

Marijuana legalization measures are appearing in front of voters at the highest level in history, with more initiatives to legalize medical or recreational cannabis making state ballots in the past five years than in the entire previous decade.

Since 2010, 14 state-level legalization measures have been put before voters, including five tied to recreational marijuana (one of them in Washington DC). Seven of those measures were approved by voters.

That compares to the 12 marijuana-related legalization measures that made state ballots – five of which passed – from 2000 to 2009, according to an

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Chart of the Week: Momentum Building for Marijuana Legalization Via Ballot Measures is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

First Native American Cannabis Business Opens

Another milestone in the cannabis industry came to pass last week when the first Native American marijuana shop opened in Washington State.

Elevation, a new recreational cannabis shop owned and operated by the Squaxin Island Tribe, opened on the tribe’s reservation, which is located roughly two hours southwest of Seattle and just north of the state capital, Olympia.

The shop opened after the tribe cemented a deal with the Washington State government. Under the agreement, the tribe will collect a tax equivalent to what is also charged by non-tribal rec shops across the state.

A second Washington tribe,

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First Native American Cannabis Business Opens is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Colombia to Legalize Medical Cannabis

Another one bites the dust.

Colombia will soon become the latest nation to legalize medical marijuana at the federal level, according to multiple press reports. President Juan Manuel Santos is set to issue an executive decree to both legalize MMJ and set up a groundbreaking national “export license” to ship cannabis products to other countries where it’s legal, such as Canada, Uruguay, and the Netherlands, the International Business Times reported.

Santos, however, made it very clear that the nation is only legalizing marijuana for medical and scientific purposes, and that observers should not construe the decree

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Colombia to Legalize Medical Cannabis is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

CO Governor Orders Pesticide-Tainted MJ Destroyed

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper on Thursday called marijuana grown with unapproved pesticides a threat to public safety and ordered it removed from commerce and destroyed.

In an executive order, Hickenlooper said state agencies should consider any off-label use of a pesticide “a threat to public safety,” and should be quarantined and destroyed.

Hickenlooper’s order is more severe than quarantines and recalls of pesticide-contaminated cannabis previously mandated by Denver health officials, which allowed marijuana products back into circulation once tests confirmed pesticide residues were beneath limits allowed on other consumable crops. Hickenlooper’s order seems to proscribe even traces of

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CO Governor Orders Pesticide-Tainted MJ Destroyed is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Week in Review: Big MD Application Numbers, Dixie Expands Down Under & New Possible MMJ States

By John Schroyer

Maryland reveals its official medical cannabis application tally, a Colorado infused products company announces a landmark international expansion deal, and a pair of conservative states may be poised to legalize medical cannabis in 2016.

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

Massive Movement in Maryland

Maryland’s medical cannabis commission announced Thursday that it received an eye-popping 882 MMJ license applications by the Nov. 6 deadline. The state will eventually issue up to 94 licenses for dispensaries, 15 for growers (which will be allowed to have a single dispensary

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Week in Review: Big MD Application Numbers, Dixie Expands Down Under & New Possible MMJ States is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Robotanical Wins Investor Pitch Slam Contest

Robotanical, which manufactures automated vaporizer cartridge refill machines that produce virtually zero waste, took home the trophy and bragging rights in the Investor Pitch Slam competition at the Marijuana Business Conference and Expo on Thursday.

Robotanical and four other cannabis companies – Annabis, Boutique Nursery Barn, California’s Kindest and MacLou – were chosen to compete from an applicant pool of 55 U.S. cannabis companies. After their pitches, cannabis entrepreneurs received follow up questions and constructive feedback from four judges: Leslie Bocskor of Electrum Parnters, Al Foreman of Tuatara Capital, Patrick Rea of CanopyBoulder and Lindy Snider of LindiSkin.

The judges

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Robotanical Wins Investor Pitch Slam Contest is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

New York Expedites Access As First Crop Is Harvested

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed two bills on Wednesday to establish an “emergency” medical marijuana program for qualified patients, separate Compassionate Care Act set to roll out in January, the New York Times reported.

Despite Coumo’s announcement, there was uncertainty about who would provide medical cannabis under the emergency program. Cuomo’s statement indicated the New York program would be “giving preference” to cultivators in other states that could provide medical marijuana “in a more expeditious manner.”

The emergency program also requires the Health Department to register more organizations for producing medical cannabis “as soon as practicable,” and

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New York Expedites Access As First Crop Is Harvested is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Mexican President Opposes Legalization, Senator Introduces MMJ Bill

Less than a week after the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that marijuana consumption and possession is a personal right, the nation’s president has voiced his opposition to full legalization.

Concurrently, a senator in the president’s party introduced a bill to open the door to medical cannabis.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said Monday that he stands against legalizing adult use cannabis, but that he’s open to a discussion on the topic, according to the Huffington Post. His statements were followed on Tuesday by Mexican Senator Cristina Diaz Salazar introducing a measure to allow the

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Mexican President Opposes Legalization, Senator Introduces MMJ Bill is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Nader Offers Words of Encouragement and Warning to Conference-Goers

By John Schroyer

Longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader delivered both some tough love and an encouraging pat on the back to cannabis industry members during his keynote address at the 2015 Marijuana Business Conference and Expo on Thursday.

In a wide-ranging speech that covered everything from the uses of industrial hemp to how marijuana legalization could affect other arenas of political reform, Nader called cannabis legalization a “massive gift” to the public but also warned against industry corruption.

“Proper regulation is the best aspirin you could ever have, other than marijuana,” Nader said, to a

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Nader Offers Words of Encouragement and Warning to Conference-Goers is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs