MMJ Business Daily

Nevada Alcohol Industry Backs Cannabis Legalization

Alcohol vendors are major players in Nevada, both politically and economically. And now they’re throwing their weight behind the cannabis movement, likely because they see the potential for big profits if efforts to legalize recreational cannabis in the state succeed.

Alcohol firms have contributed $87,500 to the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, the primary group behind the legalization campaign, according to the Las Vegas Sun. That represents a sizable portion of the $663,500 the campaign has raised in total thus far.

The liquor industry has a vested interest in seeing the measure pass. The initiative as written

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Nevada Alcohol Industry Backs Cannabis Legalization is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

State Legislators Tell Feds to Keep Hands Off Marijuana Policy

State legislators said federal laws should be amended to allow states the power to create their own marijuana policies.

A resolution passed by the National Conference of State Legislatures told the federal government “to explicitly allow states to set their own marijuana and hemp policies without federal interference.”

The group said it recognizes that its members have differing views on marijuana legalization, but that each state should be allowed to decide its own cannabis laws rather than have them dictated by the federal government.

The resolution passed with a majority of votes from lawmakers at the

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State Legislators Tell Feds to Keep Hands Off Marijuana Policy is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Chart of the Week: Many Medical Marijuana States Posting Big Gains in Patient Counts

By Becky Olson

Patient numbers have jumped significantly since early 2014 in most states with medical marijuana laws, showing the potential for growth in new MMJ programs and the continued expansion of more mature markets.

Every state that requires residents to register for medical cannabis cards posted an increase in patient numbers over the past 12-18 months, with many reporting spikes of 50% or more, according to the latest data in each market.

Washington DC led the way with a 20-fold increase as the number of patients rose from 165 early in 2014 to nearly 4,000 now, followed by New

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Chart of the Week: Many Medical Marijuana States Posting Big Gains in Patient Counts is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Maryland County Welcomes Potential MMJ Cultivator

Marijuana companies are finding open arms in some areas where they’d least expect.

Take rural Maryland, for example.

In one county where conservative politics rule, officials are looking at cannabis cultivation to create jobs and bring much-needed economic development, according to the Washington Post.

Green Thumb Industries, a Chicago-based company, pitched a plan to build an MMJ production facility in rural Washington County, Maryland, should it win a cultivation license from the state.

County commissioners, all Republicans, passed a resolution supporting the plan with a 5-0 vote. Many of the county’s workers commute an hour-and-a-half to Washington

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Maryland County Welcomes Potential MMJ Cultivator is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Tennessee Inspecting Hemp Farms

Tennessee regulators are working their way through the state’s 53 hemp farms, checking on sizes, acreage and other aspects of the sites to ensure that all cultivators are staying within the rules.

Most farmers began planting earlier this summer, after the state legalized hemp cultivation in January. The farm inspections, part of the oversight process from the state Department of Agriculture, only began recently because of a delay in getting farmers the hemp seeds they needed to sow their fields.

The crops are slated to be used in textile production, according to a Tennessee TV

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Tennessee Inspecting Hemp Farms is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Week in Review: Cannabis Bank in CA? + Tight Deadline in NY & Sales Confusion in WA

By John Schroyer

California officials propose a state-run bank for marijuana companies, New York license winners face a tough deadline, and Washington State’s sales figures spur confusion.

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

Don’t Bank on It

A proposal in front of the California Tax Board to create a state-run bank for cannabis companies is well-intended but probably won’t get very far, said one prominent marijuana attorney.

“If I were a betting man, I’d probably put my hopes more into federal legislation that’s pending in Congress that

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Week in Review: Cannabis Bank in CA? + Tight Deadline in NY & Sales Confusion in WA is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Oregon MJ Growers Told to Quit Using Pesticides

Cannabis growers in Oregon have a new business hurdle: The state doesn’t want them using illegal pesticides, which leaves cultivators with very few options to fight off pests.

While the Oregon Department of Agriculture is working on a list of pesticides that will be approved for use on marijuana, the new policy statement from the agency means that essentially all regular pesticides are now prohibited from being used on cannabis, according to the Oregonian.

“It is important to note, pesticide applications that do not follow the pesticide product label pose risks to public health and safety and are

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Oregon MJ Growers Told to Quit Using Pesticides is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Wildfires Could Drive Up California MMJ Prices

California wildfires that have destroyed 43 homes are cutting into the amount of cannabis available to Bay Area dispensaries, potentially increasing prices for marijuana that’s grown outdoors.

Harborside Health Center’s purchasing manager, Timothy Anderson, said about a fourth of the dispensary’s cannabis comes from cultivation facilities near Clear Lake, where a fire has burned almost 70,000 acres, according to NBC News. He said he doesn’t remember a time when fires affected growers this much, the news station reported.

The company won’t buy any marijuana that smells like wildfire as it could pose health hazards, Anderson said. The

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Wildfires Could Drive Up California MMJ Prices is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

New DEA Chief Revises Statement on Cannabis vs. Heroin

The new head of the Drug Enforcement Administration made waves in cannabis circles last week when he said marijuana is “probably” not as bad as heroin, indicating that there might be some doubt about the issue.

This week, however, DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg clarified his position, saying unequivocally that “heroin is clearly more dangerous than marijuana.”

Rosenberg, who was installed after former DEA chief Michele Leonhart resigned in May, said that he should have cleared up his stance last week when discussing cannabis, the Huffington Post reported. He added that he believes marijuana is

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New DEA Chief Revises Statement on Cannabis vs. Heroin is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Another Company Looks to Deliver MMJ Via Drones

Here’s a novel business concept: ferry medical marijuana straight to patients using drones instead of humans driving cars, thereby reducing delivery times, increasing reliability and possibly lowering long-term costs.

A medical cannabis delivery service in San Francisco recently announced that it hopes to do just that, following in the footsteps of another company – Eaze – that  floated the idea last year.

Trees Delivery intends to use drones to drop medical cannabis to patients in the San Francisco area and allow customers to pay using Bitcoin. The company said that remotely piloted aircraft are

Another Company Looks to Deliver MMJ Via Drones is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs