Statuses

Oakland Bliss lays framework for the psychedelic market with consistent lab testing, tracking batch and lot numbers, and a compassionate program for veterans.

Oakland Bliss, a psychedelic company based in Oakland, is leading the way in setting standards for the emerging market. The company has consistently lab tested their products, implemented batch and lot tracking numbers, and is the first psychedelic product to have a Universal Product Code (UPC). The company’s commitment to harm reduction has been widely praised, and it has set the bar for others in the industry. “Our focus on harm reduction is at the core of our mission,” said… Read more.

Marijuana Developments Around The World: Fines, Legalization And Medical Advances

As the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Miami is coming on April 11-12, where prominent CEOs, investors, advocates, leaders, and politicians will come together, let's examine the most recent changes in global regulations related to the cannabis industry. A Czech Journalist Fined For Publishing Cannabis Magazine, But People Need To Be Educated About Weed The Czech Court of Appeals has determined that the publication of a cannabis magazine is considered unlawful under the charge of "spreading of toxicomania," per Prague Morning. The court… Read more.

Medical marijuana sales in Arkansas reach $22.4 million in February

Medical marijuana patients in Arkansas spent $23.1 million on cannabis products in January and $22.4 million in February for a total of $45.5 million over the two-month period. Sales for the first two months of 2023 combined increased by $4 million over the same period in the previous year, according to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA), implying year-over-year growth of about 9.6%. More than 92,000 active medical marijuana patients are registered with the Arkansas Department of Health,… Read more.

During Big 12 tournaments in Kansas City, fans making a fast break to area marijuana dispensaries

Since the sale of marijuana became legal in Missouri, Fridays have been busy at Kansas City marijuana's dispensaries. On this Friday, among the customers were basketball fans from out of town. "We saw some Iowa State gear," said Sam Morrison, manager of From the Earth. "We saw, you know, some West Virginia stuff. And then all of a sudden, we saw those wide eyes come through the door." Missouri is the only state in Big 12 country with legal recreation marijuana and fans are… Read more.

First-of-its-kind medical marijuana lounge opens in Maryland

This past Saturday, March 3, Maryland's first-ever cannabis lounge opened for business in Burtonsville. Advertised as a safe space to consume cannabis and pass the time, the Ceylon House, located at 4009 Sandy Spring Road, was created in concept by owners Venushki “Venus” Hemachandra and Shreemal Perera. Inspired by the tea houses in Sri Lanka, officials claim on the website that Ceylon House is an inclusive space for cannabis enthusiasts.  Open daily from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m., anyone 21 and… Read more.

Hawaii One Step Closer To Ending Pot Prohibition: Senate Advances Legalization & 2 Psychedelics Bills

Hawaii Senate voted Tuesday in favor (22-3) of SB 669, a cannabis legalization bill sponsored by state senate Democrats Stanley Chang, Jarrett Keohokalole, Angus McKelvey and Joy San Buenaventura. The legislation will now proceed to the House for consideration and possible amendments. “For years, advocates have been working to pass legislation to sensibly legalize cannabis in Hawaii. Now that this bill has advanced out of the Senate, Hawaii is one step closer to becoming the next state to end cannabis prohibition,” said Hawaii resident DeVaughn Ward, senior… Read more.

A Seat on the Titanic? – California Cannabis Sales Dropped in 2022 for the First Time Ever Since Legalization

California, an industry bellwether for the marijuana industry, is seeing signs of contraction For the first time since the state's adult-use market opened five years ago, annual sales for marijuana in California fell in 2022. While Colorado and Oregon dispensaries are now bearing the brunt of the 2022 correction, Nevada and Washington retailers are also on track to report double-digit declines in terms of percent decreases to their sales totals this year after pandemic peaks equated to record growth across much of… Read more.

Cannabis News Around The World: Banking Solutions For Malta Weed Clubs, Netherlands’ Pot Sales Experiment, MMJ Decriminalization In Philippines, And More

Malta Government Helps Nonprofit Cannabis Clubs Access Banking Services A new measure in Malta will allow cannabis users to buy their weed at nonprofit cannabis clubs. The Minister for Reform Rebecca Buttigieg, and the Authority for Responsible Consumption of Cannabis Leonid McKay, highlighted it was the first legal framework of its kind in Europe and noted it was a "pioneering" legal measure, while those seeking to apply for a license could do it through Malta's Authority for the Responsible Use of Cannabis (ARUC), starting on Feb. 28. According to Malta… Read more.

SXSW 2023 will have conference tracks dedicated to cannabis and psychedelics

The conference portion of the festival is divided into 25 tracks, ranging from civic engagement and climate change to food and, yes, weed and mushrooms. South by Southwest 2023 (SXSW) is right around the corner. And this year, those who attend the Conference portion of the festival have the option to learn in-depth about a controversial topic: drugs. To make navigating the festival easier, SXSW has divided the conference portion into 25 tracks that each include a variety of sessions, including keynote and featured speakers.… Read more.

Marijuana is still illegal in Indiana, and we’re losing millions to our neighbors.

Indiana’s elected leaders have the opportunity to create a new industry that will bring in hundreds of millions of dollars for our economy, tying together two of our most important and well-established economic sectors: manufacturing and agriculture, which happen to lie at the heart of the cannabis industry.  Now is the time for the state to act and legalize a regulated cannabis market. Like it or not, cannabis is here to stay, with 37 states now allowing the use of medical cannabis… Read more.

‘Amsterdam of the West?’: City not budging on pot lounge regulations

A week before a possible vote on rules for upcoming cannabis consumption lounges, the city of Las Vegas had not budged on a proposed 1,000-foot separation requirement between such establishments, a regulation applicants say could hamper turning the downtown area into the “Amsterdam of the West.” And while prospective license holders could apply for a waiver, their businesses could not afford to “gamble” with the uncertainty of leasing a location and then having their waiver denied, proponents told Seth Floyd,… Read more.

Bipartisan Governors Discuss Marijuana Legalization And Push Congress For Federal Banking Fix

Governors from states of diverse political backgrounds are calling on Congress to get the job done on marijuana banking and discussing reform developments in their respective states. As part of a Politico event series this month, the governors of Illinois, Minnesota and North Dakota recently sat down for one-on-one interviews and each took questions about cannabis policy at the state and federal levels. While the top state officials might share differing perspectives on the best strategy for marijuana reform, one… Read more.

Schumer Meets With GOP Senators To Discuss Marijuana Legislation For New Congress

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) held a second meeting on marijuana legislation for the new Congress on Tuesday—and this time, he convened a group of GOP senators to discuss next steps for crafting a passable bill, Senate sources tell Marijuana Moment. The first meeting took place at the beginning of the month with Democratic colleagues. Now the majority leader has brought Republican members into the fold, including Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK). The purpose of… Read more.

N.J. will allow more legal weed companies to grow cannabis to boost slowly growing market

With New Jersey’s legal marijuana market off to a slow start, state officials announced Wednesday they would eliminate the cap on the number of companies allowed to grow weed and make $10 million in grants available to people opening a cannabis business who have been convicted of marijuana offenses or come from poor communities. The state Cannabis Regulatory Commission agreed to let lapse the 37-license limit on cultivators, a rule that would have expired later this month. New Jersey is nowhere near that… Read more.

The psychedelic industrial complex is evil

“More real than reality itself.” This is the sales pitch made by fans of dimethyltryptamine. Otherwise known as DMT, the compound found in ayahuasca returned to the spotlight recently thanks to Prince Harry’s description of his trips, which, he says, “cleared the windshield” of trauma from his mother’s death. Indeed, psychedelic drugs have shown some promise in treating disorders ranging from depression to PTSD; their proponents have suggested that the apparently mystical experiences they inspire could play a role in everything from preventing war to enabling a future of… Read more.

5 Cannabis Laws to Watch in 2023

As we closed out 2022, we saw the federal government pass its first standalone cannabis law, the Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act, with more possible federal reform on the horizon. On the state level, the industry has seen an ever-increasing push for additional medical and/or adult-use legalization as well. Against this backdrop, the following focuses on five cannabis laws to watch in 2023. 1. The SAFE Banking Act What is it? The Safe and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act would… Read more.

Dad with Multiple Sclerosis Stops Taking 75 Pills a Day by Switching to Cannabis

Can cannabis help you drop 75 prescription pills a day? The beauty of medicinal cannabis has always been in the testimonies of patients who have benefited from medicinal cannabis over conventional drugs. This is the story of a man that was initially paralyzed with multiple sclerosis (MS) and was once highly dependent on drugs for maintenance. After being paralyzed for a period, he became a medical cannabis sensation as he replaced 75 pills with cannabis and is now actively back on his… Read more.

Efforts to Make Legal Cannabis Industry Equitable Are Falling Flat

More than a dozen states have created programs to give minorities who were disproportionately affected by the war on drugs a chance to participate in their legalized cannabis industries.  So far, those efforts haven’t worked.  Black and Latino entrepreneurs seeking to capitalize on the new market have been tripped up by steep application fees, lawsuits and state programs that have favored entrenched players. Even when minority businesses do obtain a prized license to sell or grow marijuana, they face a paralyzing problem: little or no access… Read more.

Conservative Religious Groups are Banding Together to Fight Cannabis Legalization

If there's one thing the commonest religions in the world agree on, it is that recreational cannabis is a sin. According to a Pew Research Center survey done last year, people who identify as religious are less likely to support legalizing marijuana than atheists and agnostics. The center polled religious populations to find out what they think about cannabis legalization. For this research, the main religions observed were the Christians and the Islamists, and the study focused mainly on North… Read more.

Biden’s cannabis pardons didn’t free a single federal prisoner or deliver the expungement he promised

Edwin Rubis has served more than two decades of a 40-year federal prison sentence for participating in a marijuana distribution operation. Taking into account “good time” credit, he is not scheduled to be released until August 2032. Rubis is one of about 3,000 federal prisoners whose cannabis-related sentences were unaffected by President Joe Biden’s mass pardon for low-level marijuana offenders. A protest at the White House today called attention to their predicament. Biden’s October 6 proclamation applied only to U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents convicted of simple… Read more.

The Natural Medicine Act – Will Colorado Join Oregon in Legalizing Psilocybin and Magic Mushrooms Next Month?

Next month, voters in Colorado will decide whether to legalize psilocybin and psilocin, the hallucinogenic compounds found in what are generally known as magic mushrooms. The Natural Medicine Act, also known as Proposition 122, would make it legal to own and grow magic mushrooms. The plan calls for authorized healing centers to be able to provide psilocybin and psilocin for medicinal purposes. According to the non-profit organizations backing the initiative,  natural psychedelic medications are non-addictive. They can offer significant benefits to people… Read more.

Engineering Psychedelics: $22M Pool For Clinical Trials Of Compounds Targeting CNS Disorders

NYC and Cambridge-based Empyrean Neuroscience Inc. is a new genetic engineering company developing neuroactive compounds for neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders launching with a $22 million Series A financing. The company’s CEO is long-time biotech executive Dr. Usman “Oz” Azam, joined by Dr. Fred Grossman as chief medical officer. Azam has previously worked on genetic engineering with Dr. Carl June of the University of Pennsylvania, while Grossman is a psychiatrist that holds expertise in CNS-targeted small molecules development. Both leadmen say the goal is to target the demand gap within… Read more.

Poll Finds 60% Support for Minnesota’s Edibles Legalization

According to a MinnPost/Embold Research poll, 60% of Minnesotans support the recently-passed law allowing up to 5 milligrams of hemp-derived THC in food and beverage products. The poll found that 21% opposed the legalization of any “edibles that get people high.”  Another 7% of respondents said state lawmakers were “correct to legalize the sale of edibles derived from hemp, but not edibles derived from marijuana.”   The edible legalization reforms were backed by 60% of women; 59% of men; 71% of respondents aged 18-… Read more.

Colorado cannabis sales slide further in August, hitting only $150 million

Total cannabis sales in Colorado reached only $150.4 million in August, a 2.2% decline from the previous month. It’s the eighth monthly report from the Colorado Department of Revenue this year showing that marijuana sales in the state have either remained flat or decreased from the previous month, according to The Denver Gazette. According to the Colorado Marijuana Sales Report: Medical marijuana sales reached $18.9 million in August, a nearly 3.3% increase from July.Recreational cannabis sales dropped 2.9% from July, to $131.5 million.Total sales… Read more.

Pennsylvania Launches $200,000 Grant Program To Support Hemp Marketing And Consumer Awareness

Pennsylvania officials announced on Monday that they will be providing up to $200,000 in matched funding for marketing projects to promote the state’s hemp market. The state Department of Agriculture said that non-profit organizations that take on marketing initiatives to increase hemp sales, exports or consumer awareness of the sector of the cannabis industry are eligible for the reimbursement funds. “Hemp has presented a unique opportunity to grow an industry from the ground up, supplying seemingly limitless sustainable construction materials,… Read more.

Russian-American Curaleaf Founder Boris Jordan Discusses Putin on Podcast

Curaleaf founder Boris Jordan was born in New York to Russian parents. He's a former supporter of Russian president Vladimir Putin. In a revealing interview on Ethan Nadelmann's Psychoactive podcast, Jordan says Putin will never legalize cannabis. "It's going to be difficult for two reasons," Jordan explains. "Under Putin I don't see it happening because he is anti-alcohol and anti any drugs. The man is a health freak. He is never going to allow it." Jordan points to a Russian cannabis… Read more.

VJ Scientific Unveils New X-Ray Cannabis Decontamination Machine

X-ray technology company VJ Group announced on Wednesday that it has launched VJ Scientific, a new cannabis division that will provide product decontamination equipment to the regulated marijuana industry. The company also revealed the new enterprise’s initial product offering, which it characterized as “a revolutionary non-thermal, non-chemical cannabis decontamination machine.” Dubbed the CX-1000, the new cannabis decontamination solution will be debuted next month at MJBizCon in Las Vegas. Commercial cannabis cultivation carries the risk of contamination from an array of… Read more.

Ex-county official to plead guilty in cannabis bribe scheme

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — A former county official in Southern California will admit he funneled bribes through his company to a city councilman in exchange for the councilman’s votes and influence in the city’s cannabis permitting process, federal prosecutors said. Gabriel Chavez, a former San Bernardino County planning commissioner, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of bribery, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The politician who solicited the bribes – former Baldwin Park City Councilmember Ricardo Pacheco –… Read more.

Kamala Harris: ‘Nobody Should Have to Go to Jail for Smoking Weed’

Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday urged both Congress and state governments to follow the Biden administration’s lead and decriminalize marijuana. Harris’ comments, made during an interview on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” came less than a week after President Joe Biden issued pardons to individuals who have previously been convicted of a cannabis-related offense under federal law. “Let me just start with saying this. I strongly believe, and the majority of Americans agree, nobody should have to go to… Read more.

SIBLINGS SENTENCED IN PLOT TO BRIBE CALIFORNIA SHERIFF IN MARIJUANA GROW CASE

A brother-and-sister team convicted of trying to bribe a Northern California sheriff to protect family marijuana grows were sentenced Tuesday in Sacramento, but there were stark differences in the punishment each received. Gaosheng Laitinen, 41, a small shop owner in Minnesota and the mother of a 7-year-old boy, was sentenced to time served and a $50,000 fine. “I regret everything,” said Laitinen, who has been out of custody since shortly after her August 2017 arrest and offered a tearful apology… Read more.

California’s illicit marijuana market thrives as much of the state continues to restrict sales

In 2016, Californians voted to legalize recreational adult-use marijuana. Proponents of Proposition 64, including then-Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, argued that it would generate massive revenue, while decreasing illicit cannabis and drug cartel activity in the state. Now, nearly six years later, it’s clear that promise has not been kept. While the state has collected billions in tax revenue from cannabis sales since legalization went into effect in 2018, billions more continue to pour into a thriving illicit market. A new… Read more.

Strong retail demand in Vermont on first day of recreational marijuana sales

Long lines, strong demand and a celebratory atmosphere marked the first day of recreational marijuana sales in Vermont. Mountain Girl Cannabis in Rutland, Flora Cannabis in Middlebury and Ceres Collaborative in South Burlington – the state’s first dispensaries to transition from medical to adult-use sales – all shared similar stories of success, enthusiasm, as well as a bit of exhaustion, after a historic day for Vermont and industry advocates everywhere. “Spirits were great and people were just excited to be… Read more.

More Than 3,500 Pennsylvanians Apply For Marijuana Pardons Under Governor’s Expedited Relief Program

More than 3,500 people applied for pardons for past cannabis convictions as part of a one-month Pennsylvania initiative spearheaded by the governor and lieutenant governor, a top state pardons official told Marijuana Moment on Wednesday. A final push from lawmakers and advocates drove about 1,000 applications in the final day of the program alone as last week’s deadline approached. The application window for the expedited relief program, which was facilitated by the state Board of Pardons (BOP), closed on midnight on… Read more.