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Law Atrocious and Horrible Cannabis News

What a bunch of assholes. So, they are saying that because they haven't done the proper research (even though Epidiolex is approved...right?), it must be considered dangerous....but of course we will not allow research cause its MJ.

FFS

Cannabis stocks rocked as FDA warning undermines case for CBD investments

Cannabis stocks were slammed anew on Tuesday, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued new guidance on CBD that included a stark warning that it can cause liver injury and other damage to the human body.


The warning is the latest blow to the embattled sector where many companies have developed strategies and plans for the cannabis ingredient, which was viewed by Canadian licensed players as a potential pathway into the much bigger U.S. market.


“Not so fast,” wrote MKM analyst Bill Kirk. “The FDA’s statement includes some balloon-bursting language.”


The move comes after a period of heavy selling across the cannabis sector amid disappointment at the slow rollout of legalization in Canada and the U.S. Both markets are competing with a still powerful black market and companies are struggling to grow revenue and reach profitability. Many are now cutting back, canceling previously agreed deals and conserving cash, while analysts have scaled back estimates and revised models.


The FDA said late Monday it is cracking down on 15 privately held companies for illegally selling products containing CBD. Since the passage of last year’s farm bill, CBD, a cannabis compound that is viewed as non-intoxicating, has existed in a sort of regulatory limbo. Because the FDA has approved a drug that contains the ingredient – GW Pharmaceutical’s GWPH, -0.33% Epidiolex, a treatment for severe forms of childhood epilepsy – it told companies that they could not add it to food or drink or make health claims for its use in topicals.


The regulator said it would work to create a framework to allow companies that were hoping to launch CBD-based products bring those to market, but cautioned that given its status as a drug, it might require clinical trials.


On Monday, it used its strongest language yet on the substance.


“CBD has the potential to harm you, and harm can happen even before you become aware of it,” it said in updated guidance. The lack of scientific evidence about CBD means the regulator cannot conclude that it is “generally recognized as safe among qualified experts for use in human and animal food.”


It warned that a lack of research means it is not known how it affects people who use it daily for extended periods, how it interacts with other drugs and substances in the body or how it affects the brains of children and old people. The FDA said cumulative exposure is another concern, meaning it is unclear how it affects people who eat it, use CBD-infused skin creams and take other CBD-based products in a single day.


“The FDA continues to believe the drug approval process represents the best way to ensure that safe and effective new medicines, including any drugs derived from cannabis, are available to patients in need of appropriate medical therapy,” said the guidance. “The agency is committed to supporting the development of new drugs, including cannabis and cannabis-derived drugs, through the investigational new drug and drug approval process.


Rob DiPisa, co-chair of the Cannabis Law Group at law firm Cole Schotz, said the news is a big setback for cannabis companies on both sides of the border.


“A lot of those who saw the U.S. CBD market as a huge opportunity to be marketed and consumed by the masses must now fears that this is an indication it won’t be as widespread as once thought,” he said.


U.S.-listed stocks of the Canadian companies that have explored entry to the U.S. via a CBD acquisition or venture fell Tuesday. Cronos CRON, +0.89% , CRON, -1.96% which recently closed the $300 million acquisition of Lord Jones, was down 3%. Cronos declined a request for comment.


Aurora Cannabis ACB, +2.93% , ACB, -3.60% which has a deal with UFC to develop CBD topicals, was down about 5%.


Tilray TLRY, +1.35% , which paid C$419 million in cash and stock to acquire Manitoba Harvest in February with the aim of producing a line of hemp and CBD-based foods and drinks, was down 2%. Canopy Growth, which has invested in hemp assets in New York state with the intention of creating CBD products, was down 2%.


Tilray said it welcomed the FDA’s latest guidance. “We believe more data and research is needed to inform this guidance and regulation accurately,” spokeswoman Kristina Adamski said. “Ultimately, a regulated and legal market is the safest for consumers and in the best interest of the nascent cannabis and hemp industry.”


“While U.S. CBD revenue is small or non-existent for most the companies, these acquisitions and strategic visions were/are the stepping stones to building a U.S. infrastructure ahead of better cannabis permissibility,” MKM analyst Bill Kirk wrote Tuesday. “We expect the companies to downplay CBD food/beverage importance to their strategies, while also legally challenging the FDA’s evolving stance. “


Among U.S. companies, Charlotte’s Web CWBHF, -4.51% , CWEB, -2.08% which specializes in CBD products, was down more than 6%. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Curaleaf CURLF, -1.31% , CURA, -1.26% which received an FDA warnings letter over its CBD health claims in July, was down 6%.


“We’ve argued for a while that some near-term industry estimates for CBD are too high given the unclear regulatory outlook & this will likely be a catalyst for re-basing,” Jefferies analyst Owen Bennett wrote in a note. “Longer term, we see significant potential but do not expect material contribution to coverage names from U.S. CBD in the next 12 months.”





In other news, Green Organic Dutchman shares TGOD, -17.98% TGOD, -17.98% slid 19%, after it announced that it has raised C$22 million in a bought deal carried out by a syndicate led by Canaccord Genuity. Proceeds of the deal, which it describes as “less dilutive than the previously announced convertible note term sheet,” will be used to fund construction of a processing facility.


Cresco Labs stock CL, +0.52% CRLBF, +0.70% fell 2% after the Chicago-based company became the latest to terminate a deal, this time the acquisition of VidaCann Ltd. announced in March that would have cost it $120 million.


Cresco Labs said the decision was made to conserve cash as it works to accelerate top and bottom-line growth. The company has also signed an agreement for a sale-and-leaseback of two properties in Ohio and Michigan that will allow it to raise $38 million in non-dilutive financing.


“The team and operations at VidaCann are phenomenal, but with a focus on managing our cost of capital, and insuring the most efficient and highest return on invested capital, the ability to deploy resources to other, existing, Cresco markets that are widely considered some of the top markets in the U.S., like Illinois, Pennsylvania, California and Nevada, has to take priority,” Chief Executive and co-Founder Charlie Bachtell said in a statement.


Joining a growing number of weed companies laying off staff — including Hexo Corp. HEXO, +1.97% , HEXO, -8.87% CannTrust Holdings Inc. CTST, -1.80% , TRST, -6.67% Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc., among others — Harvest One Cannabis Inc. HRVOF, -8.00% reported Tuesday before the opening bell that it was laying off 20% of its staff. In a statement, Harvest One CEO Grant Froese said that the company has been impacted by “provincial and regulatory challenges,” specifically pointing to the slow rollout of retail locations in Ontario and British Columbia.


The ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF MJ, -1.74% was down 2.1% and the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETF HMMJ, -2.27% was down 3%.


The S&P 500 SPX, +0.22% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.20% were up about 0.1%.
 
Calling it knee-jerk is probably the mildest thing I can think of.


Canopy Growth slams Apple for ‘knee-jerk’ App Store ban

Apple’s sweeping ban on vaping-related mobile apps is a “knee-jerk” response to health concerns over e-cigarettes, according to pot giant Canopy Growth. (WEED.TO)(CGC) The producer said the decision affects devices for medical cannabis patients and denies users access to safety controls that prevent use by children.

Last month, Apple (AAPL) removed 181 mobile applications related to vaping from its App Store. Software purged by Apple allows users to control lighting, temperature, locks and games on their vape device from their iPhone via bluetooth.

The smartphone-maker cited commentary from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the American Heart Association on lung injuries and fatalities from e-cigarette and vaping products. Vaping-related apps downloaded prior to the ban continue to function, and can be transferred to new devices.

Canopy Growth unveiled its cannabis vape pens and cartridges at a launch event in Toronto last week. Like other cannabis and nicotine vape devices currently on the market, Canopy’s offerings come with an app-based passcode lock to disable the device, and location and temperature controls. Those features will be available on an Android app when the products are released mid-December.

Chief technology officer Peter Popplewell led the two-year development of Canopy’s new vape portfolio. He’s also the managing director of Storz & Bickel, the German medical device manufacturer known for its high-end dry herb vaporizers that Canopy Growth acquired for $220 million last year. The Storz & Bickel app was among the software removed from the app store in November.

Canopy Growth unveiled its line of cannabis vape products at an event in Toronto on Nov. 28, 2019. (Provided)

View photos
Canopy Growth unveiled its line of cannabis vape products at an event in Toronto on Nov. 28, 2019. (Provided)
“It’s unfortunate that Apple made the decision to cast a very broad net and take down all vaporizer-related apps,” Popplewell told Yahoo Finance Canada in an interview. “It’s a bit of a knee-jerk reaction that really stems from the unregulated space that is in the U.S. right now.”

U.S. health officials have reported 47 deaths linked to vape usage, and more than 2,000 cases of vaping-related lung illness. Canadian health authorities have confirmed four cases of severe lung illness related to vaping, and have identified seven “probable” cases.

Popplewell said he continues to have a dialogue with Apple about being shut out of the App Store, and sees the ban as a temporary set back. Smartphone apps are important, he said, because they save manufacturers from adding bulky buttons and screens to devices as they add more safety features and functions.

“Right now, Apple isn’t taking the time to identify the apps that offer safety features. If I’m Apple, that shouldn’t sit well,” he said.

Apple spokesperson Elliot Chun declined to answer questions about the company’s decision to ban apps for cannabis vaporizers. He referred Yahoo Finance Canada to a section of the App Store Review Guidelines pertaining to “physical harm.”

“Apps that encourage consumption of tobacco and vape products, illegal drugs, or excessive amounts of alcohol are not permitted on the App Store,” the section reads in part.

Canopy Growth's latest vape products will connect to an Android app. (Provided)

View photos
Canopy Growth's latest vape products will connect to an Android app. (Provided)
The term “vape” has been broadly applied to regulated and unregulated products spanning nicotine liquids and cannabis extracts, as well as devices that simply use heat to vaporize the active ingredients in dried cannabis flower.

Both cannabis and nicotine liquid vape pens have been linked to illnesses. While no direct cause has been identified, U.S. health authorities have said vitamin E acetate, an additive used in THC oil, may be behind the rash health problems. A Health Canada spokesperson confirmed last month that vitamin E acetate is not allowed in Canadian cannabis vaping products.


Still, the timing couldn’t be worse for Canadian licenced producers as they roll out their Health Canada-approved vape products set to go on sale later this month.
Executives at Canopy Growth, Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO)(ACB), HEXO (HEXO.TO)(HEXO) and Aphria (APHA.TO)(APHA) have each spoken out about the safety of their products versus black market alternatives.
“There are strong regulations to ensure safety and proper checks and balances,” Canopy Growth president Rade Kovacevic told Yahoo Finance Canada. “Our strong view is that we have gone above and beyond the regulations.”
Canopy Growth's Tokyo Smoke vape products on display at an event in Toronto on Nov. 28, 2019. (Provided)

View photos
Canopy Growth's Tokyo Smoke vape products on display at an event in Toronto on Nov. 28, 2019. (Provided)
“What you are really seeing is people who are using vitamin E acetate, because it's used as a stabilizer in other edible products. They are in an unlicensed market in the U.S., where there are no regulations and no oversight. They are doing what they thought was good for food, and putting it into a vaporizer and inhaling it into their lungs, and learning the hard way that that's not the same thing as eating it,” Popplewell said.

“Storz & Bickel makes medical devices approved by Health Canada. They use them in hospitals. Yet the Storz & Bickel app, because it was deemed a vaporizer, was painted with the same brush,” he added. “I think common sense will prevail, and our commitment to technology will win out in the end.”
 
The only thing that's evolved is his cynical calculations on what it will take to win the Dem primary. That's what's frakin evolved.

I would have more respect for this man if he held to his convictions...even if they were anti-MJ. At least he would be genuine. But this cynical shift for votes I find contempible and right in line with Cuomo forever dissing MJ until Cynthia Nixon put her foot in his ass during the NY Dem primary.

If he will blow with the wind on this, on what will he not?

Just saying...and this is not partisan....this seems to me to be a leading characteristic of our entire professional political class these days, no matter party affiliation.


Michael Bloomberg Backs Decriminalization As Marijuana Views Evolve Amid Presidential Run

The Democratic presidential candidate that’s arguably been the most hostile to marijuana law reform now supports decriminalizing cannabis possession.


Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (D), who launched a late bid for the Democratic nomination last month, has faced criticism over dismissive remarks he’s made about marijuana legalization—calling it “perhaps the stupidest thing anybody has ever done” earlier this year—as well as the record-high cannabis arrest rate in the city during his time in office.


Now it appears he’s hoping to distance himself from that anti-cannabis image, with the Wall Street Journal reporting on Wednesday that a forthcoming criminal justice reform plan will include and endorsement of simple decriminalization and that he backs states’ rights to end prohibition without federal intervention, though details are sparse.


“He believes no one should have their life ruined by getting arrested for possession, and, as a part of his reform efforts that drove incarceration down by 40 percent, he worked to get New York State laws changed to end low-level possession arrests,” a spokesman told the Journal. “He believes in decriminalization and doesn’t believe the federal government should interfere with states that have already legalized.”


In 2011, Bloomberg opposed a New York state bill that sought to treat low-level possession with a court summons and fine rather than jail time, but two years later came out in support of legislation to reduce criminal penalties for the offense and called for changes in the way law enforcement handles such cases.


Even if the candidate’s new plan does contain proposals to decriminalize marijuana possession or allow states to set their own policies, Bloomberg would still be several paces behind the majority of Democratic candidates, almost all of whom back comprehensive legalization and removing cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act with a focus on ensuring that the legal industry is socially equitable.


He has company in former Vice President Joe Biden, another presidential candidate, however. Biden has faced scrutiny over his role in advancing punitive anti-drug laws during his time in the Senate and, while he’s evolved on the issue to voice support for decriminalization, medical cannabis and modest federal rescheduling, he’s also declined to back adult-use legalization.


Both candidates have also made recent remarks about marijuana that have raised eyebrows. Before walking back the statement last week, Biden said days earlier that he doesn’t support broad reform partly because cannabis could be a gateway to more dangerous drugs. Bloomberg said at the beginning of this year that legalization is “perhaps the stupidest thing anybody has ever done” and “doesn’t make any sense at all.”


While both candidates are just getting around to embracing marijuana decriminalization, other candidates who back legalization are pushing for decriminalization of all drugs. That includes South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), while former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro said he is open to considering the broad policy shift.
 
“You think about that -- we don’t enforce marijuana laws anymore, we are basically hands off on the enforcement of marijuana,” he continued. “Here we have a student, murdered … and we have a common denominator of marijuana.”


FFS.....oh yes, that's indeed why this girl was murdered....lack of MJ enforcement. Is this guy a cretin or what?


Family of Virginia native slain in New York City condemns police official's claim she was looking for weed


NEW YORK CITY - The family of murdered college student Tessa Majors is speaking out Monday against claims from a New York City police union boss that she was looking to buy marijuana around the time of her death, calling them “deeply inappropriate” and “irresponsible”.

Majors, an 18-year-old Virginia native who was in her freshman year at Barnard College, was found stabbed to death Wednesday inside Manhattan’s Morningside Park. Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins on Sunday suggested that Majors was in the park because she was looking for marijuana – and his union is now engaged in a war of words with Mayor Bill de Blasio over those claims.

“The remarks by Sergeants Benevolent Association president Ed Mullins we find deeply inappropriate, as they intentionally or unintentionally direct blame onto Tess, a young woman, for her own murder,” her family said in a statement Monday. “We would ask Mr. Mullins not to engage in such irresponsible public speculation, just as the NYPD asked our family not to comment as it conducts the investigation.”

Police have arrested a suspect in connection with a Virginia native who was stabbed to death in NYC
A 13-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with the stabbing death of a Virginia native attending college in New York City.

Police have released few details surrounding the circumstances of the Charlottesville native's stabbing, but have arrested and charged a 13-year-old boy with second-degree murder, first and second-degree robbery and criminal possession of a weapon.

The uproar began Sunday when Mullins appeared on ‘The Cats Roundtable with John Catsimatidis’ radio program and spoke about Majors, whom he described as a “young girl with a bright future, from a good family.”


“We have an 18-year-old college student at one of the most prestigious universities in the country is murdered in a park,” Mullins said. “And what I’m understanding is she was in the park to buy marijuana.

“You think about that -- we don’t enforce marijuana laws anymore, we are basically hands off on the enforcement of marijuana,” he continued. “Here we have a student, murdered … and we have a common denominator of marijuana.”

De Blasio blasted the comments later Sunday.

“Think of Tessa’s parents, her friends. This is heartless. It’s infuriating,” he wrote on Twitter. “We don’t shame victims in this city.


The Sergeants Benevolent Association then pushed back against the Democrat’s criticism, posting on its Twitter account that “heartless is you allowing lawlessness to run the city of NY.

“You’ve weaken the NYPD. This young lady should still be alive. Tell the TRUTH Bill. Tell New Yorkers what really happens in the streets of NYC. This girl was an innocent victim. YOU have created chaos! Tell the truth!” it said.

On Monday morning, the Sergeants Benevolent Association took another dig at De Blasio, claiming that “NYC is becoming a cesspool thanks to the Mayor.”

“Shame on DeBlasio,” it tweeted.

Majors’ family, in their statement, said it is “interested in knowing what exactly happened to Tess and who committed her murder.”

“We believe, for the immediate safety of the community and the surrounding schools, that should be everyone’s top priority and we are grateful to the men and women of the NYPD for all of their efforts,” the statement read.

“Our family would like to thank the thousands of strangers who have taken the time to console us, share in our grief, and let us know we are not alone during this terrible time,” it added. “Tess would not have been surprised by this beautiful reminder of our shared humanity.”
 
I want to be very clear...Fuck Face Book. Fuck Face Book's weird autistic founder. Fuck IG.

For vapes and for arms (not fucking "weapons", Zuckerberg, you *#&^$&)#!)

Of course, its not loss to them or I as I have never logged into that giant waste of time and never will.

Cheers


Instagram, Facebook to Ban Brands From Promoting Vaping, Gun Posts

Vape influencers, take note in the new year. On Wednesday it was announced that Facebook and Instagram will start removing posts that promote vaping, tobacco, or weapons “in the coming weeks,” according to an IG spokesperson.

The platforms a history of banning such content. Facebook has long held the policy that advertisements for vaping, tobacco, and weapons were unacceptable on the platform. There was a workaround, however; individual users (users without business pages) could hype such products, and businesses could promote the posts, vastly expanding their audience.

No longer. The Instagram rep that made Wednesday’s announcement said that it would be the first time the social media platform had placed restrictions on individual users’ branded content. The announcement follows one from Apple stating that the company would be removing vaping-related apps from its iOS store.

It won’t just be e-cigs, other kinds of tobacco, and guns that get the chop on Facebook and Instagram. Alcohol and diet supplements could also be subject to “special restrictions” next year when the new policy takes effect.

Banning the promotion of certain products is not the only policy change that will be implemented by the sites. Facebook has announced that it will be developing strategies to let advertisers limit viewing of certain content to users of a certain age. Facebook will be rolling out a feature called Brand Collabs Manager that goes along with its recent experiment of making like counts on posts private. That program will begin with 40 United States-based Instagram content creators, and will focus on giving pro accounts the option to share metrics of engagement with partners.

This month four vaping companies had their Instagram posts relating to e-cigarettes officially prohibited by the United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority.

In response to the ruling, anti-tobacco activist groups applauded the ASA, but said that much more work is needed to limit the influence of tobacco companies. “Urgent policy change is needed from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to prevent BAT and other tobacco companies from using social media to advertise their harmful products to young people around the world,” said a statement by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

The social media crackdown on vaping is part of a global wave of actions to limit e-cigarettes, which have surged in popularity over the last years and have seen a particular surge among teen users.

Concern over the products soared this fall when a vaping-related health crisis emerged, claiming hundreds of lives via severe lung injury. In response, several local and state governments moved to ban the products.

One of the first long-term studies of vaping’s impact on health was published on Monday. The investigation found that e-cigarettes raise users’ risk of lung cancer. The conclusions are significant because the vaping industry has long promoted its products as a healthy alternative to analogue cigarettes, and even as a cigarette smoking abatement device.

But many have questioned the wisdom of banning or limiting access to vaping, especially given the middling at-best results of prohibiting other drugs.

“The better, if more complicated, option would be to build a public health system that’s strong enough to combat all nicotine addiction in the long term,” wrote the New York Times editorial board in an op-ed questioning the wisdom of recent bans on e-cigs
 
I sometimes agree with Carlson and often do not. In this case, I do not. I think he's throwing up the "oh, what about the children" red herring which is utter BS IMO. He sounds like Reefer Madness....sigh

I do however think Boehner is a hypocritical sell out. Opposed MJ legalization right up to the very moment he left office and went to work on the board of an MJ company. Now, no matter how much of an MJ advocate I am, that's just rank hypocrisy.



Politics
Tucker Carlson Calls John Boehner A ‘Pig’ For His ‘Disgusting’ Marijuana Work


Tucker Carlson thinks former House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is “disgusting” for being a “marijuana lobbyist.” In an interview with a conservative media outlet on Saturday, the Fox News host blasted Boehner for transitioning from the top lawmaker in Congress to, in the TV talker’s view, making bank at the expense of America’s children.


“John Boehner is like a marijuana lobbyist now, right?” Carlson said. “Waking up every morning taking a paycheck getting your kids to smoke more weed? Why isn’t John Boehner considered disgusting? I consider John Boehner disgusting. Why don’t most Republicans think that? You go from being Speaker of the House to being a weed lobbyist and nobody says anything? Like, that’s totally normal?”


“Really John Boehner—are you making America better, pig? No, you’re not,” Carlson said on Breitbart’s SiriusXM radio show. “You’re making it much, much worse. Ask anyone with teenage children what John Boehner’s doing for America. I’m serious—it’s disgusting.”


But are Carlson’s incendiary comments about the former House Speaker true or false? Firstly, Boehner is not technically a marijuana lobbyist. That job is performed by hardworking activists like those with Students for Sensible Drug Policy, established non-profits such as the Drug Policy Alliance or trade groups like the National Cannabis Industry Association.


Boehner is instead involved in the marijuana industry as a Board member of Acreage Holdings, which runs a chain of cannabis cultivation, processing and dispensing businesses in several U.S. states.


Boehner joined Acreage in April 2018 along with former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld (R). It was then that he first publicly endorsed descheduling marijuana. In October of that year, Boehner teamed up with the National Institute for Cannabis Investors to sell exclusive cannabis stock tips, vowing that he was “all in on the cannabis industry,” predicting it could be worth as much as “$1 trillion” in the future.


So is it “disgusting” that Boehner, who when he was in a position to advance reform as House Speaker claimed he was “unalterably opposed to the legalization of marijuana,” is now profiting from the legal cannabis industry? That’s for you to decide. Carlson is far from the first person to call out the former speaker’s marijuana work, though; this March, cannabis equity activists crashed the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas to protest his keynote presentation.


“It’s hypocritical for an Austin based company like SXSW, a company imbedded in a city that preaches diversity and inclusion, to neglect the work of committing to create an inclusive space, and instead give a keynote platform to John Boehner,” said Chas Moore, executive director of the Austin Justice Coalition, at the time. “This is disgusting.”


The SXSW protesters released public demands for reinvestment of cannabis industry profits in communities being damaged by the war on drugs, full funding of social equity programs and cannabis record expungement.


Boehner aside, should Tucker Carlson be trusted as a good faith commentator on ethics and justice in legal cannabis? That’s highly debatable, to say the least. As recently as October, Carlson ranted on his televised show that a marijuana banking bill that passed the House with wide bipartisan support would help “weed dealers” and make voters so high they won’t notice how much politicians are ruining the country.


“Even though marijuana is still illegal federally, the bill would allow banks and credit unions to provide banking services to people who deal marijuana,” he said. “So in the middle of the deadliest drug epidemic in our history, the only thing Congress can agree on is it ought to be easier to sell drugs to Americans.”
 
California puts the brakes on recreational cannabis smoking in formerly exempted vehicles, but continues to allow drinking alcohol
Passengers in the state of California will soon be banned from smoking cannabis in any moving vehicle, although drinking alcohol is still A-OK.
Although passengers in standard moving vehicles like cars, trucks and vans were already prohibited from toking at the wheel, there were exceptions for vehicles like taxis, limos, campers, residential vehicles, pedicabs and party buses.



But now legislators have opted to put an end to the exemption for passengers of the aforementioned vehicles, despite its legal status in the state having rendered it a popular party drug for Californians.
Some cannabis enthusiasts and business owners believe the new regulations, which amend state Senate Bill 625, are not only unfair and impractical, they may negatively affect the state’s burgeoning cannabis tourism business. That business includes bus tours similar to those offered by California’s wineries, which often involve tastings en route to wine-related hotspots.
1a_GettyImages-462428758-e1568642023203.jpg

For drivers of formerly exempted vehicles, however, the new rule may come as a blessing. / Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
“I would say the rules and regulations for cannabis have been rolled out in ways that can be seen as not fair, for sure. On the other side, I do understand that you know cops and enforcement need to be able to tell if someone is driving and smoking because that is unsafe,” Laythen Martines, owner of Sundial Collective in Redding, Calif., told KRCR News.
For drivers of formerly exempted vehicles, however, the new rule may come as a blessing. Although some cannabis lovers cite the fact that alcohol consumption will still be permitted as hypocritical, drivers are not forced to inhale second-hand fumes from the drug in its liquid form, and do not risk second-hand intoxication from a potentially hotboxed work environment.
Although compromises such as protecting drivers of exempted vehicles in a sealed compartment have been considered, the state has, ultimately, opted to ban cannabis smoking entirely.
 
This is too stupid for words to describe.....sigh I don't care much about hemp one way or the other, but treating farmers this way....and the lack of regulatory clarity and risks that are being imposed on them....is contemptible, IMO


This farmer had a million-dollar hemp crop — until South Carolina bulldozed it


HARLEYVILLE, S.C. — After Hurricane Dorian battered his farm in September, John Trenton Pendarvis faced a costly decision. Dorian's winds had blasted the hemp he had planted in early summer. On one particular 10-acre field and its nearly mature crop, he had already spent over $75,000 for licensing, seeds and labor — a sum that he hoped to recoup by selling the post-harvest hemp oil and flowers for several million dollars.
But the flattened plants were not his only problem. Because of water issues, he had used acreage not officially permitted for hemp by the state agriculture department. He called the agency to ask whether he should hire a crew to manually prop up the 25,000 plants. “They said, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing,’ ” he remembers.
He got a different response several days later when a phalanx of law enforcement officers arrived, handcuffing and arresting him for illegal hemp cultivation, then bulldozing his crop. “It must have been 30 of them coming from everywhere,” Pendarvis said recently, surveying the crushed remains on his farm northwest of Charleston. “Now it’s just all rotted up.”

As his case wends through the courts — despite South Carolina not yet prescribing a penalty for what it considers a misdemeanor crime — Pendarvis has become emblematic of the hurdles that farmers face in growing a crop legalized through the 2018 federal farm bill. Laws are evolving across the conservative South, where hemp grows well thanks to the warm weather and fertile soil.
Given a burgeoning consumer market, hemp can be a lucrative crop for farmers. But laws governing its planting vary state to state — and continue to change. (Julia Ewan/The Washington Post)
Given a burgeoning consumer market, hemp can be a lucrative crop for farmers. But laws governing its planting vary state to state — and continue to change. (Julia Ewan/The Washington Post)
Hemp is outwardly indistinguishable from marijuana and smells the same when burned. Difficulty in telling the two apart is causing headaches throughout law enforcement. South Carolina, for one, requires farmers to be licensed and their fields approved. Crops must be tested to keep THC, the psychoactive compound found in marijuana, at 0.3 percent or less of the plant’s dry weight.
“There are no manuals yet. Laws vary,” noted Billy Styles, a North Carolina hemp farmer who consults in both Carolinas and across western states. “I tell farmers to abide by the law — and understand it’s moving.”
AD


The same holds true for the consumer market. In Georgia, consumption of hemp and hemp products is legal, but not the consumption of cannabidiol, the oil commonly extracted from hemp and used in a vast array of products. In North Carolina, it is legal to sell hemp flower that contains negligible levels of THC, but selling flower in smokable form may soon be banned. South Carolina allows consumption of CBD oil; smoking hemp flower is legally murky.

Despite all the uncertainty, hemp is a lucrative draw. Its tough fiber is starting to replace wood pulp in paper, and manufacturers, including BMW, with a facility in Greer that is South Carolina’s largest employer, have begun using hemp-based cloth and plastic in cars.
CBD is even more of a market winner. Pendarvis said the plant’s profit potential vastly eclipses that of corn, soybeans, peanuts and the other staple crops his family has grown for generations. He might earn a thousand dollars for an acre of peanuts, he says, but nearly a million dollars on an acre of quality hemp

Given that he normally cultivates around 3,500 acres of corn, soybeans, cotton and peanuts, the difference is one that might secure his future.
Pendarvis first ran into trouble after raising a first round of seedlings in a greenhouse in May and realizing that the water supply for his permitted field was insufficient. With a limited planting window, he utilized an adjacent field and another two acres in a field owned by a colleague 100 miles north.
He says he called the state agriculture department and was told to submit an amendment form. According to agency spokeswoman Eva Moore, he did not complete the form until after officials inspected his property. Weeks before the hurricane hit, they reported him to the law enforcement division that handles state-level drug crimes for willfully planting on an unpermitted field.

His attorney, state Sen. Brad Hutto (D), contends that Pendarvis was treated like a drug trafficker by the officers who showed up and that his crop was destroyed despite the South Carolina attorney general saying judicial review should first be sought in such cases. Citing pending litigation, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division declined to comment on the case or its execution of hemp law.
Other farmers were shocked by the arrest, Hutto said. “Farmers are the most rule-abiding people you’ll meet” and certainly not accustomed to being arrested for growing a crop. Market prices, bad weather, equipment failures — that’s what keeps them awake at night, he added. “The last thing they need to worry about is law enforcement.”
The Palmetto State had 3,300 acres planted in hemp in 2019 compared with 256 acres the previous year. And even with the possibility of tougher federal regulations for THC testing in 2020, Moore said Friday that it is prepared to license upward of 300 hemp farmers — nearly double the number approved in 2019. Some of them have a high profile, including former state representative Chip Limehouse and legendary Clemson football coach Danny Ford.

Pendarvis comes from a long line of farmers who raised cotton and tobacco. “My daddy’s granddaddy started farming right here in 1919,” he explained in his deep middle Carolina drawl, leaning up against a muddy pickup truck and pointing across the narrow stretch of road. “That’s the original farm house.”

He remains amazed and horrified by his brush with the law — not just his experience of being arrested, but also of being handcuffed, fingerprinted and jailed. Plus, he still regrets the fate of his hemp field. “I probably had one of the biggest crops that’s ever been around,” he said.
His license has yet to be pulled, so Pendarvis plans to grow hemp again. He is well acquainted with the plant’s needs because of the similarities between farming and curing hemp and tobacco.

“Hemp is going back in there like a cash crop,” he said. “Kind of like tobacco was. . . . I figure you have a five-year shot to make big money right off the rip, then it’ll be just like every other market. The price will come down.”
 
The restrictions on the sources of quality product to support research in the USA is beneath contempt and is all due to our do-nothing-but-run-for-office, self-serving, ignorant and incompetent Federal government. All just IMO, of course.

So, we are importing Bedrocan MJ? Fucking ridiculous.

Pot imports to U.S. grow as country stalls on medical research

One of the top advocates for allowing U.S. companies to grow cannabis for research purposes has imported a batch from the Netherlands, saying he had no choice because of the lack of progress at home.

California-based Biopharmaceutical Research Co., founded by former Navy SEAL George Hodgin, legally imported a small quantity of marijuana from Bedrocan International last month to use for scientific analysis with the goal of better understanding the plant.

“As someone who fought for this country it saddens me that Americans aren’t the ones producing the cannabis materials that we are researching,” Hodgin said in an interview.

Canadian-grown cannabis has also been imported into the U.S. for research purposes. Tilray Inc., for example, has brought in pot for clinical trials at the University of California San Diego, New York University and Columbia University.

The restrictions on researching cannabis in the U.S. stem from a longstanding federal prohibition on the drug, despite it now being legal in 33 states for medical use and 11 for recreational use. Currently, there’s only one government-approved farm at the University of Mississippi that grows pot for research purposes.

The Drug Enforcement Administration said in August that it would propose new regulations for growing marijuana for scientific and medical research, and would then make decisions on pending applications from growers. It first invited those applications in 2016.

Attorney General William Barr pledged in April to act on those pending applications, and said he was “pleased” the DEA was moving forward in August.
Then things stalled, said Senator Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii who sent a bipartisan letter to Barr last month urging the DEA to allow researchers to obtain products from state-legal dispensaries.

“The deadline for response was Dec. 20 and they did not get back to us,” Schatz said in a phone interview. “This is another ominous sign that this administration opposes not just rescheduling or descheduling or decriminalization, but anything that has to do with cannabis, they’re fighting it.”
Schatz said he believes Congress can pass marijuana research legislation in 2020.

If it can’t, Hodgin said his company is prepared to import more cannabis.

“I would much rather all of those tax dollars and intellectual property and job creation stay here in America, but if the federal government continues to be defined by inertia, then I suppose we’ll have to look outside the United States for our research materials,” he said.
 
I don't care what Huber thinks. He is an appointed US Attorney, citizens did not elect him or vest him with policy making powers, so just STFU and let those who ARE responsive (sigh...at least theoretically) to the electorate decide policy.



Politics
Federal Prosecutor Says Marijuana Legalization Will ‘Bring Down Our Society’

A federal prosecutor said recently that he expects the marijuana legalization movement to bring about the downfall of society.

In an interview with the substance misuse treatment provider Odyssey House, U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah John Huber claimed that the illicit market is thriving in states that have legalized and said cannabis reform sends the wrong message to young people.

Asked what he expects to come of the state-level legalization push, Huber said it will lead “to a lot more trouble in [adolescents’] lives and it’s going to bring down our society.”

“Well, you get into personal—I guess it’s a DOJ position—but I don’t see much good coming from legalized marijuana,” he said. “I have strong feelings about that here in Utah. I just don’t think that it’s good public policy to somehow give the imprint of ‘this is a good thing or OK thing’ to young people to start.”

Utah voters approved a ballot measure to legalize medical cannabis in 2018.

“We want young people to be focused on job trades, skills and getting education as opposed to sitting in their basement and smoking marijuana,” he added.

Huber also alleged that legal cannabis states have “become havens for organized crime to take advantage of the camouflage of legality.”

“They’re overproducing and black market marijuana is in high demand in the east, so we’ll see cars and truckloads of marijuana going east through Utah and then money coming back west to pay for it,” he said. “Our highway patrol is put at risk to have to make those stops and intervene in those transits. That’s a newer dynamic that has started with the legalization issue on the west coast.”

Later in the interview, the conversation turned to the gateway drug theory, with one host suggesting that while it’s not empirically proven that cannabis lead individuals to seek out more dangerous and addictive drugs, that’s what he’s heard anecdotally at the treatment center.

Huber picked up on that point and observed how the host couched his response, arguing that “the marijuana lobby is so strong and powerful that they intimidate us away from really speaking the truth.”

“You’ll have this big fight, political fight, about whether it’s a gateway drug or not, but colloquially, talking to people, how did this happen? And then will start with the same story [of using cannabis first],” he said. “It seems to me it shouldn’t be that controversial when the surgeon general of the United States says it’s a really bad idea for young adults to start with marijuana because their brains are not up for it and it’s going to lead them down a track of addiction that’s going to really be a ball and chain for their life.”

While Huber said his stance is in line with that of the Justice Department, not all prosecutors seem to view reform as the beginning of the end for society. Several U.S. attorneys met for a “marijuana summit” last year, and an attendee told Marijuana Moment that the tone of the panel wasn’t particularly hostile to cannabis. Prosecutors generally described enforcement priorities as not being targeted at individuals but marijuana entities violating both federal and state law.

One former prosecutor who served as the U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota is on the other side of the spectrum from Huber, leading a push to legalize marijuana for adult use in the state.
 
This 30 second video was produced by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Using taxpayer money. In a state where both medical and recreational cannabis is legal.


This is truly atrocious......next, they will be publishing clips from Reefer Madness....sigh

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"The lab found that 79% of the cartridges were deemed “unfit for consumption”. Additionally, 62% of them failed for pesticides. Almost 40% of the cartridges failed for lead."

People making and selling this shit should be charged with attempted murder. Assault at a minimum, IMO.

Lab: Almost 80% of Unregulated Vape Cartridges “Unfit for Consumption”

According to a marijuana testing lab in San Diego, almost 80% of the unregulated cannabis vape cartridges they tested were deemed “unfit for consumption”, reports ABC10 News.

Platinum Vape manufacturing company produces high-potency, pesticide-free cannabis products that go through rigorous testing, reports ABC10. Co-founder George Sadler is on a mission to spread awareness about the serious potential health risks of using products from unlicensed vape makers and sellers.
vape.jpeg


“It’s horrible,” he tells 10News, adding, “It’s doing so much harm to people, versus walking into a licensed store.”

Platinum Vape recently teamed up with nearby licensed cannabis dispensary Mankind to buy back cartridges that ranged from home-made concentrates to counterfeits of popular legal brands. In exchange, customers got discounted Platinum Vape cartridges that are tested and regulated.

Mankind Chief Operating Officer Vera Levitt tells 10News, “We wanted to encourage them to replace something that could make them sick with something that was safe.”
The cartridges were sent to Infinite Chemical Analysis Labs, or InfiniteCAL. It’s a local cannabis testing lab that then analyzed the cartridges for potency, pesticides, and heavy metals. The lab found that 79% of the cartridges were deemed “unfit for consumption”. Additionally, 62% of them failed for pesticides. Almost 40% of the cartridges failed for lead.

“[Were there] toxic levels of lead?” 10News asks InfiniteCAL co-founder David Marelius. “One of the vape pens had almost a hundred times the legal limit,” he explains.
“The lab also discovered that half of the products had less than 50% THC in them”, states the ABC report. “Some of the cartridges were cut with excessive levels of vitamin E acetate; the additive may be linked to numerous vape-related deaths and illnesses. Marelius adds, “20% of them had a significant amount.”

“It’s sad for me. Public safety is a really important part of what we do and what we believe in,” says Levitt.

Levitt says that the only way to ensure that customers are getting safe products is if they buy them from legal and regulated outlets
“I think the exposure needs to be there for people to really understand what’s happening,” adds Sadler.
 
A NEW YORK POLICE OFFICER WAS CAUGHT ON CAMERA APPARENTLY PLANTING MARIJUANA IN A CAR — FOR THE SECOND TIME



WHEN A POLICE OFFICER in Staten Island was caught by his own body camera in the apparent act of planting marijuana in the car of a group of young men, the video evidence against him was strong enough to prompt prosecutors in the resulting case to throw out the marijuana charge in the middle of a pretrial hearing. A judge cut short his testimony, and prosecutors recommended he get a lawyer. But an internal review by the New York Police Department found that no misconduct had occurred.

Now a new video — published exclusively by The Intercept — shows the same officer again seemingly planting marijuana during a different traffic stop just a few weeks after the first, raising questions about the credibility of internal review processes and highlighting the lack of transparency in cases of police misconduct. The video, which didn’t emerge for nearly two years, also underscores the limited information available not just to the public but also defendants, and validates criticism by police accountability advocates that body cameras are of no use if the evidence they capture remains inaccessible.

On both occasions, two officers — Kyle Erickson and Elmer Pastran, of the 120th Precinct — stopped cars for minor traffic infractions, then claimed the vehicles smelled like marijuana. In both instances, body camera footage shows the officers extensively searching the cars for several minutes and finding nothing. In the first incident, in February 2018, Erickson’s body camera is then suddenly switched off and then back on just as he discovers a marijuana cigarette that did not appear to be there when his partner was first searching the car. The New York Times published that video later that year after attorneys for the driver, Lasou Kuyateh, obtained it through discovery. Kuyateh, who in the video can be heard shouting that Erickson is “putting something in my car,” was arrested and spent two weeks in jail. He fought the charges in court, and late last year he began proceedings to sue the city for $1 million over the incident.

But Jason Serrano, the man arrested during the second stop, in March 2018, took a plea deal to avoid jail time and didn’t learn of the footage’s existence until earlier this year, when attorneys with the Legal Aid Society showed it to him. “There’s nothing to say, the video speaks for itself,” Serrano told me during a recent interview. “I didn’t have no marijuana, I had no weed, I had no drugs, I wasn’t driving, it wasn’t my car, the taillight wasn’t broken.”

The car’s driver, who was issued a summons even though she would have normally been the one charged for the marijuana found in the car, could not be reached for comment. Erickson and Pastran did not respond to The Intercept’s requests for comment. A spokesperson for the NYPD declined to comment. The Richmond County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.

“We Gotta Find Something”
Serrano was sitting in the passenger seat of his friend’s car when Erickson and Pastran stopped them. The officers later claimed the car had a broken taillight, but according to Serrano, the officers had been further up the road and made a U-turn to pull up by the car, and they couldn’t have seen the taillight from that position. As soon as the driver rolled down the window, Erickson and Pastran claimed the car smelled “like weed” and ordered her and Serrano out, both officers’ camera feeds show. The videos then show Serrano, who was recovering from abdominal surgery after being stabbed, lifting his clothes to show his wound to Erickson and telling him “I can barely move” (“I don’t want to see that,” the officer responds). Once out of the car, the officers demand to search Serrano’s jacket and he refuses, telling them “There’s nothing in there. … I’m not getting searched for no reason.” As Serrano grows agitated, the officers become more aggressive, grab him, push him to the ground, and handcuff him.

“They said I was resisting arrest, but I just didn’t want to hit the floor, the only thing I was thinking about was this,” Serrano said during a recent interview, pointing to his stomach. “I still had staples in me. … I couldn’t even stand up straight.”

As Serrano curls up on the sidewalk, bleeding from his wound, and as more officers and bystanders gather on the scene waiting for an ambulance, Pastran searches Serrano’s jacket. “We gotta find something,” Erickson tells him. The footage then shows Erickson using a flashlight to search around the front seat where Serrano had been seated. When he finds nothing, he can be heard murmuring an expletive to himself before returning to Pastran to ask him, “Should I search the whole thing?” Erickson again returns to the car and continues to meticulously search it, while Pastran briefs a supervisor who has arrived on the scene. Erickson then appears to place something in the car’s drink holder, before opening the front seat’s console and a small toiletry box. Erickson then says “I smell a little weed” just as he appears to pick up and move the little bud he seemed to have dropped in the drink holder moments earlier. Erickson then searches the back of the car, and when Pastran approaches, the two exchange a charged look as Erickson tells Pastran “I see nothing. … You know what I mean?” He then returns to search the front seat area for a third time, this time dropping a larger bud in the drink holder and saying, “There’s a little bit of weed.” He then again returns to the car console, opening a wallet and continuing to search where he had already looked.

“Good?” Pastran asks him. Erickson continues to fiddle with something for a couple more minutes. At the end of the search, as Serrano is about to taken away on a stretcher, it’s Erickson’s turn to ask Pastran, “You good?” The two officers then fist-bump each other.

The few words exchanged between the two officers on the occasion of Serrano’s arrest are almost identical to those they exchanged during Kuyateh’s arrest. “We have to find something. … You know what I mean?” Erickson can be heard saying in footage from the earlier stop. On that occasion, too, the search had ended with Erickson asking Pastran, “You good?”

In the first incident, Kuyateh refused prosecutors’ offers for a plea deal and continued to fight the charges. In one of several court hearings, Erickson testified that the camera had shut off at a crucial moment in the recording due to a “technical difficulty.” But Erickson’s testimony was cut short when the body camera footage was presented as evidence, and the judge called lawyers in the middle of a pretrial hearing for an off-the-record exchange. Prosecutors dropped the marijuana charge right after that exchange, and later advised the police department that Erickson might need an attorney. The judge in the case blocked Legal Aid attorneys’ subsequent efforts to discuss the video, and ultimately dismissed and sealed the case.

The police department’s internal affairs division conducted its own review of that incident and ruled that accusations of misconduct on the officers’ part were “unfounded.” A spokesperson for the Civilian Complaint Review Board, a civilian agency that investigates allegations of police misconduct, confirmed the agency received complaints stemming from both incidents, but declined to comment further. A spokesperson for the Department of Investigation, which independently oversees city government, including police, said that the “DOI is aware of the matter” regarding Erickson and Pastran, but declined to comment further. The two officers remain on patrol in Serrano’s neighborhood.

pastran-cam-01-edit-1583780671.jpg

A screenshot from Officer Pastran’s body camera shows Serrano handcuffed on the sidewalk as Officer Erickson searches the car


More Jason Serranos
Serrano spent the five days after his arrest handcuffed in a hospital room, waiting for his abdominal wound to close. When he arrived there, he recalled, a medic told police “this guy is in no condition to resist anyone.”

Yet he was charged with resisting arrest, as well as obstruction of government administration, unlawful possession of marijuana, and criminal possession of a controlled substance. That last charge stemmed from a zip-close bag police claimed they found in Serrano’s jacket — even though Erickson and Pastran can be seen repeatedly searching the jacket in the video, and finding nothing. It’s not clear what was in the bag: a laboratory analysis of its contents reviewed by The Intercept says that “federally controlled substances are indicated; however, their identification is not confirmed at this time.” Serrano and his attorneys maintain that there was no bag at all in his jacket, and body camera footage shows Erickson fiddling with Serrano’s jacket for several minutes after searching the car, although it is impossible to see what he is doing.

After leaving the hospital Serrano was sent home on supervised release. Three months later, a judge found that he had violated the terms of his release and set his bail at $500 — but Serrano couldn’t pay it, and in order to avoid jail, he agreed to plead guilty to the resisting arrest charge only. “The court put him in the position of having to make that choice of whether he was going to continue to fight charges that he knew he was innocent of, or whether liberty was more important to him,” said Christopher Pisciotta, the attorney in charge of Legal Aid’s Staten Island division. “This is something that with our bail reform laws would not have happened. And even under the old law, a judge would have been extremely reluctant to ever set bail where there was actual video proof that the person was innocent.”

Under sweeping criminal justice reforms that were recently implemented in New York state — prompting a swift backlash — prosecutors would have accessed police body camera footage within 24 hours, and Serrano’s attorneys would have received it within 15 days of his arraignment. That would have allowed them to push for the charges to be dismissed. But Serrano and his attorneys didn’t learn there was camera footage of the incident until much later.

The new laws eliminated cash bail for most defendants and put an end to prosecutors’ ability to withhold evidence until trial. But within days of their implementation on January 1, the reforms came under a string of ferocious attacks from police, prosecutors, and some pundits, and elected officials quickly began giving in to pressure and signaling their intention to scale back the reforms.

“There is a push right now to try to repeal the very laws that would have protected Jason had they been available,” said Pisciotta. “If we repeal the discovery laws and push back on what has to be turned over and when it has to be turned over, and if we expand when judges can set bail again, there are going to be more Jason Serranos. And we’re going to be right back where we were.”

Last year, New York state also passed legislation decriminalizing marijuana — reducing possession of small quantities to a violation — after officials admitted marijuana laws had long been disproportionately enforced against black and Latino New Yorkers. But while marijuana arrests have drastically dropped since then, racial disparities remain. Legal Aid attorneys have repeatedly argued against the use of marijuana “odor” to justify a stop and search. Police can currently use the smell of marijuana to legally justify searching a vehicle, but attorneys say that justification is regularly abused — and in a growing number of cases, judges have questioned the credibility of officers claiming they smelled marijuana. In a particularly explicit rebuke, a judge recently ruled in favor of two defendants in such a case, arguing that “the time has come to reject the canard of marijuana emanating from nearly every vehicle subject to a traffic stop.”

The video of Serrano’s arrest is also emblematic of the widely disputed protections afforded to officers accused of misconduct in New York state. For years, advocates have called for the repeal of a law known as “50-a,” which refers to a section of the New York Civil Rights Law that makes the personnel records of law enforcement officers “confidential and not subject to inspection or review.” The law, which has been on the books for decades, has come under scrutiny as the movement for police accountability has grown stronger. But as the public pushed for more transparency, police departments and unions countered with ever-stricter interpretations of the law, making everything from complaints of misconduct, to the findings of internal reviews, to body camera footage itself largely inaccessible to the public. Efforts to fight the law in court have failed, and the battle has since shifted to Albany, where it remains a hotly debated issue by state legislators.

“50-a protects police officers from being held accountable,” said Pisciotta. “The community should have more information about the police officers who are serving them, and they should know when an officer has done something unlawful.”

Pisciotta, who called for Pastran and Erickson’s firing, also pointed to the disparity in the information that is accessible to the public. “The officers violated several laws by planting evidence in this case and falsely arresting an innocent person, but the information that the public has is that Jason Serrano was arrested and charged with these offenses, and that information will always be in the public’s eye, out on the internet,” he said. “Meanwhile, the officers who committed these crimes, who violated the public’s trust — their information remains secret and protected.”

erickson-cam-01-edit-1583780841.jpg

A screenshot from Officer Erickson’s body camera footage appears to show him dropping marijuana onto the edge of the car’s cupholder.

The incident is also likely to fuel ongoing criticism of police’s use of body camera footage. A report released last month by the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which relies heavily on the footage as it investigates complaints of police misconduct, noted that officers “often failed to properly use their cameras by turning on the BWC late, turning the BWC off early, or not turning the BWC on at all,” the report noted, using an acronym for body-worn cameras. The report also confirms that officers are trained by the department to “inform other officers when their BWCs are active” — including by using nonverbal signals or code phrases like “I went Hollywood,” “Green,” and “I’m hot.”
In both incidents involving Erickson and Pastran, the officers seemed aware of their cameras — with Pastran at one point talking about Serrano getting “combative” and saying “thank God it’s on video.” After the first incident, as Pastran drove Kuyateh away, his body camera kept rolling as the teen accused Erickson of having planted evidence in his car. “The man just planted weed in my car,” Kuyateh said. “He has a camera, I have a camera. Why would he do that?” Pastran replied. “For him to do that, that would be the dumbest thing ever. He’d lose his job over a dumb arrest like this?”

But neither Erickson nor Pastran lost their jobs then, or after they stopped Serrano a couple weeks later. As Serrano watched the video of his arrest one more time, narrating over the footage, he kept shaking his head in disbelief.

“They had no reason to stop me at all, besides harassment,” he said. “They couldn’t even tell me what I did wrong. Oh, you smell weed? You smell weed because you placed the little nugget there. You smell weed because it’s on you, that’s why.”
 
WHEN A POLICE OFFICER in Staten Island was caught by his own body camera
I guess my first thought is that this guys is too stupid to be a cop....twice...by his OWN body camera? What an idiot.

But an internal review by the New York Police Department found that no misconduct had occurred.
My second thought is this is complete an utter horse shit and there are a number of felonies at play here. Why ain't the police commissioner standing at attention in front of the Mayor's desk explaining this travesty of justice? Hmm?

This is truly obscene.
 
I can hardly overstate how little I give a shit about the UN and how irrelevant they are....and this just solidifies for me that they are courageously leading from behind.

What is going to be humorous is when all of the member countries have legalized it while these people in the UN are still having endless debates.



UN Votes to Delay Rescheduling of Cannabis for Second Time in Two Years

For the second time in two years, the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) has delayed a critical vote on the reclassification of cannabis. The CND met in Vienna, Austria from March 2-6. The vote is now expected to happen in December 2020. The discussion about reclassification of the plant, however, has been going on for a little longer than that.

WHO Recommendations
There are several recommendations that are on the table (even if far from perfect). See the full text of the recommendation here.
  1. Delta 9 Tetrahydrocannabinol should be added to Schedule I of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.
  2. Delta 9 Tetrahydrocannabinol should be removed from the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances.
  3. The six isomers of tetrahydrocannabinol chemically similar to Delta 9 THC should be classified similarly to Delta 9.
  4. Extracts and tinctures made from cannabis should be removed from Schedule I of the 1961 Single Convention but that they should also be classified per the act. In other words, extracts with THC should be considered narcotics with medical purpose and all dealt with per a single rule.
  5. Cannabidiol products containing no more than 0.2% of Delta 9 THC should not be under international control.
  6. Preparations with THC that are made as pharmaceutical products should be reclassified as Schedule III drugs per the 1961 Convention. (Note – Dronabinol is already classified this way in the United States and has been since 2010).
What Does This Really Mean?

Given the impending lockdown of whole industries right now, but a wartime footing for certain pharmaceutical drugs and medical equipment makers, on one hand, this seems like the obvious and safest thing to do. The world needs a vaccine and direct treatments and to focus research, manpower and money in that direction.


Further, and this should hopefully galvanize the industry internationally, what this also does is keep the consumption of the plant itself basically illegal while putting the focus on professionally prepared pharmaceutical drugs.

This is short-sighted. Cannabis is unlike other medications. Further, the high cost of pharmaceutical drugs makes wider treatment policy options extremely expensive to implement.
Further, this approach continues to define cannabis – specifically Delta 9 and THC – as a narcotic.

While it is undeniably true that for recreational users, there are narcotic effects, most long term patients do not react to the drug this way – particularly if they suffer from chronic pain due to neurological issues (including movement disorders), inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and those that destroy the body’s immune response, like HIV.

There is a need for regulation, normalization of supply chains globally and of course, medical trials.The definitions of this plant, in other words, need to change. And not just for the benefit of pharmaceutical companies, but for patients as well.

Further, in a world that is quickly headed for a global recession unseen since the Great Depression, highly priced medications are not the best Rx.
As the German government responded to President Donald Trump recently, as he tried to offer a German company a billion dollars to only develop a vaccine for use on Americans, there are clearly limits to capitalism.

The Good News
It is highly unlikely by December, nine months into a global public health crisis which is widely expected to last for at least the next two years, that the UN will delay the vote again come December. There is a need for regulation, normalization of supply chains globally and of course, medical trials.

Beyond that, recreational reform also looms at a federal level in many countries and regions.

However, given the discussions so far, it is also clear that beyond the redefinition of cannabis, there will be greater legal opportunities to expand an industry too long stigmatized by old fashioned understandings and definitions of what cannabinoids are.
 
Mutibillion dollar industry employing hundreds of thousands of workers but the Fed govt insisting that this is still illegal drug dealing.

Just another example that denial ain't just a river in Africa.

Marijuana Businesses Are Ineligible For Coronavirus Disaster Relief, Federal Agency Confirms

The federal Small Business Administration (SBA) reiterated on Monday that marijuana companies are not eligible for disaster relief loans to lessen the blow of the coronavirus outbreak.

Because cannabis remains illegal at the federal level, the marijuana industry is being denied access to these aid opportunities, including programs administered by SBA. The agency's Northwest branch confirmed that in a response to a tweet from a cannabis business owner who inquired about eligibility.
“With the exception of businesses that produce or sell hemp and hemp-derived products [that were federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill], marijuana-related businesses are not eligible for SBA-funded services,” the post states.

Greg Hubly, the Washington State-based business owner expressed frustration and said there are “10 families I'm responsible for and know all this talk about business relief is just more bullshit messaging for my industry.”

SBA recommended that he explore relief options provided by state or local agencies.

Last week, an SBA spokesperson similarly clarified that marijuana companies aren't getting a cut of the federal dollars being appropriated for business disaster relief.
“Because federal law prohibits the sale and distribution of cannabis, the SBA does not provide financial assistance to businesses that are illegal under federal law,” SBA's Carol Chastang told Cannabis Business Times. “Businesses that aren't eligible include marijuana growers and dispensers, businesses that sell cannabis products, etc., even if the business is legal under local or state law.”

This barrier to aid access for what's becoming a massive industry in states across the U.S. has elicited strong pushback from reform advocates and stakeholders.
A coalition of marijuana industry trade groups — including the National Cannabis Industry Association, National Cannabis Roundtable, Minority Cannabis Business Association and Cannabis Trade Federation—signed a joint letter last week, urging congressional leaders to lift restrictions and allow cannabis businesses to obtain the same relief as any other legitimate market.

“The ineligibility of cannabis businesses for disaster assistance loans is especially inequitable given that these same cannabis businesses are required to comply with other coronavirus-related measures, such as paid sick leave coverage,” the letter said. “We are not seeking special treatment for state-legal cannabis businesses. We only seek to have them treated on an equal level as all other job-generating, tax-paying companies in this country.”

There have been some legislative attempts to address the problem. A bill filed last year by the chairwoman of the House Small Business Committee included provisions that would enable marijuana businesses to access SBA services, and language from that legislation was later inserted in another comprehensive reform bill that cleared the House Judiciary Committee.

NORML, meanwhile, is reaching out to lawmakers asking them to ensure that marijuana industry workers are not discriminated against when it comes to unemployment benefits amid the pandemic.

The business end of this crisis is just one part of the issue for drug policy reform advocates. A growing number of campaigns to change state and local drug laws have been upended, with signature gathering efforts being suspended to protect public health.

From California to Nebraska to Washington, D.C., activists have been left scrambling. With businesses shuttering and governments asking residents to stay at home and avoid close contact with one another, signature collection efforts have been suspended for ballot initiative campaigns to amend reform state marijuana laws, legalize psilocybin mushrooms and decriminalize psychedelics. Several campaigns are asking officials to allow online signature collection.
 
This needs no further comment....sigh.

No federal relief: Cannabis businesses cry for help as coronavirus batters industry
The businesses don't qualify for aid because the federal government still considers their products illegal.

Wanda James sold more cannabis two weeks ago than she usually does on April 20 — the day many marijuana users have come to consider their holiday — after Denver's mayor announced that recreational cannabis shops like hers would have to shut down to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.

"There was a huge rush. It felt like people were starting to hoard," said James, who opened her shop, Simply Pure, in 2016. "Everyone was buying cannabis and toilet paper."


But since Mayor Michael Hancock quickly reversed himself and exempted the stores because they were getting swarmed by anxious customers, causing long lines that violated social distancing guidelines, her sales have fallen off a cliff. She hasn't been able to get a delivery license from the state yet, and customers, who might be getting laid off and spending more judiciously, aren't coming through the doors.

Now, with additional social distancing measures in place statewide that require businesses to cut staff by at least 50 percent, she's had to lay off employees and is asking her landlord for a temporary cut in rent.

Image: Long Lines Form For Goods As Denver Mayor Calls For Residents To Shelter In Place
People stand in freshly painted circles, six-feet-apart, as they wait in a two-hour line to buy marijuana products from Good Chemistry on March 23, 2020 in Denver.Michael Ciaglo / Getty Images file
James says her store should have the same opportunities for federal financial relief that other small businesses are getting to help them through the crisis, such as the $350 billion small-business loan program that Congress passed late last month.

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But her shop and others in the 34 states that have legalized medical or recreational marijuana can't qualify for the assistance because the federal government still considers their product illegal. The problem is compounded by their inability to get loans because banks are afraid to violate federal law by doing business with them. They can't even take federal tax deductions for expenses as other businesses do because of cannabis' illegal classification.

The industry has been among the fastest growing in the U.S., accounting for about 243,000 jobs and $13 billion in sales last year, according to cannabis industry figures. But it is facing a potentially crippling financial crisis as it grapples with how to get products to customers amid and with fears about a possible slowdown in private investment, the industry's traditional source of funding, because of the pandemic.

"Like all consumer goods cannabis sales have been on a wild ride these last six weeks, with panicked buying, business operations changes, and state travel and store restrictions," said Liz Connors, director of analytics at Headset, a cannabis market research company.

After sales increased to twice there normal levels in mid-March, most states have seen those numbers taper off, Connors said, with some, like Colorado and Nevada — which are heavily reliant on tourism — seeing a dramatic declines that pushed sales into the negative compared to the same time last year.

While legislation moving through Congress would ease funding problems and legalize marijuana, industry players are uncertain whether the pandemic will be the catalyst to get the bills passed.

"We're hoping that common sense prevails here," James said. "Even though the federal government wants to deem us illegal in nature, I think everyone knows we aren't running an illegal business."

Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

Steven Davenport, the founder of the cannabis market research firm Aperture and a policy analyst at the Rand Corp., said the pandemic is only going to add to the struggles of smaller cannabis businesses that can't quickly switch to delivery or curbside sales — possibly forcing them to close permanently.

"Small businesses who can't afford to endure longer periods of low prices or disruptions in revenues will probably look to be acquired in order to preserve their financial health," Davenport said.

Brandon Pollock, co-owner and CEO of Theory Wellness in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, said he isn't sure how long his business can endure.

While two of his stores have been able to stay open selling cannabis to medical customers, recreational sales, which make up about 90 percent of his business, were deemed nonessential by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker.

"Every company in Massachusetts right now has an uncertain future," Pollock said. "It's very scary to think about, because no one can afford to continue to operate a business without revenue."

To save money, he and his business partners stopped taking salaries and furloughed more than half of their 200-person staff. While Pollock said federal assistance would help his business stay afloat, he doesn't think the U.S. government will go there; so, with other cannabis businesses, he's lobbying the governor to exempt recreational sales from the stay-at-home order.







On the issues: 2020 presidential candidates on legalizing marijuana
Jan. 2, 202004:00

Businesses are also seeking help from their state governments in other parts of the country where the sale of recreational marijuana is considered essential. Crystal Oliver, executive director of the Washington Sungrowers Industry Association, which represents nearly 50 mainly small, independent marijuana businesses, has been meeting with state officials to see whether there's anything they can do.

"It seems like money could be freed up or made available to help support us during this time, especially because other businesses are going to have their needs met by the federal government," Oliver said.

Even bigger players in the industry are feeling squeezed. Because marijuana is a controlled substance under federal law, those businesses can't get access to federal loans, and banks, which are overseen by the federal government, are skittish about doing business with them. As a result, cannabis businesses often fund their operations with venture capital, which might not be so forthcoming in an economic downturn.

Kris Krane, president of 4Front Ventures, a cannabis company with retail operations in eight states, hasn't had to lay off any of his 700 employees, but he is concerned about raising capital. Over the past year, finding private investors has been challenging, he said, and he believes it won't get any easier during the coronavirus crisis and its aftermath.

"If we could access just regular lines of credit from banks and lending institutions, it'd be a game changer for the entire industry," Krane said.

Download the NBC News app for full coverage and alerts about the coronavirus outbreak

Justin Strekal, political director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, commonly known as NORML, also thinks the lack of investment would have catastrophic consequences.

"As a result of federal prohibition, this industry receives discriminatory treatment like no other sector of the economy," he said.

Congress is considering legislation that advocates say could resolve the issues. One bill, which has passed the House, would bar federal regulators from penalizing banks that work with marijuana-related businesses, while others would legalize the drug and prohibit the Small Business Administration from declining to provide them business loans.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., the sponsor of the banking-related measure, said the bill would help these businesses survive the crisis, adding that while most cannabis dispensaries have been deemed essential during the pandemic, he's talked to numerous shops that have had their supply chains disrupted by the outbreak.

"The SAFE Banking Act is about reducing the public safety risk for these businesses and our communities and would ensure these legal businesses and their employees can access financial assistance during this crisis," he said.

A spokesperson for the lawmaker also said he "continues to look for ways to provide support for cannabis businesses and their employees in future relief packages" being considered by Congress.

It's unclear to industry advocates whether any of the bills will gain traction given the slew of other problems lawmakers and the Trump administration are dealing with as they try to fight the coronavirus and minimize its economic damage.

Michael Wheeler, vice president of policy initiatives for Flow Kana, a major industry player, says the time is ripe for action. It's important that all industries have the opportunity to grow following the crisis, he said, adding that lawmakers "know exactly what it is that's limiting the cannabis industry from growing."
 
This needs no further comment....sigh.

No federal relief: Cannabis businesses cry for help as coronavirus batters industry
The businesses don't qualify for aid because the federal government still considers their products illegal.

Wanda James sold more cannabis two weeks ago than she usually does on April 20 — the day many marijuana users have come to consider their holiday — after Denver's mayor announced that recreational cannabis shops like hers would have to shut down to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.

"There was a huge rush. It felt like people were starting to hoard," said James, who opened her shop, Simply Pure, in 2016. "Everyone was buying cannabis and toilet paper."


But since Mayor Michael Hancock quickly reversed himself and exempted the stores because they were getting swarmed by anxious customers, causing long lines that violated social distancing guidelines, her sales have fallen off a cliff. She hasn't been able to get a delivery license from the state yet, and customers, who might be getting laid off and spending more judiciously, aren't coming through the doors.

Now, with additional social distancing measures in place statewide that require businesses to cut staff by at least 50 percent, she's had to lay off employees and is asking her landlord for a temporary cut in rent.

Image: Long Lines Form For Goods As Denver Mayor Calls For Residents To Shelter In Place
People stand in freshly painted circles, six-feet-apart, as they wait in a two-hour line to buy marijuana products from Good Chemistry on March 23, 2020 in Denver.Michael Ciaglo / Getty Images file
James says her store should have the same opportunities for federal financial relief that other small businesses are getting to help them through the crisis, such as the $350 billion small-business loan program that Congress passed late last month.

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But her shop and others in the 34 states that have legalized medical or recreational marijuana can't qualify for the assistance because the federal government still considers their product illegal. The problem is compounded by their inability to get loans because banks are afraid to violate federal law by doing business with them. They can't even take federal tax deductions for expenses as other businesses do because of cannabis' illegal classification.

The industry has been among the fastest growing in the U.S., accounting for about 243,000 jobs and $13 billion in sales last year, according to cannabis industry figures. But it is facing a potentially crippling financial crisis as it grapples with how to get products to customers amid and with fears about a possible slowdown in private investment, the industry's traditional source of funding, because of the pandemic.

"Like all consumer goods cannabis sales have been on a wild ride these last six weeks, with panicked buying, business operations changes, and state travel and store restrictions," said Liz Connors, director of analytics at Headset, a cannabis market research company.

After sales increased to twice there normal levels in mid-March, most states have seen those numbers taper off, Connors said, with some, like Colorado and Nevada — which are heavily reliant on tourism — seeing a dramatic declines that pushed sales into the negative compared to the same time last year.

While legislation moving through Congress would ease funding problems and legalize marijuana, industry players are uncertain whether the pandemic will be the catalyst to get the bills passed.

"We're hoping that common sense prevails here," James said. "Even though the federal government wants to deem us illegal in nature, I think everyone knows we aren't running an illegal business."

Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

Steven Davenport, the founder of the cannabis market research firm Aperture and a policy analyst at the Rand Corp., said the pandemic is only going to add to the struggles of smaller cannabis businesses that can't quickly switch to delivery or curbside sales — possibly forcing them to close permanently.

"Small businesses who can't afford to endure longer periods of low prices or disruptions in revenues will probably look to be acquired in order to preserve their financial health," Davenport said.

Brandon Pollock, co-owner and CEO of Theory Wellness in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, said he isn't sure how long his business can endure.

While two of his stores have been able to stay open selling cannabis to medical customers, recreational sales, which make up about 90 percent of his business, were deemed nonessential by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker.

"Every company in Massachusetts right now has an uncertain future," Pollock said. "It's very scary to think about, because no one can afford to continue to operate a business without revenue."

To save money, he and his business partners stopped taking salaries and furloughed more than half of their 200-person staff. While Pollock said federal assistance would help his business stay afloat, he doesn't think the U.S. government will go there; so, with other cannabis businesses, he's lobbying the governor to exempt recreational sales from the stay-at-home order.







On the issues: 2020 presidential candidates on legalizing marijuana
Jan. 2, 202004:00

Businesses are also seeking help from their state governments in other parts of the country where the sale of recreational marijuana is considered essential. Crystal Oliver, executive director of the Washington Sungrowers Industry Association, which represents nearly 50 mainly small, independent marijuana businesses, has been meeting with state officials to see whether there's anything they can do.

"It seems like money could be freed up or made available to help support us during this time, especially because other businesses are going to have their needs met by the federal government," Oliver said.

Even bigger players in the industry are feeling squeezed. Because marijuana is a controlled substance under federal law, those businesses can't get access to federal loans, and banks, which are overseen by the federal government, are skittish about doing business with them. As a result, cannabis businesses often fund their operations with venture capital, which might not be so forthcoming in an economic downturn.

Kris Krane, president of 4Front Ventures, a cannabis company with retail operations in eight states, hasn't had to lay off any of his 700 employees, but he is concerned about raising capital. Over the past year, finding private investors has been challenging, he said, and he believes it won't get any easier during the coronavirus crisis and its aftermath.

"If we could access just regular lines of credit from banks and lending institutions, it'd be a game changer for the entire industry," Krane said.

Download the NBC News app for full coverage and alerts about the coronavirus outbreak

Justin Strekal, political director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, commonly known as NORML, also thinks the lack of investment would have catastrophic consequences.

"As a result of federal prohibition, this industry receives discriminatory treatment like no other sector of the economy," he said.

Congress is considering legislation that advocates say could resolve the issues. One bill, which has passed the House, would bar federal regulators from penalizing banks that work with marijuana-related businesses, while others would legalize the drug and prohibit the Small Business Administration from declining to provide them business loans.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., the sponsor of the banking-related measure, said the bill would help these businesses survive the crisis, adding that while most cannabis dispensaries have been deemed essential during the pandemic, he's talked to numerous shops that have had their supply chains disrupted by the outbreak.

"The SAFE Banking Act is about reducing the public safety risk for these businesses and our communities and would ensure these legal businesses and their employees can access financial assistance during this crisis," he said.

A spokesperson for the lawmaker also said he "continues to look for ways to provide support for cannabis businesses and their employees in future relief packages" being considered by Congress.

It's unclear to industry advocates whether any of the bills will gain traction given the slew of other problems lawmakers and the Trump administration are dealing with as they try to fight the coronavirus and minimize its economic damage.

Michael Wheeler, vice president of policy initiatives for Flow Kana, a major industry player, says the time is ripe for action. It's important that all industries have the opportunity to grow following the crisis, he said, adding that lawmakers "know exactly what it is that's limiting the cannabis industry from growing."
I love your post!
Just saying?
I grew up in an exceptional environment so please forgive my lack of SOCIAL BEHAVIOR!
You are loved!
My wife is so nice!
LEMON HAZE is DECENT while I’m locked down this daze!
+I am to lazy to break out the GDP?
Tomorrow is a new daze!
 
Last edited:
Sweeping Weedmaps subpoena underscores US government’s continued scrutiny of marijuana industry

When the U.S. marijuana industry learned of a federal grand jury subpoena served to Weedmaps owner Ghost Management Group, the news was an eye-opener for many in the business.


The story, first reported by MarketWatch in early March, noted that a few high-profile cannabis companies also were identified in the Weedmaps subpoena.


But the original report about the subpoena didn’t disclose the identities of several other high-profile legal California companies named in the document, such as Connected Cannabis, Puffy Delivery and Urbn Leaf. Marijuana Business Daily obtained a copy of the subpoena.


The subpoena’s wide-ranging demand for information serves as a reminder that the U.S. Department of Justice will not allow the industry to operate unpoliced – even after years of largely unfettered growth at a time when MJ remains illegal at the federal level.





The industry will want to watch this case carefully because, like the forced closure of Sweet Leaf by Denver officials in 2018, the Weedmaps development might prove to be a milestone, whatever the outcome.



In all, nearly 100 cannabis businesses and individuals are identified in the Weedmaps subpoena, including company employees, officers, various investors and others in the industry.


“The bottom line is the feds are showing they’re not done investigating cannabis, not done prosecuting cannabis,” California attorney Matt Kumin said after reading the subpoena.


Among the revelations: The investigation is partially focused on Weedmaps’ relationships with both licensed and apparently illicit California cannabis companies.


Weedmaps, headquartered in Irvine, California, is a popular website among consumers looking to find marijuana retailers across the globe. It also facilitates cannabis deliveries.


The company came under fire from California officials in early 2018 for advertising illegal marijuana retailers, a practice Weedmaps changed as of January.


Asked for comment on the subpoena, a company spokesperson wrote in an email to MJBizDaily that, “from time to time, Weedmaps receives requests for information from government agencies. We cooperate with these requests as we do with all lawful inquiries.”


Weedmaps didn’t elaborate or confirm if it had submitted the requested documents to federal authorities.


The federal government’s probe, which apparently is ongoing, is being conducted by the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, McGregor Scott. Scott’s office declined to comment to MJBizDaily.


The stakes are high given the federal government’s involvement and the dozens of companies named in the subpoena.


“You only present the case to the grand jury to determine whether or not there’s probable cause to return criminal charges. So this is a criminal investigation,” said San Francisco-based attorney Henry Wykowski, a former federal prosecutor who’s worked with California cannabis companies for more than a decade.


If the probe results in criminal charges, a trial or even a settlement, it could set a legal precedent for the rest of the industry to follow – perhaps for years to come.


But it’s also possible the probe ultimately could be dropped and no criminal charges filed.


What’s going on?


The only consensus among four different industry attorneys who viewed the subpoena is that it’s so broad that it’s impossible to tell what investigators are after.


“This could be a million things,” California cannabis attorney Jessica McElfresh said.


“Just because you get a subpoena, it doesn’t mean you’re the target of the investigation. It’s impossible to know if those targets are within Weedmaps or if they are the other entities.”


The subpoena was sent to Ghost Management Group last September, and the company was given five weeks to turn over documents dating to Weedmaps’ founding in 2008.


The subpoena requests a wide range of company documents, including:


  • Annual financial statements, tax returns and bank account information.
  • All communications with “any person engaged in commercial cannabis activity.”
  • Details on how Weedmaps facilitates marijuana deliveries.
  • Weedmaps’ claim that it would cease carrying advertising for illegal cannabis retailers.
  • Any “transfer of anything of value” between Weedmaps and government officials or candidates for public office, as well as all communications between Weedmaps and government officials.
  • “Any and all documents” related to 40 marijuana companies identified in the subpoena.
  • All communications and agreements with nine specific investment firms as well as prospective investors.

That’s a small sample of the information the U.S. attorney requested.


But it’s an indicator that any company or individual that’s done business with Weedmaps could be under the microscope of federal prosecutors.


For those California marijuana executives who remember the marijuana-related legal actions brought by former California U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag, the notion of being targeted by federal prosecutors could be frightening.


“Haven’t you ever heard the joke that prosecutors tell? ‘I can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich if I wanted to?’ It’s stacked against the individual,” Wykowski said.


Of the four U.S. attorneys offices in California, the conservative-leaning Eastern District is the one Wykowski would most expect to mount a serious attack on the cannabis industry or on a company such as Weedmaps.


But Scott, the U.S. attorney whose office issued the subpoena, has indicated that his priorities involving the cannabis sector are not state-licensed businesses that are following the law but, rather, illicit actors engaging in “interstate trafficking, organized crime and (marijuana cultivation on) federal public lands.”


Who was identified?


As originally reported, the subpoena requested information from Weedmaps on dozens of companies it’s dealt with over the years, including Santa Rosa-based CannaCraft and Irvine-based Terra Tech Corp. (The latter has been renamed Onyx Group Holdings after a February merger.)


The subpoena demands “any and all documents related to” at least 40 different business entities and 17 individuals with whom Weedmaps has apparently worked in some capacity.


Of the 40 companies, at least 27 possess a minimum of one valid state marijuana business license, according to government records. The majority of those are licensed retailers, as opposed to brands or other business types.


The other 13 companies apparently are illegal or unlicensed marijuana businesses, further complicating the picture for industry attorneys trying to decipher the subpoena’s intent.


Some of the legal and licensed companies identified include:


  • California Green Cross (delivery license in Sacramento).
  • Connected Cannabis (licenses for six retailers in Long Beach, Sacramento, San Francisco, Santa Ana and Stockton).
  • DEC Medical Group (retail and distribution licenses in Los Angeles).
  • Desert’s Finest (microbusiness license in Desert Hot Springs).
  • East Bay Therapeutics, (three licenses in Emeryville – storefront, delivery service and event).
  • Flav, formerly known as FlavRX, which currently operates as a hemp CBD company and does not hold any California state marijuana permits.
  • Green Valley Collective, Purple Heart Compassionate and the Wellness Earth Energy Dispensary, which together do business as “Project Cannabis” (retail licenses in Los Angeles, North Hollywood and Studio City).
  • Golden State Greens Point Loma (retail and distributor licenses in San Diego).
  • Horizon Collective (retail license in Sacramento).
  • Kushagram (delivery license in Oakland).
  • L.A. Cannabis Co. (three retail licenses in Los Angeles).
  • MMD Long Beach (retail license in Long Beach).
  • Puffy Delivery (retail licenses in Palm Springs, Santa Ana and Vista and a distribution permit in Santa Ana).
  • South Coast Safe Access (retail license in Santa Ana).
  • The L.B. Collective (retail license in Long Beach).
  • The OG Collective (retail license in Cathedral City).
  • Urbn Leaf (four retail licenses in Bay Park, Grover Beach, San Ysidro and Seaside).

The subpoena also requests information about DICA Distribution – a defunct venture in West Sacramento, California, started by Weedmaps executives Doug Francis and Chris Beals – and West Coast Cure, a state-licensed manufacturer that once planned to team with DICA.


Also named are several companies that might have operated at some point without a license, either as brands or illegal retailers. Some also might have been previously legal medical collectives that shut down after the collective model was phased out in January 2019 under California state law.


In the case of those companies, there is no record of any cannabis business permits in the state license databases of the Bureau of Cannabis Control, the Department of Public Health or the Department of Food and Agriculture.


Many, however, were registered with the California secretary of state as business entities or nonprofits.


A few of those companies include:


  • Green Mile Collective, which once was a registered nonprofit in North Hollywood but now is listed as suspended.
  • South Bay CRC, short for South Bay Compassionate Relief Collective, which was once a registered nonprofit medical marijuana collective in San Jose but currently is listed as suspended.
  • The Church of Modern Medicine, a Colfax-based registered nonprofit that appears to have at one point been an operating dispensary, based on multiple online reviews. No other information could be found.
  • The High Church, a Fallbrook-based registered nonprofit that advertises multiple locations in Southern California and apparently operates as a medical marijuana retailer.

MJBizDaily attempted to reach all 40 companies identified in the subpoena but succeeded in contacting only 17.


Most of the 17 that were reached declined to comment.


The other 23 did not respond to phone calls and emails or did not have contact information available.


Many that were reached – even if they declined to comment – said they were unaware until contacted by MJBizDaily that their communications with Weedmaps might have been turned over to federal investigators.


“This was the first I’d heard of it at all,” said Adam Knopf, an executive with Golden State Greens Point Loma, one of the legal retailers identified in the subpoena.


Learning that his company was listed in the subpoena was “gut-wrenching,” Knopf said, considering all the trouble his business and others have gone through to obtain – and retain – their legal licenses in California.


Knopf said he has not heard anything directly from the U.S. attorney’s office, nor have any of the other companies reached by MJBizDaily.


Sam Shtockmaster, a partner at Desert’s Finest, said the news that his company was identified in the subpoena came as “a shock.”


“Nobody even let us know that,” Shtockmaster said.


He confirmed that Desert’s Finest has regularly paid Weedmaps for advertising services at a current rate of $20,000 per month but said that’s his company’s only connection to Weedmaps.


“There are operations that pay way more than $20,000 to Weedmaps a month in cash, so I don’t understand” why Desert’s Finest would be named in the subpoena, Shtockmaster said.


“Whatever it is, we’ll soon find out, I guess.”


Fishing expedition or white-collar crime?


Wykowski called the subpoena a “fishing expedition” and said if he were representing Weedmaps he would have pushed back to at least narrow the subpoena’s demands.


“They’re casting a very wide net here, and we’ll just have to see how it plays out,” Wykowski said. “(The subpoena) seems to be focused on recordkeeping and financial affairs, so that would gravitate toward some type of tax or financial misreporting type of offense.


“But at this stage of the game, that’s really just speculation,” he emphasized.


Kumin and other attorneys don’t see the subpoena pointing to an over-arching, industrywide attack by the federal government, given that the Justice Department has taken a hands-off approach to state-legal companies in recent years.


But, Kumin said, it’s possible the DOJ might want to make an example of some person or company.


All attorneys consulted for this story agreed that any attempt to guess at what might be coming from the DOJ would be just that – guesswork.


Following the money


There are signs from the subpoena that the investigation is possibly focused on white-collar crime:


  • The prosecutor who signed the subpoena, Matthew Segal, is the chief of the Special Prosecutions Unit, which targets – among other crimes – money laundering, public corruption, tax evasion and federal computer crimes.
  • The subpoena identifies several individuals who routinely dropped off monthly cash payments to Weedmaps in exchange for advertising services, according to at least four of the companies identified in the document. Those individuals also filled out invoicing paperwork and signed their names, several companies said.

That suggests the U.S. attorney’s office is scrutinizing Weedmaps’ financial paper trail beyond what’s requested in the subpoena.


For example, Joshua Plummer – who is identified next to Flav in the subpoena – was a “delivery driver that would bring the monthly invoice payments to Weedmaps,” according to the company’s attorney.


And Golden State Greens’ Knopf said two names listed next to his company in the subpoena – Alex Leon and Heidi Rising – were midlevel workers who occasionally dropped off monthly payments at Weedmaps headquarters.


After Leon and Rising delivered the payments, Knopf said, Weedmaps asked them to fill out paperwork that sounds similar to forms required by banks when a cash deposit of more than $10,000 is made.


Knopf said Golden State Greens’ current monthly payment to Weedmaps is $12,000, and that invoicing paperwork is the only reason he can think of for Leon and Rising being identified in the subpoena.


Uncertain times


Though murkiness surrounds the Weedmaps subpoena, Denver-based attorney Sean McAllister believes one thing is clear: Weedmaps put a target on its back for its past refusal to remove unlicensed marijuana retailers from its site.


The company changed its policy in January and now requires all retailers that advertise on the site to submit a state license number.


But will that prove to be too little, too late?


McAllister, who said he represents two investors identified in the subpoena, pointed out “there are a lot of potential (criminal) charges” that could stem from a subpoena like the one Weedmaps received.


“This could just be the tip of the iceberg,” he said.
 

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