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For a break from the weed beat, I contributed to a radio piece about “ The Scariest Place in L.A. ”

Here's the news:

Politics
Political trickster and Trump-supporter Roger Stone said he will “ not be silenced ” by liberal cannabis activists opposed his upcoming talk at the Cannabis World Congress & Business Expo in L.A.

Stone, who has a long history of incendiary remarks on race and sex, claims he is being unfairly smeared. Jesce Horton, chairman of the Minority Cannabis Business Association said, "The idea that cannabis business owners and activists can't assess for ourselves his deplorable rhetoric and his camp's self-serving intentions in the cannabis industry is sad."

CWBExpo founder Dan Humiston was previously in the tanning industry . A Charge.org petition calls for the event to #disownStone. Politico has more.

In a long piece, Buzzfeed explains why a national pot crackdown would be a political and legal nightmare for the Trump administration, a “hydra.”

Defying Attorney General Jeff Sessions (R), Congress appears poised to renew the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment , protecting state-legal MED from federal prosecution.

A Gallup poll found 45% of Americans have tried marijuana , an all time record, up from 4% in 1969.

The site entrepreneur says study Arizona to better understand the forces shaping legalization.

Washington state officials think AG Sessions is wrong about weed . Sessions also cited incorrect data about Oregon’s program.

The California legislature has lots to do on cannabis regulation before the REC market opens January 1. The state is hiring at least 175 to assist with regulation.

A restrictive cannabis packaging bill passed both houses of California’s state legislature. A California bill to ban cannabis companies from advertising with branded merchandise such as T-shirts and hats advanced as well.

Mendocino County government is challenging raids by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which local officials call unhelpful to regulation.

Cannabis activist and personal injury lawyer John Morgan added three patients to his lawsuit against the state for not allowing smokeable MED.

A Democratic Massachusetts state senator who opposed Massachusetts’ REC vote, was the first of five members named by Gov. Charlie Baker (R) to the state’s cannabis regulatory board.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said the state won’t legalize REC on his watch.

More than 100 plan to apply for MED business licenses in North Dakota. Arkansas received its first MED business application .

Denver’s first in the nation social use law is accepting applications from bars and other businesses. A social use proposal in Alaska entered a comment period .


A New York Times Op-Ed asks if Canada is ready for legal weed .

Centrist organization Third Way published an extensive report on the state of cannabis in the U.S.

Conservative veterans group American Legion adopted a resolution supporting legal MED.

The National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators called for legalizing REC . It’s the first major Latino group to do so.

In the Philippines, the killing of 17-year old Kian Loyd delos Santos has energized opposition to President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.

Dog-bites-man award: Colorado journalist Peter Marcus is ditching the site he founded ColoradoPolitics.com, to flack for growing dispensary chain Terrapin Care Station. Cannabis is more secure and more lucrative than journalism, Marcus said.
Business
Seattle-based Privateer Holdings raised $58M . Privateer is parent company to Leafly, cannabis brand Marley Natural and Canadian MED producer Tilray. After a $75M raise in 2015, Privateer was valued around $500M. It did not update the valuation or name its new investors.

Silicon Valley eminence Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund participated in Privateer's 2015 raise. Geoff Lewis, the Founders Fund partner who led the Privateer investment recently departed Founders to start a new fund.

Big American banks said they wouldn’t work with cannabis businesses in Uruguay , potentially complicating Canadian legalization next year.

Canadian stock exchanges are trying to figure out a patch for listing companies with U.S. ties.

In GQ, Amanda Chicago Lewis searches for an elusive billionaire who may be trying to patent every cannabis strain .

Edibles maker Dixie issued a voluntary six product recall in Colorado over potentially unsafe essential oils.

MJBizDaily dives deep into troubles at networking company Women Grow . Among other issues, the company left a bad taste with local leaders when it told at least 31 chapters that they were responsible for $36,000 in annual royalty payments to the the national chapter, far more than most could generate from sales.

The company still has support from some powerful women in the industry and is confident about its future. For more see here .

The number of female cannabis executives has fallen to 27% , still higher than most U.S. industries.

Until it’s federally illegal, the Nevada Gaming Commission said casinos should have nothing to do with cannabis.

The Boston Globe looks at barriers to minorities who seek to enter the industry.

The L.A. Times has more on why desert outpost Nipton, Calif. Is unlikely to become a cannabis resort.

Social media app MassRoots acquired legal company CannaRegs in a $12M stock deal. MassRoots is still in a tough financial situation .

Ohio awarded a $1.3M track and trace contract to Franwell (METRC).

The Next Web says cannabis could be Silicon Valley’s “ Billion-dollar cash crop. ”

Cheaply grown outdoor cannabis from southern Colorado could flood the Colorado market in coming months. Analysts say the risk of a price crash is low.

Taylor West, a former National Cannabis Industry Association executive who’s joining the industry, says the future of cannabis is old people and office workers.

A study by financial firm Cowen & Co. found beer sales have fallen about 4% in legal REC states. Beer company Lagunitas (owned by Heineken) released a beer containing cannabis extracts , but not THC.

New Cannabis Ventures sees “ red flags ” for OTC cannabis stock Sunset Group.

Westword visits a “ pot infused fantasy factory. ”

A study predicts CBD will be a $1 billion market within three years.

NBC affiliate KCRA asks about California’s unregulated edibles market .


I found five L.A. cannatech companies for L.A. Weekly.
Health and Science
The number of drivers in fatal crashes in Colorado who tested positive for pot has risen sharply each year since 2013 , The Denver Post reports. The paper also looks into the murky science of testing for impairment.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson is concerned about cannabis use lowering IQs. NORML says his concern is unfounded .

The nation’s first federally approved MED trial for hospice patients is beginning in Connecticut.

A bipartisan group of Congresspeople asked AG Sessions to allow more MED research . Rolling Stone visits Israel where MED research is racing ahead.

Florida MED patients have access issues .

The BBC looks at the science of high potency cannabis .

The group Cannabis Clinicians Colorado will hold an event near Denver tomorrow to educate consumers on cannabis impairment and the inadequacy of current technology to measure it.


Hallucinogenic mushrooms may have evolved that way to fend off hungry insects.

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Criminal Justice
Maryland, where no blacks won MED licenses and are eight times more likely to be arrested for weed, illustrates “institutional racism” a columnist writes in the Washington Post.

As Hurricane Harvey approached Texas, President Trump pardoned former Maricopa County (Phoenix) sheriff Joe Arpaio. During his 24 year tenure, Arpaio was best known for his vicious and cruel treatment of Hispanics as he pursued undocumented immigrants. Arpaio was convicted last month of criminal contempt of court. To read more about Arpaio see this 2009 story from the New Yorker and this thread by Phoenix New Times.

A third Montana dispensary employee has been sentenced following a 2016 DEA raid.

A new video game highlights problems with the bail system.
Product reviews:


                                        
Culture

The NFL is fighting with the players union over opioids and MED.

The Guardian goes to a weed wedding .

Netflix dispensary sitcom “Disjointed,” gets lousy reviews from the N.Y. Times and Vogue . The latter found an internet commenter who said “...aaand smoking weed just became uncool.” Star Kathy Bates talked about her own cannabis use. Sitcom wizard Chuck Lorre (“The Big Bang Theory” and “Two and a Half Men”) created the show. 

Leafly recommends a few Reno dispensaries where you can stock up en route to Burning Man . Federal, state and local laws are all in effect at Burning Man. For more see here .

D.C. blogger Joe Tierney helps residents find REC .

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Alex 

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