Bruce Schulte, former chair of Alaska’s Marijuana Control Board, was
fired by Gov. Bill Walker (Ind.). Schulte said the state is trying to “subvert” the industry.
The Boston Globe called for the end of an “
unfair ‘tax” on MED shops.
July was Washington state’s
best ever sales month. It was also the first month after MED dispensaries closed in the state.
A promised crackdown
wasn’t as bad as Detroit dispensary owners feared. (Check out p
hotographer Dave Jordano's
shots of dispensaries in the city.)
A new program at Colorado State University-Pueblo will
study legalization’s socio-economic impact.
High Times interviewed Colorado
Marijuana Enforcement Division chief Andrew Freedman. MJBizDaily interviewed
Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D) who’s among the most weed friendly members of Congress. He predicts that in five years MED will be available in every state and REC will be available in most states.
Boston’s
first dispensary opened. Delaware’s
modest MED industry is growing.
Private equity investment in weed is
heating up. Canadian MED company Organigram
raised $17.5M. Denver’s Baker Technologies, a software company which helps dispensaries win and retain customers,
raised $1.6M. The industry’s average seed round is $1M according to investment firm Poseidon Asset Management.
Commodities investor Jim Rogers, who started Quantum Fund with George Soros, has
invested in PharmaCielo, a Canadian company that won the first license to grow MED in Colombia.
CMH Brands, a company which processes Willie Nelson brand Willie’s Reserve,
acquired Denver Relief’s grow and manufacturing facilities. The deal comes weeks after Denver Relief sold a store to Terrapin Station.
The Clinic’s
new flagship store in Denver cost more than $1M. A JPMorgan analyst thinks
Scotts Miracle-Gro’s push into the industry will benefit the stock. Bloomberg BusinessWeek
interviewed Dixie CEO Tripp Keber.
Fast Company looks at what it’s like to work for
social media app MassRoots.
San Jose, Calif., dispensary Medimarts
promised a court fight against a ruling that it owes $767,000 in taxes and late fees.
787 drivers were involved in Colorado’s 546 driving fatalities last year. Of the drivers, 59, or 7.1%
tested positive for cannabis but not other drugs. The total number of fatalities was down from 606 in 2005.
Researchers found that a Vermont Department of Health study was
overly negative and did not account for the possibility of legalization alleviating the state’s opioid crisis. This year the state legislature failed to pass a REC bill that was widely expected to become law.
In the Des Moines Register, the founder of an addiction center writes that
pot is still dangerous. “We see the faces of marijuana addicts first hand. And it’s not funny. We see people who struggle with simple tasks at school and work. People incapable of perceiving or expressing emotion. People who suffer from higher incidence of mental health diagnoses, such as schizophrenia, paranoia and anxiety.”
U.S. teens are
more likely to smoke pot than to binge drink according to a new study. A government study says
Miamians are more anti-weed than residents of any other U.S. city, a finding at odds with a visit to Miami.
Vice says legalizing can
mitigate problems associated with synthetic cannabis.