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Here’s the news:

The DEA is reportedly in the “ final stages” of deciding whether to reschedule marijuana. Cannabis Wire says the agency could reschedule CBD but not the whole plant.

The Guardian asks if Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will capitalize on the marijuana vote. “It seems that there are more political costs to being opposed to marijuana instead of being in favor of it,” Michael Berry, a political science professor at the University of Denver says. “which is strange because if you go back 10 years ago, it was just the opposite.”

Hillary Clinton and Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson are more popular within the cannabis industry than in the country at large. Donald Trump is less popular.

The Islamic State magazine Dabiq writes: “The deviance carried on until the so-called “Brave New World” of America and Western Europe began legalizing marijuana, bestiality, transgenderism, sodomy, pornography, feminism, and other evils, allowing the Christian pagans of Europe, America, and Australia to break the crime record of every disbelieving nation to precede them in history.”

California REC supporters are suing opponents for using “ false and misleading language in official ballot materials.”

Anti-cannabis activist Kevin Sabet announced that his group SAM Action has raised $2M to fight this year’s crop of legalization initiatives. Marijuana.com says Sabet has consistently opposed the kinds of decriminalization measures he says he supports.

Anti-REC activists in Arizona say the state’s upcoming initiative would  block employers  from firing people for cannabis use. In fact, the proposed law says the opposite.

Portland City Council appears ready to undo some of the restrictions governing dispensary operations. Humboldt County, Calif. growers are divided on a proposed excise tax.

A poll suggests Florida’s MED initiative will pass, despite a reasonably well funded opposition. Before Ohio legislature legalized MED earlier this year, MPP had not raised enough money to support a statewide campaign for a more liberal ballot initiative.

Hundreds of doctors in Georgia have registered to recommend low-THC, high-CBD cannabis oil but there’s no official directory. Word of mouth is the only way to find one of the doctors. 

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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.

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LAWeekly talks to Dr. Francis D’Ambrosio, an orthopedic surgeon turned pot activist. “Is the medicine working?” he asked a patient. “Well, then it’d be criminal of me not to renew your prescription.” 

The long awaited PTSD study for veterans is recruiting volunteers.

A New York doctor is accused of trading a prescription for the powerful opioid Suboxone for a few grams of pot.

Police in Baton Rouge, La., have reduced their enforcement of narcotics offenses since Alton Sterling was fatally shot on July 5.

Marco Vasquez, police chief of Erie, Colo., spoke in favor of legalization at a national law enforcement conference.

Forbes explains how a Congressional career offender provision got Tennessee grower Paul Fields sentenced to 15 years. It was Fields' third offense. For the second one, he was sentenced to 100 days.

Federal prosecutors agreed to drop charges against Devontre Thomas, a 19-year who faced prosecution for being caught with a very small amount of weed at a federally run boarding school for Native Americans in Oregon.

A Massachusetts court ruled that smoking MED violated a man’s probation.

Two men face criminal charges connected with the failed attempt to open a cannabis resort on a reservation in South Dakota.

Following a robbery at a Portland dispensary, police said Oregon pot shops are not attracting a disproportionate amount of crime . 

The DEA’s criteria for whether a home contains a grow operation are very broad.

The New York Times reports on Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte’s unapologetically brutal war on drugs.

In Connecticut, schoolchildren will used seized grow lights to produce food.

The Kind investigates the judging of High Times Cannabis Cups, and speaks to Max Montrose, a connoisseur and critic of the high stakes process.

Vice learns about life as a “ trim bitch” on an illegal weed farm. The money is good, but conditions aren’t and sexual harassment is a problem.

Rapper Snoop Dogg is the executive producer of the new MTV weed comedy “ Mary + Jane.”

Recently retired NFL player Eugene Monroe has a new column at The Cannabist.

Frankie Schnarrs, owner of Frankie’s Sports Pub in Olympia, Wash. said he’ll continue to allow patrons to use cannabis despite a recent fine and suspended liquor license, which he’s also ignoring. "I want them to take my license from me. They can go to Hell,” he told a reporter. “Get out of here. Get off my property."

The Guardian hangs out with three elderly British women in Amsterdam, while they try pot for the first time. They enjoyed themselves at a playground, swinging on the swings.

Artist Tony Greenhand is well paid to roll joints that resemble guns, animals and other elaborate shapes.

Leafly looks back at jazz great Louis Armstrong’s long fondness for cannabis, which he called “the gage.”

Butane extraction has reached the U.K.

Cannabis tampons.

Here's the WeedWeek list of pot journalists on Twitter and the new list of cannabusiness people on Twitter. Both are incomplete works in progress. 

Want to reach a devoted audience of top cannabis professionals? Advertise in WeedWeek. Contact Adrienne Nascimento at  weedweekads@gmail.com  for details. 

Bye,

Alex 

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