Tag: marijuana dispensaries

Michigan Grapples With Marijuana Licensing

Michigan has been slow to give out business licenses to sell marijuana.

A judge in Michigan ruled this week that the state could not shut down marijuana retailers while they await a review of their application for a license to sell marijuana.

The ruling highlights the latest in a series of hurdles facing states in the process of setting up a retail marijuana market. In Michigan, which became the first midwestern state to legalize recreational cannabis last November, marijuana business owners have complained about the state’s slow approval process.

Because the state has been slow to give out licenses, dispensaries have been allowed to remain open while their applications were reviewed, according to the Detroit Metro Times.

There had been a deadline of March 31, but on Thursday (March 28) a judge from the Michigan Court of Claims barred the state from shutting down the shops.

“Until further order of the court, [The Bureau of Marijuana Regulation] will maintain the status quo and not enforce the March 31 deadline with respect to both temporary operating facilities and caregiver products,” said David Harns, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.

Even though Michigan legalized marijuana, the slow pace of setting up its legal market has allowed illegal sales to continue to thrive. Not to mention the steep cost of obtaining a license to sell marijuana—which includes a $6,000 application fee and $66,000 a year for the license.

The state has struggled to license enough dispensaries to keep up with demand, Harns said in February.

“We are focused on moving ahead by setting [a] regulatory framework to help create an industry in which licensed businesses can be successful,” he said. “We are constantly in contact with stakeholders, licensed operators and applicants to get a better understanding of how the regulatory environment affects them.”

Michigan isn’t the only state that has legalized marijuana only to grapple with licensing issues.

In March, the Sacramento Bee reported that California officials had approved only a fraction of its total applications received. The state gave out temporary licenses as a way to keep the legal market going despite the slow approval process.

However, those temporary licenses are set to expire in the coming months and California has yet to approve enough permanent licensing to support the legal cannabis industry.

“This is the worst way to transition a multibillion-dollar agricultural crop, which employs thousands of Californians. Without legal licenses, there isn’t a legal, regulated market in California,” said State Sen. Mike McGuire, a Democrat who sponsored a bill to extend the validity of temporary licenses.

McGuire added, “In a time where the Golden State is working overtime to bring the cannabis industry out of the black market and into the light of a legal regulatory environment, we can’t afford to let good actors who want to comply with state law fall out of our regulated market just because timelines are too short and departments have been unable to process applications in time due to the sheer number of applications.”

View the original article at thefix.com

3 April 2019
Marijuana Equity Programs Help People Of Color Access Growing Industry

“We’re not just budtenders, not just security guards anymore. We’re owners now,” said a marijuana dispensary owner.

It has been well-documented that the war on drugs has disproportionately affected communities of color. Now, as marijuana legalization becomes more common, some municipalities are helping people of color get into the legal marijuana business, saying it’s a matter of social justice.

“We actually do have to overcorrect. People from our communities, black and brown communities, were the one first ones to be criminalized. Why shouldn’t we be the first ones to benefit?” Kassandra Frederique, the New York state director of the Drug Policy Alliance, told USA Today.

Initially, many licensing laws for legal marijuana businesses excluded anyone with a criminal record. However, policymakers and social justice advocates realized that that was continuing a cycle of discrimination.

“You make the industry super-hard to get into, that only people who are squeaky clean can get into it, because you know all eyes are on you. However, that is the approach always, always, that you take to whitewash things and make it clean. That’s literally what you say before you fire the black people and the minorities,” said Adam Powers, an African-American man who works in the cannabis industry in Washington state.

Now, policies are emerging around the country to make legal marijuana businesses more accessible to people of color, who are more likely to have marijuana-related offenses on their criminal records.

The California Cannabis Equity Act of 2018 called for “persons most harmed by cannabis criminalization and poverty be offered assistance to enter the multibillion-dollar industry as entrepreneurs or as employees with high-quality, well-paying jobs.”

In Massachusetts, equity programs run by the Cannabis Control Commission have a similar task.

Tucky Blunt, who was convicted for selling marijuana illegally years ago, now operates a legal dispensary thanks to the equity applicant program in Oakland, California, which prioritizes businesses operated by people who have criminal convictions for selling marijuana.

Blunt said that many in his community had their lives disrupted by marijuana convictions.

“It affected everybody in my circle because it was only targeted to us. I knew white people that was selling weed that never went to jail. The war on drugs was just about putting as many of us in jail in possible. It tore up a lot of families,” he said.

Now, he is happy to make his mark on the legal marijuana industry, which continues to be dominated by white men.

“We’re not just budtenders, not just security guards anymore. We’re owners now,” Blunt said. “To be able to sell this legally in my city, literally 10 blocks from where I caught my case, I’m fine—I wasn’t going to let anything stop me. I’m the new kid on the block, and I’m here to change the game.”

View the original article at thefix.com

26 February 2019
Should Liquor Stores & Pot Dispensaries Be Allowed Near Rehabs?

A Boston city council member is proposing that pot dispensaries and liquor stores shouldn’t be allowed to open near addiction treatment centers.

In East Boston, city officials are considering a proposal to open a pot dispensary on the same block as a healthcare facility where patients are treated for drug and alcohol addiction.

City Councilor Lydia Edwards is proposing that state law should not allow such close proximity of the two diametrically opposed businesses.

As the crisis of addiction in the United States continues to escalate with overdose deaths increasing yearly, some believe the U.S. needs laws setting boundaries between pot and alcohol stores and recovery centers.

In Boston, a half-mile buffer is required between marijuana facilities—meant to protect the city from having entire blocks focused on pot sales—and state law allows municipalities to impose 500-foot buffers on marijuana facilities around K-12 schools.

However, it’s unclear if this would extend to allowing cities and towns to legally increase the size of such buffers or to include other facilities—such as addiction treatment centers—in the law.

Edwards said that Boston should consider banning marijuana and liquor stores from opening near addiction treatment centers. She has requested a hearing on the possibility of these zones. Other industry groups responded quickly that “buffer zones” could be illegal.

According to The Boston Globe, Edwards argues that people trying to recover from addiction require protection from the presence of marijuana and alcohol. Edwards added that she supported the legalization of marijuana—Boston residents voted largely in favor of a 2016 ballot initiative that created a commercial cannabis market.

“I would equally be concerned if a bar was opening up next to a substance abuse treatment [center], or if a liquor store was,” Edwards told The Globe. “I’m not trying to put in red tape or further convolute the access to this burgeoning industry, but the fights are happening, the tears are flowing, and people are tense about this. I think it’s a citywide conversation we need to have.”

The marijuana company Omnicann is attempting to open a retail pot shop in a two-story space in East Boston. The North Suffolk Mental Health Association is two doors down and operates an addiction treatment center.

Omnicann, led by Arish Halani, is offering to meet with North Suffolk leaders and to promise that the marijuana shop will not have its product in window displays.

“We’d like to be a model for how a cannabis retail facility and an abuse treatment facility can co-exist and maybe even help each other,” said Jim Borghesani, an Omnicann spokesman.

The direct impact on those seeking addiction treatment who find their treatment center a few doors down from a store that dispenses drugs or alcohol is not proven.

“As always, there isn’t as much data as we’d like to inform policy,” said. Dr. Eden Evins, the founding director of Massachusetts General Hospital’s Center for Addiction Medicine.

Edwards said Boston should create a registry of potential marijuana facilities to alert prospective operators that their desired locations are close to another facility.

View the original article at thefix.com

26 October 2018
Los Angeles Cracks Down On Unlicensed Pot Shops

Authorities estimate that there may be more than 200 retailers operating in Los Angeles without proper licensing.

Misdemeanor charges were filed against more than 500 individuals in Los Angeles as part of City Attorney Mike Feuer’s campaign against unlicensed marijuana-related businesses.

At a press conference on September 7, Feuer said that the charges were part of 120 criminal cases, and carry a possible sentence of six months in jail and fines of up to $1,000.

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michael Moore, who was also in attendance at the press conference, added that city prosecutors may try to seize properties that are linked to illegal marijuana businesses by civil action.

As both KTLA-TV and High Times noted, Feuer’s office began its crackdown on unlicensed marijuana businesses in June 2018 in an attempt to align the city’s cannabis industry with the regulations established by the 2016 passage of Proposition 64 by the state of California, which legalized recreational marijuana for individuals 21 years or older.

When the law was implemented in 2018, the state added a number ofnew and far stricter regulations in regard to packaging, contents and testing cannabis products, which took effect on July 1, 2018.

Products that did not comply with the new regulations were required by law to be disposed of at the business’s expense, forcing many retailers to either sell their product at deep discounts or destroy it; by some estimates, the latter was estimated at $350 million in potential cannabis sales.

According to Feuer, the new regulations—and making sure that businesses adhere to them—are in line with what Los Angeles-based voters sought from Proposition 64.

“[They] wanted common-sense rules to regulate recreational marijuana so public safety is protected in our neighborhoods,” he said at the press conference. “Our message is clear: if you are operating an illegal cannabis business, you will be held accountable.”

The city has so far charged 21 individuals who have pled guilty or no contest to misdemeanor charges or infractions related to marijuana regulations. One person was reportedly sent to a diversion program, and 11 cases appear to have been dismissed.

Authorities estimate that there may be more than 200 retailers that are operating in Los Angeles without proper licensing. “The Los Angeles Police Department will continue to assign resources, dedicate personnel to take [enforcement] action—criminal action—against unlicensed retailers, manufacturers [and] cultivators who have not followed the rules,” said Police Chief Michael Moore.

Some in the cannabis industry have supported Feuer’s efforts. Adam Spiker, executive director of the Southern California Coalition, said that cracking down on black market retailers is beneficial for the state’s industry as a whole. “I applaud the city for doing this,” he said. “You can’t have a regulated industry without strong enforcement.”

View the original article at thefix.com

13 September 2018
Does Having A Marijuana Dispensary Nearby Increase Teen Drug Use?

A new study explored how factors like proximity, price and product variety might influence adolescents to use marijuana.

Despite the increased availability of marijuana dispensaries, teens aren’t any more likely to smoke weed, a new study revealed. According to High Times, researchers from the University of California San Diego Department of Family Medicine and Public Health examined how factors like proximity, price and product variety might influence adolescents to use marijuana.

“There was no evidence supporting the associations of medical marijuana availability, price, or product variety around school with adolescents’ marijuana use and susceptibility to use,” the study’s authors wrote.

The number of dispensaries in any given neighborhood, nor a dispensary’s proximity to a school appeared to be contributing factors to teen marijuana use, the report indicated.

“Neither the product price nor the product variety in the dispensary nearest to school was associated with marijuana use or susceptibility to use,” the report added. “The results were robust to different specifications of medical marijuana measures.”

Little to no research has been conducted on the possible connection between marijuana dispensaries and cannabis use, the researchers said, which makes their study as necessary as it is unique.

By contrast, there exists a significant amount of research in regards to the link between drug and alcohol availability, and teenagers’ choices to smoke or drink.

“Despite the strong relationship between retail outlets and alcohol and tobacco use documented by a number of studies, examination of the associations of medical marijuana dispensaries with marijuana use remains limited,” they wrote.

The study’s authors examined the responses of more than 46,000 8th, 10th and 12th graders (across 117 schools) who participated in the 2015-16 California Student Tobacco Survey.

“For now, there appears to be no basis for the argument that legalizing medical marijuana has increased teens’ use of the drug,” Deborah Hasin, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, concluded earlier this year.

Hasin cited a report that examined teen marijuana use between 1991 and 2014, which compared teen pot use before and after medical marijuana was legalized in a given state.

Still, not everyone is convinced, PBS reported: a chorus of counselors, parents, physicians, and public health experts continue to sound off about the threat that legal marijuana poses for teenagers.

“Colorado and other states where marijuana is legal have crafted regulations holding dispensaries accountable for selling their products to minors, and sent out educational messages aimed at preventing kids from gaining access to marijuana,” PBS noted.

Colorado pediatrician Christian Thurstone says that he’s observed a steadily growing marijuana addiction rate among teenagers ever since 2010, when private companies were given the green light to market and sell medical marijuana.

In fact, even if the number of teenagers using pot remained flat year over year in Colorado, Thurstone said, the rate of teenagers seeking addiction treatment would climb no matter what.

Unfortunately, not enough recovery resources exist for teenagers, PBS noted, claiming that only one in 10 people with an addiction ever seek treatment.

“We just need more [treatment options],” Thurstone said. “We’re just scratching the surface, but we may be doing better than one in 10.”

You can read more about the impact of medicinal cannabis and why “Big Pharma” is panicking because of it over at cbdoilroom.com in their article “Why Big Pharma Is Panicking Over CBD Oil’s Proliferation“.

View the original article at thefix.com

15 August 2018