MAP Drugnews

sun-sentinel.com (US) River Forest investors land most medical marijuana licenses in Illinois - Sun Sentinel Locals land most medical marijuana licenses in state One of biggest medical marijuana businesses in state is based in Oak Park and River Forest As medical marijuana gets closer to debuting across Illinois. (Sat May 26 14:08:57 2018 PDT) [$drug_related(100%), $drugwar_propaganda(75%), $propaganda_theme2(75%), $propaganda_theme3(75%), $illegal_drugs(100%), $drugs(100%), $compassion_club(100%), $plants(100%), $intoxicant(100%), $medical_cannabis(100%), $cannabis(100%), $cannabis_industry(85%), $various_drugs(100%), $school(100%)]

sun-sentinel.com (US) New lawsuit challenges Illinois medical marijuana license for Will Co. - Sun Sentinel New lawsuit challenges Illinois medical marijuana license for Will Co. (Sat May 26 14:08:57 2018 PDT) [$drug_related(100%), $drugwar_propaganda(50%), $propaganda_theme2(50%), $propaganda_theme3(50%), $illegal_drugs(100%), $drugs(90%), $plants(100%), $intoxicant(100%), $medical_cannabis(100%), $cannabis(100%), $various_drugs(90%), $aggrandizement(100%)]

sun-sentinel.com (US) New medical marijuana lawsuits question Illinois permits - Sun Sentinel New medical marijuana lawsuits question Illinois permits Advocacy groups are now drafting a 2016 ballot initiative that could transform California from a place where only medical marijuana is legal to a global center of state-approved recreational weed. (Sat May 26 14:08:57 2018 PDT) [$drug_related(100%), $illegal_drugs(100%), $drug_law(100%), $plants(100%), $intoxicant(100%), $medical_cannabis(100%), $cannabis(100%), $msm(100%), $mockingbird(100%), $assoc_press(100%)]

baltimoresun.com (US) Jealous would give teachers 29 percent raises over a period of years and legalize marijuana to help fund it. Jealous would give teachers 29 percent raises over a period of years and legalize marijuana to help fu... (Sat May 26 14:06:09 2018 PDT)

nj.com (US) Which Curaleaf says is the largest on the East Coast. Is directly across the street from the old dispensary in an industrial section of Bellmawr. (Sat May 26 14:03:56 2018 PDT)

chicagotribune.com (US) There's one valuable thing we'll lose when police stop arresting people for smoking pot: A sense of just how misleading our crime data are. (Sat May 26 14:01:17 2018 PDT)

ABC Action News
You can now legally smoke medical marijuana in Florida, judge ...
ABC Action News
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — On Friday, a judge ruled that patients approved to use medical marijuana will be allowed to smoke it. Florida voters legalized medical ...
Judge Rules Patients Can Smoke Marijuana In FloridaCBS Miami
Florida's smoking ban on medical marijuana struck down by judgeTampabay.com
Florida's ban on smokable medical marijuana ruled unconstitutionalOrlando Sentinel
Orlando Weekly (blog) -TCPalm -Fox 4
all 23 news articles »

Law.com
California measure to slash marijuana taxes suffers setback
Financial Post
Legislation that would have slashed taxes on legal pot for three years to entice people away from the black market failed to advance out of a key legislative committee Friday. “Today was another big win for the black market,” said Assemblyman Tom ...
California Spikes Proposed Workplace Marijuana ProtectionsLaw.com

all 9 news articles »

National Post
Snoop Dogg lauds Canada's growing cannabis industry at Montreal tech conference
National Post
Snoop, known internationally for his insatiable affection for cannabis as much as his best-selling music, has a significant presence in Canada's burgeoning marijuana industry. Ontario-based Canopy Growth, a medical marijuana company poised to break ...

and more »

Leafly
4 Types of People You See at Cannabis Dispensaries
Leafly
The dispensary scene is relatively new for all of us, and every visit is an excellent people-watching opportunity. All types of folks from all walks of life enjoy the beloved cannabis. As a long-time enthusiast, I could make a bingo card of the ...

The Denver Post
500 tons of marijuana was produced for sale in Colorado last year
The Denver Post
Colorado's legal marijuana grows produced tons — nearly 500 of them — of cannabis last year. And the state's cannabis consumers ate, smoked, vaped and dabbed that right up. Colorado's marijuana shops sold 11.1 million edibles, 411,000 pounds of ...
3/4 of new Colorado marijuana licenses issued to recreational industryKRDO
State Report: Tougher To Buy Marijuana Underage Than Tobacco And AlcoholCBS Denver

all 9 news articles »

CNN
Cannabis oil stopped his seizures but may keep him from his football dream
CNN
(CNN) A high school football player who takes cannabis oil to prevent his seizures has been ruled ineligible to play in college, a decision that has sparked outrage from advocates, lawmakers and sports fans. C.J. Harris, a standout strong safety ...
Cannabis oil stopped his seizures but may keep him from his football dream teamKYMA
An Auburn walk-on's family says NCAA rules make him ineligible because he uses cannabis oil to treat seizuresSB Nation
Cannabis oil not reason Auburn rescinded spot to walk-on safety, per sourceAL.com
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
all 24 news articles »

The Globe and Mail
Even with legalized marijuana, organized crime isn't going away
The Globe and Mail
Jerry Langton's books include The Hard Way Out and The Secret Life of Bikers: Inside the Hidden World of Organized Crime. Many Canadians believe that the legalization of recreational marijuana use will deal a crippling blow to organized crime. I'd love ...

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
New York keeps inching closer to marijuana legalization
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
ALBANY - New York's health regulators are nearing completion of a much-anticipated study of recreational marijuana that could clear the way for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to support legalizing the drug. The state Department of Health has signaled it will soon ...

and more »

The path away from the black market is hitting some serious bumps.

California is on track to generate $1.9 billion in legal marijuana sales this year, according tonew data from a financial analysis firm tracking the market. That’s a lot of weed, but it’s only half the amount the same firm earlier estimated the state would rake in.

The estimates are from New Frontier Data, which crunches cannabis industry numbers, and are based on tax revenues from pot sales, which so far have fallen dramatically short of projections. According to New Frontier, the state collected $33.6 million in pot taxes between January 1 and March 31, which makes it extremely unlikely that tax revenues will meet original expectations of hitting $175 million in the first half of the year.

New Frontier had earlier estimated that the state would see $3.8 billion in marijuana sales this year, and this latest estimate slashes that number by a whopping 50 percent. The company also slashed its projections for the size of the legal industry by 2025. Instead of the $6.7 billion in sales it earlier estimated, it now says it thinks sales will only hit $4.7 billion, a hefty one-third reduction.

That’s bad news not only for state tax revenues, but also for an industry that is supposed to be coming in out of the cold. What happened? New Frontier has an idea.

“It is quite clear that the new adult use regulations have made it more difficult than anticipated for the legal market to get established and for consumers to transition to from the illicit market. Given the number of local government bans on cannabis businesses, we are not seeing the same kind of conversion rates that we have seen in other legal markets,” said Giadha Aguirre De Carcer, New Frontier Data founder and CEO.

State and local licensing fees for marijuana businesses can range from$5,000 to $120,000 per year, depending on the type and scope of the business. And complying with regulatory mandates, such as those around zoning, water usage, and lab testing, costs even more.

It’s not just onerous—and expensive—regulation for those who want state licenses to grow, distribute, and sell marijuana that is the problem. There’s also a serious lack of buy-in by a good portion of the state’s cities and counties, and that means that a big hunk of the state has no access to local legal marijuana.

“If there’s (no governmental support) locally, then there’s no option for a state license, and that’s why most people are being shut out at this point in time,” California Cannabis Industry Association executive directorLindsay Robinson told the Marijuana Business Daily. “The process gave local authorities an option to kind of sit on their hands, and that’s the biggest barrier that we’re seeing.”

According to CCIA spokeswoman Amy Jenkins, only about a third of the state’s 540 local governmental entities have approved commercial marijuana activity. Lack of legal access is “forcing consumers to turn to the illicit market,”she told the Los Angeles Times this week.

Or return to it. Or stay in it, if they never left. Humboldt State University economics professor Erick Eschkerpegged the size of the state’s pot market—legal and illegal—at about $7.8 billion. Of that, about $2.3 billion came from the medical marijuana market, leaving about $5.5 billion for legal, gray market, and black market pot sales. If the legal market is only accounting for $1.9 billion in sales, that suggests that gray and black market sales are still about twice the size of legal sales. These consumers don’t get hit with stiff sales and excise taxes, and if they can still get it from the guy down the street, why pay those high, state-legal prices?

If California wants to eliminate the black market in marijuana, it’s got a whole lot of work to do. And no matter what steps the state takes to deal with its internal black market, there’s still the export black market to the non-legal states in the rest of the U.S. Ultimately, the only way to end the black market is to legalize it nationwide, but we’re not quite there yet. In the meantime, California’s transition to a legal marijuana regime is facing some unhappy realities.

 Related Stories

• Marijuana Is Now Expected to Become a $25 Billion Industry by 2025
• California's Looming Cannabis Cultivator Crisis: Where Are the Licensed Pot Farmers?
• Why California's Marijuana Taxes Are Much More Than Beer and Wine, But Less Than Cigarettes

Gizmodo
At Least 52 People in Utah Were Poisoned by Fake Cannabis Oil
Gizmodo
But unlike other recent outbreaks, the victims weren't trying to buy synthetic weed: They had bought what they thought was cannabis oil that only contained cannabidiol (CBD), the non-psychoactive ingredient of weed. And many had purchased these ...

and more »

koin.com (US) Antibiotics in Puget Sound mussels - KOIN Scientists find opioids in Puget Sound mussels SEATTLE (AP) - Scientists who track pollution have discovered traces of the pain reliever oxycodone in some Puget Sound mussels. (Fri May 25 21:50:50 2018 PDT) [$drug_related(100%), $drugwar_propaganda(50%), $propaganda_theme6(50%), $illegal_drugs(100%), $drugs(100%), $chemicals(100%), $pharms(100%), $euphoric_stimulant(100%), $analgesic(100%), $opioid(100%), $stimulant(100%), $narcotic(100%), $cocaine(100%), $oxycodone(100%), $various_drugs(100%), $msm(100%), $mockingbird(100%), $assoc_press(100%)]

ijpr.org (US) Beating Addiction: "Digging Holes in My Soul" ... (Fri May 25 21:48:31 2018 PDT) [$drug_related(60%), $drugwar_propaganda(60%), $addiction(60%), $propaganda_theme2(60%), $propaganda_theme3(50%), $illegal_drugs(60%)]

ijpr.org (US) Beating Addiction: "Digging Holes in My Soul" ! Jefferson Public Radio Beating Addiction: "Digging Holes in My Soul" ... (Fri May 25 21:48:31 2018 PDT) [$drug_related(100%), $drugwar_propaganda(60%), $addiction(60%), $propaganda_theme2(60%), $propaganda_theme3(50%), $illegal_drugs(100%), $drugs(95%), $various_drugs(95%), $various_illegal_drugs(100%)]

ijpr.org (US) Oregon Psilocybin Fans Aim To Legalize The experiments with hallucinogenic drugs years ago were meant to find out if they had therapeutic uses... could LSD and its relatives help people?B The experiments with hallucinogenic drugs years ago were meant to find out if they had therapeutic uses... could LSD and its relatives help people?B The answers were never made definitive. (Fri May 25 21:48:31 2018 PDT) [$drug_related(100%), $drugwar_propaganda(100%), $propaganda_theme1(100%), $addiction(60%), $propaganda_theme2(100%), $propaganda_theme3(75%), $use_is_abuse(60%), $gateway(55%), $propaganda_theme4(60%), $propaganda_theme6(90%), $propaganda_theme7(80%), $illegal_drugs(100%), $drugs(100%), $drug_ngo(100%), $drug_law(100%), $govt_prohib_other(50%), $prohibitionist_ngo(100%), $harm_reduction(100%), $syringe_exchange(100%), $legalization(80%), $hallucinogen(100%), $chemicals(100%), $plants(75%), $pharms(100%), $euphoric_depressant(100%), $psychedelic_tryptamine(80%), $euphoric_stimulant(100%), $analgesic(100%), $psychedelic(100%), $opioid(100%), $stimulant(100%), $magic_mushroom(75%), $psilocybin(80%), $methamphetamine(100%), $narcotic(100%), $opiate(100%), $naloxone(100%), $amphetamines(100%), $cocaine(100%), $heroin(100%), $LSD(100%), $various_drugs(100%), $various_illegal_drugs(100%), $incarceration(100%), $school(100%)]