420 News Archives - Page 29 of 41 - The Real Dirt with Chip Baker

Detroit to issue recreational marijuana licenses in summer 2021

by The Real Dirt | Dec 14, 2020 | 420 News, Blog, Business, Cannabis Law, Culture

Detroit — Starting January, longtime city residents will be the first to apply for certification and secure recreational marijuana licenses by the summer, city officials announced Wednesday.

Mayor Mike Duggan and councilman James Tate unveiled a timeline urging residents eager to jumpstart their marijuana business to begin by applying for Detroit Legacy certification opening online Jan. 19. The first licenses could be issued to qualified residents as soon as June.

Tender Jacob Samways, left, lets Gregg Etzel, 67, of Dundee smell some marijuana flowers during the first day of sales of recreational marijuana at Exclusive Provisioning Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. on Dec. 1, 2019.

The city’s long-awaited ordinance for recreational marijuana, which was unveiled in October, guarantees no less than half of all licenses awarded will go to legacy residents.

“It’s by far the most controversial provision,” Duggan said. “The city will not issue a license to any business unless 50% of the licenses in that category are Detroiters. Which means if you’re from outside the city, you can’t get a license unless a Detroiter already has one. We’ll never go below 50%.”

The plan, city leaders say, was crafted to ensure residents disproportionately affected by the nation’s failed “War on Drugs” will have an equitable opportunity to participate in an industry that’s estimated to yield $3 billion in annual sales. In late November, the city council unanimously approved the ordinance.

“It was imperative for us to ensure we right that wrong,” Tate said. “We have individuals who are making a very good living on marijuana today, the same plant that created this situation of mass incarceration around our country in the city of Detroit, so this is an opportunity for us.”

Applicants can qualify for the “legacy” certification if they’ve lived in Detroit for 15 of the last 30 years; lived in Detroit for 13 of the last 30 years and are low-income; or lived in Detroit for 10 of the last 30 years and have a past marijuana-related conviction.

Legacy Detroiters will receive benefits including reduced fees, technical assistance and a six-week period when only legacy Detroiter applications will be reviewed before the rest of the public by the city’s Civil Rights, Inclusion and Opportunity Department.

Legacy Detroiters will be able to purchase city-owned land at 25% of the fair market value and all application fees be slashed to 1% of the total cost.

Detroit officials have announced plans to give certain residents a head start and other assistance in applying for marijuana licenses.

“These are for real Detroiters, those who have roots in the community,” Duggan said. “Or you can qualify as a business legacy, owned and controlled 51% by individuals with the legacy certification.”

Despite the scrutiny they face, “Detroit is ready for this huge lift,” Tate said.

He added it was rare to witness overwhelming excitement about an ordinance but said it’s because “now (residents) have that sense of opportunity and hope.”

How to apply

The adult-use law is expected to go into effect in January and Detroiters can start by reviewing the process at detroitmeansbusiness.org.

Starting Jan. 19, the website will open for applications for legacy certification. Applicants will also need state certification through the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency.

The state requirements include a $6,000 fee with reductions for those involved in social equity programs. Applicants must provide the state information on the company and have a personal background check.

The state process could take two to three months and Duggan said Detroit applicants can begin the city process in January before state prequalifications are complete.

Starting April 1, Detroiters and general applicants will able to apply for licenses through the Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department.

Legacy Detroiters will be the first applicants reviewed for licenses starting May 1. General applications will be reviewed starting Aug. 1.

City licensing fees will cost $1,000, but only $10 for legacy Detroiters.

“We are going to change the inequity on Detroit versus non-Detroit businesses,” Duggan said. “We’re doing everything we can to create every opportunity for Detroiters to start these businesses.”

The city will license up to 75 adult-use retailers, the same number it allows for medical marijuana provisioning centers. Officials said it amounted to one dispensary every two square miles in the city.

Applicants will need:

Detailed business plans
Three years of income tax returns
Authorizations for background checks
Property tax clearances and clearances of any blight
An address for the business

Those without an address can obtain a provisional license valid for one year and for information on properties. Detroit officials have said only four of the city’s 46 medical marijuana dispensaries — permitted under a law approved by Detroit’s council in 2018 — are owned by residents.

Mitzi Ruddock, a 40-year-old Detroit single mother with a past marijuana conviction, told The News that having a seat at the table made a difference.

“I and many other Detroiters have sacrificed so much to see the day that brings generational wealth to our children through legal cannabis businesses,” said Ruddock.

Read the full story on The Detroit News

Weedmaps agrees on $1.5 billion deal to go public

by The Real Dirt | Dec 12, 2020 | 420 News, Blog, Business

Weedmaps goes public with $1.4 Billion dollar deal

IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–WM Holding Company, LLC (“WMH” or the “Company”) and Silver Spike Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: SSPK) (“Silver Spike”), a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company, announced today a definitive agreement for a business combination that would result in WMH becoming a public company. The combined company will be led by Chris Beals, Chief Executive Officer of WMH, and is expected to remain listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Company Overview

Founded in 2008, WMH operates Weedmaps, the leading online listings marketplace for cannabis consumers and businesses, and WM Business, the most comprehensive SaaS subscription offering sold to cannabis retailers and brands. The Company solely provides software and other technology solutions and is non-plant touching. WMH has grown revenue at a CAGR of 40% over the last five years and is on track to deliver $160 million in revenue and $35 million in EBITDA for 2020.

The cannabis market in the U.S. is expected to double over the next five years as the majority of U.S. adults support having legal access to cannabis. Despite these expectations of growth, cannabis users in the U.S. are still a small sub-segment of the population today, and retail density is still low across the majority of states with regulated legal cannabis markets. The regulations related to these markets are often complex and disparate across states as well as cities and counties within regulated states. Cannabis itself is a highly complex and non-shelf stable consumer product. These dynamics present a challenging and sometimes uncertain environment for consumers seeking legal cannabis products and for businesses selling to cannabis users while operating in a compliant fashion.

WMH addresses these challenges with its Weedmaps marketplace and WM Business SaaS subscription offering. Over the past 12 years, Weedmaps has grown to become the premier destination for cannabis consumers, with over 10 million monthly active users and over 18,000 business listings across every U.S. state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico with a legal cannabis market. Clients of the Company maintain listings in 9 international countries outside of the U.S. Through the Weedmaps website and mobile apps, WMH provides consumers with information regarding cannabis retailers and brands, as well as the availability of cannabis products, facilitating product discovery and online order-ahead for pickup or delivery by participating retailers.

The Company’s cloud-based WM Business SaaS subscription offering provides cannabis retailers with an end-to-end operating system to access valuable users, grow sales and scale their businesses at a compelling return-on-spend. This “business-in-a-box” functionality ranges from integrations supporting product menus that have online order-ahead, delivery order fulfillment software, data & analytics, a point-of-sale solution and a wholesale marketplace. WMH has been investing in and optimizing its WM Business software solution to also facilitate compliance for businesses amidst the complex, disparate and constantly evolving regulations governing the cannabis industry. Underlying this compliance functionality is a proprietary and sophisticated rules engine that is a core underpinning of the WM Business SaaS platform.

Chris Beals, WMH’s Chief Executive Officer, will continue to lead the Company along with the existing management team. Silver Spike’s CEO and Chairman, Scott Gordon, will join the merged company’s Board of Directors upon completion of the transaction.

Management Comments

“We are thrilled to partner with Silver Spike to transition WMH to our next phase of growth as a public company,” said Chris Beals, CEO of WMH. “We passionately believe in the power of cannabis and the importance of enabling safe, legal access to cannabis for consumers worldwide. With this merger, we will be able to continue scaling the Weedmaps marketplace in the U.S. and internationally in service of our users while expanding the functionality of our WM Business SaaS offerings in service of our clients.

Our partnership with Silver Spike will provide us a stronger platform to advance our mission to advocate for legalization, social equity and licensing in many jurisdictions while providing cannabis businesses with the tools needed to succeed in a highly complex world of regulations. I am grateful for the continued support from my teammates and investors and most thankful for the thousands – and what I expect over time to be hundreds of thousands – of business clients on our platform. We are energized by the opportunities to continue helping our business clients thrive as regulated cannabis markets expand and grow.”

Read the full press release on LA Cannabis News

Texas Hemp Harvested For First Time in 80 Years

by The Real Dirt | Dec 10, 2020 | 420 News, Blog, Hemp, Hemp Law

farmers are harvesting hemp in Texas for the first time in decades

Hemp is being harvested in Texas for the first time in 80 years.

The state created its own program as part of the Federal Farm Bill and this is the first year farmers in the Lone Star State are able to give it a shot and cultivate Texas hemp.

One of those farmers is Aaron Owens. He’s a first-time Texas hemp farmer but he’s not new to cannabis or tending to land. He spent 15 years ranching in Ozona, Texas, before moving to Central Texas to focus on hemp.

Besides being among the first to harvest in Texas, what makes his company, Tejas Hemp, unique is the type of hemp it’s growing.

“This particular cultivar has never been grown in the United States. No one has ever had it before. It’s the first-ever sativa hemp, meaning that where an indica will slow you down and help you relax and reduce shaking and make you go to sleep, a sativa actually increases awareness and focus and takes you into the other direction. It’s more of a stimulating thing,” explained Owens.

It’s not the type of cannabis that’ll get you high – that’s still illegal in Texas. But Democrats at the Texas State Capitol are again working to change that, saying legalizing and taxing marijuana could help the state’s economy recover from the pandemic. For now Texas hemp will have to suffice for farmers and consumers.

“It’s inevitable at this point, we’re going to federally legalize marijuana, there’s no question. Is it this year, next year, five years? We don’t know. What we do know is that every year that goes by in Texas that we don’t legalize, that’s another year that the other people get ahead of us,” said Owens.

Republicans have been hesitant to loosen restrictions on cannabis. But in the meantime, Tejas Hemp will be farming what is legal and even has plans for a Texas hemp “tasting room” on their land as the state’s laws around the plant also grow.

The Texas Hemp Coalition has been advocating legislators and consumers across the state on the different benefits of the crop. One of the things Hemp farmers would also like to see is for the state’s ban on smokable hemp to be lifted.

Next session they hope lawmakers will make it easier for farmers like Owens to reap the benefits of their crops here in Texas.

Read the original story on Spectrum News 1

The Future of Legal Cannabis in Florida

by The Real Dirt | Dec 9, 2020 | 420 News, Blog, Cannabis Law, Cannabis Law and Compliance, Culture

The passing of the MORE Act in the House has gotten Floridians talking about their future.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday voted to decriminalize marijuana. Most Democrats supported the bill that would enact that change. Most Republicans did not. The bill is unlikely to gain traction in the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate.

Was Congress’ historic vote an early sign of momentum to legalize marijuana across the United States? Or is was it a low-stakes move on a splashy issue that’s unlikely to go anywhere?

Florida is home to plenty who are interested in the answer.

“We talk all the time on the right about the need to empower people and empower states,” U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, said in an impassioned speech on the House floor in support of the bill, the MORE Act. “Right now, the federal policy on cannabis constrains our people. It limits our states.”

Gaetz, who helped author Florida’s very first medical marijuana program as a state representative in 2014, was one of just five Republicans to support the bill. Another Florida Republican, Brian Mast, R-Palm City, also voted for the measure. Mast’s office did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

In addition to essentially legalizing marijuana at the federal level, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act establishes a federal tax on cannabis products. That tax money would be set aside in a trust fund for people and businesses that have been affected by the federal war on drugs. A 2020 study by the American Civil Liberties Union showed that Black Americans are nearly four times more likely than white Americans to be arrested for marijuana possession, despite using the drug at a similar rate.

The MORE Act, if signed into law, would also start a formal process for expunging federal marijuana convictions. People serving federal sentences for cannabis-related crimes would get review hearings.

It’s unclear how many Floridians are in federal prison for marijuana-related crimes. But FBI data showed that in 2018, 40 percent of all state and local drug arrests were for marijuana-related offenses. More than 90 percent of those arrests were for possession, according to the Pew Research Center.

Read the full story from Tampa Bay Times

How Oklahoma Became the Nation’s Hottest Weed Market

by The Real Dirt | Dec 8, 2020 | 420, 420 Culture & Travel, 420 News, Blog, Cannabis Law, Cannabis Law and Compliance, Culture, Politico

How oklahoma became the largest cannabis market in the country

Oklahoma entered the world of legal cannabis late, but its hands-off approach launched a boom and a new nickname: ‘Toke-lahoma.’

WELLSTON, Oklahoma—One day in the early fall of 2018, while scrutinizing the finances of his thriving Colorado garden supply business, Chip Baker noticed a curious development: transportation costs had spiked fivefold. The surge, he quickly determined, was due to huge shipments of cultivation supplies—potting soil, grow lights, dehumidifiers, fertilizer, water filters—to Oklahoma.

Baker, who has been growing weed since he was 13 in Georgia, has cultivated crops in some of the world’s most notorious marijuana hotspots, from the forests of Northern California’s Emerald Triangle to the lake region of Switzerland to the mountains of Colorado. Oklahoma was not exactly on his radar. So one weekend in October, Baker and his wife Jessica decided to take a drive to see where all their products were ending up.

Voters in the staunchly conservative state had just four months earlier authorized a medical marijuana program and sales were just beginning. The Bakers immediately saw the potential for the fledgling market. With no limits on marijuana business licenses, scant restrictions on who can obtain a medical card, and cheap land, energy and building materials, they believed Oklahoma could become a free-market weed utopia and they wanted in.

Within two weeks, they found a house to rent in Broken Bow and by February had secured a lease on an empty Oklahoma City strip mall. Eventually they purchased a 110-acre plot of land down a red dirt road about 40 miles northeast of Oklahoma City that had previously been a breeding ground for fighting cocks and started growing high-grade strains of cannabis with names like Purple Punch, Cookies and Cream and Miracle Alien.“This is exactly like Humboldt County was in the late 90s,” Baker says, as a trio of workers chop down marijuana plants that survived a recent ice storm. “The effect this is going to have on the cannabis nation is going to be incredible.”Oklahoma is now the biggest medical marijuana market in the country on a per capita basis. More than 360,000 Oklahomans—nearly 10 percent of the state’s population—have acquired medical marijuana cards over the last two years. By comparison, New Mexico has the country’s second most popular program, with about 5 percent of state residents obtaining medical cards. Last month, sales since 2018 surpassed $1 billion.

To meet that demand, Oklahoma has more than 9,000 licensed marijuana businesses, including nearly 2,000 dispensaries and almost 6,000 grow operations. In comparison, Colorado—the country’s oldest recreational marijuana market, with a population almost 50 percent larger than Oklahoma—has barely half as many licensed dispensaries and less than 20 percent as many grow operations. In Ardmore, a town of 25,000 in the oil patch near the Texas border, there are 36 licensed dispensaries—roughly one for every 700 residents. In neighboring Wilson (pop. 1,695), state officials have issued 32 cultivation licenses, meaning about one out of 50 residents can legally grow weed.

Read the rest of Chip Baker’s feature in POLITICO here!

Retail sales drive application surge among Missouri medical cannabis patients

by The Real Dirt | Dec 5, 2020 | 420 News, Blog, Cannabis Law

Patient, caregiver applications increase more than 60 percent as dispensaries open statewide.

The continuing rollout of retail medical cannabis sales across Missouri appears to be fueling a new surge in prospective patient and caregiver interest, state records show.

On Monday, the state Department of Health and Senior Services reported approving nearly 70,000 patients and caregivers — with another 17,000-plus application (including those deactivated or that expired without renewal) pending review.

The six weeks since the state’s first sale of medical cannabis by St. Louis County dispensary N’Bliss on Oct. 17 have seen a weekly average of more than 1,600 new patient and caregiver applications to the state.

By comparison, the state had received roughly 1,000 such new applications each week since the program’s June 2019 start. Excluding the shortened holiday week of Thanksgiving, the short-term increase tops 70 percent.

“As the Missouri medical cannabis industry literally takes shape before our eyes, it’s no surprise that more patients and caregivers are signing up,” said Andrew Mullins, executive director of MoCannTrade (Missouri Medical Cannabis Trade Association). “Patient participation has already exceeded levels seen in other states at similar junctures, and we fully expect interest to only grow as more businesses come online.”

As of Wednesday, Nov. 25, the state had approved 30 medical cannabis businesses for operation, including 16 retail dispensaries and 10 cultivation sites. Another 35 businesses are awaiting final state inspections.

The end-of-2020 green rush also means the rollout of thousands of new jobs for Missourians. Through Monday, DHSS reports receiving more than 900 agent ID application requests as part of the screening process for medical cannabis workers, with 857 approved to date.