cannabis industry Archives - Page 18 of 22 - The Real Dirt with Chip Baker

SAFE Banking Act Reintroduced In Senate

by The Real Dirt | Mar 24, 2021 | 420 News, Blog, Cannabis Law, Cannabis Law and Compliance, Legalization, Politics

SAFE Banking Act is soon to voted on in the Senate

A bill to protect banks that service state-legal marijuana businesses from being penalized by federal regulators has been reintroduced in the Senate—with nearly a third of the chamber as cosponsors. It’s a development that takes on a new light now that Democrats are back in control the chamber.

This comes days after the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act was refiled in the House, where it passed with bipartisan support as a standalone bill in 2019 and also as part of two COVID-19 relief bills.

The Senate version is being sponsored by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Steve Daines (R-MT), and it currently has 27 other cosponsors. In the House, the legislation has more than 100 members who’ve signed on as cosponsors.

The SAFE Banking Act would ensure that financial institutions could take on cannabis business clients without facing federal penalties. Fear of sanctions has kept many banks and credit unions from working with the industry, forcing marijuana firms to operate on a cash basis that makes them targets of crime and creates complications for financial regulators.

“No one working in a store or behind a register should have to worry about experiencing a traumatic robbery at any moment,” Merkley said in a press release. “That means we can’t keep forcing legal cannabis businesses to operate entirely in cash—a nonsensical rule that is an open invitation to robbery and money laundering. Let’s make 2021 the year that we get this bill signed into law so we can ensure that all legal cannabis businesses have access to the financial services they need to help keep their employees safe.”

Daines added that “Montana businesses shouldn’t have to operate in all cash—they should have a safe way to conduct business.”

Read Full Story on Marijuana Moment

Areas With More Marijuana Dispensaries Have Fewer Opioid Deaths

by The Real Dirt | Mar 9, 2021 | 420 News, Blog, Culture, Legalization, Medical Marijuana, Science & Technology

States with legal cannabis have seen decreases in opioid related deaths

Increasing access to marijuana dispensaries is associated with a significant reduction in opioid-related deaths, according to a new study.

“Higher medical and recreational storefront dispensary counts are associated with reduced opioid related death rates, particularly deaths associated with synthetic opioids such as fentanyl,” the paper, published on Wednesday in the British Medical Association journal’s BMJ, concluded.

It’s a finding that “holds for both medical and recreational dispensaries,” the study says.

Researchers looked at opioid mortality and cannabis dispensary prevalence in 23 U.S.states from 2014 to 2018 and found that, overall, counties where the number of legal marijuana shops increased from one to two experienced a 17 percent reduction in opioid-related fatalities.

Increasing the dispensary count from two to three was linked to an additional 8.5 percent decrease in opioid deaths.

Further, the study found that this trend “appeared particularly strong for deaths associated with synthetic opioids other than methadone, with an estimated 21 percent reduction in mortality rates associated with an increase from one to two dispensaries.”

“If consumers use cannabis and opioids for pain management, increasing the supply of legal cannabis might have implications for fentanyl demand and opioid related mortality rates overall.”

“While the associations documented cannot be assumed to be causal, they suggest a potential association between increased prevalence of medical and recreational cannabis dispensaries and reduced opioid related mortality rates,” the researchers wrote. “This study highlights the importance of considering the complex supply side of related drug markets and how this shapes opioid use and misuse.”

This is far from the first piece of research to draw a connection between legal cannabis access and reduced harms from opioids. Multiple studies have found that marijuana effectively treats conditions like chronic pain for which opioids are regularly prescribed, and surveys show that many patients have substituted addictive painkillers with cannabis.

“Cannabis is generally thought to be a less addictive substance than opioids,” the new study says. “Cannabis can potentially be used medically for pain management and has considerable public support.”

“Our findings suggest that increasing availability of legal cannabis (modeled through the presence of medical and recreational dispensary operations) is associated with a decrease in deaths associated with the T40.4 class of opioids, which include the highly potent synthetic opioid fentanyl,” it continues. “This finding is especially important because fentanyl related deaths have become the most common opioid related cause of death.”

Earlier this month, a separate study determined that medical cannabis use is associated with significant reductions in dependence on opioids and other prescription drugs, as well as an increase in quality of life.

Read the full story from Marijuana Moment

Thailand in green rush as government pushes Thai cannabis as cash crop

by The Real Dirt | Mar 8, 2021 | 420 News, Blog, Business, Cannabis Law and Compliance, Hemp, Hemp Law, Politics

Thailand cannabis could become a major economy booster

BURIRAM, Thailand (Reuters) – Thais flocked to a cannabis exhibition as interest and demand in the plant surges after the government unlocked hemp use in food and cosmetics in the latest move to promote a new cash crop.

The government held a convention in Buriram province in northeastern Thailand over the weekend to educate the public on cannabis use and promote businesses. People were able to taste hemp-based noodles, ice-cream and drinks.

Hemp plants are a variety of cannabis that have higher concentrations of CBD, the non-psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, and lower levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

“Ganja (marijuana) is the rising star to bring our good quality of lives and money back in our purses as good (economy) as before and even better,” said Withid Sarideechaikoo, director of Buriram public health and organiser of the Cannabis 360° event, referring to the plant’s local name.

“It will bring good quality of lives to us and to the country.”

Thailand has been pushing cannabis as a cash crop and state drug maker the Government Pharmaceutical Organization has said it would buy a kilogram of cannabis with 12% CBD, the non-psychoactive ingredient, for 45,000 baht ($1,500).

A group of seven individuals could form a village enterprise and seek government permission to grow hemp.

Thailand, which has a tradition of using cannabis to relieve pain and fatigue, legalised marijuana for medical use and research in 2017 to boost agricultural income.

“It is in Thais’ mindset that delicious noodle soup with beef should added with ganja,” said noodle shop owner Sitthichan Wutthiphonkun.

“This thing (cannabis) will not only boost our restaurant business, but it will drive the whole economy. People will want to try it from food to cosmetics.”

(Writing by Chayut Setboonsarng, editing by Ed Osmond)

Original story from Yahoo Finance

Florida Marijuana Sales Ranks Third In Country for 2020

by The Real Dirt | Feb 24, 2021 | 420 News, Blog, Business, Legalization, Medical Marijuana

Florida marijuana sales rank third in the country for 2020

Florida’s medical cannabis marketplace generated an estimated $1.3 billion in sales last year, ranking third in the country for 2020 cannabis sales.

Although Florida has just a medical cannabis system, the state emerged as one of the nation’s most active cannabis markets in 2020, according to the recent cannabis jobs report by Leafly and Whitney Economics.

Florida ranked third in the country for cannabis sales in 2020 with an estimated total reaching $1.3 billion, only behind Colorado and California, which both have adult-use cannabis markets and have had medical cannabis systems since the 1990s.

Home to 331 dispensaries spread across the state, Florida added 170,000 patients in 2020, bringing the total of registered patients to nearly a half million at 485,693. The state also added roughly 15,000 cannabis jobs in 2020, bringing the total number of Floridians employed by the medical cannabis sector to 31,444. The report suggests Florida’s cannabis receipts could easily double if the state adopted adult-use cannabis, estimating the potential for up to $2.1 billion in sales, $800,000 per month in taxes, and up to 80,000 local jobs by 2025.

“With a state population of nearly 22 million, Florida could reasonably double its current total of cannabis jobs if it chose to legalize for all adults.” — Excerpt from the Leafly and Whitney Economics job report

Despite the high sales numbers, Florida’s medical cannabis structure has led to some issues. Additionally, there are a handful of adult-use and medical cannabis reform bills currently stalled in the Florida legislature.

Currently, a case working its way through the courts seeks to overturn the state’s vertically integrated regulatory structure on grounds that it is unconstitutional, The Center Square reports. Already having won its challenge in Tallahassee District Court, the case will be considered next by the Florida Supreme Court on March 1.

At least one bill seeking to limit THC levels in medical cannabis products will reach committee consideration, however, setting up a potential contest between the growing cannabis prevention movement, a tax-hungry state budget, and medical cannabis patients.

Read Original Story from Ganjapreneur

Arkansas medical marijuana sales hit $175M in 2020

by The Real Dirt | Jan 20, 2021 | 420 News, Blog, Business, Cannabis Law, Cannabis Law and Compliance, Medical Marijuana

Arkansas medical marijuana sales saw a big boom in 2020

Medical marijuana sales in Arkansas reached $175 million in 2020, ending the year with a record $1.22 million day.

The Marijuana Business Factbook projects that Arkansas MMJ sales will nearly double this year to $300 million-$365 million, boosted by new items such as edibles and vape products. The state recently opened up licensing for processors.

The state’s dispensaries sold 26,000 pounds of medical marijuana products in 2020, Medical Marijuana Commission spokesman Scott Hardin told Arkansas Public Radio.

The market, which launched in May 2019, started 2020 with fewer than 10 dispensaries but ended the year with 32, according to the report.

Six additional licensed retail entities are working toward opening for business, Hardin wrote in a recent email to Marijuana Business Daily.

Meanwhile, a medical marijuana dispensary in Hot Springs filed a lawsuit alleging that three cultivators have refused to sell product to the retailer, costing the outlet $5 million.

Green Springs Medical Dispensary, once the state’s leading seller, is requesting that the Garland County Circuit Court bar the growers from boycotting the dispensary, according to The Sentinel-Record in Hot Springs.

CEO Dragan Vicentic also wants state regulators to impose a rule that prohibits cultivators from refusing to sell to dispensaries, which his lawsuit claims violates federal antitrust laws.

He claims the growers are retaliating against his comments to regulators that the state needs more cultivators because the existing ones cannot meet dispensaries’ demand. There are currently only eight licensed cannabis cultivators in the state to meet the demand of 32 dispensaries.