WeedLife News Network

ZUMBROTA, Minn. (WCCO) — A farmer south of the cities is hoping you’ll make his place a new fall tradition. He has a maze made out of a hemp field, about an hour south of the cities in Zumbrota. The owner tells WCCO he is using the attraction for education.

Ted Galaty is the owner and operator of Hemp Maze Minnesota. The maze is located at Willow’s Keep Farm just south of Zumbrota on Highway 5.

A science major at St. Olaf, Galaty never thought he’d be a cannabis aficionado. The west coast native made a deal with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to create this one of a kind hemp maze.

“As far as I know it’s the only hemp maze in Minnesota and probably in the United States,” he said.

The hemp maze is 2 acres, takes about 20 minutes to get through and Galaty insists its kid-friendly. He says it’s all about education – his plants and are not used for recreational purposes, but functional ones.

That's bad news for the cannabis industry, which has turned to billboards as a marketing opportunity.

Cannabis companies have precious few options when it comes to advertising. With the federal government still listing marijuana as an illegal drug, the industry faces strict regulations on advertising its products and services.

The situation has left companies scrambling to get around advertising restrictions. One outlet for companies has involved placing cannabis billboards on highways in states with legal weed. But earlier this year, California officials mandated the removal of some billboards. And proposed action in Michigan could signal that idea is taking hold in other locations.

Medical marijuana retail licenses will be a hot commodity in Sioux Falls.

The Sioux Falls City Council Tuesday night signed off on a proposal coming from Mayor Paul TenHaken's office that will cap the number of retail stores that can operate in the city at five. And though councilors halved the $100,000 license fee that City Hall wanted, another late change allowing the sale of the licenses on the secondary market is expected to drive the value of a license up even hirer.

"The Sioux Falls City Council, by making a license worth $50,000 and transferrable, has just made dispensary licenses into liquor licenses," said Drew Duncan, a Sioux Falls attorney and lobbyist for clients in South Dakota's gambling and alcohol industry, via social media following the 7-1 vote.

TenHaken and supporters of his provision barring the transfer of dispensary licenses worry that allowing them to be sold on the secondary market will give them an artificial value, just like has happened with liquor licenses. But Councilor Janet Brekke and the rest of the Council decided without allowing a license to be owned outright, the city's medical marijuana rules would unduly restrict a cannabis retailer's ability to grow their business.

TenHaken's proposal underwent a series of other changes before earning final passage as well.

Since unveiling the proposal in August, the first-term mayor has taken criticism both publicly and behind the scenes for pushing for what pro-business and pro-cannabis advocates have characterized as a "de facto ban" on medical marijuana due to high cost of a license and zoning rules that make the majority of the city and its commercial districts off limits to marijuana retail.

A federal judge has blocked a Northern California county’s ban on trucks delivering water to Hmong cannabis farmers, saying it raises “serious questions” about racial discrimination and leaves the growers without a source of water for basic sanitation, vegetable gardens and livestock.

On Friday, Chief U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller issued a temporary injunction against Siskiyou County’s prohibition on trucked-in water deliveries to Hmong farmers growing marijuana in the Mount Shasta Vista subdivision in the Big Springs area north of Weed.

“Without an injunction, the plaintiffs and other members of the Shasta Vista Hmong community will likely go without water for their basic needs and will likely lose more plants and livestock,” she wrote. “Fires may burn more homes. People may be forced to leave their homes and land behind without compensation.

Over the last five years, hundreds of Hmong farmers have bought cheap land in the subdivision and erected hundreds of marijuana greenhouses on the lava-rock covered hillsides in violation of the county’s ban on commercial cannabis cultivation.

Sonora, CA  — A Mexican National convicted of operating an illegal marijuana grow in the Stanislaus National Forest will spend the next four and a half years in prison.

37-year-old Eleno Fernandez-Garcia of Michoacán, Mexico, was also ordered to pay $45,688 in restitution to the U.S. Forest Service for the environmental damage that the toxic chemicals and cultivation operation had on public land, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert.

In May Fernandez-Garcia pled guilty to conspiring to manufacture, distribute, and possess with intent to distribute marijuana on the Stanislaus National Forest. The cultivation operation contained 9,654 marijuana plants and was located in the Basin Creek drainage in the forest in Tuolumne County. As reported here, Fernandez was found at the grow site holding pruning shears and was covered with marijuana debris. Three other individuals fled from the area.

Talbert detailed the significant damage to the environment including grazing cows, wildlife, endangered fish, and frogs. Additionally, investigative agents found the pesticide Weevelcide, a lethal restricted-use chemical; two types of rodenticides; 837 pounds of soluble fertilizer; 45.65 gallons of liquid fertilizer; and a dead raccoon. Also, besides chemicals and fertilizer, there was over 2,000 pounds of trash and irrigation tubing. Talbert also noted that nearly all of the native vegetation was cut down to make room for the marijuana plants, which were close to recreational activities, and Sugar Pine Springs, a natural spring used by two companies for bottled water.

Participating agencies involved in this investigation included the U.S. Forest Service, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) of the California Department of Justice, and the California Fish and Wildlife.

Automaker BMW Group is looking to slash the carbon emissions of making and using its cars – and hemp may play a larger role.

BMW has been using hemp for some years, for example in the lining of door panels of its electric i3. This isn’t just a warm and fuzzy tree-hugger thing to attract the eco-savvy consumer; but also plays a (small) role in lightening the vehicle.

It looks like hemp and other plant materials might be getting more of a look in, with the company stating it is stepping up its fight against climate change and will drastically reduce CO2 per vehicle by 2030.

One of the strategies is the increased use of natural materials over petrochemical ones.

A South Dakota legislative subcommittee recommended on Wednesday that the state’s medical marijuana regulations prohibit the home cultivation by patients.

A recommendation from the South Dakota Legislative subcommittee comes from a group of lawmakers working to draft rules to limit provisions of Initiated Measure 26 (IM26), a ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana that was passed by nearly 70 percent of South Dakota voters in the November 2020 general election.

The announcement came from a subgroup of the South Dakota Marijuana Summer Study Committee, a panel of lawmakers that was assembled to make changes to IM 26. In addition to eliminating home cultivation, the panel is considering proposals including repealing legal protections for marijuana businesses and their attorneys and another that would allow local governments to prohibit cannabis businesses to operate in their jurisdictions.

“We’re not here to say no to marijuana,” said Republican state Representative Carl Perry. “What we’re here doing is making sure it’s good [policy].”

South Dakota Voters Approved Medical Marijuana in November

Following the passage of IM 26 and a separate ballot measure to legalize cannabis for use by adults, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem announced that implementing the medical marijuana initiative would be delayed. The delay came despite provisions of state law that approved ballot measures take effect on July 1 of the year following passage, which would have been this year.

“We are working diligently to get IM 26 implemented safely and correctly,” Noem said in a statement released by her office. “The feasibility of getting this program up and running well will take additional time. I am thankful to our legislative leaders for helping make sure that we do this right.”

Illinois plans to hold an extra licensing lottery to give the applicants left out of the process another chance.

Illinois will launch a new lottery program specifically for the six applicants who did not make it, so that they will now have another shot at winning and being able to operate their own recreational cannabis stores. This official new lottery was announced this past Friday, and it already has the new market buzzing with possibilities. 

YONCALLA, Ore. — A large-scale criminal marijuana grow operating under the guise of a legal hemp operation has been shut down by law enforcement in Douglas County, according to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.

According to a release from the DCSO, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and Douglas Interagency Narcotics Team (DINT) executed a search warrant in the 1000-block of Scotts Valley Road Wednesday, September 1, 2021. The warrant stemmed from an investigation into a large-scale black-market marijuana grow operation.

Law enforcement became aware of the operation on tips from concerned citizens.

When law enforcement arrived approximately 30-50 workers began fleeing the location on foot. An individual identified as “the manager” of the operation, 44-year-old Jose Francisco Figueroa-Aguilar of Modesto, California, was ultimately arrested and lodged at the Douglas County Jail on charges of Unlawful Possession and Unlawful Manufacture of Marijuana.

Deputies located multiple vehicles, tents, and two RVs concealed under greenhouses and in the timber. The property was also found to be littered with garbage, fertilizer, containers, and human waste; all of which were adjacent to Elk Creek.

Which state sold the most weed in America in the second quarter?

With a total of $1.4 billion in taxable cannabis sales in the second quarter, California takes the lead as the state with the highest sales of weed in the United States of America.

This wouldn't come as a surprise to the majority, as California has always been at the forefront of the cannabis Industry in the country.

From being the first state to approve the medical use of marijuana in 1996, to now hosting some of the biggest cannabis farms and dispensaries in the country.

Cannabis Sales In The U.S.

The cannabis industry makes revenues worth billions of dollars from the states that have legalized either or both the use of recreational cannabis and medical cannabis.

A new nonprofit based in St. Louis, called We Are JAINE, plans to connect women in Missouri's cannabis industry with resources and mentorship opportunities.

Missouri’s cannabis industry is taking off, but few women are running the companies fueling that growth. A new nonprofit based in St. Louis, We Are JAINE, aims to change that.

The rollout of New York’s new cannabis policies has new life after the state legislature confirmed appointments to oversee the regulatory process last week, but the state is still months away from issuing licenses to retailers, growers and processors.

The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, or MRTA, passed in April. However, much of the rollout has been delayed because Governor Andrew Cuomo did not nominate officials to the newly created Office of Cannabis Management and Cannabis Control Board.

“These are people that wrote the bill. They should’ve had these people in mind when they wrote those statutes,” said Troy Smit, Deputy Director of Empire State NORML.

Governor Kathy Hochul appointed two people to fill the top posts for cannabis regulation. Acting in a special summer session, the state senate quickly confirmed Christopher Alexander to be Executive Director of the Office of Cannabis Management. The move pleased many cannabis proponents, including those from the more progressive activist center given Alexander’s former work for the Drug Policy Alliance.

“He is the right person to live out the vision of the MRTA and make sure we have the social and economic equity in the New York State cannabis industry,” said Allan Gandelman, President of the New York Cannabis Processors and Growers Association.

Hemp is being trialled by local farmers throughout Aberdeenshire and Angus.

The north east is gradually becoming an unlikely centre of the hemp-growing industry.

 International cannabis companies are showing interest in Brazil, both its large consumer market for medicinal products and a proposal that could legalize planting of the crop.

Major producers like Colombia’s Clever Leaves and Canada’s Canopy Growth are developing and selling medicinal cannabis products to a Brazilian consumer segment estimated at 10 to 13 million people. This results from a 2019 regulatory change allowing the import, sale and manufacturing of such products.

But permission for cultivation of hemp and cannabis in Brazil would be a bigger prize. If granted, the industry could blossom in four to five years, based on the experience of other countries such as Colombia.

Municipalities in New Jersey that opt of allowing legal marijuana sales within their borders don’t just block such businesses. They could keep residents from establishing businesses in the industry at all.

The rules adopted for the recreational adult-use marijuana by the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission have been largely applauded, and a Wednesday online forum hosted by the Stockton University Cannabis & Hemp Research Initiative was on different.

Cyber attacks are now commonplace. Ransomware attacks, in particular, have skyrocketed in frequency and size. High-profile data breaches have cost businesses in the United States millions of dollars in losses and incalculable reputational harm. Just like those in any other industry, cannabis cyber attack risks pose a clear and present danger of financial consequences.

With new data-security legislation, cyber attacks create even more risk. Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), for example, attacks can lead to regulatory fines and private actions by affected consumers. Under the CCPA, consumers are not required to prove personal losses or damage. This increased risk of liability for cyber attacks coupled with the increased volume of attacks makes the issue one that must be addressed by every business. Increasing security is step one, but there is no foolproof protection. Thus, it is equally important to consider how best to insulate companies from potential monetary damage resulting from an attack.

As valuable as these basic coverages are, cannabis businesses have unique risks that make them more vulnerable to cyber attacks and their financial consequences. Cannabis producers and retailers should carefully consider their other, possibly bigger, cyber risks and seek to address them when buying cyber insurance.

There is no “standard” cyber insurance policy. Dozens of insurers sell such a product, with each insurer constantly adapting its policy terms to market changes and challenges. As a result, cannabis businesses must carefully review policies offered to them and negotiate the terms in order to address their individual cyber risks. Those that fail to do so may leave some of their biggest risks uncovered.

We focus on three such risks here.

The global cannabis beverage market is estimated to reach $2.8 billion by 2025 and is projected to see a growth rate of 17.8% from 2019 to 2025. As consumer behavior shifts from carbonated soft drinks to health sodas and legalization gains more footholds across the country, the cannabis beverage market pivots to offer consumers potent and flavor-forward beverages that offer a fresh take on the time-honored ritual of “kicking back with a cold one”. Innovative technologies are likewise flourishing, a development that both drives and responds to growth in the cannabis beverages market.

Liposomal and nanoemulsion delivery systems, clean, water-soluble nanotechnology, and ionization technology are just some of the ways that companies are raising the bar on absorption and therapeutic benefit when it comes to cannabis drinks. Bioavailability has been an ongoing problem in the cannabis beverage market along with ascribing a specific potency or benefit to cannabis drinks. Nanoemulsion in particular seems to be a promising technological advancement, with a global market value that could rise to $14.91 billion by 2025. Nanoemulsions are “fine oil/water dispersions stabilized by an interfacial film of surfactant molecule”, which gives them an edge over products requiring external oils or fats since they can be brought into the brain more quickly. 

Quicksilver Scientific has refined their nanoemulsion process for use by heavy hitters in the cannabis industry such as Truss CBD USA, a joint venture between Molson Coors and HEXO Cannabisnew to create a U.S. line of non-alcoholic hemp beverages. ECS Brands employs biomimicry in its hemp water, which naturally replicates the way the body absorbs fat-soluble compounds. A combination of stabilized gold hemp seed oil and bioactive saponins from green tea provides enhanced bioavailability of oil-soluble cannabinoids and other nutrients by a purported factor of 500-1000%. Ionization technology, used by companies like LifeTonic (maker of “socially empowering” CBD and CBG beverages), converts cannabinoids from neutrally-charged oils into electrically-charged ions capable of dissolving in water. This means that the molecules can be absorbed directly into the mouth before even entering the digestive tract. 

Converting cannabinoids and other fat-soluble nutrients into water-soluble constituents has turned a lingering problem into big business and big science for cannabis companies, and it seems like everyday businesses are claiming the fastest rate of absorption or the purest formulation. Consumers are demanding and getting, more bang for their buck as cannabis delivery systems are refined to deliver on the promised benefits of adding a little cannabis to their beverage equation.

Texas, one of the most conservative states in the U.S. seems to be moving one step forward and two steps back when it comes to civil liberties; in this case, marijuana and abortion.

On the one hand, the state is loosening its policies regarding cannabis, starting with changes to state law allowing more eligible patients to request a prescription for medical cannabis.

In addition, a Texas court declared unconstitutional a law prohibiting the smoking of hemp.( As originally seen on Benzinga by Franca Quarneti)

Despite these more progressive policies, a law banning abortion after six weeks went into effect statewide on Wednesday.

Social justice advocates in New Jersey are flocking together to hold a special, free expungement clinic at Doubletree by Hilton Penn Station Hotel in Newark.

The clinic will be held on Tuesday, September 14 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time. Those who attend will get free support on how to expunge low-level cannabis convictions now that cannabis is legal in the state. 

The event will be hosted by 420NJEvents, a Black-owned cannabis lifestyle brand, and sponsored by Brach Eichler LLC, Columbia Care, REEForm New Jersey, Apothecarium, and Minority Cannabis Academy. Those who have been disproportionately affected by the War on Drugs will now have a chance to seek justice. Pro-bono attorneys from Brach Eichler law firm will be onsite to help and answer questions. 

New Jersey Steps Up

“We’re focused on educating minorities around cannabis as an avenue to create generational wealth, and break into an emerging industry ripe with opportunity and alternative medicine,” they explained via a press release. “We promise to remain true to the culture, true to ourselves and provide you with all the up-to-date information that’ll help you navigate the cannabis industry!”

One of the pro-bono attorneys who will be offering his services at the event explained in a press release why this event is valuable to communities of color in New Jersey. “Marijuana laws have often disproportionately impacted communities of color. As New Jersey looks to establish its recreational marijuana market, there must be a focus on righting the societal wrongs that the prohibition of cannabis has created. We need more individuals, particularly Black and brown people, to understand the law and their rights, what it means, and how it can help them,” said Charles X. Gormally, Co-Chair of the Cannabis Law Practice at Brach Eichler LLC.