WeedLife News Network

Hot off the press cannabis, marijuana, cbd and hemp news from around the world on the WeedLife Social Network.

Michigan’s growing hemp industry faces roadblocks

Michigan’s hemp industry could get up to $100 million in federal funds to help it compete globally under a proposal pushed by a nationwide growers association.

The state is one of four with emerging hemp industries targeted by the National Hemp Association, along with Oregon, New York and Florida. The funding would be for developing a “regional super site” in each state to aid in the industry’s growth, said Geoff Whaling, the association’s chair.

Hemp is a cannabis plant with a very low percentage of THC, the psychoactive element of marijuana. Developing the industry could benefit Michigan environmentally and economically, Whaling said. The plant has many uses, but the state’s auto industry is what makes it a target for development.

“The biggest potential use for hemp today, outside of food, is the automotive industry,” Whaling said. “That’s why we’ve called for $100 million of that money to be allocated specifically to Michigan.”

For example BMW is planning to reduce its carbon footprint by using hemp bioplastics, a renewable resource, in production, Whaling said. The growth of electric vehicles means more opportunities because hemp rope is lightweight and can hold an electric charge like copper.

e-mail icon
Continue reading

How This Juicy Political Opportunity Could Send Marijuana Stocks Soaring

Sometimes this job feels more like political analysis than stock market prognosticating. The reason? Marijuana stocks are intrinsically tied to politics. After all, until prohibitions against cannabis are lifted the world over, pot stocks won’t reach their full potential.

Which brings us to a tantalizing new prospect.

I’ve been writing about marijuana stocks for years now, and I’ve cooked up a number of ways federal U.S. marijuana legalization could get it done. From Congressional maneuvers, to presidential executive orders, to ballot initiatives, to Supreme Court interdictions, it’s safe to say that I’ve thought a lot about how U.S. pot legalization could happen—and happen fast.

After all, many of the pot stocks I routinely write about would skyrocket in value in the event of marijuana legalization in the U.S.

Which brings me to what I want to focus on now: the flagging Democratic Party approval ratings.

e-mail icon
Continue reading

Illegal marijuana farms take West’s water in ‘blatant theft’

Jack Dwyer pursued a dream of getting back to the land by moving in 1972 to an idyllic, tree-studded parcel in Oregon with a creek running through it. “We were going to grow our own food. We were going to live righteously. We were going to grow organic,” Dwyer said. Over the decades that followed, he and his family did just that. But now, Deer Creek has run dry after several illegal marijuana grows cropped up in the neighborhood last spring, stealing water from both the stream and nearby aquifers and throwing Dwyer’s future in doubt. (Photo By: Shaun Hall/Grants Pass Daily Courier via AP)

From dusty towns to forests in the U.S. West, illegal marijuana growers are taking water in uncontrolled amounts when there often isn’t enough to go around for even licensed users. Conflicts about water have long existed, but illegal marijuana farms — which proliferate despite legalization in many Western states — are adding strain during a severe drought.
In California, which legalized recreational marijuana in 2016, there are still more illegal cannabis farms than licensed ones, according to the Cannabis Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley.
“Because peak water demand for cannabis occurs in the dry season, when streamflow is at its lowest levels, even small diversions can dry streams and harm aquatic plants and animals,” a study from the center said.
Some jurisdictions are fighting back. California’s Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors in May banned trucks carrying 100 gallons or more of water from using roads leading to arid tracts where some 2,000 illegal marijuana grows were purportedly using millions of gallons of water daily.
The illegal grows are “depleting precious groundwater and surface water resources” and jeopardizing agricultural, recreational and residential water use, the county ordinance says.
In Oregon, the number of illegal grows appears to have increased recently as the Pacific Northwest endured its driest spring since 1924.
 
Many are operating under the guise of being hemp farms, legalized nationally under the 2018 Farm Bill, said Mark Pettinger, spokesman for the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission. Under the law, hemp’s maximum THC content — the compound that gives cannabis its high — must be no greater than 0.3%. Fibers of the hemp plant are used in making rope, clothing, paper and other products.
Josephine County Sheriff Dave Daniel believes there are hundreds of illegal grows in his southern Oregon county alone, many financed by overseas money. He believes the financiers expect to lose a few grows but the sheer number of them means many will last until the marijuana is harvested and sold on the black market outside Oregon.
None of the new sites has been licensed to grow recreational marijuana, Pettinger said. Regulators, confronted in 2019 by a backlog of license applications and a glut of regulated marijuana, stopped processing new applications until January 2022.
The illegal grows have had “catastrophic” consequences for natural water resources, Daniel said. Several creeks have dried up far earlier than normal and the water table — the underground boundary between water-saturated soil and unsaturated soil — is dropping.
“It’s just blatant theft of water,” Daniel said.
Last month, Daniel and his deputies, reinforced by other law enforcement officers, destroyed 72,000 marijuana plants growing in 400 cheaply built greenhouses, known as hoop houses.
The water for those plants came through a makeshift, illicit system of pumps and hoses from the nearby Illinois River, which belongs to the Wild and Scenic Rivers System, created by Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values.
Daniel said another illegal grow that had 200,000 plants was drawing water from Deer Creek using pumps and pipes. He called it “one of the most blatant and ugly things I’ve seen.”
 
“They had actually dug holes into the ground so deep that Deer Creek had dried up ... and they were down into the water table,” the sheriff said.
Dwyer has a water right to Deer Creek, near the community of Selma, that allows him to grow crops. The creek can run dry late in the year sometimes, but Dwyer has never seen it this dry, much less this early in the year.
The stream bed is now an avenue of rocks bordered by brush and trees.
Over the decades, Dwyer created an infrastructure of buried water pipe, a dozen spigots and an irrigation system connected to the creek to grow vegetables and to protect his home against wildfires. He uses an old well for household water, but it’s unclear how long that will last.
“I just don’t know what I will do if I don’t have water,” the 75-year-old retired middle school teacher said.
Marijuana has been grown for decades in southern Oregon, but the recent explosion of huge illegal grows has shocked residents.
The Illinois Valley Soil and Water Conservation District, where Dwyer lives, held two town halls about the issue recently. Water theft was the main concern, said Christopher Hall, the conservation district’s community organizer.
“The people of the Illinois Valley are experiencing an existential threat for the first time in local history,” Hall said.
In the high desert of central Oregon, illegal marijuana growers are also tapping the water supply that’s already so stressed that many farmers, including those who produce 60% of the world’s carrot-seed supply, face a water shortage this year.
 
On Sept. 2, Deschutes County authorities raided a 30-acre property in Alfalfa, just east of Bend. It had 49 greenhouses containing almost 10,000 marijuana plants and featured a complex watering system with several 15,000- to 20,000-gallon cisterns. Neighbors told detectives the illegal grow has forced them to drill a new well, Sheriff Shane Nelson said.
The Bend area has experienced a population boom, putting more demands on the water supply. The illegal grows are making things worse.
In La Pine, south of Bend, Rodger Jincks watched a crew drill a new well on his property. The first sign that his existing well was failing came when the pressure dropped as he watered his tiny front lawn. Driller Shane Harris estimated the water table is dropping 6 inches per year.
Sheriff’s deputies last November raided an illegal grow a block away that had 500 marijuana plants.
Jincks’ neighbor, Jim Hooper, worries that his well might fail next. He resents the illegal grows and their uncontrolled used of water.
“With the illegals, there’s no tracking of it,” Hooper said. “They’re just stealing the water from the rest of us, which is causing us to spend thousands of dollars to drill new wells deeper.”
Rate this article: 
Select ratingGive Illegal marijuana farms take West’s water in ‘blatant theft’ 1/5Give Illegal marijuana farms take West’s water in ‘blatant theft’ 2/5Give Illegal marijuana farms take West’s water in ‘blatant theft’ 3/5Give Illegal marijuana farms take West’s water in ‘blatant theft’ 4/5Give Illegal marijuana farms take West’s water in ‘blatant theft’ 5/5
Authored By: 
Article category: 
Regional Marijuana News: 

e-mail icon

What you need to know if you have a marijuana-related conviction

Now that recreational use of cannabis is legal in New York, what happens to the records of individuals convicted of marijuana related charges?

With the passing of the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act in March, marijuana-related convictions that are no longer criminalize in New York will be automatically expunged.

However, the caveat is that legislation allows the New York State Office of Court Administration up two years to expunge the records.

This is New York State Senator Jeremy Cooney, who represents New York’s 56th Senate District is hosting an expungement clinic on Saturday in Rochester to give folks an opportunity to speak with legal experts for free about their case and how they can expedite the process.

“They can give applicants the best advice on how to position themselves, how to be honest with employers, and a realistic time table in removing the offense off their record,” said Cooney.

e-mail icon
Continue reading

Cannabis farmers, employees protest outside Sonoma County supervisors’ offices

Sonoma County cannabis growers and their allies gathered by the dozens Friday outside the Board of Supervisors’ office in Santa Rosa to denounce the county’s handling of commercial cannabis regulation and taxation, calling it overly burdensome and costly.

Taxes levied by the county are excessive, growers say, and a slow, convoluted local permitting process has hampered the expansion of their industry since California voters legalized adult-use recreational marijuana in 2016.

Growers have bristled at pushback from residents who do not want cannabis farms nearby and are calling on county officials to loosen regulations and allow more commercial cannabis operations across a wider span of territory outside cities.

Without major changes, growers will be chased off or forced back into the black market, they say.

“They’re overburdening us with unachievable regulations,” said David Drips, a co-owner of cannabis farm Petaluma Hill Farms and co-organizer of Friday’s protest, which drew about 80 people.

Tensions have mounted between farmers and neighbors over safety, water use and other impacts on neighborhoods. The county has agreed to study those impacts in an lengthy environmental report advanced by supervisors in May and likely to take at least a year to complete.

e-mail icon
Continue reading

Racial equity is elusive in the legal weed business

 

Efforts to help Black and brown people succeed as cannabis entrepreneurs are not working — despite efforts in weed-legal states to encourage diversity in ownership and management.

Why it matters: People of color have been disproportionately targeted by the "war on drugs," so, as the pot industry expands, cities and states have tried to make social justice a priority in granting licenses.

But people in underrepresented groups often lack access to the capital they need to go up against "big marijuana."They also lack the family-and-friends connections that give others a boost.

Driving the news: In July, three Democratic senators (Cory Booker, Chuck Schumer and Ron Wyden) released a discussion draft of legislation to remove cannabis from the federal list of controlled substances — a move meant "to end the decades of harm inflicted on communities of color."

Comments have poured in on the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, which would:

e-mail icon
Continue reading

New Jersey: Courts Expunge Over 360,000 Marijuana Cases

 

New Jersey courts have either dismissed or vacated an estimated 362,000 marijuana cases since July 1, according to data provided by the state Judiciary and reported by NJ.com

The actions come just months after the New Jersey Supreme Court issued an order providing for the automatic dismissal and expungement of certain marijuana offenses from people’s records. Democratic Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation into law in 2019 facilitating a process for the review and vacation of the criminal records of those previously convicted of low-level marijuana offenses. Governor Murphy signed separate into law this year legislation legalizing adult-use marijuana possession and sales.

As many as an additional 150,000 New Jersey residents could also be eligible to have their marijuana-related records automatically expunged by the courts, said MaryAnn Spoto, a spokeswoman for the Judiciary. People with marijuana cases that are not automatically expunged can file a motion for review with the court.

New Jersey is one of several states in recent months to automatically review and vacate marijuana-specific criminal records. In Illinois, officials have moved to expunge an estimated 500,000 marijuana-related records, and in California officials have cleared nearly 200,000 records.

e-mail icon
Continue reading

N.J. approves new cannabis grow site, but 24 other weed business licenses continue to languish

New Jersey’s cannabis regulators on Tuesday moved to streamline the licensing of new weed businesses and approved another marijuana grow site — but it did not announce the recipients of some two dozen businesses that have sat in limbo for nearly two years.

The state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission met on Tuesday evening to approve the transfer of an existing medical marijuana license, a new marijuana grow site and a system to help it process applications for new cannabis businesses.
All signal the state is gearing up for legal cannabis sales.
The commission unveiled its initial rules to guide the legal weed industry last month. That set the clock ticking down to launch sales to those 21 and older — according to the law, they must start within six months of the commission adopting its regulations.
But the commission gave no word on the 2019 request for applications to operate new medical marijuana facilities. Some 150 entities saw a review of applications paused in late 2019 due to a lawsuit. But a court ruled earlier this year that the commission could resume its evaluation and award those 24 licenses.
So far, the commission has not issued any of the new licenses. Jeff Brown, the commission’s executive director, has said licenses will come soon, but regulators have not given a date by when they will announce the new licenses.
“It is not lost on us that everyone is eager to get to that moving forward, as are we,” Dianna Houenou, the commission’s chair, said during the meeting. She said the commission was working quickly to score them, but emphasized the need to “double” and “triple” check each.
Still, frustration dominated the meeting.
Travis Ally, an applicant from that licensing round, said the commission should not consider expanding cultivation for existing medical marijuana companies while so many are awaiting those licenses.
“It’s borderline absurd at this point,” he said of the delay.
Edmund DeVeaux, president of the New Jersey CannaBusiness Association, criticized the wait, too, saying it would harm small and minority-owned businesses that have poured money into the application process without seeing any returns.
“They are waiting for much anticipated inclusion in the industry that had shut them out for so long and now may see a delay in that process, which is exactly what we did not want to happen. They cannot afford to keep waiting and neither can the state,” he said in a statement. “This delay was highly inconvenient but understandable before. Now, it is totally unacceptable and the state needs to take action immediately.”
Several others criticized the commission throughout the meeting. David Feder implored the commission to shed light on the delays.
“If they’re not going to be releasing them, at least address what the hold up is,” he said.
Despite the opposition, the commission did approve a second marijuana cultivation site in Lafayette for Harmony Foundation of New Jersey, which currently grows and dispenses medical cannabis in Secaucus. The company also has planned to open two additional dispensaries in Hoboken and Jersey City, which could draw customers from New York.
Increasing the supply of marijuana in the state not only helps authorized medical patients to access cannabis, but also gets the industry closer to the legal weed sales start date in February 2022. Currently licensed medical companies can sell to those 21 and older once they pay fees and prove they have enough marijuana to support not only the 114,000 patients in the state, but a recreational market, too.
The commission also voted to transfer ownership of Garden State Dispensary to Ayr Wellness, a company with dispensaries in several states, including Pennsylvania, Nevada and Massachusetts.
Garden State was one of the original six alternative treatment centers licensed in New Jersey. It has three dispensaries in Woodbridge, Eatontown and Union Township.
And finally, the commission voted to begin using NIC Licensing, a technology platform for government entities to process business license applications. Brown said the state has been using it for other licensing needs since 2009.
“This existing state resource will enable us, the commission, to begin accepting license applications sooner than it otherwise would be able to,” he said.
The commission did not say when it would begin to accept licenses for applications, but the cannabis legalization law says it must open open a process within 30 days of adopting its initial rules and regulations. That deadline comes this Saturday, Sept. 18.
A spokeswoman for the commission did not immediately return an email seeking clarification on the deadline to accept new applications.
 
Rate this article: 
Select ratingGive N.J. approves new cannabis grow site, but 24 other weed business licenses continue to languish 1/5Give N.J. approves new cannabis grow site, but 24 other weed business licenses continue to languish 2/5Give N.J. approves new cannabis grow site, but 24 other weed business licenses continue to languish 3/5Give N.J. approves new cannabis grow site, but 24 other weed business licenses continue to languish 4/5Give N.J. approves new cannabis grow site, but 24 other weed business licenses continue to languish 5/5
Authored By: 
Article category: 
Regional Marijuana News: 

e-mail icon

Educate, Not Berate: How The Media’s View Of Cannabis Has Shifted

Throughout the centuries, humans have depicted facets of everyday life into our artistic expressions. Snapshots of popular opinion at the time of creation can be gleaned from the penny plays and murals of old.A good barometer on public opinion can be gauged in the various forms of media available to us in today’s world. Just as the evolution of technology has dramatically improved the viewing experience, content has shifted over time to align with current public opinion on topics. While there is not unanimous support for cannabis legalization, representation in mainstream media has gained traction with the overall purpose of educating the public on the positive effects of cannabis use. Even in an area where reporting on cannabis legalization is occurring, biases occur that affect the overall impact of the article.

The timeline for overall public opinion on cannabis legalization can find its early days in Richard Nixon’s successful “War on Drugs.” This campaign regulated cannabis as a Schedule I drug and was so effective in its terror tactics that by 1989, 64% of Americans viewed drug abuse as the nation’s number one problem after climbing from a measly 2-6%.

Over the last three decades, there was a significant change in attitude towards cannabis due to various interlocking factors. After juxtaposition to modern calamities, the risk of cannabis was reassessed. Large-scale public skepticism of pain killers after opioid epidemics ravaged communities across the nation, potential financial opportunities afforded through the cannabis business, and the potential for many other unknown medical benefits of medicinal cannabis have all contributed to the legalization of cannabis.

As with many other topics of heated discussion, misinformation abounds on all sides of the argument; within the cannabis industry, in particular, heavy emphasis has been placed on education to counter opposition to legalization.

In a 2019 study entitled, “How and why have attitudes about cannabis legalization changed so much? ” Felson et al. conducted the first comprehensive and empirically-based study to determine why the public opinion on cannabis legalization was changing and how. Their findings revealed that the American public opinion had enveloped more liberal views noticeably due to “a decrease in religious affiliation, a decline in punitiveness, and a shift in media framing.”

While there seems to be general support for legalizing cannabis in public opinion, this is not the case everywhere. In traditional media sources, such as news stations and newspapers, cannabis representation in media that is not nationwide can determine a territory’s overall attitude towards legalization.

e-mail icon
Continue reading

Months after legalization, New York remains without a cannabis industry

 

Marijuana has been legal for more than five months, yet there’s still no cannabis industry set up in New York.

The governor and the legislative leaders still have to appoint the remaining members of the cannabis control board, which is a part of the newly formed Office of Cannabis Management.

The executive director of OCM, and the chairperson of the control board, have both been appointed and confirmed. But it’s unclear whether the remaining positions have been filled.

Here’s a breakdown of how the board works.

e-mail icon
Continue reading

Medical marijuana industry urges patients to speak out against Missouri ad restrictions

 Industry insiders are urging medical marijuana patients to raise objections after Missouri regulators told dispensaries this summer they couldn’t advertise cannabis sales.

In practice, the rule means companies aren’t allowed to spread the word on product discounts, including holiday specials, even though dispensaries are free to lower prices as they see fit.

The advertising restriction is an unconstitutional barrier to information for medical marijuana patients, business owners said in a full-page ad printed in September’s “The Evolution Magazine,” a cannabis-focused publication based and distributed in Missouri.

 

The ad asks readers to mail a prewritten postcard to Lyndall Fraker, director of the medical marijuana program, requesting that he rescind the rule because it “runs afoul of the department’s core mission.

“With more than 135 dispensaries now operating in Missouri, patients absolutely should be able to receive information about discounts, products, and events and should not be denied critical information,” the postcard said.

e-mail icon
Continue reading

Central Virginia sees 90% reduction in marijuana arrests

 

 Arrests on marijuana-related charges have fallen dramatically this summer in and around Virginia’s capital since a new law legalized possession of small amounts of pot and residents keeping a few cannabis plants, according to a newspaper report.

Twenty-five marijuana-related arrests occurred in Richmond and in Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico counties in the first seven weeks after the law took effect July 1, compared to 257 arrrests during the same period last year, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported, citing local law enforcement data.

“A 90% reduction in marijuana arrests indicates that the public policy is performing as intended and in a manner that is consistent with post-legalization observations from other states,” said Jenn Michelle Pedini, executive director of the Virginia chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

The law legalized possession by adults age 21 and over of up to 1 ounce of marijuana and the cultivation of four pot plants per household, among other decriminalization provisions. Selling marijuana remains illegal until the state lauches a regulated market in 2024 and issues licenses. A regulatory board will help carry out the details.

Marijuana enforcement hasn’t been a high priority for Richmond’s police department, during a time of high numbers of shootings and slayings, the newspaper reported.

e-mail icon
Continue reading

Unimap becomes first public university to conduct research on hemp cultivation

ARAU (Bernama) - Universiti Malaysia Perlis (Unimap) has become the first public university in the country to conduct research on hemp (a member of the cannabis sativa plant) as an agricultural product with the potential of being economically developed in the future.

Its vice-chancellor, Professor Dr Zaliman Sauli said for that purpose, Unimap has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Kuala Lumpur-based company MyUS Hemphouse Sdn Bhd.

"As we know, the hemp production must be under strict control. It can also become a new economic resource for the country in the future as there are developed countries that have allowed the use of hemp for commercial purposes.

"Through the MoU, research and development can be carried out at UniMAP and focus will be given through Institut Agroteknologi Lestari (Insat) in Sungai Chuchuh, Padang Besar on an area of 0.8 hectares,” he said here, on Friday (Sept 10).

The MoU signing ceremony was witnessed by the Raja Muda of Perlis Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail, who is also Unimap chancellor.

Zaliman signed the MoU on behalf of the university while while MyUS was represented by its chief executive officer Datuk Nellsen Young.

Unimap and MYUS will conduct research on hemp cultivation procedures and applications as well as focus on functional materials for agriculture especially organic farming to improve the country’s agricultural products.

e-mail icon
Continue reading

Cannabis Breathalyzer Company Raises $20 Million

Cannabis breathalyzer company Hound Labs, Inc. has raised $20 million from a variety of cannabis investment groups. Investors in the company include Entourage Effect Capital (EEC),  Intrinsic Capital, Benchmark, Icon Ventures, and Tuatara Capital. The company raised the funds in order to scale production of the HOUND MARIJUANA BREATHALYZER. Hound Labs says it has developed a patented and one-of-a-kind ultra-sensitive technology that is at the core of the company’s first commercial product.

“The groundbreaking breath testing technology created by Hound Labs provides a substantial competitive advantage to the Company,” said Dov Szapiro, Managing Partner at EEC. “The Hound Labs team has accomplished an impressive scientific achievement – precisely and consistently targeting one specific type of molecule out of the more than 3,500 different compounds found in breath. Not only are we excited about the immediate capabilities of the Hound breath technology to measure recent cannabis use, we are also excited about future applications that can detect pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 or biomarkers for disease by changing the targeted compound.”

Cannabis use testing has been notoriously difficult. Unlike alcohol use, which is relatively easy to measure with traditional breathalyzers, cannabis consumers often show positive results long after actually consuming the product making traditional methods unreliable. Hound Labs says its product has been designed to isolate recent cannabis use by specifically measuring THC1 (the primary psychoactive ingredient in cannabis). The company noted that the ability to determine when an employee used cannabis is critical now that most adults in the U.S. can legally use recreational cannabis outside of work hours. While Amazon made news recently by saying it wouldn’t test employees for cannabis use, it specifically carved out drivers from that statement.

Hound Labs claims to be the only ultra-sensitive cannabis testing solution that identifies recent use that correlates with the window of impairment, allowing employers to keep employees who might otherwise test positive via conventional cannabis tests of oral fluid, urine, and hair.

“In order to manage our supply chain and meet demand for inventory, we have been reaching out to employers on our Wait List to understand the volumes required for our commercial units in 2022,” stated Dr. Mike Lynn, CEO of Hound Labs. “The response has been incredible. We are negotiating multi-million-dollar contracts with companies from a variety of industries who want to secure HOUND MARIJUANA BREATHALYZERS ahead of our 1Q22 commercial launch.”

e-mail icon
Continue reading

Sioux Falls will ban marijuana grow businesses and cap dispensaries at 5

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.

To his point, a new liquor license from the city goes for about $200,000, but a state-set cap on the number of them the city can sell has driven the price they go for on the secondary market up to $300,000 or higher. 

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.

"We're not allowing a business owner to develop equity in his business," Brekke said of TenHaken's original proposal.

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 flowering marijuana plant at the Native Nations Cannabis facilities on the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe reservation.
Continue reading

Federal judge blocks ban on water deliveries for Asian pot farmers in Northern California

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.

“The plaintiffs have also raised serious questions about their constitutional right to be free from racial discrimination.”

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.

Authorities estimate there are 5,000 to 6,000 greenhouses growing pot in the Big Springs area, with as many as 4,000 to 8,000 people tending them, most of them Hmong and immigrants of Chinese descent.

e-mail icon
Continue reading

Mexican National Sentenced For Marijuana Grow In Forest

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.

Rate this article: 
Select ratingGive Mexican National Sentenced For Marijuana Grow In Forest 1/5Give Mexican National Sentenced For Marijuana Grow In Forest 2/5Give Mexican National Sentenced For Marijuana Grow In Forest 3/5Give Mexican National Sentenced For Marijuana Grow In Forest 4/5Give Mexican National Sentenced For Marijuana Grow In Forest 5/5
Authored By: 
Article category: 
Regional Marijuana News: 

e-mail icon

Sheriff: Illegal grow operation with an estimated $50 million in marijuana shut down

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.

e-mail icon
Continue reading

New York cannabis rollout moves ahead, but roadblocks remain

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.

e-mail icon
Continue reading

Marijuana Yes, Abortion No: What's Going On In Texas?

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.

e-mail icon
Continue reading

Copyright 2019 - 2024. WeedWorthy.com is a news division of MjLink.com, Inc.. All rights reserved. WeedWorthy

 

To contact the following departments, dial 1-844-420-4208 - Sales: Ext. #2 - Support: Ext. #3 - Investor Relations: Ext. #6

By using this website, you agree and understand that, by law: You MUST be at least 21 years of age to view any content on this website. To view the complete Terms of Use and Privacy Policy for this website, Click Here!


WeedLife.com