Eaze Delivers: California Firm Brings Cannabis to Your Doorstep

Eaze’s “Chief Cannabis Evangelist,” Jason Pinsky (Photo by Tommy Quicksilver)

If you’ve ever ordered a car from Uber or a book from Amazon, navigating your delivery of a pack of Lowell Smokes from Eaze is a no-brainer for anyone with a smartphone, as I found out recently.

Just go to Eaze.com, set up a user name and password, take a photo of your California driver’s license (or registered ID) to prove you’re 21, submit credit card information and you’re off to the races.

The Eaze menu is clean and uncluttered, with a wide variety of flower, pre-rolls, tinctures and oils, all from least expensive to most, left to right. Like any other commerce site, you add items to your cart, then check out. Any purchase over $50 has no delivery fee; anything less carries a charge of $5.

The prices are competitive with licensed brick-and-mortar dispensaries, though the addition of the required 9.5% sales and statewide 15% excise taxes pushes the total of my two Biscotti Singoli hash-infused pre-rolls ($40) and one LoudPack Kosher Kush preroll ($12) to $69.86 with the $17.86 surcharge.

EAZE’S JASON PINSKY: “If Amazon and Lyft were to smoke a joint and have a baby, it would be Eaze.”

The Eaze interface lets you know how long it’s going to take, with the steps to delivery checked off, in turn: “order received,” “order is being prepared,” “driver is on the way” and “order is arriving,” with the courier texting the progress along the way until they’re at your front door.

With the company’s boast of a 15- to 20-minute delivery, I was a little disheartened when it showed a wait time of 48 to 56 minutes, but I suppose that’s what you get when you order at 4:30 p.m. smack in the middle of L.A. rush hour. I imagine it’s a lot different in a Sacramento suburb on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Still, my Eaze courier arrived at precisely the moment the clock struck zero. I buzzed him up on my apartment intercom and had three pre-rolls in my hand in a compliant, child-proof package after signing my name on his iPhone. And while there was no room for a tip, I gave the guy $10 in cash. My deliverer seemed genuinely grateful.

Welcome to the Brave, New World of Pot Deliveries

California’s come a long way from the bicycle-riding pot delivery service depicted in HBO’s High Maintenance. Thanks to Eaze and other services, that dream is now a reality, at least in Cali. The San Francisco-based company was founded in 2014 by since-departed tech entrepreneur Keith McCarty, who used the money from selling start-up Yammer, a social media enterprise, to Microsoft for $1.2 billion.

McCarty, a Christian conservative from Orange County who doesn’t partake himself, was looking for a business for his on-demand technology. McCarty, who has since been replaced as CEO by his Yammer colleague Jim Patterson, was intent on getting medical marijuana patients—at the time, the only ones who could legally consume—their required medicine without any hassles.

Just use the Eaze app on your photo for canna-deliveries.

With adult use now legal in California and eight other states at press time, Eaze has grown exponentially, adding offices in Venice and San Diego and affiliations with 12 individual licensed dispensary warehouses in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Oakland, San Jose, Napa and Santa Rosa. Those individual distribution centers, most of them not connected to a dispensary, in turn employ upwards of 1,000 drivers (with W2s and on payroll) all connected by Eaze’s licensed software. Many of the cars are stocked with a variety of securely packaged, child-proof exit bags in complete compliance with regulations.

“If Amazon and Lyft were to smoke a joint and have a baby, it would be Eaze,” Jason Pinsky, a longtime hemp activist dubbed the company’s “Chief Cannabis Evangelist,” tells Freedom Leaf. His job, he explains, is to “create media that educates and inspires.”

Marijuana delivery services are nothing new. Companies like Postmates make cannabis deliveries, but they involve third-parties and often take more than an hour. Many dispensaries offer their own delivery, frequently with white-label (nonbranded) partners.

DR. DINA BROWNER: “One day soon we’ll have more cannabis delivery drivers on the road than Domino’s Pizza.” 

When Eaze tried to provide their back-end technology to local LA dispensaries, the company received mostly a cold shoulder. “Why should I share my customer base with them?” wonders one high-profile dispensary owner who preferred to be anonymous for this article. “I’m trying to brand my own store, plus they’re getting all my data.”

With more companies receiving licenses from the state for delivery, there’s been pushback. In October, several San Diego weed couriers were busted for not having proper licenses, including Leaf Life, with 50 pounds of product and $2,500 seized, and Fast Grass, where 30 pounds of weed was taken, along with four pounds of meth and $1,800 in cash. Since the beginning of the year through September in Los Angeles alone, 515 people were arrested, representing 101 illegal delivery services. There’s been a great deal of pressure from a coalition of police, city governments and retail dispensaries on the California Bureau of Cannabis Control to ban deliveries altogether.

Meanwhile, Eaze has taken a page from its founder’s idealism regarding cannabis’ effects on health and well-being. “This is a medicine,” says Eaze’s Director of Consumer Communications Sheena Shiravi, who joined the company three years ago. “We want patients to get it discretely, professionally and in a comfortable environment. It’s all about ‘Eaze’ of use.”

Eaze also offers clients—distributors and brands—the benefits of its expertise on compliance and the regulations for each local area. “We’re the policy-maker’s trusted credible friends,” Shiravi adds. “We work with them to offer safe access for consumers with the most seamless technology.” Distributors pay an annual licensing fee for Eaze’s technology based on their size and traffic.

There’s been a great deal of pressure from a coalition of police, city governments and retail dispensaries on the California Bureau of Cannabis Control to ban marijuana deliveries altogether.

Shiravi points to Eaze Insights—a database that provides valuable information on consumer behavior—and a three-pillar plan that addresses economic empowerment, social outreach and community sustainability in association with companies like The Hood Incubator and Success Center in the San Francisco Bay Area, which target those who’ve been most negatively impacted by the War on Drugs. The goal is to train people for entrepreneurial roles within the emerging cannabis economy.

EazeMD was launched to help patients secure medical cards by connecting them with doctors via an online video chat. Eaze has also been active in compassionate-care initiatives by calling on brands to donate products, as well as supporting local political agendas, including the expungement of criminal records for marijuana-related offenses.

An Eaze promo for its delivery service.

In California, cannabis delivery is here to stay. Whether Eaze will turn out to be the dominant player remains to be seen, but they’re the most high-profile entry so far, complete with $52 million raised from investors since its start-up, including Series A funding from the Snoop Dogg-backed Casa Verde Capital, as well as the likes of Bailey Capital, DCM Ventures, Kaya Ventures and FJ Labs. According to Forbes, Eaze is “the highest-funded start-up in the history of the cannabis industry, as well as the fastest-growing one,” with 300% growth in 2017 from the previous year. Last year, the company reported it had performed 120,000 deliveries per month to 250,000 users.

“One day soon we’ll have more cannabis delivery drivers on the road than Domino’s Pizza,” predicts dispensary owner Dr. Dina Browner, who owns Alternative Herbal Health Services in West Hollywood. Now if only they’d fix the potholes, too.

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This article appears in Issue 34. Subscribe to the magazine here.

 

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Marijuana and Marijuana Concentrates Become Legal in Michigan on December 6

The possession of marijuana and marijuana concentrates will become legal in Michigan next week on Thursday, December 6.

Michigan’s Board of State Canvassers certified the election results for Proposition 1 on Thursday, meaning that key provisions of the initiative will take effect 10 days after, on Decebember 6. Starting that day, those 21 and older in the state will be allowed to possess up to 2.5 grams of marijuana and up to 15 grams of marijuana concentrates. In addition, they will be allowed to grow up to 12 marijuana plants at a private residence.

The initiative also legalized marijuana stores, though they won’t be open for some time. The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs now has up to 12 months to begin accepting applications from those seeking to operate legal marijuana businesses. Marijuana retail outlets are expected to open sometime in 2020.

When Michigan voters approved Proposition 1 earlier this month, they made their state the 10th to legalize recreational marijuana, following Colorado, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, Nevada, California, Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont.

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Alaska Credit Union Launches Program to Serve the Legal Marijuana Industry

By Lisa Bernard-Kuhn, Marijuana Business Daily

An Alaska credit union has joined the growing ranks of state-chartered financial institutions to announce plans to serve the legal cannabis industry.

Credit Union 1 – a 66-year-old, Anchorage-based business – announced Thursday it is kicking off a pilot program to provide financial services to the state’s approved marijuana-related businesses – otherwise dubbed MRBs.

“Since 2014, when marijuana was legalized in Alaska, the lack of financial services for MRBs has flooded local streets with cash, resulting in a community safety issue,” the credit union explained in a news release.

Only legally operating MRBs will be served, the credit union noted – adding that those firms’ accounts “will be under constant, comprehensive monitoring by our compliance team to ensure all aspects of their businesses stay legal.”“Credit Union 1 hopes to help relieve this is issue by providing financial services to MRBs.”

Earlier this week, Ohio-based Wright Patt Credit Union announced plans to offer limited financial services to licensed medical marijuana operators in the Buckeye State.

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Oregon Officials Certify Initiative to Legalize Medical Magic Mushrooms

An initiative by the Oregon Psilocybin Society (OPS) that would legalize the medical use of magic mushrooms has been certified by state officials.

“The Psilocybin Service Initiative of Oregon has been titled!”. said OPS in a recent Tweet. “In December PSI will begin gathering the 140K signatures to get it on the 2020 ballot. Learn how YOU can support this historical campaign from anywhere on earth by visiting http://www.psi-2020.org .”

Specifically, the initiative would allow licensed medical professionals such as physicians to prescribe psilocybin, which is the hallucinogenic ingredient found in magic mushrooms. The initiative would make Oregon the first state in the U.S. to legalize magic mushrooms for medical use, similar to how California was the first to legalize medical marijuana back in 1996.

Certification of the initiative’s ballot title gives the group the go-ahead to begin collecting signatures in an attempt to place the measure on the 2020 general election ballot; they will need to gather 140,000 signatures from registered Oregon voters in order to do so.

For more information on OPS and their magic mushroom initiative, click here.

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New Jersey Legalization Legislation Moves to Floor Debate After Historic Votes

The full New Jersey legislature will take up legalization of adult use of cannabis in the Garden State in the coming weeks after measures passed in two committees in a widely covered joint hearing of the House and Senate on Nov. 26.

While more work needs to be done, advocates took a breather from pondering the challenges ahead and issued upbeat statements. “This was a historic vote,” Kate Bell, general counsel of the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) tells Freedom Leaf. “It’s the first time it’s gotten this far in New Jersey.”

In a hearing attending by hundreds of spectators, the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee approved S-2703 (sponsored by Sen. Nicholas Scutari) by a 7-2 vote with four abstentions. The Assembly Appropriations Committee cleared A-4497 (sponsored by Assemblywoman Annette Quijano) cleared by a 6-1 vote with two abstentions.

New Jersey appears poised to become the first state legislature to allow retail sales of cannabis to adults.

The measures next go to the full chambers for debate and a vote. Lawmakers meet in their first full session on December 17, but it’s unclear whether the bills will come up for a vote then. Unlike other states, the New Jersey legislature meets year-round, which means the bill won’t languish for months before it gets taken up by lawmakers.

One closely watched component is expungements for people convicted of marijuana offenses. The Assembly bill lays out an accelerated process for those with records to clear their names.

The committee approvals caught the attention of cannabis activists around the country partly because New Jersey ranks as the 11th largest state in the country by population with nine million residents.

With the House, Senate and statehouse all in Democratic control, the legislation has a good chance of becoming law. Since Gov. Phil Murphy won election on a legalization platform last year, the winds have favored legalization in New Jersey.

Gov. Phil Murphy: “I’m very happy that this is moving.”

But, so far, the process has been relatively slow. Advocates who’d hoped for a vote as early as this past spring are now projecting a decision by the end of the year at the earliest. Still, New Jersey appears poised to become the first state legislature to allow retail sales of cannabis to adults.

As proposed, the legislation would permit adults to possess up to one ounce of flower, up to a pound in solid form and 72 ounces in liquid form of marijuana-infused products (edibles) and seven grams of marijuana extracts. It creates five categories of regulated marijuana businesses: growers, product manufacturers, wholesalers, testing facilities and retailers. Some retail sites could include consumption on premises in designated areas. Local municipalities would retain control over the number and types of cannabis enterprises in their jurisdictions and would have the right to enforce local licensing requirements. Some towns and cities have been holding hearings to get public input.

The legislation proposes treating anyone under 21 caught with cannabis in a similar manner as alcohol and erases the stricter criminal penalties currently on the books. It also establishes a five-member Cannabis Regulatory Commission to oversee adult use and existing medical program.

With the House, Senate and statehouse all in Democratic control, the legislation has a good chance of becoming law.

The measures recommend a 12% tax rate on the retail price, including the sales tax and a potential local tax of up to 2%, though Gov. Murphy prefers a rate closer to 25%. Asked by reporters whether he would sign the bill in its current form, Murphy stated at a press conference in Trenton, “We haven’t commented on specifics, but I’m very happy that this is moving.”

Another negative is the ban on home growing in both bills. Washington is the only legal state (there are 10) that doesn’t allow domestic cultivation.

One strong motivator for legalization in New Jersey is sorely needed revenues. The Assembly and Senate budgets include a projected $69 million from marijuana taxes, which is considered a conservative estimate. In most other legal states, tax revenues from cannabis have exceeded expectations.

“This will right several wrongs that have been perpetuated throughout the failed War on Drugs,” New Jersey CannaBusiness Association President Scott Rudder noted in a statement. “It will take cannabis out of the hands of drug dealers and the black market and place it in a well-regulated space that will allow small business owners to create jobs and pump money into our economy.”

Related Articles

New Jersey’s Path to Legalization

Recreational Cannabis Stores Finally Open in Massachusetts

Marijuana Legalization Initiatives Pass in Michigan, Missouri & Utah

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South Korea Legalizes Medical Cannabis

South Korea has became the first country in East Asia to legalize medical cannabis.

The country’s National Assembly voted last week to approve amending the Act on the Management of Narcotic Drugs to pave the way for non-hallucinogenic dosages of medical cannabis prescriptions, reports the Marijuana Business Daily.

Under the new law, medical marijuana will still be tightly restricted. In order to receive medical cannabis, patients would be required to apply to the Korea Orphan Drug Center, a government body established to facilitate patient access to rare medicines in the country. Patients would also need to receive a prescription from a medical practitioner, and approval would be granted on a case-by-case basis.

As reported by MBD, South Korea’s cannabis law overcame a major obstacle in July when it won the support of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, which said at the time it would permit Epidiolex, Marinol, Cesamet and Sativex for conditions including epilepsy, symptoms of HIV/AIDS and cancer-related treatments. On November 23 the ministry said a series of amended laws passed in a National Assembly session will expand the treatment opportunities for patients with rare diseases.

“South Korea legalizing medical cannabis, even if it will be tightly controlled with limited product selection, represents a significant breakthrough for the global cannabis industry,” said Vijay Sappani, CEO of Toronto-based Ela Capital, a venture capital firm exploring emerging markets in the cannabis space.

“The importance of Korea being the first country in East Asia to allow medical cannabis at a federal level should not be understated. Now it’s a matter of when other Asian countries follow South Korea, not if.”

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New Jersey Committees Pass Legislation to Legalize Marijuana

New Jersey’s Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees approved legislation today that would make marijuana legal for everyone at least 21 years old.

By a vote of seven to two, with four members abstaining, the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee approved Senate Bill 2703 today, which is sponsored by Senator Nicholas Scutari. Also today, the Assembly Appropriations Committee approved Assembly Bill 4497, sponsored by Assemblywoman Annette Quijano, by a vote of six to one, with two members abstaining. The measures will now go to the full chambers for a vote; passage in both chambers would send the legisaltion to Governor Murphy, who made legalization one of his top platforms during his successful election campaign last year.

According to the Marijuana Policy Project, the legislation:

• allows adults 21 and older to possess limited amounts of marijuana (one ounce), marijuana-infused products (16 ounces in solid form, 72 ounces in liquid form), and marijuana extracts (seven grams), although, unlike most other states to have adopted legalization, the cultivation of any amount of cannabis by adults in their own homes would remain a crime;
• sets a tax rate of 12 percent of the retail price (including the sales tax), plus an optional local tax of up to 2 percent;
• provides for five types of regulated marijuana businesses: growers, product manufacturers, wholesalers, testing facilities, and retailers, who can deliver marijuana and some of which may include consumption areas;
• allows local jurisdictions extensive control over the number and types of businesses in their borders, including the ability to impose local licensing requirements; and
• establishes a five-member appointed Cannabis Regulatory Commission, which would serve as the regulatory agency overseeing both the new adult-use and the existing medical cannabis programs.

 

“New Jersey is one step closer to replacing marijuana prohibition with sensible regulation”, says Kate M. Bell, general counsel for the Marijuana Policy Project. “Arresting adult cannabis consumers is a massive waste of law enforcement officials’ time and resources, and it does nothing to improve public health or safety. Prohibition forces marijuana sales into the underground market, where it is impossible to control them.”

Bell continues; “Under the proposed regulated system, businesses will be governed by strict rules, and authorities will be empowered to make sure those rules are being followed.”

If New Jersey lawmakers do legalize marijuana, their state would become the 11th to do so.

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Oregon Made Over $8 Million in Taxes From Legal Marijuana Sales in September

In September those in Oregon purchased enough marijuana legally for the state to earn over $8 million in tax revenue.

More precisely, Oregon made $8,054,422 in marijuana taxes in September, according to new data released by the Oregon Department of Revenue. Although this is lower than the record setting $10.1 million made in August, it represents a an 8% increase from the $7.4 million garnered in September, 2017.

Of the $8 million in marijuana taxes made in September, roughly $6.9 million came from the statewide marijuana tax (17%), with the remaining $1.1 million coming from local taxes (up to 3% per locality).

This new data brings the state’s marijuana tax total for FY 2019 (which began on July 1 and goes to June 30, 2019) to $22,268,666, putting the yearlong total on track to reach $90 million, which would surpass the $82 million made in FY 2018.

For a full breakdown of the marijuana tax revenue Oregon has made since the start of legal sales in 2016, click here.

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Study: Medical Marijuana Associated With Reduced Opioid Use in Fibromyalgia Patients

Fibromyalgia patients suffering from lower back pain respond favorably to medical cannabis as a treatment, according to a new study published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology, and epublished by the National Institute of Health.

For the study, researchers assessed the analgesic efficacy of both opioids and medical cannabis in 31 fibromyalgia (FM) patients with lower back pain. Participants were treated with inhaled cannabis containing less than 5% THC for a six month period

According to a press release from NORML, patients reported greater pain improvement with medical cannabis as opposed to the use of opioids alone. Patients demonstrated increased range of motion following cannabis treatment, but did not show any similar improvement with opioids. While undergoing cannabis treatment, the majority of patients elected to “decrease or discontinue pharmaceutical analgesic consumption”.

Authors concluded: “This observational cross-over study demonstrates an advantage of MCT (medical cannabis treatment) in FM patients with LBP (lower back pain) as compared with SAT (standard analgesic therapy). Further studies randomized clinical trials should assess whether these results can be generalized to the FM population at large.”

The full text of the study,  titled Effect of adding medical cannabis treatment to analgesic treatment in patients with low back pain related to fibromyalgia: An observational cross-over single center study, appears in the latest issue of the journal Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology.

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Recreational Cannabis Stores Finally Open in Massachusetts

Update: Two years after Massachusetts voters approved Question 4 legalizing the recreational use and sale of marijuana, two stores opened on Nov. 20 – Cultivate in Leicester and New England Treatment Access (NETA) in Northampton. At Cultivate, pot patrons paid from $19 to $420 for flower products.

In Northampton, Mayor David Narcewicz was first on line at NETA; he purchased an infused chocolate bar for $20. “It’s just a historic moment for the commonwealth and for the city,” he crowed. “I’m glad to be a part of it.”

Back in June, the Massachusetts’ Cannabis Control Commission (CCC), tasked by the legislature and governor to draft and implement the establishment of a retail cannabis industry, publicly indicated that their self-directed date to open non-medical cannabis retail outlets, July 1, would not be realized.

The Commission’s intent was to avoid mistake-laden employee background checks, consumer chaos and confusion and product inventory problems that occurred in the six previous states that created commercial cannabis markets (Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Nevada and California).

NORTHAMPTON MAYOR DAVID NARCEWICZ: “It’s just a historic moment for the commonwealth and for the city. I’m glad to be a part of it.”

At a meeting on June 15, the CCC acknowledged that nearly 1,100 applications for cannabis-related businesses had been received by the state since the application process officially began on June 1. However, only 53 applications had been fully completed at the time; most of the first 28 applicants were, predictably, retail medical cannabis companies already operating in Massachusetts.

CCC director Steve Hoffman said the Commission wanted to maximize efforts to have safe, compliant and uniformly regulated cannabis retail shops across the entire state. “We’re going to do this right,” he stated. “If that means we have few or no stores on July 1 and it takes a few more weeks, I hope and expect that everybody in the state believes that’s the right thing to do. We certainly believe that’s the right thing to do.”

To many observers of the state’s cannabis industry, the delay in issuing licenses was neither a surprise nor an unexpected burden as the CCC commissioners at their public hearings around the state for the last year consistently reminded the public that the July 1 date was more inspirational than a necessity.

“Other states that rushed to hit an arbitrary deadline ended up with no inventory in some cases, with no licenses in place and no background checks and online inventory being done,” Hoffman added. “We’re not going to do that.”

Related Articles

How Massachusetts Became a Leader in Regulating Marijuana  

Vermont’s Legalization Lite: No Model for Other States

New Jersey’s Path to Legalization

Maine Governor Vetoes Marijuana Regulations

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MA: Over $440,000 in Legal Marijuana Purchased in First Day of Legal Sales With Just Two Outlets Open

With just two outlets open, there was over $440,000 worth of marijuana and marijuana products purchased legally in Massachusetts on Tuesday, the first day of legal sales.

According to the state’s Cannabis Control Commission, over 10,000 individual marijuana-related items (whether it be dried flower, tincture or some other product) were sold during the first day of legal sales. The total value of these products is over $440,000, resulting in over $88,000 in tax revenue for the state (which taxes marijuana at 20%).

These sales came from just two marijuana outlets, located in Leicester and Northampton. Additional outlets are expected to open in the coming weeks and months.

The start of legal sales on Tuesday comes a little over two years after voters approved an initiative to legalize marijuana in 2016. The initiative allows those 21 and older to possess and grow marijuana, and allows them to purchase the plant at a licensed marijuana retail outlet.

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Connecticut: Incoming Governor Says Marijuana Legalization Will be a Priority Next Year

Connecticut’s incoming Governor Ned Lamont (D) said on Monday that he plans to make marijuana legalization a top priority in 2019.

“It’s going to be one of the priorities we got,” said Lamont when asked about marijuana legalization. “It’s something I would support, and I don’t want the black market controlling marijuana distribution in our state. I think that’s a lousy way to go. Canada, Massachusetts, others are doing it”.

Lamont noted that “That’s going to lead to some enforcement things. In the meantime, we enforce Connecticut laws.”

Earlier this year Connecticut’s Joint Committee on Appropriations voted 27 to 24 to pass House Bill 5394, which would have legalized marijuana for everyone 21 and older. Unfortunately the measure failed to advance further before the legislative session ended, but it gave a clear sign that lawmakers are willing to give the issue serious consideration.

If Connecticut does legalize marijuana next year, they would become the 11th state to do so, following Michigan who passed a legalization initiative during this month’s election.

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New Jersey Governor Signs Hemp Bill Into Law

New Jersey legislation to create a hemp pilot program has been signed into law by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy.

Assembly Bill 1330, signed into law today by Governor Murphy, “directs the Department of Agriculture to create an industrial hemp agricultural pilot program that promotes the study and cultivation of hemp to the maximum extent permitted by federal law.” The measure was passed by the Assembly in June, unanimously (67 to 0), and was passed by the Senate in September, 33 to 2.

The law states that “The department may partner with any qualified institution of higher education to administer the program; however, any person participating in the program must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Agriculture that the person has complied with all federal requirements related to the cultivation of industrial hemp.”

The department is also required “to adopt rules and regulations to administer the program. These include creating requirements for the licensing or contracting of growers participating in the program, prescribing hemp testing procedures to ensure compliance with federal law, creating a fee structure for administration of the program, and certifying germinating seeds and hemp cultivars if necessary. Any rule or regulation adopted by the department must comply with federal law.”

Assembly Bill 1330 notes that “Industrial hemp is used in a wide variety of products including textiles, construction materials, and foodstuffs. The demand for these goods is growing at the State and national level and hemp can be a viable agricultural crop in the State. The ability to grow hemp on an industrial scale would allow farmers to diversify their products by adding a lucrative cash crop and researching cultivation methods of industrial hemp would greatly aid farmers seeking to grow hemp for the first time.”

For more information on Assembly Bill 1330, including its full text, click here.

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MJBizCon Las Vegas 2018 Photo Gallery

MJBizCon broke cannabis conference records last week with 27,600 attendees (up 51% from last year) and 1,027 companies (up 38% from last year) exhibiting on the Las Vegas Convention Center floor.

Freedom Leaf had a large booth that housed our affiliated companies: Hempology, Irie CBD, AccuVape, Plants to Paper and Leafceuitcals Europe.

Following the successful three-day event, the organizers announced that next year’s MJBizCon in Las Vegas will expand to five days and move to December 9-13. “The City of Las Vegas and Clark County have officially proclaimed the debut of ‘MJBizCon Week’ surrounding the annual MJBizCon Conference & Expo beginning in 2019,” they stated.

Like SXSW – the music, film and interactive festival in Austin in March – MJBizCon Vegas will become a weeklong event with many nightly parties worth attending. This year’s best parties included Willie’s Reserve, High Times Biz Bash (featuring a performance by 2 Chainz at Brooklyn Bowl), Grasslands and Cannabis Wonderland.

Click to view slideshow.

More 2018 Events

November-December Calendar

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Poll: 81% of Indiana Adults Support Legalizing Medical Marijuana

According to new polling, the vast majority of Indiana adults support legalizing medical marijuana.

The poll, conducted at Ball State University, found that 81% of adults in Indiana are in favor of legalizing marijuana for medical purposes. Only 16% are opposed to the move.

Earlier this year Indiana passed legislation legalizing the medical use of CBD oil. However, the extremely restrictive nature of the law has led to medical marijuana proponents to continue advocating for an expanded law that allows for the medical use of all marijuana, not just CBD oil, while expanding the list of conditions that qualify individuals to use the medicine. This new poll gives them quite a bit of ammo in their effort.

The poll shows that support for medical marijuana in Indiana is roughly the same as, or just slightly lower than, support nationwide: A HealthDay/Harris Poll released earlier this year found that 85% of Americans believe that marijuana “should be legalized for medical use”.

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Study: Marijuana Use Associated With Decreased Incidence of Liver Cirrhosis in Those With Hepatitis C

Marijuana use is associated with decreased incidence of liver cirrhosis in those with the Hepatitis C Virus, according to a new study published by the Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

A cirrhosis word cloud.

“The effect of cannabis use on chronic liver disease (CLD) from Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection, the most common cause of CLD, has been controversial”, states the study’s abstract. “Here, we investigated the impact of cannabis use on the prevalence of CLD among HCV infected individuals.”

For the study researchers “analyzed hospital discharge records of adults (age ≥ 18 years) with a positive HCV diagnosis”, evaluating “records from 2007 to 2014 of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS)” while excluding “records with other causes of chronic liver diseases (alcohol, hemochromatosis, NAFLD, PBC, HBV, etc.).”

Of the 188,333 records, researchers “matched cannabis users to nonusers on 1:1 ratio, using a propensity-based matching system, with a stringent algorithm.” They then “used conditional regression models with generalized estimating equations to measure the adjusted prevalence rate ratio (aPRR) for having liver cirrhosis (and its complications), carcinoma, mortality, discharge disposition, and the adjusted mean ratio (aMR) of total hospital cost and length of stay (LOS) [SAS 9.4].”

The study “revealed that cannabis users (CUs) had decreased prevalence of liver cirrhosis, unfavorable discharge disposition, and lower total health care cost ($39,642[36,220-43,387] versus $45,566[$42,244-$49,150]), compared to noncannabis users (NCUs).

Researchers conclude by stating that “Our findings suggest that cannabis use is associated with decreased incidence of liver cirrhosis, but no change in mortality nor LOS among HCV patients. These novel observations warrant further molecular mechanistic studies.”

For more information on this study, click here.

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Massachusetts’ First Legal Recreational Marijuana Sales to Occur on November 20

The first legal recreational marijuana sales in Massachusetts will take place on Tuesday, November 20.

Two marijuana retail outlets were given the green light today to begin selling recreational marijuana next week. New England Treatment Access in Northampton and Cultivate Holdings in Leicester will become the first outlets to sale marijuana as part of the state’s legalization initiative (passed by voters in 2016).

Both stores, which were given the go-ahead to open in three days by the Cannabis Control Commission, say they will open their door to recreational marijuana customers the morning of November 20. New England Treatment Access plans to open at 8 a.m., while Cultivate Holdings will open at 10 a.m.

As reported by the Associated Press, the “commence operations” notice given to the two outlets requires them to wait three calendar days before opening so they can coordinate with local officials and law enforcement. The openings are expected to draw big crowds, based on the experiences of other legal U.S. states and Canada when they first launched recreational sales.

“This signal to open retail marijuana establishments marks a major milestone for voters who approved legal, adult-use cannabis in our state,” said Steven Hoffman, chairman of the cannabis panel, in a statement. “To get here, licensees underwent thorough background checks, passed multiple inspections and had their products tested, all to ensure public health and safety as this new industry gets up and running.”

Legal-marijuana advocates, who had complained about the slow pace of regulatory approvals in the state, cheered the news .

“We can rightfully squawk about state delays and problematic local opposition, but the fact remains that we’re the first state east of the Mississippi to offer legal, tested cannabis to adult consumers in safe retail settings,” said Jim Borghesani, a spokesman for the group that led the ballot question to legalize recreational pot.

Borghesani called it a “historic distinction” for Massachusetts.

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New Jersey Lawmakers to Vote on Marijuana Legalization This Month Says Senate President and Assembly Speaker

New Jersey lawmakers will vote later this month to advance legislation that would legalize marijuana, says Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin and Senate President Steve Sweeney.

On Wednesday at the state League of Municipalities’ annual conference in Atlantic City Coughlin said he has enough in committee to pass a measure that would legalize marijuana for everyone 21 and older. Speaking after Coughlin, Sweeney said he agrees with Coughlin’s timeline, but noted that he needs help from Governor Murphy to lobby votes; Murphy made legalizing marijuana one of his primary platforms in his successful run for governor last year, evening going as far as vowing to legalize marijuana in his first 100 days (a timeline which has passed, though most people don’t hold it against him as he’s continued to make it a key issue).

“The only way something like this gets passed legislatively is if all three of us work together,” said Sweeney. “If [the governor is] not going to lobby any votes for us then it won’t get done.”

According to a Quinnipiac University poll released earlier this year, 59% of voters in New Jersey support legalizing marijuana, with 37% opposed; only 4% remain undecided on the issue.

If New Jersey does legalize marijuana, they would become the 11th state to do so; Michigan became the 10th during this month’s election.

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N.H. voters send prohibitionists packing

Election results put legalization on the agenda for 2019

Last week, New Hampshire voters sent a strong message to Gov. Chris Sununu and the political establishment: it’s time to end marijuana prohibition! Although Sununu (a prohibitionist) won re-election, his margin of victory over legalization supporter Molly Kelly was smaller than anticipated. Most importantly, the Democratic party — which added support for legalization to its platform earlier this year — gained control of both chambers of the legislature.

The Senate, in particular, promises to be much less hostile to reform advocates in 2019. To illustrate, here are a few senators who were voted out last week:

• Sen. Gary Daniels (R-Milford) voted no on all cannabis reform bills throughout his time in the House and Senate. Voters replaced him with Rep. Shannon Chandley (D-Amherst), who has been much more reasonable on cannabis policy as a member of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.

• Sen. Kevin Avard (R-Nashua) voted against a 2018 bill that would have allowed registered patients to cultivate their own limited supply of cannabis. Voters replaced him with a legalization supporter, former Rep. Melanie Levesque (D-Brookline).

• Sen. Bill Gannon (R-Sandown) strongly opposed all sensible marijuana policy reforms throughout his time in the House and Senate. This was supposed to be a safe Republican district, but voters chose to replace Gannon with legalization supporter Jon Morgan (D-Brentwood).

The odds of passing a legalization bill improved significantly as a result of the election. However, in order to achieve victory in the House and Senate, we will need a robust effort to educate and persuade undecided legislators.

After the election, I published a commentary in the Union Leader, making the case that “cannabis is objectively less harmful than alcohol, and most residents of the ‘Live Free or Die’ state are ready to see it treated that way.”

Please help us get our 2019 campaign off to a great start by contributing to the Marijuana Policy Project today!

Then, please share this message with your family and friends!

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N.H. voters send prohibitionists packing was originally published on Nick Adams' In America Blog

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National League of Cities Calls on Feds to Reschedule Marijuana, Respect State Marijuana Laws

The National League of Cities – which represents nearly 20,000 cities – has passed two resolutions urging the federal government to reschedule marijuana and to respect state laws that legalize the substance.

In their resolutions the League calls on the feds to remove marijuana as a schedule 1 controlled substance, and to pass legislation “that would ensure states and local governments have the ability to establish laws and regulations on the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of medical and adult-use cannabis within the state.” This is the first time the group has called on the government to reschedule marijuana.

The League also passed a resolution calling for a resolution in the conflict between state and federal cannabis laws and “provide guidance to financial institutions that results in the cannabis market having access to the federally regulated banking system.” This resolution is similar to one the group has passed in previous years.

In addition, in their resolutions the League calls for the addition of federal regulations overseeing “the manufacturing, distribution and sale of legal medical and adult-use cannabis”.

The National League of Cities was founded in 1924 and represents over 19,000 cities, towns and villages.

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