Vitaly Fargesen and Igor Palatnik, both of New Jersey, are accused of soliciting funds based upon false and misleading representations of their company, CanaFarma. The two also are charged with failing to invest solicited funds as promised and manipulating the public stock price of the company, according to a now-unsealed indictment handed down by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York.

CanaFarma initially sold a hemp-infused chewing gum under the brand name Yooforic, and later added hemp-based tinctures and skin creams. While the company marketed itself as a “fully integrated cannabis company addressing the entire cannabis spectrum from seed to delivery of consumer product,” in reality, all of the products came from third-party vendors, the indictment alleges.

Through a New York hemp grower, the company harvested 128,000 pounds of hemp in 2019, but didn’t process or sell any of it, or use it in any product, prosecutors alleged. The company never built a hemp processing plant, despite claims to investors that the business plan included having a “Fully Certified Clean Processing Facility.”

An attorney for Fargesen, Jeffrey Lichtman, wrote in an email: “We were greatly disappointed to see charges brought here despite cooperating with the government’s many information requests over the past year or so.”

He continued, “As will be revealed at trial, the government’s indictment relies almost exclusively on two rogue employees who managed to loot the company before running into the arms of the government and admitting their own fraud.”

The Government has started a consultation process to explore the possibilities for the development of an industrial fibre sector using hemp.

Advocates for the sector including Hemp Cooperative Ireland, whose members include farmers, engineers and scientists, argue that Irish-grown hemp has significant potential as a renewable agricultural cash crop suitable for industrial applications including building insulation, cloth making and even low-carbon cement production. 

While hemp can be produced here and was once widely grown for rope making, its closeness to cannabis means even industrial use is effectively banned under drugs legislation. 

However, the Programme for Government, published last year, committed to exploring the potential for growing fibre crops such as hemp and to consider whether the crops have a viable market.

Hemp growing by farmers is subject to the granting of a licence by the Health Products Regulatory Authority, which operates under the auspices of the Department of Health.

AceCann, a Portuguese medical cannabis company, is receiving a €13 million ($18.7 million) investment from Casa Verde, a venture capital fund co-founded by Snoop Dogg. It is the firm’s first investment in continental Europe, according to Sifted.

The Greenwood Police Department (GPD) in South Carolina issued an advisory to parents this week cautioning them about a recent discovery in which a green substance tested positive as heroin, but looked quite a bit like cannabis.

The advisory posted on Facebook implores PARENTS: PLEASE READ. In a straightforward approach surely meant to get parents’ attention, police kick off by asking: “If you saw this, what would you think it was? Candy? Marijuana? This is heroin.”

One person commenting on the police post noted: “ I’d like to see one of the pieces cut open and also what the coating is, or was. It would help in keeping an eye out for crap like this.” Another poster thanked the police for providing a photo, adding “ more photos of other drugs would be helpful. ”

According to 7News, GPD public information officer Jonathan Link reports: “This is not something people just smoke a little bit and walk away. This is the kind of thing that grips people and puts them in the addiction, recovery process for the rest of your life.”

But Link notes the substance, which initially looks like cannabis that has been compressed, but when manipulated is much more of a “powdery, kind of a crystal substance,” Link adds.

The Long Beach City Council this week voted to allow more cannabis dispensaries and delivery-only marijuana businesses, but asked staff to figure out how to pay for the expanded program without raising taxes.

“It could potentially cripple the businesses we’re trying to lift up,” Councilman Al Austin said about the rejected tax increase. “That’s my real concern.”

The city’s social equity program was created in 2018 to allow those who were targeted for cannabis-related crimes to benefit from legalization.

The ordinance will allow eight more dispensaries to operate in Long Beach, exclusive to those who qualify for the equity program.

To qualify, equity applicants must meet one of the following requirements:

Medical and retail marijuana sales fell in August for the second consecutive year, while the state's tax and fee revenue also declined, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue's September report. 

Prior to last year, marijuana sales throughout the month of August had continuously increased from the previous month since 2014, according to the report. 

Throughout the month of August, $192 million worth marijuana was sold across the Centennial State, which is a decrease of over $9.9 million or nearly 5% from July. Likewise, this August's overall sales were nearly 12% lower than in 2020, according to the report. 

Cannabis is booming. New numbers from Nevada’s Cannabis Compliance Board and Department of Taxation show the marijuana industry had more than $1 billion in taxable sales in the last year.

What these figures really show is that it is a product everyone is becoming more and more comfortable with.

And these gains are for the history books.

“It existed in the shadows for so long—you’d probably have to talk to someone from the 20s and 30s when alcohol was finally legalized,” said David Goldwater, a managing partner at Inyo Fine Cannabis Dispensary.

 A county in southern Oregon says it's so overwhelmed by an increase in the number and size of illegal marijuana farms that it declared a state of emergency Wednesday, appealing to the governor and the Legislature's leaders for help.

Illegal marijuana grows have been a persistent problem throughout the West, even in states like California that have legalized pot. A megadrought across the West has created urgency, though, as illegal growers steal water, depriving legal users including farmers and homeowners of the increasingly precious resource.

Only four Oregon Water Resources Department full-time employees handle complaints and perform all of their other duties in Jackson County and neighboring Josephine County, the commissioners said.

Josephine County has also been hurt by illegal grows that have drained creeks and siphoned off groundwater. Josephine County Sheriff Dave Daniel believes there are hundreds of illegal operations in his county alone. One with 72,000 marijuana plants that was drawing water from the Illinois River was raided after a dying person who worked there was dropped off in a nearby village.

Oregon voters made producing, processing, selling and using recreational marijuana legal in a ballot measure in 2014. Pot businesses must be registered with the state, which enforces compliance with rules. But some growers and processers remain outside the law, joined by a recent influx of outsiders in Jackson and Josephine counties who seek large profits by selling on the black market outside of Oregon while avoiding state taxes and regulations.

While most cannabis consumers likely don’t have weed lying around the house that they don’t want to smoke, it can happen, especially if a person harvests their own marijuana or suddenly finds they have a whole lot of weed on hand.

Leftover cannabis can always be stored in glass jars and dark places for later use, but, if feeling a bit more creative, there are plenty of fun things that can be done with these leftovers, remnants that could offer different experiences to compliment that cannabis high.

Cannabutter

Whenever there’s too much weed, cannabutter is a great place to turn. For starters, it’s very easy to make; it’s also super malleable, able to be be added to coffees, teas, drinks and just about any edible treat. Making cannabutter is also simple. Just remember to decarb the weed in the oven beforehand.

Some type of concentrate

Concentrates are potent forms of cannabis, stronger than flower. They can be consumed in different ways, which is why there are so many in the market. Still, some simple ones can be made at home, like rosin, which is made by pressing flower into some parchment paper with the help of a curling iron until it crackles. This process creates some oil that can be used on a dab rig, and consumed in that way.

A huge party joint

Sometimes, though, the best response is the easiest. Consider simply using that leftover weed to make a huge joint. There are dozens of ways to make them, from cross-joints to stuffing a whole bunch of weed into some tobacco paper. Just remember to share.

The past few years have seen a tremendous boost in the US cannabis industry, as 36 states have legalized the substance for medical or recreational use, or both, and several others have decriminalized it. At the Federal level, cannabis remains an illegal narcotic – but Federal law also prohibits prosecution of users who are in compliance with local state laws.

The industry is facing a number of headwinds, however, with the most serious being political in nature. Like so many headwinds these days, this originates with the partisan deadlock in Washington. Congress and the Biden Administration are finding it difficult to get major legislation passed into law, and so second-tier priorities, such as legalization of cannabis, are taking a back seat.

 The legalization of recreational marijuana through Proposition 207 in 2020 opened a lot of doors for people with past low-level marijuana convictions.

Nowadays, thousands of people have already applied for expungement under the voter-passed initiative, but not everyone can get their charges tossed out, including a Phoenix entrepreneur who says the same cannabis industry that is bringing in big money today almost cost him everything a decade ago.

"On my record right now, I have 15 total felony convictions from 1996 to now. It's all pot-related," said Martin.

The problem was: Martin was not partnered with a licensed dispensary and the police came knocking.

"It was all police," Martin recounted. "Four jurisdictions, and guns held in my kids' faces for a plant that's supposed to save my life."

In what it describes as a month of climate action, Blac Sneaker Company is donating funds with each hemp sneaker purchase to have trees planted on its behalf.

Relatively new on the footwear scene, Blac Sneaker Company was established in 2019 with a goal of creating simple, stylish sneakers for everyday wear that minimise environmental impact in their production.

“We believe good quality and comfortable sneakers provide the perfect balance between sustainable, durable, useable and practical,” says the company. “These elements are important when designing a shoe that has a positive impact on society whether it be through the materials used or contribution to communities.”

Every year around Halloween time, rumors will start to creep up about “marijuana-laced” Halloween candy. Should parents be worried about there being truth behind the rumors?

Some older stories stem from the 1950s that people would “heat pennies on skillets and put them into the hands of trick-or-treaters.” This eventually turned into stories about “arsenic and pins” ending up in children’s candy in the 1960s.

This could be where the fear of marijuana-laced candy came from, but these instances can now be considered ancient Halloween sadism, according to Joel Best, the nation’s top researcher on Halloween candy contamination.

When looking further into information about marijuana-laced candy on Halloween, there have never been any real cases of it showing up in a trick-or-treater’s possession. 

“I’ve done the research, and I can’t find any evidence that any child has been killed or seriously hurt by any candy picked up in the course of trick-or-treating. My view is this is overblown. You can’t prove a negative, but it seems unlikely,” Best told Vox.