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In a downer for California’s legal marijuana industry, regulators say some highway billboards advertising such products must come down.

The state Bureau of Cannabis Control on Thursday ordered billboard companies to stop selling space for cannabis marketing and take down existing ads on roads that cross state borders. Previously, such ads were only banned within a 15-mile radius of the California border.

The new decision covers about three dozen state and interstate routes, including the heavily traveled US 101 in Los Angeles.

The advertisements can remain on highways that lie entirely within California borders.

The decision heeds a ruling by a judge in San Luis Obispo County that found interstate highway cannabis ads are illegal under Proposition 64. The voter-approved 2016 ballot measure legalized marijuana for adult recreational use and included restrictions on advertisements.

New Zealand police are putting an end to the annual practice of searching for cannabis grows using helicopters and planes, reportsStuff. 

The operation has reportedly been taking place for more than 20 years and costs upwards of $700,000 annually.

“With the increased harm in many communities arising from other drugs, particularly methamphetamine, a one-size-fits-all annual aerial national cannabis operation no longer represents the most appropriate deployment of police resources,” a police spokesperson told Stuff.

Police Minister Poto Williams was reportedly unaware of the change until she was reached by Stuffearlier this week.

“While this is an operational matter, I have asked for a full briefing as to the rationale behind this decision,” Williams said. 

There’s been a lot of talk about how, and whether, cannabis can be used in place of antibiotics. Centuries of natural medicine traditions tell us ‘yes’ already, but now the Western medicine world is finally catching up. New research highlights how cannabis antibiotics are a likely and reasonable answer to the issue of disease-resistant bacteria.

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Let’s go back in time first

There are tons of natural medicine traditions that have existed on the planet through the history of man. Two of the more well-known, which are still in existence today, are Ayurvedic medicine out of India, and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) out of China. In Ayurveda, medical cannabis was used since 1000 b.c., with one of the reasons being as an antibiotic. This included topical use for skin infections, as well as for ailments like tuberculosis. Imagine that, information was figured out 1000 years before Jesus was supposed to have walked the earth, and researchers of today are only now catching up? Perhaps we should look at history more often.

When it comes to Traditional Chinese Medicine and cannabis, there’s a striking lack of information published, and not because it doesn’t exist. While most sites cite the lack of translation to Western languages for the void in information, this explanation sounds suspect. This is a popular topic, it goes against logic to assume that no one has bothered to translate for the English speaking world.

My guess is that as the pre-eminent natural medicine tradition, it bodes better for Western medicine practitioners to keep this information out as it tends to threaten the pharmaceutical industry (highlighted by this very article and the use of a natural medicine to combat bacterial infections). It is understood that cannabis has been written on within the medical tradition for at least 1800 years, and that all parts of the plant were used. Some publications say that hemp has been cultivated in China for as many as 4000 years. Again, there seems to be a block in getting this information to the Western world. You can draw your own conclusions as to why.

Sales of 1-gram cannabis flower packages tumbled in multiple North American marijuana markets last year, likely related to consumers who shopped less often because of the COVID-19 pandemic but made larger purchases when visiting a dispensary.

The shift away from 1-gram packages offers implications for both retailers and producers trying to keep up with shifting consumer preferences sparked by the pandemic. Despite the shift, the single-gram flower format – the smallest, cheapest size of marijuana bud available on the market – remains relatively popular in terms of unit sales. That suggests consumers haven’t given up on the package size altogether.

Nevertheless, the downward slide in 2020 readily is apparent in point-of-sale data from Seattle-based cannabis data-analytics firm Headset.

“I think that one of the big reasons that we see grams trending down is as a result of COVID,” said Liz Connors, Headset’s director of analytics.

Connors said the 2020 trend toward fewer sales of small cannabis packages mirrored broader trends in consumer packaged goods during the pandemic.

The City of Oakland, California, continues to pave the way towards social and economic equity in the cannabis business. The city has launched a new million-dollar workforce development grant program. The program is designed to recruit, train, and employ citizens who have disproportionately and unjustly suffered from the War on Drugs. This includes people who have lived in overpoliced neighborhoods in Oakland for at least two years and have endured a cannabis conviction in Oakland. 

Oakland continues to smoke every other city in America in terms of social equity programs. Last fall, Oakland launched the first government-funded shared kitchen production workspace for social equity Cannabis entrepreneurs. The new Cannabis Equity Property Purchase Program earmarks $2 million of funding for cannabis business equity applicants to purchase a property leveraged by multiple equity applicants.

This support is critical, especially in the Bay Area, where real estate prices are notoriously high. Removing this huge financial barrier to entry helps entrepreneurs from disadvantaged backgrounds enter the industry and build community equity and generational wealth.

Gregory Minor, Oakland's Assistant to the City Administrator, says the programs "were the products of listening to cannabis operators and equity advocates, and they are based on the 2017 race and equity analysis of the cannabis industry in Oakland that established an equitable approach to regulating cannabis in Oakland."

Righting the wrongs of history

Funding for these programs comes from a statewide California program that earmarked $20 million to support cannabis equity programs. Black and Brown people, who were the most targeted by the War on Drugs, made up 64 percent of the 1,000 plus felony-level marijuana arrests in California in 2019. The quest for equitable inclusion in the legal cannabis economy is still very much an uphill battle for most of America's cannabis industry. In New Jersey, lawmakers are currently hitting a familiar stumbling block, figuring out pragmatic ways to include and empower social equity entrepreneurs and employees. Disagreements about how to implement social equity programs are responsible for delaying the opening of what will become one of the nation's largest adult-use cannabis markets.

Many people might not think of Texas as a state where marijuana legalization is possible. But the state's changing demographics have led to at least the potential for changes in cannabis laws.

There's also plenty of money involved. As data from other states attest, the legalization of marijuana paves the way for entrepreneurial opportunities, job creation, and increased tax revenue to go to projects that improve communities and support those most impacted by the War on Drugs.

Lawmakers have filed about two dozen marijuana-related bills have in the Lone Star State, according to cannabis advocacy organization NORML. They include proposals to expand the state's medical marijuana program, increase the amount of THC the state allows in cannabis products, and legalize adult-use cannabis.

Few expect adult-use legalization to become law in Texas, but there is strong backing for legislation in the other two areas.

Some Texans want to give more people access to medical marijuana.

Texas has one of the most restrictive medical marijuana programs in the country. The state currently ranks in the bottom tier of states to allow access to cannabis for medical treatment. 

Walking through the streets of downtown Seattle, I struggle to get used to the fact that the drab gray, one-bedroom loft located above the Occidental Square coffee shop I frequent rents for $4,000 per month. I struggle to come to grips with the knowledge that my fiance and I could easily sell our home in West Seattle today, move to any state in the south or the midwest and buy a 7-bedroom, 4,000-square foot mansion, on a lake, for the same price. 

How is that possible?

Some changes could be coming to how North Dakota regulates hemp.

The law requires the state to sample and test hemp products.

Under House Bill 1045, the state will now be able to charge a fee for that testing.

The bill will also allow North Dakota labs to be considered for the procurement process instead of those samples being shipped to the lowest bidder in the country.

Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring said the changes are more in line with what the federal law states.

Making good on a warning issued months ago, the organization that represents most of the state's marijuana retailers is suing the Cannabis Control Commission to invalidate the new regulations that create a separate category of businesses allowed to deliver non-medical marijuana directly to consumers.

Cannabis sales in Colorado eclipsed a record $2 billion in 2020, state records show.

According to the Department of Revenue’s Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED), adult-use cannabis shops throughout the Centennial State raked in nearly $1.6 billion year-to-date through November.

Meanwhile, medical marijuana dispensaries sold more than $405 million worth of products during the 11-month period.

By comparison, Colorado dispensaries sold a total of $1.7 million worth of cannabis in 2019.

December figures have not been released, however, between January and November, sales of cannabis were up 25% compared to the same 11-month period in 2019.

Contenders span the country, from the Northeast to the Southwest as well as some of America’s more conservative states. 

American cannabis reform momentum could propel several states to pass legislation this year. Last year saw five states pass ballot initiatives, emboldening the belief that more reform efforts are on the horizon this year.

Violet Cavendish, communications manager at the Marijuana Policy Project, said that 2020 was another banner year for the reform movement. She added, “The clean sweep of state-level legalization victories in November reflects that this is a policy that Americans are in favor of, regardless of political affiliation.”

Several states are already lining up to be part of the cannabis reform class of 2021. The possible contenders span the country, from the Northeast to the Southwest as well as some of America’s more conservative states. 

Adult Use Is In Play For Virtually The Entire Northeast And New England

Practically the entire eastern portion of the U.S. is in play this year. Despite its current legislative struggles, numerous sources consider New Jersey’s passed ballot initiative to signal the remaining Northeast holdouts to enact legislation. Even as it is held up by state lawmakers once again, neighboring states seem to see the writing on the wall. 

Clever Leaves

Indiana farmers have enough to worry about with the learning curve associated with growing hemp – and they’ll also need to be wary of dishonest hemp seed vendors too.

But there is an easy way to avoid being conned.

2021 will be the first year hemp is grown in the state as a commercial crop rather than just for research purposes. There’s lots of interest – and where there is interest and money involved, there will also be unscrupulous parties trying to fleece others.

This story is adapted from From Seed to Success: How to Launch a Great Cannabis Cultivation Business in Record Time (2020) by Ryan Douglas

As states report cannabis sales numbers for 2020, record highs continue across the country. It’s become a billion-dollar business for several states, blowing out levels that states had estimated when originally planning legalization.

Billion Dollar Club

Colorado

The Colorado Department of Revenue reported that cannabis sales in the state passed $2 billion in sales from January – November 2020. Plus, December hasn’t even been added to the total sales figures. Despite the pandemic, the state has continued to break records. Steve Lopez, CEO, The Green Solution (Colorado) said, “With over $2 billion in sales from January through November 2020, we’re continuing to see Colorado break sales records through the pandemic. We debuted over 50 self-serve kiosks at our 21 retail locations across the state last year, and credit high sales to the innovation and creativity in our industry, as well as the measures we’ve implemented to prioritize staff and customer safety.”

Massachusetts

Adult-use cannabis retailers in Massachusetts have now tallied more than $1 billion in gross sales, according to information reported in the state’s mandatory seed-to-sale tracking system, the Cannabis Control Commission. At the close of business on October 30,  the aggregate data reported in Metrc by 80 retailers reached $1,000,521,905. What makes this even more impressive is that the state program is basically only two years old.

No one has died from a marijuana overdose and there is no evidence of anything more lasting than embarrassment. That certainly is not the case with alcohol.  

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article solely belong to the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Fresh Toast. 

The pandemic has produced a number of social changes that we hope may last. An online Harris Poll sponsored by marijuana company Curaleaf found that 45% of cannabis consumers age 21 and up have replaced or reduced their alcohol consumption with marijuana since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, and one-third of those who use cannabis recreationally prefer cannabis to drinking alcohol. 

Half of the respondents (50%) said they increased their use because cannabis helped them relax, and 48% said they did so to help them sleep. Of those who said they use marijuana recreationally, a third (33%) said that they prefer cannabis over alcohol.

Interestingly, parents are actually turning to cannabis at higher rates than those without children. Think of the children!