When members of the cannabis industry descended upon Las Vegas last week for the biggest trade show in the business, there was something stirring in the air. It wasn't the aroma of a freshly lit joint, but rather a sense that everything seems to be coming up roses for the industry. Despite a global pandemic, discombobulated supply chains, ballooning inflation and an ongoing fight to legalize marijuana on a federal level, the cannabis industry in…
Cannabis just had a victory in Congress. But the industry and its supporters may not want to get too excited just yet.
The US House of Representatives on Friday passed a bill to end the federal prohibition on cannabis. But the historic vote on the landmark legislation — which if put into law would be momentous for the emerging multibillion-dollar cannabis industry and broader social justice movements — ultimately is largely symbolic.
For now, the House is likely to be the last stop on the line for the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2019 (MORE Act), which would effectively legalize cannabis by removing marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and creating a shared federal-state control of cannabis programs — although it does not force states to legalize. The bill also would reduce barriers to research, solve current banking and tax woes, expunge some cannabis offenses and further diversify efforts in the industry.
In 2016, the US election resulted in a green wave as cannabis legalization measures passed in eight out of nine states. Now, the industry and its supporters are hoping for another big win in November. This year, voters in five states will decide whether to adopt either new medical or recreational cannabis laws -- or, perhaps, both in the case of one state. As it stands now, 33 states have legalized medical cannabis, and of…
Amid recession and social unrest, the cannabis industry sees its moment.
Actions by states to reduce criminal penalties for marijuana use and possession are fueling momentum for the broader movement to legalize cannabis and have it serve as an economic engine for cash-strapped coffers, industry members and policy experts say.
“I expect a record number of states to legalize marijuana in 2021, in part due to the financial pressures, along with the racial injustice imperative to reduce unnecessary police-civilian interactions,” said Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, the lobbying organization behind many state cannabis policies in place today.
This time last year, it appeared that Colorado’s industry was plateauing. Now it’s surging.
Colorado cannabis shops notched sales of nearly $1.75 billion during 2019, setting a new annual sales record for the state home to the nation’s longest-established recreational cannabis industry, according to Colorado Department of Revenue data first reported by the Denver Westword.
The new high water mark for sales netted more than $302.4 million in tax revenue for the state’s coffers, where that money is divvied up into various buckets to fund programs such as school construction, law enforcement, public health, drug education and public safety.
New York wasn’t able to legalize cannabis last year, but Governor Andrew Cuomo vows it’ll happen this time around.
Cuomo on Wednesday highlighted adult-use cannabis legalization as one of his 2020 priorities. His proposal includes forming an Office of Cannabis Management to regulate medical, adult-use and hemp programs; ensuring that social equity and social justice needs are met; working in concert with neighboring states; and creating a cannabis and hemp research center at the State University of New York.
If Cuomo is successful, New York would become the 12th US state to legalize cannabis for recreational use, and it would follow on the heels of Illinois in being the second state to legalize via a legislative measure.
Illinois’ first day of legal recreational cannabis translated to a good chunk of green — nearly $3.2 million in sales.
The state’s 37 dispensaries churned through 77,128 transactions to tally more than $3.17 million in first-day sales, said Toi Hutchinson, Governor JB Prtizker’s senior adviser for cannabis control, in a news conference on Thursday.
“The amazing thing about that is that there’s a significant portion of these dollars that go directly into this community reinvestment fund, so we can continue to rebuild communities that have been hardest hit by the war on drugs,” Hutchinson said. “So sales are great but let’s never lose sight on the impact that we’re having on families around this state.”
It’s common these days to hear about a food or beverage company investing in cannabis. It’s more unusual for a cannabis company to, say, snap up a soda brand.
In recent months, an emerging cannabis firm has quickly acquired a significant position in Jones Soda (JSDA) with an eye on bringing the wild child of soft drinks into CBD beverages.
Late Thursday, Heavenly Rx, a hemp portfolio company of cannabis investment firm SOL Global Investments (SOLCF), invested $9 million to buy 15 million shares of Jones Soda, bringing its ownership stake in the Seattle soda company to 25%. The infusion is a welcome sum for Jones, which has been accumulating losses.
A 30,000-square-foot cannabis museum is coming to Hollywood.
Weedmaps, a Los Angeles-based cannabis technology and media company, is behind the new museum, which is aimed at destigmatizing cannabis and will open later this summer.
“We’re at this point now where there is some cannabis normalization,” Weedmaps CEO Chris Beals told CNN Business, “where they’re already starting to forget that there have been people who have been in jail (because of prohibition).”
The Weedmaps Museum of Weed, slated to be open from Aug. 3 through Sept. 29 at 720 North Cahuenga Boulevard, will take visitors on a chronological walk through history — from the early uses of the cannabis plant to the “Reefer Madness” and “War on Drugs” eras through to the present-day legalization efforts.
