Obama administration clears banks to accept funds from legal marijuana dealers | Washington Post

The Obama administration on Friday gave the banking industry the green light to finance and do business with legal marijuana sellers, a move that could further legitimize the burgeoning industry.

For the first time, legal distributors will be able to secure loans and set up checking and savings accounts with major banks that have largely steered clear of those businesses. The decision eliminates a key hurdle facing marijuana sellers, who can now legally conduct business in 20 states and the District.

Read more: Obama administration clears banks to accept funds from legal marijuana dealers | Washington Post

NCIA Blog Guest Post Guidelines

NCIA encourages member companies and allied nonprofit organizations to submit educational guest posts for the Members-Only Blog.

  • Guest posts are educational in nature and directed toward an audience of cannabis business professionals.
  • Guest posts are 200-800 words and may contain external links, images, video, and other forms of content.
  • While it is assumed that members writing guest posts will reference their member company and provide resources created by the company, the NCIA blog is not a forum for company advertisements. Pitches and advertisement-heavy posts will not be accepted for publication.
  • All posts are subject to editing by NCIA staff and become the property of NCIA upon publication.
  • Posts may be shared more widely by the author or NCIA through social media, email, or external media.

Send guest post submissions that meet these guidelines to bethany@thecannabisindustry.org.

NCIA Member Profile: Edible Events

EdibleEventsCOAbout: Edible Events Co. is a full-service event-planning company specializing in cannabis event production. They are currently producing monthly, ticketed cannabis-friendly “BYOC” all-inclusive catered events, held in high-end, private spaces throughout Denver.

Cannabis Industry Sector: Corporate Cannabis Event Production

Founded: 2013

NCIA Member Since: 2014

Led by: Jane West, LLC

Edible Events is one of NCIA’s newest members. We caught up with founder Jane West to talk about her involvement in the industry and her vision for the future of cannabis events.

NCIA: What makes Edible Events Co. unique?

West: There are many companies now selling multi-day cannabis tourism packages in Colorado. Edible Events Co. instead produces singular events that are unique experiences including responsible, adult use of cannabis. With over 15 years of corporate event management experience, we are also a full-service event-planning company capable of large-scale fundraisers, festivals, and conference production.

Since its inception just 4 months ago, Edible Events Co. has received extensive press coverage spanning five continents, including an editorial by Maureen Dowd of the New York Times and excellent video coverage at The Telegraph (U.K.), covering our first event, which was held on January 24th.

NCIA: What’s on the horizon in 2014 for Edible Events Co.?

West: With ski season upon us, our private, discreet Après Ski packages are currently drawing the most interest. They are fully catered affairs created by our Executive Chef, Melissa Parks, that begin with a THC infused amuse’. Our next ticketed Denver event is cheekily entitled “A Threesome with Mary Jane” and will be held at Space Gallery at 765 Santa Fe Drive on Valentine’s Night.

While these events are the foundation of the company, Edible Events Co. is seeking out new endeavors in corporate cannabis event production. We have recently begun promoting our Executive Ideation Retreats to business news outlets.

NCIA: What drives your entrepreneurial passion?

West: I have been producing and directing events large and small my entire professional career. After completing a successful five-day conference held for 6,000 attendees of Obama’s 2013 inauguration, I decided it was time to work independently and create something truly unique. Edible Events Co. was created with one goal in mind – to maximize the cannabis consumption experience and stimulate attendees’ heightened awareness of taste, smell, sights, and sounds, via artfully choreographed events that are incredible experiences. We showcase the very best Colorado has to offer in the culinary, cannabis, and art scenes. That’s what I love most about my job; I get to interact daily with passionate cannabis professionals, artists, and chefs to produce sophisticated events. I love bringing people together.

NCIA: Where do you see the cannabis industry in 5 or 10 years?

West: I think the possibilities are endless. With more professionals joining forces to support our industry, I think we are truly changing perceptions and stereotypes of cannabis consumption and consumers. For me personally, I would like cannabis to eventually be seen as a widely accepted alternative to alcohol consumption within my demographic.

Banks still wary about marijuana business | Politico

When it comes to doing business with marijuana sellers, it’s going to take a lot more than a thumbs-up from Eric Holder to get paranoid bankers on board.

The U.S. attorney general made waves last week when he said the Obama administration plans to give banks the go-ahead to make loans or open accounts for marijuana dispensaries in states where they’re legal without running afoul of federal laws, which still consider cannabis an illegal substance.

While the reassurance from Holder is nice, bankers say it’s not that simple.

Read more: Banks still wary about marijuana business | Politico

US marijuana policy edges toward acceptance | Christian Science Monitor

Uncle Sam isn’t ready to light up just yet, but the Obama administration and at least some Republican governors seem to be edging toward a more accepting attitude toward marijuana use. Or at least they’re falling in line with that majority of Americans – 58 percent, according to Gallup – who favor legalization of marijuana.

US Attorney General Eric Holder this week said the federal government will issue banking regulations for state-approved marijuana businesses licensed to sell the drug for recreational or medical use.

Read more: US marijuana policy edges toward acceptance | Christian Science Monitor

Intense Media Spotlight on Marijuana Bodes Well For Cannabis Industry | Marijuana Business Daily

This week alone, dozens of media outlets covered daily developments on everything from Florida’s medical marijuana legalization push and the latest favorable cannabis poll, to marijuana billboards near the Super Bowl and the first licensed cultivation operations in Connecticut. Others ran features on the top marijuana websites (TheStreet.com), the growing acceptance of cannabis (Christian Science Monitor) and the industry’s banking issues (Politco).

This is having a real-world impact on the cannabis industry.

The mainstream media’s intense coverage of all things cannabis not only reflects changing attitudes about marijuana in the United States, it’s also helping to accelerate that shift. The coverage has brought marijuana into homes and executive suites across the country, sparking conversations, spreading awareness and spurring debate among everyday Joes and politicians alike.

Read more: Intense Media Spotlight on Marijuana Bodes Well For Cannabis Industry | Marijuana Business Daily

Medical marijuana firms face cash economy as banks steer clear | Boston Globe

The conflict between federal and state marijuana laws has become a bigger issue as more states legalize the drug for medical and, more recently, recreational, uses. Dispensaries in the other 19 states that have legalized medicinal cannabis have run into similar banking problems, requiring entrepreneurs to hide the nature of their business, establish separate holding companies, or just haul around bags of cash.

Last week, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said that legal marijuana businesses should have access to the banking system and that the Obama administration would provide rules aimed at easing banks’ concerns, mainly by making these activities low priorities for federal prosecutors.

Bank officials in Massachusetts, however, are far from assured, worried what might happen under different administrations. Their preferred solution: changing federal law.

Read more: Medical marijuana firms face cash economy as banks steer clear | Boston Globe.

DEBATE: How has marijuana changed Colorado’s image? | 9NEWS Denver

DENVER – A new NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll finds a majority of Americans support legislative efforts to legalize marijuana.

Fifty-five percent say they would support laws in which adults 21 and older are allowed to buy limited amounts of marijuana for personal use.

About a quarter would not approve of legalizing marijuana, but they wouldn’t actively oppose it either. Nineteen percent would actively work to oppose and overturn any legalization efforts.

There is no question that marijuana has changed Colorado’s image. Whether that’s for the better or worse is still up for debate.

“To the extent that the cannabis industry has changed Colorado. I think Colorado has even more changed the image of cannabis industry. We are showing the world that there is a sensible alternative to the underground black market for marijuana by taking it off the streets, out of the underground and putting it behind a highly regulated counter,” Taylor West of the National Cannabis Industry Association said.

Read more: How has marijuana changed Colorado’s image? | 9NEWS Denver

Medical marijuana in Oregon: Ashland conference draws packed house | The Oregonian

ASHLAND — If the packed meeting room Thursday at the refined Ashland Springs Hotel is any gauge, interest in Oregon’s medical marijuana industry is, pardon the pun, high.

The Oregon Medical Marijuana Business Conference, the brainchild of Ashland businessman Alex Rogers, opened Thursday morning with a keynote address by Troy Dayton, the man behind The ArcView Group, a San Francisco-based business that, for a fee, pairs marijuana entrepreneurs with deep-pocketed investors.

The sold-out two-day event in Ashland is one of two conferences this week that focus on the business of marijuana – the latest sign that the state’s once-underground industry has moved into the mainstream. Beginning in March, the Oregon Health Authority will register medical marijuana retail outlets, the first effort to regulate an already thriving trade.

Read more: Medical marijuana in Oregon: Ashland conference draws packed house | The Oregonian

Medical marijuana in Oregon: Be a good neighbor, California marijuana advocate tells prospective dispensary owners | The Oregonian

ASHLAND — Medical marijuana retailers in Oregon need to shift their focus from staying out of jail to being stand-up business owners who sweep their sidewalks each morning and donate to local charities, a California marijuana advocate told prospective dispensary owners on Friday.

Don Duncan, the California director of Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana patient advocacy group, spoke to about 150 people gathered here for the Oregon Medical Marijuana Business Conference.

The sold-out event is one of two major marijuana conferences being held this week in Oregon. The National Cannabis Industry Association, based in Washington, D.C., will hold a daylong symposium in Portland on Saturday.

Read more: Medical marijuana in Oregon: Be a good neighbor, California marijuana advocate tells prospective dispensary owners | The Oregonian

Good Chemistry bring Colorado experience to Worcester medical marijuana dispensary | MassLive.com

WORCESTER — Medical marijuana is coming to Worcester’s canal district at 9 Harrison St, care of the Colorado medical marijuana dispensary Good Chemistry.

The company was one of two that received medical marijuana licenses in Worcester County Friday. It will be setting up shop at 9 Harrison St. between Water and Green Streets in Worcester’s canal district.

The Colorado company has two medical marijuana dispensaries located in Denver where they cultivate and dispenses marijuana, according to an informational folder that was given to MassLive. The company has 26 employees and grows over 60 strains of marijuana.

The storefronts in Denver have the atmosphere of a 1940’s apothecary, according to the company. The store is designated by a single lowercase “g” above the doorway. In addition to the storefront on Harrison Street, the company will also have a growth facility at another location in Worcester.

Read more: Good Chemistry bring Colorado experience to Worcester medical marijuana dispensary | MassLive

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