President Obama on Cannabis: “I Don’t Think It Is More Dangerous Than Alcohol.”

In a wide-ranging interview with the New Yorker‘s David Remnick released last week, President Obama stated, “I don’t think [cannabis] is more dangerous than alcohol,” and spoke out in favor of the social justice benefits of ending marijuana prohibition.

“‘Middle-class kids don’t get locked up for smoking pot, and poor kids do,’ [Obama] said. ‘And African-American kids and Latino kids are more likely to be poor and less likely to have the resources and the support to avoid unduly harsh penalties.’ But, he said, ‘we should not be locking up kids or individual users for long stretches of jail time when some of the folks who are writing those laws have probably done the same thing.’ Accordingly, he said of the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington that ‘it’s important for it to go forward because it’s important for society not to have a situation in which a large portion of people have at one time or another broken the law and only a select few get punished.'”

The president’s comments weren’t entirely positive. He called marijuana consumption a “bad habit and a vice” and said, “I’ve told my daughters I think it’s a bad idea, a waste of time, not very healthy.” He also said he thought the “experiment” in Colorado and Washington would be a “challenge.”

But President Obama’s distinct rejection of the usual official fear-mongering about marijuana caught the attention of many and set off a new round of debate in the media about the relative harms of alcohol and cannabis and the societal costs of prohibition.

It also prompted Representative Jared Polis (D-CO) to invite the president and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) – who recently spoke out in favor of legalizing medical marijuana – “to visit Colorado and join me to visit a legal dispensary and grow operation to see how the law is being implemented in the state.”

“I am confident,” Polis continued in his invitation, “that when you see Colorado’s work to implement the law while protecting children and raising revenue for our schools firsthand, we can begin to make similar efforts on a federal level.”

First Legal Sale of Marijuana for Adult Use Highlights Benefits of a Regulated Market

At 7:30 a.m. on New Years Day, dozens of members of the media, marijuana policy reform advocates, elected officials, and business leaders crammed in the cavernous lobby at 3D Cannabis Center while hundreds of eager shoppers waited outside in the snow for their chance to participate in the historic day when cannabis was first sold legally, regardless of medical status, in the post-prohibition era.

The press conference, orchestrated by the National Cannabis Industry Association, the Marijuana Policy Project, and Sensible Colorado, highlighted the social, economic, and health benefits of selling marijuana through a regulated market. Speakers Betty Aldworth, Mason Tvert, and Brian Vicente — the leaders of Colorado’s Amendment 64 campaign — highlighted some of the actual and protected benefits of Colorado’s tax-and-regulate system for adult use marijuana, including plummeting arrest case filings, significant sales contributing to a vibrant market, and the resulting tax revenue.

The press conference was immediately followed by the world’s first legal sale at 3D Cannabis Center, an NCIA Founding Member. Toni Fox, 3D’s owner, conducted the sale to Sean Azzariti, a combat veteran suffering from PTSD who knew cannabis could help him but was previously unable to access it legally.

Following the sale, NCIA members and staffers spent the remainder of the day visiting other adult-use marijuana establishments around the city where long lines full of happy customers snaked around buildings. In the first day of legal sales, it is conservatively estimated Colorado’s 37 open stores conducted well over $1 million in sales. Most observers intend to revise adult use and medical marijuana sales projections for 2014 upward from original estimates of between $400 and $600 million.

A Message from the Executive Director

Dear friend:

2013 has been a watershed year for the legal cannabis industry, with unprecedented momentum toward replacing criminal marijuana markets with regulated storefronts — from new medical cannabis states like Illinois and Massachusetts to the establishment of adult-use markets in Colorado and Washington. The industry is truly growing up, and NCIA’s membership has grown more than three fold over the last year.

Thanks to you and almost 400 other responsible cannabis professionals that make up NCIA’s network, we’ve been able to significantly increase the reach of our message in Washington, DC and in the media. We’ve also greatly expanded our educational programming within the industry to arm cannabis entrepreneurs with the latest information and to instill the core values of responsibility, professionalism, and civic engagement throughout the cannabis business community.

I’m sure you’ve had an exceedingly busy year — I know the last 12 months have been the most active of my professional life — but as the year comes to a close, I hope you get the opportunity to enjoy time with your friends and family, and reflect on just how fortunate we are to be doing this work at this time in history. The opportunity to create a new American industry only comes around once in a lifetime. It’s truly incredible to be blazing on into this undiscovered territory with you.

Next year will bring about even more progress for the cannabis industry and its trade association. I look forward to continuing our mutual work of creating a future when our industry is afforded the freedom and equality that it justly deserves.

All of us at NCIA are wishing you a great winter holiday and a prosperous New Year!

Sincerely,

Aaron Smith
Executive Director

Medical marijuana dispensary operator and NCIA Founding Member elected mayor of Sebastopol, CA

In another signal of the improving public perception of cannabis, cannabis consumers, and the industry that serves them, Sebastopol, CA has elected a medical cannabis advocate to be its mayor. Robert Jacob, 36, is the founder and executive director of Peace in Medicine and CEO of SPARC — both NCIA Founding Member businesses. Originally elected to city council in 2011, Jacob was selected as the next mayor in a unanimous vote of the city council.

Like many long-time cannabis entrepreneurs, Jacob entered the field through social work with people living with debilitating chronic illnesses. In addition to founding Sebastopol’s first medical marijuana dispensary in 2007, he has extensive experience at the head of nonprofits unrelated to medical marijuana and led a nationally-recognized charter school.

While he doesn’t attribute his election to his medical marijuana background, this out-front advocate identifies what’s changed in recent years in an interview with TIME: “what it signifies is that medical cannabis is no longer your whole identity. Historically, if you were a medical-cannabis advocate, that was your defining factor.” As cannabis businesses become more integrated in their communities through strong outreach and philanthropic programs, cannabis business leaders will become more integrated in traditional community leadership circles, and even elected to top positions.

“For me, to serve successfully — the organizations, communities or constituencies I represent — collaboration is key. I encourage anyone interested in getting more involved in cannabis or in local government to go for it. Starting at the local level, participation is how we shape our future” Jacob said in a statement to NCIA.

TIME has dubbed Jacob America’s “first ganjapreneur turned mayor”, but he is by no means the first to blend a career in public service with a career in cannabusiness: professionals joining the ranks of the cannabis industry now include a former DEA agent, aformer member of Congress, and former marijuana industry regulators.

View a video from NCIA’s Southwest CannaBusiness Symposiumfeaturing a talk from Robert Jacob and others discussing the importance of productive and effective relationships with government officials online.

Legalizing pot: What’s happening in other states?

By Jack Markell for Associated Press

The votes in Washington and Colorado last month legalizing marijuana were just the latest developments in the debate over marijuana use in the United States.

Lawmakers and activists in some other states are contemplating their next moves in regards to marijuana.

Federal officials, financial industry representatives meet to address marijuana banking crisis

The federal Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group met December 12 for a “frank discussion” among federal regulators, financial industry representatives, and members of law enforcement regarding the banking crisis for state-legal marijuana businesses.According to Jennifer Shasky Calvery, director of the federal Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), FinCEN and other Treasury Department groups have begun conversations with the Department of Justice. The Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group advises the Director of FinCEN on the operations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and is the means by which modifications to BSA regulations are considered. Current BSA regulations require banks to file “Suspicious Activity Reports” any time a transaction of $5,000 or more takes place if the financial institution has reason to believe that it may be connected to illegal activity. This requirement is the core policy creating an impediment to marijuana businesses securing and maintaining bank accounts.A September Senate Judiciary Committee hearing reinforced the growing consensus among federal and state officials that the lack of access to banking services is now the most pressing obstacle to ensuring governments can control marijuana sales in the states where it is legal for medical or adult use and federal enforcement priorities can be upheld. Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) was particularly aggressive in his push for a solution to the problem, urging U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole to fix the problem before we have a “shoot out somewhere and have innocent people or law enforcement endangered by that.”

Though little is expected to result immediately from this meeting and details remain under wraps, it clearly indicates that a growing group of lawmakers and regulators are aware that excluding a billion-dollar legal market from banking services is untenable.

Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, addressed the problem in a statement to the media, saying, “Without access to basic banking services, many legitimate cannabis businesses are forced to manage sales, payroll, and even tax bills entirely in cash. That puts their customers, employees, and fellow community members at completely unnecessary risk. Everyone agrees that the situation is untenable; the Treasury Department and the Department of Justice must act and act quickly. The tide of public opinion is turning ever more quickly in support of regulated marijuana markets and, in 2014, at least six states will be implementing new regulations for these markets. It is long past time for the federal government to stop putting citizens in harm’s way by denying legally recognized businesses access to secure banking services.”

Judiciary Committee Hearing Underscores Consensus: New Marijuana Industry Requires Access to Banking

Senators, Deputy Attorney General Cole, and witnesses all call for swift action to resolve banking crisis faced by legal marijuana businesses

Washington, D.C. – Today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing reinforced the growing consensus among legal marijuana regulators, law enforcement officials, and cannabis business professionals that allowing access to banking services is now the most pressing obstacle to the success of the regulated marijuana industry realizing its potential to effectively control marijuana sales in the states where it is legal for medical or adult use and ensuring the eight federal enforcement priorities outlined in last month’s Department of Justice memo can be upheld.
Witnesses Deputy U.S. Attorney James Cole, King County Sheriff John Urquhart, and Colorado Governor’s Chief Legal Counsel Jack Finlaw affirmed the concerns of Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) , and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) that federal regulators’ actions to block state-legal marijuana business access to simple banking and financial services will inevitably undermine the viability of state-legal marijuana industries. Furthermore, Cole acknowledged that in states where marijuana has been decriminalized or made legal, implementing a strictly regulated system in which marijuana is sold is the only way to prevent criminal activity such as diversion to youth and across state lines and empowerment of criminals and cartels.
“We need to address the [banking situation] and we are working on it,” stated Deputy Attorney General James Cole who indicated the Department of Justice is conferring with the Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Division to resolve the issue.
Statement from Aaron Smith, NCIA Executive Director:
“The Department of Justice is finally taking seriously the dangers that a lack of access to simple banking services poses to consumers, employees and business owners. We are encouraged that the growing consensus among essentially all stakeholders is that banking access must be available to legal businesses. It portends a quick reform to this dangerous and unnecessary situation.”

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The National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) is the only national trade association working to advance the interests of cannabis-related businesses in the US. NCIA promotes the growth of a responsible and legitimate cannabis industry and works for a favorable social, economic and legal environment for that industry in the United States.

National Cannabis Industry Association Statement on DOJ Response to CO, WA Marijuana Laws

The National Cannabis Industry Association welcomes apparent shift in Department of Justice intent regarding marijuana enforcement

Washington, DC – In a memo issued to U.S. Attorneys today, Deputy Attorney General James Cole reinforced guidance indicating that the Department of Justice will not interfere with implementation of adult-use marijuana laws in Colorado and Washington.

Statement from Aaron Smith, Executive Director of the National Cannabis Industry Association:

“We are encouraged by today’s response from the Obama administration. At the heart of the guidance is a willingness to respect the voters who have decided a regulated marijuana market is preferable to a criminal market in their states. Cannabis-related businesses in these states are creating thousands of jobs and generating tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue. These are clear public benefits.

Now is not the time to push marijuana sales back under ground. The new voter-approved, regulated systems in Colorado and Washington should be allowed to proceed. We have full confidence the businesses in these states will comply with any requirements put forth by the Department of Justice. That is what they do. They comply with rules and provide a service to their customers and their communities. We are pleased to see the Obama administration will not cause harm to citizens and states by shutting these businesses down, and hope this will lead to an expansion of sensible policies related to marijuana such as allowing these businesses access to banking and taxing them at a fair rate.”

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Medical Cannabis Businesswomen Call on President Obama to Freeze Enforcement Actions While Reviewing Administration’s Medical Marijuana Policy

Washington, DC — The National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), in conjunction with the Women’s CannaBusiness Network, a project it launched earlier this year, today called on President Obama to cease enforcement actions against state-legal medical cannabis providers while the administration reviews its policies to determine whether they are in the public interest. Respected industry businesswomen defended their work and powerfully expressed their frustration with the administration’s crackdown.

“The women here today are compassionate and courageous leaders,” said Jill Lamoureaux , owner of Colorado Dispensary Services. “They are pioneers in alternative medicine. They are job creators and tax revenue generators. They are hear to bring awareness to the Obama administration’s reversal on medical marijuana policy and to ask that the Justice Department immediately stop shutting down state-legal businesses that are serving patients, creating jobs and generating tax revenues.”

Jen Reynolds , a mother of four who will lose her job on Monday because of the actions of the U.S. attorney in Colorado, urged the President to think about the people whom are being affected.

“This is not about ‘marijuana dealers,'” Reynolds said. “This is about medical cannabis patients having a safe and regulated environment in which to purchase their medicine. It is about employees like me, who had the amazing opportunity to help patients alleviate their suffering, while earning a living wage. My center should have been a model for others to follow, not a target for federal action.”

NCIA also released a report entitled, “The Colorado Cannabis Industry: A Tale of Ten Cities,” which details the sales and tax revenues generated by medical marijuana centers in ten Colorado cities.

“The ten cities included in the report alone generated close to $10 million in state and local sales taxes in 2011,” explained Aaron Smith , NCIA executive director. “This money is being used to improve government services in these areas, which is one more benefit of a regulated medical cannabis industry.”