Cannabis a multi-million-dollar tax windfall for Colorado I CBS News

The numbers were not as high as expected, but are still well in the black, as Colorado announced the revenues raised from its first month of legal recreational marijuana sales.

According to data released Monday by the state’s Department of Revenue, Colorado brought in more than $2 million in taxes on sales from recreational cannabis in January. That number includes over $1.4 million from a 10 percent retail marijuana state tax, plus nearly $417,000 collected as part of the state’s regular 2.9 percent sales tax. Roughly $195,000 was collected for the month through a 15 percent retail marijuana excise tax, with the proceeds going toward the construction of public schools in the state.

Total taxes, licenses and fees for January for sales of both medicinal and recreational marijuana in Colorado came to over $3.5 million.

Pot pays: Colorado posts first official marijuana tax totals | The Daily Caller

Colorado collected $3.5 million in tax revenue from marijuana sales in January, according to the state Department of Revenue, a figure that includes both recreational and medical sales.

Recreational sales accounted for $1.4 million collected from a special 10 percent point-of purchase tax and $195,000 in a 15 percent excise tax. The first $40 million raised from the excise tax is required to be spent on school construction and maintenance, but how the sales tax revenue will be spent is still up for debate.

Ganjapreneur asked to resign from day job after vaping on national TV | Denver Post

Denver businesswoman Amy Dannemiller created her alter ego Jane West for her cannabis enterprises in October 2013. Her hope: Amy would work her 9-to-5 as an event planner for an unnamed national corporation, Jane would anonymously host her monthly bring-your-own-marijuana dinner parties, and never the twain should meet.

Except the camera-friendly, 37-year-old Jane became a popular face of legal marijuana — and it was a face Amy’s East Coast bosses recognized as they saw her vaporize marijuana on NBC Nightly News and the CNBC documentary “Marijuana in America: Colorado Pot Rush” on Feb. 26.

On Feb. 28, the company asked Dannemiller, senior event manager of its western division with a staff of 80, to resign.

My Parents Run a Pot Dispensary | Cosmopolitan

After years of fighting for the legalization of marijuana, Cheyenne Fox and her parents were thrilled when Amendment 64 was passed in 2012, making their home state, Colorado, among the first to allow pot to be sold legally for recreational purposes. This also meant the family’s Denver-based business, 3D Dispensary, where Cheyenne, 21, is currently general manager, could shift from selling only to customers with state-approved diagnoses to anyone who likes to get high. Currently, 20 states have medicinal marijuana laws, but Cheyenne, who will graduate with a BA in marketing this June and plans to grow the family business, hopes every state follows Colorado’s lead.

Marijuana in America: Colorado Pot Rush | CNBC

Colorado made history as the first state in the U.S. to legalize marijuana for recreational use. NBC News correspondent Harry Smith tells the story behind this stunning development, which has been called one of the great social experiments of the next century.

See more: Marijuana in America: Colorado Pot Rush | CNBC

Marijuana will be the single best investment idea of the next decade: Todd Harrison | Yahoo Finance

Call it a drug trade for investors. Todd Harrison, CEO and founder of Internet-based financial media company MInyanville, thinks cannabis “will be the single best investment idea for the next ten years.”

But while the public has watched recreational marijuana take off in Colorado this year, how can they profit from it as an investment theme?

Harrison believes it will be driven by the broader legalization of marijuana, inspired by states’ need for tax revenue. He points to expectations that legal marijuana use is expected to generate $134 million in tax revenue for the upcoming fiscal year in Colorado, the first state to allow recreational marijuana. That’s nothing to sneeze at, and Harrison calls the state the “litmus test” for broader legalization. Harrison also cites the expected decline in crime rates and prison populations as powerful incentives to decriminalize marijuana.

Pivotal Point Is Seen as More States Consider Legalizing Marijuana | New York Times

A little over a year after Colorado and Washington legalized marijuana, more than half the states, including some in the conservative South, are considering decriminalizing the drug or legalizing it for medical or recreational use. That has set up a watershed year in the battle over whether marijuana should be as available as alcohol.

Demonstrating how marijuana is no longer a strictly partisan issue, the two states considered likeliest this year to follow Colorado and Washington in outright legalization of the drug are Oregon, dominated by liberal Democrats, and Alaska, where libertarian Republicans hold sway.

Poll: Ohioans overwhelmingly support use of medical marijuana, half support same sex marriage | WVXU

By an eight-to-one margin, Ohio voters support the use of medical marijuana, while support for same sex marriage has reached 50 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this morning.

The poll by the Connecticut-based polling institute, which regularly polls voters in key states, said that 51 percent of Ohio voters said adults should be allowed to possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use, while 44 percent were opposed.

The support for medical use of marijuana was at least 78 percent among every demographic group surveyed, according to the poll.

Banks balk on marijuana money despite US guidelines | CNBC

The Obama administration has sent a message to the nation’s bankers: Even though the sale of marijuana is a federal crime, they can provide service to this new industry without fear of prosecution, but only if the bankers follow a detailed list of guidelines.

…

The National Cannabis Industry Association believes it’s too soon to know what effect the new guidance will have. The association has praised the feds for providing a roadmap for financial institutions that want to work with legal marijuana businesses.

“We don’t need every bank in America or even every bank in Colorado and Washington to suddenly start offering accounts to our businesses,” said Deputy Director Taylor West. “I think there will be some very smart banks and credit unions that will recognize that this is a potentially valuable new industry for them.”

And that may happen—eventually.

Steve Hudak, spokesman for the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network at the Treasury, told CNBC that in preparing its guidance, the agency learned that there are financial institutions interested in accepting this business.

“Let’s give it some time and see if they come forward,” Hudak said. “We tried to make it clear that financial institutions can offer services to these businesses and still comply with their obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act.”

Governor: Colorado pot market exceeds tax hopes | Associated Press

Colorado’s legal marijuana market is far exceeding tax expectations, according to a budget proposal released Wednesday by Gov. John Hickenlooper that gives the first official estimate of how much the state expects to make from pot taxes.

The proposal outlines plans to spend some $99 million next fiscal year on substance abuse prevention, youth marijuana use prevention and other priorities. The money would come from a statewide 10 percent sales tax on recreation pot, indicating Colorado’s total sales next fiscal year will be near $1 billion.

Retail sales began Jan. 1 in Colorado. Sales have been strong, though exact figures for January sales won’t be made public until early next month.

Pot Businesses Allowed to Open Accounts With U.S. Banks | Bloomberg

The U.S. government took a step toward legitimizing the marijuana industry, allowing U.S. banks to offer accounts and other services to businesses in states where medical or recreational pot sales are legal.

The Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued guidelines for banks intended to reduce the danger that sellers face in operating an all-cash business. The rules would also give law enforcement more information about marijuana business activity, the agency said yesterday in a statement.

“The idea that we can get checks written for stuff and use our credit cards, and paying taxes online would be fantastic,” said Elliott Klug, 36, co-founder of PinkHouse Blooms LLC, a chain of medical-marijuana dispensaries in Denver. He said he’s been using cash to pay $30,000 to $40,000 a month in state and local taxes and fees.

Marijuana Legalization: Feds Let Pot Businesses Use Banks | TIME

The federal government took a significant step Friday toward addressing the marijuana’s industry’s banking problems, issuing guidance designed to help pot shops gain access to the financial system.

Joint memos from the Department of the Justice and the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network gave individual banks the discretion to transact with legal marijuana companies, which have been denied access to basic services like checking accounts and credit cards because of federal money-laundering statutes.

The documents outline the steps financial institutions must take if they wish to transact with legal cannabis companies, while reaffirming their obligations to report illicit activity. Taken together, they offer a long-sought roadmap for both the banking and marijuana industries, which have been trying to resolve the problems created by forcing pot shops to hoard huge sums of cash.

With New Rules, Pot Business Gets A Little Less Hazy For Banks | NPR

Ever since Colorado and Washington legalized pot, banks have been in an awkward position. Would a bank risk being targeted by federal prosecutors for doing business with people whose primary business is selling marijuana? On Friday, the Treasury Department eased the confusion by releasing new guidelines for the banking industry.

Banks get guidance on legalized marijuana businesses | USA Today

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration Friday provided new guidelines to the banking industry aimed at making it easier for state-legalized marijuana businesses to have greater access to financial institutions.

In separate advisories issued by the Treasury and Justice departments, the administration’s action follows concerns expressed last month by Attorney General Eric Holder that legal marijuana operations were dealing largely in cash because banks feared that any relationship with the dealers put them at risk of prosecution under existing federal drug and money laundering statutes.

Eight Cannabis Entrepreneurs to Watch in 2014 | Cannabis Now Magazine

By now we’ve heard the cannabis movement described as a Green Rush, an unprecedented point in the nation’s history where, at least in Washington and Colorado thus far, America is embracing legalized cannabis commerce.

And green stands for ganja just as much as it does the greenbacks marijuana and marijuana culture can generate in both the recreational and medical marketplaces. Like its golden metaphorical counterpoint, those planning for success in hopes of getting rich quick on an herb cultivated for thousands of years may equally find success or failure.

Here is a list, in no particular order, of some top cannabis entrepreneurs.

O.penVape’s huge gains match ambitions | The Cannabist (Denver Post)

Ask O.penVape chief revenue officer Todd Mitchem about the national cannabis scene and he says, “The whole thing is falling like dominoes.”

Mitchem is specifically referring to states’ laws allowing THC concentrates such as oil, shatter and wax – which directly influences O.penVape’s oil-based pen vaporizer being sold in a particular state. But he’s not exaggerating.

“We went from three states that had (concentrate) licenses — Colorado, California and Washington — and now Massachusetts, Oregon and Arizona are pushing to get their licenses. And then there’s Nevada. And …”

Insurance brokers reach out to Marijuana Inc. – CBS News

As political and cultural momentum builds for legalizing marijuana for medical and recreational use, it’s created a so-called “green rush” of people trying to cash in on the surge in cannabis-related businesses.

That surge is also creating new opportunities and challenges for a segment of insurance companies — firms that are now offering policies to marijuana growers, manufacturers and dispensaries in the states where cannabis is legal.

Dems rally around marijuana in 2014 push | MSNBC

Lawmakers across the country are turning to relaxed marijuana laws as a winning issue ahead of 2014.

A bi-partisan group of House members sent a letter to the White House on Wednesday morning requesting a change in federal marijuana policy. Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon led the group of 17 Democrats plus California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in the drafting of the letter, asking the president to “instruct Attorney General Holder to delist or classify marijuana in a more appropriate way.” The lawmakers requested the changes in part so that businesses in states where recreational or medical marijuana is legal can deduct business expenses and receive tax credits.

The Long, Strange Challenge Facing Marijuana Entrepreneurs | Inc.

“There are a lot of hurdles to get through if somebody wants to do this, but the opportunities are there too,” said Ryan Cook.

Indeed the opportunities are there: $30 billion worth, in fact. That is the approximate amount of money marijuana users spend on the drug annually, according to the RAND Drug Policy Research Center. It’s a staggering market that Cook and a growing number of other entrepreneurs in the legal marijuana industry across the country hope to cash in on.

Cook is the general manager of The Clinic, a medical and recreational marijuana business based in the Denver area. It is just one of hundreds of companies in Colorado taking advantage of the recent change in Colorado law that allows for the recreational use and sale of marijuana in the state.

Rhode Island proposes legalizing recreational marijuana | Reuters

Two Rhode Island legislators introduced a bill on Wednesday that could make the state the third in the United States to legalize recreational marijuana for adults.

State Senator Joshua Miller and Representative Edith Ajello, both Democrats, said the bill would regulate and tax marijuana, treating it similarly to alcohol and making it available only to users age 21 and over.

The bill would allow adults to possess up to 1 ounce (28 grams) and to grow two marijuana plants. It also would set taxes on the drug, including a 10 percent sales tax.

“Regulation allows us to create barriers to teen access, such as ID checks and serious penalties for selling to those under 21,” Ajello said. “Taxing marijuana sales will generate tens of millions of dollars in much-needed tax revenue for the state.”

Marijuana manufacturing 2.0 | Fortune

Matthew Cohen wants his startup TRiQ to be the Toyota of marijuana manufacturing. The company, which opened its doors in Ukiah, Cal. in 2013, has a long way to go. But already, TRiQ is partnering with software and manufacturing companies outside the cannabis industry in an attempt to revamp the way marijuana is being produced. “Toyota is one of our idols,” Cohen says. “How they took car manufacturing systems and totally reinvented it — that’s similar to what we are trying to do for cannabis now.”

Meanwhile, up north, just outside of Detroit, Sam Alawieh, CEO and founder of the pharmaceutical company RXNB, has developed closed-door climate bay technology to replicate the exact environment of 50 different strains of marijuana in a controlled and sterile manufacturing environment. Alawieh, whose background is in pharmacology, has 32 patents pending on marijuana-related technologies. “People have been focused on access,” he says. “But the second-wave evolution is about predictability and accountability.”

Marijuana Legalization: Lawmakers Ask Obama to Remove From Schedule I | TIME

More than a dozen members of Congress called on President Barack Obama on Wednesday to remove marijuana from the federal government’s list of hard drugs, seizing upon his own comments in a recent interview that pot is no more dangerous than alcohol.

“We were encouraged by your recent comments,” the letter from 17 Democrats and one Republican said. “We request that you take action to help alleviate the harms to society caused by the federal Schedule I classification of marijuana. … You said that you don’t believe marijuana is any more dangerous than alcohol: a fully legalized substance. …. Marijuana, however, remains listed in the federal Controlled Substances Act at Schedule I, the strictest classification.

“This makes no sense,” the lawmakers added.

Bills to legalize medical marijuana introduced in Florida | Reuters

Florida state legislators introduced identical bills on Monday to legalize medical marijuana treatment in the 2014 legislative session, in a bid to win approval before a constitutional amendment on the issue comes up for a public vote in November.

Senators Jeff Clemens and Joe Saunders, both Democrats, brought numerous patients and their family members to the unveiling of their bill, which would effectively implement by statute the constitutional amendment that is on the November ballot”

This bill puts patients before politics,” said Cathy Jordan of Parrish, president of the Florida Cannabis Action Network, who has lived 28 years with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig Disease.

A new Rocky Mountain high: Colorado open for cannabis tourism | Washington Post

For Colorado citizens, partaking in the pot culture is easy: They can buy up to an ounce per visit and smoke it in the privacy of their own homes. Visitors, however, must hop over several hurdles, including a limit on quantity (a quarter-ounce) and restrictions on consumption as dictated by federal and state laws. At the top of the “no smoking allowed” list: federal land, including national parks, forests, trails, historic sites and ski mountains; establishments covered by the Clean Indoor Air Act, such as bars, hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues; and outdoor public spaces. Dispensaries also post very clear signs about what not to do on their premises. And you can’t take any leftovers home.

“You need to come educated about local laws,” said Tony Verzura, co-founder of RiverRock dispensary in Denver, “and prepared.”

Coming to the rescue, with guiding lighters in hand, are tour operators and entrepreneurs. The experts, many longtime smokers themselves, are providing chaperoned excursions to dispensaries and growers, much-needed guidance (“Take a puff or two and wait 15 to 20 minutes,” Vee recommended) and, most crucial, a safe place where guests can cannibust out without retribution.

Medical marijuana gets traction in the Deep South | CBS News

ATLANTA – Medical marijuana has been a non-starter in recent years in the Deep South, where many Republican lawmakers feared it could lead to widespread drug use and social ills. That now appears to be changing, with proposals to allow a form of medical marijuana gaining momentum in a handful of Southern states.

Twenty states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana, and this year powerful GOP lawmakers in Georgia and Alabama are putting their weight behind bills that would allow for the limited use of cannabis oil by those with specific medical conditions. Other Southern states are also weighing the issue with varying levels of support.

The key to swaying the hearts of conservative lawmakers has been the stories of children suffering up to 100 seizures a day whose parents say they could benefit from access to cannabidiol, which would be administered orally in a liquid form. And proponents argue the cannabis oil is low in tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana that makes users feel high.

Pot’s Growing Problem: Where to Keep All the Cash? | Bloomberg [VIDEO]

Marijuana for medicinal or recreational uses is now legal in 20 states and the District of Columbia but it is still illegal in the eyes of the federal government. Banks, which are overseen by federal regulators, risk losing their charters if they do business with marijuana sellers — even if those sellers are licensed by the state. The legal limbo is forcing pot dispensaries, growers and store owners to run cash-only businesses and locking them out of legitimate bank accounts and loans. Bloomberg’s Trish Regan takes a look at this growing problem.

See more: Pot’s Growing Problem: Where to Keep All the Cash?: Video – Bloomberg [VIDEO]

Marijuana businesses need banks I Bankrate

Buying and selling marijuana is now legal in Colorado and Washington, but cannabis businesses are still not able to enjoy one key benefit: access to the banking industry.

Because the drug has not been legalized on a federal level, banks will not handle money from marijuana dispensaries. The federal-versus-state legal issues mean these business owners have no checking accounts, no checks and no easy way to protect their money.

Michigan Supreme Court rules local laws can’t ban medical marijuana | Detroit Free Press

The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Thursday that local officials in Michigan may not ban the use of medical marijuana within their boundaries — a unanimous landmark ruling expected to overturn local ordinances in Livonia, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Lyon Township.

The outcome was hailed by marijuana activists, because if it had gone the other way, there was a chance that the decision would have barred all Michiganders from using marijuana for health purposes. And numerous communities were said to be watching the outcome before considering passage of their own local ordinances.

Has legalized marijuana sparked a crime wave? | Mint Press News

Marijuana dispensaries in states such as Colorado and California are being raided not just by Drug Enforcement Administration officials these days, but by thieves not only interested in the drug itself but lured by the thousands of dollars in cash that dispensaries are unable to deposit since they lack access to bank accounts.

Due to marijuana’s illegal federal status, federally insured banks are prohibited from knowingly handling any marijuana-related money, resulting in many financial institutions refusing to allow marijuana-related businesses from depositing money in a bank, using credit card services, or even transporting money from one location to another with the help of an armored vehicle.

In other words, most dispensaries across the U.S. have thousands of dollars in cash and no safe place to put the money.

Farm bill promotes hemp as legal crop | Al Jazeera America

The federal government is ready to let farmers grow cannabis — at least the kind that can’t get people high.

Hemp — marijuana’s nonintoxicating cousin that’s used to make everything from clothing to cooking oil — could soon be cultivated in 10 states under a federal farm bill passed by the U.S. Senate on Tuesday and sent to President Barack Obama for his expected signature.

The bill would allow the establishment of pilot growing programs.With marijuana laws loosening nationwide, lawmakers who support industrial hemp cultivation saw an opening and pushed through a provision that allows colleges and state agencies to grow and conduct research on the crop in the nine states where it is legal.