The Great Marijuana Experiment | Rolling Stone

Legal marijuana in America is now estimated to be a $1.43 billion industry. And it’s expected to grow to $2.34 billion in 2014. If those numbers hold, the 64 percent increase – a steeper trend line than global smartphone sales – would make pot one of the world’s fastest-growing business sectors.

Signs of the new age abound. In Colorado, retail marijuana stores welcomed their first legal-age customers (21 and older) on January 1st. Washington state is expecting to license the first of its projected 334 pot shops by late spring. A Gallup poll taken last fall found that 58 percent of Americans supported legalization, a 10-point uptick from the year before. Alaska and Oregon will likely vote to go legal in 2014; California and five other states are expected to do the same in 2016. The legalizing states aren’t going in half-assed, either. Officials tasked with ramping up a marijuana regulatory system are taking to it with a tradesman’s pride. “We are going to implement Initiative 502,” says Sharon Foster, the brassy chairwoman of the Washington State Liquor Control Board, at a public hearing last fall. “This state is not going to allow it to fail.”

Medical marijuana purity under a microscope | Arizona Republic

Hunched over a microscope, Steve Cottrell peered at a bud from a plant that is increasingly used as medicine in Arizona and across the nation.

He pointed at a computer screen that glowed with a magnified image of the marijuana bud. The sample, the size of a quarter, was covered with powdery white bumps — a mold that was invisible to the naked eye.

Increasingly, medical-marijuana dispensaries and patients are turning to laboratories to evaluate medical-marijuana plants, identify potentially harmful substances and pinpoint the potency of plants and cannabis-infused products, from caramels and “cherry roll” candies to butter.

Cottrell, 42, and his company, AZ Med Testing, is one of a number of labs in the state that cater to the burgeoning medical-marijuana industry. The lab, located in a small office complex in north-central Phoenix, works with about a third of the state’s 70-plus dispensaries, he says.

Why Legal Weed Is Working in Colorado | TIME

The center of the movement to legalize pot is in a red sandstone building a few blocks from Colorado’s state capitol in Denver. The activists who work there call it the marijuana mansion. Sprawling and a little shabby, with stained glass and dormer windows, it houses some of the country’s top cannabis lawyers, as well as a policy group that advocates for the reform of pot laws and the industry’s growing trade association. On the first Friday in January—Day 3 of Colorado’s grand experiment with retail pot sales—Christian Sederberg, an attorney who helped implement the law, was lounging in a room off the mansion’s foyer, exulting in the success of its debut.

“The rollout’s gone amazingly well, and we knew it would,” he said, leaning back against a brown leather sofa as sunlight streamed through the windows. ”We’re on the right side of history.”

It may be too soon to say that, but Colorado has certainly made history. On Jan. 1, it became the only state in the world to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana to anyone over 21. At 8 a.m. on New Year’s Day, as most of the country slept off their hangovers, smokers were lined up in a light snow for the grand opening of Denver’s retail pot shops. Customers were happy to wait for hours and pay high prices for their chance to legally purchase taxed, tested and locally grown strains like Bubba Kush and Sour Diesel. Businesses say they banked $1 million on the first day, even though only a few dozen stores were ready to open their doors. And despite warnings that it would unleash reefer madness, the opening days went off almost without a hitch.

Sensible on Weed | National Review Online

By National Review editorial board

Launching 17 million “Rocky Mountain High” jokes, Colorado has become the first state to make the prudent choice of legalizing the consumption and sale of marijuana, thus dispensing with the charade of medical restrictions and recognizing the fact that, while some people smoke marijuana to counter the effects of chemotherapy, most people smoke marijuana to get high — and that is not the worst thing in the world.

Regardless of whether one accepts the individual-liberty case for legalizing marijuana, the consequentialist case is convincing. That is because the history of marijuana prohibition is a catalogue of unprofitable tradeoffs: billions in enforcement costs, and hundreds of thousands of arrests each year, in a fruitless attempt to control a mostly benign drug the use of which remains widespread despite our energetic attempts at prohibition. We make a lot of criminals while preventing very little crime, and do a great deal of harm in the course of trying to prevent an activity that presents little if any harm in and of itself.

Marijuana legalization in Colorado reflects a maturing industry | Washington Post

DENVER — On Wednesday morning, Sean Azzariti became the first person in the nation — and potentially the world, experts say — to buy marijuana for recreational use under a regulated, sanctioned system. The former marine who served twice in Iraq helped to make history, but his involvement on New Year’s Day reflected another change: the professionalization of a multi-million dollar industry that just 20 years ago was fully underground.

Azzariti turned to pot after receiving prescriptions for daily doses of 6mg of Xanax, 4mg Klonopin, and 30-50 mg of Adderall to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder, he said. “I just looked at this cocktail, and I was like I just can’t do this. Absolutely no way. I’d just be a drug addict,” he says. “[Cannabis] saved my life, basically.”

His involvement was part of an organized media event hosted by the industry — a reflection of a business that, after emerging from the shadows, is becoming increasingly professional. Store owners talk about $100,000 investments and expanding by tens of thousands of square feet. Even the profile of the business people involved has changed. A few years ago, most in the medicinal marijuana business had a high risk for tolerance or extraordinary passion for the work, says National Cannabis Industry Association Deputy Director Betty Aldworth.

As Colorado, Washington legalize recreational pot, California mulls its options | Sacramento Bee

Now in California, where a recent Field poll showed 55 percent voter support for marijuana legalization beyond medical use, four pot legalization ballot initiatives have emerged as contenders for the November ballot.

Yet in the home of America’s largest marijuana economy, advocates remain hesitant about moving forward – and putting the necessary money on the line – to qualify a California pot legalization vote next year. They remain uncertain over the state’s political climate and are frustrated by failure of lawmakers to set rules governing California’s medical marijuana trade, once estimated at $1.5 billion, in the face of federal raids on cannabis businesses.

Some advocates want California to have a regulatory scheme in place for the marijuana market before moving forward, while others argue that 2016 will present a more favorable voting poll for broader legalization.

Garden City pot shops give town chance to stand out, repeat history | Denver Post

GARDEN CITY — Nestled between two cities and on the edge of a bustling highway intersection, Garden City remains true to its roots as a tiny island of flowering, flourishing sin.

Farmer A.F. Ray, a bootlegger who used hollowed-out melons to cart his moonshine, made it the place to go for a good stiff drink during Prohibition. The area was formally incorporated as Garden City in 1938, and the town boomed as a place to legally buy and drink booze while neighboring Greeley remained dry until 1969.

Today, the town is poised to broaden its freewheeling ways, this time by opening the door to recreational marijuana sales that Greeley, Evans and unincorporated Weld County have banned.

“We stand for individual rights and going against the trends. It’s OK to be different,” said the mayor of Garden City, Brian Seifried. But “it is incredibly ironic that it is so precisely the story from the past.”

Since Colorado voters legalized possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for adults, many municipalities have adopted ordinances to outlaw the recreational business within their boundaries.

Marijuana Policy in New York: Time for Change | Alternet

By Melody Lee for Alternet

This week, State Sen. Liz Krueger introduced a bill to tax and regulate marijuana for adult use in New York.

The bill would end the criminalization of adults 18 years and older who possess up to two ounces of marijuana and would create a regulatory system allowing for the retail sale of marijuana to those over the age of 21, much like the current system for regulating alcohol.

New York State is estimated to spend approximately $675 million a year enforcing marijuana possession laws. The vast majority of those arrested (85 percent) are Black and Latino, mostly young men, even though numerous government studies report that young white men use marijuana at higher rates.

Banking fix for marijuana businesses soon may be in the works | Seattle PI

By Jake Ellison for Seattle PI

A key group of “high-level representatives from financial institutions, federal law enforcement agencies, regulatory authorities and others from the private and public sector” met today at the U.S. Treasury in Washington, D.C., to talk over the nation’s banking industry and one item on their agenda was what to do with money from marijuana businesses.

That group of high-level folks meets a couple of times a year as the Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group (BSAAG). It’s a task force established by Congress to coordinate Bank Secrecy Act-related matters.

“The meetings are private and designed to assist the frank exchange of views among financial industries, regulators and law enforcement. They meet twice per year. One of the items on today’s meeting agenda concerned banking services to marijuana businesses,” said Steve Hudak, a spokesman for the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

Is it time for the NFL to embrace marijuana? | ESPN The Magazine – ESPN

By Mark Smith for ESPN

THE TRUEST WAY to see the NFL is not before the game, when the helmets are shiny and the energy is high, but after the final whistle, when the bodies are bruised and the athletic tape is soiled with dirt and blood. Or at the practice facility the following day, when the players show up with crutches and walking casts, fingers in splints, arms in slings.

Pain is the singular constant of the NFL. Maintenance of that pain is as vital to players as mastering the read-option; whether through cortisone, painkillers or drugs and alcohol, they have always self-medicated to heal from the game that breaks their bodies. Which is why, more than any other sport, the NFL should lead the conversation on considering medicinal marijuana as a therapeutic alternative.

Medicinal marijuana is currently legal in 20 states, eight of which are home to NFL teams, and it is almost universally accepted in the medical community as a safe and effective pain reliever. Yet there appears to be no plan to reassess marijuana’s place on the NFL’s list of banned substances, and according to the NFLPA, no player in the league has received an exemption to use pot for medicinal purposes.

This Former DEA Agent Is Going to Work in the Marijuana Business | The Atlantic

By Jordan Weissmann, The Atlantic.

Patrick Moen is a 36-year-old former supervisor at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, where, until recently, he led a team based in Portland that fought methamphetamine and heroin traffickers.

Now, he is embarking on a career change. A rather dramatic one. The Wall Street Journal reports today in a delightful article that Moen has become the in-house lawyer at Privateer Holdings Inc., “a private-equity firm that invests solely in businesses tied to the budding legal marijuana industry.”

In other words, the revolving door between business and government just made an unexpected, and very druggy, turn.

Read This Former DEA Agent Is Going to Work in the Marijuana Business at The Atlantic.

Federal Banking Regulators Pressed to Act on Marijuana Businesses | American Banker

By Kevin Wack for American Banker

Following pressure from the governors of Colorado and Washington, the agencies say they’re considering steps to lessen banks’ risk when establishing relationships with pot dispensaries and producers.

Families See Colorado as New Frontier on Medical Marijuana | NYTimes.com

By Jack Healy for New York Times

FOUNTAIN, Colo. — As their children cooed from wheelchairs and rocked softly in their arms, the marijuana migrants of Colorado clasped hands, bowed their heads and said a prayer of cautious thanks.

They thanked God for the dinner of roast turkey and mashed potatoes, for their children and for the marijuana-based serum that has drawn 100 families to Colorado on a desperate pilgrimage to quell the squalls of seizures inside their children’s heads. They have come from Florida and Virginia, South Carolina and New York, lining up to treat their children with a promising but largely untested oil that is considered legal medicine in this cannabis-friendly state.

Finalists for medical marijuana dispensary licenses await state decision, talk details | The Boston Globe

By Evan Allen for the Boston Globe

In Franklin, Rina Cametti envisions a warm and welcoming wash of earth tones in a medical marijuana dispensary less clinical than homey, filled with couches and lots of natural wood.

In Brockton, John Greene’s dream dispensary — painted in subtle blues and greens, the atrium walls decorated with succulents — would be a healing space where patients could pick up their medical marijuana and get free acupuncture, nutrition counseling, and massages.

And in Brookline, Kevin Fisher hopes to set up an inviting and contemporary dispensary on Beacon Street, with window sheers and translucent lighting that would allow the building, currently a liquor store, to blend into the streetscape.

They are three of the 100 finalists, announced on Nov. 22, vying for licenses to open medical marijuana dispensaries in Massachusetts. The state’s Department of Public Health will award up to 35 licenses, with at least one and a maximum of five per county, and is aiming to have final decisions made by the end of next month.

Vote on medical marijuana bills allowing dispensaries, edibles, pharmacy sales on hold | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

By Kathleen Gray for Detroit Free Press

LANSING — A vote on a trio of bills related to Michigan’s Medical Marijuana Act probably won’t happen until next year.

But that didn’t stop a couple hundred people affected by the law from cramming into three committee rooms Thursday to voice their support and concerns about the bills during a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee.

“Our current legislation is the worst,” said Stephen Postema, city attorney for Ann Arbor. “At least take the next step and move the Michigan law into a better place than it is now.”

Robert Jacob, Medical Marijuana Dispensary Owner, Becomes Sebastopol Mayor | Huffington Post

By Lydia O’Connor for Huffington Post

A medical marijuana dispensary operator and advocate for safe access has been named the mayor of a California city.

On Tuesday, the Sebastopol, Calif. City Council voted in Robert Jacob, 36, as mayor. Before being selected for the position, Jacob served on the council as Vice Mayor and was the founder and executive director of the Peace in Medicine medical marijuana dispensary with locations in Sebastopol and Santa Rosa.

“My life has been about service,” Jacob said. “By addressing social problems such as homelessness, HIV/AIDS and access to medical cannabis, we can shape a better world for ourselves.”

Mark Kleiman, pot’s go-to guy | latimes.com

By Patt Morrison for Los Angeles Times

Come New Year’s Day, in Washington state and Colorado, marijuana will be legit, courtesy of two ballot initiatives. How do you create a legal business out of an illegal one? After 13 years of Prohibition, the country at least had an earlier legal liquor market to refer to. That’s where Mark Kleiman comes in, the go-to expert on these matters. A UCLA professor of public policy and author and coauthor of books like “Marijuana Legalization,” he’s heard all the jokes about “hemperor” and “your serene high-ness.” He was consulted by Washington state’s liquor control board, which has to come up with the nuts and bolts for the new law and which asked him for, well, the straight dope.

Colorado medical marijuana business application backlog persists | The Denver Post

By John Ingold and Eric Gorski for The Denver Post

Dozens of businesses continue to operate without full Colorado state licenses

Nearly 100 Colorado medical-marijuana businesses are operating without a finalized state license, the remnants of a bureaucratic backlog now stretching back more than three years.

In the language of the state Marijuana Enforcement Division, these businesses are “operational pending.” What that means is the businesses are allowed to remain open — growing and selling marijuana — while the state conducts its investigation and decides whether to approve or deny the applications the businesses submitted in 2010.

The state has made tremendous progress in clearing its backlog of pending applications — there were more than 900 of them a year ago — and hopes to eliminate the backlog this month.

Leaked U.N. Document Highlights Drug War Dissent | Forbes

By Jacob Sullum for Forbes

An internal U.N. document leaked to The Guardian offers a rare glimpse of disagreement about drug policy among member states, several of which are advocating a less violent approach. The document, a draft of a policy statement scheduled to be released next spring, suggests a breakdown in the international consensus supporting the forcible suppression of politically disfavored pharmacological tastes.

State officials consider potential implications of legalizing marijuana | MailTribune.com Tablet Edition

By Damian Mann

Ballot initiatives seeking to legalize marijuana in 2014 could put the Oregon Liquor Control Commission in the driver’s seat when it comes to regulation and taxes.

“It has an integral role, for sure, under any scenario,” said Rob Patridge, a Medford lawyer who is chairman of the OLCC and also serves as district attorney in Klamath County.

Oregon voters could be looking at three ballot measures — initiative petitions 21, 22 and 37 — if supporters gather enough signatures by the July 3 deadline. In addition, Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, is working on a legislative referral to legalize marijuana.

Red more: State officials consider potential implications of legalizing marijuana | MailTribune.com Tablet Edition.

Iowa lawmaker still seeking medical marijuana law

By Catherine Lucey for Quad City Times

Legalizing medical marijuana will again be debated in the upcoming legislative session, though Iowa lawmakers have so far been loath to embrace a policy that is spreading in much of the country.

Democratic Sen. Joe Bolkcom, of Iowa City, said he will pursue legislation seeking to legalize medical marijuana in 2014. Bolkcom noted similar efforts have failed over the past decade, even as some Midwestern states have embraced medical marijuana.

“I think we’re a cautious state, we have some conservative views on this issue,” Bolkcom said. “I think what has been missing in Iowa is the compelling stories and recently, people are courageously coming forward and are sharing stories about not getting the care they need.”

Medical marijuana ballot battle heats up | News-JournalOnline.com

By Lloyd Dunkelberger for The Daytona Beach News-Journal

TALLAHASSEE — With a new poll showing eight out of every 10 Florida voters favor the medical use of marijuana, the Florida Supreme Court may become the best place for opponents to stop the constitutional initiative.

On Dec. 5, the justices will hear arguments over the language of the proposal that will be on the November 2014 ballot if sponsors secure nearly 700,000 validated voter signatures by early next year.

Then and now: Who supports pot legalization? It might surprise you | U.S. News

By Tony Dokoupil, Senior Staff Writer, NBC News

It bears an aura of inevitability, the state-by-state fall of marijuana prohibition, starting with January’s debut of commercial sales in Colorado and Washington state.

Even as the legalization trend has spread, however, gathering momentum in at least 11 other states and setting up a prolonged clash with federal law, the issue has drowsed in the shadows of establishment conversation. It’s been officially ignored by major editorial boards, legal and medical societies, blue-chip companies and religious groups.

But the last time the reform movement was putting this much pressure on Congress — back in the 1970s — many of the staid institutions that are remaining silent now, noisily sallied forth and grooved to the issue of legal or near-legal weed.

High Hopes: The Marijuana Movement’s 2014 Playbook – Miranda Green – The Atlantic

By Miranda Green for The Atlantic

With big victories in Washington and Colorado behind it, the legalization lobby is adjusting to new legitimacy and widening its ambitions.

After years in the political wilderness, marijuana lobbyists find themselves in a strange position as 2014 approaches: Suddenly their power and support are growing, lawmakers are courting them, and the prospects look brighter to build on major progress the movement made in 2012.

Last year, voters in Colorado and Washington legalized recreational use of marijuana, the first states to do so. Those victories have bestowed new legitimacy on the cannabis community, giving it a better field on which to fight. By engaging in political-money games, endorsing candidates, confederating cannabis-related businesses, and old-fashioned lobbying, the pot movement is working to expand the playing field to more states and confront the federal government’s long-standing and entrenched opposition to marijuana infrastructure head on. Campaigners hope to make legalization the sort of social issue candidates have to take a stand on, just as gay marriage and abortion before it became crucial litmus tests.

Banks seek help with U.S. law when doing business with pot shops | Reuters

By Brett Wolf for Reuters

WASHINGTON, Nov 20 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) – Banks, worried about running afoul of federal money-laundering law in dealing with state-authorized marijuana businesses, may soon receive some much-needed guidance from U.S. agencies.

Because a federal prohibition of marijuana is still in place, most banks do not work with marijuana businesses in states that have legalized them for fear they might be charged with money laundering or failing to comply with other federal laws.

The U.S. Treasury Department plans to discuss with banks and other regulators how the federal enforcement stance regarding state-authorized marijuana business could affect the banking industry.

Czechs in quandary over legal medical marijuana | AP

By Karel Janicek for AP

TYN NAD VLTAVOU, Czech Republic (AP) — Just three years ago, the only thing that Zdenek Majzlik knew about cannabis was that it’s good stuff for making rope. Today, the 67-year-old retired nuclear power plant employee is an experienced grower who cultivates pot for his daughter who has multiple sclerosis.

Majzlik faces a thorny dilemma: The Czech Republic legalized medical marijuana use this year, but maintained strict restrictions on growing, selling and importing it. For Majzlik, the solution is breaking the law to grow pot for his daughter.

“She’s my child and it is my duty to take care of her,” Majzlik said, standing in front of a cannabis plant in his garden. “I do what I have to and I will continue doing so. I have no other option.”

The cannabis business: Here come the suits, man | The Economist

By The Economist

EVERY stoner has been there. You are sprawled on the couch, smoking trees of the finest Super Lemon Haze, when the phone rings: a friend needs picking up from the station. Happily, help is on the way: pop a Buzzkill, one of several products in development by the masterminds at Hudson Nutraceuticals, and the metabolising of tetrahydrocannabinol in your liver is accelerated, helping you sober up.

Such is the claim of Mike Schreibman, a former NBC executive who co-founded Hudson last summer. He understood he was on to something, he says, when he ate too much cannabis-infused chocolate sauce one day and realised he would do anything to stop the room from spinning.

Mr Schreibman was one of many entrepreneurs peddling their wares this week at a cannabis jamboree in Denver organised by ArcView, an angel-investment group. Together they raised over $1m. But bar the large pot plants on the stage, in many respects the meeting was no different from other gatherings of American investors and businessfolk. Ties, women and non-white faces were scarce. Pitches were peppered with jargon and cheerfully optimistic revenue projections, though not always a clear indication of the product or service on offer. But there was also a strong atmosphere of camaraderie, a sense that here there was an industry to be built rather than turf wars to be fought.

via The cannabis business: Here come the suits, man | The Economist.

Life Takes Visa—Except If You Want to Buy Pot | The American Prospect

By Amelia Thomson-Deveaux for The American Prospect

Momentum for marijuana legalization is growing, but dispensary owners still can’t take credit cards or open a bank account.

Earlier this summer, Elliott Klug had a plumbing problem on his hands. There was a leak in the drainage line between his marijuana dispensary, Pink House Blooms in Denver, Colorado, and the street. It was a relatively simple fix, but when it came time to pay the plumber, things got more complicated. Because of federal regulations that restrict marijuana business owners’ access to financial services like banking, Klug had no choice but to hand the plumber an envelope with $25,000 in cash. When the plumber tried to deposit the payment, the cash was held in limbo until the bank could count all of the money and verify that it wasn’t laundered—standard operating procedure for such a large cash deposit. Klug says it’s just another daily hassle for marijuana dispensaries, which occupy a strange legal gray area. Under Colorado law, Pink House Blooms is just one more small business, but in the eyes of the federal government, Klug is illegally trafficking one of the most dangerous drugs around.

Over the past 15 years, 20 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana. In 2014, legal marijuana for recreational use will go on the market in Washington and Colorado. Public opinion is on legalization supporters’ side: More than eight in ten voters believe that marijuana should be legal for medical use if a physician prescribes it. A majority support legal recreational marijuana. But because the federal government still classifies marijuana as a Schedule One drug under the Controlled Substances Act—an extremely dangerous illegal drug with no approved medical use—dispensaries are stuck in no man’s land between the state and the federal government.

via Life Takes Visa—Except If You Want to Buy Pot | The American Prospect.

Washington shops for a bank to handle pot money | The Olympian

By Jordan Schrader for The Olympian

Olympia, WA — Wanted: A bank for state government. Must offer attentive customer service. Must be able to handle several deposits a day, with drop-offs of up to 40 bags at a time. Must allow an account to be overdrafted during the day by more than $1.2 billion.

Oh, and must accept proceeds from the sale of marijuana.

As Washington shops for a bank, that last demand might not be as hard to meet as it sounds.

The state’s current banker has already agreed to it, according to the state treasurer, who says despite federal restrictions Washington shouldn’t face reprisals for banking and spending the revenue that is coming soon from pot taxes and fees.

Read the complete article at TheOlympian.com.

Marijuana legalisation: Tokers’ delight | The Economist

By The Economist

EVER since November 2012, when Colorado and Washington state became the first jurisdictions in the world to legalise marijuana for recreational use, the big question has been how the federal government would respond. The drug remained illegal under federal law; would Barack Obama’s administration tolerate the states’ deviation?

…

But change is afoot. On August 29th Eric Holder, the attorney-general, told the governors of Colorado and Washington that the department of justice would not seek to block their experiments—at least for now. His deputy, James Cole, issued a memo to the 93 US attorneys, who enforce federal law in the states, saying that in states that have legalised marijuana (including the medical sort, 20 states have done so: see map) they should focus their prosecutorial energies on eight priorities, including preventing the distribution of the drug to minors and its diversion to other states.

Surprisingly, that was not all. “Robust” state systems of marijuana regulation, wrote Mr Cole, could address his department’s eight priorities by replacing illegal activity with tightly run markets. This, says Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance, a lobby group, suggests that the feds are trying to square the public-health aims of the Controlled Substances Act with the realities of state-legalised marijuana. This may not be acquiescence, but it looks like accommodation.

via Marijuana legalisation: Tokers’ delight | The Economist.