Medical Marijuana

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania health officials are defending their decision to award a coveted medical marijuana grower’s permit to a firm whose affiliate in Minnesota had two former executives charged this year with smuggling a half-million dollars worth of the drug across state lines.

Pennsylvania Medical Supply in Scranton was one of only 12 companies to win a permit last week to grow medical marijuana in the state. Records show the firm is run by Vireo Health. In February, Minnesota officials charged two ex-employees of its affiliate there with illegally transporting medical cannabis oil while they worked for the company.

Read More:http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/pa-medical-marijuana-grower-awarded-permit-20170626.html

There’s a great ongoing debate in California marijuana circles at the moment—the same ancient question, persistent and pervasive, that’s hovered over legalization since the beginning: How much is too much?

How strong do we allow marijuana edibles to be, before everybody loses their minds?

If you listen to the cannabis industry, edibles packed with 500 milligrams of THC and above are not unreasonable and ought to be a basic sundry good in every dispensary (albeit affixed with warning labels advising the unfamiliar to please, please go slow, and maybe take a few nibbles before swallowing the whole bar and having a well-documented freakout).

California regulators believe 100 milligrams per edible is plenty—and if profoundly sick people need to eat six cookies to achieve the pain relief they say they need, well, maybe they’re better off with a few drops of concentrated oil.  

Read More:http://hightimes.com/medicinal/study-this-is-how-much-marijuana-to-use-without-freaking-out/

American exceptionalism is strong, for none of the right reasons. As of Monday, the United States is the only country in North America where the federal government believes cannabis can in no circumstances be medicine.

Since 2013, Canada’s health authority has offered federal licenses to medical marijuana cultivators and providers, who can then provide cannabis to qualified patients without any of the risk or legal gray areas seen in America.

Mexico’s Health Ministry is now poised to follow suit, after Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto signed an executive a decree on Monday legalizing medical marijuana in the country.

Read More:http://hightimes.com/news/mexico-legalized-medical-marijuana-heres-exactly-what-that-means/

With all the fighting going on in Congress, it’s hard to find almost anything for them to agree on nowadays. One of the few things, it seems to be, is ending medical marijuana prohibition.

On Thursday, a bipartisan group including U.S. Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), Corey Booker (D-NJ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Mike Lee (R-UT) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) reintroduced the CARERS Act with new 2017 branding.

The CARERS Act of 2017 (or, if you’re trying to sound smart, The Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States Act) basically allows states with medical marijuana to continue doing it, but legally. More importantly, it would allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to recommend it to veterans as a treatment, as well as create some important paths for research.

The original bill was submitted in 2015, with Paul, Booker and Gillibrand attached to it. Despite wide media coverage, they weren’t able to get a hearing due to a lack of Republican support.

Read More:http://hightimes.com/news/senators-reintroduce-bill-to-end-federal-prohibition-of-medical-marijuana/

As Mexico approaches full legalization of medical cannabis and research, one company has been a driving force. HempMeds Mexico helped tell the story of Raul Elizalde and his 11-year-old daughter Grace: A family in Mexico wins the right to import cannabidiol (CBD) hemp oil to treat Grace’s severe epilepsy. 

The Elizalde family’s story spurred an April 28 vote by the Mexican Congress to legalize the use of cannabis for medical and scientific needs. 

The bill, which overwhelmingly passed in a general floor vote with 371 in favor, seven against and 11 abstentions, will now be sent to Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to be signed into law.

Read More:https://www.theweedblog.com/family-in-mexico-wins-the-right-to-import-cbd-for-medical-use/

In the next several months, the industry is expecting to welcome two additional recreational cannabis markets, both of which have had operating medicinal cannabis programs for a number of years.  Nevada is expected to launch a temporary licensing program to officially allow recreational sales starting July 1, 2017.  Meanwhile, the very first medical cannabis program in the United States, California, is expected to begin recreational sales early 2018.  Neither of these states will be the first to make the switch from medical to recreational, but they do have the benefit of learning from the multiple states who have already made the transition.  As a business owner, this isn’t as simple as, “Hey, I have a rec license, so now I can start selling rec.”  You have to consider new data points that are required for compliance, new regulations in place that require you to alter your establishment premises, then figure out how to completely redo your workflows to stay compliant with the new structure.  Let’s look at the history of this process and some of the challenges licensees have faced in making the switch.

Read More:https://www.theweedblog.com/making-the-switch-from-medical-to-recreational-cannabis-industry/