February 2015 | News Nuggets

BAY AREA

NorCal Native
American tribe to build cannabis growing facility

Shorty after the U.S. Justice Department announced that
Native American tribes are allowed to grow cannabis if they choose, the
Northern California based Mendocino County Pinoleville Pomo Nation announced
that it’s building a $10 million indoor cannabis-cultivation facility on its
property, according to The Sacramento Bee. According to state law,
the tribe will sell cannabis that is only authorized for patients. The
facility, which is already underway, is planned to be completed in February and
will cover 2.5 acres of tribal land. The operation is being built by a
Colorado-based investor, United Cannabis and FoxBarry Farms from Kansas and
both companies report their involvement with two more similar projects in
California.

Plans for legalizing
cannabis in California begins in Oakland

After the unfortunate loss of a number of initiatives to
legalization cannabis last year, advocates and organizations in Oakland are already
preparing for the 2016 ballot. Last month, a seminar in Oakland offered the
first official meeting for activists to learn of the success of legalization in
Oregon, Colorado and Washington D.C., and how those victories can be applied to
the next two years in California. This month the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) will
hold a symposium in Oakland to ask a number of questions, including addressing
racial and economic justice concerns, ensuring health and well-being for local
communities and gaining equity in the industry. “In considering the next steps
for California’s marijuana policies, it is important to look at how changes may
affect the communities traditionally most affected by marijuana prohibition,”
the DPA stated.

COLORADO

$5.7 million campaign
for cannabis awareness begins in CO

Colorado state is spending a large sum of $5.7 million to
educate its residents on responsibility when using cannabis, according to Time Magazine. The state calls it the
“Good to Know” campaign, which will be spread across multiple platforms,
including radio, newspapers and of course, the internet. With a goal to
“educate, not alienate,” according to Colorado Chief Medical Officer Dr. Larry
Wolk. The campaign as a whole will utilize a friendly, rhyming cowboy and banjo
music. Topics covered will include the usual messages, such as keeping cannabis
in the state, avoiding use in public places, keeping the herb out of the hands
of anyone under 21 years old and storing the herb securely. Wolk has high hopes
that citizens will embrace the campaign, “while Colorado and Washington state
have both previously offered limited education campaigns, the Good to Know
campaign appears to be the first comprehensive effort by either state to
educate consumers about the laws and regulations,” he stated.

State Senators vote to
rewrite state medical cannabis growth regulations

Late last month, a panel of state senators voted to change
Colorado’s regulations regarding how medical cannabis is grown and sold,
according to Denver CBS Local. In the 5-0 vote towards rewriting regulations,
the panel agrees that they will analyze and reconsider all current rules, with
hopes of expanding the potential for growth in the state’s cannabis industry. Governor
John Hickenlooper’s regulators who were present strongly suggested that
caregivers be more strictly watched, and that they should be required to inform
health authorities where they grow their herb. Currently, it’s not a
requirement, and only five percent of the state’s 3,000 estimated caregivers
actual do so. Another topic to be re-evaluated is cannabis potency and contaminant
testing, where currently, recreational herb is tested, but not medical. All
changes will be debated one at a time by the Senate Finance Committee.

LOS ANGELES

Collective initiative
works to get bans lifted in Upland

The California Cannabis Coalition (CCC) announced last month
that they obtained enough signatures to submit to a special election with hopes
of overturning bans in Upland, according to the Daily Bulletin. The CCC collected a total of 6,865 signatures from
those who said they would vote to allow three collectives in the city, which
would earn an estimated $200,000 in revenue. Unfortunately, the CCC has claimed
that the wording filed in their ballot summary asks for a special election, and
the Administrative Services Director for the city claims that a special
election was not specified, thus forcing the CCC’s initiative to wait for the
general election in 2016. Still, the signatures must be verified and if they
are approved, the city will have 10 days to hold a meeting regarding the fate
of the initiative for a special election. The city of Upland has banned
collectives for four years now, one of over 200 cities in the state that have
done so.

Cannabis progress to
allow collectives in Costa Mesa slows down

In December 2014, the Costa Mesa City Council agreed to
create a timeline for penning a cannabis law to allow medical cannabis
collectives, according to the Orange
County Register. A follow-up meeting that occurred last month was supposed
to be further discuss the details of the city’s future with cannabis—however,
the meeting has brought no news of the hopeful event as of this writing, nor
any light shed on the progress of unbanning collectives. Under the terms of two
different petitions to legalize collectives in Costa Mesa, advocates believed
that they were guaranteed a special election by March. Instead, the City
Council decided to simply add the measures to the November 2016 ballot,
claiming that because both initiatives ask for a tax, that the California
Constitution requires the vote to be presented in a general election instead.
Randall T. Longwith, a Fullerton attorney, cannabis advocate and author of one
of the initiatives, hopes that the progress for a special election continues as
planned, “We just want to make sure things are happening at an appropriate
pace,” he stated. 

MICHIGAN

Two hemp bills being
considered for approval

Governor Rick Snyder is currently reviewing the facts of
House Bills 5439 and 5440 which, if approved, would make it legal to grow
industrial hemp in the state of Michigan. It would also remove the word “hemp”
from the definition of cannabis under state law, according to WWMT-TV. In 2013,
hemp was approved to be grown for research purposes only—otherwise, its growth
is currently illegal. “Right now the federal government considers it the same
plant as marijuana. So removing it from the definition would separate
industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana under state law,” stated
Everett Swift, Executive Director of the Michigan Industrial Hemp Education and
Marketing Project (MIHEMP). According to experts at Everett’s organization,
industrial hemp would thrive in the Michigan climate, and could be grown in the
same soil as corn.

Michigan medical
cannabis patient numbers drop

For the second year in a row, the number of medical cannabis
patients in the state has decreased, according to The Detroit News. In 2014, the number of cards was recorded at
96,408, but in 2013 there were 118,368, and in 2011 the number was
significantly higher, at 119,470. Major declines occurred in Wayne, Oakland and
Macomb county. According to various officials, there is no single reason for
the overall state drop in patient numbers. Some list that those growing the
herb have been prosecuted due to the ever-present illegality of the herb under
federal law. Morgan Fox, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project suggests
that people may have gotten fed up with the state’s regulations, “A lot of
these patients may have just given up on Michigan’s system and moved somewhere
with a more robust law. And the issue of safe access in Michigan is still very
much in the air, in terms of whether dispensaries are allowed and how they’re
supposed to operate,” Fox stated.

OREGON

Oregon Senators Wyden
and Merkley push hemp bill

Two Oregon Senators, Democrats Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley,
along with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, have joined forces to push a hemp bill
into law. The bill, known as the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2015, would
allow American farmers to grow and profit from industrial hemp, according to wyden.senate.gov. It would also remove
hemp from the Schedule I controlled substance list, and would be defined as a
“non-drug,” since it has very little THC (an estimated 0.3 percent). Both
Oregon and Kentucky have separated definitions of hemp and cannabis, but
currently, farmers who want to grow hemp must have a signed waiver from the
DEA. “The U.S. ban on hemp farming is an outrageous restriction on free
enterprise and does nothing but hurt economic growth and job creation,” Senator
Wyden stated.

Oregon State
University now offers a cannabis policy course

With welcome news from the nation’s newest state to receive
the recreational cannabis treatment later this year, one of the state’s
prestigious colleges, Oregon State University, has announced the arrival of a
cannabis class, according to KTVZ.com.
The course, entitled “Marijuana Policy in the 21st Century,” is a sociology
class created by Seth Crawford, an instructor in the College of Liberal Arts.
“We will be working with policymakers and stakeholders to help answer some of
the biggest questions facing the state following the passage of Measure 91,”
stated Crawford. With Crawford’s experience with the state’s Advisory Committee
on Medical Marijuana, the course will end with “ . . . the presentation of an
evidence-based, student-directed paper on policy recommendations for the OLCC
and the Oregon Health Authority.” The new course’s maximum enrollment amount is
limited to 50 students, which is already at capacity.

SAN DIEGO

San Diego targets
five more collectives

The city of San Diego is cracking down on illegal collective
within its bounds, more now than ever. Over the past four years alone, over 200
shops have been closed. Due to the new and strict regulations set by the San
Diego City Council, only four dispensaries are allowed in each of the nine
council districts, according to the Los
Angeles Times. Among the closures late last year were collectives in North
Park, Kearny Mesa, City Heights and Mission Valley. Many of the closures seen
since the implementation of the new regulation are due to zoning violations—two
of the five were closer than 600 feet from a school. “Our aggressive
enforcement of city zoning regulations is necessary to protect neighborhood
standards and safety,” stated City Attorney Jan Goldsmith. This so-called “war”
on illegal collectives will continue until most of the shops are closed down
and the city council has approved the limited number of legal collectives. So
far, only a few have received such approval.

Cannabis collectives
close in Oceanside

Late last year, Nature’s Leaf Collective was closed by the
city of San Diego and another collective, Chronic Pain Releaf, followed suit
shortly thereafter. The city filed a nuisance abatement against the closure of
Chronic, which in turn caused the property owner to send an eviction notice to
the tenants and also filed criminal citations against the employees of the
business, according to UT San Diego.
After the closure, other local collectives that are still in operation began
advertising their businesses by handing out flyers in the area. George Sadler,
owner of Nature’s Leaf Collective, has been accused of participating with those
collectives, but he stated that he operated only with his own collective.
Sadler’s attorneys had reportedly tried launch a legal defense, such as a
lawsuit against the city, but the closure of his business was imminent once a
judge denied his petition to stay open during such a case.

WASHINGTON

Judge rules that WA
doctors can talk about cannabis in advertisements

Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Martin in Pierce County
recently ruled that a current state law that prohibits doctors from advertising
medical cannabis is unconstitutional, according to The Seattle Times. “I find the statute impermissibly overbroad as
it chills even information speech aimed solely at public education,” Martin
stated in a written report. Although the state might want to regulate those
advertisements by doctors, Martin also stated that completely banning it from
happening is unacceptable. The ruling came forth during a case by Pierce County
physician Scott Havsy, who sued the state after the Department of Health
sanctioned him for authorizing a patient’s use of medical cannabis and
restrictions on doctors. The case arguments ended with the conclusion that
advertisements must still be allowed the right of freedom of speech and
free-flowing information.

Surplus of cannabis
seen in WA access points

In the beginning of Washington’s budding recreational sales
last year, so much cannabis was sold that it was difficult to keep in stock for
months afterward. However, now stores are reporting that they have too much
cannabis in stock, and not enough of a demand. As per the rules of supply and
demand, now cannabis prices are at an all-time low. While access point owners
are expecting to have an increase in business due to the price decrease,
growers are finding a hard time selling their excess herb to buyers, according
to ABC 11. In the beginning of January, state data shows that 31,000 pounds of
cannabis was harvested, but only 1/5 of that was sold by access points. As of
January, there are 270 licensed growers in the state but only 85 stores that
are open for business.