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Utah Hemp Farmers Growing Strains Named After Obama and Trump

Farmers in Utah have begun growing hemp following the legalization of the crop late last year, including strains of the plant with names featuring a decidedly political twist. One varietal, Obama, is named for former President Barak Obama, who was in office when the 2014 Farm Bill that authorized hemp research pilot programs was signed into law. Another strain, Trump, is also named for a president that figures prominently in hemp history. President Donald Trump signed the 2018 Farm Bill in December, which legalized the crop as an agricultural commodity in the United States. Farmer Kenny McFarland grew hemp for the first time this year, planting clones on eight acres of his farm in Weber County. He shared some of the knowledge he gained from the experience at the annual convention of the Utah Farm Bureau that was held last week in Layton. “Trump was super aggressive,” McFarland said , drawing laughs from the crowd of farmers at the event. Since the 2018 Farm Bill was signed into la...
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California Officials Will Raise Cannabis Cultivation Taxes On New Year’s Day

California regulators announced on Thursday that taxes paid by the state’s licensed cannabis business will increase on New Year’s Day, despite calls to ease the burden on an industry struggling to compete with a thriving illicit market. In a special notice from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, the state announced that cannabis cultivation taxes would be raised by more than 4%, reflecting an adjustment for inflation as required by state law. The tax on an ounce of dried cannabis flower will rise from $9.25 to $9.65, a jump of 4.3% The tax levied on dry cannabis leaves will go up from $2.75 to $2.87, which is also a 4.3% increase. The tax on an ounce of fresh cannabis plant material will rise to $1.35 from $1.29, a jump of 4.6%. The notice also revealed an increase in the state’s cannabis markup rate from 60% to 80%. The mark-up rate — the average difference between the wholesale cost and the retail selling price of cannabis and cannabis products — is used to...
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First Year of Adult-Use Cannabis Sales in Massachusetts Reached Nearly $400 Million

After a year of legal cannabis, Massachusetts is taking stock. Numbers released by the state’s Department of Revenue and its Cannabis Control Commission summed up the first phase of the regulated cannabis industry, announcing that the state’s 33 dispensaries had raked in a total of nearly $400 million in sales, and employed 6,700 individuals. Massachusetts has largely dodged issues with illegal dispensaries such as those in California, even as a large share of in-state cannabis sales take place under illegal circumstances. It also faced its fair share of other challenges, among them ensuring social equity for people of color in the cannabis industry. The state has previously stated that a paltry 3.5 percent of the business entities that had filed with the state are owned by people of color. Sales figures started out of the gate strong. The sole two dispensaries that were initially licensed in Northampton and Leicester rang up $2 million in customer purchases in the first five days t...
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US House of Representatives May Vote on Cannabis Legalization This Week

This week, the United States House of Representatives could be voting on the federal legalization of cannabis. Representative Jerry Nadler announced on Monday that the house judiciary committee had posted a markup for HR 3884 a.k.a. the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act — which means a vote could go down as early as Wednesday. “I look forward to moving this legislation out of the House Judiciary Committee, making it one step closer to becoming law,” said Nadler in a press release. From the get-go, the MORE Act looked like it had a better-than-average chance at making it through the legislative gauntlet than its many predecessors. The bill was created and introduced by Nadler of New York, who is the judiciary committee chair. Pressure has increased on Congress to pass federal legalization ever since it approved the SAFE Act . That bill guaranteed banking protections for cannabis companies and financial institutions, raising many questions about why si...
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Seeking Alpha Interviews Patricia Heer Editor of Cannabis Law Digest

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Listen to the podcast or read the transcript Legal Landscape Of Cannabis Industry With Patricia Heer (Podcast Transcript) Nov. 14, 2019 7:00 AM ET   Patricia Heer is Editor and co-founder of Cannabis Law Digest, an online platform of legal resources for the cannabis industry. With her extensive litigation and commercial experience, Patricia helps break down the convoluted legal landscape in the cannabis industry. We also discuss why advocates have a problem with the SAFE Banking Act, the impediments to wide-spread legalization and the best ways for companies to navigate regulations. Editors’ Note: This is the transcript version of the   podcast   we published yesterday with Patricia Heer. We hope you enjoy it. Listen on the go! Subscribe to The Cannabis Investing Podcast on   Apple Podcasts ,   Google Podcasts ,   Spotify , and   Stitcher . LISTEN TO THE PODCAST Rena Sherbill:   Today, I am happy to be joined...
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New Jersey Could Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Candy, cocoa and chocolate, as well as any other flavor of e-cigarette, are among the flavors New Jersey lawmakers sought to prohibit on Thursday, along with a separate ban on menthol-flavored traditional cigarettes . New Jersey’s Democrat-led Assembly and Senate health committees advanced the legislation after several hours of testimony that drew crowds of supporters and opponents to the statehouse annex. Supporters of the flavor ban say it hooks kids on nicotine. Opponents worry the ban would lead to a black market and could also hurt some businesses in the state. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy supports banning e-cigarette flavors since a commission he established to come up with the state’s response to nationwide vaping-related outbreak recommended the prohibition last month. His office declined to comment on the menthol cigarette ban. That measure sparked some heated rhetoric from one lawmaker in particular. Democratic state Sen. Ronald Rice, of Newark...
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Cannabis Control Commission Plans To Quarantine Vaping Devices

At 12:01 p.m. on November 12, Massachusetts’ emergency ban on medical cannabis vaping products expired. But in its place, the state’s Cannabis Control Commission immediately instituted a quarantine of all medical marijuana vaping devices and products, with the exception of devices that vape flower. Officials with the Cannabis Control Commission say the quarantine isn’t as far-reaching as the Department of Public Health ban that a state judge ruled exceeded the agency’s authority. However, the state’s ban on nicotine vape products and recreational cannabis vape products remains in place. As Ban Expires, Massachusetts’ Cannabis Control Commission Blocks Sale of Medical Cannabis Vapes Last Tuesday, Massachusetts Superior Court judge Douglas Wilkins blocked Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration from enforcing its emergency ban on medical marijuana vaping products. The authority to regulate medical marijuana , Wilkins ruled, belongs entirely to the state’s Cannabis Control Commission. Medi...
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