Last November, voters in the Silver State approved recreational marijuana use, meaning it’s now only a matter of time before a legal high is just a short drive across the salt flats. RELATED: With Nevada’s move to legalize, recreational marijuana Medical marijuana stocks closer than ever to Utah Oh, sure. Colorado legalized recreational marijuana back in 2014. But Wendover’s a heck of a lot closer — and they have gambling, too. Ah, yes. Always a good idea to combine mind-altering substances with wagering one’s hard-earned paycheck. What could possibly go wrong? The Wasatch Front ’s impending proximity to recreational marijuana shops raises all sorts of questions about what happens when weekend stoners return home to the “Not-In-My-State” State with the drug’s metabolites still coursing through their bloodstreams. And of course, the biggest question in this growing national trend — Is Utah next? (Survey says: Not as long as conservative Mormons make up the lion’s share of the state legislature.) RELATED: Utah advocates expect medical marijuana ballot initiative in 2018 Still, a number of law enforcement agencies and other organizations in this state are sufficiently nervous enough about cannabis use growing like, well, weeds.

To read more visit http://www.standard.net/Standard-Deviations/2017/05/16/With-recreational-marijuana-just-across-the-salt-flats-is-Utah-going-to-pot

In March 2017, when the new law came into force Pedanios’ monthly sales immediately doubled and growth continues to accelerate as Germany’s 80 million citizens begin to benefit from the improvements to patient access guaranteed by the new law.  Pedanios wholesales medical cannabis to a growing number of pharmacies – over 750 as of today – and offers the widest selection of products of any distributor in the German market, including ten of the fourteen products approved by the Bundesopiumstelle, a body of the German federal Health Ministry. All Pedanios’ existing supply contracts will remain in place. “This is a transformational acquisition for Aurora, and a key step in our aggressive international expansion strategy,” said Neil Belot, Aurora’s Chief Global Business Development Officer. “The transaction will ensure ongoing and increasing high quality product is available to fuel Pedanios’ rapid growth, while positioning Aurora and Pedanios to seize upon opportunities together in Germany and the EU’s emerging cannabis industry.” “Pedanios, with first mover success in the EU, has proven itself as one of the world’s most trusted and scalable importers, exporters, and distributors of wholesale medical cannabis. Patients, physicians, and pharmacies across the EU recognize the Pedanios brand as the trusted source for high quality GMP certified medical cannabis,” said Terry Booth, CEO. “The Pedanios team share Aurora’s vision, our high standards, and our intentions to play a leading role in shaping the future of the global cannabis industry. In addition, because the average market prices are higher in Germany than in Canada, we expect German sales to positively impact our average sales price per gram.” “Canada and Germany are among the world leaders in medical cannabis, and as trailblazers in our respective countries, Pedanios and Aurora are well positioned to continue to drive innovation, expand our distribution network, and capture significant global market share,” said Patrick Hoffmann, Pedanios’ Co-Founder and Executive Partner. “We look forward to the synergies that our combined companies will deliver to shareholders and stakeholders alike.” Under the terms of the purchase agreement, dated May 18, 2017, Aurora will pay a consideration to holders of Class B securities of Pedanios approximately 3,421,756 common shares of Aurora, priced at $2.14 per share. In addition, a total consideration of approximately $13,565,000 in cash and common shares is payable to the holders of Class A common shares of Pedanios, which are held by the two founders/Managing Directors of Pedanios who will continue to run the company. The cash portion for the two founders being $3,020,000 and the share portion being 4,895,026 common shares of Aurora, priced at $2.14 per share, of which 17% will become free trading 4 months after closing, with the balance becoming unrestricted in equal installments on a quarterly basis over 27 months, commencing in February 2018. Total shares of Aurora being issued over 3 years represent less than 2% of total shares outstanding.

To read more visit http://www.cannabisbusinesstimes.com/aurora-acquires-german-pedanios.aspx

The licensing board will be responsible for acting on recommendations from the state Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Department on who will get the lucrative licenses to grow, transport, test and sell medical marijuana. It’s an industry that’s expected to explode in coming years. Last year, the marijuana industry saw $6.8 billion in sales nationwide for both recreational and medicinal marijuana and is projected to grow to $21.6 billion by 2021, according to Arcview Market Research, a California-based company that tracks the marijuana industry. In Michigan, medical marijuana revenues are estimated at more than $700 million. If full legalization of marijuana is approved by voters in the state, those revenues are expected to grow to well over $1 billion a year. An effort has begun to collect the necessary 252,523 petition signatures to put full legalization of marijuana for recreational use on the 2018 ballot.    How Michigan could make millions off marijuana The Free Press reported in March that the prospect of the booming medical marijuana business was causing a torrent of lobbying and cash directed at Lansing lawmakers as they crafted the bills that regulated and taxed the industry. Johnson, a lobbyist since 2005, worked on the medical marijuana legislation though he said he had no paying client. At the time of his nomination, Johnson was also negotiating the sale of his stake in the lobbying firm, Dodak Johnson & Associates, to a lobbyist for the medical marijuana industry, raising concerns about whether industry lobbyists could seek to curry favor with Johnson through the price paid for the stake in the firm. Johnson told the Free Press on Friday that he sold his stake in the lobbying firm to his partner, former Speaker of the House Lew Dodak. Under state law, active lobbyists are ineligible for appointment to the state’s medical marijuana licensing board. Johnson dropped his lobbyist registration on Nov.

To read more visit http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/05/26/medical-marijuana-board/348364001/

Image credit: scott_craig | Getty Images In a data-driven business environment, everyone is waiting on the latest statistical reports to show what directions consumer spending — an obvious clear indication of consumer attitudes — is heading. As a relatively new industry, the legalized marijuana sector still is working on how to best serve consumers and discern trends to sort out the hype from the reality. That’s created a whole new side business in marijuana: data analytics. A company that has stepped to the forefront in this area is New Frontier Data . The company has partnered with Baker Technologies, which provides customer relationship management and marketing automaton platforms to cannabis businesses, for access to an immense database of legal marijuana transactions. In April, based on this data, the company released its annual “The Cannabis Industry Report: 2017 Legal Marijuana Outlook.” They uncovered some interesting trends. Related:  Researchers Amazed by Cases of Cannabis Helping Children Failed by Conventional Medicine Recreational marijuana — or adult-use marijuana — has been the focus of much of the recent media attention, partially because of its reflection of wholesale change in how millions of Americans view marijuana. Voter have now made recreational marijuana legal in eight states: Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia. However, the report found that consumers of medical marijuana — legal in more than half the states — buy much more frequently and spend more than recreational users. The report included the following findings: In 2016, recreational users shopped for cannabis, on average, every 14 days and spent $49 per transaction. That same year, medical marijuana users shopped every 10 days and spent $136 per transaction. In 2017, medical marijuana sales are expected to total $5.3 billion, with a projection to reach $13.2 billion annually by 2025.

To read more visit https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/293761

CBD can be extracted from hemp and sold as an oil. That’s what the pioneering Stanley Brothers of Boulder, Colo., did several years ago when they conceived and manufactured “Charlotte’s Web” — named after Charlotte Figi, a Colorado Springs girl with Dravet syndrome whose seizures dramatically decreased after using CBD. Until now, evidence of marijuana’s benefits for pediatric epilepsy patients has been largely anecdotal. The new CBD study, led by researchers at NYU Langone’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, is a hugely significant development because it uses the scientific gold standard of a randomized controlled trial. Other limited clinical trials involving CBD have explored the drug’s therapeutic benefits for pediatric patients with conditions ranging from anxiety to movement disorders to inflammatory diseases, multiple sclerosis, and cancer. My own interest in pediatric use of medicinal marijuana is more than academic. When my daughter, Veronica, fell ill in late spring of 2015 — unable to breathe normally, bedridden with chronic pain and fatigue — she saw dozens of specialists. Among those doctors was a leading neurologist at one of Denver’s most well-regarded hospitals who treated intractable cases. The various drugs prescribed to my daughter weren’t working and had awful side effects.

To read more visit http://www.nationalreview.com/article/448127/medical-marijuana-pediatric-patients

It covers some pretty cool stuff, like being able to share your weed (which may finally open the “smoking lounge” conversation) allowing medical users under 21 to enter medical dispensaries, and allowing medical patients to buy seeds and starter plants directly from growers. What it does not include is the legalization of weed-delivery services, despite the City of Seattle’s efforts to push such legislation through Olympia for the second year in a row. Though cannabis-delivery services are totally illegal, a not-so-secret cottage industries has sprung up in Seattle in the wake of I-502. A quick Yelp! check on “Best Marijuana Delivery in Seattle” brings up scores of listings, revealing that locals have been more than happy to openly advertise delivery services. Even though the city has prosecuted several of these illegal operations, at least 14 persist, according to the city’s Finance and Admiinistrative Services office. There is a reason for that. The benefits of weed delivery are many. Keeping stoned people from getting behind the wheel of a car is the most obvious.

To read more visit http://www.seattleweekly.com/food/legal-weed-delivery-in-washington-state/

The new CBD study, led by researchers at NYU Langone’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, is a hugely significant development because it uses the scientific gold standard of a randomized controlled trial. Other limited clinical trials involving CBD have explored the drug’s therapeutic benefits for pediatric patients with conditions ranging from anxiety to movement disorders to inflammatory diseases, multiple sclerosis, and cancer. My own interest in pediatric use of medicinal marijuana is more than academic. When my daughter, Veronica, fell ill in late spring of 2015 — unable to breathe normally, bedridden with chronic pain and fatigue — she saw dozens of specialists. Among those doctors was a leading neurologist at one of Denver’s most well-regarded hospitals who treated intractable cases. The various drugs prescribed to my daughter weren’t working and had awful side effects. One of them, a potent anti-epileptic drug called Trileptal, was supposed to treat the severe motor tic that left her gasping for air nonstop for months. But Trileptal ended up causing extreme loss of appetite, more fatigue, and temporary dystonia, while doing nothing to alleviate the tics. The constant jerking of her body caused one of my daughter’s hypermobile shoulders to dislocate multiple times a day — increasing her pain and anxiety.

To read more visit http://www.nationalreview.com/article/448127/medical-marijuana-pediatric-patients

Reynolds said that JMR Management is working on deals that will cover the fees for the first three years. The city and JMR would negotiate a new multiyear agreement when the first one expires. Jason David said their dispensary in Modesto works with families from across the nation and from other countries. “We need safe access, we need safe medicine,” David said. “This facility will be ahead of its time for making this medication.” Reynolds said the small amount of cultivation at the Ceres facility will maintain a marijuana strain for the 28-to-1 ratio of cannabidiol to the marijuana ingredient THC that is reputedly most effective. From 20 to 40 employees would work at the proposed facility on cultivation, research, processing and delivery of products. Jayden’s Juice is priced at $80 per bottle on online promotions. Several business people from Miller Industrial Park attended Monday’s hearing of the Planning Commission, which recommended approval of the project. Some expressed concerns about odors, water discharges from the facility and potential burglaries by marijuana seekers. “We are not opposed to the business; we just have concerns,” said Belinda Wendland, a property owner.

To read more visit http://www.modbee.com/news/article148173524.html

She recommends that students interested in the industry take current classes at SRJC that correspond with the needs of the market. “We provide theoretical and practical training for students to be successful in agriculture, farming and sustainability,” Rudolph said. “Whether you will sell mopeds, puppies or pot, we have classes in entrepreneurship, business marketing and bookkeeping which will give you applicable knowledge to be successful in whatever you choose to grow, market or distribute.” Rudolph does not want SRJC to do anything that can risk the school’s federal funding for its many programs, such as Pell Grants, Meta4 (which includes Mi Casa), TRIO grants for health care careers in health sciences and MESA. “If we approach a cannabis-oriented program and a situation arises where the federal government says it will take our funding away, we would have to look at the potential risks and benefits,” she said. “A cannabis program could add maybe 30-100 students a year, but if you compare that to federal funding, which helps thousands of students, it is a pretty easy choice.” When it comes to internship opportunities within the cannabis industry, SRJC Internship Coordinator Lauralyn Larsen says she will provide help. “I will prepare any student who comes to me wanting an internship within his or her major by giving job seeking advice and guidance,” Larsen said. “In the past I helped one student who wanted to own his own cannabis business by encourage him to take entrepreneurial courses.” Larsen says she would talk to any California licensed cannabis business with job opportunities about posting offers on the student employment board. “I have heard that the [cannabis] industry will grow and job opportunities expand, so I think the interest among students will grow as well,” Larsen said. “But I have not had any cannabis industry companies list an internship so far.” Evelyn Navarro, SRJC student government assembly president-elect, has no plans to lead an effort to hold informational meetings about cannabis and its new career opportunities in Sonoma County when she takes office at the end of May. “But it would be ignorant to ignore the cannabis industry,” Navarro said.

To read more visit http://www.theoakleafnews.com/news/2017/05/16/srjc-prepares-students-blooming-cannabis-businesses/

Lawmakers failed to approve legislation to carry out the constitutional amendment during the session that ended earlier this month, possibly bolstering Van Laningham’s recommended order, which under administrative law will have to go back to the department for final action. In his 108-page recommended order, the administrative law judge failed to address the fact that he had earlier decided that Surterra, one of five applicants originally granted a medical marijuana license by health officials in November 2015, should not have been eligible to apply. Surterra has continued to operate and won’t be affected by Tuesday’s ruling. Van Laningham reiterated his critique of the health department’s methodology to cull the applications, writing that the officials “did not score them,” as required by the agency’s own rule, but instead “merely ranked them,” which he said led to a faulty outcome. Based on his own analysis, Van Laningham concluded that 3 Boys scored marginally higher than Plants of Ruskin. But he also advised health officials to consider whether their “newly acquired constitutional authority,” resulting from the ballot measure overwhelmingly approved by voters in November, gives the agency the ability to grant licenses to 3 Boys and Plants of Ruskin. And, he wrote, the health agency should issue the two new licenses “because there is no meaningful qualitative difference between these applicants, as a matter of ultimate fact.” If the agency decides not to authorize two licenses, then 3 Boys should win because it received the highest score, “if only by a mathematically insignificant margin,” Van Laningham wrote. Department of Health spokesman Brad Dalton said in an email the agency is reviewing Van Laningham’s order and is “in the process of determining our next steps.” Whether the agency will issue two new licenses is questionable; state officials have maintained in the past that current state law restricts the Department of Health to granting only one new license in each of the state’s five regions, based on administrative or court rulings. Even so, both challengers hailed Tuesday’s ruling. “We have always believed 3 Boys Farm would prevail, and we are so proud of the incredible people who’ve stood alongside us all these months, never giving in. But we’re pleased that the judge recognized that both 3 Boys and Plants of Ruskin were qualified to grow medical cannabis in Florida,” 3 Boys President Robert Tornello said in a statement.

To read more visit http://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2017/05/24/florida-judge-backs-two-more-medical-marijuana-licenses