Washington state is already on its second stab at a track and trace program and in Oregon, the seed to sale system says that they have a million unsold pounds of pot, roughly enough for 4 free ounces for each of the state’s 4 million residents. Four million residents, eh? 3 mill or so in Nevada. 5.6 mill in Colorado. 7.4 mill in Washington. Well, we’ve got 40 million in California so any problems that these smaller markets have experienced could be scaled up greatly once the experiment is fully underway here. Hell, harking back to our dude Mickey one more time, there are more people in Los Angeles County alone (10.16 million) than there are in 42 states in this country…Cali is a different beast.

We all seem to take a different path of discovery when it comes to our own personal relationship with cannabis. Join us for this multipart series from globetrotting cannabis advocate and guest contributor Sharon Letts for an intimate look at her own journey with this healing wonder.

We’d all like to believe that it is the very real medicinal benefits that cannabis can deliver that’s causing this ideological shift at the top levels of our government, but let’s face it, money talks. As depressing as that may sound, it is still driving real reform across the country and that is a net positive. It should also remind the cannabis movement that we are in a highly influential position.

Once everyone from the growers, to the processors, to the distributors, to the labs, to the taxmen, to the state itself get their slice, recreational cannabis consumers in Cali are staring down the barrel of $70+ eighths of legal bud, and so, the black market continues to thrive. At all of those stages listed above, technology and automation are providing the answers and efficiency to keep them profitable in today’s movement, so why wouldn’t we think that retail would follow suit?

Is Neem Oil to blame for what appears to be a recent upsurge in cases of Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome? Or is the answer right beneath our belts?

In a market dominated by too many vape carts pre-filled with hot dog water and mystery oil, terp hunters are once again seeking the ultimate handheld flavor saver. . . well, look no further, Goose.

When Californians passed Prop 64 in November of 2016, not only did they legalize the adult recreational use (and production and sale) of cannabis, but they dug the grave for MMJ in the Golden State. 
The thing is, medical was already dead and laid in the coffin by then and it wasn’t Prop 64 that killed it... 

PacEx shares a common vision with The Emerald Cup in promoting the value of a natural, organic product created by someone with a tangible craft skill. As we witness massive alcohol and tobacco producers retreat from decades of lucrative production and sprint headfirst toward the cannabis industry, it is reassuring to remember that while Budweiser is struggling, Stone Brewing is not. Preserving the history of cannabis, according to Pacific Expeditors, is the key to its future.  

There are many beneficial uses for hemp, but these days most of the headlines swirl around CBD, the non-psychoactive healing cannabinoid that can be bred in relative abundance in hemp plants. In the wake of the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill we have seen conflicting news stories about just what this new law will mean for the highly popular cannabinoid, particularly on a nationwide scale. So what about hemp-derived CBD, now that hemp cultivation will be legal?

Until their technology advances enough to close these gaps in accuracy, or the state loosens the law enough to account for those gaps, testing labs may need to meet their customers in the middle in order to protect the small to midsize producers at the essential grassroots of this potentially lucrative and efficient market.

Until some major investments earlier this year, one virtually untapped sector of the edibles market had been in CBD and THC infused beverages which experts predict will flood over $600 million into the U.S. economy annually by the year 2022. If those numbers come to fruition, cannabis-based beverages will make up 20% of the edibles market over the course of the next four years. But if a company called Sproutly has its way, those numbers might end up being just a drop in the bucket.

There are currently too many barriers to entering the legal cannabis industry in California and hopefully many of them will be eased or eliminated when the agencies overseeing the state’s legal weed finalize their regulations sometime next month. That will mark more than two years since Californians passed Prop 64 and will be the first time that we truly know what the legal landscape will look like.

80% of the country is still dealing with a patchwork of unique medical marijuana laws or outright cannabis prohibition. As these states look to the future, with the benefit of watching those that blazed the trail before them, there are some fundamental planks that we believe must form the foundation for any effective and thorough cannabis reform.

Facing state and federal cases, along with shareholder and other related lawsuits, we hope this is the last we see of Insys, but the reality is that scum like this usually finds its way back to the surface so the cannabis community must remain vigilant.

Growers and manufacturers spend even more time and money doing preliminary R&D product testing hoping to identify and eliminate any issues before the crucial final compliance testing. But what good does that do if every lab is using different equipment, following different operating procedures, and in some cases, just outright faking the results?

Whether it is in men or women, young or old, the endocannabinoid system regulates our overall well-being in a myriad of ways – from how your mood is balanced when you talk to how your weight is balanced when you walk. So when this system suffers, the side effects can be wide ranging… like with menopause.

As we know, there is more to cannabis than just THC and CBD but with this new understanding of those two major building blocks, researchers will certainly shift their focus to the other supporting cannabinoids and the highly sought after terpenes that round out the full entourage effect of the miraculous, and now slightly less mysterious, cannabis plant.

Some wonder how a person can effectively navigate an industry founded on such a deep and rich culture if they have not, and are not, a part of that culture. Others compare it to running a pharmaceutical company saying that you don’t have to eat painkillers in order to sell them. On the other hand, those who readily admit their cannabis use probably benefit from their openness by adding an air of legitimacy and authenticity to their brand through their genuine embrace of the plant.

From our own experience, and from the stories we hear all the time in the cannabis community, we already know that cannabis use can absolutely mute the frightening effects of PTSD. Clearly, the federal government has not been listening to you or to us so far, but hopefully this FDA-approved study will bear the results we expect and can move the battle lines forward in the war against cannabis prohibition.

Erickson’s report claimed that the blunt was found “in plain sight”, even though both officers searched the area unsuccessfully, and Pastran’s body camera footage shows no such evidence. What Officer Erickson apparently didn’t realize is that somebody smarter than him already thought of the ol’ broken camera trick and his body camera had a feature built in that somehow allowed it to record 30 seconds of footage before Erickson reactivated it.

They have 19 licensed cannabis facilities operating in 13 states with imminent plans to expand that to 66 retail outlets, but here’s the catch. . . none of them are profitable. That’s right, in an industry where 90% of legal dispensaries report profitability, and 40% of them can claim profits in excess of $500k+/yr, somehow MedMen’s mids aren’t making money.

Cannabis, even in legal states, still carries a negative stigma with many Americans,  and those opposed to legalization efforts are not only working overtime to perpetuate that stigma, but they are actually starting to weaponize it.

With a substantially higher margin of victory than even the already impressive races at the top of the ticket, clearly cannabis carried some clout into Election Day. But remember, there were two other proposals on Michigan’s ballots that day, and together with weed, they form a blueprint for future electoral success in all points on the political map.

For two unrelated men that share not only a last name, but also an extreme hatred for the cannabis plant, both Jeff Sessions and Pete Sessions find themselves out of a job today for very different reasons. But the cannabis community isn’t too picky and we’re glad to see them both go for any reason.

Gemini Finance Corp. reacted to the cancellation of the Chalice Festival in July by foreclosing on a $587,000 loan that they had out to event organizers. Sensing blood in the water, the sharks at High Times swooped in and gobbled up a $560,000 debt to purchase the rights to the future of the Chalice Festival. Yep, High Times now owns Chalice…sort of…