Another look at California’s new regulations ... Hundreds apply for Oakland permits ... No more cannabis bus ads ... Can mega-farms be stopped? ... and more.
[Click the blue hyperlink headline to read the full story.]
LEGISLATION & REGULATION
Some details of California’s emergency cannabis regulations // Green State
Links to the new rules were provided here last week, but in case you didn’t get through the hundreds of pages, you’ll find some “highlights and lowlights” here.
Click the headline for more.
Oakland reviewing hundreds of pot business applications // SF Chronicle
“The largest number of the applications, 78, are from individuals who want permits for indoor cannabis-growing businesses. The second-largest number, 55, want permits for cannabis delivery businesses.
“The city expects to approve a handful of applicants to be fully permitted in time for Jan. 1. Dozens more will be able to obtain a temporary state license as long as they operate in the right zone, pay taxes and satisfy the equity program’s requirements.”
Muni dropping cannabis ads from buses // SF Chronicle
“Under the ban [in San Francisco], existing ad deals with cannabis businesses will be honored until the contracts expire, but future displays will not be allowed. With sales of recreational marijuana to adults becoming legal Jan. 1, the demand for advertising from cannabis businesses is expected to boom. But no one opposing the ban spoke at Tuesday’s hearing.”
Walnut Creek waiting on state regulations // Cannifornian
“While acknowledging residents’ clear direction that they favor more access to both medical and recreational marijuana, City Council members also said they can’t craft meaningful local ordinances without updated state regulations to serve as a guide.”
COPS & COURTS
Two San Jose churches face closures for operating as dispensaries // Mercury News
“It’s a priority for me, so I will be doing everything I can to shut down illegal pot clubs, regardless of whether they call themselves churches or not,” says city council member.
BUSINESS
Small growers concerned about “catastrophe” of being pushed out by big operations // SF Chronicle
“The complicated guidelines issued this week ... limit the size of a marijuana grow depending on what kind of license the farmer obtains — with a maximum of about an acre per license. But, there are no limits on the number of licenses a farmer can have.
“It means a big-spending plantation owner may be able to obtain dozens, or even hundreds, of licenses.” [Note: See next story.]
State Senator Weiner looking into blocking “mega-farms” // SFChronicle
“Wiener’s anger is directed at rules issued last weekby three agencies — the Department of Health, Department of Food and Agriculture and the Bureau of Cannabis Control — that do not limit the number of licenses a grower can hold or the total acreage one can farm. He said he hopes to make some changes when the Legislature is back in session next year.”
Jumbled regulations have investors looking to Canada // Economist
“[F]irms find funding elusive. Investors remain skittish about the industry, and accessing American stock markets is onerous. Instead, firms are moving north to Canada, listing themselves on Canadian stock markets to raise capital, and then investing the funds in American companies.”
HEALTH
Cannabis could be good for your heart, study says // NORML
“Heart failure patients with a history of cannabis use possess reduced odds of in-hospital mortality compared to similarly matched controls, according to data published online in the journal Circulation.”
Pesticides in plants traced to clones // Leaf Online
“What has propagation got to do with pesticides? Because the testing limits on cannabis are so strict, even minute trace amounts of pesticides can make cannabis unacceptable for commercial use under state regulations. Meanwhile, certain pesticides linger in the mother plant and get transferred to all her clones. From a small cutting is grown an entire adult plant; almost nothing remains of the original plant tissue except a small trace of that pesticide.”
IN OTHER NEWS ....
Couple arrested when hibiscus thought to be marijuana // dthemaven.net
“The couple repeatedly told police that they were making a mistake, that the plants were hibiscus and indicating that they were blooming to officers.”
[New content is posted on Fridays.]
