Feds may issue banking rules in New Year… National certification program announced… Survey: teens using less synthetic pot… Emerald Cup winners… and more.
BUSINESS
Denver Post // Banks may receive cautionary rules for depositing funds from cannabis dispensaries in the New Year. Many banks won’t allow dispensaries to have accounts, because of the federal illegality of their businesses.
Harvard Business Review // The business of marijuana is no longer run by sandal-clad hippies or gun-toting gangsters, says Chris Walsh of the Marijuana Business Journal. And he’s not saying this to a free underground weekly. His comments are in a blog from the Harvard Business Review.
Toronto Sun // Dozens of new cannabis strains are being developed in a high security Canadian lab. These new creations are destined for medical uses.
Daily Chronic // A nonprofit marijuana certification program based on new quality standards issued by the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) and the American Herbal Pharmacopeia (AHP) has been announced. This is the first such nationwide program.
COPS & COURTS
SF Gate // The story about a Mendocino marijuana harvest that aired last week on KALW's “Crosscurrents” may have left the impression that growing or possessing fewer than a hundred plants might be OK in certain situations under state or federal law. This is not true: it’s all illegal under federal law. Here’s a review of the statutes.
AllGov.com // San Jose had little oversight of it’s eighty or so dispensaries prior to last week, when a ban was rejected. But an ordinance governing where the shops could be located did pass – and effectively moved all of them to an industrial area in the northern part of the city.
Toke of the Town // Two separate visitors were caught trying to smuggle hash and marijuana into a southern California prison last weekend. Both are now behind bars themselves.
IN OTHER NEWS
Salon // Synthetic marijuana use is down among teens, as more realize that it really is dangerous. Use of real marijuana remains at 6.5 percent according to this study.
NPR/"The TakeAway" // Preventing early use of marijuana by teens is always a concern, whether or not it’s legal. An online pamphlet for parents is recommended to start the discussion. Find it at this University of Washington website, along with other data.
East Bay Express // A grower for Harborside Health Center took home the top prize from last weekend’s Emerald Cup at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. About 250 samples were entered. The top five are named at the bottom of this story.
Huff Post // The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in Portland, Maine is not planning to smash containers of cannabis the way they did bottles of alcohol in their early days. But they do find “that a lot of people who are on hard drugs started with marijuana.”
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KALW // ‘Tis the season for giving. So if you wish, please remember the non-commercial radio station that makes the Cannabis News Roundup possible. Here’s the link.
While none of the money goes to me, I’d appreciate you mentioning the CNR in the comments section of your contribution.
And that’s the news for 2013. Look for new content on January 3, 2014.
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